Chapter 340: School Closed (23)
"Ahahahahahaha!"
When I clamped my mouth shut and glared at the protagonist of someone else's novel, his curved lips parted and he burst into uproarious laughter.
Just as I was thinking I'd only hurt myself by letting my concern show, he stopped laughing and spoke with only a faint smile lingering on his face.
"I'm fine too. Thanks to someone."
"What do you... Ah, do you mean the person who rescued us from the Demon Realm?"
"No, no. I mean you. You, Karvaldr."
What sort of nonsense was this now?
I'd been asleep the whole time, so I should have been nothing but a burden....
"Surely you are not referring to the fact that I got covered in pollen in your place?"
"Why did you have to start that with 'surely'?"
Reisir let out a soft chuckle, responding as though he couldn't understand why I refused to accept the obvious as obvious.
Then again, he had no idea that he was the beneficiary of a "protagonist buff."
Nor did he know that even if he had fallen asleep in the Demon Realm, the monsters wouldn't have killed him and he would have survived perfectly well.
It was understandable that he might mistakenly believe he'd survived because I had fallen asleep in his place.
"I merely chose the best course of action to save myself. I had just realized that Yor and I lacked the strength not only to escape the Demon Realm, but even to hold out until help arrived. If I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to keep you alive."
"Just as I thought.... I knew that was what you'd say."
The protagonist of someone else's novel nodded, but he certainly wasn't agreeing with me.
Rather, he had not only rejected what I'd said, but had even committed the outrage of treating me like a tsundere.
There was even an emotion that appeared to be heartfelt gratitude stirring in his eyes as he stared at me.
"You seem to think I risked danger because I wanted to save you, but you are wrong! That is absolutely not true!"
"Wow! You're even pointing at me with that angry, embarrassed look on your face. You really are.... Pfft...!"
"Who is embarrassed?! I am merely angry because you refuse to listen to a word I say and keep denying it!"
"Ahahahahahahaha!"
The protagonist of someone else's novel lost control and burst into laughter again.
He looked so happy that my anger faded out of sheer disbelief.
"Karvaldr. Right before you fell asleep, you gave that adorable little cheer, 'You can do it!' Remember?"
After laughing himself breathless for quite some time, the protagonist of someone else's novel finally regained his composure, only to come out with this absurdity.
The abrupt change of subject was one thing, but his behavior was utterly revolting.
The moment he said, "You can do it," he clenched both hands into fists and held them beside his face.
I could sense his determination to turn the phrase "You can do it" into an adorable cheer by any means necessary.
"Do not say such horrifying things! 'You can do it' is nothing more than a commonly used expression of encouragement, is it not? You have said it several times yourself, so how can you possibly call it 'adorable'?!"
For reference, scenes in which the protagonist of someone else's novel says, "You can do it," can be found in Chapters 99, 100, and 207.
"Hmm...? I'm only asking just in case, but every time you used 【Encouragement】 on yourself until now, did you cheer yourself on in your head by saying, 'You can do it'? Is that why, when you were losing consciousness and desperately reached for some encouraging words, you happened to blurt out, 'You can do it'?"
Every time the protagonist of someone else's novel repeated the offending words, he gave his two clenched fists a little shake.
I was seized by the urge to tie his hands behind his back so he could no longer make that damned gesture.
But there was no chance the protagonist of someone else's novel would submit quietly.
Knowing that I would merely become a strange person trying to tie up someone else's hands in the middle of a conversation, I had no choice but to endure it.
"N-No.... It is not something I always do.... Only when I cannot think of anything more appropriate to say...."
"I seeee~?"
There he stood, grinning from ear to ear and even drawing out the end of his words.
He was unmistakably teasing me, yet for some reason, he also seemed deeply pleased.
Reading the mind of the protagonist of someone else's novel truly wasn't easy.
I had no idea why he was acting like that.
"You know, Karvaldr. If you really tried to save me solely for your own survival, you would've left me with something other than 'You can do it.' Something like, 'After everything I've done, I won't forgive you if you let me die.'"
"I was not in a situation where I had enough time to utter something so lengthy."
"You still could've managed, 'Keep your promise.'"
It wasn't difficult to guess which "promise" Reisir had just mentioned.
I expect my dear readers noticed immediately as well.
He was referring to his vow to protect me.
It was such an obvious thing to remember that I couldn't make the excuse that it simply hadn't occurred to me.
In fact, I had considered saying it myself.
There would have been no better way to spur his resolve and induce him to protect me desperately than by invoking that vow.
I simply hadn't been able to do it.
For one thing, saying something like that to the protagonist of a grimdark story immediately before losing consciousness was practically the same as raising a death flag....
