Chapter 72

The class trial

Meanwhile, in the other world, the class lead by Tenjouin Hikaru was undergoing a certain trial .

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

In the usual practice hall of the castle, Tenjouin was swinging his sword, alone . He was sweating from his forehead and crudely breathing

He was swinging that sword for a long while

For Tenjouin who doesn’t usually sweat while training, anyone who’d see him in that state would realize that he hasn’t been swinging his sword for only a short period

At that time, There was one person who was gazing at him with eyes full of concern .

“Tenjouin-kun…”

“… Miki . ”

Tendou Miki who was watching Tenjouin a while until now, approached him . Tenjouin stopped swinging his sword and casted his eyes down .

“So you’re still worried about it?”

Hearing Miki’s concerned question, Tenjouin silently nodded .

What she meant was the incident that occurred four months ago .

One of their classmates had died .

Her name was Mitaka Ren .

She was a normal highschool girl with no outstanding traits .

She had average abilities and a considerable number of friends . Just like most of the class students .

Her only special characteristic was that she was a huge anime fan .

This truth was revealed only after she died, so it didn’t matter all that much .

“If I… If only I was watching out for her and everyone else…!!”

With a vexed expression, Tenjouin tightly seized his sword .

Ren’s cause of death was a dungeon trap .

When they were in their second dungeon exploration, she got caught into one of its traps and went out of sight .

According to the knights who were following her, she fell into a teleportation type trap that teleports its target to a random place unknown to everyone . Even detecting her position was impossible .

All that can be said about the incident was that Ren wasn’t very lucky .

Naturally, all of her classmates went to look for her, However, they got stopped by the knights from doing so .

The reason was that the dungeon was still yet to be completely dominated .

There was no way they could even tell how many floors it comprised . That’s why it was out of question they could let their precious Heros delve inside it .

“She can’t be rescued . ” that was the sentence that each one of the knights stated .

“If I was stronger, such a thing wouldn’t have happened!”

“That’s not true! You didn’t do anything wrong . ”

Desperately, Miki tried comforting Tenjouin who was blaming himself .

Tenjouin was the class’s center; more like a leader existence for his classmates .

His awareness of that fact emphasized the sense of responsibility that was seizing his heart .

“At that time I finally understood that this world is not a game . ”

Tenjouin uttered, with a face that had attained a conclusion .

The first death after coming to this world .

That truth reached the class with a considerable shock along .

Everyone started shutting themselves inside their rooms, falling in deep thoughts .

All of them were unconsciously taking themselves as the strongest heroes who don’t lose . That’s why death was unthinkable for them .

Once they realized that was not the case, they ended up in this situation .

“I mean, I killed people too…”

Muttered Tenjouin as he gazed at the sky .

He already experienced killing people when he participated in the thief’s annihilation quest .

Once the idea that he could end up the same way as those thieves reached his mind, his body started to tremble .

Although he killed countless people, he doesn’t want to be murdered .

Such an inconsistent desire .

“Tenjouin-kun……”

Miki didn’t know how to respond to Tenjouin who was fixing his gaze on the sky and muttering alone . Her beloved person is facing a problem in front of her eyes . Miki wanted to help him as soon as possible . She wanted to become his support .

But she couldn’t find the right words to comfort him .

She refrained from saying irresponsible replies like” it will be okay” and remained watching him fighting against his sense of duty .

I want to do something for him .

As she held that wish in heart, another person showed up and approached them .

“Tenjouin-sama . ”

“Princess…”

With a serious expression, Lurian walked slowly towards Tenjouin and said as she looked at him in the eyes .

“You are not strong, Tenjouin-sama . ”

“Eh?”

That was the first thing the princess abruptly said .

Tenjouin clearly couldn’t grasp what she meant, but lurian didn’t stop there and continued .

“Tenjouin-sama, you are indeed the leader of our heroes and you always do your best in the foremost line . You always work harder than everyone else but still consider your surroundings . I think that is something wonderful . However, that doesn’t have anything to do with strength . Tenjouin-sama, what do you have to do right now?”

“What I have to do…”

Almost as if he was entranced by lurian’s words, Tenjouin repeated them in a low voice .

“What you need to do now is not practicing alone . That is because until now, you were not fighting alone . ”

Lurian gently held Tenjouin’s hand and smiled .

“I think you already understand what I am trying to say . ”

“Princess… !! Yes, I need to go!!”

Comprehending what Lurian was trying to convey, Tenjouin ran to the castle where his classmates were at .

His face didn’t show a sign of hesitation anymore; it was his usual expression .

With this, everything should be alright .

Lurian said to herself as she watched him run to the castle .

But at the time when Lurian was smiling in satisfaction, Miki, next to her was making a confused face .

“How long were you watching?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Lurian replied to Miki who was staring at her in an obvious way .

Normally, she should at least give her a word of thanks for what she did, however, Miki couldn’t do that .

Tenjouin who was drowning in his depressing thoughts didn’t notice anything, but Miki did .

The timing when Lurian showed up was too good .

She was definitely hiding and watching him like Miki .

But that is fine . There was no problem if it was only to that level .

After all, she gave Tenjouin the hope he needed while Miki couldn’t help him out .

At that point, Miki was indeed thankful to her .

There was one thing she couldn’t find consisting .

“Did you have to hold his hand?”

That one thing was the fact that she held his hand .

“Yes, it was necessary to grant him peace of mind . ”

Lurian answered while looking at her hand . That was clearly her principal aim .

Miki who already realized that felt a bit irritated, but at the end, she gave up with a sigh .

“Well, whatever . At least you brought him back to usual . ”

Miki knew well that she didn’t have the right to complain . That’s why she decided to give her a word of thanks instead of feeling irritated about what happened .

“Thank you, Luri . ”

“You’re welcome, Miki . ”

They looked at each other and laughed .

Despite all, these two are close friends who call each others by first names .

Maybe it was because they have the same crush .

After that, the both of them followed Tenjouin to the castle, running .

4 months after the class summoning . The class lead by Tenjouin had overcome yet another challenging trial, getting another step closer to the day of the demon lord subjugation .

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Bonus

Stalker?

“How long were you watching, really . ”

“As long as you were watching him too . ”

“Really?”

“Yes, really . ”

“… Tenjouin-kun was swinging that sword for a long while . ”

“Yes, I didn’t expect he would keep swinging it from this morning until now . ”

“You were watching him from this morning!”