Chapter 14 – My Problem

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I guess you could call it a silver lining in an unfortunate situation. The forest at night wasn’t that cold. The wind blew a bit more than during the day, but the robe I was wearing served as a good windbreaker, so I didn’t feel cold.

And the same went for Hosanna. Unlike my rough leather robe, Hosanna was wearing a more luxurious-looking robe. He adjusted his collar as the wind blew and said,

“We’ll have to wait here until morning. If we move now, we might end up even farther from the village.”

“Right…”

“By the way, do you have any camping gear?”

“Camping gear…”

I muttered blankly and then shook my head. I mean, the village and my home were just a short walk away, so why would I have prepared to sleep outside?

Hosanna seemed to have expected that I wouldn’t have such gear, as he nodded knowingly and began rummaging through his inventory.

Tap tap—with a few taps, several items fell to the ground. Firewood, stones of unknown use, a thermos, and even a sleeping bag.

As I stared dumbfounded at the items continuing to fall, Hosanna chuckled.

“Impressed?”

“…A little.”

“You didn’t even blink when I showed you magic, but you’re impressed by this? You’re a strange one.”

Isn’t it normal to be impressed…? I pouted slightly at the sudden criticism, but Hosanna had already started setting up camp, moving the items one by one.

After clearing some grass from a suitable spot, he stacked the firewood and surrounded it with stones in a circle. Then, he pulled out his wand, stuck it into the firewood, and muttered softly.

“Ignition.”

Whoosh—a small flame sprouted from the tip of the wand and grew as it fed on the firewood. In an instant, a campfire was lit, casting light and driving away the darkness.

At the same time, my eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness, were now flooded with light.

“Ugh…”

It felt like a flashbang had gone off right in front of me. I let out a short groan and pressed my eyelids with my hands. A small laugh followed.

Once my vision improved enough to open my eyes, I glanced at Hosanna, who had his back turned as if he hadn’t been laughing at all, inspecting the camping gear. I sighed softly and hugged my knees, glaring at his small back, which didn’t match his age.

Not only was I stranded in the forest, but I also had to spend the night with someone I barely knew. For someone like me who preferred being alone, this was torture. Still, I was grateful that Hosanna kept a respectful distance, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

But even so, being alone like this was suffocating. Would normal people feel differently than I did? Resting my cheek on my knees, I continued to space out when I heard footsteps approaching.

I quickly looked up and saw Hosanna holding a thermos, startled.

“You scared me. I thought you were asleep.”

“W-Why…”

“Why? Aren’t you being too defensive? Someone might think I did something bad to you.”

“S-Sorry. It’s just a habit…”

“…It’s just a joke, so don’t take it so seriously.”

Even I could tell that Hosanna’s words were a joke. But as I said, it was just a habit.

A defensive habit that came out faster than I could think. Feeling unnecessarily guilty, I averted my gaze. Hosanna looked at me for a moment, then plopped down beside me.

“Why are you so afraid of people? Did something bad happen to you?”

“Not really… it’s not like that…”

“It’s okay. You can tell me. I’m a guy who’s good at listening.”

With that face, it’s hard to take you seriously. And I’m an adult too, you know. I shook my head as I looked at Hosanna, who was acting all high and mighty.

“Really… nothing like that happened. It’s just my problem…”

“Everyone says that. That it’s their weakness, their fault. I know it might not mean much to you right now, though.”

Just keep that in mind. At Hosanna’s words, I muttered softly.

“Really, it’s my problem…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“…”

I remained silent, and Hosanna seemed to give up on getting an answer. He opened the thermos, poured its contents into the lid, and handed it to me.

“Here.”

“…What is it?”

“It’s soup from the store. I just keep it in the thermos to eat when I’m hungry. You know you can’t use the store outside the village, right?”

“That’s true…”

I guess they thought letting us use the store interface in dungeons would be too convenient, so they didn’t allow it. Of course, I just went home to eat when I got hungry, so I never bothered carrying food around like this.

Still, I didn’t really feel like accepting it. I opened my mouth to decline.

“Thank you for offering, but I’m not really hungry—”

Grrrroooowl.

The loud growl from my stomach left both Hosanna and me speechless for a moment. Of course, it was only for a moment, and Hosanna soon burst out laughing with a look of disbelief.

“Wow, was that your stomach? For a second, I thought my nonexistent phone was ringing.”

“Ugh…!”

My face instantly turned red. Even without a mirror, I knew my face was as red as a ripe apple.

Come to think of it, I only had a light breakfast and hadn’t eaten anything since. But to growl so loudly at this exact moment was just cruel.

