To return home, did I have no choice but to kill someone?
Or maybe, rather than a person, perhaps what it was, was actually something less than that.
The Librarian called this an 'Illusory World', didn't she? Then, what were the chances that it was real?
Even if my real body was in it, that didn't necessarily mean the world itself was real.
In that case, this Hero...
To kill him―would mean not much more than putting an end to a fictional character.
No, if what I've been told is true, then that's really all it was.
That's right... Then――
"Librarian... That's how it is, right? And, if I only do that... that's all I have to do...?"
[Certainly! Whenever you dispatch a Protagonist, or in this case, the Hero, allll~ of the World Stability they greedily gobbled up will come flowing back into the world! And and, thanks to our assistance with the matter, the Library will receive a portion of that World Stability, which we can subsequently use to transport you back!]
Engraving her words into my mind, I nodded, inhaling deeply to calm myself.
"...Alright. Since it's only that... I'll do it."
[Ah! Really? Truly? Verily?! F-fret not! I shall definitely assist you, to the best of my ability! Certainly!]
Scratching the back of my neck for a moment at her persistent zeal, a transient wonder of who the Librarian really was flashed in my mind.
Of course, I had caught a glimpse of her before, and although that image remained more or less fresh in my mind's eye, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
Not to mention the whole part about it being a 'job', everything was just a load of bs.
Protagonists, Antagonists, Illusory Worlds, World Stability... It really did feel like the sort of cheap plot an annoying smart-ass would come up with, so much so that I wanted to laugh.
...But, when I considered how it was that this very situation came to be, I couldn't dare to.
Because, here, right at this moment, I was living it. And, as for what might come after―
"Alright men! Stand at attention!"
―There was no time to ponder such a thing, as the human tank George called upon every knights' attention.
"Today is the first day for many of you. Don't worry. This training, though not for the faint of heart, is something all of you can handle; that's what you all endured that harsh preliminary endurance examination for, right? Haha!"
'...Hm?'
Suddenly, as someone who had never passed such an examination, my face paled.
❖─────★☆☆☆☆─────❖
I thought I was dying.
"Haahgk...!"
No, I'm sure I was dying. I could feel it.
"Aaaah... Ahh..."
Rather, the sense of imminent death was the only thing I could feel.
Strained muscles I didn't know existed convulsed violently; fissured lips quivered as I gasped for even a smidgen more air; torn lungs, which I'm pretty sure had entirely imploded, released incomprehensible, ceaseless groans.
My body was mere moments away from breaking beyond the possibility of repair, my eyes rendered dysfunctional just staring at the empty, dark space in front of me. My legs, which had long surpassed the point of wobbling like jelly, were fully numb alongside the rest of my body and wouldn't budge, almost as if the nerves within them had been utterly severed. Despite that, those same nerves and tendons twitched to no end, giving birth to nothing but more throbbing discomfort.
That was not training.
Such an inhuman, psychopathic, god-awful thing...
I, who had simply stopped working, couldn't be felt, and I wondered if this is what it would be like to be placed inside a hydraulic press and mercilessly squashed.
At least, I was certain that this was what being crushed by the pressure at the bottom of the ocean felt like, to the verge of death.
"Hahaha! Phew~ Today was sure tough, Captain! The newbies are half-dead, aren't they! That's how you know it's an effective regime! Even the oh-so-mighty Hero seems to be totally wiped out!"
"..."
A murder victim lay wistfully on the ground, whom they so cruelly slighted.
At least my ears were working? Although, the same could not be said for my other senses, tasting nothing but over-salted steel, like tears of anguish, and feeling only searing agony.
With my entire being, I wanted to curse.
Not just those who could still stand, but the Hero, too, for dragging everyone else into it.
I was certain that his previous actions had resulted in the rest of us being picked on, too. Otherwise, there was no excuse for such barbaric treatment.
"Ahhhh..."
'Just... Kill me, please...'
Alas, let alone spew profanities or wish someone to death, I was struggling to even gather the energy just to maintain my frustration. It was too much, to the extent where I had genuinely felt like being put out of my misery was all I could hope for.
[Hang in there, Enki! You can't lose now...! We've only just started!]
I even started hearing voices.
As I lay there for what felt like an eternity, I gradually began hearing more and more voices sprout in my surroundings―Though, being too focused on my own lamentation to listen to what was going on, I didn't realise anything had changed until someone crouched down beside my crippled self.
At that moment, gentle words of a prayer flowed into my ears.
"O' great God of Life, gracious as thy heavenly self be; before mine eyes lies a soul in dire need of healing, a body crying for revitalisation..."
More than all of the other myriad signals my body was sending me, this indicated that I really was about to pass on to the next life.
[Nooo! You're still alive, Enki! Listen to me and hang in there...!]
Too late. My body was already done for, ruined beyond repair. Instinctively, I understood that much.
And yet.
"―Your child of man thus begs, thus pleads; to heed mine words, mine prayers, to grant me thine divine favour, My Lord. Greater Restore Life."
Before such a pathetic, anticlimactic fate could befall me, a strange warmth enveloped me; coursing through my veins following the stranger's invocation, soothing my agony.
As my eyesight gradually returned to me, I caught a magical, soft glow emanating from my skin, and I could vividly feel the inner workings of my body regenerate in real time.
Euphoria ensued.
The numbness of my limbs vanished.
The pressure on my lungs and ribcage dissipated.
My depleted stamina recovered; my head ceased throbbing with aches; and my breathing so rough that it could hardly be called as such, stabilised.
"..."
Before I knew it, I was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.
'Ahh... What the hell...'
This was not the first time I had witnessed something akin to magic.
On television and online, ever since people started Awakening all over the world, you could see similar things, and they weren't just CGI.
Still, to experience it firsthand, and the effects of it so closely, was profound.
Turning around to find the person who healed me, it seems they had already crouched down to pray for the next person. Sighing, I lifted myself from the ground, dusting myself off and adjusting my lightly-tarnished clothes, dampened with sweat.
'Are we having a break? Finally?'
I was too caught up wallowing in the destruction of my own body to realise it, but it seemed to be the case. To be honest, it felt a little bit late to me considering my previous state, but since they possessed some kind of incredible healing magic, I guess they got a pass.
After all, if you could simply regenerate all wounds and restore all lost stamina with a simple spell, why not endure such harsh training? So long as the torn muscle fibres get properly repaired, wouldn't it still work to build strength? And if you could speed up that painful process with magic, then wouldn't it be even more efficient than anything we've got back home?
I did almost die because of it, but thankfully it's over now, and so long as I can fulfill the conditions of that Contract the Librarian mentioned, I'll never have to endure it again.
The Hero also seemed to have been healed, sitting on the floor listening to a lecture from George with clear displeasure on his face... Well, it honestly looked more like his admonishment was flowing through one ear and out the other, but that's none of my business.
Rather, what I had to consider now was something else.
Simply put, the question was but one.
"..."
――How do I kill the Hero?