Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 012 – Fufufu, son. It’s the April Field Study [B]
The activity was about running, which could be summed up from Rean’s reckless assertion which dragged the rest of Class VII Group B’s field study.
Although they complained, the other four could not come up with any other options, so they did as they were told and continued running around Parm like soldiers.
Even though the sight of the military academy’s students running up and around attracted the attention of the townspeople, as expected, the topic of the conversation was instead a major event in Parm called Spring Dyeing.
It was included in the request, so the group left Celine with the owner of the bar and headed out of town in order to search for the wanted monster while collecting materials for dye.
“For the time being, let’s try Tactical Link. Only two people can do it at a time anyway, so let’s try in rotation.”
As the group defeated monsters, the situation of their links was going well, with the exception of one person.
That one person —— Rean was thinking about why he couldn’t establish a good link with the other four.
U~hn, why does the link keep breaking?
[“Fufufu, son. Tactical Link is also influenced by emotions. They seemed to be agitated over you declaring yourself as an abandoned child out of nowhere. In that sense, they could be considered good people.”]
Is that so? I thought someone like Fie would accept it easily, though.
[“Perhaps there’s a reason for that. However, the biggest reason for that is something else.”]
And that is?
{“Rean. You shouldn’t do things the same way as when you done it for the purpose of collecting combat data under the request of Meister Schmidt.”}
“Ah.”
Rean couldn’t help but let out a gasp.
Indeed. Rean had basically defeated all those monsters in a single attack.
Even when there were multiple monsters, he still defeated them all with single attacks, and even if Rean somehow lost his balance, he, who had been trained so much, couldn’t hold back against monsters, and would still somehow manage to finish the monsters even as he lost his balance.
To put it simply, Rean had no need to establish a link and could just do things by himself.
Rean realized this wouldn’t serve as good practice for establishing the link, so he sheathed his tachi and switched to barehanded combat against monsters, but combined with group’s confusion upon Rean’s confession of him being a vagrant as well as his strength that was beyond reach even after he was holding back, it made them think that the link seemed unnecessary to Rean.
In particular Laura, as a martial artist, was frustrated by the difference in abilities between her and Rean.
“Fie. You can move faster, right? At that time, if you went ahead, you should be able to attack the monster without receiving an attack.”
“But Rean is already ahead, so there’s no need for me to force myself to go forward, right?” Laura was conscious of Rean and did not want to exert more strength than necessary.
“That… must be just your imagination.”
“…………What a hassle.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Laura’s ominous hunch spread to Fie, and there was a change in the atmosphere.
Rean thought Laura as a martial artist, but it seemed she was more of a seeker of strength than he thought.
[“Fufufu, she probably wasn’t blessed with a rival of her similar age. Therefore, she didn’t want to lose against you, who appeared out of nowhere, and that feeling dulled Arseid’s sword.”
Should I just use my tachi then?
[“You shouldn’t do that for now. It will only irritate her further.”]
While nodding to Osbon, Rean’s legs that were trained during the marathon kicked up the monster, and he asked with his gaze to Machias, who is currently linked with him, to unleash an additional attack.
However, Rean’s movements were so vivid and clear that even though Machias could tell with help from the link, it still caused a distraction when he was aiming his gun.
As a result, Machias’ additional attack failed to become a finishing blow, and Jusis, who switched places with Rean, cut his sword through the monster, ending the battle.
Machias gritted his teeth in frustration as his indecisive moment took away the killing blow from him.
“Are you okay, Machias?”
“……There’s no reason for you to be worried. There’s no problem with me.”
“I see. Thanks for the finishing blow too, Jusis.”
“It doesn’t matter. It is a duty of a noble to follow up on commoners.”
“What…”
“There there. Jusis, don’t you seem tingly even if it’s nothing to do with Machias?”
“…………It’s probably just your imagination.”
“No, you are. Towards me.”
Rean’s eyes of observation saw through Jusis’s interest in him.
Although Rean had no idea why, Jusis seemed to be conscious of Rean even during his quarrel with Machias.
That feeling became stronger after Rean confessed he was a vagrant.
Just as Rean was about to say something, Fie, who scouted ahead to escape from an argument with Laura, reported that she found the wanted monster.
“Should we ambush it?” as Fie suggested, Rean stopped her.
“I’m sorry everyone. There’s something I’d like to try out, so can you leave that monster to me?”
“Are you going to fight it alone?”
“No, I’ll leave it to everyone to defeat it. I told you, there’s something I’d like to try.”
Rean could tell that Laura considered him as a rival.
However, Rean thought it would be rude for him to back off, and instead tried to show even more power.
Rean wanted to show off the power he earned through his connection with Osbon, but unfortunately, Laura and others had no idea about that.
Rean placed his hand on his heart and awakened the Power of Ashen.
A gray aura erupted from Rean’s body and the other four took a step back at the sight.
Eventually, the aura wrapped around Rean inside its body as if to protect him, turning into a gray shadow that resembled a giant dragon.
“Is that… the thing from the Schmidt classroom?”
“It’s huge…”
“What a huge body…”
“………(mouth open and closed repeatedly).”
Ignoring the surprised classmates, the Power of Ashen followed its master’s order and unleashed its power.
