kscans

Chapter 146 - Circle Crusher

By the way, the bad premonitions Angelica mentioned have turned out to be almost entirely correct so far.

I suppose this is what they call a woman's intuition.

She has an appearance that looks like she has an excess of female hormones, so perhaps her uniquely feminine abilities are working at full throttle.

'So you're saying a misunderstanding occurred between me and Erin?'

'That is how it looks.'

'I don't really get it. I mean, can you really tell all that from just a few lines of backstory?'

'Even in the Priestess's Temple, there are legends about how Father unconsciously made every single Party Member fall in love with him, only to end up pairing with a woman from a slave background and creating a total battlefield.'

'Just what kind of rumors were being spread about me...?'

She's treating me like some kind of circle crusher, but it's troubling because she's mostly right.

Was I, perhaps, the princess of the Hero-sama?

'I think this might be it. Father, right on the verge of officially dating Elsa-san, didn't you say some lovey-dovey things in front of Erin-san? Like, "I met a really cute girl" or something like that?'

'That was sixteen years ago. I don't remember every single little thing.'

'...Understood. Then I will speak strictly in terms of speculation.'

It doesn't matter much, but typing out long messages must be tiring for Angelica too, so I wonder if I should switch to a call?

However, continuing to type long texts like this seems like it might serve as training for mastering a smartphone, so it's a dilemma.

With a warm heart that wishes for her daughter's growth at all times, I wait for the next transmission.

And then, the impact of the sent text blows that warm heart completely away.

'"I've found a girl I like. She's a unique girl who even misunderstands her own race. On top of that, she's quiet and expressionless. But because of that, the gap when she smiles occasionally is irresistible" —How about it? Didn't you blurt something like that out in front of Erin-san?'

'Ange, you're amazing. I remember now; I feel like I said something almost exactly like that. I was definitely in the middle of teaching her attack magic.'

'And you said that to Erin-san right before you started dating Elsa-san?'

'...Probably. Once I and Elsa were mutual, I was in a romantic brain state for a while, and I recall bragging to my Party Members too. It's what you'd call a past I want to erase.'

A seventeen-year-old boy getting his first girlfriend, and a top-tier beautiful girl at that, so it's no wonder he was floating on air.

Looking back now, I feel like, "What was I doing?", but even that is just a scene from youth.

'...Father, you're a natural little devil...'

'That's an expression that doesn't suit an old man at all.'

'I used it toward Father in his boyhood, so it's fine. Right, Father? Most likely, Erin-san thought that the girl Father liked was definitely her.'

'Eh?'

What is this girl talking about? I freeze.She thought I liked Erin...?

'I mean, look. Both Elsa-san and Erin-san met Father while they were in a state of misunderstanding their own races. And both of them are the quiet type. The two of them are somewhat similar. So, if you were pouring out lovey-dovey talk like, "I've found a girl I like, she's kind of like this~" while keeping Elsa-san's name hidden, there's a risk that it was frequently misdirected toward Erin-san as well.'

'...Then what? Was Erin under the impression that she was being wooed?'

'I think there is a very high possibility of that.'

'Would a taciturn woman like Erin fall into such excessive self-consciousness?'

'There is no such thing as a girl without excessive self-consciousness.'

It was a declaration.It was a view on gender that seemed like it would get her scolded from all sides.

'Girls live their lives thinking, "Is that person looking at me?" For instance, if Father looked this way at me, I'd think, "He's peeking at my boobs again. Does he want to make babies?"'

'That's just because you're abnormal.'

It's true that I frequently steal peeks at your breasts, but I don't think about making babies.I just want to be raised by them. This is also abnormal on my part.

It's really your fault that I've become this weird.

'Since the conversation has drifted quite far, shall we return to the topic? It's true that I have a memory of Erin being strangely in a good mood when I talked about Elsa. If she believed those were advances directed at her, everything might click into place.'

'Right? And since Father declared his relationship with a different woman after that, her affection has surely turned into deep-seated resentment. There's no mistake, she has completely fallen into darkness and become a mass of murderous intent.'

'Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? It would just end with, "What, that man didn't like me? How misleading."'

'...Do you think it would go that smoothly? Erin-san was thrown from heaven to hell, so she likely harbors extraordinary hostility.'

'Being forced to listen to incomprehensible bragging from someone like me can't be heaven. I'm not even particularly handsome or anything.'

'You really don't get it, Father.'

I can imagine Angelica sighing on the other side of the screen.Naturally, it comes with a foreign-style shrug.

'Even though Erin-san was born as a race suited for the rear guard, she was acting as a thief without realizing it, right? Thieves are front-line jobs where Agility and Strength are important. She must have struggled immensely.'

'A thief is more like a job that focuses on support but can also handle sub-attacking. Since they aren't suited for the Mage race at all, I heard she was nothing more than a hindrance in her previous party.'

'So she spent the first half of her life as a failure. And then, when she was at rock bottom after being expelled from her party, the person who picked her up was Father, right? And that Father repeatedly said things that could easily be misunderstood, only to start dating someone else. Honestly, I think it's a situation where it wouldn't be strange for her to go mad.'

'I don't really get it. Rather than being a "netorare" situation, I feel like it's not even a heartbreak to begin with. Isn't it just a simple misunderstanding?'

