章 189: No matter what

Once again, I was back in the same old room, sitting on our old bed with a book in my hands, while Aksel sat on a chair, reading a newspaper.

"Hey, Aksel?"

Upon hearing my voice, Aksel promptly put away what he had been reading and looked at us with a smile, "Yes, Zero?"

"What is love? In a lot of my books, they talk a lot about it, but they never explain what it is or how it works..."

Rubbing his chin, he took a second to think about the answer he would give, not wanting to accidentally confuse the small us.

"Hmm... That's a very good question. To me, love can be anything you want it to be. For example, I have a lot of people that I love but aren't in love with. Like the pope, Theia herself, and, most importantly, you. I cherish the fact that I get to spend time with you, though I am saddened by the fact that I get so little time to do so."

"Then...! Then you can spend more time with me!"

His face twisted into sorrow as he heard my words, fully aware that he couldn't do so. "I'm sorry, Zero. I swear to Theia herself that if I could, I would. But if I did, there would be a lot of people that wouldn't get the help they need. People in very dire situations."

Even if we got sad by his response, we weren't surprised. We knew that Aksel had a lot of things to do and that he was always trying to help as many people as possible. Still, his words awakened another question in us, a question we desperately needed an answer to.

"Then... when it's time..."

==========

"Good morning. A new week has begun, and I hope that you continue to use your time wisely in order to prepare for the tournament this weekend."

Having our third homeroom session for the year, I just couldn't seem to wake myself up. It was almost as if I hadn't actually slept this night, though I knew that I should have gotten at least five or six hours of sleep.

As Jessica continued to talk about things that were relevant to us, things such as how the final exam would look like, how registering as a hunter worked, and so forth, I was also mentally making plans for the future.

I had chosen to not use this weekend to look for the Elven Tear as I felt I needed more time to stabilize my mind, and I didn't want to risk an accident out there in the real world. Also, if the king had looked for it for so many years, what is another couple of weeks to him?

There were also some other things I needed to get under control before I felt comfortable starting up my actions again. Though I had to some extent managed to learn how to use healing magic, I was still far from proficient. Also, as it appeared that I could use [Materialize] exactly like when I was in my 1st form, there was now another animal that I felt the need to understand.

It was something that would make the grand appearance of Saint Zero even more impactful, something that would leave the non-believers unable to retort against our validity, our authenticity.

Luckily, it was an animal that shared a lot of characteristics with one I already understood, so it shouldn't take too long to be able to [Materialize] it.

Needless to say, James would have to take a step back to make time for us to prepare Saint Zero. The youth who would inevitably...

"Now, there's just one more thing. You might have heard the rumor about Schiltach, and how the monsters appear to be closing in on the border. I just want to tell you that the reports from the royal house still believe this to be a false alarm, and from experts on the subject of monsters, they all seem to agree in tandem."

'Hmm? Something is happening at the border? A monster swarm?'

In the game, there were timed events where a horde of monsters would suddenly attack a city or a village, and the player had to be responsible to be there in time to defend. And if anything, this honestly sounded like one of those.

However, as she said that the royal house didn't believe this to be the case, I felt like I was inclined to believe them. No matter how I felt about the king that wore a crown of delusion, there was not a part of me that didn't think he wasn't trying his best for his people.

If he was a monster, then I was just as much one. For we bore the same kinds of sin, we had both condemned an innocent person to their death.

However, I wasn't Theia, nor was I only Zero. Even if I could respect him for his actions to some extent, I could never forgive him. If anything, the one thing that I truly loathed about the whole situation, was that there had been someone caught in the crossfire.

The princess who should have gotten to live as a normal young girl, if only for her years at the academy, had been thrown into an unreasonable situation. Even if she somehow realized that something was up, what could she do?

Should she throw away her position, causing havoc in the political system of Mensh, which in turn would likely damage the common man the most just for her personal bias? No, she was too kind to do something like that. If anything, she would point the finger at herself, even if it made no sense to do so.

And if she did, she wasn't the person I thought she was anyway, so, to me, it wouldn't matter.

Throwing me out of my thoughts, our teacher had some more things to say about the matter, "With that being said, the academy has still signed up as being on standby in case the situation escalates. That means that you could very well get to go out there on an excursion, though you naturally wouldn't be allowed to fight in the front."

'That means the academy doesn't believe it's a false alarm... If so, shouldn't the principal try to convince the king as well? Or is it too small of a matter for him to care?'

To be honest, I didn't care too much about it either. Though I felt a slight tug from Zero telling us that we should help out, it was nowhere enough to change our stance on this. As long as there was no one we cared about over there, we wouldn't go. And as pretty much everyone I cared about was in this academy, it looked quite unlikely.

"So, if worst comes to shove, you will aid in evacuating the people and protect them. Of course, we teachers will be standing by your sides, to minimize the risks. However, and I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to say, Out there, around the wastelands, people die, and no matter how much we try to keep you safe, there will be no guarantee to your lives."

It felt as if I could touch the tension in the air, with everyone now understanding the situation at hand. Even if they were all students of Ainu, most of them probably had no real-life experience, which meant that no one was truly prepared to go out to the field.

Turning my head, it looked like even the energetic Stella had lost some of her hopeless passion, as she stared intently down at her desk with a pale face. 'Wait, doesn't she have the most dramatic reaction of them all? Does she have some sort of trauma with monsters?'

No matter how strong you were, phobias and traumas always affected a person heavily. So, in my head, it made sense that she had some kind of story with monsters in her past that now led to this kind of reaction.

Yet, even though my thesis made a lot of sense, I had a feeling that it might not be completely accurate. but as I had no idea how to confirm or deny it, I just let it go for now.

"That's all. Class dismissed, I will see you on the training grounds for your basic combat practice."

Taking longer than usual, my classmates slowly started to move, and I followed suit. However, just as I was about to follow them out of the classroom, a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Zero, I need a moment with you."

Turning around, Jessica looked at me with a troubled face, showing that whatever she wanted to talk about wasn't quite that simple. Needless to say, Saint Zero just met her with a smile, "Yes, Jessica?"

Not caring about the way I addressed her, she didn't waste any time telling me what was up.

"If we do get assigned to assist Schiltech..."

"Yes?"

"Haa... Zero, you are forbidden from coming with us. No matter what."

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