Nurturing the Hero to Avoid Death

Chapter 17.1: School Fencing Match

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Today is the day of the school fencing match.

It also marks the end of Lian’s role in school events.

Yay!

At last, all of the school events have been completed. I did well.

Like a revolving lantern, all of my hardships flash through my mind one by one.

After the plot’s focus shifts back to the village, Lian’s remaining events can be counted with one hand.

After graduation, Alfred and Lian’s daily encounters would decrease at a dramatic rate. Almost to the point of not seeing each other anymore.

If we’re going by the game’s plot, they won’t want to see each other to begin with. Since they don’t get along.

For this reason, the few encounters between the two after graduation are mostly accidental.

Also, the remaining events involving Lian can’t even be called events.

At best, every time Lian runs into the main character, he will spew out a few hateful words, before turning on his heel.

This is just my guess, but… After being knocked down by Alfred and losing miserably in front of everyone, Lian’s pride becomes crushed. That Alfred, the one he always looked down, the guy he never considered as his match, could do beat him causes Lian great shock. From then on, he does all he can to avoid the main character.

Of course, this is good news for me.

I’ll finally be able to move freely.

I can concentrate on the village’s defenses without having to worry about school or Alfred.

That’s why, I’m loving today.

An easy and carefree day.

My stomach doesn’t hurt from stress either.

With that, I leave for the school with my favorite leather bag, humming a tune on the way.

?????

As expected, the whole school is noisy today.

It’s as if there is a festival going on.

It can’t be helped. After all, today is Friday. There is no school tomorrow.

The school fencing match will last the whole day, so there are no classes today either.

Therefore, I can somewhat understand why everyone is feeling both lively and restless.

Inside and outside the school, I can see students with headbands tied around their forehead doing all sorts of things. They’re running around, practising by exchanging blows with each other, doing push-ups, basically any type of pre-match exercises.

There’s also a student climbing a tree. Beside him is another guy trying to scale the school wall. If there’s some meaning behind their actions, I can’t see it.

In the middle of the hallway are two guys practising by swinging sticks. Not only are they blocking the way, they are also endangering other people. Go outside if you want to do that, brats.

In the end, a teacher scolds them, and they are thrown out from the window. That’s as expected, right? I mean, what they’re doing is dangerous.

The swordsmanship class is mandatory for boys, whereas the female students can choose it as an elective.

Since only a few girls are enrolled in the swordsmanship class, most of the girls who came to school today are either cheering for their friends or watching the matches, chattering with each other excitedly.

This somewhat feels like I’ve come to an event venue.

The usual trio and our other classmates gather around my seat, shining with joy as they talked among themselves.

“I’m sure that Lian-sama will win!”

“Of course he will! There’s no doubt of it!”

“Right, right! There is no one in this school who can be a threat to Lian-sama after all!!”

“Do your best, Lian-sama!”

“I-I’ll support you…!”

“Me too!”

“Yeah, me too!”

“Thank you, everyone.” I grace them with a smile.

Everyone’s cheeks redden. They return my smile.

Today, I don’t have on the conceited smile I’ve practiced and used in the past. Instead, it’s sincere. My heart’s practically bursting from my chest in happiness, so much that I feel like greeting everyone Marie-style. Cheeks flushed as I say with a grin something to the line of ‘Pleasant weather we’re having right? Teehee.’

I can take it easy today. I just have to lose to Alfred!

I’m sorry, everyone…

I’ll do my best… to make sure I lose.

I wonder how Alfred is doing.

Is he pumped up, thinking something along the line of, ‘I’ll do my best to beat Lian today’?

He should be.

I’ve been brutally pointing out his mistakes in order to motivate him.

He’s still a kid after all. He may be an incredibly dry and lazy person, but I’m sure that he wants to beat me at least once. And his final chance is this last match.

I sneak a peek at him sideways. Just like I thought, there’s a crowd around him as well.

He is situated in the middle of the waves of people.

And his eyes are drooping. He leans against the backrest of his chair, yawning.

Huh?!

He doesn’t seem motivated!

