WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 41: Raven (2)

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The first sea I'd ever seen was incredibly beautiful.

Gentle waves lapped at the shore, their water emerald green.

"Wow..."

Yuri, standing beside me, let out an impressed sigh as well.

"Raven, this is the sea I've only ever seen in paintings, right?"

It seemed this was Yuri's first time seeing the sea in person too.

Raven nodded.

"Wow! It's really beautiful!"

Yuri looked delighted.

She slowly walked up to where the waves reached.

"Sirius! Cain! Come over here!"

She took off her shoes and dipped her bare feet into the water.

She was clearly having the time of her life.

Cain seemed to like Raven's unexpected choice of destination as well.

"The sea, huh! It's been a while!"

I guess the young master traveled often too.

Cain tossed aside his shoes and rolled up his pants.

I looked at Raven.

Why had she brought us here?

"Raven."

She turned from the sea to look at me.

"Why'd you bring us here?"

"This is where I grew up, you see."

She spoke in her usual lazy tone.

Despite the warm sunlight, she kept her mask on as she turned her gaze back toward the sea.

"Does your family live here too?"

Raven spread both arms wide, as if enjoying the sea breeze.

"I have no family, you see... I only lived here with my master..."

It felt like I'd asked about something painful, and my mood immediately sank.

Then again, if someone asked me about Homeron Village, my expression would probably darken just as quickly.

"R-Right... Sorry. I asked something I shouldn't have..."

Raven shook her head as if it didn't matter.

"Then... is your master here?"

She tilted her head.

"That isn't so, you see."

"Then where is your master now?"

"If you mean Luke, he's at the academy, you see."

"Right, right. If he's the Homeroom Teacher, he'd be at the academy."

I nodded as though I understood.

Huh...?

Had I heard that wrong?

"Raven. What did you just say?"

She calmly repeated herself.

"If you mean Luke, he's at the academy, you see?"

For a moment, the gears in my head stopped turning.

So Raven was the Homeroom Teacher's disciple, and she'd lived here with him?

"You really lived here with the Homeroom Teacher?"

Raven nodded.

That was quite an interesting fact.

Maybe this was a chance to learn more about the man named Luke.

"How long have you lived here?"

"It's been about ten years, you see."

After answering, Raven slowly trudged over to Cain and Yuri.

Apparently, she found talking to me annoying.

Still, that was a huge gain.

I hadn't found a single clue about Luke's identity, but if I coaxed Raven properly, I might be able to learn all sorts of things.

I followed her and joined the rest of the Party.

"Wow. If I get another chance to visit the sea, I'll have to bring a change of clothes!"

Yuri seemed completely enchanted by the romance of the sea.

But Yuri, you do know that if your comfortable clothes get wet, everyone will immediately realize you're a girl, right?

As usual, she was careless.

Cain had already taken off his shirt and entered the water.

"Hey, Sirius. Aren't you coming in?"

Playing in the water looked fun, but I preferred watching from a distance.

"Next time."

I waved at Cain, who was already waist-deep in the water.

Cain started walking toward me as if he didn't like that answer.

Unease washed over me.

Ah, please. Let's talk this out like adults.

"Hooh? The teacher told us to get along, and this is how you're going to act?"

Cain lunged at me.

As that huge body charged toward me, I got a little scared.

I'm a weak little man, you see. Stop it.

Cain dragged me over anyway and threw me into the sea.

The water tasted salty, and my eyes stung.

As I floundered around like a drenched rat, Yuri giggled at the sight.

"See? You should've joined us when we asked, Sirius."

Fine. You started this.

I gathered mana in my hand.

With an endless supply of water right here, water magic was twice as efficient.

"Have a taste of this, you bastards."

I reversed the direction of the waves.

When the waves that had rolled in at regular intervals suddenly stopped and the water began pulling inward, Yuri and Cain looked confused.

"What are you doing, Sirius?"

"Come on, are you upset just because we played a little prank on you, Sirius?"

I grinned.

"You're both candidates for the Hero's Party, aren't you? Try enduring this much."

