Chapter 2: The Trap

Chapter 2:
The Trap

 

POV: SATOU TSUKASA

 

UGH. Oda Akira… I can’t stand that guy.

I could never seem to escape him either. Ever since kindergarten, we’d always ended up in the same class somehow. Over time, it started feeling less like a series of hilarious coincidences and more like a curse. Even after studying like crazy and making it into a prestigious high school where hardly anyone from our sad little junior high could hope to be accepted, I walked in on the first day of school and found him right there, in the same class as me. He, on the other hand, clearly didn’t see any irony in this, as he couldn’t even be bothered to remember who I was half the time. I remembered one instance when, on the first day of seventh grade, I went up and started talking to him only to be greeted with:

“Hey, nice to meet you. I’m Oda Akira. What’s your name?”

We’d been sharing the same classroom for nearly a decade at that point—sometimes our desks were even right next to each other—yet he still couldn’t remember who I was? At the risk of sounding arrogant, I thought I was a pretty good-looking guy, and certainly more memorable than a loner like Akira, so what was his deal?

Suffice to say, I’d never been his biggest fan. He was always off in his own little world, making other people feel like idiots for trying to interact with him. I didn’t much care for the way his brain worked either. Anything he didn’t actively care about, he just purged from his mind completely.

That hadn’t changed here in Morrigan, either, even with me being the center of attention. He was always good at making himself invisible, so of course they made him an assassin, and he’d been abusing those abilities to disappear and go off on his own to do who knew what.

Doesn’t he know you’re supposed to stick together as a team when you find yourselves in unfamiliar territory?! Why won’t he ever look my way?! I’m the hero, goddammit! I don’t have time to be worrying about one stupid loner! I’ve gotta focus on saving the world!

Try as I might, I couldn’t stop myself from losing my cool when it came to him. The mere thought of him was enough to get me heated. I was supposed to be the hero of this story, yet I couldn’t even keep my composure about one of my own teammates. I was doing everything I could to boost everyone’s morale, but Akira always just looked at me with disdain, like I was making a complete ass of myself. I couldn’t even give him a piece of my mind for skipping training, because none of us even knew what room he was staying in. It was enough to make me want to scream. How in the hell were we supposed to take down the Demon Lord if we couldn’t even work together? Did he just not care about ever going home to our world? We didn’t have room on our team for people who only dragged us down. He was a loose cannon, and no sane person would ever want him as an ally.

Well, except for one, I guess.

“How’s training going, Akira?” asked Commander Saran.

“It’s going. Gotta say, though—that special regimen you cooked up for me is brutal.”

“Ha ha ha! But you seem to be holding your own! Why, even Gilles threw in the towel before you did.”

“Yeah, I guess my stamina’s in a good place, at least.”

For some inexplicable reason, Akira was in the knight commander’s good graces. And it seemed he was rapidly getting better at concealing his presence as a result. I was supposed to be the hero and I was having a hard time building up my stats, but he made it look easy. I couldn’t imagine he was stronger than me—after all, how could an assassin ever surpass the hero? But I made up my mind to hone my abilities as much as I could over the next month so Akira and the knight commander would have no choice but to notice my superiority during the upcoming labyrinth raid. They’d learn the hard way that the hero always won in the end.

“I’m coming for you, Akira… Just you wait!”

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

THE NEXT MONTH came and went, and the big day finally arrived. In case you were wondering, yes, one month in the Morrigan calendar was the same length as on Earth—apparently, they hadn’t had a calendar before the first hero arrived and explained the concept to them. In fact, past heroes had introduced quite a few cultural innovations to the people of Morrigan, especially in terms of the culinary arts. The food in the castle was still fairly bland, so I assumed that at some point, they’d summoned a hero from a country not known for having particularly flavorful cuisine.

Maybe I’ll have to go out into the city to see if they’ve got anything with a little more oomph down there. Like some curry or something… Great, now I’m thinking about my mom’s signature curry. I wanna go home, man.

“All right, I take it we’re all accounted for?” Commander Saran asked. “Then it’s off to the Great Kantinen Labyrinth for us.”

“The what now?” I heard someone mutter under their breath.

Some others shared the confusion. Up until now, our destination had been referred to only as “a labyrinth,” implied to be nothing more than dingy old ruins. None of us had known it had an imposing name. Or rather, none of us were supposed to know. I’d heard Commander Saran mention it by name a few times before.

He proceeded to gleefully expound upon the labyrinth’s name and history to the entire class.

The commander may have had his eccentricities, but he really was a good instructor. His breadth of wisdom knew no bounds, and he had a real knack for sharing it. Had we been on opposite sides, he’d certainly have been the first person I’d want to take out. Not that I could ever picture myself betraying Commander Saran.

“So you see, there are four great labyrinths in the world of Morrigan, each named after the continent on which they are found,” he began. “As such, we call this one the Great Labyrinth of Kantinen.”

There were some nods of comprehension from my fellow classmates.

After his explanation was complete, castle attendants brought out five healing potions and five mana potions for each of us to bring along on our journey. One small drizzle of healing potion over an open wound, and it would heal up instantaneously. Commander Saran made a show of cutting his own forearm, then applying some healing potion to demonstrate how it worked. Some of the hero’s retinue were a bit nauseated by this display, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were really ready to go out and slay monsters. Vice Commander Gilles, clearly used to the procedure, didn’t even bat an eye. He simply shook his head at the commander’s ostentatiousness.

I think we all set out from the castle under the assumption that it would be at least a bit of an arduous trek to the labyrinth, so imagine our surprise when we discovered it lay just beyond the nearby forest. I had to wonder if it was truly wise to build the capital so close to a giant monster den. In theory, the beasts could escape and raze the castle to the ground in no time at all, if they were so inclined.

“Ah, but the castle’s enclosed in a powerful magic barrier, you see. So we’re at no risk of being besieged by any old monster riffraff,” said the commander, apparently having deduced my thoughts yet again from my expression alone.

I swear, this guy’s some sort of mind reader.

As soon as we’d made it out of the forest, I was surprised to see a large crowd of people had formed at the entrance to the labyrinth. We shielded our eyes from the light as we stepped out from beneath the trees. Some among us recoiled at the sheer size of the crowd. As soon as the people saw us step out of the woods, they came stampeding toward us like housewives during the evening rush at the supermarket. We all stopped in our collective tracks like a deer in headlights. The knights who were accompanying us made an attempt to hold back the throng of people, but the crowd was so large, I was sure they couldn’t hold the line for long.

“Keep walking!” snarled Commander Saran in a harsh whisper. “You’re heroes, remember! You need to hold your heads high before the citizens!”

He’d only muttered the words under his breath so that the commoners couldn’t hear, but it was such a stark contrast from his typical friendly tone that it hit me like a bag of bricks. Since when had the commander grown a backbone? Or perhaps it was some sort of intimidation skill.

“It’s Commander Saran!”

“Sir Gilles! Over here!”

“Is that the hero?! Is that him?!”

High-pitched cheers rang out from the crowd. Commander Saran and Sir Gilles were evidently quite popular with the common folk. Though at least some of the cheers were directed our way. Our lame duck of a hero stood at the front of the pack, putting on airs and grinning from ear to ear. He was a pretty face, if nothing else.

