Believe In Me

“A-Ah… Aaaah…”

“Kihihihihi, ihihihihihihihihi.”

The Familiar’s arm, transformed into a pitch-black spear, was pulled free.

And yet, strangely, not a single drop of blood spilled.

Konoha’s consciousness gradually sank into a deep sleep. As if cradling her, the Familiar caught Konoha’s body.

“Ikyakyakya, ihyahyahya, ahihihihihihihihi, Demon King-sama, ahahahahahahahaha.”

At the sound of that laughter, the last thread holding the classmates’ nerves together snapped, and they began screaming with terror twisting their faces.

“No, no, kyaaaaaaaaah!!”

“A-Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Damn it! Royal Guard, what are you doing!? Restrain that thing!”

The military police shouted orders, but the man floating beside the Familiar spoke.

“The Royal Guards nearby have already been dealt with. It is far too late for anything now. We are withdrawing. Come, October Festival.”

“Kihi, kihihihi, ihihihi Demon… King-sama.”

“Yes. Retrieve our Demon King-sama and withdraw. With this many spectators watching, that should be more than enough.”

“Ihi, ihihihihihihi.”

The hooded man whistled while accompanied by the Familiar called October Festival.

As though it had been waiting nearby, a monstrous bird resembling an oversized eagle flew toward them, and the man grabbed onto one of its legs.

“Stop them! Archers, fire!”

At Legato’s command, arrows were loosed, but October Festival transformed one arm into a massive shield and deflected every one of them.

Konoha’s seemingly lifeless body was handed over to the hooded man.

“Killed her, killed her killed her, aha, ahahahahahahahahaha, ihihihihihi.”

“A-Ah… Konoha…”

“Kushibiki-san!!”

Sasano and Hiiragi collapsed to the ground, their faces contorted in anguish.

Konoha had been impaled by a spear that enormous in size.

It would have been perfectly plausible for her to already be dead.

Even so, they could not stop themselves from crying out.

And the other students were the same.

The very students who had treated Konoha so coldly suddenly began weeping as though they had become completely different people.

Karen and Kisaki in particular.

“A-Aaaaaaaah!! Konoha-chan!! Konoha-chaaaaaan!! Nooooooooo!!”

“Ah… Ah… Aaaaaah…”

Karen and the others’ screams echoed through the area.

Meanwhile, Legato and the commander of the military police were shouting orders to the soldiers.

“Pursue them immediately! I authorize the use of wyverns! Assemble the dragon cavalry and send them in the direction they fled! Hurry!”

“Commander, we should request assistance from the Inquisitors! This is no time to worry about appearances!”

“But then the pride of the military police would—!”

“You are already too late.”

A young man dressed in black addressed the arguing commanders.

He looked to be in his twenties and was quite handsome. A cheerful smile rested on his face.

“I am Norvard Galek, Chief Inquisitor. My rank is First-Class Priest. Ah, and when I say you are too late, I mean exactly that. Your opponent is October Festival, you know? Dragon cavalry will be wiped out almost immediately. And we are not yet prepared to pursue them either. They have completely outmaneuvered us, Commander.”

The handsome young man merely continued smiling.

The commander of the military police responded irritably.

“We have no intention of troubling the Inquisitors. We will pursue them immediately with the dragon cavalry. I appreciate your advice, but we have our own pride to uphold. Excuse me.”

“I wish you good fortune.”

The commander left the area.

Sasano could only stare blankly at the exchange.

Afterward, the royal palace descended into complete chaos.

Just as the Inquisitor had predicted, the dragon cavalry was annihilated. They had not been able to deploy any substantial force to begin with, so in a sense, the result was inevitable.

The ground pursuit unit also lost track of the enemy along the way and was forced to withdraw.

There were numerous deaths among the Royal Guards and military police assigned to palace security, as well as among the pursuing dragon cavalry.

It was a devastating loss.

But the greater problem was the mental state of the students.

“A-Ah… Aaaaaah, Konoha-chan, Konoha-chan Konoha-chan Konoha-chan Konoha-chan!”

“Konoha… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Konoha…”

“Damn it… Konoha-chan…”

The people who had treated Konoha so coldly until now had, for some reason, suddenly begun crying almost hysterically.

