A Loner, Misunderstood

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“───So, you’re really going to look for the swords?!”

“Yep. Though I say that, I just have a strong desire to see what if feels like grasping the swords of legend.”

After the king received a five minute lecture from Leele, he once again asked Shun and the others “May I ask if…you’re going to search for the swords for the sake of this world?” Though not everyone made a pleased expression, Shun gave his consent and since it wouldn’t be good for just one person to do it, everyone joined in.

“I know that despite whatever reasons I have, I’m being unreasonable…*sob*…so I thank you all again.”

“A, ah! Don’t cry…because it’s all fine! Really!”

It felt a little painful for Shun having to completely comfort the king.

*sigh*…I’m not an old man…beautiful girls are the ones I want to be comforting

While thinking so, he sighed and rubbed the king’s back.

“(*sigh*….poor Kondou.)”  “(*sigh*….poor Kondou.)”  “(*sigh*….poor Kondou.)”

Everyone who watched that scene sighed and looked at him in sympathy, but not Karin.

“Jeez…(*grumble*)”

She let out a faint voice that nobody around her could hear at the same time as they let out their voices───

Why are you only rubbing the king’s back, Kondou…! Even though you’ve been in contact with me almost everyday, you’ve never done that to me yet!

───While thinking so, she was jealous of the king, who was being comforted by Shun, and let out a complaint in her mind.

“Anyways, you’ve apologized enough, so if you don’t give the details about this world and the swords of legend we’re looking for, then we won’t be prepared for our journey.”

Once Shun said that, the king raised his head.

“I, I understand!”

He straightened himself up and returned to the throne.

“Ahem…”

The king cleared his throat so he could begin to explain.

“First of all, this world is───”

“───Leele!!”

The king deliberately raised his voice towards Leele, who had butted in, but she ignored him with a composed face and continued her explanation,

“───divided into two powers.
One consists of the coexistence faction, ten countries that are allied together, mainly to defeat the Demon Lord army. The coexistence factions means exactly that, a power of countries that wishes for everyone to prosper together. Then there’s the domination faction. This power is mainly the Demon Lord army. The domination faction wants to put this world together as one country, which in simpler terms, means there would only be one king. As of now, the coexistence and domination factions are at war. On the forefront, to the north of where Undine lives, is the country of the Suilven Kindom. I was told they’re in the middle of a battle right now, as we had gotten in contact with them some time ago.”

Due to Leele’s merciless attitude, the king broke into tears again while everyone looked at him in sympathy and with a strained laugh, but Leele continued talking, believing that he was still listening,

“The current situation of the war seems to be a stalemate, but if we face the enemy with one of the swords of legend that Shun mentioned earlier, we can easily overturn the battle. Although we only have the whereabouts for one of them, we’ll find the remaining six soon. We just know the names for the Seven Swords of Legend: ‘The Light Knight of the Round Table’s Sword・Excalibur’, ‘The Sword of the Holy Spirit・Gladius’, ‘The Blazed Sword of Raging Fire・Agnomacer’, ‘The Ice Sword of Eternal Frost・Raynosis’, ‘The Green Sword of Wooded Life・Yugulicous’, ‘The Black Knight’s Sword of Purgatory・Kaizer’, and ‘The Sword of The Supreme Dragon King・Elqyulus’. These are the names of the swords that make up the Seven Swords of Legend.”

Those who listened to the explanation (especially the boys) had their heart skip a beat when hearing the names of these grand swords.

From this point forward they would have to search for them and they held great expectations.

Indeed…after listening to the explanation, it seems like I’m taking part in something akin to the what’s in the RPG genre…but rather than the purpose of our journey being the subjugation of the Demon Lord, it’s searching for the Seven Swords of Legend. Well either way, our aims are at the Demon Lord army, so it’s inevitable that we’ll eventually run into them…Alright, I understand the gist of it.

“Your Highness Princess Leele, thank you for the lengthy explanation.”

After organizing the basics of it in his head, Shun bowed his head and said his thanks for Leele’s explanation.

“No! This is the least I can do for you…and also───”

“And also?”

Leele brought her lips close to Shun’s ear for some reason and muttered something.

“Wha…”

“───You can stop talking so formally…In my opinion…I don’t mind if you call me without honorifics, you know….”

The charming, graceful voice sounded within Shun’s ears and his head started quivering.

“Ack…!”

