Inheritors III / Their Fight, Our Fight

Akio took a deep breath. “… Alright. I’ll keep hearing you out,” he said.

From my perspective, he had every right to be angry, but he chose to be amicable anyway. I felt a surge of guilt flush through my body, numbing it. I shouldn’t have said anything. If I just stayed silent, he wouldn’t have felt pressured into agreeing too.

The headmaster lifted his head and thanked us. Professor Seris, with the slightest smile on his face, did so as well.

“To address something you said, Everett,” Professor Seris began after a few seconds, “you are not as unprepared as you think. While your personality, memories, and knowledge may have traveled with your soul, your physical body did not. I cannot attest to the combat experience you may or may not have from your world, but the body you have inherited retains the same physical instincts and power cultivated by its previous inhabitant.”

I recalled the reflection I saw in the window. This certainly looked like it could be the body of a warrior, though I still had a hard time believing I’d be able to replicate its past feats. Hesitating for a moment, I finally asked, “I might be more athletic, but I’ve never fought before. Will I really be able to accomplish anything?”

Professor Seris nodded. “You will. You may not begin on the same level as your predecessor, but with a few months of practice, you should manage to catch up. And in your case, Leon was quite the spectacular swordsman. If I handed you his blade right now and challenged you to a duel, you would have a chance at victory by relying on nothing but his body’s instincts.”

Leon. That must have been the name of the original me in this world. I felt like I’d heard someone say that name already, but so much had happened since I awoke, I couldn’t recall.

“I get the big picture, but I still don’t understand how we’ll be getting there,” Akio interjected. “Are you going to be training us, then? To fight the… Anomaly Beasts?”

“We will, but that is not our only duty,” Professor Seris replied. “Headmaster Amund and I work at Fordin Academy, the most prestigious educational institution in the northern half of Aeresi. Until the next appearance of an Anomaly Beast, you two will be joining the other Inheritors as students of the academy. There, you will not only learn to fight, but you will also receive a world-class education in a variety of other subjects.”

“Didn’t you say the world was ending?” Akio asked, confused. “What’s the point of wasting time by going to school of all places?”

Amund was the one to reply this time. “You may be our saviors, but you are also young, all of you. We are already forcing a grave duty upon you in the present; we would be damned to rob you of your futures as well. It may be meager, but a proper education, protection, and a slice of normalcy is all we can offer you in return for your heroism.”

“But do we really have time for that? Shouldn’t we be putting every second into training to fight the Anomaly Beasts?” Akio still seemed unconvinced.

“Ultimately, while you command incredible power, you have a mortal body with mortal limitations. Proper training requires time, moderation, and rest. I have worked as an educator for nearly two decades now; I know children cannot succeed under constant pressure and without some degree of freedom. This academy has served as the home base for Inheritors for over three cycles now, so please trust in our methods.”

Akio groaned. Then, he leaned in toward me and whispered, “Damn. I was hoping they’d fold. I can’t believe we got isekai’d and still have to go to high school. What a scam!”

Eh? Did he just make a joke? Given his emotional state minutes ago, it felt completely out of place. But then again, maybe that’s how he comes to terms with things.

I belatedly realized that my lack of an outward reaction made it appear like I was ignoring him, but by the time that struck me, he had already slid away and was asking the pair more questions.

“Didn’t you say there were supposed to be eight of us? Where are the other three?”

“Vandan and Fleur returned to the academy ahead of you,” Professor Seris said. “As for the eighth, she is likely… gone. We have attempted the ritual on her body several times to no avail. More than likely, there are no living versions of her in other worlds for us to reach.”

So in the worst case, we can still die permanently. Shaking away the ominous thought, I voiced a different question I had been wondering about for a while. “Between us and her, three Inheritors must’ve died then. What happened?”

“Professor, Headmaster, may I?” a male voice asked from behind us.

