Chapter 88
Chapter 88
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Does Acid Like Me Too?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It sounded just like the squeal of a pig being slaughtered. We all jumped in surprise and looked beyond the trees.
“……Leonhart?”
Leonhart, sprinting at full speed, suddenly started making Tarzan-like yells.
“Aaaah—!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Aaaaaaah!”
It was an enormous scream.
His attitude was like he was desperately trying to block out something we absolutely shouldn’t hear. I was startled and stared at his whipping hair.
In the moment everyone was too shocked to speak, Leonhart arrived right in front of us.
I looked at him in confusion and asked.
“What, what is it?”
At that moment, Leonhart quickly signaled Acid with his eyes. His lip movements seemed to say something like ‘Hurry, hurry! We’re dead!’ As I stood there baffled, Acid hurriedly stepped in front of me and said.
“Th-that! So! Uh, just calm down first.”
“What is it, exactly?”
“Lord Leonhart! You have something to say, right?”
“Yeah!”
Leonhart, who had come running with his eyebrows flying, reached out to grab my wrist with a snap but was pushed back by Acid.
Looking as wronged as could be, with one eyebrow visibly crooked even through his mask, he said.
“Ah, it’s swordsmanship sparring time. I need to talk with Martin!”
“Already? But why say it so urgently…….”
“It’s urgent. Super urgent! Don’t talk to each other! Talk only to me!”
“……What, are you jealous?”
Leonhart clenched his fist like his dignity had been bruised, threw a jab into the air, and said.
“Absolutely not! You don’t understand this big brother’s heart, Sien!”
It was novel and admirable to see him blending in like a peer instead of always acting superior from behind…….
“……I’d rather stay ignorant forever.”
At those words, Leonhart scratched the back of his head roughly and said.
“Ah, anyway, I’m taking Martin!”
“Got it. Have a good spar with Martin, Leonhart!”
“Yeah, got it. Fluffball.”
Leonhart’s lip curl seemed awfully forced, but I couldn’t interfere with sparring time.
Martin muttered with an uncomfortable expression.
“……See you later. About what we were saying on your father earlier—.”
“Uwaaak! Let’s go already! Martin! We have class!”
Martin and Leonhart bolted off, hands tightly clasped, eyebrows flying.
“Mm. Class is important, after all.”
I smiled cheerfully, hiding my dark inner thoughts.
‘They need to work hard so they grow up to be fine Mirmod swords!’
Above all, attending classes is a student’s duty, right?
It might look like I came to the academy just to recruit talent and fool around, but actually, I was diligently attending classes too.
I waved at them proudly with a light flutter of my hand.
***
After Leonhart and Martin swiftly vanished for swordsmanship sparring, Burger left for after-school math class.
I wished Burger a bright future with a happy heart.
In the end, Acid and I were left alone to head home.
The muscle maid sisters saw just the two of us and made a fuss before mounting horses instead of the carriage.
“Hehe, we have coachman licenses.”
“……You’re maids, why do you have coachman licenses?”
“Right?”
“Hmm, and nobles……?”
At my suspicious words, Deadri-sis’s eyes flashed as she gripped her horsehair whip.
“The noble world is survival of the fittest. The weak don’t survive!”
Bench-sis next to her reluctantly barked like she was disciplining her.
“They don’t!”
……And so, somehow, only Acid and I were left alone in the carriage.
On the way in the carriage, Acid stayed quiet for a bit before opening his mouth.
“You were recruiting Burger and Martin as your talents, huh.”
“Yeah!”
I glanced at the suddenly subdued Acid and added a word.
“Acid’s my talent too, and I really like Acid!”
I figured saying that would melt Acid’s mood all fluffy. But Acid abruptly brought up something else.
“Lady Sien.”
“Yeah?”
“If you’re doing that because you’re worried I might feel left out since it seems like you’re only caring for others…….”
“……Huh?”
“You don’t have to.”
Acid smiled brightly.
“I like Lady Sien. I’m always on Lady Sien’s side no matter what, so you don’t have to make an effort to treat me well.”
“……Yeah?”
“I don’t want Lady Sien to labor emotionally. Every time I see you minding others’ feelings…… it hurts…… a little.”
No one had ever said anything like that to me before.
Even I thought it was natural to work hard to win people’s hearts.
“It hurts my heart. Lady Sien is precious just as she is, so everyone has no choice but to like her. You don’t need to try.”
“…….”
His smile made me flinch. It was a pure smile, like a magnolia blooming.
‘Lots of pretty smiles out there, but why…….’