“Ark-zok-onkeim.”1
When the light emitted from the hand of the Power of Ashen fell on the wanted monster, it moved as if being drawn toward it.
With that momentum, the wanted monster was taken into the hand made of Power of Ashen, and its movements were restrained.
It went well, thought Rean as he kept the monster’s body restrained and exposed.
“Now, everyone hit it!”
“Eh……………? Ah yes. Let’s go, everyone.”
“…………Haah.”
Fie, the first to return to her senses, ran, followed by Laura.
Jusis and Machias also attacked the restrained monster, although later than the other two, and the group exterminated the wanted monster without any resistance.
Rean took a deep breath, thinking it went well.
The power just earlier was the result of switching the teleportation technique meant to allow the Awakener to pilot the Divine Knight to use a restraint technique.
Riding the Divine Knight was, in a sense, a state of being restrained in its body, so it could be said that it was created intentionally.
However, it was impossible to ride the Divine Knight without passing the trial.
In that case, the detainee’s whole body would be restrained and unable to move.
“T-that thing just now…”
“I’m saying this now since the principal gave the permission, but it’s the power we found at the old schoolhouse.”
“……Is this… the reason… aniue…?”
Machias was dumbfounded, and Jusis was muttering something under his breath.
Rean was a little curious, but quickly switched his line of thought.
He clapped his hands, making a loud noise.
As they were surprised, the other four turned their attention to Rean and he suggested that they go look for dye material again.
However……
“Rean. I think you should give more details about the power you mentioned earlier. Just saying that it’s the power you got from the old schoolhouse isn’t enough of an explanation.”
“You’re right… it’s faster if I just introduce you… Valimar.”
{“Oh”}
“”””?!””””
Suddenly, a voice that wasn’t Rean’s came from Rean, causing Laura to shut her mouth.
Fie wielded her twin gun swords, Jusis and Machias also reacted and readied their weapons.
“Wait wait, all of you have seen it, right? It’s that Divine Knight. It seems to possess a thought system so it has a personality despite being a machine.”
{“I’m Valmiar. Nice to meet you, young horned lions”} 2
“I actually wanted to introduce him back on the train, but there had been a lot of ruckus there. There’s no one else around right now anyway, so I just thought it’s the right opportunity now——”
“A-are you messing with uusssssss!!”
Machias shouted angrily.
Rean had a confused expression as Machias grabbed him by the chest.
That made Machias even angrier.
“What on earth are you! You said you’re not a noble despite being one, you even have incomprehensible power, and you can’t even establish a link, are you making fun of us!”
However, Rean remained unfazed.
He, who had received the greatest surprise in his life, during his childhood, which came in the form of Osbon, had gained resistance over things such that he wouldn’t be surprised over most things.
“No, I had no such intention. I’ll explain it to you step by step——”
Then, Rean kindly and politely explained how he obtained the Power of Ashen, and said that he was cooperating with Schmidt, who came to the military academy because of that, to help analyze what Divine Knight was.
But then, Machias remembered the sight of a commoner student running after the man in front of him.
“Gh, then what about the damage you caused to the girl who helped in the chapel! Weren’t you causing her a lot of trouble? You must have used your status to threaten her!”
“I didn’t use my status to threaten her(mibun wo kasani sashite), all I did was lend her an umbrella (kasa ha sashita).”
“What the hell are you talking about! Anyway, can you say she is your friend despite all the trouble you caused her?!”
“I can. That’s right, she’s my friend. So much so I don’t mind her company for the rest of my life.”
Rean literally meant that as friends, but both Machias and the women didn’t take that at face value.
The words “I want her company for the rest of my life” coming from the opposite sex contained a lot of meanings for adolescents. Laura and Fie temporarily forgot about the Power of Ashen and couldn’t help but blush at those words.
But for Machias, the idea of a romance between a noble and a commoner had imprinted a lifelong trauma on him.
Therefore, his eyes that see through the truth became clouded, and he only accepted the meaning he perceived.
“For the rest of your life, you say? Hah, come to think of it, everyone that are close to you are all women, does that mean you also see Emma-kun and others that way? You say it’s for the rest of your life, but you must have meant you love them as mistresses, didn’t you? Loving in that sense is just debauchery of nobles! Even the thing you said to be a former vagrant must be——”
“Machias Regnitz.”
Jusis, who had resolved his astonishment about Valimar, stepped between the two.
Machias’ words from earlier were a mine that Jusis couldn’t ignore.
Before he knew it, he had slammed his fist into Machias’ cheek, knocking him to the ground.
Rean’s eyes widened at the sudden violence. Both Laura and Fie were also surprised by Jusis’ actions.
Machias was stunned for a moment after being hit —— but upon realizing what had been done to him, he immediately grabbed hold of Jusis.
Without Sara in control, the field study turned into chaos——
Author Note:
Rean was seen as a womanizer because he didn’t have male friends.
Well, considering his state in Cold Steel IV, there’s no doubt that he’s worthy of the title of a stud king (could develop relationships with 11 women), the king of insolence (astral body) and king of mixed bathing (tradition).
When I looked back on Loa Erebonius’ Capture craft, it seemed to be a preluding hint for riding Valimar.
I’d like to recommend the Trails series since, despite its faults, it’s interesting such that it has so much to offer which you would come to notice when you revisit it.
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