Chapter 54: The First Letter (54)
Chapter 54: The First Letter (54)
Quite a bit of time had passed since I started stroking Senior Elsie’s head.
At first, she flinched and trembled in surprise, but as I continued, she seemed to decide that I had no intention of attacking her.
The tremors racking her body gradually subsided. Her ragged, frantic breathing began to find its proper rhythm.
“Huuu, huu, huu….”
While staring blankly at me, Senior Elsie inhaled and exhaled, trying her best to calm down. Her efforts seemed to pay off, as the tension finally began to bleed out of her stiff frame.
It took only a few minutes for her to fully steady her breathing and reach a state where conversation was at least possible.
Having regained her composure, a faint flush crept onto Senior Elsie’s cheeks. Her eyes were still moist, and she pointedly avoided my gaze.
Her reaction seemed more born of embarrassment than fear. Of course, her terror of me hadn't vanished completely. Nevertheless, the fact that she wasn't screaming indicated that her perception of me had shifted, if only slightly.
The girl stole glances at me. One might have expected her to snap at me to stop touching her, but she didn't. She seemed to find the head-patting helpful for keeping her nerves steady.
Instead, she merely spat out a single sentence in a voice still thick with the remnants of tears.
“……You bastard.”
It was a tiny sound, more of a whisper. Even then, she seemed startled by her own slip of the tongue, flinching as soon as the words left her mouth.
She looked at me again with eyes clouded by fear, as if terrified I might swing my hand axe at her once more.
I was curious to see how she’d react if I actually pulled the axe out, but I wasn't cold-hearted enough to act on such a wicked impulse.
I simply let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.
“Why am I the bad guy here?”
“You—because of you… hic, do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered?!”
Like a water droplet clinging to a blade of grass, Senior Elsie poured out a torrent of emotion the moment I nudged her. I could feel a faint hostility flickering in her eyes.
“Ev-everyone treats me like a total loser now!”
“Well, you did lose to a junior. It’s only natural.”
“It was an ambush, you cowardly snake!”
When Senior Elsie raised her voice, it was sharp enough to pierce my eardrums, despite how pleasant her tone usually was. I instinctively let out a sharp "Tsk" and hardened my expression.
Senior Elsie froze instantly. Cowering, she clutched her pointed hat with both hands.
“O-of course, I’m not denying that I lost… Y-yeah. I messed up.”
“So, it sounds like you’ve been having a hard time.”
At my words, Senior Elsie hesitated, unable to answer immediately. She seemed worried that if she opened her mouth too freely, she’d make another slip-up like before.
So, I decided to bring up the topic that always triggered her most dramatic reaction.
“They call you the ‘Bedwetter’……”
“……N-No, they don't!”
Senior Elsie’s reaction was instantaneous. She reacted so violently she looked ready to jump out of her skin. That alone was enough to show how much she loathed that nickname.
Senior Elsie clenched her small fists, trembling. Murderous intent flickered in her eyes.
“I—I didn't wet myself! Those are all baseless rumors! You—you saw it too, didn't you? Right?!”
“Well, I don't really remember the details……”
Senior Elsie, who had been clinging to me with desperate eyes, looked utterly devastated when I trailed off. Seeing her like that, I couldn't help but let out a smirk.
She did have a cute face. If she hadn't behaved so poorly, she probably would have been one of the most popular girls in the Academy.
I nodded as if I had no choice.
“Fine, let’s go with that.”
“Y-yeah! I’m not a bedwetter! But those—those bastards… hic, they look down on me!”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Senior Elsie began to sob softly again. Dewdrops began to form in her eyes once more.
She tried to hide her tears by wiping her eyes with her arm, but it was futile.
Her sobbing only grew deeper. She let out a pitiful wail.
“Hic, they keep calling me a bedwetter and picking fights for no reason… and there was, hic, no one, absolutely no one on my side, waaaaaah……”
If you were in their shoes, would you want to take the side of someone who went around bullying people?
I wanted to retort, but for now, I silently stroked Senior Elsie’s head, as if telling her it was okay to cry.
That was the nature of humans. When the things they did to others were turned back on them, they became infinitely sorrowful. I let Senior Elsie cry her heart out.
“H-how am I supposed to get married now… huuu, even my family won't say a word to me, hic, uugh……”
“It must have been hard for you, Senior Elsie.”
I nodded as if I completely empathized with her. At that, Senior Elsie cried even harder, as if she had finally found someone on her side.
In truth, looking at it objectively, there was no reason for anyone to take her side. She had led a gang to threaten a junior, only to be ambushed and publicly humiliated.
By any standard, it was a case of getting what she deserved, not something to be pitied—especially considering her usual behavior. It would have been strange for anyone to side with her.
Unless, of course, that person had an ulterior motive like me.
Sensing that the atmosphere was ripe, I whispered to Senior Elsie in a low, secretive voice.
“But whose fault do you think that is?”
“Th-that’s obviously your—hic—no, it’s not! It’s—it’s not your fault!”
Senior Elsie had instinctively started to point at me, but she immediately retracted her claim when my expression turned cold. Now, while her emotions were unstable, was my chance.
I began to persuade her.
“Think about it again. Why did you lose to me that day?”
