Chapter 2-7

Blacksmith Volume 2 Chapter 7

“Shisho (Master), have you determined your electives yet?”

Today is the school’s weekend holiday, it’s kinda funny how today should be our break and yet Crossy came to my apartment for some reason.

“Hmm… Herbalism, as well as Medical Science, but I still still need to choose two more.”

“Is that so? I’ve gone with Martial Arts and Emperor studies, though the others are undecided still.”

With choosing electives it’s better to be careful and take your time choosing rather locking in a choice and regretting it later.

With my anxious feelings gone, I stopped tempering the iron I was working on. Looking over my shoulder I asked:

“Oh yeah, you weren’t together with Vaine today?”

“Yeah, today is the one holiday we get a week so he told me to use it to rest my body. Even so, I wonder where he disappeared to all of sudden? All sneaky like… the nerve of some people!”

“It’s his private day too you know, do try to forgive him.”

“…I guess it can’t be helped if Shisho says so.”

Crossy said so with puffed cheeks, showing that really he still hadn’t forgiven him. That’s good though, it looks like they’ve been getting along recently.

“Well, we still have some spare time, so what do you want to do Shisho?”

No, I don’t really have spare at all.

Really, I want to look through the Electives document, and then start studying the 4th grimoire now that I’m done with the 3rd.

Also, shouldn’t I be allowed to have some private time to myself?! I by no means have spare time.

“I don’t really have spare time, so why don’t you try to find out where Vaine tried to secretly escape to today?”

“Oh! That sounds interesting! Let’s go together, Shisho!”

This is bad, his eyes are shining. It really is heartwarming to see how much he wants to spend his time with me.

I feel a little bad for Vaine, but this is my important disciple’s spare time here.

…Ugh, I dug my own grave, and although it’s just a little, I’m curious as to what Vaine’s hiding. Where did he go today? This is a problem that must be investigated!

Says the no-good human that claims he has no free time, and then decides to just go along with whatever event that pops up.

“Then let’s go.”

“Yes!”

When looking for someone, first you need to narrow down the places they might be. Usually, you would first go to a tavern where the exchange rate for information is fixed, but unfortunately there is no tavern here. We do have the next best thing though, the cafeteria. If he’s there, Vaine will easily be found due to his large build.

Surely there has to be someone who had seen him.

Entering the cafeteria, we were unable to spot Vaine, so we decided to look around for somebody that would give information to us when we found a pair of girls gossiping with each other.

“Excuse me, but have either of you two seen a student named Vaine around?”

“Vaine is… that really tall person right? I think I saw him leaving the dormitory, but that’s all I know.”

“That’s perfect, thank you.”

After thanking the two of them, we left the cafeteria.

“At the very least, now we’re certain that he’s left the dormitory. Now, where to next?”

“He probably went to a place where’d he have enough space to train, so the park maybe?”

“Well it’s our best bet, so let’s go.”

Once we arrived at the playground, there were already a lot of people doing exercises in pairs, but no Vaine though.

Catching a girl who was still stretching, I decided to ask about Vaine.

“Him? Oh, yeah I saw him, he was jogging around here this morning, mumbling about ‘banishing evil thoughts’ or something.”

“So do you know where he went?”

“Not really, I saw him come out of the bathhouse, but I’m not sure where he went next.”

“Thanks, and good luck with your exercise. It would be nice if we could talk again someday.”

“Yeah, I’d like to speak with you again too, Kururi-san.”

After we finished our greetings with the girl, we left the park.

“So he really was here…”

Crossy placed his hand on his chin, thinking about where we should search next.

“Maybe he decided to leave school grounds?”

“It’s probably because you don’t leave school often, but it’s actually quite a walk to just get out there, so for now let’s go and check out the stable’s lending records.”

“Yeah.”

Though, what are we going to do if there is a record that Vaine took a horse? Are we going to chase after him? Even though I had a feeling that doing so would be fun, I think that would be the moment where it’d be better just to quit already.

“Vaine huh? Give me a second, I need to check over today’s records.”

