Sentenced to Be a Hero: Penal Hero Unit 9004 Records — Requiem of the Transmigrated Poet
Kuon Kanade had one dream: to be a poet. For that, his classmates laughed at him. For that, he learned to make himself invisible—eating lunch alone in the library corner, humming where no one could hear, surviving on poetry collections and silence.
Then a strange book called *Resonance* swallowed him whole.
He wakes in a world of towering bookshelves and pointed ears, where a burning mark has appeared on his neck—a holy mark. By the laws of this continent, all who bear one are conscripted as h
Sentenced to Be a Hero: Penal Hero Unit 9004 Records — Requiem of the Transmigrated Poet - Song, deliver it—Kivia's cold pronouncement and the sealing of Iblis
Morning light spilled through the broken ramparts.
The war room of Fort Mürid still held the heat of last night's battle in its walls. On the table lay a map stained with someone's blood. A cracked lantern. Broken arrows.
Kuon Kanade stood small and hunched in the corner of the room. His fingertips were still trembling. His throat, which had sung all through the night, burned as if he'd swallowed hot iron.
(Ibris is still alive.)
The regeneration mist had thinned only for a moment. Before dawn, a scout had reported that the fog was thickening again. That giant would rise once more.
"Hey, Kuon."
A low voice. Zairo stood with his back against the wall. His short, near-black brown hair was grimy with soot, and the old scar on his left cheek caught the morning sun. The lightning stigmata carved into his hands and feet flickered faintly, dulled by exhaustion.
" Y-yes."
Kanade straightened his back.
"Drink some water. It's a hassle if you collapse on us."
Zairo jerked his chin toward a carelessly placed water pitcher.
" Thank you. Thank you very much."
Kanade approached the pitcher and poured water into a chipped wooden cup. As it slid down his throat, the pain eased just a little.
The other unit members had gathered in the war room as well.
Dotta Ruzuras sat curled in a chair, his body wrapped in bandages. The wound on his belly hadn't closed yet. His small frame looked even smaller.
Benetim Leopool kept glancing out the window, tapping his fingertips against the desk. The memory of fleeing last night must still be stuck in his head.
Tatsuya stood by the wall, holding his dented helmet with both hands—careful not to let its contents spill from the crack in the back of his skull.
Tsarv sat on the floor cradling his magickal rifle, wiping down the barrel with a cloth. That thin smile still played at the corners of his mouth.
"Hey, aniki."
Tsarv looked up.
"That supervisor still isn't here? Calling us out and then showing up late—must be nice being her."
"...Just wait and keep quiet."
Zairo spoke without taking his eyes off the window.
That was when it happened.
Steady footsteps approached from the corridor.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Hard, unwavering heel strikes.
The door swung open with force.
Standing there was a woman.
Her straight black hair was tied back in a single bundle, and her sharp, narrow black eyes swept across the room. She stood about five foot seven. At her left hip hung the sword from her days as Holy Knight Commander. Her deep blue military uniform didn't have a speck of dust on it.
Patoshe Kivia. Former commander of the Thirteenth Holy Knight Order. Supervisor of the Hero System.
"...Everyone's here."
Kivia's voice was cold.
She walked straight to the central table and looked down at the map.
"I've heard the report. Ibris's regeneration is faster than anticipated. Your achievements last night didn't even buy us time."
At those words, Kanade's fingertips went cold.
"...Tch."
Zairo clicked his tongue.
"If reinforcements had come, this would've gone differently. You delayed them on your own authority, didn't you."
Kivia raised her face.
"Yes. I did."
Far too plainly.
"I delayed the reinforcements on my own authority. I have no intention of apologizing."
The air in the war room froze.
" Penal heroes are disposable pieces. Last night's battle proved that. You buy time at the front while the main force regroups in the rear. That is the most efficient tactic."
Kivia looked at each of them in turn.
Dotta. Benetim. Tatsuya. Tsarv. And Kanade.
Last of all, Zairo.
"I will not entertain objections."
Kanade's knees shook.
(Disposable pieces.)