I concealed my presence and brought up the rear. As I scanned the crowd, I noticed a single hooded figure staring daggers back at me—likely a girl, judging from their stature. She was glaring at us with such disdain, you’d think we’d killed her parents or something. I wasn’t sure what beef she could possibly have with us, this being the first day we had even set foot outside the castle. Either way, I wished she would knock it off, because it was creeping me out.

I slipped away from the pack and approached the hooded girl. I noticed Commander Saran watching me go out of the corner of his eye, so I wasn’t too worried about being left behind—though maybe a little worried about the lecture I might get for breaking rank and file. But I was already halfway to the mysterious girl, so whatever.

“You there,” I called out to her, as politely as I could. “What are you glaring at us like that for, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The hooded girl swung around to face me, clearly startled to have been confronted. She didn’t answer.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to turn you over to the knights or anything. I’m just curious what inspired that intense rage in your eyes.”

At last, the girl begrudgingly responded.

“Everyone treats you like heroes,” she began, “but do you have any idea what kind of sacrifices have to be made in order to summon you here?” Her voice was clear as crystal—the soft, sweet voice of a young woman, as I suspected. Probably around our age.

“No, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that, sorry.”

“I see. Then let us speak again once you uncover the answer for yourself. Because something tells me this won’t be the last time we meet,” she said, before disappearing into the crowd of people.

“I sort of get that impression, too, weirdly enough,” I whispered to myself. So the summoning process requires some kind of sacrifice, eh…?

I’d definitely read some revenge novels where the hero could only be summoned at the expense of their family members’ lives in the real world, or by sacrificing countless members of an oppressed minority in the fantasy world. I didn’t want to even think about the former being a possibility. The latter could come back to bite me here too. If my hunch about the king’s evil plot was correct, I had to wonder what their end game was.

I stood there, ruminating, until Commander Saran concealed his own presence and shoved his way through the crowd to come and fetch me.

 

“Watch out! It’s headed your way!”

“Aiiiieeee!”

“Heal me! Somebody heal me!”

As my classmates cried out in distress, I let out a heavy sigh. Then, with a single flourish of my dagger, I handily cut down the giant rat that was assailing one of my female classmates; I was pretty sure she was supposed to be a fighting class too.

“Man, what a mess. These guys are all dead weight—they’re only holding us back.”

“I’m afraid I have no choice but to agree with you,” said Sir Gilles, who’d just stepped in to save one of my other classmates from the horde of oncoming rodents.

When I thought about how this sorry state of affairs could have been completely avoided, I let out another sigh.

Things had gone relatively smoothly for the first thirty or so floors of the labyrinth—which was to be expected, given that we were supposed to be the saviors of this world, summoned for our heightened stats and abilities—but now the dungeon was really starting to bare its fangs. My classmates, who’d generally been holding their own in one-on-one combat until now, were shaking in their boots. We did have the knights along to protect us, but there were far more of us than them. They could only carry the team so far, then the hero’s retinue had to come in and pick up the slack.

For reference, “the hero’s retinue” wasn’t my way of referring to all of my other classmates. Commander Saran had split the twenty-eight of us up into four teams, with the hero’s retinue comprising the seven most powerful fighters in the class (other than myself, of course). The commander had placed me on a team with some of the more mediocre students at my request. This was partially because I didn’t want people getting suspicious about my stats, and partially because I couldn’t stand the idea of being on a team with the idiot hero. Mainly the latter, to be honest.

In any event, it was one of the idiots in the hero’s retinue who’d gotten us into our current predicament. He should have known better than to screw around in a dangerous labyrinth, but he got full of himself and rushed ahead, ignoring the commander’s orders, and ended up pressing a suspicious rock in the wall. My Detect Danger skill had tipped me off to the fact that this was one of the labyrinth’s many traps—if that wasn’t obvious enough already—but I didn’t say anything until it was already too late. I guess I’d assumed that no one would be stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap. Yet fall for it he did, and all the lanterns lining the walls immediately turned red to signify his mistake.

“Everyone, stay in formation!” yelled Commander Saran, drawing his sword and bracing for imminent combat.

Soon, a horde of rats came surging out from a hole in the wall. They were among the weakest enemies, and we’d fought plenty of them leading up to this point, but never in such overwhelming numbers. There must have been thousands of them.

“Great. Way to fall for the most obvious beginner’s trap, guys,” I grumbled.

As the knights, myself, and our hotshot hero got into ready positions, the rest of my classmates were shrinking in fear, struggling to even hold their weapons straight. Some of the girls even fell shrieking to their knees. Thus had begun our current state of pandemonium.

“Should we pull back, Commander?” I asked.

“I… Argh… I suppose so. I didn’t think…we’d lose so much morale so quickly, but…we still made great progress…for a first attempt.” Commander Saran spoke in sentence fragments between swings of his mighty blade, taking out multiple enemies with each slash. I could tell he was getting tired, too, even if he still wasn’t tapping into his full potential. “Heroes, fall back to ground level! I shall clear the way out! Be sure to help your tired and wounded comrades, should they need it!”

With this, the commander thrust his blade skyward.

“O Lord, give me strength! Divine Sword!”

The beasts were vanquished in a flash of blinding light as he brought his blade crashing down upon them, carving out a single clean path through the rats. My classmates nearly tripped over one another as they scrambled toward the staircase. A few of the rats gave chase, but I took them out with some well-aimed throwing knives.

“We should make haste as well, Akira. You can’t handle this many at once. Let’s fall back,” the commander suggested.

“Right behind you,” I agreed.

He had the right of it—while an assassin could go toe-to-toe with a higher-level opponent and potentially come out on top, they were at a distinct disadvantage against multiple foes. I’d been trying to think of ways to circumvent this weakness but hadn’t come up with anything yet.

“O scorching flames, burn these beasts to ash! Blazing Bullets!”

“O mighty gale, rage and fan this inferno! Wind Blade!”

One of the knights cast an area-of-effect fire spell, and Sir Gilles followed it up with a wind spell to fan the flames. This technique had been handed down from one of the early generations of heroes, apparently. It was difficult to control, however, so they didn’t attempt to use this combo move until most of the students had made it safely to another floor. That being said, Sir Gilles had amazing control over his wind magic—never blowing out the flames, only amplifying them. It must have taken a lot of training and extreme discipline to pull off such a feat.

As the monsters cried out in agony, I took the commander’s advice and beat a hasty retreat myself. But I soon discovered that an even greater threat lay in wait.

As we escaped from the scene of the battle, the monsters predictably gave chase.

“O Lord, grant us thy protection! Sanctuary!”

Commander Saran extended his hand and created a wall of light that blocked the entire corridor, disintegrating all monsters that dared to touch it. Light magic, often called holy magic, was one of the higher-tier varieties of magic and could vanquish lower-level monsters on contact.

Man, why do we even need a hero? I feel like these knights could take down the Demon Lord, no sweat. Hell, even the commander could probably wipe the floor with him solo.

Perhaps sensing the insinuation of my gaze, Commander Saran shook his head and sighed.

“I’ll explain later why that would be a very bad idea indeed.”

I swear, this guy really can read minds.

