Side Story 9: This party has no future…

Side Story 9: This party has no future...

As you must have been already aware, today is the day that you will leave the confines of the church for the first time, the knight-commander said. It has been four months since we have summoned you here to our world as Goddess Aurenas chosen. As we have told you, your God-chosen task is it to aid us against the menace that are the demonkins, who threaten our society with their vile existence and wanton wish for our extinction.

Gulp, I unconsciously gulped from the sound of this. It was clear that most of my classmates also had the same reaction when they heard the word extinction.

We were about to take a step towards our path towards returning back home, and the key to that door meant that we had to fight against the demonkin, one of Peolyncas many sentient races.

Considering how often this trope has been used in fantasy stories, movies, games, and all sorts of fiction, I shouldnt be surprised about it, but Im the one who has to do it this time. I have to participate in this fight, and I have to fight so that I could go back home. Its fucked up no matter how many times I say it.

Of course, we cannot expect to send you into the turmoil that is happening in the Empire, right now, the commander further added. They are currently at war with the beastmen and the demonkin. It is currently too dangerous for all of you to be there, especially when your task is to only defeat the demonkin. We would like to have it stay like that, but if the situation escalates

we will have to participate in another war that has nothing to do with us.

"Excuse me," I controlled my emotions as I turned my head towards the person who said that, trying my best not to cause another stir. "You aren't insinuating that we must fight in another of your wars, correct?"

Hmm, you were the one with the unique skill [Justice for All], correct? the commander asked.

Yes, I would like to be addressed as Akabane, he said, annoyed that the commander called him by his skill name.

The one who spoke out was Daisy, one of the five party leaders. He confidently spoke up with his usual haughty tone even towards somebody with so much authority and power as the Knights-Commander?

I see the commander scratched the stubbles on his chin, thinking his answer through. I personally would like to avoid having to ask you heroes to join the war efforts, but were the Empire to lose the battle, then it would have dire consequences for all of us humans, including all of you.

I could see multiple people gulping and wanting to scream and complain, but their common sense seems to have stopped them from doing so. However, I figured that it had something to do with the aura that the commander was emitting.

The pressure was strong enough that it made it hard to talk. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up from merely being in this persons presence and I had to take in deeper and deeper breathes by the second.

Is this man trying to suppress us so we would stop asking questions? Is he seriously trying to stop us from talking? Who the hell is supposed to speak, right now, huh?!

With all due respect, thats not what we agreed on, however, much to my surprise, Daisy continued speaking without a problem. We are to suppress the demonkins rising power and eliminate their leaders in the process. That was the agreement.

Yeah! at that moment Akanishi also spoke up. My role is to bring everybody in our class back to Japan, back to Earth! Youve kidnapped us to this world and youre also forcing us to deal with your problem, while we dont even belong here. Not only must we risk our lives to go back home, now you even want to put even more problems on our shoulders?

You are misunderstanding, the intensity of the pressure began to increase, as the commander raised his voice. It is only a presumption, but that is why I am mentioning it now. It won't happen anytime soon, but I am responsible for warning you of the possibility. That is why it is even more important that you work hard during your trip to the dungeon, as the strength that you gain there will become your insurance in the worst-case scenario.

It seems the aura that the commander was releasing finally silenced those two. Still, it was impressive that those two were the only ones that were able to speak at all, while everybody's mouth was close shut.

I wanted to say something also, but it was impossible. My body wouldnt want to listen to me at all. It wasnt like when Elrick tried to force me into obeying him, I was sweating but I would have been able to talk back, I just knew that I shouldnt.

However, I just couldn't do anything compared to the commander's presence. How fucking powerful is he?!

I am glad that I have made myself clear so you may understand, honored heroes, as nobody responded, the knight-commander took the silence as acceptance. So, let me announce the plan for this excursion. You will all travel in carriages towards Laveata Town, where you will enter the E rank dungeon, Fur Walker Dungeon, to train and level up.

Once we returned back to the topic at hand, the atmosphere became laxer and all the pressure from before vanished into thin air. I could hear a collective sigh in relief from nearly everybody when that happens. I wasn't the exception here.

Ignoring this, the commander continued, Once there, you will each split up into your respective teams with your assigned knight to hunt and kill monsters. We will also issue you quests from the Hunter and Mercenary guilds, so you may earn money, gain experience, and raise your standing, or rank, simultaneously. You will be doing this on-site, at the local guilds.

Hearing the words Quest and Guild would normally make me extremely excited but my mood just wouldnt let me. If we had left after the Pope gave us that blessing, then everything would be just like normalbut this guy just had to kill our joy.

This is the first time that Ive met the knight-commander, but I can already say that he is definitely a 100%, 24/7 asshole. What was that girls name again? Amelia von Baltalz? I pity her for being this guys secretary.

"I wonder if there are any continuous kill quests?" he said in a whisper, but my trained ears could clearly hear Mikamis greedy talk.

Killingis that really what we have to do? I was also able to hear the Sakamoto-sans mumbling.

