Daily life in another world 「Isekai no Nichijou」

My first thought was 'Oh, it's just a fire…'

Indifferent, detached. Other people could deal with it. I thought with the mentality of modern person looking at the news of a disaster on the other side of the city.

I was a little tired. From walking, from the crowd, from talking.

Then, that tiny voice that clung to my shoulders slapped me in the back of the head.

'OH SHIT IT'S A FIRE.'

The well structured infrastructure of the fire brigade, readily accessible water and extinguishers, and well insulated buildings do not exist here.

It's even worse because it's an encampment full of tents and very flammable things.

It's even more bad, because clearly everybody is panicking.

I had gotten swept away in the heat of the moment, but it was clear as day to me that the people here… while there were some people that tried to keep things organized, this Liberation Army really is just a ragtag group of poorly equipped and untrained people.

They are riding into the coattails of a charismatic leader and an ill-thought out dream.

People are panicking, nobody is really doing anything, the few that are don't know where to find help or the tools to quench the ensuing disaster. And the ones that do know already ran off to somewhere else.

The chaotic noise—

The thundering footsteps—

My head began to spin. I stood rooted in place, overwhelmed.

I had been spiraling when someone shook my shoulders aggressively.

"Hey! You're a mage right?! Do you know some weird magic for that?" Hobask asked hurriedly.

A small frown appears on my face "Why do you always have to call magic weird everytime?" I say reflexively. Latching into the first thing that sprouted from my disorderly mental state.

I belatedly realize the hands on my back.

He replies through gritted teeth. "That's not the point!" He begins pushing me. "Just go! We'll be right behind you."

"H-hey! I can walk by myself you know!" He shoves—

An old memory thought to be forgotten long ago surges.

He shoves me forward. I almost trip and fall.

It probably wasn't anything, just him using a little too much force because of the dire situation.

Crying, curled up and hiding.

Voices that are too loud.

People are looking.

Stifling air.

Pain.

Please let me out. LET ME OU—

I'm shook, I have never seen Hobask agitated like this, not even with Pedle.

It's just a little accident, nothing to worry about. I shake my head.

Rather than argue I find myself already moving my feet, clutching my staff tightly so I don't drop it as I stumble and bump into people running around.

By the time I was nearing the commotion I still hadn't noticed that Hobask and Pedle never followed.

——— –– –– -- - -

Smoke. Thick, but not enough to completely obstruct vision.

People. Running around.

Voices. Shouting.

I cover my ears, wincing. I had never really thought about the downside of having sensitive ears and hearing.

'Where is this fire everyone is yelling about?'

"Pfheh!" I bump into something.

"Huh? You!?" A voice yells.

I look up, and then up some more.

'Tall.' Is the only word that crosses my head before a hand glomps down on my skull.

Haldir, the leader of the camp, asks suspiciously. "Where do you think you are going?" His tone of voice leaves little room to complain about the pressure on my head.

…it didn't really hurt to be honest, but he was holding me with enough force to lift me off the ground with one hand alone. It was really awkward. I think it was supposed to intimidate me but it just made me embarrassed. 'Am I that light or does he have good arm strength?'

"I-I heard p-people shouting about some fire… A-and t-then I—" His hand's veins visibly began to stand out as he put more pressure. "I know a spell that can help!"

…

［Haldir］

His patience was already running thin with all these people acting like headless chickens. He doesn't have time for this.

For a moment he had forgotten what those two nitwits had told him. This diminute woman is a mage.

His first instinct was to suspect her as the arsonist of the fire. An outsider running around freely like this with the current emergency going on is highly suspicious. She should be shackled and in a cage until he can figure out what to do with her.

But well… if she wanted to make herself useful, who was he to stop her?

"Then what are you waiting for!?"

"Eep!" The girl flinches, "I don't know wh—"

"The Grain Storage!"

"Wher—"

"Shut up!" He growls. Then shoves her in the direction of the fire. A headache had been agonizing for a while now and any semblance of composure had faded away. "GO DO YOUR JOB ALREADY YOU FILTHY RUNT!"

"H-hey! I'm not—"

"Hah?! What was that?"

"N-nothing!" The woman flees away.

Some shitstain had set fire to the tents near the food storage. But right now the important thing was stopping it from spreading.

"Gyah!" A squeaky voice reaches his ears as the girl falls into the ground, having tripped on someone's foot.

Haldir scoffs. That thing? A scary and fearsome mage? Those two hoodlums probably exaggerated their story to seem more impressive.

——— –– –– -- - -

This was turning out to be a very frustrating day for me.

