Author: Himezaki Shiu	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: Jiro	English Source: Re:Library

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

I, Morisaki Kiki, who ended up being sent to another world, was, without a shadow of a doubt, worried. I had no clue what the thing status was or what skills were. I didn’t know why they called us heroes, nor could I understand my classmates’ excitement.

Regardless, the life that I led after being summoned wasn’t all that bad.

My room was pretty, the bed was soft, and the people in the castle were nice. As long as I attended the training sessions, I’d have the rest of the day off, and training was even shorter than our classes at school, so I had even more free time than before.

However, I still couldn’t shake the anxiety of being brought to an unfamiliar place. That was because I wasn’t close to anyone. So I adapted to my surroundings and tried to live without standing out.

Even if it felt a bit suffocating, I had no choice but to do it. The reason why I decided to live that way was because of Toriyama. After our summoning, one thing led to another, and he ended up being looked down upon by those with higher status in the class.

If I had to say, I too was a bit annoyed by him. After all, he’d suddenly proposed a contract to the king after being summoned. As a spectator, I’d honestly felt anxious. However, thanks to that, I was now able to live a peaceful life, so I didn’t feel like saying anything.

But there were a lot of people who didn’t think so. Ichinari, Tsukihara, and Hirayama were among the people who thought that Toriyama was wrong. And when Takuma and his friends joined in, the bullying started.

At the same time, I heard rumors about Toriyama that almost made me want to erase my memory. So I naturally assumed that maybe the bullying wasn’t all that bad. Eventually, it became okay to talk bad about Toriyama. It felt like anything was okay as long as you did it to Toriyama.

Before I knew it, I found myself acting like everyone else. I was able to forget the anxiety of being summoned to another world by speaking badly of Toriyama. It also felt as if I’d be bullied next if I didn’t act like everyone else.

I thought I was doing something admirable, and I didn’t feel any sense of guilt. I thought that it was okay because everyone else was doing it. I even began thinking that it’d be nice if Toriyama just died.

Everyone was saying the same thing, so I never really thought it could be wrong. However, just as I was beginning to get used to this world, I realized just how wrong I’d been.

◇◇◇

A few days after Toriyama’s death, our training resumed, but everything felt different. The knights, who had once been kind and accommodating, had grown cold and stern.

Until then, I had never sustained any real injuries during training, but that changed after that day. Though I didn’t suffer any serious wounds, I found myself getting hurt almost every day.

The training, which until now seemed like a normal sports class, had suddenly become serious.

One day, Tsunoe, one of the girls in Hirayama’s group, stopped coming to training. The knights punished her for doing something bad. I was afraid.

I thought that if I did something wrong, I’d end up in the same situation as Tsunoe. After all this time, I finally realized that the Fraus Kingdom was simply keeping us alive.

I was honestly surprised that Tsukihara didn’t say anything when she saw Tsunoe being punished by the knights. Even Ichinari had been looking somewhat depressed for a while now.

One day, Takuma felt like he’d turned into a different person. And no, just him. Everyone. I was sure that I too would suffer the same fate.

A short while later, Tsunoe was sold. I didn’t really know what it was like for a person to be sold, but it seemed like being sold for money was a thing here. This was a world where people could be bought and sold. I was sure that I too would eventually be sold, given that I had no backing.

If I defied the Fraus Kingdom, or even worse, if I didn’t act as I was told, I’d surely be sold. That was truly frightening. After all, something like this couldn’t happen in Japan.

There was information about it, and we’d learned it during history.

I knew that it could happen in real life. Children being sent to war was also something I was aware of. It was only natural that there would also be cases of people being bought and sold.

However, those were things that happened in the distant past. They had nothing to do with us, who lived in modern Japan. And yet, it was all happening in front of me and was more than enough to fuel my anxiety.

It was then that I realized a crucial thing. I realized why we were suddenly being treated differently. It was because Toriyama had been protecting us from the Fraus Kingdom all this time.

It finally hit me. I began to doubt whether all of the bad things that Toriyama had done to the people of the castle were even true. After all, Toriyama had been bullied. And mainly by Takuma and his group, who’d even used force on him.

I was starting to doubt whether he could do the things the rumors said with his battered body. I couldn’t outright say it was impossible, but it just didn’t feel realistic.

But then what had I been doing all this time?

I… I… What could I do now? I wanted to apologize and say that I was sorry. Yet Toriyama wasn’t here anymore to forgive me.

◇◇◇

We were introduced as heroes to the people of Fraus during the unveiling ceremony.

The ceremony ended up being a huge success, and the people were excited. Yet neither I nor anyone else had the strength to smile. But that was of no matter to an order.

We did as we were told and forcefully smiled while doing it. All for the prosperity of Fraus. We were no different than tools, and we embodied the word perfectly. We were the exact tools they’d used to get rid of Toriyama.

We didn’t even have the right to apologize. Even if Toriyama were alive, he likely would never forgive us.

◇◇◇

After the unveiling, I was shoved into a room. It was an office-style room with grating installed to keep me from escaping. There, I was told that I’d be gathering information on other kingdoms.

Apparently, my Tame and Beast Ears skills were suited for espionage. I was asked to use my Tame skill to send animals to other kingdoms and then use my Beast Ears to listen to what the animals had to say.

After I obtained and compiled the information on paper, I’d give it to the people of the castle.

With the work and the usual training, I no longer had any free time. Back on Earth, I’d hoped to get to spend a ton of time with animals, but now I honestly felt nothing at all. I didn’t know what I was living for anymore.

I got up in the morning, listened to the animals, trained, compiled the information, and went to bed. The only relief I had was that this life was likely still better when compared to Tsunoe’s fate.

At the same time, I was disgusted with my current miserable self.

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