Chapter 86: Side Story 14: Lethal or non-lethal, that is the question.

“TEST, TEST! CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Takuma shouted at one of my classmates who was outside the room, waving at him.

My classmate waited for a second before crossing his arm, shaking his head in denial before entering the room again. “I couldn’t hear you, Takuma. No sound came out of the room.”

“Perfect, thanks for testing,” Takuma said with a smile, before turning to Nishio. “‘Sovereign of the Elements,’ amazing unique skill for any mage. Thanks for putting it up, Nishio-san. I didn’t know [Air Shield] was a soundproof barrier.”

“It doesn’t allow air to enter nor exit, so it’ll be hard to breathe after a bit,” Nishio replied nonchalantly as if it was obvious. “But, it’s better than to use the ‘Silence’ rune. Who knows if they bugged it. Although, maybe they have a manatech or something to listen in with mana? So much we don’t know, but at least this’ll prevent random  eavesdroppers.”

For our privacy, the dining room was equipped with a rune called [Silence], which allowed us to stop any sounds from escaping the room as long as we sealed up all doors and windows. All our rooms had them, too. I still didn’t know much about runes, but I heard the best runesmiths were dwarven ones. Kinda too obvious.

“Don’t worry about it. Not much we can do when we’re still stuck here. We just have to accept the consequences if the church is willing to listen in,” Takuma stated with a frown.

“So, what do you suggest, Akanishi-san?” Still sitting at his table with his posse, Daisy spoke up once everything was in place for our assembly to begin uninterrupted.

“Ahh, of course, I’ll come to that in a moment, however, as everybody has voted democratically to use our first names, I would ask you to use my first name: ‘Takuma,’” Takuma spoke, trying to keep up his smile.

I might not like him but his argument was sound. Adapting to our new surroundings only seemed right.

“Ahem, regardless of how we feel about this new world, it can’t be denied we must compromise on a few things,” Takuma continued. “The church wishes to use us as figureheads. Propaganda for their faith. It makes no sense to me, really, since their Goddess blesses people and turns them into Saints and Champions, but so be it. There must be a reason why Aurena summoned us to this world, right?”

Others nodded and agreed with him. Sure, they summoned us to this world to take down the demonkin king, right? To help the humans win their war? If you thought about it, it was too cliche for something like this to be real. Why would you send in a bunch of otherworldlers without any military training into a war?

Obviously, this Aurena and her church must be planning something else. Then again, we didn’t know anything so maybe speculating about it was a waste of time. Some of us were trained as rogues and rangers, but none of us were confident enough to slip past the church’s defences. There were too many unknown tech and spells, and we didn’t have much time with our busy schedules.

“This bandit hunt is obviously just a show. The knights will most likely do most of the job, but we still have to chip in. Levels and skills, don’t forget, people. The Church wants to sell us as hardened, strong demonkin killers. I bet you can agree with that, since you’re the son of our country’s top prosecutor, F—”

“Akabane,” Daisy interrupted.

This sudden interruption in Takuma’s speech must have caught him off-guard as he had a clear “huh?” face on, slightly twitching his smile in annoyance. Everybody around me also started whispering and talking with each other, showing concern this might derail the original intent for this meeting.

Is the same thing as last time about to happen?

“… Maybe I was a bit stubborn. I concur that it might prove useful in the long run to use our first names to build up trust, especially with dignitaries. Everything points to this country being similar to medieval Europe,” Daisy spoke with a sigh. “I will start addressing everybody with their first name, as you wish, Takuma-san. However, I won’t allow you to use mine. I am Akabane, to you.”

Come on…

And there we go again. Daisy, being trained by his father to become a prosecutor, was usually the first person to start arguing about stuff. Considering how he gave up so quickly, he must have internally known he shouldn’t be debating about this.

Did he hate Takuma that much? Sure, they were polar opposites, but still. Then again, I would continue calling him Daisy, even in front of his “bodyguards,” just to remind that bastard what he did in the past. What his father did while he just looked away and ignored me.

Then, again, why should I care?