"Screw that guy!" I ended up cursing him out loud.

Now, onto the urgent problem.

I take a deep breath to calm myself—

*Cough* *Cough*

My lungs end up filled with smoke.

"Right, bad idea."

I… center myself. Nose wrinkled with the acrid smell of smoke.

With my hands outstretched forward, both grasping my staff in an upright position. I begin to channel.

Energy suffuses me, creeping up to my arms and my head. My belly feels warm and the outside world begins to feel muted to me.

A large matrix of intertwining lines, runes, and geometrical shapes begin to form. The light fills the area and everyone around me stops to stare.

More and more shapes begin to appear and slot into the growing spell, lines of indecipherable text that nobody could read, curves and lines that stretched and disappeared into the air as if part of something bigger and unseen.

It is as exhilarating as ever. Magic fills my veins, my body, my lungs.

The sheer saturation in the area begins to disturb the air, a wind that seems to come from nowhere starts blowing my hair upwards.

'⫍ Structure=MASS ⊳ Codex#DESIGN ⊳ Intention=SOUL ⊳ Desire:ICHOR⫎'

Magic, a spell. A weave of frequencies. A string of sigils. A line of runes. Woven, intertwined, ignited.

My personal little magic trick. Personified, amplified. An invisible symphony that only I can hear begins to roar. It is beautiful.

'⫍ Material to [life] ⊳ Blood for Life{} ⊳ y\\le2.3+\\ln(1-x^{2}/4) = XLII ⊳ //CALL\\ ⫎'

Elven magic has always been built on sturdy foundations, of cold logic and old words. Structured, precise, effective. I always wondered where the runes came from, how the first mages discovered the letters of power.

Magic crafted out not out of the chant of words, but out of the symphony of mana itself. Resonating, duplicating, dividing. Ripples drawn into reality. The descent of power. The ascending hammer. A declaration. A command. A call. A song.

Like water flowing down a glass fountain. The rake shaping the sand garden. A chisel carving into the fabric of reality itself.

The ethereal fuel in me known as mana bleeds out of me. I feel a strange sensation of my brain stretching as the matrice takes form.

And so, I cast my magic spell.

'>>f678c98//Heed_(parent)_I[]_call:DataStream_HeavensPlea_convene_convene_water_descent(Power=IV)\\execute'

//ACKNOWLEDGED\\

My voice reverberates the area with a deafening volume, even though my own mouth opens with the cadence of a whisper.

"『＋Ｍａｘｉ　Ｍａｘｉ　Ａｋｖｏ　Ｂｏｌｔａｒａ　Ａｃｋｖａｒａ＋』"

An iridescent beam strikes the heavens.

Rain begins to fall.

——— –– –– -- - -

［3rd POV］

A drop.

Two drops.

Small droplets prickling the skin.

"Huh?..." Someone stopped what they were doing, blinking in surprise as they extended their hands forward. "...Rain?"

Eight drops.

Thirty-two drops.

The sky begins to darken for all to see. Water falls.

— "It's raining!" —

— "How!!!???" —

— "It's a miracle!" —

— "Stop hauling buckets! Cover up the crates instead! Everything's going to get sopping wet at this rate!!!" —

— "It's rain! By the Lady's holy name it's raining!" —

Haldir stood, arms slack on his sides. Staring wide-mouthed to the sky.

As much as he loathed having to carry buckets, if it all burned down he wouldn't have an army to lead, so he had left to haul more water just like everyone else.

Nearby, a grinning little beastkin(?) girl accompanied him, a visible but shy smile on her face. She reached for her own coat and covered herself with a hood to shelter from the rain.

Haldir let himself become wet, in a vain distant hope that maybe he had just woken up on the wrong side of bed or was still dreaming.

The constant stream of rain hitting his face told him otherwise. And yet he still pinched himself to see if he wasn't hallucinating.

Because…

Because if this little girl who he had been staring down with hostility and plotting to sell off just earlier truly just summoned rain out of all things, like some sort of saint from legend.

This was no mere mage.

No, no, no… This was a breathing, walking leviathan that had just waltzed into his camp. A force so many magnitudes above of what he is equipped to handle that it isn't even funny.

Mages are supposed to be squishy scholarly types who can be taken down with a good punch. Not… whatever this is.

If he plays his cards right from now on, perhaps the tables can be flipped… if he doesn't…

Royally screwed would be an understatement.

——— –– –– -- - -

［Hobask & Pedle］

"Already saddling her to someone else?" Pedle needled him. "Shouldn't we help too?"

