WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 128: Don Quixote’s Reverie (12)
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Several days had passed since the return from the temple.
The restless atmosphere had gradually calmed.
Vacation was nearing its end, and the day to return to the academy was drawing close.
“...”
On the final dawn at House Kihano.
The golden-haired girl stood alone, gazing up at the night sky.
-Before I left the main house, I used to look at the night sky here every day.
-Yes! Looking at the night sky puts my heart at ease.
Ranne Kihano.
A girl born with a blessing within her, destined to shine from the moment she was born.
Her violet eyes blinked amid the empty snowfield.
The star gazed as though yearning for the homeland from which it had come.
Whoooosh.
A wind carrying the scent of the North’s winter swept past.
Her hair was tousled, then smoothed back into place by her hand.
“Haah...”
Ranne’s breath was quiet.
Even that alone made white flowers bloom. The North was that cold.
Her breath bloomed in petal-like clusters, until at last it blossomed into a full bouquet.
“...”
Snowflakes.
Winter.
Snow.
Night sky.
Dawn.
Night.
White.
Black.
A colorless world.
A world untouched by any other color.
The girl, the only color upon that rough black-and-white canvas, filled her vision with contemplation.
Then gold and violet joined it, and the world came to consist of four colors.
Crunch, crunch.
Her feet had been roughly shoved into crumpled boots, which squeaked with every step through the garden.
Ranne Kihano.
Don Quixote.
A girl.
A star.
Her steps alone brightened the night sky and muted the snowfield’s saturation.
Thus, beneath the heavens and earth divided across the two ends of her vision, the girl looked like one of the few focal points in a stark ink painting.
Ranne quietly took in the scenery.
Pure white at her feet, pitch black above her head.
A lonely yet not shabby painting settled over her vision.
“Miss Ranne.”
“...Ah.”
Her contemplation, which had felt eternal, was interrupted much later, deep into dawn.
A voice suddenly sounded by her ear.
The girl turned around.
There stood a boy who bore the same black as the night.
“Here you were.”
Viktor.
He wasn’t wearing his mask.
“I was looking for you because you weren’t in your sickbed.”
“Mm! I was simply getting some fresh air.”
“It seems you were looking at the night sky.”
“We’ll be returning to the academy in the morning! We’ll have to say goodbye to this wonderful view for a while.”
Her dim eyes quickly regained their light.
It was one of the compulsions she suffered from.
She didn’t want to appear weak in front of others.
Even after sinking into herself moments ago, she suddenly put on a bright smile.
“It seems you can’t sleep.”
“That applies to you as well, doesn’t it, Sir Viktor?”
“That’s true... I spent several days lying in bed, so now I’m wide awake at dawn.”
They exchanged a few idle words.
The boy stepped closer to her.
Viktor looked up at the same night sky as Ranne and spoke.
“We’ll be returning to the academy in the morning.”
“Mm! It oddly feels like it’s been a long time!”
“It has been a while. Nearly a month, I think.”
“We had the school trip, then received another fifteen days of vacation right afterward!”
“Once we return, we’ll have to start preparing for final exams right away.”
“This time, I’ll surpass your grades, Sir Viktor.”
Their conversation warmed even the snowfield.
Laughter bubbled between their words.
“Sir Viktor.”
“Yes?”
“Do you ever worry about the future?”
“Worry? What kind of worries do you mean, exactly?”
“All worries, regardless of their nature.”
“Now I’m curious why you’re asking that.”
“It’s just... there have been all sorts of incidents lately, haven’t there?”
The day of the entrance exam.
An encounter with an Apostle of the Evil God while heading to the academy.
Several months ago, during practical training.
An encounter with another Apostle of the Evil God at the examination site.
The recent school trip.
Being caught up with a hidden Cult branch.
And this vacation.
Even being kidnapped to that mysterious place called the courtroom.
“In less than half a year, one strange incident after another came crashing down.”
Ranne stole a glance at Viktor’s reaction.
She had considered it several times, but in the end, she let the question slip out.
“So... I wanted to ask what you thought of it all, Sir Viktor.”
Once spoken aloud, the words felt small.
She had become needlessly cautious, and despite her resolve, her voice trailed off.
The girl smiled awkwardly.
“Was it a pointless question?”
Still, I wanted to hear your answer.
After all, every one of those incidents had been resolved by your hands.
Even problems that had been too much for me vanished cleanly whenever you stepped forward.
“I wonder.”
Viktor placed his hand on her golden hair.
