A Divine Dragon Girl (Bahamut) Falls In Love At First Sight With A Failure Dragon Knight - Chapter 18 Days Starting To Change

The morning came about as usual, and I went to school with Justina.
I placed my bag next to my desk and sat down in my chair.

Justina was happy to talk about nothing in particular.
She was so happy to be able to talk to me.

Was that how valuable I was to Justina? I didn’t know, but…
I was going to do what makes Justina happy.

“…Hey, can I talk to you?”

Suddenly, a male student approached me.

He had a large body, vaguely reminiscent of a bear.
He was also tall.
He must have been close to two meters tall.

In proportion to his body, he had a rugged face.
However, even though he looked scary, he had a certain charm about him.
If I had to compare him to something… I would say he was a friendly bear.

Oh, no.
I had been thinking of bears now for a while.
Well… anyway, that’s the kind of man he was.
The name of such a man was…

“Yesterday… Gran, was it? Gran Stail.”
“Yeah. As expected, you seem to remember me this time.”
“That’s right. I don’t have such a bad memory that I can forget something that happened just yesterday.”
“I’m glad you remembered.”
“So…what’s up? What can I do for you?”
“…There’s something I need to tell you.”

What is it?
I couldn’t think of anything, and I couldn’t help tilting my head.

In response to me, Gran became awfully serious…

“I’m sorry!!!”

He bent 90 degrees and bowed his head.
And for some reason, a loud apology.

I’m flabbergasted.
I can’t think of any reason for him to be apologetic.

“Umm… Why are you apologizing? Did you have some kind of problem with me that I didn’t know about?”
“Problems… There has been one ongoing for a long time. When Estenia was being bullied, I turned a blind eye. I dismissed it as irrelevant. Sorry… No, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry!”

It was not the kind of thing one wanted to talk about in a public place like this.
Of course, Gran had the attention of our classmates.

No… was it to do that thing?
To draw attention to it and make it your own punishment…?

And maybe he has talked to other classmates…
It may be a convenient interpretation, but that was how I saw it.

“I know you think it’s too late, and I know it’s convenient. But I really wanted to apologize! Estenia saved my life yesterday, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for myself for abandoning you. So I decided to put an end to all this.”
“That’s…”
“Hey… guys, let’s not do this kind of thing anymore, okay? I don’t enjoy spending time with Estenia like that, treating him like a tumor. If you’re asking me how I could be so afraid of Cedric and so abusive to Estenia, you’re right. But I want to put an end to all this.”

At Gran’s call, the classmates looked at each other.
The emotion on their faces was… guilt.

My classmates didn’t like to ignore me.
It was just that they couldn’t oppose Cedric and were forced to do so.
I’d like to believe that they didn’t really mean it.

“…you’re all very convenient.”

Justina’s cold voice interrupted my thought.
I looked at her and saw that she looked incredibly unhappy.
At some point, she looked just like she did when she confronted Cedric.

“Cedric’s been gone for about a month now, you know? So why would he say something like that at this point in time? If you’re going to apologize, shouldn’t you normally apologize sooner?”
“That’s…”
“I couldn’t be sure that Cedric was really gone, and I didn’t even try to find out… I just looked at Cedric, shaking and in fear. Finally, I became convinced. Now I can live in peace. But I still feel guilty that I left Alto out in the cold. Then let’s apologize… this is like that, isn’t it? You guys are just being selfish, aren’t you? I apologized to Alto because I don’t want to carry any guilt and I want to forget it. Are you… really being sincere?”
“You’re right… Eltoselk-san. I’m a coward. But I also feel that I have done something really bad to Estenia. Can you trust me on that?”
“That’s also self-satisfaction, isn’t it? You pretend that you have no ill intentions and so he has to forgive you. In a way, you’re worse than Cedric, aren’t you?”
“Justina, aren’t you out of line?”
“No, I’ll keep saying it!”

Justina was angry.
Not as angry as the anger she directed at Cedric…
But… she almost perceived her classmates, who had pretended not to see me, as enemies.

“First of all, why this timing? That’s what’s unnatural. The trigger was… the last exam, right? Alto showed a tremendous amount of strength, and went from being unranked in the practical examinations to quickly rising to the top of the list, finishing 11th!”

By the way, the first place went to Justina.
Well, it was a natural result.

“Didn’t you see that and get scared? We might get abused by Alto this time, just like we had been doing to him. So, let’s get along before that happens. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? In other words, you’re calculating. You’re not really thinking about apologizing, you’re just calculating and stepping into Alto’s mind.”
“That’s… undeniable.”

Gran nodded with a pained look on his face.

“But that’s not the only reason.”
“What else could it be?”
“…I was saved by Estenia yesterday.”
“And?”
“I haven’t done anything for him, but Estenia still helped me. I was getting tangled up with a bunch of jerks, and he stepped in. I asked him why he was helping me and he said, ‘Do you need a reason to help someone.’ ”
“…”
“I wanted to punch myself in the face. I wanted to punch myself in the face for doing something so stupid. I’m sorry. So give me a chance to start over!”
“Hmm. I don’t know how much of this is true… From my point of view, it’s very suspicious. It’s just a matter of being carried away by the mood of the moment, and then quickly turning your palm to…”
“Justina.”

Thinking it would be best to leave it there, I interrupted Justina.

“What, Alto? I don’t know what else to say.”
“Thanks.”
“Feeh.”

When I stroked her head, Justina made a strange noise.
Then she turned red and went quiet.

“I’m honestly glad that you’re angry for me. Just don’t go any further.”
“But I’m…”
“I understand your intentions. There is a possibility that Justina is right. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

I didn’t like being bullied, though it was strange to say that.
Gran’s words may just be a formality, and he may not really want to reconcile.

Still…

“I believe in Gran.”
“…Estenia…”
“It’s better to trust than to doubt.”
“What if he betrays you?”
“When the time comes, then it’s the time.”
“…Hmm.”

I couldn’t help it and Justina sighed with such a feeling
A soft smile returned to her face.

“If that’s the case, I won’t say anything else.”

Justina took a step backward.
It was a form of opening the way for Gran.

Gran looked puzzled, and opened his mouth again.

“You’re right, Eltoselk. There’s a lot of calculation going on in me.”
“I see.”
“But I want to put an end to all this… and if I can, I want to be friends with Estenia. It’s true. You have to believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“…You say that so easily. Don’t you doubt me?”
“As I said before with Justina, it feels better to believe than to doubt. And I’m tired of thinking about… all kinds of dark things.”
“I’m sorry. Estenia has done so much for me, and I’ve been…”
“It’s okay.”

If it’s Cedric we’re dealing with, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to forgive him…
Gran and the others are also victims, so to speak.
They are caught up in Cedric’s tyranny and couldn’t do anything about it.

If I were in Gran’s shoes, I don’t think I could have done anything with my powers…
I have no right to blame Gran, nor do I intend to.

“Just… can I say one thing?”
“What? Say anything you want. I’ll do whatever you say, at least to atone for my sins. If you want to hit me, go ahead, you can do whatever you want!”
“The way you think about things… this is not like that. You can call me Alto. That’s all I want.
“…Got it. And thank you.”

Gran and I shook hands…
Spontaneously, I was surrounded by applause from my classmates.

On this day, I made friends at the school for the first time.
However, this led to a new incident.

[TLN: I think everyone should know, but everytime there is a new Genshin patch, I’m super lazy. Plus uni started.]