Hiiragi found it both strange and deeply unpleasant.

“If this was going to happen… I should’ve… talked with Konoha-chan more…”

The instant Hiiragi heard those words from Obana Karen, she could no longer restrain herself.

She marched over to Karen and grabbed her by the collar.

“Don’t fuck with me. Now you want to play at being her friend!? Ever since we came to this world, what have you people done for Konoha? Did you help her? Did you support her?”

“A-Aaaah…”

“No, you didn’t, did you!? You treated her like shit instead! So don’t start acting like her friends now! It makes me sick.”

“N-No, that’s not…”

“What isn’t!? Do you have any idea how badly Konoha was hurt because all of you avoided her? I may not look like it, but I’m angry enough that I want to beat every one of you to death.”

Hiiragi lowered her voice into a threatening growl.

But Karen answered through tears.

“About two weeks after we got here… something gradually started going wrong. Every time I looked at Konoha-chan, this strange voice would pour into my head!! It wasn’t that bad at first, but lately it’s gotten terrible. It keeps saying, ‘Kill her, kill her.’ And then I started treating her as if she were a demon. I know it’s wrong!! But what I really feel and how I act don’t match!! I didn’t know what to do either…”

“What?”

“It wasn’t just me. Everyone was like that. So we all started avoiding Konoha-chan because we didn’t want to treat her cruelly. We thought that if we met her, we’d end up hurting her again. And we hated that!! But if I’d known this would happen… I would’ve…”

“What the hell is that?”

All the students nodded.

Whenever they tried to interact with Konoha, unpleasant emotions would surge inside them, eventually transforming into hatred.

It could have been interpreted as a lie or an excuse.

But after hearing it, Hiiragi arrived at a certain conclusion.

(The lectures Konoha alone doesn’t attend. Defensive magic. The voice people hear when they approach Konoha. Konoha’s black horns. And if I factor in what my skill and Mogami-sensei’s skill have in common, everything fits together. This would explain why I don’t hear that voice.)

Hiiragi opened her status screen.

“So that’s it.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry. I’d be lying if I said none of this was your fault, but at least I understand now that you weren’t doing it deliberately.”

(More importantly, there’s a new problem. If this is true, then there’s a very good chance I’ll be silenced now that I know about it.)

“Mamuro…san.”

“But personally, I still can’t forgive any of you. So don’t talk to me.”

Hiiragi left Karen behind and walked away.

The others were all sobbing.

Naturally so.

A friend they had been close to, respected, and loved had been brutally killed right before their eyes.

And until just before her death, they themselves had treated that girl cruelly.

Even with psychological care, the guilt could crush them badly enough that some might take their own lives.

But Hiiragi remained calm.

(If my theory is right, then that also explains to some extent why they deliberately took Konoha with them… But if that’s true, has Konoha been carrying something that heavy all by herself this whole time?)

Memories of the precious friend she had made only recently vividly resurfaced in Hiiragi’s mind.

Among those memories were occasional smiles that had looked pasted on, artificial.

(I’m an idiot… She was carrying something far heavier than I imagined. And I never noticed. That makes me pretty damn awful too. But this isn’t the time to think about that. Stop looking backward and look ahead, Mamuro Hiiragi!)

Hiiragi had come extremely close to the truth.

And from her hypothesis, she also realized there was a high probability that Konoha was still alive.

(If I’m right, then what happened back there was some kind of skill, and Konoha is one hundred percent alive. There’s no way I can rescue Konoha while the kingdom is watching me… Which means there’s only one thing I can do.)

Determination filled Hiiragi’s eyes as she headed toward the lecture hall.

“First, I must apologize. Due to our failure, the palace defenses were breached and one of your fellow students was abducted. For that, I offer my deepest apologies.”

In the lecture hall, Commander Legato and the others bowed their heads.

Their expressions looked deeply pained.

“What… happened to Konoha-chan?”

One student timidly asked.

“We do not know. However, we believe she was most likely taken to the Demon King.”

“The Demon King!? W-Why!?”

“When a Demon King revives, they seek young and beautiful women. In the previous two cases, nearly one hundred young women were abducted across the Mercator Continent. Most were in their teens or early twenties.”

“That’s…”

“To be frank, the situation is extremely grim. We cannot guarantee her safety.”

