WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 121

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Episode 121. We Fight, But We Also Love.

* * *

Surprisingly, dealing with the undead monster was over quickly.

If it had just been Asha Aureus the elementalist, or the Northern Grand Duchess who fought with nothing but a spear, it might have been rough, but

'Right now, there's also Drake, a Grand Sword Master, and me, who can use the Heart Sword.'

No matter how endlessly it regenerated, no matter that it refused to die.

Drive Old Thought in and shatter it completely from the inside, and even a creature that knew nothing of death would die.

"Bad monster. I hate you."

In the end, Phine loosed dozens of glass swords and tore it apart completely.

Necromancy demanded corpses or life force as collateral. It wasn't limitless.

In truth, it might have been a flawless scheme woven by Omniscience.

Watching the glass shards glitter in the sunlight, I thought it over briefly.

'Because in the original story, without Phine or me around, the north would have fallen into danger.'

From what I'd heard from that gigolo bastard, the north ends up occupied by the Apostle of Wrath at least once.

'To begin with, since it wasn't a Demon King but only an apostle, I underestimated it too much….'

This whole affair had been in motion since before Head died.

Maybe Omniscience or Erasure of Knowledge had opened a gap in the defensive line.

And Sophitia Coldheart's personality was supposedly hardened cold by this exact past incident,

but the Northern Grand Duchess I'd just met for the first time didn't seem all that cold.

Had something changed her heart? Or was it because I'd stopped the attack before it happened this time?

"What's wrong?! Are you moved to tears by your master's magnificent form?! Buahahaha!!"

As I propped my chin on my hand out of habit, hunting for the piece that didn't add up, the short-haired blond man shrugged at me, brimming with confidence.

Unlike how the game portrayed him, that man was secretly sharp. Just now he'd pointed out that one of the undead monster's arms was oversized, and

"Thank you for the advice earlier."

thanks to that, whenever it swung its right arm, I hadn't rushed in recklessly and had focused only on defense.

"You should have noticed it before I did!"

Was there something he wasn't satisfied with? He frowned, looking dissatisfied.

"Disciple, don't tell me you're becoming some hollow fool who relies on nothing but his sword's power!"

Drake said this while looking at my blue-tinged Heart Sword.

"..No, sir."

I mulled it over, watching the Black Knight helmet reflected in the blade. To be precise, I didn't rely on the sword itself.

'I rely on Phine Gransia.'

More than the Heart Sword's power or abilities, Phine Gransia mattered to me, to the point that as long as I could protect her, nothing else mattered at all.

Because every Heart Sword I forged was made from memories of Phine.

If I'd been drunk on power and thought I could win someone's heart just as I pleased, I'd never have made it this far.

A strange title like Hero of Conviction had never really been necessary.

To begin with, I never wanted to be the kind of guy who builds himself a harem and lives it up.

'A playboy surrounded by heroines, switching up his date plans every time, that's the last thing I want to be.'

Though, come to think of it, this thing works with just rain too.

I'd noticed it back when I went out looking for Phine, but the ability to turn into water droplets and keep moving worked the same even in sleet.

It was also strange that, used as a substitute for the hero's holy sword, it could actually damage a Demon King.

Thinking about it, every anomaly that had happened this time around stemmed from the fact that I'd killed Head Ache ahead of schedule.

It must have been enough of a variable that the status window gave me a warning message and a penalty for it. Still, I had no intention of acting the way the developers intended.

Nothing in the world is perfect, after all.

To begin with, it was probably the same thing that had pushed people into loving our Phine as the Nameless Saintess in the first place.

"Phine, are you upset, by any chance?"

"No. Licht."

Just then, I heard a tap, tap sound and turned to look beside me. The white-haired girl with wolf ears kept taking her frustration out on the snowy ground.

"Then why do you keep kicking that rock..?"

"..."

She'd seemed like she was about to say something before the monster showed up earlier. It looked like something wasn't going her way, and she was taking it out in frustration.

