The hero is now gone, but I’m still here, now what? (Undergoing editing)

“So, are we ready to go out?” For once, Prescine didn't meet us outside of my suite's lobby in the morning and instead, stood by the door with her back turned from all of us.

 

“Guys?” She turned around.

 

Prescine’s carefree smile got amplified into a grin when she saw the state everyone was in.

 

Because as it turns out, the bathrooms in my suite were barely enough for all of us and we had to swap with each other after one person finished. It cost us an extra 30 to 20 minutes to change into uniforms alone and the tediousness got to the point of us discussing about proper time management the next time we do something like this.

 

That last part was especially important and I hid back a smile at the thought of it- guess sleepovers like what happened last night are going to be the norm from now on.

 

I feel giddy and excited just thinking about it.

 

“Neophyte, stop grinning like a loon and start searching for the room’s lock please,” I frowned at Prescine. They’re thinking that I’m making fun of them, aren’t they?

 

“You all saw that?” I looked around to see everyone either avoid my gaze or focus on putting on their uniforms extra hard.

 

“It wasn't exactly hidden, Neo,” Prescine said with a roll of her eyes before clapping at me, “now come on!” She exclaimed, “get moving so that when Lucille and the rest are done all we need to do is head out and lock the door!” She went forward and neared me just to emphasize her point by clapping my shoulders, “come on! Come on!”

 

“Okay, fine, geez-” shaking my head while wearing a playful smile, I did what was told and walked to the drawer near the door. I opened it and took out a lock made of Holy Silver and edged in gold, I dangled it around my fingers like a pendulum, “here you go~" 

 

“Great! Now come on Lucille or else we’ll be late for the award ceremony!” If Prescine was feeling awkward from not realizing the lock was near her this entire time, it didn’t show.

 

Lucille stopped panicking and stared at Prescine dumbly, “... ceremony?” She muttered, tone laced with dawning realization, she gasped, “don't tell me I rushed cleaning myself for THAT?!”

 

“What did I tell you?” Zyra raised her eyebrow, “and why do you think I agreed to be one of the last people to take a shower?”

 

“That implies you won't do it otherwise,” Karsten suspected.

 

“I won't, you all can come after me,” Zyra snarked.

 

“How cruel,” the pious girl retorted dryly her stoic expression unchanging.

 

Sleet giggled, “makes you glad that Neophyte and the rest planned out a schedule for all of us next time huh?”

 

“I suppose so,” Karsten agreed, “and since someone mentioned that already, does that imply that we're going to be your advisers your majesty?”

 

Everyone turned to me and I forced myself out of my shock to stare back.

 

“Uh… is that okay with all of you?” I said after a pregnant pause, did they seriously just accept becoming my advisers that easily? There's no way, “being a general for the army is quite important you know, and since we're all Pledge Bearers it's possible for us to get to that point so…”

 

I stopped talking when I noticed them throwing me looks of pure disbelief, with others- like Lucille, - staring at me in slight hurt, they actually wanted to do this, didn't they? “Are you all okay with just being under me?”

 

“Yeah,” Zyra confirmed, “it’s better than trying to eek it out there with everyone else,” her soft hum was overpowered by the sudden thwack that echoed out from underneath her skirt when she let go of her pants’ belt, “right guys?”

 

“She's right,” Yhaine easily agreed, “I'm a noble myself, and honestly?” She faked a shudder, “I’m not becoming a general if it means I’ll have to compete against my cousins and siblings when I decide to lead my own platoon,”

 

“I second that,” Korbinian said with a shake of her head, “the people from my Kingdom are… rather competitive so I'd rather not fight them on my own, and besides, being under you means that we still get to lead small platoons doesn't it?” She looked thoughtful, “it's glaringly obvious that you’ll have a lot of the infantry willing to be put under your command when you become general,”

 

“I think so to yeah…” I trailed off, thinking, “yeah, it does, if you all join, then it’ll make things easier since our group will be big enough to lead a medium sized battalion,” or army, really.

