The Fool

The assailants’ mouths were hung wide open. 

Honestly, mine would’ve too... if I saw myself standing in the middle of this crime scene.

From the way their hands hovered near their swords, I could tell exactly what they were thinking.

At any moment, they’d attack.

So far, I haven’t felt an instinct to draw up any stat screen or some such that other stories usually have. 

Magic didn’t seem to be something that kicked in automatically for me, considering I wasn’t feeling any surge of power bubbling under the surface either. 

So all I had… were malnourished kid gloves.

But I refused to let this turn into a tragedy worthy of Malmagos’ namesake.

So I mentally steel myself and say: Come and get it!

Soon, I felt a sudden jolt, a surge, ripping through my exhaustion like coffee.

I couldn’t believe what I was feeling…

That strange second wind I always got after work hours. That reflexive burnout high.

Was this the power of…

~The Salaryman's Gaze: Overtime Energy Burst?!~

I shook my head. I didn’t have time to question the well of aura permeating the area.

I needed to show them I wasn’t some weakling they could cut down. After all, a bunch of armed men paled in comparison to who exactly I just contended with.

I reached for a loose plank of wood beside me.

I lifted it up, raised my chin, and met their challenge with courage!!

For a long moment, we were at a standstill.

…Why weren’t they bulldozing over me yet?

They didn’t even try and charge.

Soon enough, one of the men spoke, and I could hear some… tremble in their voice?! “We didn’t know what the orphanage meant to you… We don’t want a fight. We’re sorry for taking the kids. We were just trying to do the right thing! No child should be left behind in East Gate!”

The right thing? What could’ve been so bad about an orphanage it warranted kidnapping?!

It only took me staring at them a few seconds longer, and I must have fidgeted enough from getting so mad he decided to do something.

“Oh, sod it,” he muttered.

…What?

He dropped his sword and stepped back. “I didn’t sign up for this!”

“Why are you running?!” another soldier shouted, just rounding the corner.

“Holy sh…” He took a moment to look at the bodies of his comrades, before staring at me with panicked eyes. “We grabbed a Crystal?!”

Before I could even contemplate what that meant, they scattered and scuttled out the barn doors!

I didn’t even have the mind to realize how lucky I was.

The moment they fled, the adrenaline crash hit me like a truck.

I didn’t realize how much I was shaking. The adrenaline that had been keeping me upright was gone.

Everything went quiet. The world spun.

And I was too tired to be afraid anymore.

\\

For a while now, I was hearing this fragile-sounding voice that felt like it came from underwater.

“W-Wake up.”

Unfortunately, my eyelids were sealed shut with what felt like the world’s heaviest irons. So I decided then and there I'd ignore this intrusion into my personal space.

It wasn’t until I felt my shoulders being shaken up by a storm that I decided that this was probably too important to ignore.

“Wake up, Cotter!”

I cracked my eyes open… only to find two narrow eyeslits and a snout filling my vision. “WAHHH!!”

If I wasn’t awake before, I sure as hell was now.

A crocodile-lizard-thing was breathing right in my face.

My arms flailed everywhere before I got a grip on them.

Right! I was in another world, after all. That meant different rules. Different people. And apparently, different species.

“Sorry for getting in your f-face,” the little one said, pulling back and coughing into their claws. “My throat is s-so sore so I can’t talk loud.”

Right. The sickness. The abduction. The contract. Daisy.

Everything came flooding back in an instant.

“Thank you… for saving us… from… umm…” they trailed off.

From Daisy. They didn’t have to say her name.

“Where is she, anyway?” I asked.

“I don’t know—I, I just don’t want to be anywhere near her,” they mumbled.

Poor Daisy. A pariah now. Feared and hated for something she didn’t have any control over. And although necessary, I was the one who made her like this. I needed to find her.

I sat up slowly. My bones ached. “Why’d you wake me up?”

The lizard kid perked up, tail twitching weakly.

“Alexy f-found some adventurers on the road!”

“Really?” Even I couldn’t help but feel a little starstruck.

I mean, half the books and manga I grew up reading had some guy with a sword in one hand and a fireball in the other in some capacity.

Actual adventurers? In the flesh? It boggled the mind.

“Actually, they’re already here,” the kid explained. “They’ve literally got a gryphon and everything! It’s gonna carry us back. So cool.”

A gryphon?!

I didn’t even think. I broke into a sprint. Well, tried to.

My body immediately reminded me I was still running on fumes. My stride turned into a stumble.

I would have faceplanted onto the cold soil if not for something catching me.

My eyes opened as I collected myself.

I soon saw claws.

“Watch your step,” a gruff voice said.

I looked up and stared at the voice.

It talked. The gryphon talked!

And none of the kids were even reacting?! Were they all so out of it they couldn’t appreciate how amazing this was?

