[The First Candidate to make it out wasn't you in the end.]
"BWAHA! Really? You mean someone got to the end before me?" A beefy man asked.
It wasn't clear whether he was one or not, but he looked like one at least.
Bald, tall, and muscular.
"These guys should be the last between me and the Final Guardian, right?"
[Yes, they are.]
"Good."
The Weapon Master stepped forward.
Greed and Gluttony.
***
[I can't believe this.]
"What is it?"
[I'm so, so sorry.]
"What? Whyyy?"
[I failed you.]
[You're my Candidate and I completely failed you.]
"How so? Come on, explain. You're stressing me out!"
[Someone else left their Dungeon first.]
[I didn't advise you well enough.]
"Oh... That's it? Don't do that to me!"
[I'm sorry.]
[My Pride as a General has been tainted permanently.]
"You're being sooo dramatic."
[I failed you.]
Rekka, the Whimsical Fiend, chuckled.
"You did great. If anything, I should be the one to blame. And, to be honest..."
She spread her wings.
"I wouldn't have had it any other way."
Rekka was a Harpie.
An oh-so-beautiful Harpie.
"I'll be out in a bit too."
***
[You asked me some time ago to tell you once someone makes it outside.]
"Right." Said a young man seated on the ground.
He seemed to be a teenager, and could've passed for one, was it not for the horns on his head.
[Someone has.]
"Good." The young man stood up. "Perfect, actually. Means I get to speed things up now."
[You're still going on about that?]
"Of course, this is a race after all." His eyes shone green.
Strange eyes, he had.
Especially one of them.
[And you're not trying to win the race?]
"Huh? Are you dumb? Of course not."
He moved his arms around as if to warm up his shoulders.
"First and last are the most dangerous positions. Making it out as second or third will do me juuust fine."
***
"The first one to leave, huh?" A Beastman asked
[Yup.]
"Well, that's a bad omen."
[How so?]
Despite being part of the Beastman Species known for its strength and sturdiness, the Monster looked somewhat frail.
"Makes it less likely for me to be the Protagonist." The Beastman answered after letting out a sigh.
[Huh?]
[Could you stop thinking like that?]
[It's dumb, and not useful.]
"Hahaha. Right... Perhaps you're right. Still, I can't help it. Mmm... Second is also a good place for the Protagonist. Hypes up the guy who finished first."
[I know you said you were some kind of storyteller in your past life, Kati.]
[But this isn't a story.]
"Isn't it?"
The Mind Bender smiled.
[It's not.]
[And the time for you to realize that has come.]
"Alalala..."
[It's your life, so you'd better get serious.]
Kati took a deep breath in.
"I've never been more serious. I can't help but think this way, and it has helped a lot."
[You're frustrating, but listening to your thoughts is amusing.]
"Hehe. So... The matter at hand. Only three spots for a Protagonist. First, second, or last."
[Is that so?]
"First is obvious. Made it before anyone else. Won the race. Blah, blah, blah. The advantage and the disadvantage are the same here. You're the first to make it outside."
[Which means?]
"Which means the First will either fulfill the task you brought us here to fulfill, and reap all the benefits, or..."
[Or?]
"Or the First will die, setting up another as the Protagonist, probably the Last."
[So you want to be Last?]
"Last is a good position. I got information about the First getting out. So theoretically, the Last would have the most information about the outside world and about how things went for the others. What to look out for, what to run away from... Those kinds of things."
[I see.]
[I guess that's not a bad way of looking at it.]
[Now that the First has gone out, you'll be taking your time I assume?]
"No. I'll be going as fast as I can."
[Huh.]
[You're confusing.]
"Thank you."
A short amount of time passed without Kati receiving any messages.
[Oh.]
[I get it.]
"You do?"
[You don't want to be the Protagonist.]
[That's what it is, right?]
Kati suddenly laughed out loud
[What's so funny?]
"My, oh my... You really don't get it, huh?"
[I guess I don't?]
"A Protagonist cannot be engineered. Taking slow to be the Last to finish would make you even less likely to be him."
[Huh.]
[So you'll be going as fast as you can while praying that you'll finish Last?]
"Nope."
[You're so annoying.]
[What then?]
"I'll let Destiny do its thing."
[Destiny?]
[Don't make me laugh, Kati.]
[I'm already entertaining your trope nonsense.]
[Don't bring something like Destiny into this.]
"Why not? Think it doesn't exist?"
[I know that it doesn't.]
"Then you don't know anything. Haha!"
[This isn't a story, Kati.]
[Get it through your head.]
"Wrong again. Everything is a story. No matter how mundane or normal, everything is a story."
[Bfahahhaa!]
[That's the kind of storyteller you used to be?]
[Talking about random and mundane things?]
"Everything is a story. Question is..."
Kati smiled wide.
"Is it a story worth telling?"
[And how would one assert whether it is worth telling or not?]
"What makes a good story?"
[Many different things brought together.]
"Care to name a few?"
[Can't think of any specifics now.]
"Asserting whether a story is worth telling or not..." Kati's heart started beating faster. "Is a storyteller's job."
[Aha.]
[So you'll make it so that you're the Protagonist?
[So that your story is worth telling?]
[So that your life is worth telling?]
[The story of your life, huh?]
"I'll do what I can when I can when I want but... I don't get to choose whether I am Protagonist material or not. Different Protagonists for different kinds of Stories, you know?"
[You're definitely fun to talk to, Kati.]
"Right?"
[Wonder who the Master would bet on.]
[It's obvious that he is the storyteller here, right?]
[Since he's the one who takes the decision, and the one thanks to whom you guys are even here.]
[What do you think?]
"The Master...? Oh, Gaavah, huh? Mmm. Possibly."
[Possibly?]
[Who else?]
Kati smiled cheekily.
"Destiny, perhaps?