“Uhhh, may I ask why?” Takuma asked with a frown. “Akabane-san, you should know this already, but we’ve been kidnapped and transported into a foreign country. They’ve kept us imprisoned and under constant watch for eight months while plotting whatever they wished to do with us once they set us into the world. This is what this ‘Quest’ is supposed to be. If there is a time that we, Japanese, should stick together, then this is the time.”

“… Japanese, huh?” Daisy swept his pure white bangs to the side, thinking for a moment before continuing speaking. “If you insist, then call me ‘Light’ from now on. I will not compromise any further than that. Either Akabane or Light, however, I won’t allow you to use my first name.”

Daisy then swept his eyes into my general direction.

Urgh, he’s looking at me now…

My whole body shivered for a moment, chilled to the bones from that guy’s stone-cold glare. His last words were probably directed at me as he wouldn’t stop staring.

Oh great, now his posse is looking at me, too. I don’t need those yes-men causing me trouble.

“Just nod. Don’t cause trouble, Tatsuya,” Kyouya whispered next to me, leaning close to my ear.

“Yeah, I know,” I responded, then made a short nod to tell Daisy I wouldn’t do it.

Squinting his eyes for a moment, he adjusted his glasses and then turned his head back to Takuma’s direction, prompting his party to do the same. Well, I couldn’t use his first name but he said nothing about “Daisy,” right?

I was planning on changing myself, but I wouldn’t let go of my grudge. He and his family didn’t deserve anything but my contempt. His father especially really deserved to die in a fire and then land in hell, or something.

… Yeah, let’s stop that train of thought. Thinking this way isn’t healthy. Speaking of family, I hope mine is doing alright.

“… Alright, ‘Light.’ You don’t seem to want to speak about your reason, so I’ll let it go,” Takuma threw his hands in the air, having given up. “Anyways, let us get back to the main topic, alright, everybody?”

With that issue quickly dealt with, the noise in the dining hall quietened down. Still, the tension inside the room hadn’t waned one bit. Clenching fists, racing hearts, deep breaths, many signs indicated that everybody was nervous.

Skills like [Enhanced Auditory Sense] and [Enhanced Vision] didn’t give me superhuman senses. It was more like they improved periodically because you strain them to become better. I couldn’t hear most of the things I just described but what I could do was predict what was going on with everybody. It also helped I was feeling the exact same thing.

I really don’t want to do this…

"Now, I know everybody is afraid," Takuma started. "We experienced killing when we were in the dungeon. I can understand how some of us haven’t gotten used to it yet. After all, a kobold isn’t like another human, right?”

I could see the majority of my classmates nodded firmly. Turning my head to the side, I saw Haruka hugging herself, shivering madly in total terror. Her wide-open eyes were looking down to the ground, slowly becoming wetter and wetter.

I guess this was a normal reaction for her. She wasn’t able to kill a single monster when we were in the dungeon and she was about to be sent into a battlefield to subdue a bunch of criminals. This was the reality of the situation. I wondered if the knights would let her go if they knew the extent of her blood phobia.

I wanted to comfort her somehow, but I was hesitating. It felt awkward for me to try and I didn’t know what to say. “It’s ok, I’ll protect you”? No! Not only was that extremely cliché but how could I say that when I wasn’t very comfortable either? It would be hypocritical of me to do so.

As I was worrying about how to handle this situation, Kyouya moved to her right side and took her hand, holding onto her small hands as he whispered, “Don’t worry, it’ll be ok.” Surprisingly, Asaka, who was standing next to Haruka, started stroking her back while keeping her eyes at Takuma, seemingly trying to act distant.

… Urgh, why can’t I just go and say something? Anything.

“However, I ask you to strengthen your resolve,” Takuma continued his speech. “We can’t avoid it. I’ve spoken with the Knight-Commander, we will be sent into battle regardless of how much we complain or struggle.”

A commotion began to form as Takuma spoke of this fact, as my other classmate questioned him on it. They asked stuff like, “We’re all around level 15 to 25, right? They can’t expect us to be ready for it, right?” and “Hey, Takuma! Are you telling us that he didn’t accept your idea, huh?!”

