WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈
Chapter 134
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Episode 134. The Gambler's Fallacy.
* * *
The place where the grade exam had been held.
Blanc and I stood on that stage. Same as last time, she looked like a living, moving shadow.
Outside the arena, Drake stood watch in case anything went wrong.
The students sat in rows on the coliseum-like circular seating.
Phine and the hero couple were probably among them somewhere. If I lost here, there was no telling how far Blanc's sleep spell might reach.
"Hey there, junior."
"..."
I deliberately didn't answer her greeting. My expression hardened beneath the helmet, and my grip on the sword tightened. This woman had gone after Phine more than she'd gone after me.
'She doesn't care what the Glass Knight's real identity is.'
Phine Gransia's armor was obviously expensive to anyone with eyes. Enough that, like Kainel had said before, you could tell she was someone of high standing.
But there were plenty of nobles attending the academy too. It could be written off as nothing unusual. If she were the child of a duke or an earl, that would make sense.
Given that proper records existed on her, she was probably a Player rather than someone from the Heroic Cult. Laplace or the Sage wouldn't have missed something like that.
"Aw, you're not even going to answer my greeting? That hurts~."
Maybe Blanc had taken an interest in Phine too, the same way I'd recognized her as the protagonist the moment I saw her.
"But I like you, junior!"
One thing's for certain: she's not my type. Her personality, which matters most, is shit.
Blanc snickered. She hooked a wave-patterned dagger on her finger and spun it around. Every time it cut the air, grains of sand fell to the ground.
As I thought, it was likely a subspecies of the 'Dream Knife.' Having to beat an artifact was going to be a pain.
"The rules are simple. You know we fight wearing mana guards, right? Same as always, if time runs out, whoever has more left wins…"
"Shut up and let's start."
I hated her cackling voice. More precisely, I hated people who acted like they'd become something special just because they'd ended up inside a game.
"Feisty personality, too..!"
The kind of people who firmly believed that following the main story or doing what they liked would make some game character fall in love with them.
That was one of the reasons I used to keep wavering over Phine.
I'd wished Phine Gransia could love more freely. Anyone but a burn-scarred guy like me.
But now there's no choice. At the very least, I don't want her tangled up with a woman like that.
I raised my sword. A ringing hiss sounded at my waist as the steel slid free.
The blade gleamed, reflecting my black helmet. This was already the third time I'd used the Pure Love Injector. My gaze split in two.
'First I need to figure out what she's got in her arsenal.'
I had to determine whether she was a poison-using rogue, or the type who relied on speed for quick strikes.
Blanc had gambler skills mixed in too. There could be more hidden cards.
If she was the type who stole an opponent's skills or weapons, the Heart Sword could be stolen. Pulling it out carelessly was dangerous. Since it wasn't a real sacred sword, theft might be possible.
"Then let's begin the practical sparring match!!"
Drake's booming voice snapped my mind back into focus. I looked at the enemy in front of me and bent my knees in preparation.
"Well then, shall we begin? Junior?"
Blanc gripped her daggers with both hands and leaped up. A strike coming straight down from above. Anyone who didn't know she was a rogue would fall for this move easily, so I'd already expected it. I jumped the same way and blocked the daggers.
"Didn't you know an iron sword won't work on me?"
Clang! The short twin blades crossed in an X, aiming for my throat. Blanc sneered, apparently surprised I'd blocked the daggers. No, of course I knew.
The moment we landed back to back, my iron sword crumbled into sand and scattered. Blanc didn't miss the opening, spinning into a flurry of strikes.
"No weapon left now, huh? How pitiful."
My breath caught. She went for my leg, then tried to slice cleanly through my sword arm, then twisted vertically to stab at the artery in my throat.
"Conviction, Giyu."
This way she'd assume I had no weapon and let her guard down. I caught the cobalt-blue sword hilt falling from the sky and immediately swung it down to counter.
