Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

43 – The Wait

A late-night Opal Black dorm common room.

Since Ion left her unknown words, Titania has been waiting for Ion to return.

Because I was very concerned about the meaning of his last words.

Titania spent all her time in the common room so that she would know as soon as Ion returned.

The time has already passed the dormitory curfew. Originally, I should go back to my room, but the instructor who should control it is not in the dormitory right now.

I stared out the window endlessly, but no one was waiting.

It’s time to go to sleep, but sleep doesn’t come. Because of the situation she is in and her deep worries, her sleep does not come, and only the night goes deep.

Titania felt the presence of people approaching her lounge.

A somewhat light and familiar sound of footsteps. Who are you at this hour?

“… Titania.”

“Oz?”

The person who entered the break room was her friend, Oznia.

Oznia sensed her presence in her resting room, but as if she didn’t know that it was her Titania, she checked her and put on a slightly surprised expression.

Of course, she was just expressionless on the outside. Titania had no idea that Oznia was surprised.

“Aren’t you sleeping?”

Titania shook her head lightly at her friend’s question.

“Strangely, I can’t sleep. What is Oz doing at this hour?”

At that, Oznia looked up at her sneakily upstairs. To Titania, she felt it was like looking into Ion’s room.

“Discipline.”

“Discipline? Oh, are you talking about the patrol with Instructor Ion?”

Oznia gave a small nod of her head and added an explanation.

“… Didn’t come.”

A week had passed since the semester started, and Titania was getting used to her friend’s sloppy tone.

Titania knew firsthand that Oznia and Instructor Ion were patrolling around the dormitory together to receive discipline in the early hours of the morning.

So what Oznia is saying is that she probably means that the time she was supposed to be on patrol has passed, but she says Instructor Ion hasn’t returned yet.

In the end, it was the same for both of them that they couldn’t fall asleep while waiting for someone who didn’t come, even though the reasons were different.

Oznia sat down on the sofa across from Titania in silence.

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Titania asked.

“Can I make you some tea?”

Oznia shook her head slightly.

“Drinking makes me drowsy. Then sleepy.”

“I see.”

Does this mean that he will refrain from tea because he has to wait for Ion? Titania nodded her head in agreement.

So the two spent time in the break room silently waiting for the instructor who didn’t come.

In a strange silence, only the sound of firewood burning in the fireplace filled the space.

Meanwhile, Oznia suddenly brought up her words.

“Are you okay?”

Titania lifted her involuntarily lowered head as if surprised.

Titania was briefly surprised by the fact that Oznia, who usually doesn’t speak and rarely starts talking first, rarely spoke to her first, but soon she replied with a soft smile.

“If you say it’s okay… It must be a lie.”

For the first time in her life, Titania witnessed a human express direct hatred and anger towards her elves.

Her To her, elves lived peacefully in the forest, so she couldn’t understand why the humans hated them so much.

Rather, because Titania grew up hearing negative stories about humans from elves adults in the forest, her knowledge was in a state where the balance of her knowledge was quite skewed.

However, Titania, who went through enough time to think about it, finally came to terms. That this, too, was one of the ordeals she had to endure for the sake of reconciliation between elves and humans.

She was wise enough not to pretend she didn’t know what she had witnessed with her own eyes.

Nevertheless, if you think that all humans might reject and hate elves like this… It was true that it was a bit heartbreaking.

Oznia was silent for a long time. She alone put her lips together, as if she was choosing her words carefully, unlike her usual.

In the meantime, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Me. I like you very much.”

“Ugh, huh?”

At this sudden and embarrassing word, Titania’s cheeks turned slightly red.

In front of Titania, who was confused and at a loss for what to do, Oznia maintained her composure.

“And I think it’s great.”

“Huh? What, what?”

“I was determined not to go back even after going through that.”

Oznia calmly continued her words.

“As much as there are people who hate you, there are people who like you.”

Oznia didn’t make eye contact with Titania and just stared at her fireplace.

While the light of her fireplace was burning red, Oznia’s cheeks that received the light were also slightly red.

“Just. Yes.”

Her sudden confession made Titania feel her heart tickle.

That was probably the best consolation for Oznia.

Titania smiled faintly at Oznia’s awkward attempt to comfort herself. I was so grateful for her heart that somehow I felt like her tears were going to flow.

At the same time, Titania looked at her Oznia and for some reason she remembered her Ion.

The two of them are not used to consolation, but still try their best to comfort themselves.

