I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind

Chapter 159

"...As expected, I can't do it."

Lucia scratched the back of her head nervously.

A mission together with Caron is too much.

"Then I can't allow you to participate in the test either."

"What are you going to do if I say I'll do it? You think you can stop me?"

"I can easily stop a greenhorn who doesn't know their place."

"Greenhorn... It's been a while since I heard that word. You must be saying that because you're prepared to pay the price for insulting me."

Lucia's eyes shone ominously. At the same time, the cave vibrated slightly.

Caron had no choice but to click his tongue.

It was to the point that even calling her a greenhorn was a compliment.

"Are you saying you'll disobey His Majesty's orders because of personal feelings?"

"What? Personal? Personal feel~ings?"

Lucia gritted her teeth.

To dismiss their fate that's so tangled it can't even be cut as mere personal feelings.

Lucia realized.

Her ill-fated relationship with Caron.

Can never be severed.

"You made me into a 'manufactured hero' and that's all you have to say?"

"..."

A manufactured hero.

To explain this, we have to go back quite far into the past.

About 20 years ago, when Lucia was attending Annwood Academy.

'War has broken out!'

Incidents always occur suddenly.

A surprise attack by the Rohan Kingdom, which had been an ally.

At that time, the Empire's forces were deployed to the west, so it was virtually impossible to stop the advance of the Rohan Kingdom that started from the southeast.

'What? The three eastern gates have already fallen? How can they be so fast?'

Not only because most of the troops were on the western front, but also because the invaders were lightly equipped.

All they brought were horses, battle flags, and combat supplies.

They advanced at a terrifying speed every time they crossed a city wall.

Procuring necessary supplies locally, they advanced straight towards the capital.

It was a reckless charge that didn't even consider the aftermath, but from the Empire's perspective at the time, it was utterly baffling.

And the ones deployed to stop the advance of the Rohan Kingdom were none other than.

"Us, the students of Annwood Academy."

The entire student body of Annwood Academy at the time, including Lucia who was a second-year, was deployed to the front lines under the name of student soldiers.

"You may not remember. No, you won't be able to remember. I understand. You must have experienced such chaos dozens of times."

"..."

"But I... no, we weren't like that. It was our first battlefield. So we can't help but remember it clearly."

The front lines were the worst.

From farmers who had never even held a battle flag in their lives to praying soldiers, to nobles who were busy fleeing to other cities.

Academy students were deployed to such a place, and the front lines became even more chaotic.

In fact, the Empire didn't have high expectations for them either.

They only hoped to buy as much time as possible until the main force in the west returned.

That's right. It was a plan to use the Annwood Academy students as sacrificial pawns.

Even though there were successors of prominent families, no one in the noble council expressed an opposing opinion.

That's how dangerous of a situation the Empire was in.

To the point of pushing their own children, grandchildren into the battlefield.

To have their first real battle be a war.

It was natural for the children to tremble in fear.

And this was the same for Lucia.

Even Lucia, who was from a prominent military family, was trembling like a child.

That's what a battlefield is.

"That's when I realized there are things worse than demons in this world."

People stabbing, cutting, beheading each other.

They committed another murder before even realizing the first murder, and were drenched in blood not knowing whose it was.

Sometimes she thought it would be better if the enemy were demons.

At least then she wouldn't be engulfed in guilt.

On the third day of being deployed to the front lines, when she was on the verge of death from exhaustion.

Lucia encountered him.

The Empire's rat, Caron.

'Are you the grim reaper?'

'...I'm reinforcements.'

'For reinforcements, it's a measly number.'

'At least we're better than your current state.'

The fighting continued for a week after that without even time to sleep well.

It was a short time, but it wasn't short at all for Lucia.

Because in that week, she survived hundreds of times thanks to Caron.

And in the end, the Empire achieved victory.

The student soldiers stopped the advance of the Rohan Kingdom.

There were a considerable number of forcibly conscripted civilians and soldiers, but it's an undeniable fact that the student soldiers played a big role.

Like that, the names of Lucia and the other children resounded throughout the continent.

"Caron, do you remember what people called us then?"

"...They called you heroes."

"That's right. My first incident of becoming known as a hero, and the beginning. And..."

Lucia continued with a giggle.

"It was the beginning of tragedy."

The crisis was over, but the war didn't end.

As the troops were pushed back, the western front expanded and became a mess, and the Rohan Kingdom in the southeast of the Empire began deploying additional troops.

The 'real war' began.

The temporarily deployed academy students.

But the children had no choice but to continue wandering the battlefield.

Because they were the Empire's.

'Heroes'.

Dying, killing, dying, killing.

As the war continued, even friends who seemed like they wouldn't die lost their lives one by one.

Lucia knew.

That it wouldn't be strange if she died tomorrow.

Dyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkillingdyingkilling.

A life where it wouldn't be strange to go crazy at any moment.

There were only three things that sustained Lucia in that situation.

Friends, comrades met on the battlefield, and that she had to fight without giving up to live up to the name of a hero.

If you include Caron, it's four, but he's included in the category of comrades, so she didn't count him separately.

'I should play a prank on him.'

While continuing that life, Lucia was hiding in the corner of a tent to play a prank on Caron.

By chance, she overheard a conversation between Caron and a rat.

'Mr. Caron, I've completed the propaganda work.'

'Good work. How about the north?'

'They were already favorable to the Lucid family. To the point that propaganda isn't even necessary.'

Caron.

Was doing work to make her into a hero.

Originally, troubled times crave heroes.

