My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"Actually, it was thanks to Asahina-kun's markers."

Sato-kun explained with a wry smile how we had managed to find our way here.

Everyone had seen that Asahina-kun had been marking the trees.

But since we were heading in roughly the same direction, we hadn't thought markers were necessary and hadn't left any.

That meant the unnatural cut marks on the trees were all likely made after Asahina-kun's group passed by.

If we tracked the marks on real trees—not the demonic beasts that looked like trees—we would naturally be led to Asahina-kun and the others.

And the mark that Ms. Ueno found after finishing treatment was exactly one of Asahina-kun's.

After thanking Asahina-kun's group for that, Sato-kun turned back to us with a serious expression.

"I also put everyone in danger because I was under some kind of curse. I'm really sorry."

Sato-kun bowed deeply. I admired how earnest he was.

If he had kept quiet, no one would have known. Even if he told us, the curse had already been lifted—it was in the past.

I think Ueno-san felt the same; none of us intended to broadcast it widely.

"So Sato was already cursed when we divided into groups?"

Everyone assumed the group assignments were a training exercise because they were paired with people they didn't know well.

Even someone as stoic as Sato-kun wouldn't deliberately train in a place where a single slip could mean death—so it made sense to think it was for practice.

Still, Asahina-kun was a bit absent-minded.

"That's right. If not for Tsuda-kun's quick thinking and Ms. Ueno's efforts, and if Mr. Zeal and Nanase-kun hadn't warned us about the lord of the forest, our team would have been wiped out."

Sato-kun bowed again, apologetic.

We exchanged looks. Through eye contact, Ms. Hosoyama, as our representative, spoke up.

"Raise your head, Sato-kun. You're our leader, and you do have the authority to make decisions, but we never meant to load everything onto you."

It was all hindsight, but the important thing was that nobody had died this time.

If no one died, we're okay.

If no one died, we could still hold on to the hope of returning home.

"What Sato-kun did wrong this time was that he'd been cursed once before and took no precautions, and that he tends to shoulder everything himself. We're still within Beastmen territory, just close to Demon Clan territory. If we stumble here, we won't even make it to the Demon King's Castle, let alone back home. We all need to grow."

At Ms. Hosoyama's words—"Hey, everyone"—we all nodded.

Seeing that, Sato-kun bit his lip, bowed once more, and then raised his head. His face looked refreshingly lighter, as if a burden had been lifted.

He was right. If we tripped over monsters in a place like this, we wouldn't stand a chance against the monsters in Demon Clan territory.

Since we resolved ourselves this time, we've improved, but it's still not enough.

We need more training.

I want to be strong enough to catch up to Asahina-kun.

"Now that our stomachs and spirits are settled, let's confirm our plans going forward."

At Mr. Zeal's words we looked up.

Sato-kun spread something like a map in the center so everyone could see.

It wasn't the detailed kind we used in class, with place names written all over it. It was a somewhat crude, hand-drawn picture.

Or rather, we were just used to polished maps; old maps of Japan probably looked like this too.

"This is a map I saw and memorized at Reytis Castle and then redrew by hand. I have no talent for drawing, so it's very rough—please forgive me," Mr. Zeal prefaced, then pointed to the northern part of the island on the far left of the four-island chain.

"Probably our current location is around here. This is an enlarged view of that area."

He placed another sheet on top. It was a zoomed-in map of the forest.

"Passing through this forest and reaching the rendezvous point would take thirteen days if we moved nonstop. But that's without rests; with breaks and possible battles, it will realistically take about thirty days."

About a month.

Messenger riders might be able to do it faster, but in this world there are no cars, trains, or planes.