After running up a few flights of stairs, we heard a cry from above us. It sounded like the voice of Sano, our bubbly mascot girl. She was always trying way too hard to be cute, so I wasn’t really her biggest fan. Then again, I wasn’t really a “fan” of anyone in our class, but there were a few I could at least tolerate.

“I’m going to go see what’s happening up there,” said Sir Gilles, before running up onto and along the wall.

Guess it’s not just Commander Saran that’s full of surprises.

Not many people could run up walls while wearing a full suit of armor. It spoke volumes to the level of speed, agility, and balance Sir Gilles possessed. Normally you’d think only stealth classes would be capable of such a nimble feat. And yes, I could run on walls in Morrigan, too, if I put my mind to it, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it in full plate armor, and certainly not as effortlessly as Sir Gilles did. He really was something else.

“Eeeeeek!”

A glass-shattering shriek rang out through the labyrinth once again. It sounded closer than the last one, perhaps because we’d picked up the pace. This time it wasn’t Sano’s voice but another girl’s. I pushed myself as hard as I could until we arrived.

“What is that thing?”

“Wait a minute… Is that—?!”

The knights and I were at a loss for words.

“GROOOOOAAARGH!”

“Barrier mage, keep up that wall! Healers, cast your strongest healing spells on him!”

I could hardly believe my eyes. My classmates were facing off against a gigantic monster far too high-level for this floor of the labyrinth. It was a minotaur—a beast with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

“Th-th-that’s impossible!” gasped one of the knights. “Minotaurs only appear in the deepest depths of the labyrinth!”

I clicked my tongue with disdain at the cowering knight and dashed off toward the minotaur’s feet. Commander Saran was already well on his way, running directly beneath Sir Gilles. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the hero, struggling to hold his blade aloft as he and our classmates attempted to retreat. Sano was still maintaining her barrier, albeit barely, and Sir Gilles was keeping the minotaur occupied for the time being, but there was no telling when the monster might shift its attention. My classmates were dead weight buffoons, to be sure, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing I’d let them die.

I dashed along the wall like Sir Gilles had and leapt over to the beast, plunging my silver dagger into its throat. I watched as the green jewel embedded in my blade’s hilt traced a jagged path down its neck.

Wait! What?! The dagger had, in actuality, shattered to pieces against the minotaur’s thick hide. How was that possible? Surely no natural beast could have such a rock-hard hide. Even though my dagger was only a decorative blade meant for the nobility, I’d never put a single scratch on it during training, and I’d been using it every day. The beast was simply that rock-solid. I tossed aside the now-useless hilt and ran behind the beast until I was standing side by side with the hero.

“Akira?” he said with an incredulous frown, yet I could tell he was at least somewhat relieved to see me.

“Hey. What the hell happened here?” I asked, as we both watched the commander and his knights trying to keep the minotaur at bay. As the hero stood there on wobbly feet, struggling to even keep his weapon aloft as the casters enveloped him in healing light, he explained to me what had transpired.

POV: SATOU TSUKASA

 

AFTER THE BRAWLER of my group, Watabe Katsumi, activated the trap, we all ran upstairs, leaving the knights and Akira to take care of the rats. I had no doubt the knights wouldn’t have any trouble dispatching such low-level enemies, but I was a little worried about Akira. From what little I’d observed, he did seem to be a fair bit more powerful than the rest of us, but I had no idea how well he could handle himself in a fight. I also knew assassins weren’t well-suited to fighting multiple enemies at once. If something were to happen to him, it would be my responsibility; Watabe Katsumi was a member of my crew, so his mistakes were mine to bear. I was sure our other classmates would say the same thing. Even though we were still in the early floors of the labyrinth, that rat trap had taught us we couldn’t get careless.

As we fled for the exit, I realized there’d be more monsters on the upper levels to contend with. Probably only a handful of them, mind you, but they would still pose a threat in our exhausted state. As we ran and ran, one of my classmates eventually panted out an idea.

“Wait a minute. Didn’t they give us those monster-repelling smoke bombs?”

I could have slapped myself on the forehead. Indeed, just before we’d set out for the labyrinth, the princess herself had personally gifted me a set of smoke bombs. Akira and the knights hadn’t been there when it happened, so of course they hadn’t thought to use them on the rats.

“Please use them if you ever find yourselves in peril. They may come in handy,” she’d said with a radiant smile, handing me the box set—twenty-seven in all.

“All right, well, we don’t know how effective these things are, so let’s just have each group try using one for now,” I instructed the others.

First, Sano’s group tried throwing one directly down at the ground. After about thirty seconds or so, it seemed to take effect, as monsters stopped coming after us. They’d start to approach us, sure, but after taking a good look at us, they’d scurry off in wide-eyed horror. We weren’t sure if the repelling effect was on the ground where it’d been used or on the people who’d used it, however, so after a few more minutes of walking, we had the group Akira was assigned to toss another. We ended up using nearly all our smoke bombs before we found the staircase leading upward, and just as we did, a few dozen small monsters came running after us.

“Now!” I said, instructing my group to use our very last smoke. Weirdly, this final bomb (which the princess had given to me personally) gave off a different colored smoke than the rest. Maybe I was just imagining things. The monsters quickly dispersed regardless.

Then a shriek rang out. Sano noticed it first, and she pointed at the cloud of smoke in horror. When the rest of us turned our gazes toward it, our jaws dropped. A giant monster had emerged from the wall near where we’d thrown the last smoke bomb. I recognized the beast from Greek mythology, and it was clearly not the sort of a monster that was supposed to appear in the upper floors of the labyrinth.

“A minotaur?” I whispered in disbelief as the beast raised its massive club overhead.

I looked into its eyes—it was about to bring its weapon crashing down right onto Sano. Before I even had a chance to think, I dashed over and shoved her aside, then tried to deflect the monster’s club with the edge of my blade. It was a parry I’d learned from practicing with the knight commander. I knew there were certain types of monsters capable of blocking certain skills, so I wanted to see how well I could manage if I had to fight with swordsmanship alone.

Never think about whether or not you can tank a hit from a more powerful enemy. Always think about whether or not you can dodge or parry, the commander had said. If an enemy comes at you with all it’s got, you’ve got to deflect that charge with all you’ve got.

But simply dodging didn’t create an opportunity for a counterattack, hence why parrying was always preferred. Try as I might to get a good strike in on the commander, he’d deflected every single slash with ease. Now here I was, trying to do the same thing he did to me against an even more fearsome foe. The results were more than obvious.

“Aaaaagh!”

“Tsukasa!”

A searing pain shot through my wrists. The beast’s strike had broken both my arms. I’d somehow managed to keep my grip on my sword, but the blade had snapped clean in half like a twig. The minotaur’s next swing would surely kill me. Sure enough, the monster lifted its heavy club up off the ground and raised it over its head again, preparing to crush me like a bug.

I heard someone else cry out from behind me. If you’re just gonna stand there and scream, could I at least get a healing spell, please?! Wait, no. I need to not be so self-centered.

Just as the minotaur was about to bring down its weapon, a projectile of some sort struck its club off balance, and the attack missed its mark.

