Are We Heroes or Just Trying to Survive?

For the second time, I fought back the urge to hop around and squeal like a total fan at the thought of officially joining the gang. It almost felt like I was a bit cool myself! We had a reliable healer, a powerful demon warrior, a former royal knight, and an elf assassin. We were pretty much stacked!

…Was what I wanted to say.

“Mnh… I’m still sleepy,” Sloane mumbled, yawning. “Give me… five more weeks…”

“Are you kidding me?! That’s way too long!” said Ashrenne. “At least hear me out on our next plans!”

“Oh, oh, I volunteer to ea—hunt some totally evil wolves and bears around the city borders!” said Dahlian, drooling.

“How is that even related to stopping the ritual, exactly?”

“...By making sure we don’t starve to death while we're at it!”

“I don’t think anyone here can eat that sort of meat besides you,” I said.

Lora sighed and lowered her guilty gaze. “I don’t think I can do much as an escapee either. I’m sure the guards are putting up wanted posters of me by now.”

Ashrenne wearily groaned and facepalmed. “Guys, what happened to all your heroic spirits?”

“Were we ever heroes to begin with?” asked Dahlian, raising a brow. “I thought this was where we could just hide and chill from people.”

“Well, yeah, it is, but we still can’t ignore this! We’re all pretty much going to freakin’ die if no one’s doing anything!”

“I definitely don’t want that,” I murmured.

On the other hand, Sloane said, “Oh, how wonderful. That means I’ll finally get to sleep forever…”

“Don’t joke about that! No one’s dying under my watch!” said Lora, pouting.

“At least half of you still have some resolve,” Ashrenne mumbled, sighing. Her expression shifted to a stern look, and she turned to face the sleepy elf at the corner. “Anyway, Sloane, did you find anything from last night?” she asked.

Sloane shook his head. “I'd investigated the prison as planned, but there weren't any hidden secrets about the queen's schemes like we thought."

"Oh, really? That's a shame."

"...However, I did notice something unusual on my way out. The entire prison had been completely emptied after Lora's breakout."

"What? Everyone vanished? Even the guards?"

The elf nodded. "The inmates, the guards, everyone vanished from the prison."

"Huh, where'd they disappear to?" asked Dahlian.

"Entrophys probably took them all away," I blurted out.

"What?" all four turned to me.

I twitched a little after the sudden attention on me, but I quickly brushed it off. "In my visions, a lot of prisoners managed to escape thanks to Lora restoring their health, but the remaining ones were all taken away by Entrophys, who'd interrogate each and every one of them to find out how the mass breakout happened."

Lora turned pale and stared at me with trembling eyes. "D-did he ever find out in your visions, Haruma?" she asked nervously.

"...Yeah, he did."

She gripped her skirt. "Th-then... will he go after me again?"

I lowered my head. "Yeah, he will in a few days from now," I reluctantly answered.

"Oh... I-I see..."

My heart stung having to tell her such a terrifying future, but she had the right to know. If I didn't have the strength to stop Entrophys, then I should at least warn her about him and let her prepare for it.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, gripping my fists so hard my knuckles turned white. "I can't control my powers to help anyone..."

"Haruma..." Lora shook her head and pouted. "No, stop apologizing! You've done nothing wrong! I should be the one thanking you for telling us so much valuable information!"

“Yeah, she's right.” Ashrenne squinted at me and rubbed her chin. “Your visions have definitely helped us out, but if you can’t control those curses, it’s still ultimately a liability. In that case…”

She mumbled under her breath and started pacing around the room. The rest of us watched her ponder until she looked up and faced me again. “First things first, can you tell us what you know about those hidden sigils, Haruma?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. They're all drawn by invisible chalk, so we’d need some light crystals to see them. There's a total of four sigils drawn around the city, and there are two ways to destroy them: blow up the site or dissolve the chalk with acidic solutions. That’s all I know.”

Dahlian’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he took a deep breath.

“And no, I really don’t recommend blowing them up. They’re all near residential buildings.”

Dahlian slumped his shoulders. “Never mind then.”

