WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈
Chapter 139
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Episode 139. Public Displays of Affection Are Banned in the Library.
* * *
I ran even using Wolf Fang, but it wasn't long before Phine caught me.
A corner of the academy stairwell. Pinned against the wall, I had nowhere left to run.
"..Licht. Where did you go?"
The gleaming heavy-armored knight loomed over me. It seemed she'd left the hero couple behind to come looking for me alone.
"T-the library."
"You said you were going to the bathroom, didn't you?"
The question felt colder than ever, and the future I'd just heard about came rushing back to mind.
The princess whose hair had reverted from white back to its original black, becoming a black rose.
Judging by the Sage's reaction, she must have been in the middle of something even more embarrassing than the mixed bathing. I'd never seen her face turn as red as a carrot before.
"Why did you.. lie to me?"
"...."
A brief silence stretched on. The golden wolf eyes inside her glass helmet glared at me.
Right now, in a corner out of most people's sight, I was the one being wall-pinned for once. Phine's arm rested beside my head.
"You won't answer me.. Licht, you're always hiding something from me."
The distance had closed enough that I could feel her breath, and a sweet rose scent drifted over me. My whole body felt like it was going numb, my legs stiffening.
"You smell like another woman.. Licht."
How did she know? I'd only talked with the Sage, and yet Phine had noticed. I knew her sense of smell was sharp, but I hadn't realized it was this sharp.
"No wonder you were so smooth about it…."
Like a wife interrogating a cheating husband. Her tone felt colder than I'd ever heard it.
"You womanizer.. weren't you supposed to be my Black Knight, mine alone.."
Every sentence dropped my trust rating another notch. Stop, I did meet the Sage, but it's not what you think.
In the future, she even deflects prophecy. I know she's an overpowered character, but just how strong is she going to get.
"It's not a lie. I changed my mind after I left the bathroom."
I swallowed, hard. Something told me I shouldn't lie here.
"I wanted information about the future ahead…. so I went and met with the Sage."
It wasn't something I'd reasoned through, it was a thought that rose up on instinct.
"..It's true."
Phine, who'd grabbed my hand and pulled it close to check, finally spoke. Had she been confirming whether the scent lingered?
The Sage is in the middle of a one-sided crush on Master Drake, though.
There's no way I'd barge into the middle of that and steal one of them away.
The relationship between Master and the Sage was ambiguous even in the original story or its sequels.
It had originally been a one-sided crush to begin with. Building on that would take a lot of groundwork.
"Licht."
"What is it, Phine."
Phine said it in a low voice. 'Had she gone down the yandere route? I'd heard that was mostly an elf thing.'
"Don't run away. Just stay with me…."
But what came back was a sulky sort of attitude.
As if scolding me for briefly abandoning her, Phine pressed her face against my chest and rubbed it there. It hurt, because of the helmet.
"Where would I go, abandoning you."
So the future the Sage saw really was just one possibility after all. I thought I was going to end up locked in some gym storage closet.
Let's not worry for nothing. It might not be a fixed future yet.
Foresight was possibility. A fragment of a probability that could happen. Of course, it wasn't as if it could reveal every future in full.
Even if black-haired Phine locked me up, if I used Old Thought….
Ah, right, I'd been chained up so I couldn't pull the lever. And it wasn't a situation where rain was falling around us, so Giyu wasn't an option either.
She's even more thorough than she is right now. My Phine.
It was a future that could come to pass if I made Phine any more anxious than this. Still, seeing that I wouldn't die was something to be glad about, at least.
At the very least, I should keep it in reserve as a last resort for breaking my death flag.
Her love is way too much. Wouldn't it be bad for a child's emotional development. Phine. I kept thinking of that little kid I'd seen the other day.
"This should do it, right?"
"Hyaah.. Licht.."
A head-on approach was the answer.
With a soft thump, I set my unease aside and hugged Phine, and her tone immediately softened. 'Maybe the yandere route could be broken just by giving her a sense of security?'
If I made her certain she was loved, and didn't let my eyes wander to other women, I had a feeling things would be fine.
'In fact, Phine turns soft as putty the moment I give her even this much physical affection.'
The Glass Knight who'd seemed colder and more curt than anyone else at first was now rubbing her whole body against me in my arms.
"That's enough now…."
Unlike what she'd said, it was Phine who kept her arms locked around me, not letting go. She probably meant for me not to let go even as she said that.
* * *
Phine and I stepped into the Headmaster's office together. The quiet, study-like space was empty.
Had Laplace stepped out for a moment? The question crossed my mind out of nowhere, and I put it to Phine.
"By the way, Phine. Why were you looking for me in such a hurry? It hasn't even been that long."
"Oh, Kainel.. he said you were with a woman.."
The Yellow Dog again? I let out a deep sigh. He knew Phine and the Saintess were the same person, so he was doing it just to mess with me.
In front of Phine, anxious that I'd disappeared, Kainel had apparently said it with a sly grin.
"Thinking about you being with another woman.. it just made me feel something awful.."
So that's why Phine's eyes had looked like she'd caught someone cheating.
Just like Sophitia had mentioned, I could really feel the truth of it now, that wolf-kin were terrifying when made jealous.
"Well, I was with the Sage, yeah."
