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 030 – Koala [B]
Fay proceeded to the next part of training and the way people gaze at him naturally changed. Next, they headed to a large room in the basement of the castle. There was something like a magic circle drawn on the ground of the room that looked like a prison made of rock.
“The special magic circle installed in this room had a magic to cause mental burden for the people inside. Of course, the magic would be rendered ineffective if the magic circle is erased. Everyone is to enter this room and make sure not to erase the magic circle.”
Everyone entered the room at Batsubatsu’s order. Everyone’s faces turned pale as soon as they stepped into the room. Arthur’s face was especially remarkable. She held her head as her face turned blue and nauseas struck her.
“Listen, for as long as you can endure—“
Arthur dashed out of the room the moment Batsubatsu said that. It was proof that she couldn’t endure the mental burden this room produced. For Arthur, whose mental fortitude was extremely weak, this room was no different than hell.
“To think someone would fail before I even finished explaining… whatever. All of you are to stay inside for as long as you can endure.”
After he said that, he closed the door of the room.
They all felt as if a big hand were holding onto their brain inside their head. They couldn’t stop shivering as if they were caught in an extortion racket.
Some people tried to calm down by biting their fingernails. Sounds produced by such acts made some people feel irritated and the atmosphere in the room gradually deteriorated. It was already a room that afflicted them with the maximum amount of stress the magic circle could muster to begin with, but the ensuing atmosphere made it even worse.
“Uuh…”
Bouran was holding onto her head. Tlue was also not a person with great mental fortitude, so his expression was also bad. Ese and Kamase’s breathing turned rough despite the fact that they weren’t physically tired.
“GUaaaahhh!!!”
A man screamed as he rushed outside. Some of the people who saw that were also affected and began to leave the room one after another. Seeing one person already choose the easier path, it was natural for them to think they had endured enough.
As they endured the temptation of herd mentality, the few remaining people were exhausted. They felt like they were hearing insults that weren’t there. They wanted to scream out loud to ease their pain even a little, and they wanted to leave the room.
Hurry, hurry, ɥnɹɹʎ,Ｈ∩ᴚ̹ᴚ͞⅄̶. Among the people who still remained, the first to leave was Guren, followed by Fubuki, then Bouran. Tlue’s leg also began to try to leave, although he tried to make his step as heavy as possible. 1
However, his legs were still gradually carrying him to exit. Tlue was trying to stay as long as possible to improve himself. Most people had already left the room.
The ones that remained were Tlue and…
Tlue left the room with a fluttering gait. Sweat gushed out from his whole body and his clothes were tightly stuck on his body. He breathed hard as he fell to his knee.
“It seems the longest one lasted 19 minutes this year.”
Batsubatsu said that. It was a mere 19 minutes, even though they tried their best to endure the mental burden for the longest they could. They despaired at the paltry amount of time they managed to endure.
“Well, whatever. Most rookies that came each year last around this amount of time anyway. I heard there were people who managed to endure for an hour in the past…”
“Um.”
“What?”
“There’s still someone… inside.”
Alpha pointed her finger. When everyone turned their eyes, they saw a man still standing there with a cool face. He had been standing all this time, while some paladins were already exhausted and not near the door. 2
However, the few people who still remained near the door wondered how that man managed to stay there with a cool face.
“…Is this a trial…? Can this thing really make me stronger?”
It was a pure question, like a doubt that came out of an innocent child. He doubted whether this training could make him stronger. It seemed so easy for him that he couldn’t help but think so.
It was as if it bored him, for he didn’t come to this place for mere trivialities. The mental burden didn’t seem to affect him as he put his hand on the ground and resumed his push-ups from earlier.
I-is this guy a monster…?
There was no way one could maintain a normal thought process under the mental burden this room caused. Everyone wished to leave the room as soon as they could. And everyone but him already left the room. Most of the people who managed to remain in that room for a long time were the active first-grade paladins who represented the whole knight brigade.
However, there was a secret setup to this room, for the magic circle would only be active for at most an hour for its every activation. Perhaps there were actually paladins who could last longer than an hour otherwise.
However, none of them did an insane act like doing push-ups inside the room, which would cause further mental burden yet didn’t seem to affect at all like this man did.
Batsubatsu also understood there were people who went beyond common sense out there. He only managed to last 21 minutes inside the room. He still remembered the moment where he threw the content of his stomach out as he shed tears the moment he exited the room back then.
“It’s not enough… What a farce. If this is all, clashing swords with her (Yururu) is worth much more than this.”
He continued to do push-ups with a disappointed face. He already stayed inside for more than an hour before he knew it. He wiped the few sweats he oozed out and casually left the room. Fay didn’t even take a rest and proceeded to do his practice swings.
■■
“…Fay, huh. So he came from the orphanage where that Maria is.”
Magnum was overlooking the afternoon mock combat training from the office. His eyes were looking at Fay, whom Magnum didn’t allow to participate in the mock combats, and instead doing practice swings alone. It was the judgment he made seeing that not only he possessed only the non-elemental affinity, but also his poor art operation, thus making him not worthy to participate in mock combat.
There were documents in Magnum’s hands. A faint memory of the past came back to him, about when he was the instructor of a special unit, training Maria, Marumaru, Batsubatsu, and Kakukaku. 3
“So it seems-. Batsubatsu said he couldn’t help but be surprised how abnormal that guy is.”
Kakukau plainly stated the fact while seemingly not interested in it. From his perspective, Fay was still below a third class regardless how strong his mental fortitude was.
