Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

45 – Shackles of the Past

The title of the newspaper President Heinkel showed was this.

[Return of the Legend! ‘The Horror’, defeating giant monsters and annihilating a disquieting organization that claims to be the future of the empire!]

I almost tore the newspaper without realizing it because of the headline that made me dizzy just by looking at it.

However, the Sangria Daily is not the only newspaper with this headline.

[The legend returned after 5 years. ‘The Horror’ fights monsters in District 20 and saves the system.]

[‘Future of the Empire’ terrorist organization completely destroyed, successfully rescued the kidnapped heterogeneous tribe! The main character is the ‘breast’?]

[The dramatic return of the missing war hero, ‘The Scarlet Star’, the eradication of the giant skull monster and the racially discriminatory organization!]

‘The Nobles’ for the upper classes, ‘Mage Post’ for wizards, and ‘Fillion Times’ published by the Fillion Academy newspaper department….

Even the famous newspapers that flew into the president’s office were of this level, but I didn’t even want to think about what titles the newspapers mostly read by commoners or the lower classes, or those famous for provocative content, would be.

Why? Why did this article appear?

It’s not that I didn’t expect this to happen at all when I was determined to get rid of the ‘Future of the Empire’. It was because I was thinking of solving the case by revealing the appearance of the malevolent character.

However, the place where the incident occurred was in the middle of the night in a deserted harbor area, and in the end, even the imperial family intervened. So, if the imperial family and the Royal Guard stepped forward and announced that they had solved the case, the media and the public would have been convinced.

The fact that I entrusted the post-processing to the imperial family, including the Marquis of Ein Eyar, was intended to be handled quietly so that my name would not appear.

Elisabeth must have known that too, so there was no reason for her to say in the imperial family, ‘It was the evil spirit that solved the case.’

Then there was only one person to suspect.

As soon as I left the office of the president, I went to see Captain Hermann’s guard.

He was just relaxing at the guard post at the front gate, smiling contentedly as he read a newspaper with two letters written on it.

“Was it you?”

“Huh! Phew, Phew, Phew-“

I lightly shot a warning glance, and Captain Hermann, who was about to put the word scar on his lips, quickly covered his mouth with both hands.

Fortunately, there was no one around the guard post, so no one heard what Captain Hermann was trying to say.

Captain Hermann asked politely, lowering his voice.

“… Aren’t you Instructor Ion? Hey, what are you doing here….”

“The headline in the newspaper this morning was quite interesting.”

“Ah, that’s for sure-“

Yes. It was this guy.

Seeing Captain Hermann’s expression as if he knew something, I nodded.

Then he slowly exhaled death.

Of course I have no intention of killing him. But now that I know he’s a guy with a much lighter mouth than I thought, if I take care of it properly, I won’t be able to make fun of his mouth again.

As I got closer, Captain Hermann raised his hand in panic.

“Wait a minute! Ion! Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!”

“What is a misunderstanding?”

“It is true that I was interviewed! Ha, but I never mentioned Ion-nim’s name, and even if it weren’t for me anyway, I wouldn’t have been able to hide the name of the beast!”

Bewildered, Captain Hermann, who skipped even the instructor and called me by a very respectful title, gave me this explanation.

The disturbance in District 20 the previous day was not something that could be hidden.

It was a late night, so no matter how vain the demon corps were, the gigantic skull face that appeared in the sky of the islands was witnessed by too many people.

An eyewitness account that a dozen or so members of the Royal Guard, the largest force in the Empire, headed for District 20 would have added to the credibility of the incident.

Several media quickly grasped the news, and one of them found out the information that all of the different races in District 20 had been moved to the temple in serious condition and covered it immediately.

In other words, it was the abductees who first testified about the malevolence.

“It was dark at the time, so no one could see Ion-nim’s face properly, but the image of him wielding a red spear in black armor while fighting that huge skeleton was memorable.”

“You saw that? Everyone must have fainted.”

“Because the fight was so intense. Even when I moved, there were people who woke up in the middle. Anyway, there is a risk that Ion-nim’s identity will be exposed if something goes wrong, and some malicious guys try to forcefully approach patients who need absolute stability, so I had no choice but to be interviewed.”

In the end, it was true that Captain Hermann testified that ‘the malevolence appeared and the case was resolved.’

That was an obvious fact, so even the imperial family couldn’t deny it, and the result was the title of this morning’s newspaper.

I let out a short sigh.

Even if the imperial family didn’t openly mention the malevolence, if there had been an eyewitness, the fact that the malevolence had eventually appeared would have somehow become known.

That was the kind of thing I couldn’t solve, so there was no point in thinking about it any further than this. I can only consider it fortunate that the fact that the identity of the malevolent star is an instructor at the academy has not been revealed.

Then Captain Hermann meant that by mentioning some facts, he kept quiet about the really important truth.

“I misunderstood. I’m sorry.”

“Huh! Oh no. Please feel free to lower your words. Phew- No, go to Ion. How dare I receive honorifics? Please do not even say sorry. The fact that I was a small help to the lifesaver is enough.”

