Volume 1 Chapter 8: Part 5: You Need To Die

"But it's still unbelievable that Onyx would agree to this, though." Walter gives a wry laugh. Remembering how Onyx agreed to die was something Walter never expected. He expected a fight or something out of him.

But not that.

Walter can only chuckle, wondering what kind of face he made at Onyx.

"Onyx is someone who absorbs information quickly. Using everything he gained, he thinks about the bigger picture." Vargar makes a light smile. Onyx also has an open mind.

He looks out the window at the sun setting down, "They should be there by now."

"Yeah." Walter does the same and looks out the window too.

...

"Hero Onyx, we are almost there." A knight says. Behind him, Onyx wore a cloak, hiding his face. Contrary to what that knight said in the courtyard, Onyx is alive and well.

Nothing is wrong with him.

Onyx nods and continues to follow the knights. The reason he's alive isn't coincidence or luck. Rather, it was planned.

...

A few days prior, Onyx and the rest of his group continued to explore. As they did, he could hear the snickering coming behind him.

"Why are we out here again?"

"We should be sleeping. Not here to deal with some pesky monsters."

"Hmpf! We already did this before. So why do we have to deal with this? We are so much better than this."

The ones who said these words are none other than trainees from the noble faction. Only trainees from that faction came with Onyx.

Hearing these words, Onyx rolls his eyes. Fighting with those monsters made them overconfident. Do they think they can act like this just because they survived?

Onyx remembers what they did. Nothing. They only ran away and did the bare minimum when fighting the monsters besides the chimera.

"We're here." When Onyx says this, the overconfident expressions on those trainees' faces change. Their faces turn tense when they notice a bunch of kobolds.

Not caring about what they're thinking, Onyx says, "I'll be the one taking point. The rest of you follow after me." The group nods to his commands and follows his lead.

Nothing else needed to be said as Onyx charges into the group of kobolds. With his charge, the rest follow after.

And the fight didn't last long. To be honest, it was overkill. Onyx alone took down all the kobolds. The trainees only stood there and watched him do it.

"Collect the crystals." Onyx orders. But the trainees gave him a weird look. Why should we nobles do what peasants do?

"What?" Onyx's eyes narrow at them, and they quickly nod. They can't talk back to Onyx, knowing how strong he is. But the trainees turn to the priests,

"Since you people didn't do anything, you guys should be the ones to do it." No way they're going to be treated like commoners. Their pride won't allow it.

As Onyx starts to collect the demon crystals, he hears screaming coming from the back! When Onyx turns around, he sees a priest stabbing a trainee in the chest! The trainees look at the scene in horror and shock!

"What are you guys doing?!" One of the trainees screams out, confused as to why the priest stabbed them. And that priest isn't the only one. While they are still stunned in silence, the priests charge in, continuing to kill off other trainees!

"Why are you killing us off!" The trainee continued to shout out in horror as the priest kept killing.

"Oh, please." The priest slices off the trainee's head, "You guys are nothing more than garbage in our way. We're only after you." The leader of the priest says as he points at Onyx.

"Our last two attempts have been failures. But this time, you're going to die." Because of the two attempts, the Holy Land became furious. They're going all out this time! The people who are brought to the expedition aren't ordinary priests.

They have brought in some top-level warriors to deal with Onyx this time.

"Then why are you guys killing us off then?! If you only want the commoner, then kill him instead!" Why did they have to die when the only person they want is Onyx?

Just kill him and be done with it.

And yet,

Shing!

The priest slices off the trainee's head, "Heh, we can't have anybody else blab about this, can we?" They can't let anybody else know about this. Everybody needs to die.

"Now then; you're the only one left." The priest looks at Onyx with an evil grin. They killed off all the trainees, leaving Onyx to be alive.

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But Onyx is calm, "You should look at your surroundings first."

"So you're acting like a tough guy till the end?" The priest continues to act smugly. All the priests brought here are meant to kill him off.

One of us is enough to deal with you. That's how much confidence the priest has.

But Onyx continues to stay calm. He sighs, "Look behind you."

"Do you think I'm a fool who'll listen to what you say?" The priest would be a fool in following Onyx's words. It'll leave an opening for Onyx to attack him.

Onyx continues to be silent as he stares at them. Before the priest can say anything, loud shouting comes from behind the priest!

The priest's eyes turn wide. He turns around quickly. And when he turns around to see what's going on, his face pales.

"What are you guys doing?!" What he saw were the knights killing off the priests! The leader's mind went crazy, wondering why they were doing this.

This is not part of the plan! The plan was to have the Espoir knights and the Holy Land's warriors attack him together!

"Are you really going to go against the Holy Land! This will start a war between us!" Hearing that, the knight sneers,

"Oh, please, do we really care about what you Holy Land people do? And besides, you guys won't be alive to tell anybody about this." As the knight says this, the leader of the priest's head goes flying.

...

"So, what's the deal with not saving those trainees?" As they walk, Onyx asks one of the knights. Remembering what happened, Onyx was cautious.

Why did they let them all die? The knights could've made a move sooner and saved them. But they chose not to. They waited for all of them to be killed before making a move.

What's more, they told him not to make a move.

"Hero Onyx, it's because they have served their use." That's the best way to explain it to Onyx.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" But that's not a reasonable explanation for Onyx.

The knight explains, "Even though our majesty is the king, there are factions that are not satisfied with this. They're waiting for the chance of him making the wrong move." Hyenas. That's the only word the knight can describe them as.

The moment Walter shows weakness, they will use it against him!

"Those trainees, in particular, are from the main households trying to destroy our majesty's honor." Killing off their descendants was one way for Walter to end their household.

But there's more to it than that.

Walter and Vargar wanted the rebel faction and The Holy Land to fight against each other. No doubt, the nobles will try to find out what happened here.

