Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: And So the Story Begins. (6) / Their Circumstances: The Hero's Situation (Who Barely Appears Until He's Called a Hero (Background Air))
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# 23
3. And So the Story Begins. (6)
#6 Their Circumstances: The situation of the hero (who has almost no appearances planned until he hears the word "hero") (background air).
“Kraaaah!”
“N-No, I don’t wanna…”
“Eek!”
Desperate screams burst from their mouths. Even No. 1000 was staggering back in terror.
No. 17, screaming at the slightest raise of his hand, awakened her purely evasion-focused Blink spell and used me as her shield.
“Damn it!”
Ahh, Instructor! Instructor!
I was a fool. You’re not a demon—you’re an angel! When are you coming back?!
“Heh heh, if you keep playing so defensively, you’re in trouble. And like I keep saying, even if you count this as Guard succeeding, the moment you meet a bat, Guard becomes completely impossible, got it?”
We had no chance to escape the demon approaching with a grin.
Even he said that defending against that bat was tough. The moment it clashes, the sword energy shatters, and an irresistible pain surges through your body along the blade.
If what that demon said was true, and a superior weapon to that bat existed, how could anyone possibly block it?!
“Urgh, everyone dodge!”
“Damn it, Surtr! Block it!”
The moment the summon cooldown ended, Surtr appeared once more—once a great demon, now reduced to nothing but a meat shield for us.
“O-Oh, stay back! Stay back, spawn of the Evil God!”
Surtr, with his massive crimson-black body, trembled in fear. Even his face was turning pale.
To make even a great demon from hell cower in terror! This weapon had already surpassed a demon’s arsenal.
“Heh heh, Great Demon, sir. What’s with that attitude? You’re losing face.”
-Kraaaaaah!
Ahh… Surtr wailed in agony and was forcibly unsummoned.
No matter how much we treated him like a punching bag, he was still one of hell’s undisputed great demons.
To reverse-summon such a being with a single strike!
“What a weak meat shield. Back in our day, we’d hurl nearby allies. Thanks to that, weaklings like me took a lot of hits.”
“Eek!”
“Wh-What?!”
The demon spun the bat lightly and smiled. By the way, No. 1000. Why are you staring at us like that? You’re not suddenly gonna grab us from behind and throw us, right?
Gulp.
We swallowed dryly, trembling in fear. Yeah, there’s no path where all three of us survive anyway.
One of us has to take the hit for the other two to make it.
And the most important part… is that it just shouldn’t be me…
“Coordinate transfer?”
Huh?
“You’re the sacrifice?”
“No. 17-oooooh!”
“I haven’t forgotten that old grudge! So pay for it with your body!”
Damn it, what the hell did I do? Is it that? Way back at the very beginning, when I handcuffed you because I wanted food? You still remember that?
“Selfish Mori style.”
“Eeeek!”
I grip my sword watching his hand rise. But even if I block, the impact transfers through, and the moment my legs give out from the shock, it’s game over.
A desperate crisis.
Just as I braced for another round of agony, a streak of light shot up.
-Pssshhhh. Bang!
“Hm? Red flare means Level 1 emergency alert.”
The demon’s face hardened as he watched the red flash streak into the sky.
Then he lowered his raised hand and said this.
“Training over. Everyone, run to the instructor’s office.”
Run? Wait, before that…
“The instructor’s office is the escape spot?”
Normally, you’d flee to an evacuation route or secret hideout, right? Escaping to the instructor’s office?
“I guarantee it. The instructor’s office is the safest place.”
In response to my question, the demon added, “It’s a demonic zone not even Sia could properly infiltrate.”
The other two didn’t know who Sia was at first and didn’t get it, but they nodded once they heard it was the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau.
Ah, right. Didn’t the instructor’s room get infiltrated once before?
“Are there similar mechanisms installed as in the instructor’s room?”
“Oh, you’ve been in the instructor’s room? Then it’s easy to explain. He spends more time in the office than his room, so the office mechanisms are even stronger.”
Wow, the room was already that intense, and the office is worse? What the hell did the instructor do to his office?
Carrying that curiosity, we entered the office, and the demon started fiddling with things here and there.
With a few familiar gestures from the demon, iron bars appeared on the office windows, followed soon by a loud rumble and clanking sounds.
“There, now this place is probably safer than the boss’s hidden room.”
“The mechanisms activated?”
“Yeah, and they’re packed with dwarf-made special traps. Now our job is to find the escape route the instructor supposedly made.”
“Dwarf-made?! The kind used only in the imperial palace?!”
“Oh, that’s no surprise. The instructor’s treated like an honorary dwarf elder.”
“That’s the most surprising part?!”
No. 17 blurted out in shock, and I was equally stunned.
What kind of race are dwarves!
They say the emperor’s throne is dwarf-made. They say the Sword Saint’s blade is dwarf-made. They say some noble gifted a dwarf-made weapon for the grand duke’s birthday and is set for promotion! All sorts of rumors starring dwarves!
But most of those rumors are fake!
Dwarves are a race that’s hard to even meet, let alone get their crafts from!
And the instructor is an honorary dwarf elder, no less.
What’s a dwarf elder? Even their king is chosen by these elders. There are only 36 across all 12 clans combined—the pinnacle of dwarf society.
