Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
Rean wasn’t the core of the group, so the other members were affected accordingly. Such was the story.
Considering the low level of favorability, I was thinking of how to earn that value back, but somehow, Machias ended up feeling like the protagonist instead…
Thank you for the typo reports as always.
013 – Fufufu, son. It’s the April Field Study② [A]
“Jusis Albarea! You bastard…!”
“You idiot…! Your words are not only degrading those around you, but also yourself, making you no better than the nobles you hate so much, why can’t you realize that!”
They grabbed each other, and Machias also raised his fist at Jusis, who had hit him first.
However, those movements were forcibly stopped.
When Machias turned around, he saw that it was Rean who was holding down his arm.
Even as Machias tried to shake it off, it was impossible with just his strength to escape from Rean, and even if he somehow managed to win in the competition of strength, Rean still had his power of ogre and Power of Ashen, rendering his effort all useless.
Rean looked at Fie, and she instantly understood his intention, nodding.
“This is for Emma who you insulted.”
Rean judged that an armor breaking punch would be too dangerous, so he just lightly chopped Machias’ side.
Machias crouched on the spot, feeling the pain far worse than when Jusis hit his face, even feeling unable to raise his voice to scream in agony.
“As for whether I’ll put in additional hits for Rosine and Beryl, it depends on your behavior. Fie, sorry, but please take care of him. In the meantime, we’ll take care of the dyeing.”
“Hm. I accept that request.”
Rean told Jusis and Laura, who were still confused, to leave the place.
The two wondered why they left Fie behind, but they quickly found out the answer and followed Rean.
“Rean. Even if Fie is the only one who seems capable of settling the issue peacefully, is it really okay to leave them behind?”
“If a noble approaches Machias now, he’ll probably just get angrier. If it’s Fie, she’ll be able to handle monsters around here even with Machias in tow. Also Jusis, thanks for getting angry on my behalf. Thanks to you, I stopped at just hitting him for Emma’s sake.”
“I think there’s a big difference between our fists… but well, I’ll accept your gratitude.”
Rean couldn’t help but laugh at Jusis’s humility.
Perhaps taking Rean’s response as an insult, Jusis felt slightly irritated at Rean.
Before he could speak it out, Laura spoke to Jusis.
“It might be weird to say this, but I found it surprising, Jusis. To think you actually go that far for Rean’s sake… no, I guess rather for the sake of another individual, you’re just doing what is expected of a person.”
“I guess you’ve been so stressed out over a lot of strange things and it just blew out.”
“You’re the cause of that, though… but it seems that you, the very person who got insulted, doesn’t seem as angry as I thought?”
“Hm~ I guess it’s because I know exactly why my birth parents abandoned me. So from my perspective, what Machias said sounded less than gossip.”
“……It’s impressive you are able to take it that way.”
“Hahah, I got five people as parents and a cute little sister after all.”
Although he knew it was likely pointless, Rean raised his left arm.
There was still a doll in the shape of a middle-aged man with a straight face cuddling his arm, but for Rean, it gave a sense of security.
[“Fufufu, son. You’ve grown to the point you don’t get upset over something like that.”]
{“It seems my Awakener has lived a difficult life.”}
“Noble, huh.”
As the three moved along without any conversation, Laura suddenly muttered to herself.
“They just need to do what they should be doing, why are they fighting each other so much?”
“That’s——”
Jusis was about to answer, he looked at Rean and fell silent.
Rean knew that Jusis was conscious of him, but he didn’t know the reason.
In the end, Laura’s question was left unanswered, and three of them calmly finished the field study request and returned to Parm.
＊
I’m guessing Rean and others are going to abandon me, leaving Machias who thought like that, Fie sighed while thinking, what a hassle.
She was already taken aback by Rean’s strange behavior, and there was also an issue with Machias’ rampage and establishing links. This made her start to miss Celine’s fur.
But since she had already accepted the request, she would have to accomplish it no matter how much she hated it.
That was Fie’s style as a former jaeger.
“Guh… kuh…”
“I don’t care if it’s using Arts or medicine, but handle your recovery yourself. You just reaped what you sowed after all.”
“Reap… ouch, damn it, why does my side that got chopped lightly feel more painful than the cheek where I was punched?”
“I guess that just shows the difference in strength between Rean and Jusis. I’m telling you, if Rean punched you with the same momentum as Jusis, forget the hospital, you’ll likely be sent to Aidios instead, you know?”
From Fie’s perspective, Jusis at this time had none of his usual composure, and she could feel real anger from him.
She had no idea what triggered Jusis, but there must be something within Machias’s words that caused that.
Even Fie herself didn’t hold any good feelings toward Machias, who insulted Rean for being a vagrant.
Machias’s words stopped before he could finish it, but it was easy to guess what was left unsaid.
