Party Building

“Alright, I think we should take stock of what we have to work with here,” Safrim opens and takes out a small notebook. It looks used and is overflowing with notes sticking out on all ends. “I can start. As you know, I’m a captain in the city guard. During training, we all had to assess our aptitude and my alignment is wind and water. While I tend to fight with my sword and shield, I can also cast minor water and wind magic, mainly to aid my own moves. There are a few bigger spells I can do if pressed, but they exhaust me quickly and I try not to use them. Now, I’d like you to share your skills and fighting expertise so I can make a plan of how to structure our group in the field.”

This is shaping up to be a tactical strategy game. I was always good at those, but then again I never had to stand on the battleground myself.

“I can continue,” Poru says and stands up. “My main alignment is light, which is why I am not welcome among my dark elven peers. I can cast rather powerful light spells, but not many. Since… since my dark elf body is aligned with darkness, the spells actually harm me a little when I cast them.”

He looks to the floor as he talks, seemingly embarrassed. So that explains his low health points and the sickly constitution.

“Why volunteer when fighting will harm yourself?” Safrim asks.

“Because… because I am tired of living like an outcast in a foreign land! Have you seen other dark elves around here? Everyone looks at me like I’m an oddity of nature! If I can help the hero, maybe they will change their mind.”

“I appreciate your honesty, but I can’t have you kill yourself over this,” Safrim says.

“But Lady Erya gave her blessing! She must have given it for a reason! I’m meant to do this!”

She really didn’t. I did. This is…

“I’m not saying you can’t come with us. You just need to be honest about your health,” Safrim continues.

Poru nods readily.

“What kind of light magic can you cast?”

“A distracting sparkle, which can also set things on fire. A strong light that blinds… and a rainshower that reflects a light and disperses it. I… I can also cast a stronger spell, which cancels out all darkness magic around me.”

“Poru-in… you don’t mean the Light’s Champion spell?” Shilvy asks.

He nods.

Shilvy falls to her knees and brings her hands together.

“Holy Lady Erya, thank you for blessing this child.”

“What’s happening?” I ask Safrim.

“That spell is special. There is only ever one chosen alive, who can cast the strongest magic of a goddess—her champion. The Light’s Champion can cancel darkness magic and turn undead monsters.”

“That’s—wait. Undead?? There are undead here???”

“Of course there are. The darkness mages all lean towards necromancy. Sometimes, if there’s enough magic around a place with dead bodies, they spontaneously revive too,” Karina explains.

“Great. Coming back to the other thing: If you already have a champion, why do you also need a hero?”

Shilvy is still kneeling when she speaks. “The champions have always been with us, as long as recorded history. They kept the balance between good and evil, light and dark. Only when the Demon King emerged, they weren’t enough anymore.”

Poru walks over to Shilvy and helps her up. She regards him with such wonder, even more than me. So Erya chose a champion who gets hurt when using his powers? I’d change my gods if they made such stupid decisions.

“So let’s get this over with. It’ll be quick. My name is Karina, and I have no skills I know of. I only know that if I want something, I always get it.”

“No alignment?” Safrim asks.

“I have been tested and it’s apparently fire, but my skills are limited to simple fireballs.”

“Huh. So, can you fight?”

“I’ve been training with sword and bow together with my father’s guardsmen.”

“I’m starting to think your father is right and you should stay home.”

“Hey!”

“She has to come,” I cut in.

“Why?” Safrim asks.

“Just believe me.”

He makes a sour face and looks at Karina again.

“So it’s true. You do get what you want.”

She grins smugly.

“Anyway, getting on. Yuki, do you have any weapon skills I should know of?” Safrim asks.

“I’m afraid not. In my old world, I was more of an… administrative worker. A manager so to say.”

Safrim frowns. “So you worked for the city?”

“Not as such. I worked for a company, helping them hire people for their teams, assess talents.”

“Ah, so like someone putting together adventuring parties?”

“I suppose you could say it like that.”

“So, what kind of hero are you?” Karina asks.

That really is the question of the century. What kind of hero am I? It’s not one I ever thought I’d answer, if I thought about it at all. Though, I admit, as an avid reader and gamer, you do ask yourself the question from time to time. What would I have done in that particular situation? Who would I have saved? Would I have the courage to stand against the boss monster? Maybe with the powers the main characters always seem to have, it’s easy to have courage.