“Looks like I made it in the nick of time.” Standing there beside me, haggard and out of breath, was Vice Commander Gilles. “Commander Saran will be here any minute. I’ll try to keep it occupied until then. Stand back.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you so much.”

“Looks like you did pretty well for yourself.”

Yeah, right. Me and my two broken arms are just bringing down the team. Sir Gilles patted me on the head nonetheless and, trying not to cry from the pain, I retreated back to where my classmates had congregated.

“Tsukasa, your arms…”

“O divine protector, grant us thy shelter. Take this mana and create for us a safe haven. Shield!”

“Thanks, Sano…” I said, trying to force a smile despite the pain.

“It probably won’t withstand a single blow, but I figure it’s better than nothing!”

She’d veiled the entire group in a thin barrier of light. I assumed it was the best she could do at her current skill level, but it was a far cry from the barriers I’d seen the commander erect. Guess that’s the real difference between us kids and the big boys.

I looked over at Sir Gilles. He was holding the minotaur at bay with his sword and his magic, though none of his attacks were doing much to harm the beast.

“Barrier mage, keep up that wall! Healers, cast your strongest healing spells on him!” Sir Gilles yelled after casting a quick glance our way; he’d evidently noticed my deathly pallor. Suddenly, I was enveloped in a warm and gentle light, and the pain began to subside at last. A minute longer, and I probably would have passed out.

“Commander!”

Commander Saran had finally arrived to lend Sir Gilles his support. Perfect timing. But not a moment later, another figure manifested itself right beside me.

“Akira?” I muttered incredulously—though to be honest, I was relieved to see him. I explained to him as succinctly as possible the events that had transpired, bringing him up to speed.

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

AFTER THE HERO finished his little summary, I glanced down at his wounds and grimaced. He had scratches and scrapes up and down his entire body, and his broken arms were turning purple with bruises.

“Damn. I’m surprised you haven’t passed out yet.”

“Yeah, you and me both. But if I don’t protect our classmates, who will?”

I snorted at our precious hero’s arrogance, and he looked a bit offended. But it was possible he hadn’t even realized it himself, so I figured I’d set the record straight, for the sake of both him and our classmates.

“Yeah? And who’s gonna protect you?”

“I mean…”

“Your job isn’t to keep the rest of us safe. It’s to defeat the Demon Lord.” I looked him straight in the eye for the first time in forever. The students behind us were all listening in, murmuring in anticipation of what I was going to say next. “So don’t worry about us. We’ve got your back. You just focus on doing you.”

“But who’s gonna protect everyone else?” the hero pouted.

I smirked.

“We can take care of ourselves. Like I said: You just focus on you, big guy.”

It was such an obvious thing, yet the hero’s eyes widened as though the thought had never occurred to him. I was the selfish type, so any time I’d happened to use my skills to help someone else, it was either whim or pure coincidence. I understood the desire to keep the casters and support classes safe, but he really needed to let the other combat classes handle that. You’re their hero, not their babysitter. Surely they must have covered that in your basic training for babies by now, right? These guys are such idiots.

“Focus on myself?” he repeated incredulously. “But…I’m the hero… I thought saving people was the hero’s job…”

Suddenly, the hero started grunting and groaning, clutching his head in his hands. I could tell immediately something was wrong with him.

More so than usual, that is.

The hero I knew was a natural-born leader—the sort of guy who looked like he only ever thought of himself, but in reality was always looking out for the rest of the team. Granted, he cared way too much about what other people thought of him, and he was still a womanizer who used his looks to take advantage of people, but he at least knew how to step up when the going got tough. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been student council president. At the very least, he wasn’t the sort of guy to have a mental breakdown just because someone gave him some constructive criticism.

Then a thought hit me.

“Hey, do we have any healers or disenchanters here?” I asked, and two girls sheepishly stepped forth from the pack.

“I’m a healer,” said the first girl—our class representative, Hosoyama Shiori.

“And I’m yer disenchanter…” said the second in her distinctive accent. This was Ueno Yuki, a girl who was all pep, all the time. “You don’t think there’s somethin’ wrong with him, do ya?”

“Hard to say,” I said. “But we’re about to find out.” I was impressed with myself for being able to put names to both of their faces, since I generally didn’t pay much attention to my classmates. I’d started trying to after we got to this world, in order to remember their respective classes, but I’d just failed on that front.

“Could you try healing his broken arms, for starters?” I asked Hosoyama.

“S-sure thing. It might take a while, though.”

I gave her a nod to indicate that I didn’t mind, and she got started right away. The hero’s arms were soon bathed in a gentle light, though he still had his head in his hands like a scared child during a thunderstorm. Apparently, the pain wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t keep pulling at his hair in distress.

“What about me? Whaddya need me ta do?” asked Ueno.

What are you, dense? Do I really have to spell it out for you? I thought it was fairly obvious what might be wrong with the hero, even if I hadn’t fully confirmed it yet.

“I think he might be brainwashed. I want you to try using Dispel and see if that works.”

The other classmates gasped at my hypothesis, and Ueno seemed a little flustered by the sudden pressure, but she started the incantation nonetheless.

“O baleful curse that plagues my comrade’s dreams! Return from whence thou came, never to afflict us again! Dispel!”

Another aura enveloped the hero—though this one was nothing like the gentle light of Hosoyama’s healing spell. It was black and malevolent, like flames of darkness.

“Oh my gosh, y’all! He really is cursed!” Ueno gulped, and the other students gaped in disbelief.

I glanced back over at the knights, who were still engaging the minotaur. The battle was getting pretty fierce. Man, I wish I could go help ’em out.

Honestly, I probably could have left the hero to Hosoyama and Ueno—but a funny feeling gnawed at my chest. But before I had time to analyze it, a boy who’d kept quiet up to this point suddenly called out to me.

“We’ll take it from here, Akira. You go help the commander. You’ll be of way more use to them than we ever could be,” he said.

“Besides, it’s time for us to step up! We’re not gonna let Tsukasa carry the team all by himself any longer!” said another with a valiant twinkle in his eyes.

“You guys…”

“Now go on! Get moving!”

Impelled by the others, I relented and headed toward the minotaur. With my dagger broken, my only hope of taking down the beast would be clever use of skills. Thankfully, I was pretty sure I’d devised a scheme that could get us out of this deadlock.

“Commander Saran!” I yelled.

“Akira! Are you sure it’s wise to abandon the others?” he responded, never taking his eyes off the beast. It sounded like he was a bit more worried about my classmates than he usually let on.

“Yeah, about that. Seems like the hero’s been hit by some sort of curse. Our disenchanter’s doing her best to try and lift it, but I honestly think it’ll be faster if we just find and kill whoever cast it on him.” It wasn’t that I doubted Ueno’s skills, more that I feared the curse might be much stronger than any of us were equipped to handle.

“Very well… I think I might have an idea who it was; I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks. Also, I was thinking this might be a good time to try out my you-know-what.”

“You don’t mean…”

The idea of having Saran look into the curse was all well and good, but we still had to make it out of here alive before he could do that. I knew he’d be resistant to the idea, but I was pretty certain it was our best shot at felling the beast.

“Yeah, I do. And I’m doing it whether you help me or not. I refuse to die down here.”

