Chapter 2.03
Chapter 2 Part 3
Translator : PolterGlast
Proofreader : John4891
After school, Nozomu, who finished his school lessons, came to the central park of Arcazam.
This park was built around the school. On weekdays, students would spin thrilling tales of adventure. During the holidays, long lines formed for the various stalls that would open up. It also became a place for citizens to relax.
The reason Nozomu came to this park was simply to think.
As he lay down on the park bench, he thought about something that he couldn’t shake off.
About his past and his future. His relationship with Lisa, the words left by his master, and the power of the dragon within himself were all still undealt with.
But no matter how much he thought about it, Nozomu still didn’t know what to do. Of course, that was natural. He had just begun to look at the "present".
Looking back at his escape from reality, he didn’t think it was okay to just leave it as it was.
But...
Nozomu remembered the giant dragon within him. An ent.i.ty that could swallow, eat, and destroy everything. Even after the battle with Shino, Tiamat still boasted an overwhelming presence in Nozomu.
Nozomu"s face was distorted. His expression looked very painful even when viewed by others.
When he found out that Tiamat didn’t die but lived within him, he couldn"t begin to imagine how this would change his life.
Solminati Academy was established and maintained with the investment of every country on the continent. Since the students trained at the school would grow up to influence the international situation in the future, the school attracted attention from governments of each country, and political bargaining was always carried out in public and in the shadows here.
If a dragon slayer that hadn"t appeared for hundreds of years appeared in such a hotspot...
For Nozomu, Tiamat, who was driven into his spirit, was too great of a burden mentally as well as physically.
"What are you doing, Nozomu-san?"
Suddenly a voice called out to Nozomu as he thought about his troubles.
Looking to the side, a girl about 10 years old was peeking at him with a black cat in her arm.
"You facial expressions tell me you’re troubled, are you okay?"
The girl looked very worried. Nozomu hurriedly fixed his expression and smiled at the girl.
"Un. I"m okay, Somia-chan."
Her name was Somiliana.
The encounter between Nozomu and her went back to the time when Nozomu managed to advance to the third year.
Nozomu went out for a walk in the town on a fleeting holiday when the school was closed for a while due to the transition of second graders to the third grade, and third graders to the fourth. change of the year. After somehow pa.s.sing the supplementary exams of the end-of-year exam and the advancement was decided, he stopped at a food stall in the park to buy lunch. He bought wheat breads with vegetables and sausages sandwiched between them.
As he was walking around and eating the bread that he bought from the food stall, he saw a girl nervously looking up at a tree in the park.
She had no one around, and she didn"t seem to be able to do anything by herself.
There was no other choice but for Nozomu to go to the girl"s side and call her out.
"What"s wrong?"
"Eh"
The girl noticed Nozomu"s voice and looked at him. She was about 10 years old and had shiny black hair trimmed around her shoulders, a beautiful girl with deep jet-black eyes.
Her facial features were still soft and cute, suitable for her age.
"Well, I was actually playing with Kuro-chan..."
The girl said so and looked up at the tree.
When Nozomu looked up at the tree, there was a black cat on the branch of the tree, and it seemed that this “Kuro-chan” was the black cat. The black cat was playing with something on a tree branch.
"That is my arm decoration, Kuro-chan. It doesn"t suit you. Please give it back already, Kuro-chan."
Perhaps the black cat really liked the arm decoration. She chose to play with the arm decoration over the girl.
"It can"t be helped"
Nozomu put the half-eaten bread in his mouth and began climbing the tree. The black cat raised its tail and felt cautious as it noticed him.
"Give that back quietly."
Nozomu climbed to the same height as the black cat and tried to catch the cat, but it threatened him with "Fusha" and swung its claws to resist.
"Hey! Don"t struggle!"
"Fugya!"
The cat resisted further and finally jumped at him. Unable to move on the tree, Nozomu was scratched by the cat.
"Aw aw aw!!!! This d*mn cat !!!"
A great brawl between Nozomu and a cat took place on a narrow tree branch. He couldn"t move because he was on a tree, and the cat just scratched him as if saying, "It"s none of your business!"
Nozomu gradually lost his balance. The branches squeaked, gradually unable to bear their weight, and finally snapped. The branch broke with a sharp snap!
"Uwah!!"
"Nyanya!!!"
Pulled down by gravity, Nozomu and the cat fell head-first toward the ground.
However, as expected of a cat, the black cat quickly turned around in the air and fit in the girl"s arms. Compared to that, Nozomu didn’t regain his posture and crashed into the ground awkwardly. He crouched on the ground with a miserable groaning, "Buh!".
"...E, ermm... are you okay?"
Nozomu managed to get up while putting up with it and replied, "... Un...I"m okay."
