CH 80

80 Monologue of A Certain Capture Target -Red-

TN: Check out my new project too! The Replacement for Suicidal Undead catches up with the raw.

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“O~h, what a nice muscle you’ve got there! It’s perfect!” Ramona exclaimed, shaking the green catnip in her hand in excitement to play with the cat before her.

The green striped cat was fully focused on the catnip before their eyes, body half-raised as they played with the tip of the catnip with their foreleg. And every time the cat did that, Ramona exclaimed joyfully. It was as if she was the one who trained the cat.

“Hu~m. You must not avert your eyes, you know? Ahahaha, good child.”

Different from the tabby cat who was playing with the catnip with Ramona, the cat that appeared before me was a fat round cat who couldn’t be bothered to even move. They didn’t even react in the slightest when I bait them with catnip.

In fact, they simply raised their head with a sleepy look on their face while yawning, as if telling me that this was a pain in the a*ss.

… And that was all.

◇

“A~h, the cats in this place are really interesting. They have a promising future.”

Ramona played (or perhaps trained?) with the cat until the latter got tired before she stopped and took a sip of her tea.

“I see.”

Anyhow, she seems to enjoy it very much. Damn.

“Do you want to play (code word: train) the cat too, Vince? It’s too bad that the only child who’s interested in swordcraft is the cat over there.”

Ramona spoke triumphantly, but when I looked at the 1st floor, I saw that the other guests were frolicking happily with the cats using the catnips in their hand. So, her claim ought not to be the truth. Still, it seemed that the only cat who reacted to Ramona was that tabby cat.

Well, it wasn’t like I’m jealous of her or anything. I just… wanted the cat before me to react somehow.

“It seems to be unwilling to play with me.”

“It’s not playing, it’s training.”

“In my eyes, it looks like playing though.”

Despite her claim, no matter how you looked at it, this was definitely playing.

“Geez, what makes you so sure about it? I’m definitely training that cat. Not playing.”

“Only you think that it is training. I’m sure that the cats only regarded this ‘training’ you do as playing.”

“Ha~h. Of course I know that. Why don’t you just play along and enjoy it with me? Really, why don’t you think of a way to enjoy this? Like, you can pretend to see that cat as a cat who’s interested in swordcraft and is training or something like that?”

“… So this much should be enough, right? The cat doesn’t seem to share my enthusiasm,” I said, causing Ramona to pout.

“I think it’s enough as long as Vince-sama enjoys it even just a little bit. Really, you’re bound to lose people who’re willing to follow you if you keep doing that, Vince-sama. In the end, you’ll become a general without a single subordinate then.”

“That’s impossible. Everyone says that they’re going to follow me.”

Whether it was the military who trained with me in the past or my teacher, they all said I have a promising future and are looking forward to the moment I become a general. So, they would definitely follow me, no doubt.

“Be careful there. Don’t get too full of yourself. That’s clearly a mere flattery. We have yet to be able to do that.”

Although I know there was some truth in her remark, there was no need to point it out so obviously, was there?! Geez. What was she going to do if my heart break from depression?

“Moreover, you’ve said it yourself. There’s no way for us to know what others are really thinking about us. I mean, even though no one understand me, I have to understand the—”

That’s a reality, though. I thought, heaving a sigh since our conversation was spiraling down toward a dangerous direction. But then, Ramona suddenly looked dumbfounded.

“Anyway, Ramona, I know you. I know that you truly love swordcraft. But, in my opinion, you should give up on that. You shouldn’t force yourself to train with me anymore. I mean, you’ve been falling behind la—”

“Ha~h, it seems you really don’t understand. I… want to become the Saint’s Sword. That’s why, I want you to at least listen carefully until the end now. I mean, it’s pretty much an open secret between all of us that Katrina-sama is the Saint. As such, I want to be able to protect Katrina-sama with my sword,” Ramona said as she glared at me.

The ‘Saint’s Sword’ Ramona was talking about was one of the derivative tales of ‘Saint’s Legend’. The setting of this tale talked about the saint being a sword master and standing in the frontline, killing the demon race and defeating the demon king all on her lonesome. (TL: Otherwise known as doujinshi.)

This particular tale about Saint’s Sword was Ramona’s favorite.

“Since Vince-sama is a man, you can’t stay by Saint-sama’s side around the clock, right? Moreover, you’ll also stand at the frontline to fight the demon king. That’s why I shall become her protector. Since you’ll be fighting in the frontline and all, you should leave the protection of Saint-sama to me. That’ll be the best solution, right?”

