Grimgar - vol8 pt2
9. Lighting a Fire in Someone’s Heart
 |
“So, yeah, that’s Arara’s grudge against Arnold,” Rock said.
As he spoke, Rock would stand up, sit down, walk around, and generally act restless. Also, his hair was standing up. How was he making his hair stand up? Was he using gel or something to make it stiff? Whatever it was, he gave off the impression of having more energy than he knew what to do with.
There was a broadmouthed creature with tiger-like fur riding on Rock’s shoulders, wrapped around his neck, but it was impressive that it didn’t fall off. That creature was called a mirumi, and they were relatively common in Grimgar. It turned out this one was Rock’s pet, and its name was Gettsu.
“Basically, she’s out for revenge,” said Rock. “Well, can you blame her? I would be, too. The love of her life got done in by the guy. You guys’ve gotta understand that. Right? Haruhiro? Yume?”
Haruhiro hung his head and furrowed his brow, sighing. “Well, yeah...” “Hrm...” Yume puffed up one of her cheeks, tilting her head hard to one
side.
The fog had thinned out a fair bit, but now it was gloomy instead. It was quickly getting darker and darker. However, for a little while now, little green lights had begun to dance around here and there. These insects, which were apparently called rurakas, supposedly produced light from early evening until late at night. It was a scene that had a sort of illusion-like beauty.
The fact that seeing it only made Haruhiro feel like, Yeah, but so what?
made him feel a little sad.
Sad? Actually, to be honest, Haruhiro was feeling pretty irritated.
With Rock carrying the wounded Arara, everyone had run away as hard as they could on their own, and then they had regrouped here. Haruhiro had no clue where “here” was, but they had apparently decided in advance that this
was the spot to meet back up if anything happened.
The big bald guy, Kajita, had his massive mushroom sword thrust into the ground and was sitting cross-legged. He hadn’t so much as budged for a while now. Had he fallen asleep while sitting? With him wearing sunglasses, it was hard to tell.
The strongest dread knight in active service, Moyugi, was sitting on a bump in the ground with one leg crossed over the other and drinking something from a cup. Not that it mattered, but wasn’t he a little too relaxed? He was even giving off the sense that he was having an elegant time.
Moira the demon wasn’t around. There was a “Noooooo...” every once in a while though, so she was apparently hiding somewhere.
Why was Sakanami the thief lying face-down? Was he all right? Haruhiro was a little concerned, but everyone else was ignoring him, so it was probably fine. Besides, that guy was probably not quite right to begin with.
Since he had never been right, it was all right if he wasn’t all right.
When Tsuga, the priest with the buzz cut, finished treating Arara, he had begun meditating in the lotus position. Since then, his eyes had stayed shut, and he hadn’t moved.
Incidentally, Kuro, the former hunter, wasn’t here. He’d had a little business to attend to, so he’d left on his own.
“We failed to avenge Tatsuru-sama.” Arara was sitting on a tree stump and hanging her head in shame. “It was my fault. It’s because I was injured!”
“Don’t let it get you down, Arara.” Rock crouched down right in front of her. “There’ll be other chances. We’ll make them for you. Okay?”
Gettsu the mirumi squeaked loudly. It was like both pet and owner alike were trying to cheer Arara up.
“Thank you.” Arara sighed and looked up. “I am in your debt, Rock. How can I ever repay you for this?”
“Silly Arara, you don’t need to think about that. We’re doing this because we want to.”
“But...”
“Seriously, it’s all cool! Let’s just focus on beating down that Arnold guy for now. Moyugi’ll come up with a way. We’ll follow Moyugi’s plan. If we fail, we’ll just try again until we succeed. Simple, right?”
“When you are the one saying it, for some reason, it really does start to feel that way.”
“There’s nothing hard about it,” Rock said confidently. “You just leave it to us. The Rocks.”
“...However.” Arara looked down again, gripping her left arm tightly with her right hand. “You people are under no obligation to help me seek vengeance...”
Haruhiro and Yume looked at one another.
Yeah, that, Haruhiro thought. That’s it. That’s the issue.
Arara’s beloved Tatsuru tried to kill Arnold, the enemy of the village, but was defeated. Arara wants to avenge the man she loved. I get that. But where do Rock and the Rocks come into this? They’re volunteer soldiers. Obviously, they’re not from the village. This isn’t really their business, is it?
“Arara. Arara. Hey, Arara!” Rock suddenly stood up, spreading his arms wide. Gettsu nearly fell of his shoulders, but managed to hold on somehow. “What’re you acting like a stranger for? Of course we’re obliged to help! We totally are!”
“You say that, but we only met recently...” Arara began. “Who cares?! Time has nothing to do with it!”
“If I hadn’t told you my circumstances back then, you wouldn’t have been dragged into this...”
“We don’t feel like we’re being dragged into anything! Right, Moyugi?!” “No. I very much feel I am.”
“Whaaaat?!” Rock shouted.
“Not that it’s anything new,” Moyugi added. “For as long as I keep working with you people, I’ll keep getting dragged into trouble like this.”
“Ha! And you’re in the Rocks because you can’t get enough of it, right?” “You’ve got that right,” said Moyugi. “Life’s too short to waste time on
boring stuff.”
Kajita gave them a thumbs-up. “Indeed.”
“Urgh...” Sakanami groaned and writhed around on the ground. He looked like he was in pain.
Tsuga was meditating with a smile. Was he on the verge of enlightenment or something?
There was... an awful lot Haruhiro could have humorously taken issue with here. In fact, it felt like maybe there wasn’t a single thing he couldn’t have taken issue with. If he were to sum up the reason the Rocks fought simply, they were doing it on a whim. That was what Moyugi had said.
Ohh, thought Haruhiro. I see. I see. These people are all weird.
They’re a band of weirdos.
He’d had the feeling they were. They weren’t ordinary people like Haruhiro and his group, so there was no way they were normal. Besides, it probably didn’t matter in the least to them whether a mediocre guy like Haruhiro thought they were normal or not.
People who weren’t plain and ordinary were always a little extreme in some way. Were they extreme to begin with, and that was what let them go beyond mediocrity? Or when you went beyond the realm of mediocrity, did it make you a little extreme? Or, perhaps, was it impossible to escape from mediocrity without becoming extreme? Haruhiro didn’t really know.
Still, even if he didn’t understand it, that wasn’t going to cause him any trouble. The dispositions and motivations of a band of weirdos like this weren’t his problem. Or they wouldn’t be, except that he was currently in a situation where he was forced to work with them.
“Murrgh...” Yume nodded, as if trying to forcefully convince herself she’d figured it out. “Basically, here’s how it is, yeah? Rockun and all them only met Araran a li’l while ago, but they’re dead set on helpin’ her, ’cause they’re good guys, right?”
“Hm? Us? Good guys?” Rock looked at Yume and scowled.
Uh, that’s a serious bad guy look you’ve got going on there.
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Rock demanded. “You making fun of us?”
“How’s sayin’ you’re good guys makin’ fun of you?” Yume wanted to know.
“Listen, Yume, being called a good guy isn’t a compliment, or anything.
Basically, it means they’re someone you don’t have to care about, right?” “Yume wasn’t meanin’ it that way when she said it!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, we’re not good guys. We don’t look like we are, now do we?”
“Yeah,” Yume agreed. “You don’t.”
“Ha ha ha! I know, right? We aren’t motivated by justice, fairness, morals, or any of that stuff.”
“Well, what’re you all motivated by, then?” Yume asked.
“All sorts of things, really. But this time...” Rock brought his hands to his
chest with a look of pride. “It’s love.” Haruhiro stared blankly. “...Love?” he asked in disbelief.
“No, not love. It’s love, man. Love.”
Where’s the difference? It’s all the same word. Geez. Haruhiro felt a little dizzy. He’s making no sense.
“...Huh? Wait, love... for whom?” Haruhiro asked. “Well, for Arara, of course.”
“No... B-But...?” Haruhiro looked back and forth from Rock to Arara. Rock was speaking proudly, but Arara must have been embarrassed, or not sure what to say, because she was still looking down. “But, erm, Arara... -san had a lover, didn’t she...? And it’s because of what happened to him that she’s doing this, so...”
“Does that have anything to do with it?”
“Doesn’t it... have something to do with it? I mean, I don’t really have any experience with this sort of stuff, so I wouldn’t know, but—”
“When we first met, Arara was carrying a katana. She suddenly jumped out of the fog, and came swinging at us.”
“Th-That was—!” Arara pouted like a child. “...I-I was in a state of confusion. Avenging Tatsuru-sama was the only thing on my mind, and I left the village despite Uncle’s attempts to stop me, so I was convinced everything that moved was my enemy...”
“She was beautiful,” Rock said with a broad grin. “Her hair was disheveled, her face was a mask of rage, and she was crying a little. She got me good. It was love at first sight. ‘Why is she crying? What happened? Is there anything I can do for her?’ I couldn’t help but wonder.”
“She lit a fire in his heart,” Kajita said in a husky voice.
