小嫂子的味道

"W-What? I-It…it can\'t be," Anya stammered, clearly taken by shock from the sight before her eyes.

"T-This, this is so messed up!" Ster was no different.

The battle stances they were in a moment ago were now nowhere to be seen. Both of them stood there, silently, their hands dropped low, loosening the grip on the swords.

With their eyes popping out, Anya and Ster looked at the slaughter that was taking place. Their faces were a mixed-stew of different emotions at once; fear, disgust, shock, disbelief, and uncertainty.

"Now come on, can\'t waste much time here. We should go and find a secure place…if we have to survive this," I suggested.

At first, there was no reply, so I repeated myself. "Hey, we should go," this time I patted Anya on her shoulder, bringing her to reality.

She looked right into my eyes with an anxious expression, "Huh? But…all of them…a-are killing each other. Should we really just leave?"

I know she\'s shaken down to her core by all this what this, right is complete nonsense. If you know they are killing each other, then it\'s more than enough of a reason to not go there. However, Anya was not in perfect condition.

"I get what you\'re saying, but we have to leave. Otherwise, we will fail this exam, you know. That means not getting enrolled in the academy," I said, crying to calm her down.

And then, a punch came whirling toward me. I took a backstep and bent a little to dodge it, and then, I pointed my gaze where the punch came from.

It was Ster, he did not have the best expression on his face; maybe he was slightly angry as he was breathing heavily.

"Are you crazy or what!! Here people are killing each other, you understand? The students are killing each other, taking the others\' life! And what you care about is that you will fail this exam!! What crap is that!?!" he grumbled.

From what he had said, it doesn\'t seem like he knows what this exam is about. Honestly, I can\'t believe it; it isn\'t even that difficult to figure that out. Anya is one thing because she doesn\'t try to find the deeper meaning behind things but, Ster also.

I really thought he is a bit more useful than that.

Should I explain it to them? It\'ll sure take a while to get them to understand everything but…Nah, forget it. We don\'t have time to begin with, considering that we\'re surrounded now.

So I decided to play it passively...at least for now.

I turned toward Ster to give him an answer, "I get what you\'re saying, but let\'s try to be calm for now," I replied.

"How can I be calm in—"

"Look around yourself," I interjected.

After that, Ster got a hold of himself and gazed at our surroundings. Anya did the same and so did I, even though I already knew what was there.

A pack of monsters—big black wolves to be precise—surrounded us. There were four of them. Each had their blood-red eyes fixated on us, carefully studying our movements as their bared their fangs and claws.

"Shit! We are in trouble," Ster gulped.

"We sure are," Anya followed.

Yes, we are in trouble. First of all, the wolves outnumbered us and second, they were likely stronger than the orcs and plant monsters.

They walk on all fours so that gives the advantage in speed; also, if they\'re anything like the wolves from my former world then they will be good at hunting in groups.

While I was busy thinking about how we can get out of this mess, Anya and Ster raised their swords, narrowed their eyes, and got ready for battle.

\'Engaging in a battle isn\'t the wisest choice, I guess.\'

Still, they are at least doing something. I can\'t use magic openly so I\'m more or less doing nothing to contribute; I\'ll just be a dead weight here.

I can kill them the way I did with that orc but I needed to make it look like Anya or Ster killed them, otherwise killing a monster just by touching them will be suspicious as hell.

"Hahh!"

Without me realizing it, Anya and Ster went to fend off the wolves. But…maybe wolves aren\'t the best match for swordsman/woman, at least at the beginner level.

When both of them launched themselves and tried to attack, the wolves quickly changed their position and started running in a circle around us. Anya eventually caught up to one of them—her specialty was speed after all.

She lifted her sword high, clenching it tightly as she threw a slash at the wolf. But then the worse came to worst. Before the sword could connect, the wolf drilled his fangs into Anya\'s sword and with a crackling sound, shattered it into pieces.

"Ahh!" a cry left Anya\'s mouth when she thought the wolf was about to attack her, and that is what was going to happen.

If Ster hadn\'t come between Anya and the wolf to act as her shield. The wolf scratched Ster with his claws and then slapped him to the ground. Ster rolled before he came to halt and rose himself to his feet.

"STER!! Are you all right? Why did you come in between like that!?!" Anya tried to go near him as she voiced her concerns but I stopped her by walking up and getting a hold of her hand.

"It\'s fine, really. You helped me back then so…this is kind of payback. I don\'t like to owe anyone you see," said Ster, afterward, he stood back straight, holding his sword.

So he\'s the wanna-be-hero type huh? Alas, he\'s a goner now. Two out of four wolves were on him while the other two surrounded us. At this point, I began to suspect if they had intelligence or not.

"Hey Zero, I think we should help him," Anya insisted, turning her face toward me.

"Yeah, we should."

"He might not survive that alone."

"Yeah, he won\'t."

"So…I think we should go there and fight alongside him."

"Yeah…we certainly should."

She glared at me for a moment, as if surprised by something.

"Then, why aren\'t you letting go of my hand?"

Because there\'s a clear difference between what we *should do* and what\'s *best* for us to do.

"Even if we help he won\'t survive. Your sword is broken and the wolves outnumber us. Going there will be digging our own grave."

"B-But, he jumped in to help me…we can\'t leave him like that."

"That was his own choice; neither you nor I told him to do so. He will face the consequences of his own actions…if anyone will be responsible it\'ll be him, not us."

Anya didn\'t say anything for a moment for that, she just stared at my face; sort of like she was seeing a stranger. Then she spoke up.

"How can you talk about abandoning a friend with such a calm face? Even when you know that he will die as the result."

From when Ster became our "friend"? I don\'t remember anything like that.

"It\'s simple Anya; I\'m not killing anyone, I\'m just being rational here. What I\'m saying is best for both of us."

"You trusted me before didn\'t you? Trust me one more time, you won\'t regret it," I added.

A complex look took over Anya\'s face like she was thinking something.

"I trusted you back then because that didn\'t involve taking anyone\'s life…this is different."

"Let me go now! If you are not coming then I\'ll go alone," she snapped.

However, I was still holding her right wrist tightly and when she tried to shrug me off, I tightened my grip. She tried to release herself somehow but it was futile.

"You forced me into this Anya; remember, what I\'m doing is the best for us. I can explain it to you but I\'m afraid we don\'t have time. You\'ll understand by the time this exam ends. Now...please done resent me for this."

"Wha—!"

Before she could say anything, I jabbed her behind her neck; it was a blow I learned online back in my world. It knocked her unconscious the next minute.

With that, she lost control over her body and leaned over me. I held her close, carefully so she wouldn\'t fall, and then.

I bent to my knees and touched the ground with my right hand.

\'I ended up using magic in the end, even though it\'s just a bit.\'

I used elemental magic—earth element, and just then the ground below Ster collapsed, forming a hole. He was so busy defending himself against the wolves that he didn\'t notice when he fell into that hole, along with two wolves.

"Ahhhh!!!"

Afterward, though, he let out a cry; maybe his leg broke or something. Hearing that cry and noticing that their two allies are gone, the other two wolves ran toward the hole.

\'Maybe they really have intelligence. I\'ll keep that in mind.\'

They didn\'t jump right into the hole Ster was at a distance from me—and so was the hole, so it was enough of a distraction to let me escape.

When the wolves were gone, I stood up and held Anya up in my arms, princess-style, since it was easy to move in like that. Then I turned around and picked a route with no monsters.

With that set, I left the battlegrounds quietly, without bothering anyone, and disappeared into the forest that was pitch black due to the night.