At that time, Lucia had the right conditions to be a hero.

Skills, a reputable family, appearance, and even great achievements in the war.

When the Empire actively promoted Lucia on top of this, everyone referred to Lucia like this.

As a 'hero'.

That's how Lucia became a hero.

Now it wouldn't be strange at all for this title to be attached to her, but from that time until a few years ago, there were far more people who ridiculed her than acknowledged her.

Because she was a 'manufactured hero'.

Lucia couldn't help but be shocked.

Propaganda, ensuring safety, even executing groups trying to bring her down.

She realized Caron was manipulating all of that.

For Lucia, she had no choice but to distance herself from such a Caron.

Of course, even in the midst of that, the war continued without end.

The hellish war, the deaths of friends, being a manufactured hero.

Everything was at its worst, but the absolute worst thing was.

That Caron only cared about keeping her alive.

A battlefield is always bound to have unexpected situations.

And that was no exception for Lucia either.

But Lucia always survived.

Because Caron and the other rats took care of her knowingly or unknowingly.

Ignoring her friends, comrades on the battlefield, civilians who could have been saved.

It was the result of only caring about protecting Lucia.

'They could have been saved! The person next to me, the person behind me, the other people too!'

'...'

'You could have easily saved them! But why...!'

She always protested to Caron, but the result was the same.

As if their lives had no value.

Many things happened after that, but this is the biggest reason Lucia distanced herself from Caron.

Lucia clenched her teeth.

"Caron, this is the reason I can never forgive you in my life. The sin of saving someone who should have died and killing those who should have lived."

Yes, she's not someone who deserves to be called a hero.

Because if Caron had just pushed, anyone could have become a hero.

She's just a lucky person who stepped on the corpses of friends and comrades to rise up.

"If you have a mouth, say something! Say anything!"

Perhaps because she demanded an answer, or because he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding.

Caron's tightly closed mouth opened.

"...I'm not strong."

Lucia couldn't help but be surprised. For Caron to deny his own strength.

"You're weak so you couldn't save them. Is that the excuse you want to make?"

"No, I mean I'm not strong enough to save everyone. In the past, now, and in the future as well."

"..."

"Saving you, Lucia. That was the best I could do at the time. The other children... were already too broken."

War doesn't just break the body.

As it breaks the body, it slowly erodes the mind.

"Even if I took them and ran away, they would have been full of those who would take their own lives or run away. Taking such people and escaping was impossible."

Even if he painstakingly took them and ran away, the result was obvious.

Being discovered while running away, or eroding the minds of comrades through suicide.

Not to mention those who were heavily injured.

So Caron made a choice.

Children who still held some hope or had a desire to live, and.

Children who raised their heads to fight even in a desperate situation.

To save such children first.

"You were just one of those chosen. It doesn't mean I saved you because you were from the Lucid family."

"Then what about the idolization work? Making me into a hero. How are you going to explain that?"

"The Empire, which seemed to be all-powerful and eternal, allowed the enemy's invasion too easily, and above all..."

Caron closed his eyes and continued.

"Too many people died."

Lucia trembled slightly.

She knows. It's not only them who suffered the pain of war.

People living on the Rohan Kingdom's march route, the expanded western front, and the war that followed.

An uncountable number of people were affected.

"People needed hope. Hope to live for the future, tomorrow, today."

"..."

"The Empire, after much deliberation, came up with the idea of creating a 'new hero'."

And the consensus was to create a hero who was as young, strong, and promising as possible.

Let's create an idol that everyone can't help but cheer for.

Let's make the imperial citizens feel like they're growing together with them.

"You were chosen among many candidates, and Duke Luke didn't object. He didn't say what he wanted either."

Forcing sacrifice on the child of a noble.

Usually, a noble in the political world would take it as an opportunity to gain great benefits.

But Duke Luke didn't demand any rights.

"Well, Father has always been loyal to the Empire."

"...I didn't know his thoughts then and I don't know them now. So I can't recklessly make assumptions, but... It's a clear fact that Duke Luke didn't give an answer for several days."

"...Father did?"

Not only is he a person who is loyal to the Empire, but Duke Luke is the embodiment of a soldier.

He doesn't know how to beat around the bush, and his pondering doesn't last more than a day at most.

But to think he didn't give an answer for several days.

'Could it be that he was troubled...?'

If so, she might be a little happy.

Well, that's not what's important right now.

"So, there was a reason, so forgive you. Is that what you're saying?"

Caron and Lucia, whose first meeting wasn't good.

As time passed, misunderstandings only piled up, and in the end, it became an irreversible ill-fated relationship.

And Caron had no intention of untangling the tangled threads of their ill-fated relationship.

"You don't need to forgive me."

"What? To say that now..."

"That's not what you should be doing, Lucia."

Caron opened his closed eyes.

Lucia is a child who has many things to do.

He didn't want her to waste her energy on sorting out their ill-fated relationship.

That's right. What Lucia should be doing is not forgiving trash like him, but.

"What you should be doing is proving that you deserve to be called a real hero, and..."

Doing what he couldn't do back then.

"That's all. You don't need to bother forgiving a failure like me."

Caron was saying it.

To save the countless people he couldn't save back then.

To save those who died innocently because of the war.

War, dark mages, erosion, Heavenly Kings, demons, Legion Commanders.

It's a self-evident fact that the continent will soon fall into great chaos.

This time as well, countless people will face a crisis and need help.

But if there's one thing different from back then.

"This time, you're the one who will save them."

With the power of the hero, Lucia.

--TL Notes--

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading