A New Special Cadet (1)
When I got back to the hall, Linus was looking at me with a distinctly knowing expression.
"It's not like that."
"I didn't say a word."
As I sat down beside him, Linus glanced toward Merylda walking off in the other direction.
"So what were the two of you doing out there?"
"It was hot, so we soaked our feet in the stream at the edge of the village and talked. And no, it wasn't that!"
"I told you I didn't say anything."
"You bastard! Your eyes are doing all the talking!"
Linus laughed under his breath and leaned back, slipping out of my reach. I grabbed for his collar and came up with nothing but air. As I pulled my hand back, he spoke.
"There's something you ought to know, Dian."
"What."
"Merylda has turned down countless marriage proposals waiting for you."
"That's her choice. It doesn't mean I have to do anything about it."
"Fair enough. But you're getting to the age where you should start looking for a partner yourself, aren't you?"
"Even so, not Merylda."
I shook my head.
"Could you marry a kid you saved when she was little? She's an adult on paper, but twenty is still a child. A child. Think about what we were like at twenty."
"Well. The year I turned twenty we were in the thick of the war, so it doesn't quite land."
"Anyway, no means no. Even if I did get married, it wouldn't be to someone like Merylda. It'd be someone more mature."
"Everyone has their own values and tastes. I wasn't telling you to do anything with Merylda. I was just letting you know how things stand."
"Yeah. Good for you."
"But Dian. Merylda is an exceptional young woman."
This bastard just kept going.
"Even after losing her parents and her little brother in the most desperate circumstances, she never gave up. She graduated from the Imperial Public Academy with outstanding grades, and now she's serving as the village's acting administrator. Acting administrator, in case you don't know, is equivalent to a civil servant—"
"Did you seriously drag me all the way out here to play matchmaker?"
"Of course not."
Linus smiled and closed his mouth.
He was right that Merylda had grown into a truly fine young woman. Still, no meant no.
"By the way, Dian. Are you really going to just leave that as it is?"
Linus popped a piece of food in his mouth and jerked his chin toward a corner of the hall.
So he'd noticed too.
Lina was over there, currently concealing herself from everyone's sight with a stealth technique. She sat at an empty table, chin propped in both hands, staring straight at me.
"She's been staring a hole through you like that for quite a while now. Who is she?"
"One of our Combat Department professors. Infiltration specialist. I think she came from some special ops unit."
"Is that so. I'm not curious about her résumé, though. I want to know why she followed you here and why she's looking at you like that."
"Hell if I know. Probably wondering what kind of guy I am."
"That would be it. Curiosity about the past of a highly capable Chief Professor who appeared out of nowhere. So, are you going to keep leaving her like that?"
"If I acknowledge her, how embarrassed and startled would she be? She'll go back on her own eventually."
"If you say so, then I suppose that's how it is."
With that, we dropped the subject of Professor Lina.
"Haa, Chief Professor..."
Lina sat with her chin in both hands, gazing endlessly at Dian. Ever since she'd completely fallen for him watching him persuade Merylda at the stream on the village outskirts, she'd been like this the whole time.
A young, handsome, and capable Combat Chief Professor who had appeared one day as if he'd dropped from the sky and yanked the academy onto the right track in no time.
And it turned out he was actually an unsung hero who'd fought across the battlefields alongside Linus, Hero of the Continent?!
On top of that, the very incarnation of humility, never once breathing a word of the tremendous feats he'd accomplished?!
And he even possessed a noble soul that refused a beautiful girl who'd waited ten years to offer him her purity, telling her not to make her own sacrifice meaningless?!?!?!?!
There was no way she could not fall for that.
If she could spend her life at the side of a man like that, she felt she'd be happy forever.
But the fantasy stopped right there.
During her time in special ops, Lina had come into contact with many secrets ordinary people never knew. She knew all too well how dangerous the Imperial Palace was, and how sinister and filthy a place it could be.
By her estimation, Professor Dian was currently entangled in various complicated circumstances with the Imperial Palace, which was why he wasn't receiving a hero's treatment. She couldn't just throw herself at him because he was wonderful. She might get swept up in something far bigger than she could handle.
Besides, Professor Dian was a noble person — and her workplace superior. She had no idea whether she was even worthy of him. If she clumsily revealed her feelings, one of them would have to leave the academy.
And the one who'd have to leave would be her.
This was a job she'd found with great difficulty through the Second Princess's grace, after being dismissed and left unemployed during the war for earning the Imperial Palace's displeasure.
Still... being a little kinder and more affectionate toward the Chief Professor than I already am wouldn't be a big problem, right...?
He's a hero, after all, and he deserves to be treated as one...
