Amongst Us

With that, we ran towards the village, which was just right outside the castle.

The other adventurers, eager to resolve the incident, hopped into action. Upon arriving however, all I could do was stand there, watching everything unfold as fear struck me一 I was ordered to kill some people if they were left unrestrained, after all.

Amidst the chaos that unfolded within the village, there were rioters and villagers all attacking each other, while large groups of rioters dressed in red can be seen breaking their surroundings and setting things on fire, all while leaving signs that expressed their dissatisfaction with the current king being 'behind the times of bioweapons'. 

Immediately upon seeing these scenes, Kylie and Orion hopped into action, engaging combat with the rioters. Kylie took off her cloak, revealing her harpy arm wings and a massive stone hammer, which she swung with great force. Her talons helped keep her feet on the floor, and even though it would've seemed inconvenient, she used her wings to keep a distance from the enemy, and swung her hammer in a full circle. I guess that's a human-minotaur-bird hybrid for you, being strong and smart and all that. She took out the group of rioters she jumped into, with all of them now downed and unconscious. She then quickly evacuated the villager victims, without inflicting fear into any of them. Guess her kind face does help.

Orion was ruthless in his strikes; they were impactful and swift, and all chained like a combo in a fighting game. Drawing his bow and immediately firing a volley of arrows, he struck three rioters, all of which who fell to the floor after being shot in various parts of their bodies. Another tried to sneak up on him from behind, but was quickly taken out with a quick jab to the face. It seems like that man knows how to use a bow, melee and range-wise.

"Hey, Newbie! Look out!"

Taking out his target, Orion then turned towards me, and pointed at something seemingly behind me, yelling to look out. On instinct I turned around, only to face a rioter who donned maroon instead of red. Before I could react however, he was taken out in one hit; a gigantic left hook sent him flying. It was Stark, the big bouncer from before."

"I think I just took out the leader of this group. That was close. Are you alright, Nanami?" Stark said, looking at me after ensuring that the leader was unconscious.

"Apologies. Where I'm from, killing and fighting were things of the past, and everyone lived in tranquility, so I fear the concepts of death and battle..."

It was true. I had never killed in my life, nor did I expect myself to have to. I fear the concept of witnessing or bearing the weight of deaths that are related to me. I wanted to trick myself into thinking that this was just another realistic Yakuza beat-em-up, but I really couldn't, when all I can see is the violence unfolding before my eyes.

"What a weak variant. I'm off to take care of the next group, Stark." Orion said, running and jumping into the next area of chaos.

"Ah, so that's the case. Don't push yourself too hard then; you'll only get in our way. Let us handle things." Stark said, running off after Orion.

Hey, I'm sick of being dead weight.

I'm not weak! I'm just lacking in combat. 

Feeling eager to prove myself from the criticism I received, I angrily ran off, with a newfound desire to break something. I then ran towards the other direction, where I witnessed another villager being harassed by a rioter. She was being assaulted. Without thinking, I jumped into action.

"Ah! Mr. Nanami, look out!"

I heard Kylie's voice from behind me, yelling as I had been reckless. That was when for the first time, I felt something well up within me. It was like the physical shock you get from hearing extremely sudden and distressing news. With that, I screamed with my lungs as I ran towards the assailant:

"Violent Rage!"

It came to me in my mind, a natural spell attack that I somehow acquired. It felt like a missing memory at the moment, and welled itself up inside me. Without thinking too much into how I activated my 'abnormal amounts of magic', dark energy spewed all around me, flowing upwards but sticking near me like a visual effect of a person going up in flames; except that these aren't flames, they're just dark, chaotic yet intangible ectoplasm. Within that moment, I felt charged and strong enough to release my frustrations and stress gathered throughout my life, all as a form of blunt, physical force.

With that, I thought back to how I was brought to this goofy world and how I was being used as a pawn for resolving an incident that didn't even involve me. I thought back to how I was shocked and anxious of the new world around me. I thought back to how back in Japan, I was doing nothing but working my ass off, day and night, with my parents still thinking that I'm slacking off. I got angry all of a sudden, and the trigger for all these frustrations being released was the last straw, where I was looked down on for being 'weak'.

And so inflicting all the force packed behind those frustrations, I punched the rioter while screaming, breaking my gauntlet and completely tearing a hole through his stomach. I essentially did the funny doughnut and killed him, yet didn't feel a thing at the moment. In fact, it actually felt refreshing. All the worries involving me being paranoid about killing, just didn't apply at that moment.

But I was brought out of it when I heard her voice.

"Don't run off on your own like that again, Mr. Nanami!"

Kylie, who was watching the whole thing unfold while chasing after me, slapped me in the face for running head first into danger. It hurt extra, since she was part minotaur and her feathers weren't the softest. She had a look of fear on her, but it displayed worry as well. I must've scared her, in that state that I was in. 

Seeing that on her face, I also started showing worry for myself.

