WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 111

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Episode 111. The Unmelting Heart of the North.

* * *

According to the setting, the North was said to freeze even the sea solid, and it was famous for its cold, brutal climate.

"Hahahaha!! Now that's a brisk wind blowing!"

That was why Phine, Master Drake, and I had boarded a magic-powered icebreaker.

We cut through the waves, heading north, where there were reports of monsters attacking.

'I never thought I'd end up going with Phine.'

I'd told her to go back to the imperial palace, but she'd said that since she'd basically snuck out already, going back now would only get her in worse trouble, so for the time being, I let her come aboard.

"Licht, do you know a lot about the North too?"

"Actually, not really."

"I thought you knew everything."

If the Emperor ever found out about this, I might as well be a dead man.

Between this and the burn ointment, why was she being so thoughtful? I really didn't understand a woman's heart.

"..So there are things you don't know. Okay, that's fine then."

Fine about what, exactly? Watching her look at me with that captivating little smile, my face burned. Thank god I was wearing my helmet.

'Maybe I should have actually dated someone in real life.'

Even now, Phine was stuck right by my side. Was this because she was grateful I'd saved her life from a Demon King, or gotten her mother back for her?

"Licht, aren't you cold?"

"A little. Guess I just run cold."

Even setting my own near-death experience against it, there was no way someone would fall in love with you just for saving their life.

"Hehe, you'll be warm soon."

Slowly, her pure-white wolf tail wound around one of my legs again. It was definitely warm. A soft, cozy sensation, like cotton.

'If I died tomorrow, this would count as a happy death, Lee Suhyun.'

I almost blurted out something crude, so I covered the front of my helmet. Please, stop doing this without even realizing it.

"Phine, why do you keep wrapping your tail around my leg?"

"Hm? Werewolves do this with family all the time."

I don't know that lore. Even you, back when you were the Nameless Saintess, never did this. I knew werewolves were supposed to resemble wolves a lot, but wrapping tails together was never part of it.

That was definitely a lie. The princess avoided my eyes, staring off at some distant mountain.

"Please stop doing this. Someone might get the wrong idea."

"..Fine. Licht."

That was when it happened. Phine hugged me. I couldn't help but panic at the sudden move. A soft pressure pressed against me.

"Then, is this okay?"

"..Just the tail is fine."

An overwhelming, wordless pressure was bearing down on me, and her breath, so close, left my head spinning.

Who hugs someone just because things didn't go their way?

I'd felt it before, but she really was clumsy about this. Like she'd learned love and romance entirely from books.

'She'd even said once that doing this would make me treasure her more.'

Damn it, what could I do to put Phine's mind at ease? She was the person I treasured and cherished most of all. If only there were some way to express that....

"Operation: success."

The white-haired girl smiled with her eyes and finally let go of the arms she'd wrapped around me. Seeing that she'd wound her tail back around me again, a good idea came to mind.

"..Hyaa."

"I told you to stop doing that. Phine."

The tip of her tail kept swaying, and it bothered me, and besides, I didn't want to let her keep holding the upper hand anymore.

"Licht.. my tail.. my tail is sensitive..."

Hugging me whenever she pleased, no matter how you sliced it, was a nuisance. I still had to persuade Asha Aureus going forward, and this could get in the way.

"Phine, don't try to hug me when people are around."

"Th-then.. is it okay when there's no one around..?"

I gently stroked her tail in the direction of the fur. It felt like a huge cotton ball, oddly fascinating. Were all wolves' fur this soft?

"Just the two of us, sure. As much as you want."

"Okay. Now, st-stop it. Licht.. something feels strange.."

It was addictive, so I kept petting it, and Phine's cheeks turned red. Ah, had I overdone it? She liked having her ears touched, so I'd figured her tail would be the same.

"Sorry. I'll stop."

She dropped her head and gave my chest a weak little tap with her hand. I guess that had been the wrong choice.