For some reason, she smiled naturally when she thought that the two of them looked a little alike.

“Thank you. Oz.”

“… Huh.”

A faint smile bloomed on Osnia’s lips as well.

As the relationship between the two students grew closer, Oznia suddenly opened her mouth wide and let out a huge yawn.

“Oz. Are you sleepy?”

Oznia shook her head and tried to deny it, but she couldn’t hide her head bowing. She was well past curfew, and the clock was about to strike midnight.

“Go ahead. I will be here.”

“Yes… sorry.”

Oznia couldn’t bear the rush of her drowsiness at all, so she couldn’t refuse Titania’s offer and she staggered out of her living room.

When Titania saw that figure, she wondered if she was going to sleep with Oznia changing her clothes.

The break room where even Osnia left.

Titania stared out of her window incessantly alone.

She couldn’t see anything just by looking out of the dark window, but for some reason, it seemed that the person waiting for her would show up at any moment.

Does he really come? Maybe I should just go in.

At the time when I was deep in thought,

I heard the door of the dorm open late at night.

Titania hurriedly got up from the sofa and left the common room. She and she almost hopped into the lobby.

As expected, it was Instructor Ion who returned to the dormitory.

He frowned, as if surprised that Titania was in her lobby at this time.

“Titania?”

“Are you here, Instructor?”

“What were you doing at this hour? Curfew must have been long over.”

Titania felt ashamed to say that she was waiting for the instructor. So he scratched his cheek shyly and came up with an excuse that wasn’t a lie at all.

“Now, I can’t sleep….”

“Hmm. Okay.”

It was a situation that could be seen as a violation of school rules, but Ion did not question Titania.

He just nodded her head calmly.

Titania felt Ion’s gaze pierce her. If so, she seemed to have somehow understood why she had been waiting here.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Titania cautiously opened her mouth.

“Stir… Instructor. Did you go out well?”

Titania had so many things she wanted to ask Ion.

What does it mean if the guys who are targeting you disappear, what have you been doing outside for so long, and have you experienced any dangerous incidents?

She knows that she doesn’t really have to leave the academy.

Ion, instead of answering such a question, suddenly asked an unknown question after a brief silence.

“Titania.”

“Yes?”

“Did you have a brother?”

Titania didn’t know what her question meant.

But she couldn’t help answering the instructor’s question, so she nodded and answered.

“Yes. There is.”

“What kind of person were you?”

The expression “Human” Was not a misnomer because it could be used not only for humans, but also for other races such as elves and dwarves.

Titania thought for a moment.

“Um, I don’t know why you’re suddenly asking about that….”

She said with a faint smile as if recalling her fond memories.

“He was such a nice guy. He was a person who always cared for me very much and was always by my side to protect me. It was a flaw that I was a little overprotective. If my brother had remained in the village, he would never have come to the former empire.”

“Have you left town?”

“Yes. All of a sudden, in one day.”

Titania smiled bitterly.

“The village elders don’t answer at all when I ask about her brother… He must have gone to do something important. I believe you will come back safely someday.”

Titania said that and looked up at Ion.

And she was startled. Because he was making an unexpected expression.

“… Right.”

Ion’s expression was much harder than usual, and his eyes were dull.

Titania could not understand the meaning of his expression.

Ion put his hand on top of Titania’s leaf-like head and swept it lightly a couple of times.

And she said in a calm voice.

“It worked out well. You won’t be leaving here because of this.”

Actually, Titania wanted to hear more details than that.

But.

For some reason, when Ion said that while stroking her hair, I really felt that everything would have worked out.

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So she just nodded her head in agreement without saying anything.

“Just go inside. Because it’s late.”

“… Yes. Instructor.”

As Ion said, it was too late. She asked Oznia to go inside first, but soon, even Titania could not tolerate her drowsiness.

For some reason, I thought that everything was resolved, so I relaxed and yawned.

Titania smiled at the back of Ion, who went up first.

“Instructor is somehow like my older brother.”

Her brother would often stroke her hair and tell her that everything would be all right.

Her childhood Titania didn’t know anything, but somehow she heard that and she felt like everything was going to be okay.

Although Titania said that as a way of expressing her gratitude to her instructor for reminding her of her brother after a long time.

“… ….”

Ion hesitated for a moment, then left without looking back at her.

What kind of expression was he making?

Titania was unknown.

***

The next day.

The news of the appearance of the malevolence heated up the whole system.