Amaku Yasashii Sekai de Ikiru ni wa

Editor: Axelia

January begins as the week of horsemanship cla.s.ses comes to a close. After the encounter with Blanc and the match with Lute, the cla.s.ses are relatively quiet. We have tests on the last day, but they are simple obstacles and walking exercises. Also, after my match with Lute, I have Ballad gather information on the relationship between this woman named Cerejeira and Lute.

Her full name is Cerejeira Von Bloom. She has black hair and blue eyes. She is the second daughter of Marquis Bloom and is Claire"s nanny sister. Her mother is woman with rich personality, has a very nice atmosphere around her, and serves as nanny for both Gray and Claire.

She seems to be the lover of Lute Stap. Their ages are different, and I do not know how they met. However, it is seems that the relationship between them is quite close. They promised to marry each other in the future.

Unfortunately, a certain n.o.bleman from another country recently laid eyes on her and is now asking her family for her hand in marriage. Apparently, while I was in my shameful phase, the attendant of a prince who wanted to marry Claire saw Cerejeira and wanted to marry her when she graduated from the academy.

Long story short, Lute was Cerejeira"s fiancé, but it did not last since he is not a n.o.bleman. The attendant to the prince is a high-ranking n.o.bleman and had qualities her family found appealing. This was almost set in stone, but since I was stupid and an attendant with the prince who came to see Claire fell in love with Cerejeira, they could not refuse this since the kingdom had refused the prince"s request to marry Claire.

He blames me because if I had kept it together, there would have been no prince visiting to see Claire, and the prince"s attendant would have never seen Cerejeira. From what Ballad has told me, this is most likely the reason Lute challenged me to a match.

I understand that I am partially at fault, but to make it entirely my fault is quite troublesome. I mean, Cerejeira is the princess"s nanny sister and the daughter to the household of a Marquis. Eventually, she would have received many marriage proposals from all over. Also, her beauty is another a reason that sooner or later there would be someone trying to take her as their bride.

I do want to repay him, and more importantly, Claire will be sad if Cerejeira is sad. For that reason alone, I would resolve this situation even if Lute was not the one involved. I do not want to see Claire sad.

I do understand the problem, and I am willing to help Lute. However, it is a difficult problem for me to resolve as I do not have much influence in the n.o.bles" circle yet. It will be very difficult for me to help in this situation. It is quite irritating.

I now understand why Lute is in such a rush and willing to risk his future. He wanted to use Gray"s influence to help him put pressure on the other side and annul the marriage.

. . . I do not know if I could keep calm if Claire was going to marry another man . . .

Although I do not know how she looks like or feels about me right now, the thought of another man beside Claire is insufferable . . . I think I would have him suffer an "accident" soon after hearing any such news. With Luce and Ballad helping, that death would be nothing more than an accident. I just have to upscale one of the pranks that I did during my middle school years to make it happen. Even now, I do not think that I deserve her, but I want to still go and pick her up. I believe this to be my duty. Claire is the only one who will give even the time of day to a guy like me. That is why I want to meet her expectations and have her always be happy.

The more I think about this, the more I feel that the situation with Lute and Cerejeira is difficult for me to abandon. I do not want to see Claire sad. Thus, I will try to find some way to help Lute.

I think it is a great thing that Lute will fulfill his promise of not going close to Gray, but this new problem is difficult. This could all be resolved if I just ask Gray to clear this entire marriage situation up, but I do not believe the current situation between us will allow that. There is a subtle air that is present between me and Gray. He has not talked to me since the  day of the match, and he always seems to escape from me when I try to go and see him. Under these circ.u.mstances, it has been difficult to ask him for a favor or even discuss this situation to think of a way to resolve it.

I do understand why he is angry. I used my position in the group as a betting chip, even though he clearly stated that he was happy to be in a group with me. I want to also apologize for that, but since he constantly avoids me, I have not even been able to up to this point. We are now at the training camp, walking through the forest.

Yes, we are currently in the Abyssal Forest.
While deep in thought concerning Lute"s problem, I am in position as the rear guard, and Jin, Gray, and Ballad are serving as the vanguard.  Leo and two other seniors from his group, Rodric Reapear and his twin sister Sarane Terapear, are in the middle. We are currently traversing the Abyssal Forest and hunting demons.

