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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The final match was over.
We, brimming with confidence, rented the barbecue area on campus.
I hadn’t even known such a facility existed on campus, but the Three Stooges… no, the Trio knew about it.
For once, their penchant for playing around proved useful. We received the basic ingredients from the cafeteria and started the barbecue.
The meat sizzled on the grill. I looked up from the meat and saw Elsie across from me.
‘That’s…’
She was already captivated by the meat.
Her gaze, which usually stared at me intensely, making me uncomfortable, was, for once, fixed on the meat.
From that look in her eyes, which I had also seen in the Trial, I could sense a determination not to hold back today.
‘I’m fine with that.’
The more focused she was on eating, the more at ease I felt. I had always felt uncomfortable seeing her uncharacteristically eat small portions.
I was also tired, probably because I had used up too much concentration in the previous mock battle.
‘Let’s relax a little today.’
I was thinking that when someone offered me a glass. It was Yuseora.
“What’s this?”
Come to think of it, she was also holding a glass. And inside the glass, a translucent liquid was swirling.
I caught a whiff of it.
“What else could it be? It’s alcohol.”
The distinctive smell of alcohol wafted into my nose. I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the sudden appearance of alcohol.
Because…
“Isn’t drinking prohibited on Hero Academy grounds?”
Freya, who was sitting a little distance away, answered,
“It’s fine! As long as the instructor is present, it’s allowed.”
Now that I looked, she was holding bottles of alcohol. It seemed that she was the one who brought the alcohol in the first place.
Belle asked me, who was still surprised,
“Is this your first time drinking?”
If it was my first time, it was my first time.
When I almost drank with the innkeeper before, Finn and Weiss had come in and ruined it.
And when I went to bars with Libero, I was focused on swordsmanship and didn’t touch alcohol. But that was just for this body.
Alcohol was familiar to me, who also had Seo Yoo-rang’s memories. Too familiar.
The thing I used to drink like a fish, holed up in my room like a loser, was this thing called alcohol.
“No, it’s not. I’ve drunk a lot.”
It was ambiguous whether I should say I had or hadn’t drunk before, but I thought it would be more accurate to say I had.
“Then that’s good. Let’s drink freely since it’s a good day.”
She was handing a glass of alcohol to Elsie. Elsie, accepting the glass, took her eyes off the meat and became curious about it.
Seeing that, I sensed danger.
‘Elsie hasn’t had any experience with alcohol yet, has she?’
Gwen, although mature in her speech and behavior, had a childlike palate and kept her distance from alcohol.
Then Elsie would have never had a chance to try alcohol. And if Elsie, of all people, got drunk… I didn’t want to imagine it.
‘Is there any way to stop her from drinking?’
Still, perhaps Elsie, tasting alcohol for the first time, would be disgusted by its bitterness. I briefly entertained that hope.
“To celebrate Team 4-B’s great victory!”
Glasses clinked, and we emptied our glasses. I drank and watched Elsie across from me. But I couldn’t see anything unusual about Elsie as she drank.
‘Her face isn’t even changing color?’
No, if there was nothing unusual, that in itself was unusual.
If she was this unaffected despite being a first-timer, she might be the type with a high tolerance.
Then I wouldn’t have to worry too much.
It was the moment I felt a little relieved, feeling the effects of the alcohol I hadn’t drunk in a while. Suddenly, Belle’s question flew at me.
“But how did you do it? There were still three swordsmen left after I died.”
Come to think of it, she had died midway and hadn’t seen me deal with them. And she wasn’t the only one.
“Yeah, you’re an archer. How did you take on three swordsmen from Class 1?”
The Trio also seemed curious.
On the other hand, Elsie, who knew I was hiding my swordsmanship, was looking at me with concern. But it was okay.
I hadn’t used swordsmanship in the process.
“You know, close-range shooting is my specialty. I managed to take care of the first swordsman with that, and the second…”
Deflected the sword with an arrow?
At the time, it had been a natural action without any doubt, but thinking about it now, it wasn’t that natural.
It would be better to embellish it a little rather than say it casually.
“I had no way to block, so I just held up the arrow in my hand, and it seemed to deflect it somehow. I took care of the second one while he was still flustered, and Yuseora came running and took care of the third.”
And so, I dealt with them as an archer until the end.
“You say that so casually.”
But it didn’t seem so casual to Belle. I glanced at Elsie, and she also looked disgusted.
Only Yuseora was smiling comfortably.
“He’s a Hero Academy candidate. He can do that much.”
“No, even so, taking down Swordsmanship Class 1 guys so casually…”
“But he can’t snipe from long range.”
Yuseora, who was defending me, suddenly hit a nerve.
I’m sorry, but that stung a little.
I had taken up the bow with the goal of being able to snipe from long range, but my long-range accuracy was still a bit lacking.
“Still, it’s a fact that we won thanks to Seo Yoo-rang, so let’s have a toast to him.”
They were about to make a toast, but that was a little awkward. This victory wasn’t achieved by me alone.
“You say we won thanks to me. We wouldn’t have won if you hadn’t diligently carried out your roles.”
During the mock battle, everyone followed my instructions diligently.