Wildfires are extremely serious problems in this day and age, cities where buildings made out of wood are close to each other demand that every single able hand to help, if the fire isn't contained and dealt with the entire place is at risk of burning to the ground.

The same goes for the Liberation army camp. Although the fire doesn't have buildings to burn, a few embers are enough to ignite the fragile tent covers.

"Nah… maybe if it gets too out of hand."

Hobask didn't want to help, yes, it's where he is living at the moment so he should care at least a little. But if everything burned down or not had nothing to do with him. It's not like he had any belongings nailed down, and there are already way too many people running around, they can deal with it.

Also, with the way so many people are rushing without looking where they are walking, getting knocked down and trampled upon are real concerns. Worst case scenario someone dies not because of the fire but simply because hundreds of people walked over them.

"How cunning of you." Pedle yawned and leaned back on his chair.

"You know already, I brought her here to get credit for finding a mage."

"You mean we."

"Geh… sure, if that soothes your ego."

Perhaps, in another time and place, they could have been friends. But here and now, Syuufarin was nothing more than a fortuitous happenstance for them. An annoying one that kept following them around.

That isn't to say that both of them aren't unaffected by the girl's goodwill. But the measure of gratitude they possess is tied to the rewards of bringing her into the fold of the army rather than any sense of thankfulness.

A moment of silence passed.

"Y'know, I sorta feel bad for her." Pedle said.

"Huh? Why? We barely even know her.'

"She's nice though."

"Her face or her body?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Oh, those too, both." Pedle barked out a laugh. "But she has that domestic aura, you know? Sort of like a puppy."

"Hm… not my fault she's so gullible though." Hobask waved him off. "For such a sophisticated person she really doesn't know her place. What was she expecting following us? Really. Pfft."

Maybe somewhere deep down, buried beneath layers of resentment, they regretted it.

A white lie. It is clear to anyone that their intentions are not noble.

If it weren't for the power she wields, chances are they'd stab her in the back and loot her body. Not because of a feeling of belonging to their faction or allegiance but out of simple and straightforward greed.

…But then, the girl had been honest, forthcoming, kind, and generous beyond any rational reason.

Hobask just doesn't want to look the girl in the face anymore. She… her whole existence makes him mad, she irks him. Someone like that who is naively kind makes him feel sick and guilty. The world doesn't work like that.

It didn't work like that for him.

Pedle, fool that he is, doesn't think too deeply about it beyond a chance of scoring it big.

Hobask flips a golden coin in his hand. He'd received it from Haldir after informing him of the potential big shot they'd found. Having a mage is a big multiplier to the army's strength. He got a clap on the back and had the punishment of arriving late with the weapon's shipment waved off.

"...Hey." Pedle suddenly said, oddly serious.

"What?"

"You don't think… all of this will come back to bite us back in our asses right?"

Hobask was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, it's fun going around getting everything we want. But it's been years and so far Haldir hasn't done anything big right? We get paid, sure, but so far we only really besieged some towns and took stuff from villages." He continues. "Also that woman…"

"What, you're worried about that pipsqueak?" Hobask scoffed.

"Well, she is a mage. They're scary." Pedle rubbed the back of his forearms. "If she finds out we sold her out she's got reasons to come after us."

"...True. But she's in the middle of the camp of the Liberation army, no way anything's going to happen to us. Haldir's got an eye on her now." Hobask shakes his head, dismissing Pedle's words.

After this, Haldir will take care of it. As the leader, even though he is not mage he can go toe to toe with some of the more experienced ones. Hobask is banking on that fact so that he can wash his hands off the situation.

He plips the coin on his hand one last time and pockets it.

Then, his eye twitches and closes. "What?"

He raises a hand to wipe his eye, his fingers touch something wet.

Pedle is looking up. "...clouds? But it was sunny just a second ago?"

More drops of water hit his face. Hobask raises a hand to protect his eyes.

He watches as the sky slowly turns white, then grey, and dark as clouds seem to manifest out nowhere.

People around them are rejoicing, but a pit of dread starts to settle on his stomach.

"H-hey… Hob, my buddy, friend." Pedle's voice trembles.

"...Y-Yeah?..."

"If… If that's the work of that girl you just called gullible… How deep in shit are we?"

"..."

Silence greets Pedle. When he turned his friend was already disappearing in the distance.

"Hobask?— Hey! Hey where are you running off to?! Hey come back you coward!"

。。。

——— –– –– -- - -

＞One day later

［Syuufarin］

。。。

'I may have… made a slight miscalculation.'

