Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 180 (Part 2):

Glancing to the side, Helmut seemed curious, watching the stage intently. He had thought him unemotional, but he seemed to be without fear altogether.

Alea clenched his fists and tried to compose herself.

‘It’s just a puppet show. What are you doing, Alea!’

Her pride wouldn’t allow her to shake visibly.

But Alea had a trauma related to dolls.

A prank played by Heike in her childhood. Heike had manipulated a doll to find Alea’s bed in the middle of the night.

Seeing the approaching white face in the darkness, Alea had immediately drawn on her magic to burn the doll entirely.

Even in the flames, the bisque doll reaching out towards her was a horrifying sight. Even the remaining half-burnt hand.

At the time, Heike had actually grumbled.

‘It was a gift for you, and you just burned it? How expensive that doll was! It had diamonds on its clothes!’

‘If you’re going to give a doll as a gift, you should hand it over, not make it crawl into someone’s bed!’

‘I wanted you to wake up with the doll next to you! It’s more natural for the doll to move on its own than for me to place it there! Scaring you was not the intention.’

Ever since that day, Alea had disliked any doll that resembled a human. She had no idea that a puppet show would include such things. But having paid, it seemed too cowardly to leave now.

‘It’s just a puppet show.’

Like a mantra, Alea desperately repeated to herself the fact that she was the top student in the Magic Department and that she could destroy any ghosts that appeared, focusing her mind.

But at a certain point in the chillingly started puppet show, as a puppet with a snapped neck emitted black smoke and transformed into a bleeding woman,

“……”

Alea didn’t scream. She just froze and gripped Helmut’s arm tightly.

His hand was so pale from the tight grip that she didn’t even realize where she was holding.

Her mind tried to analyze how such effects were achieved using magic, but her heart was beating wildly.

After a moment, Helmut seemed to realize and asked in a low voice.

“…Scared?”

“Who, who’s scared!”

Helmut pointedly looked at the hand Alea was holding onto her arm with.

It actually hurt a bit. So he was wondering why she was doing this.

Among the various factors that make humans feel fear, ghosts are one. Helmut said as if doing her a favor.

“You can hold it if you want.”

“I don’t need to!”

Alea shouted softly and withdrew her hand. However, her hand soon returned to grap Helmut’s arm again.

Perhaps because the once quiet exorcist doll contorted its face and screamed as if struggling.

“Kiyaaaah!”

Alea’s complexion rapidly turned pale. Even hidden by the mask, it was visibly blanching.

Finally, the doll was exorcised with a brilliant blue magic circle and shriveled up as if burned by fire.

A tearing sound filled the air, and from the void above the stage, a cackling voice resounded.

“Kiyaahaha! I will return!”

Then, several red lines were drawn in the air above the stage, and blood flowed down. The terrifying finale effect was perfect. Applause erupted.

The puppet show left a lasting impression on Alea. For a moment, her mind had gone blank.

As the lights in the theater came back on, Alea blinked.

“It’s over.”

Helmut was looking at Alea. Her reaction seemed interesting to him.

“What’s scary? It’s just a doll moving on that far stage.”

Helmut added lightly, commenting that the sound effects were a bit noisy. Alea’s face heated up.

“I wasn’t scared! Just, I was just dozing off for a bit!”

Alea forcefully got up from her seat. She wasn’t used to showing weakness to others.

Helmut had never been so sure about anyone as he was that the girl with lavender hair had frozen in fear.

But instead of pressing the issue, he asked.

“Hungry? Should we get something to eat?”

“…Yeah.”

Anyway, she wanted to escape this theater. Her mind was as blank as a clean slate.

She felt drained. As if she had used all her strength gripping Helmut’s arm.

Helmut was watching. Remembering that, Alea gritted her teeth.

‘Even if he doesn’t know who I am, I can’t show such a disgraceful state after watching a puppet show.’

Alea spoke as if nothing was wrong.

“Go ahead. I’ll follow in a moment. I want to take a closer look at the stage.”

In truth, she didn’t even want to go near the stage, but it was just an excuse. Helmut simply replied.

“Okay.”

He went ahead, and Alea took a deep breath, slowly gathering herself before standing up.

Her staggering steps steadied after a few more steps.

However, Alea didn’t notice. Normally, she would never miss the movement of someone approaching her.

That someone pushed Alea hard from behind.

“Oh, excuse me!”

It was a voice she had heard before. As Alea sat down hard on the ground, she looked up.

Teresa stood over her, her eyes filled with hostility, her arms crossed.

She had been waiting for a chance to get them apart. That was why she had to endure a stupid puppet show.

Her attention was more on the mysterious girl clinging to Helmut than the noisy scene on stage.

Teresa had chewed her lips throughout the puppet show.

It wasn’t even that scary of a puppet show. Pretending to be weak and clinging wasn’t typical of an ordinary fox.

Teresa tilted her head and asked.

“Who are you? You don’t seem to be a student of the Magic Department. Do you attend our academy?”

Her masked face seemed quite pretty, but she didn’t seem familiar at all.

“None of your business.”

Alea stood up and glared coldly at Teresa. Thanks to this, her mind became completely alert. Very much so.

Otaku_Tensei

I'm currently Translating the following novel: Helmut: The Forsaken Child. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

•