There was also the fact that I'd forced the finger-kiss on her, don't tell me she was actually upset about that?

"Um, Licht."

"Yes, just say the word."

After a moment passed, Phine spoke calmly, as if she'd finally sorted out her thoughts.

"That thing from earlier, can you do it again?"

That thing from earlier. What on earth was she talking about?

"The finger…. kiss?"

She really did remember, then. My heart started pounding like mad as she rubbed her body against my arm, asking.

"Oh, it's pounding. Licht's heart."

"Please don't just say things like that out loud! Phine!"

Unable to properly meet her gaze, my eyes wavering, I watched her continue, her small, faintly glossy lips moving as she spoke.

"Heheh, Licht's a puppy. A really cute puppy, too."

My breath caught for a moment at the sight of her calling me cute without even really knowing me.

"..Just once more, please."

Why had she turned into such a fox all of a sudden. Maybe being a nation's princess had made her an expert at reading people.

It felt less like looking at a wolf and more like looking at a nine-tailed fox. Maybe it was because of the white color.

"I can't do that. That was shock therapy to break your wrath state."

"Is that so..?"

I waved my hands and tried to push her away.

But she'd already figured out how I moved by now, and pulled me even closer against her chest,

"Don't even think about slipping away."

Phine Gransia, passing a death sentence on my sanity.

"You're the one who stole my lips without asking. Weren't you, Licht..?"

Please, no more of this full-body assault. I'm a red-blooded man too, you know. I bit my tongue lightly just to hold onto my sanity.

"You touched the lips of a Gransia princess…. I wonder what would happen if my father found out. Licht."

For a moment, I felt something like a cold, ax-blade killing intent pressed against the back of my neck.

Of course he'd try to kill me. Just being mistaken for her boyfriend when I entered the imperial palace had nearly gotten me hit by a sonic boom.

The Imperial Guard, the knight order, whatever. He might mobilize every connection and every scrap of power he had, people like the Ten Greats included.

'That would be turning half the world into my enemy.'

If it came to it, he might even step in personally. No matter how busy the imperial duties kept him, this was a man who'd handpicked an entire Imperial Guard just for his children.

Honestly, if some good-for-nothing stranger who'd come out of nowhere stole a kiss from the daughter he'd doted on and raised so carefully, being furious was only natural.

'If it were the same situation, my own father probably would have reacted the same way.'

Fathers who dote on their children tend to understand each other, in the end.

Even back when my burn scars kept me from fitting in with other people, he was always the one cheering me on.

I wondered if my father would have liked Phine, had he seen her.

He'd probably have teased me for only getting close to her because she was pretty, or

"Don't tell me our Suhyun's got himself a girlfriend?" he might have asked, grinning slyly.

The reason I never casually thought of myself as the Hero of Conviction was all thanks to my father.

'Because a hero is only a hero if his actions live up to the name.'

A photo I'd cut out of the newspaper as a kid, my firefighter father's back turned to the camera, fit that title far better than any hero in the game ever did.

Now I'd been dropped alone into this world without a single person I knew, and by sheer luck taken in as an adopted son by an elderly couple, but

that didn't mean I'd forgotten what my parents' warmth felt like.

After agonizing over it for a long while, I raised the visor of my helmet myself, and

"..Just this once. Phine."

I readied myself to grant a request from the person who'd saved my life.

No matter how much I flip-flopped and went soft only when it came to Phine, unable to steady my own resolve.

"Right, if you can't do it…. then instead.. huh?"

Because if my father had seen this situation right now, he'd surely have had something to say about it.

Since I'd also had that gigolo bastard's advice, let's try to see a little more of her true self.

"Wait, wait a second…. really?"

Phine's golden eyes began to widen. She probably hadn't expected me to actually go through with it.

Flustered, her tail was whipping straight up and down violently.

A clear sign of alarm.

"Licht. I'm.. not mentally ready. Not yet…."

