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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Elena… died?
I couldn’t come to my senses at the shocking news.
Elena.
The knight department, in other words, the knight heroine.
A heroine with a cheerful personality, overflowing with responsibility and sincerity.
Although she was a heroine plastered with clichés, it was only natural for games like this to have one or two heroines assembled from clichés.
Elena was a heroine with decent performance as a teammate, so she had a pretty high recruitment rate.
As for whether she was popular, that wasn’t the case… But since this game heavily favored all-purpose dealers, with the human elixir Karina covering most of the damage with her healing, tank-type characters were treated almost half as gags.
Still, she was one of the fastest teammates to recruit, and through her exclusive quest, you could obtain a high-performance weapon, making her the number one recommended companion for knight job newbies…
She died?
Really?
Is this a hidden camera prank?
“Johann?”
At Millia’s voice, I came to my senses belatedly.
This wasn’t the time.
I thanked the bespectacled female student who was looking at me with puzzled eyes and left the spot.
“Johann! Where are you going!”
“I have something to check.”
“I’ll go with you!”
Millia grabbed my sleeve and walked in step with me.
Feeling bad for her struggling to keep up, I reduced my stride and slowed down.
There was no need to be hasty anyway, as there was enough time.
In all things in the world, the path only appears when you become calm.
“Johann, really, why are you doing this? Can’t you tell me?”
I could feel Millia tightly grasping my sleeve.
Even though it was a feeble attempt, it seemed she was curious about why I acted that way, just as much as the strength in her grip.
If it were me, I would ask why if someone suddenly accelerated too.
What should I answer?
I couldn’t tell her the truth, so I had to give a vague answer.
“It’s nothing to worry about. I just vaguely recalled something from the past.”
“The past? Before coming to the deserted island?”
“Yeah.”
“I see…”
Fortunately, Millia seemed to accept it readily.
She didn’t particularly inquire about my past.
After all, Millia had a mature side to her, despite acting like a child.
It was only natural since we differed in age by hundreds of years.
We walked slowly across the garden again.
Our destination was the knight department.
If Elena had died, there was something I needed to check.
“Where are we going?”
“I have something to check at the knight department.”
“The knight department? Is it related to your past?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll help too!”
“There’s no need for that.”
There wasn’t really anything she could help with.
I was just here to check today anyway.
I stood in front of the main gate of the knight department, marked with the emblem of a crossed sword and shield, and looked around.
Perhaps because of the school closure, there were hardly any people around.
Even those few paid no attention to Millia and me.
It was probably the aftermath of the hellhound incident.
I secretly plucked a flower from the flowerbed spread around the knight department building.
A white flower.
A lily, I think.
It was also the symbolic flower of Elena’s family.
Elena’s family ancestor was a very famous knight, so famous that when mentioning a lily, it was referred to as the symbol of Elena’s family.
That’s why Elena’s family used to pass down lily-shaped accessories to their successors.
Someone had a necklace.
Someone had a ring.
Someone had earrings.
In Elena’s case, it was earrings.
Recalling Elena’s face as she proudly smiled while wearing the earrings, I entered the building. And I picked up a worn piece of paper that had fallen on the floor and used a skill.
“Crafting.”
The unsightly single flower quickly turned into a flower wrapped in clean paper.
Millia tugged at my sleeve and asked,
“Who are you giving it to?”
“…It’s for mourning.”
“Mourning?”
“Yeah.”
At my answer that it was for mourning, Millia fell silent.
She seemed to be troubled by the word ‘mourning’.
Was it too dark of a word for Millia?
The conversation between us briefly ceased.
The atmosphere instantly became awkward when Millia, who had been chattering endlessly like a siskin, became quiet.
I was used to this kind of atmosphere, but Millia wasn’t, so she glanced at me from time to time.
I intentionally ignored that gaze and recalled my faded memories.
Where was Elena’s classroom?
The 2nd floor?
The 3rd floor?
It would be good to know which classroom the new students entered.
Wouldn’t there be a map somewhere?
I don’t know if an outsider would be allowed to see it.
I slowly searched from the 1st floor, being wary of whether there were people around.
But perhaps it was too conspicuous after all.
I was caught by a middle-aged man at the stairs leading to the 2nd floor.
“Who are you? Why are you wandering around the knight department building?”
“I came to pay respects to Miss Elina. No, sir.”
Don’t glare at me.
People can make slip-ups when speaking.
By the way, using honorifics doesn’t come naturally to me.
“…Are you acquainted with Elena?”
“We had a connection… a long time ago.”
I tried to show him the most sorrowful expression possible.
When I poked Millia’s side with my finger, I saw her making the same gloomy expression as me.
Fortunately, the middle-aged man made a sympathetic expression at my expression and opened his mouth.
“Go to the end of the right corridor on the 2nd floor. That’s where Elena’s seat was. You’ll find it right away since there are a lot of flowers placed there. And after you’re done paying respects, it would be best to leave immediately.”
Is he telling me to get out right away without doing anything suspicious?
It stings a bit.
“Thank you.”
We thanked the nameless man and went up to the 2nd floor.
The end of the right corridor on the 2nd floor.
We walked to the end of the 2nd floor corridor and looked out the window.