If the Trio hadn’t broken through the encirclement and kept the archer in check.
If Belle hadn’t bought us time by throwing herself at the enemy.
If Yuseora hadn’t listened to my instructions and immediately run to eliminate the last remaining enemy without hesitation. We wouldn’t have achieved this result.
“This is not my victory, but our victory.”
Then, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. I was wondering if I had said something wrong when Belle said, “How should I put it? That was a very leader-like thing to say.”
Then the Trio also said to me,
“As expected, hyungnim suits being a leader.”
“I knew it from the beginning.”
“Didn’t his face say it all?”
Suddenly, they were calling me “hyungnim.” I felt awkward since I had never asked for such a title.
“We already toasted to victory, so let’s have a toast to the leader.”
They raised their glasses without asking.
“To the leader!”
Who decided I was the leader? But I also raised my glass, swept along by the atmosphere.
‘Leader…’
I had entered the Hero Academy to quietly graduate.
But after saving Yuseora and getting involved with Elsie, it felt like something was gradually being added to that goal.
I wasn’t sure yet if it was the right thing. It was something I needed to think hard about.
But at least I didn’t feel bad.
‘Let’s just rest a little today.’
The last mock battle of the first semester was over.
From the second semester, there would be practical training against chaos within the Trial and individual matches based on the first semester’s grades.
It would probably pass by quickly.
‘There’s a lot to think about.’
I took a sip of alcohol and looked around.
Elsie, diligently stuffing meat into her mouth as if nothing had happened.
Yuseora, smiling brightly.
And… Freya, infinitely generating empty alcohol bottles.
It was a scene that made me think that maybe it was okay like this, just for a moment.
…It wasn’t okay. First, Elsie, who seemed fine even after drinking, wasn’t fine.
It was natural that her face didn’t change color, as she was using Optical Modulation.
Fortunately, her drunken behavior was more subdued than I expected.
“Do you know what it’s called when a cow laughs?”
I wasn’t curious.
“Woohaha.”
Snort.
“Then what about when a cow cries?”
When a cow cries, of course it’s…
“Moo-eong.”
Where on earth did she learn these crazy jokes? What was certain was that it wasn’t from someone her age.
Then I could pinpoint it.
‘Gwen?’
There was no way a person would like these jokes from the start.
I felt a bit sorry for Elsie, thinking about the hardships she must have gone through.
But now was the time to stop Elsie’s rampage.
Oblivious to my feelings, Elsie confidently asked her third question.
“Then what about when a cow does it?”
I started racking my brains, determined to answer this one correctly and stop her rampage.
I analyzed the pattern of the questions she had asked so far and combined it with all the vocabulary I knew.
And I came to a conclusion.
‘Sotteok Sotteok…’
No, this couldn’t be it. This was a dish from Seo Yoo-rang’s world.
It was probably because the word ‘does it’ had been distorted by Seo Yoo-rang’s dirty mind.
‘Yes, there must be another answer.’
But I couldn’t let her say it.
“Elsie, cheers!”
I clinked glasses with her for the time being, and Elsie drank. Then Elsie just smiled blankly and became silent.
‘Did I manage to stop her?’
It seemed like I did. Confident of that, I said,
“It seems like Elsie is quite drunk, so I’ll take her back first.”
I couldn’t just leave her here in this state. The dormitory wasn’t that far anyway. It was the moment I stood up to help Elsie.
“I think I drank too much too…”
At that voice, I looked next to me, and Yuseora, who had been fine just a moment ago, was holding onto my sleeve.
“No, your pronunciation is quite clear for someone who drank too much…”
“Eu-neu-geu-deung neu cheu-heu-geu-deung.”
What was she saying? She definitely wasn’t sober. It was at that moment.
“Elsie?”
Elsie, who had approached me at some point, was holding my hand.
“Um, Elsie. Your hand…”
“You said it was okay for comrades to hold hands last time.”
Well, I did say that. But this was awkward.
‘Who should I help?’
As I was conflicted, I heard the Trio muttering.
“I hereby withdraw my support for Hyungnim.”
“I agree.”
“Unanimously approved.”
I didn’t know what they were talking about.
They were saying that while staying far away as if they had no intention of helping.
Come to think of it, not only them but also the others were the same.
“Shall we clean up now?”
“Ah, it’s nice to drink after a long time.”
The mage duo also stood up, saying they would clean up the dishes.
I was stuck, caught between the two. It was at that moment, when I was facing the greatest crisis of my life, that Freya, my savior, spoke.
“Belle, help Elsie.”
Then Belle reluctantly came towards me and tried to help Elsie.
But for some reason, Elsie didn’t let go of my hand.
‘Her drunken behavior is…’
Then Freya continued,
“Yuseora, I know you’re not that drunk, so go back on your own.”
At that moment, I saw Yuseora flinch.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at Freya. And their eyes met. Thud.
Her hand fell limply from my sleeve. Then Elsie’s hand also loosened at the same time. I was freed from both sides at once.
‘How on earth…?’
As Elsie was dragged away by Belle, and Yuseora, after looking back several times, disappeared, Freya quietly said to me,
“Want to stop by my office?”
At that moment, I realized. The final boss remained.
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