WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 42: Raven (3)

──────

Perhaps Raven had rushed out as soon as she sensed me, because she wasn't even wearing her mask.

Raven without her mask or that strange way of talking...

It felt like I was looking at a completely different person.

"I swear, I didn't see a thing."

I did my best to keep calm as I spoke.

"So you heard something."

I flinched. My body reacted before I could stop it.

"I even put up a barrier on purpose..."

She clenched her fist.

If I had been an ordinary human or a typical mage, I might have noticed something was in place, but I wouldn't have been able to break it.

"Haha... I guess I got a little too curious..."

Feeling awkward, I scratched my head.

I just needed to use the bathroom...

Raven seemed to be considering what to do with me.

I knew she was thinking it over seriously, but I still had to say what I needed to say.

"Raven."

"What?"

"...Can I use the bathroom?"

Raven looked incredulous for a moment, then nodded.

After quickly taking care of business, I was once again secured to the chair in the room.

"Sirius."

"Yes."

This had turned into a situation that called for extreme politeness.

Now that she'd dropped her strange way of speaking, she reminded me a little of Luna.

"Forget it."

"Pardon?"

"I said forget it. Whatever you saw, whatever you heard, you were never in this cabin."

Raven spoke firmly.

I nodded.

I wasn't the kind of person who went around spreading someone else's private business, either.

Raven... using the Homeroom Teacher as material...

If I told Luna, the person closest to me, I'd definitely be the one in trouble.

She'd surely say something like, "Hmm~ But how did Sirius find out about that~?"

It hadn't even been a few hours since I'd been told to watch my behavior.

I wanted to live a long, healthy life.

"Haa..."

Raven let out a deep sigh.

"How did you get in?"

Because I needed to use the bathroom, so I broke the barrier.

"There was a suspicious-looking barrier, so..."

"And you broke it that easily?"

Raven narrowed her eyes.

Well, I was technically the worst student in our class, so it made sense that she would be suspicious.

"Ah... I'm pretty confident when it comes to magic formulas..."

It was true, but I still sounded like I was rambling.

"Fine... Whatever. As long as you keep your mouth shut, I won't do anything else to you."

Having realized Raven was different from what I'd thought, I couldn't hold back my question.

"Why do you... talk like that...?"

I asked carefully, watching her reaction.

"Because my master said it was cute."

That was a very straightforward answer.

She turned toward a shelf in the room.

A small picture frame sat on it. The photograph showed a girl who looked around seven years old and the Homeroom Teacher, who didn't look much different from how he did now.

Was that... Raven as a child...?

"The moment I leave this room, I'll go back to my usual way of speaking. Don't worry."

No, I thought this way was much better.

The way she spoke now was exactly how a sharp, capable elite would speak.

She felt like the model student type.

"Haha... I think the way you talk now is fine, though...?"

Your act makes it hard to even start a conversation with you.

"Why does that matter?"

She looked at me with indifferent eyes.

"It might be easier to talk to everyone that way...?"

My voice trailed off.

I wasn't wrong. Doesn't talking like, "This is such-and-such, that is so-and-so, you see" sound strange?

Raven gave a faint laugh.

"I don't care about everyone else."

She walked over to the shelf and brushed her fingers across the photograph.

"Want to hear something else? I begged my master not to send me to this academy."

For the first time, raw emotion showed on her face.

I didn't know why she looked that way, but her expression was full of sorrow.

"It would've been better if there were no such thing as a Hero..."

She muttered so quietly, but I heard her clearly.

My thoughts wouldn't settle.

Was Raven not aiming for the Hero's Party either?

"You didn't want to come to the academy, Raven...?"

I asked again to make sure.

Raven stood by the window and looked out at the sea.

"Sirius. Is there someone precious to you?"

"Huh?"

"Someone you could give up anything for."

Celia.

Her name came to mind.

I had already given up being human for her.

Without saying anything, I nodded.

"That's why I gave up. If my master chooses that... I'll follow."

Even to someone like me, who didn't know the full story, her face looked painfully sad.

"Love isn't about what you can do for someone."

The sound of waves came through the window Raven had opened.

"It's about how much of what you hate you can endure."

"How much you can let go of."

