Mourning

“I apologize for the danger my ineptitude has brought you. It is my responsibility to train you and care for your safety while you are under my tutelage. This applies not only to those directly under my mentorship but to all of you who were summoned by us.”

The students listened to Saint Ezra’s lamentation with sorrow and their heads hung low. Some had yet to recover from their first demon encounter. They had been prepared to fight even in their old world for the sake of their country. However, they were supposed to be commanders and generals.

Most of them would have never even stood at the front line. Even then, war in their world was much different than the battles in this one. The fights were more up close and personal. In their world, you would probably never even see the face of those you killed, let alone your own killer.

The thing that mattered the most?

This was not their world.

Not their War.

Not Their enemy.

The only thing keeping them going was the thought of bringing not only their current strength but also the great strength they would gain back into their own world. They kept telling themselves, just do what must be done and then they could truly attend to what mattered the most. Then they heard of Duncan’s unfortunate fate.

While his life or death was yet unknown, they all knew that the outlook was not good. He would never return to their world, to their country. His death brought no glory, he would not be remembered by the people as a heroic death while fighting against the enemy.

“I swear that we will not give up in our recovery efforts to rescue Hero Duncan. The Knight Captains have already assembled squads of Knights to scour the forest for any signs of the Demons. However, not everything is disastrous as we have hit the Demons even harder. We have slain two of their Demon Lieutenants. Not only that, but their deaths are closely related to the actions of two of the Heroes here. Gerard and Mateo, please stand next to me.”

Mateo had not expected to be called up. It would seem that Saint Ezra knew how devastating a hit the class’s morale had dropped from this event. As for Gerard also aiding in the death of a Demon Lieutenant? Was there really any surprise to this news?

The two walked forward as the eyes of the classmates were locked upon them. Mateo saw that one of the pairs of eyes belonged to his party member Alicia. She survived huh? Shame.

“Mateo and Gerard have risked their lives and brought righteous damnation upon those who sought to destroy us. Their counterattack proved to the Demons that you all are not ones to be trifled with. The Demons will know fear, for the Heroes are here to pass judgement upon them. I say, do not fear the demons. Even after just two weeks of training you have already faced off and slain some of the mightiest adversaries they can offer.”

For once, everyone seemed to straighten up and hold their heads higher. He was right–they had only been here for two weeks so far. Even if they didn’t achieve a feat like those two, they still held their ground.

Given even more time and who knows what they would be capable of. They looked at their party members, they remembered how they had fought side by side. If the training in the forest had helped their coordination working as a team, then the fight against the demons had taught them to trust their lives to those who fought beside them.

Ezra couldn’t help but nod while clenching his fist. He could see the sparks igniting in their eyes. Even if they still held some fear, their desire to grow stronger triumphed over their fear. As long as they grew to trust both their comrades and their own strength, they would flourish.

Before he could finish his speech the doors to the room opened and one of the Knight Captains in charge of the rescue entered. Seeing the somber look he sported everyone could tell he came bearing tragic news. Before he could intervene he was waved over by Saint Ezra. After whispering whatever intel he carried to the saint he was dismissed afterwards.

“I… fear that I must inform you of your classmate Duncan’s passing. I am sorry for your loss. However, I can tell you that he did not go down without a fight. When he was found, many demon corpses were discovered alongside him. He truly was a Hero.”

While everyone had already predicted this outcome, they couldn’t help but feel the loss of his death. Gerard turned towards Ezra and after a little hesitation, he spoke up.

“What, what happens to us if we die in this world?”

“Normally, when the humans of this world die, we are welcomed into the embrace of the Gods. I know not about how things work in your world, but we are capable of binding his soul and preserving the body. Once you return to your world, we can send his body along with you so that he may have a proper send off.”

“If you can do all that, is it possible to bring him back to life?”

“Resurrection is both impossible and a taboo in this world. The closest thing to it in this world is the Lich’s ability to raise the dead as one of his undead soldiers. Although even that does not truly bring the dead back to life. It would be more appropriate to label his magic as something closer to puppetry.”

“Then I will go ahead and thank you for taking care of this matter for us. The only thing I ask of you is to make him look presentable. His family deserves to give their farewells once we return.”

“It is only the proper thing for us to do, seeing as how you all are fighting for the sake of our sakes. Alright, I believe you all must be exhausted after the events of today. Go ahead and rest before making any decisions on what to do going forward.”

Everyone got up and dragged their tired bodies towards the exit. As Mateo made his way over he saw out of the corner of his eye how Ezra grabbed Gerard and had him hang back. Mateo slowed his pace as he listened to their conversation.

“Gerard, I believe it is time to take your training to the next level after hearing of your feat of going toe to toe against a Demon Lieutenant.”

“What about Mateo?”

“While it is true that he played a pivotal role too. It cannot be compared to your own.”

Hearing the important details he increased his pace to match the others. So Gerard had already reached such a level of strength? His brow twitched as he remembered the might of the Ox Demon. Could he fight against it alone? Even if he used magic? Or was learning magic on his own a mistake?

Sure magic had been a hidden card that helped cover evidence, but for the most part it didn’t actually give that much of a boost to his offensive capabilities. How much stronger would he be with a bow if he had used that time instead to work on his archer?

No, magic was necessary; the question should, instead, be what spell to learn next. He also needed to learn a way to take out his classmates without using his bow. He had been lucky being able to take down Duncan with a short sword. If it hadn’t been a sneak attack, there was a zero percent chance of him winning without his bow.

As Mateo entered the Dormitory and crawled into bed, his mind was still seeking out answers to his questions.