episode_0060
by fnovelpia
A few days have passed since I finished my first trip in my life.
That trip, which was full of many things and was so difficult that I will never forget it, is now engraved in my memory as a memory, just like a dream.
After reporting what had happened to us to the palace, Asbel was given a week’s rest for his own safety. Although he seemed to dislike it.
It would be impossible to easily disobey the orders of a father and a king. Of course, this story had nothing to do with me.
Unlike that princess, we have to go straight to class without any break.
‘We had a hard time too…’
Make sure you get some rest!!
Today, I was just expressing my dissatisfaction as usual and working hard in class.
‘Even if I say this to myself, it won’t come true.’
I rested my chin on my hand, laughing in vain at my own futile efforts.
And I looked at the scenery outside the window.
The blue sky and the park came into view.
It was truly quiet and peaceful.
This scenery, which would not have been my strong point originally, felt more precious because I had experienced such an experience.
As various thoughts passed through my head, random memories began to emerge. And now, this is what I am thinking.
‘Ilya seemed to be in a bad mood yesterday. What was the reason?’
Last night, after finishing my conversation with Sarah, I was on my way back to the dorm with Ilia.
For some reason, she stuck out her lips and didn’t say anything to me. I wasn’t in the mood to ask why.
But since she seemed to be smiling and looking better today, I decided to think that she was just a child who wanted to play with her friends more but was throwing a tantrum at her parents who forced her to come.
If I think deeply about it, only my head hurts.
“Now focus! This is the important part.”
I looked at the end of the stick in the teacher’s right hand. There was a word written there that the teacher had said was important.
⌜10 Warriors⌟
“Most of you here probably know this, but this is definitely on the exam, so listen carefully.”
‘Why do you emphasize that so much?’
Then it won’t come out.
The part that teachers originally emphasized is that it is a truth in life that will not appear on the test. Even if it does appear, it will be just one problem.
As I was giggling while asking myself questions, Sarah, who was next to me, looked at me with a strange look.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just.”
“You’re a bad guy.”
‘Hmm… I guess even if something like that happens, the way I treat you doesn’t change.’
It’s also important to keep your original intention.
I’d like you to throw it away if possible.
I pretended not to care about her words and looked back at the blackboard.
“This is the history of the 10 warriors. Do you all understand?”
“…”
I haven’t heard anything yet…
But since I have a rough idea, I think it’s okay to skip over it for now.
Unlike me who was turning the next page, Sarah held her head with both hands and opened her mouth slightly.
“Fuck…I didn’t hear a single thing.”
“There’s only going to be one question on the test anyway.”
“How would you know that?”
“You may not know this because it’s your first time at the academy, but that’s the truth of life.”
“What’s that… This is your first time too.”
Sarah, who was looking at me with a questioning expression, put her hand on her head in frustration. Aren’t you despairing too much because you missed that part?
There are many friends around me who are good at studying, so if I ask them, everything will be resolved… If they can’t do it, I have them too.
10 warriors.
This title, which at first glance does not seem ordinary, implies that they are one of the ten warriors recognized by the king. In simple terms, it also means that they are currently the ten strongest warriors in the country.
As the name suggests, history was easy to memorize.
Soon after the creation of the Tros Academy, His Majesty the King, who had been given a prophecy by the Saintess that a reincarnation would soon occur, selected the ten strongest people in the country, regardless of class, in preparation for war, and this practice has continued to this day.
It would have been more difficult if it had gone that far because the selection method was different every year, but fortunately it was not included in the scope of this exam.
I patted Sarah on the shoulder, offering her comfort.
“Still, it’s relatively easy compared to other parts… Even an idiot like you will be able to understand this in no time.”
“What? You idiot!?”
“Ah…slip of the tongue.”
I didn’t realize that telling her it was that easy would end up hurting Sarah’s pride.
…I actually knew that.
It was just fun and easy.
“Ugh…I lied and fell for it.”
Maybe because it was class time, Sarah was holding back her anger better than I thought. But I knew that this class time was not an infinite amount of time to save me, so I quickly apologized to her.
“I’m sorry, as an apology, should I teach you how to study?”
“…”
Sarah stares at me with her eyes wide open, as if she were a viper sending out a warning. Huh?
Now, my pupils fluttered at the sight of her hands trembling.
‘no way…’
What was said with the utmost sincerity of apology seemed to Sarah like, “You’re not good at studying, so should I teach you how to study?”
