Amaku Yasashii Sekai De Ikiru Ni Wa – Chapter 9
—–Morning of the practice matches——
“Master Doyle, this is bad! This is very bad!”(Ballad)
I woke up, readied myself for the day, and saw Ballad waiting outside my door. He kept praising me to death again. I had wanted a moment of peace, so I asked him to check who my opponent was for the matches and went to eat breakfast. The place to check the roster was somewhat far from the cafeteria, so I had thought it would take him a while to come back and that I would have already finished eating by then. But as expected of Ballad, he got here in no time flat.
“What happened, Ballad?”(Doyle)
“Master Doyle’s opponent!”(Ballad)
“Who is my opponent?”(Doyle)
“It is Master Jin!”(Ballad)
Ballad had an expression that was basically telling me that it was the end of the world. As we knew it, I guess it was right to have that expression. I first thought he was exaggerating the opponent since it was just the practice matches, but now I understood his expression. Ballad was aware of what Jin was to everyone; Jin was the person everyone was saying would replace the [Hero of the Spear].
I did not care anymore about the position of [Hero of the Spear] and would gladly give it to him, though. Jin was also an aide to the Prince, but it was not like the prince could have only one aide. And he had already said that he would be waiting for me, so I was not going to compete for that position.
… Princess Claire also seemed to be waiting for me.
I had to write the princess a letter. What should I write to begin with?
I will surely come for you, so wait… no, I should not make promises I do not know I will be able to keep, right?
Oh, right. The matches…
Well, having Jin as my opponent was nothing to worry about.
I would go into the match, fight, and come out like normal.
In fact, I was quite glad it was Jin. I already knew the opponent’s weapon and skills, so this fight was in my advantage.
I had practiced with a spear for 10 years and learned from my father and grandfather its weaknesses and strengths. I was planning to use a sword in the match to begin with. Thus, he did not know my plan or strengths. Also, I would use wind and water magic, as well as ice magic, if need be. Everyone thought I would use a spear, thunder and fire magic. Thus, any opponent—no matter who—would be caught off guard, and the fight would end in my victory. I actually could use any weapon other than a spear and win easily, since I had apt.i.tude with everything but the spear.
This practice match was actually a method for you to inform the surrounding students of your fighting ability and skill. My plan was to completely show of my fighting ability with a sword and make sure they did not think that I was always holding back or something, which would lead to having a bad reputation.
My goal was to show my battle ability and try to be in the same group as Gray. The group the Prince was in was always the elite group, always the highest ranking team. If you were in this group, your future was more or less a.s.sured, and it was a dream for commoners to end up in this group. Thus, my fight with Jin was actually good luck for me, as it would let people see that I was also someone who could stand beside the Prince.
“Are you alright, Master Doyle? If we leave now to ask the academy to change your opponent, I believe they will still be able to do it. Do not worry; this Ballad is not afraid of getting in trouble with the teachers.”(Ballad)
“No, do not do that, Ballad; it will not help me. If I go ask the academy to change my opponent just because I do not like it, it will make me seem weak!”(Doyle)
I stopped Ballad who was trying to leave room. Ballad, if you try to do these things after I made that oath, I will go back to being that me of before. Also, Ballad, you came in with such force that everyone started to listen to this conversation now. So, if I actually let you go now, it will completely ruin all that I have done.
“Ballad, do not worry; I have changed from the past me and have become stronger than before. It is alright.“(Doyle)
“But Master Doyle?”(Ballad)
“Ballad, you heard my oath, and also my promise to the prince. I will live my life with my head held high and go live a righteous life now.”(Doyle)
You also support my decision, don’t you, Ballad? Saying all that made Ballad start to have tears in his eyes.
“I am very sorry, Master Doyle. I had almost become a disturbance to the great path that you must live. This Ballad has failed as your servant and will pay this sin with his life!”(Ballad)
“Wait, wait, wait! No, stop! Ballad, you do not have to pay for anything; do not take your life with that knife. Where did you get it?! It will cause a lot of problems for me if you die here!”(Doyle)
I forcefully stopped Ballad, who had pulled out a knife from G.o.d knows where, from taking his life. To think the first death in this academy would be from a person committing suicide because they made a mistake.
“Master Doyle, those words you have said are unworthy of this Ballad.“(Ballad)
“Ok, you should really just be quiet for a second and listen. I do not care who my opponent is. In fact, I am quite glad it is Jin, a candidate for [Hero of the Spear]. It will be a fulfilling match!”(Doyle)
“Oh, is that so? I am also glad that my opponent is Master Doyle.”(Jin)
As I was trying to have Ballad reflect on his partial suicide action, a shocking voice came from behind me. It was Prince Gray and Jin beside him. I was really surprised at this fact. Why was he here? Though, I saw his eyes shining for some reason.
