Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Assemble!
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108
Assemble!
“Cough!
Cough!”
Trisha rolled across the ground, covered head to toe in dust, letting out pained groans.
She clutched her abdomen, trembling violently—it looked like she’d taken a solid hit.
In the past, she would have screamed something like, “It hurts!
You damn woman!”
But this time was different.
Gritting her teeth, Trisha staggered to her feet.
She snatched up the shield that had skidded across the ground and somehow held her position.
“...That’s enough for today.”
Rishikida, who had delivered that brutal uppercut to Trisha’s gut, spoke in a cold voice.
Trisha exhaled heavily, then collapsed to her knees right there—the impact to her stomach must have been severe.
Rishikida watched her silently, then opened her mouth again in that same low, subdued tone.
“If this were a battlefield, your skin would be pierced, your guts shredded and spilling out right in front of you.”
“...”
“I wonder if that Dark Dragon of yours would save you there, too.”
Her voice was flat, but the words were clearly meant to provoke Trisha.
Trisha clenched her fists and ground her teeth, but unlike before, she didn’t let it show.
She knew by now that lashing out gained her nothing.
“...”
Instead of complaints, Trisha gave a quick nod.
It could have passed for showing respect to Rishikida—or it might have just looked like a perfunctory dip of the head.
As Trisha turned to step away for a break, she came face-to-face with Jimmy, who had just finished sparring with another squire and was cleaning up.
“...”
“...”
The siblings had once been incredibly close, but the fallout from their fight was no small thing.
For days now, they passed each other without a word, pretending the other didn’t exist.
Trisha couldn’t bring herself to apologize first—her pride wouldn’t allow it—and Jimmy didn’t know how to broach the subject.
In fact, up until now, Trisha had been the one to apologize first.
After all, her brother was the only one who had ever accepted her and cheered her on.
Losing him meant she’d end up alone and suffering.
But this time was different.
Thinking of Rishikida’s smug face as she swung her sword and shield, Trisha packed up her training gear the instant the end-of-day bell rang and bolted for the garden.
“Hey, Dark Dragon miss.”
There, in the same garden corner as always, waited Sion.
Trisha fought back a rising smile, slowed her steps to play it cool, and sat in the chair he’d brought.
“You were a total mess again today.
Didn’t the Dark Dragon inside you roar out this time?”
“What can I do?
If it actually roared, I’d be in deep trouble.
Besides, that hotshot knight is drilling me so hard I’m too exhausted to react every time.”
“Oh, really?”
Sion chuckled openly.
Normally, you’d get annoyed at a reaction like that, but Trisha just laughed along without a hint of irritation.
In the week or so since they’d met, she’d realized this man wasn’t mocking her—he was just teasing to help her unwind.
‘Easy, so easy.’
Chuunibyou—or Dark Flame Dragon delusions—stemmed from one of two main causes, in the end.
One was when some kid was truly unhinged and couldn’t tell reality from fantasy.
The other was a desire to show the world your true self, while believing you had everyone’s attention focused on you.
Fortunately, after close observation, Trisha fell into the latter category.
‘Others probably just saw this girl’s Dark Dragon talk as childish antics from an immature lady.
But chuunibyou is a phase everyone goes through when forging their identity.’
Everyone imagines at least once that they might be the hero of their own story.
Some snap out of it quickly and realize they’re not, but others cling to the belief for years, crafting their own Dark Flame Dragon to explain the attention and focus they imagine from others.
The ideal path is to gently wake them up, letting them escape on their own by realizing they’re just ordinary.
But Sion saw no need to force that change on Trisha.
‘The events ahead would shatter any normal person’s mind.’
In the novel, Trisha—mere side fodder—had snapped after Jimmy’s death and her hatred for the world, burning everything like a Dark Flame Dragon. But here, nothing shielded her eyes from reality.
She was still just a chuunibyou patient, an immature girl—nothing more, nothing less.
So Sion decided he would be her reason.
She was a woman easily swayed by emotions, so the only way to control her was to seize those emotions completely.
Sion pretended to listen patiently to all her Rishikida stories.
He threw in meaningless interjections and agreements now and then, making sure she saw how utterly focused he was on her.
He even wove in the comfort and encouragement she craved most from her brother.
“Knight Rishikida does have a sharp side.”
“Sharp? That’s putting it mildly.”
“Should I call her over and give her a scolding?
She’s my guard knight, so it’s totally doable.”
Trisha almost reflexively blurted out “Yes!” but caught herself.
Even she thought that might be going too far.
“...Nah.
It’d bruise her pride.
I’ll tough it out.”
“You’re basically a knight already.
I could hire you as my guard right now, no problem.”
It sounded like teasing, but it was really an acknowledgment of her growth.
