Reverse Hero

The March

The next morning, I woke up at 10 AM.

Hestia and Ryu were still dead asleep right next to me, and while I could let Hestia sleep in more, I couldn't do so for Ryu. After all, we were leaving today at noon.

And as the commander, Ais had likely left a long time ago to go and do last-second finalizations on things.

I silently shook Ryu, who slowly opened her eyes. She realized Hestia was sleeping and didn't make a peep as we both hopped out of bed. She gave me a look that said 'See you later,' with a nod as she left.

I grabbed some clothes and went to go change in my bathroom. Knowing how sneaky Hestia can be, it's never bad to take precautions.

I finished changing and got myself ready for the morning. When I left the bathroom, Hestia woke up and was on top of the bed in a very sleepy position.

"...Bell."

"Hm? What's up?"

"Please...Be careful."

"I will be. You worry too much." I assured her with a smile as I left.

I went downstairs, but it seemed no one else was home. They had all likely already gone to meet up with their own squads and whatnot.

I made a quick sandwich and was out the door.

When I finally arrived in the town square, everyone was lined up just as they were on the first day of being assigned their leaders. All the leaders were currently talking with Ais currently, and the squads themselves were talking amongst each other.

The atmosphere really wasn't what you would expect, people felt relatively calm at least for right now. Whether that had to do with last night, or knowing that whatever was happening couldn't be much worse than what happened two years ago was beyond me, but the real hell would likely start when we actually get close enough to sense the dragon.

As I was about to walk up to the leaders, a hand grabbed me from behind.

"Don't leave without saying goodbye to your best friend."

"Best friend is a little bit arrogant, don't you think?"

Of course, it was none other than Hermes. He still had his trademark smirk, but it seemed even brighter today.

"What'd you want to talk about?"

"I'm gonna let you in on a little something," Then his next words continued to prove to me that there was no point in ever trying to hide things from this man, "It would be in your best interest to stick around after you kill the dragon."

"..."

"Of course though, if you wanna just kill the dragon, then just run away or kill yourself, then do it. But I think you may find something more valuable than killing the dragon if you stick around. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck."

He then turned around while waving.

'This guy...'

I let out a sigh and went to Ais and the others.

"Looks like I was a little late," I said sluggishly.

Even Ryu had beat me here despite waking up at roughly the same time.

"How's your head doing?" Ais asked me

"I'm alright."

She was likely talking about a hangover. 

"Alright, so now that everyone is here, I shall go over the plan of attack one more time. We will march all the way to where the dragon is located. It will take about roughly 2 weeks to get there, and once we do, we will rest a fair bit away. Afterward, we will fight. Based on reports and my own personal insight, I expect the battle to go on for at most 1 to 2 days. As for the attack itself, the vanguard will be the main attack force, while the groups in the back will provide support and attack with magic. Bell, how do you plan to assist us?"