“That’s it.” Rock turned his fist towards Kajita. “With my heart and body burning with the fires of love, there ain’t no man who can stop me. I’ll keep running till I burn out.”
“He’s easily infatuated,” Moyugi said dismissively. “And it’s never with someone he can have. What’s the allure of a woman you’ll never sleep with? I can’t understand it.”
“That’s what’s boring about you, Moyugi,” said Rock. “If you give love to get something in return, that isn’t love. It’s just lust, right? Well, that’s not what my love is like. My love is given freely. I fell for Arara. I love her.
That’s why I want to make her wish come true. For that, I’d do anything. It gets you fired up, doesn’t it? It’s fun, right? Right, Haruhiro? You get it?”
“No, I don’t get it.” “You don’t?!”
“I, uh, don’t have much in the way of experience with romance, so...” “Oh, so you’re a virgin!”
“...Is that such a surprise?”
“A virgin...” Yume was nodding along with a knowing look, but did she really understand what that meant? Knowing Yume, wasn’t she misunderstanding it somehow?
“Of all things, he had to be a virgin.” Rock clicked his tongue. “A virgin, huh. I dunno if a virgin can get it...”
“Could you stop repeating that word...?” Haruhiro asked.
“Haruhiro.” Kajita looked at him and gave him a thumbs-up. “Beginner’s luck.”
“...I don’t understand.”
“Gyahahaha!” Sakanami suddenly started laughing as he writhed in agony. “Hilarious! Virgin, virgin, rose gyatee! If they put you on the throne, you’d be the Rose Emperor! A title fit for a premature ejaculator!
Gyahahaha!”
“...I understand you even less.”
“Well, yeah,” Rock agreed, stroking Gettsu’s throat. “I didn’t really understand it, either. Sakanami’s nuts. You should try not to get him mad, Haruhiro, Yume. Even I have no idea what he might do.”
“...I’m amazed you can work with a guy like that,” Haruhiro said. “Isn’t it interesting?”
“It’s a lot of trouble for me.” Moyugi passed the cup over to his left hand so he could use the middle finger of his right hand to press on the bridge of his glasses. “I have to include the guy in my calculations when putting together a strategy.”
“Isn’t that what makes it interesting?” Rock asked. “I won’t deny it.”
To sum things up, this was the situation:
The group had been motivated by Rock’s falling in love at first sight.
Other than that, the Rocks were helping Arara with her vengeance because it seemed like it might be interesting. They really were doing it on a whim.
“So, when you joined the Day Breakers, was that because it seemed interesting, too?” Haruhiro asked.
“That’s part of it.” Rock’s eyes narrowed, and both corners of his mouth curled upwards. “We have another reason, too, though. I won’t tell you what it is, Haruhiro.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Isn’t it more interesting if I keep quiet about it? Oh—” Rock stopped, and even before Rock did, Gettsu turned his head to the right. “Is that Kuro?”
Looking in that direction, there was a humanoid figure walking through the evening gloom where the lights of the rurakas danced about. The figure was approaching. It waved. It was Kuro.
“They weren’t there.” When Kuro came over and sat down next to Haruhiro, looking exasperated, that was the first thing he said. “Went to that cave you mentioned. No sign of your friends.”
“No way...” Haruhiro was at a loss for words. “B-But, hey, maybe you had the wrong place?”
“Not a chance. That, what was it? That cave leading to another world, I already had some idea where it was. And there were traces that someone had been there.”
“Hrm...” Yume made a difficult face and pressed her index fingers into her temples. “That means... What does it mean? Yume wonders...”
“Since you weren’t coming back, they probably went looking,” Kuro said. “Then they got into trouble. Seems likely.”
“You say that so easily...” Haruhiro murmured.
“You people don’t even know the damn way there, and it’s easier and safer for me to go alone anyway, so I went out of my way to go there for you. For nothing, I might add.”
“...Sorry. I... guess you’re right. Thank you, Kuro-san.” “Yeah. You owe me one. Pay me back with interest, got it?”
Even setting aside the debt he had just incurred, their comrades not being near the cave exit was a huge shock for Haruhiro.
Whoa—I can’t think about anything right now. No, even if I can’t think, I have to think. Should I go there myself, after all? Go, and search for the other four? But it’s already dark. Also, enemies. There could be enemies.
Haruhiro didn’t really care about Forgan, but they probably didn’t feel the same way about him.
Well, I did kill them with my own hands. If they attack me on sight, I have no right to complain.
“Hey, hey!” someone called out to him. Startled, Haruhiro turned to see Sakanami was right beside him and wriggling around. “How’s it feel? How’s it feel? Hey, tell me, how’s it feel right now? Sad? Or painful?
Heartwrenching? Like you want to cry? Like you’re going to puke? How do you feel right now? Well? Well?”
“For a start, that you’re kind of annoying...” “Gyahoh! Gyahahahaha! Hilarious! My sides...” “What’s with this guy?” Haruhiro muttered.
“Oh, him?” Kuro said, sounding pleased. “Just a guy with a defective personality.”
“That was harsh!” Sakanami turned on Kuro. “Kuro, I don’t want to hear that from an inhuman monster like you! You prey on other people! Well, not me! I won’t prey on people, but I will eat gods! I am the God Eater! So cool! Gyahahahahaha!”
I should ignore him. Yeah. Ignore him. I need to ignore this guy, and think. Think.
“Now, then.” Moyugi stood up. “In my diagnosis, it wouldn’t be surprising for Forgan’s people to start reaching this general area any time now. We’re moving.”
“Okay.” Rock looked around to the rest of the group. “Let’s go, Arara.
You people, too.”
It was apparent that Haruhiro and Yume were included in that “you people.” Well, Haruhiro didn’t want to be left behind, so he’d have to go. He’d have to think on the move.
“Haru-kun...” Yume tugged on Haruhiro’s cloak. She looked worried, as might be expected. “Where do you think everyone’s gone off to?”
“They’re fine. I’m sure of it.” Even as he said it, he wasn’t sure if it was to console her, or because he wanted to believe it himself. “I mean, they’ve got Ranta with them. He’s a tenacious one.”
“...Guess so.” Yume let go of Haruhiro’s cloak. Then she immediately grabbed Haruhiro’s sleeve.
He understood what it was she wanted from him, so he had to give it to her.
Haruhiro held Yume’s hand.
Yume squeezed his hand back tightly.
|
It was dizzying. The countless lights flashing in the darkness swayed about like crazy, and it felt awful. Whenever Shihoru tripped over something, or stepped in a hole and almost fell over, Kuzaku caught her. She’d stopped apologizing every time. She didn’t have it together enough to form the words.
I can’t do this anymore. I can’t run any further. She’d been thinking that for a long time now. I wish they’d just leave me here.
Even if she said it, Kuzaku wouldn’t abandon Shihoru, and Katsuharu probably wouldn’t, either. Because she knew that, she couldn’t say it.
“Katsuharu-san!” Kuzaku called out to the man ahead of them. “How do you think it looks?! Can we get away?!”
“Who can say?” Katsuharu was winded. “It’s still some way to the village, so that may depend on the two of you.”
“Damn it! Because I was so noisy, the nyaa found us, and...!”
“It does little good to dwell on it. I was the one to invite you along, after all. It was careless to get so close to them. The fault lies with me.”
“Wait, why are you sounding so relaxed about this?!”
“Were I to panic, no good would come of it,” Katsuharu said.
Nyaas. There were nyaas behind them, of course, but also to the right and left. Even with the shining bugs that were called rurakas flying around, it was dark. That was why, though they couldn’t see the nyaas, they could hear their voices. Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa... Nyaa....
Meowing from all directions.
Were the nyaas close? Were they far? How many were there? Shihoru had no clue. From what Katsuharu had told them, tamed nyaas would sometimes take their time, slowly pushing their targets into a corner like this. It was true, they were starting to feel cornered. At least, Shihoru and Kuzaku were.
“Well,” Katsuharu said in a voice that was far too relaxed for a man who was running. “for now, it would seem we only have the nyaas pursuing us. The way things look now, we may yet make it to the village somehow. Give it your all.”
Give it your all, he’d said. That was what Shihoru thought she was doing. She was trying as hard as she could. But, try as she might, there were limits to what she could do. Once she was exhausted and couldn’t go another step, she was going to be a burden on Kuzaku and Katsuharu.
Hold on.
Suddenly, she lost all the strength in her knees, and she could no longer keep her feet moving forward. Shihoru quickly supported herself with her staff. That managed to keep her from falling over, but she couldn’t run anymore. She didn’t think she could walk, either. This was it. Her limit.
“Shihoru-san?!” Kuzaku stopped. “What’s up? Why’d you stop?”
“Good grief.” Katsuharu turned back, crouching down in front of Shihoru with his back turned to her. “Here. I’ll carry you on my back. Grab on.”
“N-No, I can’t ask you to...”
“Shihoru-san, let him carry you!” Kuzaku cried. “If it comes to it, I’ll tank for you two!”
“Hurry it up, would you?” Katsuharu asked. “This position is painful on my lower back, you see.”
