WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 34: You're Not in Your Right Mind
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“Where are you going?! Finish this, Aren Bright!”
Richard shouted after steadying his staggering body.
His gaze was fixed on Aren and the others as they headed forward to stop Viktor Grace.
But Aren spoke without even looking back.
“I have no intention of doing that.”
“Even at a time like this... are you going to keep ignoring me?”
Hearing the anger and despair in Richard’s voice, Aren answered calmly.
“As long as you’re standing here, I’m not ignoring you.”
Aren knew.
The ones responsible for the civil war were waiting for them in the room ahead.
And Richard, standing alone outside with his sword in hand, no longer shared their cause.
“Then and now, I’ve always looked straight at you.”
“Then why...? You know better than anyone what I’ve done to you all!”
“That’s why I know. I know you never crossed the line.”
That was why Aren entrusted him with this.
“I’ll leave the other students to you, Richard Dane.”
As academy comrades.
And as friends.
⁎⁎⁎
Richard in the original story had been little more than a scapegoat for the Dane Family.
As a member of the noble faction, the Dane Family had to keep the imperial family in check while suppressing the commoners who were rising through the ranks.
That did not mean they could simply join hands with the other nobles, either. Even the Reygal Family, at the center of the noble faction, was a target the Dane Family had to guard against.
The Dane Family had wielded young Richard like a blade amid all that, leaving him with an arrogant temperament.
That was how he earned the nickname, the Dane Family’s delinquent.
What he truly wanted, though, was a friend who would look directly at him and acknowledge him, not a bunch of underlings.
After reforming through his fight with Aren, Richard managed to survive even when noble families were purged en masse after the civil war scenario ended.
Dozens of petitions stated that he had protected the academy’s commoner students from Viktor Grace’s magic.
After that, Richard became an ally with a tsundere streak and a somewhat airheaded side, surviving without much trouble until the ending.
Having seen the ending several times myself, I knew exactly how to handle Richard.
If I suddenly asked him to be friends on only our second meeting, he’d probably think I was insane.
Richard’s fragile state of mind had played a part in allowing him to reform.
So I decided to approach him another way.
“This is loot I got from the dungeon. If you’re going to use a spear from now on, don’t you need it?”
“That... Don’t tell me it’s dungeon-made equipment?”
“Yeah. The Shattering Spear. I’ll give it to you if you need it.”
“...Why are you giving something like that to me?”
Of course, he didn’t yell something like, “Get lost!”
The Shattering Spear was far too appealing a weapon to refuse.
Naturally, I had no intention of giving it away for free.
So I decided to talk him into it.
“If your weapon had been just a little better during the entrance exam, the result would’ve been different.”
“...?!”
“I fought you with a weapon the Duke had prepared for me. You, on the other hand, only had a standard-issue noble sword.”
Richard’s gaze wavered.
He looked like he wanted to ask, ‘How did you know?!’
But students were supposed to bring standard-issue weapons to the exam in the first place.
Besides, it was only natural to be strong if you had good equipment.
“I think highly of your skill, Richard. You can think of this as a gift.”
“...I refuse! I have no need for a gift from you!”
‘So that’s how he’s going to react.’
Well, receiving something like this for free from an honorary noble of commoner birth was bound to seem suspicious.
That was when I delivered the line I had prepared from the start.
“If it bothers you, buy it.”
“...What?”
“I’m not giving it to you. You can pay a fair price and buy it yourself.”
At that point, Richard no longer had a reason to back down.
Rather than receiving my charity, he would obtain it himself.
That was probably exactly what Richard wanted.
After staying silent for a long time, Richard spoke in a low voice.
“...How much?”
Without hiding my smile, I gave him the last line I had prepared.
“As much as you want to pay.”
After hesitating for a moment, Richard eventually tossed me a pouch full of money.
Every gold coin he had on him.
The money I received from Richard was enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about expenses for a while.
“What should I say if someone asks where I got this weapon?”
“Just say you got it from a friend.”
“...Who says I’m your friend?!”
He shouted with an expression full of disgust, yet he didn’t seem upset.
Then...
“...Um.”
“...?”
“Is it true that you think highly of me?”
When I nodded, Richard hesitated for a moment before adding in a quiet voice.
“...May I visit you sometimes?”
“I don’t mind.”
“...What excuse would I use?”