Something tightened deep in his chest. He was afraid. But that wasn't all.
(Does she really believe that?)
Kanade looked into Kivia's eyes.
Sharp black eyes.
But the corners of those eyes were trembling, just slightly.
(...Huh?)
Kanade held his breath.
Kivia's eyes were cold, and sharp, and yet—
(She's desperate.)
That was how it looked to Kanade.
This woman wasn't saying "pieces" from the bottom of her heart. She said it because if she didn't, she couldn't keep standing.
" Cut the crap."
Zairo slammed his fist on the table.
The wooden desk let out a dull thud.
"We're not your pieces. The ones who died weren't pieces either."
" Sentiment? Meaningless on the battlefield."
Kivia's expression didn't change.
"Meaningless or not, I don't want to waste my subordinates' lives. That's all."
"...Then show me a winning move. Can you do that?"
Kivia's voice dropped slightly.
"As far as I know, you failed to land any effective blow on Ibris last night. You have no means to stop the regeneration mist. Am I wrong?"
Silence.
No one could say anything.
It was the truth.
Zairo's lightning, Tsarv's sniping, Tatsuya's slashes.
None of it had reached Ibris.
"...We do."
His voice trembled.
But Kanade spoke.
" With my song... I might be able to seal Ibris."
Every gaze in the room converged on Kanade.
Kivia slowly turned toward him.
"...What is that supposed to mean?"
"Dotta stole an enemy communicator... and it had Ibris's weakness written in it. A specific melody—a song—could seal it."
Kanade strung the words together desperately.
"There are only a few recorded successes. But last night, my song thinned the regeneration mist. So maybe..."
" The success rate."
Kivia cut him off.
"...What?"
"The success rate of the sealing. I'm asking."
"...The records show only a few successful cases."
Kanade's voice grew small.
Kivia snorted.
" You're willing to bet your life on inefficient prayer? Sealing a maou phenomenon with a song—there's far too little precedent. Your song might have just happened to stir the mist last night."
" Just happened..."
"Just happened. There's no basis for it."
Kivia's words pierced Kanade's chest like a sharp blade.
(She called it "just happened" again.)
It had been the same after his first mission.
Kivia had dismissed Kanade's song as "worthless."
" That's enough."
Zairo stepped in front of Kanade.
"I know it's not 'just happened.' His song stopped Dotta's bleeding. It got soldiers frozen by fear back on their feet. Even if you didn't see it, it's a fact."
" I saw it too. Aniki's right—there's something to that song."
Tsarv said it while resettling his rifle on his shoulder.
"...U, ah."
Tatsuya groaned quietly beneath his dented helmet.
" I-I too... without that song, I'd still have been running last night. ...Probably."
Benetim said it with his eyes darting around.
" Me too... when I heard the song, the pain eased up a little."
Dotta pressed a hand over his bandaged belly and gave a small laugh.
Kivia stared at Kanade for a while.
Her black eyes fixed on his face.
"...So with no other effective strike available, we have no choice but to bet on this song of yours."
Kivia let out a small breath.
" I acknowledge it. However, I will command the operation. You will follow my orders. Understood?"
"...You're going to the front line yourself?"
Zairo sounded surprised.
"Naturally. It's my plan. I'll take responsibility for it."
Having said only that, Kivia turned her gaze back to the map.
"I'll explain the plan. Ibris will fully regenerate by tonight. We'll meet it in the fortress forecourt. There, your song will slow its movements, and Zairo and I will finish it."
" ...I'm going to the front line too?"
"You're the one who sings. Sing at the very front. But I will be your shield. Don't go dying on your own."
Kivia's words were cold.
But to Kanade, they sounded like her own way of saying she would protect him.
(This person, really...)
Kanade gave a small nod.
" ...Understood. I'll sing."
" Don't die, any of you."
Zairo said it low.
"Like we'd die, aniki."
" I don't want to die..."
"...U."
" I'll go steal something else."
At Dotta's words, everyone laughed—just a little.
—That was when it happened.
DOOOOOON!!!
The ground rumbled.
The walls of the war room shook.
"It's here!"