“S-Sorry. Then, e-excuse me...!”
Katsuharu’s back was broader than Shihoru expected, and it gave her a sense of relief. To be able to carry Shihoru, who was pretty heavy, and not have it do much to throw off his running form, this man must have been more reliable than he looked.
“Sorry, but could I ask you to cling just a little tighter?” Katsuharu asked. “...R-Right!”
“Yes, I am a lucky man indeed.” “...Huh?”
“No, just talking to myself. Think nothing of it. However, I should have done this from the beginning. Heh... I jest, of course. Trying to lighten the mood, you see?”
He might have been reliable, but he also seemed just a little dangerous.
Speaking of danger, what about the nyaas? Shihoru had done a great job of slowing everyone down, so it was hard to imagine the situation had
improved. Thinking about it normally, it should have gotten worse.
A wolf howled in the distance.
“Just now, was that...?!” Kuzaku looked back without stopping.
“Not good.” Katsuharu said in a low voice, quickly looking left and then right. The left side was flat, but the right side sloped upwards. The path ahead of them and behind them was narrow. “This is a bad place. Guess I’ll do it once we reach somewhere a little better. I am going to carve a bloody path for you, so you two run away.”
“No, Katsuharu-san, there’s no reason you should have to do that for us!” Kuzaku cried.
“Were you two older than me, I would sacrifice you to save myself, but watching those younger than me die always turns my stomach. Oh, don’t you worry, I won’t go down easily. I have experience on my side, if nothing else.”
“I wouldn’t be able to run far, anyway...” Shihoru clenched her teeth. Even though he’d helped by carrying her, she was still winded. “I’ll fight with you. I have to. I’ll support you with magic.”
“I wanted to show off, but I suppose this is how it has to be.”
Not long after that, when they entered a flat area with a lot of trees, Katsuharu let Shihoru down and drew his katana. Kuzaku readied his black blade and his shield, moving up in front of Shihoru.
There weren’t many rurakas here. Nyaa... nyaa... nyaa... nyaa... Based on the meowing, the nyaas must have been pretty close. The wolves were howling.
“Dark...” When Shihoru focused her mind and called his name, the elemental Dark appeared as if coming out of a door that had opened up from an unseen world. Dark strings twisted into a spiral and took on a human-like form. Dark floated through the air to sit on Shihoru’s shoulder.
Katsuharu took one look at Dark, then said “Oh,” in admiration. “Now there’s an unfamiliar spell.”
“It’s an original, Shihoru-san’s own.” While paying attention to the area around them, Kuzaku took a deep breath. “Will the nyaas attack us directly, you think?”
“They don’t often fight, no. When one of their kind gets roughed up, they have a tendency to all become uncooperative as a group. That is why nyaa handlers don’t like to make them fight.”
“So, the ones that’ll be coming—” Kuzaku started to say, but then shut his mouth.
There was a noise. Footsteps? It’s charging in. From the left. A wolf. A black wolf, huh?
Shihoru was going to send Dark to intercept it, but thought better of it. He wouldn’t make it in time.
Katsuharu headed to the left using a unique method of walking where neither his head nor his waist moved up or down. Before the black wolf could jump up at him, Katsuharu was already swinging down at it with his katana.
He smashed the black wolf’s head open, and it collapsed. Katsuharu then used the same walking technique to return to his original position. “The next one is coming.”
“Uragh...!” Kuzaku knocked something back with his shield. Had another black wolf tackled him?
“If you try to follow them with your eyes, you’ll act too late.” Katsuharu swung his katana. It looked like he’d hit it. “Don’t look. Feel.”
There was no way Shihoru could do that. She was a mage. No, saying she couldn’t do it because she was a mage was just acting weak.
From behind, one was coming. As she turned towards, she gave the order. “Go!”
Unlike the magic Shihoru had learned in her time at the guild, Dark didn’t just fly in a straight line. He was guided, to a degree.
There was a black wolf. It wasn’t that she had actually been able to see the black wolf lunging at her from the darkness. What Katsuharu had told her
had immediately come in handy. Don’t look, feel.
Something came rushing at Shihoru, and she willed Dark to collide with it. That was all. Dark protected Shihoru.
The black wolf yelped, then turned and ran.
Shihoru immediately summoned Dark again. “Come, Dark!”
“Sorry, Shihoru-san!” Kuzaku was using his sword and shield to knock back the black wolves, and somehow managing to cover Shihoru. “Aren’t there an awful lot of them?!”
“At times like this, you should assume there are more than you can actually see.” Katsuharu moved with that particular walking style, the same as always, swinging his katana to land a precise blow on a black wolf’s head. It wasn’t flashy, but even a mage like Shihoru could tell he was skilled.
“There’ll be a short break.”
It went just like Katsuharu said. The black wolves suddenly stopped charging in, growling at them from a little way away instead. Shihoru nearly breathed a sigh of relief despite herself.
“Now!” Katsuharu took off running. “Follow me!” “Shihoru-san!” Kuzaku called.
“R-Right!” she called back.
She’d been lost in thought. Was this the right thing to do, or wasn’t it?
She didn’t even have time to think. Shihoru chased after Katsuharu.
Katsuharu cut down one of the black wolves to break a hole in their encirclement, then kept on running. The black wolves tried to swarm Katsuharu, as if they were being sucked in by him. He made sharp swings to the left and to the right with his katana, opening a path.
Kuzaku and Shihoru ran down that path. Kuzaku helped, too, driving off two or three of the black wolves with his sword and shield. Shihoru wasn’t so much trying to conserve Dark’s power, as she had larger concerns. She was quickly winded. Her heart was pounding and ready to burst. It might already be too much for her.
Then Katsuharu came to a stop.
Kuzaku and Shihoru shot past Katsuharu on inertia. Having performed an about-face that almost caused him to trip, Katsuharu was holding his blade a little below the middle level and staring down the black wolves. The wolves spread out to the left and right, while remaining cautious of him. Were they trying to encircle the group again?
“Are we just going to keep repeating this?” Kuzaku said with a groan. “It feels so overwhelming. But I guess we’ve gotta do it.”
Shihoru wanted to say something, but her voice failed her.
Katsuharu started pulling back, so Kuzaku and Shihoru backed away, along with him. This really was overwhelming. Just how many times would they have to repeat this before they reached the village?
Nyaa... nyaa... nyaa... The nyaas were meowing. We’re here. We’re right here. There are so many of us. We’ll follow you wherever you go, those meows threatened them.
If Shihoru had been the way she used to be, her heart might have broken. Now, though, even if she was on the brink of that, she could tough it out just a bit longer. Even if, at the very worst, if she had to let Katsuharu and
Kuzaku go on ahead and stay here by herself, she wouldn’t just accept death with resignation. She didn’t think she had become strong, but she wanted to be strong.
“It’s going to be fine.” Shihoru nodded. “I have to see everyone again.
...Because I want to see them.”
“Yeah.” Kuzaku smiled just a little. “Can’t let ourselves get killed by a little thing like this, can we?”
“That’s the spirit.” Katsuharu turned and started running again. “Onward!”
Shihoru and Kuzaku tried to follow the man. But then Katsuharu came to a sudden stop. He had no choice but to.
There was something big standing in his way. It hadn’t been there originally. If it had, there was no way Katsuharu would have gone that way, after all.
For a moment, Shihoru thought it was a tiger, lion, or other big cat. But she was wrong.
Judging from its outline, that thing was—or rather, that thing was also—a wolf. It was much too big to be merely a wolf. What was more, on its back, there was something... riding it?!
“Ow...” Katsuharu slapped his forehead with his left hand. “The beast master’s here, huh? Sorry to say it, but we can’t get away from this.”
“It’s not just the beast master,” echoed a man’s voice. It came from behind them. In other words, the area where they were first surrounded by the black wolves.
When Shihoru turned back, there was a humanoid figure standing behind the wolves with their fangs barred. Not just one. There were several.
But a human...?
“I’m here, too, trespassers. I’ll punish you to kill some time.”
There was no doubt about it. It was a human voice, male. That alone would have been a shock, but there was something even, even, even more shocking.
The figures were approaching them. The leader was a human, like she’d thought. The human man had five or six orcs in tow. However, one of them was awfully small.
“No... way...” Kuzaku shuddered. “What’s that supposed to mean...?” Shihoru blinked, shaking her head. “...Why?”
“Hey, Ranta.” The man from earlier gestured to him with his chin. “Go crazy for us right now. I won’t ask you to prove your loyalty, but if you’re our comrade, you can at least join our fights.”
“That’s a given.” The small man lowered the visor on his helmet, and drew his sword RIPer. “I’m don’t mind fighting myself. Just watch, old man Takasagi. Soon enough, I’ll have you begging me to become your disciple, I guarantee it.”
“...Ranta-kun,” Shihoru whispered.
The ground felt like it was violently shaking. This had to be some kind of mistake. That, or a bad dream.
Oh. Knowing Ranta, this had to be another of his bad jokes. He wanted to surprise them and then make fun of them.
