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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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“The moon is beautiful.”
A dim night.
Even though it was a night path without any other light sources, it was brightly lit.
It was thanks to the starlight densely embedded in the night sky and the full moon.
Unlike reality where it was difficult to observe not only stars but even the moon so romantically, the moon that rose in the night full of silence felt beautiful and mysterious.
Even while thinking that this scene was merely a background rendered in the brain, it was such a beautiful sight that it made one slightly envious of people from about a hundred years ago who could look up at such night skies.
“Eh? Hueeeeh!? Kid-nim? Wh…what are you saying!”
Luna, who was walking together to the betting place with the Japanese lunch kid, suddenly startled and flustered.
I didn’t know why, but her reaction was quite over-the-top.
Honestly, if it wasn’t Luna, I might have frowned at such an exaggerated reaction.
Beauty was her saving grace.
Even ordinary scolding somehow became picturesque and forgivable.
“? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“Suddenly… saying such things-.”
And then Luna seemed to realize something, saying “ah-” while her already red face turned even redder.
Even though the moonlight was bright, it was still night, yet her reddened face was clearly visible.
“…It’s nothing.”
“…? Alright.”
I turned away from Luna who was muttering to herself saying ‘Ah, I was really surprised’ while trying to cool down her face.
“Despite having all sorts of conveniences here and there, there are a lot of dark places.”
“…Yes. Honestly, I’d be scared to walk alone at this hour.”
Luna agreed with my words in a calm voice.
Whatever she had been excited about, she recovered quickly.
While walking toward the duel location, Luna and I looked around our surroundings.
Though Nadium’s castle was huge, it lacked light sources to illuminate the entire massive castle like in real spaces.
Blind spots were created where darkness settled in various places.
‘…If this were reality, wouldn’t there be people going “ah-ng-ing-ha-ng” in some of those many dark places late at night?’
Shaking off the light fantasy in my head, once you left the central area, there were many places that felt like spots you could hardly see in reality unless you climbed a mountain in the middle of the night.
Since there were barely any people walking around the castle at night except for patrolling guards, with no human presence it almost felt like a haunted spot.
If someone was easily frightened, not just women but men too would have no chance.
‘Will the lunch kid be able to come alone?’
After setting the time for midnight, it would be nice if they ended up not showing up because they got scared on the way to the meeting place.
Honestly, in this place where fatigue felt similar to reality, doing midnight moon exercises at 12 o’clock wasn’t very appealing.
To be honest, I wanted to just cleanly take a default win.
“If this were reality, it definitely wouldn’t be somewhere you’d want to walk around alone due to safety issues.”
“…Really. Wait. Kid-nim, your steps are too fast. A little slower please.”
As the surroundings became increasingly devoid of human presence and more desolate, Luna clung closer to me.
Oh…
I could kind of understand why popular kids included courage tests at places like MT!
Of course, I knew Luna was just genuinely scared of the surroundings without any ulterior motives, but it didn’t feel bad at all, not even a little bit.
“If you were going to be this scared, you could have just rested.”
“The vice-captain can’t miss an important moment when we’re trying to scout a special talent for the party.”
“Vice-captain?”
“Yes.”
Luna pointed at me with her index finger.
“Captain.”
Then pointed at herself again.
“Vice-captain. Right?”
“…While technically correct, do we need to divide captain and vice-captain positions in a party that only has 2 people right now?”
“People will be joining soon! As a founding member of the party, I request guaranteed status!”
“I don’t mind but… you’re unexpectedly power-oriented.”
“I’m just making sure of important things upfront. If I get abandoned later, the only one who can take care of myself is me.”
“Abandoned…”
“You never know what will happen in the future.”
Luna spoke firmly with somewhat bitter eyes.
It was quite different from her usual smiling self.
But soon she returned to her usual demeanor and started shivering.
…For someone who was trying to give off mysterious beautiful woman vibes with what seemed like a backstory, the ending was too lacking.
“How did Kudo-kun even know about a place like this?”
“Who knows. But I did wander around here and there in the castle looking for things too. Kudo-kun probably did the same.”
“Ugh… anyway, let’s fight quickly and end this. You can end it quickly, right?”
“Who knows.”
“If you can’t win quickly, just lose quickly.”
“…Why don’t you just go back?”
“I don’t want to! Besides, we’ve already come so far. I’m scared to go back alone.”
What can I do about that. But she’s pretty so it’s fine.
It seemed like she came to cheer me on out of concern.
I sighed.
Although I got quite a lot of complaints from Luna as we got slightly lost toward the end, we managed to arrive at the promised location before what was estimated to be midnight.
And I couldn’t help but smile.
‘As expected of a middle school syndrome kid, trying so hard to act cool.’
For better or worse, the Japanese lunch kid had already arrived at the meeting place.
But how should I put it.
It was as if they were trying their hardest to imitate a warrior facing a life-or-death battle under the full moon.
