Chapter 24: An Unbelievable Victory

Chapter 24:
An Unbelievable Victory

 

THE PIXIE LED US quite a ways off the main road, trekking through pure, unadulterated wilderness. She could fly, so it was easy enough for her, but we weren’t quite as lucky. The way forward was steep and narrow, forcing us to break formation.

“If something attacks us now,” I said, “we’re in deep trouble.”

I kept a careful eye on our surroundings while Hjorth chatted away happily with the pixie. He’d really taken a liking to her.

“There!” she cried out. “There! Just go through.”

She was pointing at the mouth of a cave, sunk into the rock face and painfully ominous.

“Just follow the cave and you’ll find the secret spring,” said the pixie.

The cave was narrow and dark, and we could only enter two-by-two. If anything attacked us in there, we were done for. But before I could say anything, Ms. Elena raised her blade-sharp voice above the chatter.

“It’s getting late. Even if you reach this secret spring, what then? Do you want to climb to the summit in the dark?”

I knew she didn’t trust that pixie, either. She had to be really concerned if she was giving us advice like this, but few of the students listened to her.

“It’ll be fine,” said Hjorth. “We won’t stay long. It’s not that far is it, pixie?”

“It’s about a five-minute walk.”

“See, Ms. Elena?” he said. “It’s fine. And, if there are any traps, I’ll know.”

Hjorth seemed a little too confident. I had a quick glance over his skills, and discovered Grade C Trap Perception. It was far from infallible. Going by the skill’s description, there were quite a lot of traps he couldn’t sense. Not to mention the fact that it was pitch-black in there. Without Night Vision, it was already dangerous enough. I stepped forward.

“I’ll scout it out,” I said. “If there really is a secret spring, I’ll come back for you all.”

“I’ll go with you,” Emma said.

“No. I appreciate the sentiment, Emma, but it’s too tight in there.”

Once everyone agreed, I left them at the entrance and followed the pixie into the cave. In these conditions, Night Vision wasn’t perfect. It made it a little easier to see, but I couldn’t let my concentration slip even for a moment.

“You know,” said the pixie. “You’re really brave to come in here by yourself, Noir.”

“To be honest, I’m a coward. I just don’t have a choice.”

“Why not?”

“You tell me,” I said, drawing a weapon.

It was too narrow in here to use a sword—high ceiling, no swinging room—so I pulled out my Piercing Spear instead. The pixie noticed immediately.

“Why did you do that?” she asked. “There aren’t any monsters here. You can rest easy.”

“I told you, I’m a coward.”

“But that spear is so scary. I wish you’d put it away.”

“Sorry, no can do. What could you do if something happened to me?”

“Ugh,” the pixie scoffed. “I don’t like you anymore, Noir.”

“Ha ha ha, oh no, you don’t like me, how horrible!”

There was no way I was letting go of that spear, and it wasn’t long before it proved to be the right decision. Just ahead, there were strange holes in both walls—just big enough for someone to fit through. I couldn’t see what was inside them, but I was sure something was lurking in there.

“I know, I’ll tell you a funny story, Noir,” the pixie said, talking quickly…as though she were trying to distract me. “So the thing about pixies is, we actually have three ears…are you listening to me? Why did you stop?”

“I almost missed something.”

“Missed what?” she asked.

“That there are holes in the walls here. You have a better view of them. Is there anyone back there?” I asked.

The pixie peered into the darkness.

“Nope,” she said cheerfully. “Nothing there.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“If there’s a monster back there,” she said. “Then why hasn’t it attacked me?”

“I didn’t say anything about monsters. Why blame it on monsters and not the thieves you were talking about earlier?”

“What?” said the pixie. “What are you talking about? And stop looking at me like that, it’s scary. It just looks like the kind of place that there’d be monsters, that’s all.”

“No,” I said. “You’re not that stupid. You mentioned monsters because you know there are some back there.”

The pixie’s expression darkened, but she wasn’t giving up yet.

“Look, I just made an assumption,” she said. “That’s all. You’re so paranoid. Boys like that really aren’t very popular with the ladies, you know?”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll spell it out: I know there are things back there that you’re controlling with your Monster Puppetry skill.”

“Spear lizards, get him!”

Voila. Suddenly, lizardmen poured out of the holes in the walls. All of them were carrying spears. They were coming from both sides, so I fired off a twenty-inch Stone Bullet at the closest one and took it out with a thunk—I could’ve gone bigger, but I wanted more speed and force.

That bought me enough time to gauge the way the others were moving, and I focused my energy on landing a counterattack. Thanks to the spear’s Piercing skill, the second I lunged, the spearhead skewered through the next creature’s skull and came out the other side. But it wasn’t enough—there were more of them.

Was the pixie controlling all these guys? If so, that was an incredibly strong skill. I considered trying to find my way back out, but the lizardmen weren’t particularly strong. I felled another two in much the same way, but they kept coming.

