If You're a Leader, Prove It
Right after we finished breakfast, Gerard rose heavily from his chair.
His face was as stern as ever, but deep in his eyes was the unmistakable look of a man who had reached a grave decision.
"Zick."
Gerard called my name in a low, heavy voice.
"We need to talk. Training ends today."
In an instant the wide dining hall fell as silent as if someone had dumped cold water over it. I stopped the food halfway to my mouth and slowly set down my chopsticks.
"What?"
Noah's hand, in the middle of pouring tea, froze mid-air. Reno, who had been organizing the ledgers, turned his gaze toward me as well. Drake merely quirked the corner of his mouth like he was enjoying the show. Ainz simply stroked his beard in silence, as if he had already known.
I stared blankly at Gerard and carefully asked again.
"Ends? Don't tell me I'm finally graduating?"
"Not yet."
"Figures."
There was no way that hellish routine would end so easily. A chill just ran down my spine.
Gerard drew a leather-bound document envelope from his coat. Stamped clearly in the center was the red crest of the Hero, the official mission request form issued by the Hero Management Bureau.
"This is your final exam. A mission I brought back from the Hero Management Bureau. Complete it."
Overwhelmed by the solemn atmosphere, I swallowed hard without meaning to.
"So... I'm finally heading out on a real mission?"
"No."
Gerard cut my expectations dead with a single cold word.
"You're going on this one alone."
"What?"
For a second I doubted my own ears and stared holes through the papers. Completely unable to process it, I shot my hand up and protested.
"Hold on. Alone? We're a party, right? Why the hell would you send me off by myself into something that dangerous?"
Ainz, seated in the corner, lightly tapped the floor with his staff and spoke.
"A fair question. But this time, young Gerard is right."
"Even you, Master Ainz?"
When the eldest member of the party sided with him, I lost any further argument and could only look at Gerard. He folded his arms and continued in a flat tone.
"As you said, even veteran heroes do not take solo missions. The risk of death is simply too high."
Noah offered a gentle smile beside him and picked up the thread smoothly.
"No matter how skilled a hero may be, responding flexibly to every unforeseen situation alone is, realistically, impossible."
Reno pushed up the frame of his glasses and delivered the cold facts.
"That's why most heroes form parties to raise their survival rate. Across the entire continent, heroes who operate alone are virtually nonexistent."
Once I heard their explanations, I finally nodded. It was true—every other hero I had met traveled with a whole retinue of party members. I had never seen one wandering around by himself.
"Then if you know that, why are you trying to send me alone?"
Gerard did not hesitate. He met my eyes squarely and answered my doubt head-on.
"Because of us. We can drop out of a mission at any time—vacation, injury, personal matters, unexpected variables."
His words stabbed deep into my chest. The events of the past three months—when I had been forced to cover for every absent party member—flashed through my mind.
"Your plan is that even if we are gone, you fill the empty seats. The fastest way to confirm that is a solo mission. You will have to pour every single thing you have learned into it all at once."
My mouth locked shut. I could not muster a single rebuttal. Coldly examined, not one part of Gerard's reasoning was wrong. If the knight was gone I took the vanguard; if the thief was gone I handled scouting; if the priest was gone I performed first aid; if the mage was gone I covered long-range; if the porter was gone I managed supply. I finally realized that the plan I had put forward meant I would perfectly substitute for every single role by myself.
And there was no harsher or more certain test of that claim than carrying out a mission alone.
I eyed the request form still in Gerard's hand and scratched my chin.
"Still... it's a little scary."
Hearing my honest confession, Drake shook his shoulders and snorted a laugh.
"Being scared is normal, hero-boy. If you weren't scared in a situation like this, you'd be the real crazy one—and way more dangerous."
Noah gave me a warm smile so I would not tense up too much.
"We are not about to throw our hero into a death trap with an unreasonable test, either."
Reno closed the ledger and continued in a quiet, calm voice.
"By our objective judgment, the risk level and difficulty of this mission fall well within the range Zick can handle. There is one precondition, of course."
"Precondition?"
When I asked back, Gerard delivered a short, weighty answer.
"You properly use everything you have learned. That is all. Do not fight recklessly. Move exactly as you were taught. Then it is not an impossible mission."
At that moment Ainz gave a hearty chuckle and took a palm-sized blue crystal orb from his robes, setting it in front of me. Inside the transparent crystal, a faint, gentle mana pulsed as though it were quietly alive.