“W-why did I lose……?”
“Didn't someone interfere back then?”
At my words, Senior Elsie’s sapphire-blue eyes went blank. Her memory was likely tracing back to a specific point in the past. That day, when she and I had clashed.
There had been another player involved. The reason Senior Elsie couldn't stay on guard against me was that she had been far too preoccupied with that other person.
After a moment of silence, Senior Elsie’s sapphire eyes were dyed with a chilling hostility. A name spat out from her lips, just like it had back then.
“Delphine Yurdina……”
Got her. I felt it instinctively. At this moment, all of Senior Elsie’s anger and resentment were redirected toward Senior Delphine.
To begin with, it was impossible for Senior Elsie to direct her hostility toward me, the object of her terror. She was someone whose legs shook just by being near me. Revenge was out of the question.
In that case, it was better for her to project that hostility onto someone she already hated.
And no one fit that role better than Senior Delphine. I continued to whisper to her.
“What if you could get revenge on Senior Delphine?”
“……Revenge?”
Senior Elsie looked at me, her interest clearly piqued by the mere mention of the word. I gave a heavy nod.
“Yes. Then you could reclaim your honor. You’d be the first person to ever defeat that Delphine Yurdina. Wouldn't that be something?”
“T-that’s true, but… how?”
“The Hunting Festival.”
I spoke with an air of absolute certainty, as if it were the only possible answer. Senior Elsie’s eyes glazed over for a moment.
“I heard there’s a tradition that the successor of the Yurdina family must win the Hunting Festival while attending the Academy. What do you think would happen if we won instead?”
“It would be a total slap in the face… Yeah, that sounds great!”
Senior Elsie’s face brightened instantly upon hearing my proposal. She really was a lovely girl to look at. It felt as if the surroundings grew brighter just from her smile.
At least, until she opened that dainty mouth of hers.
“I can finally give that bitch what she deserves! Good, I’m going to crush her so hard she’ll never dare act high and mighty again……”
“……Uh, right. So, what I’m saying is, how about joining forces with me?”
I made the offer before any more foul language could spill out.
Senior Elsie looked at me with a puzzled expression. It was a fair reaction.
While she had plenty of reasons to be hostile toward Senior Delphine, I didn't. She must have heard the rumors floating around. She probably couldn't fathom why I would go out of my way to take down Senior Delphine at the Hunting Festival.
It was a complicated story involving a letter from the future, Seria, and the conversation I’d had with Senior Delphine that night.
It was too difficult to explain everything right now. As I sat there pondering, Senior Elsie tilted her head and asked.
“Huh? Why me? Wouldn't it be better to team up with someone more skilled than—hiiiieeeek! O-okay! I’ll do it! I’ll do it! No, please let me join you!”
Since I didn't have a proper answer to give, I simply showed her the hand axe at my waist as a substitute.
I felt a twinge of guilt—this wasn't the right way to do things—but I had no choice. My silver tongue had its limits, but my hand axe did not.
Still, it was a significant achievement just to have sparked Senior Elsie’s motivation. Now I didn't have to worry about her slacking off during the Hunting Festival, fueled as she was by her desire for revenge against Senior Delphine.
However, it seemed Senior Elsie had picked up a bit of a strange habit.
“Um… hey.”
It was time to part ways. Senior Elsie seemed to have calmed down, and we were about to go our separate ways when she suddenly called out to me.
Turning around, I saw the petite girl with slightly flushed cheeks, tugging insistently on my sleeve. I looked at her, bewildered.
“The thing is……”
The girl looked incredibly embarrassed. I waited patiently for her to gather her courage, curious about what she wanted to say.
Finally, Senior Elsie squeezed her eyes shut and made her request in a tiny, mousy voice.
“Could you… could you stroke my head again……?”
Naturally, I couldn't answer right away. The request was so unexpected that I could only stare at her blankly for a moment.
At my silence, Senior Elsie seemed to grow even more embarrassed, her face turning beet-red as she hung her head. Her grip on my sleeve tightened.
“I—I feel anxious!”
She shouted with a voice full of shame. Only then did I grasp the general situation.
She was a girl who had been tormented by malicious rumors. Her frayed nerves must be eating away at her. Not to mention, she had recently faced a literal death threat from me.
She wanted that wound healed. By confirming that I, the very source of this mess, no longer had any intent to harm her, she could finally feel at ease.
If it was just that much, I could certainly oblige. My palm once again began to stroke Senior Elsie’s head. To be honest, the pointed hat was a bit of a nuisance and made it slightly awkward.
Senior Elsie stood there quietly with her head bowed, accepting my touch. Like this, she actually looked quite cute.
To celebrate our reconciliation, I cracked a joke.
“If you behave yourself from now on, I’ll do it again.”
“……Wh-who do you think you are, treating me like a pet?!”
Senior Elsie snapped back reflexively, but she immediately realized her mistake and cowered again, stealing a glance at me.
Seeing her like that, I couldn't help but let out another chuckle.
In any case, I had gained a reliable ally.
If I could just convince Celine now, I would have cleared one major hurdle toward winning the Hunting Festival.
That was the naive thought I held.
At least, until the next day, when I heard the news that a literal blade-drawn confrontation had broken out between Celine and Seria.