Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 30. Sticky situations
Gray, Lisa, and the others begin walking out of the underground cathedral, forcing themselves back into the tight tunnel.
Gray: “Why are we leaving so quickly?”
Lisa: “Well my mom told me not to show anybody, and she’ll get mad if she finds us!”
Due to his large body size, Edward struggles to get through the cracked hole in the cathedral. Gray turns around, noticing his absence.
Gray: “Edward you good!? Those muscles holding you back!?”
Edward begins panicking, unable to force himself through. Everyone quickly realizes this and begins to panic as well. Gray tries moving his head to look over everyone else but is met with a spiderweb in his face. This causes Gray to panic, screaming out.
Lisa: “CALM DOWN!”
Gray: “NO, NO, NO! I HATE SPIDERS, GET IT OFF!”
Gray becomes wedged in the tunnel, causing a suppressed claustrophobia to come to the surface. This causes him to freak out even further, trying to force himself out of this tight predicament. Soku, one who’s open about her claustrophobia, begins freaking out as well, shutting down, and curling up into a ball. Lisa has no idea what to do, so she begins panicking as well, squeezing a panicking Peter. Peter began freaking out the second they got into the tunnel, which leaves only Rosemary left to deal with everyone.
Rosemary: “EDWARD! HOLD YOUR BREATH, PUT YOUR ARMS THROUGH FIRST, AND SUCK IN YOUR GUT!. SOKU! YOU’RE SMALL, YOU WON’T GET STUCK! GRAY! WHEN WE GOT TO THE CAPITAL WE RAN AWAY FROM A GIANT ARCH-GORILLA, A SPIDER GORILLA AND YOU DIDN’T ACT LIKE THIS! GET IT TOGETHER! LISA, PULL PETER OUT, YOU’RE ABOUT TO REACH THE EXIT ANYWAY!”
Gray takes a deep breath, then slowly comes back into his right mind. Lisa begins dragging Peter out of the tunnel, Soku stands back up and walks over to a still-stuck Edward. With Rosemary’s advice, he was able to start wedging himself through, and then Soku helped him by placing her hand on his back and blasting wind mana onto him, blowing him into the small tunnel. This causes an excess of dust to be blown through the tunnel, making it difficult to breathe. They all take a deep breath and start quickly shimming their way out. Once they finally make it out, Gray grabs everyone with the cloak of darkness, then attaches it to the top of the well, pulling them all out. Lance, who was fast asleep in the grass, is quickly woken up by their sudden appearance.
Lance: “What was down there?”
Lisa: “Nothing too important, let's go inside now!”
Everyone wipes the dust off of themselves while they begin walking back into the mayor’s office.
Lisa: “I can’t believe I was touched by THE CLOAK OF DARKNESS! And that I was commanded by a golden knight! Oh, and Edward! Can I ask you about something!?”
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Edward suppressed her desire to talk to him, alleging her question, nodding his head.
Lisa: “GREAT! SO! How’s the warrior's spirit working!? I’ve read so many books about the Heslings I could be considered a master in the subject! But every Helsing from Yoru to Musashi! But they’ve all described it differently. Either it’s a ghost that takes you over, or a want you can’t resist…but I wanna hear it directly from the source!”
Edward sighs, annoyed by the question. But he still answers to the best of his ability.
Edward: “It’s almost like your subconscious, how it makes you feel something you might not want to. It’s like it’s built into you, an urge to push yourself, to protect yourself. It pushes every bad feeling away, leaving you with only an adrenaline-filled rage to protect yourself with. A defense mechanism that you’re supposed to snuff out and get your white hair.”
Lisa: “But what does it feel like? Is it real, or is it an emotion? Like does it speak to you, can you see it, feel it, or do you just know?”
Everyone turns to Edward, interested in what he’ll say. The idea of a built-in defense mechanism is interesting, but Edward's natural disdain for it is even more interesting. This hate for it, not wanting to speak of it, not wanting to even acknowledge it. In the past, when Julius had asked about it during the knight's exam, he was deeply angered, when he was fighting Gray and he screamed at the audience about it, and when he first fought Conroy and he begged for him to let it consume him. A title or way to see him that most people hold, and it’s deeply aggravating for him, but now, he seems almost sad about it, not angry. It’s like he’s come to accept it as an ability instead of it being a part of him, something he hasn’t fully come to understand himself.
Edward: “It’s like a chill that’s always going down your spine, and when it starts to hurt, you either push through the pain, or you let it take hold.”
Edward's somber attitude toward the subject causes everyone to feel a bit down, so Lisa moves on from the topic. Once they make it into the building, they hear a woman yelling.
Lisa: “MOM!?”
Lisa begins running down the hall, surprising the others.
Gray: “Should we run after her!?”
Soku: “I dunno, speed walking would be better.”
Lance: “HELL NAH! I WANNA SEE WHAT’S GOIN' ON!”
Lance bolts down the hall, stumbling into the mayor’s office. Everyone else speed walks over, finding the mayor yelling in anger at Julius, who’s as calm as ever.
Lisa: “MOM WHAT’S WRONG!?”
Greta Crossfield, the mayor of Constal, is dressed in the same outfit that Lisa is and also has brown hair to further their resemblance. However, instead of having her hair down as well as long bangs spread out by the middle part like Lisa, she has shorter bangs and her hair in a side bun. But just because they share a similar appearance, doesn't mean they act the same, as shown by how she’s snapping at Julius. She put her hand over her face, trying to hold back her anger. So, to speak for her, the assistant walks in.
Assistant: “Julius here wants Greta to sign over rights to Constal, the land that is.”
Julius: “Well it’s only fair, it’s on the land of Valatrositce. And I, prince of Valatrositice, think that I have the right to this land. But, I know that they own this as private land, that I should get permission instead of attacking in full force.”
Everyone’s shocked by Julius’ words, surprised that he would be trying to claim their land.
Gray: “Is that worth it? What’s the problem with city-states, it raises morals and how the Prince sees their worth.”
Everyone is also surprised by how Gray worded his statement, especially Soku.
Soku: “Um…yeah what Gray said. But there’s more to it, why do you need to claim the land?”
Julius: “Look, I apologize for not passing you all through this first, but I do not have to. You all are my companions, but you are not my business partners. So if I may ask this kindly, would you all leave the room? You may go back home or stay here until I am ready to go, do you understand?”
Everyone looks at each other, a bit confused by Julius’ quick change in his manner. Though with only a bit of thought, they realize he’s been like this since the beginning, which causes them to feel a bit dumb. He’s not evil, but he’s not at all what they saw him as, but that’s their fault because he’s his person with his own goals, he just happened to meet with them. A chance of luck, luck that caused an experience that they’d never have again, but that doesn't make him family, as much as they thought it did anyway.
Edward: “We’ll just go home, we’ll see you later.”
Lance: “Ugh, do I have to go with them? I’m just gonna stay here with you.”
Julius: “You may do whatever you like, I do not care.”
They all leave the room, a bit aggravated, but they come to terms with it fairly quickly.
Gray: “He’s a dick.”
Peter: “Yeah, figured he’d be a bit nicer.”
Lisa: “NO YOU’RE LEAVING!? I STILL HAVE SO MUCH TO ASK!”
Rosemary turns to Lisa, then takes a knee.
Rosemary: “I’m sorry, but we must go. I hope we see you again someday Lisa!”
Lisa shakes her head and slowly walks away, causing everyone to feel a bit sad. But they push on, walking to their carriage, and being on their way home.
End of Chapter Thirty