For I Am A Side Character - Zetro Translation

Fifteen minutes after the Sergeant and Audrey left me to my own, I decided to go through a different direction.

Seeing as how they went to the academy, I would have a more safer approach if I went to the place next to academy, which was the highway. So I ran there with no hesitation, leaving the helmet on the ground, to what was left by me was my dirty white t-shirt and dirty school pants.

There, as I made my way, I could hear by the distance, dozens of ambulances and other government authorities coming into the academy in the hopes to assist the situation.

“Hmm, I wonder if we can have an off-day because of this?” I asked myself as I strolled right to the academy.

Looking at the damages, I let out a heavy breath …

This kind of damage is never done back in my world…at best, this kind of damage is made through wars and terrorism…but in a way, a terrorist did attack the school.

As I walked into the academy, I could see hundreds of students being tended by the nurses and other professional medics.

“…” their hard painful moans and grunts could be heard. It reminded me of times when in movies, it would show a shot about soldiers being tended after a war…it was similar…

Moving pass them, I made my way to my classroom, expecting to claim my bag…

But as I arrived at the classroom, what awaited me was a destroyed room… chairs were bent and thrown across the floors, what was left of the blackboard was only the right side…and blood drops could be seen here…an aftermath of a battle

“…did the attacks made it here?” I asked myself and as I looked around, I saw boulders simply in the middle, presuming to be the reason why this room was ruined.

And by the coincidence of it all, my school bag was under that boulder.

“…My bag.”

Thankfully, what I only brought was a notebook and a pen for taking notes, so even if it was crushed, I’m sure its still capable of being a notebook but the pen is surely crushed.

“Damn…Okay then, lets get it out.” as I approached the boulder, I lifted it up with one hand, and simply pulled out my bag using my other hand.

And as I was able to pull my bag out of the boulder, out be the side of my eye, a certain chair resided…the chair that a certain classmate once sat on.

“…Jessica.” as if I called out to a dear truth, her name was simply blurted out like so…

Out of sheer memory, I remembered her…and I said her name with no sense of even wondering. I simply said what I felt like saying…

I was reminded of her.

And with no sense of halt, I ran out of that room and searched for her.

Running across the halls, I went and searched and searched with a surging worry deep within myself for her…

What happened to her…

Did she ran away like the rest?

Is she safe?

All forms of questions that lead to a certain anxiety was formed in my head…

I ran…and I searched…

For minutes on end….

Not passing by her distinctive face…

Until finally, by the distance…

Dark-blue hair..sapphire eyes…and a tired expression…

There she was…sitting outside a private medical room…carrying a basket…

As I slowly approached her, she noticed me…and we came to lock eyes…

We stared at one another…

Not one forming a smile…and a certain anxiety grew…

I walked at a pace only held down by my own strength…

I was nervous…but I walked.

Until finally, I stood in front of her, only a meter of a distance from on another.

“…You’re hurt.” I said…feeling an unknown sense of guilt.

“…I looked for you…” she said in return.

“.!?” I was shocked.

“…Why?” I asked.

“…” but she didn’t answer.

“…” in the silence that was brought between us, I decided to sit beside her.

And in response, she leaned in towards me with a sad expression. Resting her head on my chest.

“I promised you that I would let you taste my sandwich…its one of the things I made at my first day at the Dungeon Michelin Club.”

“Ah, right. You did promise that.”

“So here…” as she went and picked a sandwich from the basket, she quickly handed it to me and simply smiled then after.

“…” as I went and received the sandwich, I felt her gaze unto me…expecting that I would eat it, then and there.

Feeling pressured, I took a bite.

Chewing and tasting it like what I would for any sandwich, I thought of its flavor.

With its fat bread that almost spanned an inch thick on both sides, It was spicy and sweet with its condiments, full with its meat, and fresh because of its diced lettuce-like wrap, and to it, a mysterious flavor was within the sandwich. It had the texture of fish egg and the taste of a mix between both egg yolks and beef stock, and to it, its flavor was popping like a fireworks…truly this sandwich was one that could literally be from a dungeon.

“…This is delicious.” I said as I looked quite shocked by the sense of having to taste something so full of flavor.

