WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 103

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Episode 103. Remember Me Beneath the Magnolia Tree.

After receiving the Dragon Heart transplant, my body had grown stronger.

"..Licht, you should get some rest. You can't even walk properly yet."

Watching me barely manage push-ups on the bed, the blonde-haired hero clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"I have to, to adapt to the Dragon Heart's output."

"You really never change.."

"If I don't train, I'll be useless."

I let out a ragged breath. Three Demon Kings remained. To protect Phine, I needed to grow stronger, so this was only natural.

'Now that I'd taken down Head, I thought there'd be no chance of her becoming the Nameless Saintess.'

This world, it seemed, had no intention of leaving her alone.

Looking at the status window hovering there like a warning prompt, I felt a chill. So the penalty was still in effect.

It was my own fault for being happy about it without knowing what it meant, back when everyone was congratulating me.

[Reward: Return to the real world, Phine Gransia's 'Grand Route' ending.]

[On failure: ?emonification]

What on earth did "?emonification" even mean. At least her name being firmly changed to Phine Gransia was a good thing.

That was why I was gritting my teeth and training here on my sickbed. I was the only one who could protect her.

Penalty or whatever, who cared. Whatever came, I'd just sacrifice myself for it, I only had to make sure my Phine never ended up unhappy.

'If she'd become the Saintess, one thing was certain: she'd have been more miserable than she was now.'

Nex would have lost Chartiness, and Phine would have been forgotten by everyone around her, or lost her own memories and fallen into Erasure of knowledge.

That was the storyline of the original game and its sequel. I had to reject it outright.

"Mardol, no. Princess Phine explained the whole story to me."

"So you know now too, Kainel?"

"Yeah. Ariel and I went out to buy some fruit for a bit, and she told me to keep an eye on you."

Kainel spoke up. So Phine had told her real name to someone besides me now. It felt like progress, somehow, and it was strange to see.

"Asking me to just keep being friends with her... well, I guess that's Mardol for you."

"That's right, she's always been herself, through and through."

Fortunately, I didn't sense any awkward tension. If she had more friends, that was only good for me. Even as the Saintess, Phine had tended toward loneliness from having no friends.

"Licht. Turns out you did something amazing. I heard you even saved the princess with the Mana Rose?"

"I just did what needed doing, Kainel."

"The princess of the Gransia Empire, nursing you with such devotion... look at you, moving up in the world. Our Black Knight."

I wondered if this might actually be a good sign.

"..Isn't that kindness beyond what I deserve?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure the princess likes you plenty."

Thump. My arms gave out instantly and my face collapsed onto the bed. Phine, liking me? Phine Gransia, of all people, liking me?

"Kainel, what kind of nonsense is that..!"

Blood rushed to my face. I pushed myself upright and shouted back at him. There was no way that could be true.

"No, isn't it obvious? You saved her life from Magic Hat, and you took down Head Ache too."

"..."

"Licht, you even shared a mana circuit with the princess, didn't you. Your lives aren't literally connected, but you'd at least know where the other one is."

I couldn't stand the embarrassment anymore. I'd had Phine right beside me for three whole months and never even recognized her.

"Stop. Just stop."

"You have to live up to your own words, Licht."

Even with the affection level showing now, I was scared. I figured my favorability had already been cut down to the worst it could be.

It was only one percent, even. A number so low it could drop back to zero percent at any moment.

"To begin with, you're the one two-timing here. Keeping this 'Nameless Saintess' person around while also going after the princess..."

"Aaaaaargh!! Stop it!"

"What, I'm just giving my womanizing friend some advice."

Watching Yellow Dog smirk while mimicking my tone made me furious. My fist cut through empty air.

"There's no such thing as a harem pure love story. Pick one and live decently, Licht."

Seeing how weak I'd become, he pinned me down without effort. He blocked my fist easily with one hand.

"So you pick one too and make it clear. The Nameless Saintess, or the princess?"

"To begin with, I've only ever had one..!"

When had he gotten this good at teasing people. It was the exact opposite of how things had been when we first met.

"What'd you say? You're not two-timing after all..?"

That was when it happened. Click. The infirmary door opened, and a red-haired girl with twin braids and a white-haired wolfkin girl stepped inside.

"Kai, we're back! Huh..?"

