WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Picked Up the Protagonist’s Heroine ◈
Chapter 6: How Many Children Should We Have?
──────
I placed the bracelet back on the priest’s hand.
“You never specified the size, so I made it large for now.”
Shhh...
The dust that had filled the monastery began to settle.
Thanks to that, the cracked tile floor became clearly visible.
As did the hidden space beneath it.
Whoooosh...
The wind carried the dust beneath the tiled floor.
A basement.
It was a basement filled with bookshelves.
“There’s an underground library.”
“...Pardon?”
Perhaps the priest was still in shock, because the priest’s reactions were a beat too slow.
“The basement. It looked like there were books piled up down there.”
“Ah... yes... That’s right.”
The priest did not turn to look at me.
The priest only examined the cross-shaped pillar I had made from up close.
Soon, the priest cautiously reached out to touch it.
Crackle!
The moment the priest’s hand drew near, the shining cross-shaped pillar released a threatening flash.
“Such pure divine power... Just who are you...?”
“I’ll take that to mean I passed the test.”
Ignoring the priest, I jumped through the gap in the floor.
As I walked through the dark underground library, the priest awkwardly squeezed through the opening and followed after me.
“Did you perhaps come from the Church Central Administration?”
What was he talking about?
The priest was jumping to conclusions on his own.
“Even if I were an inspector from the Central Administration, I couldn’t exactly tell you that.”
“Ah, I suppose... that’s true.”
I took my gaze off the priest and examined the books on the shelves.
The first things I noticed were Scripture commentaries arranged by era, but those were not what I was looking for.
A magic tome given to clergy who passed the test.
A tome that allowed even beginners to learn healing magic with ease.
I found one while looking through the shelves, but...
“I can’t use this one.”
It was a textbook over twenty years old, so I gave up and put it away.
Revised editions seemed to come out regularly, so I might as well get the latest one.
I continued searching the underground library.
However, the more I rummaged through it, the quicker the priest’s footsteps became behind me.
“Should I... find it for you?”
“You said earlier that you couldn’t give it to me.”
“It seems like you intend to turn the entire library upside down until I find it for you... Are you doing this on purpose?”
I had not realized I looked like such a troublemaker, but there was no reason to refuse his cooperation.
“Then I would appreciate it.”
As though the priest had been waiting for that, the priest nodded and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
A spell that created light.
The light the priest created flew back and forth between the desks.
Soon, it stopped in front of the books lined up on the highest shelf.
There were around twenty books with identical covers.
They were textbooks titled <Basic Recovery Magic Tome 1.0>.
It sounded like the name of a cram school textbook.
“This is the textbook given to apprentice clergy who have passed the test. It is this year’s revised edition, and it is written to be easy to understand.”
“You sound like a bookseller.”
“...In any case, this is the magic tome we use.”
I took the book the priest offered with one hand.
Flip.
I lightly turned through the pages.
Just as the priest said, I saw simplified magic circles and terminology.
Since it was a beginner’s tome, Ester would probably grasp it quickly with her knowledge of magic.
I closed the book and grinned.
During Academy class.
Ester rested her chin in her hand and stared vacantly out the window.
Lately, Ester had been unable to focus on class.
-You don’t need to control it. You’re already perfect.
It had begun then.
Even if she could not control her mana, she could become a fine mage if she only learned healing magic.
She could even become superior to other mages.
Since she had heard those words only recently, perhaps it was natural that regular lessons would not sink in.
‘Haa...’
Her grades were at the bottom not because she lacked talent.
Born into a family of mages, she had trained in magic since childhood.
She understood Academy lessons easily, and her theoretical knowledge was even better than that of other students.
The problem was practical training.
The Academy’s Magic Department did not want students who were good at studying. It wanted excellent mages.
Since Academy policy based exams on practical training, she could never receive good evaluations.
Just as during the entrance exam, she had not given it her all.
The trauma of having once burned her hometown village trapped her.
If she failed to control her mana again, she might hurt someone.
Ester always kept one hand on the brakes.
She had entered the Academy to find an answer that would fix her constitution, but she still had not found a way forward.
The first semester of her first year, when her confidence only continued to erode.
A dark period when the man she liked did not even treat her like a person.
Then Daywin had become her hope.
-Healing magic has no side effects, even if your mana overflows.
She would give up every other kind of magic and learn healing magic.
The solution was different, but it was still an answer.
‘I do want to try learning healing magic, but...’
Ester knew as well.
Holy magic was the Church’s proprietary art, a subject not included in the Academy curriculum.
She could learn healing magic by joining the Church and completing its clergy training, but she would have to devote two years to it.
Even after those two years, the final test awaited her.
As alternatives, she considered finding a magic tome on the black market or receiving instruction from a corrupt priest, but...
‘No matter how desperate I am, I can’t break the law...’
It was too reckless after all.
It would be no different from becoming a dark mage.
Ester imagined herself saving people with healing magic.
The image of herself in that fantasy was still vague.
‘I’ll have no choice but to try after graduating from the Academy. It would be a waste to quit after barely getting in... And if I quit the Academy, Laward too... Hm?’
