[Reberu] ga Arunara Agerudesho? Mobukyara ni Tensei Shita Ore wa Gēmu Chishiki o Ikashi, Hitasura Reberu o Age Tsudzukeru - CH 107

Shout out to Sheila Roggenkamp for the pledge!

Note: I’ll be using onomatopoeia like in the raw for Horsie’s neigh from now on.

[The Academy Festival Ends]

The sequel, or rather, the epilogue of the academy festival.

The day after the round-robin tournament, I meet Amanai in the garden of Iris’s home after the closing ceremony.

“Sorry, Sakurai. I failed to get the individual award.” (Amanai)

“Let’s go, Horsieee! Let’s run over and kill this untrustworthy wicked shitty bastard!!” (Sakurai)

“Hihiiiiiin!”

“Wait, wait, wait!? I got the Fool’s Necklace! I got it alright!” (Amanai)

“Tsk, you may lose your life if you try playing tricks in front of me y’know, youngster.” (Sakurai)

“I was the stupid one for trying to get a back at you…” (Amanai)

While receiving the ‘Fool’s Necklace’ as promised from Amanai, who regrets having made a stupid joke, I release and urge Horsie, whom I have stopped, to return the favor.

“Hihihihiiiiin!”

“Wait, are you for real!? My bad, it was my bad, Sakurai! I apologize!” (Amanai)

Horsie, play with that onii-chan for a while.

Since he has a change in mentality, his reaction has become richer for some reason, so I’m sure you can enjoy playing with him.

While listening to Horsie’s neigh, I turn my back on Amanai and head toward where Iris and the others are.

Beside Iris and Higaki, Akano and Ethel, as well as Julia and some of her knights are gathered there, and they have started barbecuing with an iron plate and a grill.

“Ohh… so this is a barbecue! I have had many outdoor standing parties, but it’s up to the chef to cook. Grilling the meat by myself is truly a fresh experience.” (Julia)

“Just why is Princess here of all places? If you want to have a closing party, don’t the military academy hold one as well? Or rather, is it fine for a princess to participate in a closing party?” (Ethel)

“The instructors also participate in the closing party at the military academy. If even I were there, it would be difficult for the students to let loose and have fun. That’s why it’s fine.” (Julia)

“That so. Then Princess should help out cutting the ingredients too, there will be no meat for those who do nothing.” (Ethel)

“Certainly. Fufu, this is my first time using a kitchen knife for its original purpose. It’s a bit exciting.” (Julia)

“I can’t hear youuuu, I don’t hear Princess has been using a kitchen knife for anything other than its original purpooose!” (Ethel)

Maybe she got attacked in the cafeteria or something? Well, I don’t care.

Anyway, everyone is completely in a closing party mood, and each person has a fun conversation while eating meat and vegetables as they like.

The power of meat sure is great to bring together the two people, that are a miser (Ethel) and a prodigal (Julia), who seem to be incompatible with each other without a conflict, I thought.

Let’s ignore the scream of the miser that echoes when Julia creates a knife with ‘Conversion’.

“Ah, Sakurai-kun, thank you for your hard work.” (Reika)

“Sakurai-saaaan, come here while the meat is still hot~!” (Iris)

“If you don’t come quickly, you’ll get no meat, Sakurai.” (Higaki)

“Coming~.” (Sakurai)

I’m hungry too, so I stuff my cheeks with the meats that have been grilled on a skewer.

The high-class meat that Julia brought as a souvenir has a lot of fat; it feels like it’s melting in my mouth.

But… to be honest, a meat with a lot of fat doesn’t suit my taste. I don’t understand how could there be people who loves the fat of marbled meat back in my previous life.

It feels like poor tongue is taken to the extreme here. It’s not like it tastes bad, but I’d like it if the meat is a bit chewy.

“Speaking of which, Akano. Amanai said he failed to get the individual award, but what happened?” (Sakurai)

“He ran out of magic power after fighting with Julia-san, you see… He lost to the people who came when he had become unable to move.” (Reika)

“I also put up a fight, though~,” so Akano smiles bitterly.

