WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 101

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Episode 101. 1%.

* * *

The corridor of the building where Licht was being treated.

"You're telling me my disciple still hasn't woken up?!"

"..Drake, calm down a little."

Dennis, blue-haired with strikingly white-glowing eyes, sat beside a yellow-haired man whose face was covered in old sword scars.

"That's the problem with kids these days, they don't grow up tough! Ugh.. tch."

Drake the Dragon Slayer sat staring at the firmly shut door, his expression full of worry.

"So, even with that high-and-mighty Heavenly Demon here, she still can't fix him?!"

"..."

"Dennis! Shouldn't you have done better, in the end! You were the one right there with him..!!"

"..I'm sorry. It's true, the state Licht is in right now is on me."

Drake, still fuming as if something wasn't sitting right with him, spun around with a face full of anger.

"I'm sick to death of this infirmary. I'm heading out first!!"

Bang. A door on the opposite side flew open, but Dennis only spoke to him calmly.

"Drake, the exit's the other way."

"Oh, ha-ha-ha!! Seems I made a mistake there!!"

Not the exit, but the direction leading to where Phine was performing the operation.

"Don't go wandering over there in the middle of an operation for no reason. Sit down here."

"..Caught, was I."

The Grand Sword Master, his intentions read through, wore an awkward expression as he plopped back down into his chair.

"..Drake."

"What is it, Dennis."

A thought had occurred to him, and he opened his mouth toward the swordsman, a question he'd been holding onto for a long while now.

"Why did you take Licht on as your disciple?"

Thinking about it, wasn't it strange? An imperial Sword Master, taking on a disciple for reasons as flimsy as sharing his hometown, or having no mana in his body.

"..Because he had the eyes of a man about to die!"

"What? Licht did?"

If he'd simply take anyone on as a disciple that readily, it made little sense that he'd refused to take on even Princess Phine Gransia.

The eyes of a man about to die.

That was the reason Drake had said, of his first impression of Licht, 'What's he going to do with eyes like a dead fish!!!'

"The first time I saw him, he was surrounded by a wolf pack and nearly died!"

"That's something Licht could easily..."

As Dennis pictured the Black Knight's current strength, Drake crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No, that's not what I mean at all!"

The Dragon Slayer recalled that night. Visiting Sprout Village after a long absence, he'd heard a cry for help.

"First, there were two people, looked like a father and son, slightly hurt and searching for someone else."

"Licht must have saved them."

"Right, the damn brat did save them, but!"

Hearing what the father and son said, he'd rushed straight into the forest and found Licht surrounded by a pack of snow-white wolves.

"The brat was weak back then! Nothing like the powerhouse he is now, Dennis!!"

A silent midnight. Moonlight caught on the pitch-black helmet, glinting, and a boy slumped against a tree trunk.

"A kid with no strength at all, trying to protect someone!"

A cheap-looking iron sword was buried in one of the wolves, and in place of it, the boy wearing the Black Knight's helmet held a crude tree branch in his hand, as if he'd meant to swing that instead.

"..My disciple Licht doesn't know how to value his own life."

Both arms bitten through, fresh blood scattered everywhere, and the boy simply waited for the death that was coming.

With the air of someone satisfied just to have saved the father and son he'd seen earlier, he hadn't even let out the common scream, the cry to be saved.

"I'll bet it was the same this time too. What kind of madman in this world thinks he can go up against the Demon King of Omniscience and win!!"

Hearing five-years-ago Licht explain that he'd stayed silent in case the people who'd fled came back, Drake couldn't help but feel a wretched ache in his chest.

"Acting like he's Brother Rook or something. Honestly."

"So that's why you took him on as your disciple. I always wondered why a stubborn old man like you agreed so easily."

"Right, a weakling who doesn't run and dies fighting instead is just reckless bravado... wait a second."

Dennis, wearing the expression of a man who'd only now understood.

"I'm not that old yet!!"

Given Drake the Dragon Slayer's personality, there was no way he'd have left a boy like that alone. Perhaps he'd taken him on as a disciple just to try to fix the way he thought.

"Though I really didn't expect him to master even my Void Slash in just five years..."

