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The three guards snapped their heads toward Joseph. He attempted to stand and reach for his weapon when one guard shouted, "Stop! Don\'t mo-"

However, while they confronted Joseph, our attack was already underway. I slipped behind the speaking guard, angled my longsword to his throat, and slid its edge against his skin. His once articulate and clear words were reduced to gargled choking as blood streamed down his neck.

Likewise, the other two had no time to react.

Mizuno stabbed her blade through the mid-guard\'s throat with absolute precision, causing a stream of blood to trail down the length of her sword.

The blade\'s bloodied tip peeked out the front of his throat, and he dropped his weapon in shock. Then, following a series of pained grunts, the guard moved his hands to fearfully clutch at the foreign object.

"Wha-" the final guard exclaimed, but Barik was already midswing with his flail. This was apparent from the distinct sound of the air swishing past the ball and chain.

The spiked ball flew through the air, impacting the guard\'s skull and creating several spurts of crimson as the spikes embedded themselves. Then, in one smooth motion, Barik tore the flail away, ripping fragments of the guard\'s bones and brain out. Finally, with half his head bashed and scrambled, the guard fell to his back, frothing at the mouth...then dead.

After a few short moments, the two others succumbed to blood and air loss. Each fell to the ground with distinct thuds as their equipment clattered to the dirt path below.

Mizuno exhaled quietly in relief and whispered, "Barik, Sato, hide the bodies. Joseph," she turned to the teenager still prone to the ground and gaping in disbelief, "get up and get a grip. Help me hide the blood trails."

"On it, Ma\'am," Barik affirmed with obedience. He stashed his flail and moved to drag two of the three bodies by their arms.

\'We better move quick,\' I internally grumbled while dragging the final guard. \'We\'re on a time limit now. It\'s only a matter of time before this patrol is missed.\'

While we transported the corpses, Joseph remained still but soon stood up while shaking himself awake. "I\'m sorry, Captain. I messed up," he grimaced and tightened his palms into fists. As someone inexperienced, failure must\'ve stung him to his core.

"Save it; now\'s not the time," she disinterestedly asserted. Time wasn\'t on our side, and a new patrol was due to arrive at some point; these facts must\'ve influenced her actions when she harshly dismissed Joseph\'s concerns.

"Alright… Understood," Joseph exhaled to regain his composure, his muscles and expression visibly relaxing from anxiety, then moved to help Mizuno conceal the blood trails.

Barik nearly reached the edge leading into the ditch when his gaze hardened, and he frustratedly grumbled, "I hate that I\'m used to this feeling." His stern expression contorted into a grimace as his eyes became tinted with a forlorn regret.

"The killing? Or the hiding of the bodies?" I rhetorically questioned. I knew the answer already.

"Both," he grunted quietly while tossing the two into the ditch. "I wish the world could just find peace...\'

Those words struck me with a twinge of bitterness. I retreated into my mind for a brief moment, remembering the lofty and naive goals my past self had. The goals to make a difference on the battlefield. The goals to do better.

"If only it could," I returned to reality, my pessimism stronger than ever. "Then our sacrifices would mean something," I groaned, feeling a pang of regret toward the thought that all of what I\'d done, I\'d done for nothing.

\'No use crying about it now,\' I sighed, then threw my guard into the ditch after Barik, the body quietly clattering against the hardened dirt and weeds below.

Upon our task\'s completion, Barik and I exchanged brief eye contact. His were focused and unwavering.

"One day, they will. Our sacrifices WILL mean something. Someone will break the chain of suffering. Someone will make this world a better place." He spoke with conviction and certainty. With his confidence and focused gaze, it was as if he believed himself to be clairvoyant. As if knew his words would come to pass, no matter what.

I, however, had the hopeful capacity of a dying ember, struggling to stay alight amidst the cold and darkness that surrounded me. "I wish I could agree," I sighed, my voice heavy with resignation. "Having faith in others isn\'t an easy task for me nowadays. It\'s hard to think the world can have a brighter future after seeing so much darkness."

"I guess we\'ll have to see," Barik lightly chuckled, then turned to Mizuno and Joseph.

Meanwhile, Mizuno and Joseph were working to hide the blood pools and trails. Their leather boots emitted a grinding noise as they hastily but quietly kicked up gravel. The two continued churning the crushed rock, dirt, and dust on the path until only faint streaks of red were visible on its surface.

"Alright, let\'s keep moving," Mizuno commanded, gesturing all of us to the rock wall.

