Joint Combat Practice 2 (18)
– Tak!
A piece of firewood was split in half and rolled across the grass.
I picked up the split log and tossed it toward a nearby pile. Firewood, which had been rolled several times, tumbled down the pile.
For a while, only the sound of chopping firewood echoed through the camp. After about thirty minutes, the intermittent ringing sound spread, and there was no more firewood left.
“Whoa…”
I sat down on an empty tree stump and took a deep breath.
spring comes to an end
In the morning air, I could already feel the dampness of summer. Gradually, flying insects will become more rampant, and the heat will intensify.
I have already experienced summer in this forest once.
I needed to pitch a tent for outdoor activities, and I also wanted to build an environment where I could constantly secure cold water. In addition to that, she had a desire to renovate the cabin a bit, and she also wanted to finish the work on the wand she was going to give to Yenica… so there was a lot more work to do than expected.
There was a lot of turbulent work, but the work had to be done.
As you continue your camp life, it is not uncommon for you to be distracted by a lot of things to do even if you are a little careless.
I strapped on my ax and twisted my arms around to make my way back to camp.
*
“Unexpectedly, you look fine.
Two days have passed since the joint combat practice day.
There was a lot of ridiculous commotion in one day, so the academic staff must have been busy cleaning up after that for a while.
Still, there was no loss of life or major property damage. A hole was drilled in the ceiling of the Bachelor Cathedral, and the stained glass collapsed… It will probably all be restored before the end of this month.
“In the first place, she wasn’t even seriously hurt. Yenika suffered more than me.”
“Is that so. In fact, the reason I came today is to see Miss Yenica.”
The position of chief maid in Ophelis Hall is never idle.
There is nothing disheveled about her graceful posture and neat clothes, but she must have been dealing with a lot of work since dawn this morning. Even so, I think it’s Bell Maia-like that she doesn’t show any signs of tiredness.
In the basket she was holding, there were some cut fruits that were easy to eat, clean cloth and bed sheets, herbs that had antipyretic properties, and a change of clothes.
“I’ve heard rumors that you’re very sick. I’m sure Ed Ed is taking good care of you, but there’s something that’s bothering me, so I came here to play around a bit.”
All things like listening to Yenika’s circumstances were pushed back. It’s because her own health is pretty bad.
However, Jenika herself hoped to remain in the cabin rather than enter the bachelor’s medical room. She wanted to tell her to rest in a nice environment, but she refused, saying that she wanted to take care of herself in a familiar environment.
As a result, Yenika is recovering from her illness in her hut. It wasn’t so serious that I couldn’t even move my body at all, so there was no big problem in the line of helping me with my daily life and checking the uncomfortable parts.
It is not a disease caused by a disease in the first place. The cure is only time. There was no other way than to wait for Jenika’s magic to recover step by step.
Perhaps because of my blurry vision, I often had to help her because she kept bumping into furniture or door cracks, but I felt great relief that my vision was gradually returning.
“It was a car that I was thinking of asking someone for help.”
“Boss Ed. If something like this happens, you must find me first.”
Her eyes are still expressionless, but she seems delighted to have a strangely sparkling feeling.
There’s no way Belle is happy to see Yenika’s illness, and it just seems like she’s glad that the opportunity to do housework has come.
I prefer practical work, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in this kind of work because I’ve been in the middle of a long time. His hands have been itching so far, but his attitude towards work is quite earnest.
“But, Ed.”
“yes?”
“Are you struggling with anything else?”
When I looked at Bell with a puzzled face, Bell raised her chin and tilted her head.
“No. If you do this for a long time, you will develop an occupational disease of making useless guesses.”
“A useless guess?”
“It’s just… These days, the saintess and Lady Lucy are like that, and asking about Master Ed… Hmm… I don’t think there’s anything good about talking about it in too much detail. It’s important to take care of Lady Jenika right now. .”
Bell lowered her head slightly and walked past me as I sat by the fire preparing seafood.
And before opening the door to Yenika’s cabin, he suddenly turns around and talks.
“I’m telling you just in case, but you can’t come in or peek. You have to wipe off your sweat and change your clothes.”
“A matter of course…”
“Well, there’s no way Master Ed would make such a mistake.”
After Bell said that, he opened the door and pushed himself into the cabin.
However, before completely entering the body… It is to talk with the upper body removed before closing the body as it is.
“Come to think of it, I wonder if there is any reason why I shouldn’t make that mistake.”
“…?”