A soldier's scream echoed from the corridor.
Kivia drew her sword.
" Everyone, to your positions. Ibris has completed its regeneration."
The fortress forecourt was hell.
Black mist churned and covered the sky.
At its center stood the giant.
Two curved horns. Obsidian-like skin. Twelve meters tall.
Maou Phenomenon No. 15, Ibris.
It looked even more enormous than last night.
Ibris swung its arm.
—GAGOOOOON!!!
The rampart shattered to pieces.
Stone fragments rained down.
" Hiii..."
Kanade's legs locked up.
(That's the regenerated Ibris.)
(Can my song really seal that?)
He was afraid.
So afraid, so afraid, he wanted to run.
"Kuon."
Zairo grabbed Kanade's shoulder.
" I believe in your song. So sing. We'll protect you."
" ...Yes."
Kanade clutched the old poetry collection to his chest.
"To your positions! First, separate the swarm of aberrations! Tsarv, snipe Ibris's eyes! Tatsuya, vanguard! Benetim, cut off its retreat with a diversion! Dotta, keep jamming their communications!"
Kivia's voice rang across the battlefield.
She charged to the front line, stigmata weapon in hand.
" Roger! Beginning sniper fire!"
Tsarv dropped prone on the rubble and leveled his magickal rifle.
"...U, aaaah!"
Tatsuya raised his battle axe and charged into the swarm of aberrations.
" I-I'm the diversion...?! No no no... but I guess I've got no choice...!"
Benetim ran to the opposite side, letting out something between a scream and a shout.
" Communicator... communicator... ah, found it."
Dotta crawled along the ground and found the enemy communicator.
Kanade stood in the center of the forecourt on trembling legs.
Around him, soldiers fell, bled, and still swung their swords.
(I have to sing.)
(With my song, for everyone.)
Kanade drew a deep breath.
—Wind, blow.
His voice came out.
It was shaking.
It was hoarse.
But it was unmistakably a song.
—Carry it, along with the pain in this chest.
—Carry it away.
—To the far, far ends of the sky.
Kanade's singing began to flow across the battlefield.
In that instant.
The stigma on Kanade's neck glowed faintly.
The light overlapped with his song and spread outward like ripples.
" W-what is this...?"
A fallen soldier raised his head.
"My body... feels light...?"
Another soldier regripped his sword with trembling hands.
The wounded stood up.
Those frozen by fear began to move.
Kanade's song was supporting them.
"...So this is it."
Kivia turned around while cutting down one of the aberrations.
Kanade's song enveloped the battlefield.
Wounds were healing.
Fear was easing.
(Heroes are pieces.)
(Disposable by nature.)
(...That's what I thought.)
Inside Kivia's chest, something crumbled with a sound.
" Kuh...!"
Kivia gritted her teeth and faced forward again.
" My common sense is wrong...? No, not yet. I won't acknowledge it yet."
She muttered as if convincing herself, and swung her sword.
—Ibris moved.
"GUOOOOOOON!!!"
A roar.
The regeneration mist thickened.
But.
Kanade's song shook that mist.
The fog thinned.
Ibris's movements clearly slowed.
" It's working! It's working!"
Benetim shouted.
" Not yet! More, Kanade! Sing more!"
Zairo made his lightning stigma blaze and charged toward Ibris.
" Aiming for the eyes! I'll finish it in one shot!"
Tsarv pulled the trigger.
—Bshh!
The magickal round struck Ibris's left eye.
"GUGYAAAAAA!!!"
Ibris staggered, clutching its face.
" Now! Tatsuya!"
"...U, OOOOOOH!"
Tatsuya raised his battle axe in both hands and brought it down on Ibris's right leg.
—GAKIIIIIN!!!
The obsidian skin shattered.
" Retreat's blocked! It can't get away from this side!"
Benetim had piled up collapsed rubble to seal off the aberrations' escape route.
" Communications... jamming... more... more..."
Dotta was rigging something onto the communicator.
Ibris's movements slowed further.
Kanade's song was steadily weakening Ibris's regeneration mist.
" Jus
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