 

“Then there you have it!” Prescine grinned, “guess we'll be under you then!”

 

“Right.” I nodded, dumbfounded, “you guys are sure about this right?”

 

“Yep.” That was the general chorus of the crowd.

 

“It's also worth mentioning that we don't have to worry about recruits joining our rank,” Zyra repeated.

 

“Took the words out of my mouth,” Sleet giggled, “guess we all want to just ride the Saintess’ coattails huh?”

 

“Don't be like that, come on,” I scolded them both, “you know that I'm fine with that kind of thing,”

 

“See? What more can we want when riding her is an option!” Sleet, seemingly glossing over what I just said, decided that my words had a different meaning, “and she's fine with it!” I wanted to hide in a hole so badly, “such a good leader,”

 

A series of giggles entered my steadily warming ears, “damn it,” I muttered.

 

But it’s probably not all butterflies and rainbows and I deflated at the thought of… leading all of my friends. And an army of infantry too…

 

Guess the whole responsibility bit I’ve been worrying about just got worse huh?..

 

Now I'm starting to not feel excited about these sleepovers…

 

My mind never got to linger in my depressive thoughts about leading these guys on a battlefield because their teasing lasted for a bit.
With the girls just continuing to spout random things like “doing whatever they want to the conscripts” and “making a harem out of them” and other ridiculous things, and I didn't get why Prescine and Karsten joined in on the fun, weren't they supposed to be virtuous?!

 

Unless they wanted to tease me which in that case- the traitors!

 

Thankfully, everyone did eventually finish changing into their uniforms and we all went out to start the rest of the day, which is free from classes because of the award ceremony.

 

It made me wonder about what can we possibly do for the rest of our morning and as the elevator went down, I stared out into the distant fields and hummed in thought, “what are we all doing for the rest of the morning by the way?”

 

“Hm? Nothing,” Prescine said before sighing, “for you guys that is, not for me though, since the student council is going to have a meeting for… a few important events,”

 

I noticed her glancing at the crystalline window of the elevator and got the hint, I decided to stay silent, “more importantly, there's also word going around that the school is planning to make “field trips” where an entire class is going to exterminate a forming monster horde as an activity.”

 

“We're going to exterminate monster hordes? As a class?” I asked, incredulous, this didn't happen in the game at all so what's going on? Why the sudden change? “Why?”

 

“If you want an honest guess?” Prescine asked.

 

“I'm curious as well actually,” Korbinian chimed and everyone nodded.

 

“Alright, fine- this is just a guess on my part but I think that the manpower across various Kingdoms has been decided to be reserved,” Prescine's worried look told me that even if what she said wasn't true, she at least believed her words, “as for why? I don't know, as far as I'm aware there have been no extra requests for drafted Infantry graduates, and the soldiers fighting the waves are still numerous but something is happening out there,”

 

“You said that this is just a guess right?” Laceresta said to the nod of Prescine, “then you can be wrong,”

 

“Maybe,” my fellow princess replied, “but also not- there are signs and then there are red flags, this is a warning, because students being sent out to wipe out monster hordes isn’t normal,”

 

“Huh,” Laceresta looked pensive, “now that you say that… that’s the actual reason for the field trips, isn’t it? To wipe out hordes?”

 

“Pretty much,” Prescine worriedly confirmed, “something is happening and I’m sure that if Neophyte was still back in their castle, she would have noticed her father leave for a meeting between rulers near the Black Water Border,”

 

“The Grindstone fortress?” Judging by how Prescine nodded, my guess had been right.

 

“You know something?” Zath turned to me.

 

“No,” I shook my head.