The commander let out a deep and heavy sigh. I was mentally prepared for him to give me a lecture right then and there, but instead he simply raised his head and smiled.

“Very well. If that’s how it’s going to be, then I’ll give it my all… Though I fear even that may not be enough to take down this minotaur. I’ll need your help if we’re to make it out of this alive.”

“Yeah, no duh. I’m not gonna let you die here either. Not when there’s still so much I need you to teach me about this world.”

“Good…because I have plenty more questions for you as well. I’d love to hear more about ‘smart phones’ and ‘aero-planes’ and what have you.”

“Sure thing. I’ll give you every juicy detail. If we make it out of here.”

And on that note, I activated Conceal Presence, making me invisible to the minotaur—and everyone else, except our commander with his mystic eye. That said, the beast was currently too preoccupied with the other knights to pay us any mind. Still, you could never be too careful.

“If we don’t pull this off, it will be awfully hard to ensure that the others make it out of here safely. Be very careful.”

“I know.”

With my superhuman jumping abilities (the first skill I noticed after Conceal Presence, and the fastest one I mastered), I leapt over the minotaur’s head to get behind it. Seeing that I’d concealed my presence, and that the commander was charging up for some sort of spell, the knights who’d been engaging the minotaur quickly guessed the plan and got out of the way as fast as they could. Smart move. When Commander Saran and I had tested this combo during training, we couldn’t control it, and it almost razed an entire forest. I closed my eyes and waited for the commander to do his part, paying no heed to the great beast that stood directly in front of me.

“O Lord, give me strength! Shine down upon your children and smite these foes that would obstruct us! Lightning’s Flash!”

The bolt of white-hot light crashed down upon the minotaur, singeing its furry hide and damaging its eyes in their sockets, temporarily blinding it. The monster bellowed in agony—we’d finally managed to put a dent in the beast. Cheers rang out from my classmates, who were watching the battle play out on pins and needles.

“Akira, now!”

Hearing the commander’s signal, I opened my eyes and turned off Conceal Presence. I reached out my hand and uttered my own incantation.

“Shadow Magic, activate.”

An explosion of darkness erupted across the floor. Not like a literal explosion, mind you—I’d simply taken the long shadow cast from the beast due to Lightning’s Flash and amplified it such that this entire floor of the labyrinth was immediately cloaked in darkness; the brightest lights cast the deepest shadows, after all. Yet oddly enough, despite the entire room being veiled in pitch-black darkness, you could still make out your surroundings. The minotaur too, was briefly confused by this, but it soon set about trying to whack the commander with its club again. It wouldn’t get very far, though.

“Oh, no you don’t. Reel him in, boys,” I ordered the shadows, and the beast stopped dead in its tracks.

In truth, I was using the shadows to restrain it, but to the outside observer, it probably looked like the beast was obeying my commands. Before long, the minotaur bellowed and wailed in distress as it realized it was being dragged down into the darkness. Bit by bit, the monster was swallowed up by the shadows until only its severed head remained.

Having fulfilled their purpose, the shadows receded until all that remained was a shadow the size of a person—mine.

My classmates didn’t cheer or jump for joy. They simply stared, aghast, at the spot where the gigantic minotaur had previously stood. The commander and his knights let out a collective sigh of relief, glad to know the deed was finally done.

“Man, I wanna go home,” I muttered to myself, before concealing my presence once again. I didn’t want to have to deal with my classmates’ probing questions. I didn’t like them looking at me like I was some sort of freak either. Sensing my displeasure, Commander Saran flashed an awkward, consoling smile in my direction before clapping his hands twice and snapping my classmates back to their senses.

“We’ve taken care of the biggest threat, but we’re still in a labyrinth, people. There’s no telling what we might run into on our way out. Stay on your guard,” said the commander.

One of the knights picked up the minotaur’s severed head, and two of the hero’s friends helped him out of the dungeon. I walked a safe distance behind, thinking over everything that had happened.

I couldn’t very well hide my true abilities now. I was sure the knights and my classmates would spread the word about what had happened in the labyrinth, even if they had no ill intentions. The thing that concerned me was how much would get back to the king.

Once we broke the hero’s curse, I thought it might be a good idea for me to disappear for a little while.

 

We slowly made our way back to ground level, letting the knights take care of any riffraff along the way. The sun had already gone down, and the large crowd of people that had gathered outside the labyrinth had almost completely dispersed. It seemed no one felt like being around a monster-infested dungeon at this hour.

“We’ll be heading into the forest now. Try to stick together,” yelled the commander.

This startled me. It had been rather quiet up to this point, the only sound being the exhausted grumblings of my fellow classmates. To be fair, I was pretty spent myself—especially after they’d rushed through the upper floors, triggering all sorts of traps, leaving me to pick up after them. After that battle with the minotaur, I was so drained I could barely use my throwing knives to pick off stragglers. That single use of Shadow Magic had almost completely drained my MP, though I had used a mana potion to recover a little bit afterward.

I hadn’t suffered any major injuries, but I had taken quite a few cuts and scrapes, so I couldn’t rightly say I’d made it out unscathed. Probably my worst injury was a little stab in the side from one of the monkey monsters with blades for hands. I’d deserved it, though—I’d been mocking it internally, wondering how you could possibly live your whole life with knife-hands, and that’s when it shanked me. I quickly stopped the bleeding with a healing potion, but it still hurt like nobody’s business. And while the potion had stopped the bleeding, it hadn’t actually restored my lost blood, so I was left feeling dizzy for a little while. If I hadn’t remembered to use the potion when I had, I probably would’ve passed out. Even just thinking back on it made me feel faint, so I tried to focus on something else, but we were just walking in a circle of knights at the moment, so, unfortunately, there wasn’t much to do.

Though I could check to see how much my stats went up, I suppose. I did technically make the finishing blow on that minotaur, so I must’ve leveled up at least a little bit. Well, I know it’s not quite as simple as just “leveling up” in this world, but you know what I mean.

“Status,” I whispered, and opened my stat page. Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d checked my stats since first arriving in Morrigan.

 

AKIRA ODA

RACE: Human

CLASS: Assassin (Lv. 15)

HP: 25/5400

MP: 12/2100

ATTACK: 3600

DEFENSE: 2400

SKILLS:

Mathematics (Lv. 5)

Negotiation (Lv. 5)

Assassin Tools (Lv. 5)

Assassination (Lv. 4)

Curved Swords (Lv. 1)

Short Swords (Lv. 5)

Conceal Presence (Lv. MAX)

Detect Presence (Lv. 4)

Detect Danger (Lv. 3)

Intimidate (Lv. 1)

Roar (Lv. 1)

EXTRA SKILLS:

Understand Languages

World Eyes (Lv. 1)

Shadow Magic (Lv. 3)

 

“Whoa…”

“Hm? What’s up, Akira?” asked one of my classmates.

“Er, nothing, sorry. Don’t mind me.”

I hadn’t meant to react audibly, and in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been so surprised by the fact I was already Level 15. That minotaur had to have been at a far higher level than any of us, so it was no wonder I’d gained more than ten levels from slaying it. Some of my skills had gone up a few levels as well, and I’d even gained a couple of new ones—Intimidate and Roar. I must’ve learned them from the minotaur using them on us over and over. The commander had mentioned it was possible to learn enemy skills you’d been hit with repeatedly. I surmised the hero had probably learned them, too, since he was the one who’d been shielding the others from the minotaur before I got there. Furthermore, my basic stats, like Attack and Defense, had tripled.

