Chapter 28 (1/2)

The match between Ryner and Harold concluded. Colette, who was looking at that scene in a daze, came to her senses in the next instant and started running towards Ryner, who had collapsed.

That magic Harold had unleashed at the end. Although it wasn’t a direct hit, there was no guarantee that Ryner was safe. Without even listening to Ryner’s father, Orbell, trying to restrain her, she moved her legs while being driven by anxiety.

But when she was just a bit away from the first-aid room, her path was blocked by a crowd. Even while thinking,’Why are there so many people?’, Colette resolutely plunged into the crowd, and while raising her voice saying, 「Excuse me!」 「Please let me through!」, with those thin arms of hers, she pushed her way through them.

That crowd abruptly split. Due to the pressure around her suddenly disappearing, Colette pitched forward due to her momentum, but still, she reorganized her posture with her inherent sense of balance, managing to stop falling down.

And when she raised her face, her eyes met with Harold’s.

「Ah…….」

Involuntarily, her voice leaked out.

It seemed as though this crowd had split because they had wanted to avoid Harold. If she were to look around, a space that was close to a circle seemed to be made up around him. Certainly, she could agree that one’s knees would become weak if they were to meet him right after they had seen that lightning. Colette too, would have acted similar to them if she hadn’t been saved by Harold in the past.

But just because of that, it wasn’t as though she could promptly speak to him. There was a huge amount of words and gratitude she wanted to convey. But after seeing the person who had saved her life and her precious childhood friend fight, now, at this particular moment when she was in a very unstable mood, she couldn’t put together any words.

Although it wasn’t as though he had perceived her emotions, Harold started speaking to her.

「Is that the guy whom you have acknowledged?」

「Eh…….? Ah! Y, yes!」

Maybe because Colette’s mind was considerably disturbed, even her reply was very shaky. However, she understood what Harold was speaking about and replied back.

「I thought I had told you to give that to a man who could protect you. Why did you purposely choose a weakling like that?」

‘That’ was most probably the necklace Harold had given her 3 years ago. From the day Ryner had accepted that necklace, he had always worn it around his neck. While in the middle of fighting, Harold must have realized that Ryner was the knight that would protect Colette.

「Ry, Ryner isn’t weak at all. He will protect me」

Colette, who had replied back like that, had done so in a frail voice. However, she hadn’t averted her eyes and had spoken while firmly gazing at Harold.

「Hmph, well if you’re satisfied at just being protected, then that’s fine. A suitable coward for a weakling to protect. At the most, you could only hold Ryner back though」

「Why are you saying something like that……….」

Why Harold was rebuking the both of them, Colette couldn’t understand the reason for doing that. Just, it was unbearably painful to be reproached by Harold.

「You should have personally experienced how helpless being weak is. And yet, if even after that you choose the path of living as a weakling, then suit yourself. Not like I care」

After saying only that much, as though losing his interest in Colette, Harold left. The reunion with the one had who saved her life had just ended with a few lines being exchanged. That too, in a form of one-sidedly being abandoned.

‘Why?’- only that question kept on going around inside her head. Why had Harold, who had saved the both of them, used such harsh words against her?

Without understanding the reason, when she came to her senses, there were tears floating up in her vision. It was due to Harold’s irrational behavior, and was also because of the sorrow at being abandoned by him.

She wiped the tears that were about to overflow and fall down with her cuffs. When she turned her eyes towards the direction where Harold left, that back seemed to appear very distant. When she considered that gap as the distance between them, Colette’s heart unnaturally tightened very much.

「……….That’s right, I’ve to go to Ryner」

Powerlessly, Colette instructed herself. As though wanting to run away from something she didn’t want to look at, she dashed towards the direction opposite to Harold. And when she reached the first-aid room, Ryner was lying with his eyes closed. According to the doctor, who was talking to Orbell, who had arrived a bit later, it seemed as though Ryner had only collapsed due to exhaustion and there were almost no external injuries.

The doctor also said that he might wake up soon since healing magic had already been used.

Ryner regained consciousness after about 10 minutes later. While groaning, Ryner opened his eyes.

「Ryner!?」

「Colette……? Uwah!」

As soon as Ryner opened his eyes, Colette embraced him as though covering him. Ryner was confused at the sudden occurrence, but as he started understanding the situation, his face steadily grew redder. The adults in the surroundings, including Orbell, read the mood and left without making any noise. The Colette, into whose eyes those reactions didn’t even enter, strengthened her embrace.

「I’m glad……….」

「What do you………ah, that’s right. I lost」

Realizing that he was made to lie down on a bed, he recalled the match from until just before. Although his whole body was languid, there were no places where he felt pain.

「Are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?」

「I’m fine. Since Harold held back」

Abruptly hearing Harold’s name coming out from Ryner’s mouth, Colette’s expression became gloomy. Actually, although she didn’t want to behave in this manner, remembering the Harold from just a short while ago, her emotions were thrown into chaos. Ryner peeked at Colette’s face when she was like that.

「Did something happen?」

Ryner’s eyes and voice seemed to indicate his serious concern. From the day they had exchanged that promise, Ryner had always been trying to protect Colette. And because Ryner was like that, Colette trusted him and even if it were Harold, she wouldn’t permit him to look down upon Ryner.

「Say, Ryner」

「Hm?」

「Ryner will protect me, right?」

「Yeah, since I promised!……..well, I ended up losing today though」

Concluding in a poor way, Ryner scratched his head. As though to cheer him up, Colette replied with a laugh.

「Ryner isn’t weak」

「Eh?」

「Although you lost to Harold-sama, you might win the next time」

「Might, huh……..wait, Harold-sama? Does Colette know Harold?」

「Yeah. In the past, he had saved me and mom. The chivalric order’s necklace I gave to Ryner too was given to me by Harold-sama」

「Is that so…….., perhaps, is he a noble?」

「Right」

「As expected. Amazing, that guy. He’s strong, he can use magic, and he’s also a noble」

‘Amazing’, a very simple impression. But it was actually true, Colette also thought so. What Harold showed in his match against Ryner was the difference in their level of strength.

But Ryner was the strongest among the village children. There had also been a time when he had defeated a ferocious monster alone. Harold had overpowered such a Ryner.

He was a person who had the strength to fight and also the strength to protect people. That was why, she was thankful for Harold, and also considered him a person worthy of respect. That was how much of a shock she had felt when she had been thrust away.

「Even so, that guy is way too severe. What do you think he said at the end? 『Idiot. If you could do that, then you should have started off with it』」

While imitating Harold’s tone, Ryner complained. But in that figure there was no anger due to being made fun of nor any sorrow due to losing.

It wasn’t a mistake to say that the flames that Ryner showed with the last strike was the best he could do right now. And it had been splendidly repelled. There was no way Ryner, who hated to lose, wasn’t feeling anything.

「Aren’t you frustrated?」

「Frustrated………Isn’t it obvious that I’m frustrated? But more than that……..hmm, how do I say this?」

Ryner folded his arms and tilted his neck. And after groaning for a while, he spoke out these words.

「I don’t clearly understand, but it didn’t feel unpleasant. When he told me to do that from the start, it wasn’t like he was making fun of me, but it was somewhat like…….. right, it was like when I get beaten up by mom」

Ryner’s mother, Leona. Although usually she was a gentle woman, when it came to training Ryner, her mouth would become bad, and her hands would become fast.

But that was for the sake of pushing Ryner towards his dream. It was one of the ways Leona expressed her love towards him. Ryner felt something similar to that from Harold.