We arrived at the stables, and the issue requested by me caused the clerk to immediately break out into a run.

Removing the lending roster, he opened it up to today’s date.

Tracing it over with his finger, he checked over the name’s carefully one by one.

“There aren’t any records of a student named Vaine, but I wonder… You said he was rather tall, to the point that it made him stick out, right? I saw someone like that earlier today.”

“Do you know where he went?”

“Yeah, last I saw him I think he was heading towards the fountain.”

“Really? Thanks.”

Bowing my head to the man in charge, the two of us continued our walk yet again.

“This time there isn’t enough information… there are a lot of fountains in the school” Crossy muttered regretfully.

“Not really, when people here refer to ‘the fountain’ there’s really only one place they could be referring to.”

I gave Crossy’s back a light pat.

“Ah! That’s true, Shisho!”

If I were to describe how Crossy looked right now, one could say he was walking with a spring in his step…

It was the same fountain that I checked out before, but I can’t say I really know the roads of the school that well.

In front of Crossy, who always praises me, somehow I’m able to put on a brave face, but in truth I’m a emotional wreck inside.

Before we had noticed it we were in the middle of a rose garden.

Where are we again? I really need to get more familiar with the school grounds.

“Shisho…”

“…”

I couldn’t see Crossy’s face because he was standing behind me, but I could imagine it…

What should I do?!

“Kururi?”

A familiar-sounding voice came out from the other side of a hedge covered in roses.

Walking around the hedge, I found myself face to face with Iris, both our eyes opening in surprise.

“Iris, boy am I glad to see you, I’m a little lost so can you give me a hand?”

“It’s a little hard to give directions for a road that can’t be seen though, would it be okay if I guided you?”

“Thanks, you save-”

I stopped my words mid-way because I suddenly noticed the sharp eyes glaring at me.

The gaze of the man standing a little bit away from Iris, the First Prince Arc.

They were on a date! No wonder he’s angry, I would be too if a nuisance suddenly walked in on one of mine.

What bad timing.

“…I wonder, would that be best? You were just enjoying the roses right now, so it’d probably be best if we looked for the pathway on our own. I wouldn’t want to interrupt you.”

“Thanks, but I can look at these anytime. I can’t just leave you alone if you’re in trouble Kururi.”

“No, you see…” with a gesture that was only visible to Iris, I pointed to Arc standing behind her.

She turned a glance behind her and said “Oh leave him be, he won’t mind. We’re only going for a short walk after all.”

None of my words got through to Iris at all!

The Arc that I could see was furious.

He was probably feeling something akin to “What the hell? Why’s he more important than me?”

While he continued to glare daggers towards me.

“…I-if you’re truly okay with it.”

“I am.”

Crossy and I were lead through the grounds by Iris, with a certain prince following not far behind.

Perhaps Crossy was bothered by Arc since he reluctantly kept close to me, and with a force that seemed to say he would be eaten if we were separated too.

…Iris? Did you just make a comment about Crossy and I? I heard that you know.

Crossy let go to walk beside Iris, telling her about where we needed to go so she could guide us properly.

Perhaps because I was too absorbed into their conversation, I forgot about the presence that was approaching me from behind.

I was given a warning, he said “I’m going to remember this, so you better watch out. I know your face, Kururi Helan.” the scary words of a horror film came from behind me.

The prince walked up beside me and continued to glare.

What are you going to do if Iris notices?! I wanted to say that, straight to his face even.

I couldn’t though, even if the Prince is hostile towards me I shouldn’t be fanning the flames here.

This is the moment where I should just pretend I haven’t noticed anything.

“This is kind of funny, just a little while ago Vaine was asking for directions too, I think he said he wanted to go to the fountain..”

“Really?! Vaine came here?!”

“Yeah, I acted as his guide, and when we returned to the rose garden you and Kururi were there.”

“Iris, which fountain did he go to?”

“I’m your guide, just give me a minute and I’ll show you.”

With Iris as our guide, we finally reached the fountain we were looking for. Its too bad we had to split up.