The white tail wrapped around my leg tightened even more, to the point my blood flow was getting cut off.

"I'm mad. Licht.."

"Phine, that hurts. Stop."

"Licht's bad, you're so bad. You player.."

Why was I a player in the first place?

Don't talk to me like some heroine scolding a harem protagonist. I've never once looked twice at another woman besides you.

"I went too far, so please stop. Just stop.. Besides, I'm not a player."

"Then you're a pervert. Licht's a pervert."

Her fists came down harder and harder. My ribs were rattling.

"Phine, please, stop.."

Stop it, at this rate I'm actually going to die. It looked like she'd even teared up a little, a glimmer welling in her eyes.

"Where in the world.. did you learn to do this..!"

So I really had messed up. It seemed the tail really was a sensitive spot for werewolves. Just as I resolved never to do it again,

"Oh, for goodness' sake, would you two quit making such a spectacle of yourselves!!"

"..."

Drake had seen Phine and me arguing and snapped at us. Phine's barrage of blows stopped immediately.

"..Hmph. Licht. You're not allowed to touch any other woman's tail."

She whipped her head away to show her displeasure, puffing out her cheeks in a cute little pout. So does that mean I can touch your tail later, then?

"Kid, are you seriously impotent? Or don't tell me you've got no dating experience at all?"

"..I have no dating experience, actually."

At my master's question, who was thumping his own chest in frustration as he looked at me, I had no choice but to confess the truth.

"A werewolf's tail is.... No. Forget it. I should just keep my mouth shut!!"

At that moment, Phine's tail gave a sharp little sway.

Wondering what that meant, I glanced over and saw that even with her head turned away from me, the wolf ears atop her head were perking up, straining to hear more.

'..She's still not unwinding her tail, though.'

Maybe it wasn't as serious as it looked. Even while sulking, she never let up on binding me in place.

"You made your own bed, so you can lie in it!! Hahahaha!!"

I'd figured she'd be so exasperated by this that she'd finally unwind the tail from my leg.

"Even if the Emperor's about to do you in, don't you dare come crying to me!!"

"Wait, why are you suddenly yelling? You're scaring our Phine."

I covered Phine's ears with my hands. His voice boomed across the deck loud enough that my heart nearly dropped.

"..Licht. You don't have to do that."

The platinum wolf turned to look at me again. Thankfully, her mood seemed to have lifted. Honestly, I wasn't even entirely sure what had set her off in the first place.

"'Our'..? 'Our' Phine?! Do you have any idea how terrifying Rook really is?!"

"I know very well. He's the Wolf King even the Heroic Cult's Demon Kings fear."

He looked like a man in shock, unable to close his mouth.

Well, of course she was our Phine, not someone else's. At least until she found someone better than me, or someone she actually liked.

'Emperor Rook wasn't hostile toward anyone who wasn't a Demon King or a Hero, anyway.'

She was the whole reason I'd picked the nickname Pure Love Dark Knight in the first place, the person who was like salvation itself, keeping me alive.

No matter how terrifying Emperor Rook was, I'd become the Dark Knight who stayed at her side.

"..Oh, good grief!!"

"What's gotten into you..? Master."

Seeing how close Phine and I were standing, he grumbled at me like he had a complaint. Drake stood in front of me, pointing at my helmet.

"Weren't you the one gritting your teeth through training to protect some Saintess?! And now you're-"

"It doesn't matter anymore."

Ugh, I had to cut him off fast before he said something strange. If Phine found out the Nameless Saintess was her, she'd hate me for it, just like this.

'At the very least, I have to take down Magic Hat first, the most important one.'

Besides, until I'd taken down all the Demon Kings, the route where she fell into misfortune still seemed to remain open. I'd already defeated Ache, the final boss of <Knight Heart>, but,

"..Really?"

"Really. Phine."

Unless I killed the Demon King of Truth beforehand, the future where Phine died in the sequel, Black Heart, wouldn't change.