“So he did push-ups in that room… I’ll at least acknowledge his mental fortitude.”
“You’re right. However, it’s not like mere mental fortitude could solve everything. Considering his poor art operation, it’s useless.”
“That’s right. I… don’t want that kind of person. He didn’t fulfill the requirement to join my training to begin with. Tell him there’s no place for him to sleep for the night.”
“Yes.”
Kakukaku replied before Magnum saw him leaving the room. Magnum moved his gaze toward Fay who haughtily swung his sword alone.
Magnum had no intention of changing his evaluation toward Fay. Even if he had a noble soul, it would still be useless. If one could change with just that, nobody would end up dead. It was because Magnum was aware that it wouldn’t change misfortune that would happen
◆◆
The night arrived. The night became colder to the point that one’s breath became visible. Since he was told he had no place to stay in, he continued to swing his katana alone.
It was his usual routine. Regardless of the time of the day, he would swing his katana whenever he had time.
He applied art reinforcement to his whole body as he swung his katana. His dedication made Batsubatsu have no choice but to acknowledge him. Not even a day passed, but it became Batsubatsu’s priority to make the other’s reevaluate their evaluation of Fay.
Batsubatsu looked at Fay through the window. Fay kept swinging his sword all the time. So much so that Batsubatsu thought he would keep swinging his sword until the morning came. Even for the training, although Fay wasn’t allowed to participate in the mock combat, Fay sweated more than anyone else among rookies.
I can’t help but feel his potential.
A man approached that mass of potential known as Fay. Batsubatsu couldn’t hear the man’s voice, but he could make out what the man was talking about from the movement of the man’s mouth.
“There’s no meaning even if you worked hard like this.”
Kakukaku said that to Fay. Fay turned his gaze at him. It was the gaze that asked Kakukaku whether that was all he wanted to talk about.
“Your art operation is way too poor. Looking at it, I doubt there’s any meaning even if you train it. You don’t even have any method of attacking from a distance should the situation call for it. Since you’re so talentless, isn’t it better for you to just give up and work at a flower shop or something?”
That guy… he still has his usual poisonous tongue.
Kakukaku was a paladin who was known for his poisonous tongue. This caused some conflicts with Batsubatsu, but he knew that Kakukaku wasn’t a bad guy at his core. However, saying such words in such a situation was no different than a clear show of malice.
“When you drag others down, others would be too distracted trying to help you. All you could use is your sword, and the sole reinforcement magic you can use isn’t even decently performed. What do you think you can achieve with just that?”
“…”
“That why, it’s better to just give up—“
“—I have resolved myself never to change my path no matter what. That’s my answer. There’s nothing else to talk about.”
Kakukaku felt irked like someone dumped cold water on him. Fay continued to swing his katana without showing any interest in Kakukaku, trying to get stronger in his awkward way. Disappointed that he failed to convince him, Kakukaku left.
Batsubatsu let out a small laugh as he saw that then also left.
◆◆
It was late at night. Fay adjusted his breathing. Fay understood the importance of sleeping, and was about to leave with his back against the castle wall to sleep outside in preparation for tomorrow’s training. Then a beautiful voice reached his ears.
“Fay… come over here.”
“…What do you want?”
“I think it’ll be cold, so let’s sleep together in my room.”
Arthur came to invite Fay to sleep together in her room. Of course Fay, being a cool-type protagonist, rejected her but she forcefully dragged him with her. Since Fay was inferior to her in pure strength, he ended up dragged along.
“It’ll be bad if you catch a cold. It’s time to go to my room.”
“…Oi.”
“It’s okay, just come along with onee-chan.”
“…”
Fay no longer resisted. It was because he understood it was useless to tell her anything at that point. Arthur dragged him to the woman’s dorm where men were forbidden to enter. In the game version, it was about Arthur having a scene of wisdom with Tlue there, but such scenario didn’t apply to the komatsuna.
Just as Arthur tried to sneak Fay inside the woman’s dorm, they encountered Alpha. She was on her way back from picking flowers, and had a suspicious expression as she saw why Fay appeared in the area that was clearly forbidden for men. 4
“Yo-you… that’s, men are not supposed to be here…”
“Eh, ah, um… Fa-Fay should be… okay…”
—Arthur’s communication problem suddenly appeared!!
Since Arthur had a communication problem, she basically only talked decently with Fay, Bouran, Tlue, and Yururu. Since she was quite a Fay otaku, she could quickly close distance once she could tell said person was a similar type of person to Fay, but she couldn’t talk properly to a person like Alpha.
“But, it’s said that men are all beasts.”
“Ah, that’s, Fay, is not such a person, and I promised to lead the minimal imposed cultured and healthy life sthyle. 5
“Eh, ah, I see…”
One could hardly believe this was what Arthur actually said to a person of the same age, which made Alpha feel a bit weirded out. Fay thought as he saw that.
—You’re not a politician running for a campaign, so speak more casually, will you?
Fay looked at Arthur with cold eyes. Arthur then bowed then pulled Fay’s hand along with him and hurriedly proceeded to her room.
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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.
Wow,i am so surprised he shut up the trainer name kakukaku and batsubatsu, are they guide character like yururu?
Thanks for update this chapter..
name theme, kakukaku(angle) represents square and triangle, batsubatsu is cross, and their former teammate marumaru is circle. hey, its ps controller buttons.
meanwhile, maria and magnum is odd one out.
fay didn’t seem to see them like that.
Thank you for the chapter. Poor fay
yeah, dragged by giant panda
I think he’s not poor because have God mentality
its actually beyond godlike