(Dammit! Am I stupid!? No, I am! How could I have forgotten about this event…!!)
Zenon Ash… Haino Seto scolded himself out of frustration for his carelessness.
He had been indolent, apathetic, and felt he had no reason to live ever since he saw his game over screen. His listless life made him completely forget about the battle event that happened in the insectary, and was currently in progress.
Other students acting as guards struggled with the insect monsters, while a very tough battle was forced on Zenon, as he neglected to train.
But luck was on his side in two ways.
First was that during the battle, the insect monsters evolved into a form that could be described as half a person.
This would normally be bad, as it made the monsters stronger, but since Zenon was traumatized by the black crab monster that defeated him, the transformation meant he was not provoked by seeing the small black monsters that reminded him of it.
Second, Claire got him nice equipment.
She was considerate enough to think that if he wore shoddy equipment when many students were gathered, he would be ridiculed, and this made it so Zenon was protected.
His stats were high due to the bonus he received upon being reincarnated, so even if he was behind the other main characters, he was definitely not weak. He managed to dispatch the monsters somehow… And then he heard a small scream.
“Someone! Someone help!!”
He turned to where the scream came from, and saw a mother holding a small child.
They were surrounded by monsters that could attack at any moment. Zenon gulped, but he reigned back his panic.
(I can’t save her from that, can I? And why would I do something stupid like risk my life over mob characters…)
Saving that mother and child would give him nothing. Helping characters whose names he did not know would raise no one’s favorability, meaning there was nothing to gain.
And so, he thought it was better to ignore them and look out for himself, leaving them to die, but… He saw something unbelievable.
“Stand back! Behind me!!”
“C-Claire…!? W-what are you…!?”
Claire jumped into the middle of those monsters, feeling she had to protect the mother and child. And she put up a barrier of light to buy time.
She looked as though she was having a tough time blocking the attacks from multiple monsters, and the barrier began to crack.
At this rate, the monsters would get her along with the others… Zenon’s panic rose again, his heart beat faster, and his breathing became irregular.
(What do I do? What should I do? What can…!?)
He could abandon mob characters, but not Claire.
She was like his only remaining asset, and he could never abandon his favorite character.
But in his current state, he could not charge in there and annihilate those monsters.
He thought about a way, tried to devise some sort of plan to save her, but in the meantime, the monsters drew closer.
“Gu, uu…!!”
“Ah, ah, ah…!!”
The cracks became bigger as the insects continued hitting the barrier.
It would not hold… Was what Claire’s expression said as she pressed one knee to the floor. And upon seeing that, Zenon took off.
“S-stoooop!!”
“M-Mister Zenon!?”
Zenon was afraid like he was when Isaac tried to take Claire, but he moved.
Not wanting to lose her led him to a reckless charge, but that was when the third fortunate thing happened.
“Gugyaaah!?”
He haphazardly held up his sword, and its tip just happened to get in a space between the shell of a monster.
It was pierced and died in one hit. And then Zenon desperately swung his sword around.
“Waaaah! Aaaah!!”
“Gyuoeh!?”
Zenon had high aptitude for swords and high stats, so if he hit a weak point, it was very likely that enemies would go down to one hit.
The first was a fortunate critical hit, and he used his high stats as a weapon to sweep against the midsection of the second. It stumbled, but… Another monster jumped in and pushed him down.
“Uwaaah!? You, youuu!!”
He pushed the monster with both hands, and finished off yet another monster with the spell Photon.
But that was all he could do. There was a mountain of monsters, and if he attacked the monster pressing him down with magic, it would hurt him as well.
He dropped his sword when he fell, so he was out of options.
It was over. He should have not moved out so carelessly… But when Zenon felt frustrated by his actions…
“Gyueh!?”
“Eh…?”
A vertical streak ran through the monster pressing him down.
The monster could only let out a small scream as it was bisected, and Zenon was in awe of how the monsters surrounding them were eliminated in the blink of an eye. And he was even more surprised by the hand reaching out to him.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?!
