Hope everyone is having some happy holidays! I"ve been kind of busy attending events for the past while and haven"t had any time to translate, so my backlog is all used up. ^^; Unfortunately, I likely won"t have much time to translate for the next couple weeks, so I"ll have to take a temporary break for the next while. I should be back end of January, but if I do get some chapters done, I"ll post them as usual on Thursday.

Have a happy new year everyone!

Training finished, and after cleaning up the training swords for sparring, I headed over to the waterhole so that I could at least wipe my face with a wet cloth promptly.

On the way, I unluckily b.u.mped into a small group of two, three knights.

Amongst their group was Donaldy.

……even though their numbers were small, it didn"t change the fact that it was unpleasant.

All the moreso since Donaldy was there.

Thinking that it was troublesome, I was going to turn back. It was at that time-

"……because of you……-!"

A trembling voice impregnated with a negative emotion similar to hatred was directed towards me.

There was no way I could forget a voice that I had heard recently at close proximity…..I soon knew who amongst the three had spoken.

"Oi……"

One person amongst the knights called out to him to stop him, but Donaldy didn"t stop.

"Because of you…….! My honour was completely ruined!"

I felt a sense of danger from his worryingly ferocious expression, and prepared myself so that I could pull out my sword at any time.

However, he was soon forcefully stopped by the other two when he tried to approach.

"Stop, Donaldy!"

"Let me go!"

Perhaps his anger was further stirred up by being held down by the other two as he glared at me.

"Please do not try to pin the blame on others. This is simply the result of you making light of me when fighting……no, to begin with, it is as the General said, it because you sought to train in such a slack condition that this result occurred."

The reason why I couldn"t honestly be happy at winning the match against Donaldy was that, is what I realized as I spoke those words.

The former him caused my heart to dance when I fought him.

I do not intend to justify his loss, but those movements certainly did teach me quite a bit.

However, I couldn"t feel anything from the him of today.

As time pa.s.sed, I feel that maybe his power has gotten a little stronger compared to what I remember, but……that was it.

Those movements that I couldn"t possibly imagine coming from that person who had been training earnestly at that time of our previous battle caused my enthusiasm to wither away.

At the same time, I felt disappointed.

Since I had been antic.i.p.ating my fight with him after he had gotten stronger.

At my words, he struggled even harder.

The other two people also appeared to be holding him down desperately.

"Even though you"re a woman……just what will come of you training anyways!"

Even as he was being held down, he continued to hurl abuse at me.

My reb.u.t.tal just now was just like pouring oil onto his flame, so you could say I was reaping what I sowed.

"You"re just playing around anyhow, right? ……what an eyesore."

"I am not playing around. If I am eventually dismissed from my body double/guard role, I plan on entering the Army and using this body to protect everyone. That is why there is no way that I am appearing in training partly just to have fun."

The moment I refuted his words, Donaldy started to cackle loudly.

His s.a.d.i.s.tic laughing voice filled with scorn caused me to furrow my eyebrows involuntarily.

It was the moment I felt that even if I stayed around here any longer, it would just be unpleasant, and was about to begin walking off again.

"Hahaha……what a laugh! You"ll enter the Army!? Even though you can"t enter the Army with a woman"s body, just what kind of delusion is that!"

My legs reflexively came to a stop at the words he spat out.

……women can"t enter the Army?

Just what is he saying? ……I wondered.

"You are looking at a dream that can"t possibly be fulfilled and are making a pointless effort! Despite that, for me to have received that sort of treatment because of you……don"t screw with me! You"re an eyesore! Don"t ever attend Gazelle-sama"s training again!"

As the other two knights dragged him away, he vomited out those words as a parting remark.

I froze in a daze, and stood stock still as if I were seeing them off.

……just, what did he say?

Lies, lies, lies……!

Because, Kuroitsu-san knew about my dream and said he would cheer me on……I"m sure it"s some lie he just spouted in revenge out of desperation.

Otherwise, like he said, just for what purpose have I been continuing to learn the sword……!?

Even though I tried to convince myself like that in my head, I couldn"t so easily clear the seed of doubt that had been planted in me.

Becoming stimulated by that gloomy feeling, I broke into a run in order to find Kuroitsu-san.

"Oh, Mel. What"s wrong? You"re in a rush……"

When I ran towards the practice arena, I quickly managed to find Kuroitsu-san.

"Ah, woah!"

After finding him, I immediately leapt towards him.

"W-What"s wrong? Such a pa.s.sionate greeting……"

"It"s a lie right!?"

I shouted, interrupting his words.

"It"s a lie that women can"t enter the Army, right!? Kuroitsu-san, you said that you"d cheer me on, right?!"

At my words, his carefree atmosphere vanished……his expression warped, appearing as if he was enduring his pity for something.

"……sorry."

Even if I didn"t want to accept it, Kuroitsu-san"s apology forced me to understand it.

……Donaldy"s words were, by no means, a lie said out of desperation.

"Why……-!?"

"…….you were so obsessed with revenge to the point where you were willing to risk your own life, and just when you finally told me some actual dreams for the future……I couldn"t possibly tell you that it was impossible. I even felt that as long as you were looking forward and facing the future, it"d be fine. Even though I knew it"d be better if I told you the truth sooner, I was too cowardly and couldn"t say it."

……that"s wrong!

I didn"t want to hear something like that……!

"Why……why can"t women enter the Army……!"

Kuroitsu-san couldn"t answer my question.

Rather, it could be that there was no answer.

It was as if my destination had gone dark……when I saw his expression blurred with regret, that is what I thought.

However, right now I could not calmly recognise that.

"Ah, Mel……!"

While hearing Kuroitsu-san call out to my back, I rushed out from the mansion.