With her voice, Shun’s face turned bright red, causing Leele to chuckle as she she slowly moved her lips away from Shun’s ear.

“…?!”  “…?!”  “…?!”

Everyone that watched was shocked by the sight.

“It can’t be that Kondou and Princess Leele are…”  “Even when we have Minesaki here…?”  “Kondou certainly has a youthful face…is that why?”  “Kondou…you’re going to get some, aren’t you?”

This is bad…people are misunderstanding…

Shun saw the whispering of his classmates which were making him seem all the more suspicious.

“Shun…I understand your feelings, don’t worry.”

While saying that, Yuuma was constantly bumping Shun with his elbow while smirking.

“No, you don’t understand at all, don’t you think?!”

Ah, right! If it’s Minesaki, she’d know what’s going on…!

Shun turned to Karin to plead for help.

“……………………………………………………”

“Huh?”

However, Karin just stood there silently, as if letting out a cold wrath.

…?!

Shun couldn’t understand why Karin was angry, he was in fear over the sudden anger that erupted from her for no reason.

How did things turn out like this…no, this was completely caused by Leele…but I have no intention of getting close with her…After all, when I was chased───

 

────It was ten minutes ago.

“*huff*…*puff*…Damn it! Why am I being chased?!”

As he was complaining, Shun was being chased by knights, running from place to place inside the castle.

“Oh, that door’s open………………And I managed to close it!”

He found a door that was slightly open, and while he thought about the possibility of there being people inside, his stamina running out so he went in without hesitation.

He opened the door as lightly as he could, slipped inside, and shut it.

“…!”

Wanting to make as little sound as possible, he put a hand over his mouth to stop his panting and started breathing through his nose instead.

It’d take more time to recover, but it was a safety precaution.

Phew…gotta take a short breather here.

Shun held his ear to the door to hear as much as he could in the hallway, concentrating all of his nerves.

I’m gonna die if I get caught…

A fear of death was the driving force compelling Shun’s body to move.

Nobody find me…Nobody find me…

Shun held his breath as he made his wishes.

However,

“───Who’s there?”

Inside the room where he thought nobody resided in, he clearly heard a voice from behind.

“Er…”

Upon hearing that voice, Shun felt as if the knights’ long swords were coming for him.

Then, thinking that his blood would soon drip from the long swords, Shun reflexively curled up as words poured out from his heart.

“Stop…Don’t kill me…stop…”

Shun realized that he had spontaneously burst into tears, but he was not concerned about it as he was frantic on not wanting to die. Even if it’d bring him shame, he’d be okay with it as long as he’d get to live.

“Aa…”

The person who saw Shun in such a state let out a surprised voice.

“Stop, stop…don’t kill me…please…”

No matter how much time passed, the person didn’t come over to him, but he was still frightened.

So Shun was scared, frantically begging and waiting for a response.

“Please…don’t kill me…don’t kill───huh?”

Too afraid to raise his head, he was in a posture where his arms were tucked around his knees. Even if someone looking at the situation didn’t understand what was happening, their first instinct would be to…

*squeeze*

Someone is…hugging me and softly stroking my head…?

“────It’s alright, it’s alright…it’ll all be fine.”

With that clear and soft voice, Shun’s heart that was overtaken by fear loosened up.

“It’s alright…because nobody would kill such a nice person like you…”

Once his heart heart loosened up, a warm feeling circulated throughout his body.

“It’s alright…it’s alright…so please raise your head and show me your face…”

“…”

Shun did as he was told, raised his head, and saw the face of the person the voice belonged to.

Ah…

That person smiled.

“See? Wasn’t that simple…?”

“…Ah.”

“May I have your name…?”

Shun unconsciously gave out his name while gazing in astonishment,

“……Kondou, Shun…”

Shun also unconsciously asked for that persons name by saying “Your…name is…”

“I’m this Granbelle Kingdom’s First Princess───”

That person gave her name,

 

 

“───Leele Van Granbelle…but please call me Leele.”

 

 

────After that, I was asked why I was driven into such a corner, and when I gave my answer out plainly, she said “Follow me,” and from a hidden passage in the room’s fireplace, I came back to where I started.

Shun wondered what would’ve happened had that room not been Leele’s, but he soon did away with such frightening thoughts.

But I made a really shameful sight out of myself…to a whole country’s first princess, a super-lovely girl, at that…That was reaaaaaaally embarrassing!!

