Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
Since Professor Schmidt has appeared, there was no way I would leave Mint out.
Thank you for typo reports as always.
Chapter 010 – Fufufu, son. It’s a Promising Newcomer
Rean, who was forced to participate in Schmidt’s elective class, was busy studying orbal science.
His basic knowledge wasn’t bad, but it was orbal science, a representative field study of Zemuria, which was rapidly progressing.
Even Crossbell’s orbal terminal, which was recently introduced, continued to be improved day by day, and they changed so quickly that a new one would completely replace the older type in just a few months.
The introductory class for the introductory terminal was difficult, and Rean was busy trying to understand how the introductory terminal worked.
Rean received a few books from the professor that suggested something like “even monkeys could understand,” but since he lacked the necessary knowledge, he couldn’t really grasp the points.
Rean wanted to rely on Emma, but he felt hesitant out of guilt since it was him who had dragged her into this to begin with.
Besides, Emma also talked to Professor Schmidt even outside the after school period, so Rean thought he couldn’t afford to trouble her in these difficult times, even if Emma was the valedictorian in her first year.
Rosine told Rean not to worry and asked him to study together, but his guilt got the better of him so he just said he would do to the best of his ability first.
Also, Rosine had been talking to Instructor Thomas a lot lately.
Rean thought Rosine found it easier to understand when she asked Thomas first than asking the professor directly. Rean noticed that Rosine was carrying a bowgun and her uniform was a little dirty, as if she had been in combat, so he was a little curious about that, though.
As for Beryl, her teaching and learning methods were too unique to be helpful.
She would answer if Rean asked and her knowledge was accurate.
However, Rean noticed she only seemed to be holding the textbook with her with no sign of it being read, as if Beryl only knew the answer of the question he asked and how to solve it.
Perhaps she divined the answer without using her crystal ball?
Because of that, Rean thought it wasn’t a good idea to ask Beryl, at which she stared at Rean with a faint smile.
[“Fufufu, son. It is a student’s duty to study. Do your best.”]
I’m already having a hard time with regular classes, but the elective classes make it even harder. In this case, the experiment of summoning Valimar is easier in comparison.
{“Fumu, it doesn’t feel bad to be relied on, but this place of study is something my previous awakener, Dreichels, made. In respect of his will, it’s preferable for Rean to study as well.”} 1
Twitch… Rean felt his heart ache.
Even after several days had passed, he still couldn’t get used to hearing Valimar’s voice coming from a strange spot.
When Valimar started to talk and Rean learnt it had amnesia, Rean felt a sense of kinship with it.
Until Rean met Osbon, Rean also struggled due to being an abandoned child, and then the power of ogre had manifested when he was out of control.
Although Rean had accepted himself now, he thought it must be anxious to have no memories that made up its personality, so Rean had Valimar also converse with Emma and others as well.
Perhaps it was thanks to that, Valimar managed to remember that its previous awakener was Dreichels, the person known as the Father of the Renaissance of the empire, and the person who established Thors Military Academy.
Rean didn’t know more than that, so he went to Principal Vandyck, Prince Olivert the chairman of academy, and Instructor Thomas the history instructor to hear more about War of the Lions and Dreichels together with Valimar, but Rean couldn’t help but be on curious by how they, with exception of Prince Olivert, were looking at Rean with indescribable expression.
The prince on the other hand, jokingly asked that Rean should join the Imperial Family, but Rean politely declined.
In addition, the students as well as the instructors who participated in the elective class witnessed Schmidt remotely control the Divine Knight in his experiments and seemed to look at him in a similar way.
What on earth were they worried about?
[“Fufufu, there’s nothing to worry about.”]
{“Umu. Perhaps they found my existence unusual.”}
——Rean, who was already used to living with a mysterious object called Osbon, underestimated the fact of what it meant for Valimar, something that could be described as a machine yet also a living spirit, living inside him.
Even to Emma, Rosine, and others, who understood the circumstances and did their best giving follow-ups, an occult-like phenomenon of hearing the voice of a third party out of nowhere, with no sign of ARCUS or a orbal terminal being used, was something hard to accept.
Even if they had seen the existence of a Divine Knight in person, humans couldn’t accept something like that easily.