(Their party has Ethel, but when Amanai goes under, the pure vanguard will be gone and they will end up being routed, after all… it is unavoidable result when we were only thinking of defeating Julia, huh.)

Regarding that, I was also at fault for making them leveling thinking that ‘if he could defeat Julia, there was no way he would get done in by the riff-raffs’, without considering about the afterwards.

So I decide to whistle and call back Horsie who is chasing Amanai around.

At the same time as Horsie neighs happily and runs my way, Amanai falls on his knees and breathes roughly.

“Who’s the good boy, who’s the good boy? Look, this is a freshly grilled vegetable, y’know~. Hm? Is there a vegetable that horses can’t eat? Well, who cares.” (Sakurai)

“Hihihin.”

“No, you can’t give him vegetable of any kind, Sakurai-san. For now, the green onions are completely no good, so please give him carrots or pumpkins.” (Iris)

“Hin, Hin.”

I give raw carrots that have been cut up to Horsie, who raises and lowers his head while raising a cry. Hey, why does it feel like this guy completely understand human speech?

That said, it’s not like there’s anything bad about it, so let’s not fret it. Rather it’s good thing as it will be easier to give instructions to him if he does understand.

“If it wasn’t Amanai, then who won the individual award in the end? I know it’s kind of rude, but I don’t remember anyone else notable.” (Higaki)

“Ahh, that would be Baldasare-kun. Honestly, I didn’t expect that, either.” (Julia)

The one who answer Higaki’s question is Julia with tongs and some ingredients in her hands.

“I was defeated by Amanai, he was defeated by other students, those students were defeated by other students, so on so forth, until finally all of our points ended up in Baldasare’s hand. He was moving alone without forming a party with the reason being, quote, “I want a one-on-one fight!”. As the valuation basis was ‘the individual who earned the most points’, he won the individual award in the end.” (Julia)

Julia begins to explain while grilling the ingredients she brought on the iron plate.

The sight of her enjoying yakiniku in her usual gorgeous outfit is kinda surreal, but the person herself seems to be very happy, so let’s not give any boorish comments here.

“Just that, it seems that Baldasare was also watching the battle between me and Amanai-kun, you see. Although he received the individual award, after the closing ceremony, he came to me and gave me the supplementary prize, The Fool’s Necklace, saying, “It should be given to you who have cast away your hesitation.” Iyaa, is it what they called a consolation in sadness? Ahahaha.” (Julia)

“The prize he gave with kind intention circulating from hand to hand and ended up with me. Won’t this get me in trouble with Baldasare later?” (Sakurai)

“As long as you don’t meet him, you will be fine.” (Julia)

“If I do meet him, I’d be a goner.” (Sakurai)

“It’s a joke. I’ll tell him about it myself. I also want to give him my thanks as he can be said to be a benefactor involved in Amanai-kun’s rapid growth.” (Julia)

Saying that, Julia gives grilled meats to Iris who is holding out her plate, puts vegetables on mine, and continues speaking.

“Oh right, you have fulfilled your promised with me, Sakurai-kun. I personally want to return your favor.” (Julia)

“Return my favor?” (Sakurai)

“Ahh, if there’s something troubling you or if there’s something you want. If it’s within my capability, I will do my best to fulfill it.” (Julia)

“Don’t, Princess! Saying something like that to Sakurai is.” (Higaki)

“That’s right, Julia-san. If you say something like that to Sakurai-san, you’d only be given an unreasonable request, so it’s better if you think up a way to thank him by yourself.” (Iris)

“To think you two think that lowly of me.” (Sakurai)

“Then, Sakurai. Do try telling us what you’re going to request.” (Higaki)

“The key to the treasury of the royal palace.” (Sakurai)

Hey, what’s with that ‘see?’ gazes.

It’s not like I’m planning to steal anything there. My business is with the door of the treasury, and the ‘Star Seed’ that can be found by examining the back side of the door.

I will have to break the jewel that is fitted on the door with a swing of an ice ax a bit, but people are rarely in there, so it won’t be a problem, right?

