Surviving as a Useless Bard in a Game

---

The silence that day stretched unexpectedly long.

Skylar believed that time would heal, but the absence of footsteps for an entire day weighed heavily on his heart.

As the sunset outside painted the room in shades of red, his anxiety deepened.

What on earth should he do to calm Selina down?

‘What can I do? There’s no answer.’

Right. There was no way out.

It was impossible to use their physical connection to trace his past, and he couldn’t protect her from harm either.

He had lost his status as a companion and had become a complete stranger.

The temptation for self-justification quietly crept in.

Sure, it was his fault for forcibly viewing another’s body, but didn’t Selina bear some responsibility for hiding important secrets? But he quickly dismissed that thought.

‘No, that’s crazy.’

No excuse could cover the crime of invading someone else’s private space.

He needed to apologize.

However, there was a bigger worry. The smell of blood he had sensed in the room and the blood-stained clothes kept cropping up in his mind.

A sense of unease akin to remembering a child left alone by the water tightened around him.

If he were to abandon this journey now, it would be nothing but a loss for himself.

Selina had said her goal was to head to Regan, and she didn’t necessarily need a companion to get there.

While he was under the condition of covering the expenses and simultaneously playing the role of her protector, his usefulness was limited… She could find someone else for protection, and her funds would suffice for her expenses.

In other words, he could be replaced at any moment in his role as a companion.

If she were a less intelligent person, that might not be evident, but now that she had become more intelligent, that judgment should surely be apparent.

‘Because I can’t see her current state.’

Skylar temporarily shifted his train of thought.

While it was indeed his fault for forcing the door open, it was an undeniable fact that there had been a trickle of blood and clothes stained with it on the bed.

The same anxiety that reminded him of a child forgotten by the water surged over him again.

‘No, not a child.’

To specify, Selina was an adult.

Excluding her slight lack of common sense, periodic dips in intelligence, and her weak physical strength, her mental age was indeed adult.

Wasn’t it a bit odd for someone like him, who looked like a child but was an adult in mind, to worry about Selina?

Ultimately, Skylar pondered for quite a while but chose to delay his decision.

He lacked courage, wasn’t ready to humble his pride, and didn’t want to witness firsthand the worries gnawing at his heart—this was a very escapist choice.

And then, it happened.

Knock, knock.

A familiar knock broke the silence.

‘…There’s only one person who would come by.’

Skylar slowly opened the door.

The moment he opened it, damp air rushed in.

Wizards are typically sensitive to their environment. They respond not just to the surrounding atmosphere, but to most objects that make up the world.

The reason is simple. Their experiments are highly intricate and require controlled conditions. Even a simple measurement can be skewed by the whims of a wayward breeze sneaking in through the window.

Thus, as soon as the door opened, Skylar’s face reflected surprise.

Smell.

Environment.

Humidity.

—It didn’t take long for him to gauge the situation.

As his eyes immediately fell upon slightly soiled clothes, he realized there was no time for hesitation.

His expression, which had been as solid as a fortress, cracked in that rare moment.

“Selina?”

“……”

“W-What…?”

To be honest, Skylar had no idea what Selina was feeling.

There certainly was a female family member, but he and she weren’t particularly close, making women’s emotions and cycles very foreign to him.

He felt an unexplainable fear as he saw her silently staring at him.

“…Clothes.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you have any spare underwear?”

“…Huh?”

Skylar wasn’t foolish. One simply couldn’t be an incompetent magician; one needed to possess intelligence. Even after losing his magic, he had constantly worked on scrolls, his reasoning and memorization skills were second to none.

So, to summarize briefly, he quickly grasped the meaning behind Selina’s words.

It was thanks to his high intelligence and perception.

But being smart and perceptive isn’t always beneficial. Often, combining those traits with certain inclinations can lead to disaster.

What mix caused such a disaster, you ask?

“That time of the month, huh?”

Exactly the situation.

With that clever mind, Skylar immediately recognized what Selina was going through. And he verbally stated the obvious answer.

A wizard should have recognized that human relationships aren’t a quiz game, but that smart brain of his completely missed it—generations of wizards have failed to grasp this.

‘…So, that means the blood smell wasn’t that kind of blood. Thank goodness.’

Even though quite some time had passed since beginning the journey with no signs of distress, there was a possibility something was wrong, but thankfully, she seemed to be okay.

If his assumptions were correct, Selina was likely a test subject produced for a particular organization with some specific purpose, which initially seemed like a reasonable concern.

“……”

“I’ll look for some spare underwear first. Just come in for a moment—”

“Damn it.”

To nitpick, Skylar had never actually witnessed Selina cursing outright. Well, to be precise, it was ‘almost’ never.

Except for that time when Harun made a pass at Selina and she unleashed a torrent of parental insults, she had never once cursed.

Seeing someone who usually didn’t get angry lash out was already a frightening situation, but throwing in curses too?

‘…Ah.’

Even a socially awkward semi-wizard like him quickly understood something was very wrong.

He had spent a long time away from his family for various reasons, had very few friends to call human, and had almost no experience with companions, making the word ‘consideration’ extremely unfamiliar to him.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

He lowered his head momentarily, then lifted it to find Selina’s face.

*

I don’t know myself.

Many people don’t know me 100%. Humans are mysterious creatures that sometimes act in ways even they can’t understand.

But right now, it was too much.

My emotions swung like a rollercoaster. There were no rules or reasons; it was just jumping around. Behaviors that felt unme-like burst forth in quick succession.

There wasn’t even the commonality of any regularity, the only rule being that my emotions had no rules.

Being dragged around with a leash on my emotions, I acted in ways I wouldn’t normally do and spoke in ways I wouldn’t normally say.

Suddenly, it all felt so embarrassing.

Skylar lowered his head and apologized to me. There were no flowery words about his lack of consideration or the suddenness of the door opening.

I know.

I clearly understand that he knows his wrongdoings. But for some reason, that apology sounded empty. It was an unfounded feeling, but my emotions were already spiraling out of control.

There was no logic behind these feelings.

Right. No logic, yet my emotions, actions, and words moved irrationally.

Impulsive, uncontrollable, my body creaked, and my heart felt as if it was being pierced by something sharp. In the end, I chose to freeze in place.

Impulsive, uncontrollable, and with my body creaking, my heart ached like being cut by a razor blade. Eventually, I froze in that spot.

And then, I cried.

There’s a saying that men only cry three times in their lives when they’re born.

Once excluding the tears of childhood, now there is one left. If I cry just one more time, that will truly be it. This will be my final tear in this life.

I couldn’t have imagined that a man who didn’t even cry when his family died would end up crying in such a situation.

Rationality was oddly clear.

It was as if my soul had floated away from my body, observing everything from a third-person point of view. While my body was definitely crying, there was also that nagging thought of ‘That’s not me.’

Skylar slowly approached and grabbed my wrist.

And led me into the room.

The sound of the door closing rang out.

“Just wait a moment. I’ll find something to wear and something to clean up.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, I think I’m the one who should apologize.”

“That’s true.”

“You’re agreeing too quickly.”

I managed a faint smile through my swollen eyes.

It might not be pretty, but at the very least, I hoped it wouldn’t be grotesque.

He took out a notebook, wrote the date, then closed it again.

A little later, Skylar returned with a pair of brief shorts.

A status window suddenly popped up.

—
Drawer.

Cleanly laundered underwear.

Looks like it belonged to a magician of an unknown age.
—

“…It’s just drawers.”

“Are these yours?”

“Well, I did wash them.”

I felt an urge to cry welling up again.