Chapter 173
Chapter 173
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: If This Keeps Up, It'll Be the Sports Festival
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Word had reached the board of directors that Emperor Locke was arriving at the academy.
Yeah, that sounded perfectly ordinary.
If you ignored the fact that he was coming to cleave me in two.
"My disciple... what madness have you committed this time?!"
"I honestly have no idea, Master."
The scarred man sighed as he looked at me. Right now, I was standing before Drake.
"This time, even I couldn't stop your big brother from coming!"
His booming voice rang out like thunder.
It was more than enough to make me clap my hands over my ears.
"Enough, Drake. Do you think Licht knew what he was doing?"
Beside him, Dennis was busily checking the magic circles.
The academy's sword training grounds.
This was the perfect spot to evade the emperor's eyes.
It was so layered with magic circles that even if Kainel swung his holy sword, the Hero Cult wouldn't catch wind of it.
"Well, there's no way Licht actually had some illicit fling with the princess, right? It's probably just Locke's misunderstanding."
I couldn't lift my head, recalling yesterday's fiasco with Pine where I'd tried to kiss her.
For a split second, I'd nearly given in.
The idea that a first kiss should taste like lemon was so innocently naive.
I'd even thought about leaving the first footprint in that fresh snow.
"..."
It had ended in utter failure.
"Disciple. Or not?!"
"Ah, yes. No illicit relations yet."
Drake stormed up to me as I stood there dazed and bellowed. A sudden pang of guilt made the words slip out.
"Yet?!"
"I swear I just heard something weird. Licht."
Ah, slip-up. Why did I keep doing that? My body was moving faster than my brain.
"..."
A certain someone's lingering image and the persistent thump of my heart.
My feelings for Pine were spiraling out of control.
After meeting my father, I'd vowed to give it my all, so maybe it was only natural.
"I-I think I've made quite a few mistakes."
Dozens came to mind. We'd already shared indirect kisses, hugged often, held hands, and up north, we'd even bathed together...
I'm doomed. If even one of those got out, it was over.
It was a miracle my head was still attached after all this.
"Hiding like this forever won't solve anything..."
It was all my fault. I should've just faced Locke head-on and asked permission for our relationship.
I flipped up my helmet's visor. With one eye covered, my vision narrowed.
If only I'd been honest with Pine from the start.
I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed. My throat felt choked, painfully so.
"Hah, look at this guy! Dennis!"
"Don't tell me you've been pining for Miss Pine."
Both of them stared at me with utter disbelief, as if holing up here was the best plan.
"His opponent is the infamous 'Locke Granasia.' You can't handle that. Unless Miss Pine pulls some strings."
"Let me ask you something, Licht."
Dennis, who'd been dismantling and reconstructing the magic circles in 3D, spoke up.
"A woodcutter who spent his days chopping trees in the mountains became an emperor through raw power alone."
The human man fixed his sea-blue eyes on me.
"What do you think fueled that rise, Licht?"
"Talent...?"
Pine had that immense strength and magic—probably noble blood or some special reason.
Even she, once so mighty, had become the Nameless Saintess. It was a reasonable guess.
"Wrong."
But Dennis just shook his head at my answer.
"An artifact, then...? Am I right?"
"Worse than a student who timed out."
Why? Wasn't it elixirs of sun or moon that did it?
"A simple country youth became a battlefield hero over something trivial."
He bundled the flat magic circle like yarn into a glowing orb and continued.
Dennis spoke as if recounting his own tale.
"Wolfkin, when they fall in love, grow stronger than anyone."
Yet they were a common race in the game.
Like in that village we visited—wolf ears and tails were everywhere in the empire.
"Locke had a childhood friend he'd been close with since youth."
"Bellin Granasia... It's been ages since I last heard that name!"
Childhood friend.
In a way, like the hero couple.
"As the Hero Cult's tyranny spread, their reach even tainted peaceful rural villages..."
Dennis sighed, holding a packaged punnet of strawberries—probably for his pregnant wife suffering morning sickness.
"To protect Empress Bellin, Locke rose to lead the wolfkin and rallied people against the Demon Kings."
The ten standout heroes who gathered to defy the Hero Cult.
That was the Ten Heroes. Straight from lecture hall.