I've been relocated… invited. To stay inside a secluded tent near the center of the camp. It is visibly more fancy than the others, wider too. The canvas that makes up the roof and walls is of higher quality and thicker. The floor is covered by multiple carpets. And inside there are various accommodations and a war table.

I slept on a surprisingly comfortable hammock. It's been a while since I last used one.

They are now debating whether to treat me well like a V.I.P. or to throw me in a cell.

Some nutheads began clamoring about "the return of the saint" or something. Others were going nuts about demon nonsense too. They were all kicked out.

Turns out that when you conjure, as some have aptly put it, "fucking rain?!". It makes for a great first impression.

So great in fact. That I am now being treated as a living ticking time bomb— Or a super important princess ambassador.

Opinions vary.

"It has been barely a day since I got here and I'm already in trouble…" I flop on top of a chair and languish.

I don't get it.

Mages aren't very common, sure, but what the hell is this sort of reception? What I did was really that special?

From what I have overheard from the poorly concealed whispers (or maybe my hearing is good, or both.) normal mages are in the level of throwing an elemental ball of something, usually fire, a few times a day. Those are at the beginner scale, the first "rank" so to speak.

Then comes, by ascending level of power and ability: intermediate and advanced. Then, the names for the next ranks vary a lot, but follow a vague pattern of ascending significance.

Level 4 - Heaven or Hell tier. Sky level magick. Saints and heroes.

Level 5 - Noble or Monarch tier. Sun level magick. Kings and Dragons.

Level 6 - Sovereign or Exalted tier. World level magick. Emperors and Demigods.

Level 7 - I didn't hear anyone directly referencing it, but from what I gathered people implied that there is a seventh rank. But only things of legend and myths are rumored to have reached it. Or perhaps beings so overwhelmingly strong that they are all lumped together into the same category.

'I don't really get it, but it looks like people on the advanced level and above are really big shots. And well…'

Sneakily, I lift the flap of the tent I'm being confined in. There are many people outside loitering around with looks of scorn, confusion, pride, relief, but the overall sentiment is that of fear.

I'm no one important, I'm not a hero or someone privileged with authority, I'm just me. Someone insignificant.

Hobask and Pedle are nowhere to be seen, I don't know where they ended up. Even though this place is supposed to be where they are living right now I can't help but worry.

'They're adults, they should be able to handle themselves.' I ascertained myself. Maybe I was being a little patronizing, from my perspective they are simply… fragile, compared to me. But in the end they are the ones with much more experience around here than I.

Eventually, the chatter outside began to settle down.

Heavy footsteps drew my attention to the entrance. I almost fell down the chair I had been sitting on in a scramble to get into a presentable pose. A hand parted the flaps and threw them aside brusquely, Haldir appeared.

For a tense moment he regarded me with silent scrutiny.

"You."

"Y-yes?"

He crosses his arms—

—'whoa, they're thicker than my thighs.' I blinked for a brief moment, distracted by the sheer size of his biceps. It would be normal on a bodybuilder's physique but I never thought I would see such ridiculous proportions like this again. And elves tend to be on the leaner side.

I hadn't noticed it before but compared to the people I saw around the camp he is clearly trained and well-developed where the average person is comparatively emaciated and thin.

"Who are you?" He asks.

A second passes where I look at him with confusion. "What?" I thought we had already gone through the whole introduction process.

"No. Don't play games with me, woman. Do I look stupid to you?" He growled out.

".......u-um… I really don't know what you are talking about… what do you mean by that? I—"

He slams a palm on the nearest table, I jump a little on my chair.

"Who sent you? The dominion? The guilds? Hells, the fucking empire!?—" His head jerks off to the side, he then mutters to himself. "No, those self-righteous assholes would never let a demi-human be their messenger."

Haldir closes the distance in a single stride. Grabbing the backrest of the chair I'm sitting in with both hands and cornering me in between his arms. "There's no possible way a mage of such caliber would be left alone, much less unnoticed. The only possible explanation is that you come from somewhere and I want to know who, why, and how. NOW."

I hiccuped.

There's no sugarcoating.

I… may have blushed a little.

It might be a completely unserious and inappropriate reaction to the situation at hand— BUT HE WAS PRACTICALLY DOING A KABEDON ON ME— 'Gods have mercy on me I'm just a virgin!!!' I was screaming inside my head desperately.

'You don't— I can't— What am I even supposed to do in this situation?!'

He's practically breathing down on me with how close he is, my legs are almost being sandwiched in between his knees. My eyes dart around and blink around in panic, his face, his chest and his arms are covering my vision if I look straight ahead.