Thinking back to it, I feared myself in that moment, where I lost the capability to feel nothing but anger. Was it because of the nature of the magic? Regardless, I need to learn to control it more later, because damn that thing packed a punch, and it'll be useful for me to use.

"I'm sorry, Kylie. I couldn't just stand still and watch you all do the work— I wanted some shit too!" I said, pointing at myself.

"That still doesn't mean someone inexperienced can just run off on their own like that! What if you had died, Mr. Nanami?" Kylie said, flailing her arms angrily.

God she sounds like my mom.

"I'm sorry. I shall not do that again." I said, bowing to her.

I will, once I master 'Violent Rage'.

"You'd better be... I'm supposed to serve the Second Coming, after all." Kylie said, crossing her arms (or at least she attempts to, since her wings are part of her arms).

I'm curious, though. The Second Coming? I need to ask about that later, once everything is resolved.

"Let's go help that villager for now." I said, directing her attention towards the injured woman.

***

Me and Kylie teamed up to rout rioters after helping the injured woman return to her home. We also helped and boarded up her windows for her, and instructed her to hide. Since we were split up from the other four adventurers, we decided to rout the lower left part of this huge ass village town, as it was an area that was usually more associated with criminal dealings. It had all the shady stuff you hear in stories, like broken houses and homeless people. Despite the moody and horrible area though, there's also a big natural lake not far from the edge of town, over at this area of the village with a forest standing beyond it, so why not take a break at the natural scenery once we deal with everything over here.

"Take this!" I yelled like an anime protagonist, punching the last rioter with an uppercut to the chin. He was knocked out cold.

"There. That should be the last one." I said, wiping my sweat away.

"Yup! We're all finished! That's the last one tied up."

As we were walking away from the tied up rioters who we left with the guards to deal with, some questions came up in my head.

"Come to think of it, Kylie, who was the fourth adventurer?" I asked, wondering about the adventurer who had left early to deal with the incident occurring.

"He's a very enigmatic person, Mr. Nanami. He wore a red cloak top to bottom, and only enlisted in the adventurer's party around a week ago. However, his capabilities were the real deal— he cleared missions and requests every other day, and quickly rose to A rank, like the rest of us. He also volunteered to help us on this mission, but then he disappeared while we were with you in the throne room" 

"Is it alright if you tell me the whole journey of you travelling with the other adventurers to get here? It was a 2 day trip, wasn't it? Since the adventurer's guild is so far away."

"That's okay with me! I wonder if you'll be able to figure something out... Okay, here we go."

With that, Kylie began telling me her story.

On day 1, we were all heading out together after accepting the mission. Stark was also accompanying us as our backup firepower; he was the best bouncer around. Our mission was to resolve the rioting happening in Castle Village, the village town closest to the castle. I started working at the guild ever since I was little and so to be able to complete a task with strangers and to meet the Second Coming Variant, I was eager to prove my worth to this team.

"Everyone ready? We'll be heading to the castle for a meeting first, but it won't be long, since we have to deal with the rioters."

Stark stood there in front of the carriage on the day, directing our attention to our belongings. It was necessary that we didn't forget anything, since if we did, we would run out of food and stuff, you know?

And so we embarked on the journey. Sitting with me in that carriage was a timid but outstanding mage, a very depressingly dressed archer, Stark himself, and a completely cloaked figure. He was the guy that the rumors often circled around within the guild, as he rose through the ranks quickly and never teamed up with anyone.

"Around what time did he disappear then? I'm assuming during the night?" I asked, halting her recollection.

"Yes, we assumed that since he wasn't anywhere to be seen anymore when we woke up the next day." Kylie continued, stowing away her hammer.

So the man disappeared and hasn't been seen since, huh? You'd think that's a bit suspicious, since he could've slipped away and gone on to do something else, but there's also the possibility that he had not done that. Seeing how he was quick to rise through the ranks, he must've been relatively skilled at combat and had a desire to become well known.

That's why there are really only two realistic possibilities here; One, he slipped away during the night, and he's part of the reason why the riot went out of hand. He's evil and plots our destruction, along with me, the new variant. Two, he's been killed and buried somewhere unknown, ambushed during the night when his guard was down.

"Do you know anything personal about the missing adventurer?" I asked Kylie, hoping she'd know something.

"Unfortunately no, everything about him is mysterious. Not even the guild has access to his information, but we all know that he was someone who excels in magic." Kylie said, disappointingly sighing.

If that's the case, I guess we shouldn't worry about him too much for now. Let's focus on resolving the incident.

"Ah well. Thanks for answering my questions, Kylie." I said, bowing to her.

"You were curious, right? And you're new to this world, so it's my job to guide you as the servant of the Second Coming." Kylie said, tilting her head slightly.

"Come to think of it, what is the Second Coming? And don't mind if I ask, but where're you from, Kylie?" I asked, with my thinking face.

