Chapter 55

Chapter 55 – The Path Of Humans, The Path Of Music

There is a saying.

A thief who steals money is a petty thief.

A thief who steals time is a great thief.

A thief who steals happiness is a shameless thief.

Stealing the treasure called happiness makes all of a person’s time and money worthless, and taking away happiness is akin to stealing that person’s life.

Yet, even so, amidst the morning rush on the way to the academy, they gathered in a crowd, tearing at others’ clothes and causing a ruckus, stealing my precious happiness like nothing else in the world.

Confucius said, “A person who defecates in the middle of the road is not a human but a beast.”

The behavior of those chanting the name of a familiar lunatic was clearly that of beasts, not humans.

Following the words of the great sage, I made these beastly brats crawl on the ground to know their place.

“How about now? Can you see the path of humanity?”

Three rows of five.

Looking at the fools forming the shape of the human character (人) with their bodies, I gently observed the trembling beasts.

Even Confucius gave up on guiding such beasts, but I, the former Heavenly Demon, did not give up and was guiding them to realize the way of humans and the path of humanity with their entire bodies.

“Urgh... Ugh...”

“My... my neck is cramping...”

“I feel like I’m going to die...”

How long has it been since they started learning the way of humanity with their bodies, and they’re already whining?

The young disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect in my past life could endure this for an hour without a problem.

“Tsk, tsk, little hero, daughter of Artemis, you’ve been trying so hard. Is this all you can handle, crying already?”

“You... you’re the one who... ordered it...!”

As I shook my head in pity, the armored woman who had pointed her sword at Atalanta earlier growled.

She resisted until the end without bowing her head, fighting back fiercely until her eyes were swollen, yet she still had the energy to act like this.

She seemed to have decent endurance as a punching bag.

“Oh dear, my hand slipped.”

Suddenly, my grip loosened, and coincidentally, the dagger I had taken from the armored woman earlier fell with a clatter.

-Kachang!

“Eek?!”

Fortunately(?), the dagger hit the armor of the armored woman who was bowing her head at my feet and fell.

Startled by the impact, the armored woman turned pale and quickly regained her balance.

“I need to get going. I’ll come back after music class. Keep it together until then, alright?”

I remember all your faces, so if you want more pain, try running away~

With a cheerful wave, I hurried my steps, taking Atalanta with me to the Forest of Arts.

“Hey, Dianes...”

“Don’t worry about that damned crescent moon. We’ve come too far to make up and be buddy-buddy now.”

The crescent moon pattern engraved on the armor of that woman earlier.

And the way she tried to tear Atalanta’s clothes while babbling about Artemis.

They must be those hunters of Artemis I heard about yesterday.

That cursed moon goddess, the murderous archer, was drawing a ton of attention wherever I went.

“Anyway, it’s such a hassle.”

One interesting thing was that the red-haired huntress, who meekly followed me, was also a member of the hunting group, claiming to be the daughter of Artemis.

It seemed that the matter she attended to without attending yesterday’s banquet was related to them, but it did not seem to have been resolved well.

“What happened?”

“.....”

“You don’t want to talk?”

“...Yes.”

“Okay, then.”

“Huh...?”

Well, even without her saying anything, I could roughly imagine what had happened.

It wasn’t right to pry into something Atalanta didn’t want to talk about.

“Speak when you feel like it.”

Thinking we’d be late for the first class, I grabbed her wrist and ran before she could say anything.

We had finished the morning training and set off leisurely, so we still had some time, even after buying the supplies.

The opening for the beast training took a bit longer, so the class had already started.

Passing by the statue of the greasy-looking god of music, Apollo, and through the laurel forest where the sound of the flute echoed, a fan-shaped theater made of white marble appeared.

In the middle of the theater, a strange creature was playing a pan flute.

“Oh, are you the new student... and Miss Atalanta? Although you’re late, fortunately, we haven’t officially started yet.”

The music teacher, with a gentle voice, invited us to sit in the empty seats.

The music teacher, Marsyas, who was mentioned at the instrument store earlier, must be this person.

“It’s a festival. To me, a festival is just a cleaning event on Passos Island.”

But a drinking festival hosted by the God of Wine?

I can’t resist this.

As I unknowingly shrugged my shoulders in excitement, Atalanta, who had been staring at me, simply nodded as if she had understood something.

“Hehe, as expected...”

“What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Nothing!”

Atalanta nodded and looked at me again, her earlier worries completely gone. She seemed to shine brightly again.

“...”

“Dianes?”

“Oh, sorry.”

Drawn to her radiant smile, my gaze unknowingly fell on the lips I had passionately desired just yesterday.

I was almost mesmerized by those soft, shimmering lips like delicate petals and nearly lunged at her again.

But I quickly snapped back to my senses and glued my body, which had leaned towards her, back to the chair.

‘...No, are you a teenage boy or something? Well, technically, yes, but still!’

I bit my lip in silence, struggling to calm the instincts that kept bursting forth at the most unexpected moments.

Atalanta looked at me with a peculiar gaze and suddenly brought her lips to my ear, saying this.

“I... feel the same... way?”

“!?”

Did I hear that correctly?

As if struck by something, I turned around in surprise to see Atalanta, who seemed embarrassed herself, covering her bright red face with both hands and trying to slowly move away from me.

“You’re embarrassed too, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know!”

I never imagined that there would be such a sweet and sour romantic comedy in my life.

Caught off guard by this sudden pink atmosphere, I didn’t know what to do, so I just drummed my hands on my knees and tapped my feet nervously.

While everyone else was cheering and excited in the midst of the heat, we just stood there awkwardly with our mouths shut.

Marsyas approached us with a clatter of hooves.

“Ho?”

“...Teacher?”

“Hooo?”

“T-T-Teacher M-Marsyas?”

“Hoooooo?”

Marsyas, clearly amused, looked back and forth between me and Atalanta with a mischievous smile.

“Yes. It’s a good time~”

Hang in there!

Whispering so, Marsyas patted my shoulder and then cheerfully extended his hand to me and Atalanta.

“Well then, shall we take a look at the flutes you’ve prepared? If both of you have brought flutes that I like... I will play at your wedding ceremony.”

“Wh-What?!”

Atalanta’s face turned bright red, as if it would explode with a single touch, at the playful words of Marsyas encouraging them to submit their assignment.

Still, she sincerely took out the flute from her bosom and handed it to him.

“Hmm... a birch wood flute. The mouthpiece is simple, and it only has three finger holes.

It’s a hunting whistle, isn’t it?”

Though it was a bit lacking to perform music with. Marsyas, who praised it as an extraordinarily delicate piece, returned the flute to Atalanta.

“Well then, Dianes. This is the surprise task for the first lesson. What kind of flute did you bring?”

“Hoo... You probably haven’t seen an item like this before.”

I slowly and confidently took out the little darling that had been asleep in my arms.

“This is truly what one would call fate—the little darling I encountered this morning.”

“Oh...?”

Eventually, as the obsidian flute, shining brilliantly under the bright sunlight, appeared.

It was only natural for Marsyas’s eyes to widen in surprise.