Chapter 19: I Believe in You

I had a dream.

Swish—

Even though it was a dream, I could feel the vivid, soft sensation on my cheek.

“Hehehe. This is my final will, Kayron.”

And then, there was Avelin, lying in the snow, smiling brightly.

“You have to be happy for both of us. I’ll be praying for you. K-Kayron…….”

****

A gentle ray of sunlight streamed through the window.

The warmth of the sun had filled the air in the room.

Even the chirping of birds outside reached my ears.

Before I even opened my eyes, I realized—I had overslept again.

“Damn it, I overslept. If it weren’t for that dream…….”

“What kind of dream did you have?”

“I don’t know. But it was a strange one…… No, wait. Hold on. What the hell?!”

It was a voice I shouldn’t be hearing.

I bolted upright in bed and immediately spotted the back of an intruder sitting on the couch, facing away from me.

“What’s the problem? It’s fine to sleep in on a day like this.”

“There is a problem, Avelin! Why the hell are you here again?”

“Why do you think? I already know exactly how you spend the day before the waves come.”

Avelin spoke so nonchalantly, not even bothering to turn around.

“No friends, the only people around you are a bunch of muscle-brained men, and even they spend all day eating and drinking while your overly rigid boss is off doing his own thing. I don’t even have to see it to know. You’re probably so touched by my visit that you’re about to cry.”

“Who are you calling overly rigid? No, wait, that’s not the point! The real issue here is why you broke into my room again! Hey—huh?”

That’s when I noticed something.

There was a teacup sitting in front of Avelin.

And there was only one person in this sweaty, iron-clad warrior barracks who had the habit of brewing tea.

It had to be Plymouth.

That bastard let her in again.

“Damn it, Plymouth, that bastard—again!”

“What’s with the overreaction? Sir Plymouth didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a hundred times better than rigid old Kayron over here.”

Avelin took a sip of her tea and then slowly turned her head toward me.

“Calm, gentlemanly, and an excellent tea brewer—pfft!”

“Uaaaagh!”

But the moment she laid eyes on me, she abruptly choked on her words.

Her eyes widened, and before I could react, she spat the tea straight at me.

Cough, cough! Keugh! Kehk…!

“Hey, Avelin! What the hell was that?!”

Luckily, I managed to dodge the worst of it, so I didn’t get hit by the tea she had just spewed from her mouth.

She was hacking and coughing so hard that she actually looked a little pitiful, but that wasn’t the problem right now.

“This is my room! Not only did you break in without my permission, but now you’re spitting stuff everywhere?! At least tell me what you came here for!”

“…I came here.”

Came here… for what?

I knew it!

There was no way Avelin would just show up without a reason.

She was probably still mad about yesterday’s fight and came to take revenge—

“I came here for training.”

Avelin wiped the tea from her lips with a slightly bitter look.

“…Training?”

“Did you forget? You agreed to help with my training. But yesterday, we left things unfinished. So I came to continue. And don’t even think about refusing! I already know that even on your days off, you never skip training.”

“Can we even call what we did yesterday ‘training’? But fine, you’re right. I do take breaks on my days off, but I never skip training. Still, did you really have to come this early?”

“Early? What are you talking about? It’s already almost noon… Ugh.”

Avelin, who had been staring at me, suddenly let her gaze drop downward. Then, in the next instant, she whipped her head away and snapped at me.

“More importantly, put something on already! Why the hell do you sleep without a shirt?”

“Because it’s uncomfortable. I need to sleep comfortably, and even the slightest tightness bothers me.”

“Then why do you wrap yourself up in a blanket? You had yourself bundled up so tightly that I didn’t even realize you weren’t wearing a shirt!”

“Because it’s cold? I have to train and fight, so catching a cold is out of the question. I don’t like sleeping in a shirt, but a blanket is fine.”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all!”

Even as Avelin grumbled in frustration, she refused to meet my eyes.

Maybe it was from all that coughing earlier, but her cheeks had taken on a faint red hue.

“Anyway, just hurry up and put something on already!”

“Oh, come on. This is my room… Fine, fine, just give me a second.”

And just like that, my right to wear whatever I wanted in my own room was taken from me.

I had no choice but to grab whatever comfortable clothing was within reach and put it on.

“There. Happy now?”

“Thanks. Now I don’t have to feel so flustered—urk.”

As soon as Avelin turned to look at me again, she flinched as if something had startled her.

“Now what?”

“…Don’t you have anything thicker? Something that covers up more? That shirt is too thin; I can see everything.”

“You think this is thin?”

I glanced down at my clothes. It wasn’t that thin.

Sure, my muscles made the fabric stretch a little, but still.

“Now you’re complaining even when I do wear clothes. Is my body that unpleasant to look at? I get it, all hard muscle and nothing else. Maybe I should just put on my armor instead?”

“Hmph, whatever. It’s… not that bad.”