Nobles really loved their excuses.
“If I get any more equipment or Shards, you can buy them from me.”
That was how I, someone who had looked like a beggar, gained a steady source of income.
Under the name of friendship fees.
⁎⁎⁎
People really needed money.
With some room to breathe, my mind worked better too.
The downside of being a student was having less time to train.
The upside was having more time to think.
Thanks to that, I could attend class at a reasonable pace while sorting through the variables that might arise in the future.
“P-Please take care of me!”
“Halibal Velder. Let’s get along this semester.”
“Y-Yes!”
Basic Weaponry had students who had chosen their weapons rotate partners, teaching each other their stances and movements while the instructor occasionally walked around and stepped in.
But...
‘Why are there so many sword users?’
There had definitely been students who used other weapons in the original story, yet the five people standing before me were all swordsmen.
On top of that, their eyes were sparkling as they stood there. We were clearly the same age, but it felt more like an instructor and students.
But I wasn’t good at teaching people.
No, I couldn’t teach them in the first place.
“Now, this is the starting stance.”
So I roughly imitated the basics of Belhart Style that Adeline had taught me and showed them. Every student looked deeply moved as they switched places in turn.
Then came the sixth student.
‘This one’s a swordsman too.’
I lightly thrust my sword forward.
“?”
But the male student didn’t avoid my sword at all.
If anything, he looked like he was waiting for me to hit him.
Dumbfounded, I lowered my sword and asked.
“Why aren’t you dodging?”
“I heard the spirit of Halibal Style lies in getting hit.”
‘What spirit?’
When a sword style was registered with the Imperial Swordsmanship Institute, part of its teachings would be organized into documents and made available to the students.
But according to this guy, those documents said that the spirit of Halibal Style was getting hit.
You’re not in your right mind.
“I’ve been practicing Halibal Style since two years before I entered the academy. So when you appeared on the platform at the exam site, I can’t tell you how moved I was.”
Two years ago meant only about one year after I had defeated Shukarit.
Hey, there was barely any difference between our experience levels.
‘Wait.’
I glanced to the side.
The five students who had gone before me were all taking stances that looked like they were forcing themselves to take the attacks in front of them.
No way?
“There are probably quite a few people who chose the path of the sword because of you. You’re the hope of commoners like us.”
Right. Now I understood why there were so many swordsmen.
The snowball I had set rolling was ruining the academy without me even realizing it.
“For reference, my goal is to master Halibal Break within this year.”
“...”
I filled in another blank on the checklist in my head.
Go to the Imperial Swordsmanship Institute and withdraw Halibal Style.
Noted.
After sending off the sixth student, I stretched.
‘There’s more to do than I thought.’
There was plenty to do besides clearing the Doll Dungeon.
Investigate Senia and Luna.
I also needed to visit Adeline at least once.
I couldn’t fall behind on farming, either.
And then...
“Oh, Halibal. It’s our turn?”
“Aren.”
‘Right, Aren was here too.’
It was time to follow up on the hint I’d planted for Aren during the entrance exam.
I had already been thinking that we should have an honest conversation at least once.
Though he didn’t seem to have thought about it as deeply as I expected.
In the meantime, Aren took the starting stance of Ultimate Divine Sword.
I matched him with the stance of Halifuckingbal Style.
There would be no sparring in class today.
This was only a process to see how well each person understood their weapon.
Instead of swinging quickly, it was more important to carry out the movements slowly.
You could call it basic training. I had done it with Adeline too, but it was harder than it looked.
Aren slowly swung his sword at me.
“Do you remember what you said during the entrance exam?”
So he had been thinking about it after all.
That was a relief. It would’ve been more dangerous if he had acted like it didn’t bother him at all.
Aren’s expression was more complicated than I expected.
I had said it to accelerate his growth. I hoped it hadn’t become a shackle.
But the fact that Aren needed to grow hadn’t changed.
So I had no intention of taking it back.
I would simply guide him naturally, as in the original story.
“You don’t need to be afraid. It’s your power, after all.”
“Did I say that?”
“What did you mean? I even asked Ran. You only said that to me. Apparently, you only said things like, ‘Do you understand...?!’ to everyone else.”
Hmm. I didn’t expect him to investigate that much.
It seemed to have weighed on his mind far more than I had thought.
I slowly swung my sword as well, knocking aside Aren’s.
