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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The hellhound appearance incident.
A cliché that appears at least once in games or novels dealing with academies.
A common pattern where monsters suddenly spring out in a supposedly safe school, and the protagonist defeats or endures them.
An event that was really so cliché that it was used to highlight the protagonist, but when it actually happened in reality, my head felt dizzy.
In that event, I’m pretty sure Karina healed everyone at the end, and no one died, right?
Then what about now?
There are priests attending the theology department, so it’s not that they can’t heal, but compared to Karina, the human elixir shower, the healing power of the theology students, which was at the level of a healing potion sprayer, would be barely enough to maintain the status quo, let alone treat serious injuries.
Thinking that the situation on the academy’s side was also messed up, my head hurt.
This is absurd.
It’s fucking absurd!
Just do one thing!
If both sides get messed up like this, what do you want me to do?
If it’s going to be like this, you should at least give me one or two cheat skills.
Or give me a legendary artifact or something.
I swallowed the complaints that I couldn’t dare to utter out loud and cut a bite of the steak in front of me.
Meat is the best when you’re in a bad mood.
It’s even better if it’s high-quality meat.
Of course, it would be difficult to get such high-quality meat in a place like this, but the taste was decent enough.
“Johann, give me a bite too.”
“…Here.”
“Ah~”
I held out the steak, cut into a suitable size for Millia to eat, to her.
Millia looked around like a child about to do something bad, then pulled out her head with both hands, bit the steak that was stuck on the fork, and reattached her head to her neck.
…No one saw that, right?
I looked around, feeling like an accomplice.
Fortunately, people were too busy talking among themselves to notice Millia’s antics.
It helped that we were in a secluded spot and not easily seen.
“…You could have just asked me to reach out my arm more.”
“Hehe. Sowwy.”
She even eats in such a blessed manner.
I scooped up the soup that came with the steak with a spoon and sipped it.
Having a light meal after being freed from the salty preserved food seemed to relieve my suffocating heart a little.
“Eat slowly, no one’s going to steal it.”
“But it’s so delicious…”
Don’t make a gloomy face, it makes me look like a bad guy.
I pushed a piece of steak into Millia’s mouth, who had become depressed, perhaps recalling the past.
No matter how depressed she was, she couldn’t give up meat, so Millia naturally opened her mouth and accepted the steak.
“I want to eat steak next time too!”
“Okay. You can eat as much as you want, so don’t make that expression.”
“Okay.”
“Finish swallowing the food before you speak.”
“Mmph!”
…I think I can understand the feeling of parents raising a child.
I turned my gaze away from Millia, who was diligently finishing her meal, and looked out the window.
I looked at the many people passing by on the street but my purpose wasn’t really to look outside.
I gazed blankly out the window and listened to the sounds around me.
“…I heard Timmy and Madeline aren’t getting along these days.”
“Of course. Someone saw Madeline with Henry…”
“I knew that bastard Henry would do that…”
…I’m not here to eavesdrop on love and war either.
But let’s listen a little more.
I lent my ear to the trivial stories in the restaurant.
It was at that moment when I let my guard down for a bit.
Some suspicious guys caught my eye.
They wore the same attire that was occasionally seen with the expedition.
People avoided them as if they felt uncomfortable.
It was only natural when they were openly scattering such a suspicious aura.
Aren’t the guards doing their job?
Why are those bastards in the village…
…Could it be that they couldn’t be stopped at the guard line?
“Fucking bastards…”
“Huh, why? What’s going on?”
Millia’s head turned towards the direction I was looking. And as if trying to hide her face, she covered it with her hair and clung to the wall.
“Th-they didn’t see us, right?”
Persistent leech-like bastards.
I got up from my seat.
It seemed we wouldn’t have time to rest.
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Without being able to properly rest, we were moving and had the academy in sight.
Perhaps thanks to our quick decision, we hadn’t encountered the suspicious-looking followers of the Halphas Cult.
If we had hesitated halfway, wouldn’t we have had to fight a life-or-death battle with those guys by now?
It was a terrifying assumption even to think about.
“Ah, I’m tired.”
“Endure it a little longer. We don’t have much left.”
“Renny, hang in there!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Renny chuckled and pulled Karina’s arm that was about to loosen again.