His gentle hand stroked her hair, as it had several times before.
“Won’t it work out somehow?”
“Somehow...?”
“What about you, Miss Ranne? Are you the worrying type?”
“...I think I worry a little.”
Ranne nodded with difficulty.
Then the hand resting on the top of her head began gently pressing down.
“Eep... S-Sir Viktor?”
“It’s good to live with worries. They make you prepare for the future and prepare yourself even more. But you mustn’t become consumed by them, all right?”
“...”
“You always have a lot of worries, don’t you, Miss Ranne? Though you never show it on the outside.”
The black eyes that met hers curved in a smile.
Words that seemed to see right through her.
The girl held her breath for a moment.
Then Viktor’s fingertip lightly tapped her forehead.
“Worry a little less.”
“...”
“If you think you’re about to lose your way, I’ll be there ahead of you to catch you.”
He answered as though it were nothing, yet warmth reached her with such care.
It was a casually made promise, but it felt dependable.
There was reassurance in that touch.
‘Warm.’
Yes, you had always been that kind of person.
A lighthouse standing tall amid a storm.
A buoy beyond the waves.
Someone who didn’t waver or falter, someone I wanted to use as a guidepost.
-You’re doing well.
-Miss Ranne, you’re doing more than well enough.
Someone who always told me I was all right.
Someone who still saw me as young.
“...”
You were hard for me to face.
No matter how tightly I hid myself away, you would quietly approach and find me.
-Miss Ranne, your problem is that you always try to carry too much.
-It would be all right if you learned to rely on others a little more.
Words no one else said to me.
You alone told me not to try so hard.
Then you smiled playfully, saying you would somehow handle it yourself.
“...Sir Viktor.”
On a dawn filled with conflicting emotions, Ranne spoke in a voice she normally never would have used.
“I don’t know.”
Weakness.
Anxiety.
Worry.
Pressure.
“I have no confidence.”
“Miss Ranne.”
“I was blessed by the stars. I was given power beyond my vessel and station.”
The thoughts of Ranne Kihano, who existed behind the cheerful and valiant Don Quixote.
“As I told you before, this power sometimes sends me signs. I explained it to you as something like intuition.”
“I remember.”
“Lately... the Starlight within me has been stirring more often. More precisely, it began this year. That trembling sometimes seems frightened, and sometimes seems anxious about something. It feels as though it is foretelling the days to come.”
“...”
“In the not-too-distant future, a terrible disaster seems poised to descend upon the continent.”
Something she had never told anyone.
“Therefore, the Starlight whispers to me. It says I must stand against that disaster, that I must become everyone’s hero, that I am the only one who can take on that role.”
Her voice was faint, but it trembled.
For the first time in her life, the girl showed the world her true self.
“...But I don’t know. A hero... Can someone as lacking as me truly carry such an important duty? My abilities are unrefined, and my experience is limited. I always try to remain positive so I can be an example to others, but even that is only a face I created. Yet the world tells me to become a hero. That makes me anxious.”
“...”
“When I was so anxious, I came to know you.”
Viktor.
I had met you.
“You guided me. Whenever something happened, you always stepped forward to resolve it, and you always showed outstanding martial skill and an upright heart. So the more time we spent together, the more I found myself wanting to rely on you. I wanted to abandon the calling given to me and run from my duties. I wanted to be at ease.”
If the world truly needed a hero, perhaps you were the one suited for that place.
That was why I followed so closely behind you.
Because I wasn’t afraid when I was with you.
Because the sight of your back as you walked ahead made my own steps move forward.
Because no matter what disaster came or what mire I fell into, it felt as though you would break through all of it.
“Isn’t that ridiculous?”
In the end, I meant that I had hidden.
That I had lacked faith in myself and made another person my refuge.
“I feel foolish. In the end, the one who must move forward should be myself, not someone else...”
“...”
“I don’t even know whether someone like me is truly qualified.”
“...”
The girl’s sincere feelings spilled out clearly, without restraint.
Viktor listened without making a sound.
He didn’t interrupt her or console her.
He simply listened quietly to everything Ranne had let overflow.
Only after she had completely fallen silent did the boy share the thoughts he had formed while listening.
“So what?”
“Pardon?”
“You want to run away, rely on someone, you’re anxious... That can happen. Everyone feels that way.”
“But I...”
“Even that night sky shines because hundreds of millions of stars gather together. Even a single bloom of magic requires hundreds of thousands of mana particles to come together. This is a world where nothing can exist without being joined to something else. Even someone called a hero couldn’t possibly illuminate the world alone, could they?”
