Lucas charged at the robed man with his spear in hand, jumping in midair to land his initial blow.
"Hehehe, boy, come at me—" The robed man screamed while laughing seeing Lucas approaching him.
...And those were the last words he ever spoke...
—SWISH!
"Aggh,"
...Because his words were cut short when an arrow appeared out of nowhere and punctured his neck, killing him instantly.
"...."
The robed man died with an astonished expression, while Lucas, who was still in midair about to land his first hit, was also startled to see the robed man die directly in front of him.
"...What the hell just happened?" Lucas was bewildered.
"Well, that's what happens when you speak so much instead of starting the fight right away," I said as I turned toward the direction the arrow came from.
However, I was unable to locate anyone nearby, so I utilized my Hawk eye skill to observe in the distance.
I could now plainly see the person behind it, but I wasn't too surprised because I already knew who could pull this shot from that distance.
***
A woman standing on the building's roof discreetly lowered the bow she was carrying, and she had a broad grin on her face as if she could sense my gaze toward her.
Befitting her title as a Bow empress, her eyesight was superior to anybody else's, and she possessed the ability of clairvoyance.
...It was none other than The Elven Princess, Diana Eliora.
"...."
Ding!
The sudden notification brought back my attention, so I summoned the system to know about the Quest process.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[Sudden Quest] Be A True Hero. [COMPLETED]
[Explanation] A terrorist attack was carried out by someone concealed in the packed streets.
We don't know what their objective or identity is, but as you're an academy student aiming to become a hero, there's only one thing you need to do in this case.
Save as many citizens as possible and subjugate the terrorists!
[Success Condition] 1) Inducing citizens to evacuate.[COMPLETED]
2) Suppression of the terrorist group. [COMPLETED]
[REWARDS ISSUED]
***
Just as I was checking my system notifications for a few moments, I heard footsteps on the corner of the street and saw Ayla and Ziona arrive, while Diana was rushing from behind them as well.
"Thank God, you're fine..." Lucas exhaled with relief as he spotted Ayla uninjured.
'You're worried about her for naught; she'll prioritize her life over anyone else's if she discovers it'll be risky,' I thought to myself as I looked at Ayla.
"You didn't have to worry about me, brother; I'm completely fine because I had Ziona alongside me," Ayla reassured Lucas.
"What about me? I was at your side as well, but you then urged me to go for a high ground so I could easily deal with these terrorists," Diana added.
"...."
"Isn't it the sniper's responsibility to choose high terrain from which they may easily and quickly shoot at their enemies?" Claude said as he appeared with Kevin.
"Yeah, and that's what I did," Diana said, turning to face Claude.
"But you needed someone to advise you about that before you did it," Claude responded.
"Shut up, I was about to do the same thing even if she hadn't told me," Diana justified.
"Yeah, I'm sure you would have thought about it as well...but only after everything had been dealt with," Claude said sarcastically.
Ziona suddenly spoke up interrupting their argument.
"Tsk, It would have been more enjoyable if I could have killed them rather than merely knocked them down," Ziona remarked bluntly, clicking her tongue.
"...."
We all looked surprised when we heard Ziona's comment since we hadn't expected her to just knock them unconscious because knowing her personality, it was her time to go on a rampage without worrying about anything.
"Wow really? Why were you simply knocking them down instead of killing them?" Diana queried, and we all turned our attention to Ziona to hear her response.
"What? You guys killed them instead of merely knocking them out?" Ziona inquired instead.
"Duh, they were Demon cultists, after all, they are simply parasites that need to be eradicated," Diana stated as Claude, Kevin, and I agreed with a nod.
"...."
Ziona then turned to face Ayla, as if she needed an explanation, it seems Ayla was the one who instructed her to just knock them unconscious without killing them.
"W-Well, we can interrogate them and possibly find their main headquarters so we can deal with them all at once, isn't that good?" Ayla explained.
"Yeah, I agree with my sister," Lucas added while nodding repeated times.
"You can't interrogate them because there are spells that prevent them from giving up any information about themselves," I added, smiling.
I know Ayla already knew about that as well and was only pretending to be kind as to show everyone how good-natured she is, just like her brother, though she is not.
"...."
"Oh, I see...I didn't know about that,...but as students, it's not good for us to kill someone so casually," Ayla replied innocently.
No one said anything after hearing her response, though I could have retorted to her, but I decided to let it go and let her seem kind and innocent in front of others, as it will assist me as well in the future if others believe she is innocent.
Also, I know what she is up to since when the time comes, people will prefer to listen to an innocent and considerate Ayla rather than someone aggressive like me.
And, of course, with this she'll also be deceiving Lucas as well.
'What a crafty bitch,' I mused to myself.
"Why does she remind me of you? You two seem to be very similar when it comes to deceiving people," Irethiel made a comment.
"...."
"Oh, now that I think about it, where is Livia?" Ziona wondered.
After realizing it, everyone turned toward me.
But before I could say anything, my phone began to ring.
—Ring!
I received a message on my phone, and when I opened it, ...coincidently it was from Livia and there were also several missed calls from her as well.
[I'm at the cafe where we were before; come here when you're done dealing with them!]
"It's what she texted," I read out loud.
"...."
"She truly wanted to drink that chocolate milkshake no matter what huh," Ayla stated.
"...I'd like to drink a Strawberry milkshake, too," Diana said quietly.
"...."
Hearing Diana, there was only a brief moment of stillness.
However, we soon noticed reporters coming toward us to conduct our interview and inquire about the incident.
They intended to interview us, the students at Soreh Academy who are also princes and princesses of various kingdoms, about the incident rather than the actual adventurers and Heroes, but they were repelled by them as they approached us.
"I guess it's time for us to leave," Ayla uttered.
I didn't answer to her and simply left, followed by Ziona, as we were doing our regular sparring session at the time.
"...Can't we remain and conduct an interview? What's the point of putting in so much effort if we don't get recognized for it?" Diana stated dissatisfied as she followed behind us.
"You are free to do so, if you want to," Ayla said with a smile.
But I ignored Diana's statement and left with Ziona to meet Livia before we began our sparring practice.
Because, we will undoubtedly be featured in the news by tonight or tomorrow as all of our activities were captured on camera by drones, in addition to the numerous street cameras that were present.
***