Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero chapter 46

46 – A smile like the sun

I dug up the soil in the flower bed and even helped Titania plant the seedlings.

After finishing the work, I felt that the surroundings of the dormitory were definitely colorful and bright.

It started with the idea of helping Titania, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Titania said that the soil around here is rich in nutrients, so plants grow well. It might be surprisingly good to make a vegetable garden later and plant potatoes and beans.

While brushing the dirt off her limbs, Titania asked cautiously.

“Hey… Instructor.”

“Hmm?”

“The people who were targeting me were an organization called the Future of the Empire, right?”

I froze at Titania’s question.

I could guess why she was asking this question.

Titania must have read the newspaper too. She must have read it because it is an article that is related to her and she cannot be interested.

I nodded, trying to look as awkward as possible.

“Yes.”

“And the future of the empire was destroyed last night by a man called Hungseong.”

“… It did.”

“Instructor Ion was also absent last night, right?”

The continued question made my eyes dizzy.

As her questions continued, unknown anxiety and tension weighed heavily on my shoulders. I felt like I knew what Titania was really thinking.

I nodded her head, resolving in my heart.

“Yes.”

“As expected….”

Titania nodded her head with a bright expression, as if the truth she had guessed became clear, as if the puzzle in her head had been completed.

She looked at me with a very serious face, and seeing that look, I also put strength on her shoulders.

In the end, Titania asked in a loud voice.

“Instructor Ion, did you meet the malevolent star yesterday!?”

“… ….”

Suddenly, the tension was released and the strength in the shoulders was lost.

I was so nervous that it became funny for some reason, so I replied in a timid voice.

“… You can see that.”

“Wow! You’ve met one of the 7 Heroes of the Continent in person! A very large skeleton monster also appeared, but did you see the malevolence fighting in person!?”

“Well, I guess….”

Titania’s misunderstanding was embarrassing, but it was fortunate for me. Although this situation itself, where I said I met myself, was very awkward and strange.

“Then, instructor, did you ask him directly because you were acquainted with the malevolence?”

“… ….”

I didn’t know how to explain the situation, so I just said nothing.

But Titania, who was examining my expression, nodded as if she had interpreted my silence in her own way. And she asked in a serious tone.

“Then can I thank him as well?”

“What?”

“You are the one who helped me. I am very grateful to the instructor, but I also want to say thank you directly to the chest. Can’t we?”

It doesn’t matter. How?

Should I leave my seat in front of Titania for a while, and then reappear in front of her in the form of a malevolent star? That would be a very funny situation if you look at it objectively.

And aside from the ridiculous and cumbersome things, I didn’t really feel like it.

I shook my head and said.

“I’m not the kind of person who would be happy to receive something like that.”

“Still, I think it’s really important to convey your feelings. If it’s difficult to meet you, could you speak for me later? I am really grateful.”

As long as the identity of the chest is me, it felt very strange that I relayed the words to me….

“… Okay. If that’s enough.”

In the end, I had no choice but to answer to Titania that I would understand.

***

The sun was going down after helping Titania with her work.

I returned to my room after a simple dinner in the dormitory.

Originally, the plan was to see Gwynn’s sword later, but Gwynn had overworked his muscles the other day and hadn’t fully recovered from the muscle pain for two days.

Even so, Gwynn said he could move and insisted on coming to the gymnasium, but he was not convincing at all when he walked out holding his sword like a cane.

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I forced Gwynn to rest in the room, saying rest is part of training. If you don’t rest properly when you need to rest, your injury won’t get better. If you take a rest for two days, you will wake up fine by tomorrow.

The sun has completely set, and night has come to the Opal Black dormitory.

The curfew is coming soon. As always, it means it’s time to patrol the dormitory.

I thought Oznia would come to my room for her night patrol as usual.

However, several minutes passed and Oznia did not appear.

So far, Oznia has never been late for even a minute. She waited a little longer in her room just in case, but there was still no sign of Oznia coming.

“… ….”

Maybe something happened.

I packed her coat and headed down the dark hallway to Oznia’s room.

And when I reached the door, I felt a small presence in the room.

A quiet but faint movement, as if sitting still, doing nothing. I guess it’s okay to be in the room.

I knocked on Oznia’s door.

But no matter how long I waited, there was no sign that the door would open.

I thought in case you didn’t hear me, so I knocked on the door a little harder this time.

Just as I was thinking about whether I should open the door by force, the door creaked open slowly and Oznia appeared with a dazed expression.

Oznia spoke in a small voice that she wouldn’t be able to hear if she didn’t listen.

“… Instructor?”

“Oznia. Time to patrol.”

“Ah….”

When I reminded her of today’s routine, her eyes slowly widened and her small mouth opened.

It seems that I really forgot.

“It was fine as long as it was in the room. Take her coat and come out.”

At my command, Oznia nodded her head, put on her school uniform and outerwear, and left her room at a slow pace.

“… ….”

“… ….”

