The street was wide enough to fit two carriages. On one side lay the bar, on the other the field.

The King puppeteered his servants towards the boy, chanting prayers and drawing swords. The crowd struggled as they climbed over each other, moving more as a mass than separate units.

The guard who previously carried Echidna raised his blade once more and charged at Tanuki. The boy was still frozen, he realised the incoming strike too late, and in blind panic, he retaliated by doing what he tried to avoid the most.

No blood spilt. The guard remained still as the wooden sword pierced his innards. All Tanuki did was move the blade between them, he fell into it and pierced something vital within. Even when he slid off the weapon, he flailed his sword one last time, repeating the prayer as it died.

Tanuki panted frantically, his ears rang and the world around him blurred as he grew tunnel-visioned, staring at the crowd out for his head. The wand shook in his trembling hands, acid lighting it green.

His heart fought to decide what to do, defend himself or try reasoning, but a lucid voice broke through the prayers.

“Stop! Please, do not hurt them!”

The bartender too was controlled by the King’s will, but his unlikeness to the other villagers made him special. What little free will he had granted him the ability to speak, despite owning no control over his limbs.

“Please! They can’t control themselves! Do not hurt them!”

“The fuck am I supposed to do? Let them kill me?”

The bartender remained silent for a moment. The answer was obvious. Even if he wanted Tanuki to find another way, the plantfolk would prefer their kin survive, even if it meant their hero’s death.

“You’re not just a liberator, oh Great Hero! You’re a lot more than that! You are our saviour! Our martyr! The rain of blood that will purify us and take away our sins! We cannot help but be drawn to you, Great Hero! We thank you for this sacrifice! For your divine flesh and blood––“

“Shut your mouth!” Tanuki shouted and cast his spell. A second later deep regret washed over him. He could not look upon this act born in the heat of the moment, but the text appearing in the corner of his eye made sure he knew his sin.

[ Quest Lost ! ]

[ “New Brews” ]

Another villager broke free from the mass and charged him, Tanuki yelled for it to stay away and sprayed him with acid. The plantfolk burnt away like paper lit on fire, erasing everything from the waist up.

Tanuki nearly threw up. He gagged as the smell of his spell assaulted his nose.

“These are meaningless deaths! The plantfolk are just cannon fodder to the King,” Tanuki realised.

The large tree loomed over the bar in the village’s heart like a storm cloud. Tanuki knew if he wanted to put this to an end, he must burn it to the ground.

The crowd blocked his way and as more guards broke through, Tanuki was backed against the tall grass, defending from attacks on all sides. His only escape was through the field.

A large blow landed on his sword, and he let the force of the attack push him into the thickly overgrown field. He crawled beneath the vines and grass and emerged a few meters away, sprinting for his life. The green surrounding him reached high above his head, only the prayers let him know where he was compared to the masses. Their chanting refused to grow quieter; the King’s slaves chased his path. He did his best to hide his steps, but the king had eyes on all sides of the cube, even the most insignificant bugs behaved to his will.

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He sprinted as fast as his legs would go until he bumped into something and fell face-first into the dirt. Quickly as he could, he turned and drew his sword.

It was Hundredth, eyeing him with curiosity.

“Hero?”

“Resist him!” he yelled, hesitating with the blade.

Hundredth blinked twice, or at least her eyes flickered twice with the same sentiment. She put a finger to her chin and let go of the wheat.

Crouching before Tanuki, she spoke softly, “Resist whom?”

“The King!”

“Has he spoken to you?”

Tanuki lowered the blade and observed her eyes, once he made sure she was herself he slapped both his hands onto her mask and held her face close. This was Hundredth’s first time seeing him so serious, and the truth was that Tanuki had never been this focused in his entire life.

“The King took control of the villagers and he’s trying to hunt me down. We need to get to him.”

“My Father? What… I don’t think I follow! Why would my Father wish to hurt you?”

