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: ink
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 028 – Handkerchief [A]
Winter was getting colder and New Year’s Eve was coming soon. There was a bit of snow in the royal capital. One could feel the atmosphere as the snow kept falling there.
Adults share some skin1, while the children run around in the snow.
A man walked. It was Fay. His unusual training regime made him physically exhausted. He wouldn’t act against his belief and would only walk the path he believed in, he would never stray on the things he didn’t believe or go against his belief.
He stopped by a general store. He entered the store and was looking for items with keen eyes. He didn’t spare a glance at the hair ornaments, rings, necklaces, or other jewelry. He was just looking for a certain thing.
Some customers were afraid of his eyes and atmosphere, but he didn’t notice it and kept looking for what he sought. His eyes stopped and he reached out his hand. The thing that Fay took was a yellow handkerchief.
He took the handkerchief to the cashier. The yellow handkerchief was reasonably priced. He paid the money and left the store.
Then Yururu & Mei appeared at that moment. Apparently, both of them were shopping together.
“Ah, Fay-kun-!”
Yururu, 23 years old, waved her hands cheerfully like a child as usual. Mei approached and gave a bow as she greeted Fay.
“It’s unusual for Fay to come out of a general store.”
“…There’s no particular reason.”
“I don’t think Fay-kun would do anything without any meaning, but… well, I won’t ask.”
“Good afternoon Fay-sama.”
“Aah.”
Fay tried to finish the conversation by replying perfunctory. Yururu was aware Fay wasn’t a person who was active in a conversation, so she didn’t force him to accompany her. Just as Fay was about to leave,
“Ah, isn’t it Fay!”
“Good afternoon, Fay.”
There were Yururu and Mei at the front gate and Bouran and Arthur at the rear gate. That was the only way to express Fay’s current situation.
“Err, It’s Yururu-sensei and… I don’t know who the other person is. Do you know who that is, Arthur?”
“She seems to be Mei, Yururu-sensei’s maid…”
“Hee-, so that’s how it is-! It’s my first time seeing a maid!! She sure wears fluttery and cute clothes (innocent).”
“Thank you very much, Bouran-sama.”
“Eh? You know about me?”
“Yes, Mei has heard from Yururu ojou-sama. Then based on what Mei has heard, Mei judged that you are Bouran-sama.”
“Maid is amazing (innocent).”
“It’s an obvious thing to do as a maid.”
Bouran’s expression was filled with curiosity about the existence of a maid she saw for the first time. Meanwhile, Arthur didn’t seem to have a good impression about Mei. Arthur’s instinct told her there was something unlikable about Mei.
“I’m leaving.”
“Eh-? Fay, you see,”
“…What?”
“Let’s have a meal!”
“Just go with Arthur.”
“You see, I’ve gone together with Arthur many times, so let’s have a meal together for once. Let’s invite those two as well.”
“I refuse. I have no time.”
“Che, oh well. I’ll invite you again sometime!”
“I didn’t say I’ll be going though.”
“Fay will go, since I know Fay is kind.”
Arthur acted like she knew everything about Fay as usual. Yururu smiled at their exchange, while Mei was lost in her delusion.
Is this… a shuraba?! Is it the foreshadowing of the future conflict between ojou-sama, Arthur-sama, and Mei?! As for Bouran-sama… she is a pure person. There was no doubt that she had nothing to do with romance.
Fay left the scene as he didn’t feel like accompanying them any longer. Arthur was a bit disappointed that she had less conversation with Fay than she expected. Bouran was also a bit disappointed since they didn’t get to eat together. Meanwhile, Mei was suspicious about a possible foreshadowing.
Under such circumstances, only Yururu had a satisfied expression with a relaxed grin as she saw Fay wearing the muffler that she made.
◆◆
Fay ate his breakfast as usual at the orphanage in winter. There was Maria who wore a red flower ornament and Lele in front of him. It was one scene of his usual everyday life. However, if there was anything different, it would be that Maria blinked more that day.
She was busy glancing at Fay, then looking away, then she seemed to make her resolve and looked at him, but then she decided to drop the issue and look away.
“What? Is there something in my face?”
“Eh? Ah, no… there’s nothing, just forget it, Fay.”
“…There’s no way there’s nothing since you keep looking like that. What is it? Say it, it’s annoying seeing you keep doing that.”
“…I-I’m sorry. It’s…”
Maria’s words got stuck. Lele sensed the atmosphere and raised his voice.
“Maria wants Fay to come along to visit her mother’s grave!”
“…I see, so that’s how it is.”
“Le-Lele?! Why do you know that?!”
Maria didn’t tell that to Lele, or anyone else in the orphanage. Although she wanted Fay to come along to visit her mother’s grave, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. It was natural for her to be astonished by Lele who managed to guess that correctly.
“Because Maria said that you wanted to visit your mother’s grave once! I think you must have wanted to visit it with Fay!”
“Lele… You’re sharp. I’m surprised.”
Maria certainly had a faint memory that she once muttered that she wanted to visit the grave. However, Maria couldn’t help but think that Lele was a genius for linking that muttering to her wish of wanting to go there along with Fay.
However, in Lele’s perspective, he knew that Maria was in love with Fay and depended on Fay. So the moment Maria mentioned wanting to visit the grave, Lele had already thought to convince Fay to go with Maria to begin with.