Because the people that Rean interacted closely with were Emma the witch, her familiar Celine, gentle girl Rosine, and Beryl, the head of occult club, all of which accepted such paranormal phenomena, Rean’s objective self-awareness was somewhat lacking.
It would be nice if there was someone who could calmly point that out, but the student groups were busy dealing with additional classes, the adult group chose to keep their distance in their interaction, Celine didn’t understand humanity’s machines well so she couldn’t give advice, and Osbon, the origin of all this evil, talked a lot with Valimar, so the current situation surrounding Rean had remained unchanged since the entrance ceremony.
On the other hand, Rean was able to find people who could understand him and Osbon, and combined with the idiom that gossip only lasts 75 days, he didn’t feel like making an effort to improve the situation.
What should I do as a breather…? I already fish a lot, and working up sweat through training won’t feel like a breather… ah, come to think of it, there was the latest model of orbal radio that George-senpai gave me.
Rean intended to ask about what radio program to listen to the day he received the orbal radio, but he missed the timing due to an old schoolhouse exploration that would be happening soon after.
It would be bad for him to not use it after he received it as a gift.
There might not be a popular program running for the day, but Rean decided to just listen to it anyway.
Perhaps it was because he was lost in thought?
He realized later that the position of the textbook he was holding in front of him had shifted.
At the same time, a cute voice and a green uniform was visible through the gaps of textbooks.
Rean looked through the textbook and noticed there was a green-haired student who had fallen on her hips.
It was an unbelievable blunder for Rean, who prided himself on being able to sense presences.
Rean held that thought in his mind and extended his hand toward the fallen student as he apologized.
“Sorry about that, I was lost in thought and I failed to notice you were there. Can you stand?”
“Y-yes. Thanks. You’re like a wall, considering how much you bounced me off-…”
The student in green uniform stopped speaking as she accepted Rean’s hand and stood up.
The girl was petite, shorter than female students of similar age, making her height more similar to that of Towa, and she was staring intently at Rean’s face.
“Err…? Is something wrong?”
As expected, Rean was confused by the stare and waited for the girl to say something while scratching his cheek.
Then the girl raised her voice loudly and grabbed Rean’s hand.
“Are you Rean Schwarzer-kun? The Professor Schmidt’s assistant.”
“Assistant… well I guess that’s not exactly wrong. Anyway, I’m Rean Schwarzer.”
“Aah, so that’s why there are so many rumors about you since the entrance ceremony. My uncle often talked about the professor, but I guess it makes sense for the assistant of that professor to be a little quirky.”
“Err, you are?”
“Oops, excuse me. I’m Mint. Nice to meet you.”
“…………………”
“Rean-kun?”
[“Fufufu, son. You should return her greetings properly.”]
{“Greetings are important, Dreichels also did them properly.”}
The girl who introduced herself as Mint greeted Rean with a child-like smile.
Rean’s friends were either of the calm or somewhat suspicious kind, so Rean wasn’t used to being greeted so cheerfully at the academy, with exception of the one from Towa, so Osbon and Valimar’s words quickly returned him to his senses and he hurriedly greeted back.
“S-sorry. Nice to meet you, Mint.”
“Yea. Is that the textbook used in Professor’s classes?”
Since Mint was holding Rean’s hand, she noticed the textbook that was being held in his other hand.
Since her eyes seemed to be so wistful, Rean obediently handed the textbook to Mint.
“If you’re curious, you can take a look.”
“Really? Thanks!”
Mint said that as she read the textbook.
She read the book quickly and muttered “It’s so easy to understand~” but Rean suspected Mint was just skimming the content, considering how fast she read.
However, it seemed Mint understood the content properly, saying “I see~” as she continued to read.
“Since you’re so interested, why didn’t you take the elective class? I never saw you in class, Mint.”
“Ah~ I got club activity after school. I’m in the Wind Orchestra club, so it just feels wrong to skip that one and go to elective class.”
“Professor Schmidt’s visit to the academy is so sudden to begin with after all.”
The person who could be said to be the cause spoke as if it was someone else’s business.
“But I undertand. I guess there are some students who couldn’t participate because they’re involved in club activities… maybe I can consult the professor about this?”
“Hoeh?”