Shun covered his face with both of his hands to hide his red face.

I can’t even guess why the distance between Her Highness The Princess and I has shortened up to this point…I mean, all I did was plead “don’t kill me” and beg for my life…She wouldn’t want to be friends with such a pathetic guy like me…but…even if she did…what was with that erotic voice from a while ago?! Maybe I’m just misunderstanding things…I guess I’ll just call the princess ‘Mysterious Lady’ from now on.

He took one deep breath.

“But first…”

I have to stop this chain of misunderstandings.

Right, everyone was misinterpreting things. Shun brought his face close to this country’s princess, who he had only met practically moments ago.

Half of the men were in jealousy, rage, and bewilderment, while the other half were in approval while going “He’s gonna get some.” Half of the women were in bewilderment and rage, thinking of him as a womanizer, while the other half were going “That Kondou, huh…” in approval.

The ministers and military officers around the throne also made a surprised face, paying attention to Shun.

Yuuma was also in the “He’s gonna get some” faction, while Karin reached a level of fury where she no longer paid attention to her surroundings, making her an object of fear.

Perhaps everyone was misunderstanding things.

So, began speaking to end the misunderstandings,

“Everyone───”

“───Everyone…it seems you’re all misunderstanding something. I was just teasing Shun, so by no means are Shun and I in a relationship.”

“…Huh?”  “…Huh?”  “…Huh?”

As everyone said that, there was silence for a couple of seconds.

…………

……

“Wha~t?!”  “Wha~t?!”  “Wha~t?!”

Once that silence was over, everyone started chatting amongst one another simultaneously, either in relief or in disappointment.

“Kondou didn’t have a chance after all~.” “Well, that’s Kondou for ya.” “Kondou…as expected of Kondou, huh?” “Yup! Just Kondou being Kondou!” “I think Kondou’s kinda cool, but I feel a bit relieved now. In some way.” “That’s right! I feel relieved in a sense.”

While such talk was progressing, Shun was still dumbfounded.

“………………More or less, the situation seems to have solved itself…it seems?”

“Shun”

“Oh, Your Highness The Princess.”

“Like I said about being formal! That’s the kind of speech I was talking about!”

She puffed her cheeks towards Shun.

“Oh, th,then how do you want me to call you…?”

“Leele.”

“U, um…Ms. Leele.”

“Leele!”

“M, Ms. Leele!”

“I said Leele!”

“Ms. Leele!”

“You can refer to me without honorifics!”

“No, even so, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it…”

“…I see…”

Although Leele was dissatisfied, she nodded her head in a stiff manner.

“I appreciate your understanding…”

Shun politely gave his thanks and adjusted his attitude while Leele began to speak,

“Shun.”

“Yes, Ms. Leele?”

“As I said earlier…I was talking about how we didn’t have that kind of relationship, but what I meant by that was…we didn’t for now.”

Huh…?

“Huuh?!”

“Now then♪”

Saying that, she left a surprised Shun behind and quickly went back into her room.

“O…ooh?!”

He was overly surprised and let out a strange voice, but since Shun once again became the hot topic of discussion around, it was fortunate that nobody heard it.

For the time being…for the time being……that was in jest, I think?

As the remaining chain of events went on, Shun, who felt done for the day, was in a half-absentminded state.

“───Kondou”

However, recognizing that voice, Shun instantly snapped out of his daze and turned to face where the voice came from.

“Y, yes?! Do you need something?! Minesaki?!”

As Minesaki had addressed Shun, he rejoiced in his mind.

“I’d like to ask…what kind relationship…you have with the princess…”

Karin’s face was red for some reason, and Shun, who had been asked the question, thought ‘Ah…whoa. How cute…’ then replied truthfully,

“Ah, I don’t any relationship with that princess…I’m sure that all I did was talk with her from over there, and I’m not lying when I say that I didn’t do anything in particular, so maybe she just meant a relationship as friends…? I wonder.”

“R, really…really?! You did nothing?!”

“R, right. Just friends, I think?”

Once she heard that, she took a deep breath in relief.

“Minesaki?”

“A, aah! Right then……see you later!”

“Huh…?”

Just like Leele, Karin quickly left a dumbfounded Shun behind and went over to her friends.

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TLN: Poll time. Click on the following link to decide the fate of this novel: https://www.strawpoll.me/15656326

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