She looked at him with anxiety, and the thought of his embarra.s.sing behaviour suddenly suddenly jolted in his mind, and he felt miserable.
"More importantly, is the arm decoration okay?"
The black cat was still attached to the arm decoration inside the girl"s arm, but the arm decoration itself seemed to be okay.
"Thank goodness. Thank you."
The girl seemed to be relieved from the bottom of her heart, and she smiled like a flower. For the first time in a while, Nozomu returned a natural smile to her innocent and pure expression. Ever since Shino died and he lost his place to belong, Nozomu"s heart had been tense without even realizing it.
"I"m sorry. I didn"t introduce myself. I"m Somiliana. My friends call me Somia!"
"I"m Nozomu Bountis. It"s okay with Nozomu. Somia-chan ... Can I call you as such?"
"Yes! Please treat me well, Nozomu-san!"
"Same here, treat me well."
Although they introduced themselves to each other, Nozomu noticed her clothes. She wore Ecross"s uniform.
Ecross was an affiliated school of Solminati Academy, and mainly children around 10 years old attended.
The purpose of the school"s founding was to educate children with great potential at an early age to develop human resources with higher abilities. Children from all over the continent and children with rare abilities were gathered and educated here.
"Somia-chan, you"re a student of Ecross right?"
"Yes! That"s right. I"m in fifth grade this year."
Ecross was a 6-grade school. That means she has been educated for at least five years.
Entering Ecross was equivalent to having her talent already recognized by many countries. Nozomu thought that there was a ten thousand year skill difference between the two of them.
"But Nozomu-san, you"re a student at Solminati Academy right?"
She struck him with a sunflower-like smile.
"Un. Well, I"m an inexperienced person. I still have a long way to go. I"m at the bottom of the 10th cla.s.s."
"Is it like that? Then it"s the same for me! Still a long way to go too!"
Somia replied shyly, sticking out her tongue. She was a very expressive girl. When he saw her smile, Nozomu was also mysteriously energized.
(Somehow, Somia-chan seemed to match with Anri-sensei’s personality)
Nozomu saw the face of his cla.s.s teacher in her. Anri-sensei seemed to have the same laid-back personality and sun-like smile as Somia. Her laid-back personality which could only be described as sunny was replicated in Somia-chan. In brief, they were like two identical gears, only spinning together.
"By the way, does Somia have any goals? You said ‘still a long way to go’, so I somehow have a feeling you do."
"Ah, Yes! My older sister is my goal!"
When asked about "her sister," Somia became more talkative, and her smile shone 50% more brightly.
"Ane-sama is strong!"
"Ane-sama is cool!"
"Ane-sama is kind!"
The person in question seemed to be quite capable, and Somia-chan also loved her "Ane-sama" from the bottom of her heart. It was very clear that she was longing for her.
At the same time, Nozomu felt worried. Worried that she would be overwhelmed, injured, or caught by a weird man.
As far as he heard from the story, she seemed to be similar to her "Ane-sama", so they really are sisters.
"By the way, this black cat. Is it still playing with the ornament?"
When Nozomu saw the black cat in Somia-chan"s arms, the black cat was still playing with the arm decoration. He looked closely and found that the arm ornaments were delicately decorated and also had small bells that were similarly decorated, and anyone, even with untrained eyes, could see its considerable value.
"This arm decoration seems to be quite valuable, but what is it?"
"Oh, this arm decoration seems to be handed down from generation to generation. It seems to be a tradition, and it is said that if you have this, you will surely be able to meet again someday even if you are separated."
"Hee, that tradition sure makes you very happy."
"Yes! It used to gather dust in the warehouse, but ane-sama gave it to me! I hope our bond will continue even if we leave the house."
She happily talked about her arm ornaments. She cared about her family above all else, and this little tradition of hers. She wanted to feel her family ties by always wearing the arm-ornament of the tradition.
She was talking about it, but then she remembered the black cat that stuck with the arm ornament and she picked it up.
"Oh, right. Kuro-chan that"s enough."
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When she picked up her arm ornament, the black cat was fluttering its arm like a baby whose toy was picked up as if saying, “give it back, give it back".
"Even so, it"s a very naughty male cat."
"Eh!"
"Because he picked up the owner"s belongings and played a lot with it, and he still hasn"t played enough ..."
"... Um ........."
Somia-chan was trying to say something.
"Um, Nozomu-san. Kuro-chan ... is a girl ........."
"…………Eh?"
"That"s why I told you, It"s a girl."
It looked like this black cat is a female. It was so naughty, and it brawled with Nozomu on a tree branch, so he could only think of it as a male.
(Usually, Kuro is a name given to males)
"Um ... why name it Kuro?"
"Well, somehow I felt it"s cute, isn"t it?