That was why Fie was impressed towards Rean who was able to shrug off such hostility and thought that his open-mindedness might make him suitable to be a jaeger.
Machias took out a Teara Balm from his bosom and slowly drank it. 1
If Jusis was the only one who hit him, a Tear Balm would be plenty, but Rean’s hit made it not enough. 2
Probably because the pain had subsided due to the medicine, Machias slowly stood up.
His face showed deep regret.
“What, so you can actually make a face like that.”
“What are you talking about…?”
“Since you have reflected on it, you realized how stupid your words were, didn’t you?”
“Uguh…………”
“You seem to have a personality wherein blood rushes to your head easily, but if you don’t correct it, you’ll be in trouble. It’s rather lucky of you to be able to get away with just that this time.”
Fie, who witnessed Rean’s Power of Ashen, grumbled.
That restraining technique was enough of a cheat, but if one received a blow from that huge body, it would have been unbearable.
Fie didn’t want to get close to the place called Schmidt Classroom, where people experiment with that and directed that towards people.
“A vagrant child.”
“…………………”
“I was also one, so I feel a little emphatic toward Rean. I didn’t grow up as naughty as him, though.”
“Eh……………”
“Since you consider a vagrant who just happened to be picked up by a noble family, a noble, it seems your scope of what a noble is is quite wide.”
“What do you want to say…?”
“The fact he could easily call himself an orphan meant he didn’t feel bad about being adopted and is proof that his parents love him. Are nobles who can love the child they adopted considered evil to you, Machias?”
While thinking it was unlike her usual behavior, Fie spoke like that toward Machias.
Perhaps Fie felt herself resonating something with Rean as a fellow vagrant child. That must be it.
I guess it’s just an after service, thought Fie as she continued.
“Rather than looking at one’s status, whether they are commoner or noble, I think the easiest way to get to know someone is to look at their actions. I’ve traveled around the Zemuria continent and met various nobles and commoners, but I have seen both evil and good nobles. Likewise, there were also both good and evil commoners.”
Fie didn’t say she was a jaeger, just saying she had traveled all around Zemuria.
“Rean might be a weird person, and Emma, as well as people around him, may seem to be dragged along by his behavior, but I’ve seen them laughing happily, so I think he isn’t too bad a person. Celine seems attached to him too. Did Jusis cause trouble for others? I think the only thing that makes him seem noble-like is just his speech tone, though? If you say he got a bad mouth, from my perspective, you have one worse, Machias.”
“If, for example,” continued Fie.
“If I was adopted by a noble right this moment, would you turn your behavior around and stop talking to me? If it’s so, I guess that’s just what you deem a noble.”
Machias didn’t reply to her.
Fie took Machias, who had now become silent, to meet up with the rest of the members.
Seeing Fie and Machias returning to the bar, Rean made a suggestion.
“About lunch, why don’t we cook the fish we caught?”
“Why the sudden suggestion?”
“It’s just for a change of pace. Honestly, the atmosphere makes practical training in the afternoon unlikely.”
“Hm, I get that. Can I join too?”
“Aah. What about Jusis and Laura?”
Machias was startled and glanced at Rean with an indescribable expression on his face, while Jusis folded his arms and closed his eyes, not moving in the slightest. He didn’t seem to want to go.
Laura also shook her head silently, and Rean nodded.
“Machias, you should rest. Otherwise, it will affect the request afterward. I’ll fish for all your portions, so just look forward to it.”
“Ah…………”
Before they could respond to that, Rean quickly left the bar.
Fie also followed suit, and Machias’ voice, who he spoke as extended his hand, disappeared into the void without reaching them.
“Since you seem to regret it, you should have said it sooner.”
“Something like that………… if I could do it……… I’ve done it long ago…………”
“…………I guess I’m also going to Rean and Fie.”
“Muu?”
“It’s not because you’re of the opposite sex, but I think he thought of you better than I am. I originally intended to ask Fie, but since she already went, it can’t be helped.”
Jusis said that as he quickly chased after Rean and others.
I’m the one who is supposed to say that it couldn’t be helped, thought Laura as she brought Machias to his room.
After putting Machias on the bed, Laura grabbed a nearby chair and approached him.
There was silence for a while without any conversation, but eventually, Machias murmured.
“…………It’s just no good.”
“What do you mean?”
“My head went blank just because the other party is noble and only bad memories about them keep repeating. It’s about my precious…”
After that, Machais turned away from Laura as if holding back his tears, his expression distorted, and he gripped the futon tightly.
But perhaps Machias reached his limit there, or perhaps he couldn’t speak further to Laura whom he didn’t know for long, so he didn’t speak any further.
Laura sighed, thinking that she, as a noble, shouldn’t be here after all, so she decided to leave.
That painful and difficult time for Machias, which he was thankful for at this moment, came—— but after a while, the bedroom door opened.
What he saw was Sara waving towards him and smiling.
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