Damn Academy chapter 231

231 – Black Paw Prints (6)

“Do you think they’re going to attack us?”

“No, I think they just like us!”

Once again, I’m forced to acknowledge that my strength is also my weakness. The spirits are chasing us as if they’ve surrounded us, but I didn’t even sense their presence. I still need more training.

I can see the form of those who possess strong spiritual power that could harm people, but that’s all.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“We should go to Leaguebed.”

“What are we going to do there?”

“Play with you.”

Trisha’s eyes grow wider and wider.

“Really? Are you really going to play with just me? Nothing else?”

“Yeah.”

“Damian, you’ve really decided to serve me! You’re so cute! Come here! I’m going to hug you!”

Trisha opens her arms wide, looking very excited. Honestly, I didn’t know she’d like this so much.

“There are people watching, so show some restraint.”

“It’s only those crows anyway!”

“Do you know who controls those spirits?”

“Well, maybe the blonde?”

Trisha never calls Luna by her name. To Trisha, Luna will always be the blonde. Luna, on the other hand, calls Trisha by her name very clearly.

“That’s possible.”

“Suddenly, I hate crows.”

“Maybe they’re just following us because they like us. Luna has released spirits on campus, so we might have run into them without realizing it.”

I said this to appease Trisha, but I also wanted to ask her something. Why are the spirits gathering so abnormally? Could it be some kind of message being sent to me?

“I don’t care. Why is the blonde butting in when we’re playing together?”

“It’s just a vague guess of mine, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Luna. We won’t know unless we ask the crows directly. Maybe she sent them to protect you in the labyrinth.”

“…Fine. Do whatever you want!”

Trisha agrees surprisingly quickly. I thought she’d pester me with questions like she always does, but then again, that makes me suspicious.

Trisha hummed a song, looking out the window and ignoring the crows.

“A pair of sparrows are looking for a place to love. Hmm-hmm-”

Then she took off her shoes and socks and threw them aside. It’s familiar. It’s what she always did when we were in the carriage.

I thought about how to satisfy Trisha during that time. A meal? A play? A party is… no good since we haven’t been invited anywhere. I also doubt that Trisha would be satisfied with something so ordinary. It doesn’t seem like she’s that vain.

“The windmill already has another sparrow. Hmm-”

I can’t think of anything that will kill time. Maybe it’s because the misunderstanding with Luna hasn’t been resolved yet, but I don’t feel like going on a date with her.

I want to run to her right now, but what’s the point? Luna will probably avoid me for a while. I have no choice but to wait.

“The windmill also has another sparrow- We lie in the barley field and share our love- Hmm-hmm.”

“Who taught you that song….”

While my attention was diverted by the strange song, Trisha took the disguise artifact off her finger.

I came to my senses and stopped Trisha.

“What are you doing?”

“Why? I always took it off in the carriage.”

“What if that spirit is Luna’s spirit?”

I can’t be sure, but with that many spirits, there’s a high probability that it’s Luna’s spirit. And if it wasn’t Luna, it could have been an even bigger problem. Because it meant a stranger was keeping an eye on me.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean?”

Trisha blurts out sharply.

“I saw her before at the Phireion Library. She works as a librarian there. She also entered the labyrinth, so what’s the difference?”

“…”

“What will she do when she finds out who I really am? Will she admire me more because I’m prettier?”

Luna is not the kind of person who would take advantage of Trisha. After listening to Trisha, I agreed.

And above all, Trisha’s own determination to reveal her disguise seemed very firm.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to waste my precious time worrying about other people’s opinions. I’m sick of it!”

“…”

“I can’t even go out on my own… What’s the point if I can’t go out without being watched and scrutinized!”

Trisha seemed determined, and she suddenly took out the artifact.

This was not an impulsive act. It was clear that it was the result of a long accumulation of emotions that had exploded.

I changed my mind too. It would be better to go to Ligbed next time.

