WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 37: Trash-Tier Magic

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I moved us to the room to get away from the awkward atmosphere, but if you ask another embarrassing question, what am I supposed to do...?

I let out a long sigh and answered.

"...I didn't."

"Then how did you get here so quickly?"

"What do you think? I put her to sleep the same way as before and came back."

Yuri sighed too.

Why were you letting out something like a sigh of relief?

"Thanks."

She sat on the bed with her back to me.

"I look stupid, don't I? Me..."

Yes. Very much.

If she were smart, she wouldn't have come up with such a ridiculous plan to disguise herself as a man.

Still, I didn't want to press someone who was already so dejected.

"It's enough that you survived thanks to me. The result is what matters, right?"

She seemed to cheer up a little at my words.

"That's right. I think I'll be okay as long as Sirius is by my side. Hehe."

I wasn't sure whether it was because she was alone with me or because she'd relaxed, but she answered in a feminine voice.

And let's work on becoming someone who can manage on your own too, Yuri.

"This time only, since we were assigned as party members. I can't promise anything after this."

I answered with a chuckle.

"Then I hope we'll keep being party members from now on..."

She let her voice trail off.

"Hey. You should be thinking about doing that with the Hero."

I laughed.

She had gone as far as disguising herself as a man to join the Hero's Party, so I wondered what the point would be if she kept being in a party with someone like me.

She was silent for a while after that, then hesitantly called my name again.

"...Sirius..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you... not very interested... in joining the Hero's Party?"

Ghk.

It felt like something had suddenly caught in my throat.

I couldn't understand how she could act stupid one moment, then throw out such a sharp question the next.

I tried to avoid answering for the moment.

"Why... why do you think that?"

I wondered if my ulterior motives were so obvious that even an outsider could see them.

"I don't know, but Sirius had a chance to join the Hero's Party during the first party assignment, didn't you? Even then, you chose to stay with us."

It had never occurred to me that my attempt to escape the situation would look that way.

"That's not it."

"Then what is it?"

Yuri turned to face me.

"The Homeroom Teacher said everyone would be given a chance eventually. I'm trusting him on that."

"Wouldn't it be better to make the first move?"

"Do you remember Arin from the Hero's Party?"

"The little pink-haired brat?"

You describe things almost exactly the way I do.

"Yeah. Her expression was awful after she heard the Hero ask to switch."

That was true.

I had no desire to have stray arrows of anger directed at me.

"Hmm, I see~"

She clearly didn't understand, but she seemed willing to humor me.

Good. Let's not keep picking at this.

"Still, I'm happy. Thanks to you, I got to meet Sirius."

She gave me a bright smile.

Her hair was unbound today, which made her look especially feminine.

"You don't have to make such a big deal out of it. Ahem."

Embarrassed, I cleared my throat.

"Sirius."

She sure had been saying my name a lot today.

"Yeah?"

"Can you explain the magic you cast on me?"

Given the circumstances, I'd forgotten that Yuri was currently affected by my Innate Magic, Emotional Amplification.

The more time I spent with her, the more naturally her feelings toward me would grow stronger under the Innate Magic.

Judging from the current situation, I expected those feelings to have been amplified significantly in a positive direction.

"Has it caused any physical problems?"

I spoke in a worried tone.

"No...? Not exactly... Though... maybe something is a little off...?"

If the magic had side effects, that would be important information.

"What is it? What is it?"

My eyes widened as I moved closer to her.

"When I look at Sirius... my heart beats so fast..."

Perhaps she felt uncomfortable with me coming closer, because she edged back as she spoke.

This was probably the expected result rather than a side effect.

I was relieved. At least it wasn't causing any direct physical problems or strain.

Just as I wondered whether I should reveal what the magic did, I came up with an even better way to string Yuri along.

"Ah... my magic is... well..."

I put on a troubled expression.

I heard the sound of her swallowing.

"It makes the other person fall in love with me."

In case her feelings were amplified in a negative direction, I decided to plant a suggestion as a kind of safeguard.

If I told her it was magic that made her love me blindly, I figured she wouldn't start hating me so easily.

Yuri looked shocked.

"Why would you cast something like that on me...!"

For testing, obviously.

There really was no better test subject than Yuri.

I briefly imagined casting it on Raven.

I thought casting it on a rock might be better.

"That's a secret."

It was obvious that learning the truth would hurt Yuri.

"Then Sirius... what do you... think of me?"

Her eyes wavered.

"I think you're a good person."

You helped me too.

Her expression grew complicated.

I couldn't predict what she was thinking.

I even wondered if her negative feelings had already been amplified and she was about to start hating me.

