When I woke up, I saw light.
I hadn't woken up in the morning for a long time now, so it was surprising.
Glaring incredulously with narrow, heavily-lidded eyes at the sunlight that infiltrated through the window, I turned my gaze to the rest of the room.
"...Oh."
'Right...'
It took me a second to realise I wasn't on Earth as I lay there wistfully, but the moment I did, I made sure to bury myself even deeper into this crude, half-wood half-wool bed.
Ordinarily, I would've liked to lie here, practically dead, for a good hour or so.
Alas.
Gonggg~!!
"Arise, men! Another day of training awaits!"
As my body shuddered at the sudden noise, I desperately covered my head with the bed cover.
"I don't wanna go..."
I felt something hot begin to gather around my eyes as I squeezed them shut―perhaps burrowed tears of blood, waiting to leap out and pour down like a jumpscare.
'How did I even end up in this situation...?'
Yesterday's memories flooded my mind like a deluge, and while I mustered every fibre of my being to force myself out of bed, still wearing the sweat-sullied gambeson and other thickly-padded clothes that made me feel like I was suffocating, I reflected on the series of events from the past day.
'That Hero... Do I really have to kill him?'
Recalling the promise to drink after today's training was over, I knew there was an opportunity, but was it really necessary...?
"...No. I don't have a choice..."
Well, I technically did have a choice, but the only other option was to live the remainder of my life in this world, and that was absolutely not going to happen.
Tonight, the Hero would die.
Resolving myself like so, I eventually grabbed my backpack and exited the room. Soon arriving at the canteen, I swiftly located the senior knights from yesterday and took a seat with them.
"Oh, Junior! How did last night go? You're still alive, I see! That's good!"
'You thought I would die?'
"...Yes, I think it went well, but you'll have to see for yourself when the Hero arrives. The only unfortunate thing is that I didn't have enough money to buy more drinks. It could have gone even better, but..."
Letting the end of my sentence trail off and fade out, I cast a glance at the talkative senior, to which he nodded.
"Ah. Yes. Well, me and the lads had a discussion and came to the conclusion that, depending on the Hero's mood today, we might go with you this time. In that case, everyone can partake in some rounds and have a grand ol' time, isn't that right?"
The senior knight looked at me with a grin as if to say "How's that, Junior? I'm such an awesome senior knight, aren't I?", but we both knew he was only doing it to get on the Hero's good side.
Well, even if that was the case, it was still helpful to me.
"That's great news! I'm honoured to be able to drink with you."
"Haha! That's a good lad."
I forced a beaming smile at him, to which he patted my shoulder. Of course, internally, I was just relieved that the finances were sorted, but he didn't need to know that.
'I guess all I need to do now is wait for evening, right...?'
Eating my fill of breakfast, which was the same oddly-heartwarming bread and soup combo as yesterday, we then made our way to the training arena, where I made a quick visit to the changing room to store my backpack.
Upon exiting, what I saw was not the Hero picking on a squire, but instead...
"Tsk, just where... Ah! Little knight! You've arrived!"
'Ah, shit.'
I had almost been allowed to forget. Right over there, the Hero caught sight of me, upon which my body reflexively stiffened. Approaching me with swift steps, he bluntly asked.
"Are you all keen to witness this divine Hero thrash that impudent lump of lard, little knight?"
To be honest, I was a tad worried that the Hero's abusive behaviour wouldn't actually change, that he'd soon revert to his original bullish attitude after regaining his sobriety, but the ale seemed to have a much more potent and permanent effect than I imagined.
'Is taming an asshole always this easy...?'
I didn't know if this was a phenomenon exclusive to the Hero, or if perhaps this was a strategy I might have to keep in mind for the future, but either way, I was simply glad it worked out.
'Also, why does he keep calling me little? I'm average height, you know?'
Compared to these other knights who were properly built for the job, I know I was rather lacking, but I wasn't that small, was I? No, wait, even olden knights in the real world were shorter than me... Wasn't this unfair?
Although, certainly, it couldn't be denied that all the knights here were quite tall and well-built, even still...
It was quite a belated realisation, but when I thought about it, not only George or the Hero, but even all of the trainee knights could probably treat me like a ragdoll whether they had a sword on them or not.
In any case, the aforementioned human tank knight captain, George, soon arrived, evidently taken aback that the Hero wasn't already causing trouble.
Nevertheless, perhaps as was natural, this didn't prevent him from accepting the Hero's request to a duel.
The result was as expected.
Thud-!
"Gaaah..."
'Mhm. Well, you gave it your best shot.'
Nodding my head as the Hero's face met the floor without the knight captain moving even an inch, I was amazed once again by how monstrously fast he acted.
Following that brief incident, which was again met with a round of applause, morning training ensued. Regarding that, there wasn't much to comment on―I again felt like I was dying, and I briefly wanted to die, but was cruelly healed to life right afterwards.
During the lunch break, I had a discussion with the same senior knights from this morning and yesterday, and to summarise it, they basically agreed to come drinking today.
It seems the fruits of my labour―that is, the Hero's extraordinarily improved treatment towards me―paid off, shocking them almost to the point of disbelief.
Something about their precious junior astounding them, thus inspiring them as seniors to also do their part, or whatever.
Either way, the important part was the result―being that I wouldn't have to borrow their money to pay for drinks since they would come along and pay for everything themselves.
Thanks to that, there should be no shortage of drinks for the Hero.
Now, I was infinitely more confident in tonight's success.
With great patience, I waited, deliberating in the meantime on other actions I could take to increase my chances of success, even if only slightly. Well, I couldn't think of anything else that would increase the probability of success, and even the Librarian said she thought my plan was good as is.
So, through afternoon training I steeled myself, going through every step of the plan once, twice, thrice over in my head.
Eventually, it happened.
The fateful moment I had been anticipating all day had finally arrived.