Chapter 4: 4

[I Want Friends, so I Try to Improve My Image]

Upon arriving at the church in the royal capital, Tayte and I were immediately led to a special room.

“T-the room is so spacious and beautiful, isn’t it?” Tayte said, amazed.

“Y-yeah.” I nodded.

We took our seats while being amazed by the luxury of the interior. …Geez, just what were they doing with tax money. But well, it was probably out of consideration of me being the scion of the Alberses, one of the three great families.

For now, I’d just chat with Tayte to get closer to her; or so I planned to, but—all of a sudden, there was a knock at the door.

“? Is it time yet?”

“But we just got here, though…”

When Tite and I tilted our heads, the door was opened and someone came in. It was a blonde girl, who appeared to be about the same age as us. …However, she was an unfamiliar face. Just as I was about to ask the name of the girl who had entered the room,

“Hello, Cornell.”

Tayte called a name that appeared to belong to the girl in a friendly manner. In return, the girl replied with a refreshing smile, “It’s been a long time, Tayte.”

……Cornell?

Never heard of the name.

At the very least, she never appeared in the【The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman】.

Cornell walked over with a wide smile on her face, but soon her movement stopped. Her eyes were, without a doubt, locked on me.

W-w-w-w-why is Barrett Albers heeeeere?!?!?!

—She didn’t say that out loud, but her expression said it all.

It was only natural. In the original storyline, Barrett and Tayte rarely met face to face at school even though they were engaged. As such, to those who had known our relationship for a long time, seeing us sitting next to each other like this must be a huge surprise.

Additionally, Barrett always boasted about being a great noble and threw his weight around at school. After he obtained the Holy Sword, he even stopped listening to the teachers.

Having thoughtlessly called out to Tayte without knowing that the Barrett was in the room, Cornell turned ashen. She looked like she could faint at any moment.

…If I can clean her image of me, it definitely will be a huge step forward to my graduating from being the hated Hero. With that in my mind, I decided to have this girl named Cornell be the first target of my ‘Image Rising Plan’.

“Yo, hi there, Cornell.”

“!? B-Barrett Lord hello!” Cornell’s speech immediately broke when I tried to strike up a conversation with her in a friendly fashion.

Just how hated are you, (former) Barrett…

“Are you friends with Tayte?”

“Y-y-yesh, M-My Lord. W-we are both m-members of the Horticulture Committee at the academy, s-so we often work together to t-tend to the flowerbeds, My Lord…”

Cornell was sweating profusely and stuttering, but still, she explained properly. Somehow, I felt bad for her.

“Hahaha, you even take care of the flowerbeds at the academy? Tayte, you sure like flowers.”

“Yes, I love them♪”

“?!?!?!?!”

I could understand even when she didn’t say anything.

Cornell was—very, very, confused.

Perhaps Tayte normally confided matters regarding our relationship to her. Hence her confusion seeing the sudden change. Couldn’t blame her, I guessed.

“U-uh, err, I see that you two are… getting along well?” She said with an interrogative tone for some reason.

Or rather, to put it in a better way, she had said that way on purpose to ask for confirmation.

“Isn’t it only natural that we are getting along well? After all, Tayte and I are engaged—meaning that we’re going to get married one day.”

“T-that is a good point…”

Cornell’s face twitched, whereas Tayte, listening by my side, went beet-red and looked down. Alright, let’s keep this up and show off more. It’d be even better if we could give the Protagonist the impression that there was no room for him to slip himself in between us in case we met him.

After that, I talked about my passion for Tayte with Cornell.

However, my mind was occupied by other thoughts all the while.

In the original storyline, a girl named Cornell, who was a friend of Tayte, didn’t exist. But Tayte was cheerful and sociable, so she had a lot of friends; maybe Cornell was one of them.

Needless to say, not all the names of the characters’ friends were mentioned in the web novel. Surely, the author didn’t feel the need to do that, either. Or rather, no author named every single character that lived in the world of their story.

However, Cornell without a doubt existed, and on top of that, she had a close relationship with Tayte.

This meant that even characters that didn’t appear in the storyline existed in this world, which was natural now that I thought about it, but that realization came with a feeling of anxiety. I did have Barrett’s memories, but how far could I go without people getting suspicious of me? ……Or rather, this guy didn’t remember the faces nor the names of his classmates at all, huh.

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But that was inevitable. In the novel, Barrett was domineering, causing him to have no one to call a friend. When he lost his qualifications as a Hero, no one came to his help. The only ones who did approach him were greedy bastards who did so to suck up the sweet nectar that had fallen.

This was also one of the causes why Barrett came to ruin.

“It sounds like Tayte is indebted to you in the academy committee.”

“N-no, if anything, I’m the one indebted to her…”

“T-that’s not true! I’m the one indebted to Cornell!”

The two girls conceded to each other.

This Cornell girl seemed to be a good kid as well.

“About that… if it’s not a bother, I think I’d like to check out this Horticulture Committee for myself.”

““Ehh!?”” Tayte and Cornell exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

Was what I said that strange?

I mean, I figured that doing so would allow me to make same-age friends, and then spread a rumor: “Hey, have you heard? That hated Hero seems to have a change of heart,” or something along the line through them—but, well, to be frank, I just wanted to have friends.

“U-umm, d-did I d-do something to o-offend you…?” Cornell nervously asked while trembling with fear.

……I see.

She thought I would go harass the Horticulture Committee.

But seeing this reaction… it appeared that my wish to make friends would be difficult to fulfill.

――But for now, I had to prioritize calming Cornell down.

“Rest assured. You did no such a thing. The reason why I got interested in the Horticulture Committee is because of Tayte.”

“Huh? Tayte?”

“That’s right. I wanted to do activities… that I can enjoy together with Tayte.”

“Barrett…”

“…………”

Tayte stared at me with a spellbound look, whereas Cornell with a somewhat strange one. The reason for that came out of her mouth soon after. “I apologize, Lord Barrett… I seem to have misunderstood you.”

“Misunderstood?”

“Your past tyrannical actions, I figure that they have to be some sort of misunderstanding.”

“No, that’s not the case. I’ve done all those things out of my own free will.”

I wanted to keep that clear.

I mean, if I glossed over it, people would probably catch on to me.

“However, I’m intending to mend my ways from now on. So, just as I’d proposed this to Tayte earlier… I’d also like you to call me Barrett only, by all means.”

“Whaaaa?!?!” Cornell appeared like the world was coming to an end.

No, there was no need to be that surprised.

“It’s okay, Cornell. I think Barrett really has changed,” said Tayte, her face all smiles. Seeing that, Cornell—still had some traces of apprehension on her face.

“When I thought back on all my terrible past behaviors and speeches… I felt ashamed, and I deeply regretted it. That’s why, as someone chosen by the Holy Sword, I want to live honorably from now on,” I declared vigorously.

Yet, the two’s reactions were somewhat strange.

They appeared like they were… holding back laughter…?

“Fufu, Barrett. The Divine Gift Ceremony hasn’t even started, you know? With the way you speak, it sounds like you being chosen by the Holy Sword is already a foregone conclusion,” said Tayte, giggling.

“—! O-oh, yeah, that’s right. Foolish me! Ahaha!”

That was close.

The Divine Gift Ceremony hadn’t even started yet… that was a dangerous verbal slip.

“It was surprising, though. I never imagined that the Barrett Albers could crack a joke,” said Cornell.

“It also took me by surprise,” agreed Tayte.

Still, I was glad the two took it positively.

And, Cornell had nonchalantly called my name without an honorific.

Although this time things, fortunately, turned out all right, I’d have to be more careful so as not to give out a spoiler like just now.

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