WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈
Chapter 133
──────
Episode 133. The Gambler's Fallacy.
* * *
In Grand Hearts Academy's swordsmanship training hall, nothing stirred but the sound of a blade cutting through air. I took a few deep breaths and kept swinging my arm.
I'd cast a spell on the wooden dummy to make it dodge attacks. A rogue class moved fast and unpredictably. I had to match that speed as closely as I could.
Thock! The wooden sword struck the dummy with a sharp crack. Cut clean down the middle, it split into two pieces.
This wasn't enough. I hadn't even been able to react to Blanc. Did I need to go faster? I was checking the magic circle etched into the wooden dummy when-
"Licht.."
"What is it, Phine?"
At the sound of someone calling my name, I stopped and turned around. The marks carved into the floor caught my eye.
Behind me lay a heap of already-shattered, broken wooden dummies.
"Because of me.. I'm sorry.."
"Why would that be because of you?"
Phine Gransia sat crouched by the window, her helmet off. Late as it was, she must have been worried about me, because she'd been watching me train.
"It's because I've been wearing the Masterpiece…."
"There wasn't any other choice, was there."
Phine fidgeted with the blue rose ornament. It must have looked, in the grade exam, like she'd won on nothing but the Masterpiece's defense.
I could understand other students being resentful or jealous.
"Blanc is just a bad person, that's all."
But Blanc had gone so far as to invoke her position as assistant instructor to stir the students up, and that disgusted me. She was a crazy bitch, no doubt about it. Probably scheming to isolate Phine and get something out of it for herself.
To think she'd resort to such filthy tricks. She might even be a player trying to tank my affection level with Phine.
Or someone latched onto the Heroic Cult. Only two possibilities.
"If I used my authority, I could have her removed.. Licht.."
Phine said it in an icy tone. Her expression looked like it wouldn't bleed a single drop even if you stabbed it. She really did take after Emperor Rook.
"No, there's no need for that."
If anything, that would only raise more suspicion. People weren't fools. An assistant instructor who'd insulted her vanishing overnight? That would be too obvious.
Even without it coming out that she was the princess, it would still reveal her as someone's noble child, which could turn the commoners at the academy against her or make her a target for the nobles.
"There's still a whole week left, isn't there?"
She was the Gransia Empire's only princess. Could I not already imagine people offering money or telling lies just to get on her good side?
Flies drawn not by real friendship or love but by her status. An academy life crawling with people like that couldn't possibly make her happy.
"Fair and square, all you have to do is beat her down with skill."
"S.. still.. I hate that Licht is the one getting insulted…."
I stepped closer to Phine, whose tail had shot straight up, betraying her wariness.
"L, Licht..?"
Phine's words came out slurred, like she'd bitten her tongue. I opened my palm and set it lightly on top of her snow-white hair.
Her golden eyes, wide with surprise, looked up at me.
"I deserve a little insulting. I'm the same man who bathed with the princess, after all."
I looked around to make sure no one was nearby. Since Phine had her helmet off, it should be fine. The Imperial Guard would be standing watch outside.
"Licht.. petting my head.. that's cheating.."
As I carefully stroked her hair, a soft rose scent spread through the air. This Phine, unlike the Nameless Saintess, had so much to her name.
'This Phine doesn't hesitate to use her own power.'
She was still alone, with no one who understood her, much like before, but this was a princess outstanding in authority, strength, and wealth alike.
But I liked her fine even without any of that.
I could love Phine whether she lived as the Nameless Saintess or as a princess. A person's inner self mattered more than the surface, after all.
"Don't think anything bad, Phine."
"Hyaah.. o, okay.."
I brushed her wolf ears lightly upward with my thumb and forefinger. That soft, squishy texture made me want to tease her a little more. Phine bit down on her lower lip, trembling faintly.
"If the other side plays dirty, we should pay it right back the same way."
When I stopped my hand, Phine tilted her head to catch as much of my petting as she could. Where had she even learned to do that? It was the spitting image of what I'd seen in my dream.
"In the end, everyone's going to have to spar with the assistant instructor at least once, right? If I win first, the students who go after me will naturally understand it in their bones."
The time I'd been given was a week.
Drake had said the real sparring matches would start next week. If I grew strong enough to beat Blanc before then, there'd be no problem.
If I showed off my skill, word would spread that I'd taken down a Demon King. Good or bad, it would make it harder for anyone to touch Phine.
Wait, how long had I been petting Phine now? Wasn't I going to get hauled off for putting my hands on the princess's body? Thinking I shouldn't touch her any more, I pulled my hand back.
"Ah.."
A small sigh slipped from Phine's lips. She understood, probably. Seeing her faintly flushed expression left me feeling a little guilty.
"..I asked Master Drake about it. He said she came recommended by a Margrave."
I checked whether she might have lied about her background to get into the academy illegitimately, but.
"And she really is one of our seniors."
There really was a record of her having been student council president. If Magic Hat had used her authority, it ought to look different from this.
"If we cut her loose right away, it could offend the Margrave, and it might make someone start digging into who Phine really is."
By Drake's account, she'd always had an eccentric streak. Even back when she was a student here, no one could predict what she'd do.
"Don't you want to go through the academy the same as everyone else, Phine? Normally?"