The Wolf King with his handaxe, powerhouses like Heavenly Demons—they formed the group.
Without holy swords, they hunted Demon Kings and began rewriting history.
"You know the rest, Licht."
Locke unified the four kingdoms into the modern Granasia Empire—that much I'd learned.
"Wolfkin, with true love, have limitless potential."
With a flash, the magic circle expanded in his hand, meshing like gears into a spinning 3D construct.
He shrank it back to palm-size and approached me slowly.
"If Locke really wanted to, he could level the entire academy."
His footsteps grew closer, sounding like a death sentence.
"...I'll ask again, Licht. What do you think of Miss Pine?"
His sharp, sober gaze seemed to scold me.
What were Pine and I? Could it really be summed up in a status window number?
To me, she was the one who'd saved my entire life. But how did she see me?
At first, I thought just being friends was enough.
As long as I could stay by her side, that'd be everything.
But my greed grew. Was that just human nature?
What did I really think of her?
...Isn't this the closest truth?
"I'm in love with her."
In that instant, a status window appeared before my eyes.
Through the translucent panel, I glimpsed Dennis's upturned lips.
A satisfied smile. Guess it was the answer he wanted.
"Now that's worth the cover-up."
He floated the 3D magic circle before him and mimed uncapping a capsule with both hands.
The swirling colors unified into blue.
"Even a hotshot like big bro can't wreck the place if we're hosting an event!"
"Exactly, Drake."
I couldn't stay silent watching the satellite-like spin, birthing dozens of glowing rings.
Then, like a bursting soap bubble, it popped with a bang.
"Hold a sports festival. Perfect timing with autumn."
Dennis's words were a total curveball. With Locke already charging full-speed toward the academy?
What festival? An autumn sports day?
"A sports festival? I thought this spell turned the place into a bunker..."
That massive setup had me fooled. For just a sports day?
"Even if we did, one sweep from the academy and we'd stick out like a sore thumb."
Fair point.
No one in the game ever openly challenged Emperor Locke's power.
Even the Hero Cult's Demon Kings hid for nearly twenty years out of fear.
No need to belabor it.
"..."
"Ever heard the saying, Licht?"
He clapped a hand on my shoulder—a reassuring gesture, but the creeping killing intent up my neck was terrifying.
"Hide a tree in the forest. So, how do you hide Licht?"
In a crowd.
"...Blend me into a throng so even if Locke finds me, he can't strike."
A sports festival draws outsiders, diluting the spotlight on me naturally.
"Bingo. Even he wouldn't lose all sense in front of that many people."
Dennis nodded approvingly.
The emperor couldn't rampage through crowds just to get me.
"As expected of Asha the Goddess of Wisdom's chosen hero! Dennis!"
"Stand-in hero, but... yeah."
They slung arms around each other, patting backs over the brilliant idea.
But would this really work?
Anxiety gnawed at the edge of my mind.
Pine squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't fathom why she was like this.
I can't sleep...
No matter how much time passed, sleep wouldn't come.
She relaxed her body and regulated her breathing, but a restless corner of her heart refused to settle.
A faint ripple stirred there.
Like tiny waves building to a tsunami. Endless regret welled up.
He'd called the lemon-taste first kiss a myth.
Did that mean he'd tried it for real?
With whom? When? Where? Curiosity gnawed at her.
Questions piled on questions. She tossed uncomfortably.
Finally, Pine touched her lips with her fingertips.
"..."
Nothing. But when that man had done it before, electricity had coursed through her.
What was this feeling?
With Licht, she felt endlessly at peace, her body melting in warmth.
Without him, it was a harsh winter alone—his absence loomed huge.
So she'd tried her own placating tactics.
But book knowledge fell short, it seemed.
Lacking experience, she kept losing the initiative to Licht.
That was why she'd once mistaken the helmeted Black Knight for a philanderer.
Eyes closed, sleep evaded her.
Fear of him being stolen away made her bite her lip. The more she thought of him, the more urgent it grew.
For the second time, Pine resented her father.
If Locke hadn't barged in, what might've happened?
...Their lips might've met properly.
That sweeter-than-usual lemon taste.
The candy they'd shared still lingered on her tongue, an indelible, intense memory she couldn't shake even if she tried.