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Published at 18th of October 2020 06:13:16 PM


Chapter 74

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Author: Ash Original Source: Syosetu Word Count: 3882 characters
Translator: Musubii English Source: Re:Library Word Count: 2241 words

 

 The girl looked at me with a surprised expression on her face.

“Huh? Did I tell you my name? Huh?”
“You didn’t tell me your name.”
“Right? Then, how?”

 Triela looked very confused and flustered. Just like back then at the orphanage. She was always worrying and taking on the burden by herself. It feels nostalgic……. I gingerly lowered my hood and the girl stared at my face.

 Does she understand now? She understands, right?

“Um, what? …….huh? Eh? But huh? …… No way……?”

 One more push, then? I took off my glasses and called out to her.

“It’s been a while, Triela.”
“…………..Ren?”
“Yes.”
“…….Lies, Ren is…Ren is supposed to……”
“I’m right here.”
“Lies………”
“It’s not a lie.”
“Uaaaaaa!”

 Triela hugged me. She was hugging me really tightly. To be honest, it was painful.

“You were supposed to have fallen off of a cliff and died, you were supposed to be dead.”
“I’m not dead.”
“But, because, so…I…”
“It’s alright. I’m here now.”
“Uaaaaaaaaa!”

 She was crying. The girl who was always resolute in front of everyone was now clinging to me.

“I heard that you died, so, so-!”
“Yes, I’m alive. I’m not dead. So it’s alright.”

 She continued on incoherently, and I continued on reassuring her that I was alright as I stroked the back of her tearful, clinging body.

“Ren, Ren, Rennn…….”
“Yes.”
“Uuuuu…….”

 I kept stroking her back until she stopped crying and calmed down.

“Uu-………”

 Triela looked embarrassed and had her hands on both cheeks. Cute. To be frank, I want to hug her. But wait? Was Triela always the cute character type? Huh~?

“Did you calm down?”
“Yes, I’m alright. I’ve calmed down…….”

 She seems to have finally regained her composure and was now staring at my face as if she were inspecting me. Uh, I’m the real deal, okay?

“…….You’re really Ren? It’s not a lie?”
“It’s not a lie. I really am Ren.”

 She continued on checking by poking and pulling my cheeks.

“I-It-huurtss.”
“Ah, sorry.”

 It felt a bit painful. But this kind of exchange felt nostalgic.

“That unnecessarily formal speech and the similar face, it is you, Ren! And the plumpness of your cheeks are also the same!”

 Eh, what is with that confirmation method.

 Incidentally, my formal speech is a habit from my previous life. Basically, I would speak formally to everyone except my relatives. Somehow, I didn’t lose that habit even after being reincarnated and not having any memories. Rather, the look of my face……

“Did my face change that much?”
“It’s completely different! It was already cute before, but now it’s completely different! Rather than just cute now, it’s super cute! It’s outrageously cute!”

 Huh, that much? Being told that I changed that much by someone who knew me in the past makes me realize just how much I’ve changed. Right, but I’ll still continue hiding my face. That way is better.

“But you’re alive……really…….”
“Well, yes. But there were various troubles.”

 As expected, I couldn’t speak about the skills, so I explained everything while omitting various things.

 I went with the story that after falling off the cliff, I somehow managed to survive, and then barely managed to live on through eating bark and drinking muddy water. As for Norn, I brushed through it by saying that I was able to obtain her through a chance encounter during that time.

 Ugh…….lying to my first friend in this world, and also my closest and one of my only friends at the orphanage……it makes me want to die of self-loathing. Uuuuuuu!!

“I see, you’ve been through a lot.”
“Well, basically.”
“So you’re helping out with blacksmithing there now?”
“Well, there’s various reasons.”

 There was just too much to explain. And I didn’t want to.

“But you are doing something there right now.”
“Right, it’s at the extent that I don’t have to worry about living expenses.”
“I see-.”

 After that, we enjoyed talking about various things for a while. But the topic of the conversations were mostly about life after becoming an adventurer. Incidentally, I was also given info about the toad-faced merchant who funded the orphanage.

 In the past, there have been several girls who have also learned a rare skill like me. Likewise, there have been times where they were also attacked by bandits while traveling and went missing.

 However, there hadn’t been any searches conducted during those times, and this time I was treated like I had died. Which means I didn’t have to worry about pursuers anymore.

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 And naturally Triela would never give me away! Or so I was told.
 But I’ll be careful just in case.

 She said she and several girls were currently staying at a cheap inn near the outskirts of the city, and they had rented a large room since there were a lot of them.

“In the end, I just can’t tell herbs apart. Even when I ask the older adventurers, they only say that it’s something that’s very difficult to learn. I also can’t take on any subjugation requests, and even if I try to defeat monsters by claiming it as self-defense, it’s hard to do so with a shabby weapon.”

“Triela, didn’t you listen to the explanation given when you registered with the guild?”
“Eh? I did? Or rather, what about it?”
“The resource room, did you use it?”
“What’s that?”
“…….So you didn’t listen to the explanation.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”

 I explained about the Adventurer’s Guild resource room. About how it was free to use, and how there was information and pictures of herbs, and how there was even information regarding the ecology of monsters and how to counter them. There was also information on the requirements for learning skills, which was helpful for those who wanted to obtain skills.

 Incidentally, I’ve already confirmed that the guild in the royal capital also has a reference room. But there weren’t any branch locations, so it was only in the royal capital guild headquarters which was located in the second division where the wealthy class lived.

“No way~ if there was such a place, you should have told me about it first…….”

 Well, that’s why I asked about the explanation to begin with.