Laward.
That name changed her train of thought.
‘Come to think of it, Laward wanted to become a paladin...’
A paladin.
The reason Laward worked hard every day.
At the same time, the reason he despised Ester.
‘Wouldn’t he know about holy magic?’
Ester resented the Church and the Goddess for taking Laward’s heart from her, but looking at it from another angle gave her a brilliant idea.
1. Laward either knows about holy magic or is studying it.
2. I approach him and say I want to study with him.
3. How many children should we have?
After the lunchbox plan failed, she had been forced into a brief hiatus, but this time success was right before her eyes.
Ester covered her face with her slender hands and smiled softly.
She had a good feeling about this.
If it did not fall after ten chops, she would chop it an eleventh time.
Was there anyone more attractive than someone of the opposite sex who shared the same interests?
* * *
“...Pardon? What did you say?”
During break time.
In the first-year building’s hallway.
Ester opened her eyes wide and asked again.
“I said I got the magic tome you’ll use.”
Daywin held up the magic tome so that she could clearly see its title.
<Basic Recovery Magic Tome 1.0>.
“This is...”
Ester’s trembling eyes scanned every detail of the cover.
“This is the textbook the Church uses, isn’t it?”
When Ester lowered her voice to ask, Daywin nodded.
“Yes, I obtained it myself, so there’s no mistake. And I believe I told you this earlier as well.”
“Is it really all right for someone like me to receive something so valuable?”
Daywin’s eyebrows twitched at Ester’s question.
‘She’s still like this.’
He had thought she would be fine as time passed, but the Ester he had seen in the game had not returned yet.
The confident and bold Ester, who was actually softhearted and easily embarrassed.
That Ester was nowhere to be found. Only a fragile girl remained.
“If you don’t take it, that would be a problem. Well, at least you know it’s valuable, so my trouble wasn’t wasted.”
“When you say you went through trouble to get it...”
She suddenly remembered what she had been thinking about earlier.
The only ways to acquire a magic tome without becoming clergy were visiting the black market or bribing a corrupt priest.
“Could it be...”
Ester looked up at Daywin suspiciously.
“May I ask how you got it?”
“Hmm.”
Daywin hesitated for a moment.
‘It would be a little awkward to tell her about causing a scene at the monastery, wouldn’t it?’
He could not throw away the image he had built up.
Daywin considered how to answer from several angles, then decided to simply remain silent.
Speech is silver, silence is golden.
‘Making up a lie would be a hassle, too.’
After a brief consideration, Daywin opened his mouth.
“I can’t tell you that.”
At once, Ester’s expression went blank as if she had been struck.
‘So he did get it through an improper method...!’
Her suspicion became certainty.
At the thought of being involved in a crime, her heart began pounding at a frantic rhythm.
‘Can I really use a magic tome obtained through shady channels? I-Is this really all right?’
Ester imagined herself being dragged away by a Church inquisitor and locked behind iron bars.
That image, at least, was perfectly clear.
More than anything, what frightened her was Daywin’s unconcerned expression.
Though he had broken the Church’s laws, there was no change in his expression, tone, or complexion.
He was as calm as though nothing had happened.
As though he was used to things like this.
‘...He’s a scary person.’
She had thought he was frightening from their first meeting.
Perhaps it was because of his red eyes.
Or perhaps it was because of his sharp eyes and the foxlike curve of his lips.
When they first met, she had unknowingly held her breath until Daywin spoke.
But unlike other nobles, Daywin had approached her with a gentle tone. He smiled often, and he knew how to speak kindly.
She had thought he was kinder than he looked, but...
‘He really was a scary person.’
“Ester? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Pardon? Ah, I’m sorry.”
Ester flinched and raised her head.
“Um, my patron... You did this for me, right? You aren’t normally... this sort of person, are you?”
“I don’t know what you mean, but this is no time to be picky about means and methods. I want you to grow stronger quickly.”
“Means and methods...”
Leaving Ester murmuring blankly behind him, Daywin took her wrist.
“Eek!”
She had already been thinking he was scary, so the sudden contact made her jump in alarm.
Only for a moment.
Tap.
“Don’t be afraid. You’ll do well.”
Before she knew it, the magic tome was in her hands.
The feel of the thick cover stopped her thoughts.
Ester froze in place with a dazed expression.
‘I-I touched it. As of this moment, I’m an accomplice, and eventually I’ll go to prison...’
She hurriedly tried to return the magic tome, but he had already turned away.
As though he would not listen to anything further, he simply left.
“I took it...”
After Daywin had disappeared from view.
Left alone in the hallway, Ester looked down at the magic tome.
“......”
She still did not know what kind of person Daywin was.
If anything, this incident made him even harder to understand.
Still, had anyone ever told me they would use any means necessary for my sake?
How long had it been since someone had said they believed in me?
Would someone like that appear again?
Daywin was still full of questions, and he was frightening, but his intention to help Ester seemed unchanged.
Even if it was not true, he was someone she wanted to believe in.
“Ah.”
She realized something else.
...She had no reason to talk to Laward anymore.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
