WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 085

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Episode 85. Even If You Reach Out Toward the Moon, You Can't Touch It.

Once we finished talking, Kainel and Ariel came back a while later with food. Both their hands were full of things to eat.

Grilled wyvern foreleg and roasted salamander skewers. Definitely fantasy-appropriate food. It looked pretty delicious, glistening with a shiny sheen, but,

"..Huh? Is Mardol asleep?"

"Looks like it. Shh."

I brought a finger up in front of my helmet, gesturing for quiet.

The line must have been long, because quite a bit of time had passed, and the Glass Knight had fallen asleep leaning against my shoulder.

Her breathing was steady, even, and peaceful.

Good, I'd been worried since she looked so worn out earlier. Maybe because the alcohol was hitting me too, my head started to feel a little dizzy.

"Ariel."

"What is it, Helmet?"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd look after Mardol for a bit. I think I need to go get some air."

My shoulder was starting to ache a little, and as a fellow party member, I figured letting her sleep this long was probably enough. I tried to get up and leave.

"Ngh.. Licht.."

Mardol grabbed my ankle in her sleep, mumbling as if telling me not to go. Right, she was always like this.

"..Licht."

"What is it, Kainel?"

"You and Mardol, are you two dating?"

The oblivious mutt asked, giving the two of us a strange look. But there's a counterattack for this kind of thing.

"We're just friends. So are the two of you dating, then?"

"..."

Turn the question right back on the Hero couple. See, you two can't answer either. That's what close friends do sometimes.

"So please don't misunderstand. I'm firmly devoted to someone I like..."

"..Licht?"

"Ah, you're awake."

This always happens whenever I try to plant a flag. A muffled voice came humming from my shoulder, and I had no idea when she'd woken up.

Still, today wasn't so bad. She'd worried about fire so many times by now that I could let this one slide.

"I really am just going to go get some air. My head's spinning a bit."

"Licht's a player.."

"I am not."

"Heh-heh. Be careful out there. Licht."

She pressed a piece of candy into my hand as she saw me off. Maybe suggesting we all drink together had been the right call after all. If it hadn't been my idea, Mardol probably wouldn't have gotten to enjoy the festival at all.

'She looks like she's having a lot of fun.'

Before I knew it, she was chattering away happily with Ariel about something. I could hear my name come up here and there, but I decided to ignore it.

Party members do that sometimes, checking in on each other's combat readiness. It's common for names to come up in conversation while resting after a battle.

'Sweet.'

I felt the texture of the candy in my mouth. The one Mardol had given me, I was chewing on it slowly.

It felt like it was clearing my head. I turned around and walked away from the group, toward the main street. And then, along the way,

"Young man."

"..Yes?"

"Might I ask you for directions?"

An elderly-looking gentleman spoke to me.

* * *

The place he was looking for was a certain cocktail bar.

"Thank you, young man."

"..It's nothing. I just did what needed doing."

His clothing, elegant by anyone's standard, made it clear he was no ordinary old man. Just as I'd successfully guided him there and was about to leave the place,

"Care for a drink? Young man."

"..I'll have to decline."

The old man made me an offer. He held out a small drinking glass toward me.

"Don't be like that. I'm called Molta."

"I have people waiting for me. If I'm any later, they'll worry."

Something about it felt suspicious, so I declined. Going somewhere I'd never been before and drinking whatever a total stranger handed me without hesitation would be insane.

"..There's someone you're looking for, isn't there? I can find that person for you. I happen to be an astrologer."

What? In that instant I hurried over and sat down. It felt distasteful, the thought that he might know something about our Saintess, but I decided to go along with it anyway.

Events happen this way too, sometimes. There was no reason for me to turn it down.

"Ha, I knew you'd sit down. Before that, let me ask you one thing."

"..What is it?"

"Do you believe that life has degrees of worth?"

Molta posed a philosophical question. The clear water in the glass seemed to tremble, as if vibrating. Why did this feel like I'd seen it somewhere before?

'I feel like something's coming back to me..'

I racked my brain, digging through my memory, but something about it felt off. It was like groping along a wall in a pitch-dark room, searching for a light switch.

"It's a common problem. To save five good people, must you kill one good person? That's the gist of it. Assuming you had the choice, of course."

"..."

The trolley problem, was it. I'd heard of this somewhere before, a case where a brakeless train runs on one of two tracks, and you have to decide whether to pull a lever to switch which track it runs on.

"I believe life has no degrees of worth, young man. That five lives are worth more than one is simply common sense, is it not?"

"So you're saying you'd kill the one?"

"If that were the only way, then of course, I'd have to."

Molta wore what looked like a benevolent smile, but it felt like something lurked beneath that shameless face. It was the moment the idea of sacrificing the conductor came to mind.

"..That's sophistry. It's contradictory from the start, isn't it?"

"Oh? Why do you think that?"