“It would be helpful for me if a student like Mint, who is knowledgeable about orbal science, participates as well. Do you have time now?”
“It’s not okay if it takes a long time, but I guess it’s okay if it’s just for a short time?”
“Well then, let’s meet the professor together. Since you’re a promising student, perhaps the professor might be willing to compromise a little.”
＊
“Hmph, so it’s Makarov’s niece. If you’re going to take my class, you should prioritize this over everything else.”
It was no good.
Rean and Mint arrived at the professor’s room, which had been hastily cleaned and had a orbal terminal brought in, only to receive Schmidt’s merciless words.
“Makarov, do you mean Instructor Makarov? She’s his niece?”
“Yes. My mom’s younger brother is that uncle.”
“So that’s why you mentioned uncle.”
Rean was a little surprised that Makarov, who always had the impression of being listless, actually had such a bright and cheerful niece.
Or perhaps the said elder sister… as in, Mint’s mother might be a cheerful person.
“Imperial citizens are about excelling in both literary and military, right? Even if you participate, the class is only for about an hour, so try to make up for that much delay on your own.”
“If you put it that way… in that case, can I join from today onward?”
“The class registration is already closed, or so I’d like to say, but since you’re Makarov’s niece, you should be quite decent. Very well, I’ll have you help too.”
“Hooray~!”
The way Mint jumped was childish in a different sense compared to Towa.
But Rean, who introduced Mint to Professor Schmidt, couldn’t help but worry whether she could get along well with the professor who was known for his difficult temperament.
[“Fufufu, son. Seeing that her ‘daughter power’ or ‘granddaughter power’ seems high, I think they are a surprisingly good match to each other.”]
{“Regardless of eras, seeing children smiling like this is a good thing.”}
Both seemed to speak as if they were fathers or grandfathers.
“By the way, why are you here, Emma? I think there’s no class scheduled for you today.”
“Ahaha. I told club president Dorothee about this and took some time off. I personally found a lot to learn in this extracurricular class.”
Rean was late to notice since he was introducing Mint to Schmidt, but there was Emma at one of the classroom’s desks.
She didn’t operate an orbal terminal, but instead wrote in her notebook.
After Emma and Mint were introduced to each other, Emma spoke about the reason why she was in the professor’s classroom.
“There are a lot of experiments involving various applications other than Valimar. I came to help with that.”
“I have something to gain in it as well. Witch, is it? The approach is different, but since the rule of the Seven Elements still applies to it, I guess it is similar in a sense.”
It had only been a few days since the class started, but since Valimar’s personality had been awakened from the beginning, the Arts designed by the professor, which could be called Deus Arts, was used through remotely controlling the Divine Knight, causing the experiment to slightly deviate from the original plan.
Emma’s power played a great part in that.
When Rean told Schmidt that Valimar’s personality had inhabited in him through the Power of Ashen, Celine screamed in astonishment, causing Emma to feel it was ridiculous to keep hiding her identity as a witch, so she proceeded to reveal her identity.
Schmidt was a person who placed more emphasis on the person’s ability rather than their origin.
Moreover, Emma was someone who was capable of sending Rean far away on the night of the entrance ceremony through use of long-distance teleportation.
Thinking of the possibility of machines to teleport if they were equipped with a mechanism to manipulate Space elements, Schmidt was conducting various trials and errors in order to design something that could preserve the art of spatial interference.
“I just find it enjoyable that I’ve become able to do various things through the feeling of being connected to the spiritual vein. The professor’s advice is sometimes easier to understand than obaa-chan’s…”
“If I recall correctly, it’s like I’m a router and Emma is a tablet?”
Rean’s murmur was answered by Schmidt instead of Emma.
“Exactly. If the so-called spiritual veins exist all over the empire, you can instead use orbal network as comparison. Schwarzer intercepted the flow of the spiritual vein in the Divine Knight, and Millstein drew power from it. The ability to rewrite space with your Power of Ashen you spoke about will become possible if you can do this stably.”
“I see……”
Although Rean’s words were short, his motivation was rising.
Even though Rean had been worried about orbal science before he arrived here, Rean thought how much of an opportunist he actually was now it came to this.