And the first people they will suspect is The Holy Land. It's known to all lands that the Holy Land detests dark magic. So they would kill at nothing to get Onyx.

Even those trainees as well. It won't be long before those nobles would know about this. And that's what Walter and Vargar want.

A fight between those factions, causing mutual destruction.

"I see." Onyx doesn't know about Walter's idea and just nods at what the knight just said. But that doesn't mean he will agree to this. It doesn't sit well. Remembering how the trainees gave him a despairing look and begged: it feels wrong for Onyx.

He had to sit there and watch it.

To think Walter would think so far ahead. But that's expected of a king.

...

"Before I die, I have a few requests." Onyx isn't done.

"What do you need?"

"One: my family must never know about this, and I want you to send people to my village to protect them."

"Understood." Even if Onyx didn't ask them: Vargar and Walter would've still done this. What would happen when Onyx's parents realize their son is dead? That's something all three of them didn't want to have.

"Good. My last demand is you MUST NEVER tell Irene what transpired here." Onyx knows Irene's personality all too well. If she finds out about this: she might go crazy and blow everything up. Even worse, she might even attack The Holy Land head-on.

That'll just cause a full-on war between the two countries.

"Alright."

"That's all my request." Onyx sighs in relief. That's all he needed. His family and Irene will be safe. And then he takes the small fruit knife from the table, "Thank you for everything, your majesty, and teacher."Onyx was going to stab himself then and there,

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Vargar shouts out as he grabs the fruit knife out of his hand.

"Huh? I'm dying, teacher?" Onyx tilts his head. Isn't the plan to kill him and keep the Espoir Kingdom safe?

Vargar's face twitches when he hears that, and then,

"This foooool!!" He slams his hand down right at Onyx's head.

"Mugghh!" Onyx went down to the ground! If it was him in the beginning, he would've been knocked out from the blow. But now, there's a red bump on his head. He looks up at his teacher, feeling wronged.

"How am I a fool?!"

"What kind of fool dies when somebody asks you to do it?! And why are you going to do it here!"

"Oh, then should I-"

"Not a chance!" Another fist falls down onto Onyx's head again.

"Pff!" Watching how the two act like this, the laughter coming from Walter makes the two's gaze direct at him.

"What's going on?" Shouldn't there be a solemn expression? Why was Walter laughing in this situation?

"Nothing, nothing! I just realized you took what we said too seriously. That's our mistake." Walter quickly stops laughing as he sees Vargar giving him a glare.

"Onyx, what I want for you is not to die. But to "die."

...

So I'm faking my death instead. Remembering it, Onyx can't help but be embarrassed at what he tried to do. Teacher is right: I am a fool.

"Hero Onyx, we are here." The knight says. When Onyx looks up, he sees they stopped in front of a path. And that path leads to a deep forest.

"I'm going through that?" Onyx's eyes twitch. Nothing needed to be said about it. He can already tell monsters will be jumping at him left and right.

"Yes, hero Onyx. But you don't have to be afraid. Duke Vargar says the monsters that live in the forest of death are no match for you."

"..." Did I hear that correctly? It's called the forest of death. It has the word death in it!

Onyx wants to cry. He knows the underlying message behind Vargar's words.

These monsters are no match for him. But that's if he continues to be cautious throughout the entire night!

"...Understood." But there's nothing he can do about it now. Onyx then asks, "What will you guys do now?" Now that the knights are considered "dead," they can't return.

"You don't have to worry about us, Hero Onyx. We were already part of King Walter's hidden task force." The names they're using now are nothing more than a cover-up. They work in the shadows, helping Walter gather information and protect the people.

"I see." Onyx sighs in relief.

"Before you go in, Duke Vargar wanted us to hand you these." The knight hands Onyx a giant duffle bag.

Hmm? What is all of this? When Onyx opens the bag, the first thing he sees is armor. The armor consists of a breastplate, armguards, and leg guards. It's a dull white with a tint of shine to it.

"Duke Vargar used the bones of a chimera you two defeated to make this armor." It took a while for the armor to be made, but it's well worth it.

Onyx's face brightens, and he doesn't hesitate to try it on. It's so comfortable. The armor fits perfect on his body.

He thought it would be heavy. But it's light as a feather. And the armor doesn't hinder any of his joints, making it easier to move.

"In the bag, the provisions are enough to last through the entire journey. Also, there are coins from the demon crystals that were sold." Vargar packed everything up for Onyx.

Hearing all of this, a grin forms on Onyx's face.

"Also, there is something else the Duke and majesty wanted to give you." The knight says as he hands Onyx a sword, two letters, and a ring.

A sword? Onyx takes the sword out from its sheath. The entire blade is all gray. But when he raises it into the air, the sword sparkles into silver, shining brighter than any jewel.

Just by looking at it, Onyx can tell it's a good sword.

Onyx sheathes the sword back and looks at the ring, "Isn't this the ring teacher used before?" He remembers how Vargar's hair changed color due to it.

The ring is a different design. But it's similar enough to it.

"Mmhmm. To use it, just inject some mana into the ring." Onyx nods and does it. The knight takes his sword out to use as a mirror. There, Onyx sees his hair change into a deep navy blue.

That's good. With this, Onyx won't stand out as much.

Finishing up with the two items, Onyx looks down at one of the letters.

To Onyx, please read this first. Onyx opens the first letter; the only phrase written in it is:

Heroes are made through their actions, not from their titles.

"..." Onyx doesn't know what to say to that. But he knew what it meant. He has to become stronger. Strong enough to deal with the Holy Land.

Placing the letters into his pockets, he turns to the knights, "Thank you for everything. I shall be going now."

As Onyx walks, the knights salute him.

His journey begins now.

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