This Hero is Sleeping!

Elric and Claude were once again walking through the forest. The birds that were running away from the foreign sounds just yesterday now accepted the grimy visitors as their own.

In the lead, Claude pushed away the trees and bushes in the path with the club he had taken from the goblin while Elric followed right behind.

Having slept for fifteen hours straight, Elric was barely sleepy at all. The two of them passed over the roots and under the vines as they wandered around the forest in no particular direction.

The two of them were walking around a small thicket of elm-like trees when Claude noticed something odd.

"Hey, are you not tired?" Claude asked, pushing away a thin branch.

"No?" Elric ducked under the same branch and strutted ahead.

"Really? It's already been 20 minutes though."

Had it?

Elric looked to his side as he thought things over. It had been twenty minutes already? But he truly wasn't tired at all.

He wondered what might be the case, but definitely wasn't going to let Claude do the same.

"Hmph." Elric scoffed and ran his hand over his bangs. "I unleashed the powers sealed in my right hand. You. Don't think I am the same person as yesterday—"

Elric ended up out of breath at around the forty-minute mark. He hoped no one would bring up his sealed powers, not knowing Claude was rather proud of the performance that was twice as good as yesterday.

They had crossed the rows of Elms and were now leaning against a pine tree. Long pines and firs stretched out into the sky, blocking a large part of the blue sight above. They could see the gigantic clouds fluttering around through the gaps in the cover of leaves.

With his neck bent backward and his sight staring straight up, Claude sighed. "We couldn't find any sign of water… or an exit…"

Though they couldn't find any water, there was a strange abundance of fruit in the forest. Claude was usually hesitant about eating any but would give up and indulge as well when Elric would eat them without a care. Thanks to the fruits, the duo weren't feeling particularly thirsty or dehydrated, but their throats were still begging for the sweet taste of water.

"We have to change things up," Elric said. He took in a deep breath and extended his hand toward Claude.

The red-haired boy looked confused for a split second, but then handed Elric the spiked stone club he had taken from the goblins.

Club in hand, Elric went up to the tree closest to him and scratched its bark with the club, creating an oddly shaped '0' on it. He then dragged the club with both hands over to the left. Claude crossed his arms as Elric started marking the trees in all directions one after the other.

Elric coded the trees. The ones on the left from the start were written the right way up, and the ones on the right were flipped upside down.

Claude, curious at first, watched how Elric started marking them all. Just left and right wasn't satisfying enough, so he also started marking trees front and back with Roman Numerals. It wasn't easy to flip that upside down, so he made a cross on each one behind the starting tree. Any amount of information on how the spaces, and how much of them, were displaced by the mist would be a big help in figuring a way out. Elric had made himself a small Cartesian plane with the trees.

He came back to Claude and placed the club down on the ground.

'This guy is actually smart, huh?' Claude thought to himself, slightly curious about Elric's plan on analyzing what was going on.

"Now, we wait," he said, pushing his body weight ahead, but the club was way too short and almost made him trip ahead. "What the heck! Where's Pandora's sword?"

'I take that back.'

"Hey, you," Elric called out. "Let's also test things out with a tree."

Claude tilted his head while Elric handed him the club. Instead of explaining things, he held his hand and dragged him to the tree that had been marked with a zero.

Elric's one held the tree, the other Claude, and Claude's other hand held the club.

They had already seen this effect once with the ropes that tied them, but it was good to confirm if just touching something was enough to move together with it by the mist.

The two of them stood there for a while.

***

A soft creak rang out.

The wooden door softly opened up, calling everyone's attention with it. Right after, a blue-haired boy jumped inside and closed the door behind him, taking care not to make a noise.

"The mood outside is fuckin' cray!" The blue-haired boy said. He walked away from the door and hopped on the bed in the room. The mattress under him caved slightly and the blonde girl lying down had her balance broken. She punched the back of the boy but was ignored as if her touch didn't even register.

"Eugene." Erika looked at the ninth addition to the already cramped room. "Did you hear anything?"

"It's nothin' but trouble," Eugene leaned back and further pushed the blonde girl behind. "Claudy was filling up quite the role. But well, the old fogey has already recommended a replacement."

"Replacement?" Rebecca, the blonde-haired girl behind Eugene rested her face on her palm and asked.

"Yup, he recommended me to become a guardian knight instead, and well… for Claude's role of the hero…" Eugene locked his fingers and leaned ahead. "The general wants our silent prince…"

With his words, everyone in the room turned to face the boy standing at the very back.

With brown hair neatly combed to the side, the sharp-faced child did not say a word, only looking at everyone with a pride-filled gaze.

"… Devon."

***

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"The mist… It's late…"