"Mm, at first.. I came here to grow stronger.. but now…."
Still, it was shocking enough that she'd actually tried to attack Phine, a princess. Apparently, when Master Drake called her aside later and talked with her, she said she'd only meant to strip off the glass armor.
Something about her didn't sit right with Master Drake, so he hadn't told her Phine was the princess. Watching her stir up the other students, there was a real chance it could turn into a problem.
"..I want to go through it with Licht."
Phine said it with real sincerity. Her hands clasped together, her murmured voice, prim and earnest, carried real weight. There was nothing I could do about that, was there. I had to protect her.
"I'll act as you wish, Your Highness."
"Hehe, what.. is that. It's awkward."
I knelt on one knee and swore a knight's oath. She must have been satisfied, because the sorrow drained from her expression, and there in front of me was Phine, smiling.
Only after seeing that, with the sense that one thing had been settled, did I let myself picture the fight against Blanc in my head.
The weakness of Drake's style was that it needed advance preparation.
She'd definitely dodge the moment I went for Void Slash or Reverse Scale Pierce. Would the Heavenly Demon's swordsmanship work? That dagger of hers was going to make it rough.
'It's most likely a Dream Knife.'
A weapon that turned whatever it struck to sand fit best of all.
In its lore, it was a dagger made by a fairy who brought on sleep, something about how it felt like sand in your eyes when you got drowsy, or so it went.
In the game, it was the rogue class's endgame item.
Its ability inflicted the sleep status ailment or turned objects to sand. Even if the appearance was a little different from what I remembered, there was no other answer that fit.
If my guess was right, it was Artifact-grade, so I'd have to use the fake holy sword.
'Could I dodge it if I used Giyu.'
If even the raindrops carried the effect, I could fall asleep the instant one touched me. Even Old Thought would be hard to close in with. To begin with, she'd probably throw the daggers or use the fact that she dual-wielded to unleash a flurry of strikes.
I'd considered breaking the terrain to make footholds in midair, or otherwise interfering. But in the end, the problem was that I couldn't match her speed.
If only it weren't for the stat boost from the dice, it would've been worth a shot….
Borrowing Kainel's holy sword put a severe strain on my body. In the end, the only method left was to draw out a new Heart Sword. I sat down on the training hall floor and began to meditate.
"Licht.. what are you doing..?"
"I need a new sword."
Curious about me sitting there with my eyes closed, Phine had come up beside me. Now that I thought about it, what mental image should I draw it from? Nothing suitable came to mind.
Something from the north? Or all those times I'd kept trying to run from Phine? Or maybe the hot spring….
"..."
Several minutes had already passed while I broke into a cold sweat over every kind of delusion. By my own personal assessment, I had no strength left over to draw out a Heart Sword.
"Phine. Would you help me."
"Eh..?"
Right then, I felt her breath right beside me. What exactly were you about to do just now. Phine's voice trembled like a cat caught mid-theft.
"To draw a new Heart Sword…. I'm short on a mental image."
"Even that Saintess person isn't enough..?"
"Phine, I want to draw this sword for you and you alone.."
It was only at moments like this that she picked up on things fast. Same as when I fought the Apostle of Gluttony, and given what the Heavenly Demon had told her, she'd probably know exactly how a Heart Sword came about.
"..Liar. You're a womanizer."
It felt like a needle jabbing straight into my heart. Punishment for every lie I'd piled up until now. As if taking her frustration out on me, she was smearing burn ointment on me.
"Bad mutt. Hmph."
When had my visor even gotten flipped up. Cold. Don't just attack me like this out of nowhere.
'I want to tell her the truth, but that would mean I'm just imitating the Saintess in the end.'
Wasn't there something out there, anything, that could bring the Nameless Saintess and the present Phine face to face together. I desperately needed the Saintess's own speech about pure love right now.
"Licht."
I heard Phine's voice calling my name right by my ear. Her small whisper tickled.
"..I'm sorry, Phine."
"Hehe, what if.. what if, I mean.. if I did this.. how would that be?"
Her tone was laced with mischief, like some good idea had struck her. Was she trying to help me somehow? Her small hand caught hold of my shoulder.
"Hwah.."
Smooch. Smooooch. The sound came twice, and warm, soft breath brushed my cheek. This is just a bisou. Phine. Regrettably, there was no impure physical contact involved.
"P, Phine..? What did you just do?"
"..The cheek-kiss greeting you gave me last time."
Phine Gransia had barely gotten the words out, looking bashful. Had she worked up the courage to help me obtain the Heart Sword? I pulled down the corners of my mouth, which kept wanting to climb into a grin.
"This way.. I've won against that Nameless Saintess person.. haven't I..?"
"..."
I answered with silence instead. Yes, she'd probably taken the upper hand.
"Now I've won. Hehe.."
Phine had a fiercely competitive streak. A wolf who'd acted on the single conviction that she had to beat the Saintess. Doing it while my eyes were closed, that was just unfair.
"I'd like to see your face, though. Phine."
"No, don't.. don't open your eyes..!"
When I tried to open them, her hands were there blocking my sight with both palms. Phine, embarrassed like this. This was a rare sight.
"No, I think the Heart Sword's covered by now, so. Just once."
"Pervert.. the perverted mutt.. has to keep his eyes shut..!"
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