Catching on, Trisha looked at Sion with slightly widened eyes.
Besides her brother Jimmy, few had ever evaluated her so positively.
The villagers had forced smiles, but their true feelings always leaked through their expressions.
Yet this noble, Sion Klauzen, showed none of that.
He even shared bits of his own “dark history,” saying things like, “I once carried dozens of Dark Dragons in my heart,” to coax laughs out of her gloom.
Pointless stories, maybe—but in those ordinary chats, she was finally becoming Trisha, not the Dark Dragon.
That was how, every day after training, Trisha raced to the garden.
Little by little, she opened her heart to the handsome young noble who understood her, offering occasional comfort and cheers.
She even fantasized that maybe this man liked her.
Slowly, her object of affection and obsession was shifting.
But exactly one month into squire training—
Two weeks after she’d started talking with Sion—she witnessed a scene she never wanted to see.
The spot that should have been hers was occupied by the knight she despised: Rishikida.
And beside her sat Sion, wearing a gentle smile.
“......”
“......”
She was too far to hear the conversation.
But seeing Rishikida and Sion meeting privately was enough.
Trisha fled to her room, clutching her pounding chest.
First she stole her brother, humiliating her at every turn—and now this knight was after her new bond, too.
The one person besides family who’d shown her kindness—she was trying to steal him away!
‘No.
It can’t be.’
Her hard-won escape, her comforter, her cheer squad.
A sanctuary she thought was hers alone.
Now invaded again.
The thought ignited a killing intent like nothing she’d felt before.
Her back prickled, her body shook with rage.
‘...No, no.
Maybe they just talked briefly?’
Rishikida was Sion’s guard knight, after all.
Of course they’d be together sometimes.
Besides, she and this noble youth weren’t anything to each other.
Don’t mind it. Don’t mind it.
It’s nothing.
Muttering to herself, Trisha forced her churning heart to calm.
Unnoticed by her, a red glow flickered across her back a few more times before fading.
The next day.
After training, Trisha headed to the garden again.
As always, she waited for Sion Klauzen.
Ten minutes passed. Thirty. An hour.
Even as bedtime neared, she crouched in that corner, waiting—but he never showed.
“...”
Trisha buried her face in her knees and bit her lip until it bled.
She’d already stolen her family, the one who’d been on her side—and now, despite no real ties, she’d taken the one pulling her into the world, bit by bit.
Realizing there was no point waiting longer, Trisha rose slowly and trudged back to her room with heavy steps.
—
Thud!
Crash!—
Rishikida’s shield charge sent Trisha flying meters back, sprawling in the dirt.
Filthy with dust again, but she didn’t complain like before.
She just stared at Rishikida with dull eyes and rose slowly.
“Now you’re starting to look like a squire.
You might last ten minutes on a battlefield.”
The first words of approval from Rishikida toward Trisha.
But Trisha merely nodded curtly, saying nothing more.
With just one day left in basic military training, Trisha dragged her feet.
Even when Jimmy Faker—whom she’d leaned on so heavily—called her name and approached, she pretended not to hear and walked past.
She’d deny it vehemently, but deep down, she unconsciously believed her brother had betrayed her for that knight.
‘When I was really suffering, brother wasn’t there for me.
He was just taking her side.’
Lost in such thoughts, she somehow ended up in the garden again.
As she headed to their usual corner, where they’d chat about everything and nothing—
“Why the long face?
Got reamed out good again?”
The same playful voice as always—Trisha whipped around, scanning frantically.
And there, as before, sat the man in the chair, waiting for her.
“Si-Sion...”
“What?
Why the reaction?
Has the Dark Dragon gotten all emotional today?”
Even as he spoke, Sion’s face brimmed with concern for Trisha.
She almost asked why he hadn’t shown yesterday but clamped her mouth shut.
She sensed the answer would shatter her.
Instead, she rattled off pointless topics on purpose.
“Tomorrow’s the last day.
Basic military training ends.
Then it’s real squire stuff—manners, riding, that junk.
Ha, haha.
I’ll master etiquette and horsemanship in no time...”
Mid-sentence, Trisha trailed off.
She noticed how unusually quiet Sion was today—no attentive nods or agreements.
“Trisha.”
“I’ll become a knight, no matter what.
And... and shove it in that knight’s face...”
“Trisha Faker.”
At Sion’s call, Trisha squeezed her eyes shut, as if refusing to hear.
Obvious.
Too obvious.
She knew what was coming—what fate awaited her.
“I won’t be able to come here for a while.”
“...Why?”
Her voice thick with blockage, Trisha asked—and Sion let out a light sigh, replying in a tone clearly hiding something.
“Got some business.
Anyway, if I’ve been a distraction to your training, sorry about that.