Not expecting this kind of reaction, I was flustered and apologized again, but the situation had already gotten much worse.
I listened to Sarah, who lowered her head and muttered something as if she couldn’t hear what I was saying.
“You’re worse at swordsmanship than a newborn baby, so you’re going to lose to me, and you’re going to teach me how to study because you feel bad for me because I’m bad at studying too?”
“Huh? I didn’t say that?”
I calmed Sarah down, who had twisted my words more than I had expected. It was obvious that if I didn’t stop her now, she would soon go wild.
“Sarah? That’s not what I meant…”
“If you’re not good at anything and you’re going to do that, you should just leave the academy?”
“No, that’s why I said it never happened?”
“Okay, fine…I’ll kill you and get expelled from the academy or I’ll leave on my own two feet…”
While I was fidgeting and moving around, a loud bell rang in the classroom.
“Ah.”
“How do you want to die?”
“As much as possible, don’t get sick…”
“Okay…I’ll kill you as painfully as possible!!!”
“Ugh!!!”
widely.
“I’m the one who’ll kill that bastard.”
“Let go of me! Shit! I’ll soak you!!”
Sarah, who had her wrists grabbed by Ad, struggled, but she quickly lowered her arms in the face of Ad’s fundamental strength.
There must have been many ways to escape, but he held back his anger because he remembered that this was the academy.
‘Still, I haven’t completely lost my sense of reason.’
But why did Adga come to me?
No matter how much I think about it, there can only be one reason.
You finally think of me as a friend.
Yeah, I thought we were going to be friends?
I looked at Ad with that kind of mind. Hmm…
Is it not that far yet?
Ad’s expression was not one that showed he wanted to see me. On the contrary, the expression on Kadira’s face next to him seemed more welcoming to me.
Of course, they both had rotten expressions.
“You’re not going to say anything, are you?”
At Lina’s words next to him, Adun looked troubled with a troubled expression.
“I…should…I think it’s better not to take a loser. The kids would definitely hate it.”
“But the nun told me to bring them all.”
“That’s true, but…”
Ad, who was struck by Lina’s words, looked at me without saying anything in return. Unable to understand their conversation, I looked at them without saying anything.
“Ha…logs.”
Lina, who felt frustrated at Ad’s lack of suggestions even after time passed, spoke instead.
“Do you want to go to the daycare we go to every week this weekend?”
“, all of a sudden?”
“Yeah, the nun told me to come play with the kids who went on a trip this time.”
“Oh…”
“Some people can’t go, but I think most people will go. What do you think?”
“…”
There will be a lot of children in the orphanage. It’s not that I hate children, but like Ad said, I’m sure they’ll hate me.
If the kids cry because you insisted on checking, it would be a nun’s nun’s nun’s nun’s nun.
I exhaled and shook my head.
“I don’t think it’ll be okay if I don’t go.”
Lina glared at me for a moment at my answer and then asked me again.
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
“That’s not it.”
“That, that’s right…”
Lina, who had become sullen, stopped asking me persistently whether I would respect her opinion. However, when I actually refused, she looked a little surprised.
But unlike the other kids who respected my choice, one person grabbed my shoulder.
“Come with me. I’ll show you that I’m better than you at this.”
She was Sarah.
“…”
Hmm… You still have that in mind. Actually, I never said that…
I felt wronged, but since she already had distorted memories, I gave up on explaining myself and was about to open my mouth to politely decline.
“But the kids are scared of you too, Sara.”
The voice of Kadira, who had provoked her, was heard first. At those words, Sarah turned her gaze away from me and stood in front of Kadira.
“What? You’re the same. And sorry, I’m more popular than you.”
“Don’t be a jerk. The kids will all run away when they see you.”
“That’s the same for you too, you boring auntie!”
“What, what are you talking about, gangster lady!”
As their fight grew more intense, their voices grew louder. But I couldn’t help but laugh at the two words they said.
A boring auntie and a gangster auntie.
It was a perfect nickname for the blunt Kadira and the easily angry Sarah. However, the nickname itself seemed a bit childish, so I think it was a nickname given by the kids.
“Keep…stop fighting, you two. And I wasn’t even going to go in the first place…”
““Hey.””
The two voices were directly in my face. And they both spoke to me at the same time.
““You must come.””
