Chapter 60: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 60
Yoon Si-woo remembered.
He recalled seeing Scarlet and a bald man entering an unsavory building.
He also remembered the suggestive sounds faintly heard from other rooms in that building.
Though he didn't directly witness what the two did inside, he was old enough to understand.
But even so, Scarlet was still a shining person.
The fact that she had to do such things due to difficult circumstances didn't diminish her heroic nature at all.
However, what he heard from her yesterday was far more shocking than that.
Though he didn’t know the details, he knew enough about sex education to understand what it meant when a woman didn't have her so-called spirit visitor.
The birth of a new life.
In a normal marital relationship, it would be a blessing.
But for minors, it was usually called an 'accident.'
Especially if it happened while doing something that couldn’t be openly revealed to others.
It must have been an accident since it wasn’t something she intended.
Yoon Si-woo recalled the conversation he had with her in the hospital.
Despite losing an arm, she insisted on continuing at the Academy.
She wanted to save people, more than anything else, she wished to become a hero.
But no matter how much she wanted it, she couldn’t continue at the Academy in her current state.
The training at the Academy was tough even for the most talented, and she couldn't possibly endure it in her condition.
She was someone who cherished life enough to sacrifice her arm to protect others.
Given her nature, she wouldn’t choose any other option but to leave the Academy.
He thought fate was truly cruel.
It had taken an arm from someone who had grown up without parents, and now it seemed it was trying to take away her dream of becoming a hero as well.
She knew the sorrow of growing up without parents better than anyone.
So she wouldn’t think of leaving her child in an orphanage.
The image of her struggling to work hard while raising her child alone in difficult circumstances kept lingering in his mind since he heard that from her yesterday.
So, while working on paperwork and patrolling, he was lost in thought, wondering how he could help her.
Maybe she needs a father.
Following the flow of his thoughts, Yoon Si-woo found himself considering this, and Lucy spoke in a disdainful tone.
[Si-woo, you were out of it during yesterday's sparring session too, and now seeing what you’re thinking, it's quite the spectacle.]
Her next words were quite harsh.
[It feels like just yesterday you said you’d become strong enough to protect everyone or be a trustworthy man, but now you’re nothing but a disappointment. Instead of showing a cool image, you’re having such thoughts, you’re the worst as a man. If I were that child, I’d lose any affection I had.]
Since Lucy rarely spoke like this, Yoon Si-woo felt a bit of self-loathing.
He knew he wasn’t thinking rationally.
But how many people could stay sane in such a situation with someone they liked?
[It might not be what you think.]
But given the circumstances, it clearly is...
Seeing Yoon Si-woo unable to pull himself together, Lucy sighed and said.
[There is one way to roughly confirm if it's really true.]
*
During the field practice, we arrived at the incident site after receiving the radio call.
The citizens were gathered at a certain distance from the shattered glass storefront, murmuring amongst themselves.
“It seems no one has tampered with the scene. That’s a relief!”
Rhea muttered with a smile and then shouted loudly to the citizens.
“We’re from the Department of Public Safety! We’ll catch the culprit soon, so please go back to what you were doing and don’t worry!”
Seeing her act as if it was no big deal, the citizens seemed reassured and soon dispersed.
Even such things seemed to fall within the realm of talent.
Once the citizens dispersed, Rhea glanced at us and smiled subtly.
“I don’t know how many of you will end up working with us, but if you examine the scene carefully, you can gather various pieces of information. You then compile those pieces to deduce the situation.”
Rhea briefly surveyed the scene and touched the ground lightly, closing her eyes.
After a moment, she opened her eyes and pointed to the shattered glass pieces scattered on the ground.
“See how the glass pieces are scattered outside? The explosion marks are also inside the shop. It means the explosion happened inside the shop. The culprit didn’t break the door and go in just to cause an explosion inside, so it must be someone who can cause an explosion at the desired spot. The explosive power doesn’t seem to be that high, but in such cases, you still need to be careful.”
The kids were impressed by Rhea’s deduction, which she explained calmly like a detective.
She shrugged as if it was nothing and continued.
“And here, you can see some finely shattered glass pieces. These are the marks left as the culprit stepped on them while fleeing. He fled in this direction, and the culprit is a man with brown hair wearing a black shirt. So, we need to look for someone like that in this direction.”
How did she know that? Is she Sherlock Holmes?
Seeing the kids curious about how she knew the culprit's appearance, Rhea grinned mischievously and explained.