In the past I would have dismissed it as nothing more than a pretty, curious jewel. But the results of being put through the wringer under Ainz until tears came out—of having the flow of mana forcibly drilled into me—shone here. My eyes could now read in real time the complex multi-layered magic circles finely engraved on the surface and the high-density mana condensing into the core.
"This is an emergency magic tool I crafted specially for this exam. If a truly critical situation arises, do not hesitate—use it. I have arranged for you to be forcibly teleported to a safe stronghold at once."
I carefully accepted the crystal orb from the table. The solid weight in my fingertips told me just how much mana and care Ainz had poured into this single small sphere. How deeply he worried for my safety came through the intricate formula itself, and something in my chest tightened.
"Alright. If you're going that far, I don't have any reason left to refuse."
Once I agreed, Gerard wordlessly pushed the request form a little closer toward me.
As I stared at it, a sudden curiosity made me sweep a suspicious look over the party members.
"So what happens if I fail? You said it's the final exam. What if I don't pass? Don't tell me I have to relearn that whole hellish training from the beginning?"
Just imagining physical conditioning, memorizing magic formulas, stealth and trap disarmament, first aid, and even the party's financial management all crashing down on me at once made my spine crawl. But Gerard calmly shook his head, contrary to my fears.
"No. We will not make you redo the training from the start, nor will we raise the intensity."
"Haa, thank god."
I was about to heave a sigh of relief as if I had just aged ten years, when an unimaginably ruthless declaration left Gerard's mouth.
"Rather... all training directed at you might simply disappear."
"What? Training disappears? Wait—I fail the exam and instead of punishment I get a reward? That's way too generous for you guys, isn't it?"
I blinked in confusion. Gerard clicked his tongue as if I were an idiot and cooled his voice further.
"Don't be stupid. This is not a reward for your convenience."
"Then what?"
"It means we scrap the plan entirely."
"The plan?"
"Your plan."
Gerard pointed a thick finger straight at my chest.
"That reckless plan of yours where you fill every empty seat whenever we step out. Failing this exam is proof that your ability is still insufficient, so we will return to the original party method."
The moment I heard that firm declaration, my expression hardened as if I had been struck over the head.
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do whenever each of you has personal reasons and has to leave your post? Just leave it to luck like before, or throw ourselves into missions with zero contingency plan and maximum risk?"
As I poured out my frustration, Reno calmly adjusted his glasses and cut in with a cool voice.
"No. If Zick fails the exam, we intend to immediately overhaul the party's vacation system."
"The vacation system?"
"Yes. Instead of using it freely as we do now, we plan to restrict leave to specific days only—so that every party member rests at the same time as much as possible, minimizing any gaps."
"No! I already said that's absolutely not happening! Each of you has different circumstances and secrets or goals you have to protect—yet you'd chain yourselves down just because my skill is lacking? Then it's not a vacation at all. It's a prison!"
I jumped up in fierce opposition. Drake, who had been toying with a dagger in the shade under the eaves, gave a sly smile, but the playfulness was gone from his eyes.
"Then just pass the exam with flying colors, hero-boy. Forcing your will on others and making them accept it is a right reserved only for the strong—and for a leader. If you cannot prove you have that much ability, we have no reason to quietly follow your wishes either. If you don't like it, convince us with real skill."
A heavy silence settled over the dining hall; not another sound could be heard. Then Noah, normally the very symbol of gentleness, quietly folded his hands and walked slowly toward me with eyes more solemn and resolute than I had ever seen.
"Drake put it a bit roughly, but this is a matter that every member of the party discussed at length and agreed upon unanimously. We are truly grateful that you have thought of us so deeply and shown us such consideration. But even so, please do not try to shoulder every burden the party carries by yourself. That is..."
Noah paused briefly, carefully choosing his words as if sorting his own heart.
"That is not consideration that truly thinks of the party. It is arrogant dictatorship that refuses to trust your companions' abilities and tries to control every situation alone."
My heart plummeted. The heavy word "dictatorship" from Noah's mouth churned through my head without mercy, looping again and again. Had I really been harboring arrogant thoughts under the excuse of caring for them? All I had wanted was to make everyone even a little more comfortable. I had believed that if I suffered and worked a bit harder than the rest, they would be able to rest easy. But the very people who were supposed to receive that consideration never wanted such one-sided sacrifice and control.
Shame and self-reproach flooded in; I could not manage a single rebuttal and quietly lowered my head. In the silence-filled dining hall the party members did not press me. They simply waited in quiet patience.
After watching me lost in thought for a long while, Ainz finally added one last remark in a voice that was both kindly and firm.
