“Hidden skill! [Breakthrough]!”

At his shout all the surrounding people snapped out of their arguing and focused on Hiiro, a smirk spreading on the youth’s face.

“H-Hiiro?! What are you doing?” the priest spoke up, taking a few steps back from him, confusion doted his face as this whole situation was overwhelming him.

‘A hidden skill?’ Mia’s interest grew, other than her own hidden skill this was the first time she would ever see one, not counting [Fate] and [Destiny], who she only communicated with for a brief moment. ‘but what could break through even do?’ she wondered, going purely off how her own was named and worked… did he just break things? He wasn’t doing anything, just looking at everyone with a smirk on his face.

That was, until his gaze fell onto her, his smirk vanished in an instant, he broke his pose and stumbled a few steps away from her “Holy hell!” he yelled in surprise “How did they even… what ever.”

Mia crooked her head to the side, she has been appraised enough to start to know when someone was appraising her and she assumed he just appraised her but did understand what he was freaking out about, she had her [Disguise] skill on and so far, no one has been able to see past it, so what was wrong?

“This nonsense…” Trinity sighed, then snapped her fingers towards the priest as two guards arrived “Can’t you control your own hero? Get a handle on him before I do it for you, I will be sure to charge for my services…”

The priest nodded, snapping out of his stupor with her threat he acted “Hiiro. That is enough, obviously this slave is a spy loyal to the Demon King… I’m sure if you question another.” He motioned for the guards to halt behind him, the two confused but upon looking at the scene before them quickly got ready, putting their hands on their weapons, noticing the tense atmosphere.

“Question another?” Hiiro scoffed and faced the priest “I’m not that stupid, I may have believed you all when I first got summoned but this whole place stinks.” He side eyed the two knights, nodding to himself he began to slowly back towards Mia.

Two snaps from Trinity and the two assistants who were gawking looked towards her, she gave them an annoyed nod towards Hiiro. Getting the hint, they started to approach him from behind.

“Smells? How so? I swear on the goddess Gaia our words are true… if you simply come back with me to the temple I can prove it.” The priest raised both of his arms into the air in praise “Her light is true, I remind you dear hero, you were summoned to help our weak nation, you agreed to do so… think of the poor souls you are dam-“

“Weak?” Hiiro cut him off, chuckling a bit as he pointed to Trinity “If she’s anything to go off of I doubt it.”

Mia felt a shiver run down her spine, she slowly moved her gaze towards Trinity who looked beyond pissed at his comment, she wondered why but the blood lust she was emitting just made her shrink away from her.

“Some one has a mouth.” Trinity spat, pointing her open palm towards Hiiro “Hasn’t that church told you it is rude to look at a lady’s status?”

The priest paled “Wait he activated his skill do-!” He shouted but it was too late. A miniature explosion of pink light erupted from Trinity’s skull, causing her to fall backwards.

““”Miss Trinity!””” The assistants and Conroy shouted, the two assistants abandoning their sneak attack and running over to her aid.

“Ah, right. I did tell you guys my skill… oh well at least you know you can’t stop me then, eh priest?” Hiiro smirked, turning his back on him and kneeling down to Mia’s eye level “Going to get you out of here. I want to save the others but… “ A pained expression spread on his face, he shook his head, replacing the expression with a look of determination.

Mia looked at Trinity and her two assistants as they tried to wake her, then looked to Hiiro “What?” Was all she said, utterly confused at was going on right now, all this chaos because she spoke the truth?

“Stop right there!” “Stop this at once!”

The two guards rushed forward, ignoring the pleading priest that wished for them to stop, one drew his sword and slashed towards Hiiro, the other shortly behind with his weapon drawn for a follow up.

“Just what I need.” With a smirk Hiiro spun around and leaned back, winking at Mia as his face went next to hers. When the sword passed above him, he balanced on one foot and kneed kicked the knight in the balls, causing him to flinch and drop the sword. Doing another spin to stand up he grabbed the dropped sword and hit the crouched down guard with the hilt, sending him flying backwards into the other guard, causing them both to stumble onto the floor.