Leaving Rean, who made his resolve aside, Mint asked a question.
“Now that you mention it, is that big knight doll not around?”
“Fool. There’s no way something like that could fit this small room.”
“In the first place, there will be a lot of commotion if it is moved without permission, you know? Also Mint-san, that knight doll’s name is Valimar.”
“So it’s Vali-kun. Thank you Emma-chan! Hm~, I have only seen it from a distance, so I wanted to see it up close.”
“Too bad,” muttered Mint as she shrugged.
In an attempt to comfort her, Rean told her where Valimar was located.
“It is kept in the old schoolhouse, right?”
“That place is now locked up and can’t be approached without permission.”
“So you already went there.”
“Ahaha, I guess you’re an active person, just like your energetic appearance suggested.”
“U~hn, although you can’t see its main body, you can talk with its personality, you know?”
“Personality?”
“Aah. That Divine Knight apparently can talk like a human. He’s… by my side at the moment. Valimar. Say hello to Mint.”
As expected, Rean didn’t have the courage to tell someone he just met for the first time that Valimar was inside his heart.
{“Umu. Nice to meet you, Mint. I am Valimar”}
“Wah, there’s another person’s voice coming from Rean-kun?! You’re Vali-kun, right?!”
After saying that, Mint was surprised but still smiling.
Upon realizing she wasn’t a person who would be afraid of the voice, Rean unconsciously relaxed.
[“Fufufu, nice to meet you, Miss Mint.”]
As expected, it was impossible for her to hear Osbon, but to Rean, it was a little disappointing.
“You can see its actual body at the moment, but is it something like its avatar? I think I can show you that, so let’s go somewhere wider.”
“Really? Then please!”
Rean readily agreed, moved to another location, and manifested the Power of Ashen under the watchful eyes of Emma and the others.
——The topic might change a little, but despite Schmidt’s fame, there weren’t actually many students who participated in his elective class.
In addition to the four discoverers of Valimar including Rean, there were others dragged into the class like Makarov and George, making the number of participants less than 10 people.
The reason being——
“Wah~ amazing, amazing! It’s flying so fast!”
{“I might be supporting you, but make sure to hold on tight.”}
[“Fufufu, to think you used Miss Mint to do Bundodo. It really stimulates a man’s heart.”] 2
What is he talking about…?
A giant shadow conjured by the Power of Ashen grabbed Mint, slowly raising its arm and bringing her to a height enough to overlook the military academy.
In addition, Emma used the Power of Ashen to create magical structures and other objects around her.
Being seen objectively, it was filled with a sense of playfulness, almost like an attraction.
Schmidt had no expression on his face, but probably because it was outside his class hours, he didn’t scold them. Even though he might seem to be a stiff person, he was well aware of the importance of taking a break regularly after all.
In addition, he had been watching the structures conjured by Emma and putting together a design plan for a small fortress recently.
Mint was honestly enjoying herself, but to the students who were still at the academy, and due to its large size, which could be seen from the city, thoughts like this spread.
——Aah, that classroom is doing something like that again.
There was the legendary Divine Knight piloted by Emperor Dreichels, Schmidt’s fame, the Power of Ashen, Emma’s magic, as well as many other extravagant experiments.
There was also collecting combat data through remote controlling of the Divine Knight (most people got screened out by this).
Emma (as well as Celine who participated secretly)’s magic, combined with the professor’s advice, produced adjustments to the seven elements for the purpose of investigating how to rewrite space (it produced fear of the unknown since it didn’t use orbal arts).
Even if viewers might be interested, from ordinary people’s perspective, those things were extremely dangerous.
A wise man kept away from danger.
With the thoughts of the instructors and the students united as one, they once again looked away from it.
Author Note:
One of the mob characters who survived the rivalry of screen time as of Cold Steel III, Mint.
I didn’t expect the interaction between her and the professor would make me laugh so much.
The clumsy girl who was well known as competent but couldn’t be left alone due to how clumsy she was, and the professor, who was actually quite considerate despite his usual behavior, making them a great pair.
I think Thors was great since both Main Campus and Branch Campus had many cute girls.
What about Margarita, you ask? She was beautiful when she was slim… but I think most Instructor Rean(player) chose her to be fat in the end.
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