Damn. I dunno if there’s a set growth rate per level, or if it just gives you a major boost every five levels or something arbitrary like that, but it sure seems like a generous leveling system.

If my other classmates leveled up this fast, we really would be an unstoppable team. Assuming the old geezer who greeted us on day one was to be believed, ordinarily, the highest Attack stat the human denizens of Morrigan could achieve was a mere 500. Mine was already more than seven times that. When you considered that I’d started above 500 and had barely put a dent in that minotaur, you had to wonder if the people of this world could ever take down a beast like that on their own. If anything, the monsters were a little overpowered. Even Commander Saran, humanity’s so-called “Last Bastion,” hadn’t landed a single effective hit until he used Lightning’s Flash, and the dagger I’d stolen from the armory had shattered to pieces against its hide. If the average minotaur was that strong, I didn’t even want to think about how powerful the Demon Lord had to be.

“All right, everyone,” said the commander, “we’ve made it back safe and sound. Let’s just do a quick roll call to make sure we’re all accounted for, and then you’ll be free to go.”

There were still a lot of skills I hadn’t gotten the chance to try out, and I had a lot of questions for the commander as well. I’d also need to “borrow” a new weapon for myself at some point. But right then, all I wanted to do was go back to my room and collapse into my warm, soft bed.

“Oh, except for you, Akira. I need to speak with you for a bit.”

For the first time ever, I felt like I could have killed the commander.

 

We agreed to meet in the courtyard a few hours later—though there were, of course, no swallowtail-esque butterflies fluttering around at that point.

“I wanted to give you this,” he began, holding out a sheathed blade in both hands.

Wait. Where did he pull that thing from? It looked like he’d whipped it out from within his clothes, but the commander’s armor was extremely form-fitting, and I couldn’t imagine there was room for an entire sword in there. But before I had a chance to ask, he eagerly foisted the sword into my hands.

“What’s this?” I asked. It looked like an entirely black katana—a twelve-year-old edgelord’s wet dream. I was surprised to see that this world had katanas, as I hadn’t seen one up to this point.

“This sword was forged by the Hero of Legend’s very own hands. He called it a ‘katana.’ I assumed it might be familiar to you, given that you both came from the same world.”

“I mean, yeah, it is, but why are you giving this to me? Shouldn’t this go to the hero instead? And is it even really yours to give out in the first place?” I unsheathed it just a bit and saw that the blade itself was also black. This Hero of Legend guy must’ve had good taste.

“I did consider giving it to Tsukasa, but he doesn’t have the Curved Swords skill like you do. Not to mention, there’s already a holy sword that gets passed down from hero to hero. I spoke with Gilles about it, and we agreed this one should go to you.”

“Does the king know about this?”

“Well, just between you and me…I may have taken it from the castle treasury without his permission. But it’s perfect timing, no? What with your dagger breaking during the battle today.”

I couldn’t believe how casual he was being about this. Had he really just admitted to stealing from the castle treasury?

“Yes, you heard right. I stole it. I’m sure the Hero of Legend would have preferred for the sword to actually see some use, rather than to stay buried under a pile of gold for eternity. Besides, you stole that silver dagger from the armory, too, didn’t you? You’ve no room to judge.”

Friggin’ mind reader. I drew the blade all the way out of its sheath. It was forged in the Kogarasu style, with a symmetrical, double-edged tip. I remembered reading you needed to always stay on your toes against blades like these, since even a backhanded swing could carve you into pieces, unlike a traditional katana. I gave the sword a quick once-over, then asked the first question that came to mind.

“Is there no inscription on it?”

“There is. Down near the hilt, see? Not that I could tell you what it says.”

There were indeed some kanji engraved near the base of the blade itself. Guess the first hero really was Japanese. Man, I haven’t seen anything written in my own language in a month. It’s almost enough to make me homesick.

The engraving was painted over in white, and stood out against the black blade, yet I’d somehow missed it.

“So? What does it say?” asked the commander eagerly.

“It says ‘Yato-no-Kami,’ or ‘God of the Night Blade,’ I guess. Pretty sure they’re some sort of regional deity, though I can’t remember where from.”

“Interesting… And these sorts of minor deities are relatively common in your world?”

“Well, in my country, at least. I was born in Japan, and traditional Japanese folklore basically says that there are gods out there for anything and everything—even inanimate objects. We’ve got so many gods, it’d make your head spin.”

“A specific god for each and every individual thing… Fascinating. I’d never even considered such a concept. Here, we only really worship the Creator, you see.” The commander’s eyes were alight with the new information, and as he proceeded to launch into another lecture about his own world’s theology, I took another look down at the sword.

“Hm?” I noticed that there was another, colorless inscription alongside the one in white. I held the sword up at an angle so it became legible in the moonlight:

 

I pray this blade finds its way to you, my successor. May it guide you in your hour of need.

 

As I read the slightly skewed inscription, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. I closed my eyes in a silent expression of gratitude to my predecessor. His words had indeed come as a great reassurance to me at a time when there were precious few people I could trust.

“Wish I could have met him,” I mused, gazing up at the vast starry sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, nor any light pollution like there was back in Japan. After a minute, the commander joined me in looking up at the unfamiliar constellations. It felt like all of the stress I’d built up over the past month—all my frustrations with that idiot hero and his incompetent companions, and all my anxieties about what the royal family might be scheming—washed away in an instant.

“Hey, Commander? I have a favor to ask.”

 

It was a dark and moonless night. In Japan, the neon lights of the city would still be illuminated at this hour, but here in the castle, there wasn’t a single light to pierce the darkness. From the rooftops, you could see the lights elsewhere in the capital, but from ground level, it was pitch-black. Nights like these belonged to me. The perfect storm for an assassin.

“May the hero ever embody his title, both in words and in deeds… Let damnation rain down upon any that would stand in his way…” the princess chanted, waving her hands in slow circles over a jagged black crystal.

“Aha. So that’s how you’ve been putting your little curses on him, huh?”

The princess shuddered, then turned to look at me as I stepped down from the windowsill into her private chambers.

“Well, well. I take it you’re a member of the hero’s company, then? Rather rude of you to be sneaking into a pure maiden’s room without permission, don’t you think? Especially at this time of night. Most burglars would at least have the decency to cover their face. You must be quite bold to think you’ll get away with this.”

“A ‘pure maiden’? Don’t make me laugh. I literally just caught you in the act of hexing the hero, you freaking psychopath. Or are you gonna tell me that was just an innocent little prayer? And no, I’m not wearing a mask. I want you to know who I am, since apparently my Conceal Presence skill works so well you didn’t even know I was here. So yeah, take a good look. This is the face of the guy who knows all about your little plan—and the one who could slit your throat whenever he wanted. Go ahead and try me.”

I walked over to her with a smirk and snatched the black crystal out from under her fingertips. As I expected, merely touching the cursed crystal was enough to send a wicked chill down my spine. If this thing was exerting its evil influence over our intrepid hero twenty-four seven, then I wasn’t sure whether he was impressive for holding onto some sanity or pathetic for not noticing it yet.

