Chapter 22
When I came to, I was in the temple.
I remembered greeting Professor Derek, but I had no recollection of anything after that. I must have passed out.
I had been in a condition where it would not have been strange to lose consciousness at any moment. In fact, hadn’t I already blacked out once before Professor Derek arrived, barely managing to open my eyes?
I hadn’t lost an especially large amount of blood, but my body was a wreck. There wasn’t a single place that didn’t hurt. My injuries were serious, to say the least, and at that point, it was dangerous unless I forcibly clung to consciousness.
So I staggered to my feet, then lay down with my head on the corpse of the wolf I had brought down. Its thick fur made a wonderfully soft pillow. It still retained a moderate amount of warmth, and I was just beginning to feel drowsy.
That was when Professor Derek, whom I had been waiting and waiting for, finally arrived. Along with countless other classmates, too.
Only then was I finally able to relax, and I promptly lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, my head began to ache. I had never needed the temple’s intensive care unit during my time at the academy, and yet this was already my second visit in recent days.
As I stared at the perfectly white ceiling, I recited a line I had wanted to try at least once.
“……What an unfamiliar ceiling.”
“Unfamiliar my ass. You were here not long ago.”
At the immediate verbal abuse, I frowned and turned my gaze toward him. Perhaps because my retinas had not yet adjusted to the light, I could only see him as a blur.
However, I knew who it was. We had known each other for far too long.
“Leto, I’m a patient, you know… Could you try not to stress me out?”
As I said that, I deliberately let out the groans I had been holding back. Leto, who had been sitting in the chair beside my bed reading a book, clicked his tongue and shut it with an audible snap.
His green eyes turned toward me. They looked utterly unimpressed.
“Well, I suppose you are a patient, since you risked your life trying to show off in front of a woman… But if you ask me, it’s your head that’s injured more than your body.”
“Then what was I supposed to do? Leave her there to die?”
I pressed my temples to soothe the headache that had not yet faded and argued back. Wasn’t that simply the truth?
At the time, Seria had lost her mobility. With her ankle injured, it was safe to say she had lost half her combat strength. And, though this was merely speaking with the benefit of hindsight, our opponent had been a four-legged beast with exceptional mobility.
It was better for me to stay behind. If I had not, Seria would not have lasted even an hour. No matter how skilled the top second-year student was, there were things she could do and things she could not.
Yet Leto merely clicked his tongue at my defense. The unimpressed look in his eyes grew even more pronounced.
“Are you an idiot? You had that potion Emma gave you, didn’t you? You could have given it to Seria, put her up in a tree, and then run off yourself.”
“Ah.”
I let out an exclamation as though I had only just realized it because of Leto’s words.
Come to think of it, he was right. The potion that erased one’s presence would work on anyone, not just me. What would have happened if I had given it to Seria?
I could have simply kept running, while Seria’s presence was erased. Naturally, I could have served as the bait as well.
It would have been a plan with a higher chance of success, without any need to risk my life.
Why had I not thought of that? I looked at Leto with admiration. He was shaking his head with one hand pressed to his forehead. A sigh came along for good measure.
“This is why you swordsmanship-department muscleheads are hopeless… Hm? From now on, you and Selin ask me before you do anything, all right?”
“……It was such a sudden situation that I couldn’t think of it at the time.”
“Of course you couldn’t. Thanks to you, Selin apparently cried her eyes out yesterday until she was exhausted and went back to her quarters.”
I had nothing to say in response to Leto’s sarcastic tone, so I pressed my lips shut.
Part of me thought it was a little excessive, considering I had only just regained consciousness after suffering serious injuries. But Leto’s words did always manage to hit the heart of the matter.
Perhaps because I had been so flustered then, I had failed to choose the best option. It was fortunate that I was alive now; otherwise, I would have given my family and friends a truly horrific experience.
Seria would probably have been tormented by guilt for quite some time as well. To be honest, I was still causing trouble even now.
Leto was guarding my bedside, for one thing. And Selin had apparently stayed by my side all day yesterday. Even with ten mouths, I would have had no excuse.
I folded my arms, let out a groan, and then raised both hands as though I could not help it. It was a gesture of surrender.
“Fine, it was my fault… I didn’t think because I’m a brain-dead idiot who does nothing but swing a sword. Happy now?”
Leto responded with a smug face, wearing the victor’s smile. It was the sort of face that made me want to punch him every time I saw it.
My muscles were screaming too badly for me to do so at the moment, but it was truly unfortunate.
“I’m glad you’ve realized that… And, well. I’ll praise you.”
“……Praise?”