“There’s no need to be that curious. The part about the culprit’s appearance isn’t deduction; it’s my ability. I can read the memories of objects or places with my ability. It’s called psychometry, an application of telekinesis.”
“So it’s not really deduction!”
“I really deduced the first part, so don’t worry! It’s a kind of cross-verification! I wanted to show that even those without abilities like mine should be able to gather information from the scene.”
As the kids expressed their disappointment, Rhea said this and then, concentrating more, looked around the scene again.
“Anyway, the reason we check the scene isn’t just for information gathering but also to find evidence. No matter how much I know the culprit’s appearance with my ability, it can cause trouble later if we don’t secure evidence that the person committed the crime. The culprit seems to have been injured by the broken glass, so we should look for glass pieces with blood on them.”
“Should we help you?”
“Yeah, we need to find it quickly so we can catch the culprit, so I’d appreciate it.”
At Rhea’s request, everyone’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
I thought of helping too, so I lowered my head to search the ground.
Then, instead of the ground, a glowing magic circle appeared.
As I was puzzled by what was happening, some glass pieces on the ground started to glow and floated into the air.
“It’s a spell for finding blood-stained objects. We found it, so let’s catch the culprit and rest......”
Dwight mumbled in a tired voice.
Being a descendant of a great wizard and, before that, a severe magic fanatic, Dwight could use all sorts of spells, but it seemed he hadn’t slept properly because he was practicing magic yesterday as well.
Rhea, who gathered the floating glass pieces and put them in an envelope taken from her pocket, asked if tracking the culprit with magic was possible, but Dwight said that was beyond his capability.
“Then we’ll find him on foot. Fortunately, there are a lot of people today, so we’ll find him soon.”
At Rhea’s words, I glanced at Yoon Si-woo.
There was someone here whose specialty was finding people.
Though he still didn’t seem to be in good condition, Yoon Si-woo stepped forward, knowing it was time for him to act.
“......I think I can track him. Can you give me one of the blood-stained glass pieces?”
When Rhea handed him a small piece from the envelope, Yoon Si-woo took it and drew a dagger from thin air.
The Holy Sword of Truth.
Primarily, it functioned as a slightly sensitive lie detector.
But it's true power lay in tracking.
With just a person’s blood or hair, the sword could not only locate where that person was but also know what they were doing, making it an incredibly useful weapon.
In the original story, it was mostly used to find heroines who had fallen during battles with monsters.
Incidentally, every time Yoon Si-woo used that ability, the heroines would learn of their deaths, leading them to wail that they didn’t want to know such truths.
For a moment, Yoon Si-woo stood there with a piece of glass in one hand and the Holy Sword of Truth in the other, his eyes closed. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
“I found him. He’s sitting in an alley not far from here, trembling. Do you have a map? I can show you the location.”
As Yoon Si-woo said this, Rhea exclaimed in admiration and pulled out her phone.
This is why having good items is important.
If you had just one thing like that, you could receive special treatment in the Department of Public Safety.
As I was thinking it would be nice to have a weapon like that, Yoon Si-woo suddenly approached me and held out the Holy Sword of Truth.
What, did he read my mind?
Feeling flustered, I watched as Yoon Si-woo hesitated and spoke.
“...Hey, can you hold this for a moment?”
“...Sure.”
Knowing he wasn’t giving it to me, I felt a little disappointed.
Why was he making me hold it when he could store the sword freely?
I thought about saying something, but seeing that he seemed off since yesterday, I decided to let it go.
Besides, even if I had the Holy Sword, I probably couldn’t wield it properly.
Holy Swords were known to be very picky about their owners.
Yoon Si-woo, with his protagonist buff, could handle any sword without discrimination, which is why he could wield seven Holy Swords. If I held it, it would just be a sturdy dagger.
Still, the chance to hold a Holy Sword was rare, so I was a little excited.
With that thought, I took the Holy Sword of Truth from Yoon Si-woo, and it glowed faintly.
Then Yoon Si-woo stood still for a moment before his face turned bright red, and he lowered his head deeply.
What’s wrong with him today?
“...Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“No! It’s nothing! Give that back—no, you don’t need to return it! I’ll put it away!”
When I asked what was wrong, Yoon Si-woo shook his head and shouted.
The Holy Sword of Truth, which I had been holding, disappeared as if Yoon Si-woo had stored it.