I am the main character now and I have no powers to fight with. So what kind of hero am I?

“I don’t know. The kind of hero, who you probably need, exists only in stories in my world. I know I’m not a fighter, but I am a strategist. I can read people and situations well. I just don’t know if this is what you need.”

“If the other heroes were here and you could team up—as many have in the past—these skills of yours would be very valuable,” Shilvy explains. “Since the cities have been cut off from each other, every hero has to fend for themselves. One of our heroes has been a healer before, and he helped many people in Atol, yet perished when attempting to reach Char—the closest city to ours and home of the Fire Goddess Lady Jinli.”

“So I’m pretty much useless on my own?”

“Except you’re not alone,” Safrim immediately chimes in, every bit of his Positive Thinking skill at work, dripping from his words. “You have us and we can make a change together.”

“We have to,” Karina adds.

Poru just nods. He has been really quiet this morning, compared to how readily he explained everything yesterday.

“Are you alright, Poru-in?” I ask

He seems startled to be asked, the tea mug in his hand jumping slightly before he places it down on the table

“I am… just nervous.”

“Nervous?”

“I told you that my race singled me out for having a connection to the light. I have come to Atol in hopes that Lady Erya would one day reveal to me why I received a blessing that would separate me from my family. Now I know why.”

“Poru-in, you are the light’s champion. It is destiny that brought you here,” Shilvy says.

Poru looks like he’d rather not have destiny, but he smiles and nods nonetheless. I completely understand where he’s coming from. Of all the people in the room, only Karina actually wants to be here, and after the fight with her father, I’m not even sure of that. What a group we make. But then again, who actually wants to go to war.

“And your familiar? What about him?” Safrim asks and points at Gale, who lounges on a cushion in an armchair.

“Familiar? He’s just a curious cat,” Karina says.

“Would a normal cat follow you like this?”

“He likes me. He goes everywhere with me. It’s always been like this since we found him in the forest. He was hurt and I treated his broken leg. I think he started to like me back then.”

Everyone in the room stares at Gale, who resolutely ignores them in a very catlike fashion. He can certainly behave like a proper cat in these moments.

“I swear I saw him intently listening in on our conversations…” Safrim continues.

“Don’t be paranoid about a cat.”

No, you’re absolutely right, I think. Be paranoid. That thing there is something like a cat god. Luckily for us, he seems loyal to Karina, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be loyal to us too.

“No help from the cat then. Noted. Just make sure he doesn’t trip us up.”

“Mrow,” says Gale.

“I think he’s offended,” Poru says.

Safrim throws his hands.

“That aside, I wanted to ask something… I’ve heard so much about the Demon King, but what are these demons exactly?” I ask. “The ones I saw yesterday looked like regular humans on the outside.”

“We call everyone associated with darkness demons, but in their case and more often than not, they are returned undead, camouflaged to strike within our territory. The perimeter holds for now, so they can only smuggle them in like that.”

“So these two were undead with demonic energy?”

“Precisely. They can infiltrate our bases, but not the city itself. Proper demons mostly stay behind the frontlines, managing troops.”

“So why don’t you take them out? There would likely be chaos if the leaders go missing.”

“Most of our army has already fallen. What’s left of our forces is defending the few outlying villages and farms, and the brave people who stay out there to supply food for the city dwellers. We are surrounded on all sides and cannot risk sending anyone into an offense from which they might not return,” Safrim explains.

The map tells a gruesome story. I can see many areas scratched out in various colours, some older and almost faded, growing newer the closer they get to Atol. The unoccupied lands are incredibly small.

“That’s why everyone was so eager to lay eyes on the hero, who would fight back instead of just defending,” Shilvy adds.

I can’t look anyone in the eye. They needed an actual hero and they got me. An HR employee. I am the death sentence for Atol. It’s a wonder no one has publically shamed me for it yet, but I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time.

“So what can we do? We’re only four people,” Karina asks.

I examine the map again. There are small figures set up where there have been recent skirmishes. And…

“Here,” I say and point at a settlement. “We could attack here.”

“That’s quite some way into demon territory. And not where their attacks have happened at all,” Poru says.

“Precisely.”