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!
Second Arc – Official Enrollment
Chapter 013 – Arthur under the moon [A]
There was a bright red puddle. There was so much blood on the ground that one might mistake it as a pond of blood.
A girl stood in the center of that. Her eyes were hollow and she was on her knees in the sea of blood of despair.
Ripples spread in the sea of blood. They spread steadily around her. Something approached as if being drawn in by her.
“Give, it, back…”
“It, hurts…”
“Give it, back.”
There were two women whose eyes were missing and another with a hole in her chest. The three people drenched in blood approached the blonde girl.1
Before she noticed it, there were piles of corpses around her. The scene invited nausea and dizziness. The girl blocked her ears and closed her eyes, trying to avoid perceiving the things around her.
Kill, kill, kill. By doing so and taking away, she managed to live on. Her hands were red, and her beautiful body was stained with blood, which made her feel a sense of rejection as if her whole body was soaked in blood.
Even if she blocked her ears and closed her eyes, the screams still echoed inside her heart. She recalled the figure of a bloody girl sewn on the back of her eyelids.
“I, have to, become a hero… until then, I’m not allowed, to die…”
Muttering to herself as if cursed, she uttered a foolish lie to maintain her sanity. Then, she, Arthur, woke up. Her body was drenched with cold sweat, and her mind was exhausted due to the nightmare.
“…”
It was a female dormitory for the Knights of the Round Table. She woke her body, brushing off her drowsiness, and looked at the moon from the window which shone upon her body.
She didn’t hate the moon. She felt like she was being cleansed by its light.
She absentmindedly looked up to the moon. However, her drowsiness didn’t return. She just looked at the moon without thinking of anything as time went by.
She opened the window and felt the wind. Her sweat dried a little and it made her feel calmer. But still, she wasn’t completely calm.
She left the dormitory. It was because she wanted to walk around the capital while feeling the wind. She simply wanted a change of pace. She didn’t want to remember the bad thing in her memories. Her temporary enrollment would end soon. Therefore, training would become even more intense.
There was still training for tomorrow, and the group was expected to be in perfect condition for that. She had to sleep no matter what. That was why she chose to go out for a bit. It was because of the thought that by moving her body for a bit, she might be able to calm down which would allow her to go back to her sleep.
There were neither sound nor people. As she walked around the capital, she felt all alone.
However, she faced reality and knew it was obvious for her.
She had no destination and continued to walk. When she noticed it, she realized her feet were bringing her to their usual training spot. She walked through the wilderness. There was nobody, only the wind blew…
—But there was actually someone there.
Because the light in the sky was hidden by a cloud, she couldn’t see who it was. However, she chose to walk to that spot. The wind blew and the cloud moved. Gradually, the area became lit by the moon.
“Fay…”
“…Arthur, huh.”
Fay was there. Although she didn’t know if they would belong to the same corps, she was acquainted with him.
He replied to her voice without interest and didn’t even look at her direction, with his back still facing her.
“Why are you here?”
“…Is that something you need to know?”
“I’m just asking because I’m curious.”
“…I’m training. I just now took a break.”
She naturally felt a sense of security as she heard Fay’s emotionless words. Both of them talked with low tones. People who didn’t know them would think they were machines who conversed with each other.
However, she liked this feeling.
She didn’t know why, but she liked the serene feeling and out-of-place feeling she felt.
Even now, although she wasn’t calm yet, she felt mysteriously fulfilled.
“Fay… why are you so strong?”
“…Is that sarcasm?”
“…It’s not.”
“…Fuhn, I can only hear that as sarcasm considering how you always overwhelm me.”
“…It’s not sarcasm.”
Fay snorted in a bad mood and showed a strong attitude as he said that with a low tone without looking at her. In Fay’s perspective, he could only consider her words as sarcasm since she always beat him in the training.
“I am weak…Fay is definitely stronger… After all, I’m using a sly method…”
Her words were steadily deflating. There was no lie in her words, and Arthur was getting sad as she looked at herself. Her inorganic yet well-organized face was sad, and she gave off a feeling of withered flower which was unbearable to look at.
Since she looked beautiful, it was easy for others to feel sympathy for her. It would make them want to soothe her.
However, the words that came out of Fay was the completely opposite.
