Published: March 21, 2026
"Gram"
The man introduced himself with a laugh.
He was the Demon Clan who welcomed the ones who tried to kidnap Amelia into the Brute Labyrinth, the one who planned to tear apart the contest-winning Amelia and sell her, the one who killed Crow's sister.
None of those acts were directly carried out by him, and the Amelia-related plot ended in an attempt, but there was no doubt he was a threat to us.
Normally I'd mock his choice of first-person pronoun, but this wasn't the time for that.
How do we get out of here?
I hoped we could leave peacefully if possible.
I felt a greasy face squelch into view — maybe it was just my visceral disgust — either way, I didn't want to stare at him.
I put Amelia behind me so he wouldn't see that face.
"Oh? Who might you be? I am speaking with lady Amelia."
This time his eyes turned to me as I shielded Amelia behind myself.
A cold wave ran up my skin.
It's rare for me to feel such disgust toward someone.
I've never hated a teacher who gave incomprehensible lectures or one who shouted like this this much.
I kept my mouth shut, and Gram looked me up and down, then snapped his fingers.
"I see, you are Amelia's guard. Well then, thank you for your trouble up to now. Go home to your homeland and rest."
What the hell is he saying?
I don't deny being a guard, but the problem was what he said next.
He spoke as if to say, "From here on, I'm by Amelia's side, so you are no longer needed."
"Huh?"
A low, ground-rumbling voice came out of me, surprising even myself.
Raul and Keria nearby flinched.
A little killing intent must have slipped out.
Unfortunately Gram didn't notice, and with the same smiling sneer he continued.
"What? You say your reward hasn't been paid yet? How much did the elf king offer? I'll pay double, so you're no longer needed. Besides, how did someone of the Human race get close to lady Amelia? With your body?"
Apparently he also thought humans were inferior.
There's nothing more troublesome than someone who thinks they're always right.
Raul couldn't stay silent in the face of an insult toward me.
"Mind your tongue. Even if you're the guild master, it's unforgivable to insult the one called 'dark assassin' who came here by hero summoning."
He stepped forward, puffed his chest out, and politely explained who I was.
But he shouldn't have said that.
Gram's eyes instantly changed.
"You claim you were summoned as a hero? That's strange."
"What is?"
I felt something and finally spoke.
"From what I heard, the heroes only left King Reytis's castle once to go to the Cantinen Labyrinth. After that, they stayed holed up in the castle. So how is that hero here? Have you decided to kill the demon king?"
Past heroes contributed to the development of this world.
Some didn't defeat the demon king, but they still did things that helped the people here.
Odd things like cameras and other out-of-place items in this world were brought by the heroes.
But since we were summoned, we did nothing — aside from going to the Cantinen Labyrinth to learn to fight, we've been holed up in the castle, refusing to fight — so the humans call us "parasites."
That information wasn't wrong.
We came here, learned how to fight, and went to the Cantinen Labyrinth.
But they don't know how unreasonable hero summoning is.
They don't know we came from a peaceful world that didn't know war.
They think it's natural for heroes to do things for them.
They don't see how selfish that is.
"First, I wasn't summoned here as a hero. And we won't be killing the demon king."
"Not a hero? What nonsense. That a hero summoner would kill the demon king is obvious — it's the natural order of this world."
Why do people here expect others to do what they can't?
If they were truly desperate and begging sincerely for help, I might understand.
But King Reytis, who asked us to defeat the demon king, intended to use us.
We are not dolls who obey orders.
We have feelings and resistance to killing people.
That's why they tried to curse us using the princess.
"Behave like a hero — gestures, actions, words." That was the curse the princess put on the heroes.