As fragile as glass, clumsy enough at romance between a man and a woman that she practically needed a "handle with care" sticker.

At her core, Phine Gransia was a wolf drowning in loneliness, desperate for somewhere to lean on.

A predator at the very top of the food chain, and yet still confused enough between obsession and love to ask me to kiss her.

But when it came to pure love, I was more of a wolf than Phine was.

I didn't know if someone would ever come along to fill her emptiness, but at the very least, I could do this much for her.

"Come closer, Phine."

"Li, Licht.. wait. Stop.."

I wasn't exactly well-versed in real love either, but I did have a feeling I'd spent fifteen years agonizing over alone.

So no matter how much I tried to steady myself, I kept failing, and my desire would burst out in an instant.

'If I told her I'd loved her future self through a monitor screen, who would ever be happy to hear that.'

A pillar of support I'd always carried tucked away in a corner of my heart, living with it all this time.

If I hurled this enormous feeling straight at her and told her the truth, she'd hate me for it. She might even end up trapped inside the image of the Nameless Saintess, her true self buried away completely.

That would just be selfish greed running wild. That's not love.

If she'd still been the Saintess, I might have told her honestly, but right now she's a princess.

Still, everything up to this point had been my own fault. I needed to put to rest whatever anxiety I'd caused her.

She really was the person most precious to me. If I couldn't even be honest about that much, I ought to stop running away like a coward, at least to some degree.

"There's no need to be afraid."

Once you've done something once, the second time is easy.

The first time is always the hard part. So that she wouldn't grow anxious, I pressed my finger to my own lips again.

"Licht, the finger.. wait a second…."

Poke. I touched Phine's pure white lips again, and this time, a little more boldly, I even brushed her upper lip.

I figured this would finally stop her from asking for more, so I played my trump card. She couldn't very well go on begging for kisses later, even with Kainel and Ariel around.

'My own affection level matters, but so does everyone else's, Phine.'

Because you'll only be happy once we reach the Grand Route ending. You were the one character in this game without a single happy ending, after all.

A developer vicious enough to send you drifting off the rails hard in the sequel would never just let you be, Phine.

A lovely girl whose unhappiness had been foretold, all because of the Demon Kings.

To someone pure as the first snow, too untouchable to approach carelessly, I had no choice but to leave just a small footprint of my own.

"Ah."

But I'd made a mistake. A faint, moist sensation reached my thumb. I'd have needed a lot more experience with this sort of thing to have known better.

"Mmph..?"

If there was something I'd overlooked, it was that, unlike last time, I'd forced my hand over her mouth right in the middle of her asking me to wait.

"Your tongue.. touched…."

I'd ended up making contact with the reddish tip of her tongue. The small, soft feel of it was different from her lips.

"..That, I'm sorry."

Click. I shut the visor at once to hide my embarrassed expression. Should I wipe this off? No, I should keep it as it is…. I shouldn't wash my hand.

All kinds of delusions drifted up in my head like clouds I was chasing, and I started to feel so dizzy I could barely stand straight.

"I, I'm fine, so you don't need to apologize."

When I hastily put some distance between us, she covered her mouth with both hands. Weren't you the one charging in a second ago? Had it backfired on her?

"Right, this was an accident. An accident…."

Now she'd turned her back to me, not even looking my way, muttering to herself. Yet just a moment ago she'd been closing in on me, tail and all.

All I could see now were her wolf ears, folded flat back, and her white hair.

"Phine, um…."

"Hic."

The moment I took a single step closer, the frightened wolf skittered away in quick little steps.

Keeping our distance the whole way, as if playing a game of tag, we made our way down the mountain.

"..Are you two children, or what?"

"It'd be a disaster if Rook found out, though. Grand Duchess Sophitia."

Finding the whole scene odd, the Northern Grand Duchess shot us pointed looks, glancing back and forth between Phine and me, and

"Brother, I haven't done anything wrong.."

Asha and Drake, both members of the Ten Greats, were worried this news might reach the Emperor's ears.

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