“If that’s the case, I should figure one out by myself, I guess.” (Julia)

“I think just you coming here bringing these high-quality meats is enough, but… well, do as you like.” (Sakurai)

I also thoroughly made use of Julia for my own purposes, so she doesn’t have to return the favor or anything, but she probably wants to do it not to satisfy the other party, which in this case me, but for her own self-satisfaction.

Considering Julia’s background setting, she must have been mentally isolated until now.

If she wants to share her emotions with someone in some way, it would be boorish to pour water on it.

So, Higaki and Iris, please stop looking at me in amazement like you’re seeing a cat that refuses to eat the fish placed in front of it.

I’m fundamentally a person who holds my end of the deal after all, and I’ve become able to read the room to some extent.

“Well then, the academy festival is over, and the ban on entry to the dungeon has been lifted too; time to get some real leveling——what, who are those guys?” (Sakurai)

As I casually run my gaze around, I suddenly catch sight of a group of knights coming our way lined up in a row.

From the equipment, I can definitely tell that they are regular knights, not the members of the military academy.

“The 4th Unit of the Knight Order? They are in charge of this area, but did they come to bring me back?” (Julia)

“That said, don’t you think the atmosphere about them kinda intimidating? They look similar to debt collectors or bouncers hired by loan sharks.” (Ethel)

“Ethel-chan, could it be, you have borrowed money from loan sharks before…?” (Reika)

“I can’t hear youuuuuu!” (Ethel)

Maybe the others also have noticed the knights; the closing party mood completely dissipates, and everyone begin to quietly watch over their over move.

Without worrying about the surroundings, the knight walking at the front of the group, a blonde with round glasses, steps forward as the representative and bows to Julia.

“I deeply apologize for intruding during your pleasant talk. I am——”

“Abel Zione, Vice-Captain of the 4thUnit of the Knight Order, isn’t it? I heard you were in charge of the case of bombing at Obsius Co., but why are you here?” (Julia)

When I take a closer look at him, it turns out that it’s the knight who was participating in my interrogation in the case of the opera house.

Regarding that case, the Thieves Guild should have taken care of the clean-up, so there shouldn’t be anything turning up now after all this time…

“No. I am currently in charge of another incident, the one that happened in the military academy students’ lodging.” (Zione)

Because Zione-san’s line of sight is focused on me, everyone turns their eyes to me. I laugh lightly and avert my face.

Fufu, come to think of it, I don’t remember ever telling anyone about my fight with Nanashino… Back then, I left the corpses of the knights killed by Nanashino as they were and made off, didn’t I!

“You are Sakurai Tōru, aren’t you? We have something to ask you in regard to the incident that happened three days ago. Please come with us.” (Zione)

“Is it voluntary?” (Sakurai)

“Unfortunately, it’s compulsory.” (Zione)

Ah, this is definitely the treatment of a suspect in a murder case.

As soon as I showed the attitude of refusing to accompany them, I saw the knights waiting behind him slowly touching the handle of their swords.

Now that it has come to this, I have no other choice.

It’s my fault for not dealing with the trouble I had with another reincarnated person properly.

It won’t be good to resist the guys from the Knight Order here, so I can only let myself be taken away quietly.

“Hey, Sakurai.” (Higaki)

“Don’t worry, Higaki. I’ll be back in no time, so take care of Iris for me, will ya?” (Sakurai)

“No, more importantly, don’t attack other people in the same cell as you, okay? Sure, they are criminals, but they’re not your punching bags, got it?” (Higaki)

“Just what do you think of me.” (Sakurai)

When I come back, I need to change her perception of me.

Even I have enough common sense to prepare legitimate self-defense just in case, don’t look down on me, ‘kay?

“Ah, that’s right.” (Sakurai)

While I’m removing my sword from my waist to show that I won’t resist, an idea suddenly come to my mind.

Come to think of it, there is a perfect person to solve this kind of problem nearby.