Don’t forget I’ll be cheering you on from behind until you’re a squire everyone respects.”
Trisha couldn’t respond.
She just sat there blankly, staring at Sion, showing no reaction.
Even after he left first, she didn’t budge.
‘If I’ve been a distraction to your training, sorry.’
His words echoed relentlessly.
Had she ever jokingly said he was interfering, even once?
No.
Never.
And he’d never asked if he was bothering her training.
Yet those words from him meant one thing.
‘Someone... someone fed him that nonsense.’
The moment that thought hit, Trisha zeroed in on one woman.
Rishikida Amstel. Yes.
She was the one.
She’d stolen something from her again.
Trisha clenched her eyes shut to hide her burning fury.
When a voice called her name, she opened them to find herself armed on the vast plains outside the castle—for the final basic training exercise.
“Spacing out, Trisha?
I trust you’re not slacking just because it’s the last day.”
No reply.
Instead, she charged.
Swinging her training sword, slamming her shield, throwing everything she had.
At Rishikida Amstel.
To land even one hit on that knight.
To make her feel the pain she’d endured.
But the gap in skill between the two was vast—nothing a single month could bridge.
The seventh time she hit the dirt.
Still, she bit her lip and stood.
“Frustrated?
Or do you have something to say?”
“...Why.
Why.
Why take everything from me?”
“What?”
“It was all I had.
The only things I had when I have nothing.
You took it all.
With just a few words, a few actions.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Rishikida looked utterly baffled.
What had she taken?
She’d only followed orders.
And if someone said that, Rishikida planned to respond thus:
“One thing I’ll tell you.
It’s not that I took it—you lost it.
Because you’re weak. Incompetent. Empty.
That’s the law of this world.
No strength, and you get taken.”
“Yeah?
Ha, haha.
Hahaha...
Right. No strength, and it’s all taken.
Taken...”
Chomp chomp—
Hiding in the carriage, Sion gnawed on jerky relentlessly while spectating the epic clash between Rishikida and Trisha.
Everything was going according to plan.
The ultimate villain who stole Jimmy from Trisha—then even the new comforter he’d provided.
Rishikida Amstel.
All part of the play he’d scripted and cast.
‘Though midway, Rishi drilled her so hard I wondered if it was too much.’
Still, he’d twisted the siblings’ bond, rattled her emotions wildly.
Slipped into the gap, only to have “someone” forcibly rip it away again just as she settled.
Rishikida repeating her “theft” of her brother.
‘Guilt stings a bit, sure—heart hurts, whatever.
But she can’t stay a giggling chuunibyou Dark Flame Dragon forever.
Time to become a real one, spewing flames at least, right?’
Timing his entrance, Sion pondered.
Step in at the perfect moment, stop Rishikida, save Trisha—she’d feel she reclaimed him, vowing never to lose again.
Fsssh!
Whoooosh!—
‘...But something’s off?’
A red glow rippled behind Trisha’s back.
The lights took shape, writhing chaotically behind her.
At first, he thought some grotesque tentacle monster—but no, green branches studded with vicious thorns: massive thorny vines.
‘Huh?
Wha—?’
...Shit?
This wasn’t in the plan?
As Sion floundered, the red-glowing thorny vines sank back into Trisha’s body.
Vines matching that pattern etched across her arms, legs, neck, face.
“...Take it by force, you say.
Yeah, good idea.
I’ll take it all.”
Focus vanished from her eyes.
Her hazy gaze flickered with eerie menace; crimson flames and hair-raising lightning gathered in her palms.
‘Fuck.’
Before Sion could intervene, flames and bolts surged at Rishikida.
Even an advanced knight couldn’t block that unscathed—it was impossible.
Rishikida instinctively maxed out her mana for defense, but gazing at Trisha’s transformation, she knew it wouldn’t suffice.
Forget insufficient—she might vaporize here without a trace.
“Ah.”
A groan of foreboding slipped from Rishikida’s lips.
Piiiing—
KABOOM!
A fireball streaked from somewhere, slamming into Trisha’s flames and lightning.
Its power was lacking, but it offset enough—and a silver-haired woman threw up a massive barrier, blocking the rest.
At the same time, tatatat!
A light-blue-haired catgirl charged Trisha.
She nailed a clean side kick to her ribs, stopping any further attacks.
“Close call.”
“Rishi!
You okay?”
“Nyaong!”
It was like a beam of salvation piercing hell’s depths.
The woman with striking black horns, exuding noble grace, sighed in relief.
A frantic mage-clad woman checked Rishikida’s condition.
Beside them, the bounding catgirl glared fiercely at the staggering, rising Trisha with a wary “Haaack!”
Watching from the carriage, Sion threw up his hands in inner triumph.
‘Ladies!
Assemble!’
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