“Ah, I-I-I’m okay…”
Yes, the one who worried about him was none other than the exchange student Ryuuga Renjou. And upon noticing this, Zenon responded with a trembling voice.
He wondered if he was the one who mopped up the monsters, and was surprised after seeing his strength in real life, not in the game, when Claire also ran up to him.
“Mister Zenon, I’m glad you’re all right…! You came to save me! Thank you…!!”
“N-no, I…”
He could do nothing, was what he was going to say, but stammered as he thought about how pathetic he was.
It was Ryuuga who saved Claire. He only took two monsters down, so without him, there was no hope of saving Claire.
This reality made Zenon feel pathetic, and he cast his head down, unable to say anything. But he raised it when someone grabbed his hand tightly.
It was the mother Claire protected.
“Thank you, thank you…! If you hadn’t saved us, we…!”
“…!!”
Zenon had mixed feelings upon seeing the mother bawling and thanking him.
It was Ryuuga who saved her, and he was going to abandon her at first, so he felt he did not deserve the gratitude. And as he cast his head down again, Ryuuga asked Claire a question.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for my younger sister. And Yuugo’s brother Phi. Have you seen them?”
“Sister… Miss Yui? I’m sorry, I have not…”
“I see… I think this was the wrong way… But I’ll look around a little more. Make sure you head to safety right away.”
Zenon heard this in a daze, but… Then suddenly, he felt an impact as if he had been struck by lightning, and turned his head.
If his memory was correct, Yui… He remembered she was with Phi that morning, and a crazy idea ran through his mind.
(There’s a good chance Phi is with Yui. In the game, the player got involved in this incident when he took her to the bathroom. If that’s still happening, wouldn’t Phi be in the main character role here…?)
If he was correct, they should be attacked by monster armor beasts right about now.
There was no chance a weak child like him could win. He would meet a gruesome end as he was killed by a monster armor beast.
This would be a big shock to Yuugo. Something he might be unable to ever recover from.
Zenon imagined the cause of his downfall feeling the pain of losing a loved one, and smirked… But those emotions quickly went away.
(Why? It’s not as pleasant as I thought…)
Picturing that scum crying and screaming upon losing his dear brother was not refreshing. He was baffled by how it made him feel pain instead, and he gulped upon realizing why that was.
It was like what just happened, and when the same thing happened with Isaac. He felt an indescribable fear and pain when he thought he might lose Claire.
Yuugo felt that about Phi… He was important to him, and he would do anything to not lose him.
Zenon could now understand the pain of losing someone important, and at the same time, he remembered that it was Yuugo who saved him during his incident with Isaac.
He hated Yuugo. That scum caused his downfall, so he could never like him.
But… He felt somewhere in his heart that it was undeniable that he saved him. And before he knew it, he yelled towards Ryuuga, who had left to go look for his sister.
“W-w-w-wait!”
“…?”
Ryuuga stopped, and looked back quizzically.
This reaction made Zenon so nervous that it felt like his stomach was doing backflips, but he opened his mouth to point Ryuuga in the direction his memory told him his sister was.
“T-that way, the bathroom! It might be complicated, a-and maybe they’re hiding…!”
“…”
Normally, it would be doubtful if this could become a valuable tip. But now that the unnatural element that was the main character charisma was removed, the words Zenon spoke as Haino Seto carried with them a certain desperation that told Ryuuga he should listen.
“…Got it. I’ll go look there. Thank you. And I hope you get through this.”
“Ah…”
Ryuuga changed direction and went where Zenon pointed, and his words made his throat and heart tremble.
He watched as Ryuuga ran towards Yui and Phi, and ruminated over the multiple times he was thanked… His clouded heart felt as though it cleared a little, and was receiving some sunshine.
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Not the most elegant way to happen, but looks like this is the start of Zenon’s redemption. Feeling emphaty for Yuugo is a big first step for him.
Also for once the game knowledge is used for selfless reason. If Zenon keep up with his redemption, maybe he will stand against the other reincarnators?
Glade to see Zenon’s actions in this chapter, it is slow, but he is starting to wake up 🙂