And although the flavors sometimes did fight with one another, in the end, I liked the sandwich.

It tasted like how a mother would make for her children…its corny, but it was like I was eating a sandwich made with love.

I enjoyed it.

“You like it?” she asked.

“I do…its nothing like any sandwich I tasted in a convenience store. This is better.”

“Thanks…I really worked hard with making this.” she said as she had this sincere smile on her.

“…I never really thought that you would take on a cooking club here in the academy.” I said as I took in another bite of the sandwich.

“Well, it was a bit of a dream of mine. I had three things available for me when I was choosing for a course to take…it was either to be a merchant like my family, a hunter which I really wanted, and my fantasy job which was to cook, maybe start a restaurant…or a family.” the last part she whispered it, but I heard it as clear as day…

“…and why didn’t you?” I asked.

“…at that time, I was really amazed by the adventures told by the hunters every time they walk out of a dungeon. There were even some Idols and celebrities who would go in a dungeon and say their perspectives about how great being a hunter was…and I was engrossed by their words.”

“Hmm, if I were you, I would have taken a course of cooking or maybe the merchant business…being a hunter would have been my last choice.” I said as I spoke my opinion.

“Really?…but why did you choose being a hunter?” she asked.

“…I…Hmm, this was my only hope, I guess.” I said.

“…”

“…Well, either way…I’m already a hunter…and I don’t think I can leave this course anytime soon.” I added.

As I said this, I looked to her and simply patted her head…

For me, being brought into this world…I had no choice…I was under god’s order…and I can’t go against a god…

“Soril, what do you think would happen tomorrow?” she asked.

“…I don’t know. The school might decide on probably having us take a break until they could fix the entire school…I mean, a quarter of the school is ruined, its going to be a nuisance if they decided to continue on having a class even after this…”

“Hmm, maybe we can have an online class.” she said, suggestively.

“Eh? Are you serious?” I asked.

“Why? What’s wrong with having an online class?” she asked.

“Have you taken an online class?” I asked her skeptically.

“I haven’t, but it looks like it could be nice to at least experience it once…how bad can it be?” she said, suggestively.

“Eh…”

“Anyway, have you decided on what kind of club you might be joining?” she asked as she tries to change the subject.

“I don’t think I could…I’m already pretty busy with having to go in a dungeon and work for my allowance every afternoon.” I said.

“Eh? But what about your parents, Don’t they give you an allowance?” she asked.

“I don’ have any parents…” I said.

“Eh…Eh!” as she was surprised by this, I look to her quite shocked by her reaction.

“…Have I not told you this before?” I asked.

“N-no…” she said, nervously.

“Well, in any case you’re wondering, I don’t have a parental figure to lean on to when it comes to a financial case.”

“What about a sister or a brother?” she asked.

“…I don’t have that as well…I just live by my own with the house that they left me.”

“…I’m sorry for asking.” she said as she felt bad about me.

“Its okay…its already been a long time since they passed…I’m over it now.” I said, knowing my knowledge about Soril’s life. I spoke what seemed like a truth that I was uncertain of.

“Still…to think you got by with just yourself…it must have been hard.” as she said this, she leaned in back, trying to comfort me…but all it did was make me somewhat nervous.

As we continued to talk, we never really got to a point where she asked where I was…and I never really got to say it myself…

We simply talked like we normally would…

We were comfortable about this…

And as time passed, we decided to go home.

Or at least, she said that she would visit my home…

knowing the fact that I don’t have any family waiting for me at home, it seemed like a chance for her to come by without feeling nervous about anything.

Because before I even knew what happened, we were already making our way to my home.

We left the academy at just around 1 pm…pretty early if you ask me.

And since there was no class that day, we didn’t really had any objections about this.

Or at least, she didn’t. I did, a little.

“Why did you want to visit my home?” I asked.

“…because I wanted to.” she said.

“…eh. Shouldn’t you at least see your parents first? I mean with what was going on with the school today, your parents should have been pretty scared by this news.”

“I already texted them what happened, so its okay.”

“Plus, I’m curious what kind of lifestyle you have been living by your own.”

“…Ehhh..”

“Oh don’t worry, I lived with three brothers…I know whats going on inside a boy’s room at night.”

“EH?!”