“…I don’t like it.”
His voice echoed at night. His words were filled with irritation in contrast to her tragic words.
“Eh?”
“I don’t like you. Don’t say such words despite being the strongest in our group. You are a strong person. Why don’t act more arrogant instead?”
“…But.”
“Fuhn, whatever. Accompany me for a bit.”
He finally turned around and faced her with those words. He then threw his spare wooden sword at her. Arthur caught it with her right hand.
“…I don’t mind.”
“Just do the usual. Come.”
With that word, the first to move was Arthur. She slashed diagonally from the upper right. Fay blocked it without expression as if he read her movement.
However, Arthur’s sword accelerated from that point. Her sword gradually increased its speed at a regular interval without stagnation. It was swordplay which also served as warming up. Fay, who felt that, got angry once again.
Fay’s body had already warmed up and his muscles were already loose. Although he was a bit tired, he was still in better shape than Arthur. But despite that, he was still being pushed back by Arthur.
Then his sword was knocked up to the sky as usual.
“Cih, it’s your victory.”
“…Uhn.”
“As much as I don’t want to admit it, it was overwhelming. The difference between us is like heaven and earth.”
“…”
“And you still call yourself weak despite that.”
“…Even with that, I’m still weak.”
“Fool… you said you’re weak despite winning? Enough of your nonsense. You won against me, Tlue, and Bouran. What would that make us, those who lost against you?”
“…”
“You’re really are an unlikable fellow. That’s not you being humble; you’re just being subservient and making others feel uncomfortable with that.”
“…Sorry.”
She looked down once again.
“…Don’t deny the path you’ve taken. That would be an insult for those who are involved with you.”
“…”
“The winner has the obligation to carry the burden of the loser and move on. If you have time to look back and sympathize, keep walking proudly forward instead.”
This might be the first time Fay and Arthur had an argument. Arthur didn’t change her mind even after Fay told her.
Fay seemed to understand that and didn’t say anything after that. It was an obvious thing, for it might be impossible for one to completely understand another person.
Arthur thought Fay was similar to her, but from their argument, she learned that there was a difference and that had changed her a bit. That was why she felt sad.
Perhaps she wanted to fill the void in herself and tried to search for something in common.
“…I have to, become a hero, no matter what.”
“…”
“…I was fighting for that sake.”
“…”
“What is Fay fighting for?”
“…What, huh. Let’s see. I… keep fighting to prove that I am myself. I just think it is something I should do.”
“…I don’t understand.”
“…Well, it’s quite similar to you. It’s not like it’s wrong to think I am fighting to be a hero.”
“I see. Fay wants to be a hero?”
“…I guess so.”
“I don’t want to become one. But, I have to become one no matter what.”
“…You sure are a hard to understand fellow.”
…Fay and I are different. I aim to be a hero despite not wanting to become one. He wanted to be a hero so he aims to be one. He is definitely the person with potential to be a real hero.
However… I think I have to become one no matter what… My magic aptitude, swordsmanship, and everything made it so… Just a patch-up work of a fake, though.
…Arthur the hero… huh…
She was aiming to be a hero. She had aimed for it no matter what. The burden that the girl named Arthur carried with her was way heavier than any other paladin. She always felt the weight of that burden might crush her at any moment.
She wished she could have lived her life as a normal village girl. However… destiny refused to let her. She was sure she couldn’t escape from that heavy burden no matter wh—
“But don’t worry. You’ll never be the hero.”
“—eh.”
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…you will never be the hero? Those words never sounded so.. so bloody cool
Well, Fay just destroyed that scene.
I’m…I’m honestly baffled in the most delightful way. That’s one thing really great about this story: something is extremely predictable/forced, but other times it is the most unpredictable thing in the world for me. The entire experience is so enjoyable!
Este tipo quiere una obra maestra. Son para pasar el rato.
This author is definetly a danmachi fans.
Thanks for chap
Makes me wonder if their world is completely filled with human experiments.
There’s maria with altered memories, those 3 brothers and family. Now artificially made arthur. Not to forget the human-beast hyrbid girl.
Typo:
Something approached as if being in by her.
*being drawn
fixed
thx
Fay was so cool there
Thank you for the chapter!!
Fay was just being himself