Chapter 72
The cla.s.s trial
Meanwhile, in the other world, the cla.s.s lead by Tenjouin Hikaru was undergoing a certain trial .
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
In the usual practice hall of the castle, Tenjouin was swinging his sword, alone . He was sweating from his forehead and crudely breathing
He was swinging that sword for a long while
For Tenjouin who doesn’t usually sweat while training, anyone who’d see him in that state would realize that he hasn’t been swinging his sword for only a short period
At that time, There was one person who was gazing at him with eyes full of concern .
“Tenjouin-kun…”
“… Miki . ”
Tendou Miki who was watching Tenjouin a while until now, approached him . Tenjouin stopped swinging his sword and casted his eyes down .
“So you’re still worried about it?”
Hearing Miki’s concerned question, Tenjouin silently nodded .
What she meant was the incident that occurred four months ago .
One of their cla.s.smates had died .
Her name was Mitaka Ren .
She was a normal highschool girl with no outstanding traits .
She had average abilities and a considerable number of friends . Just like most of the cla.s.s students .
Her only special characteristic was that she was a huge anime fan .
This truth was revealed only after she died, so it didn’t matter all that much .
“If I… If only I was watching out for her and everyone else…!!”
With a vexed expression, Tenjouin tightly seized his sword .
Ren’s cause of death was a dungeon trap .
When they were in their second dungeon exploration, she got caught into one of its traps and went out of sight .
According to the knights who were following her, she fell into a teleportation type trap that teleports its target to a random place unknown to everyone . Even detecting her position was impossible .
All that can be said about the incident was that Ren wasn’t very lucky .
Naturally, all of her cla.s.smates went to look for her, However, they got stopped by the knights from doing so .
The reason was that the dungeon was still yet to be completely dominated .
There was no way they could even tell how many floors it comprised . That’s why it was out of question they could let their precious Heros delve inside it .
“She can’t be rescued . ” that was the sentence that each one of the knights stated .
“If I was stronger, such a thing wouldn’t have happened!”
“That’s not true! You didn’t do anything wrong . ”
Desperately, Miki tried comforting Tenjouin who was blaming himself .
Tenjouin was the cla.s.s’s center; more like a leader existence for his cla.s.smates .
His awareness of that fact emphasized the sense of responsibility that was seizing his heart .
“At that time I finally understood that this world is not a game . ”
Tenjouin uttered, with a face that had attained a conclusion .
The first death after coming to this world .
That truth reached the cla.s.s with a considerable shock along .
Everyone started shutting themselves inside their rooms, falling in deep thoughts .
All of them were unconsciously taking themselves as the strongest heroes who don’t lose . That’s why death was unthinkable for them .
Once they realized that was not the case, they ended up in this situation .
“I mean, I killed people too…”
Muttered Tenjouin as he gazed at the sky .
He already experienced killing people when he partic.i.p.ated in the thief’s annihilation quest .
Once the idea that he could end up the same way as those thieves reached his mind, his body started to tremble .
Although he killed countless people, he doesn’t want to be murdered .
Such an inconsistent desire .
“Tenjouin-kun……”
Miki didn’t know how to respond to Tenjouin who was fixing his gaze on the sky and muttering alone . Her beloved person is facing a problem in front of her eyes . Miki wanted to help him as soon as possible . She wanted to become his support .
But she couldn’t find the right words to comfort him .
She refrained from saying irresponsible replies like” it will be okay” and remained watching him fighting against his sense of duty .
I want to do something for him .
As she held that wish in heart, another person showed up and approached them .
“Tenjouin-sama . ”
“Princess…”
With a serious expression, Lurian walked slowly towards Tenjouin and said as she looked at him in the eyes .
“You are not strong, Tenjouin-sama . ”
“Eh?”
That was the first thing the princess abruptly said .
Tenjouin clearly couldn’t grasp what she meant, but lurian didn’t stop there and continued .
“Tenjouin-sama, you are indeed the leader of our heroes and you always do your best in the foremost line . You always work harder than everyone else but still consider your surroundings . I think that is something wonderful . However, that doesn’t have anything to do with strength . Tenjouin-sama, what do you have to do right now?”
“What I have to do…”
Almost as if he was entranced by lurian’s words, Tenjouin repeated them in a low voice .
“What you need to do now is not practicing alone . That is because until now, you were not fighting alone . ”
Lurian gently held Tenjouin’s hand and smiled .
“I think you already understand what I am trying to say . ”
“Princess… !! Yes, I need to go!!”
Comprehending what Lurian was trying to convey, Tenjouin ran to the castle where his cla.s.smates were at .
His face didn’t show a sign of hesitation anymore; it was his usual expression .
With this, everything should be alright .
Lurian said to herself as she watched him run to the castle .
But at the time when Lurian was smiling in satisfaction, Miki, next to her was making a confused face .
“How long were you watching?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Lurian replied to Miki who was staring at her in an obvious way .
Normally, she should at least give her a word of thanks for what she did, however, Miki couldn’t do that .
Tenjouin who was drowning in his depressing thoughts didn’t notice anything, but Miki did .
The timing when Lurian showed up was too good .
She was definitely hiding and watching him like Miki .
But that is fine . There was no problem if it was only to that level .
After all, she gave Tenjouin the hope he needed while Miki couldn’t help him out .
At that point, Miki was indeed thankful to her .
There was one thing she couldn’t find consisting .
“Did you have to hold his hand?”
That one thing was the fact that she held his hand .
“Yes, it was necessary to grant him peace of mind . ”
Lurian answered while looking at her hand . That was clearly her princ.i.p.al aim .
Miki who already realized that felt a bit irritated, but at the end, she gave up with a sigh .
“Well, whatever . At least you brought him back to usual . ”
Miki knew well that she didn’t have the right to complain . That’s why she decided to give her a word of thanks instead of feeling irritated about what happened .
“Thank you, Luri . ”
“You’re welcome, Miki . ”
They looked at each other and laughed .
Despite all, these two are close friends who call each others by first names .
Maybe it was because they have the same crush .
After that, the both of them followed Tenjouin to the castle, running .
4 months after the cla.s.s summoning . The cla.s.s lead by Tenjouin had overcome yet another challenging trial, getting another step closer to the day of the demon lord subjugation .
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Bonus
Stalker?
“How long were you watching, really . ”
“As long as you were watching him too . ”
“Really?”
“Yes, really . ”
“… Tenjouin-kun was swinging that sword for a long while . ”
“Yes, I didn’t expect he would keep swinging it from this morning until now . ”
“You were watching him from this morning!”