"The Second Coming is basically the second Variant. The earliest memory I am able to recall is waking up from a cold container, and I looked different from everyone else. Only thing I can remember after that was undergoing grueling training for 5 years. Before I left, my parents told me to always look out for the Second Coming, and so I'm ecstatic to be able to serve you, Mr. Nanami!" Kylie exclaimed, with a joyous expression.

"You acknowledge the fact that you're a chimera? And just wondering, can you really gain abilities from digesting monsters?" I asked, pulling out my phone, opening up the 'Notes' app.

"Yes, I realize that I'm some sort of bioweapon, and that my parents were scientists that always conducted studies on me. But they did care, mind you

Now for the forbidden question. I probably shouldn't ask, but...

"How old are you?"

At that moment I had the most 'the rock sus' expression I could've ever expressed.

"...Huuuuh? I'm 15, but you shouldn't be asking girls that question, Mr. Nanami!" Kylie said, suddenly taken aback.

So they do have that culture here. Oh well, I tried.

"Ahahaha... Sorry about that. Anyways, let's head back to the central area." I said, apologetically.

"It's ok. Let's get our mission done with, Mr. Nanami." Kylie said, taking my hand, though it was hard to hold onto.

And so with her, we returned to the central area of the village.

***

"...So, what do we have here?" I asked, approaching where everyone else was; It seemed like all the rioters were routed, as the residents started coming back out bit by bit, returning to their daily lives.

"Our jobs are done, so I'll be leaving now." Orion said, and with that, he walked into the distance without batting an eye. 

I was left there with Stark, Tiara and Kylie.

"Thanks for helping out, you three. Really appreciate it." I said, bowing to each of them.

"If you wanna pay me back, come drop by the guild sometime, Nanami. I'm sure a Variant like you would get used to adventuring and doing stuff like this pretty soon." Stark said, crossing his arms and smiling, in a manner that seemed confident.

"Where were you this whole time, Tiara?" Kylie asked, in a concerned manner. It looks like she and Tiara are pretty close to each other.

"I-I was with Stark. I got scared halfway through reciting my spell, but he was there to comfort me. It was shortly after that when Nanami got scary..." Tiara said, hiding behind Stark's large physique.

Whoops. I forgot about that episode. I need to remind myself to learn more about my first spell, "Violent Rage" later.

"Kylie, he didn't do anything to you when you chased after him, right...?" Tiara asked, while glancing me a suspicious look. Really didn't have to do that, you know.

"No, no, no. He didn't do anything of the sort. In fact, I think I got along with him well!"

Whew, thanks for the save, Kylie.

"Well, thanks again for coming to my aid, Kylie. You have my gratitude." I said, doing a courteous bow (even though I'm still technically only wearing my t-shirt and sports pants.)

"I think I'll leave now. Take care and drop by the guild, kiddos." Stark said, as he turned around and also left.

"So, what are you two gonna do now? I'm gonna return to the throne room for my next mission since that was my order, but you adventurers weren't really given context on what to do next." I asked, getting into my thinking pose.

"Me and Kylie are going to return to the guild as well... Right Kylie?" Tiara said, looking eager to get away from me. I don't know what I did to offend her. Maybe she's just scared of me.

"Ah, I guess you're leaving then. Take care, you two." I replied, and turned towards the castle's direction again.

I guess flying solo means I'll be more free, but being constricted by the contract isn't going to grant me much freedom in the first place...

As I walked away from the other two and waved goodbye, I thought to myself about all the wonderful solo grinding that I'll have to conduct and—

"Wait! Stop!"

Kylie halted my train of thought as she yelled for me to stop. She then came running towards me, Tiara following after. Then her sudden announcement came.

"I'm going to tag along. And I won't take 'no' for an answer." Kylie said, staring straight into me. She was dead serious.

I mean, having her in battle would ultimately benefit me since I'm weak. Besides, she's good-looking even for a chimera, so I wouldn't mind exploring the world with her as my guide.

"For real...? I mean sure, as long as you're fine with it. What about your current work at the guild though?" I asked, just to be certain.

"I'll let Tiara handle it." Kylie said, and then turned to Tiara, who was looking at her with a somewhat concerned expression.

"I guess this is where we part ways for now..." Tiara said, with a sad expression. 

"Don't be silly! I'll see you soon enough. Me and Junji here will be done in a jiffy, and we'll head back to the guild to see you, alright?" Kylie said, gently rubbing Tiara's head with her arms. The soft feathers on her wings brushed against Tiara, and she smiled again.

"You better take good care of Kylie, Mr. Nanami." Tiara said, glaring at me menacingly again.

"I will, I will. Safe trip back, alright?"

We then waved goodbye to Tiara, as she hopped on her magic staff and suddenly dashed off into the distance, just like a magical girl. It never ceased to amaze me when it came down to how everything fantastical just works as if it were common sense in this world.

"Come on, let's get going, Junji!" Kylie said, pulling me by the arm again.

I just realized she started calling me by my first name. Guess we're buddies now, huh?

"Alright, let's get going!" I replied, grabbing her by her arm and outpacing her.