Chapter 52:

The Ordinary Hero

Galder

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a white ceiling.

Again.

"...You've got to be kidding me."

(At least you're getting consistent.)

The smell of medicine, the uncomfortable mattress beneath me, and the ridiculous amount of bandages wrapped around my torso confirmed what I'd already figured out.

Infirmary.

Apparently, waking up in one of these had become a regular part of my life.

Wonderful.

I tried sitting up, immediately regretted it when my entire side screamed at me, and decided that lying down was actually a perfectly respectable way to spend the morning.

Turning my head, I found Amachi in the bed beside mine with his right arm wrapped from shoulder to wrist and hanging in a sling. Zack occupied another bed farther away, covered in enough bandages that he almost looked like part of the furniture, while Meni had fallen asleep in a chair beside him.

For a moment, I just stared at them.

All four of us were alive.

That was enough to make the pain slightly less annoying.

"You're awake."

I looked back toward Amachi and found one crimson eye staring at me.

"Unfortunately."

"How do you feel?"

"Like someone stabbed me with ice."

Which, now that I thought about it, was exactly what happened.

So that was probably medically accurate.

My eyes dropped toward his sling. "How's the arm?"

"Broken."

"I noticed."

His expression darkened. "You pulled it."

"You were about to punch Rayne."

"My arm was already broken."

"And yet the punch worked."

"That doesn't make it better."

"It makes me right."

Amachi stared at me for a few seconds before finally looking away.

"...Thanks."

I blinked.

Well.

That had been strangely sincere.

"Don't make it weird."

"I said one word."

"Exactly. Horrifying."

He kicked the side of my bed.

"OW! I'M STILL HURT!"

"So am I."

"THEN ACT LIKE IT!"

Our yelling finally woke Meni. Her head slowly rose from Zack's bed, her hair looking like she'd fought an entirely separate battle against a pillow and lost.

She looked at Amachi, then at me.

"You two are already arguing?"

"He attacked me."

Amachi pointed at me with his good hand. "He pulled my broken arm."

"To save your life!"

Meni stared at us before lowering her head back onto the mattress.

"I should've healed Zack first."

"...You did."

"Then I made the correct choice."

Cruel.

Zack opened his eyes without moving anything else.

"You are loud."

"Good morning to you too."

He closed them again.

Apparently, that concluded our emotional reunion.

Anyway, someone from the academy eventually came by to explain what happened after we'd passed out.

The Black Raven leader had been defeated, most of the remaining members had either been captured or fled, and the Orb was now locked somewhere considerably safer than the floor where Amachi had found it.

I glanced toward him.

"...What?"

"Nothing."

"You looked at me."

"I was thinking about people who touch mysterious ancient objects without knowing what they do."

"I didn't know what it did."

"That's not helping your case."

Rayne had survived too, although barely. He was being kept under guard while the academy's healers treated him.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

What he'd done wasn't something I could just forget because we'd beaten him, but hearing that he'd survived didn't exactly disappoint me either.

So I left it there.

Two days later, we were finally allowed out of the infirmary.

Not discharged.

Allowed out.

There was apparently an important difference, and the healer made that very clear while threatening us with consequences that somehow sounded worse than our current injuries.

Naturally, Amachi's first question was whether he could train.

He got banned from the training grounds before we'd even left the room.

Honestly, impressive.

By the time we stepped outside, Hilbert was already starting to look normal again.

Well...

Normal-ish.

Cracks still ran across sections of the courtyard, temporary barriers covered damaged buildings, and several students were helping carry away broken stone while instructors argued over which parts of the academy needed repairing first.

After everything that had happened underground, watching someone complain about a shattered classroom window felt strangely peaceful.

Then people started staring at us.

At first, I assumed it was because Zack looked like a mummy, Amachi had one arm in a sling, and I was walking like someone's grandfather.

Reasonable enough.

Then someone pointed.

"That's them!"

Oh no.

"The candidates who fought the Black Ravens?"

Definitely oh no.

Whispers spread through the courtyard almost immediately.

"I heard they stopped the attack."

"That red-haired guy fought the second-in-command!"

"The demon protected people too."

"Are those really the four?"

I looked around for an escape route.

(Run.)

I can barely walk.

(Limp with confidence.)

Before I could attempt that brilliant plan, someone started clapping.