But if that wasn’t it...
“You know him?” Katsuharu asked Shihoru and Kuzaku, and at practically the same time, this old man Takasagi, or whoever he was, asked Ranta, “Do you know them?”
“We don’t just know him...” Kuzaku gritted his teeth. Shihoru could only nod.
“Well, yeah.” Ranta gave a nasal laugh. “Not that it matters. I’m part of Forgan now. No matter who they are, I’ll crush anyone who lays a hand on our guys. We can’t let them mess with us.”
“I hope that’s not just tough talk.” Takasagi stuffed his hand down his collar. His right arm was... He apparently didn’t have one.
“You’ll see soon enough.” Ranta twisted his neck back and forth. “Prepare yourselves. It’s massacre time, guys.”
Shihoru still couldn’t believe it.
He sprang towards them. Leap Out. This was Ranta.
Katsuharu questioned whether he should intercept him or not, but he retreated. Kuzaku was standing there, standing practically stock still, when Ranta came swinging at him violently.
Kuzaku quickly brought his shield up to defend himself. “Wah...?!” “Take that!” Ranta gave him no time to stop and breathe, launching a
slashing attack. “You beanpole!”
“Urgh! Ah! Wha...?!” It was all Kuzaku could do just to block the attacks with his shield. No, he’d already taken a number of hits. Kuzaku was wearing
tough armor, and that was the only reason he hadn’t gone down yet. “Ra- Ranta-kun?! Whoa, wait!”
“What kind of idiot would wait when you ask them to wait?!” Ranta used Leap Out to suddenly get around Kuzaku’s right side, then took a big swing, holding RIPer in both his hands. “Oorahhhh!”
Kuzaku was holding his shield in his left hand. If he was attacked from the right side, he wouldn’t be able to block with the shield. Even if he was going to deflect it with his sword, Kuzaku’s response was too slow. Kuzaku stopped it with his right arm. “Guh...?!”
His arm was covered by his armor, too, so it didn’t get cut off. However, Kuzaku nearly dropped his sword, and it hurt him pretty bad.
Katsuharu immediately stepped in, so Ranta used Exhaust to leap back and get some distance.
Thank goodness, thought Shihoru. If Katsuharu hadn’t backed him up, Kuzaku might have gone down to the next attack.
The next attack from Ranta, who was supposed to be their ally.
“...Dark.” Shihoru went to order Dark, who was sitting on her shoulder, to do something. But what, exactly, should she order him to do?
“Let’s see.” Takasagi drew the katana that he carried on his back. “Maybe I’ll play a bit, too. Even if it’s just the three of you, I see one of you is capable, at least. At least try to resist, okay?”
The orcs each readied their weapons, too.
“You don’t get a turn, old man.” Ranta bent his entire body to lower himself. “I’ll take these guys. Kuzaku. Shihoru. You two are mine. Think of it as the little mercy I can offer. I’ll put you to rest.”
“If that’s your idea of mercy...!” Kuzaku dug his heels in and lifted his sword overhead. It looked like his right arm still did hurt, but he could manage to move it somehow. “...you can keep it! Ranta-kun, what happened to you, man?!”
Shihoru had a sudden realization. “...Where’s Merry?”
There was a shudder that shook through Ranta’s head and shoulders. That was when it happened. Suddenly, the nyaas started meowing like crazy, and the humanoid creature on the giant wolf’s back shouted something.
Takasagi said, “Huh?” and looked around the area. “Enemy reinforcements, you say?”
The nyaas scattered in a hurry. Though they were out of sight, you could
tell it from their meows. The black wolves seemed uneasy, too, but when the giant wolf let out its horrifying howl, they all fell into line. Takasagi was shouting in some unknown language. The orcs seemed to be trying to harden their defenses.
“Hey,” Katsuharu said without looking to Shihoru. “Now’s our time to get out of here.”
“But...!” Kuzaku kicked the ground. “Damn it! This makes no sense!”
He was so right. Ranta becoming their enemy... It was so incomprehensible, she wanted to cry.
“Ranta-kun!” Shihoru burst out with a sob. Before she cried, she had to find out this much, at least. “What about Merry?! What happened to Merry?!”
Kuzaku turned back in shock. Ranta said nothing. Could he not answer?
Could he not afford to do that? “Aaaaarnooooold! Where are you?!”
An awfully loud voice echoed through the area. It wasn’t far from here. It was close.
The giant wolf jumped and changed direction. Something—someone— had attacked the giant wolf. The black wolves all began to move at the same time. Were they trying to help the giant wolf?
“Oh...?” Takasagi knocked something out of the air with his katana. An arrow, huh. “We’ve got ourselves a sniper, I see. I’m not interested in getting hurt. The end!”
Was “the end” the signal to retreat? They pulled back. They retreated, without any regard for Shihoru and the others. The giant wolf, the black wolves, the orcs, Takasagi, and even Ranta.
“Wait, Ranta-kun!” Shihoru almost chased after him despite herself, but Katsuharu stopped her.
“Stop it!” he ordered. “I don’t know the situation, but not now!” “B-But, Merry...!”
“Hey! Ranta-kun!” Kuzaku took off running, but quickly came to a stop. “Ugh! It’s no good, not against that guy! Damn it, Ranta! He’s more than just fast when he’s running away!”
Shihoru couldn’t stand any longer. She sat down where she was, and Dark disappeared from her shoulder, looking disappointed.
This. This is just too much. It’s awful. Too awful.
“Ah!” Kuzaku shouted.
When he looked, Ranta was at the tail of the enemy group and something jumped him from the side. There was a struggle, one of them got on top of the other, then they switched, flipping over and over. When he noticed, Takasagi swung his katana, but it looked more like he was trying to split them in two than to split them up. Neither of them wanted to get killed, so they both leapt apart at the same time.
Ranta immediately took off running. Takasagi left, too. That left only the other one behind.
“...Haruhiro-kun,” Shihoru whispered.
Even if it was dark, there was no mistaking him. That was Haruhiro. Haruhiro was on one knee, watching the enemy leave.
What was even going on here? Shihoru couldn’t think straight. Even if she could think, it wasn’t likely she’d understand it.
I don’t want to think about anything right now.
 |
...Sort it out. I need to sort all of this out, thought Haruhiro. Moyugi indicated it was time for them to move.
Rock, with Gettsu the Mirumi on his shoulder, and the rest of his party in tow all headed in the direction Moyugi pointed. That included Nigi Arara, the eldest daughter of the House of Nigi, Haruhiro, and Yume.
Not long after heading that direction, they detected something out of the ordinary. It seemed Forgan was in combat with someone. The enemy of their enemy wasn’t necessarily their friend, but Arara and the Rocks’ goal was vengeance, and their target was Arnold of Forgan. If Arnold was one of the enemies there, they might be able to catch him by surprise.
When it came to Haruhiro and Yume, they had a different motive. What if Ranta and the others were the ones Forgan were attacking? It felt like a distinct possibility. If that was what was happening, they had to help them.
Haruhiro went ahead of the group with his fellow thief Sakanami, as well as Kuro the former hunter.
Sakanami was the one who got spotted by the nyaas. Or rather, for some unexplained reason, Sakanami found a nyaa and tried to grab it, resulting in the nyaas finding them and raising the alarm.
Still, while Sakanami continued with his bizarre antics, Kuro and Haruhiro were able to get closer to the enemy.
It looked like three humans were surrounded by wolves and orcs. One of them was unfamiliar, but Haruhiro knew the other two. They were Shihoru and Kuzaku. They were all right. Thank goodness.
But why was it just the two of them? Where were the other two?
Half of that question was resolved a moment later. No, maybe resolved wasn’t the word for it.
There were humans with the enemy. Two of them, even. And one of those two was Ranta.
As for what happened from that point on, honestly, it was a blur. Haruhiro couldn’t put the events in order.
He recalled Rock and the others attacking Forgan, and he recalled being relieved that, for now at least, Shihoru and Kuzaku were all right.
Shihoru and Kuzaku were shouting at Ranta about something. Haruhiro chased after Ranta. He leapt on him, and put him in a hold. He said something like, What are you doing, man, or, What are you thinking, or, We’re going home.
That and, Merry, what happened to Merry?
The one-armed man came at him with a katana. If Haruhiro didn’t get out of the way, he sensed that both he and Ranta would be cut in two. This man was probably serious. He had to get away.
He remembered what Ranta said as he left, word for word.
“That woman belongs to me! If you want her back, just try and steal her from me!”
Seriously, what was that about? What did it mean...? “That woman” had to be Merry. No question about that.
She belongs to me? Just try and steal her? What was that guy saying?
Was he an idiot? He was. Haruhiro already knew that much. But he’d never thought he was that kind of idiot. He’d never thought that the idiot would treat Merry like his property, or turn traitor.
Haruhiro wasn’t sure it was appropriate to call what Ranta had done turning traitor in this situation, but he’d stabbed them in the back. That was how it felt. Ranta had stabbed Haruhiro and the rest in the back.
