Marine Eloise.
Seeing the girl collapse on the floor in shock as she witnessed her father suffer tremendous injuries, I found myself unable to say a word.
Beyond that scene, I noticed the children that were evacuating citizens from a distance.
Although each hand was needed, I simply couldn’t tell Marine that she was needed right now and to get up.
I had a faint understanding of just how immense her sorrow must be.
When I heard that my mother had been hospitalized with a serious illness, I had surely worn a similar expression.
No matter how strong one may be, there are always moments that are too difficult to overcome.
So, just as I turned quietly to evacuate the people, I saw Marine, who had been sitting, biting her lip tightly, finally standing up.
Approaching her as she silently made her way to evacuate citizens again, I gently asked,
“…Are you okay?”
When I asked that, Marine replied with a look that anyone could see was pained.
“…To be honest, I’m not okay. I can’t be okay.”
“Then…”
“I know what you’re trying to say. But right now, I can’t just sit here.”
Marine answered that way, muttering as she gazed toward the hospital where her father had just been taken.
“My dad is a hero, so he must have ended up like this while fighting for people, right? I want to be someone who can proudly say that I’m his daughter. So, I need to get up now…”
Suppressing her sorrow and enduring the hardship.
“No matter how difficult it is, a hero has to smile in front of people, right?”
Thus, even though it was surely more challenging than anyone could imagine, the sight of this girl forcing a smile was nothing short of admirable.
I sealed my lips to her determination and nodded.
All I could do was ensure that her resolve wouldn’t fade and that we would successfully complete the mission we’d been entrusted with.
*
“Everyone, please maintain order and evacuate to a safe place as instructed!”
“If there are children or the elderly around, make sure to help them evacuate together!”
Perhaps it was because the main part of the city hadn’t been directly attacked by the lesser demonic beasts yet.
The citizens, although slightly flustered by the sudden situation, were successfully evacuating under our control without big confusion.
If our task was merely to evacuate the citizens from the city center, I thought that even if it took some time, it wouldn’t be a significant issue.
However, unfortunately, the current situation was not so manageable.
“Did… did we survive? This place, it’s safe, right?! It has to be safe!”
“I came here because I was anxious… Most of the heroes in our area have left to fend off the demonic beasts…”
Despite our efforts to evacuate, more and more people kept appearing from somewhere.
Before long, word must have spread, as people were coming through the evacuation gate from all over the city, looking for a safe place.
Among them were individuals fleeing from the eastern part of the city attacked by the demonic beasts, and others who felt uneasy after the heroes left to support other areas.
There were far too many to be covered by first-year students and a handful of heroes.
While our numbers were limited, the number of people needing evacuation was endlessly growing.
That alone was problematic, but an even greater issue awaited us.
“Damn, last time people were collectively controlled by the demonic beasts and went on a rampage, and now a witch and the demonic beasts have invaded the heart of the city! What the hell is going on?! What are the heroes doing?!”
“I saw a demonic beast eat a person right in front of me… I don’t want that to happen to me…”
The more people gathered, the more individuals began to blame the heroes and express their panic.
“Haha… the barrier is breaking… it’s all over now. We’re finished anyway…”
“What is this? Only students are here as heroes! Can we rely on kids like these?!”
There were increasingly more people who, in despair over the current situation, accused us, asking if there were no other heroes.
And as those people multiplied, the anxiety spread among the crowd like an epidemic.
Amidst all this, I noticed a small dot in the far sky swiftly approaching us.
[■■■■■■■■■■!!!]
“It’s… a demonic beast!!!”
“AHHHHH! Run away!!!”
The appearance of the demonic beast served, more than anything, as the final catalyst to send the panicking crowd into a complete frenzy.
If people were huddled together, we could somehow protect them from the demonic beast.
But if the people we needed to protect scattered chaotically, there would surely be casualties far from our reach.
Especially, chaos itself was dangerous.
“Ahhhh, don’t step on me!!! No, ahhhh!!! Mommyyyyy!!!”
“AHHHHHH!!!”
People were falling and getting trampled among the fleeing crowd.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be the demonic beasts causing deaths, but the people themselves.
“Everyone! Stay calm! We’ll take care of the demonic beasts!!”
“Don’t scatter!!”
Yet no matter how loudly we shouted, no matter how much we tried to scream.
“I don’t want to die! I want to live!”
“I have to run away!!!”
Our voices were drowned out by the chaos, unable to reach the panic-stricken crowd.
From above, I saw the demonic beasts overlooking the scattered prey and Marine, who was desperately shouting at the crowd with all her might.
Watching her, my temperature slowly began to rise.
…Why can’t people hear?
Even though there was a girl who stood up to protect them, putting everything on the line after her family had been hurt so badly.
Although the demonic beasts were looking down, causing confusion in the sky above.
The way Marine’s cry, more deserving of respect than anyone else, was being ignored because of a single demonic beast.
Everything about this situation was unsatisfactory.
I was angry.
[■■■■■■■■■■!!!]
A demonic beast charged toward the crowd.
And I charged toward the flying demonic beast.
As it dove down, I pushed past a paralyzed person and thrust my left arm deep into the wide-open mouth of the demonic beast.
The beast chewed my arm, evidently enjoying it, but unfortunately, what was once there had already been taken by another.
With a perplexed expression, the demonic beast found my left arm explode with intense, fiery emotions inside its mouth.
The flame, much stronger than before, blazed fiercely, consuming the entire beast before it could scream.
Soon, with the burning demonic beast reduced to nothing but ashes, I shook off my charred school uniform sleeves, worried that some of its saliva might have stained them.
It was a gift from a friend. I should keep it clean.
As I nonchalantly brushed off my sleeves, I soon realized that the chaos the crowd had caused had also disappeared with the demonic beast.
I noticed that the eyes of the people were now focused on me.
For a brief moment, I was taken aback, but seeing it as a good opportunity, I took a deep breath, composed myself, and shouted at the people looking at me.
“As you can see, we have enough ability to take down the demonic beasts, so you can rest assured. However, if you disregard our control and scatter, even if we want to protect you, we won’t be able to.”
To be honest, I was a bit angry earlier, but I understood why the people acted that way.
It’s terrifying to face a monster that looks like that when you’re not strong enough to fight.
Fear drives people mad.
I could understand their actions because I had my own fears.
“I understand your worries because we are students. But please know that we are here to protect you too. Although we are young, we are also heroes. If we must fight, we will fight; if we must die, we will die for you. So, please let us protect you.”
Because I understood, I spoke.
I understood their fears enough that we would stand against that fear on their behalf.
That was our reason for stepping up.
So I asked them to help us fulfill our responsibility.
To convey that, I spoke with all my sincerity.
“So, please trust us a little more. Please listen to what we say. Then, I promise we will do our utmost to safeguard you.”
After finishing my speech, I checked on a few injured people from the earlier commotion and began to evacuate them again.
Fortunately, my sincerity seemed to have been conveyed, as the people began to cooperate with us much more easily than before.
Seeing them stopping anyone who disobeyed our control made me realize something.
Most people are inherently good.
The reasons they acted poorly were simply out of fear.
The existence of heroes is to bear the burdens of people’s fears and protect their goodness.
However, just as that realization took hold, small dots began flying down from the sky in various directions.
And I fixed my expression strictly as I watched one of those dots heading toward a specific location.
“Hey, has the evacuation over there been completed?”
“Ah… over there, not yet…”
Upon hearing Marine’s response while helping with the evacuation nearby, I immediately made an urgent decision and shouted.
“Sorry! Hold on here for a moment!”
The direction the demonic beast had headed was toward the orphanage where Leon stayed.
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