WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 105

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Episode 105. Remember Me Beneath the Magnolia Tree.

When the sun sank below the horizon, and night fell once more.

"Bwahahat!! As expected, my disciple is something else!!"

"Drake, our Mokryeon is a disciple of yours too, you know."

A tavern somewhere in the Gransia Empire was bustling with noise.

"He was my disciple first!"

"So who actually caught Head Ache in the end? Drake. It wasn't you, was it."

"..Beatrice, you can't just go and say something correct all of a sudden!"

The academy's faculty had gathered to hold a celebration for the Heavenly Demon's return. Of course, Phine and I had been invited as well.

"Let's not be so snippy. Mokryeon's finally back after so long~."

"This one does not know you, however."

"But you wear flowers in your hair just like I do.... I admired you so much as a kid!"

Faces I hadn't seen in a long while. Beatrice needling the dragonslayer, Maria trying to cozy up to Baek-Mokryeon.

"Everyone drink up tonight! I'm buying!"

"Waaaah!!"

Splash- The crisp sound of beer being poured from an oak cask rang out as a dwarf who looked like a server did the honors, and Dennis slid a chilled, brimming glass mug down one end of the table.

"..That good-for-nothing certainly knows how to provoke this one."

Baek-Mokryeon watched him with her arms crossed and a disapproving look on her face. Beside her, I stood barely upright, propped up by Phine.

"Disciple. Even with your master before you, your greeting comes late."

"This unworthy disciple greets his master."

The Heavenly Demon greeted me, looking my way. I'd figured I would manage to free her eventually, but I never expected it to happen this fast. I bowed my head deeply.

"Should you not at least perform the nine bows in respect?"

"Ah, yep."

"Licht, she's lying. Don't do it."

I'd thought I really had to bow nine times. Just as I bent my knees to start, the white-haired girl grabbed hold of me and stopped me.

"Khahaha! Just when did you turn into the sort of man kept on such a tight leash by a woman!"

"..."

It's only because it's my Phine Gransia that I'm on that leash, I wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out. I was far too embarrassed.

"Did you not once sing on and on about wanting to see that Nameless Saintess or whatever she was?"

"I knew it. She's the problem."

Honestly, I had no face to talk back to the Heavenly Demon here. The reason I'd taken down Head Ache in the first place had been for Phine, after all,

"I'm glad to see you looking well."

Every Heart Sword I had drawn so far, I had drawn thinking of my Phine, and it was with the resolve to grow stronger that I had endured the Heavenly Demon's training in the first place.

Revealing here that Phine had been the Nameless Saintess would only hurt her.

Not that I had ever shown her kindness in order to win back some past love, though.

"This one never imagined our disciple would go so far as to slay a Demon King!"

"Aren't Demon Kings always the ones who end up losing, in the end?"

"Indeed. A fair point."

If I told her the truth, Phine would never stop doubting me. To begin with, a different world entirely,

and on top of that, possessing a character I'd raised inside a game, who on earth would actually believe a story like that.

That was also why I had once simply introduced myself to Phine as 'a Black Knight who came to make you happy.'

"To think you drove off a Demon King with a Heart Sword drawn while thinking of your saintess, and not just one, but two of them."

"Even I thought one was already my limit."

"..It is no common thing. It means the boy's heart-image has taken on that many different forms and subtleties."

Conviction, which stood in for her tears. Old Thought, formed the moment she pulled me back from within my trauma.

My love for Phine Gransia was, in truth, an old thing, yet it had never even properly begun.

"Strive on further still, my beloved disciple."

"Thank you, O Heavenly Demon."

Before, we had simply been a game character and a player, after all.

A one-sided love not unlike a crush, feelings running only in one direction.

Overlaying Phine onto the Saintess, or trying to reshape her according to my own wishes, that isn't love.

Isn't being able to love even Phine's true self what pure love really means?

I love every part of her. I couldn't cast magic on my own in this world, but I think love itself is the only magic that can turn something you once disliked into something you love.

If something isn't working, we can fix it together. If she's slow, I can just match my pace to hers.

"..Um, auntie."

No matter what trial or hardship stood before me, I was confident I could overcome it with love.

"Stop acting so familiar with my Licht."

"Hmm, a child who shows no fear even before this one!"

Watching Phine act like this toward the people around me, her affection level seemed to be spiking in odd directions. No sooner had I started talking with the Heavenly Demon than,

"Phine, no matter what, she's still my master."

"..I don't like it when you talk to pretty women."

"Then what about Ariel?"

Phine immediately pulled me back and hustled us both away. Why in the world was my adorable Platinum Wolf acting like this toward me?

'Could she actually like me..?'

That thought filled my head for one brief moment. But there was no way that could be true. Back in reality, too, thinking that way had never once panned out.

"Ariel has Kainel, doesn't she."

"Then doesn't the same go for my master, who has Professor Dennis? Phine."

Before I was burned, there had been women who told me they liked me, but back then I never dated anyone, afraid of becoming a burden to someone.

Later on, there had only ever been the Saintess for me, so I'd lived without really knowing much about romance in the first place. My wife was inside my monitor, after all.

"I don't know, I just don't like it."

"Kuh! In the end, it is because this one is simply stronger, and she is warding you off on instinct."

"..That's exactly why I don't like her."

So it really wasn't because she liked me, after all. Who falls in love these days just because someone saved their life? That kind of thing had gone out of fashion ages ago.

"Your name was Phine, was it not?"

"Yes, Baek-Mokryeon."