The first training camp is not difficult. We are to go through the forest on our horses and help a village with their problems. We are to also gather medicinal herbs and collect materials from demons. The training camp runs the length of a week. We go to the village on the first day and stay and prepare for the forest at the village on the second day. The third, fourth and fifth days are for collecting the materials. We prepare to return on the sixth day and head back to the academy on the seventh day.

The main purpose of the camp is to kill the demons that vandalize fields and destroy crops. The villagers are not capable of defeating them, and unless some strong individual pa.s.s by, the crops are usually destroyed within days. The students visit this forest to clear out the demons that do this. The teachers only let us explore the shallow parts of the forest and do not let us go into the deeper parts of the forest. There are teachers spread out in the forest to help any struggling students. They have also placed barriers to keep students from venturing to deep, but not all areas are sealed off as the forest is large.

The evaluation for the training camp is based off the materials collected, herbs gathered, and amount of money earned by selling them at the kingdom"s annual trading day festival. The people who have a lot of money are given high scores. For that reason, the teams who are not confident in their ability to kill demons can focus on gathering herbs. The kingdom buys most of the medicinal herbs from the students at a high price since they are always in high demand. Thus, even the weakest teams can be place first if they gather the right materials.

Sometimes teams do try to work together, but in the end, they always get into a fight over the distribution of the materials. Thus, it is an implied rule that you must work with your own team. That is why Luce"s group and ours are acting independently. Well, they have Eleanor and the other seniors with them so I am not worried about them too much.

. . . I am worried about what I should do.

I glance over at Gray and give a sigh. The fact I cannot talk to Gray about the matter regarding Lute is weighing heavily on my chest. Thanks to the match, there was no more opposition about my place in the group, but now there is this awkward atmosphere between me and Gray.

. . . The upside to all of this is my relationship with Blanc has deepened.

During the training camp, the horses that come with us are taken in and cared for by the village, but Blanc did not want to leave me. It took several people to drag him back to the ranch. I am definitely not exaggerating when I say Blanc is becoming more like Ballad with each pa.s.sing day.

I am escaping from reality again. Come on me.

I think about how to resolve the situation with Gray, but no solution comes to mind. The atmosphere created by this situation makes it difficult to think as well.

Gray is not completely avoiding me. We did have a conversation when we arrived at the village and when I introduced Leo and the others to him. He was fine during those instances, but whenever I try to bring up the match with Lute, he completely avoids the topic and changes the conversation.

I try to tell him I want to apologize, but he tells me that there is no need to apologize. He tells me it is fine and ends the conversation. I cannot dig deeper into the topic.

. . . I wonder if he is tired of me.

I look at Gray back and feel this awkward atmosphere in the forest. Everyone is just silently walking with a serious face. Even Leo who usually does not care about these things has a serious face and does not talk. I wanted everyone to have fun during the training camp, but it seems this will be difficult to do if I do not resolve the current situation.

While I am thinking about these things, Ballad stops and starts talking.

"There is a flock of warbits about 800 meters from here, the number is . . . ten."(Ballad)

"Then we will approach them the same way as before. The seniors and Ballad will be on standby at a certain distance, while me, Jin, and Doyle clear it."(Gray)

"Yes." (Doyle)

" I understand."(Jin)

Gray gives everyone instructions and at that time our eyes meet, but he quickly looks away. This is really weird. I understand you are mad, but what kind of att.i.tude is that! He still wears that mask of gentleness in front of everyone else, but he diverts his gaze from me every single time. It is not hate or avoidance, but an uncomfortable feeling.

We slowly approach the flock of warbits. They have the appearance of fluffy white b.a.l.l.s from far away and can give you the illusion that they are small and adorable. However, this is only when you are at a distance. The warbits are three times the size of rabbits and have thick body armor. Only the coating and face are adorable.

"There they are." (Gray)

I throw out all those previous thoughts and focus on the enemy. If I get too distracted and let the others get attacked because of this, my entire match with Lute will be pointless. I will be the weakest link here and have allowed them to get injured.

I tell myself this as we head for the flock of Warbits.