It was expected the four other parties would be mad about it, but it seemed he hadn’t informed his party about it either. Emotions ranging from anger, denial, and fear were evoked in everybody, as their hope of avoiding this Quest was quickly crushed under of reality.

“Please, everyone! Please, quiet down and give me your attention,” Takuma tried to diffuse the situation but utterly failed. "I know that you aren't pleased to hear this from me, but we have little time left until our departure, so please allow me to talk about my plan!"

“We didn’t come here to listen to your half-baked plans, dude,” a headstrong sounding voice came from Daisy’s direction, belonging to one of his posse: Ryuji Enokida. “Everyone expected something more than what you just told us. If we aren’t allowed to sit out of this, then that means nothing has changed about our situation. We have to fight for our life, so any plan you’re trying to spout out is meaningless.”

“Ryuji-san is correct, Takuma-san,” Nishio suddenly spoke up. “It might have been presumptuous of everybody to believe we would be exempt from the Quest without any evidence. Since Tamae-san and I called this meeting, we need to continue on something everybody agrees on. If this is all, then we can take over. In the end, we can rely on our guardian knights.”

While our two parties weren’t sure how good the other knights were, we did know Yorshka was not only a battle-hardened warrior but an experienced field leader, too. She might work for the church, a reason to distrust her, but she didn’t act like any of them. She felt like an outsider, as she had mentioned before.

Not to mention, I would rather avoid anything concerning Takuma. Training in the church also included spars between everybody and every time this guy won against us, he always used those moments to parade himself. Why would I want to work with somebody like that?

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“I understand that everybody is disappointed, but this is time for everybody to speak and pool information! We haven’t had one in eight months!” While it hasn’t cooled down completely, people accepted his reasoning and quietened down a bit. “We were never able to get away from our current situation, anyways. These are the same people willing to train complete outsiders just to send them to end their war. That is desperation!”

Realizing what he meant with those words, everybody stopped speaking. Maybe the reason was naivety for why we held onto that tiny bit of hope, any chance to avoid doing something unpleasant.

“Unity. Tamae-san and Nishio-san understood this meaning, so they called in this assembly. Unity as a class, as Japanese, as humans from Earth,” Takuma further added. “We can’t avoid what will happen. Everybody, all of you wish to return back to Earth, correct? To our homes, to our families?”

Everybody nodded.

"See? That is our goal. That is why we have trained until today, to become stronger so we can face the hardships before us. Our ticket back home will be filled with trials and tribulations, things that wish to stop us from fulfilling our top priority — to get back home alive," Takuma then spread his arms, trying to appear taller. "As one of the top students of Shirako High and also your classmate with the title of [Hero], I only wish to bring back everybody before me back to Earth. However, I can’t do this if we don’t steel ourselves. Not only do we have to work together to overcome every challenge, but we need to finally accept one single part of this new world.”

"Takuma, you can't possibly mean-?!" Aiko burst out a response.

“Yes, Aiko, that is exactly what I want to say,” Takuma took a short breath before saying exactly what nobody wanted to hear. “We all need to learn how to cope with killing. We have to learn how to kill properly.”

For a single moment, everything was quiet. Nobody took a breath and all seemed frozen in time. As if it was a spell, Takuma's words petrified us as we were dumbfounded at what we have just heard.

And then, everything exploded.

“Kill?! Are you crazy?! That’s murder!”

“Kuck, I can’t even make killing those kobolds feel like in anime, at all. How am I supposed to do this with… other humans?”

“…I guess I was being a bit wishful. Never would I have thought I would one day shoot at a person with a bow…”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t want to murder. I don’t want to murder! I don’t want to do this, Papa!”

Whether it was from my party or the others, nobody was an exception. Everybody was anxious and panicking. Frankly, I was already getting a stomach ache from thinking about the moral impact this would have on me. Was this really the only way forward.

