Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 114 (Part 1):
“I’m holding a bow for the first time, isn’t this pretty good?”
“Seems like it.”
Beginners can hardly hit a stationary target. Hitting it after a few tries was quite impressive.
“What’s with that insincere response? Are you saying you can do better?”
“Obviously.”
Normally, Helmut would have thought it to himself but now he become more talkative. Asuka didn’t take this change well.
“Are you becoming like Alea?”
“Is that a compliment?”
“You think that’s a compliment?”
Asuka was incredulous.
“Him being your roommate wouldn’t make being compared to him a compliment, you know. It’s not like I said you were becoming like me.”
“Are you picking a fight now?”
At the moment Asuka’s eyes sharpened, a voice came from the side.
“Hey, keep it down over there.”
They were seniors, a head or two taller than Helmut and Asuka, seemingly adults. They appeared unaware of the duo’s notoriety.
“Acting like children in the training ground.”
“It seems you’re underclassmen, instead of chatting, you should focus on hitting more targets with your arrows!”
Had they known Asuka was the “crazy dog,” they might have hesitated to confront him.
Helmut grabbed Asuka’s fist-raised shoulder.
“Stop it.”
It was one thing for Asuka to cause trouble on his own, but not when he was with Helmut.
It was inevitable that the blame would come back to Helmut for not keeping Asuka in check. It was a fate decided from the moment he kept Asuka by his side.
‘Can’t help it.’
Taking responsibility for troublemakers was the duty of honor students, as per a novel about academy life Helmut had borrowed from the library.
Helmut was ready to fulfill the role of an honor student. It was human decency for the capable to look after the less able.
“All this fuss over just hitting the edge of the target. Watch this.”
One of the seniors raised his bow, took careful aim, and released the arrow. Thwip! Far in the distance, the arrow landed near the center of the target.
“See that?”
The senior shrugged his shoulders at Helmut and Asuka.
“Brad is really skilled marksman.”
“A true sharpshooter! No comparison to these rookies.”
“Pfft, I could do that with a bit more practice. What’s so great about that?”
Ignoring Asuka’s grumbling, Helmut quietly picked up his bow.
The practice arrows felt too sleek and thin compared to the blunt branches he was used to.
Shooting such an arrow, it seemed impossible not to pierce the target.
Helmut, who had pierced vital points of moving targets in the dense forest, needed only a moment to aim.
Ping! The bowstring released with a sharp sound.
The arrow shot out like a flash and hit the target dead center, causing a shiver.
Helmut gestured lightly towards the quivering tail of the arrow.
“Did you see?”
No one could respond.
In the silence of the training ground, after exhausting all 50 arrows, their practice was complete. As they left the training ground, Asuka tapped Helmut’s shoulder.
“You were pretty cool back there.”
“You don’t always have to rush in fists blazing to settle things.”
“That sounds like you’re telling me off?”
“You don’t have to knock someone down to win. Just overpower them with skill.”
Helmut spoke with a tone of disdain. Of course, fighting was an option if attacked first.
The opponents were seniors, and even if Helmut knocked them out cold, it could be considered self-defense.
But the problem was Asuka initiating the fight.
“Why do you always hold back? What’s wrong with fighting? Sometimes you have to fight in life. If you keep holding back, you’ll end up sick.”
Helmut stared at Asuka. This guy was more aggressive than the monsters of the Forest of Roots.
Such a personality wouldn’t survive in that Forest.
‘He’d probably challenge beings like Elaga or Naho without fear and meet his end.’
Monsters recognize those stronger than themselves, but Asuka seemed likely to challenge even those stronger.
Or not? Asuka never challenged Helmut, despite owing him a debt.
“And in cases like this, fighting is acceptable. They’re upperclassmen. If they get beaten by underclassmen, how embarrassing would that be for them?”
‘You didn’t know that, did you?’ Asuka said proudly.
“You talk as if you’ve done it before.”
“Of course, I’ve been in fights since my first year. Even fought three fifth-years at once and won.”
Helmut wasn’t impressed enough to admire such tales of street fights.
“Fight all you want, just leave me out of it.”
“What a stingy thing to say. If we’re going to fight, we fight together.”
Knowing Asuka was hard to reason with was one thing, but this was another level.
He resolved to show rather than tell from now on. Asuka would probably continue to complain loudly about Helmut’s supposed cowardice.
“Well, you have Instructor Ethan as a guardian. Wouldn’t want to lose that support by getting into fights. Why did you have to get a guardian from among the instructors, making things complicated?”
While that wouldn’t likely end the guardianship over Helmut, he didn’t bother to argue.
‘What a headache.’
Helmut had already made a name for himself alongside Asuka. Being assigned to the same group was an unavoidable reality. Now, it wasn’t possible to say he didn’t want to be with Asuka anymore.
The instructors, believing Helmut could control Asuka, would undoubtedly place them in the same group.
After all, the classmates knew Asuka’s personality well. They wouldn’t try to provoke him as much as possible…
‘I wish there were no annoying things.’
Helmut sighed inwardly. The relationship with classmates was the most uncontrollable problem since he entered the academy.