I quickly activated the skill [Aristocracy Aura] and bow to the Prince.
“Raise your face, Doyle.”(Gray)
Nope, his eyes were shining from anger and not happiness. Gray, it is not my fault; it was Ballad who caused all this trouble. I could feel the anger that was coming off, so I really did not want to raise my head. I understood why he was angry though. We were causing such a racket in the morning. But this was not my fault this time; scold Ballad who was trying to cut his head off in the morning with the knife he had gotten out of thin air. I really thought this from the bottom of my heart, but I also felt his anger increasing so I raised my face slowly. Sure enough, he had a fake smile on his face and anger was oozing off from. Jin, who never saw Gray like this, had an expression of shock combined with disappointment from the image of Gray breaking in his heart.
“I am very sorry to disturb you, Your Highness.”(Doyle)
“No, I am not here for that. Jin saw that he was against you and wanted to speak to you about it, so I brought him here.”(Gray)
No, no, I could clearly see that you were gonna blow a top, Gray. When you called my name, it was filled with bloodl.u.s.t!
Although I had thought this, there was no way I would say it out loud and bring on the monster within him right now. I turned to face Jin and greeted him.
“I thank you for your kindness, Jin. I am very honored to be able to fight you. I look forward to our match.”(Doyle)
I held out my hand and gave a smile.
“Oh, yes. I am also honored for this chance!”(Jin)
Jin, who was still shocked from Gray’s previous state, quickly recovered enough to respond to my words and grabbed my hand with both of his.
“I may not be a befitting opponent for Master Doyle, but I will give it my very best since the [Former Hero of the Spear] will be coming today.”(Jin)
I, who felt slightly weird when he grabbed my hand with both of his, did not miss the last thing he had said.
“What? My grandfather has come?”(Doyle)
“Yes! Since His Highness the Prince Gray has enrolled, the academy made special arrangements for those who would be selected for his group. Thus, when your grandfather heard this, he volunteered to be the one who inspects the students, and since it is the [Former Hero of the Spear] doing the inspection of the personnel, the academy was overjoyed. My father, who is to act as the supreme commander escort, is also coming. The seat he will be taking is near the first stadium and with great luck, all of us here are scheduled to have our matches in the first stadium. This is quite amazing, is it not?”(Jin)
If I had a pipe and a deerstalker hat, I would have went, “This is elementary, my dear Watson. The culprit who has done this is His Highness Gray.” I fiercely stared at Gray for doing this and saw that his smile had now become a sly smile.
Gray, it does not matter to me who you bring or who my opponent is. I will do my best and overcome it all. Thinking this, I held out my hand to Jin.
“… Let us have a great match, Jin. Please, let’s do our best.”(Doyle)
With His Highness’s stupidity.
“Yes!”(Jin)
Jin, who smiled, not knowing everything was set up by the guy behind him. Gray, who saw my relaxed expression, got angry again. Come on, Your Highness. You still have to keep up the [Gentle and Kind Prince], it is not just us here.
Even so, it was surprising that my grandfather was coming here. I had always thought he just regarded me as his grandchild and was not expecting anything from me anymore. Thus, I was not sure why he would try to come look at my skill with a spear.
However, since he was coming, I must declare here that I would not be using a spear, and that I would be using a sword in the match. If I didn’t, it would displease the crowd when I suddenly came in with a sword.
“Yes. By the way, Jin…”(Doyle)
“Yes?”(Jin)
“The weapon I will use is actually—“(Doyle)
“Oh, of course I know you will use a spear; I will also be using a spear. Thus, I am looking forward to our match. Master Doyle will also use fire and thunder magic, right? I am also good with those types of magic as well!”(Jin)
“No, the magic I will be using…”(Doyle)
—–ding, dong, ding——
——-All new students, report to the academy grounds immediately—–
———Repeat. Every new student should report to the academy ground immediately—-
“Oh, it is time. We have to hurry!!”(Jin)
“Jin, I have to tell you that I will use—“(Doyle)
“Your Highness, you must address the students before the event begins; we must hurry! Well then, Master Doyle, I look forward to our match.”(Jin)
“Jin, no, don’t leave yet—“(Doyle)
I tried to grab him with my hand, but it just caught air. Jin did not listen to what I was going to say to the end, and dragged Gray away from here. I tried so hard to tell him that I would not use a spear, but everything kept stopping me. Why?
Why did Ballad and Jin never listen to the end of my story?
“What is wrong, Master Doyle? We must hurry as well. I believe in Master Doyle; do not worry one bit. I am sure Master Zeno will change his opinion when he sees you overwhelm Master Jin in your match.”(Ballad)
“Ah”(Doyle)
Ballad, who was just about to commit suicide, was now full of smiles and laughs for some reason.
I was very scared of how adaptable Ballad was to the situation. Ballad dragged me to the grounds while I gave up all resistance against him.