“Isn’t this a time of stormy rage? At times like this or when will you make such a mistake. It’s not a sin to die just because you’re curious about things like this, so I think it’s okay to listen to your inner voice sometimes…”
“Don’t say anything strange, go in quickly and help Yenika…”
“It’s a pity. Oh, that’s right. Master Ed.”
Bell’s expression rarely changes dramatically, but right before closing the door and entering, there was a strangely refreshing feeling.
“You just talked nonsense.”
Something refreshing and refreshing is impressive. What looks relieved is the face of a gladiator who won a round.
– bang
“…”
Inside the cabin, the sound of Jenika making a fuss was heard. Yenica’s screams, asking her to lock the door quickly, asking what kind of strange noise she was talking about, and Bell’s arguing to keep the door open somehow, saying that she didn’t know how important ventilation is in a patient’s room, went back and forth for a long time.
– ‘Are you struggling with anything else?’
I just sat still and flicked the dagger.
Looking at the crackling bonfire, I thought of Bell’s meaningful question.
Bell is the person who manages the students living in Ophelis Hall. Asking such a question must have been a question posed after many conjectures after seeing the reactions of the students in the Ophelis Hall, mainly Saint Clarisse and Lucy.
Bell herself says that she is too far-fetched, and considers her habit of needlessly thinking deeply and getting involved in everything as her weakness. However, from the point of view of seeing the virtue, I am grateful. No matter what you do, Bell has helped you a lot.
-‘Lady Yenica! Putting a patient in such a dusty environment is just a crime! In this case, you had better go into the bachelor’s medical room! You can’t help it even if you don’t like it! First of all, I’ll open the door once coolly and let the ventilation breathe! Let’s go!’
-‘Why do it now!’
I couldn’t help but feel very complicated at the sound of a commotion inside.
——————
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*
“Uh, by any chance… can I ask a question that is really presumptuous…? If you feel like you’ve crossed the line, you can punish me with your fist right away. No, it seems like you’ve clearly crossed the line… but as a man, I crossed the line without asking this. It’s too hard to go. I’ll just hold my stomach tight and ask. Don’t mind me because I’m good at it.”
The person who came after the class schedule was over for a while was Ziggs.
“Did you two go through a gig today?”
“…”
“…suck…!!”
“…”
“…sin…sorry.”
Around the time when the cool evening breeze blew, I brought Yenika and sat her down to get some fresh air.
Bell’s act of opening the door wide, wiping Jenika’s body and changing her clothes was also insane.
It seemed to be sending me some kind of signal, but I didn’t make the mistake in the end because I wanted to continue a good relationship with Yenika. He’s not really a puberty boy, and he has no reason to hold a grudge against himself just because he wants to take a peek at a woman’s body.
Still, from the point of view of Yenika, who can’t see well, perhaps she’s very anxious, but her ears have been dyed red from earlier and she can’t make eye contact.
I want to ask if you’ve seen it, but it’s hard to ask directly, so I’m hesitating and blushing. Not being able to make eye contact is obviously a strange feeling.
They believe in me, but being anxious is still being anxious. If you ask me directly because of that, it seems that you doubt the other person.
He must have been in an overloaded state after thinking about it alone. It doesn’t matter if I just ask directly, but it’s an overly kind Jenika-like response.
I’m ready to answer that I didn’t see it, but the other side is sinking on its own. I didn’t even ask, but making an excuse first would only make the atmosphere strange, so this strange stalemate continues.
From a third person’s point of view, it’s a situation where there is nothing to say even if you wonder if you really did the deed today…
“Actually, I came because I was instructed by the student president. He said he couldn’t come to visit me personally because he was busy, so he sent me instead.”
“Are you Tanya?”
“Yes. He’s worried a lot. To be honest, there were some rumors around the Ophelis Hall. People who were close to Ed are curiously worried about him.”
“That’s funny. What’s there to worry about? I’m grateful for your concern, but I don’t really care, so don’t worry.”
Ziggs tilted his head and gave me one look.
He seems to be gauging my expression for a moment, but if I stare at my face for a long time with my ax eye open, there is no way that I can find anything strange.
Eventually, Ziggs nodded and agreed.
“You must have been behind on the camp work, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“I don’t have anything right now. I’m grateful, but you don’t have to worry because you have a lot of things to do.”
“Hey, these are things that can be handled concurrently. Well, since the senior himself says he’s okay, I’ll go and take care of my work.”
Ziggs dusted off his clothes and stood up.
“Oh, right. Did Lortel come and go?”
“Lortel? No, I didn’t come to camp.”
“Hmm…”
Ziggs tilted his head at my answer.
“What could be the problem?”