 

And I really didn’t, what did they talk about? Why are we suddenly being sent out on field trips to “take out monster hordes”? Prescine’s worry was starting to make sense, sort of, there was no valid reason for why Pledge Academy- and I’m guessing other schools as well, - is doing this but I’m assuming that Prescine is right and it’s because they’re trying to preserve manpower across various Kingdoms.

 

But why?

 

I had a hunch and I spoke it out loud, “do you think it’s related to our current problem?”

 

An uprising seems likely, but we’ve taken out the Envy Demons haven’t we? There’s no way they managed to somehow escape us and… what? Go to the Portals and other Kingdoms to create cults?

 

But it is possible for them to have come from anywhere else other than the attack on the school and a potential- if highly mistaken, - rebellion is a good reason for why Kingdoms are preserving manpower though.

 

But then that begs the question: how many Kingdoms have the Envy Demons infiltrated?

“Probably not,” Prescine denied but her expression told me everything I needed to know, that she was considering the possibility. And her following words sounded more like a denial to me, “Definitely not.”

 

“Hopefully,” I said in reassurance.

 

“I feel like I’m listening to something I shouldn’t be listening to but since we’re going to be your advisers anyways, care to fill us in?” I turned to Zyra, offended.

 

“Low blow,” Laceresta growled, “don’t just use that out of the blue.”

 

“As happy as I was to tease Neophyte earlier,” Prescine glared at Zyra, “I don’t think this is a joking matter,”

 

“What? It’s a sign of trust!” She refuted which…

 

“Fair point,” I said.

 

“You can’t be serious?” Laceresta snapped her head at me, “you know that-”

 

“It’s fine,” I let Light pour out of my body in droves to make sure that if a piece of glass in this elevator is infected, then it's now cleansed, “we're talking about Envy Demons, and Laceresta is right, this is very sensitive information,"

 

“You're talking about an uprising,” I nodded towards Sleet.

 

“Good guess,” I agreed.

 

I looked at Karsten, who looked like she was about to speak with how her thoughtful expression was morphing into realization. Her realization had been right, “the Kings and Queens inside our borders are worried about the Demons causing a rebellion in their Kingdoms so they want their armies in top shape,”

 

“Spot on,” Prescine let out a resigned sigh, “and I guess this whole adviser thing is going to work out after all,” she shook her head, a pained smile tugging at her lips, “I'm glad that it's us who’s supporting Neophyte,”

 

“I guess?” Sleet scratched the back of her neck while looking uncomfortable “but uh, is this true? What you said just now I mean,”

 

“Like I said, I was only guessing,” Prescine shrugged, “I could be wrong,”

 

“Wait- students killing monsters would be so much better than us fighting a rebellion right?” I nodded at Lucille's insightful words, “is that why we're not preparing for the rebellion even though we're dealing with envy demons?”

 

“Probably,” Prescine answered vaguely, “we don't have enough information other than what we talked about just now though so I guess we're going to have to wait until we confirm things,”

 

The president sighed, “let's hope that for once, I'm wrong about a political mess,”

 

“And if you aren't?” I implied.

 

“Well, that's just the woes of being a prodigy,” she shot me a confident but shaking grin.

 

“Suffering from success,” I returned her grin. Shaking and all.

 

I turned away from her and stared at the distant fields.

 

I shared Prescine's feelings of hoping that for once, she's wrong.

 

…

 

“Do you remember what to do?” I did my best not to stare at Lucille as she was coached by her stylist on how to act once she was on the stage. I hid a gleeful chuckle, not wanting to reveal that I was feeling giddy at the sadistic treatment she was getting.

 

Through my mirror, I saw the heroine nod, and confidently reply with, “yes!”

 

Okay, so she may not think of what she's going through right now as something bad but she'll learn in time just how tedious and annoying this particular kind of "coaching” can actually be. Maybe after she does this 3 to 4 more times?

 

Maybe… maybe… I hummed in thought and eyed Lucille and the stylist doing her, “I'm sure you do, now, repeat after me; you go out to the side of the stage,”

 

“I-I go out to the side of the stage!” Lucille repeated the words like a duckling who had problems quacking. Stuttering and fumbling.