“E-Everyone, please, calm down! It doesn’t do you good to be this dismayed!” Tamae stood up and went forward on the stage, trying to calm everybody down. "Please, everybody! We can't have a proper discussion if everyone speaks amongst themselves!"

Doing the same, Nishio jumped up as well. "Let us hear Takuma out first before panicking! This is not proper behavior for Shirako High students!”

“… Yes, everybody please calm down!” Aiko, after hesitating a bit, came to Takuma’s aid.

It took those three a total of ten minutes to have everybody stop shouting, however, the general mood hadn’t gotten better. The depressive air clouding this mess hall was suffocating.

"Now, I know that everybody isn't willing to harm another human but what can we do? We will be forced to do it regardless of how apprehensive we are," Takuma continued after he got everybody's attention again. "Think about it, if one of the bandits were to attack you, then would you want to hesitate at that moment? What if one of your friends were about to be attacked, could you move in their defense at that moment? Self-defence, people."

While some were able to keep their eyes on Takuma, some could only cast theirs down, unwilling to answer.

Making a frown due to the silence, Takuma continued, “Everybody, I’m not telling you to become cold-hearted killers. No, the opposite. Wield your weapons and magic not against those we need to help, but against those who actively harm others! Are we murderers? No, of course, not. We are justicars! And as a reward for our strength, we get levels! Remember that exhilarating feeling, everybody! We need to think more pos—”

“Hold it!” coming out of nowhere, Daisy suddenly jumped on his feet and shouted, moving closer to Takuma. “What sort of rubbish are you trying to feed our fellow classmates, huh? I can understand why you are trying to have people accept the reality of this world, but what is this nonsense? Exhilarating feeling? Leveling up? Justicars? Cut your bullshit, Takuma!”

“F-Light? What are you talking about? Can’t you see that everybody is having trouble with this troubling fact? We need to start growing out of our current state and finally adapt to everything. We aren’t in Japan anymore,” Takuma responded. “Killing is part of the culture of this world and some random thug wouldn’t hesitate, so we should-”

“‘We should murder him in self-defense?’ Is that what you’re trying to say?” Daisy asked, flabbergasted. “I honestly have no words for you, for someone who would drive his fellow man to perform bloodshed. I will endorse you in your attempt to rally everybody to learn how to fight to keep themselves and those around them safe, but I will not allow you to make murder into some sort of sport. Every criminal deserves to be judged under a fair process under the eyes of justice.”

"Justice? Oh, are you trying to spout out those nonsensical ideals of a court? Hello, Peolynca to Light. This isn't Earth anymore!" Takuma shouted. "Don't scold me for trying to help everybody get into a proper mindset. I want everybody here to make it back to Earth and the only way to do that is to face reality. We need to kill. Monsters to level up and humans to defend ourselves. Anything else and we endanger what matters most here: our lives. Or, are you trying to stay in this world? Because those naive ideologies will!"

As I predicted, those two are arguing again… however, compared to the last time…

“What about the moral consequences of all of this, huh? Not everybody is mentally strong enough to handle the act of murder, evident of our trip to the dungeon,” Daisy argued. “Do you have any idea of how lasting this will be to everybody’s minds? Psychopaths, that is what we call a person that doesn’t feel any remorse anymore when they perform an illegal act, something completely against human nature.”

“Oooh, I’m a psychopath, now, huh? Is that what this is? … Ha! I’m sure everybody in here is smart enough to not fall that far. Tell me, while you continue rambling about your perfect image of a human being, what happens when one of us gets injured… or even dies, all because they were unwilling to kill, huh?” Takuma argued, shocking everybody in the room. “You, as a future prosecutor, should know how criminals are. They are a pest to our society and a constant danger to upstanding citizens like you and me. Why should I value their lives over people who are important to me? Tell me, Prosecutor-san, what am I supposed to do with the scum?”

“Isn’t it obvious? To keep yourself mentally healthy, of course.” Light drew closer to Takuma, only the length of an outstretched arm away from each other. “Go on about your aggressive tendencies about staining your hands with blood. Whether they are guilty or innocent, you as a human have no right to judge somebody else to death. That is the role of the community, the combined democratic opinions of sound-minded individuals who have inspected every single fact and evidence. Murder… should only be used as a last resort.”