“…What?” Mia repeated, not knowing what to comment on first… well to start just how in the world is he doing this? He didn’t seem that strong, heck, comparing this guy to the only other hero she knew, John, seemed like a joke. He was just recently summoned right? Could John do that as well?

While lost in thought, Hiiro had inspected the sword, nodding to himself he bent down in front of Mia again “Hold still, and get ready to run.”

“Wha-“Before she even had time to react, Hiiro swiftly cut the slave collar clean off her neck. Shocked, Mia slowly reached up and clutched at her now free neck “…” She did not have time to do anything else, as her arm was grabbed and pulled as she was lifted up into Hiiro’s arms.

“M-My slave! What did you… how did you…” Conroy gasped, his face twisting in rage “B-Bruno! Bruno come here!” He clapped his hands, shouting for Bruno. He paused mid clap “Bruno? Why won’t they come?”

“It wont work… not while his skill is active.” The priest said between grit teeth. “You better hurry, you have done quite a lot here.” He spoke, he face contorted into a scowl.

“Your skill?” Mia questioned, squirming a bit in his arms but found that she couldn’t even budge in his hold.

“No time, questions later.” Hiiro spoke in a hushed voice. He walked past the priest “It’s ok, I have an insurance… I’ll be back for this cursed town; you and your church will answer for this.”

The priest glanced at Mia and scoffed “That thing? Bah! You will see the errors of your ways. You better hope Gaia is feeling very forgiving for your treachery.”

Hiiro ignored him, breaking out into a sprint with Mia in his arms.

“…” Mia felt the breeze in her tail’s fur and hair, they were moving fast down the main street. Any one in their way seemed to magically get out of their way “…confused.” Mia looked up towards him “What is going on?”

“Questions later, when we get out of the city.” Hiiro said, rushing past a few guards who shouted after him.

“…”

Mia sighed, where were they even going to go? Well, as she struggled and failed to get out of his grasp she was along for the ride.

“There he is!”

“Stop him!”

“Close the gate!”

Somehow news of their escape had reached the city gate, a group of 20 guards had formed a blockade. At one of their commands the gate began to lower, but stopped, a loud creaking could be heard before a loud metal bang, leaving the gate fully open.

“Why isn’t the gate closing?!”

“It’s jammed sir!”

“Bah, useless!” One of the knights stepped forward, drawing his sword he pointed at the rapidly approaching Hiiro “For crimes against the crown, I order you to st-Gr-OMPH?!“

Hiiro leaped up into the air, where he landed on top of the man’s face and kicked off of it with enough force to send the knight instantly to the ground while allowing him to fly over the blockade, barely avoiding the lowered gate, and landing on the other side. Without missing a beat, he took off, leaving the main road and heading towards a forest in the distance.

“A-after him! Get the hors-“

A sharp metal screech, and the gates to the town slammed shut, trapping the guards inside. Their screams and angry shouts growing distant.

“…” Mia was done being surprised at this point, what ever was going on she was done questioning it, he just had to explain it himself.

Hiiro wordlessly ran for about 40 minutes, the forest just coming into full view “…Time’s up.”

“Huh? Wa- NYAAGHA?!!?!” Mia found herself chucked into the air, where she flailed about before twisting around and landing on all floors. She shivered for a bit, feeling the impact on her legs before she stood up “What was that for?!...hah?” she yelled, then blinked in surprise.

Hiiro had tripped, landing face first in the dirt and tumbled around until he came to a rest a few meters away from where Mia had landed, laying at rest face down in the dirt.

“…Hiiro?” she slowly approached him “Hiiro?” no response. She knelt down and started poking his side “Alright?” Hiiro was motionless, but her twitching ears picked up a low groan “Hiiro?” she sighed, moving closer to him and turning him over.

“ow.” Hiiro weakly spoke “H-hey, we did it.” He said weakly.

Mia frowned “Did what?” She looked towards the city, still visible in the distance “Didn’t get very far.” She then looked towards the forest, the apparent safe haven he was aiming for “Didn’t make it to the forest either.”

Hiiro laughed, stopping halfway as he whimpered in pain “ow… well I did what I… could.” He tried to move but couldn’t “Damn…recoil on this is horrible…”

“Recoil?” Mia asked.