“I only said it to throw you off.”
“Is that really all it was?”
“You looked scared, so I thought it might help.”
At that moment, Aren stopped moving.
This time, I slowly swung my sword first.
“...I was scared?”
“I said what I saw.”
Aren turned his body and blocked my sword.
He continued the movements, but he looked like he was dwelling on my words.
“Scared... Could you explain what you mean in more detail...”
Before he could finish, I cut him off.
“I heard your hometown is Baran?”
“Oh, right. How did you know?”
“Elia Work told me.”
Aren’s hometown, Baran, was a small provincial city at the edge of the Empire’s territory, bordering the sea.
It was called the countryside, but it was also famous as a vacation spot.
In the original story, Aren visited Baran with his companions during vacation and encountered an awakening event there.
This was why there was no point in me taking Aren’s lucky opportunities from him.
Aren was a protagonist who went through a great number of sudden awakenings, using mental growth as a stepping stone.
All his lucky opportunities were in his head!
“Ah... Elia. I didn’t see a trace of him yesterday, but you know him too?”
The timing needed some adjustment, though.
When Aren couldn’t clear an Evil God Dungeon and found himself blocked by a wall he couldn’t overcome, he would try all sorts of things to get past it.
He would travel across the entire Empire clearing dungeons, or even recreate the Abyss of the Evil God from the past as a Shadow Dungeon and run through it.
Of course, the player had to do all of that personally.
No matter what he tried, there were no results. Then, when he happened to visit Baran by pure chance, the awakening event would occur.
So I needed to give him a hint. If he ever had a mental breakdown, he should stop wasting time and run to Baran.
“Baran is famous for its sea, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. Everyone comes to Baran to see the sea. The Christoph Cross-Country Train stops there too, so it’s surprisingly easy to get there.”
As soon as I brought up Baran, Aren’s voice noticeably brightened.
He really did take pride in his hometown.
‘Of course, it isn’t his real hometown...’
“Baran is nice. In the morning, you can watch the sun rise over the sea, and the harbor always smells of salt. In the evening, you can watch the sun set beyond the horizon too.”
As Aren recalled those memories, I casually said,
“I’d like to see the sea at least once someday.”
Halibal in this world had never seen the sea.
At that moment, Aren’s sword stopped in place.
“You’ve never seen the sea?”
“Yeah.”
When I answered calmly, Aren’s eyes widened.
Then he said something unexpected.
“Then... do you want to go see it together next time?”
‘Oh?’
Not bad.
If I said I wanted to see the sea, I’d have an excuse to take Aren to Baran whenever I wanted.
No, it wasn’t just good. This was amazing.
“If I get the chance.”
That was how, over the course of class, I naturally redirected the attention I had drawn during the entrance exam toward Baran.
We continued talking about Baran for a while.
“Then have you been discharged from the military now?”
“Conditionally. I can return if I want to, but I probably won’t.”
“Then where are you living now? I don’t think I saw you in the dorm yesterday.”
I live in a dungeon.
Just as I was about to say that, I remembered something from the original story.
‘Wait. Wasn’t Aren’s dorm room empty in the original story?’
Students who entered the academy basically lived in the dormitories.
Usually, two people were assigned to a room, though some received special treatment and used private rooms.
The students who received that privilege were high-ranking nobles like Cecilia, Luna, and Eugene. Senia was probably the same.
Aren had also been given a private room because of the prestige of being Master Jin’s final disciple and inheriting Ultimate Divine Sword, so the board was careful around him.
There had even been an episode in the original story where Aren let Elia sleep in his room after Elia got into a fistfight with a roommate while obsessing over making a Shard Converter.
I had neither home nor shelter anyway.
Could I try leaning on Aren a little?
If we lived in the same room, I could use my knowledge of the original story to coach his growth here and there.
Once I obtained Sun Shine, I could naturally pass it on to him too.
More than anything, forming a bond as roommates with the original protagonist couldn’t possibly hurt my future plans.
“I’m worried about that too. The mansion I was supposed to move into still isn’t finished.”
“What? Then where are you sleeping right now?”
“Since you brought it up, can I ask you a favor?”
“A favor?”
So I went for it right away.
“If you’re okay with it, can I stay in your dorm for a while?”
For some reason, Aren didn’t answer for a long time.
Footnotes:
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