My reaction only made me look even more suspicious in his eyes, avoiding his gaze, shifting on my seat, it seemed like I was hiding something for sure and was horrible at hiding it.

'And he isn't exactly bad looking either!' My tail was awkwardly wrapping around my own legs and the chair I am sitting on.

If I wasn't quite self-aware of my own sex I certainly was now. 'Fu***ng hormones.' A thought crossed my head and I realized that I am technically a teenager again in this body and the way Haldir is—

'GYAAAAAAHHHHH!!! NO! STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! PURGE THOSE THOUGHTS! I WANNA GO BACK! GO BACK! AAAA—'

For a moment, Haldir was still furious, bearing down on me.

Then he saw my furiously flushed face, my looking away awkwardly to not make eye contact, exposed collarbones and overall exposed disposition being pushed back against the chair… And he became deeply disturbed.

——— –– –– -- - -

［Haldir］

。。。

"..."

"..."

Haldir took a slow, shuddering breath.

He releases the chair and pinches his brow so hard that Syuufarin momentarily forgot the earlier embarrassment and worried if it's safe to put so much pressure on his eyeballs like that.

The first card he thought to play was the intimidation one, it is what he is good at. The mage seemed meek and largely too trusting along with being naive.

It backfired marvelously.

For the sake of his operation, dissenters, spies, and anything that could compromise what he had been building are treated with zero-tolerance.

Then comes one day where two of his missing couriers show up, their horses missing, and accompanied by a stranger with a staff and a ridiculously large backpack.

If that wasn't ringing enough alarm bells. The stranger quickly joins into a critical station amongst their command structure as soon as she shows up. By then Haldir had only begun hearing about it and had no idea what was happening. Then, a suspiciously timed fire happens near their supply depots and the stranger conveniently solves the problem with a spell he never heard of before in his life.

If it weren't for his quartermaster risking getting demoted for insubordination for her, she wouldn't be here.

And now…

Now, the only thing he really wants is for this problematic woman to disappear from his sight…

But on the other hand, she is a mage, and if he manages to make good use of her, the boon would far outweigh the costs. Even if she's just a halfbreed demi-human.

Seducing her is an idea completely out of the table. The woman looks like a pubescent teen and also isn't human. He doesn't deny her beauty, but he would rather be caught dead than be caught accompanying one of their ilk.

Money, power, fame… He will need to test what sways her.

A plan slowly starts to form. He still has that favor from his… associates.

He'll make sure that she won't be able to want to leave.

。。。

——— –– –– -- - -

Haldir continued to pinch his brow in an increasingly angry manner and now there was a steady growl building up that I could hear from him.

I begin inching away little by little away from him, turning to sit sideways ready to jump away just in case.

Haldir coughs out loud, bringing my attention back to reality.

"Miss mage, I assure you that my earlier behavior was justified, you must understand that we have been going through rather dangerous times as of lately. But I digress, in troublesome days ahead, we could certainly use the assistance of such an established magic user such as yourself. Would you care to accompany me for a meal?"

Both of my eyebrows raise as I stare at him with a perplexed look.

...Suspicious. way too suspicious.

"..." Haldir's forehead twitches.

"Oh… Hehe… did I say that out loud?"

He tries again. "I… apologize for my earlier behavior," He says through poorly concealed frustration, as if the very notion of apologizing is painful. "I have prematurely judged you in a hasty manner. However I assure you that was a simple slip of my composure, that will not happen again. Now, come. And listen to my proposition."

。。。

"I think you'll find our friendship… agreeable." And with that, Haldir leaves with a smile.

He cleared up the air between us, or at least tried to, and said I could continue helping the Quartermaster for now. Further deals could be negotiated later.

Later, when I met with the man in question.

"Oh… Um… are you alright?"

The Quartermaster's left eye was black and swollen, it looked very painful.

He sighed. Looking oddly relieved. "To have a fair maiden worry for my health soothes my heart… These are the consequences of my own actions, I am fine, don't worry about it."

"If you say so…"

For that day, I helped him with paperwork again, and he paid for my work in silver.

When I asked about those gold coins he gave me the first time, he waved me off saying that it was a signing bonus. And that I didn't need to return it.

…I really don't have any reference of how valuable these actually are, probably a lot though.

Hobask and Pedle also seem to have disappeared.

I tried asking, searching, and looking for them, but nothing came up. The only one even vaguely acquainted with them is the Quartermaster because of his role but he seldom mingles with his subordinates.

Just like that another day passed.

My accommodations were in a tent near the Quartermaster's office, just beside some other bigger tents that I believe to belong to other higher ranked people.

