Blacksmith Volume 2 Chapter 4

Recently I’ve noticed that my school life has been progressing in a terribly violent flow, so seeking refuge, I decided now would be a good time to take a look at the school fountain.

On the south side of the school, there’s a huge fountain right in between it and the main gate. I’ve seen it from afar several times now, but it sure does give off a different impression when you look at it close up.

The water is blown up high, causing the temperature around it to feel cooler than it should be.

“Uhyo~”

I chased the apex of the spray with my eyes, and then shook my head a little bit.

“Oh?”

Glancing downwards with the fall of the spray was what appeared to be a girl sitting on the other side of the fountain.

…and she was crying.

*Bushu* (sfx: spurt) The fountain spurred back to life, hiding her appearance.

I was certain, that was the girl who was one of the Eliza’s original ‘Four Heavenly Kings’, I think her name was ‘Mary’ or something like that.

She was also the girl who always called me ‘Servant’, so I don’t have a very good impression of her either…

The fountain’s spray fell back down, and her figure could be seen again.

Yup, she’s still crying.

I think I just saw something that I shouldn’t have seen…

The fountain rose again, and her figure was hidden.

I think it would be better if I just leave right now.

Yeah, that would be for the best.

It shouldn’t be worth mentioning that getting involved with a crying girl, let alone one who hates me, would definitely bring trouble.

Only a problematic story would await me if I intruded.

The fountain spray fell back down, once again revealing her.

““Ah.””

We made eye-contact.

After staring at each other wordlessly for while, the fountain spray came back up, blocking our lines of sight yet again.

I’ve been seen, there’s no way out now. I can no longer afford running away in silence in this situation.

Building up my courage, I walked over to the area Mary was sitting at along the fountain.

While putting out my best smile, I called out “Hey”. Though it’s already impossible to pretend to be a naive boy that doesn’t know anything.

“…*gusu*” (sfx: crying)

She sniffed her nose, but didn’t reply.

Either that, or sniffing her nose was her reply.

Her eyes had become red from her tears, so it looks like she’s been crying quite a decent amount.

While saying, “Is there something wrong?”, I tried sitting down beside her as naturally as I could.

“…*gusu*, don’t sit next to me.”

I was shot down instantly?!

“Did something happen with Eliza?”

Although I know the answer to the question, it’s still a guess. Her body language clearly says so.

“It doesn’t concern you.”

I know that but I’m already involved!

I could just walk away now you know?! But I didn’t you know?!

“Don’t say that, at the very least I’m not completely unrelated to Eliza. If you need me to, I can say something to her.”

“What do you know about Eliza-sama?! Don’t get involved!”

Rubbing her swollen eyes, she threw some violent words at me.

Eliza in a nutshell, is a ‘tough’ woman character. I know that very well, so there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed how close she is with her entourage.

This is also something necessary to maintain the ‘balance’ of the world!

“The Eliza that always keeps people at arm’s length and has a scary face when she closes her eyes, though in truth she’s just thinking about what kind of dinner she’s going to have later?”

“She’s not that kind of person!”

“I also know that her favorite food is chiffon cake, though buttered potatoes come a close second for her.”

“Th-that can’t be… I would’ve noticed something like that by now…”

“More or less.”

“I-I get it already okay?! You know more about Eliza-sama than me okay?!

“I’m not looking down on you or anything, I only said what I knew, nothing more, nothing less.”

Mary had a somewhat depressed face.

She must’ve not liked how much I knew about Eliza that she didn’t.

“Even if Eliza acts like that, she’s still human, it’s not like she’s giving you special treatment or anything, but there’s no need to worry about it so much.”

“How can you say that when you obviously like Eliza-sama that much?”

“I’ll stay quiet when I need to, but you know, I can be assertive when I want to be. There’s plenty of time to get closer to her.”

I flashed another smile.

“I… I’ve glared at you, and cursed at you before, so why? Why are you being so kind to me?”

“No reason really, just because I can I guess.”

I’m only a ‘servant’ after all.

“You’re doing this because you like me?”

“No!! How did you think of something like that?!”

Her head must be full of flowers or something… ah, she finally smiled a bit, before casting her eyes back to the ground.

“You see, I was taken off of Eliza-sama’s entourage…” she muttered.

Ahh, so that’s why I didn’t see her with the other ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ previously.

“May I ask why?”

“Its because I wasn’t deemed worthy enough to serve someone like Eliza-sama.”

“What do you mean?”

“…I was the only one allocated to the E-class during the placement exams. The other three safely made it to the A-class and have continued to be part of her group, while my position was replaced with another A-class student.”

…E-class.

How should I react in this situation?

“Its tough being in E-class huh?”

“That’s my line! Don’t insult me! What does it matter to you anyway?! I’m just an underachieving E-class girl in the end, right?!”

“Wait, don’t get angry, you’re raising your voice! Calm down! What do you think will happen if Eliza catches wind of this?”

“There would be no problem at all! It was a mistake to allow you to talk to me!”

With her being so loud, we were getting a few side glances here and there.

It probably wouldn’t be best if I got angry here.

If she starts crying again, people would most likely think it was my fault.

Not even I’m willing to let things spiral in that direction.

The atmosphere between us had become awkward, leaving only the sound of the fountain to answer our thoughts.

If only it could give me the answers on what to say…

“Hey, was it fun? Being one of Eliza’s close aides, I mean.”

“…fun or not fun, such things didn’t matter at the time.”

“That’s not true. Why would you want to be together with a person if you’re not having fun?”

“Everyone just wanted to be with her, isn’t that enough? I can’t understand why you’re being so pushy about this.”

“It’s important though, if you truly weren’t having fun while you were with Eliza, why are you so sad?”

“…I guess it was, a little fun. I mean, I was… happy being together with Eliza-sama, it was my reason for living, it was part of my very being.”

“Isn’t the answer easy then? All you have to do is find a new purpose in life.”

“Don’t say such a thing!”

She turned her face towards me and glared, in her eyes I could see something furious.

Getting up softly, I reached my hand to her.

“Well, I need to get going to my club. We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do, but we’re already building something for it. It’s surprisingly fun, so why don’t you come with me?”

“I won’t go! I have no interest in such a thing!”

“Don’t say that, just come one time and you’ll see. We have female club members too, and its really worthwhile working together with everyone on the same thing.”

“…I won’t go.”

To the her that had hung her head again, I began to slowly walk away, but I didn’t leave without throwing these words at her:

“The construction is happening just north of the freshman dorms, and you can come at anytime you want.”

“…I won’t go.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“…”

*Bosoboso* (sfx: Whisper) I could hear a faint whispering sound coming from my back.

I didn’t quite understand it, but there was one thing I’m sure I heard.
‘I will definitely, definitely not go!!’