Yasu leaned in close to me.
“It’s just what I expected,” he murmured. “I knew it…I just knew a change was coming, y’know? I knew I was due for a comeback. I was gonna go to a first-rate college, get a job at a top company, and succeed at life—unlike these morons. At least half of them are below me already. They’re short-sighted idiots, oblivious to the bigger picture—get it?”
He’s like a different person…or is this the real Yasu Tomohiro?
I’d only seen this side of him once before.
“Just go die already, Mimori! Get out of my sight!”
Was that the real him?
He continued his murmured tirade.
“Oyamada’s awful, of course, but Kirihara isn’t much better. They’re both so conceited. And all the self-important idiots pretending to be good people—I hope they get sick and die. Only people worth a damn in this class are Ayaka, Hijiri, and Itsuki. The rest of them are all trash. Bottom of the freaking barrel.”
He was even calling the girls by their first names now—I could remember how he used to nervously stammer out “Sogou-san.”
“Aaah…that felt good,” he said in my ear, then he turned his back on me and stepped away with a wave.
“All right, then. Give it your best shot, I guess—you don’t have long to live, trash hero.”
I stood there in silence. Now I understood. Yasu was ecstatic and just needed to tell someone. He couldn’t talk to the rest of the class, but Mimori Touka, E-Class hero, was about to leave forever and then die. Nobody would believe me if I tried to expose him—anything I said would just be the last bitter cries of a loser who couldn’t accept his fate. Yasu had used me as a safe outlet for his gloating.
“What’d you say, Yasu?” Oyamada asked with a sneer.
“I offered to hear his last words,” Yasu said casually, “but it’s no use—he wouldn’t even listen. He’s more hopeless than I thought.”
I just stood there, frozen in place.
Wh-what the hell? What did I do to deserve this…?
None of this made any sense. It was absurd. I felt indignant rage building inside me, ready to erupt.
The Goddess turned her palms toward the magic circle.
“Let us begin the ceremony.”
The ground underneath me started to glow.
It’s no use. Nobody’s coming to save me, and there’s no way this coldhearted Goddess would show me mercy.
The guards surrounding the magic circle readied their bows, and the hooded figures raised their hands in my direction and lowered their heads.
“If you try to escape the magic circle, my guards will kill you.” The Goddess smiled in warning. None of my classmates moved to help me—nobody dared step out of line with armed guards surrounding us, and Kirihara, top of the hierarchy, had practically condemned me himself.
It’s more than just that—who would risk their life to save a background character? Nobody. Who cares if the NPCs die? This is the story of the chosen heroes’ quest to defeat the Demon King. They don’t need Mimori Touka for that.
THUD.
The Goddess threw something at my feet.
“What’s this…? A leather pouch?”
“That,” she said, “is your unique item. When heroes are summoned, a unique magic item appears alongside each of them. That shoddy little pouch is yours.”
I turned the flimsy thing over in my hands.
“My…magic item…”
A restless murmur rose up from class 2-C—this was the first any of us had heard of magic items. But, as usual, the Goddess had an answer prepared.
“Not to worry! While you were still asleep after your summoning, I collected the items from you for safekeeping—they’re waiting for you in the next room. I’m sure they’ll prove extremely effective once you get your hands on them!”
This Goddess…she knew exactly what she was doing. If we’d woken up from summoning with powerful magical items in our hands and decided to rebel, that could have caused problems for her. That’s why she took them away from us—as a precaution.
The Goddess laughed.
“These magic items are just one more reason to love hero summoning! Well, anyway,” she said, her gaze falling back to me and my pouch, “I did try pouring a bit of mana into it, but it seems all your sad little pouch is good for is giving off light.”
“Light?”
“It’s a lamp, I suppose? The ruins are dark, so it should prove useful to you in the very near future. There’s a mana conduit crystal attached to it so you can pour mana into the bag. If you manage to make it up to the surface in one piece, you could sell this and make enough to live on for a while! Wonderful!” The Goddess had her arms stretched wide again as she turned back to the others.
“Did you all witness what just happened here? I offered Too-ka Mimori mercy! Even the lowest of the low should be given a chance! I am a compassionate Goddess, kind even to the weak. I will even stoop to bless an E-Class hero as I dispose of it!”
She turned back to me.
“But the rest of you have no need of my compassion! You are all better than Too-ka Mimori! Each one of you is powerful in your own right!”
The magic circle glowed ever more brightly, and the Goddess’s voice rose with it.
“Every one of you is a hero, but even among heroes, there is an order! I imagine some of you are worried about your rank, or that you aren’t as good as everyone else! Please, have no fear! You have all been chosen! Each one of you is extraordinary! Look! Look at Too-ka Mimori!”
The whole class turned to look at me in unison.
“He is unmistakably a hero as well…but he is different from you! All of you are D-Class or above! You are better than him! You have an innate advantage in this world!”
“Don’t worry. Even the E-Class heroes have a part to play.”
I finally understood what she meant by that.
I’m a sacrifice. The S-Class and A-Class heroes already feel good about themselves, but B- through D-Class were probably feeling inferior and unsure about their average rankings. If somebody like me is below them, though, they’ll always have someone to look down on and feel superior to. They can build themselves up.
“At least I’m better than Mimori Touka. I’m glad I didn’t get sent to the Ruins of Disposal. I’m still here. I’m one of the lucky ones.”
This is the ceremony the Goddess put together for them. One big lie. An illusion. And me as the scapegoat. That’s why she has to make it clear that I’m a hero, too—even among heroes, they’ve been chosen.
“Dammit…”
So this is my “part to play,” huh? There’re probably even worse monsters than that three-eyed wolf in the Ruins of Disposal. All I have are worthless spells and hopeless stats.
I’m going to die.
“Wait, please—!” a voice rang out.
I looked up to see Sogou Ayaka walking determinedly toward the Goddess.
“This is wrong! Mimori Touka is one of our classmates!” she protested.
“Whoa, whoa! Don’t be rude, Sogou!” Zakurogi said, stepping between her and the Goddess.
“You’re our homeroom teacher, Zakurogi-sensei! Get ahold of yourself! It’s your duty to protect the students in your care!”
“Wh-what does that matter now?! You’re a smart girl, why can’t you see the reality of what’s happening?! There’s nothing we can do to help him…” Zakurogi shot back. “A-and it’s Mimori’s fault anyway! He’s an E-Class!”
“He didn’t choose to be an E-Class! Why is everybody okay with this? We can’t let her send him away to the Ruins of Disposal, or—”
“Sogou-san, S-Class, was it?” the Goddess interrupted. “You leave me no choice.”
Her arms dropped, and in an instant she was standing behind Sogou.
“Atemi!”
She brought her hand down swiftly on the back of Sogou’s neck.
“Nh?!”
Sogou turned with a move that looked like it was right out of a fighting manga. Using the momentum from her turn, she parried the Goddess’s hand with her own.
Are those ancient martial arts techniques?