I’m Sick of the Kind Protagonist, so I Might as Well Just Die - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#12
The moment Basilect cleaved through the air, we found ourselves back in that classroom-like space.
“I summoned Aurelia because she produced the result I desired, but….”
Perenustus, drawing out his words, pointed at my right hand and let his shoulders droop.
“She’s brought back something beyond the expected outcome.”
“What did I bring back…. What is this!”
I turned my gaze to where Perenustus was pointing and gasped, shaking my hand frantically. My entire right arm—from the long, slender blade to my hand and shoulder—was covered seamlessly in silver.
“This, on my hand…. Is this Basilect?”
I asked Perenustus, but the silver grain seeping between my fingers answered instead, vibrating with luminescence.
“Why… why is it stuck to me?”
It felt neither heavy nor cumbersome, as if it were armor crafted precisely to fit my arm. It was as natural as the joints of bone I’d been born with.
‘This is insane. I just grabbed whatever was at hand to hit Silpi….’
I glanced nervously at Leonas, the sword’s true owner, and twisted my wrist slightly, trying to separate the blade.
Then Basilect stretched a sharp, gleaming silver along the edge of the blade and transformed into a round shield. The metal, vibrating finely as if savoring my stunned reaction, soon wrapped around my skin with a gentle caress.
‘It’s like putting my hand into flowing water.’
Pleased with that description, Basilect squeezed my hand once, then seeped smoothly beneath my skin.
“No, wait! I only grabbed it to hit Silpi once! If it seeps in like this, it looks like I stole it!”
“Steal? Basilect doesn’t allow itself to be grasped by anyone who hasn’t been recognized as its master.”
“…Really?”
“A sword that embraces all extremes—blade and shield, destruction and protection—has accepted you as its master.”
Leonas explained softly, his eyes reflecting a mixture of envy and melancholy as he looked at me.
“Do you understand? You are now Basilect’s master.”
“What exactly is this person doing…?”
Bilateia, who had been staring at my right hand and then at my face, muttered while vigorously rubbing her face. Her meticulously arranged hair now thoroughly disheveled, she turned toward Perenustus while pointing at me.
“Was this the answer you were looking for? I never imagined the solution to the assignment you gave us would take such a form.”
“My assignment was clear from the start, Bilateia. What Aurelia knows, and how well she understands what she knows.”
Perenustus pointed at me as if I were a teaching material. Having lost my thread of anger over Basilect and left bewildered, I helplessly met the gazes directed toward me.
“So, looking at Aurelia, what have you all come to understand? Leonas, start.”
“…The Imperial Etiquette Compendium. Understanding and Practice of Nobility Society. Introduction to Imperial Politics. Beyond that, she mentioned encountering swordsmanship, magic, history texts, and novels whose titles I haven’t heard.”
“What can we infer from the titles that have been revealed?”
“That they are texts which do not exist in the present era.”
“What? How can you be certain of that?”
Bilateia cut off Leonas’s answer without hesitation. Leonas responded to her remark while looking at my right hand, now completely empty.
“I’ve read every book that exists not just in the Academy, but in the entire ‘world’ I’ve been placed in. I remember most of what I’ve seen once, and I’ve never encountered anything like that.”
Bilateia clicked her tongue and waited for Perenustus’s answer. Contrary to Bilateia’s obvious hope that the professor would crush his overconfident student, Perenustus nodded.
“Correct. In fact, even I wonder if such things ever existed, so ancient are these forgotten texts. The Introduction to Imperial Politics in particular contains truths that should never be known to humans, so all copies were destroyed.”
“You mean…?”
“The Imperial Etiquette Compendium was designated as forbidden because it was judged improper for humans to mimic divine order and blur the boundary between gods and emperors. The boundary between divine order and human authority must be maintained with absolute rigor, they say.”
Silpi, who had been listening blankly to his words, suddenly exclaimed as if remembering something.
“Ah! That’s right! I remember now! Understanding and Practice of Nobility Society too! That was also destroyed long ago as blasphemy!”
“Blasphemy?”