Even after I changed to her liking, Avelin just huffed and took a sip of her tea, trying to act indifferent.

But as she exhaled sharply while staring at me, I couldn’t tell if it was just from the lingering effects of her coughing fit… or something else.

“Anyway, Avelin, you said you came to finish our training session, right? Then let’s head out now. It’ll wake me up, and working up a sweat will make lunch taste better.”

“Sounds good. But before that…”

Setting down her teacup, Avelin met my eyes with a suddenly serious expression.

“As you already know, Commander Balthazar gave me a direct order—to keep an eye on you.”

“I know. I happened to overhear when he gave you the mission.”

“Then why are you so indifferent about it? You know this isn’t a trivial situation.”

“I know. But you saw it too, didn’t you? That Razen, who we thought might actually be a demon, was a real demon. And the Black Crow whispering something to Benedict, ensnaring him in some kind of spell. Did you report all that yet?”

“…No.”

“Thought so. I figured you wouldn’t.”

I let out a small sigh and then bowed my head slightly toward Avelin.

She blinked in shock and spoke in a startled voice.

“Wait, what are you doing, Kayron?”

“I’m apologizing. I’m sorry for doubting you, even for a moment. You remember, don’t you? Before I fought Benedict, I directed killing intent toward you. I regret that.”

I lifted my head to look at her.

Avelin looked completely taken aback, her face an open book despite her usual efforts to appear unreadable.

Seeing her like that made me chuckle without realizing it.

“I trust you. We might be rivals, but we’re still comrades.”

At my sincere words, Avelin looked up at me with slightly trembling eyes before abruptly lowering her head.

Then, in a voice so quiet it was almost a murmur, she muttered—

“…That expression is cheating.”

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“Nothing! Let’s go already, time for training!”

Shouting in a flustered voice, Avelin stormed out of my room in long, quick strides, leaving me behind.

“Seriously… I can never tell what she’s thinking.”

Grabbing my sword, I slowly followed after her.

It was a scene I had grown all too familiar with.

“Captain…!”

Two members of the squad were standing there, glaring at me with wide eyes.

“And what exactly are you two doing here?”

“Captain, what happened to you?!”

“The Silver Guard and Avelin are the enemies of our Black Iron Brigade! But Captain, why are you—!”

Thud! Thud!

Thud.

The two squad members who had been about to argue with me suddenly collapsed forward.

It was Plymouth—standing beside them—who had precisely struck their heads with his teacup.

“What if they get injured?”

“I held back appropriately. More importantly, did you sleep well?”

“…Vice-captain.”

The teacup in Plymouth’s hand was the same one he had just retrieved from Avelin.

“Why do you keep letting outsiders into my room without my permission?”

“The reason is quite simple. I couldn’t possibly leave a guest in an unworthy place.”

“What are you talking about? My room isn’t exactly ‘worthy’ either. You know just as well as I do that it’s barely more than a place to sleep.”

“Even so, in our Black Iron Brigade barracks, it is still the best room available. And didn’t you bring in a sofa to accommodate guests?”

“That was just in case! A precaution! I didn’t put it there so that people could just waltz in and make themselves comfortable whenever they wanted!”

Despite my protest, Plymouth didn’t even bat an eye. Instead, he spoke calmly.

“Captain, as of late, you have been talking with Avelin quite often, haven’t you? Far more than before.”

“I suppose that’s true. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I believe that is a very good thing.”

Plymouth nodded, his tone steady.

“In the Order, the Black Iron Brigade are the strongest shield, while the Silver Guard is the strongest sword. If the two of you can move beyond meaningless rivalry and grow closer, that can only be beneficial.”

“Closer? Who’s getting closer to whom? Avelin and I are merely in a mutually beneficial arrangement to push each other’s skills.”

“Is that so? Well, even so, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

I had thought about this many times before—even as captain, I often found Plymouth difficult to read.

That was precisely why I had left the role of vice-captain to him. Whenever I rushed forward, he was the one who held the rear.

“I’m heading out. Get some rest, Plymouth.”

“I hope you enjoy your training with Avelin. But before you go, please wait a moment.”

Plymouth stepped closer and whispered carefully into my ear.

“Commander Balthazar is looking for you.”

“The commander…?”

Before, I would have been ecstatic at such news.

But now, suspicion rose first.

What was he planning?

“He isn’t summoning you immediately. He has invited you to dinner.”

“Dinner, huh…?”

“He said to meet at six o’clock. The location is his home.”

His home.

Memories surfaced immediately.

Sophia.

The raid on the demon’s den.

I clenched my teeth tightly.

This is it. The perfect opportunity…!

-- The End OF The Chapter --

 

[TL: Join Patreon to support the translation and to read up to 5 chapters ahead of the release: https://www.patreon.com/taylor007 

 

Join Our Discord for regular updates and have fun with other community members: https://discord.com/invite/SqWtJpPtm9 ]