I always wanted to be the kind of person who saves others. Like my great father, who fought for the sake of the world. I didn’t want to be a hero. I just… wanted to be someone who could protect others.
“Hey! Yuria! You distract the enemies!”
“B-but there are so many of them!”
“Just do it! At this rate, we’re all gonna end up dead!”
“A-alright.”
We were hunting demons outside the barrier, but there was no reason for us to come out this deep in the forest. Our leader, Dan, was the one who dragged us out here.
“Alright, the two of you… let’s ditch Yuria and run.”
“Is that all right? Isn’t he going to die?”
“Me too… I’d feel bad about leaving him to die.”
“Isn’t it fine? He doesn’t have parents, nor does he have anyone who cares about him. More importantly, he’s too weak. Whether we leave or not, it doesn’t make a difference. If anything, he should be thankful we brought him this far into the twilight. Plus, we can just find a replacement for him. Even though he’s inferior to us, we brought him this far. That’s more than enough.”
“That’s true.”
“Well…it can’t be helped, I guess.”
I thought I heard them saying things like that. No, no, I’m sure I just imagined it. They trusted me to hold the line, so I have to be sure to do a good job. But they never came back for me.
***
Inside a room, a beeping sound can be heard.
“Ugh… I’m sleepy…”
I wake up early in the morning and begin to get ready as usual. Outside the window, the Twilight spreads throughout the sky. Yes, this world is dominated by the Twilight.
150 years ago, mankind was defeated by the demons and forced back into a small area. There, we built Barriered Cities, and we train Exorcists with the skills to fight demons. We do all of this in the hopes that, one day, the sun will shine in the sky again.
I live in the third Barriered City – one of the seven safe harbours for mankind today. The city is further divided into five wards. The Northern Ward is mainly home to military bases. The Eastern, Central, and Western Wards are primarily residential areas, and the Southern Ward is home to the Plant, which produces agricultural products and manufactured goods through magic.
The Barriered Cities are also home to organisations that fight demons. The Exorcist Academy trains Exorcists, and the Anti-Demon Army is, just like it sounds, an organisation of trained Exorcists who fight demons. I’m currently attending the Exorcist Academy. It’s a six-year program, and I’m in my second year. I may still be weak now, but I want to become a great soldier like my father one day.
My father died fighting the demons when I was still young. My mother died at around the same time from an illness. But I wasn’t lonely. I have a duty to become a proper Exorcist.
“Alright, I’m off now,” I said to my parents’ picture before leaving home for the Academy. It’s been two weeks since I started my second year, and I’m very nervous since we’re training with live battles against demons. Going to the outside world is extremely dangerous. There are lots of demons out there, and a normal person would be dead in an instant. I still remember how overwhelming the Twilight felt the first time I left the city.
With the help of my party members, though, I was able to hunt the demons as ordered. After the battle, surprisingly, our impression as a party was that it was pretty easy. We’re going hunting outside today, too. Our leader, Dan, obtained permission from the Academy for us to hunt today. It’ll be alright… or so I thought.
“Hey, Yuria! We’re counting on you today!”
“Got it!”
We were outside after school. This is the second time I’ve been out here. The Twilight seems to be darker outside the city, and its red and black light is overwhelming. However, it doesn’t affect the human body, so we don’t have to worry about that.
“Can we really leave the healing to Yuria?”
“Yeah! He’s pretty dependable, you know!”
Our leader, Dan, and his second-in-command Rebecca are the vanguard. Behind them is our damage dealer, Aria, and at the very back is me, Yuria, providing support with magic. I’m better with healing magic than attack magic, so the party depends on me.
“Hey, Dan. Is it alright for us to come this deep into the forest?”
“Oh, we can handle it.”
Dan keeps marching forward, and Rebecca and Aria follow him. Am I the only one who’s worried? Everyone else seems so confident. Alright, I have to be confident too. Then we came upon a demon.
“Look, there’s a bunch of White Wolves.”
“Yeah…”
There was a pack of White Wolves. Though they originally lived in cold climates, they gained a lot of strength from the Twilight and can now be found anywhere.
“Let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
We started fighting. It’ll be okay. We can handle this. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
But I would soon learn that my faith was just a fantasy.
“Ugh…”
“There’s… too many of them…”
“What do we do?”
Then Dan ordered me to hold the front line. The rest of them leave, supposedly going to call for help. Since I can use healing magic, I can hold out for a while. My heart felt warm at the thought that my party members had trusted me with this. Up until now, every party I’d ever been in had treated me unkindly. But things are different now.
“Ugh…”
Are they still getting help? I think it’s been an hour since I started holding the line, but no one’s come for me. That’s weird. They should be coming back right about now…
I’m pretty much at my limit. My body’s covered in cuts, and even with healing magic, it’s all I can do just to stop the bleeding. I’m almost out of mana, too. No, I have to keep fighting. They trusted me with this.
“This is… the last of them…”
I finally killed the last White Wolf. Somehow or another, I was able to beat them all myself. That being said, all I did was use healing magic to force myself to keep fighting. I’m not strong, really.
“Time to… go back…”
I start walking unsteadily. There was something off, though. I could feel it.
“There’s a barrier? Here?”
Yeah. For some reason, there’s a barrier surrounding me, and I can’t escape. I know Rebecca was good with barrier magic, but why would she do this? With no other choice, I kept wandering around the woods. I walked, walked, walked, and kept on walking, but I can’t get out of the barrier. In fact, the barrier seems to keep going, deep into the woods.
“Ugh… I’m dizzy…”
I used too much mana, and that was starting to take its toll. Also, I’ve lost too much blood. I can close my wounds with healing magic, but I can’t replace the lost blood. I found a source of water nearby, and decided to rest for a bit.
I gradually calmed down and remembered the words I’d heard them say back there. I remembered the words they spoke behind my back. I had pretended back then, swept up in the frenzy of battle, that I didn’t hear them. But now, I can only come to one conclusion.
“Alright, the two of you… let’s ditch Yuria and run.”
“Is that all right? Isn’t he going to die?”
“Me too… I’d feel bad about leaving him to die”
“It’s alright. Besides, he’s too weak. Whether we leave or not, it doesn’t make a difference. We can just find a replacement. Besides, we brought him here even though he’s weaker than us. That’s more than enough.”
“That’s true.”
“Well…it can’t be helped, I guess.”
Yeah. They used me as bait and ran away. That’s a fact. An unmistakable fact. I was the lowest-ranked student at the Academy with the worst grades. No one would let me into their party. I’m just a failure.
Dan and his party… I thought they’d accepted me, but they just left me behind. I wanted to become like my incredible father, but I think I’m going to die soon. I have no way to survive this. Before I die, though, I’d like to see just how far I can go.
“I have to get going,” I muttered, my eyes devoid of emotion, as I set off deep into the forest.