“Yeah, Hidden skill…” he then pointed upwards with his eyes “Think you can carry me while I explain? If we make it to the forest it should be harder for them to find us.”

Mia looked him over; he was almost a full 2 feet taller than her “…you want me to carry you?”

Hiiro clicked his tongue “Yeah, or drag, whatever.”

She stared at him for almost a full minute before he groaned.

“You almost have 100 strength, I am pretty sure that is enough to at least drag me.”

Her eyes widened “How do you-“

“I said I’ll explain on the way, we do not have much time and is now really the time to be worried about your status?”

Mia groaned, moving to his front and lifting his shoulders up, she then spun around and tried to get him onto her back with not much success. She then began to walk, dragging his feet behind her. “…well? Explain.”

“We are leaving a trail…”

Mia twitched “Bigger than me, can’t help it. Explain or I leave you.”

Hiiro paused, caught off guard at the bluntness but laughed it off, flinching in pain “R-right… simple way to put it is I used my hidden skill [Break Through].”

“Mn.” Mia nodded, she could gather that much. Things went weird right after he announced he was using it.

“It’s the skill I got after being summoned from my world.”

“All heroes get one?” Mia asked, thinking back to John who did not seem to have one at all.

“Huh? Uh, maybe? The priests made it sound like they do at least. Whole reason for summoning us, why? Know anymore heroes from my world? You did seem to know about the Isekai books.”

Mia shook her head “Continue.”

Hiiro paused, wanting to say something but gave up “Fine… Anyways, it’s a skill that let’s me break through my limitations and makes it where everything goes my way. Pretty neat huh?”

“…everything?” Mia asked, that skill seemed massively unfair for everyone else, but would easily explain what had happened, from Trinity getting knocked out, the weird moves he pulled on the guards, and the gate… did it increase he stats so he could do that, or did it just make him always succeed at what he wanted to do.

“Yeah, everything.” He laughed, regretting it a moment later when he flinched in pain “Buuuut it has its downsides.”

“Recoil?”

“Yeah, recoil.” He sighed “Not only does the skill only last an hour, but everything I do while the skill is active, everything I overcome, starts stacking a debt…how the skill puts it. At the end of that hour I pay it back in full.”

“Why you can’t move?”

“Yup, also that debt adds to the cooldown timer, I can’t use that skill again for another month.” He laughed.

Mia’s ear twitched, she started to slow her pace “So, how do you know my status?”

“Told you, it breaks my limits. I only have appraisal level 1, which is only good for species and close levels, during break through I can see everything, even if you have disguise maxed out…which by the way added 2 weeks to my cool down right off the bat…”

“Hrm…” While the skill itself was unfair to anyone fighting him, that recoil was harsh if it just made him useless. Comparing hers to his… it wasn’t a contest. She did wonder, if she fought him using her skill and kept reloading so she knew what his next move was would there be any point? Or would he just win automatically… well she had yet to have a full fight while doing that. “…” her ear twitched again, and she stopped.

“…? Why did we stop?”

“Why did you save me?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Answer, no lies.” Mia closed her eyes, he saw her status, he should know she could handle herself to a degree. So what was his plan, why did he do it.

“well…” Hiiro remained silent for a bit, but then sighed “Did I need a reason to? You were the one that proved to me that kingdom was scummy, I had an idea, but I was still hopeful that wasn’t the case… but hard to deny it when a slave comes out and says it and everyone freaks out.”

“…Mn.” Mia smiled, laying him down on the ground. She was glad he didn’t say something stupid like her being his fated maiden. She would have left him right then. She walked in front of him and sat down, closing her eyes.

“…? Mia? What are you doing, we have to hurry before-“

“Too late.” Mia said, her ears rotating and flipping about, the galloping of horses rung clear in her ears “They are coming.” She opened her eyes, seeing three horses approaching from a distance “How long till move?”

“…ah, I did tell them about my recoil…”

“How long.” Mia repeated.

“…ten hours.”

Her ear twitched, she glanced over to her right to see a very familiar see-through panel, asking her if she would like to load. She shook her head, saving to file two instead.

“My turn.”