“Triela, you’ll be able to get information you need now and for later in the future if you go there. From there on, it’ll be up to your own efforts.”
“I see, thank you! As expected, Ren is amazing!”
“That’s not true.”
“No, no, you’re just being modest. …….By the way, Cain is actually also here with us. You don’t want to meet, right?”
“I don’t want to meet. Absolutely not.”

 Cain was someone who used to bully me back at the orphanage. He was really persistent with the bullying too. To be clear, he’s currently the person I dislike the most in this world.

 Cain was the leader of the kids in that town, and it was because of him that the children of the orphanage wouldn’t be bullied by those with parents. Looking back, Cain was the only one who bullied me in the orphanage, which probably kept back the other potential bullies.

 Now that I’ve regained my memories as an adult from my previous life, I could understand the reasoning. But before from a child’s perspective, it just seemed like he was bullying me to keep me down, or because I was annoying, and such.

 It’s easy to understand from an old man’s point of view, but it still wasn’t something that could be excused. Essentially, Cain’s bullying was a bit too excessive.

 I had been chased and forced to tears countless times. A few of the more developed girls, including myself, had their food taken away and were told that we were too big to need it. There were countless nights where we would be unable to sleep due to hunger. In truth, he was actually giving the meals he took from me to the younger children. But that and my hunger are two different matters.

 It’s not like I wanted to be taller. And even though I was taller, I was still skinny under the clothes. It was to the point where my ribs were showing through my body, and my limbs were so bony that it would make you want to look away!

 I suppose he was just trying to protect everyone else and perhaps look out for the younger children. But that didn’t mean the remaining few of us should be left to starve. If he had explained his reasoning to us, and asked us to split our meals and been nice about it, it might have convinced us.

 But instead he just ate his own meals regularly, and when he took mine, he didn’t even bother to explain he was sharing it with the younger children. Plus, he was bullying me relentlessly too.

 It was possible that my excessive dislike for men might actually be due to mild trauma from Cain’s bullying, rather than it being a correction from being an old man in my previous life.

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 Thus, after taking those into account, I couldn’t forgive him. Even if he apologized, I still won’t ever forgive him. I don’t even want to see his face. Aren’t I supposed to be a mature adult on the inside? That doesn’t matter. Grudges related to food are dreadful. I’m able to eat my fill now, but that’s that.

 I’m being narrow-minded? Say whatever you like. It’s hard even for older adults to overlook and forgive that easily. In other words, what I’m trying to say is, I hate him! And that’s basically it.

 Ahhhhhhhh, I’m getting more and more angry now that I remember! That a-hole! I’ll never forgive you! Never!

“Please don’t ever bring him here. I don’t even want to see his face.”

 Seriously, he should just die already.

“I thought as much~ I understand, I’ll do that.”

 *Gurrrr…..urghhhh

 As we were talking, Triela’s stomach suddenly grumbled.

“……Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, how about we eat?”

 I accessed Storage, but I pretended I was taking out food from my bag. Egg sandwiches and orange juice. And some apples.

“Here, this is for Triela.”
“Wait, I can’t accept that!”
“It’s fine.”

 I forcefully gave them to her.

“But…”
“I won’t take it back even if you refuse. I’ll just leave it out here.”
“…….Alright, I’ll accept it. Thanks for the meal.”
“Yes.”

 When she took a bite, her eyes became wide, then after the second bite, she began wolfing the food down. Since she had finished the portion I gave her so quickly, I took another one out of my bag and gave it to her.

“Here.”

 She was a bit hesitant, so I pressed it onto her. I was going to force her to eat. To be honest, she was too skinny. It was painful to look at her since she was so skinny. It seemed my intentions were conveyed to her, so she took it and finished it instantly. I handed her more. And she ate. I gave another. And she ate.

 When I looked at Triela’s face, she was crying a little. I wasn’t sure why she was crying, but that didn’t stop her hands from continuing to eat.

“Thanks for the food. I ate a bit too much, so as expected, I’m feeling stuffed.”
“It was nothing.”
“Did Ren make this? It’s very good……. And you’re able to buy eggs too…….you’re really working hard.”
“Yes, I’m doing my best.”

 Right, I’m working hard. Mainly on various hobbies.

“Here’s some for the other children. Please have them eat them.”

 I handed her some extra sandwiches. I didn’t just give her egg sandwiches, but several other kinds like ham sandwiches and the likes.

“This…I can’t accept all these……”
“It’s fine.”
“……..But Cain is also there?”
“Then that’s just how it is.”

 Cain being there was unrelated to the hunger of Triela and the other children. Triela was my first and closest friend in this world. Or at least, that’s how it was for me. She was well-liked by everyone, so I might not be viewed the same in her eyes, but that was a separate matter.

“Alright, I’ll accept them.
“Please come back whenever you’re free. I’ll give you more at that time too.”
“……….Okay.

 Did my feelings reach her? I’m not too sure.

“And also, take this.”

 I took the sword on my waist and held it out to her.

”This is a sword I made. I want Triela to use it.”
“No, I can’t take anymore after everything you’ve already done.”
“I won’t take no. It doesn’t matter how Triela feels.”

 Triela’s arms were preoccupied with the sandwiches, so I was able to do whatever I wanted. I removed the dagger on Triela’s waist and strapped on my sword. I couldn’t stand the idea of the girl I considered to be my closest friend, being put in danger due to poor equipment. It was simply my own selfishness.

“The occasional pushy side of you hasn’t changed.”
“Of course. I’m me.”

 We exchanged those words with each and for some reason began laughing.

“Please come again. There’s so much more I want to talk about.”
“Yeah, I also have a lot to talk about, so I’ll definitely be back.”

 After promising to meet again we separated, and I continued on forging swords in the afternoon.





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