Chapter 18
No One Is Born a Hero (3)
Now that I looked closely, Ian’s clothes, who had supported the professor longer than I had, were so damp it was hard to tell their original color.
The back of the tent we came out from was dark and quiet, without even a single oil lamp.
Still, thanks to the moonlight, I could clearly read Ian’s expression.
I stared at his face for a moment, then slowly turned my head forward and thought,
‘He’s pale.’
His face was so white it seemed bloodless, probably from the shock.
It’s understandable, given that the professor he followed had come to the students alone, nearly at death’s door. I nodded to myself.
I took off my outer garment, turned it inside out, poured water from my canteen to wet it, and wrung out the bloodstains.
Across from me, Ian, who was wringing blood from the hem of his clothes, looked at me with a startled face and quickly turned away.
“Goodness. Edith Crowell. You’re. Something else.”
Why such an overreaction when I’m not even fully undressed?
I was wearing a layered shirt underneath, and Ian’s reaction of even turning his head away made me chuckle.
“What? Are you shy?”
“No, but how can you suddenly take off your clothes like that?”
“I have a shirt underneath, you know.”
“Still, it’s surprising!”
“You’re overreacting in this situation.”
As I raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, Ian seemed to realize he had overreacted. He took off his gloves, rubbed his clean hands on his cheeks, and cleared his throat.
“If you don’t mind, then never mind… Anyway, something must have happened, right?”
“I suppose so, Sir Gardwin.”
“Ah, so formal. You can just call me Ian.”
I’ve been waiting for him to say that. I quickly nodded in response.
“If you insist. Ian.”
Ian made a face as if he couldn’t believe it, but he didn’t seem displeased.
He didn’t seem to care much for formalities in the first place.
“Just like that?”
“I call Camilla by her name too.”
“…Come to think of it. Do you perhaps not remember me?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, do you know where we first met?”
I tilted my head at Ian’s sudden question as I was dusting off my clothes.
So…
“…Was it when we had a brief clash at the training ground with that student, Tambourine or something?”
“You really don’t remember. And his name is Chester.”
…What? It wasn’t then?
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t recall any other first meeting with him.
I carefully asked,
“Have we met somewhere else before?”
“…Maybe this will jog your memory? The day your room mirror broke.”
“Ah.”
That damn mirror.
When I returned after the regression, it was already broken. Ethan even said he broke it. And that I had gotten angry at him for entering my room without permission.
But I couldn’t remember at all what had happened.
Since I always returned to the day after being cursed when I came back from death, there was no way I could clearly remember things from before that.
So instead of answering Ian, I quietly raised my hand and touched my hair.
“……”
“You don’t remember?”
A look of shock passed over Ian’s face as he watched my action.
“Hmm…”
How could I remember such a thing amidst hundreds of regressions?
I quietly tilted my canteen, sprinkling water on his blood-stained hands, and whispered,
“I’m sorry. My memory isn’t very good…”
“But I heard the dean always talking about you being a genius magician?”
“That’s a different issue… Anyway. What happened that day for you to bring it up?”
I pretended to remember that day when talking to Ethan, so I might as well hear it from you.
I slowly tilted the canteen back, stopping the water flow, and looked straight at Ian.
Ian, seemingly dumbfounded, took several deep breaths with his now damp and clean hands, and slowly began to speak.
“Well…”
🥀
Ian Gardwin, the second son of the Gardwin family, had never seen such a human specimen as this freshman before him in his life.
‘She forgot about that.’
After getting so angry as if she would kill someone.
It was the first time he realized that a young girl could be so terrifying.
It happened about a week ago.
This year’s Academy was particularly tumultuous.
All because of just one student.
He had certainly heard that she was a student to watch out for.
A commoner-born girl who barely got into the Academy, which only nobles could enter, thanks to being adopted by some unknown baron’s family—that was enough to warrant attention.
On top of that, her skills were so outstanding that even the eccentric dean was fawning over her.
On the other hand, her reputation among the students was the worst.
However, Ian and Ethan were busy with their swordsmanship graduation class, so they hadn’t had the chance to encounter this talked-about freshman.
So that day was the first time they met Edith Crowell.
More precisely, it was them who went to find her.
“She must be crazy. Isn’t that too harsh for a freshman?”