And then maybe he'll gradually open his heart, and things will progress naturally...
I like you so much, Chief Professor...
The events didn't wrap up until late at night.
The villagers asked us to stay until tomorrow, but that was a bit difficult. Linus had zero intention of spending the night away with his wife and kid waiting at home, and I wanted to get back and rest too.
"Dian..."
Merylda came to see me off, tears streaming down her face.
"If you leave now, when will you come again...?"
"I'll come when I get the chance."
"And when is that...?"
"Well..."
I gave an awkward smile, not knowing the answer myself, and Merylda took my hand.
"I'll wait for you here, Dian, for as long as it takes. Until the day you come to me."
"Yeah..."
This was getting really uncomfortable. But I couldn't exactly tell her to her face that she didn't need to wait.
"Take care, everyone!"
As the carriage started moving, people cheered or wept as they saw us off.
"Dian! I mean it! I'll be waiting!!"
Merylda ran after the carriage, shouting.
"Alright, Merylda! See you again someday!"
I leaned out the window and waved until Merylda came to a stop and vanished from sight. Just before ducking back inside, I glanced up at the roof to make sure the stealthed Lina was still clinging on. She didn't have a decent way back, so she'd snuck onto our carriage.
Linus spoke with a faint smile.
"Dian. Let's go to gatherings like this together from time to time."
"I'm tired."
"I'm not saying you have to attend every single event. But there are this many people who honor you and wait for you. At the very least, shouldn't you show them that you're still alive?"
"Well, if it's just occasionally, I guess it wouldn't be so bad."
Waving to Merylda earlier, I'd looked out at the nightscape of Tatanok Village stretching behind her, and honestly, I'd been a little moved. That reckless decision Linus and I had made back then had become the foundation for a village on the verge of being promoted to a city, ten years later.
This was a pretty satisfying episode in its own right. I'd figured there wouldn't be any events like this after the ending.
I was glad I'd chosen to help the protagonist instead of using my knowledge of the original to stir up chaos. If I'd been like a typical web novel transmigrator — hogging every fortuitous encounter and heroine for myself, spouting moronic lines like Strange. The protagonist's specs are significantly lower than they should be at this point in the original. If I don't step in, blah blah blah — would I ever have gotten to see a day like today?
Who knows.
"Take care, Linus."
"Get some rest."
After parting with Linus at the academy's front gate, I walked alone toward the faculty residential area. Lina, who'd just jumped off the carriage, had already sprinted ahead of me without making a sound.
That stealth technique of hers really was incredible. Under ordinary circumstances you'd never notice her at all, and even if you knew she was there and looked, your vision would just warp slightly. To Linus and me, her form was faintly but fully visible.
Had she really followed me all the way to Tatanok Village just because she was curious about what I was doing? Then how much of the conversation had she overheard? I hadn't said anything particularly problematic, at least.
I kept walking, and then Lina suddenly popped into existence right in front of me.
"Oh my? Chief Professor? Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Is that so? Perfect timing. I was just on my way to the dorms myself."
I asked with a chuckle at her clumsy performance.
"So what have you been doing wandering around campus until now?"
"Me? Just, you know, this and that. Overtime. Let's walk together!"
Lina hedged and suddenly linked her arm through mine. She was so naturally cheerful that she hooked her arm through mine like this from time to time, so it wasn't particularly strange.
Pressed close against my side, Lina launched into this and that in her characteristically gentle tone. Of course Lina wasn't an idiot, and she didn't mention a single word about what had happened in Tatanok Village today.
At the end of the conversation, she asked out of nowhere.
"By the way, Professor, is there someone you're seeing?"
"What? Someone I'm seeing? You mean a girlfriend? No."
"Ohhh, I see. You're of a certain age. Shouldn't you be looking for something serious around now?"
"Don't want to."
"Eh...?"
Lina looked up at me, a little startled.
"You don't want to?"
"I'm more comfortable alone. And it'd be hard to find a woman who'd put up with me."
"Ah, I see... Still, if you at least wanted to find out whether there's someone like that around you, you could try doing something..."
"I don't know. Right now the most important thing is getting the kids graduated safely so the Imperial Palace doesn't start making noise. Dating, marriage, all that — that's a conversation for afterward."
"Then I'll have to work hard too!"
Lina shouted.
"Of course you should work hard. That's stating the obvious."
"Then I'll have to work hard too!"
At the loud voice carrying in from outside, Kirlin sat up in bed and went to the window. Who on earth is shouting at this hour? As Principal, I ought to give them a stern talking-to...
"Eek?!"
On the dark night street, Dian and Professor Lina were walking along with their arms linked, looking thoroughly affectionate.