My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s

The one who was the first to realize that something was wrong, was neither Zeal-san, Tsukasa, nor Asahina, but me. 

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I realized it afterwards, but it seems that it was something that a wind magician who had grown sufficiently powerful enough could unconsciously perceive, and it was commonly known as『Wind Reading』.

It could be referred to as intuition or a premonition; it was when you understood, somehow or another, that there was something that had power over your life and death nearby. 

「This forest, isn’t there something strange about it?」

It was at that time when I was just about to say that. 

I had been considering consulting with Zeal-san about the uncomfortable feeling that I had since entering this forest.

It seemed that no one else was feeling out of sorts, but I was too unsettled to dismiss it as it being just my imagination, so I was thinking of consulting with Zeal-san for now and then coming to a conclusion.

Zeal-san was in the same group as me, and taking advantage of that, I was about to ask him about it.

It seems that I was too late though.

「Nanase-kun, please be vigilant.
They’re a bit of distance away, but we’re currently surrounded.」

Looking around as if he was searching for food, Zeal-san whispered this to me. 

When I heard that we were surrounded by enemies, I felt my body stiffening. 

I, who was a wind magician, was obviously the rear guard, and had never directly confronted human enemies nor monsters.

As a man, it wasn’t as if I’ve never dreamed of fighting on the front lines, but at most, I’ve only fired long-range magic from behind Tsukasa of Asahina.

And, among the monsters that we’ve fought so far, none of them were strong enough to have slipped through the attacks of the hero and the samurai and caused the rear guards to fall into chaos.

For this reason, unlike the vanguards who had close combat occupations, I was unaccustomed to being on the receiving end of the killing intent.

「Hiii!?」

TN: this is kind of like someone screaming in fear

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While I was feeling nervous about where the attacks will come from, I jumped up a little when a hand touched my shoulder. 

When I looked up from that hand, there was Zeal-san with grim look on his face, which was rare. 

He exerted pressure on the hand that was gripping my shoulder.

「Calm down.
If you don’t want to die, think of the reason why you want to survive, and have the resolution to use anything in order to get out of this alive.」

With a grim look on his face, Zeal-san stood in front of me, drew his sword, and readied it.

That back was much broader than I remembered it to be.

「In order to survive, use me!」

I heard those words, and my hands were gradually filled with strength. 

Zeal-san’s words, that were just slightly rough and were unlike the polite speech that he had been using up until now which seemed to keep people at a distance, resounded in my heart.

I was not like Akira who was fine even if he was alone.

I did not have Tsukasa’s charisma that drew people in. 

I was not like Asahina who had something that he was good at either.

I wasn’t good at cooking, could not enliven the atmosphere, and couldn’t heal anyone either.

There was nothing special about me.

However, I too wanted to live.

I didn’t want to die.

…I too, wanted to go home.

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Waking up in the morning while being scolded by my parents, going to school in a hurry, doing stupid things with my friends, studying, eating dinner, I just wanted to live a normal life.

That’s why, in order to do that, in order to obtain such a way of life, I needed to fight.

Perhaps it was because of the killing intent that was directed towards myself, but my hands that had turned into ice just now warmed up. 

I finally became determined to fight this world to the bitter end, which Akira was probably determined to do so since day one of coming here.

Not swayed by the opinions of others, those were my thoughts.

「Yes!! I will persevere in order to stay alive! Therefore, please tell me what I should do! What should I do so that I can survive?」

Firmly raising my head, I gripped my staff that assisted in the invocation of my magic, and looked Zeal-san in the eye.

Zeal-san’s eyes widened when he saw the sudden change in the look on my face, and then smiled.

「What strong will.
Well then, this is sudden, but….」

I immediately nodded at the words that Zeal-san whispered into my ear.

I had never attempted it before, but from my experience as a wind magician up until now, I understood that when invoking magic, strong emotions sometimes turned into strength.

If it’s the me who currently had high morale, unlike before when I’ve always gone along with everything, then I could certainly execute it.

「Well then, is everything ready?」

「Yes, it is.」

The preparations for ambushing the enemy was in good order.

It felt like a lot of time had passed in preparing, but it seems that the enemy had yet to come.

Even if it was because I was afraid by the bloodthirst that I sensed, wasn’t the range of Zeal-san’s search too wide.

No, he needed to have such capabilities to be the vice-commander of the country’s chivalric order.

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This was my guess, but it seems that his range was two times Tsukasa’s, who was the hero, and five times Asahina’s, who had a close combat occupation.

Or, did the knight occupation have a wide range for searching for enemies?

After preparing myself for the worst, I felt doubtful about something that I had never cared about; I realized that I, we, truly knew nothing about this world, and I gave a bitter smile.

Approximately a minute, or what felt like an hour, later, that came.

Light brown and green colored monsters surrounded us, obstructing our view, and closed in on us step by step.

「Trees!?」

「More precisely, it’s a tree monster called ‘Treant’.
Normally, they disguise themselves as trees, but they become active when there is an emergency, or when it’s breeding season.」

It seems that this time, we came when it was “breeding season”.

Zeal-san said this to me who was trembling after having seen the appearance of the enemy, and then he stared at the Treants that were caught in the trap.

I was surprised to hear that monsters had a breeding season just like other living creatures.

It seems that monsters were much more similar to other living things than I thought.

The trap that Zeal-san and I made, even though I call it a trap, it was just a pitfall.

Using wind magic, we just made pitfalls in the ground that were about as tall as an adult man here and there with the place where Zeal-san and I were currently standing being the center.

We didn’t do anything to cover up the holes, nor did we fill them with bugs or anything, so rather than calling them pitfalls, they were just holes.

They were just holes that humans or creatures with high intellect could have avoided or jumped over instead of going straight towards them.

The Treants fell into the innumerable holes that I made in the ground, as if they were sucked into them. 

It seems that the monster called “Treant” was not that intelligent.

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As expected, prior knowledge was important.

When we were in Retice Castle, we did not go into the library as ordered by the king, but now, I regretted it. 

There were most likely books about monsters within the library.

「As I said before, Treants do not have high intellect, but it is not the lowest either.
Do not let your guard down.
I will guard the back as well, but please keep an eye out.」

My spirits were lifted once again when I heard Zeal-san’s words. 

「Did you remember the support magic that I taught you just now?」

I nodded at Zeal-san.

「Very well.
Well then, this time, it’s actual combat.
From what I have seen of your party up until now, you are the most observant.
…I’m counting on you.」

I nodded once again at Zeal-san’s encouragement, and readied my staff.

「Grant this person the power to defeat a dragon, the power to defeat a powerful enemy.
Until my magic runs out, my strength will become yours—-『Wind Support Magic: Acceleration』.」

I looked at Zeal-san who glowed green for an instant, caught my breath, and raised my magic once again.

「Protect this person so that nothing can harm him.
Until my magic runs out, my strength will become yours—-『Wind Support Magic: Barrier』!」

I casted two support magic on Zeal-san, and my shoulders were no longer as tense as before.

Zeal-san confirmed that the two support magic were casted without any problems, and patted my head.

「You did well.
Leave the rest to me and take a rest.」

The calm voice, despite us being surrounded by monsters, made me feel relaxed. 

Perhaps I had accumulated stress from repeated use of magic, but Zeal-san’s words sounded distant. 

Like that, I lost consciousness.