They stared at each other, having nothing more to say after exhausting every single argument they had. Neither was willing to bend to the other’s demand, too prideful to admit the other was right, or even compromise.

Not a real surprise at this point. Both were too narcissistic and proud, not to mention how they had sticks going right up their butts. Believing themselves to always be correct.

From an objective standpoint, neither of them were incorrect. Both Takuma and Daisy looked at the situation while being under the heavy influence of their personal ideals and mottos. Both wanted to be the leaders of this whole operation, and in my opinion wanted to be hailed by our class as our “hero.”

Who is correct? I don’t like the thought of killing but I don’t want to die.

“Enough, you two!” While I contemplated my own issues, Nishio walked towards the two and put himself in between them, pushing them away. "You two have made your point so drop this ridiculous stand-off."

“Tch… Nishio-san is correct. I have made my point clear to everybody,” Takuma then turned his sight back to us, the rest of the class. “I have talked with my supervising knight about a plan to make our fight easier on us. If anybody acknowledges what I said, then join me.”

“Hmph, I too have a suggestion to everybody who wishes to listen,” Daisy could allow Takuma to have the last word, challenging him in front of everybody. “If you still worry about whether you should kill or not, then come to me. If you are on the fence then it would be wise to stick with non-lethal methods, something I can offer. If possible, I would like to ask the aid of our two [Saint Candidates], so may I ask Aiko-san and Asaka-san to join me? It will not take long, I promise.”

Hearing that, Takuma mumbled “Tch, you bast-" before walking out of the room, literally stomping his feet. He also made eye contact with Aiko, probably telling her not to accept Daisy's offer.

With Takuma gone and Daisy also leaving the room with his posse, the mess hall started to disperse also. Which left only my party and Tamae-san’s behind.

“Well, I knew that would happen, but it seems the two of them were more productive this time,” Kyouya said.

“Nah, as if. They were able to end it without a literal rant against each other this time, but that was only because of the situation back then. We were just kidnapped, after all,” Daichi remarked. "This time though? Those idiots tried to assemble everybody under their own banners but failed spectacularly, literally confusing the whole class and probably causing a split. Well, either way, I was willing to join whoever gave me the chance to kill, anyway."

“Are you serious, Daichi?!” I shouted in response. “Even now, you still want to murder people?! I can understand monsters, but are you that hungry to make yourself seem like the top fragger-”

“Now, shut the fuck up, Tatsuya,” Daichi interrupted me. “This is why you are a pussy. You can’t see anything in front of you because you lack imagination and drive. You know you should kill because it’s the best way to keep yourself safe, but you also know that it’s wrong, hesitating to choose a side.”

Daichi took a step back, sighing to calm himself. “I want to survive. I am my parent’s heir, okay? I want to live a comfortable life where I don’t have to worry about people backstabbing me, or something. Call me a fucking sycophant, I don’t fucking care. Levels, more skills, and magic, they are all tools to survive. I’m not some idiot who goes around like a murder hobo, hur dur. If some bastard wants to put a blade into me, I’m gonna fry that person, even if they are humans.”

With a short “see ya,” Daichi walked out, following Tamae-san’s party and Asaka who wanted to return to her room to catch up on sleep. Kyouya, wanting to escort the still shivering Haruka to her room, also left the room, leaving me behind… all alone.

“I’m not some idiot who goes around like a murder hobo, hur dur. If some bastard wants to put a blade into me, I’m gonna fry that person, even if they are humans.” That’s what he said, huh?

Can I really do it? I want to see my parents again. I want to see my uncles and aunts again. I want to see my grandparents again. And fucking hell, I have to go back to beat my cousin’s ass in that one video game…

I have so much to live fo., I don’t, I can’t die here.

With those thoughts, I left the dining hall and went to the practice field. Daichi was right. All I could anymore was to train myself up, to the point I was strong enough to pry myself back to Earth.