“Listen to me!” –– he shook her head –– “Listen! The knight you met? The one from the memory you shared? It’s the King! The King is the final Pretender! I spoke to Echidna and he told me that there is no land beneath the village, and when the King heard it he attacked!”

“You spoke to that beast? Oh, dear Hero, that is a monster that eats children! You should not believe a word of his!”

Tanuki was on the verge of breaking. Tears and snot covered his face as he fought to make her understand.

“Please, listen! I don’t know why, I don’t know his reasons, but he wants me dead! The villagers have already tried to kill me! I had to fight back, you understand? I’ve already had to kill three innocent people because your Father! He caused those people to die!”

Hundredth stared silently. Tanuki slurred his speech as he tried to speak it all but could not.

“The bartender said I was a martyr, they want to kill me, but they also don’t! A soldier was in pain, and–– and I tried to make him fight it but instead he charged at me so I put out my blade and I–– it must be the water! Yes! You drank the wine with me, that’s why he can’t control you! It must be something in the water that gives him the power to control other plantfolks! His roots are spreading it into the ground, and it goes to the rivers and creeks and––“

Hundredth stood and drew her blade, Tanuki crawled back. Her eyes were cold, yet uncontrolled.

“Have you taken the life of a villager?” she spoke slowly.

“Three, but I didn’t want to! They attacked me because the King forced them and I had to defend myself!”

“You took the life of three of my people and accused my King and Father?”

Tanuki’s voice cracked as he cried louder. “Listen to me for fucks sake! They attacked me, I only defended myself!”

“The villagers of Yosh are honest and grateful people. We’ve been waiting for the Great Hero’s arrival for a hundred winters, yet you try to insinuate we would harm him? That we would refuse the one who came to break our scarred chains? Worse, you ally with a Pretender and scheme with him? You would humiliate the people of Yosh––no––the King himself with this disgrace?! I am the Princess of Yosh, I shall not let my people be subject to this… this act of degeneracy!”

“Hundredth, you don’t understand!”

“Shut up!” she yelled and kicked him in the face.

Amidst the blurry vision and ringing ears caused by a concussion, a thought crossed Tanuki’s mind. He dreaded the question, despite already knowing the truth. Some parts of him held out hope that things might be different, and his person might triumph over his role.

But he could not have been any more ignorant.

His snot mixed with the blood oozing from his nose, he wiped them away and spoke with shaky words.

“Hundredth, what’s my name?”

She took a second, then spoke with disdain. “You are no Great Hero, he would never betray our village like this. Perhaps we were wrong to be so impatient about freedom.”

“Hundredth, Answer me! What’s my name? You remember, right? I told you. Even Cervus used my name. So, please, say it! What’s my name?”

Her grasp on the sword tightened, her eyes shining with disgust.

“Pretender.”

Tanuki’s world shattered. Throughout his journey, he considered himself unique. Much like Hundredth, the bartender, and the shopkeeper. They stood above the nameless crowd, they all held individual values that would make their lives worthy and their deaths a true loss. They were not just numbers, another brick in the wall, but the beautiful paintings and pictures that decorated it, rising above the ocean of similarities. Yet he failed to realise it made very little difference. They were objects with a purpose, and when he entered their village, he too made himself to be nothing more than another cogwheel in the machine, pushing towards the hivemind’s shared purpose.

He still looked at Hundredth as a person of her own, but she did not reciprocate those feelings. For her, no such thing as a Hachiro Tanuki existed, only Great Heroes and Pretender.

Fuelled by the goodness of his heart, he failed to understand the rules leading not just this realm but the entire game. There were two parties, them and the enemy. He came into this dungeon not to make friends, but to grow his realm and power by taking what is another’s. He had forgotten that at some point and by trying to make friends, he made himself a tool for his enemies.

The same rules affected the people of this realm, but they understood them and worked to use and abuse anything for their shared goal. Despite how much Tanuki yearned for it to be the case, this existence was not one of kindness but of a bloody game.