"...Then this doesn't mean... I'm a bad person... right?"

Huh?

It suddenly brought to mind the day I had first cast my Innate Magic on Luna.

Luna had gone on and on about how it was all because she was a bad person.

A strange sense of déjà vu sent a chill down my spine.

It felt as if people kept using my Innate Magic as an excuse to justify their own behavior.

"...Yuri...?"

I lowered my head slightly to see the expression on her bowed face.

That was when it happened.

Yuri pounced on me at tremendous speed while I was sitting on the bed.

I was knocked onto the mattress, and Yuri climbed on top of me.

"...You see... I held myself back because I thought I was the one who'd gone strange..."

She spoke in a gentle voice.

Her hands, however, were anything but gentle.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?"

She pulled off my jacket without hesitation.

"Yuri. I'm sorry. Can't we talk after you get off me? Please!"

She was a candidate for the Hero's Party too.

And she moved so damn fast that I could barely keep up with her.

Every button on my shirt had been torn off by her hands, leaving it barely covering my bare skin.

"I... I said I was sorry...?"

I had saved her, only to end up being eaten alive.

My Innate Magic really was trash-tier.

"Why? You get to toy with people, but I don't?"

Yuri laughed coldly.

The contrast was always more dramatic when a good person did something bad than when a bad person did something bad.

I couldn't quite adjust to her reaction.

If Luna had said something like that, it wouldn't have surprised me. Hearing it from Yuri left me deeply flustered.

Innate Magic gacha, give me a refund. Why am I the only one who gets something like this?

"Let's talk this out. With words. Okay?"

I thought peace would come after I dealt with several girls trying to have their way with me, but what if you were the final boss?

"Come to think of it, Sirius, I think you touched me there too."

I remembered what had happened yesterday afternoon.

Don't tell me...

"Have you heard of the Law of Equivalent Exchange?"

I'm pretty sure that's not what that law is for.

Her hand began to move.

I had to stop this.

I could feel my instincts screaming.

I condensed mana at my fingertips.

Please let it not be too late...

Whether her hand reached its destination first or my magic did came down to the slimmest of margins.

Fortunately... I won.

Yuri's hand reached my waistband, but she couldn't undo the buckle.

She lost her balance and fell into my arms.

Sleep alone didn't seem enough to knock her out, so I drew in a considerable amount of mana and used Faint, the knockout spell.

I felt the strength drain from my entire body.

I could cast Sleep dozens of times on ordinary people without a problem, but the spell I'd used to subdue Yuri had consumed a lot of mana.

Ah... whatever...

Cain seemed to have enjoyed himself at his own place, but I was completely exhausted.

I didn't have the energy to move Yuri, who was on top of me, somewhere else.

I was tired, and moving her had become too much trouble, so I decided to close my eyes for a while with our bodies still pressed together.

I figured I'd sleep for exactly one hour, then drag Yuri away.

* * *

"Oh, Sirius. Did you enjoy the feast your big bro laid out for you?"

It would've been better if I'd really just had lunch.

I slung half-dead Yuri over my back and met Cain at the entrance to Underground Paradise.

"It was great..."

I forced a smile.

"Good grief. Your clothes are a complete mess. My girls can be a little rough, hahaha."

Cain looked at my shirt beneath my jacket, all its buttons torn off.

This wasn’t from your girls.

"Hey, but Yuri must've found his first time so heavenly he can't even come to his senses."

I had plenty to say, but didn't bother.

After we went back up to the surface through the long passage, Raven was waiting for us.

"Oh, Raven. Did you have some fun too?"

Raven nodded.

Her nod was a little deeper than usual, so she must have genuinely enjoyed herself.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad everyone had a good time today."

I figured it was good enough if the two of them had enjoyed themselves.

We climbed into the ultra-luxury carriage again.

Our whole Party was exhausted for our own reasons, and we soon fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, the sun had already set, and the academy was coming into view.

The coachman told us we'd arrived, and only then did we all make our way into the academy, still half-asleep.

Before Raven left, she said,

"Ten o'clock. Come to the east gate, you see."

After that, we each returned to our own rooms.

Yuri looked like she wanted to say something to me, but I ignored her and hurried toward the Dormitory.

I had an appointment with Luna, and if we needed to talk, there would be plenty of time tomorrow or the day after.

I planned to rest for a little while before going to find Luna.

The moment I opened my door, someone greeted me from inside the room that should have been empty.

"Why are you so late!"

Luna came pattering to the entryway as if she were greeting her husband home from work.

Her gaze dropped from my face to my shirt.

"Sirius... why... are all the buttons gone...?"

One of Luna's eyebrows rose.

Footnotes:

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