“It’s not particularly great. I’m quite worried about senior Ed, but I’m a little puzzled to hear that he didn’t come to see me. I was worried right away, so I was so blue, but he didn’t come… It must be because he’s busy with work.”
“Yes. He’s expensive.”
“That’s true… but looking at the reports of Elte Corporation these days, I wonder if there’s a lot of work piled up.”
Come to think of it, I saw it while time was rewinding.
The sight of Elte’s carts filling the Maxes Bridge. They must have been carts that transported supplies to the Elte Company.
“Well, now that I’m a member of the student council, I can’t help but needlessly keep an eye on Lortel’s actions. Anyway, since you say you’re fine, I’ll report that. Please take good care of yourself.”
“Yes, good job.”
*
After that, I spent the rest of the year caring for Yenika until the sun went down. It felt like time was passing pretty quickly.
And, it was Clarisse who came late at night.
He appeared wearing a robe, and I was in the midst of grooming a wild boar carcass at the fire for a while.
As she puts down her robe hat, the face she sees is that of an aristocratic girl with brown hair.
As soon as I untie the pendant hanging from my neck, the heavy color tone disappears and it turns into a graceful white hair.
Her hair, shining softly in the moonlight, makes you intuitively understand why she is known as the noblest girl in the Church of Telos.
I quickly threw the bloody dagger behind the boar carcass, and tried to shove the protruding intestines out of sight with my foot. Actually, it was a bit late.
However, Clarisse did not show any sign of surprise or bewilderment at the sight. He just sat perched on the back of the tree on the other side, as if to relax his body.
“hello.”
I washed my hands in the floating stream and sat down on the other side. I handed a mug that had been placed on the workbench to Clarisse. It’s herbal tea made with the herbs Bell brought me.
The sound of grass insects settles in the cool night air. So we sat still for a while.
While wondering when the silence would break, Clarisse spoke first.
“Archbishop Verdio has been officially excommunicated.”
“Is that so.”
“Holy Father Eldein acknowledged his complacent attitude. He says he is seriously thinking about the changes of the times and the direction of our church in responding to those trends. Instead of being swayed by it, everyone moves in unison under the voice of the Holy Emperor who rules the city of Carpea.”
“Do you think that’s okay?”
Clarisse gently closed her eyes, looked at the far-out starry sky, and spoke.
“You must have struggled for a long time between your faith and the cause. It’s unfortunate that you spent a long time as a bystander, but this incident may serve as an opportunity to suggest a new direction.”
“…”
“So, I’m going to believe it one more time. Holy Eldein has always been a devout believer since he lived in the monastery in the Rameln Mountains. I think it’s still too early to fall into the swamp of disbelief.”
Clarisse lowered her gaze after saying that.
A single unfiltered tea leaf is floating in the herbal tea at the end of the line of sight. The bright moon rises above the teacup, and the tea leaves across it sway.
“And… Adele…”
Having said that, Clarisse did not speak further. Again there was silence for a while.
I sat still for a while and waited for Clarisse’s next words. Still, Clarisse is just looking down at the teacup, as if her speech is not clearing up.
“I died laughing.”
I didn’t bother to look at Clarisse’s face.
“One thing is certain. Saint Clarice, you were the meaning of her life.”
In the first place, Adele was not something of a minstrel. The reason he decided to become a bard wandering the world was because he didn’t want to belatedly make a lie about what he said to Clarisse.
What you need in life without family, proper friends, or ties is a reason to survive in the end.
“I don’t know if you realized it or not, but you were the reason I had to live in a world without ties.”
“…”
“So there’s no need to struggle or feel guilty. You tried your best.”
After saying that, I closed the door again. Clarisse, who had been looking down at the teacup for a while… before long, his shoulders trembled little by little.
Underneath the sound of grasshoppers, the sound of a girl swallowing her breath was heard in a small way.
I sat in front of him… and stayed with him for a while without saying anything.
“It’s summer vacation soon.”
After getting ready to go back, Clarisse stood up. After spending more time at the camp, the way back becomes too dark.
In fact, it was already dark. I soaked a cloth in oil and made a torch.
Clarisse took the blazing torch and thanked her.
“Are you going to stay at camp during summer break?”
“There’s nowhere else to go, so that’s probably it.”
“I’ll come back often. At that time, it would be Kylie Eckne, not Clarisse…”
“Do as you like. I don’t care.”
Clarisse watched the torch for a moment, then asked hesitantly.
“Hey, I have a small request.”
“You mean please?”
“When I was Kylie, not Clarice… I thought it wouldn’t work if you treated me as a junior…”
Now, she may be a holy girl with white hair and red eyes, but when she was a bachelor, she was a talkative aristocratic girl, Kylie.