“…”
I felt a little more confident after hearing their story. So I nodded.
***
Time passed and the weekend arrived.
I spent too long trying to convince Ilya not to come with me.
Actually, if I had brought her out, it wouldn’t have been this late. However, it was too risky to take her to a daycare center that I had never been to before, since she hadn’t even adjusted to the city yet.
And if people saw me and an elf who were unfamiliar to them and bad rumors spread, it would be okay for me, but it could be psychologically difficult for Ilia.
I talked to Ilya about being as careful as possible for now, since we’re still keeping it a secret from our parents.
It seemed like he understood my story, but he must have felt hurt.
‘Should I buy you a present when I go back…’
“Here it is!”
I saw Lina calling me from afar. And next to her, I saw a church that seemed to be an orphanage.
‘It’s a cathedral…’
If you think about it, there wasn’t much difference between the place called the cathedral and that shitty place my father ran. Back then, unlike now, I believed there was no God.
To the young boy, these two places were ultimately perceived as places where he offered vain prayers to a god who did not exist.
But what importance would such a belief have had to that young child?
To that little boy who was running away because it was so hard.
If you say you don’t like the cross, take it away.
When I said I didn’t like the Bible, I took all the Bibles off the shelf.
Since I said I didn’t like the dark, they served me warm food in a bright room.
The grace of that nun.
He healed the pain that the boy had, even if it was only for a moment.
But just for a moment, as the saying goes.
My father found me after I hid in the cathedral for several days.
The nun tried to stop my father from forcibly taking me away, but he fell down, hitting his head on the table. Blood flowed out of his head.
Even to me as a child, the sight seemed painful, but the nun smiled at me as if to tell me it was okay.
He must have told me that it wasn’t my fault, but I shed tears at that smile.
My heart felt like it was going to burst from the guilt I had not been able to control.
If only I had learned how to make a phone call back then.
If I hadn’t come to the cathedral then.
The thought crossed the nun’s mind that it wouldn’t have happened that way.
A feeling that cannot be expressed in words like resentment.
If there was a God, it was my father who should have died, not the nun.
‘There should be no God in this world…’
I’d like to ask if possible.
you are…
“Hey, are you crying?”
“Huh?”
At Kadira’s question, I stopped thinking and wiped away the tears that had gathered between my eyes.
“Aren’t you crying?”
“What are you talking about while you’re crying right now?”
“I’m not the type of person who cries easily like you.”
“What, what are you talking about! I cried once when I was this old!”
“Oh my, I will hand over the head of the one who made the cold-blooded princess shed tears.”
“What?”
The kids didn’t laugh out loud at that, but they were laughing inside.
Kadira couldn’t help but feel sad at the sight and puffed out her cheeks.
“Mr. Lee…I guess I’ll never worry again…”
Kadira hid behind Lina, muttering something like that. Logs was laughing without even knowing it.
I was surprised that I shed tears without realizing it, but the kids were probably more surprised. If it weren’t for Kadira, I would have been in big trouble.
Thinking that the mood had lightened by this point, I stood next to Ad, who was holding the doorknob.
“Logs, don’t get hurt?”
“Did you get it?”
“No, me!?…Actually, I got a lot.”
I smiled at Sarah, who suddenly told me her honest feelings, and I also prepared myself mentally.
‘Ugh…don’t get hurt.’
And then the door opened.
“Come on in.”
Like a warm sun floating in a wide meadow in front of it.
Gentle, but different from the feeling I had from my mother.
There was someone like that standing in front of me. Ah…
‘Even if it’s a coincidence, it’s okay. Even if it’s my mistake, it’s okay.’
“Ah…”
If I were to say these words now, I would definitely not be able to hold it back and would start crying.
But I couldn’t hold back the tears that were coming down. And I opened my mouth.
“Sorry… Huh?”
Another silhouette appeared in front of me, reaching out my hand desperately to ask for forgiveness for that time.
“What a strange guy!!!”
“Brother, let’s play over there!”
“Let’s play house, oppa!”
It was a sight of countless children jumping at me.
thud!
Unable to withstand the weight, he fell straight to the floor.
It would have been a weight that could have easily been supported by one or two people.
Even at a glance, there were at least ten children in my arms.
“Haha…”
Thanks to the kids who jumped at me, the tears that were about to fall stopped. I don’t know if I should be thankful for that.
“Are you crying because you’re sick?”
“No, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
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