And historically, no non-dwarf has ever been honored as such, but a human is?!
And that kind of talent is hiding in this evil organization!
What the hell was the instructor before?!
But our shock seemed trivial to the demon and No. 1000.
They brushed off our words lightly while the demon pulled out books from shelves, pressed buttons under the desk, and occasionally jumped to stomp the floor.
Snapping out of our shock, No. 17 spoke to him.
“D-Demon… I mean, acting instructor. What’s going on?”
“Gah?!”
“Uh, sorry. By the way, traps might trigger, so dodge on your own.”
No. 17 yelped and bent backward to dodge a flying arrow, and at the same moment, the floor vanished beneath my feet.
“Wait, isn’t this dangerous?”
“You asked what happened earlier? That signal flare we saw was a red alert, which means the Imperial Army is storming in. If we don’t escape fast, we’re dead.”
I wanted to say it wasn’t that dangerous so let’s stop, but if I did, that bat would kill me first. Or make me wish for death.
“Don’t we have to fight the Imperial Army if they come?”
“Are you insane? Even if we’re the empire’s strongest organization, clashing head-on with the Imperial Army would smash us. Especially a surprise attack like this—we stand no chance.”
“Why?”
“You think they’d send useful kids on missions to make money, or have them guard the base? No coward hiding their ultimate weapons at HQ could be the empire’s strongest. To run an org, you gotta work those ultimate weapons hard and squeeze out the cash.”
The demon clicked his tongue softly, realizing the pit of spears below my former spot was a trap.
“Well, a truly fanatical org might charge out and fight the Imperial Army without a care, but I was just sold into slavery here. Good pay, that’s all. Honestly, I’ve thought about running away since it pricks my conscience, but if the org chases me—especially if the instructor comes with that thing—I wouldn’t stand a chance, so I just stay. If the org crumbles, great for me. By now, my colleagues are probably busy setting fires and burning it down.”
Imagining the instructor chasing with his bat raised, I suddenly understood his feelings.
“Demons have consciences too?”
I nodded in agreement at No. 17’s tiny mutter, barely audible even to me right beside her, then pressed on.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to just run now? Wasting time here and failing to find the escape route means we’re done, right?”
“No, finding the escape route is safer.”
Whatever, honestly, I don’t care since it won’t be the end for me.
No, hurray if the Imperial Army storms in!
I’m thrilled this hellish life is finally over!
‘Wait, but wasn’t this a secret mission?’
But that sudden thought made me anxious again.
What if my damn brothers secretly sent a spy to stab me while yelling “evil villain!”?
Once that thought hit, bad ideas started piling up one by one.
And I always get the bad ones over the good?
“No. 17, No. 1000, hurry and search!”
“Uh, o-okay?”
“Yeah.”
I started fiddling around following the demon.
Don’t mind how daggers fly from the ceiling when I open a drawer, or magic shoots from a book when I open it.
The instructor made it, so stuff like this is par for the course.
The moment I thought that, a massive rumble and ominous noise erupted from below.
Ruuuuumble!
“What’s that sound?”
“No way, the Imperial Army already?”
“No, even the Imperial Army can’t break through dwarf-made great magic-coated iron bars that fast.”
But contrary to the demon’s words, the thudding grew closer and closer.
In the end, with the noise approaching by the second, we had no choice but to draw our weapons.
Bang!
“Argh, why is this the hidden boss’s evacuation spot? Why’s it gotta be this hard?”
We all stared tensely at the newcomer to our room.
The irritated entrant was a slightly older beauty.
But I knew this slender-faced, green-haired stunner in her early-to-mid twenties better than anyone.
Especially that personality and age that didn’t match her delicate face!
“Sword Saint?!”
“Host Stonehead?!”
The moment I shouted the name I knew, the demon beside me also yelped in surprise, calling me by a different name.
“What?”
“Stonehead?”
Our eyes met instantly. Host Stonehead? Sword Saint?
And right then.
“Hm? That’s supposed to be a secret.”
Chills.
A killing intent squeezed the air. At its center was the Sword Saint.
“Should.I.Kill.You?”
What the hell for?! Because of “Sword Saint”? Or “Host Stonehead”?! Or both?!
Shock hit as I frantically calculated odds in my head.
Zero.
No way to beat that monster with a beauty’s face and a foul temper. Damn it! Am I dying here?!
“W-Wait!”
How have I survived this far?! Endured all sorts of magic bombardments, barely clung to life in mountains, seas, deserts!
Sacrificed my pride as a grand ducal scion just to eat, barely held onto human dignity! Endured that bat’s pain too!
And now, to die silenced by the Sword Saint over being a host stonehead?! Is there a more unjust death?! I’d rather reveal my identity and live!
“I’m, Laina…”
Rattle.
The moment I started begging for my life with my family name, a strange noise came from the bookshelf beside us.
What?
“Still some left, huh?”
With those words, the Sword Saint raised her sword, and sword aura naturally formed on the blade.
‘Sh-She really is the Sword Saint?’
One of the era’s top swordsmen.
Bearer of the title Sword Star.
No instructor could beat a Sword Saint.
That’s what I naturally thought…
But as the rattle grew and the bookshelf opened, revealing the instructor…
“Huh?”
He was just beating up the Sword Saint?