The three idiots who couldn't become heroes are preparing a man's meal today as well. - Chapter 33

Episode 33: Deadline

“Kuahahaha!”

Adrenaline.

I don’t know much about it, but apparently, it plays a crucial role in the fight-or-flight response.

There’s no doubt that the effects of adrenaline are coursing through us right now.

“Fight.”

That was the only thing screaming in my head.

“Fuhahahahaha! Ora ora oraaa!”

Like something broken, I wildly swung the two spears in my hands.

No, I had broken.

With every swing of my spear, another life was snuffed out—as if this was the only path left for us to survive, I put all my strength into every attack.

“This is fun.”

That’s what I ended up feeling.

A slaughterer.

Standing in the position of the one who takes, I found pleasure in that.

“Hahahahaha! Ora ora, keep coming!”

Nishida wore a crazed grin as he ran around relentlessly.

Whenever there was an opening, he beheaded a beast, never stopping his advance.

A roadside killer, a random slasher.

Those words fit him perfectly.

As he steadily cut down their numbers, I wondered—what was he thinking right now?

“Come on! Keep coming! I’m still alive, you bastards!”

Another one of us was also caught up in the thrill, swinging a massive sword.

That sword cut down several beasts at once, never resting, its two blades raging like a storm.

If you think you can stop him, then go ahead and try.

That’s how much of a rampage he was on.

We were indulging in pure carnage.

“Hah! So you’re the boss, huh?”

At some point, an individual far larger than the other beasts stood before me.

This one’s the boss. If I take it down, this ends.

With that vague thought, I readied both my spears.

“I’ll kill you. If this ends, everyone will be saved… so I’ll kill you. …Well, whatever, just die already.”

With my mind a complete mess, I swung my spear.

We had stepped onto this battlefield prepared to die.

There was no hesitation left.

To protect the ones we needed to protect, we fought.

That’s why, even against an opponent like this, against numbers this insane, we could still charge in.

“Come on, try dodging this!”

With all my might, I hurled one of my spears straight at it.

How much time had passed?

All I could do was cry.

Pathetic. It was such a pathetic result.

And yet, despite that, the situation changed.

“…Treants?”

At some point, we had become surrounded by a group of Treants.

The fire we had set had already died down, leaving us in a situation where we could do nothing more.

And yet—

“Umm…”

They began to advance.

Without fear, steadily, calmly.

“Minami-chan!”

Calling out, Airi-sama ran toward me.

As she embraced me, warmth spreading through my body, my eyes darted left and right.

“Umm… what is this?”

“Remember when the Treants warmed up to us before? It looks like when we used their wood for firewood, they gathered here. They don’t seem hostile toward us.”

As she explained, the Treants stepped into the nest.

Thudding impacts rang out, followed by the screams of beasts.

The Treants—were hunting the Dashbirds.

“And… what about my Masters…?”

“…Sorry… I don’t know.”

Hearing Airi-sama’s words, my thoughts went blank, and tears spilled down my face.

No. That’s a lie.

There’s no way they would die so easily.

But knowing that didn’t change how I felt.

Unable to stop the overflowing tears, I clung to her.

“No… no way… that’s a lie! No… I don’t want this!”

I screamed, sobbing into Airi-sama’s arms.

For a Walker, this was an ordinary fate.

Encountering an unexpectedly massive swarm of beasts, resisting, but ultimately perishing.

In this case, if even a few of us survived, we should consider ourselves lucky.

I knew that.

I should have understood that.

And yet—

“I don’t want it… I don’t want a world without my Masters…!”

The moment I muttered those words—

“Don’t spout such nonsense, Minami. I already ordered you to ‘live,’ didn’t I?”

That voice immediately rejected my words.

I instinctively turned around.

From the edge of a ground that looked like it had been gouged out, they emerged—wearing exasperated expressions.

They came back, their bodies drenched in blood.

Some of it was probably their own.

“To think we’d get saved by the Treants… Damn, those things are amazing. Should we try to get on their good side from now on?”

“Well, I managed to bring back what I could, so it’s fine, but… If we relied on the Treants from the start, nothing would be left. Those guys are way too ruthless.”

Saying things like that, the three of them returned.

Kitayama-sama, Nishida-sama, and Azuma-sama.

Those three had now come back.

Alive. They had truly returned to me.

“A-Ano… Masters…”

“What’s up? We came back properly, didn’t we?”