However, just before the Holy Sword disappeared, a voice echoed in my head, saying, “That’s a lie.”
So just holding it tells you things? Fascinating.
But since it said it was a lie, it seems Yoon Si-woo really isn’t okay today.
*
At Lucy’s suggestion to let Scarlet hold the Holy Sword of Truth, Yoon Si-woo handed it to her.
As soon as the Holy Sword of Truth shimmered in her hand, Lucy spoke.
[Oh? Si-woo, it seems you don’t need to worry. That girl is much more virtuous than you think.]
...What do you mean?
[You have a special ability to use Holy Swords without restriction, but the Holy Sword of Truth is originally a sword that can’t be held unless certain conditions are met.]
Lucy continued.
[The Holy Sword of Truth is made from the horn of a unicorn.]
A unicorn?
[Don’t you know? Also called a unicorn. You must have heard of it at least once? It’s a peculiar creature that only likes pure maidens.]
A thought crossed my mind.
Oh, but...
Seeing Yoon Si-woo standing there stupidly, Lucy chuckled.
[Congratulations, Si-woo. It seems the girl you like is a pure maiden.]
Yoon Si-woo asked.
No, then everything I’ve seen and heard until now...
[I don’t know the details, but the Holy Sword of Truth wouldn’t be mistaken about virginity. It seems to like her quite a lot. She must be a pure girl with no interest in men. The exact opposite of what you thought.]
So it was all my misunderstanding?
As he blushed, Scarlet spoke.
“...Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
Looking at the girl worriedly staring at him while holding the Holy Sword of Truth, Yoon Si-woo realized...
So, until now, I’ve been thinking like that about such a girl?
“No! It’s nothing! Give that back—no, you don’t need to return it! I’ll put it away!”
Replying in a flustered manner, not even knowing what he was saying, Yoon Si-woo retrieved the Holy Sword of Truth, which had been gleaming contentedly in Scarlet’s hand.
‘...Should I kill myself?’
He thought.
*
After Yoon Si-woo gave the location, he seemed out of it, but we arrived at the place he had indicated.
“No, that wasn’t my intention. Ugh...”
In the narrow alley, a man was crouching, shivering and muttering to himself.
Scratching his neck hard enough to draw blood and groaning, the man seemed extremely unstable.
Seeing this, Rhea muttered with a grim expression.
“...Lately, there have been people who show extreme anxiety like that when we try to arrest them. They often try to cause trouble if we approach. I wouldn’t get hurt, but they might hurt themselves in the process.”
“Then we just need to prevent them from acting out.”
With those words, a magic circle unfolded in the alley, and the muttering man collapsed to the side.
Rhea looked at Dwight in surprise.
But Dwight calmly said as if it was nothing.
“I just put him to sleep, so don’t worry. If this takes too long, it’ll be a hassle. Let’s catch him quickly and rest...”
“...Alright, thanks to you, it was easy to subdue him. Let’s take him back.”
Rhea, who smiled wryly, entered the alley and slung the man over one shoulder.
“Why is my neck so itchy? Did a bug bite me?”
She muttered softly as she scratched her neck.
No one heard her muttering.
All this neck scratching seems like bad business. Tftc.
ReplyDeletethanks for the chapter
ReplyDeleteWhy is the next button not working
ReplyDeleteThere is no chapter after it thats why
Delete^ He knows that, he's just in denial, just like me
DeleteThank goodness this hotel misunderstanding is solved ffs, that hotel chapter made me sick in the stomach /:
ReplyDeleteNO!!!! Just when the hotel misunderstanding was solved, theres a bug that corrupts the mind :( I guess many people in this ln will still die regardless of scarlet's efforts... hopefully not :(
DeleteOh no, rip Rhea
ReplyDeleteThx for the chapter
ReplyDeleteSo, it's as i expected, there's some kind of mosquitoe that's making people go berserk.
ReplyDeleteIt either comes from the destroyed lab or a witch i guess.
And finally the misunderstanding was cleared.
The sad thing here is that if only he wasn't such an idiot, it wouldn't have happened in the first place.
That sword though...has a shitty personality.
If it's like a parent to stalker guy, i would be nice if it could make this guy stop being a pain.
I mean if one get seen going into a shady motel with an old man and came out with stacks of money, gender doesn't even matter at that point, it's over, the world is cruel ðŸ˜
Deletedeath flag
ReplyDeleteI've read enough higurashi to know where this is going
ReplyDelete