He explained that, amid it all, the boy's effort had been so tremendous he'd had no choice but to teach him swordsmanship. At that, the blue-haired man nodded.

"Let's just wait a while. That brother of mine's 'daughter' is apparently doing something about it."

"What? Phine is?!"

"Well, leaving Licht aside, she's an incredible person in her own right, isn't she."

If Emperor Rook was famous for his physical power, his consort, Empress Bellin Gransia, was a woman deeply versed in magic.

"She's got Sister-in-law Bellin's blood in her, after all."

She hadn't taken part in the war herself, but the things she'd advised the Emperor had been a great help.

"Then she's someone to be trusted.. Hmmm."

The reason Phine had been born with such a vast amount of mana was also her mother's bloodline.

A constitution that could truly be called a blessing, in this world.

That she, who carried both Emperor Rook's tremendous physical strength and Empress Bellin's superb mana sensitivity, was with Licht right now.

"Dennis. Why does my spine feel so cold all of a sudden..?"

"I've got a sudden chill too. Why is that."

The two members of the Ten Greats felt as though the cold flat of an axe blade had just touched the backs of their necks.

* * *

When I came to my senses, I was in a field that felt strangely nostalgic.

"..Where is this?"

"Oh, Sir Knight. Over here, over here!"

White wolf ears and a tail.

Someone as pure white as a blank sheet of music paper called out to me from a distance, smiling brightly.

"Saintess..?"

I definitely fell after taking a bullet, right after fighting the Demon King of Omniscience. Why am I here.

"Wait, come to think of it, my helmet..."

I felt the touch of wind, and when I brushed a hand over my face, I felt an uneven texture. The Helmet of Ideology had come off.

Startled, I checked over my body. Below my neck, I could see the black armor I'd worn back when this was a game.

I tried bending my fingers back against my hand, and it worked.

'This is a dream.'

That settled one thing for certain. Wherever I was now, it was my dream, one blended together with memories from back when I was playing the game.

"Sir Knight, you said you'd learn a spell with me this time!"

It was a daydream with the Nameless Saintess. No, wait, where did my Phine go. This isn't actually the afterlife or something, is it.

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Hehe, it's fine. Come on, hurry!"

For now, I decided to go along with the Saintess's suggestion. How long had it been since I'd seen her. Five years, by the game's reckoning, and this was the first time I was actually seeing her like this.

"..Sir Knight? You feel a little different today, somehow?"

"It's probably just your imagination."

As I approached, her wolf ears folded back cutely, as if welcoming their master.

"Did you get a little more handsome..?"

"I'm not even wearing my helmet right now, Saintess."

Damn it, her tail's wagging hard side to side too. This doesn't seem like an attack from an Apostle of Gluttony or Lust, though.

"That's exactly why I'm saying it, Sir Knight."

"Aren't the burn scars unsightly..?"

Honestly, I'd had plenty of dreams about her back in the real world too, so this wasn't awkward for me.

Happens sometimes when you fall asleep after gaming too late.

"No, they're fine? You silly pup."

Watching her smile brightly even at the burn scars covering my face, my heart skipped a little.

"Come on! Give me your hand, quick."

"Sa, Saintess?!"

When I held out my hand without much suspicion, a pale, slender, soft palm settled gently onto it, showing off the difference in size.

"Hehe, operation successful..!"

At her lead, our fingers laced together the way lovers might. Come to think of it, Phine had done the same thing at the sword training grounds once, so maybe this was similar.

"Such an oblivious knight.. this is so our mana circuits connect better, so I can try casting a spell too!"

Ah, it's the exact opposite this time. I swallowed hard from the tension. I could feel the blood rushing to my face, turning it red, but.

"Seven wills, a voice for the stars."

Whatever the case, the Nameless Saintess's beautiful golden eyes held mine with a steady, unwavering gaze.

"With magic, the incantation isn't the important part, Sir Knight."

I know. I'd already learned that at Grand Hearts Academy. It's the one of the three elements of magic you're allowed to skip.

"Because it's about slowly confronting your own intellect."

That was the incantation. Hearing it from the Saintess's own lips like this was a strange feeling, though.

