WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

Editor: Sty

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The War Hero in the NTR Game Wants to Die ◈

Chapter 020

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Lingering Light (1)

Arin came back into the room.

She came in and again crept into the corner, standing as still as a mouse.

As if standing and waiting was more familiar to her, even with a perfectly fine chair right before her eyes.

I picked up the paper again, which had been resting diagonally on the debris of the broken desk.

Because it had been carelessly tossed, its corner was crumpled.

I roughly smoothed it with my palm, then, instead of speaking first, I handed it to Arin.

She then rushed over to me and took the paper.

She wasn't the kind of child who would approach without a word when called, or just accept whatever was offered. Not the endlessly curious person she once was, always eager to ask about everything.

"This is…?"

"Bring me the students on this list, one by one."

Arin, who had taken the paper, stared down at the names written on it for a long time, then let out a small sigh.

"…They won't listen to me."

"Go and deliver the message. It's okay if you can't bring them."

Whether she brings them or not, the important thing is that she went.

Because words can always be twisted.

Even if she were to say that a student, who might be a cultist, openly refused a request for a faith testimony, it wouldn't exactly be a wrong situation.

Arin didn't ask further, put the paper in her pocket, and left the room.

As I blankly watched the door close, I somehow felt empty inside.

I wondered if I should have held her back and made her talk more, but then I couldn't think of what to say.

I thought about apologizing… but then again, it felt like I wasn't the one who should be apologizing.

Still, I wanted to say I was sorry for what I said yesterday… for going that far.

But the words wouldn't come out.

Was it pride?

Could there possibly be any pride worth asserting, even if it meant breaking a loving heart?

Or maybe I just said the right thing, and I didn't want to deny the truth?

Because Arin, quite literally, was a fallen disgrace.

Left alone, I again thought of alcohol.

The bottles emptied yesterday were still strewn around the windowsill.

Among them, I found one with about a mouthful left at the bottom, but I didn't particularly feel like drinking it.

Instead, I gathered the scattered handful of desk debris and threw it out the door.

While gathering the broken wood pieces, I also cleared away the empty bottles lying around and swept up the ash on the floor.

How to put it?

If I cleaned it up completely like this, it felt like yesterday could just pass as if nothing had happened.

And at the same time, empty my thoughts.

As I moved my body, old memories kept forcing their way in.

Memories of the time I spent with Arin in the village.

Before, whenever I recalled them, it was a pang; now, should I say it just hurts?

After staring at the neatly tidied professor's office for a long time, I pulled out a cigarette from my pocket.

I lit it, clamped it between my lips, and looked out the window.

The sun had dipped about a hand-span.

And another hand-span.

How long did I blankly smoke the burning cigarette, perhaps for about two hours?

The door opened and Arin came in.

She was alone. Not a single student had she brought.

Arin didn't particularly seem disappointed either.

Though she did glance at me furtively, perhaps a little crestfallen.

"Not a single one came, did they?"

"Because there's no way they'd follow someone like me."

"……Didn't I tell you yesterday not to talk like that?"

"Riehen. How much more do you want to make me miserable?"

"If you crawled out of the village as you pleased, and spoke whatever was on your mind, then you should just silently listen to whatever I say. What's this talk of misery?"

After speaking, I half-wondered if I should have chosen my words more carefully.

Even though I had chosen many kind words and held them within, what actually came out were all thorny remarks.

I took a wad of bills from my wallet and placed it with a thud on the desk.

"……What does this mean?"

"You said you didn't have money to send letters to the bakery lady. Think of it as the cost of the bread I've eaten from you all this time."

"……."

There's no way to put a price on a piece of bread that child so casually handed me back then, yet why do only such blunt words come out now?

Even though I clearly knew this wasn't something money could fix, this was all I, in my current state, could offer Arin.

Arin stopped before the desk where the money lay carelessly tossed.

Then she stood still for a long time, before slowly reaching out and gripping the bills.

Her lips parted as if to say something, but in the end, she couldn't utter a single word.

As she put the bills into her pocket, Arin spoke softly.

"Riehen."

"Hmm."

"Do you still hate me?"