Looking at the Grand Route's progress and penalties displayed on my status window, it was practically a certainty.

"That's not true.. you're lying.. Licht.."

If I casually talked about love with her and then had to watch her die, I'd go insane. Just imagining it was horrifying enough that I closed my eyes.

'Besides, now that I think about it, this is a death flag.'

If, by some slim chance, Phine actually came to like me, I'd still have to cross between life and death several more times to finish off every last Demon King.

"Phine, there's nothing I value more than you."

"..This time it's real. I'll believe you."

I didn't mind dying for Phine's sake, but she might end up sinking into grief over losing me. Like in the game company's other titles, I had to be careful with flags.

'..Ah, should I check her affection level?'

I suddenly grew curious what the princess in front of me actually thought of me. The affection level shown on my status window was at two percent, after all.

I should cross-check it with this. A system that appeared identically in both the first and second games.

Affection, a gauge representing either the odds of dating someone or how close you were with a character.

Part of it was that I had my doubts the status window could really be trusted, and,

'I should at least check the affection meter, the side I actually understand.'

If her affection was high, the way it had shown up as a flag in the earlier games too, maybe I could figure out why Phine was acting like this.

Let's try a dad joke using the Northern Grand Duchess's name, Sophitia Coldheart.

She was the type who liked this kind of joke anyway.

"Phine, does the Northern Grand Duchess happen to..."

"Don't even bring up that frigid bitch."

"..."

Uh oh, looks like her affection was rock bottom, after all. Phine even let out a small, low growl, baring her little fangs.

'Did they know each other?'

Actually, back when she was the Nameless Saintess, it had seemed like she had no acquaintances, friends, or even family who knew her. But now it was a relationship between a princess and a Grand Duchess.

It made more sense that Phine Gransia and Sophitia Coldheart would know each other. To begin with, both of their fathers belonged to the Ten Greats, after all.

"Do you know Sophitia? Phine?"

"..I know her more than well enough, so don't. Licht."

Terrifying. Was this really our Phine? Her tone had turned ice-cold, and it felt like a lump of lead had settled in my chest. I guess I'd brought up the wrong topic.

So the North and the imperial family really didn't get along. Maybe because their power was too evenly matched. I waved my hands frantically, seeing Phine even glaring at me.

"Sorry. A friend of mine just told me about her, and I was just trying to make a joke."

"..A female friend?"

That gigolo of a friend was definitely a guy. There was no way he'd turn out to secretly be a woman, like some gaming addict cliché somewhere. I'd even heard his voice when we ran raids together,

"A friend of the same sex!!"

He'd made it crystal clear before that he was a man. He'd even declared, like some famous quote, that any true son of Korea ought to love bear beastfolk.

'This was the same guy who used to mock me for liking the Saintess, calling it a fetish.'

But the imperial family was stronger anyway. That guy always grumbled that no matter how much he threw his weight around in the North, he still had to watch out for Emperor Rook.

"And I don't like bears. I actually like wolves."

"Licht, this is the part of you I hate."

There'd been chat messages before about the Northern Grand Duchess keeping an eye on the imperial family, and accordingly, I'd given advice on cutting Lupus out.

"You keep... rushing right in on me."

"..Same goes for you. Phine."

So Phine wouldn't sulk any further, I gently stroked her head. Her ears folded back, making room,

"Hnn.. Licht.."

Her white tail spun like a motor going full blast. I'd seen in a documentary once that wolves couldn't be tamed. Maybe werewolves were different.

"You two knuckleheads!! We've already arrived while you two were busy playing with fire!!"

Just then, Drake shouted over at us.

The ship's motion had come to a stop at some point without my noticing.

"..Licht, let's be careful getting off. The ground's probably frozen."

"Ah, thank you for looking out for me. Phine."

While we'd been talking, we arrived in the North, where snow was falling.

Back in the Empire it had been muggy, full-on midsummer. The climate here was completely different. She laced her fingers through mine and started walking alongside me.

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