"Cupping water in your palm, an image of not letting it spill..."

She closed her eyes and looked to be concentrating. Her eyelashes were long enough to catch the eye. A woman's eyelashes really are pretty.

"Let there be radiance. 「Arcturus.」"

Just like Merak, the lighting spell, a sphere of light formed and cast a faint, bright glow around us.

The soft light source gradually broke apart into fine motes and drifted outward, circling around me like fireflies before melting away like snow.

'A fatigue-relief spell, is it.'

My body felt lighter, and my fatigue melted away. Well, I suppose my body had just been through a battle with Ache, after all. Even a small rest like this felt good.

"Wahh! I did it! Sir Knight!"

Even if it was only a dream, I was here with the Nameless Saintess herself. She'd never in her wildest dreams know how hard I'd had it at the Academy.

The pure-white wolf-kin woman bounced on both feet, delighted that her spell had succeeded.

"..Sir Knight?"

I wished I could see my Phine looking that happy sometime too. A sudden thought struck me, and a sense of wrongness crept in.

"Saintess, I can't stay here."

I unlaced my fingers from hers right away and got to the point. Perhaps it was because I'd just been beaten by a Demon King, but she seemed weaker than usual. There was no attempt to overpower me by force.

"There's something I need to do, outside."

"Is it more important than me..?"

"Yes. Someone precious to me is waiting."

At my sudden change in attitude, her ears and tail drooped, as if she were sad. That's going to weaken my resolve. Stop it.

"Don't tell me, you've got another woman now..?!"

"..Ngh."

She really is sharp. No, to be precise, is it even a different person? She was on the verge of tears now, trying to hold onto me.

"Look at you, you can't even answer.. Sir Knight's a player.."

"No, that's not it. It's just that you're precious to me too..."

I tried somehow to salvage what I'd said. In the end, if I wanted to wake from this dream and see Phine Gransia, I'd have to give up my Saintess.

"If I'm precious to you, can't you just give up on the person outside?"

"That wouldn't be real love, Saintess."

"..What?"

Nothing for it, I supposed. I tried pulling the sulking Saintess into a hug to soothe her. Her small frame fit neatly into my arms.

"Nngh. You think this'll make me forgive you..?! Ah, don't touch my ears.."

"Just calm down a little."

I even stroked her head. Soft hair and wolf ears caught between my fingers, and a faint scent of roses tickled my nose.

"Hnn.. Ah, this isn't how this is supposed to go.."

Watching her melt in my arms, smiling brightly, I spoke calmly.

So that she could understand. So that, even in a dream, my Saintess wouldn't be left feeling hurt.

"Refusing to love someone just because they're not the shape you want them to be, that isn't pure love."

"So you're saying you're going to go meet the version of me who's your own age, instead of the older me..?"

"Oh, you knew?"

She buried her face in my chest. The Nameless Saintess puffed out her cheeks, as if to emphasize just how sulky she was.

"Of course I knew. My Sir Knight, who only ever knew me, telling me another woman is more precious to him..."

My armor had to be hard against her, but she looked up at me from below, pitifully, the way a cat lifts its big round eyes.

"..Who wouldn't notice."

"I'm sorry, Saintess."

"Hngh.. I hate you, Sir Knight.. I hate you, Lee Suhyun.."

Her eyes reddened more and more, small tears like jewels spilling down. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Don't cry, Saintess. Please... If you do this, I can't leave.."

"..Hmph. As punishment, you're not going anywhere until you've stroked my head three hundred times."

Just how possessive is she. But seeing her talk to me like this, even indirectly, even in a dream, it really did seem like Phine Gransia and the Nameless Saintess were one and the same person.

'My spirit familiar rushed straight at her the first time it saw her too.'

I kept gently stroking her head as I thought it over. No matter how I looked at it, there were too many similarities, and what Ache had been after, in the end, had been Phine too.

'If she'd been hit by a bullet of Erasure of knowledge, then...'

Just imagining it was horrifying. Losing every memory, being forgotten by everyone around her, becoming an idiot herself, just like the pure-white woman in my arms right now.

