When faced with a monster, there are two types of people: the ones who died facing it, and the ones who died facing away.
And for someone like me, I had to do both.
A dragon—or a wyvern—is flapping its wing, pushing gust and dust into my eyes. A hero never faces away from his opponent, but goddamn this is annoying. So I turn to my silver-haired assistant instead, who is writing a note when all this is happening.
"Is this one hostile?" I shout, but I can't even hear myself with the wind blocking my ears.
She pulls off the silver strands on her face. "According to my knowledge of beast monsters, dragons are not hostile creatures. They'd rather negotiate than fight."
"But this is not a dragon, though," I reply.
"What?"
It must've been the wind blocking her ears, so I shout loudly, "THIS IS NOT A DRAGON THOUGH! IT HAS TWO LEGS!"
Then she replies.
Which I can't hear, "WHAT?"
So she takes a deep breath and shouts, "IF IT'S A WYVERN IT IS LOOKING TO KILL US!"
Ouh okay. Well? Since a wyvern has almost the same intellect as a human, I can think of few reasons why it wants me, yes, me specifically, dead. One, it probably has heard that someone is coming to kill it. Probably enraged, it came straight to the guy who promised a bunch of villagers that.
And since every wall ever built nowadays has my face on it, I'm pretty sure I can't just walk this off.
Yes, my dear mind reader, wherever and whenever you are, we are now in the middle of dealing with a very dangerous monster.
And for those who haven't read my mind long enough and just came right here to this moment, there's one thing you should know.
I am the Hero of the West.
And—hold on a second — my apprentice is trying to tell me something.
"The wyvern is making a move, Hero."
Well, it sure looks like wanting to come down from there.
"Okay, I guess we'd better get moving too."
She nods, understanding what I meant.
The wyvern shot itself to the ground, hitting where we were just now. Dust flying around making a smokestack, it's the best scenario for us.
Now we only have to do one thing, RUN!
Why are you looking at me judgementally so! I was trying to tell you I am not the original Hero of the West. Heck, I'm not even a hero.
The ground explodes, the gust blowing us back. It is kind of helping us a little.
The wyvern (yes, I turn back for a moment) starts chasing us on foot.
My apprentice is scribbling down on her note. She hasn't looked fazed since, like, the first time I met her, which was a week ago. "Hero, what do you think about the wyvern chasing us?" She asks.
Really, is this really the right time for your journal? Well, if I have to say anything about the wyvern, now that it closes its wings it looks like a really big chicken. Or maybe a wyvern is just a chicken that is really big.
A really fast chicken.
In fact I don't think we can survive this just by running.
Mina yawns. Seriously?
"Mina," I call her out the name of this apprentice, "the pills! You still has it right?"
"I do."
"Well, we need it!"
"Hold on a second."
We are still running. So when Mina swings around her white bag to her chest and unzip it, a lot of stuff fall out from the bag's mouth. She puts her hand in and starts looking for the pill, which cause more stuff to leaves her bag. CAN YOU BE MORE CAREFUL WHAT IF THE THING THAT WE NEEDED FELL!
"Got it," Mina says, shoving her small fist to my face. Inside her hand is a very familiar container that has pills.
This is it, our savior!
I grab it, pull of the lid, and put one—no, two—NO, three! Three tablets in my mouth. Gulp. Now we just have to wait for the effect to kick in.
O—oh. It seems like the enhancement pill is out. There were only three left and I accidentally didn't leave even one for my apprentice, Mina.
I turn to her, "Mina, it's out."
"Bummer."
A sense of guilt mixing in my adrenaline. There's no way she can keep running without the pill and I ate all of them. She will die. "Mina," I say, "I'm sorry. I'd tell your mother that you're the best apprentice I ever had." Well, she is the only apprentice I'd ever had so…
"Hero—"
Mina, still with nothing on her face. I know that she always complaining about her being alive, saying that living is a burden, but can she just pretend to feel something right now, in her final moment?
She continues, "—your speed haven't been increasing."
My feet is scurrying in a normal speed. She's right I wonder why? Is something wrong with the pill?
I look at the container… anddd that explain everything.
The container is labeled with 'sleep inducing pill.'
Mina points at it in case I didn't see, "I accidentally gave you my medication pill. I think the pill we needed fell out of my bag some time ago."
Cracked. It was very quiet but I can hear the container that has a tablet to save us, is now turned to dust.
Also, my vision is fading now. My feet is stumbling. I am falling. The sky the ground the legs the wyvern, they are all turning into waves-like-dream. Dang, this sleep pill is really… really fast.
"Mina… I'm… I'm going down."
And now the table flips. Mina is the one who has to tell her mother that I was the best Hero she ever lived. Well, I am the only hero she ever served so…
Mina speaks. A goodbye? Very nice of you, Mina. Or maybe a solution? It must be! She is an academy student, right? Even a daughter of one of the Great Family. All right, Mina, tell me. I am going to use every last of my consciousness to form you fading words.
"He… o… If… any… con… lation… eat… here."
I'm very good at reading people between the lines and I'm pretty sure she just said: If it's to any consolation I also have eaten some before coming here.
Mina fall, face first, to the dirt ground.
How can I forgot how flaw is my apprentice. She is an academy student, yes, a dropout student! She also obviously is not right in the head since she is very suicidal sometimes. The only reason she was sent to me is because her family wanted her honorably die fighting a demon.
And there goes me…
Everything turns black.
The only sound I can hear now is the voice of my head. Even that is fading too.
The ground rumbling doesn't help it at all, instead I feel like I am being cradled to sleep.
We're surely going to die now. If there's someone who can grant me a wish, do it now.
I wish I didn't pick up the Hero's sword back then. None of this would happen if I didn't.