“...”
“So it’s all right to shine together. Rely on others. The companions at your side, the people you love, even the world you wish to protect... In the end, all of them will become part of that brightness. That isn’t ridiculous or foolish at all. Rather, it will remain as a beautiful picture.”
The boy’s hand ran through her golden hair.
Gentle.
The girl looked up at him without a word.
Your touch was delicate and kind, and I liked it.
‘That’s why...’
That’s why I couldn’t help admiring you.
Why I had found myself wanting to become like you.
“...Is that so?”
“Of course it is.”
Somehow, a corner of her heart melted away.
They had only been a few words, yet her heart felt lighter.
“Thank you. I think my thoughts have become a little clearer.”
“I’m glad. I’m happy my advice could help you, Miss Ranne.”
Ranne sensed the Starlight within her.
She took a quiet breath.
The moments she spent with the boy were so peaceful.
As she lingered in silence, a scene from several days ago rose in her mind.
-Kim Muro.
The words spoken by the judge whose form had turned pitch black.
It seemed to be someone’s name.
The Chief Justice had called Viktor that.
Yet Viktor hadn’t denied that it was him.
‘It seemed like a sensitive matter, so I didn’t tell anyone else...’
The girl parted her lips.
She asked the boy.
“Sir Viktor. If it isn’t rude, may I ask you one thing?”
“Hmm? Of course. Even a rude question is fine if it’s from you, Miss Ranne.”
“Kim Muro.”
“...”
“Is that something like Sir Viktor’s real name?”
“...Rather than real or fake, it’s simply a name I no longer use.”
The boy only answered after a long pause.
Since he wasn’t wearing his mask, Ranne could easily read his expression.
Viktor smiled faintly.
“So please, Miss Ranne, be the only one who knows.”
“...I understand.”
She had many questions, but she couldn’t dig any deeper.
Kim Muro.
There was something lonely in your eyes as you lingered over that name.
Instead, her violet eyes shifted to glance at the boy’s right cheek.
-Orphanage burned completely to the ground.
-Arson committed by humans.
Burn scars bloomed on his face like flowers.
Ranne felt her heart sink.
‘What kind of story are you hiding?’
Viktor wore a complicated expression.
That frustrated her.
Was she still unable to become someone he could rely on?
I simply didn’t want to see you make that expression.
‘I want to become stronger.’
Just as you had sheltered me, I wanted to shelter you too.
You were my guide.
The star that showed me the way forward.
Then what I wanted to become now was...
‘I want to become your star too.’
Even if it was nothing but a reverie.
On a night when dreams rippled like waves, the girl quietly took the boy’s hand.
Their fingers intertwined.
“Sir Viktor.”
“Yes, Miss Ranne.”
“I’ll become stronger. Strong enough to surpass you, Sir Viktor.”
“You’re going to become even stronger? You already seem more than strong enough compared to people your age.”
“I have a goal I want to achieve.”
“Oh, a goal?”
“The details are a secret.”
“My, what am I supposed to do when you make me curious?”
“When I achieve it, I’ll tell you.”
I’ll become your star.
So please don’t disappear somewhere, and always remain by my side.
“Hehe, I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Before they knew it, dawn had passed, and morning light brightened beyond the horizon.
The two looked up at that sight together.
Morning arrived, breaking apart the colorless world.
The first rays of sunlight sparkled as brightly as the girl’s resolve.
* * *
A few days later.
Vacation ended, and we returned to the academy.
The Class E lecture hall, where I was sitting for the first time in quite a while.
“Phew...”
It had been an eventful stretch.
At the very moment I thought I might finally enjoy some peaceful everyday life, someone came looking for me.
“Class E’s top student.”
Blue hair, blue eyes, and an impassive gaze.
A girl who gave off a chill like frost flowers.
She sat in one corner of the Class E lecture hall.
“Hi.”
“Wha?”
“I’m in Class E starting today too.”
Rin Glacia.
The strongest first-year student at Grandia, the top student of the year whom I had defeated before.
She was also a genius considered to possess overwhelming talent among her generation.
“I came because you told me to.”
The girl waved at me.
With the most expressionless face in the world, she said, “Please take care of me.”
“...What?”
No, fuck.
Why was the top student of Class A here...?
Footnotes:
The Korean wordplay links “contemplation” and “four colors,” both pronounced sa-saek.
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