My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Looking back now, Sato-kun might have been acting a little strange today.

After being together for a while, I’d learned that Sato-kun is the kind of worrywart who taps a stone bridge before crossing it.

Maybe he’s remembering what happened in the Cantinen Labyrinth; when fighting demonic beasts he insists on being fully prepared, and he’s especially cautious about curses.

The Sato-kun at school was a little hard to approach, but this current Sato-kun was putting everyone first and doing everything he could. Even I, who hadn’t talked to him much, could tell.

Normally, he wouldn’t suggest splitting up in such a dangerous place.

What popped into my head was the curse that had been placed on Sato-kun back in the Cantinen Labyrinth.

Ueno-san said that curse had been lifted, but because his profession level was still low back then, it might not have been fully broken.

Or he might have been afflicted by a new curse.

He hadn’t come into contact with anyone suspicious, so the former seemed more likely.

Either way, things were bleak.

We were surrounded by tree-like demonic beasts. My shield had been shattered, and the single sword I gripped trembled violently.

I couldn’t take a step back—Ueno-san and Sato-kun were injured behind me.

Ahead loomed an enemy far beyond what I could defeat.

I didn’t want to die like this, as the pathetic version of myself that I hated.

To survive I had to turn this situation—where we were outnumbered and outclassed—around.

What would Asahina-kun do in a situation like this?

I pictured the person I admired in my head.

If he were the protagonist of a story, he’d probably stay calm and do what he could, step by step.

So I had to do what I could.

“U—Ueno-san!”

I forced my trembling voice to be loud and called to her without looking away from the front.

“W-what is it!?”

Ueno-san’s voice cracked in surprise.

It was true—this was almost the first time I’d ever spoken to her.

Still, she didn’t have to be that surprised.

But thinking about that unnecessary detail helped calm me a little.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the power to beat these things. If things keep going like this, the three of us will die here.”

I heard the sucking in of breath behind me.

Ueno-san couldn’t run because her leg was injured.

Even if I fought the enemy that had weakened Sato-kun this badly, I wouldn’t even be able to buy time.

“Luckily, they’re underestimating us, so they’ll probably toy with us slowly. That means we still have a little time.”

“That’s not lucky at all!... You’re not planning to leave us and run away, Shi-kun, right?”

Ueno-san said that as she covered Sato-kun, and I let out a bitter laugh.

Leaving Sato-kun here and running would be the worst move.

As the hero, Sato-kun’s death would be the thing we most needed to avoid when thinking about what comes next.

“That’s not it. I can’t defeat them. So I want Sato-kun—the one who can— to defeat them.”

Sato-kun had stood to protect us even when he was grievously wounded in the Cantinen Labyrinth.

Now, even unconscious, he was trying to force himself to get up.

Asking him to push himself even further made me feel like a terrible person.

I pulled a bottle from my pack and tossed it toward Ueno-san.

“Th-this is—!”

Ueno-san caught the bottle and gasped.

She probably recognized it.

Before entering the Cantinen Labyrinth, each of us had been issued five Vitality Potions.

Most classmates had used theirs up in the labyrinth, and these weren’t something ordinary adventurers could afford, so this was surely the last one.

We all knew what a Vitality Potion could do from Commander Saran’s demonstration and from our own experience in the Cantinen Labyrinth.

It would most likely heal Sato-kun’s wounds.

“Also, please do a ‘curse removal’ just in case. You noticed Sato-kun was acting odd today too, right, Ueno-san?”

“I-I understand.”

She was still facing forward so I couldn’t see her expression, but she nodded.

“…Curse, leave from before me— ‘curse removal’.”