'Getting hired for a job certainly isn't how I was expecting to do on first contact with this world's humans' There was a comedic irony in the fact. Someone like me who abhors work getting a cushy job just as I enter society.

Despite getting paid, there isn't really anywhere to spend the coin I got anywhere. At best the gambling tables and the odd person selling their own services.

…

On the third day, I mustered the courage to strike up a conversation with a stranger.

They looked over the top of my head once, scoffed, and then walked away.

I sulked for the entirety of daylight.

…

On the fifth day my enthusiasm was still greatly dimmed, but I tried again.

This time, it was with one of the so-called "captains" that made out the officers of the army.

"So…" I hesitantly begin. "How did you end up joining?"

He spat on the ground.

'He… What?...'

I stood there, frozen.

"As if I'd tell you. Get lost, bitch. Go back to sucking that penny-pincher's rod and choke on it."

"O-oh… um… sorry…" I left the area with drooped ears.

That night I tossed and turned on my sleep trying to figure out why people were being so offputting towards me.

…

It was only on the sixth day, where the Quartermaster was finally beginning to be able to see across his desk now that the piles of paper didn't tower over him, that I mustered the strength to ask.

"Uuuuuuuuu…" I cried. "Why does everyone hate me?"

My enthusiasm for work was nil. In the beginning I was glad to help, seeing the state the man was in. Getting paid with shiny metals also helped in that regard. But now, after endless page after page of reports not only did it get numbingly boring but also I felt… unwelcome.

My search for the two wayward friends bore no fruit after all this time.

Haldir only shows up twice a day during meals to chat with me. He really likes talking about himself… Though I end up not remembering anything about what he talked to me after.

It was a gut-wrenching feeling of indifference that made me consider quitting. At the end of the day, the few connections I made with people aren't that deep and it's not like I'm stuck here. Nothing is stopping me from taking my luggage and just leaving.

The Quartermaster made a face as if he sucked a lemon.

For a long while he seemed to be lost on whether to address me or look down at his desk.

"..." I simply stared at him. Patiently waiting.

He cracked. "Beastkin…" he began with a clipped but measured tone. "Those with animalistic traits and appendages, such as you— Though I admit I never seen a horned lizard beastkin before." He added.

"But… I'm not—" I begin to say, confused. 'I'm not a beastkin.' I thought to myself, even though I don't know what I truly am.

He doesn't hear me and continues talking. "They are all messy and destructive folk, impulsive and aggressive and often leave fur everywhere. No better than animals… You're fine though. Much more polite and useful."

I look at him.

Really look at him.

What he said, He— He—

'I got a bad feeling about this…'

——— –– –– -- - -

On the following day, the army began preparations to set out.

"My brothers and sisters!" Haldir stood atop a raised platform. "You have been spat upon, broken, and discarded by the lords and merchants who sit fat in their halls. The elite bourgeois and the arrogant men atop their decadent thrones will rue the day they repent for their transgressions."

The crowd cheers.

"Behold!" Haldir brandishes a sword, the sheen of metal glinting as he points it downwards towards the audience. "You hold no titles. You wear no gilded armor. But your hearts are iron, your will unyielding. Every scar on your body, every day you starved, every lash of the whip they laid upon you—that is your training, your discipline, your weapon. You are forged not in comfort, but in struggle. I have seen men with nothing—less than nothing—stand shoulder to shoulder and break the armies of tyrants."

"Together, we are the venom and the cure that will cleanse this land of their corruption! We will take what is— what always was, rightfully ours! Tell me! Do you not anger, do you not feel wrath as they rot in their gilded thrones and take pleasure in our suffering? What have they done to deserve their opulence? Nothing! I tell you, nothing!" His voice turns seething at the end.

The crowd cheers louder.

"When we march, we march not just for ourselves, but for the children who deserve bread, not chains. For the world that deserves freedom, not rule by parasites fattened on your blood. We will storm their walls with a hail of arrows! Cleanse the land with fire! We are the brimstone that consumes the ivory towers! We are the quagmire they will drown in! Our hearts are our might! Our fury is the blade that will rend their despicable rule! So steel yourselves! Lift your weapons! And when the charge is called, you will not be vagrants. You will not be peasants. You will be the storm that sweeps their rotten order into the dust of history."

"I HEREBY VOW! THEY WILL MARK THE DAY THEY HEAR THE NAME OF THEIR EXECUTIONER! CASEISDO SHALL BREAK AGAINST OUR RIGHTEOUS TIDE, LET THE TYRANTS LEARN THE FEAR THEY SO FREELY GAVE US!"

