WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 83

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Episode 83. Who Is the Uninvited Guest?

* * *

Head stepped into the magic club's booth. In front of a dim mirror maze where only a little light filtered in.

"Heh heh! Bet that scared you! ...Huh? Wait, you're not scared?"

"Ariel, that's probably because you didn't do it right."

"Not bad, you two young ones."

In front of him, a hero couple appeared, looming large, trying to give him a fright, but the Demon King showed no sign of surprise, only stood still, deep in thought about something.

'Not Kainel, after all.'

The Demon King let out a low groan. The yellow Cerberus in front of him hadn't grown enough yet to break through his Erasure of knowledge.

"Not bad. This old man's heart nearly stopped."

"See, Kai? I told you I did it right!"

The same went for the red-haired mage grinning slyly beside the hero, watching him. There wasn't so much as a hint of artifact-grade equipment to be seen.

After all, the most likely candidate was still the one who'd shown something unusual at the grade exam, the man wearing the Black Knight's helmet.

'The fact that he nearly beat Phine Gransia, a princess no less, is what bothers me.'

He'd concluded that the one who'd wounded Magic Hat was Licht too. He'd run the calculations hundreds of times, and there wasn't even a variable to account for it. Even if the information was cloaked in falsehood, unreadable to him.

'The way to hold the advantage in an information war is to never reveal the cards you're holding.'

The man named Licht already stuck out like a jutting stone. He stood out, far too much, and no matter how he thought it over, only one possibility remained.

"One minute left."

He said it briefly, checking his wristwatch. Barring any more variables, a future where he crossed paths with Licht was already fixed.

"...What is this?"

But as he passed the hero couple and walked deeper into the maze, he found the spot where the students dressed as the sphinx and the Quercus were supposed to be, was empty.

His calculations had gone wrong again. He could chalk up Chartiness's kidnapping to something he simply hadn't known about at the time, but,

'not knowing exactly what the hero's abilities were, that was the real issue.'

He was dumbfounded that the two who should have been here, right now, at this moment, simply weren't. He concluded that this person didn't just break through Erasure of knowledge, but nullified omniscience itself.

'An ability that completely twists perception, is that it.'

Head, feeling hollow, slapped a palm to his forehead, sensing he'd fallen two moves behind. Well, this was a hero who'd driven off even the Demon King of Truth.

To have moved so carefully, secured the spot in advance, and still not be able to meet them. The Demon King looked down at the bottom of the deeply dug pit.

"...So they fell down here."

He murmured, watching the training slimes writhing below.

* * *

The incident happened all of a sudden.

"...Licht. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine... more importantly, could you get off of me?"

Because of a student who'd been startled by my dullahan costume and summoned a fire spirit, I'd stumbled backward and missed my footing on a trap pit nearby.

"Oh, sorry."

Because Mardol, seeing me fall into a place packed full of training slimes, had immediately thrown herself down and come underground with me.

"I'm sorry... I guess fire still scares me."

"It's okay. Licht."

It had been the same last time, when Ariel shoved a fireball at me too. It seemed my body still hadn't recovered from that day's wounds.

"...And here I thought I'd gotten a bit better."

I let out a deep sigh. Mardol, having fallen on top of me, was clean, but I was covered in the slime's sticky mucus and felt gross.

"Licht... why are you scared of fire?"

She sat up and asked me, curious. There was something, back when I was little.

The reason I'd gotten burn scars and started avoiding people. I'd heard a scream begging to be saved and run back into the fire, and there had been no miracle waiting there.

If not for Knight Heart, how would I have lived? The thought crossed my mind for a moment.

"There was an incident."

"...Something bad, huh."

Maybe she'd noticed my mood, the golden wolf eyes inside the tree costume were gleaming. She really was quick on the uptake. Unlike someone else.

I was grateful she didn't press further. This was a scar I had to carry through life. Not something I could ask others to understand or share.

"Licht. I'm here."

"...Is that why you jumped down with me?"

"Yeah. A pervert shouldn't be left alone..."

Mardol, having clenched both fists resolutely, suddenly lost her balance and swayed. What was that about all of a sudden?

"...Mardol?"

"..."

"Don't tell me you twisted your ankle?"

"Ah, I think so..."

Mardol was limping. Can't you just heal it with your divine power, I was about to say, when the training slimes started closing in around us.

It was too dark around us; swinging a sword as things stood might break the booth apart, and the situation was unfolding as if it were telling me to take care of her.

'Guess there's no helping it.'

The flags must have kept stacking up until they finally triggered. How had the person who came to save me ended up hurt worse? It was absurd. I turned my back to Mardol and crouched down.

"Get on my back."

"Licht...? If I just wait a little, this much should..."

"The slimes are coming. Besides, you're hurt, so you can't use magic."

"...All right. Licht."

If I lingered here any longer, it seemed like it would turn into something strange. The mere fact that she, wearing a Masterpiece, had twisted her ankle, left me with only one option to choose.

'This has to be the right call.'

It had already come to feel like something forced on me. In games, this was how it usually went, stack enough flags together and some strange, sudden event was bound to happen. And on top of that, she was the main heroine.

Isn't it common in that kind of dating sim for the female lead to be running late with a slice of toast in her mouth, shouting she's late, only to crash into the male lead?

The thought flashed through my mind that she might end up in an awful situation with the slimes. Coincidence had piled on coincidence until it became fate itself, so,

"All right, I'm going to start walking."