“…”
“Is this a very strange request?”
“No. To be honest, there are people around me, so it’s natural for me to treat you as a junior. It’s been like that since the beginning.”
“I guess so, right?”
What makes her proud? Clarisse gave a soft smile.
Clarisse lowered her head and said one last time, wondering if it was really time to go back.
“Actually… I was worried about you, too.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“Actually, the person who worked harder than anyone else to save Adele was senior.
I heard that there are many people who are worried about me, centering on the Ophelis tube. One of them was Clarice.
Same with Bell and Ziggs. She comes over one by one and asks if I’m okay.
Actually, my answer was the same.
“It’s okay. Actually, it’s not even that hard.”
“Then I’m glad…”
“I tried my best, but it didn’t work. If you put your mind to it and suffer, it will only reduce the time you have to work. So don’t worry too much.”
Clarisse looked at my face, then nodded and then came closer to me with a splash.
Then he buries his face on my shoulder. Is it too embarrassing to look at your face and say it?
“Other people don’t know, but I remember it clearly.”
“…”
“I know how hard senior Ed worked and how hard he gritted his teeth. Even if everyone else forgets, I will never forget. I will remember him until the day I die.”
Seeing him with his face buried deep and not raising his head… I found it difficult to react.
“There’s not much I can do, but if you need help, be sure to ask for help. I’m not sure I’ll give back as much as the help I’ve received… but I’ll do everything I can.”
“I’ll be grateful for your heart. It’s curfew soon, so you have to go back.”
Clarisse lifted her tucked-in head and smiled with difficulty.
She laughed as hard as she could.
– Plop
After welcoming Clarisse, I sat alone on a tree stump by the campfire.
It is a grateful thing to come together and worry about each other. Everyone was restless, fearing that I might have offended them.
I shook my head hansako and said, “It’s nothing to worry about.” I said over and over that I was fine. There is nothing good about worrying or showing weakness.
All I need to do right now is to put some more firewood in to keep this campfire going for as long as possible, and dig it in with a poker. And it was necessary to cook the trimmed meat as a first beeol.
While picking up firewood and throwing it in, I breathed in the early summer night air.
When you do that, you feel a heavy weight on your back.
There is no need to look back.
You can feel the blood running down your spine.
On the other side of the tree stump, the figure of the girl lying down with her back leaning against me is the same minstrel I’ve seen time and time again.
Just as he ended his life with a soft smile, he is lying still with his back leaning on me. Feeling the weight being carried toward my body, I strain my back, pick up a few more piles of firewood, and throw them away.
She is a girl who would have died anyway.
The reason I tried to save her was because I couldn’t leave someone who was doomed to die.
If you can give a reason why you couldn’t save it, you can give it.
The last regression was Time Attack. Since I had to move quickly and run away even a little further, I couldn’t afford to take care of Adele first.
Clarisse would have no idea where Adele would be. That Adele’s starting point was the hallway of the Glockt Hall was a fact that only I knew. He was driven by the urgent time and did not even inform the fact in advance.
In the first place, it was impossible to predict that Adele’s holy power and vitality would last this return. She said it would be possible at least once, so she just guessed that she would head for the Bachelor Cathedral as she always did. Because she’s done it dozens of times.
However, they are aware that these reasons are all self-defense mechanisms.
Whatever the case, Adele Seris was dead. Although he may have met his death with a smile, the fact that he met his end does not change.
It wasn’t even that special relationship with Adele. The only reason she tried to save her was because of her weak conscience. It does, but…
I tried to save it anyway, but the fact that I couldn’t save it remains the same.
Back, overcoming the weight pressing down on my back, I tossed the firewood for a long time.
“Ed.”
Suddenly, I raised my head at the sound of my name being called.
“I put in too much.”
Looking at the fire, the firewood was piled high and the fire was soaring.
Beyond the fire was Yenika, who had come out and sat by the campfire before she knew it.
It would have been difficult to move alone with blurry vision, but it would have been possible because the camp structure was in my head to some extent.
“Ed.”
Yenika called me quietly.
“are you okay.”
“okay.”
As I poked through the fire with my poker, I looked up at the rising flames.
“Still, it’s an experience I don’t want to do twice. Never.”
“huh.”
One day… I remembered looking up at the sky side by side with Jenika in the half-destroyed nail shop.
At that time, was it early summer?
The joint combat practice is also finished, and now it’s summer vacation,
There is still a lot of work to be done.
Yenica didn’t rush to comfort her, nor offered words of encouragement.
They just looked up side by side at the flickering fire and sat together until the darkness of the long night passed.