“I see,” Ashrenne murmured, rubbing her chin. “So we’ll need light crystals and acidic solutions, huh? That sounds easy to get.”

“I should also mention the queen had them removed from the alchemy shops so no one could interfere,” I said. "We'll have to hunt some slimes for the solutions and gather those crystals from a cave.”

Truth was, the game writers removed them as an excuse to kill some mobs and explore the world. How inconvenient.

“Ugh, that’s so inconvenient,” Dahlian grumbled.

Exactly!

"Damn, okay. Noted," said Ashrenne. She mumbled under her breath and paced around again. She frequently glanced at the city map and each of us before snapping her fingers. “Alright, I got it,” she said. “We’re going to do some preparations before we get rid of those sigils, but before I share them, I just want to confirm something.”

The rest of us tilted our heads.

“I just want to be sure… Are you guys all seriously in on this? I mean, you’re not obligated to stay here, and this mission is incredibly dangerous.”

“Yeah, of course,” Lora and I said simultaneously.

“Heh, why ask? Of course, I'm in!” said Dahlian.

“Hm…” Sloane briefly stayed quiet before nodding. “I have unfinished business, so I’m not ready to die just yet. I’ll also lend my aid.”

With a quiet sigh of relief, Ashrenne slightly grinned and nodded back. “Alright, Dahlian, since you’re raring to fight, I’ll rely on you to hunt some slimes to craft those solutions.”

“Ooh, sounds kind of fun. You got it, Boss!”

“Sloane, I’ll have you search the nearby caves for those light crystals then.”

“Oh… okay.”

“Lora, you stay low for now, since you just escaped.”

“Huh? Can’t I at least scout the sigil sites a little? I promise I won’t get caught!”

“Nope. You stay here.”

She pouted.

“Your puppy eyes won’t work on me, kid. You stay here, just for today.”

“Aww… okay.”

“Good.” Lastly, she turned to me. “Haruma, you’re coming with me. We’ll have to do something with that… corrupted magic of yours before you get to do anything.”

“Huh? Oh, right. You know how to fix it?” I asked.

“Not at all.”

“Damn.”

“But! If it’s magic, it should at least be suppressable.”

“Oh? You mean…?”

“That’s right, we’re gonna have to find a way to seal them.”

“Seal my powers, huh? I guess that’s fair.”

“Cuff him up with some cursed chains, easy peasy,” said Dahlian with a thumbs-up.

“Isn’t that for criminals?!”

“Tying up his hands is a little too far, though,” said Lora. “Isn’t there something else that’s more convenient to wear?”

“...The Ring of Gluttony,” said Sloane. “It’s a simple accessory that absorbs and stores the wearer’s magic.”

“Ohh, that sounds like it could work,” I said. “And it should be cheap and easy to craft too, right?”

He nodded. “With it, you shouldn’t have to worry about wreaking havoc. It should work on any type of magic, including yours.”

“Huh, I don’t even know if my powers even count as magic, but I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“It’s probably the only shot you have,” said Ashrenne. She turned to face the group as a whole, wearing a new layer of anxiety in her serious expression. “Well, that’s the plan for now. I know we’ve only met each other pretty recently, and I know we’re no heroes. Hell, I think we all have questionable backgrounds, and I know you all came to this city for your own reasons. But even so, the fact that you all decided to stick around and roll along with my selfish desires convinces me that you all don’t want to see this city fall either.”

Ashrenne deeply bowed. “I have nothing to say but… thank you. All of you. Please, help me save this city.”

“...Hey, what are you being all sentimental for?” asked Dahlian. “It's normal to fight for survival, right? None of us are planning to die, so of course we gotta do something about it.”

“I second that,” I said, nodding. 

"Me too!" said Lora. "I won't let the queen ruin everything!"

Sloane simply yawned and nodded.

“Heh, you guys sure are a fascinating bunch.” Ashrenne balled a fist and raised it high. “Alright, everyone! It’s about time we start doing some hero work! Let’s move it!”

“Yes, Boss!”