Other people’s smiles like that didn’t faze me, but for some reason, when Acid smiled like sunlight, it felt like ants tickling my toes.
That sensation was flowing through my fingertips now too.
I twisted my fingers and slyly looked away.
“……Does Acid like me too?”
“Of course.”
I beamed and pulled out my next line.
My heart pounded because I calculated he’d love this one.
“Then I like Acid too!”
Acid quietly bowed his head to me.
It was like a vassal’s posture.
It felt good when Leonhart, the Captain, Ted, even Delphia-sis acted like underlings, but with Acid, my heart sank with a thud.
“……Acid.”
“Yes.”
“So…….”
“……Yes.”
I gazed at Acid and whispered softly.
Holding back my heart fluttering like leaves in a gentle breeze.
“Stay with me from now on too!”
After saying it, I really wished it would be that way.
I wanted Acid by my side even after I grew up. It just felt like that would make me happy.
***
Meanwhile, Martin and Leonhart finished sparring class and headed home separately.
Martin kept mulling over what Leonhart had said during ‘swordsmanship sparring.’
Leonhart had trembled while talking about Sien.
According to Leonhart, Sien……
‘Sien knows nothing.’
……Yeah, he said she knew nothing.
When Martin first heard it, he didn’t grasp exactly what Leonhart meant.
What could it mean to say that, exactly? The thought occupied his mind.
‘What do you mean she knows nothing?’
So he’d replied all cocky and casual.
Leonhart’s eyes had glinted coldly through his mask.
‘……I’m talking about how dangerous Matthias Mirmod is. Sien knows nothing about that.’
Martin frowned and retorted.
‘Is that even possible? Not knowing Matthias Mirmod?’
‘Sien doesn’t. And it is possible.’
‘Doesn’t make sense.’
‘Anyway, memorize this. Never mention Matthias’s notoriety in front of Sien. This is a warning. You could die too.’
‘I already said a little…….’
At that, Leonhart gaped and said.
‘My condolences to the deceased.’
Then he set down his gear and sword and vanished.
Walking past where he’d been toward the school exit, Martin bit his lip and frowned.
“Sharp where she shouldn’t be, clueless where she should be. Really weird kid.”
Sien Mirmod.
A girl classmate the same age as him.
He’d had zero intention of getting friendly with the kid, but somehow it happened. Martin bit his lip hard.
But Martin had a hunch why Sien didn’t know the truth about Matthias.
That girl seemed to give endlessly to the people she liked.
Since Sien loved her dad, she’d never suspect his heart. Realizing that made his mood dreamy and hazy. At the same time, Sien’s voice echoed in his ears like an auditory hallucination.
‘Martin’s my person now!’
‘What?’
‘My person. Anything wrong with that?’
……No one had ever called him ‘my person.’ He had many admirers, but none who’d let him close. So naturally, he’d planned to refuse.
Martin recalled brave Sien saving assaulted Burger in the past.
After that, a small, righteous seed had been planted in his heart.
‘……Might not be so bad.’
On his way home, he saw nameless pink wildflowers blooming and thought they resembled Sien somehow.
The moment he realized his own thoughts, his cheeks flushed apple-red.
A warm season was approaching.
***
Days passed like that, and the weekend arrived.
A sweet holiday without academy, and with Burger and Martin secured on my side, I tried to sleep in luxuriously for the first time in ages……
“Lady Sien, not hanging out with Acid lately?”
……but the maid sisters woke me, foiling the plan.
I blearily replied to the sisters spooning soup into my mouth.
“Ugh. We hung out yesterday though?”
“Ahh……. Acid’s been hovering near your room just now.”
“Acid has?”
Deadri-sis looked at me and grinned slyly.
“You two, maybe.”
I pushed the soup bowl aside on the narrow table and shook my head no.
“Dunno!”
I felt the maid sisters exchange glances. Deadri-sis whispered slyly.
“We haven’t said anything yet!”
I pulled the blanket over me and rubbed my pounding chest.
‘I just think Acid’s a good friend, but everyone keeps pushing it weird……!’
That’s definitely it. Not even any trigger. I just saved Acid, and he loyally follows me—that’s our relationship.
‘Acid’s a commoner, I’m a noble, imperial law says we can’t do anything. Wait, why am I even imagining this!’
To clear my head properly, I shut my eyes tight under the blanket then opened them.
Today I had to persuade the council for sponsorship—no time for silly romance games.
That thought cleared my mind like a cold splash of water.
I kicked off the blanket energetically and bounced up.
‘Gotta get that sponsorship!’
Now it was time to go see Dad!