Bwooom!

A blast of air came from behind me.

Oh no! They have me surrounded!

But they didn’t. It was a familiar spell—Wind Strike. It blew right past me and landed a headshot on one of the lizardmen.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Emma!” I said. “I thought I told you not to come.”

“I just couldn’t stand by and wait. Something could have happened to you.”

“Well, I guess you were right about that.”

“Eh he he, let’s take these two out first!”

We used our respective ranged spells to take down the last two. When things finally calmed down, there were eight bodies scattered in the cave around us.

“If they’d caught me off-guard, that could have been bad.”

“Where did that pixie run off to?” Emma asked, looking around.

“I think she went deeper into the cave.”

“Wanna go after her?”

“Yeah. It’d be safer to go back and check in with everyone else, but… If we’re quick, we might still be able to catch her.”

“Got it,” said Emma. “Let’s go.”

We headed deeper into the cave, keeping an eye out for any traps, until we found the way out.

“Where did she go…” I said, scanning the trees. “Oh! over there, on that branch!”

“I’ve got her!”

Emma fired off a Wind Strike. The tree never stood a chance. The branch snapped clean in two, and the pixie fluttered back up into the air.

“Stupid humans!” she spat. “You’re so ugly and awkward, did you really think you could hit me?”

She stuck out her tongue and flew off. I wasn’t about to let myself get bested by a tiny pixie, but she was out of range of my Bestow skill, and I couldn’t exactly fly after her. I’d have to catch up on foot.

“Emma, cast Run Like The Wind on me.”

“You got it!”

Emma snapped her fingers and I immediately felt lighter. I charged through the trees after the pixie.

“Tsk, how are you so fast?”

“I’m not letting you get away that easily.”

“Fine then,” she said. “I’ll just fly higher.”

“Like hell you will.”

As she started to climb, I Bestowed an additional twenty pounds of weight on her. Her delicate wings couldn’t take it. She fell out of the sky straight into my hand.

“You’re not getting out of this,” I told her.

“Forgive me, pretty please!”

“That’s not going to work on me.”

“You cretin!” she shouted. “Monster!”

No amount of verbal abuse from a morally deficient faerie was going to wound me. She’d known what she was doing tricking us off the path like that. There were definitely other victims.

“How many people have you fooled like this?” I asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with tricking stupid humans. They deserve it. I trusted one of you once, and he tried to sell me! Sell me!”

“That’s pretty horrible,” I said. “But taking it out on innocent people is unconscionable.”

“Hmph, I’m not about to listen to some stupid human like you.”

“N-N-Noir!” Emma shouted behind me. “C-come here!”

I made sure I had a good grip on the pixie and headed over. Right away, I could see what the issue was: the decomposing corpse of a woman was lying in the stream. Judging from her clothes, she must’ve been a hiker.

“Did you do this?” I asked.

“What?” said the pixie. “No, I don’t know anything about it. There are corpses all over the place around here.”

I’d been so focused on chasing her that I hadn’t even noticed, but she was right. Looking around, I could see a few different bodies, sprawled out among the trees. I tightened my grip on the pixie.

“Ngh?! Ah…h-hey…”

“I could crush you, you know that?”

“I-I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I was wrong.”

I looked around at the bodies. “There are some things you can’t apologize for.”

“Noir,” said Emma. “Why don’t we rejoin the others?”

“You’re right,” I sighed. “We should.”

I squeezed the pixie hard enough to hurt, but not so hard I’d crush her, and we found our way back to the rest of our class. When we explained what had happened, everyone was shocked. Everyone, that is, apart from Ms. Elena.

“I thought as much,” she said. “There are harmless pixies out there, but they aren’t common.”

“What should we do with her?” I asked.

“I can deal with her if you want.”

“Please…”

I didn’t mind taking out monsters, but this one looked too human. I handed her over to Ms. Elena.

“Damnit!” the pixie shouted. “When I’m reborn, I’ll get my revenge on you, Noir!”

“Do your worst,” I said. “I’ll protect the people I care about, no matter what you try to pull.”

“Well said,” said Ms. Elena. “We best be going now, my pixie friend.”

She headed off somewhere out of sight and returned about ten minutes later.

“Did you all learn your lesson?” she asked. “There are monsters out there who are skilled in the art of conversation and appear harmless on purpose to lure you into a trap.”

Everyone nodded quietly. This had been a valuable lesson for all of us.

It was starting to get dark, so we hurried back to the road and pushed on—arriving at our lodgings just before sunset. It was an impressive complex of buildings, fronted by a massive gate. The guards stationed there greeted us warmly.

“Are you guests?” they asked.

“Yes,” said Ms. Elena. “We’re spending the night.”

“Please,” said the guard. “Come in.”

They let us in through the gate, where we were greeted by the inn’s middle-aged proprietress.

