SECRET MEETING

*Jiiiiii—!*

Ivan sighed under the stares of the class. He looked at his imaginary watch before looking up at the ceiling. He accepted Aiko's proposal for two reasons, one: if Eri was here then he could go ahead and solve the case immediately by forcing a confession, two: he was still a bit worried about Aiko. With that Aiko's return to the Kingdom was hidden, if they found out she returned the same day the Holy Church collapsed it's likely they'd put her under hold again.

It was difficult to usher the students to the meeting place without explaining too much why they needed to go there but after an hour Ivan managed to convince them all, with the aid of Hajime and Kaori. Of course, he was in disguise the whole time using a uniform he stole from the armory, unlike last time the Kingdom was in a dire state so they allocated their forces to protect the king rather than the students.

That meant less competent and strong guards protected the dorms, all of which were easily incapacitated by Ivan. Though when Ivan meant everyone, that wasn't entirely the case. Of course, the person he was most hoping to see was nowhere to be found. Even after asking the other classmates no one knew where Eri Nakamura had vanished.

He placed his odds in that the destruction of the Holy Church scared her into hiding. If that were the case then there was indeed a good chance she had help from them. Ivan nudged Aiko, who had spent a minute recollecting the information that she was withholding. He had yet to tell her of his zombie theory as it was best to deal with stuff like this one at a time. Too many scenarios and she just might break.

As for the rest of Ivan's group, they all left to roam the city in search of a good hotel room to book for all of them to sleep in. With no one to talk to comfortably, he was left in an awkward situation where he was the only one that wore anything like a disguise in a room full of high schoolers. His only solace was that Aiko would have to wear a disguise as well if she ever wanted to roam outside again until the situation was dealt with.

Ivan's grin sent a shiver down Aiko's spine, as even with a mask covering his features she somehow felt his malcontent. Having enough of the awkwardness he snapped his fingers and a chair appeared out of thin air. He straddled it from the front as he rested his chin on the backrest to stare back at the students.

Unlike him, they didn't have a mask to cover the awkward blush that covered their faces.

"Ehem!" Aiko was finally ready, she cleared her throat to catch the attention of the two parties that were busy goofing off. Though she sent an appreciative glance at Ivan, as with the explosion and fight of the Holy Church the children's anxiety shot through the room. This little play of his was just the right thing to settle down their nerves.

Ivan nodded, choosing to forgo the fact that his attack on the Holy Church was what incited their nervousness in the first place. In any case, he imagined they were quite afraid to hear they would be the first line is going to see what was strong enough to go and pick a fight with the church directly.

"Hajime-kun, please start with what Paracelsus-san told you when you last spoke." It seemed that she wanted to start this explanation as though it was a court case. As Aiko asked, Hajime stood up and took his place next to her before speaking his part. He told them all of the true identities of the Liberators, people once thought to be heretics who were actually rebels who sought to free the mortal world from the control of gods.

He told them of the gods' game. That every race in Tortus was just another piece on a chessboard to the gods who used them as entertainment. It was a revelation that disgusted the class, as when they first arrived they truly believed they were brought here for the sake of humanity. Especially Kouki, who vehemently resisted the fact that this whole time his efforts had been for the amusement of a god who kidnapped them.

Under Aiko and Shizuku's words, he managed to calm down. For a second they were worried he'd rush out of the meeting room to go and confront the King, who was likely to have been an accomplice in forging the story.

Finally, Hajime explained that their last hope lay in completing the dungeons, that the ancient magic at the end of them may allow for a way to transport themselves back to Earth. With that the class turned their stares back to Ivan, they had all already seen or heard of his exploits either down in the Orcus dungeon where he saved the heroes, or after seeing the destruction caused by his raid on the Holy Church.

Though they were supposed to be the ones greater than the rest of humanity, they sure didn't feel like it when they were in front of this guy. They did not doubt that his strength must have been because of his attainment of ancient magic.