I wanted to die of embarrassment. Well, I’d just revive at the chapel, but still. Maybe that would be better? At least I could escape this moment.

Alright, let’s die.

Having made up my mind, I pulled out a dagger from my pocket. Hosanna, who had been laughing, suddenly panicked.

“Hey, just because I laughed a little, you don’t have to pull out a knife—Paralyze!”

“Gah…!”

As I tried to stab myself in the chest with the dagger, Hosanna quickly pulled out his wand and cast a spell. Without a chance to dodge, I was hit by the spell, and my entire body stiffened as if electrocuted.

Hosanna, who had been catching his breath, looked at me frozen in the act of trying to stab myself and then raised his wand high.

Thwack—!

“…!”

Unlike before, when he had controlled his strength, this time the impact and pain were full force. Even while paralyzed, my eyes widened in shock. But I couldn’t scream because my voice was gone.

As I rolled around in my mind, clutching my head in pain, Hosanna let out a frustrated yell.

“You crazy—what the hell are you doing?!”

“…”

“If you can talk, say something…! Oh right, I paralyzed you. Dispel, Paralyze.”

“Aaaah…!”

With Hosanna’s words, my body regained its freedom, but I collapsed on the spot, clutching my head. I wanted to roll around like I had imagined, but I was in too much pain to move.

All I could do was lie there, clutching my head and enduring the pain. After I had been lying there for a while, Hosanna, who had been breathing heavily in anger, cautiously approached and asked,

“…Does it hurt a lot?”

“Ugh…”

I looked at him with a tear-streaked face, and he seemed to feel a bit guilty, averting his gaze and clearing his throat before launching into a long explanation.

“Ahem… well, who told you to suddenly try to hurt yourself? If this were my hometown, the police would’ve swarmed in and beaten you with batons to stop you. Compared to that, I’m being pretty lenient, you know?”

Of course, none of that registered in my ears. I stayed curled up on the ground, enduring the pain until the campfire’s intensity began to die down a bit. Only then could I finally lift my head.

“Your face is a mess.”

“Sniff…”

I didn’t need to be told. My eyes were swollen, and my face was wet. I had cried so much that my head was filled with heat, and my vision was slightly blurry.

I stared blankly at the campfire, swallowing my snot, when Hosanna sighed and handed me a handkerchief.

“Use this to wipe your face.”

“Thank… sniff… you…”

“Well, it’s partly my fault too…”

If you know that, then be gentler. I muttered to myself as I took the handkerchief and carefully wiped my face.

“Sniff!”

I even remembered to blow my nose at the end. Objectively speaking, I had provoked it, but no matter how you looked at it, he had hit me too hard. So, I figured this much revenge was fair.

I neatly folded the handkerchief, now soaked with bodily fluids, and handed it back to Hosanna with a word of thanks.

“I’m done with it…”

“…You didn’t have to return it.”

Hosanna picked up the handkerchief using only his thumb and forefinger and, with a sigh, tossed it into the fire.

Whoosh—the campfire grew slightly as it consumed the handkerchief. I stared blankly at the flames when Hosanna asked,

“So, why did you do that all of a sudden?”

“I was too embarrassed…”

“Who in the world tries to kill themselves because they’re embarrassed…?”

“W-Well, there’s such a thing as dying of shame… And here, dying isn’t the end… You just revive at the chapel anyway.”

In fact, wasn’t my action the right move? If I died and revived, I’d be back in the village, so there’d be no need to camp in the forest like this.

But as if to deny that thought, Hosanna’s hand lightly tapped my head and then disappeared.

“Don’t think of this place as a game just because it has game-like systems. This is still reality. It’s not like pressing a suicide button will kill your character and revive you in the village.”

“W-Well, that’s true…”

Honestly, if I thought about it calmly, I didn’t have the guts to talk about suicide or revival after crying over a simple hit to the head.

In the first place, I had only acted out of frustration. I didn’t actually want to die at all.

As I responded in a subdued voice, something suddenly appeared in front of me.

It was the soup in the thermos lid. Hosanna handed it to me, steam rising from it, and said,

“Let’s stop with the heavy talk. You’ve been crying on an empty stomach, so you must be even hungrier now. Don’t refuse this time.”

“Ah, okay.”

If I didn’t, he’d probably give me another bump on the head. I nodded quickly at Hosanna, who was half-jokingly (or maybe seriously) threatening me.

“Haa…”

The soup was incredibly delicious, making my earlier refusal seem pointless.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
??

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Professional girlfailure used suicide!

It failed miserably, what a failure! 

Real adult, use brutal correction!!

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