The volume is deafening, people raise their fists, blades, and voices as they scream and shout.

"WAVE THE FLAGS OF REVOLUTION! DOWN WITH THE KING! FOR THE LIBERATION ARMY!"

"ＲＲＡＡＡＨＨＨＨＨＨ！！！"

…

The entire camp was overcome with a flurry of movement.

Despite the army being barely organized and lacking in proper command structure, everyone moved with a strange fluidity. Tents were taken down and rolled up. Supplies and food stored and secured.

I was looking over everything, lost, when I spotted two familiar faces.

I began running over to greet them, to ask where in the world they have been. But as I got closer I began to doubt if I really should.

Why?

Are they not friends? What is the problem? They… they don't hate me, right?

For a while, as I lived in the camp I began to question everything. No matter how I put it… it was simmering with an undisputable darkness under the hood. All the signs were there, but I had been refusing to look at them.

Sneaking in closer, they don't notice me.

I stand there for a good minute behind them. Until I poke Hobask's side.

"Huh, what— !!!" He chokes on air.

Pedle gives a double take at me with wide eyes.

For a moment, everyone quietly accesses each other.

"...um" I began to ask, unsure of what to say.

Peddle abruptly comes over to sling his arm over my shoulder. I dodge under him. For a just moment he seems a little bummed about it. "Hey heyyyy! Where have you been all this time?" He says with an upbeat voice.

"Oh…" I utter, sort of relieved that maybe I was overthinking things. But also scared of what is to come. "I've been here and there… mostly in the office. Where were you?" I ask.

"Ah— well…" He glances to Hobask "You know, here and there. There are about one thousand people around here, maybe it was just bad luck that we never crossed each other!"

I stare at him. 'I searched for you multiple times in the past few days… Am I really unlucky like that?' I think to myself. '...Or were they avoiding me?... Why would they avoid me? Did I do something wrong?'

"I see." I settled on saying.

"Hahah, yeah… So what are you going to do now? For me, I'm looking forward to when we attack Himmrest!"

I freeze.

"Himmrest... Attack?..."

"Yeah! The town we are going to this time." He sighed. "Last time I couldn't get anything! By the time I got to the other town everyone else had already looted everything. The only stuff left was either covered in blood or buried under something."

"..." This happened more than once? Loot? My expression becomes more and more serious as I hear Pedle talk about thinly veiled banditry with a bright face.

Why? Why are you saying such things like it's normal? Don't you feel bad for it? It's wrong and immoral. Aren't you part of a group that fights for equality? Then why are you… acting like that?

Acting just as bad as the villains of the story you told me?

I turn to look at Hobask in the eyes, in a vain attempt of hopeful dissolution from the picture that is being drawn.

There is a gold coin in his hands. He flips it in between his fingers.

What he tells me next crushes any naive expectations that I had.

"Why the long face? It's free stuff. Not like they're going to use it anymore right? Not after we're done with them."

——— –– –– -- - -

'I-I… This… I don't know if I want to stay here… anymore.' I have been getting conflicting vibes from this place for a while now.

And not just because of the crazy people outside, or the crazy person in front of me.

'Ok, maybe it's precisely because of these crazy people, they're the main reason but also—'

For a so-called "Liberation army" I've only seen… normal people.

There aren't soldiers, discipline, or really any sort of organized effort. This place resembles more a vague gathering of homeless people and civilians rather than an army.

The only major difference is that there are a lot of armed people. Though they really look like they don't know what they're doing with their weapons. The ones that do, have a much more rugged and sharper appearance, like what you would expect of someone who handles blades on a daily basis. But those people are a small minority, I only saw 5 people like that in the hundreds that I crossed paths with.

This camp feels like… a big, giant gang instead.

'—I don't know anything about war. What these people are doing… isn't it just pillaging?'

I don't want to assume. To reach unverified conclusions just because these people are a little rough around the edges.

The quartermaster seemed decent, Hobask and Pedle are troublemakers but are honest people. Haldir is just stressed, that I can understand. There's no reason to be thinking bad of them like this.

I wanted to hope that they are good people.

But now… I'm not sure anymore.

——— –– –– -- - -

In the middle of the night.

'A well-informed, logical, and pragmatic decision would be to leg it and to be getting out of here yesterday.'

I preside over my packed belongings. The camp is set to move out tomorrow, except for a few people doing night watch everyone is asleep. I only need to pick them up and walk away.

But I stay there, standing alone in the dark without doing anything.

I really, really, very much hoped to make new friends and have a wonderful time exploring the world.