"Zick, if you truly care for this party, then simply pass this exam with your head held high. If you prove with skill that you can fill our empty places, we will follow your plan without a second word."
When I raised my head, the eyes of my party members held no resentment or distrust—only deep trust, the wish that I would stand tall as a complete leader. I let out a long, heavy sigh, shook off the hesitation in my heart, and finally lifted my chin with a solemn, solid expression.
"Alright. If that's really how you all feel, I can't keep forcing my stubbornness forever. Fine. If I fail this exam, I'll scrap my entire plan cleanly."
I paused for a moment to gauge their reactions, then mischievously curled the corner of my mouth and pointed at them with my index finger.
"But! If I pass with flying colors, then from now on, no talking back no matter what I say. All of you are going to follow my plan without a single complaint!"
At the lively declaration, Drake was the first to burst into cheerful laughter he could no longer hold back.
"Keuk, hero-boy. You haven't even left yet and already look like you passed."
"Obviously. I've got a leader's face to save—I can't show you a scared look here."
When I shrugged with full confidence, Gerard lightly thumped my chest with his fist.
"Fine. Don't come crying later with excuses."
"You'll be the ones regretting it."
With a bold expression I began reading the mission request. Inside were the detailed information on the target that needed to be subjugated, along with a surrounding terrain map whose infiltration routes were marked in complex red lines.
I started reading the first lines of the request with a light heart, but the more I confirmed the contents, the whiter my face turned in real time.
"What's wrong. Why so quiet."
Gerard asked expressionlessly, arms folded across his chest. Wondering if I had suddenly developed old-man eyesight like Master Ainz and misread the letters, I rubbed my eyes and reread it several times—but the words on the paper did not change in the slightest. When I slowly raised my head, my voice was already trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"No way. This? You're sending just me alone for this? Hey, be honest. You all conspired to legally dump me somewhere dangerous and replace the party leader this time, didn't you?!"
I turned pale and shook the request form wildly in the air. Drake found the sight so hilarious that he pounded the table, cackling loud enough to shake the dining hall. Reno, Noah, and Ainz all wore gentle smiles and answered in one voice.
"Keuk, with our hero-boy's skill, the difficulty is perfectly doable."
"Yes, if it is you, Hero, you will complete it without any problem."
"If it's Zick, you can certainly manage it without a single wound."
"We all believe in you. You have already grown that strong, after all."
While the party's encouragement continued, Gerard put a period on the conversation in his blunt voice.
"No time. Prepare to depart."
Deep in an unknown forest on the outskirts of the Empire, where a gloomy, sinister aura hung thick.
A man was sprinting madly through the darkness where trees so massive they blotted out the sky stood packed together.
"Hah! Hah! Hah! Are you kidding me—this can't be real!"
Behind him, massive tremors that shook the entire forest were pounding the dirt floor and closing in fast. Amid the unbelievable noise I glanced back while running, and every hair on my body stood on end from the extreme chill that seized me.
"Kieeeeeek!!"
"Grrrrrr!!"
There was not just one or two pursuers. Terrain blocked my view so I could not even grasp the exact number, but at least several dozen savage beasts with blazing red eyes and drooling maws were charging at me with terrifying force.
Even with sweat and tears blurring my vision, I stamped the ground harder and forced more speed. I barely cleared protruding tree roots, crashed bodily through sharp thorn bushes, and half-slid, half-tumbled down the slope.
This was not the level of mission Gerard had described. Compared to the worst situations I had faced in training, the number of beasts was easily three times greater—pure hell itself. My lungs felt ready to burst from the breath stuck in my throat; the sensation in my legs had long since vanished. Yet the murderous roars at my back were growing ever so slightly closer.
I screamed toward the sky beyond the forest until my throat tore.
"This is supposed to be the final exam?!"
Kuuoooooh—!
As if on the most perfect cue, the beasts' roars exploded behind me.
"This is a final execution!!"
The howls drawing nearer. Footsteps growing heavier. And the blue crystal orb clenched tight in my hand. No matter how much I sensed the mana and glared at the damn thing, the wretched rock gave no response at all.
Nearly sobbing, I shouted at the empty air.
"Master Ainz! You were supposed to teach me how to use this before you sent meeeee!!"
Zick screamed in utter desperation, kicking up dirt in a pitiful spectacle. Behind him the frenzied roars of the beasts shook the dense forest. It was pure chaos of the worst kind.
With that wretched scene, the curtain finally rose on Zick's first true solo examination.