I squeezed my eyes shut. And in that instant, I felt something soft, two soft things pressing against me, and my body stiffened. A pliant, overwhelming pressure. Don't tell me...

"Saintess..? Um, your chest is touching me?"

"I'm doing it on purpose. So you can't run away."

"..."

"..Just bite your tongue and die, you pervert wolf."

About a hundred strokes left to go. Could my sanity actually hold out. Singing the national anthem in my head, I kept stroking the Saintess's hair.

"Sir Knight. No, Lee Suhyun."

That was when it happened. She stroked my cheek and called my name.

"What is it? I've still got ninety-five strokes left..."

"Hehe, I understand plenty well now, how much you love me."

She smiled, her face still a little flushed from crying, an expression somewhere between relief and sorrow, impossible to tell if she was crying or laughing.

"Actually, I don't have a single memory from before I became the Saintess."

"..Saintess."

"That I could still be happy, even living a life like this, is thanks to you, Suhyun."

She was confessing the truth, piece by piece. No matter that this was my own dream, it was still inside the world of the game Grand Hearts Academia.

"I had no friends, no family... I kept praying and praying to the God of Light that I'd have someone by my side always..."

"It's alright now. Phine."

Everything she was saying right now was probably the truth. If I hadn't existed, being kidnapped by Ache and turned into the Saintess would have been the established story.

Even the Demon King had spoken of her, back at that tavern, as though he knew her. Phine, too, was an important figure caught up in that 'prophecy.'

Her becoming the Nameless Saintess and appearing in the original story or its sequel wouldn't have caused any contradiction in the plot, either.

"Back then, it was you who showed up, right at that moment. Even if I have Dennis, or the Heavenly Demon, or Kainel and Ariel now..."

"..."

"..At the very beginning, I had no one but you. Lee Suhyun."

After all, I was the only one who'd ever taken the Saintess route and defeated Magic Hat. From her standpoint, I must have been something like a savior.

"But Saintess, the same is true of the you who's outside, too."

"Why..? She's a princess, and she has parents. She's not powerless like me..!"

That was probably why she was being so greedy over me. People, by nature, always feel an empty space left behind more keenly than the place that was filled. Maybe she was simply afraid of feeling that emptiness again.

"She's exactly the same as you are right now. Phine Gransia."

"..What? The same as me? We just look alike. She's a different person..."

But my resolve had already been made, too firm to just indulge her. If I really did die like this, in the end, she would walk the exact same path.

Someone precious to her, killed by a Demon King all over again, and she'd go on living like the dead, unable to wash away the guilt. Because that was exactly what I'd done.

"No. Whatever anyone says, Phine is Phine."

"Liarrr.."

"My heart is the proof of that, Saintess."

The two of them were nothing more than two equally wounded wolves. Two pure-white women who'd come too far to ever find happiness. I released my armor and took her hand, placing it right in the center of my chest.

Thud. Thud.

My heartbeat, growing louder and louder.

"See that? One heart, only ever for one person."

"..You're right. How strange."

From the very start, my heart never so much as stirred for anyone but Phine, no matter what woman I looked at, it never once raced.

"I have to be here for her."

"If Suhyun's going to say it that firmly..."

She pulled away from my chest, wiping her tears with both hands, and spoke.

"I guess I have no choice but to tell her the truth, that she really is the same person.."

As if frustrated at having lost out to her own past self, she spoke with a touch of hurt in her voice.

"But I love you more than I did ten years ago..!! That much doesn't change..!!"

She thrust her chest forward as if showing off, clearly rivaling the Glass Knight version of Phine.

Looking at it this way, there was, admittedly, a clear difference... I had to fold up that irreverent thought and tuck it away for good. As I hung my head low,

"Then, Suhyun. When you wake up in reality, promise me just one thing."

"Anything. Phine."

Phine leaned to my ear and etched in a small, sweet whisper.

"Never cheat on me. And.. take care of me, going forward, too."

A voice I could never forget, even in a dream, the alluring, beautiful voice of a wolf.

The voice of the person I loved.

"..I understand."

The moment I heard that, I felt my heartbeat grow fierce, and a sensation of my entire body floating upward washed over me.

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