"..Licht. You."

Ariel and Phine had come back with a basket of fruit. As if she'd sensed Kainel and I had nearly come to blows, Phine's golden wolf eyes were glaring straight at me.

"I told you to just rest quietly..."

"Ah, Phine.."

Tap, tap. Looking like she might actually be angry, she strode quickly over to me and lifted my visor.

"The, the burn scars.."

Worried the hideous burn scars might trouble her, I spoke up hastily. But instead, she swayed her tail gently and spoke slowly.

"I'm fine, Licht. This is proof of the life you've lived."

"Don't tell me.. you left them on purpose?"

That was a relief. Honestly, my guilt hadn't faded enough yet for me to erase the burns. This was something I needed to carry and live with.

"Yeah. I want you to hold your head up more. Don't just keep thinking bad thoughts like that."

"Thank you, for thinking of me that way."

Phine grabbed both my cheeks with her hands and pulled. Even watching my cheeks stretch out grotesquely,

she just let out a small hehe of a laugh. A cute little wolf fang peeked out.

"..So, what were you doing with Kainel. Tell me now."

"I didn't do anything..! Phine."

"Really? Kainel?"

Ah, my cheeks stung, but it felt good all the same. Seeing her going around now in just her armor, or in her academy uniform, filled me with quiet pride.

'So she's gone completely without the glass helm now. Good.'

Maybe the trauma that had gripped Phine had finally been resolved. Maybe she'd grown a little more confident facing the world now, too.

"Actually. This guy Licht, he was training his body just a minute ago."

"Kainel..! You'd betray me..!"

I'd been feeling relieved inside, but at the hero's answer, her pure white wolf ears perked up, and she turned her cold gaze back on me.

"Lie down. Licht."

"I still need to train more..!"

"Her Highness... you're not going to listen, are you..?"

"I'll lie down."

With her slender hands, she pressed down on me like a cat kneading, pinning me in place by sheer force so I couldn't get up. Why was she this strong. Even for the daughter of Emperor Rook, this was ridiculous.

'Believe it or not, I did take down a final boss.'

Maybe I just didn't want to get up, and that was why my strength wasn't cooperating. Or maybe I didn't want to shake off her worried touch.

"Ah, you can get up again now. Licht."

"What? Why the change, Phine."

"You need to eat some fruit. So you get better faster.."

Phine suddenly pulled me back up. Grabbing both my arms and drawing me up, her soft touch sent every nerve in my body into a frenzy.

"Ta-da..! Kai, it's a Cloud Peach! Phine and I bought them together~!"

"That thing's way too sweet.."

"Aww, don't play hard to get! You ate the chocolate parfait just fine last time!"

Ariel, her wizard hat pulled down low, smiled brightly and held out a white peach that looked like a hakuto to Kainel, and at that, the hero shot me a look begging for rescue.

"Leave Helmet guy to Phine and hurry up and eat!"

But there was no way I could help him.

"Here, Licht. Say ah."

Because I was under pressure of my own. Phine had peeled the peach at a speed I hadn't even noticed and was already pushing a slice toward my mouth.

"I can eat it myself, you know."

"My arm hurts, though.. Licht?"

Emperor Rook's own daughter, claiming her arm hurt from a Cloud Peach? It was a peach famous for being as light as a cloud and impossibly fluffy to boot.

"Uugh.. it's shaking.. Licht.."

Her oddly exaggerated trembling and words made it obvious she was lying, but since she wanted it this much, I decided to go along with it.

"Understood. Phine."

I deliberately started nibbling the peach into small bites. This really felt like it was going badly for me. Just what had past-me been doing all this time, that our Phine was acting like this now?

"..It's sweet."

I couldn't let my mouth accidentally touch her fingers, could I. I was being careful, in case some unexpected event triggered.

"Eat it all the way to the end. Licht."

"Hup..!"

Just as I tried to leave only the last little bit of the peach uneaten, she pushed her fingers into my mouth. I wished she'd at least used a fork.

"Hehe, you look like a scared little pup."

"..."

Phine's soft, plush fingers brushed against my lips. Whether she realized it or not, she just kept smiling with that foxlike, bewitching look in her eyes.

'Is this really what one percent looks like..?'