Professor Seris nodded, and Akio and I turned around. In response, the boy named Kerne promptly began an explanation. “Our group of eight faced off against the first Anomaly Beast of this cycle, a creature we have named ‘Ames Nori’, one week ago, approximately two days after it appeared. Despite our best attempt, we were narrowly defea—”

“Bullshit.” All eyes flew to the window, where the girl who had been distant this entire conversation finally broke her silence. “We all knew from the start of that fight we had no chance. At least tell them the truth.” Her gaze remained fixed on something, or perhaps nothing, outside the window.

Kerne cleared his throat. “It was not my intention to deceive, but… I suppose Mara is correct. We were frankly undercoordinated and outclassed. That is the unfortunate state you two join us in: a group of Inheritors suffering three casualties without felling a single Anomaly Beast.”

The mood wasn’t exactly positive before, but after Kerne admitted plainly to their failure, all three seasoned Inheritors before us started sulking to some degree. That sight didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me, though I couldn’t blame them. It had only been a week since the battle; they hadn’t even finished mourning their fallen comrades yet, and we were already asking them to talk about it. Once again, it was my fault.

Akio, however, was unperturbed. “So… how long before we have to fight that thing again? If they battled it once and lost, isn’t it just wandering around out there unhindered? If they’re as dangerous as you made it seem, isn’t that bad?”

“You do not need to worry about that,” Professor Seris explained. “The behavior of Anomaly Beasts is frankly… beyond us, but certain patterns have held true across many generations. Typically, an Anomaly Beast only manifests physically once every few months. It will go on a rampage when it does, but if forced to retreat, it will take a comparable amount of time to reappear. We believe it enters some form of ethereal stasis to gather power and heal during these periods, but we cannot know for sure. While the Inheritors may not have killed the Beast in that last fight, they at least drove it into hiding. That should give you two ample time to prepare for your first battle, and the others time to prepare for their rematch.”

“Hmmm… do we actually need to kill them, then? It sounds like we can just stall forever until we get strong enough to win, no? It’s always safer to grind XP and sweep the boss than go at it underleveled.”

You’ve been in this world for less than a day and you’re already trying to game the system? I’m pretty sure if that worked, someone would’ve tried it by now! I voiced a sarcastic comment I’d never say aloud in my head.

As I expected, the professor shook his head at Akio’s suggestion. “I am unsure of what this… ‘XP’ thing is, but there are eight Anomaly Beasts in total. The arrival of each is normally offset, but that is only true if you manage to kill the previous one before the next appears. Based on the records of previous cycles, I would wager you only have one more attempt at slaying Ames Nori before another Anomaly Beast starts appearing. If fighting just one is a challenging feat for eight Inheritors at once, two would be impossible.”

The sense of unease in my chest grew, but I shook my head in an attempt to jettison it from my body. I couldn’t give up already. Not when I’d just agreed to help.

Despite his initial reluctance, Akio seemed to be bursting with questions. As he opened his mouth to fire off another, Mara interrupted him. “The sun’s starting to go down. If we want to get to the academy before dark, we should leave now.”

“Thank you, Mara,” Professor Seris said, clapping his hands to gather everyone’s attention. “There will be more time for questions later. For now, let us depart. Follow me, please.”

The group of seven gathered their things together and, one by one, shuffled out of the room. Not wanting to get in anyone’s way, I waited, intending to be the last to leave. As the fifth body filed out, I turned to the final holdout—the shy girl who called herself Shina—and motioned for her to go ahead of me.

Rather than respond in any way, she stood still and stared at me. It was making me uncomfortable, but even after several seconds, her stare held.

Unable to take it anymore, I said, “Um, do you need something?”

At my question, she turned to the corner she had been hiding in, reached for something long and heavy-looking, and hoisted it up. Then, she waddled toward me and, once next to me, held it out as an offering. I had never seen one in real life, but it was undoubtedly a genuine sword, sheathed in a dark leather scabbard.

“This was Leon’s…” she mumbled.

Ah. I accepted the gift once I realized what she wanted. “Um… thank you for holding onto that.” … I think?

Nodding, she walked out of the room and followed after the others, who were already halfway down the hall. Slightly confused, I fastened the scabbard to my belt and chased over to the group, afraid of falling behind and getting lost.