[V3C13] Those Who Were Saved by Money, and Those Who Weren’t
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful Brothers“I don’t want you to hate Julius……”
“Hmm.” Sevil looked to be thinking about something in response to Finn’s words.
“If I recall correctly, you were assigned to the same room as Julius.”
“Yeah….”
Finn nodded, glancing at Tia.
Tia stopped holding on to Sevil and stared at Finn. As if intimidated by her gaze, Finn dipped his head even lower. That was the behavior of a weak creature.
(However…..)
Tia thought about it a little bit.
She’d only learned this recently, but apparently it was normal for most humans to be intimidated by Sevil. For some reason, Imperial Princesses were considered strong creatures.
Thinking of it that way, the fact that Finn was able to start this conversation at all meant he was pretty brave.
“I’m just the son of a woodcutter, and I never went to school, so I haven’t been able to keep up with the classes at all…..so Julius has been helping me study at the dorm.”
Anyone who passes the Wedge Tower’s entrance exam is permitted to learn magecraft. Because of that, there is a wide range of basic academic abilities among the students, and there were occasionally ones like Tia who struggled to read, write, and count. Finn was also one such person.
Tia had seen Finn being handed similar assignment papers to her own countless times.
“At home, I had a lot of siblings……I had weak legs and I was a burden on the rest of them, so they sent me to the Wedge Tower so they’d have one less mouth to feed.”
Now that he said it, Finn always seemed to drag his feet while walking.
A young boy with a short stature, who always hung his head and mumbled when speaking, and who dragged his feet while walking. That was Finn Nohl.
“I would have been fine working as an errand boy, but I figured I had nothing to lose and took the test anyway, then passed……but I haven’t been able to keep up with the lessons at all……umm, that’s enough about me.”
Finn mumbled about his own circumstances before shaking his head, then lifting it up to face Tia.
“Julius likes to teach people how to study. That’s why…..I think he said he’d teach mana control to you and Ella. Not because he wanted to show off…..”
For whatever reason, Finn seemed to think that Tia was offended because she thought Julius was trying to show off his own capabilities to her.
Tia decided not to explain that the true issue laid in an intense revulsion Tia had had towards the idea of ‘friends’ that she’d had for a long time.
If everyone else chose to misinterpret her that way, then she thought that was fine.
Sevil, who had been listening quietly, cut in with a tired expression.
“However, Julius’ manner of invitation was problematic. I detest his conception that he need only give someone a gift for them to become his friends.”
Finn looked like he’d been hit where it hurt most. His thick eyebrows drooped pitifully.
“That’s, not wrong, but……Julius really wants to solve things with money, so…..”
Money. Tia knew what sort of thing it was, how much humans valued it, and in what sort of ways humans used it. She learned all about it when studying to be a human.
(Julius is the kind of person who wants to solve things with money…..)
Tia didn’t have any particularly strong feelings with regards to that, but it seemed that Sevil didn’t think highly of it.
Intimidated by Sevil’s souring face, Finn elaborated.
“But, I don’t think Julius is a bad guy….I’d be happy if you didn’t hate him. That’s all I wanted to say.”
Finn bowed his head, then returned towards the First Spire. He walked away, dragging his feet.
Watching him go, Tia recalled when she had learned about human common knowledge.
Kai—the man who had picked up Tia after she collapsed—took a round, flat, shiny thing out of his pocket and said this:
“By the way, Tia. Let me give you something nice.”
“What’s this? It’s shiny.”
“It’s a gold coin. If you have the chance, pay attention to people’s reactions when they see a gold coin.”
“It’s fun to get a peek at their humanity,” Kai muttered, then chuckled.
Kai was a man who laughed even when there was nothing funny around. Tia thought that was very humanlike of him.
She wasn’t really interested in whether he was a human or a Monster at all, though.
“Do you like gold coins, Kai?”
“They’re convenient…….but a gold coin won’t save your life.”
Kai shrugged as he spoke.
His face looked uncaring, and a little lonely on top of that.
(I wonder if money was able to save Julius. Or if it couldn’t save him.)
Tia hadn’t taken everything that Finn had said at face value.
After all, Finn hadn’t known Julius for very long. All he’s done is help him study a few times.
(……But, Finn seemed really happy because of that.)
Tia could kind of understand that feeling.
Tia was also happy that Wren and Sevil were helping her study.
She would feel sad if someone said they hated Wren or Sevil, and would probably try to tell that person about those two’s positive attributes. Just like Finn had for Julius.
(I don’t think I want to become Julius’ friend, but it probably would be good for me to know what kind of person Julius actually is.)
Tia was starting to learn that it both Harpies and Humans thought that it was important to take care of your flock.
After the group lesson and after eating lunch in the First Spire, the Apprentice Mages had a midday break until the afternoon individual lessons began.
Wren usually hung around for a while in the dining hall before heading to Hütter’s classroom a little early to engage in idle chatter with Tia and Sevil, but he did neither today.
After eating lunch quietly by himself, Wren wandered around the halls without a goal in mind. So as to avoid encountering Tia, he stuck to shaded areas.
He didn’t want to run into Tia at the moment. If he did, he felt like he might say something hurtful.
“I don’t want ‘friends’!!”
Since then, Tia’s cry has continued to pierce his chest.
Wren held his chest and scrunched his lips.
(Oh, right. Then she doesn’t want to be friends with me either. Is that it? Even though I really wanted to be friends?)
He reached a dead end in the hallway.
Wren stopped walking, then slumped down where he stood.
(Even though I thought……that we were already friends….)
He remembered the time, back when he was a kid, when he ran out of the manor and went to play outside.
He thought that he’d become friends with those kids that day, but when they later learned that he was the son of the Bayer Trading Company’s mistress, they refused to play with him anymore.
—That kid’s not my friend! I don’t know that kid!
He still remembers the moment when the kid he’d played with the previous day turned their back on him in front of their other friends.
With a terrible feeling of self-loathing, Wren wiped snot from his nose.
Then, he heard footsteps coming from behind him. Hearing two sets of footsteps, his heart skipped a beat. He thought it might have been Tia and Sevil. He was wrong.
“Rose, over here. I found Wren.”
“Ah, there he is! Hey, Wren!”
Wren rubbed his eyes, then turned around just enough to see.
Approaching him were the Apprentice Mages’ own useless adults—spiky-haired Oliver and fuzzy red-haired Rose.
The pair reached the end of the hall where Wren was slumped over and squatted down on either side of him.
Oliver on the right, Rose on the left.
Sandwiched between two massive adults, Wren felt strangely suffocated. Especially compared to Tia and Sevil who usually occupied the same positions.
“…….What is it?”
Wren said tactlessly. Rose’s fuzzy beard got closer, and he whispered to Wren.
“Why don’t you try something fun with us?”
“Huh?”
Next, Oliver spoke sternly. ”We’ll teach you how adults play.”
“HUH?”