Seeing the Masters grinning widely, tears welled up in my eyes once again.

Idiots, idiots, idiots.

Those words filled my mind, but the words that actually came out were entirely different.

“Welcome home, Masters. Truly… truly, thank you for your hard work.”

“Yeah, we’re back.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

They had really come back. They hadn’t left me alone.

As I thought about that and looked up again—

“You absolute IDIOTS! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Reflect on this!!”

With Body Enhancement activated, Airi-sama sent all of the Masters flying with a kick.

…….

…….

“Level 42. Not a Supporter, huh… Minami is 28. No abnormalities in race or health.”

“O-Oh…”

The atmosphere in the branch chief’s office was painfully awkward.

As usual, it was just the two of us, but today, the air felt different.

The reason was obvious—the sheer number of magic stones and beast eggs piled up on the desk.

And even then, this was only a portion of what we had.

“Sigh… You know about market prices, right?”

“Ah, no, I get what you’re saying. I’m not asking you to buy all of it, and I’m not planning to sell everything off somewhere either.”

“That helps. If that many Dashbird eggs suddenly hit the market, we’d be making enemies left and right…”

Just getting three of these eggs was enough for nobles to pay with gold coins.

If we dumped all of them into the market at once, the noble who commissioned this request would take a massive loss.

“I’ll buy the magic stones, a few eggs, and some Dashbird materials. The rest… hold onto them for now, release them gradually, or handle them yourselves.”

“Huh? That’s fine?”

“I don’t mind. The price of Dashbird materials might drop a bit, but it’s not an unmanageable amount. Judging by these magic stones, you took down about twenty or so?”

“Ah, um, well…”

The portion currently displayed on the desk was roughly that much.

As for the eggs, we had around fifteen here.

So even this much could cause price fluctuations…?

Not good. What kind of reaction will I get if I bring all of them out?

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well… If I told you this was only part of it, would you get mad?”

“Show me.”

Since there was no more space on the desk, I started placing eggs on the floor.

We had retrieved the eggs and the corpses of the higher-ranked species at the time of the hunt, but the rest had been stomped and battered by the Treants. Most of them hadn’t even been dismantled, let alone had their magic stones extracted.

So, I kept lining up the eggs one after another.

“Enough, enough! Stop it already…! Just… put them away! Don’t show me anymore! …How many eggs are there in total?”

“Seventy-eight.”

“Haaaaah… Just how many did you hunt…?”

“No, you’ve got it wrong! Sure, we hunted a lot, but most of them were taken down by the Treants!”

“What do you mean, ‘the Treants’?! What the hell did you do this time?! How much more work do you plan to dump on me?!”

“Screw You! It was seriously bad on our end too! We were surrounded by over 150 of them, and there were higher-ranked species too!”

“How the hell are you people even alive?!”

After receiving a barrage of irrational complaints, my status card was smacked onto the desk.

This bastard… acting like he knows what we went through…

I was about to get annoyed when—

“This is your appraisal result. Take a good look.”

“What now? Besides the level, nothing changed, right? You just said that yourself.”

“That’s why I said to look properly. I only said there were no changes in race or health.”

Huh? Muttering that aloud, I glanced over everyone’s cards.

• Kitayama Kouta
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 42
  • Title: Dead Line
  • Job: Walker
  • Status Abnormalities: None
• Nishida Jun
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 42
  • Title: Gale
  • Job: Walker
  • Status Abnormalities: None
• Azuma Yuya
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 42
  • Title: Iron Wall
  • Job: Walker
  • Status Abnormalities: None
• Minami
  • Race: Catfolk
  • Level: 28
  • Title: None
  • Job: Walker
  • Status Abnormalities: None

“Uh… something got added.”

“Yeah, something got added.”

No way. The title section used to be blank.

I mean, I guess it’s a good thing? Not that I know what titles actually do.

If they give buffs like Hero or something, then sure, that’d be a win.

But still, let me just say one thing.

“Why the hell is mine the only ominous one?! Dead Line?! What even is that?!”

“How the hell would I know?! Now, what exactly did you guys do this time?! Report!”

And so, the three of us had gained titles.

Mine was… questionable at best, but hey, it was still progress.

We’d finally reached the level of seasoned veterans, so from here on, we could just take it easy, keep surviving, and level up at our own pace.

Or at least, that’s what I forced myself to think as I tried to stay positive.

…Dead Line, though… seriously…?