A childish fantasy, a dream. Something that deep down I knew was idealistic but strived towards anyway.

Me. that person who is notoriously introverted in both lives. Wanted to socialize so much that they picked the first thing they found to attach themselves to.

Looking back, I was being an idiot.

'Really, what was I thinking?' I laugh at myself.

Still. I hoped, believed, deluded myself… and then burned myself for it.

I'm trying to leave before I regret it even more than I am now.

Hobask, Pedle, the Quartermaster… I wanted them to be, but they are not… Friends. They're acquaintances at best, and… it hurts, deeply, to admit. That at worst they're enemies.

It is with a heavy heart that I close my luggage and finish preparations to leave.

The night is quiet. People quietly rustle in their sleep. The soft crackling of scattered torches fill the ambience and illuminate key points of the camp. Not everyone has complete tents to cover them from the elements and wind, so a good portion of people sleep out in the open with blankets or sleeping bags, covered by a simple canvas set up simply in case it rains.

Sneaking… There is almost no need to. Guards are sparse and I can see the few of them from far away when they approach. It would be more apt to call them sentries instead of guards, I think they are only patrolling so that if something happens they can alert everyone rather than doing actual defense.

As I am walking freely towards the edge of the camp I spot Haldir, awake, and walking hurriedly.

Literally, so insanely suspicious.

Against my better judgement, I stalked him. It was laughably easy. I didn't even need to hide myself or follow from a distance, simply walking in the open darkness behind him was enough. Even if he turned around it would be hard to see me in the almost pitch blackness of the night.

He unwittingly led me to another tent, the same place where he always offered me tea, and began talking right away with someone.

"You f***ing bastard you gave me a fake product!" Immediately after I heard aggressive shuffling around. "That crap is useless! Are you so cheap that you are stooping to selling defective goods now?!"

A composed, but slightly harrowed voice replied. "...I assure you that we delivered exactly what you requested." Then it turned threatening. "And we do not take such accusations lightly, sir Haldir."

"That lizard has been fed the drugs, and nothing happened!"

"Are you certain you have used the correct dosage? Too little will have negligible effects, too much will risk their health. By now they should be stuck in a happy stupor enough for you to do anything you wish with them."

"Then why isn't it working?!"

"I am afraid I do not follow."

"That demi-human woman, So-yun or whatever. I've been giving her a spiked drink for days now! The best result I got was her getting a little forgetful and somnolent, but not nearly enough to order her around as I want."

"Are you certain?..." The other voice asked doubtfully. "That substance is extremely addictive."

My breath hitches. '………Ｏｈ………'

Words cannot express the whirlpool of emotions that crushed me in that singular moment.

'He was poisoning?!— Drugging… me this entire time?...'

My breath quickens. An invisible ball climbs up my throat, I want to cry. I gulp it down, it climbs back up again. I feel like my ears are ringing. An indescribable sadness overwhelms me.

'Was it all… really…'

A lie?

A rough hand seizes my shoulder with force.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A patrol man yelled at me.

Inside the tent, Haldir and a stranger abruptly stop their conversation.

I panic.

I lash out.

There is no helping it. Was what I would tell myself in the end of everything.

I ready my magic spell.

——— –– –– -- - -

Arcane light.

Splitting earth.

An explosion of dust.

A stray torch fell, fire.

And then, darkness.

Nobody knew what hit them, out of nowhere the camp was engulfed in a cloud of dust so thick that they could not see even one step ahead of them.

That's when the shouting began.

5 long minutes passed where confusion spread while the dust slowly settled.

Haldir, their boss, their leader. And more importantly the figure that everyone had met at least once, and that everyone pays a certain amount of respect to. Appeared bruised and battered, and covered in mud.

"FETCH ME THAT FUCKING DEMI-HUMAN!!!"

——— –– –– -- - -

I coughed as I ran. A suffocating pain in my chest.

I didn't know if I wanted to sob and cry, or if I wanted to scream and tear things apart.

'It's just—' My very thoughts choked, I couldn't bring myself to choose any words to describe what I was feeling.

Unfair, not my fault, inevitable, deserving, death, fate, blind, idiot idiot idiot idi—

I cough again, a bubbling laughter rising up my chest, I choke, I cry a little, and hiccup.

For some reason, I smile, even though there was nothing but anguish in my head.

And then I laugh. Uncontrollably, manically, as I ran away. All whilst my eyes throbbed with tears and I felt like my heart wanted to rip itself out of my chest.

'This is the worst day of my life.'

——— –– –– -- - -