Three young women stood atop the bridge above Gabriel, each striking a powerful pose.
"Fear not, young adventurers! Team Dynamite has come to the rescue!"
They were dressed in clothes identical to the color of their hair. That said, from left to right they were…
"Yellow Dynamite! My sunshine arrows will pierce the darkness in your heart!"
"Red Dynamite! My love-filled staff will enrich your life with love!"
"Black Dynamite! My burning whips will spice your day with excitement!"
Gabriel gazed at the three women with a blank expression.
"…what?"
Suddenly, the three women jumped down from the bridge with weapons aimed at the monsters.
"Staff of Love, empower my friends!"
The staff glowed in the redhead's hand with a red light that spread onto her friends' weapons.
"Sunshine Arrow Barrage!"
"Night Sky Lightning Strike!"
A brilliant barrage of yellow arrows, followed by the savage assault of two lethal whips. The women eradicated all of the monsters in less than five seconds, killing more than Gabriel and Naomi since they first entered the dungeon.
The three women fell onto their feet, quickly standing up as if they did not just fall from a lethal height. They struck a powerful pose again, much to the two adventurers' bewilderment.
Suddenly, a much older voice appeared beside them.
"Cut! That's enough. Good job girls, take a five-minute break!"
A ringing bell appeared in the sky, followed by an entire production crew of flying cats. They were the same species as Pepsi, the High Mage of Astria. They kept themselves afloat with the help of magic, that they ceased as soon as production was over.
Gabriel and Naomi were speechless. Their jaws were hanging as they watched a group of cats surround the girls, holding them mirrors and doing their makeup.
"E-Excuse me!" Gabriel approached the fat cat who seemed to be the producer. "May I ask… What?!"
He couldn't actually formulate his question, thanks to still feeling thunderstruck.
The fat cat lit his cigar and looked up at the much taller Gabriel.
"Congratulations, boy! You are going to become a real celebrity! Well, sort of. Think of it as being a background actor, but we'll blur out your face and cut out any parts you might have to save production time."
"N-No." Gabriel scratched the back of his head. "What I meant is what is… this?"
He pointed at the production crew and the cameras in their hand. The fat cat laughed and took another poof of his cigar.
"You're a country boy, aren't you? Those are filming tools ran by magic. Thanks to our developed magic knowledge and steam-ran engines, we can save illusions equal to what we record! We work for "Magic Channel 1". You must have heard of "Team Dynamite", haven't you? They are real hero celebrities! When the channel opened last month, they were the first show that aired, just right after the news!"
Gabriel gazed at him with an expressionless face. He understood less from that than Naomi's gamer rants. Thankfully, the latter was there to help him understand.
You are reading story GITA: The Hero Conspiracy at novel35.com
"There are televisions in this world?" Naomi asked the fat cat.
"That's right, boy! Some of the summoned heroes talked about how they had long-range devices that could make others see images through a little box, and it inspired the engineers to make something like that. But with magic!"
"So, there are televisions in this world, but they run on magic?"
"And steam! But don't expect to find those luxuries in every home. Most villages only have one. It's still new technology! But despite that, Team Dynamite are national celebrities despite televisions only existing for a month!"
Those were some news. Naomi had a hard time wrapping his head around it, and Gabriel had an even worse time.
Black Dynamite, the girl with the whips, hushed away her makeup team and approached Gabriel.
"Nice fighting back there! Are you two a team?"
"Y-Yes." Said Gabriel while gazing at the girl's glittering dark clothes.
"Wonderful! I have to say your faces look familiar. Have we met before?"
Gabriel recoiled. She must have seen them back in the king's palace when they were summoned.
Thankfully, she did not seem to remember their face. Gabriel did not want to let the world know he was alive. Not yet.
"It's too early to let them know. If the rumors spread, a certain someone might come to finish off what began in the burning forest. I still need more time to prepare for him." Gabriel swallowed his worries, then continued aloud. "We are beginner adventurers. I don't think we have met."
"How wonderful!" Black Dynamite locked her hands and gazed at the two as if they were cute bunnies. "But I have to ask, where is your mentor?"
"Mentor?" Gabriel repeated her question.
"The heroes' guild gives a mentor to every newbie adventurer. They are meant to help them until level five, from which point they are eligible to go on adventures alone. Of course, you can say you don't want a mentor and go adventuring alone." Black Dynamite shook her head. "Though I don't believe anyone is stupid enough to say they don't want a mentor."
Naomi was quite surprised that the heroes' guild did not give them one. "Maybe they made a mistake?" He thought to himself.
However, Gabriel knew the truth. The reason they did not get a mentor was that somebody said they don't need one. That somebody was the person who led them onto an isolated field, where he planned to murder them one by one.
"Suzuki…" Gabriel whispered, clenching his fists.
"Anyways," Black Dynamite continued. "I might be poking my nose somewhere I should not be. Sorry about that! Just remember, you can view your Sigil's powers on the [ Abilities ] screen! That is if your mentor did not already tell you that."
She waved her goodbyes before returning to her makeup crew.
Naomi was speechless. Too much has happened in a short succession and he was still confused about why they did not get a mentor.
He glanced over to Gabriel and saw the angry frown on his face. He mistook that for him being in pain, so he rushed to quickly heal his wounds.
"Let me see your hand!" Naomi began channeling a healing spell.
Gabriel was fuming with hate. He remembered Suzuki's grin as he stabbed the burning spike into his wrist and left him to die.
That man was celebrated as the newest starlet, the hero with tremendous potential. Only Gabriel knew the evil that lurked behind Suzuki's mask.
Every new level, every evolution of his Sigil means being one step closer to unmasking Suzuki. Thankfully, his hard work seemed to pay off, as he was just about to observe his first level up…