「Magnolia Sword Art. Fourth Form. Cheongryu.」
Every strike targeted a bodily weak point. Blatant, even with the mana guard in place. It raised waves that broke Blanc's balance.
"Waah!"
I rushed straight in and swung. A thrust into her side. There was a crack as the mana guard wore down. Blanc twisted her waist and barely managed to escape me.
Shaaaa-
"So it wasn't just a rumor that you took down a Demon King, huh?"
Rain poured from the sky in a sudden shower. Blanc laughed, breathing out white puffs of air.
Unlike a week ago, I could actually see her movements now. Something was off. I eyed Blanc suspiciously.
"This is going to get more and more fun."
A red-glowing die appeared in Blanc's hand. Don't tell me she'd been fighting this whole time without boosting her stats? A ruby-like die sliced through the air. I had to block it.
"Too late already. Junior!"
I used Wolf Fang and rushed in, but she caught my cobalt sword with both hands. The number tumbling across the ground showed a 5, same as before.
"..That's a dirty trick."
"Oh my, how'd you know?"
Normally, only three faces of a die are visible at once.
The usual trick people with gambler skills pulled here was making every face a 6 except the ones you could actually see.
"You're not even trying to hide it. Of course I know."
This bitch had just made every face a 5. Probably because it was an artifact too, and couldn't rig anything 6 or higher. Using two items and still having the nerve to talk about Phine.
"Still, if you lose here, do you think anyone will believe you?"
So the plan was just to beat me and take the die back. Blanc's movements sped up again, same as before. An accelerated blade. A sharp whoosh cut through the air.
"Let's wrap this up nice and clean, showing your face to all our classmates!"
This time Blanc's fierce assault went for my helmet. The mana guard over my face scraped. A speed I couldn't react to. I even failed to get into position for Wing Deflection.
Her daggers cut into me sharply. I'd have to break through by trading flesh for bone. There was no dodging the continuous barrage.
Even when I tried to turn into water droplets and flee, they hardened into mud. Damn it, was this the water-versus-earth elemental matchup?
Longsword and daggers collided, and my mana guard was already in tatters. If I could just knock one of her blades loose..!
"Wow, you're still holding on?"
Clang. I knocked the dagger out of Blanc's right hand. I immediately stepped on it so she couldn't pick it back up. This way, I had a chance to win.
"One of my blades is gone. Mind if I borrow yours, junior?"
"What..?"
Whoosh. Giyu vanished from my grip. Before I could even react, she leaped backward, putting distance between us. A pickpocket skill, as I thought.
I knew it. This is exactly why I hate fighting rogue classes.
"..Huh, it's not a sacred sword? I figured it was, seeing the rain."
Blanc smiled as she handled the Heart Sword. Of course. If it were a true sacred sword bestowed by a god, her whole body would've shattered the instant anyone but its owner picked it up.
It was the same when I used Demon King's Glitch. Good, but drag it into a long fight and you might as well be a walking corpse.
"Hmm.. This was definitely teleportation, right? Junior."
Fwip. Raindrops splashed. She closed in on me and swung a blade with a length advantage. I had no other weapon to block with. Too late to drop Old Thought.
"Notion, Mutual Yearning."
A sword formed in my empty grip. Sparks scattered as a white blade, conjured near my heart, shot outward, ringing out with a Clang! as it blocked Blanc's twin daggers.
"If I dodge with rain..!"
Right before Blanc, turning into water droplets to dodge, could vanish, I cut across her shoulder blade. Crack! Her mana guard shattered. The bob-haired woman's eyes went wide like a startled rabbit at the sudden reversal.
"How..?"
I had no intention of answering her. This was the sword Phine made for me. The third Heart Sword, born from us thinking of each other.
A sword that copies an opponent's status changes. The word sangsa, after all, can also mean "superior" (上司).
My affection level with Phine Gransia had risen to 5 percent. That little bit of affection she'd shown me while my eyes were closed. Something like that was too lovely to put into a number, honestly.