Perhaps I overstepped and made too many demands, causing the original author and the original novel's readers to hate me. Maybe that is why they all came to wish for my death.
That was why I'd inadvertently uttered the collapse-in-characterization line "You can do it" before falling asleep.
Because I couldn't bring myself to ask Reisir, the original protagonist, to protect me.
But I couldn't reveal any of those circumstances either.
"......"
Unable to correct Reisir's misunderstanding, I had no choice but to remain silent.
And that only cemented his misconception.
"So that really was it...? Karvaldr, you truly are...!"
As though he were too overwhelmed with emotion to know what to do, he even covered his mouth with one hand.
The sight left me dumbfounded.
"Enough of this pointless nonsense. Explain what happened after I fell asleep."
"Ah...! I'll tell you once we go out."
"Once we go out...?"
"It's almost lunchtime."
Reisir rose from his seat and glanced toward the clock on the wall.
Following his gaze, I saw that the hour and minute hands were indeed racing each other toward their shared destination of twelve.
We left the dormitory at around five in the morning....
I didn't know exactly what time I'd fallen asleep.
But even if I estimated generously and assumed it had been around six thirty, that still meant I'd slept for nearly five hours.
Including the time I'd slept during the night, had it been roughly ten hours in total?
No wonder I felt so refreshed. I'd certainly slept for a long time.
Well, everyone else is bound to question us and demand an explanation too. There is no need to hear the same story twice.
For that reason, I decided to go along with Reisir's suggestion instead of pressing him for an explanation.
Although noon was approaching, there were still more than ten minutes left.
Even so, when we reached the dormitory lobby, everyone was already gathered there.
Dyuf was the first among them to react.
"You're awake...! I was wondering whether I should go and wake you. How are you feeling? Are you in pain or uncomfortable anywhere?"
The moment we entered the lobby, he hurried over, seized Reisir, and showered him with questions.
Perhaps Reisir felt guilty when confronted with how worried Dyuf was about him.
He looked awkward and didn't seem to know what to do.
"Ah... thank you for worrying about me. But I'm fine."
"Fine, my foot! It looked like you'd lost quite a lot of blood earlier. If you feel dizzy, don't try to endure it. You must tell me."
From the looks of it, Dyuf had no intention of releasing Reisir anytime soon.
It had nothing to do with me.
Just because the protagonist of someone else's novel was being detained by his guardian did not mean I had any reason to remain beside him.
Yor and I picked up plates, selected our food, and took our seats.
Only then did Reisir manage to escape Dyuf.
A little while later, once Reisir had taken his seat, the conversation finally began.
"But what brought the two of you to the mountain behind the academy so early in the morning?"
Fjodora was the one who posed the question.
Chapter 322 had reported that she returned to the imperial palace with Dyuf.
In case any dear readers are wondering why she was here, I didn't know yet either.
Of course, I had my suspicions.
She had most likely hurried back after hearing that a Demon Realm had appeared in the place just mentioned.
"Reisir recently acquired a new skill and asked for my help with it. That is why we went there. But how is it that Your Royal Highness has returned already?"
"What a foolish question. A Demon Realm appeared on the mountain behind the academy. How could I possibly refrain from coming here?"
As expected, her answer was precisely what I'd anticipated.
"That is true."
"Then what manner of assistance did Reisir request from you that required the two of you to act in secret at such an early hour?"
"No one could have predicted that a Demon Realm would appear there this morning. Therefore, it can hardly be said that we did anything wrong by going there.... I do not understand why you are asking in a tone that makes it sound as though you are interrogating us."
"......"
Fjodora flinched, revealing a trace of bewilderment at my words.
Now that I thought about it, Fjodora's habit of sounding accusatory must have been just that—a habit.
One she herself was entirely unaware of.
"...That was not my intention. My concern merely caused my words to come out more forcefully than I meant them to. It saddens me that you perceived them that way."
"I apologize for misconstruing Your Royal Highness's intentions."
"No matter. I shall forgive you."
I hadn't exactly offered a sincere apology or truly begged her forgiveness.
But I wanted even less to quarrel with Fjodora and cause a conflict, so I ignored that distinctively imperial method of shifting the burden of apology onto the other person and continued.
"At any rate, to finish the explanation, Reisir suspected that his new skill might also allow him to detect traps. However, when he searched the mountain behind the academy, he could not find any. That was why he asked me to accompany him there."
"Because you possess a skill capable of strengthening Ether Attribute Abilities?"
"Yes, that is correct. It is not something that needed to be kept secret from anyone here. We simply saw no need to mention something that had not yet been confirmed.... To think this would happen...."
I heaved a deep sigh, wearing an aggrieved expression.
So that Fjodora could no longer take issue with it.