A Depressed Kendo Player Possesses a Reckless Aristocrat

Foundation (7)

Even while whining about how he didn’t want to, Kim Taeyang ultimately decided to join the Sentinel.

It wasn’t like there was any forceful offer.

Even if he called it coercion, I had intended to respect his decision.

His joining was purely his own will.

After puffing himself up, saying he didn’t want to, the moment I said okay and turned to leave, he urgently grabbed my pant leg.

…If he was going to do this, why did he play so hard to get?

He’s just a layabout who hangs around the training grounds without a single friend anyway.

Was his nose put out of joint because I offered him a place?

He was a frustrating guy in so many ways.

I was in the middle of deciding whether I should smack him one.

“Anyway… Thug.”

Kim Taeyang, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke.

It was perfect timing to give him a flick on the forehead, the moment I had decided to do just that.

I lowered the hand I’d raised and answered,

“Why are you calling me?”

“Just now, I felt like there was some killer intent…?”

“It’s your imagination.”

“Is that so?”

He’s just quick to catch on.

As I lightly clicked my tongue, he asked, with a dazed expression.

“A gathering? Club? I don’t know what to call it. Anyway, how many people are in that, what was it, Sentinel?”

“It’s just you and me, for now. Just the two of us.”

“Oho~ So the first person you recruited was this elder brother?”

Shrug, shrug.

Kim Taeyang wriggled his shoulders with an underhanded look.

For some reason, the way he was acting just really pissed me off.

I was instinctively loading a finger flick on my right hand when, sensing something ominous, he quickly continued with another question.

“So, um…! How many people do you plan on gathering in the future, roughly?”

“Hmm?”

“You must have roughly thought about who you’re going to bring in, right?”

“Of course.”

Okay, excluding that Golden Sun guy we just recruited, I’m thinking we can probably gather about ten or so.

Lucie and Ariel are definitely joining, no question.

Maharet, she didn’t say it, but I could see in her eyes she wanted to be part of it, too.

“Even with those three, there’s still a lot of space left, huh?”

“Just shut it.”

I had ways of drawing in the talent.

I mean, with a princess, a noble son, and a noble daughter already in the mix, there’d be no shortage of students wanting to join.

But I wasn’t looking for some simple power grab.

I wanted skilled individuals I could trust with my back in a pinch.

And lucky for me, or maybe not,

I held the net that could haul in those types all at once.

I tilted my head with an easygoing air.

“…Do you really have a plan?”

My vague answer must’ve left him suspicious, the Golden Sun guy was giving me a doubtful look.

For a commoner, it was a surprisingly insolent glare, but

I answered with a light flick to his forehead.

-Thwack!!

Following the crisp sound, a silent scream went bounding around the area.

I ignored the squirming guy and muttered to myself.

“Now that I think of it, they should be showing up soon.”

“Ugh…”

“I should be getting back now.”

I carelessly brushed myself off and stood.

I glanced down at the Golden Sun groveling on the floor, and extended a hand.

“Get up. There’s somewhere we need to go together.”

“Huh? Why me all of a sudden?”

“Weren’t you worried about all those empty slots? It just so happens I’m about to go meet some potential new members, might be good to show our faces together.”

“Too much trouble…”

“…Are you saying you want another flick?”

He brushed off my words with a meaningless reply, but still took my hand and stood up.

“Alright~ then, shall we go and straighten out our juniors a bit?”

“Juniors?”

“I joined the group first, didn’t I? That means I’m the senior, right?”

“Is that how it works…?”

“Of course! Even a few hours difference creates a superior-inferior relationship!!”

“Hmm…”

“Good~! I’ll make them run ragged!”

Spouting nonsense, the blonde-tanned punk grinned like an idiot.

I don’t know what future he was imagining to be so cheerful, but it was obvious he’d shrivel up once he actually faced the other members.

However, I didn’t bother mentioning it.

After all, imagination is free, isn’t it?

He’d have plenty of hardship ahead, so I decided to be merciful and indulge his little bit of carefree time.

I chuckled and started walking.

The voice trailing behind me was filled with foolish expectations. Pathetic.

*

“……Hey, um, teacher.”

“What now.”

“Isn’t something wrong here?”

The golden-tanned guy suddenly threw out the question.

I calmly answered, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“What’s the problem?”

“Everything is a problem, goddammit.”

A few beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.