The stats you raised with your die, I can use them now too. Play games with gambling and you lose a hand, Blanc.
"Old Thought, Reminiscence."
Looked like she'd planned to watch from a distance. Too late. As I chanted, a heavy sword dropped from the sky. I pulled at Old Thought, already lodged in the ground.
"Huh? Why isn't this working! It's broken!"
A ceiling of earthen walls rose over Blanc's spot. With the rain cut off, she could no longer teleport. I charged in from behind, using a floating rock as a foothold.
「T-Thousand Knifemare!」
Blanc chanted the spell. Hundreds of daggers, rippling like black fog, appeared around me.
Nightmare daggers came flying from every direction without a single gap. With the Dream Knife's power infused in them, getting hit might put me to sleep.
"Even you can't dodge all of these!"
As if sensing victory, Blanc hurled the last of her daggers at me. Honestly, she wasn't wrong. My mana guard was already shattered and hanging in tatters.
"..If it were just one blade, sure."
I snatched one of the airborne daggers and mimicked Blanc's own flurry. Did she think I couldn't copy what I'd seen? I started watching the daggers flying in from every direction and knocking them away.
"H-How are you using my skill..!"
I might not look it, but I'm someone who can even copy that gigolo bastard's spearwork. Metal clashed against metal in a burst of noise,
"N-No way!!"
Blanc screamed. She swung Giyu's blade wildly, with no real form. It was obvious she'd never used anything but daggers.
'A true swordsman shouldn't be hung up on his weapon, or so I'd been told.'
My master's training, which had me swing a sword left-handed too, paid off. I knocked away every dagger and cut through Blanc's mana guard with a clean slice.
"Match over!! The winner is student Licht!"
Drake raised one arm and declared the winner. I gave a small nod, as if I'd known it would end this way. My Phine kept clapping her hands in tiny bursts. Cute.
With her mana guard completely broken, Blanc collapsed onto the ground. She dropped Giyu, and ownership of it returned to me.
"Sorry, I just wanted to see how good you were, so I did it on purpose. Junior..!"
Blanc looked at me with a flushed, excited smile. Even after losing, she didn't look frustrated, just relieved. She'd caused all this fuss over a reason that small?
"..What?"
Dumbfounded, I looked down at Blanc. At this point she had to be a Player. She wasn't even a hero, yet she had two artifacts.
"I figured you wouldn't fight me unless I did something like this..!"
Even if that were true, one chance in ten thousand, throwing a dagger at Phine had crossed a line. She'd done all that just because she was curious about my skill?
It didn't add up. It was clearly a lie. Her twisted, smiling eyes sent a chill down my spine.
"So our junior's name is Licht. Want to grab a meal with your senior here?"
"Bullshit."
"Aw, don't play hard to get! You're really strong, you know!"
She wasn't even worth engaging with, so I just cursed at her. Blanc's cheeks flushed as she looked at me. Crazy bitch. Did she actually enjoy being cursed at?
Her sudden 180-degree shift in attitude sent a chill through me. What was this? Had she been targeting me instead of Phine from the very start?
That was when it happened. A transparent pink window popped up in front of my eyes.
[Licht ♡ Blanc….]
I immediately stabbed it with my sword and shattered it. The status window vanished with a crackling sound, and it sent a chill through me. I shouldn't have trusted that damn developer bastard.
"Eeek, eeeek!!"
The Heart Sword had plunged into the empty ground between Blanc's legs. She trembled, apparently startled.
Players could pull off things like NTR or harems this way. It was the biggest reason I couldn't fully trust my affection level with Phine, even after seeing it.
[Ah, Lee Suhyun! You won't accept this! Why?!]
The status window popped up another message. Thankfully, had the affection level been erased? Last time I'd been able to fight even through a combat prohibition, so this should work out too.
"Fuck off. Senior."
I can't stand any woman other than Phine Gransia. Especially not some crazy bitch who looks like she fell for me at first sight.
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