I was Drafted Into a War as the Only Human

"War Games!"

The shout echoed across the courtyard like a cannon blast.

Llarm, Eri, and Gindu practically howled the words in unison, their excitement bouncing off the marble walls of the training grounds. The grass underfoot was springy and vibrant, glowing with a healthy green sheen beneath the warm morning sun. A soft breeze rolled through, rustling the trees beyond the white palace walls that hemmed them in like a pristine fortress.

It was, annoyingly, a perfect day.

Lucy squinted up at the sun like it had personally offended him.’Perfect weather, smiling idiots, birds probably singing somewhere... Yep. Absolutely cursed.’ He kicked at a dandelion just for existing. Some part of him still wasn’t used to waking up in paradise only to be told it was time for bloodsport.

Lucy winced, rubbing at one ear. "Would you morons shut up?" he barked. "You’re not even supposed to know about that yet. Only the generals and I were briefed."

’Why do I even tell these people anything? One breath and it’s a festival announcement.’

Llarm ducked a half-hearted punch from Lucy, laughter spilling from him as if they hadn’t just been scolded. "Sooo... have you picked your team yet?" he asked, dodging backward with exaggerated flair. "Because I happen to know a heroic, dashingly average elf who would love to participate in the Great Festival of Death!"

He struck a dramatic pose, beaming and wobbling slightly, as if expecting applause to rain from the heavens. A passing breeze caught his cape—Lucy had no idea where he had even gotten one—and flared it dramatically behind him.

Eri slashed lazily at Gindu with her claws, the blades glinting in the sun. They scraped harmlessly off his azule scales with a sharp ting.

"I want in too, dummy," she said casually, though her tail twitched with anticipation.