Then another person joined.

Within seconds, applause spread across the courtyard.

I froze.

Amachi, meanwhile, looked like someone had just handed him the greatest gift imaginable.

A student near the front called out, "Thank you!"

"For what?" I asked before I could stop myself.

The boy looked genuinely confused.

"For saving everyone."

Someone farther back shouted, "You guys are heroes!"

Amachi's face lit up.

"They called us heroes."

"...Yeah."

More students started crowding around, asking questions or thanking us, and apparently the story had already grown during the two days we'd been unconscious. Judging by some of the things I overheard, we'd gone from four injured candidates desperately trying not to die to some elite team that had single-handedly destroyed the entire Black Raven organization.

One person even claimed Amachi had blown apart half the underground facility.

I wasn't completely sure that part was false.

Eventually, a few instructors rescued us from the crowd and told everyone to let the injured patients breathe.

I would've thanked them, but admitting I needed rescuing from people thanking me for rescuing them felt unnecessarily complicated.

Amachi was still grinning when we escaped.

"I'm a hero."

"You've said that four times."

"I always knew it'd happen."

"You nearly died because you touched a glowing object."

"Heroes take risks."

"Heroes occasionally think."

He considered that.

"Not always."

Unfortunately, he had a point.

We continued across the courtyard until I noticed another crowd gathered around a large board near the main building.

Unlike the last group, these people weren't staring at us.

Much better.

Amachi tilted his head. "What's that?"

"The results," Zack said.

I stopped.

"...Results?"

Meni glanced at me. "The entrance exam."

Oh.

Right.

That.

Somehow, between the Black Ravens, Rayne, the Orb, and nearly dying several times, I'd almost forgotten why we'd come here.

The entrance exam.

You know.

That slightly important thing I'd spent months preparing for.

Suddenly, my stomach felt worse than it had during the fight.

(You fought a murderer.)

He wasn't deciding my academic future.

Across the top of the board were the words:

HILBERT ACADEMY — SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

Amachi walked straight toward it without hesitation.

Of course he did.

Names filled several columns, so I started from the top.

The first familiar one appeared almost immediately.

Meni.

"There you are."

Meni smiled. "You haven't checked yours yet."

"I'm getting there."

A little farther down was Zack.

Of course.

"You passed."

He nodded.

"Try looking happier."

"I am."

"...Right."

Then I found Amachi near the middle of the next column.

"I passed!"

"Yes, I can read."

"Did you?"

"Why are you asking me like that?"

He shrugged.

I returned to the board.

Meni.

Zack.

Amachi.

Now mine.

I checked the rest of the column.

Nothing.

Then the next.

Still nothing.

By the time I reached the bottom, my stomach had started sinking.

"...Oh."

Maybe that made sense.

I'd lost my individual match badly enough that Zack probably could've used me to clean the arena floor afterward.

Then the Black Ravens attacked, and I spent an uncomfortable amount of time injured, unconscious, or desperately trying to avoid both.

Compared to the others, my performance wasn't exactly legendary.

(Check again.)

I checked.

(You missed it.)

I didn't.

(You did.)

I sighed and started over, this time reading every name carefully.

Meni.

Zack.

Amachi.

Then, near the bottom of the final column—

Fourth.

I stopped.

"...Huh."

I leaned closer.

Still there.

For additional safety, I checked whether some other unfortunate person had somehow been given the same name.

Nope.

That was me.

I passed.

It took a moment to sink in.

I'd actually made it into Hilbert Academy.

Me.

The kid with average Orka who'd spent most of his life assuming there wasn't anything particularly impressive about him.

Funny.

I'd always treated being ordinary like some kind of disadvantage.

Compared to Amachi, maybe I really was normal. He was stronger than me and had pushed himself forward through things I couldn't even imagine going through.

But he'd also lost his family and his entire village when he was five.

I hadn't.

Maybe I was lucky.

I didn't need some horrible tragedy to give me a reason to move forward. I was just an ordinary kid from a peaceful village who wanted to become an adventurer.

Honestly?

That sounded pretty good.

Amachi noticed me looking at him.

"What?"

"I was thinking about how much stronger than me you are."

He grinned immediately. "You finally noticed?"

"...I regret being sincere."

Meni smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"His arm is broken and you still picked the head?"

"It was available."

Fair enough.