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: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author’s Note:
There were comments saying that mixing the story of the game universe with Fay’s universe caused confusion while reading, so I proceeded to make a paired chapter instead. Well, I also thought so when I reread the story. I don’t know if this will work better, but I can try various options since it’s a web novel.
Original Timeline -> Game Universe.
Alternate Timeline -> Universe where Fay reincarnated in
Please continue supporting me from now on.
I’m also now posting this novel to narou. There were various reasons for this decision, but please support me on that site as well.
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4588hn/
Chapter 041 – Siblings Killing for Love – Original Timeline [A]
[“—Round Table Heroes.”]
[“—‘Killing for Love’ siblings – Prologue”]
Young children wearing medical gowns surrounded a table. On the table was a loaf of bread which the children ate silently.
Though the bread was flavorful, there was no reaction to it from the children at all. There was no enjoyment from eating, there was no chatter from the children. The children ate for the sake of eating, each bite clinically taken like it was more work to be done.
This went on for a while until a boy suddenly bursted into tears, even though there was nothing that seemed to cause it.
As one boy cried, the other children also began to cry in response.
There were many painful scars on their arms and legs, as if they were torn to pieces.
Nothing would change even if they cried. But they shed tears anyway from the throbbing pain of their scars. They were in an underground area made out of rock and built like a prison, and they were brought away from their various villages and special nations to be used as test subjects by a certain organization.
“…”
Among the children who all cried from homesickness, there was one boy who didn’t cry at all and merely continued quietly eating the bread. His appearance and the size of his body suggested that he had not yet reached double digits.
His blond hair and sapphire eyes were beautiful. He stayed silent. Or more specifically, he was enduring in silence.
“…”
“Hey.”
There was a girl around his age sitting in front of him with a purple, jewel-like pendant around her neck. Her eyes were puffy and it was clear she had just cried.
“What?”
“Why didn’t you cry…?”
“I… have decided to not cry. My little sister and my mother are waiting for me back home… I can cry when I meet them again.”
“…You are so strong… If only I could be as strong as you… perhaps I wouldn’t be so sad…”
“…”
“Name.”
“Ah?”
“What’s your name? I’m Sen.”
“…I’m… Kay.”
“Kay, huh… Nice to meet you, Kay.”
“…Sorry, but I won’t mingle with you. I only have thoughts of returning to my little sister and mother in my mind.”
Kay’s attitude was impolite and unpleasant. However, the girl who cried before wore a gentle smile now. Perhaps he became her first love. If things went differently, perhaps she might have still accompanied him even now.
However, if she didn’t talk to him at this moment, Kay might not have been trapped in the past like he was now.
Sen was smiling.
—And he woke up.
Inside a rattling carriage, a young man rubbed his eyes slightly to clear the muck from his vision. The young man was headed for a nation known as the Kingdom of Britannia. After a moment since waking up, he clenched his fist as if he had decided on something.
At that moment, the young man named Kay remembered the dream he had.
One was a vow he made in the past. But that vow has already been abandoned, he was now prepared to trample on it.
He kept clenching his fist tightly. However, he had a sad expression. His determination didn’t waver, but there was a bit of regret.
There was a purple jewel-like pendant that Sen once wore that now sits on Kay’s neck. He grabbed onto the pendant to alleviate his regrets.
As he did that, he gradually calmed down.
The purple jewel shimmered slightly, as if hinting at an ominous premonition.
◆◆
On a certain sunny day. Arthur was training in the wild-like place with three trees in the royal capital Britannia. She was expressionless, and her eyes were dead too, but she kept swinging her sword inorganically to improve herself. 1
The reason Arthur didn’t feel so good was because the people around her kept dying one after another. Beta died on the recent mission at Pond City. It wasn’t like she was close to Beta, but because they were on the same mission, Arthur couldn’t help but wonder if she could have saved Beta’s life if things went differently.
Arthur believed she was to become a hero born from the sacrifices of the world. Therefore, she needed to bring forth a result that was worth more than the sacrifice that was paid to make her.
She had such a vow in her heart. Though Arthur felt she might get crushed under this heavy vow. Even so, she couldn’t afford to abandon it. 2
That was why she trained so hard. She has lost her human nature with a vow she couldn’t break and could only now swing her sword mindlessly. In the midst of her lonely training, she heard footsteps approaching.
It was Bouran, someone who belonged to the same special group as her during the temporary enlistment period.
“Bouran… what’s wrong?”
“No, somehow, you don’t look well… How to put this, it seems you have become worse compared to when we first met…”
“So, you were worried about me… thank you…”
“Don’t overwork yourself… You’re becoming weirder these days.”
“—I’ve already been weird since the beginning. It’s not something that occurred recently.”
“Don’t say such sad things…”
Bouran called out to Arthur again as Arthur was observing Bouran and the two became depressed.
They knew they couldn’t stay this way, so Bouran changed the topic and forced joy into her voice to brighten the atmosphere even a little.
“S-speaking of which! I heard there would be a festival for the paladins! They said it is a time for us, who’ve worked hard for the year, to dance and eat all we want!”
“…I see.”
“…You’ll be going with me, right?”
“…I wonder.”
Bouran kept talking to Arthur, but all she got in response was a lifeless voice. Bouran knew that Arthur was becoming more and more exhausted, however, Bouran had no idea of what Arthur’s goals were or what path she walked.
Bouran felt indignant at how powerless she was as it reminded her of the weak one she hated.
“Ah, that’s-”
Still, when Bouran was about to be considerate to her friend, they noticed an unusual concentration of art nearby. The rate it swelled was abnormal, and it launched like a bullet toward Arthur in an instant.
There were twelve shots of them, with art concentrated in every single one. Even if it hit steel, it would easily pierce through the tough metal. But in spite of such a saturated attack, Arthur imbued light art onto her wooden sword and cut down everything in an instant.
A magic sword was something referred to as a sword enchanted with something, or possessed some sort of special ability which surpassed that of a normal sword. However, it wasn’t something that could be created easily.
Even if a person tried to enchant one, it would take time and effort before one could wield a power that surpassed the natural order of things.
However, there was always an exception in everything, as the wooden sword that Arthur imbued lightly with her art as easily as breathing performed better than a regular magic sword.
A-amazing… This is the difference in our levels.
Genius, such a word slammed into Bouran’s mind. Bouran had felt the gap between their abilities since the temporary enrollment period, but the difference between them now was incomparable to that time. So much so that Bouran didn’t expect the gap between them to be this big.
Be it the speed of Arthur’s sword, her precise handling, fluent flow of art, or flexibility to instantly enter battle state, everything easily went beyond Bouran’s expectations and dropped her jaw in surprise. Even though Bouran was in shock, Arthur only thought she did an ordinary thing.
Arthur glared at the perpetrator as they appeared and uttered:
“Who are you? That’s not a force to be shot at toward humans…”
It was a young man who walked up to her. He looked somewhat similar to Arthur, complete with similar coloration. And she could tell that the young man wasn’t a weak person just by how he walked without showing any openings in his stance.
Even so, Arthur felt a wave of nostalgia pass through her.
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