His face was clearly flustered, and he kept glancing ahead.

Where his gaze was fixed, several young boys and girls stood in line.

“”……””

The protagonist of the original story, the boy chosen as the hero of this generation.

Alan Reinhardt.

The young lady of the Viscount Misop family, the top student in her year at the Academy.

Clara Misoph.

The girl appointed to the position of the next Saint in the Order.

Lorraine Marlena.

The young lady of the Roden Ducal family, and a girl possessing rare mental magic.

Aivy Roden.

Lucie’s younger sister, and the second Imperial Princess.

Neria von Lietro.

All of them were the main characters in the original story.

Each of them carried impressive titles,

but the fact they were now kneeling humbly was a bittersweet comedy.

To explain how things had rolled out this way…

-I haven’t forgotten what happened then.

-If you really want to apologize, come with your companions.

The words I’d thrown at them yesterday had apparently tugged at Allen’s heart quite a bit.

He immediately came with his friends, and they happened to run into us returning from the training grounds.

They were about to kneel right down on the ground, so I brought them inside first.

I was a bit self-conscious of the stares from the passing students too.

And we couldn’t exactly have a conversation while they were slumped in front of the door.

After that chaotic storm had passed, it was now this.

“Teacher… have you perhaps lost your mind?”

“You’ve been whining quite a bit since earlier.”

“No, you fucker.”

The golden boy, not daring to shout, muttered his curse words into my ear.

His blue eyes were completely tear-filled.

I met his gaze with a smug smirk, as if I’d been waiting for this.

“What’s the matter? Could it be that you don’t like your cute juniors?”

“They’re all too high-ranking for me to bully…!”

“Oh?”

“How am I supposed to live under one roof with those people…!”

“Didn’t know you were the type to be so conscious of status.”

The way you usually act towards me, it’s beyond fearless, like your brain is just wired differently.

You never seemed like a commoner, not in a good way anyway.

You even threw a dumb joke at Lucy right after the last final exams, because she was crying for missing the top spot in the grade.

“You said it was burdensome?”

“No… it’s more like, an irresistible temptation, you know?”

“Just please, resist.”

This guy’s basically got a stronger urge for messing around than for staying alive.

He’s always been like this, so he shouldn’t act like his life’s suddenly precious now.

While we were having that pointless back-and-forth, Rachel quietly came over and offered me a teacup.

“Why don’t you have a chat over tea?”

“Thanks, always, Ray.”

“No problem at all.”

“You’re the only one for me.”

“…Isn’t there a crazy temperature difference between how you talk to me and them?”

A grumble came from the side, but I just brushed it off.

Sipping the tea and savoring the faint scent of black tea, I lifted my head and stared straight ahead.

There, still kneeling, were the five of them.

Despite the pretty long chit-chat, they hadn’t moved an inch, frozen in place.

Wouldn’t their legs be going numb?

That worry briefly crossed my mind, but I pushed it away.

Even if these guys in front of me were the protagonists of stories I admired, now was the time to be ruthless.

Their incompetence almost got me killed.

I had to be angry about my near-death experience.

If I let it go with some weak promise, nothing would be resolved.

Not for myself.

Not for those damn guys either.

I had to demand the appropriate punishment and price.

“Alan.”

“…Yes, Young Master.”

A blonde boy lifts his head at the call.

His appearance was rather a mess.

Swollen eyes, a hoarse voice, and lifeless hair.

It was as if he’d been doing nothing but bawling since the memorial service yesterday, his figure completely broken.

“A pitiful sight, indeed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You coming to me like this… I should take it as meaning you want to beg for forgiveness, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Stand up from your seat.”

I straightened from where I was leaning on the sofa and ordered with a calm voice.

Alan obeyed without a word.

He wobbled for a moment but soon stood upright.

Naturally, we were now facing each other.

“I imagine you’ve given this a lot of thought. It’ll be hard to fully forgive you, but you can see this conversation now as me giving you a chance. But before that…”

I trailed off, tightening the muscles in my arm.

And then, with all my strength, I sent a fist towards the boy’s still face.

-CRACK!!

With a dull thud, the blonde boy fell backward.

It seemed the first blow had landed square, a dark crimson stain now streaming down his nose.

I clenched and unclenched my stinging fist, then composed my disheveled posture.

“Let’s start with you taking a few hits, shall we.”

We were, above all, at the threshold of a genuine conversation.