“Hey.” (Sakurai)

“You don’t need to say it, Sakurai-kun. It will be a bit inconvenient, but I will also launch investigation on my side.” (Julia)

“I appreciate it.” (Sakurai)

I’m relieved by Julia’s reply, but let’s keep jailbreaking as an option in the worst-case scenario. I obediently stand in front of Zione-san and his knights, and let myself be handcuffed.

Even though they already handcuffed me, they surround me so that I can’t run away, but… in order to reassure Iris who looks my way in worry, I turn my head back and flash a smile, before saying,

“——Then, I’ll leave the rest to you, Princess!” (Sakurai)

She smiles softly at my words, and gives me a thumbs up.

What you should have in life are friends and authority; such wonderful words. I never thought that just knowing that I have someone high up in power backing me would relax me this much.

I also give her a thumbs up in return to show that I believe in her, and then the knights urge me to start walking.

Unlike them who have strained atmosphere about them, my steps are light, and my heart is worry-free.

Now then! Let’s enjoy some holidays in a place away from the secular society, shall we!

“I think the reason he is taken away is related to the incident of the murder of the knights who were in charge to lead the students at the inn where the military academy students’ were staying at three days ago, but honestly, do you guys think that he was the perpetrator?” (Julia)

“If it’s Tōru, there’s a small possibility that he really was the one who did it. What do you think, Amanai?” (Ethel)

“I think he’d do it if necessary.” (Amanai)

“Sakurai-san would never kill a stranger if not for a really serious circumstance, you know!” (Iris)

“According to the report I heard from the Disciplinary Committee, it seems that the incident was discovered thanks to the large number of firecrackers that were set and lit in there.” (Higaki)

“That sounds like a really serious circumstance, doesn’t it…” (Iris)

“That guy said he would set up the firecrackers we made in the inn to disturb the sleep of the military academy students, so at the very least, there is no doubt that he invaded the inn.” (Amanai)

“But with Sakurai’s temperament, he would shamelessly show resistance if he really is the perpetrator. I think that it’s not him.” (Reika)

“But y’know, it’s Tōru we’re talking about, right?” (Ethel)

“I have known him for a long time, but I can’t tell at all whether he let himself be taken away quietly because he couldn’t think of an excuse, or because he is innocent but thought that there was no use to resist here.” (Higaki)

“Sakurai-san is pure in strange parts after all, right~.” (Iris)

“So, in a sense, it’s because you trust him that you’re half in doubt, huh. Ahahaha, this is a problem!” (Julia)

I can hear everything, you—!

Just why is everyone doubting me!! Isn’t it strange!?

Isn’t the following flow of events normally should be you guys believing my innocence and working together to help me out, saying that it’s to return the favors I’ve given you until now!

“I’m innocent! When I went to set up the firecrackers, I ran into that bastard Nanashino, had a fight to the death with him for a while, and then I ran away in haste ‘cause I can’t beat him!” (Sakurai)

“Hey, you! Don’t struggle!”

“How could half-doubting me be called trusting me!? If you really trust me, say “Sakurai is surely innocent,” confidently!” (Sakurai)

“If you keep struggling, we’ll employ rough measures on you!”

“Hey, Julia-san! I really, really beg of you! If you want to repay my favor, now is the time to do it!” (Sakurai)

“It appears that he heard our talk.” (Julia)

“Oh, since Sakurai deny it that violently, he mustn’t be the one who killed the knights. I’m finally convinced.” (Higaki)

“Thank goodness! Now we can help Sakurai-san!” (Iris)

You finally believed I’m innocent only after I lose self-control? I appreciate it, but I’m extremely aggrieved, though!?

When I come back, I would change and improve you all’s perception of me, so prepare yourselves!?

“Dammit. Isn’t it strange that I’m taken away in such frustrated mood even though I’m innocent…!” (Sakurai)

I’m forcefully taken away by the knights while groaning to the mysterious frustration that springs up within me.

Thus, the academy festival, in which I worked hard in various ways in to obtain the Fool’s Necklace, came to an end. And while I achieved my purpose, I ended up getting taken away by the knights for a charge I wasn’t guilty of.