“What!? Why would you say something like that!! Konoha-chan is… still…”

Karen shouted angrily, tears filling her eyes.

“Based on past cases, the fate of the abducted girls was never confirmed. I am telling you this because I do not want you clinging to false hope. It is cruel, but please understand…”

(There are rumors that their blood is drained, that they are used as playthings by demons, or that they are subjected to human experimentation, but none of it has been confirmed. There is no way I could tell them that.)

“…won’t.”

“Karen?”

“I won’t give up! I absolutely won’t give up! I have to tell her I’m sorry! Everyone does!”

As though responding to Karen’s declaration, everyone raised their heads.

“I won’t give up either.”

“Gatari-kun…”

“All that means is we have to defeat the Demon King quickly. For Konoha’s sake too, we’ll train harder than ever. We’re absolutely going to get her back! I have to apologize for avoiding her too! Everyone feels the same way, right!?”

Shirataka Gatari addressed the class.

Several students seemed to regain their fighting spirit.

Watching them, Legato thought to himself.

(As I thought, Shirataka Gatari is suited to being a Hero. At this rate, the higher-ups may end up killing Funagata Koya. I have to do something…)

Each classmate carried their own feelings as they resolved to defeat the Demon King.

“Mamuro-san…”

“Mogami-sensei, you’re going to run out of tears at this rate.”

When Hiiragi entered Sasano’s room, Sasano was hunched over her desk, crying.

She had been absent from the earlier gathering.

“Aren’t you sad, Mamuro-san? I… I can’t take this anymore.”

“If I’d actually seen her die right in front of me, then yeah, I’d probably be devastated. Might even think about killing myself. But Sensei, you’ve got to make sure everyone else doesn’t end up like that, okay?”

“What do you mean, if she actually died? Kushibiki-san was right there in front of us!!”

“……………………”

“I’m sorry. I keep losing control of myself…”

“Can’t blame you. Everyone’s like that right now. But you saw it too, didn’t you? Not a single drop of blood came out. That was probably some kind of skill. Though either way, she was still abducted and taken to the ‘Demon King,’ so we don’t have much time.”

“…I see. So she may still be alive.”

“It’s still a hopeless situation. They told us not to expect too much. Seriously, what a horrible thing to say.”

Hearing that, Sasano sank back into despair.

Silence continued for a while before she spoke again.

“I should already have known how precious someone was before losing them… I’m a fool.”

“Sensei.”

“Ever since everyone enrolled, I struggled to actively reach out to all of you. Do you remember the class photo from back in April?”

“You were stiff as a board. Then Konoha tickled you and you ended up making an amazing face in the picture.”

“Ahaha. I was furious at the time, but looking back, I think that helped everyone get to know me. After that too, Kushibiki-san always put me at ease, cheered me up, encouraged me… I loved that girl so much.”

“……………………”

“And I couldn’t even… make up with her… Ugh… Uwaaaaaah!”

Sasano broke down crying midway through her sentence.

Hiiragi thought that was one of the things she liked about her.

She sincerely believed that this woman was a good teacher.

(I can’t tell her. She’d definitely tell everyone else. And she can’t abandon the other students either, and she never would. So I’m sorry, Sensei. The only thing I can do for you is…)

“Sensei.”

“…What is it, Mamuro-san?”

“Support everyone. They’ll support you too. Everyone trusts you more than you realize. Me included.”

“Do you trust me too, Mamuro-san?”

“I do.”

“Then you won’t tell me what you’re planning?”

“Ahaha, you figured it out? Yeah. I can’t drag you into this. Precisely because I trust you, I absolutely cannot involve you. But Sensei, I know this is selfish of me, but I want you to believe in me. I’ll absolutely see this through, and we’ll all go home together. I promise.”

Hiiragi smiled.

For a moment, Sasano seemed about to say something, but then stopped herself.

And smiled in return.

“Understood. When a student looks this serious, I would be a failure as a teacher if I tried to stop her.”

“Sensei, you really love saying that, huh? Hilarious.”

“You laugh at far too many things, Mamuro-san.”

“Heh, hehe.”

“Ahaha.”

The sound of their laughter filled Sasano’s room.

Hiiragi became certain.

This woman would be all right.