WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 112

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Episode 112. The Unmelting Heart of the North.

A massive snow-capped mountain filled my vision, stark white as if painted with a brush, beneath a sky scattering snowflakes.

White breath began puffing from my mouth with every exhale.

The moment we arrived in the North and stepped off the ship, people with bear ears, wrapped in thick fur, appeared all around us.

"Welcome to the Land of Iron and Blood! All of you!"

Their movements were disciplined and precise, as if several people moved as one.

Unlike the Imperial Guard, these weren't sword-wielding knights but spear-carrying soldiers, a thoroughly muscular warrior race.

'So this is the escort force that protects the Grand Duchess here in the North. I've heard of them.'

With the Imperial Guard present as well, it would honestly be stranger if there weren't a force protecting Sophitia.

Their uniforms were all matching black, a bear emblem catching my eye.

"Hahaha!! It's really cold here!!"

"Licht…. watch your step.."

Phine laced her fingers through mine and held on tight. Unlike me, plagued by cold hands and feet, hers were warm. So a kind heart makes for cold hands? Total bullshit.

"I'm all right now, Phine."

Watching the Northerners, hardened by life on such rough terrain, I felt a quiet sense of wonder.

'..So this is the Land of Iron and Blood, Kaprostia.'

That gigolo bastard had said he was eating chicken breast and hitting the gym in real life, trying to live like the Northerners. Turns out that was genuine madness after all.

I should never end up living like that. I'm probably plenty normal as I am.

Becoming a beta tester just to keep your favorite character alive is common enough in gaming subculture circles, after all.

"Loyalty to Kaprostia!"

"Her Highness Coldheart approaches!"

That was when it happened. As they formed ranks and cleared the center, a woman stepped forward, walking with haughty grace.

"Hello. I'm Sophitia Coldheart, current leader of the North."

She too wore a black uniform and cloak, black from head to toe. Almost a dead ringer for the illustration that self-proclaimed Northern Grand Duchess's Husband once showed me.

"Thank you so very much for personally coming as reinforcements from the Gransia Empire-"

Sophitia Coldheart.

Daughter of the man known among the Ten Greats as the Iron-Blooded Grand Duke of the North, and like Phine, she had animal ears.

A black-haired woman with a ponytail, bear ears, and a bear tail.

The mistress of the North, more famously known among players by the nickname "Bearchess," looked our way with a startled expression.

"Phine..? I hadn't heard anything about you coming here."

"..Hi, Sophie."

Startled, she, who'd been approaching with her high heels clicking against the ground, nearly tripped over a stone,

"Your Highness Coldheart!! Are you all right!!"

barely catching herself on the spear she carried, clutching her startled chest as she took deep breaths. Understandable, really, given that from her position, the single most powerful figure in the Empire had just appeared out of nowhere.

"I, I'm…. fine."

"..."

The tense atmosphere dissolved in an instant. Only once Sophitia shot Phine a strange look did the Northerners, who'd looked like a disciplined escort force, start to stir uneasily.

"I told you not to call me that nickname.. Phine."

"But Sophie is Sophie."

If I had to sum up the Grand Duchess, she was like the eternal runner-up of the class, I guess. According to that gigolo bastard, she could never quite beat the imperial family.

But as far as I knew, the Empire and the North had a relationship like a king and a vassal who helped each other, so it made sense that Phine and Sophitia knew one another.

'Then this must be something else Erasure of knowledge stole from her.'

Guessing at the atrocities the Demon Kings had committed, fury boiled up in me all over again. They could have at least left her friends alone.

"How in the world did you even end up in the North? Phine Gransia."

"..Followed my idiot puppy."

Still holding my hand, Phine lifted our joined arms slightly, as if to point out that I was the puppy in question. I'd much rather be a wolf than a mutt, personally. Cooler.

"You really never change, do you."

The Northern Grand Duchess pressed at her own brow, complaining of a headache.

Our Phine was a bit of an odd one, sure. Before I knew it, the bear-eared girl had stepped right up in front of me.

"So.. this is Licht, is it."

Eyes like blue ice studied me. This was the first time I'd actually seen her in person.

In the game too, the North had made plans to flee once Lupus eventually inherited the imperial throne.

"I hear you defeated the Demon King of Omniscience."

"Yes, Your Highness Coldheart."

She looked me up and down, studying me from every angle. If that gigolo bastard ever found out, he'd try to kill me, so I kept my gaze fixed on the sky.

"Is the helmet something you wear for combat, Licht?"

"..Something like that."

Telling her I couldn't take it off wouldn't help either, she might try lifting the visor like Phine had. I needed to avoid anything that could turn into a flag, as much as possible.

A hidden expert who goes around concealing his face? Obviously easy to get tangled up with heroines. And someone falling for him the moment they saw his face was a total cliché, too.

Well, whatever the case, my burn scars would probably put her off regardless, but at the very least, I shouldn't end up causing a harem or an NTR plot.

"Good. Pass."

Besides, I couldn't even tell if she was pretty to begin with. Our Phine was simply too high a standard. Same with Ariel. Sophitia just looked like some potato rolling around on the ground, by comparison.

"You look pretty capable. Want to spar with some Northerners?"

Honestly, maybe my eyes were just too devoted to one person to judge properly. I never did understand those heroine tournament brackets that used to pop up on the game community boards.

"Depending on the results, maybe you'll join our escort force…."

The Northern Grand Duchess couldn't finish her sentence. Someone had equipped their Masterpiece and stepped between me and the Grand Duchess. Their height and build surged in an instant.

"Don't touch what's mine. Sophitia."

The Glass Knight glared with golden eyes from within her helmet, warning the Grand Duchess off. Master Drake let out an "Oh boy.." at the sight,

"Phine? Didn't expect you to shield a man."