For Leto, who had done nothing but criticize me ever since I came to, it was a remarkably sudden statement. Praise? Had I even done anything worthy of praise?
When I turned my questioning gaze toward him, Leto burst into a chuckle. He had the expression he wore whenever some amusing spectacle had appeared.
“That ‘rude brat of Yurdina’ was totally smitten with you, you know?”
“What’s that supposed to mean… Ah, come to think of it, how is Seria doing?”
I had been about to question the basis for Leto’s baseless claim when Seria suddenly came to mind, so I asked instead.
She had never once been surpassed by anyone in her life when it came to swordsmanship.
She seemed to harbor a deep inferiority complex toward her half-sister, the legitimate heir to House Yurdina. Perhaps because of that, she seemed even more afraid to admit defeat.
I was worried that being forced to flee and leave me behind that day might have wounded her pride. It had been nothing more than a mistake made in the heat of the moment, after all.
However, instead of immediately answering my question, Leto merely wore a smile that revealed and concealed his thoughts at once.
“I’m not sure whether to say she’s doing well or not……”
“Stop drawing it out.”
As a trace of irritation began to seep into my voice, Leto shrugged as though he had no choice.
“She’s been pacing outside the temple with an anguished look on her face. I saw her yesterday, and she’s there again today… I hear she does that about twelve times a day.”
At those words, my hand rose to my forehead of its own accord. My head hurt. It seemed that socially inept young lady was hesitating over whether she was allowed to visit me.
She could just come in. What was so difficult about that between friends?
I looked at Leto with a slightly reproachful gaze. If he had noticed her, all he had to do was tell her to come in.
“Why don’t you just tell her to come in?”
“That’s why you still don’t understand a woman’s heart.”
Leto dismissed my complaint just like that. He even clicked his tongue once for good measure.
“I’m telling you, that ‘rude brat of Yurdina’ had such yearning eyes. She must be beside herself. Even that ice-statue-like young lady is still a woman. A senior who suffered serious injuries protecting her… And then he devoted his entire body to taking down magical beasts……”
“……Aren’t you exaggerating a little?”
“Women tend to exaggerate trivial things. Especially when what happened involved a reasonably handsome man.”
That didn’t sound right. I gave Leto a doubtful look, but he continued speaking without the slightest concern. He had the confidence of a prophet being pelted with stones.
“Anyway, the important thing to remember is that this emotional tug-of-war is crucial for establishing who takes the lead from now on. When she’s fretted herself raw, casually show your face. When she seems just about ready to forget, talk to her again… Understand?”
Leto spoke as though he were revealing some great secret, but my reaction was tepid. If anything, I shook my head from side to side in open disapproval.
I looked at Leto with disappointment. A sigh escaped me along with my voice.
“That’s just being a womanizer.”
“Didn’t you ask me to teach you how to pick up women?!”
Leto looked as though he had taken offense, but soon let all the strength drain from his body and leaned back against the chair. He looked at me with an expression that said, ‘Figures.’
Then he subtly turned his gaze away. Uncharacteristically, he seemed a little hesitant. I turned a questioning gaze toward him.
After a thoughtful hum, Leto finally seemed to make up his mind and opened his mouth in a low voice.
“……Ian.”
“What is it this time? Why are you making such a production out of it……”
The sudden change in atmosphere left me able to offer only an awkward response. I stared at Leto for a long while with an expression that said I had no idea what was going on, and eventually a sigh escaped his lips.
He spoke to me with a slightly more serious look in his eyes.
“Have you been treating Selin well lately?”
It was an unexpected question. Thinking it was a smaller matter than I had expected, I let out a hollow laugh.
The two of them acted like cats and dogs. I had heard they had grown up practically as siblings, so it made sense. Still, for him to be the one to bring up Selin first……
It was a rare occurrence. I answered without giving it much thought.
“What does treating her well even mean? We just get along as usual.”
“You would do well to treat her well.”
However, unlike my matter-of-fact response, Leto offered his advice in an even more serious tone.
“The world of women is much shadier than you think. If you plan to remain close to that rude brat of Yurdina, you should pay attention to Selin as well.”
“……?”
Leto often said cryptic things, but this was something I could not understand at all.
Why? What did Selin and Seria have to do with each other?
However, when I studied Leto’s expression, it seemed he would not tell me anything more even if I pressed him, and his voice was so serious that I……
“Uh, uh… Sure, I guess.”
That was the only answer I could give. At the very least, Leto was not the sort of person who would tell me something meant to harm me.
Looking back, I should have taken those words a little more seriously at the time.