'Why don't you try thinking from the opposite position? Including everything from gender. Then you'll understand Erin-san's feelings well.'

'That's a predictable flow. If it's the opposite, does that mean this? I should imagine what would happen if I were an uninspiring Mage-race man and was picked up by a female Hero?'

But since Erin had a good face, I don't think she was an uninspiring Mage.

'If a somewhat handsome Mage had a heartbreak caused by an uninspiring female Hero, it would probably just be, "Can't be helped, on to the next girl."'

'...How about we also swap the world-view into something Father can empathize with more easily?'

'Into modern Japan? Am I a female President again?'

'Since Father was seventeen at that time, wouldn't school be more fitting?'

'I suppose so.'

...If I were a student... and then I took Erin's position... what would happen?What kind of circumstances would a thief girl expelled from her party be translated into for a modern man?

'Listen carefully. Father is a small, bespectacled boy who dropped out of school due to the hardship of bullying. Having nothing to do every day, he spends his time wandering around the neighborhood. He's in a state where people around him whisper, "People like that are the ones who become random attackers." Yes, please try to become that character and imagine it.'

'Stop, no matter how you look at it, that's too tragic.'

It's true that before I welcomed her into my party, Erin was an unemployed thief, so she was essentially a criminal-in-waiting.But even so, this is too much. You told me to use a school analogy, but then you suddenly have him dropping out of school.

'Short stature, weak physical strength. Can't find a job, and has no desire to go to school. "What merit do I even have? Maybe I should just stab some passerby and let the prison protect me. Hehehe." That is how far Erin-kun has been pushed.'

'Isn't he an "invincible person" [T/N: a person with nothing to lose]? Is the gender-swapped Erin such a dangerous guy?'

'He was pushed that far, but one day, he is approached by a high school girl dressed in the uniform of a prestigious academy. She comes on strong, saying things like, "You know, I'm confident in my ability to judge people."'

'Wait, is that young lady me?'

'A Hero party that receives a budget from the state—if compared to a school, wouldn't that be a super prestigious academy? And the Summoned Hero who acts as the leader there would be, in short, the Student Council President.'

'I see.'

'Her face is of the plain, pure type, but her physique is lewd. Her twin peaks, pushing against the inside of her sailor uniform, look as if they are about to burst. Such a girl approaches him with sparkling eyes, saying, "You have talent. I can tell." Erin-kun, who was wandering around with a blade stuffed in his backpack, is instantly defeated.'

'So you were preventing a heinous crime without even knowing it... But what is the President trying to make Erin do?'

'The President is, well... in the Light Music Club. She's trying to entrust the missing keyboard part to Erin-kun.'

'The music direction, huh. But hey, if he wants to do club activities with the President, he has to go to the same school, right? How do you handle that?'

'Of course, she uses the Student Council President's power and wealth to have him transferred in. Erin-kun goes from an invincible person to a complete reversal: an elite high school student attending a prestigious academy.'

'Once you have something worth protecting, you can't commit crimes anymore.'

'From then on, Erin-kun spends every day immersed in club activities. Even though he had never even touched an instrument, he begins to show remarkable talent. As it turns out, he had perfect pitch.'

'Erin is amazing.'

'There was also the President's one-on-one guidance. She would have Erin-kun sit on her lap, and the two of them would play the keyboard together, with very hands-on instruction.'

'...That's not good... While playing, wouldn't the, uh, President's breasts be pressing against Erin's back?'

'They do.'

Just how sinful is this President? She has a glamorous physique, right? I think all his nerves would be concentrated on his back, making it impossible to focus on music.

'Moreover, while in that state of pressing against him, the President begins to speak. "I have someone I like. He's someone who hasn't realized his own talent for a long time, and because of that, he has struggled so much... I want to support him."'

'...Stop... please stop... Erin will misunderstand... If he's whispered such things while having breasts pressed against him in the music room after school, he'll definitely think it's about him... He'll definitely fall in love...'

'"He's a quiet person. He doesn't smile in front of people at all. But, maybe he'll smile for me sometimes. I love that about him. ...It's kind of embarrassing. Sorry, pretend you didn't hear that." Having stopped the music there, the President leaves, saying, "Oh right, there's a major announcement tomorrow."'

'...Stop! Erin is definitely thinking the President is going to confess to him tomorrow!'

'Yes, exactly. Erin-kun couldn't sleep all night, tossing and turning. ...And the next morning, when he goes to school, he witnesses it. The sight of the President holding hands bashfully with some handsome guy she didn't know before. As soon as the President finds Erin-kun, she calls out to him while waving. "Ah, Erin-kun! This is, you know, my boyfriend! Ehehe, he seems like a good person, right? Come to think of it, he's a little bit like you, Erin-kun!"'

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Having become Erin-kun, I let out a beast-like roar. In my overwhelming grief, the hand holding the smartphone was trembling violently.

'I can't take it anymore. I'm going back to being an invincible person. I might go on a rampage in the school.'

'That is likely Erin-san's current mental state.'

With a single word from Angelica, I am instantly pulled back to reality.

'Erin might actually go on a spree of indiscriminate attacks. We have to resolve this quickly, or it'll become a serious problem.'

'I'll say.'