It would have been easier if I could just outright say I hated her, that I loathed her. That would be clean. If I had pushed her away because of hatred, it wouldn't have been this messy, would it?

"I don't know."

I don't even know if I ever hated her.

It was just that I was angry.

"Riehen. What I just said… it wasn't meant to demean myself."

Arin said, looking at me.

"I didn't graduate from the academy, nor do I hold a high position… and students here have no reason to respect an adventurer whose lineage is utterly ordinary. That's… just natural."

"……That's why it bothers me even more."

That you accept it as natural.

If you were going to resign yourself and accept it like that… then you should have just stayed in that village and waited for me.

Arin lightly bit her lower lip with her upper teeth, then continued speaking softly.

"Are there no other tasks you need done? Even… even odd jobs, anything I can do."

"Just write letters to the bakery lady."

In the end, I went out myself.

The Gryan crest was recognized by everyone, everywhere.

As I walked through the corridor, everyone I encountered couldn't utter a single word to me and simply moved aside appropriately.

Glancing stealthily with eyes that couldn't tell if it was fear or contempt.

Non-humans looked with fearful eyes, commoners among humans looked indifferently, and those who seemed to have even a little noble blood looked with contempt.

All three looked at me, yet saw different things.

Perhaps because there was at least a gaze mixed with fear… it didn't feel like my self-esteem was hitting rock bottom.

Anyway, as I walked through the lecture halls, scanning the list, my eyes landed on a student in the library, who had a book open and was listed at the very top of the list.

And… I wondered what I should do.

Pope Elseria had told me to root out cultists within the academy and some demi-humans who intended to rebel against the Empire… but would that be as easy as it sounded?

With the thought of at least trying to sound him out, I sat down next to the student.

And as I stared intently and met his eyes… he kicked his chair back and fled in terror.

His fleeing seemed even more suspicious, so I caught up to him in a few strides and grabbed his shoulder. He then began to beg, pale with fright.

"Hiiieek!! P-please…! I am an elf whose family has pledged loyalty to the Empire for generations! I'm different from those living in the borderlands!! Different from those savages! Please, just spare my life…! You're a, P-Professor! Even if it's a professorship you earned by killing our kin like dogs, I'm still a student!!"

I had no intention of killing him in the first place… but his hysterics were excessively severe.

Having no choice, I was about to hoist him onto my shoulder and drag him away.

But then someone, as if intercepting the elf being dragged away, pulled him free.

"No one! No one, not even a Gryan, can harm a student within the academy!"

"I wasn't trying to harm him…"

I glanced at the pointy-eared bastard and saw he was foaming at the mouth like a fish.

It really… didn't seem like anything I said would get through to him.

The student blocking my way seemed, after all, to be from the Knight Faculty.

And I know very well that all the bastards there are blockheads beyond imagination.

From the idiots who, still thinking this was the academy, forgot their status and tried to push their way around only to get beaten, to me, who doesn't even know how to mend things with a childhood friend I've known for so long,

It means there isn't a single sane person.

"Do you think it's honorable to threaten a powerless student with authority and forcibly drag them away, Professor Gryan?"

A student, who to anyone's eye seemed to have nothing in his head but chivalry, honor, and women, spoke boastfully.

A strange disdain was a bonus.

"If you have even an ounce of pride left, if you are a son of the Empire, accept it. Are you not that renowned hero of the battlefield?"

After that, the knight student threw a glove at me, challenging me to a duel.

I accepted and drew my sword first.

"Alright, then draw your sword first."

"No, wait… you're supposed to accept it at a set time, in a place where people are gathered…"

"Do you think this Gryan would break a promise just because those meager people aren't here? Especially when I'm even humoring your stubbornness right now."

Who has the time for that.

I have no desire whatsoever to gain attention or recognition for my skills within the academy.

Honestly, if others praised me and acknowledged my skills as befitting a true hero, I'd certainly feel good-

I probably would… but I, at least, am a person who knows what's important.

Now was not the time to listen to such praises.

After beating this arrogant brat in front of me and taking him to the professor's office along with the pointy-eared bastard… simply, finding the cultists within the academy was the priority.

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