It was a pretty big place, but the rules were simple: men and women slept in different rooms, and we were allocated different times to use the hot springs. Room and board were included, so once we’d dropped off our things, we started on a dinner of foraged vegetables and bear meat.

It was delicious, and I was glad they served the bear’s paws poached and fully intact—it was unusual (even grotesque), and would doubtless net me a few more LP. Even the foraged vegetables were delectable. This place really was the best.

After the meal, our hostess stood up at the head of the room.

“Shall I take you to the hot springs now?” she asked. “Currently they are open to women.”

“Yay!” Emma cheered. “Hot springs! Finally!”

The girls all smiled and chattered with excitement.

“I guess we’ll head back to our room, then.”

Curiously, the boys seemed completely disinterested. Had our run-in with that pixie put them off their plan to spy on the girls?

“Are you idiots ready for this?!”

“Yeaaah!”

How foolish of me to think they’d reconsider. The second the boys entered our room, they transformed into beasts—humping the air, taking off their clothes, smacking their crotches, the whole nine yards. It was revolting.

“Ahem. Listen up, everyone,” said one of them. “I’m Allen, the eldest son of the Milanos family. I am your leader for this year’s Men’s Health Project.”

“And as you know,” said Hjorth. “I am his second-in-command.”

These deranged perverts had even come prepared. They had masks and black clothes for everyone.

“Why did we come all this way?” Allen asked. “To see naked women, of course!”

“Yeaaaah!”

They were so fired up that they were losing their minds. Allen stretched out his hand dramatically.

“But I must ask you to wait! We are still proud students of S-Class, and we cannot allow our names to be dishonored with vile appellations like ‘pervert’ and ‘peeping tom’! That is why we must don masks and disguises!”

“Hang on,” I said. “This might a bad idea. What if they have guards?”

Please rethink this stupid plan, I thought, hoping they’d listen.

“Oh no, no,” said Allen. “We should not fear such things. We are capable of overcoming any resistance.”

“And we don’t have to worry about traps or anything,” said Hjorth. “Not with my skill.”

There probably weren’t much in the way of traps in an inn, anyway. Why would there be?!

“So I ask once again for your help,” said Allen. “Brothers of the Men’s Health Project, don your masks!”

The room filled with the rustling of changing clothes. Every single one of the boys seemed to be on board with this. I’d hoped for at least one ally…

“What’s wrong, Noir? Go ahead and get changed.”

“I—”

This was getting dangerous. I glanced at the door, then sprinted for it as fast as I could.

“I can’t betray Emma’s trust!”

“He’s a traitor!” someone shouted. “Catch him!”

They all flew at me at once. Before they could catch me, I ducked and let my momentum carry me into a slide. Dozens of hands reached out to grab me. It was terrifying. Worse than any monster.

“You guys have lost your minds!”

“Of course we have!” one of them shouted. “The girls’ most closely guarded secrets are nearly within our grasp, and you dare to interfere?!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to.”

I kicked the boy away and slipped out of the room. I sprinted down the hall, but glancing back, I saw that no one was giving chase. I guess they didn’t want to draw any unwelcome attention.

“Well,” I said to myself. “That didn’t exactly go well.”

Desire had driven them all mad. Still…although they were perverts, they were nevertheless members of S-Class. Perhaps I could take one or two of them, but all ten was impossible. I had to find some other way to protect Emma’s dignity.

The hot springs were actually quite a ways away. I walked out the back of the inn and carried on three or four hundred yards up the hill. There was a path here, cut into the side of the mountain. That made the going easier, but there were plenty of places to hide between the trees and boulders, and the path itself was wide enough for all ten of those hormonal hooligans.

“I don’t stand a chance,” I muttered. “Do I?”

Still, I trudged along until I found a woman standing in the middle of the path, wearing a stern expression.

“I never expected you to be the first to try, Noir.”

“Ms. Elena?” I said. “I thought you went to the springs?”

“I’m standing guard. I thought something like this might happen. You keep away from those girls!”

She stared at me with bloodthirsty eyes. I straightened up.

“N-no! You’ve got it all wrong! I’m on your side! I escaped to keep the girls safe!”

“You escaped?”

“I guess you could call me a traitor,” I admitted. “I got out before the other guys could catch me.”

“So that’s what’s going on,” she said. “You don’t want them to see Emma naked.”

“Of course I don’t! But I don’t stand a chance on my own.”

I looked at Ms. Elena pleadingly. After all, we shared a bond of trust, didn’t we? I gave her shoulder rubs, and she repaid me by sitting on me.

“How many are we up against?” she asked.

“All of them.”

“All of them?! Am I teaching a gang of unscrupulous pervs? It’s time they learned their lesson.”

“Ms. Elena, can I assist? If we join forces, maybe we can do it.”

“I was just about to ask the same thing,” she said. “Let’s crush those creeping bugs.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

With Ms. Elena on my side, I had the strength to defeat a hundred drooling boys. And I would do everything in my power to defeat their perverted ambitions.