Karina’s body, which had been slightly tilted, clung tightly to Renny’s body once more.
Her large breasts looked suffocating pressed against Renny’s armor, but it couldn’t be helped since she couldn’t support her own body.
I tried to avert my gaze and met eyes with Renny, who was sending me a sharp glare.
“Johann, no matter what, looking at Lady Karina with those eyes… it’s a bit much, you know?”
“…Sorry.”
“No, I understand that feeling too.”
That tone of voice of hers that seemed to know men well was a bit strange.
In the game, she was a virgin until the ending.
Could it be that my thoughts were showing in my gaze?
Renny coughed and looked at me with a subtle expression.
“But don’t look at me with those eyes either.”
“What eyes?”
“Well, you seem to be having a hard time. I was just sending a gaze of encouragement.”
“Then me too!”
On top of the swaying saddle, Millia stared intently at Renny.
Renny looked dumbfounded at Millia’s behavior, then chuckled and turned her head.
Millia, who had successfully lightened the atmosphere that could have been awkward, bent her head back and looked up at me.
Millia, twisting her neck awkwardly which looked like something from an old animation, suddenly shouted at me.
“Johann worked hard too!”
“Say that after we’re done.”
“Okay!”
Millia smiled brightly and lowered her head forward.
I rested my chin on top of Millia’s head and stared at the endless road ahead.
This was the pattern that had solidified during the long journey.
A cycle of riding while being vigilant of the surroundings, then chatting for a bit to soothe our tired bodies, and riding the endless road again.
It was quite a boring cycle, but it was better than nothing.
Sometimes, we needed to relax the tension like this to dull our nerves that had become sharp from the grueling forced march.
There was nothing more dangerous in a party than overly sensitive nerves.
If someone said something wrong while everyone was on edge, cracks would form in the party.
In that sense, Millia played the role of a buffer excellently.
To put it simply, she was playing the role of a human capybara.
It was visible to the eye how quickly the vigilance of the person talking to Millia disappeared.
“Johann, Johann, what do you want to do when you get to the academy?”
“First, I want to get a job.”
Even though my status window age is threatening me to enter the academy by saying 19, are you crazy?
Me, enrolling?
I have no desire to spend my school days again.
Bluntly put, I would be stronger than the graduates of combat-related departments, so what’s the point of taking classes?
Ah, but the liberal arts department might be okay.
I was lacking knowledge about this world.
Since I’ve forgotten a lot of things over the past 10 years, I’d like to attend liberal arts lectures to revive my memories.
Should I try auditing later?
It seemed quite possible.
“What kind of job?”
“…Well.”
Should I build a workshop with my remaining money and make some items?
But I don’t know if my makeshift item production will be competitive.
Thinking about making a living made my head hurt.
Ah, I don’t want to feel the pain of job hunting even here.
It was around the time I was having such bitter thoughts.
“…Renny.”
“Persistent bastards.”
“Persistent!”
Did they really follow us all the way here?
I glared at the group of cultists riding from afar.
One, two, three, four… roughly 10 people.
But I couldn’t be sure if it was really 10 people.
Those bastards somehow brought monsters with them.
In reality, there could be three or four times more.
As if my thoughts were terrifying, huge flying monsters revealed themselves in the air.
Wyverns, huh.
Damn it.
It seemed they were really determined this time.
Judging by the speed at which they were following and the state of those horses that looked like they were barely alive, it seemed we would be caught up in no time if we continued the chase like this.
I handed the reins to Millia, who was tightly gripping the hem of my clothes.
“Johann? Why the reins?”
“You remember learning how to ride a horse from Renny, right? Don’t be afraid, and grip the reins. And keep your legs as close to the saddle as possible. If you’re really scared, you can lie down forward and endure it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have to stop those guys now, so you have to lead the horse.”
“M-me?”
“You can do it. Didn’t you watch me steer the horse?”
“That’s true, but…”
“You can do it. Don’t be afraid.”
“…Okay!”
I took my feet out of the stirrups and turned my body to glare at the enemies behind.
The cultists were running while holding crossbows.
The wyverns had flames flickering at the corners of their mouths.
I could feel their will to kill us even if it meant burning down the plain.
…Yes, let’s see the end here, you damn bastards.
“Crafting.”
And so, a chase that might be our last began.
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