“Stop… eyeing me up and down like that,” the gryphon muttered. “It’s creepy. I’ve got a long day ahead of me pulling at least a dozen sick kids as it is.”

“S-sorry!” I blurted, and I felt my cheeks immediately burning. “It’s just… I’ve never seen one of you before.”

"That’s a surprise," the gryphon said dryly. "You Crystal Elves saw plenty of us during the war. Thought the fear would’ve passed down the bloodline. But… y’all are from East Gate, right? Figures. Probably don’t get out much..."

Wait. Elf?

My hand shot up to my ear. Indeed, they were pointed and quite long.

Oh no.

It made sense now. The men who ran off earlier had called me a “Crystal Elf.”

Which begged the question—there was a war?

And we lost?

Normally, I’d be ecstatic to reincarnate as a powerful race, but why did a stand-up guy like him seem to hold my species in contempt?

What exactly did the Crystal Elves do?

Before I could spiral deeper into my hypothetical scenarios that will never transpire, a commanding voice cut through the air.

“Kids!” it shouted. “Come to me. Quickly now! Sun’s going down, and the road’s not safe after dark. Especially when there have been reports of dragons roaming about around the surrounds! And the more we wait before getting on the carriage, the worse your Chills will get!"

I turned as I heard the kids whimper.

A tall figure stood in an open clearing, broad-shouldered and golden-haired, with a sword at his back. He looked like he walked straight out of a JRPG cover. An adventurer, no doubt—and probably the party’s leader. On his flank were three other members of must've been his entourage: a wizard, a druid, and a ranger.

They looked cooler than I could have possibly imagined.

“We can’t be near you for too long either,” the knight called out. “The Chills might jump to us. If you can’t walk, ask your friends to help you up to the carriage.”

“The Chills…” I echoed.

Right. That was something the kids had. Including me, somewhat. But I felt relatively fine, aside from being short of breath.

Diseases must’ve worked differently here. Or if not... if they touched any of our fluids, they were in for a very rude awakening.

But I put that on the backburner for now. Because standing right in front of me… was a real-life knight.

I always wanted to fight like one.

I stumbled my way down the clearing until I was sure he could hear me.

“Sirknight?”

He turned, a little surprised, as I stepped closer.

“Haven’t heard that title in ages. Brings back memories... Feels good,” he said, with a small smile. “Yes, you address a Steeled Knight. My name is Sir Michelangelo.”

It’s not fair that he had a cool name as well!

“Are you part of an adventuring party?” I dared ask.

“That’s right. We were just passing through when we saw your crew in need.” Michelangelo's gaze softened.

I hesitated, then blurted out, “If—if time allows, would you… maybe…”

“Teach you how to fight?” he finished. How did he know that was exactly what I wanted? “Tell you what. We get through this in one piece, and if you’ve got the heart for it… I’ll consider it. Deal?”

I wasn't even CONSIDERING that! But if he's offering, then...

He held out a hand. I shook it, trying not to look like a starstruck fanboy. I wasn't even planning on asking him this… it just came out!

“I’ll hold you to that!" I added, vigorously nodding.

He chuckled. "Someone's gotta.”

I walked away smiling like a complete idiot.

But then something hit me.

I scanned the field and looked at every face. Every cowering, confused, or crying kid. Not one girl with pitch-dark hair in sight!

Daisy wasn’t here.

That was all I needed to know before I started moving.

“Hey, kid; where are you going?” the gryphon called.

“Going to find my friend.”

“…You mean that black-haired girl?”

My stomach dropped. Of course the kids had talked about our scuffle. Hard not to have. “Yes.”

The gryphon sighed. “Look, sometimes stories are exaggerated when it comes to kids. But so many kids corroborating the same narrative—down to the letter—makes for a very compelling case. She’s bad news.”

“Whatever happened… it wasn’t her,” I said. “Something took over, yes, but it’s gone now.”

“That you know of.”

…

We were at a standstill for a while.

He read my face before shaking his head. “You’re not going to turn around, are you?”

I shook my head.

He clicked his beak. “Then listen, because this matters. They won’t trust her. They won’t trust you. You stand between them and what they fear, and they’ll turn on you both.”

I didn’t answer.

“That reputation will follow you around for the rest of your life. Whatever happens… it’s on you.”

I made note of his warnings and concerns and elected to ignore them. 

Damn the consequences. I’d spent too long bowing my head, nodding along, letting others decide what was safe or smart or acceptable!

I was going to live the way I believed in. I’ll uncover what happened to Daisy and make her smile again.

After all, I was technically involved in making her a pariah. I needed to take responsibility.

He was muttering as I walked away. 

But for some reason, I could hear the smirk in his voice all the same.

“Fool of a Crystal…”