“No. Considering how arrogant she’s been lately after being selected for the subjugation practice team…”
“She’s too proud for a commoner. We need to put her in her place.”
On their way back to the dormitory after practice, they heard some ominous whispers.
Ian exchanged glances with Ethan and assessed the atmosphere.
Students who seemed agitated, shocked, or excited. What on earth was going on?
“Ugh!”
A scream came from the old dormitory building not far from the training grounds.
Although it was a deep voice that couldn’t be mistaken for a female student’s scream, Ian somehow had a feeling that this scream was related to the ‘talked-about freshman’.
“Let’s go check it out.”
“Alright.”
Feeling the same way, Ethan also ran towards the old dormitory without hesitation.
The crowd was gathered in front of one room.
“Excuse me.”
Pushing through the crowd and entering the room, they saw a small female student with disheveled pink hair being held down by several other students.
Is this girl the rumored freshman?
The situation looked very ugly. She must be scared.
“Let go of this. Or I’ll really kill you. Get out of my room, all of you.”
Scared…?
No. She wasn’t intimidated at all.
The freshman’s golden eyes were blazing fiercely even as she was pinned down by the other students.
As if she might tear apart and kill her opponents right there.
“Ha, who can’t kill with words? Still so proud-“
And indeed, the cheek of the male student standing in front of her was swollen.
“Is this letter so important? They say those who have nothing cherish things more…”
The male student muttered contemptuously.
A letter envelope with its seal torn off was fluttering at his fingertips.
The girl’s golden eyes flickered widely, following that letter envelope.
“Get your filthy hands off my letter. Do you really want to die?”
‘…Ah.’
Having grasped the situation, Ian inwardly clicked his tongue.
This was the freshman’s room, and that letter seemed to be the cause of the friction.
That male student was the youngest son of the Pellos Marquis family.
It was already widely known within the Academy that the Pellos Marquis family treated him like an abandoned child.
So it seems he was jealous of the letter that appeared to be from the freshman’s family.
But…
‘What should we do? The atmosphere is too savage.’
It seemed impossible to disperse them with words alone.
There’s no choice. We’ll have to call the dean who supposedly cares so much for this freshman.
Just as Ian had made this judgment and turned around to push through the crowd again…
Bang, Crash-!
“……”
Along with a loud shattering sound, silence fell.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on the mirror.
And the person standing in front of that mirror, no, the person who had broken the mirror was…
“…P-Prince Behemoth.”
It was Ethan Behemoth.
Although Ian was a long-time friend of his, there were times when even he felt Ethan was like a madman.
Times like this.
Breaking a mirror with bare hands?
While everyone was shocked, Ethan asked in a low voice:
“What is this you’re doing?”
“I should be the one asking what-“
Just as the freshman fearlessly opened her mouth, the male student interrupted her and stepped forward.
“Well. This freshman wasn’t showing respect to her seniors, so we were in the middle of teaching her some manners. You don’t need to worry too much…”
Regardless of whether that male student was hurriedly continuing his words or not, Ethan looked at him with calm eyes and quietly jerked his chin.
“Get out.”
“Pardon?”
“I said, get out.”
“Ah, I see. You mean you’ll handle this personally, Prince Behemoth. But there’s no need for you to intervene in this matter.”
The male student smiled as if embarrassed, rubbing his swollen cheek.
And Ethan, who had been quietly staring at that male student’s face as if examining it, slowly shook his head.
“No. You’ve misunderstood.”
“Pardon?”
“I need to correct your manners. Follow me. All of you.”
“What…?!”
Among the students in that room, there was no one who could ignore Prince Behemoth’s words.
As all the male students who had filled the small room followed Ethan out, only that freshman remained in the room.
Looking around, even the crowd that had gathered in front of the room had dispersed, probably judging that the situation with Ethan would be more interesting.
Ian hesitated for a moment, then spoke to the freshman left alone in the room.
“…Are you okay?”
“…Haahh. Bunch of… lunatics…”
As she ran her hand through her roughly tangled pink hair, the young-looking female student bit her lip tightly.
Though rough and unkempt, she had a naturally eye-catching appearance.
“****…. Those bastards, ******. Are they nobles or thugs? I’m really going to kill them…”
If only it weren’t for her harsh language.
🥀
Thank you for reading! ♡