Hopefully, they wont toss us into hell to level up faster, Kyouya moved his head closer to me and whispered.

I nodded and responded, As much as I enjoy getting carried through the first few levels, I would prefer learning how to do all this killing stuff than to rely on the church. Especially after today.

Yeah, Kyouya agreed. Killing cant be as hard as they make it up in movies, right? ...Well, I hope I dont have to throw up.

As I patted Kyouyas shoulders, the knight-commander continued speaking Every party should have acquainted themselves with their assigned knight when they had the opportunity to change Jobs. I shall now introduce them to everybody so if I may have yourperfect timing Karstein.

Arriving as he was about to be called up, Elrick came back with a red-eyed Hanazawa. Her tears were cleaned off and it seems her makeup was reapplied, seeing as a grey-robed shrine maiden was following the duo.

Why is Sakamoto-san mentioning Sir Elrick? What does he have to do with this whole quarrel?

SHUT UP! suddenly, Hanazawas eyes began shining white and an aura covered her body. Shocked by this phenomenon, Sir Elrick let his guard down and Hanazawa was able to slip through his grip like a snake.

The girl then proceeded to punch Kyouya in the face with her fist still covered in that white aura like veil, knocking him backward helplessly as he groaned.

Kyouya! I shouted out.

Where is that strength coming from?! She knocked Kyouya out!

Hiiiieeee! yelping, Sakamoto-san fell on the ground limply as Hanazawa punched away our partys tank.

Roughly picking her up again, Hanazawa roared, SAY THAT IN MY FACE YOU MIDGET!

As she was about to hit the crying Sakamoto-san with the same hand that sent Kyouya flying, I could see that Aiko, Akanishi and our two former class representatives, Tsuji-san and Kudo were rushing towards our location, weapons-ready.

My body was also demanding me to stop her, not because of the promise that I made to Aiko and Tsuji-san to protect Sakamoto-san but because that bitch Hanazawa just knocked out my best friend!

HANAZAWA! sheathing my spear, my body unconsciously moved by itself from this pure rage building up inside me, not relenting until the tip of my spear reaches her body.

[Rush Hour] inflicted on [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]>

ENOUGH! with what sounded like Elricks voice, something knocked my spear out of my hand and slammed my whole body onto the ground.

Calm Mind, somebody said behind my body.

As he said that, the rage inside me dispersed and my mind started to cool down from all that adrenaline and anger.

Unfortunately, calming down also dispelled [Rush Hour].

[Starvation (Minor)] [Exhaustion (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]>

Immediately afterward, the side effects of this powerful skill assaulted me. Even if I wanted to do something now, the lethargy of [Exhaustion (Moderate)] has killed off all my strength and will to stand up.

Luckily, I was still able to move my eyes. I could see that the other four who wanted to stop Hanazawa were equally blocked by somebody.

Akanishi was slammed on the ground by his partys knight, Sir Royce Albert Loucestro, while Kudo had his arm bent behind his back in a policeman grip by Sir Falamm Astolfus.

Tsuji-san and Aiko, on the other hand, weren't as roughly handled as us guys. Lady Yorshka, Tsuji-sans partys knight was simply holding an open hand in front of her, asking her to stop otherwise she will do exactly the same as what the knights have done to us dudes. Aiko was a saint candidate, so nobody even tried to stop her, but the mere sight of Akanishi being held down prompted her to stop from fear.

In the meantime, Elrick was able to use the spell [Calm Mind] on both Sakamoto-san and Hanazawa, diffusing the situation before it got to the point of no return.

If those four knights are there, then that meant that Sir Karlst von Kriemhild, Daisys knight, was holding me down. Did he target me because of Daisys orders?! I fucking bet he did!

With that, this whole mess ended. We were then scolded by our knights and were urgently forced to go to the carriage now, as we have wasted a ton of time.

While the other parties werent really affected by this whole fight, my party was in a terrible state. Kyouya was healed with healing magic but he felt dizzy and nauseous while he entered the carriage. Sakamoto-san kept crying and curled herself in a fetus position inside the carriage. Hanazawa pulled the window blinders of our carriage down and stayed deadly still as she silently wept.

Me? I was still under the side effects of my unique skill. I could barely move my body as I slowly placed bits of fruits inside my mouth, as nobody wanted to feed me. [Starvation] and [Exhaustion] are a bitch combination.

Elrick tried to console Hanazawa but to no avail.

The only person that wasn't affected was fucking Mikami who simply mumbled, "The catfight was at its peak. Just a bit more and they would have torn each other's clothes off. What a shame."

I wish I saved up [Rush Hour] so I could turn him into shish kebab now

From outside our carriage, I could hear the thunderous cheering of the citizens of this world and the voices of my classmates reciprocating the crowd's feverish yells.

I wanted to see the citizens and the citys appearance, but the blinders were down. My body was too weak to even pull them up and even asking was impossible. Hanazawa told Elrick to not pull the blinders up at any cost.

So, it seems that Team Misfits, not only caused two loud shouting battles, but it would also seem like we would miss out on the crowd-pleasing part

I fucking hate my life