“Dungeon’s and Dragon’s right?” she said.

“Eh?….R-right….right…”

“Well anyway, since you live by yourself…I’m just curious.”

“Right…fine, okay, you can come into my house.” seeing as how I didn’t really have a control over this situation, I just let her do what she wanted. There was nothing to worry about at least.

As we got to my home, I got out of the car first and quickly pulled out my key to open the door.

With it, I opened the door for her and introduced her to my home.

“Ohhh…so this is middle-class.” she said as she got inside.

“Ah…r-right.” I said nervously. I understand that she came from a wealthy merchant family, so seeing her reaction to this kind of lifestyle must have been a surprise.

At first we came to the living room.

‘Hmm, the house really does feel empty…’ she thought to herself as she looked around.

“Um, this is the living room, I usually go here once I cooked my dinner so that I can watch the news on the television.”

“Really? You watch television while you eat?” she asked.

“yeah…I think I remembered once after I got home from hunting in a dungeon, I was so tired, I literally crashed straight here on the couch. I woke up the next day and my couch was stained with blood…it was a bad day.” I said as I tried to reminisce on a memory I had.

“Hmm?” as she listened to me, she got a glimpse of a weapon by the corner of the living room.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Oh this? this is what I bring when I go into the dungeon to hunt.” I said as I showed her my Aranean Sword and Shield, as well as the Sword I bought from the wandering merchant near the sewer dungeon.

“Hmm, they’re pretty dull, do you do maintenance on them after each hunt you do from a dungeon?” she asked.

“Ah…no not really, I just cleaned them with a rag.”

“Oh, that’s not good…as a swordsman, we have to care for our weapons…it’s the one thing we have our full trust on when going to battle.” she said.

“I’ll remember that…maybe I should buy a sharpening stone once I go to a merchant.” I said.

After our conversation , we went to the kitchen.

“Oh…you have an oven?” she asked, in a rather giddy notion.

“Yeah…but I never really use it.” I said as I went and tried to boil some water to serve her tea later.

“Hmm, for a boy, you sure do know how to keep your station clean…I mean, no offense, but my brothers are real slobs when it comes to cooking in the the kitchen. I can never trust them when they try to volunteer helping out with the cooking.”

“You guys cook for your family? I mean, I thought that you had maids to do the cooking.”

“Well…at most days we have the maids do the cooking and the cleaning, but at some days…we like to do some bonding with one another…and at that time, we usually have a picnic or a I try to cook for my family.” as she said this, she smiled as a fond memory was clear in her mind.

“…that must be nice.” I said, not in a way to sound petty…but more in a sense that I found it beautiful that a family like hers still bonds with one another.

Next we went to visit each bedrooms.

First was the master bedroom..which to no surprise, was empty.

And so were the other two guest rooms.

As we finally went to my room, I simply opened the door and had her enter.

“…this is my room.” I said as I tried to show her a bland and gray-room that was rather depressing to be in.

“Hnn…I’m sorry that I don’t really have a lot going inside.”

“No, its okay…it must have been hard living by your own…I don’t think I can imagine myself being able to stay here if it was me…”

Our stay in my room didn’t last, as we got back down, she noticed that there were some pictures by the walls of the stairs.

“Huh…so this was you?” she asked.

And in that picture, she saw four people posing for a family portrait.

At age…I can only assume Soril Remus was probably 8 years old.

Soril was being carried by his father over the shoulders and his mother was simply hugging her husband…and lastly his sister who was holding on to the hands of her own father.

In this picture, they were smiling.

“…”

“…So this must be your parents.”

“…yeah.”

“…Are you okay?” she asked.

“…Yeah…” I didn’t look long to the picture and instead, I went downstairs to the kitchen, where I started preparing the tea for Jessica.

“…Here, its chamomile tea.” I said as I placed a tea cup in front of Jessica who was now sitting in the living room

“Thank you.”

“Its pretty depressing right?” I said as I went and sat beside her as we faced the television.

“Hmm…” but in response, she only leaned into me and simply rested her head on my chest again.

“I think it just needs a few touches here and there.” she said as she looked at me with a smile.

And without warning, she went and simply held my hand like so…interlocking them as if to not let me go.