She turned and looked at me.

"That's what it is, Sirius."

Her black hair fluttered in the breeze.

An emerald-colored view stretched out behind her.

The sound of waves filled the silence.

It all looked like a painting.

"That's enough talking, Sirius. I'd like you to leave first."

I nodded, stood, and took hold of the doorknob.

Before I left, I turned around and looked at Raven one last time.

Propping her chin at the window as she stared outside, she looked as though she were remembering something.

What Raven had said, and the troubled expression on her face, all of it felt like a dream.

I quietly shut the door and walked toward Yuri and Cain, who were happily enjoying the sea.

I hadn't actually spent much time in the cabin, but my mind was a mess.

Yuri must have noticed that something had changed while I was gone.

"Sirius. Did something happen?"

She asked in a worried voice.

"No, nothing."

For some reason, it felt like I was collecting more and more secrets.

I'd already learned Yuri's secret. Then Raven's secret.

Cain was still surfing. He looked incredibly happy as he cut through the waves, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Instead of going back into the water, I sat on the beach and looked out at the horizon.

Why had Raven not wanted to go to the academy?

It felt like there was a deeper reason than simply being in love with Luke.

And there was one more thing. Luke in that picture hadn't looked much different from how he did now, while Raven had grown from a little girl into a young woman.

Luke's age had bothered me before, but just how old was he?

There were far too many questions.

As I absentmindedly scribbled in the sand with a twig, Raven approached me.

She handed me a fruit I had never seen before.

It was about the size of my head.

"Huh?"

"If you drink it, it is refreshing, it is."

She had gone back to her usual, affected way of speaking as though nothing had happened.

She held three more fruits in her arms, presumably for Yuri and Cain.

"Thanks."

I smiled and accepted the fruit.

"Should I call the others?"

She nodded.

"Cain! Yuri! Come over here! Raven has something for you!"

They stopped what they were doing, and we gathered together on the sand.

"Oh! What is this?"

Yuri turned the fruit over in her hands, looking fascinated.

Cain snorted at Yuri's question.

"You don't even know that? This is a rare fruit that only grows at the far end of the Ibellis Empire's continent!"

What a jerk.

Still, did that mean this place was part of the Empire?

Raven rummaged through her pocket, pulled out a knife, and demonstrated.

"You peel off the top like this, then drink it, you see."

She cut off the stem end of the fruit, revealing a hollow in the center filled with liquid.

Raven tilted back her head and drank the liquid straight from the opening.

"...Ahh."

She must have liked it, judging by that sound. Wasn't that breaking character, Raven?

Cain watched Raven prepare the fruit and grinned.

"Why are you using a tool for something like this?"

He ripped the top off the fruit with nothing but brute strength.

But fruit flesh went flying everywhere in the process, and liquid splashed onto Yuri's clothes and mine.

Showing off your strength was fine, but could you maybe think about the people around you while doing it?

Yuri looked annoyed too, glaring at Cain.

Cain ignored her, gripped the fruit that had split in half in one hand, and gulped it down.

"Ah! This is incredible!"

His reaction was almost on the same level as when he ate Asukrim at his house yesterday.

Still, I was curious about how good it was.

Yuri passed me the knife after she finished using it.

So if I just twisted the stem like this and popped it off...

Oh. The round cross-section was filled with liquid.

A sweet scent spilled out from inside.

Yuri and I each took a sip, then looked at each other.

This was an impossible flavor to resist.

After Yuri and I drained ours, we asked Raven.

"Raven, do you have any more of these?"

She nodded.

"Behind the cabin, there are lots hanging from the trees, there is."

The moment Cain heard that, he ran toward the cabin without saying a word to us.

Yuri and I nodded and scampered after him.

That day, we probably stripped five or six trees bare.

Raven called us over, saying it was about time to head back.

Just as we had when we came, we each placed a hand in Raven's.

Raven's shadow swallowed us.

But it was a little different from before.

Cain and Yuri seemed to have already been sent back to the academy, but Raven and I were still in the darkness.

As I hesitated in confusion, Raven opened her mouth.

"Say even one word to my master about what you saw today."

She warned me with a fierce expression.

"Yes."

...Understood, it is.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried