Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Frozen Ink
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 009 – Those who Notice, Those who Protect [B]
For the girl named Bouran, weakness was something detestable. Whether it be from people who didn’t put in the effort to grow stronger, those who are strong but chose nasty methods, or the weak who were victimized by them, she hated them all.
She was once a resident of a certain village. It was a village headed by a beast (beastman) as chief and full of beasts, wherein she was born as the child of the sole human concubine there. Her mother died soon after, and her human genes was stronger than the beast, which made others consider her human instead.
She was strong ever since she was born, whether it was her magic, pure strength, or fighting sense. She was clearly a strong person. However, she was discriminated against due to the fact she was considered a human, and people there feared the possibility she might aim to become the chief.
Her half-brothers subjected her to vile traps. They drugged her and destroyed her chance to fight for the spot. Although she had no interest in that to begin with, nobody believed her, and she ended up seriously injured.
Ever since, she hated the weak.
—I will become truly strong.
Hatred–her hatred for the weak was her everything.
She somehow managed to survive and left her village. She thought that by becoming an adventurer and doing a lot of things, or by becoming a paladin and being active, there were the shortcuts to becoming a strong person.
Then she saw him. A person named Fay who exuded the atmosphere of the strong. He was clearly a person who was cut off from others during the exam.
He exuded the aura of a strong person, and Bouran had some expectations of him. However, he turned out to be a small fry.
He was a small fry both in magic affinity and swordsmanship. It was a disappointment to her. He was a weak person she hated so much.
Therefore, her interest went toward Arthur and Tlue instead. Those two were clearly strong people. Even compared to Bouran, their strength and talent were anomalous. She no longer put Fay in her eyes.
However, her eyes were forcefully drawn to him.
She didn’t notice. The hungry wolf that approached right beside her.
“Err, Bouran-san and Fay-kun, please begin your mock combat.”
“A-i.”
“…”
Fay and Bouran both put their stance. The distance between them was closed in an instant. They swung their sword to each other and clashed, making it appear like a sword dance.
The sounds of the wooden swords were heard, the sounds of their collisions.
Huh? This guy… compared to before.
She felt something strange, something different. However, that wasn’t enough to defeat her. She won and repelled his sword away.
The next day.
…It’s still my victory.
The next day.
Che, he swings his sword at troublesome spots…
She felt something intense gradually approach her. She noticed that his eyes, which contained his bizarre ambition, were getting closer and closer.
…Damn it, we’re evenly matched now?
It was steadily approaching her. Before she knew it, the person she wasn’t even looking at her…
Swords collided with each other. However, Fay launched a flowing series of attacks. As the onslaught continued, Bouran began to get impatient.
I am losing? Against a weak person?
Sweat oozed as impatience filled her and her grip on her sword began to slip. She was driven to the corner by the constant rhythm. She was just desperately deflecting incoming attacks now.
Attack came over and over like rain.
—This rain will never stop until it defeats you.
His eyes and series of attacks seemed to say so. At last, the pressure was about to break her. However, she managed to endure. But by the next moment, due to the intense series of attack, sweat, and impatience, Bouran’s sword was knocked away.
“It’s Fay’s victory!”
“…”
“I…”
It was Fay’s first victory. He, who never won against anyone even once, finally achieved his first win.
Fay looked at Bouran. Their eyes met. His eyes were a void, as if saying he was no longer interested in her (the weak).
“gh, bastard.”
“…Bouran-san.”
“Tch.”
Tlue interrupted her and Bouran clicked her tongue and stopped.
“That’s definitely a fluke. There’s no way I’d lose against that small fry, against the weak…”
She muttered so as if to remind herself. Tlue was looking at her behavior, yet he didn’t say anything. Then the training of the day was done, and since Fay only won once, he still had to do ten rounds around the capital upside down.
“Damn it! To think that I ended up defeated. By such a weak person!”
It was at a certain corner of a vacant lot. Once training ended, Bouran began to swing her sword once the sun began to set. She usually returned to the dorm as soon as training ended, but she proceeded on some additional training just for today.
“Bouran-san.”
“Aah?! What is it, Tlue?!”
“No, well… I always think you seem to be mistaken about something, so I thought I needed to say it.”
“…Ah?!”
Bouran gave a dissatisfied look at Tlue who appeared all of sudden.
“Please come along with me for a bit.”
“…Tch. What’s up with you?”
Although Bouran gave a curt reply, she still followed him. After a while, they arrived at their usual training ground where there were three trees.
“Do you see that?”
“…It’s Fay, and Yururu too.”
“Yes.”
The sun had already set. Cool breeze blew past. However, the place they were looking at was like purgatory. There was a person there who was desperately trying to improve himself.
“Is he still not done with his ten laps?”
She referred to the ten laps around the capital upside down as the punishment for the minimal number of victories. However, Tlue answered her question with denial.