I asked the coachman to change course. I didn’t think I would enjoy going to Ligbed and doing anything.

If I accidentally provoked her, she would be motivated to run around Ligbed in her true form, so it would be much safer to do this.

The carriage changed course and headed towards the riverside of the Eternia River.

A clear view opened up outside the window.

The meandering river and the beautiful ripples reflecting the sunlight. As the day got warmer, the forest surrounding the river became greener.

The river, which had flooded a while ago, had made the sandbars thicker and smoother.

Trisha also turned her gaze to the window without thinking, and then she buried her face and exclaimed in admiration.

“It’s beautiful!”

Trisha stopped singing and admired the riverside scenery. At the beginning of the semester, on our way to school from Silveryn’s mansion, we passed this road every day. And I have some pretty good memories too.

Trisha looked bewildered as the carriage stopped abruptly at the riverside, where people rarely visited.

“Why here?”

“I changed my plan.”

“Are we going to play here?”

“Yeah. I changed my plan. In Ligbed, I only have to watch what people think, right?”

I got out of the carriage and held out my hand to her in front of the door. She peeked out of the door and looked around. She was used to living in hiding, but she instinctively tried to hide her body when she was about to go out into the world in her true form.

“Go… down?”

“There’s no one around.”

“Really?”

“And there’s a secret place nearby where people won’t notice us.”

If we just moved a little further along the winding road, the carriage would turn beyond the steep hill and the riverside scenery would be blocked by the forest and the hill. My plan was to quickly run to that place where the view was blocked.

She looked forward to it.

“Okay. Okay!”

“The problem is that the carriage can’t get in, so we have to run a little bit.”

If a carriage enters, it’ll probably get stuck in the sand and won’t be able to move.

“A little bit?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“That sounds fun!”

A mischievous smile blooms on her face. Then she reaches out and takes my hand. I interlace my fingers with hers, making sure not to let go.

I check again for any carriages passing nearby, then give her the signal. She gulps and nods, her face serious.

“One, two, three!”

And with that, Trisha and I take off running across the flat expanse like a pair of lunatics.

“Wheee!”

The wind rushes past us in a blur. In the midst of my sprint, I glance at Trisha. She’s running fiercely, holding up her skirts and letting her hair fly wildly behind her.

“Haha, hahaha, ahahaha!”

Trisha suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter as we run, as if something strikes her as hilarious.

I turn my attention back to the path ahead. Then, with a sudden jerk, our linked hands snag on something.

I look back and see that Trisha has tripped and fallen face-first into the sand. Thankfully, she landed in the soft sand and doesn’t seem to be hurt.

“Oops! Shh.”

We hear the sound of a coachman’s voice in the distance. He’s not in sight yet, but he could come face-to-face with us once he rounds the bend in the path.

In a moment of panic, I scoop Trisha into my arms and take off running.

Trisha brushes the white-blond hair out of her face. She has sand smeared across one cheek, but she’s still laughing giddily.

“Ahahaha! Oh, that was so funny!”

I carry her a good distance away from the carriage path before setting her down on the white sands. We both catch our breath for a moment.

She collapses onto the sand, still chuckling and wriggling around.

“What? I’m going to laugh too.”

“It was just so funny!”

“This?”

“Pfft, Damian, you idiot, idiot.”

Without warning, I hoist Trisha up onto my shoulders.

“Whoa! What are you doing! You idiot!”

Trisha slaps my back, but she’s not putting any force behind it.

I charge straight into the river and dive into the water.

***

After swimming around for a while, we emerge from the water.

We both dove in with our clothes on, so they’re heavy and waterlogged. Trisha follows me out, shivering like a wet rat.

She wrings out her white-blond hair with a towel.

“This is actually really nice. The sun and sand are warm, there’s no one around, and the water is so clear.”

She runs to a spot and flops down on the sand.

“We should let our clothes dry. What are you doing?”

“The sand is so warm! I’m going to dry them like this.”

“Suit yourself.”