“Yeah. Those old geezers up there. They said if the Nobility rationalized the power structure too much, humans would forget the authority of the gods and build their own order instead. Back then, Ren was in his hot-blooded prime, so he threw a fit at them, saying they were spouting nonsense instead of reading proper books. They got into a real brawl.”
Silpi gazed at Perenustus with a wistful smile, as if remembering something dear. Perenustus didn’t spare a glance at the decapitated dragon, instead raising his hand to point at empty space. Two transparent vials materialized where he indicated.
One brimmed with brilliant blue light, while the other vial, faintly swirling with red, was nearly empty. Perenustus pointed to the vial filled with bright light.
“This blue light is the total quantity of comedy in the world I govern. And this empty one is the total quantity of tragedy.”
Perenustus indicated the vial of tragedy, which held only a small amount at the bottom.
“It was nearly empty until you witnessed the collapsed Village—then it rose just slightly. It rose a bit more when you saw yourself being stabbed by the villagers. And then.”
His ice-blue eyes fixed on me, gleaming with a peculiar delight.
“Just now, when you grew angry in the Temple, tragedy increased meaningfully.”
I stared at the red light his fingertip indicated. The quantity was far too meager to warrant the word “meaningful.”
“My world is being swayed by Aurelia’s emotions. How dare you. How presumptuous.”
Despite his words, Perenustus’s expression looked delighted. Leonas and Bilateia exchanged uneasy glances, eyeing the increasingly strange professor warily. Even Silpi was watching me and Perenustus with an unusually grave expression.
“Ren. I’m asking just in case, but you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking, are you?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Perenustus answered with a scoff, then clapped his hands together sharply and thrust his face toward me.
“Aurelia.”
“…Yes?”
“You seem not to understand, so let me explain. You are the only human who has mastered all the knowledge that those decrepit old gods—I mean, those ancient deities—discarded because they didn’t want humans to know about it.”
“Pardon?”
“To avoid misunderstanding, I should add that it wasn’t I who gave the oracle to the High Minister.”
“Then…”
“Those who realized before me that my Aurelia has become a being who knows everything she wished to hide—they must be the ones.”
Perenustus’s eyes gleamed as he extended his index finger toward the sky. I fell silent for a moment, then stared at the vials for a long while before speaking.
“You said you’ve stopped the world, right?”
“Yes. Because a critical error was discovered.”
“Then…”
I quickly organized my thoughts, then fixed my gaze intently on his index finger still pointing skyward.
“If I balance that comedy-tragedy quantity, will you restore our Village and its people to their proper state?”
Perenustus’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s obvious you don’t care much for those beings up there, and it seems I should dislike the people who put me in this state too. You’re planning to use that to make me do something, aren’t you? So I’m setting this condition—our villagers are innocent and were caught up in my mess. I need some motivation like this to actually put effort into doing whatever you ask.”
“My, you do have some perceptiveness.”
“…Our villagers did nothing wrong. They were just swept up by me. I need at least this much of a condition to find the will to do my best at whatever you’re planning.”
“How would I know what to ask you to do?”
“I don’t know either.”
I shrugged and pointed at the vials floating in the air.
“I’ll just do my absolute best to become as miserable as possible. If balancing this quantity is the task assigned to you, then.”
“….”
“Whatever you expect, I’ll exceed it and work efficiently. Just let our villagers return to their proper Village and live their proper lives. As if I never existed.”
“Hey! You shouldn’t make contracts like that so carelessly!”
Bilateia, who had been exchanging glances with Leonas the entire time, suddenly seized my arm urgently. I pretended not to notice while staring intently at the kind woman, then let out a soft laugh.
“My goal from the start was to save the Village from Silverdragoon. If things continue like this, I’ll only end up stirring trouble among the villagers, destroying everything, and becoming nothing but a burden weighing on their hearts.”
“No—”
“It’s not ‘no.’ Right now, this is the only thing I can do. Isn’t it?”
I smiled bitterly, my gaze settling on Perenustus.
“You’ll study just how far someone like me can scratch at that ceiling with all my might, and in doing so, you’ll even eliminate that troublesome ‘error.’ It doesn’t seem like a bad deal.”
Perenustus stared at me in silence for a long moment, saying nothing.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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