 

“And as you wait, you take deep breaths and calm yourself down, remember, no one is going to judge you, it’s the opposite actually, because you are there because you are getting a medal.”

 

“R-right! Got it!” I smiled softly, man, she was really deep into the ‘this is for my own good’ kind of thinking right now huh?..

 

“Good that you remember, now, what do you do once you get the signal to head out and take your award?”

 

“I slowly step out, wait for the spotlight to focus on me, and then increase my pace so as to not waste time!”

 

“Good!” The stylist smiled cheerily, “now, once you get your reward, what do you do?”

 

“I bow!”

 

“Great! Good! You're going to do well in this, okay?” I closed my eyes and listened in to the conversation while thinking about what kind of reward Lucille would be getting. I'm sure her feat of killing a single Demon Baron warrants some reward, the Bronze Slayer Medal maybe, which slightly boosts her physical stats.

 

But I’m guessing that it’s not just the Baron though because otherwise she wouldn't be getting anything.

 

Did she help out with the recovery efforts after the fight? I'm guessing she did.

 

Lucille getting a Bronze Slayer Medal should be good, yeah, it should be, even if it only slightly boosts the Damage stat back in the game. And I don't know what kind of effect it has here but I'm sure that it's something similar.

 

Laceresta and Zathania would be getting Gold Medals for their efforts- and it's a pity that Naviri was close to getting one herself but fell flat, - while me and Fafnir are getting both a Gold Medal as well as the rare Saviour's Medal.

 

That last one was especially important since it's a percentage boost of all my Support Techniques such as my Maximum Strength, Speed, Regeneration, and the like.

 

I would also love to give it to Lucille but there's a high chance that she'll just say no, or say yes but then keep it to herself until she's “worthy” or something, she feels like the kind of girl who would do that.

 

And speaking of Lucille-

 

“Just do what her majesty Neophyte does,” I opened my eyes and met Lucille's gaze through the mirror.

 

“She's right, just follow my lead,” I said in confidence and my words had their expected effect, because she perked up, “and remember that we're here for rewards, so don't let your anxiety get to you,”

 

“O-okay, got it!” Lucille gave me a nod.

 

“Good, I'm just about done and- huh, guess the signal's here,” the girls working on me stood aside and I stood up and eyed the guy waving a golden banner by the door of the changing room, “just watch alright?”

 

Lucille gave me a nod of confidence and I passed everyone else to head out the door with Fafnir.

 

“There were two others with us in there,” Fafnir said, “who were they?”

 

“Nimble and Sailfin from Whirlia,” I gave her the names of the two girls, “they're… competent,” and also the respective powerhouses of their own classroom, much like how I am to ours, “and also pretty strong,”

 

I looked to the side and noticed the door to the boys' changing room being open, I met the eyes of the guy who was peeking at us, “Typhoon,”

 

He returned my nod, “Neophyte,”

 

“You guys did well,” I complimented.

 

“Thank you,” he bowed just as two more heads popped out.

 

“Pyro, Hurricane,” I acknowledged the two other guys.

 

“Neophyte,” the two returned my greeting but that was it, we passed them by and I neared the guy waving the banner around.

 

“In 5, your majesty,”

 

I placed my hands to my stomach and thanked him, Fafnir caught up to me a few seconds later, “they seemed energetic,”

 

“Oh, they are,” I said, remembering the times Hurricane challenged me for my right hand. “Annoyingly so.”

 

Still infinitely better than Inferno though.

 

The 5 seconds passed by in a blink and I felt heat wash over me as spotlights shone onto the stage, illuminating the principal as well as the teachers close to her, “Hello!”

 

I closed my eyes as the cheering started.

 

I had an entire morning of makeup and preparation to get my nerves ready for this.

 

Everything is going to be fine.