The Hidden World

Same Day

Yuna walked back to her dorm in a daze. The declaration that there was a traitor by Yuki, shocked her. The Academy was supposed to be the safest place in the whole city of Junction and if not the whole country. If there was a traitor then no one was safe here anymore.

She didn’t want to believe it but the reasoning and evidence given by Yuki was too convincing to think otherwise. The fact that a golem had appeared in a place where the average monster was at the strength of a goblin was proof of that.

When Yuna returned to her dorm, she immediate went the couch and placed her watch on the table in front of it. She tapped on it and brought up her contacts list that contained only one name.

‘I should get Yuki’s contact information as well,’ she thought as she began a video call with her one contact.

After a couple rings, a screen appeared and displayed the shadowy face of Yuna’s captain. Yuna stood at attention as she waited for the captain to speak.

“You can sit, Cadet,” he said. “I take it that you need to report something to me?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. “There were some events that occurred that I felt I had to report to you.”

“Go on then,” the captain said.

“Earlier today, the first years were sent to go hunting in the woods,” Yuna started. “I paired up with the human, Yuki, and we went to find monsters to kill. After we killed a couple of goblins we began to head back to the announced meeting place for the students. Along the way, Yuki noticed that a golem was approaching us.”

“A golem?” the captain repeated.

“Yes, sir. A golem that seemed to be made out of some sort of metal,” Yuna said. “Yuki suggested that we run since we would be unable to defeat a monster like that. I agreed to that plan of action and we ran off into two different directions. Soon, I noticed that the golem was heading toward the direction of the human. Worried for its safety, I ran toward that direction. When I reached there I watched as two unidentifiable people were fighting the golem. One seemed to be a female elf and the other a female beastkin.”

“Strangers? They weren’t instructors?” the captain interrupted.

“No, sir. I memorized all of the faces of the instructors at the Academy,” Yuna replied. “These two people were able to defeat the golem and I ran away from the scene as I did not want to risk having to fight against two people of unknown strength.”

“That was the right decision, Cadet,” the captain complimented her. “I understand that it’s not seen as honorable to run from a battle but one’s life takes precedent.”

Yuna decided to not tell him that she was about to fight the golem by herself. The captain was right. But that didn’t mean that Yuna didn’t feel uncomfortable from running. Running from a fight was just dishonorable; it was downright not accepted amongst the people of Ethros. The fact that Yuki suggested to do something like that so easily showed how he wasn’t from this world.

‘But the captain must be worried about my safety if he believed that it was the right course of action,’ she thought to herself.

“Is there anything else?” the captain asked.

“Yes. There was theory brought to my attention by the human that is worrying me,” Yuna said.

“Go on.”

“Yuki has come to the conclusion that there is a traitor of some sort in the Academy,” Yuna said.

The captained leaned back in his chair and the hazy form of his hand went to his chin.

“How did the human get to this conclusion? Did it explain its reasoning?” the captain asked.

“Yuki had two reasons, mainly,” Yuna said. “One was that golems are artificially made and so that someone made this and sent it to the Academy to attack.”

“That could be an accident,” the captain countered. “What was the human’s other reason.”

“The other reason was that normal monsters are block via a barrier that surround the Academy. According to the human, artificial monsters like a golem are not stopped by this barrier. Yuki reasoned that the person that sent the golem to attack the Academy knew this and that was why they created a golem. Yuki also told me that information on the barrier and how it works was classified and limited only to the people at the Academy.”

“I see,” the captain said. “That does make sense. This is human is quite smart.”

Yuna nodded.

“A smart human. Hmmm,” he continued. Then he mumbled something that Yuna couldn’t hear.

“What was that, sir?” Yuna asked.

“Nothing, just talking to myself,” the captain replied. “I’ve will be assigning you another task. You are to investigate who this traitor is.”

“I understand, sir,” she said. She had expected as much when she began her report.

“That still means that your previous missions are in place,” the captain reminded. “You are to grow as close as possible to the human as you can. It seems like you are doing a decent job right now.”

“Thank you, sir,” she replied.

“Watch that human carefully, Cadet Yuna,” the captain said. “Now that we know that the human is smart, we need to confirm whether or not it’s a threat.”

“I understand, sir,” she said.

“Good,” the captain said. “I expect a report in a couple of weeks. You are dismissed.”

Yuna tapped on the screen and ended the voice chat with the captain. Then she laid down on the couch and sighed to herself. Another responsibility was just added to her load. Now she had to investigate a traitor that she had no clues as to who it was.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was a little past lunch. Yuna decided to take a little nap and went to her bedroom where she fell asleep. When she woke up, she found that it was dinner time.

‘Should I go over to Yuki’s place to eat?’ she thought to herself.

She decided against it for today. He was probably just as tired as she was and if not more since he was a human. Yuna went to her own kitchen and got out a prepackaged meal to eat.

‘I wish I knew how to cook like Yuki,’ she thought as she ate. It was a skill that wasn’t taught to cadets but seemed very useful.

Soon she finished her dinner. Then she went to her bathroom to clean herself up. After that she went back to her bedroom and laid down on her bed. Yuna stayed like that as she waited for sleep to come to her.

‘I wonder what Yuki’s doing,’ she thought in her mind. ‘Would he mind if I asked him for help in finding the traitor? He seems pretty smart.’

Her mind wandered off and began to think about the scene she witnessed in the forest of the two girls fighting the golem.

‘They’re really strong,’ she thought. ‘I wish I could have talked to them but I didn’t know if they were friendly or not. That beastkin fought with her bare fist against a metal golem. Maybe she’s a berserker?’

This class normally fought with whatever they had including their fist. They had high pain tolerances and that would explain how that beastkin could punch metal.

‘They were also really beautiful,’ Yuna thought sleepily. ‘Especially that elf. She was so pretty. I wonder why they were here. I want to talk to them.’

Finally sleep came to Yuna and she fell into a peaceful slumber.