Lele merely said what he wanted to say. He didn’t read Maria’s thoughts at all.
He merely tied up the topic together randomly. It was the action he took to try bringing Fay and Maria together. Even if Lele’s guessed wrongly, he was aware that Fay wouldn’t let Maria visit the grave alone.
“…I see. Why do you hesitate to say that?”
“That’s because… I thought it would trouble you. Fay is busy, right? Because you’re busy … training, training, training… and training.”
“…You’re not wrong about that. It’s just… whatever, I’ll go with you.”
“Eh? Is-is it really okay?”
“…Cih. It can’t be helped, but for me you are… no, forget about that. Anyway, I’ll go with you. It’ll be training for me if demons appear after all.”
“Tha-thank you.”
I’ll be happy if Fay and Maria end up together!
Lele felt their relationships were like newlyweds who were being considerate of each other. Although Fay said it couldn’t be helped, he didn’t forget his gratitude for Maria’s usual care. Fay’s words might be awkward, but his feelings were transmitted to Maria and Lele.
Maria-! Do your best-! Kiss him-!
Although his eyes couldn’t see, Lele, who was good at reading the heart, secretly cheered for Maria.
◆◆
Fay wore a red muffler and black robe on top of his clothes. There was a sword and a katana on his waist. On the other hand, Maria, who wore a blue flower ornament, was a little more fashionable than usual. 2
Her hair was carefully smoothed, and the clothes she wore weren’t her usual Sister clothes, but a white long-sleeved blouse, a brown coat, and a long skirt with a red floral pattern. The white long-sleeved blouse was tight on her since it wasn’t the correct size.
She was exuding an adult’s sensuality.
Uuh, the clothes are too tight… I think the button might tear off at any moment… I thought I would never wear this kind of clothes, I did my best when I bought it but the size doesn’t fit at all…3
She never paid any particular attention to fashion since long ago, be it her days as a knight where she was driven by vengeance, or her present days as a Sister. She only wore either knight clothes or Sister’s clothes. That was all she would wear.
She never thought a day would come where she would walk alongside a person of the opposite sex she was interested in.
It was natural for men around to steal glances at her seeing her abundant chest, hips, and sensuality. However, Fay alone didn’t seem particularly fascinated by Maria. He was heading for the gate to leave the royal capital with his usual frosty expression.
Although she was slightly dissatisfied with Fay who didn’t seem to care, he was still walking together with her. They were satisfied just by walking together beside him. 4
As they walked together, a man who was captivated by Maria’s sensuality appeared in front of them.
“You look great, nee-chan. How about a drink with me—“
“…Piss off.”
“Hih! I-I’m terribly sorryyyyyy!!”
The man who lightly called for her got done in by Fay’s pressure and ran away. Maria felt what Fay did just now was like a boyfriend who protected his lover from a bad guy and her cheek felt hot from the thought.
On the other hand, Fay just kept walking. Since he was constantly emitting his pressure, no man dared to approach Maria anymore. As they safely left the royal capital, they proceeded to Maria’s, no, Lilia and Maria’s hometown.
After leaving the royal capital, only Lilia and Maria knew the way, so Fay slowed down a bit and walked further behind. Since they never went out somewhere far away while lining up together, the atmosphere was practically dead.
The atmosphere was usually dead when they were together, but there was no Lele right now to help them. Although Maria wanted to talk about something, she wasn’t good at conversing.
“Err, how have you been lately, Fay?”
“I train, fill my stomach, sleep, train, and repeat.”
“Ah, yes. I know that… Well, I heard you recently got acquainted with a person named Mei-san, right? I heard it from Tlue.”
“…Aah, you mean her.”
“How is it? I heard she is quite a beauty.”
Maria knew a bit about Fay’s relationships with women. But how was it really? Maria was curious whether there was any changes recently.
She couldn’t accompany him on the mission, and Fay wouldn’t say anything even if something did happen.
She wasn’t so foolish to think she was Fay’s lover. However, she was still curious about the person she loved.
“Nothing in particular. I spent most of my time training, after all.”
“…I see. It’s Fay after all. Then… how about Yururu-san?”
In a sense, that was the thing she was most curious about. Maria was aware the woman named Yururu Garethia was in a master-disciple relationship with Fay. However, Maria was also aware that Yururu had another feeling toward her disciple.
From Maria’s perspective, Yururu was the closest woman to Fay.
“I was taught the middle-grade movement the other day.”
“Middle-grade? Ah-, Namikaze Seishinryuu, is it?”
“Aah, it’s not a vertical parry to counter, but horizontal parry to counter. If one makes a mistake on the timing of a parry, one would damage themselves.”
“…Aah, yes. What else?”
“I was also taught hand to hand combat.”
“He, heeeh.”
I think Yururu-san was having a hard time about this… So Fay is insensitive to women’s goodwill… Well, Tlue is way worse than Fay, though… When Iris asked him to go out together, he answered that if she asked him to be a luggage carrier… 5
Fay casually stated only the facts. He wouldn’t talk if Maria didn’t ask him. He was gentle enough to answer her question properly, but Maria thought his interest in women was a bit off.
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Also, Tsukii has picked up a new series called “A Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious!” The title really says it all. Early access to more chapters for this story is available on Patreon.
Fay’s ability to attract older woman never disappoint.
I think maria have a plus point to be mother type
Thanks for update!