Either way, Commander Saran was right on the money about her. Keeping my eyes locked firmly on the princess, I thought back on our conversation from earlier.

 

“So you think the princess put that curse on the hero?”

The day after we barely made it out of the labyrinth, I asked the commander to tell me about his little hunch regarding the cause of the hero’s curse. We sat side by side in the shadow of the water fountain, gazing wistfully at the butterflies fluttering in the flower beds of the same courtyard where he’d given me that sword.

“Yes… Or more specifically, I can’t think of anyone it could be but her.”

“Doesn’t she have the hots for him, though? Why would she curse the guy she’s in love with?” Even an outsider like me could tell the princess was totally head over heels for the hero—probably even more so than the little fan club among our classmates.

“I can’t claim to know what goes through any woman’s mind, let alone hers. Perhaps it is an expression of her love, albeit a twisted one.”

“Twisted is right. That curse could’ve got him killed yesterday.”

It was like there were two distinct personalities clashing inside the hero’s head, to the point that it nearly tore him apart. Ueno was still casting Dispel on him a day after the fact. Her impact was pretty minimal, but mitigating the curse’s effects was our only option until we could find and kill the caster. A few of my classmates were convinced that me forcing Ueno to use Dispel on him was making things worse, but I was pretty sure the curse would’ve gotten way stronger if we hadn’t. This was no ordinary spell, after all.

“Her Highness Maria Rose Retice never knew much love or affection in her childhood. Her mother died tragically when she was very young, and I don’t think His Majesty ever forgave the princess for being the underlying cause of his beloved’s death. He treated her like nothing more than a pawn whose only purpose was to carry on his lineage.”

Come to think of it, I had noticed an awkward air between the two the night I snuck into the king’s private study.

“So? You think that, because the princess was raised to only know love as a measure of how useful someone can be, she used the curse to mold the hero into someone who could do her bidding? And in the process receive her father’s ‘love’ for carrying out his wishes?”

“I think that’s more than likely, yes.”

“Interesting… I think I understand why your knights always seem a little on edge around her, then. And why the royal family remains in power despite the clear need to overthrow them.”

The knights could attempt a coup, but they feared the princess’s magic, which she was probably also using to conceal any damning evidence against the crown. Thus, the knights just kept their mouths shut. The royal family also seemed to be something of a sore subject for the knights. This was merely conjecture, and I wouldn’t dare to ask the commander directly, but I suspected that maybe the knights had had a hand in the queen’s death, whether directly or indirectly. If that was the case, then their silent obedience made a lot more sense.

“I’d say it’s likely. We do feel we owe a debt to the royal family,” said the commander.

Freaking mind reader.

“And furthermore, I should note that this country is quite far removed from the land of Volcano, where the demons dwell. There really is no urgent need for us to be summoning heroes like yourselves. I can’t claim to know what the royal family is planning, but you’d think they’d at least wait until the demons have sufficiently harmed some of our neighboring countries before taking such measures.”

Yet here we were, summoned to Retice to kill the Demon Lord. I hadn’t heard a single report of any casualties in countries closer to demon territory either. Even assuming it was being suppressed for reasons of propaganda, surely if that were the case, the commander would have leaked at least a little bit of that intel to me by now. The only rational conclusion was that, from the start, we’d been summoned here for aggressive militaristic purposes.

“Their thought process is fairly simple. They think we can deal them a decisive blow if we can take out the demons’ leader and be done with it. Hence why they’re probably not all that worried about being caught in a lie, since they can still claim noble intent.”

“I see… Well, it sounds like we should probably try to handle this tonight, then.”

“Given Tsukasa’s current condition, I’d say time is of the essence, yes. The princess is probably using some sort of crystal or mana stone as a medium. If you can destroy that, it should break the curse. And if you can’t… Well, let’s just say our little hero will soon be reduced to nothing more than a husk for the princess’s wicked designs. So no pressure!”

“Got it. Then I’ll plan to sneak into her bedchambers at night and break the curse. But if I manage to pull this off, I want you to get me those things I asked for yesterday.”

“That seems reasonable. I’ll certainly consider it.”

 

As I finished reminiscing about the previous day, I drew my newly acquired katana and cut the black crystal in half.

“There. That ought to take care of your little curse,” I said. “Sorry to bother you.” I jumped back onto the windowsill, taking the upper half of the crystal along with me. I’d left my face exposed to intimidate the princess, but I didn’t want anyone else to catch me in the act. I needed to get the hell out of there.

“I see. I hoped simply controlling the hero would get the others to fall in line, but it appears I was mistaken. You won’t mind if I just curse them instead?” She indicated a hutch with shelves upon shelves of smaller crystals, each with a little name plate attached.

“Yeah, I bet you’d like me to stay here and break each and every one of those things. Bet that’d give your attendants in the next room plenty of time to rush in here and capture me. No thanks—I think I’ll be on my way. Oh, but before I go, just one quick question for you… Why exactly are you going along with daddy’s orders here? You don’t really expect him to love you more for it, do you?”

The princess stared at me with lifeless, doll-like eyes.

“Everything I do, I do for His Majesty,” she whispered, monotone.

“That’s dumb, but all right.”

Sufficiently creeped out, I jumped out the window. Psycho chicks, man. I can’t stand ’em.

 

Having successfully broken the princess’s curse, I stole away to Commander Saran’s private quarters. I found the commander at his desk, scribbling like his life depended on it.

“Oh, Akira. That was awfully fast,” he said without looking up from his writing. That he noticed me despite my presence being concealed—and without looking at me—made me feel like a sorry excuse for an assassin. I trudged over to him and dumped the crystal on the desk, at which point he finally looked up from his work. “Oh, come now, don’t be like that. Who else would I be expecting at this hour? Especially when Gilles has already gone off to bed.”

“Look, I’m just annoyed that you sensed my presence so easily, okay?” I said, pouting.

“Can you blame me? There’s nothing I look forward to more than our little late-night trysts.”

“Ugh. Don’t call them that.”

The commander collapsed on his desk for comedic effect, then quickly sat back up and examined the crystal. His eyes immediately narrowed, his expression grim.

“Wait. But this is—no, it can’t be…” he said, before muttering something inaudibly.

“Sorry, what’s going on?” I tilted my head. “Is the curse still there, or…?”

“No, the curse is broken. I just recognize this crystal, that’s all,” the commander said, though I could tell he was hiding something. Never before had I seen him look so serious—or have such rage in his eyes.

“Can I…ask where exactly you recognize it from?” Instantly, the commander snapped back to his usual cheery self, though it wasn’t genuine. “Sorry, but I need to look into something first. If it really is what I think, then I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”

“Do you think this will help us break any curses she puts on my other classmates?”

“You know, it just might.”

“Well…okay then.”

“Now! Did you have any questions about this world you wanted me to answer tonight?” the commander asked with a more genuine smile.

“No, I’m good. I think I’m just gonna hit the hay. I’m beat.”

“Oh, really? Well, good night, then.”

“Night,” I responded, before exiting out the window. I was doing a lot of that lately.