Behind the knight department building.
There was a training ground larger than a decent-sized playground.
The training ground, built for the training of knight department students, had quite a few people despite it being a holiday.
Seeing a group of people lined up in rows and columns, running, reminded me of my days in the military.
I really hated morning runs.
I used to hope for rain in the morning because it was really annoying to run while singing military songs…
“Johann?”
“Why did you call me?”
“You’re the one who stopped, Johann.”
At Millia’s words, I nodded and walked forward.
The closer we got to the end of the corridor, the more gloomy the atmosphere became.
It was a part that made me realize once again how big of a presence Elena had.
I passed by people with gloomy expressions and carefully arrived at Elena’s seat.
There were numerous flowers placed in front of the cabinet Elena would have used.
Seeing the water stains on the paper wrapping the flowers, I wondered if there were people who cried while bringing her flowers.
I placed the lily on top of the flowers while having unnecessary thoughts and offered a silent prayer.
Rest well there.
I will somehow handle this world.
We finished paying our respects and quietly left the classroom.
The next destination was the 3rd floor.
The floor with the lecture rooms and lounge used by 3rd-year students.
And in the corner, there was a room that only Elena’s family could enter for generations.
I couldn’t remember exactly how it worked, but I wanted to examine that room.
Because the clue I wanted would be in that room.
The problem was that it wouldn’t be easy to enter.
So today, I only planned to check the location of the room.
I quietly took Millia and went up to the 3rd floor.
I could see the puzzled expressions of people at the appearance of unfamiliar outsiders.
I ignored those people and walked down the corridor.
It took more than 5 minutes to walk to the end of the corridor since the building was quite large.
“Wow… It’s a very fancy door.”
Is this that door?
The door that could only be opened with the seal passed down through generations in the family.
How could I enter?
The glances piercing my side were stinging.
When I turned my head in the direction of the gaze, a female student was staring at me from a distance.
Elena’s friend… No, judging by the yellow armband on her arm, she must be a 3rd-year student.
Did we just look suspicious to her?
…Looking at my appearance, there was no way I wouldn’t look suspicious.
“Millia. Let’s go down now.”
“Huh? Didn’t you say you had business to take care of?”
“I’m done.”
There was time, so there was no need to act hastily.
Millia and I quietly left the knight department.
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“Joh~ann~ I’m hungry! Let’s go eat!”
As it was slowly becoming lunchtime, Millia clung to my arm and whined as soon as we left the knight department building.
People passing by looked at us at the sight of Millia acting like a child.
But why was that bastard glaring at us like we were his parents’ enemies?
“Damn couple bastards… Even someone like that is doing it, so why am I…”
Oh, you were a forever alone.
But how do you see this as a couple?
It’s a combination of a 19-year-old geezer and a fresh youngster.
He has no eye for it.
Well, that’s why he’s a forever alone.
…I’ve never dated a girl either, though.
We moved to the main building surrounded by strange gazes.
It was to go to the cafeteria on the 1st floor of the main building.
Since they said guests of Yeomyeong-gwan could also use it, there shouldn’t be a problem with eating.
And as I thought, we were able to use the cafeteria without any issues.
It was thanks to the title of being a follower of the saint being somewhat effective.
Although it took some time to prove that identity.
“Johann, look at this. It’s cake!”
Don’t set your eyes on dessert before even having a meal.
I held Millia’s hand, whose eyes were sparkling, and led her to the meal corner.
It felt like I had gained a younger sister who required a lot of attention.
I looked at Millia, who turned her gaze towards the meal corner while humming.
“Shh. Everyone is staring. Speak quietly.”
“Okay!”
It doesn’t seem like she understood at all.
But perhaps because she looked like a child, the gazes of the people around us were affectionate, as if looking at a cute younger sister.
She’s hundreds of years older than me, though.
“Ahem, ahem, ahem…”
I scanned the meal corner.
Befitting a school overflowing with money, the menu at the meal corner was top-notch.
The sight of expensive-looking dishes lined up was indistinguishable from a 5-star hotel buffet rather than a school meal.
We took plates, picked up as much food as we could eat, sat in a suitable spot, and enjoyed a splendid meal.
The taste was incomparably fantastic compared to the inn meals we had during our journey.
I savored the taste of a great dish after a long time and emptied my plate.
“I’ll go get more.”
“Come back soon~”
Receiving Millia’s send-off, I dashed to the meal corner.
I immediately picked up the menus I hadn’t tried yet one by one, and when I reached out to grab the tongs to pick up the last remaining grilled fish with plenty of seasoning, there was a hand that grabbed the tongs slightly faster than me.
“Oh…”
“…”
The purple eyes swiftly scanned me and then made eye contact.
A female student wearing frameless glasses.
Her slightly shabby appearance looked like she had rolled around somewhere.
I felt a sense of déjà vu upon seeing her bright purple hair.
It was a familiar appearance.
“…Eek, eek…”
I didn’t do anything, though.
Why are you getting scared?
Feeling like this wouldn’t do, I tried to talk to her.
…Until she screamed and ran away.
“Mo-monster!”
I sighed, covered in the food that had been on the plate she threw.
What the hell.
Amidst the stinging glares of people, I let out a sigh.
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Que grosera.