Moreover, for Japanese lunch kid to pull off such samurai coolness… their appearance was a bit lacking.
While it was true they were good-looking, rather than a manly warrior type of handsome with thick features, they had an androgynous charm like a gisaeng’s brother and were as short as a girl.
No, honestly, while there was a certain charm to it, from their expression to their pose, they were trying too hard to set the mood that it made me laugh.
“So you’ve come.”
‘So you’ve come,’ they said.
With that appearance, trying to set the mood with a voice that hadn’t even hit puberty yet.
I wasn’t the only one who thought so, as Luna, who had been scared until we got here, looked at the Japanese lunch kid with sparkling eyes, not hiding her emotion of ‘How cute!’
“…You didn’t come alone.”
“Don’t worry, she won’t be fighting with me. She’s just here to watch. Think of it as a witness for the duel.”
“……”
Japanese lunch kid looked at Luna with a complicated expression.
They seemed to be muttering something under their breath, but despite the distance and the night being quiet enough to hear well, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
It’s not like they had an imaginary friend, but do middle school syndrome kids habitually talk to themselves?
“…It doesn’t matter.”
Acting like they made some grand decision just about someone watching from the side during a duel.
“Um… so we just fight? Any rules?”
“None. The match ends when the opponent falls. There are no other rules.”
“That’s too simple.”
I scratched my cheek at the overly simple rules and looked back at Luna.
When Luna just shrugged her shoulders without saying anything special, I sighed and opened my mouth.
“Well, we can stop if it seems too dangerous.”
Although I had already stretched before coming, I stretched my body again which had stiffened from the cold wind during our walk.
Then I slowly walked and stood at some distance in front of the Japanese lunch kid who was trying to act cool, twirling my hero’s staff around.
When I gave Luna a signal with my eyes, she nodded and walked toward the middle point between me and Japanese lunch kid.
She would probably announce the start when the time was right.
I looked down at Japanese lunch kid with a relaxed expression and said:
“If you win the duel, about that favor I’ll grant… what are you going to ask for?”
“No need to worry about it.”
“No, but it’s my business so aren’t you curious?”
“I’m saying this sincerely.”
Unlike the delinquent pretty boy from before, Japanese lunch kid slowly drew their sword.
…The blade gleaming in the moonlight in this atmosphere.
It should be quite chilling.
“When this duel ends, what I want from you will already be accomplished.”
“That’s an excessively meaningful statement. But are you really going to keep talking in that way?”
Japanese lunch kid didn’t answer my words and quietly faced me in what looked like a middle stance.
Despite looking like a hikikomori, their stance was better than most people with kendo experience.
‘That makes me want it even more.’
I too took a stance holding my staff as if preparing to thrust it like a spear.
When Luna saw that both sides’ preparations seemed complete, she swallowed dryly at the suddenly tense atmosphere and.
“…Begin!”
She announced the start of the duel.
And as soon as the tense female voice echoed across the empty lot devoid of people.
Clang-!
Japanese lunch kid and I collided with a sharp metallic sound.
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It might be odd to mention this now, but Saionji Luna was Japanese.
Some might ask what’s with this sudden statement, but it meant she was from a country where women were relatively familiar with subculture compared to other countries.
If someone asked what nonsense that was again, Saionji Luna could only answer like this:
“…It’s like a shounen manga.”
Saionji Luna spoke while blankly watching the scene before her eyes.
Under the night sky where the only light sources were the stars and moon.
She watched two figures wielding weapons gleaming in the moonlight at what might have been an old training ground or stadium, now full of overgrown weeds without maintenance.
It was beautiful, and in some sense, unrealistic like a manga.
You know.
Suddenly going swoosh swoosh, and papa-pat, and clang clang clang, then rustle and swoosh.
Rather than detailed explanations, it felt like something that could only be explained with sound effects.
Saionji Luna thought that if she were watching this duel without knowing the context, she would have thought it was some kind of performance by skilled action actors.
The movements toward the opponent were sometimes subtle, sometimes appropriate, sometimes bold, and sometimes flashy.
And the opponent skillfully received them as if they had already practiced together.
It looked like an animated battle scene from a shounen manga.
‘…If only it weren’t such a fierce atmosphere.’
Even though it was an open space, it felt suffocating due to the tension from the aura the two duelists were giving off.
When she swallowed dryly, she could clearly feel her throat moving.
Saionji Luna rolled her eyes around to observe the surroundings of the two who had temporarily stopped their exchange and were catching their breath while watching each other and adjusting their stances.
Though the starlight and moonlight were bright, it was still night.
However, as she carefully examined the surroundings, she made a nervous expression looking at areas that were slightly darker than others.
It was Kid’s blood that had stained the ground.
Of course, it seemed fine since he recovered right after being cut and bleeding, but…
‘This… Kid-nim is being pushed back, right?’
Saionji Luna watched Kid and Kudo with a worried expression as they finished catching their breath and prepared to clash again.
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