Just as I let out a sigh of relief, the Heavenly Demon sat me down in a chair and led Phine off somewhere for a moment. I kept watching the whole time, worried about what might happen.

"This one has no need to..."

"Really?"

"..."

The two of them were whispering. Too far away to make out. What in the world could two women possibly be talking about that was so entertaining? I wondered how much time had passed.

"All right. I'll trust you."

"Khahaha! Disciple, you truly are a wicked man, are you not!"

Phine had started speaking politely to the Heavenly Demon, the same way she did with Dennis. Just from a few words exchanged, our Glass Knight had changed that much?

She came toward me, even wearing a small smile. Her white hair fluttered, and it was undeniably pretty, but,

"What in the world did you say to my Phine?!"

"Would it not be better for you to rack that dull head of yours over it, disciple?"

Baek-Mokryeon tapped her temple with a finger as she said her piece, and Phine dragged her chair over next to mine, closing the distance between us.

"Let's drink tonight, Licht."

"..Huh? Earlier you told me not to drink since I'm still recovering."

"I want to win against that 'Nameless Saintess.'"

Ah, so she'd told Phine something about the Saintess. I gritted my back teeth and made a face like I was doomed, and the woman with the deer antlers just bared her dragon fangs and laughed.

"Licht. I hear she does not even know you all that well."

That was when it happened. A blue-haired man approached from the side. His eyes, a blue like the deep sea, were striking.

"Mokryeon, why are you over here."

"Eek. Ah, ahem. Dennis! You must not just lift this one up all of a sudden!"

"You're light as anything. Quit bothering the kids and come on."

Dennis, who had crept up beside the Heavenly Demon without anyone noticing, swept her up into a princess carry. Baek-Mokryeon, looking embarrassed in his arms, covered her face with both hands.

So our master could let out a cute little shriek like that too. How curious.

"Drink easy tonight. Being able to celebrate like this today is all thanks to you, Licht."

"No. If it weren't for Phine, I wouldn't even be here."

"Fair enough, I suppose that's true too. I'll be taking my wife off now."

The blue-haired man gave a soft, smiling look. His eyes no longer glowed, since he wasn't keeping a defensive spell running at all times anymore. His steps were steady, unclouded by drink.

"Do as you please. Congratulations to you both."

"You have a good night too, Licht."

The protagonist who had spent his life stumbling along as a drunkard had finally found the right path and started walking it.

"Dennis..! I still have not introduced the disciple to a nice wom..."

"Mokryeon, that's not the sort of thing an old-timer should be giving advice on."

"Ngh.. This one truly cannot best him, it seems."

The two of them turned and walked off toward where the rest of the faculty had gathered, and the couple, murmuring quietly to each other face to face, looked happy.

"Everyone, raise your glasses!"

"Cheers!!"

"Cheeers!!"

People laughing brightly all around. Maybe I'd been born just to witness a scene like this. Faces full of joy, and the flush of drink.

"Sister-in-law, please take good care of our Dennis!"

"Laplace. Quiet down, will you!! Bwahahat!!"

Clink. The sound of glasses ringing together. Right in the middle of a tavern where everyone seemed melted together into one, like molten metal in a furnace,

[Dennis and Baek-Mokryeon's affection level has reached 100%!]

I looked at the status window floating in front of me and smiled faintly. Not bad, for something like this.

[EVENT CG: "Love Beneath the Magnolia Tree." has been collected!]

So that must be the kiss scene beneath the magnolia tree I'd just seen, made with the three-dimensional magic circle. In the original story, they'd just cried and reunited, and that was it.

'Is it because I taught Dennis the three-dimensional magic circle?'

The event scenes had grown even richer for it. Which meant the other couples included in the status window were probably the same way.

I found myself looking forward to what might come out of Nex's or Kainel's case. Maybe there'd be plenty more touching scenes like this one?

[As expected of the Pure Love Black Knight, Lee Suhyun! I knew I could count on you! ✧(-ᴗ•̀｡]

This thing that never helped at all when it actually mattered was making the biggest fuss. If it trusted me so much, it could at least wipe the penalty for failure.

"..Licht, let's drink this."

"Huh..? What's this..?"

As I sat there for a moment with my chin propped on my hand, mulling over the status window in front of me, Phine pushed a drink toward me.

'Lumen's Sleeptalk.'

The drink Head Ache had recommended, back when I met him last time. Was it really all right for me to drink this?

"Are you sure about this? It's supposed to be pretty strong. Isn't it what the dwarves drink?"

"I want something strong."

From what I knew, it was supposed to be something dwarves drank after finishing a Masterpiece, when they couldn't get to sleep. Something about how, after pouring out that much concentration, the tension just wouldn't let go, or so it went.

"..What's the reason?"

"Because when you're drunk, your guard drops, Licht."

Her golden, predator-like eyes met mine and gleamed. Now that I thought about it, with neither Kainel nor Ariel around, I wouldn't even have an excuse.

"Let's drink it slowly, though, Phine."

"I counted, once. I could drink more than you, Licht."

Phine let out a small laugh, huhu. When had she become someone who could melt so easily into a mood like this? It was a world apart from the doll-like, emotionless girl I'd first met.

If she wanted to drink, then I'd drink with her. I could just play the Black Knight before anything happened, after all.

Phine brought over a small cup. The moment we filled each other's cups,

"Then let's have our own toast too."

"Cheers."

Glancing out the window, I saw a crescent moon, and just like that moon beginning to wax full again, we started to drink.

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