Anger flared up in me for a moment. There was something twisted about this man. Even discussing such a serious subject, the Molta in front of me never lost his composure.

"Your words themselves are already judging the worth of a life. Molta."

"..Hm. An idealist, are you. So what would you do, then?"

I put a hand to the forehead of my helmet and sighed. Of course that's the answer. Weighing human lives on a scale? What is this, ancient Egypt?

"Whether it's five or one, you have to save everyone. That's the right answer."

"You sound just like a Hero."

"This is just common sense."

"I'm satisfied, young man. You and I might get along quite well."

The corner of his mouth curved upward. In that instant, something about it felt unsettling, and I got up from my seat on instinct.

"That's never going to happen."

"..Young man?"

Information about our Saintess mattered, but this wasn't it. The sweetness still lingering on the tip of my tongue snapped my mind back into focus.

'Danger. This whole cocktail bar is a trap.'

And there was one more problem. My thoughts were starting to warp, little by little. I felt comfortable in a place I'd never set foot in before.

This cocktail bar. There was no alcohol anywhere around, and no other customers either. Where had this drinking glass even come from? A creeping sense of dread was building.

"Not going to drink? You have to drink it before I can give you the information you're looking for."

There wasn't even a bartender to be seen. Instinct was screaming at me to get out of here immediately. My senses sharpened like a whetted blade.

"No thanks."

I looked at the clear liquid swaying in the glass. Drink that and it's over for sure. It was probably poisoned. I should have realized that a festival draws in shady peddlers too.

It felt like being an ant one step away from tumbling into an antlion's pit. Cold sweat ran down my back.

"Well then, since you've entertained this old man, I'll tell you one thing as promised."

He spoke up toward me as I walked up the stairs. One turn of the doorknob and I'd be right outside.

"As things stand now, you'll never be able to meet the person you're looking for."

"..."

"How about it? If you come back and sit down and drink now, I'll tell you how."

I turned back at the grating words, and there was Molta, sneering at me. If it's about our Nameless Saintess, I'll meet her someday regardless.

"Go fuck yourself."

"..A hot-blooded young man, aren't you."

I spat out the profanity right at his face. Some unease had taken root in my heart, but I kept walking straight ahead.

"Very well. May Akasa's blessing be upon your path."

I ignored the muttering that followed behind me. I didn't want help finding the person I loved from a madman who claimed sacrificing a life was the right thing to do.

* * *

The cocktail bar, left with only the old man in it.

"..What did you do to the helmet, Tardun."

Fixing the mask he wore, Head murmured under his breath. Seeing that his own power hadn't worked, he broke into an easygoing smile instead.

"A Hero who can sense the authority of two people at once. I'll need to recalculate once I'm back at the Demon King's castle."

The man rolled his neck in a full circle, as if his body were stiff, showing signs of fatigue. Gazing at the clear liquid in the glass, he began to speak.

"Normally, he should have drunk this 'Lumen's Sleeptalk' and fallen asleep. Even my omniscience got warped."

He clicked his tongue in regret, looking at the liquor dwarves brewed to rest with after crafting a Masterpiece.

"..I covered this place over with Erasure of knowledge, and he still slipped out."

He snapped his fingers, and people appeared all around. The one seat Lee Suhyun had sat in earlier was the only empty one, and the rest of the place was packed full.

"Still, you won't remember this meeting today, young man."

He kept talking to himself amid the crowd, but no one found it suspicious.

"Fate has already begun moving as it should."

More precisely, no one seemed to notice that he even existed here at all.

"Ah, bartender. A martini, if you would. And take away this Lumen's Sleeptalk."

"Order received, sir."

Head ordered again from the bartender passing by. Earlier, he had offered a drink to the academy student in the helmet sitting across from him this exact way, and it had failed.

"Such a good drink, too. Such a shame."

The Demon King of Omniscience pulled a book from his robes and began writing notes. He drew a line through what he'd written before, correcting the wrong parts.

"The current Dennis shouldn't have learned the three-dimensional magic circle yet. Attacking the academy as things stand shouldn't be a problem."

He turned his gaze toward the blue-haired man in the distance. His eyes met those of the academy professor, who looked like he lived pickled in liquor.

"..I have no idea what Tardun is thinking. To begin with, we're the only two chosen and summoned as Heroes by Akasa. Dennis."

Dennis's white eyes flashed as if something seemed off, but he didn't seem to notice Head sitting far away.

"Well then. Licht. No.. Lee Suhyun."

The corner of his mouth curved even higher. He was certain now that this was someone who would prove useful to his prophecy.

"A hero who tries to save everyone naturally needs a trial."

In his notebook, labeled "Apostle of Gluttony," lines spread out around the page like a mind map, with the word "impossible" written over and over,

"I'll give you the worst trial you won't be able to overcome."

The Demon King of Omniscience was mobilizing every piece of information he had, all directed at the Black Knight.

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