I wonder if Sir Gilles would know what that was all about… Maybe I should just wait until the commander’s ready to tell me himself. I could tell he didn’t really want to talk about it, and being the loner I was, I wasn’t sure whether it would be nosy or thoughtful to go asking around about a friend’s past.

“Okay, I think it’s bedtime.”

Only Commander Saran and Sir Gilles knew which room was mine, but now that the princess knew what I looked like, it was possible she’d turn the entire castle upside down looking for me, so it was no longer safe. I gathered up my things and left the castle for a tall, sturdy-looking tree. I sprawled out on one of its massive branches and drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow the commander would tell me everything he knew, and then this would all make sense. I was sure of it.

If only I could have foreseen the tragedy I would awaken to, I would have killed the king and princess the first night in Morrigan.

 

“Akira! Akira, wake up!”

I awoke to find the uncursed hero shaking me roughly by the shoulders.

“Ugh, cut it out. How’d you know I was up here, anyway?”

“Sir Gilles told me I might find you out here. I can’t believe you were actually sleeping outside… But that’s not important right now! It’s the commander! He’s in bad shape! You’ve gotta come quick!”

Urged on by the hero, I hurried to the castle courtyard where all our classmates had gathered. The king and princess were there, too, along with the knights and Vice Commander Gilles. The only notable absence was Commander Saran.

“Sir Gilles! Where’s the commander?” I asked, but he just closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Something really had happened.

“Don’t play dumb,” a voice called out from behind me. I whirled around to see a few of my classmates (ones I’d always suspected had it out for me) glaring at me maliciously.

“Sorry, what?”

“He’s right over there, Akira.”

I was about ready to write this off as a bad prank when I looked over in the direction the hero was pointing and the words caught in my throat.

Commander Saran lay motionless at the king’s feet. His clothes were caked with dried blood, and a silver dagger with a green jewel embedded in its hilt was plunged deep into his chest. One glance was enough to see the man was dead.

“That’s the same dagger you were using down in the labyrinth, isn’t it? You killed the commander! Murderer!”

All my classmates now looked at me like I was a criminal. Only the hero seemed to be holding out hope that I could prove my innocence.

“Well played, princess… Looks like I fell right into your trap,” I whispered, glancing over at the royal duo. They wore solemn expressions, but I saw a twinkle of twisted delight flickering in their eyes. I couldn’t help but smirk right back at them.

“C’mon, Akira,” begged the hero. “If it wasn’t you, then you need to say so right now!”

I ignored his plea and just kept staring down at the commander’s lifeless corpse. To be quite honest, I didn’t give a rat’s ass what my classmates thought of me—the hero included. But I did mourn the fact that, despite having been brought up in the world-renowned Japanese education system, none of these sheeple were capable of critical thought. Had they not noticed my dagger shattering when I tried to stab it into the minotaur’s throat, or had they just forgotten?

“Well?! Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?!” yelled a particularly self-righteous classmate. A fire mage, I believed. I had a hard time remembering the names and faces of my classmates, but he was one of the few I recognized, though I still had no idea what his name was. It probably wasn’t worth remembering.

All I could do was sigh.

“Is this the thanks I get for saving your asses down in the labyrinth? Man, I’m disappointed in you guys. Weren’t we supposed to be a team?”

“Shut up! I never liked your stupid mug. You probably pulled some sneaky trick down in the labyrinth too. I know you did!” This one was an archer. He and that fire mage prick had always loved getting up in my business, trying to put me down to feel better about themselves. I hadn’t interacted with them much since deciding that sleeping through free periods and lunch was a better use of my time. I’d have dealt with the hero over these goons any day of the week.

As my classmates had already decided my guilt, arguing my case would be pointless, so I walked past them to the commander’s corpse. It was probably just the princess’s crystals turning my classmates against me. No biggie.

Neither the king nor the princess ordered the guards to apprehend me—they simply watched me carefully. Commander Saran’s face was twisted in agony. I felt a stinging fury in my chest and offered a silent prayer, then slowly drew the dagger out of his chest. A little blood spurted out, darkening his already crimson clothes. His body was cold. His gentle face, once so full of life, was still. His radiant smile, never to be seen again. My classmates shrieked at the bloodstains on the dagger, as well as at the fresh blood. I silenced them with a withering glare, then turned my furious gaze to the royal duo.

“I’m getting in the way of your little plan, is that it? Well, don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”

“You must be joking. As if we’d let you escape,” said the king.

The princess, after exchanging glances with her father, walked up alongside me and whispered in my ear, “You know far too much, just like your beloved commander, and now you’ll be tried as the villain who killed our Last Bastion.”

She’d spoken quietly, intending her words only for me, but the hero, whose eyes widened, was evidently close enough to hear as well.

As she spoke, she must have given some sort of signal, as a group of unfamiliar castle guards surrounded me once she finished. Dressed all in black, I assumed they were assassins like me. They moved like professionals, and my classmates closed in with them. Sir Gilles had been dragged aside, and the hero stood back watching. I met Sir Gilles’s gaze and felt like he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t figure out what.

“Take him,” the king ordered, and the circle shrunk.

“Go ahead…” I whispered. “Bring out as many goons as you like. But they’re still just goons, I’m afraid.” I looked at the smug faces of my classmates, all convinced they’d won, then activated Conceal Presence.

“Wh-where’d he go?!”

“Find him! He couldn’t have gotten far!”

The entire circle cried out in disbelief as I vanished.

Huh. Guess that was the first time I used that skill in front of a live audience, wasn’t it? I leapt swiftly over their heads and dashed over to Vice Commander Gilles. He’d anticipated my plan, as he started speaking as I drew close; perhaps he’d learned how to spot me when invisible over the time we’d trained together.

“Listen, Akira,” he whispered. “Commander Saran was killed by the king’s personal assassin unit, the ‘Night Ravens.’ They’re after you too. The Commander left a letter for you in his chambers, along with some supplies you’ll need from the castle. You need to be far away from here before the king realizes what’s going on. I know you’ll be able to handle yourself no matter what happens, but be careful.”

“Thank you, Vice Commander. You be safe too.”

Sir Gilles flashed a quick smile, and I leapt onto the castle rooftops. The soldiers were still running in circles in the courtyard looking for me. My classmates all looked irritated by my escape—except for the hero, who appeared relieved. The princess was furious; it was only a matter of time before the hero uncovered the truth about her for himself.

I snuck into the commander’s room and grabbed everything he had left for me, then left the castle. Part of me couldn’t believe he was dead, but I’d known deep down something like this might happen. I’d asked the commander for his assistance in helping me leave the castle for good because I’d shown my face to the princess the night I broke the curse. I knew the king would stop at nothing to find me, and that he might resort to torturing my classmates if he had to.

I knew I hadn’t killed Commander Saran and that I wasn’t under the princess’s control. No matter what my classmates thought of me, I could at least take solace in those two facts.

I swear I’ll avenge you one day, Commander. But I don’t have what it takes to do so right now. I’m sorry. I tried to picture the commander’s reassuring smile and realized I was already struggling to recall it. I sprinted toward the forest trail we’d taken to the labyrinth, trying desperately to wipe away the tears clouding my vision, and failing.