Because Captain Hermann asked so earnestly, I had no choice but to keep using short words.

“… Then do it. Still, Ion-nim, stop.”

“Keuheum, I understand. Instructor Ion.”

Captain Hermann, who seemed rather satisfied even though he had stopped using honorifics, suddenly lowered his voice and asked cautiously.

“By the way, Instructor. Why are you hiding your identity? People are so excited just by the news that the malevolent star has appeared, and the students will be very happy if it is revealed that Instructor Ion’s true identity is the malevolent star.”

Captain Hermann scratched his chin and said in a pitiful tone.

“Of course, if the instructor wants it, I will carry this secret to the grave, but I personally feel so sorry about it, hehehe! It’s a pity that not everyone knows how great Instructor is.”

I smiled bitterly at the end of the brief silence.

“There is not much to be gained from fame.”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.”

People often make mistakes. Looking only at the achievements of heroes, they say that the path they have walked is full of only the glory of victory and the dazzling light.

But the path I actually walked was blood, death, and regret for a loss that could never be recovered.

To me, the name of the chest does not help me at all in my job as an instructor, and it is just a shackle from the past that keeps me from forgetting the most terrible memories.

Leaving behind Captain Hermann’s bewildered look, I just hoped that today’s incident wouldn’t cause another problem.

***

After finishing all the work, I got on the tram and returned to the dormitory.

But I noticed someone squatting around the dormitory building.

Long, light green hair like leaves illuminated by sunlight. It was Titania.

She fidgeted with her fingertips for a while, as if concentrating intently on something.

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“What are you doing here?”

“Oh! Instructor Ion!”

At the sound of my voice, Titania looked back at her and smiled happily. She seemed to be doing her gardening work, with a trowel and plants in her hands.

“I was making a flower bed.”

“A flower bed?”

“It’s a little disappointing that there are only trees around the dormitory. Don’t you think it would be much prettier than now if you plant various plants?”

Saying that, Titania smiled brightly as she raised the flower in her hand.

Certainly, Titania originally wanted to be in the gardening department. She somehow ended up in the student council, but she must have been interested in growing plants from the beginning. She might have lived in the forest too.

However, judging from the fact that the flower bed had not made much progress despite the fact that her cheeks were covered with dirt, it was possible to know that the work was not going smoothly.

“It looks difficult alone.”

“Um, I was going to recommend it to her strong friends. Gwynn doesn’t seem to have a muscle pain yet, and I can’t see where Batar has gone since morning.”

I thought about her troubled expression for a while before opening her mouth.

“I can help you if you want.”

“Really? Thank you so much!”

It was true that it was difficult, but Titania did not refuse my help. What she struggled with was digging out her hard ground with a shovel.

Because it had rained a few days ago and the ground had hardened, it was difficult to dig up the ground with Titania’s power.

Of course, it wasn’t for me.

With every swing of my arm, the trowel stuck into the ground like butter. Seeing that, Titania clapped her hands and smiled brightly.

“Wow, as expected, the instructor is very strong!”

“You could have done this much if you had been training consistently.”

“… Ah, ahahahaha. Is that so?”

Titania was definitely on the weak side of her stamina. It was a matter of strength, independent of her activity level. Even in her physical strength class, her quickness is excellent, but she lacks strength, so she often gets tired from running even a little.

Even so, it was a little incomprehensible that no matter how weak she was, she couldn’t handle her garden work by herself.

“It would have been simpler if I used spirits.”

“Ah, that’s true, though.”

Titania said, scratching her cheek awkwardly.

“If I asked the earth spirit, it would have been over quickly, but the purpose of making the flower bed today was to appease the spirit.”

“Soothing the spirits?”

“Yes. There will be a full moon today.”

What the hell does the full moon and spirits have to do with it?

Seeing me frowning at the completely incomprehensible words, Titania supplemented her words with a smile.

“The nature of spirits is very fickle. Especially when the seasons change. Some spirits welcome new life as spring approaches, while others miss the rest of winter and become more mischievous than usual.”

“Hmm….”

“When the full moon rises like today and the yin energy fills up, the spirits become emotional and sensitive, so I wanted to soothe them in advance by planting flowers around them. Spirits like places full of nature.”

Certainly using the spirits to appease them would be a complete turnaround.

Titania knew a lot of her mystical knowledge, perhaps because she was an elf.

I don’t know anything about magic or spirits, and during the war, when the enemy used spirits, I was busy tearing them apart with Ezetus.

Coming to think of it like that, I felt like I was being hated by the spirits quite a bit.

I asked as I dug up the hard ground with a trowel.

“So what are you going to plant here?”

“If possible, I would like to plant a kind that can be used for medicinal purposes. Something like mugwort or basil would be nice.”

“Boiled mugwort is delicious. It would be nice to plant potatoes.”

“… That, Instructor? A flower bed is not a vegetable garden, is it?”

Titania gave a rare expression of bewilderment.