My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

We wanted to push deeper into the forest, but our progress was more difficult than we'd expected.

We were being forced to fight because of the appearance of demonic beasts.

“It's heading over there, Nanase!!”

“Roger!! Just drop to the ground for now! — ‘wind blade’!”

At Asahina-kun's shout, Nanase-kun cast his spell.

Although wind mages are taught that ultra-basic spell first, Nanase-kun’s wind blade struck with power comparable to an intermediate spell.

If you looked closely you could see the surrounding wind gathering toward him.

If this weren’t in the middle of combat, I would want to ask immediately how he managed to get that much power out of it.

The airborne demonic beast sank toward the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Asahina-kun and Satou-kun raised their weapons.

To answer why we were fighting now means going back about five minutes.

After fleeing the tree demonic beast — a Treant — we regrouped and walked through the pathless parts of the forest, taking care to avoid encountering any demonic beasts.

“By the way, what was that orb they gave us in the labyrinth, anyway?”

Waki-kun muttered as he walked behind the cat he’d trained.

If I remember correctly, the investigation report from the Cantinen Labyrinth — where a minotaur appeared despite the low level — said the monster-repelling orb used by Satou-kun actually drew the demonic beasts in.

I’d meant to ask him about it properly later, but after that Commander saran died and everything became muddled.

The hero who actually defeated the minotaur, Akira-kun, left the castle during that commotion, and in hindsight that was probably part of the kings’ scheme.

“I don’t know. The last thing I used then was the one given to me by that princess. I used it so we wouldn’t have to fight monsters while coordinating with the other teams… No, I think the color of mine was different…”

I widened my eyes at Satou-kun’s trailing remark.

Smoke bombs that either call or repel demonic beasts are sold normally at the Adventurer Guild, and their effects vary by the color of the orb.

I’d planned to teach the heroes that in time, but it seems the kings got to it first.

“Do you remember what color it was??”

“I- I think it was red.”

Satou-kun answered, looking a little up into the sky, and I felt a mix of “of course” and disappointment at the royal family he’d been guarding.

“From the fact that other orbs were different colors, you might have inferred this, but the red orb calls strong demonic beasts. It’s usually used so you can level up even in low layers, but I think the one Satou-kun had didn’t repel monsters — it called them instead. We knights failed to check belongings properly. I apologize.”

He bowed his head, and Satou-kun and the others hurriedly told him to lift it back up.

I wish they’d share some of that humility with the kings.

They weren’t the type to use people like disposable tools in the past.

That’s why our knights order were the king’s guardians.

We were never meant to guard people from the king.

“Still, why target Satou and the others, I wonder?”

“Who knows. Maybe they decided they didn't need heroes anymore?”

I tilted my head at Nanase-kun’s words.

Before the hero summoning, the kings seemed unusually fixated on calling heroes.

It started after the queen consort died — the king began to obsess over investigations, as if something had possessed him.

Yes, everything warped after the queen consort passed.

It feels like so long ago, but His Majesty used to be a kind-hearted king who cared about us knights.

“…Well then, anyway, let’s move. Let’s hope we don’t run into any more demonic beasts.”

“Mr. Zeal, we call that a ‘flag’ you know.”

Nanase-kun said with an exasperated look, ignoring my attempt to avoid the topic.

I was profoundly relieved Akira-kun wasn’t here.

If he had been, he wouldn’t have missed even my slight hesitation.

We started walking again, but suddenly the area above us darkened and everyone put hands on their weapons, on alert.