Thanks to Ranta, even though they’d managed to meet back up with Shihoru and Kuzaku, Haruhiro couldn’t be happy about it, no matter how he tried. Even when he learned that the man with them was Arara’s uncle, “Oh” was about the only reaction that escaped him.
Moyugi seemed to have some sort of plan, so the Rocks, Arara, and her uncle said they would be heading to the hidden village. The idea of parting ways with them didn’t even come to Haruhiro’s mind. So, they tagged along.
After passing a number of traps, fortifications, moats, and more, they gave a password to the guard to let them in. When they arrived in the village, around ten men and women armed with katanas appeared and took Arara
away somewhere. Rock seemed to want to raise a fuss about it, but Arara stopped him.
According to Arara and her uncle Katsuharu, she was probably going to meet with her parents. Well, not so much meet them as be dragged in front of them, but, well, she was the heir to an important house. They probably had a lot going on.
The Rocks, Haruhiro, and the rest were led to Katsuharu’s retreat on the edge of the village. It was kind of him to show them the way there and all, but Katsuharu’s “retreat” was just a hovel with no floor. It was only large enough for five, maybe six, people at most. That being the case, it seemed appropriate to let their seniors have priority, and, besides, Haruhiro didn’t really want to go in there anyway, so he and the other three decided to wait outside. They were used to roughing it from their time in Darunggar.
It didn’t feel like any time to be taking it easy and sleeping, but they couldn’t go anywhere until dawn broke. Besides, even if they could go somewhere, he had no idea where that somewhere ought to be.
Katsuharu told them they were free to make use of his firewood, so Haruhiro had Yume start a fire. Fires were nice. When the four of them sat around a fire like this, it felt like he might somehow manage to retain his sanity.
On Haruhiro’s right, Yume and Shihoru were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder.
They both looked completely spent. Kuzaku, on his left, was kneeling formally for some reason, pressing down on his knees with both hands.
“Kuzaku,” Haruhiro began. “Yesh.”
“...What’s ‘yesh’?” “Sowwy.”
“...Are you crying?”
“I’m not crying,” Kuzaku said defensively. “Like I’d cry. Crying’s not gonna do us any good.”
“Well, no, it’s not.”
“What is it?” Kuzaku asked.
“Oh, I was just wondered why you’re kneeling.” “...I just sorta felt like it?”
“Okay, then.”
Yeah, this was no good.
It’s no good, Haruhiro thought. If I relax, my mind goes blank. I need to think, but nothing comes to mind. Besides, think? About what? Ranta stabbed us in the back. We don’t know if Merry is safe or not. No, Ranta was saying she belongs to him. That means she’s still alive. I’d like to think that. It’s safe to assume she’s alive, I guess?
Setting aside the question of whether she was fine or not, Merry hadn’t been killed. That being the case, whether Ranta told them to or not, their party had to take her back. They had to save her.
Ranta seemed to have joined Forgan. Merry must have been taken prisoner by them. Hopefully she wasn’t being treated too badly.
...Or was she? It was hard to be optimistic. There was that human, Takasagi, with them for some reason, but their boss was an orc named Jumbo.
They were an independent, multi-racial group mainly consisting of orcs and undead. It went without saying that orcs and undead were the enemies of humanity. Despite that, Takasagi and Ranta were working with them.
Haruhiro couldn’t figure them out, but it was hard to imagine they were treating Merry with the proper respect. If anything, it seemed like it wouldn’t take much for them to get rough with her. Was this just Haruhiro’s prejudice? Really, he hoped it was. They might be a surprisingly gentlemanly and unexpectedly good gang, one that wouldn’t hurt Merry or do anything untoward to her. If they weren’t, that was a problem.
“Y’think she’s gonna be all right?” Yume said all of a sudden. “Merry- chan.”
“Yeah...” Shihoru rubbed Yume’s back and shoulders, probably trying to reassure her, but she herself was crying. “I believe she will be...”
“Arghhhhhhhhh!” Kuzaku punched the ground. “Rantaaaa! That bastard, he’s screwing with us, damn him! I never thought he was the type!”
Yeah, that. That’s really what it comes down to, huh.
It wasn’t like Haruhiro was firmly convinced that he hadn’t, and he didn’t have enough evidence to claim otherwise, but he wasn’t ready to decide for sure that Ranta had betrayed them yet. Even if he had stabbed them in the back, he might have been put in a position where he had no other choice.
Merry, Haruhiro thought. I’m concerned about Merry. I’m worried for her, of course, and there’s something that bugs me about the way Ranta
talked about her.
First, the way he’d said, “That woman belongs to me.” Taken at face value, it was a declaration that Merry was his. It was hard to imagine the feeling was mutual. Ranta was one-sidedly declaring Merry was his woman.
Why would Ranta say that about Merry? Sure, Merry was beautiful, and could be tender, so it wouldn’t be that strange if Ranta secretly harbored feelings for her. But he’d never shown any sign of it. If anything, the way Haruhiro saw it, Merry wasn’t Ranta’s type. To go a bit further, he was probably more into Yume. As a matter of fact, Haruhiro suspected that Ranta really liked Yume.
Ranta was all bluster. He’d go on about how he wanted a woman, or he wanted to do this or that, but he’d never take direct action.
A line like “That woman belongs to me” just didn’t suit Ranta. On top of that, he’d said, “If you want her back, just try and steal her from me!” There was something strange about that, too. Why had Ranta gone out of his way to say that? To provoke Haruhiro? Well, it wouldn’t be that uncommon for him to do so, but something had been strange about it.
What had been strange, and how? Think. He had to think.
“Ranta said Merry was his,” Haruhiro said slowly. “He also said that if we want her back, ‘just try and steal her.’ Before that, I asked him, ‘What happened to Merry?’ That was his response.” Haruhiro bit his lip lightly. “First, we can draw one conclusion. Merry is alive. If she weren’t, he couldn’t make her his. I couldn’t steal her from him, either.”
“Ranta-kun...” Shihoru forced herself to speak. “...was trying to tell us that?”
“I dunno.” Haruhiro shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you that much. But maybe. In terms of possibilities, I think, broadly speaking, we have two of them. Either Ranta stabbed us in the back, or, for some reason, he’s pretending to have. Either way, in that situation, he couldn’t just tell us Merry was fine, and not to worry. Ranta was on the other side, after all. But still.
The ‘If you want her back, just try and steal her’ bit is a little weird. I mean, did he need to go out of his way to say that? If it was ‘She’s mine now, give up,’ or something like that, I’d understand. But ‘just try and steal her’...
Maybe he’s telling us to come take her. Maybe it meant that Merry is where he is, and he wants us to come save her. That’s only one possibility, but...” “Listen.” Yume leaned against Shihoru. “Yume, she’s always thought
Ranta’s a hopeless idiot, and she’s still thinkin’ that, but him betrayin’ Yume and everyone else, doin’ somethin’ like that, that’s just not Ranta, now is it?” “Nah, I dunno about that...” Kuzaku was pressing down on his knees. “At
the very least, he was serious there. He came at me ready to kill. If Haruhiro and the others hadn’t shown up, I think it would’ve gotten real bad for us.
They were nearby, so we got rescued, and it was all fine, but if they hadn’t been, Ranta, that bastard, I think he’d have killed both me and Shihoru.”
“Well...” Haruhiro scratched the back of his neck. “He can get strangely into things, you know...”
“I don’t want to get killed because he got too into his role,” Kuzaku said. “You know?”
“Well, yeah...”
“...Um.” Shihoru raised her hand.
Haruhiro didn’t feel like there was any need for her to raise her hand and ask for permission before speaking, but he said, “Go ahead.”
Shihoru nodded, then cleared her throat a little. “If thinking about it isn’t giving us any answers, I think we should come back to it later. In the end, Ranta-kun is the only one who knows what his true intentions are. Before that, what should we do from here on? What should our priority be? I think those are the more important questions.”
“In that case, it’s gotta be Merry-chan, don’tcha think?” Yume put in. “...I’ve gotta agree,” Kuzaku said.
“Yeah.” Haruhiro sighed, then looked to Shihoru.
When she smiled just a little, Shihoru seemed awfully reliable. Talentless and immature as he was, Haruhiro needed to think, and think, and think until they got through this, but there was no need for him to be the only one wracking his brains. It was okay to lean on his comrades’ wisdom at times.
Besides, if he was aware that he was talentless and immature, he should rely on his comrades where he was able to. If he could do everything by himself, he wouldn’t be talentless or immature.
So what meaning was there in cornering himself, thinking, I have to do it myself, I have to do it myself, when he couldn’t do it at all? That only served to satisfy himself.
Shihoru was shy, but that also made her cautious, and it meant she watched her surroundings carefully, and thought deeply about them. Her powers of observation and analysis were beyond Haruhiro’s. Haruhiro
needed to rely on Shihoru more.
“Saving Merry,” Haruhiro agreed. “That’s our top priority. For now, Ranta comes second. Merry’s probably been taken captive by Forgan. It’s not realistic for us to do anything about them by ourselves. If we’re going to get the Rocks to help us, since they’re going after Arnold of Forgan, we’ll need to lend them a hand, too.”