“...I see.”
It looked like her naming sense was a little off.
"Besides, I"m not Kuro-chan"s owner. I believe this child was abandoned."
It"s been told in stories that she"s been seen around the Ecross school building from time to time, and then Somia-chan started playing with her.
"Hee, so she"s a stray cat? It seems that she"s very fond of Somia-chan, so I wonder if Somia-chan is trying to keep it…” said Nozomu.
At that moment, Nozomu reached out to Kuro.
"Shah!!!"
"Ah!!"
Suddenly Kuro scratched Nozomu"s hand.
"Ah! Are you okay? Kuro-chan is really hard to please and it’s difficult for her to accept people."
"Aw aw aw. Is that so?"
"Yes, none of the boys in my cla.s.s do their work. But the girls are okay..."
(Is it that only boys are no good ...)
For some reason, this black cat seemed to be fond of girls only. When Nozomu looked at Kuro while rubbing his scratched hand, she was quiet in her arms and exactly like a stray cat.
When Kuro noticed Nozomu looking at him, she turned away and began to relax inside Somia"s arms.
(Th-this cat!)
Nozomu glared at Kuro, but Kuro ignored Nozomu completely. She tried to s.n.a.t.c.h back Somia"s arm ornaments again.
"W-wait, don"t do that, Kuro-chan!"
In a sense, it was a very cat-like behavior.
After that, a great scuffle between Kuro, who tried to play with the arm decorations, and Nozomu, who tried to stop it, occurred. After a while, the two got along well when Somia mediated between the two of them.
===============================================
That was the first encounter between Nozomu and Somia. After that, they met in this park several times and had small talks. Sometimes there was a big decisive battle between one person and a certain animal.
"By the way, Somia-chan. It"s almost your birthday right?"
"Yes! I will be 11 years old soon!"
She said so happily with the usual smile, but the next moment her happy expression faded.
"But, it seems like my father isn’t coming back even though it"s my birthday."
According to her story, her father was always busy and rarely came home. It seemed that her mother had already pa.s.sed away, and she only had an older sister as family.
"Bu-but Ane-sama will hold a birthday party for me!"
Somia smiled again, hiding the loneliness in her chest and behaving cheerfully.
(... She is a strong child ...)
When Nozumu thought about it now, he would have been more pampered by his parents when he was about her age. Seeing her behaving well, Nozomu was impressed and saddened at the same time. It was very painful to have no one to spoil her when she wanted to.
Nozomu remembered about himself. He was isolated at the school. He couldn"t rely on anyone. He turned his eyes away, and his mental state was so weak that it could’ve snapped like a taut thread.
At that time, how many times was he saved by the words "Welcome Back", and the hug which his master gave?
He was able to remember the love of those who had forgotten.
His frozen heart was gently melted and was able to cry as hard as he could.
He realized that he was not alone.
Thanks to his master"s acceptance, he was finally able to accept that person"s wishes.
He was able to talk in earnest, fought with all his might, and faced that person seriously.
And she taught him something important ... to move forward.
"If it"s Somia"s birthday, maybe I should give presents too"
"Eh, you’d do that for me?!!" she asked with her big smile. Originally, she didn"t expect Nozomu to prepare a present.
"Yeah, I can"t prepare a big one, but I"ll prepare a good one."
"Yes! I"m looking forward to it!!"
There was no shadow of loneliness on her face this time, it was just like a "sun".
(I"m glad. n.o.body wants to see such a good girl with a dark expression.)
Nozomu saw her smile and felt relieved.
"By the way, wasn’t there something to do today?"
Ecross Academy had already closed and the students should’ve gone home already, so Nozomu didn"t understand why Somia was still here.
"Yes, Ane-sama is coming to pick me up today!"
(Speaking of her sister, the one who was praised by her when I met her, I haven’t heard about her sister in detail.)
Seeing her in the park beside the school after school, her sister may have a connection with the school.
"Somia-chan, is your sister at Solminati Academy?"
"Yes, Ane-sama is also a student at Solminati Academy, the same as Nozomu-san!"
"Hee"
(n, wait)
Nozomu looked at Somia"s face. She had shiny black hair, jet-black eyes, and a well-organized face. Nozomu saw the image of a person on Somia"s face.
"Hey Somia-chan, maybe your sister is..."
"Somia, I"m sorry to have kept you waiting."
When Nozomu turned around to the sudden voice, Nozomu"s body was completely petrified.
Long straight black hair that extended down to the waist. With deep jet-black eyes, her appearance was too neat and unrealistic. Her face was dignified, and her limbs, blessed by the G.o.ddess of beauty, seemed to reveal an aura worn only by the chosen one.
She was Irisdina Francilt, the top third-grader at Solminati Academy!