We circled the cobblestone fortification for a few minutes until we came to the side containing a series of wood and stone warehouses. Thanks to their size, each cast a large shadow over the wall, further concealing us from sight.

"Are we climbing over?" I questioned, stashing my gear and reaching for the wall.

"No," Mizuno stopped me with a hand to my shoulder, "leave it to Barik."

\'Barik?\' I tilted my head and cast a puzzled gaze in his direction.

"You look confused. Did you forget already?" he chuckled quietly and planted both hands on the wall. "I thought you\'d know well what I could do by now."

Following his words, he gathered brown energy around his arms and released it. The rocks within the wall shifted and grated against one another until they formed a small passageway through the barrier.

\'That\'s right, magic exists… I need to get used to that,\' I brought a palm to my forehead and tiredly exhaled. I could feel a physical ache in my mind as I reminded myself that I was in a new world.

Our entry now formed, Mizuno ushered for Barik to stand back, and she took point. "We\'re hitting the nearest warehouse," she asserted with an expressionless tone.

While following her, we were stopped dead in our tracks. Ahead, and just around the corner of a building, two voices could be heard and grew louder by the second.

"Did they say when they planned to pick up the girl?" one guard asked with a hint of impatience. "I saw a few of the men eyeing her with lust. I may hate those hero fuckers, but I hate what they\'d want to do to her even more. They should just let us kill her and be done with it. No need for extra suffering."

"Who knows," another guard nonchalantly shrugged.

We stopped in place, frantically seeking a form of cover, any cover to escape detection. With each passing moment, the patrol inched ever closer, causing me to tighten my grip on my sword.

We couldn\'t turn back, the only thing protecting us from being seen was the wall of the structure we held ourselves to. \'Are we stuck? This is what happens when you launch a mission with little information... Goddammit!\'

I readied myself to accept our reality of a mission-gone-wrong when Barik loudly whispered from behind us. "Over here!" he waved. He stood at the entrance to an alleyway between two warehouses. The space was cluttered with dozens of variously sized crates and barrels, making it a perfect place to conceal ourselves.

Following his gesture, we rushed to cover; however, Joseph remained in the open, clenching his teeth and fists in frustration. "How can we just leave her here," he grumbled.

"Joseph! Now!" Mizuno ordered, barely containing herself to a whisper. Though normally stoic and straight-faced, her countenance was now irritated, as if she were dealing with a disobedient child.

Joseph scoffed in frustration, then followed her orders.

\'Good timing... A second later, they would\'ve spotted us.\' I felt the tenseness of my shoulders release to relief.

The guards were just passing the opening to the alleyway while continuing their discussion.

"You know, I don\'t know why you all hate heroes so much. I mean, I know we need to feed them to the fullkin so they\'ll leave us be, but why is there so much disdain for them?"

Luckily, we had all found cover before that last question. Because of it, the other guard stopped at the alleyway\'s entrance and shouted in anger.

"YOU FOOL! I forgot you\'re not a native here... Otherwise, there\'s no way you could forget what one of these HEROES did to our ancestors, what they did to Blackwood... Every single one of them deserves death. We\'ll never forgive them!"

"But wasn\'t that almost three-hundred years ago? Wh-"

"You don\'t understand. What that monster did to us, that \'Flame Baron,\' is not something that washes away with time. We\'ll NEVER forgive them." Within the guard\'s voice was a seething rage that was only matched by his thirst for vengeance.

"Alright, alright," the other guard eased, "I get it. No need to bite my head off. I\'m not one of them; I was just curious."

"It\'s fine," the angered guard growled. "The noble will show up, gut the bitch, and all will be well in the world," he finished with a fiendish cackle.

After that, the two sighed to themselves and continued onward.

\'We made it through,\' I thought, relieved. \'How are the others doing?\' I glanced around to check on my comrades.

Mizuno and Barik were calm and collected, nodding to themselves and assessing what to do next.

Joseph, however, was visibly trembling. The guard\'s final words must\'ve sent him into a barely subdued fury. "Bastards!" he mumbled and stood up from crouching. "I can\'t believe we\'re leaving her like this!"

Looking at him. Looking at his eyes, I knew we had a problem. His glare was one of fiery determination and impulsiveness. One that would allow him to ignore the chain of command and race off on his own. Yes, those were the eyes of a reckless hero.

\'This kid\'s idealism is going to get us killed,\' I glared at Joseph.