Heroes to Hunted

As I stepped out of the room, I was met with the sight of two guards, their smiles appearing forced and insincere.

"Excuse me, Sir, but what're you doing?" The two split up from one another, barring both paths of the hallway.

I feigned laughter and, as I planned, used the "I got lost" maneuver.

They, too, smiled and, oddly enough, accepted my excuse without question. "Understood, Sir. Please follow us to the rest of the guests right away."

Though they seemed cordial, I could tell they weren't giving me a request but an order. They weren't going to let me continue my lone wandering, which only furthered my suspicions regarding this place.

However, suspicion or no suspicion, I still had no choice but to follow their orders. So I sighed and said, "lead the way!" through clenched teeth.

It was some time before we arrived at the ballroom. During the trip, I couldn't stop thinking about the Kirina Vlad issue. 'Can that frail, awkward girl really be an enemy?'

Again and again, I probed my memories for further hints about her and the bandits' identity. Each time, I arrived at bupkis. Once we finally reached the doorway, I had no choice but to ignore my concerns and focus on the event.

"We're here, Sir. Please go inside," the guardsmen ushered me to the door.

"I've got it. Thank you," I replied. 'You won't keep me here, though,' I internally added.

The ballroom was disturbingly grand, even by the mansion's standards. The sheer size of it made the dining hall look like a cheap apartment's living room.

Lining the back walls were massive, open bay windows leading to a wood and stone balcony overlooking the town below. Surrounding the windows were colossal golden-blue drapes that billowed with the entering winds.

The floor was a composition of smooth marble and limestone. It was so polished I could see an obscure reflection of myself on the surface.

Attached to the ballroom ceiling was an enormous, crystalline chandelier. Its curves of gold contained various encrusted precious gems ranging from sparkling diamonds, deep red rubies, and vibrant blue sapphires.

Because of the gems, the light that seeped through became distorted, dyeing the floor in sparkling colors.

There were quite a few new faces amongst the waltzing crowd.

Handsome men and beautiful women, all decorated in velvet suits and dresses, were partnered up amongst themselves and my countrymen.

The extravagance of their garb rivaled even Kamida's if you could believe that. Not only the nobles but many of my countrymen boasted luxurious attire too.

They all swayed to and fro in sync with the classical melody that filled the room.

"This atmosphere... It's suffocating…" I whined. Somehow, I felt more at home with my potential enemy, Kirina Vlad, than in this luxurious ballroom. I wasn't sure whether it was because of the danger I sensed from her or the absence of a crowd.

Of course, a few of us didn't accept the offer of such gaudy clothes. One of which I had already spotted. It was Takagi. He was near a refreshment table and glared with his usual intensity.

He stood alone within the tide of swaying couples, or maybe I should say, stood against it. In their avoidance efforts, the partygoers formed a perfect, circular barrier around him.

Aside from Takagi, the next person I noticed was Tachibana. He'd had his usual entourage following him as well. Even in suits, their mental immaturity was painfully obvious. Possibly more so since they had been drifting from girl to girl and propositioning them.

'That's some willpower. To be rejected so many times and keep going.' I would've been impressed if it were anyone else, but it fit his character too well to be surprising.

Unlike Tachibana, women flocked to Kamida like moths to a flame.

Amongst their excited chatter, he saw me. When we made eye contact, he gave me the goofiest grin. Knowing him, the prospect of how much value he could extract from them, rather than the harem itself, was what he enjoyed.

As for myself, I never bothered learning to dance. The closest I ever came to it was hand-to-hand combat courses, but I didn't think I could apply those skills in this situation. Even if I could, I still felt it was best to avoid this crowd.

'And it's not like I can try escaping,' I griped to myself. After my stunt of wandering off, the guards in the room paid me extra attention. Leaving without detection was near impossible now.

With a daring escape out of the question, heading to Takagi was the next best option. That way, I'd be away from the festivities and have a natural crowd barrier with me.

I traveled toward Takagi. However, on the way, I couldn't help but be mentally captivated by the musical notes that filled the room.

The melody was soothing, composed of various string and woodwind instruments.

As I closed my eyes, my consciousness was transported to an endless expanse of verdant green. The sweet scent of grass filled my nostrils as a gentle breeze blew across intangible, weed-lined riverbanks.

In that moment, it felt as though true peace of mind was within reach. The music's soft breeze seemed to blow away all of my worries.

Sadly, I couldn't stay in paradise for long; I had to worry about colliding with the waltzing couples. I opened my eyes and glanced at the music's origin to see over a dozen musicians arranged into groups by their instrument type.

Surrounding the stage's borders were various tall candles which gave the illusion of a short, fiery barrier.

When I was just a few paces away from Takagi, I ended my focus on the distractions. I raised my arm slightly to greet him but was interrupted by a familiar tugging on my vest.

"Where the hell have you been?! Agawa whispered loudly.

"Huh?" I turned to meet her. "Oh, I was left behind."

"LEFT BEHIND?!" she looked at me in disbelief. "Aren't you some elite soldier? How'd you fail to follow a slowly moving group of people? In a tight hallway, no less!"

I wasn't about to expose my true intentions of leaving, so I brushed off her concerns. "That's rude," I shrugged, "I never called myself an elite."

"That's what you care about?!" she shot me an irritated scowl.

"It was a joke," I chuckled. "Besides, I did manage to find my way back here, didn't I? That has to be worth something."

"After an hour!" she exclaimed with widened eyes. "I thought something happened to you! We all did! Well, except for Kamida. He said you were just messing around the mansion... So what were you doing, anyway?" she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

I didn't really care to explain myself to a civilian, a high schooler especially. However, there was no point in being unnecessarily secretive. It'd be a pain if I had the watchful glares of the guards AND my countrymen to worry about.

With fictitious remorse, I apologized with an awkward laugh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone." I glanced at her to gauge her mood, but she still seemed frustrated. "I did use the opportunity to explore a bit."

"You explored?" a spark of curiosity fluttered within her eyes, replacing her previous annoyance. "Did you find anything?"

Knowing it'd keep the mood positive, I decided to spill what I'd discovered. "Not much. I met a girl that claimed to be the lord of the mansion. She was…strange…to say the least." I refrained from mentioning the "devil's army" thing and Miss Vlad's possible identity, though. The last thing I wanted was panic or rampant rumors hurting my odds of escaping.

Agawa looked at me, dumb-founded, like I'd just told her that civilization collapsed. "What?! You're telling me that you met the lord of the manor, and you DON'T think that's important?!"

"She didn't give any useful information," I shrugged and shook my head, "so I didn't consider our encounter all that important."

"You didn't learn anything? How is that possible? What did you two talk about then?" Her interrogation was relentless.

'Now I know how Weiser must've felt back in the tower,' I sighed, then said, "Whether I liked the night and food, I guess?"

"What?" she looked at me in disappointment and disbelief. "Well, whatever, so long as you haven't been murdered and eaten somewhere…" Her face of frustration gave way to a welcoming smile. "I'm glad you're back!"

'At least one of us is,' I chuckled in frustration.

If it wasn't for the guards finding me, I'd be halfway through leaving this mansion. Instead, I was stuck under their watchful eye. Even the small act of scratching my nose aroused suspicious stares from this mansion's personnel around me.

'Guess I'll play along for now,' I tiredly sighed.

"Thanks," I said with a slight grin, "it's good to be back."

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