Ramona explained with a puffed up chest. So that was why she wanted to take a lesson in swordsmanship. Sure, I could give my all knowing that Ramona was in the back, protecting the saint. However, recently, she was slowly beginning to be unable to catch up with the pace of the training.

Although it was due to the degree of difficulties being raised bit-by-bit, she was unable to keep up. No one had really noticed this fact, but I was very clear about this matter. Even though she was confident she was able to keep up, she quickly became exhausted in the end.

“I have the same opinion, but you still can’t train together with me. I have to aim for a higher goal and have no leeway to look after you.”

Ramona’s eyebrows rose up the moment I told her so, and the tip of her cat-like eyes rose up even further.

“What does that mean? Are you trying to say that I’m nothing but a hindrance?”

“You’re not. What I’m trying to say is….”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses. Fine then, I’ll do as you say. I won’t request another training session with you again. Just you wait, I’ll become even stronger than you.”

Ramona turned her face to the side after she interrupted my explanation.

You misunderstand, dammit. I didn’t mean that! What I wanted to say was that Ramona and I had different training methods, so preparing a different training menu would work better for both of us. We didn’t have to train in separate places for this!

However, Ramona, in her sullen state, refused to hear what others said.

Well, she has the motivation, and is most likely going to become as strong as me. Still, mentioning this matter again will most likely worsen her mood.

“Bumya~.”

The fat cat, who up until now didn’t even flinch, suddenly held the catnip in his mouth and pointed its tip at me. Did he want to comfort me?

“Fufufu, thank god. After receiving your training, the cat ended up training you. I’m so jealous.”

“Don’t look down on me.”

Really now? Well, at least, Ramona is 

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“By the way, did you hear about Theodore-sama?”

“Yeah, I heard he caused another miracle.”

Theodore had caused another miracle during his engagement ceremony with Miss Muriel a while ago. According to the story I heard afterward, the ceremonial hall in which he confessed his love was bathed in brilliant light and the dancing magical power it caused strengthened the power of the barrier stone in each temple.

… It was truly a mystery.

However, it seemed the power of the Six Gods was more powerful than I expected. I mean, it strengthened the barrier in the entire kingdom after all. Hmm, it seemed I had to do my best in order to not be led around the nose after I gained the power of the Six Gods.

“Do you have the symptoms of awakening, Vince-sama?”

“Not yet. But I’m sure it’s going to manifest soon enough. I’m a descendant of the Six Gods after all.”

“I don’t get from where you got such confidence from, but that might be better. I want you to at least have some doubt like Simeon-sama though.”

“Of course I’m confident with myself. The sign of the Six Gods has manifested in Theodore after all. So, it’s only natural for it to manifest in me too, sooner or later. Simeon is the strange one here.”

Although I was really surprised to hear that the weak Theodore, whose forte was entertaining the girls and doing lacework, was the first one to awaken as the Six Gods, it was only reasonable that it was like that. After all, there’s the ‘True Love’ condition attached to awakening.

I meant, his feeling toward Miss Muriel was simply through the roof. Perhaps the power of the Six Gods in him awakened the moment he realized that Miss Muriel’s life was in jeopardy, thus creating such a miracle.

That’s why I didn’t consider that as something dangerous.

Anyhow, although I thought I took a liking to Ramona, I could confidently say no if someone asked me whether my feeling toward her was as strong as Theodore’s feeling toward Miss Muriel. However, the main reason I swung my sword every day was that I wanted to protect Ramona.

I was sure that this is the path for me to awaken my power as the Six Gods. And just like my father, I would become the Kingdom’s Sword.

Anyway, I was ill suited for meticulous thinking like Simeon, and I knew that facing what was in front of me suited me best. So, I knew that my path would open up on its own as long as I kept swinging my sword.

“Well, I don’t hate that self-confidence of yours. Let’s do our best together.

“Really, the fact that you can be so honest like this is so adorable,” Ramona muttered lowly under her breath.

“The heck are you talking about?! I’m not adorable. If I had to say, I might grow bigger and rugged when I’m older.”

I should grow bigger than my peers in the future. I meant I’m already one head taller than them, so growing bigger than my peers was a given. I wanted to become an indomitable man like my father, though. Someone who everyone could rely on. A big brother-like figure.

“It’s fine even if you don’t understand what I mean. Anyhow, I will do my best to become the sword that protects Saint-sama.”

“Yes, let’s do our best.”

“Bumya~.”

For some reason, I got this feeling that this fat cat was smiling at us. When I raised my face, my line of sight intersected with Ramona’s own, and we chuckled together. It seemed that we may have the same thought.

Let’s revisit this cat cafe in the future.

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