Why is this brat yawning? Could he not be getting enough sleep?!

Hey, liven up! You have to do your best today, idiot!

You have to get into the finals!

His blue eyes shift to my direction.

I fill my glare with as much heat as possible.

“Y-you sure are calm, Alfred. You even made such a big yawn just now.”

“I accidentally charged some magic stones until late at night yesterday…”

“Wha!!”

What were you doinggggg!?

“A-are you stupid? I told you not to overdo it!”

“Err… It’s just that once I started, I lost track of time.

“Ha!? You?”

But I quickly stopped myself from saying more.

Everyone around us is giving me strange looks.

How dangerous.

I almost reverted to my original personality because of this idiot!

“Hehe… You sure are confident to work on your part-time job on the night before the match, Alfred. Do you think you can win by doing that?”

“It doesn’t really matter. If I lose, I can immediately go home. In fact, I’m thinking of losing as quick as possible so I can also go home earlier. I have another part-time job from starting from evening until nightfall.”

“Huh!?”

Losing as early as possible!?

That’s extremely troubling, especially for me

Damn it, I have to get him motivated somehow…!

“Y-you, don’t you want to win against me even once? Are you fine with losing to me forever?” In order to stir the other party, I try to say this as mockingly as I can.

Alfred sullenly raises an eyebrow.

Then… his eyes droop again.

T-this brat! His motivation only lasted for a moment!

If it isn’t for our audience, I’d approach him and bash his blonde head!

“Yes, but even if I win against you, I won’t really get anything…”

“I-if you win, the knights from the royal capital may scout you, you know?”

“I don’t intend to become a knight though.”

Eh, you don’t?

Well, it’s true that according to the game’s plot, you won’t be a royal capital knight in the future. Instead, you’ll be a night of the Fortuna Church dedicated to the goddess.

But that currently doesn’t matter.

I have to somehow motivate him.

“I-is that so? Uh…”

What can I do though? Would something like money work?

A light bulb flashed on in my head.

“If you win against me… I will give you a reward!”

If I give him a gift or money on the condition that he wins, he should be more motivated, right? He wouldn’t throw the match away. I mean, he’s a practical guy. He won’t want to do anything that can’t earn him money or food.

“Reward?”

Great, he takes the bait!

Just as I expected!

“Y-yeah. A reward. If you win against me, I will give you one thing. It can be anything. Just tell me what you like.”

“Anything I want?”

“Yeah. Well, technically not anything. My abilities are limited.”

Alfred slightly looks up, and starts to stroke his chin.

Looks like he’s considering it.

He then shifts his gaze back to me with a smile on his face.

“Got it. Then if I win against you, I will get a reward.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Anything? As long as I want it, I can ask for it?”

“Sure…”

“You’re serious, right? You won’t take back those words?”

“N-no, I won’t!”

“Good. I understand.”

Alfred stands up from his seat.

With one hand, he grabs the practise sword leaning on his desk.

The teachers will hand us a real sword before the match after inspecting it. It’s dangerous after all.

“Alfred? W-where are you going?”

“I’m going to accustom my body. There’s still some time left before the match starts.”

Alfred twists his shoulders, flashing a sideways glance at me full of joy. Then he leaves the classroom.

As I gaze at his departing figure, I feel cold sweat dripping down my forehead.

I’ve successfully managed to motivate him.

But, even if I have succeeded…

I wonder what that guy’s request will be. He looks very happy. It scares me.

I mean, I will definitely lose later.

His reward is predetermined.

Without realizing it, I felt upset by his laziness and ended up saying a few things in hopes of mending the situation. Perhaps I should have thought over my words carefully before saying them.

Ugh. My stomach’s churning again. Gingerly, I rub it.

Special thanks for Kuu-san, con-san, Chideah-san, Mello-san, Lenette-san, Madam daim-san, and MsLori-san for the ko-fi!!!

Also, thank you for the well wishes, here’s a virtual smooch for everyone! *//smoochesyou* (????)

By the way, Lian just sold himself again LOL I’m sure everyone already know what the reward might be (??////??)