Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 104 (Part 2):
Charlotte bowed her head and turned her back. The class was over. It was time to go for lunch. Asuka approached him and teased him annoyingly.
“Are you thrilled because a pretty junior is talking to you?”
“Do I look like I’m thrilled?”
Helmut retorted as if he was puzzled. He didn’t understand why he felt that way. Asuka sighed.
“You’re really a boring type.”
“That’s not an answer to my question.”
“Do you know her name?”
Helmut pondered for a moment.
“Charlotte?”
He barely remembered. It was just a memory that was stuck in a corner of his mind.
“…I can see that you’re not interested in her.”
He wasn’t uninterested. Helmut didn’t bother to deny it. Because a relieved look passed over Asuka’s face. Helmut suddenly realized.
‘It’s not me who’s interested in Charlotte…’
But Helmut didn’t understand these emotions well either. It was highly likely to be a misunderstanding.
‘It could be a bad interest.’
“Anyway, I’m looking forward to the exam next week, that Jeffrey guy who was your opponent. It would be fun to compete with him.”
Asuka smiled, thinking of Jeffrey, who had been rude to the end unlike Charlotte.
That fierce smile implied that Jeffrey’s fate, who would face the crazy dog Asuka next week, wouldn’t be smooth for him.
*
Alea seemed a bit strange today. Helmut tilted his head.
Having lived in an environment where fists flew from a violent old man at the slightest carelessness, Helmut, who grew up in the forest with monsters, was more observant than one would expect.
The atmosphere was strange even when they met in the dorm room, and it was like that all the time while they were taking classes in the study room.
Quiet and somehow cold. Alea originally had a tendency to say only what she had to say, but it got worse.
The atmosphere sank further after Sian left.
Sian had declared that he would finish early today and left his seat.
Helmut wondered if he should ask if there was anything wrong as he handed over the essay answer sheet.
But what if there is something wrong? There was little chance that Helmut could solve the problem that had hit Alea. He wouldn’t want that either.
But the moment he opened his mouth after thinking, a word popped out of Alea.
“Helmut, I have a question.”
Meeting Alea’s gaze as she uttered those words, Helmut realized.
She seems bitter. Alea rarely had good days. She was always gloomy.
But today, it wasn’t just a gloomy level; it was like a sky filled with rainy season clouds.
Feeling thirsty for some reason, Helmut asked, lifting a water bottle.
“What is it?”
“I heard you got a date request from a first-year student in the swordsmanship department today?”
Helmut, who was just drinking water, almost spit out the contents. If he had sprayed it on Alea, the study room might have exploded.
Helmut, who barely swallowed the water, denied it.
“…That didn’t happen.”
He had no idea when a duel request turned into a date invitation. He didn’t think Charlotte had said it with that intention. Or did she?
“There’s supposed to be a very pretty girl in the first-year of the swordsmanship Department. Do you know her?”
“There’s only one female student in the first-year of the swordsmanship, Charlotte.”
“You even know her name?”
“I saw her compete with Asuka. She’s skilled.”
It was a skill worth remembering. Helmut wasn’t sure why Alea was explaining this in such detail, though.
It felt like Darien, who was holding a fist as big as a boulder, was interrogating him to recite what he learned today.
‘It brings back bad memories.’
In fact, Alea was interrogating Helmut.
‘There must be a reason for it.’
Helmut had a strange trust in Alea. It was the kind of trust that he wouldn’t waste time on trivial matters, especially not with an exam approaching.
“Anyway, if the rumor that you got a date request is going around, she must have said something to you?”
“She said she looks forward to dueling with me in the next class. And if it doesn’t work out then, she asked for a separate match. Is there a problem with that?”
Alea’s expression softened slightly. Just a bit.
“There might be a problem.”
“What kind?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. We share a room, and you are the closest person to me.”
“What about Sian from the same department?”
“I won’t pay attention to him.”
This part made Sian seem pitiful.
“In short, there might be female students who approach you with intentions. It’s highly possible.”
“It didn’t seem like that.”
Charlotte didn’t even mention anything close to what Alea was thinking about. And she didn’t seem to harbor any obsession that Alea’s fans often showed.
What Charlotte was interested in was Helmut’s swordsmanship skills.
Just as Helmut couldn’t remember the names of those without good skills, Charlotte seemed to pay attention to him in a similar way.
A light shone in Alea’s violet eyes.
“How do you know it’s not? How can you be so sure?”
Helmut’s rebuttal didn’t sit well with Alea. He wasn’t trying to defend himself, but when Alea pressed, Helmut’s response became awkward.
“It doesn’t seem like it…”
His words trailed off. But Helmut couldn’t guarantee that his judgment was superior to Alea’s.
The trust that had been formed over time was obscuring the strangeness of this situation.
“Among the crazy female students who chase me around, there are quite a few intelligent ones. One of them even disguised herself as a man and infiltrated my dormitory. You should know that there are some tricky ones who will perform an act to deceive you.”
Charlotte didn’t seem to be one of those. At least, it didn’t seem that way. However, it could be as Alea described. Helmut summarized,
“So… you’re saying that even though she likes you, she approaches pretending not to be interested in you and uses me as a bridge.”
It didn’t seem like it, but it wasn’t certain. He couldn’t guarantee that his judgment was good enough to see through someone else’s acting.
Alea, who had persistently dealt with her followers, might have a more accurate judgment.
Even if Alea hadn’t seen that first-year female student.