Watching the scene, Sophitia's eyes curved as though she found something interesting. Ah, damn it. I was terrified a flag was about to plant itself.

"Your Highness, even so, this is a public occasion."

"But.. but.. that bear lump was about to snatch Licht away first…."

Phine kept glancing anxiously back and forth between me and the Grand Duchess. Calm down, Phine. I'm not going anywhere without you.

"Princess Gransia. I've devoted my body and soul to the Empire."

"Ah, that's true.."

"I'll never leave your side."

"Okay.. Licht. I'll trust you."

Only after hearing my firm answer did the Princess dismiss her glass armor. And then came the shocking statement that followed.

"..Licht is going to join my Imperial Guard. Don't even think about poaching him, Sophitia."

Phine, you can actually speak properly when you want to, can't you. Same as last time. I guess she really is a nation's princess after all. The type who states her mind clearly when it counts.

Without so much as asking me, my joining the Imperial Guard had already been decided. When on earth had she even come up with this idea?

Of course, if it's what she wants, I'd welcome it with open arms. If our Platinum Wolf says jump, I jump.

"But isn't the Imperial Guard chosen by His Majesty, Phine?"

Sophitia propped her chin lightly on her hand and lobbed a probing question at the Princess. Much like that gigolo bastard, this woman was probably a fairly strategic sort too.

"Doesn't matter. I can just name him a Black Wolf on my own authority."

"Your Highness, even so, this isn't right."

Regardless, Phine wouldn't bend from her own conviction. She pressed close to my side again, hooking her arm through mine, and wrapped her tail around my leg besides.

"No. Licht and I are connected to each other. There's no finer talent for a guard than him."

Please don't say things that sound like a misunderstanding to anyone listening. It's just that our mana circuits are linked, so we can roughly sense where the other is, nothing more,

[Phine, why are you doing this. Grand Duchess Sophitia is going to get the wrong idea.]

We just secretly use telepathy magic, it's a simple relationship really, so I don't understand why she's so attached to me like this. Her favorability toward me is probably rock bottom, and her affection level's at two percent.

[Wait, are you seriously taking some other woman's side over mine right now..? Licht?]

Besides, unlike in the game, she wasn't even the Nameless Saintess, so we shouldn't have built up any proper romance arc. Did something happen while I was unconscious?

[..Licht. Just wait until we get back to the Empire.]

Squeeze. The tail wrapped around my leg tightened its grip. Even if I was built to specialize in fighting Demon Kings, this felt like a bit much.

[If you keep this up, I'm not petting your head.]

[...]

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't see any rosy romantic undertone to Phine liking me. Maybe I should have read more romance novels.

Phine Gransia was, mismatched as it was with someone like me, possessed of stunning beauty besides, and this was practically reality now, not some virtual game.

Falling for someone on a whim never leads anywhere good.

"Anyway.. Licht belongs to our Empire. Sophitia."

Only after I threatened not to pet her head did she finally dial back what she was saying.

"Phine, a person's heart moves on money, in the end."

Watching the exchange, the Northern Grand Duchess sighed as if at a loss for words. White breath puffed out of her, and something glinting came flying toward me.

'..An Imperial gold coin?'

Too many people were standing around for me to draw the iron sword at my waist, the way I would when practicing my Shadow Slash, so I caught every one of the flying coins with my bare hands instead.

"Beyond what I imagined. To think you'd catch even these. I threw them for real, too."

The Northern Grand Duchess had thrown several coins to test me. I'd been training under Master Drake for five years now. This much was child's play.

"You really are a capable talent, aren't you. Won't you truly consider working for our Kaprostia?"

The Grand Duchess smiled like a fox, calling the gold coins I'd caught an advance payment.

Absolutely not. Did I want that gigolo bastard ripping my front door off its hinges and storming into my house in real life?

"I'll have to decline…."

And because of you, our Phine nearly got hit too. Watching her try to forcibly win someone over like that, bitterness rose up inside me, and just as I was about to spit out my refusal,

"Licht doesn't like barren, nutrient-empty land. Like you."

Phine Gransia said this while hooking her arm through mine tightly, pressing my arm into a huge, soft mass.

So incredibly soft. It felt like every drop of blood in my body was boiling. My reason was screaming. Somebody save me.

"And you, a wolf, have put on some unnecessary weight, haven't you."

"Better than not having a single blade of grass, like the North."

Honestly, compared to the Empire's princess, the Northern Grand Duchess was on the flat side. A barren chest with nothing there, just like her own remark implied.

"Is that really true? Phine, everyone's eyes go to money the same way, don't they?"

"Hmph, Sophitia. Licht is different."

Why did that gigolo bastard even like this kind of thing? No matter how much I tried to respect other people's tastes, I'd honestly believe it if someone told me she was a woman dressed up as a man.

"..The perverted puppy likes this kind of thing more, anyway."

She wasn't wrong, exactly. No, wait, it's because it's you, Phine. Even if it's big, it's because you're the one I like, that's all.

'I don't feel a thing looking at Ariel or the Heavenly Demon, anyway.'

This was exactly why that gigolo bastard always teased me for having a Saintess fetish rather than a big-chest fetish. If it bothered him that much, he could go earn some real stats of his own.

"If that's how you feel, I'll give up cleanly. Sorry for testing you."

Only after seeing Phine's firm resolve did the Grand Duchess's expression relax slightly, as though things had gone exactly as she'd expected.

"Let's head inside for now, Phine. Asha Aureus is waiting for us in there."

She gave a small nod, as if she'd caught on to something between Phine and me, and strode inside with her black hair fluttering behind her.

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