Shihoru’s brow creased with worry, and she looked down, but when she noticed Haruhiro’s eyes on her, she nodded slightly. “I think that’s our only choice. If we could have the Rocks attack Forgan... then rescue Merry while they do...”
“Use the Rocks as a decoy, you mean?” Kuzaku asked.
“Kuzaku.” Haruhiro lowered his voice. “You’re being too blatant...” “Oh. Right.” Kuzaku glanced quickly at the retreat. “But that’s basically
what it’d be, right?”
“Nah, I mean, we can’t do that,” said Haruhiro. “The Rocks are fellow Day Breakers. If we’re going to get their help, we’ll be open about it, bow our heads to them properly, and ask. Naturally, we’ll thank them, too.”
“What do you think’s happenin’ with Araran?” Yume looked in the direction that Arara was taken.
“They looked intimidating.” Shihoru touched her lips.
That was right. If Arara got punished for picking a selfish fight with Forgan, and she got locked up, what would happen to them taking vengeance? If that plot got put on hold, it was going to be a problem.
Still, there was nothing Haruhiro and his group could do about that. For now, they would have to think things over while watching how events developed.
And then, someone’s stomach rumbled loudly.
“Whoa!” Yume’s eyes went wide, and she held her belly. “There’s a surprise. Never knew it could rumble that loud. Y’think some sorta creature’s livin’ in there?”
“...Ahh.” Kuzaku hung his head. “Man, I’m hungry. And tired.”
“It shows you’re still alive...” Shihoru murmured. She looked like she was having a tough time, too.
Haruhiro looked up to the sky and sighed. Ranta. Is it okay for me to trust you, man? Your contemptible face is the only thing coming to mind. Maybe I shouldn’t trust you, after all...?
Whichever the case, he had to do something about the food situation.
When Haruhiro went to stand up, Katsuharu came out of his retreat. He was carrying something like a sieve that was full.
“You all must be hungry. I’ve not much to offer, living in a thatched hut like I do, but eat some of this.”
Kuzaku put his hands together and looked at the man. “Thanks!”
Haruhiro and Shihoru looked at one another. Was this okay? It would have to be. It was said you couldn’t fight on an empty stomach, after all.
The food Katsuharu brought them included some sort of sticky cake made with potatoes or some other vegetable, some sort of dried meat, and some sort of bittersweet dumpling. They were all unfamiliar, but none of them were bad. No one was going to be calling any of them a delicacy, but they seemed nourishing enough. Katsuharu even went and drew a bucket of water for them. He was an awfully caring man. What was more, he crouched down nearby, smiling and seeming to enjoy watching Haruhiro and the others eat.
“...Um, thank you,” Haruhiro said awkwardly. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”
“Erm... What about Arara-san? What do you think’s actually going to happen with her?”
“Well, that’s not for me to decide.”
“But if you’re her uncle—” Haruhiro began.
“When it comes to a mere wanderer like me, it’s all the same to the village whether I’m here or not. I wanted to stop my niece before she took action, but I was too late. Now that she has, it’s out of my hands.”
“That’s awful...”
“Well, my older brother, one of the heads of the House of Nigi, is not the heartless sort who would make his own daughter commit seppuku because he can’t manage her. So long as she is still alive, she can do anything. Right?”
“...You figure?” Haruhiro asked.
“Luckily, as a wanderer, I can abandon this village at any time,” Katsuharu added.
Oh, so that was it.
This guy’s probably already made up his mind. No matter what happens, he’ll save his niece, and support her. That’s why he can act so relaxed.
“Those people.” Katsuharu gestured to the retreat with his chin. He must have meant the Rocks. “They say they’ll go on the move first thing in the
morning. If you people intend to follow them, get some sleep.” “Right.”
“Darn, my lower back hurts.” Katsuharu stood up and rubbed his lower back. “Having to worry about the house, and all of that, must be such a pain. Even though all of us are born, meet people, part ways, laugh, cry, and die just the same, I can’t help but feel sorry for my brother and his wife. Not that they’d want to hear that from a lowly man like me.”
Yume was already snoring softly, having fallen asleep while still sitting, using Shihoru’s shoulder as a pillow. Shihoru looked pretty tired, too. When Haruhiro laid Yume down on her side, Shihoru lay down next to her.
“...Thanks, Haruhiro-kun,” Shihoru said sleepily. “No, I should thank you,” Haruhiro said.
“I’m sure... she’s definitely going to be okay.” “Yeah.”
Kuzaku curled his big body into a ball, shutting his eyes tight, and trying his hardest to fall asleep. No doubt he was worried sick for Merry, and that was keeping him awake.
In his heart, Haruhiro whispered, I know that feeling. Because I feel the same way.
 |
The word “campfire” suddenly came to mind. Vaguely, he felt like he’d seen this scene once before. He’d probably been part of it himself.
There wasn’t just one fire. There were a number of them, spread out. It was loud and boisterous.
While drinking together, the orcs were talking about something. Laughing occasionally. Arms around one another’s shoulders. Little fights would break out, but all in good fun. They only looked rough because they were so big.
The things they were doing were no different from what humans would.
It was surprising to see, but the undead ate and drank, too. Though there were some groups of orcs or undead who stuck only with their own kind, they weren’t the majority. Most of the orcs and undead didn’t make distinctions as they told stories, drank booze, and ate fried meat and fish.
Though Onsa the goblin kept his distance, surrounded by his wolves and nyaas, he didn’t reject the orcs or undead who occasionally came over with drinks. He’d talk with them for a bit, and smile, too.
There weren’t many, but there were races other than orcs and undead represented here, too. A half-man, half-horse centaur. That thin, pointy-eared guy with the ashen skin had to be an elf. There were a number of dwarves, too. There were guys who looked like humans shrunk down to less than half the size, and even guys who looked so inhuman they wouldn’t have been out of place in Darunggar. It didn’t look like they all got along, but they were partying without any trouble.
Ranta turned his eyes away from his jolly new comrades, sipping at a cup of spiced mead as he walked. Two or three nyaas were watching him from a distance. Ranta was being monitored.
Was Onsa the beastmaster using the nyaas to watch him on his own
initiative? Or was someone like Takasagi the one behind it? He didn’t know, but they didn’t trust Ranta yet. Of course not.
“Hey.” Ranta came to a stop, looking down at the woman who was hanging her head. “...I said, ‘Hey.’ You could respond, at least.”
Not far from his jolly comrades around the campfire, there was a woman sitting still, not moving. Though she was handcuffed, her hands were no longer bound behind her back. She was chained to a stake, so she couldn’t move around, but she could at least stand up. Despite that, the woman was sitting with her legs to one side of her, practically motionless.
There was a canteen filled with water and a plate with food sitting at her knees. She hadn’t so much as touched either of them.
“Drink some water at least, Merry. You’re gonna die.” Merry just shook her head a little.
Ranta sighed. “...You’re so stubborn. Give up already. If you’ll just be my woman, I can get you untied.”
“...I’d sooner die,” she said weakly.
“You would, huh? Well, go ahead and die right there, then.” “...Traitor.”
“Call me what you want, but it doesn’t hurt, or even make me itch.” Ranta turned around. How would he get along with that jolly bunch?
What did he have to do to meld into the group? Most of them didn’t speak the human language. That was the first problem.
Well, back in Darunggar, he’d managed to get reasonably close to the people in Well Village. If he just got fired up, threw himself into it, and partied like a fool, he could make most things work out.
“I’m not getting fired up, though,” Ranta muttered.
Guess I’ll go find Takasagi, he thought.
But Takasagi was having a grand old time drinking with some orcs and undead. The centaur, dwarves, elves, and midgets were with him, too. For a human, they showed him a lot of respect. He might not have been quite a father figure, but maybe he was like a big brother to them.
For some reason, Ranta just couldn’t convince himself to join the ring that had formed around Takasagi. He was being uncharacteristically passive. The way he was acting just wasn’t like him.
When Ranta happened to glance over, a number of undead had surrounded Merry. Merry was looking down. What were they planning to do?
He wanted to rush over there right away, but he held back.
This was her fault. Wasn’t it, though? If she wanted to survive, and wanted to avoid bad things happening to her, she should have just joined Jumbo.
She would’ve been the lone woman in an otherwise all-male group. Sure, it’d be a bizarre situation to be in. Still, Jumbo would probably have said, That, too, could prove entertaining, or something like that, and accepted her. If Jumbo agreed to something, all of these guys would go along with it.
She had come right out and said clearly that she’d never join Forgan. She had to be an idiot. Letting an opportunity like that slip by—she was too damn stupid. Ranta’d snapped.
Fine, let her have it her way, he’d thought. Let them screw her, beat her senseless, kill her, and throw away the body. It’s no skin off my back. That was what he thought, but then he’d had to go and open his mouth. “I’ve been meaning to make this woman mine for a while now. So, please, don’t let anyone else touch her for a while. If she keeps insisting she won’t be mine, then you can do whatever you want with her. I won’t have any regrets.”