"Unfortunately I have yet to claim all of the ancient magic this world has to offer. There are a few more I must claim before I can claim such an achievement. Though find relief in knowing that I wouldn't mind handing you people a door back to your home should it be an easy feat to accomplish. If it's not, well then good luck… no way would I spend time on something that I don't even need."

His words elicited both hope and despair, even Aiko stared at him with plea, the tiredness in her eyes not at all faint.

"Don't you all give me that look. I understand those of you who want to go home right now, in fact, I want to go home now as well and relax for a bit. All this dungeon busting is getting to my bones… Ehem, what I'm saying is that until that time you have other pressing matters to attend to. Am I correct, hero?"

Ivan turned his eyes to Kouki, if his assumption about his character was correct then—

"We have to stop the gods from playing with the people of the world!" There it was. Kouki stood atop the table with a fist clenched in front of his face, no doubt that he found himself a new duty to latch on to for the sake of justice.

"We can't just run away and leave these people to their demise, we'll save them all!" He turned to the rest of his class with expectations that they'd join him in his conquest. Except, contrary to both his and Ivan's expectations, only less than a handful of people raised their hands alongside him.

So much so that it wasn't even worth mentioning. Not even Shizuku nor Kaori raised to join him as they only turned their heads with exasperation. It seemed that the weight of everything that has been going on finally caught up to them.

Monsters? Demons? The odd occurrences of the Kingdom? Games played by the gods? The absurdity of it all just tired them out in the end. These were just high school students who only a few months ago idly spent their time talking with friends or indulging in hobbies. The last thing they wanted to do was lose their lives meaninglessly when someone who seemed much more capable of doing everything for them had finally appeared.

Even if most of them felt shame from leaving their lives in the hands of a stranger, for now, it seemed the most sensible option. The only way to return home was to claim the labyrinths, the first of which they hadn't even completed half of despite putting in all their effort. They weren't opposed to aiding the residents of this world, but expecting them to lay their lives any more than they already have was too much. Especially when the first time they did it ended up being revealed that they were being manipulated.

Ivan didn't shame them for these things. In fact, if he were in the same situation he would've done the same thing. That was precisely why when he first arrived in Tortus he chose to lock himself up in both his room and the library instead of training to fight like the rest of the class. His bravado earlier was to just see where they stood, he had every intention to create a way back to Earth.

As mentioned before he still wanted to see his mother, not only that but despite all the changes to his life here he still felt a desire for the modern commodities back home. He felt pity for Aiko so there was that too.

"Y-You, guys!" Despite such an outcome, Kouki lashed out, oblivious to their feelings. This got Ivan curious as to what kept the guy going, as even with the admonishment of nearly his entire class he didn't show a sign of giving up.

"...Fine, I'll do it myself. If any of you chose to join me in saving humanity from the game these gods are playing, you're free to join me. Know that I won't idly stand by as people have their lives ruined just for amusement." With those words, he took quick steps to leave the room, the extra angst not at all hidden as he slammed the door shut on his way out.

Sighs filled the room before everyone directed their attention to Aiko. His words did indeed sting them quite a bit but other than that they only glanced around uncomfortably.

For Aiko, the option the students took made her happy. From day one all she wanted was for the children to not get involved in the antics of another world if it meant their lives would be in danger. And now it seemed as though her prayers had finally been heard. She sent an appreciative nod toward Ivan before turning back to the class.

Now, this put Ivan in another dilemma, should he speak of the zombie matter to the class? This was something not even Aiko knew yet, as there was a good chance that telling her one of her students might be responsible for the collapse of the kingdom might push her over the edge.

He stared at the back of her head for a minute before sighing. Without another moment of hesitation, he took a step forward and opened his mouth—

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Alright, I wrote this one after the last one. I'll actually begin training now. I just wanted to make sure I had a larger pile of work just in case this job doesn't give me enough time to write. That way you guys will continue receiving chapters even if I haven't wrote for a long time. I'm such a genius~!

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