CH 29

[Hated Hero, Making His Move] 

The following day.

Having enjoyed the reward from Tayte, I went about the day with an earnest resolve in my heart.

Which was—to straighten up (former) Barrett’s relationship with other women.

As the first step, today I… would try talking to Melia, the member of the Horticulture Committee who was acting strangely toward me.

After school, few students remained in the classroom.

Those who partook in athletic and committee activities had headed to related classrooms, whereas those who intended to study or train had made their way to the library or training room.

Incidentally, Tayte had left first because she needed to attend the student council meeting.

She sure was diligent.

I had to follow her example.

Additionally, the current president of the student council turned out to be my sister—Reina Albers. How should I put it? She was too perfect fit for the position that I could only react with “I thought so.”

By the way, as Tayte and I were on our way to school this morning…

『Should I start calling her sister-in-law…?』

…so she had said… would she really call her that, I wonder?

I’d make sure to ask her later.

Ah, also, Raul started taking sword training from Mr. Klaus today. Mr. Klaus was quite enthusiastic about it; he had come straight to our classroom, shouted “Raul, let’s train!” and made off with him.

…Was the Holy Knight really that free?

Shaking off unnecessary thoughts from my mind, I headed to Melia, who remained in the classroom.

“Melia, do you have a moment?”

“E-eep?!”

…You didn’t have to be that scared, though.

“W-w-w-what do you need may I help you with?” Her phrasing became weird due to panic.

…Had (former) Barrett really not put his hands on her yet?

“There’s something I’d like to talk about with you… can you spare me a few minutes?”

“Uuu…”

Not good.

Tears were already welling up in her eyes.

I was about to try calming her down, but at that moment…

“Stop right there!!”

…a loud voice reverberated in the classroom.

The owner sounded to be a girl, and it clearly had been directed at me.

“You’re trying to do something horrible to Melia again, aren’t you!”

“Huh?”

Looking back, I found a girl with long sky blue hair in a side ponytail. Her tightly narrowed eyes were, without a doubt, locked at me.

“Ah, uh… Kleine?”

――It was her, right?

I’d known her prior to reincarnating.

Kleine Foslord.

Daughter of Marsys Foslord, commander of the Knights of Bramshal. As the class president, she had a strong sense of justice, and in the original storyline,【The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman】, she viewed Barrett, who often bullied others, with hostility. In the original storyline’s academy arc, there were many scenes where she was arguing with Barrett. As a form of revenge, Barrett used the power of Albers House to pin a false accusation on her father, Commander Marsys, resulting in his demotion.

Everything was done at Barrett’s discretion, his father was completely uninvolved. Later on, the truth was exposed to the public by the Protagonist Raul, and Commander Marsys was reinstated to his former post. Barrett, on the other hand, had his position greatly shaken due to this.

In this world, Barrett = I, so I could guarantee that such a development wouldn’t happen, but… it looked like many still saw me as the same old Barrett.

Seeing how Kleine stood protectively in front of the frightened Melia, it was apparent that the two were on good terms.

“What? You still want to harass Melia even if you have to push me away? Like you did yesterday?!”

“Ah, no, I have no such intentio—wait, yesterday?”

The word made me stop.

Yesterday… I had the mock battle after class, then I had dinner, and enjoyed the reward from Tayte after. I hadn’t made a pass at Melia.

“There should be a misunderstanding here. I didn’t do anything of the sort yesterday. What happened?”

“No one’s going to buy your lies! Just confess! Confess that you were loitering around Melia’s room! Not to mention, you must have been doing the same thing to other girls!”

“Loitering around Melia’s room? I never did such a thing. Yesterday I was with Tayte until lights out. She can be my witness.”

“She’s your fiancée, it’s obvious she won’t give a testification that’s to your disadvantage!”

“Fiancée… yeah… Tayte is my fiancée…”

“What are you grinning for?! You’ve been engaged to her for so long already?!”

“Hah! That’s right!”

Not good.

The fact made me so happy that I forgot myself.

“In any case! Be it when she takes a bath with or sleeps with me, Melia always complains to me how she is bothered by you stalking her around!”

“! K-Kleine?!”

“What? You two bath and sleep together?”

“Huh? ~~ngh!!!!!”

Oops.

I merely asked back out of curiosity, but… it was true, huh. Melia protested in a small voice, “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone…”

I’d thought they were on good terms… but well, it appeared that they were tied with a deeper bond. This development didn’t exist in the original storyline.

“So, they really are an item.”

“Exactly as expected.”

“You two make a good pair!”

“Ahh, truly wonderful!”

Our classmates, on the other hand, gave the two their blessings.

It appeared that the rumors that the two had such a relationship had been going around for some time. Yet this time they blew themselves up out of carelessness. Eventually, applause broke out, and the classroom was wrapped in a peaceful mood. The two were now a certified couple in the light element class.

““…………””

The two looked down with bright red faces.

Eventually, Kleine regained a bit of her composure and she left the classroom with Melia, leaving the clichéd line, “I’ll make you pay for this next time!”

In the end, I failed to resolve the misunderstanding, but I got a big hint.

Based on it, I made a hypothesis.

Someone… may be using Barrett’s infamy to stalk female students.

If that was true, it must be one of the factors that greatly damaged Barrett’s reputation.

This… a prompt investigation appeared to be in order.