She was technically his comrade. If he abandoned her without at least trying to do something, he’d have trouble sleeping at night. He’d known they’d probably reject his request anyway, but he’d figured he had to try.
He’d been in for a surprise.
“Very well,” Jumbo had responded all too easily. “You may keep the woman tied up until you are satisfied.” Then, “Leave the human woman alone,” he’d ordered the others.
It was Jumbo’s order. Those undead probably weren’t going to eat her or anything. Well, they might mess with her a bit.
—Mess with her? Ranta wondered. How? Do a little of this, a little of that...?
“This’ll be something to see.” Ranta forced himself to laugh. “She’s got it coming to her. I went out of my way to try and save her. Screw that ungrateful bitch...”
As he watched with bated breath, the undead walked away from Merry. Ranta felt a sense of relief, but also irritation at himself for feeling relieved. Why should he have to worry about that bitch? This was stupid.
Suddenly, there was an outburst of laughter. The giant orc had put Takasagi up on his shoulders, and the guy was shouting, “Hey, stop it! Let
me down!” in a panic.
If Ranta remembered correctly, that orc who was too big even for an orc was called Godo Agaja. Looking at his clothes, his weapons, and the way he acted, he was clearly trying to imitate Jumbo, but at times like this, he was completely different. The way he fooled around more than anyone didn’t quite put a smile on Ranta’s face, but it was so innocent. Even with the way he looked, he might be surprisingly young.
It looked like they were having a lot of fun. He wanted to join them. No, it wasn’t that he wanted to fool around with them—it was that he thought it would be best to join the group. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to.
Jumbo was sitting atop a little hill, drinking. It might have been a coincidence, but he was alone.
Ranta said, “...Okay,” quietly trying to motivate himself, and approached Jumbo.
He’d thought the man was alone, but he wasn’t. Ranta was shocked. There was someone sitting there, near the foot of the hill, cowering before him.
The other person had his four arms out of the sleeves of his robe, leaving him unclothed from the waist up, but, because his whole body was wrapped in blackish bandages, his skin wasn’t exposed. The mouth that peeked through those bandages was nothing more than a gash. There was no life in his eyes. They were like the eyes of a dead fish. He was an undead, so that was to be expected—or was it? Still, from the looks of it, the other undead weren’t like that, so it seemed fair to say his eyes were especially dead.
“H-Hey, there, Arnold-san,” Ranta said nervously.
It seemed like he was a pretty big deal, so Ranta figured he should at least greet the guy, but he got no response.
What, you’re ignoring me? he thought.
When he somewhat timidly tried to walk past Arnold, he felt a cold, damp wind blow past him.
It went, “Ohh...”
Was that a voice...? Maybe? Did Arnold-san respond?
Ranta laughed, saying, “N-Nice to meet you,” then climbed up the hill to sit next to Jumbo.
That was scary, just now.
No, maybe not?
Yeah. There was nothing to be scared of. That was just the undead
Arnold’s way of reacting. It was an Arnoldian answer. That was all. Ranta had just been a little startled by it, that was all.
He cleared his throat, and then it was time to decide how to address Jumbo. While he was thinking...
“Have you been drinking?” Jumbo asked him quietly.
“W-Well, yeah.” Ranta hurriedly took a sip of mead. “Um, er... So, you aren’t gonna go hang out with the rest of them?”
“I’m too much of a snob for that, you see.” “...Huh?”
“I’m not good at letting loose.”
Jumbo wasn’t the type to get out there and mingle. Was that it? But if he were really a snob, he wouldn’t go calling himself one, would he? Besides, Jumbo was smiling. Occasionally, he would let out a low laugh. He enjoyed watching his comrades drink, talk, and play around from the bottom of his heart. That was what it looked like.
“Arnold and I are alike,” said Jumbo. “Ohh. Y-You are...?”
You’re not like Arnold, Ranta couldn’t help but think.
He got the feeling that, left to his own devices, Arnold would always be alone. That was why Jumbo was going out of his way to be like, I get you, I get you, I’m the same way and sticking with him.
Ranta would never do something like that himself, but he knew some guys who cared too much about others that would. He hated their type. If someone was alone, let them be isolated. If they found themselves tormented by the feeling of loneliness as a result, it was their own fault.
Was Jumbo a surprisingly sensitive man?
That was kind of a letdown. Despite his appearance, he was way too normal.
There was a saying, “If you want to shoot a general, start by shooting his horse,” but, really, if you just shot the general to begin with, the rest would more or less fall into place. Forget the small fry. If he was going to curry favor with someone, it was gonna be Jumbo.
“...Erm, how about trying to join them, maybe?” Ranta asked. “Everyone would like that, wouldn’t they? I think so, at least.”
“I don’t want to ruin their fun,” said Jumbo.
“Nah, I don’t think you would be. No way. I think just having you there,
it’d get them excited—like, everyone’d get all fired up, you know?” “This works best for Arnold and me,” said Jumbo. “My companions
understand that, too.”
“...Ah.” Ranta felt himself grimacing. “Was I out of line there, maybe...?” “You needn’t be so guarded.” Jumbo’s tone was gentle. “You, too, are
one of my companions.”
“Yeah, but I’m a total newcomer...” “A companion is a companion.” “Well, yeah... Sure, but...”
Ranta rubbed his face with his left hand. This was weird.
If Arnold was a big deal, Jumbo was obviously an even bigger deal. He could do more to act the part. If he had been more arrogant, Ranta would be able to tolerate that, and it might even be easier for him to accept.
But what had he done instead? The way Jumbo spoke was always frank, never keeping him at a distance. There was even a warmth to it.
“...So, like, why are you so darn fluent in the human language?” Ranta asked.
“I was raised by a man.”
“Oh... I see, you were raised by a man, huh...” Ranta’s eyes nearly shot out of his skull. “Whaa?! By a man?!”
“Yeah.”
“By a man, you mean, like, a human... right?”
“Of course. In my earliest memories, I was already with that man. I don’t know his name. To the day he died, he never gave me his name. I, myself, had no sense that I was an orc. I thought myself the same as that man, and never questioned it.”
The man had never even told Jumbo his name, so, of course, the man never said anything about where he came from, his history, or anything else about himself.
Anyway, the man had walked all over Grimgar with the young Jumbo. According to Jumbo’s recollection, the two of them spent a little over ten years traveling together, from the frozen lands of the north to the Tenryu Mountains in the south, from the blue seas of the east to the rusty seas of the west.
The man may not have spoken at all about himself, but that didn’t mean he had been the silent type. Whenever there was time, he had told Jumbo the
legends, traditions, narratives, stories, and histories of each place. The man could speak many languages. He was fine no matter where he went, from steep mountains, to deserts, to wastelands, to major cities, yet he never got careless. The man had been well versed in the ways of avoiding danger, and getting out of a crisis when he found himself in one. Naturally, Jumbo had learned from him, and mastered such skills himself. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to stay with the man. He’d have been left all alone.
Traveling with the man. For Jumbo, that had been his entire life. He’d believed, if he just followed the man, the journey would go on forever.
Then, one day, the man had lain down complaining of a headache, and he’d never risen again. The next thing Jumbo had known, the man’s heart had stopped.
Jumbo had known the proper way to bury the dead. So he’d done it. Then he’d been left with only himself.
“I... see...” Ranta said slowly. “So you learned the human language from him.”
“I’ve probably inherited nearly everything he had.”
“You have to wonder, though, who was that guy?” Ranta asked. He noticed that, at some point, he’d started talking to Jumbo like an equal. But he didn’t feel like correcting himself, and he didn’t think he ought to. “There’re all sorts out there, huh. So many people, living lives I couldn’t even imagine.”
“And your path, too, is one no other can walk.” “Well, yeah, if you put it that way.”
“Each of us lives and dies in a myriad of different ways.” “...You lost a number of comrades today, huh.”
“I mourn the loss of my companions. I was just offering a drink to them earlier.”
“Everyone else, they don’t seem that sad,” Ranta commented.
“We are all equal in death. Even the undead, who are without life, will lose their forms and be destroyed. What is there to be sad about?”
“But still.” Ranta hung his head.
What is this? he wondered. He’s making me want to say how I really feel.
Or rather, I can’t say anything else.
No, that’s not it.
I don’t want to tell him anything but how I really feel.
“But if you can’t see your friends, your comrades anymore, doesn’t that make you feel lonely?” Ranta asked.
“We all must part eventually,” Jumbo answered.
“Even so, if I don’t want to part just yet. Is that selfish?”
“Many orcs think like this,” said Jumbo. “We are each born fated to die.
When death inevitably comes, our bodies rot away to become the soil, and we go through the cycle to be born once more.”
“Do you think that, too?” Ranta asked. “I don’t know how this world works.”
“Ohh. So there’s stuff even you don’t know, huh... It’s just, somehow, it
feels like you know everything.”
“I don’t know what I don’t know,” said Jumbo. “We can only learn a small portion of all there is to know in our short lives. That is true for all of us.”