I really had gone to the library and been with another woman, so it wasn't technically a lie.
The Yellow Dog's smug, satisfied face billowed up in my mind like a cloud. Was this how I looked to other people?
"Do you think.. the Sage is pretty?"
"What? Not at all. She's absolutely not my type."
Phine asked for my opinion right away. She did have horns, so she'd been popular with other players.
There was always demand for a demon-race character, after all. But personally, I'd never felt that any woman besides Phine was pretty.
"..Then it's fine."
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Phine drew slightly closer to my side. Unlike the distance from earlier, it felt warm now.
"Hey now, no matter how hot and heavy you two are, you can't be carrying on like that here."
That was when a man's voice came from behind us.
A figure appeared, trailing an old-fashioned archmage's robe behind him. It was the Headmaster, his green hair impossible to miss.
"Hello, Headmaster Laplace."
"Hello.."
Laplace the librarian. He looked back and forth between me and Phine, the corner of his mouth curling up. Had his usual mischievous streak kicked in?
"The Black Knight and the White Knight. Aren't you two that famous couple?"
This man had an odd personality. Even as Headmaster, he'd take on commentating student exams, and he'd become an Archmage through his own particular brand of madness.
"We're not like that..!"
Phine denied it before I could even say anything. Looking embarrassed, she put a little distance between us. She stammered out the excuse with obvious difficulty.
"Hm? What do you mean you're not. You two have seen each other naked with nothing but a towel on. If His Majesty the Emperor ever found out…."
"...."
I dropped my head. This man was the librarian of the Library of Truth, with access to information from the past. In other words, he knew exactly what we'd done.
So he'd found out about the mixed bathing up north. Unlike the Sage, at least he couldn't see it visually, so that was a relief.
A place full of books recording every piece of the past, the Akashic Records. He was the librarian there, after all.
I'd underestimated Laplace's access to information way too much. I thought it hadn't gone this far in the game. My mistake in judgment.
"Sorry about that. I just wanted to have a little fun for old times' sake. I'll keep it a secret from His Majesty, so let it slide."
Laplace laughed heartily, trying to steer the mood back to normal. He apologized while patting my shoulder.
"You're Licht, aren't you? The hero who took down Ache."
"Ah, yes. That's right."
With a smooth motion, a hand extended toward me. Laplace, offering a handshake. Just as I reached to take it.
"Can't let your guard down, not even at the very last moment, student Licht."
"..Ah."
It switched so that Phine's hand was the one clasped instead. I stared blankly at the Glass Knight, who'd somehow ended up in front of me.
Had he used magic? As far as I knew, his personality was unpredictable, but still.
"So what reason brought you to me, student Licht? Right after meeting the Sage, no less."
Laplace sat down in the chair in front of us, legs crossed. He watched the two of us with the expression of a man looking at a fresh young couple.
"..Did you look into me?"
"Ah, don't be alarmed. It just so happened to be the book I was reading a moment ago."
His relaxed manner made it clear he already knew the move I'd come prepared with. I wondered if persuasion was even possible.
"I'd like to request access to the library. Librarian Laplace."
I got straight to the point. I needed to either master a perfect Demon-King Slayer to kill Magic Hat, or reclaim the demonic sword I used to wield, so I laid out the truth without hiding anything.
"..If you mean the academy library, isn't that the very place you just came from, student Licht?"
"Not that one. I mean the Library of Truth."
"Well, look at this. You know the library's name?"
Laplace's reaction was one of surprise. After all, the library he managed was deep within the sanctuary of a temple that served the God of Wisdom.
An ordinary person wasn't supposed to know about it, normally.
"Hero of Conviction. Let me turn the question back on you. Why do you need access to our library?"
He seemed to be trying to read my intent. Laplace was ready to snap his fingers at any moment.
He'd only just managed to rise to the rank of Archmage, but that was precisely his specialty.
The ability to put out a fire without touching it.
Human consciousness was electrical signals too, which meant it could be touched. If he struck that in me, I'd probably lose consciousness and drop on the spot.
An ability that interfered with something by touching its "concept" was this powerful.
"The same reason as you, Laplace."
I took one deep breath and said it.
'The hopeless romantic who'd once come up with the idea of making the Akashic Records' lights flicker like crazy.'
According to the lore, he'd once had a power that looked utterly unremarkable, and his magic had been at a beginner's level.
The fact that a man like that had risen to Archmage and even become the academy's Headmaster was all for the sake of saving the lover he loved.
"The same reason, huh."
Hearing my words, the green-haired man who'd kept his expression stern until a moment ago rose from his seat.
A fake mage who'd agonized over and over to cure his lover's incurable illness, and in doing so became the real thing.
I needed information to save Phine too, so it really was the same reason.
"..So what I read in the library was true after all."
Laplace studied my eyes for a long moment, then turned his back as if satisfied. He activated a magic circle in the study and conjured a massive door.
"I owe you for subduing Ache, after all. I'll grant this just once. Hero."
A huge door appeared, as if it had been painted on over the books themselves.
"There. Beyond this is the deepest part of Akasa's temple. The Library of Truth."
Laplace flashed a mischievous grin at me and Phine. His expression looked light, as if all suspicion had been set aside.
"I hope you have a pleasant reading time."
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