Struck by a sudden sense of unease, I glanced over at the hero couple beside us.

"Hehe, how is it? Kai, it's good, right!"

"Uh, yeah. It's good. Bitter... no, I mean sweet."

Yellow Dog, grimacing while trying not to let on that he couldn't handle sweets, had his mouth stuffed full of Cloud Peach,

"This time it's a Crystal Apple! This one's sweet too!"

"Ariel, th.. that's enough.."

Even seeing that, the red cat kept right on pushing sweet fruit into his mouth. And that was a couple at thirty-five percent affection.

"What is it, Licht?"

"It's nothing, Phine."

I concluded that Phine and I could easily end up the same way. It was fruit given by someone I loved, so I ought to eat it gratefully.

"Licht, your heart's acting up again."

"I told you, I'm fine. Don't climb onto the bed."

"No, it's definitely off.."

She rested one hand right at the center of my chest and checked her own heartbeat with the other, comparing the two pulses.

"Just chalk it up to how pretty you are, Phine."

"Oh.. Helmet guy. What's going on between you two..?!"

The moment I blurted that out, the Mage of Flames beside us slapped the Hero of Light's back and laughed behind her hand. Her expression said she'd just seen something good.

"We're just friends."

"Doesn't look that way to me. Really..?"

If I kept staying this close to Phine, I felt like my racing heart might actually kill me. At this rate, it'd almost be a happy death. More importantly, Ariel, don't you start in on this too.

"Oh, right, Helmet guy! That one from the Ten Greats... Baek-Mokryeon, was it? We found her."

"..Really?"

"Yeah! We just got back to the academy and saw Professor Dennis bringing her in."

It hadn't even been a few hours since I'd regained consciousness and told Dennis that the Heavenly Demon was at the center of the Endless Forest of Monsters.

"That's a relief."

So they'd already found her. Just as expected, with Ache dead, history had gone back to course and her Erasure of knowledge had been lifted. Even I'd only had a vague sense of where she was, though.

'With help from Laplace or the Sage, calculating exact spatial coordinates would be easy enough.'

I pushed myself up. She'd been my teacher for a month, after all, no matter what else.

I couldn't miss the reunion of <Knight Heart>'s protagonist couple.

It was a scene I'd already seen play out in the original story, but some instinctive hunch that this time it might go differently got me moving.

"Licht. If you're going to walk, hold onto me."

Phine looked at me with worried eyes and helped support me.

My body and mind still weren't quite in sync for walking. It felt something like being a baby taking its first steps.

"I need to practice on my own too."

"I don't mind, so come on."

If I could walk on my own, I could use the bathroom without Phine's help, and cut down on all this constant close physical contact. I put all my strength into my legs.

"I think I'm fine no..."

"Licht..?!"

I staggered. Shaking off her hand to try walking alone, I toppled backward. Losing my balance meant Phine, who was holding onto me, could have gotten hurt too.

Crash. The sound of the floor shaking rang out. My split-second judgment paid off.

"Are you.. are you hurt anywhere..?"

"I'm fine.. but..."

"Ah."

I'd barely managed to hit the ground first, wrapping both arms around the slender waist of the white-haired girl so she hadn't hit anything,

the two of us had ended up in a position where I'd landed gently, holding Phine as if in an embrace.

A rose scent drifted from her. A woman's sweet skin, the kind of smell that could melt your mind. The enthralling feel of her body all hit me at once.

"Licht, you okay?!"

"Phine, you're not hurt..?"

As if pinning me down, she lay on top while I lay flat on the ground beneath her, the two of us stacked together like a sandwich.

"..Pervert."

"I'm sorry."

A soft press. The overwhelming sensation against my chest made my head spin as if some fuse inside it had caught fire. This was an accident, though. If only I hadn't tried to walk on my own.

"Hehe, you're like a great big wolf."

None of this would have happened. Whether she knew or not what was going through my mind as I took slow, deep breaths, Phine kept nuzzling her face against me.

"So warm.."

Was she marking me with her scent? I'd heard about this as part of the game's setting once, that wolfkin sometimes did that to keep others from getting close.

'A wolf, huh, a wolf.... Right, our Phine really is a wolf after all.'

Barely keeping my composure, I got back up, and with her support, we made our way to meet the Heavenly Demon and Dennis.

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