We headed to the Forest of Lostness as usual, but her condition in Oznia looked even more strange than usual.

While walking, she fell far behind, often strayed from her path and fell in the wrong direction. She usually gave the impression of being numb somewhere, but today it seemed like she had left her mind somewhere.

I said, holding onto Oznia’s shoulders as she walked down her path and nearly tripped over her tree roots.

“Oznia, wake up.”

Oznia blinked her eyes a few times before speaking slowly.

“… Oh, sorry.”

“Your condition is strange today. Where are you sick?”

I looked at her complexion and asked.

If Oznia was in a bad condition, she had no intention of forcibly bringing her. If she had any energy from her body, it would be better to send her back now.

Worriedly, I put the palm of her hand on Oznia’s forehead. Then she lowered her head slightly and met her eyes, examining her face more closely.

But contrary to what she was worried about, her skin didn’t turn red, and she didn’t show any signs of heat on her forehead.

“Eh….”

Oznia forgot to even blink at my action, she even stopped breathing and she was completely frozen.

“Hmm… I don’t think it’s a cold. Are you really okay?”

As soon as he said that, Oznia suddenly hiccupped.

“Heeep!”

“Hmm?”

Oznia covered her mouth with her embarrassed eyes.

But she couldn’t stop the hiccups once popped out. If you look closely, both of her ears are also stained red somewhere, and it seems that the fever suddenly rises.

“You must be really sick. I need to stop patrol here today.”

I moved closer to support her, but Oznia rather moved away from her. And that too with a very hasty step.

“… Don’t come Hey!”

I realized that I was not careful enough.

No matter how much you are an instructor, it would be unpleasant if a man carelessly touched your body. Realizing that she was still immature as an instructor, she took a step back from her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that on purpose.”

Oznia shook her head vigorously.

“It’s not like that… Hey!”

She didn’t know why she was hiccupping. It’s as if she doesn’t even understand the changes that have taken place in her body.

“This is because it hurts- Ah.”

Suddenly Oznia turned her head towards the forest and she opened her eyes wide in surprise.

It was a very rare look for Oznia, who rarely expresses her emotions.

I looked in the direction Osnia was looking. There was only a dense forest and black darkness, but nothing else was visible.

But Oznia put her strange words in her mouth.

“… I hear your voice.”

“Voice?”

I frowned in wonder and wondered.

I couldn’t hear her voice that Oznia had heard.

Close your eyes, focus on your five senses, and listen to the sounds around you.

No matter how much I pricked my ears, I couldn’t hear anything that could be called a voice. There was no one around except the two of us, except for the sound of leaves rustling in the soft night breeze.

Oznia muttered in a barely audible voice as if talking to herself.

“This voice… calling me, calling me no way… you are….”

I could feel her mood getting worse and worse at the sight of her becoming more and more strange.

Come to think of it, it’s a bit strange. I couldn’t hear what Osnia said, but aside from that, today’s forest was strangely quiet.

The sound of bugs chirping. The sound of bees flapping their wings. The sound of an owl chirping. The sound of life, which should be heard in the forest, could not be heard at all.

Unpleasantly intentional silence.

This was by no means an ordinary situation.

I warned Oznia, stepping back cautiously from the forest.

“Oznia. Never leave me.”

But there was no reply.

“Oznia?”

When I looked back, there was no one there.

Oznia, who was here a while ago, had disappeared without a trace.

“… ….”

Heinkel said.

When wandering in the forest of wandering, never stray from the path.

If you go the wrong way, you could end up wandering in the woods endlessly.

But if you want to find Oznia, you have no other choice.

After becoming an instructor, thinking that there is no quiet day, I let out a deep sigh of resignation and followed the direction where Oznia disappeared.

I still couldn’t hear anything from the surroundings, but unless Oznia used magic, it was impossible that she had gone so far away that I couldn’t even feel it in that short period of time.

I walked through the woods and carefully inspected the ground.

It would have been difficult for an ordinary person to discern in the darkness lit only by the moonlight, but I noticed that the shallow digging in the ground were Oznia’s footprints.

It’s not magic. This is a trace of walking.

So there was only one answer.

This forest disturbs the five senses.

I traversed the forest, chasing Oznia’s footprints and broken branches. Her trail went deeper and deeper into the forest.

The appearance of Oznia right before it disappeared was obviously strange. She heard the unheard and saw the invisible, as if seeing her hallucinations.

Did something in the forest bewitched Oznia and take her away?

Because I don’t know what lies in front of me, I’m more vigilant while following the trail.

Suddenly, a soft, feminine voice called to me from behind.

“Ion.”

My heart skipped a beat at the familiar voice.

I stopped and looked back slowly, very slowly.

Golden hair that shines brightly as if squeezed out of honey, and blue eyes that are as clear as the sea.

A girl who tried to forget many times, but in the end couldn’t.

“… Ella?”

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Ella as she is in her memories.

“I missed you. Ion.”

Looking at me, he was smiling brightly like a ray of sunlight.