“No, he already did that.”
“…Hah?”
“He does this every day, after he is done with his ten laps.”
“…Every day. Even though we already trained that much—“
“That had nothing to do with him. I… I hated him. His violent attitude at the orphanage is already bad enough, and he also did tons of other bad things to me and others in the orphanage.”
“…”
“But he suddenly changed. Into something scary… and I become scared of him. However, there’s one thing I can say about him.”
Tlue spoke without expression.
“He is a strong person.”
“…”
“He turns his solitude into strength and keeps on running. He suddenly became like that two years ago. I was always scared of him since then and became conscious of him. That’s why I can tell. He’ll keep on running. His initial steps have him dragging mud along, though.” 1
“…”
“However, it is no coincidence that he managed to win against Bouran-san today. He keeps on running. And now, he manages to touch Bouran-san’s back… I think that’s the case.”
“Why do you even bother telling me all this?”
When Bouran said that, Tlue revealed a bitter smile. No, perhaps it was closer to dry laughter. What he said was some sort of warning out of sympathy.
“I also wonder why myself. But Bouran-san… if you keep underestimating him, you’ll be in for a world of pain.”
It was a fear without deceit. Tlue who experienced that personally knew it well. Perhaps the girl in front of him would also taste that eventually.
It was a fear similar to thinking of stepping on a snake, only to learn it was actually a dragon’s tail.
“Just like me.”
“…Did hear what you’ve just said?”
“Yes, as ashamed as I am, I’ve been traumatized by it… I don’t want to experience such fear anymore. Also, mock combat stops once the sword is knocked away, right?”
“…It’s a mock combat after all.”
“If you fight him for real, he’ll be as persistent as a snake. His persistence would make him endure the severity of pain and trial, allow him to become stronger, and eventually turn him into a dragon.”
“…”
“Well, that’s all I want to talk about. I’m going somewhere else. I’ll get caught if I keep staying here.”
“…Oi, did you always watch him like this?”
“…I guess so. The sister at the orphanage requested me to, and I also didn’t want to look away, personally.” 2
Tlue was leaving as if to escape. The wind blew and she was left all alone. She thought of him as a weak person… but she began to reconsider.
She could win without a doubt if she used magic. However, that was no different than saying that she abandoned the match.
Therefore, she decided to challenge him with nothing but swordsmanship…
“I’ll admit it: you are a strong person. And remember this, Fay. I’ll win against you without fail.”
She saw her nemesis and left. There are only strong people there.
■◆
Yo! My first victory!! 1200 matches, 1199 defeats, and 1 victory! Well, to think I came this far. Even I understand what kind of character I was.
I guess I was a hardworking protagonist. There was no doubt about it. To think that I was only convinced now after living here for over two years. So I was a cool-type yet keen on hard work, huh. That was why the challenge was naturally great.
Well, I still have expectations that I have an awakening event that had not yet happened to me, though.
Perhaps I would defeat them in order of Bouran -> Tlue -> Arthur. Perhaps it was something like that?
I guess I have to grow stronger step by step after all.
Well then, the next one would be you, Tlue! I think I can defeat him if I train a bit more!
Since I already defeated Bouran once, I wasn’t interested in her that much. It wasn’t that interesting to deal with an opponent I’ve already defeated once after all.
I need to take one step after another.
Also, Arthur was just way too strong. She was that dangerous. I still couldn’t see myself winning against her yet.
But I would eventually win.
I should put more effort, I guess?
■◆
During the night when everyone was already asleep, there was a man walking alone in the city. It was hard to make out his appearance as he was mostly covered with a robe. He seemed to be looking for something.
“Aah, I wonder if there is anyone that could be my experimental animal…”
That person was walking with a dagger in hand.
And finally, an arc of despair had begun.
Author Note:
Arthur: 1200 matches, 1200 victories, never defeated.
Tlue: 1200 matches, 750 victories, 450 defeats
Bouran: 1200 matches, 449 victories, 751 defeats
Fay: 1200 matches, 1 victory, 1199 defeats
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“It’s Tlue trying to move on from his trauma, not other implicit meaning.”
LOL, no hints of BL here.
sometimes, things need to be explicitly stated.
Thank you for the chapter!!
really enjoying it!!
Typo(maybe):
“…Did hear what you’ve just said?”
*Did you hear what you
thx for reading too
btw, where is that typo from? i quick read and couldn’t find it
“Јuѕt lіkе mе.”
“…Dіd hеаr whаt уоu’vе јuѕt ѕаіd?”
“Yеѕ, аѕ аѕhаmеd аѕ І аm, І’vе bееn trаumаtіzеd bу іt… І dоn’t wаnt tо ехреrіеnсе ѕuсh fеаr аnуmоrе. Аlѕо, mосk соmbаt ѕtорѕ оnсе thе ѕwоrd іѕ knосkеd аwау, rіght?”