"...Okay."

It wasn't unreasonable. Even so, leaving her here or swinging my sword around would be the wrong call. The imperial guard might show up and hold someone accountable, too.

'She's not that heavy.'

The moment I chose to push straight through the event, the princess wrapped both arms around my neck. I could feel the hard texture of wood against my back.

I'd noticed it before too, but she was pretty light. Or maybe it was because I'd grown stronger through training.

"Mardol."

"...Licht, that's rude."

"I haven't even said you need to lose weight yet..."

"Pervert, pervert... Licht."

Riding on my back, she tapped lightly at my back with her fists. Good, seemed like she wasn't badly hurt after all. I quietly let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, now that I think about it."

"What...? Licht?"

"Why is it you never take off your helmet?"

I figured the system must have had some reason for putting the two of us alone together, so I asked what I'd been curious about all this time.

"..."

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to answer. I won't press you to dig up bad memories."

At that, she buried her face into my back with a small thump. What was this? Given how she'd just been repeatedly hitting my back, her affection level should have dropped. A moment later, Mardol spoke.

"...It's because of Magic Hat. Someone I met when I was little."

The truth she'd finally managed to force out, her voice on the verge of tears. Honestly, I knew this was taking me further from the Saintess's route, but.

'It had been bothering me all along. So it really was because of the Demon King.'

She was someone who'd thrown herself down to save me from falling into the pit and ended up twisting her ankle for it. Mardol had already come to mean more to me than I'd expected.

"What exactly did the Demon King of Truth do to you?"

"She said it was a problem that I was a girl. While she was killing the maids..."

"So that's why you've been hiding your gender..."

"Yeah... I was afraid others might get hurt by the Demon King because of me again..."

Then she must have lived a life far from normal. All-powerful, people might easily assume that being an imperial princess meant there was nothing she couldn't do, but.

"...That must have been hard."

"It's my fault... I..."

"Don't say things like that. You said it happened when you were young."

Everyone has moments of weakness. Listening to her, it sounded like that mad magician had wrecked her whole life.

"...I said something too harsh before. I'm sorry."

My footsteps forward came to a stop. Remembering the dark history of the cruel things I'd once said to her at the sword training grounds, I apologized again.

She'd seemed like cold glass, but in truth she was someone who cared about others more than anyone. A life broken in childhood couldn't easily recover, after all.

"It's okay... Licht."

"Then, as an apology, want me to tell you why I never show my face either?"

"Huh...? Yes...! Tell me..."

I understood better than anyone, so I sympathized. A child, not even an adult. What solution could there possibly be for someone slamming into a cold, merciless wall at that age and breaking down?

"I got badly burned when I was little, too."

In the end, when a person can't hold anyone else accountable, they turn the measuring stick on themselves. Unable to blame others, they gnaw away at their own flesh instead.

Immature, naive self-blame, the kind anyone might fall into, was better left unindulged.

"I'd barely made it out... but I heard a scream begging to be saved, so I ran back in. That's when I got hurt."

"...I see. It seemed like something you didn't want to talk about. Why tell me...?"

"You told me one of your painful memories too, didn't you."

Joy shared is doubled, and sorrow shared is halved, they say.

Besides, ever since the grade exam, Mardol had been someone who kept trying to protect me, so I couldn't help but be concerned about her.

"...So please, don't just blame yourself. The Demon King's the one in the wrong here."

"Licht..."

"There's no need to hurt yourself over it in the end. I've tried it myself, and trust me, it's really not worth it."

Emotions didn't run in a straight line. I wanted to offer some kind of encouragement to a knight so much like me.

'The Saintess is probably going to be upset, but... this is the right thing to do.'

Maybe it was the warmth I felt against my back that had stirred my feelings for a moment.

Or maybe it was cheap sympathy. Since I didn't really know her that well, maybe that was exactly why the words came so easily.

'In the end, she just never had anyone to rely on. Like me, back when I was a kid.'

But even the smallest encouragement is desperately needed by someone who's been hurt, so I couldn't push away Mardol, who had dug up her own trauma just to answer my question.

"...Cheer up. Or, how about a drink with me tonight?"

"Huh...? At the night market?"

"Yes, when you're feeling down, you've got to let it out."

I'd just proposed drinks to a tree monster. If the hero couple joined in too and we enjoyed the summer festival night together, it would probably be fine.

She was an academy freshman who'd probably already had her coming-of-age ceremony. Drinking together should be fine. With the guard watching over the area, nothing was likely to go wrong either.

"Sounds good. Licht... just so you know, I'm not going to lose."

"Ha ha. I'll look forward to it. Let's end the day on something fun instead of all this gloom."

It was also something I used to do back in reality whenever I was stressed. Buy a can of beer and some snacks from the convenience store, play a game, and,

"...Licht."

all the hard memories of the day would just melt away. This should probably do it. It would likely also make her less curious about my face under the helmet.

"...Thank you. Licht."

"Don't mention it. Aren't we friends, Mardol?"

"Friends..."

"Whenever you have a worry like this, come talk to me. I'll take payment later, in the form of a meal you buy me."

Actually, the part about buying me a meal was a joke. She seemed like she had something more to say, but soon buried her face into my back even deeper. Guess she was feeling a bit better now.

"...Right. We're friends. The two of us."

So, having shared the burdens weighing on each other's hearts, we walked together toward the booth's exit, where the light showed through.

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