I released the flow of water I'd been holding back.

A wave that looked about two stories tall rushed toward us from quite a distance away.

Of course, I'd already set up a barrier.

Using her specialty, Yuri had already raced far up onto dry land.

Cain's reaction was the interesting part. He faced the incoming wave head-on.

He slowly turned only his head toward Yuri and me, who were watching from behind him.

"Watch closely, brats."

Then he started charging toward the wave.

Was he completely insane?

Cain looked like some end-of-the-world general facing an army alone.

It was something I didn't have, so I thought it looked pretty cool.

His massive body collided with the even larger wave.

A huge column of water burst up over the beach.

The vanguard of our Party was certainly reliable.

Since I was already soaked, I enjoyed my first trip to the sea with Yuri and Cain.

Cain found something like a wooden plank somewhere and began riding the waves.

After watching us from a distance for a while, Raven said she would head inside for a moment and entered a cabin a short distance away.

It seemed to be the house where she'd lived with the Homeroom Teacher.

It was a shabby cabin that wouldn't have looked out of place in Homeron Village.

Judging by its size, there was no way three or more people could have lived there.

As Yuri and I stood with only our feet in the water, taking in the new scenery, I suddenly needed to use the bathroom.

"Yuri, I'll be right back."

"Okay~"

There wasn't anywhere else to take care of business, so I decided to borrow the cabin's bathroom.

The cabin didn't look especially near or far, but no matter how much I walked, the distance between us never seemed to shrink.

I wondered if I was seeing things.

I was definitely walking, but after a certain point, I kept walking in place.

This was... magic.

There was no way someone as skilled in magic as me wouldn't notice.

All right. Shall we dismantle it?

I'd mastered the construction and dismantling of magic circles in my second year in the Demon World.

Even Amelia had acknowledged my talent in this particular field.

Once you understood how this kind of barrier magic was constructed, undoing it wasn't difficult.

I infused mana into my palm and slammed it against the sand.

"All right. Let's see what you've been hiding."

A blue crack appeared in front of me.

A spell that threw off your sense of direction and raised an invisible wall...

It wasn't an incredibly high-level spell, but it required more than basic skill.

Had Raven set it up herself?

I couldn't imagine Luke doing it.

If that monster had truly decided to set up a barrier, I doubted I'd have been able to find even the shape of the magic circle.

Once I finished dismantling it, I could finally approach the cabin.

Needing the bathroom badly, I hurried toward the house.

But the sounds I heard forced me to stop in front of the door.

"Haa... Hngh..."

A woman's moans.

Don't tell me Raven was...

I'd stumbled onto something I never expected to see.

"Haa... Ah... It feels so good..."

I'd thought Raven was completely ignorant when it came to that sort of thing.

But her next words shocked me even more.

"Master... Please... To this pathetic disciple..."

Master...? Did she mean Luke?

If so, then the person Raven was getting herself off to was...

I quietly tried to leave.

Something told me that getting caught here would be a massive headache.

As for the bathroom, I could just take care of it somehow on the far side of the beach, where no one could see.

I turned around and held my breath.

Walking on tiptoe, I focused on making as little noise as possible.

Good. I just had to go back as though nothing had happened.

I thought I could restore the magic circle too.

But of course. No chance.

I told you my danger sense was reliable.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

Just as she had during her game of tag with Yuri, Raven rose out of my shadow.

I'd felt this before, but what kind of technique was this? How could I not sense her presence until I saw her with my own eyes?

"Huh? Saw... saw what...?"

Startled, I stammered.

Raven snapped her fingers.

Her shadow swallowed both of us.

When she snapped again, we were indoors.

Judging by the size and what was inside, this seemed to be the cabin's interior.

"How much did you see?"

Raven glared at me.

"Ah... Nothing..."

"I can trap you in the shadows forever."

Raven spoke in a cold voice.

"Don't make me ask twice. How much did you see?"

More importantly, that way of speaking was an act?

Seeing her speak properly was even more shocking.

Footnotes:

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