Iris said that she would guide us until the end, but we had refused. According to Crossy at the pace we were going, Vaine would already be long gone, so once we got close enough to explain directions, we split.

Ugh… Right after Eliza, I just had to go on and anger the First Prince too. Ahh, I can see my life coming to an end in a ‘accident’ soon.

I even resolved myself to not get involved as much as possible too…

“There’s the fountain.”

Crossy said so while walking.

The huge fountain I saw the other day was in front of me yet again.

“Shisho, lets hide.”

I obediently followed Crossy’s advice, who was already hiding in a bush big enough for two people.

Now that I think about it, haven’t I been in a similar situation like this before?

In our lines of sight, the fountain finally came back down revealing them.

Staring at eachother passionately, was the pair of Vaine and a girl I’ve never seen before.

“Wah, Shisho, this is…”

“No doubt about it…”

A confession!

To think that only one week after school had started, that one could already have someone fall for them! Good job Vaine! You truly are enjoying your youth to the fullest!

!

Surprisingly, it was the girl who started talking first.

“Vaine…”

The voice of the girl was trembling slightly.

She really was quite a beauty once we got a good look at her face, and she looked even more so when compared to Vaine’s.

“That girl, she’s a girl in the C-class just like I am.”

I noticed that Crossy said so in a low voice.

Though its his face which really made an impression on me.

“Thank you for coming out here today.”

The girl took a step forward, continuously darting her eyes between the ground and Vaine.

“Woah Shisho, for some reason my face has become hot as well.”

“Me too, but Crossy…”

Maybe if I was a girl, I would be squealing at this moment like “Aiiieee~”.

“Tell me what you need to, and make it brief.”

Vaine’s miscellaneous words were cruelly thrown at the other party.

That’s not what you’re supposed to say! Crossy was probably thinking the same thing, scrunching his eyebrows. This couldn’t help but frustrate me a little.

“Shisho, that guy is an idiot, will he be okay?”

“I don’t know, let’s just spectate for the time being.”

Our voices had become slightly louder do to our excitement.

Wait, don’t we actually look really disturbing right now?

This is bad! This is going to ruin our images! What do we do?!

“Oh umm… I…”

“What?”

“That, from the first meeting… about Vaine-san…”

“What about me?”

The girl’s voice didn’t come out of her trembling lips.

Don’t rush it! Also what the hell are you saying to her man?!

I myself would’ve tried grabbing her shoulders to steady her.

“Now! Go for it!” Crossy and I cheered as we blushed.

This’ll be bad if our voices get any louder.

“Vaine-san! I fell in love with you at the very moment I first saw you!”

Gathering her courage, she shot out her confession with a strong and lifted voice.

Crossy looked like he was about to faint.

This is dangerous, all my blood vessels are going *lub-dub* (sfx: heartbeat), if it got any louder I think they could hear it.

“…really?”

Without changing his look, Vaine responded.

To the girl, Crossy and I, we were all hung on hearing what his next words would be…

…

Hey! Say something! Don’t just go quiet here!

“C-can we start dating?” The girl stuttered out the following words.

“I’m sorry, it’s no good.”

Vaine cut down the girl’s courage cold.

“…am I not good enough?”

“Ah, totally not good enough.”

Don’t you have any kinder words than that?! If I had a sword right now I’d stab you with it! What do you mean ‘not good enough’?! Isn’t she quite the beauty?!

“Shisho, is it okay if I beat him up later?”

“Approved! I’ll allow it! For now though, how will she respond?”

“Please, can you tell me why? If you can’t, there’s no way I could give up like this.”

“Why?”

Vaine nodded once, and began to speak.

“My school life is fun thanks to my friends, and I have a lot of plans with them. That’s why I’m just too busy to deal with something like that.”

“I-I understand… Thank you for coming today…”

The girl squeaked out in a creaky voice, said goodbye, and ran away as quickly as possible.

“Shisho, are those friends he’s referring to us?”

“Probably.”

“Shisho, do you want to get a hit in too?”

“Yeah.”

“Shisho, that guy’s an idiot.”

“Yes, yes he is…”