I take off my shirt. Trisha watches me for a moment, then starts to take off her own clothes.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re naked too!”

I turned my head away in embarrassment, but when I looked again, she was wearing shorts and a tank top, so she wasn’t particularly immodest. Of course, her pale skin was more exposed than before.

I summoned Piyak and placed him on Trisha’s stomach. He seemed to have been sleeping, and he dozed off in the sun.

“Are you going to keep lying there like that?”

“You lie down too!”

“I’m going to go back in the water for a bit.”

“Go ahead!”

I jumped back into the water.

As I was swimming alone in the river, Trisha shouted from afar.

“Demian-ah!”

“What is it!”

“There are wild horses over there!”

Where she pointed, a herd of wild horses were grazing. They had been unicorns before, but now they were wild horses.

“Don’t scare me!”

“I’m going to feed them!”

She’s going to feed them with her ears.

Trisha squatted down in the weeds and began to pluck out handfuls of grass.

After swimming leisurely for a while, Trisha called me again.

“Hwaang! Demian!”

“…?”

“Come here! Hurry!”

She wasn’t kicked by a wild horse, so why is she making such a fuss while picking grass? Did she get bitten by a bug?

I hurriedly swam out and approached Trisha without even drying off.

Trisha made a crying face and held out her palm to me. It was covered in something like clay.

“Hwang. I got this on me!”

A foul stench wafted over me instantly. She must have touched horse dung while picking grass.

“….”

“What do I do! Eww!”

“Come here.”

Do I have to do this too? I grabbed Trisha’s wrist and dragged her to the riverbank. Then I put her hand in the water.

“Now, shake it until it all falls off.”

“…Okay.”

Trisha wiggles her hand as I tell her to. As the contaminants slowly washed away, she looked at the minnows swimming nearby and said something strange.

“Eat up, fishies.”

“….”

It’s time to adapt to this mental world….

***

After we finished playing in the water, we lay down together on the sand to dry off. I enjoyed sunbathing in my underwear.

Trisha, who was next to me, slid one of her legs over mine.

When I pushed it away, she quietly lifted it again and crossed her legs.

My mind feels at ease. It was a good idea to come and play here instead of going to the infirmary that resembles a temple.

It’s true that it’s a nice time, but I still don’t understand why Callius specifically asked me to play with Trisha.

“Trisha.”

“Yes.”

“Are the white crows still around?”

“Um… No! They’re all gone now.”

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“Really?”

Maybe they were spirits that didn’t have any relation to Luna.

Yes.”

“And the professor said this to you. He called you a ‘collector of disasters’. Why?”

“That? Because I brought disasters with me!”

“Unintentionally?”

“No, I did it on purpose. I went around causing accidents.”

“Why did you do something like that?”

“Because no one got angry with me. I wanted to test just how far I could go.”

“Were you an idiot?”

“No. I was so angry because no one got mad at me!”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m serious. I thought a lot about why no one would get mad at me. Was it because I was scary? Were they afraid I’d get revenge when I grew up? Was it because I was precious? It wasn’t any of those.”

“….”

Trisha’s expression darkened a bit.

“It was just because they felt sorry for me. Because the things I would have to carry in the future were too heavy and painful. It was like they had dumped the most important responsibility in the world onto me. I felt sorry, so I accepted it all, and no one could get mad.”

“Those great people? Like Professor Callius?”

“Yes. But now I don’t cause trouble anymore. I’m a lady!”

Just how heavy of a burden must she have been carrying for people like Callius to feel indebted to her? And to this infinitely innocent and pure girl. I can’t believe it. Just who is this girl lying next to me?

“…What are you?”

“A goddess?”

“That’s blasphemy.”

“A goddess who came to harass Damian!”

“What do you want to be when you grow up, my goddess?”

“I want to be a mom soon!”

It feels like a storm cloud has suddenly appeared in the peaceful sky.

Trisha’s wish was the same as what the old Lisa had wanted.