“Jumbo.” “What is it?”
“. Sorry for asking you for that favor, about the woman,” Ranta said
hesitantly. “I. ”
“Drink.” Jumbo lifted his glass and smiled to Ranta.
There was something weird happening here, if Ranta did say so himself. When he saw Jumbo smile, he felt his chest squeeze tight, and he teared up, without understanding why.
This was—love.. ?
No, no, no. That wasn’t it. Obviously. As if he’d fall in love. But he felt his emotions being shaken intensely. That was a fact.
Ranta knocked back his wooden cup, downing the rest of his mead. “. Damn, this stuff’s sweet.”
“Is it not to your taste?” asked Jumbo.
“It’s not like I hate it or anything. I figure, soon enough, I’ll get used to it, and I’ll be able to think it tastes good.”
“You will?” asked Jumbo.
“Hey. ” The voice that spoke was like a damp wind blew up from below.
When he Ranta glanced over, Arnold was looking up at him, about to throw something. It was a container with a cork in it.
When Ranta stuck out his hand without meaning to, Arnold tossed it up to him. He managed to catch it without dropping it somehow. He gave it a little
shake, and there was a splashing sound.
“Juin,” Arnold said, making a drinking gesture. “Huh? For me? Drink it?”
“Ahh... Yah...”
“Well, just a little, then.”
Ranta uncorked the container, pouring its contents into the wooden cup.
His mead had been an amber color, but this was whitish. When he took a sip, it was a bit sour, but not too harsh. It was a fairly dry taste, and he downed it in no time.
“...Yeah,” Ranta said. “This is good stuff.”
Arnold let out an unnerving “Hee...” sound. It might have been a laugh. Ranta naturally laughed back. “...Thanks, Arnold.”
“...elcome...”
“Heh...” Ranta looked down, whispering to himself. “If that doesn’t beat all. Damn...”
|
When dawn came, the village was enveloped in morning mist. The thickness of this mist seriously just wasn’t normal. It was bad enough that you couldn’t see your own outstretched hand.
Haruhiro had thought that maybe when the morning came, he’d get a view of the whole village. Not a chance. He couldn’t even make out Katsuharu’s retreat, which was right next to him, and he didn’t notice Rock until the guy kicked him in the back.
“We’re going, Haruhiro. Tag along.” “...Huh? Where to?”
“You guys want to save your comrade that was taken by Forgan, don’t you? We want to crush Arnold. I can’t say our interests are perfectly aligned, but it’d be impossible for you guys to rescue her on your own. We want all the help we can get. So, cooperate with us. You do that, and we’ll help you, too.”
Haruhiro had no objection. It was just what he wanted to hear, but Arara hadn’t come back, and he hadn’t heard anything about them having decided what to do with her, so what were they going to do?
They said Haruhiro was the only one who needed to come along for now, so along with Rock, who had Gettsu on his shoulder, Moyugi, the strongest dread knight in active service, Tsuga, the priest with a buzz-cut, and Katsuharu, for a group of five people and one animal, they pushed through fog so dense you couldn’t see more than an inch ahead.
There were a lot of elevation differences inside the village. The ground was well-trod like a game trail, but they could hardly see the buildings through the fog, and there was no sign of any people.
However, Haruhiro soon began to sense some sort of presence. Probably nyaas. Those cat-like, monkey-like creatures were surveilling them from beyond the fog. It wasn’t just one or two of them, either. There were far more.
The reason for that became clear shortly. Haruhiro’s instincts had been on the mark. The building was twice as tall as Katsuharu’s retreat, with probably more than three times the frontage and depth.
There were furs plastered to the walls and roof. Also, nyaas. Nyaas at the windows, outside, and on the roof, too. Nyaas everywhere. An incredible number of them. All the nyaas were scrutinizing them closely. It was pretty scary.
“I-Is this the nyaas’ house... or something like that?” Haruhiro stuttered. “This is the abode of one called Setora, of the House of Shuro,” Katsuharu
answered. “You people wait here. If you intrude any further without permission, there’s no telling what might happen. Let me go explain your business here.”
“We’ll have to wait and see how it goes, huh?” Rock was grinning.
Moyugi pressed the middle finger of his right hand against the bridge of his glasses without a word. Actually, he’d hardly spoken all morning. He seemed to be in a bad mood somehow, and was being pretty blatant about it.
“He’s always like this when he gets up,” Tsuga whispered in Haruhiro’s ear. “For all the self-important things he says, he’s pretty childish, huh.”
“Tsuga,” Moyugi said in a frightening voice. “I can hear you perfectly.” “I’ll bet,” Tsuga said, as if it were nothing. “I said it so you could hear. If
I hadn’t, that’d be talking behind your back.” Moyugi clicked his tongue, and Rock guffawed.
Katsuharu approached Shuro Setora’s house, which was not actually the nyaas’ house. Immediately, the nyaas’ eyes all focused on Katsuharu.
If Haruhiro ended up at the center of attention like that, he’d probably stop moving despite himself. Katsuharu kept going like it didn’t matter. However, he didn’t make it to the door. Before he could, the door opened from inside, and someone came out.
It’s... a human? Haruhiro realized. That’s Shuro Setora?
None of the man’s skin was exposed, face included. His face was all covered with scarlet-and-indigo-colored fabric, or leather, or some other material.
He was about the same height as Haruhiro, maybe. But he looked big. The fact of the matter was, he was big. As for what was big about him, it was his arms. His arms weren’t just long; they were thick. Then, on top of that, they were wrapped in what looked like metal armor.
Just what was Shuro Setora?
“Oh,” Katsuharu said, taking a step back. “Enba, huh.”
Apparently this wasn’t Shuro Setora. Enba remained silent, turning his head right twice, then left three times.
That’s kind of scary, you know? thought Haruhiro.
“Enba.” Katsuharu took another half-step backward. “The truth is, I have something important to discuss with Setora.”
“Something to discuss with me, you say?” said another person, sticking her head out of a window on the second floor.
This person also had her skin covered with scarlet and indigo cloth and other materials. But in her clothing, there was a large gap for her eyes, from behind which two eyeballs peered out.
“What is it, wanderer?” Setora asked. Judging by the voice, she was a woman. “Nothing useful, I’m sure.”
“That’s some way to greet me, Setora,” Katsuharu shot back. “This, after I spent all that time playing with you when you were just a little girl.”
“That just means you were a good-for-nothing with too much time on your hands even back then. No respectable person wastes their time playing with little brats.”
“Indeed. There’s nothing I can say to that.”
“Setora,” Rock called out to her. What, he was dropping the honorific already? “I’ve got a favor to ask you.”
“I refuse.” Setora pulled her head back inside.
“You’re always so rude, Rock,” Moyugi said spitefully with a sigh, brushing his bangs back with his fingers as he looked up to the window. “You, the lovely young lady up there. Might I ask you to grace us once more with a glimpse of your beauteous form? Even for just a moment. Please, allow me to offer a poem extolling your greatness.”
Whoa, what was that? He’s being kind of creepy, thought Haruhiro. But, in the surprise to end all surprises, after a short while, Setora stuck her head back out the window.
“What is with that outsider?” she demanded. “Is his brain full of
maggots?”
Moyugi said, “See, I’ve got her now,” under his breath, then turned to Setora with a smile. “Shuro Setora, I am Moyugi, the strongest dread knight in active service, here just to see you.”
“What a bizarre fellow,” she murmured.
“Do you prefer the ordinary?” Moyugi asked. “You don’t look like it.” “Enba, dispose of him.”
Before Haruhiro even had time to be surprised, Enba attacked Moyugi. If those arms hit him, there was no way he wouldn’t die instantly. However, Moyugi seemed to have anticipated this, evading Enba’s right arm in one smooth motion.
As Enba followed up with a swing of his left arm, Rock closed in. He slipped past Enba’s left arm, getting in close, and just as Haruhiro was wondering what he was going to do—incredibly, Rock wrapped his arms around Enba’s torso. Then he braced himself and lifted Enba up.
“Hoooorah...!” Rock shouted.
He threw him. Enba might not have been that massive, but he was still a lot taller than the diminutive Rock. Based on his overall thickness, he had to weigh more than twice what Rock did. Yet Rock was easily able to throw Enba. What sheer idiot strength he had.
Enba braced himself for the landing and got back up again quickly. When Enba went to lunge at Rock again, Setora called out, “Stop! Enba,
the way you are now, he’ll just break you. Forgive me for lacking the ability to have made you stronger.”
“Nah, I had no intention of breaking him, anyway.” As Rock flashed her a grin, Gettsu climbed up onto his shoulder. “This is one of those golems, huh? Just like Pingo’s Zenmai.”
“...Pingo,” Setora said. “You’re acquaintances of Soma’s, are you?” “We’re in his clan. You know what a clan is?”
“I don’t. But I can guess. Enba, catch me.”
As soon as Setora said that, Enba ran over underneath the window. Setora made a nimble jump down from the window, landing on Enba’s left shoulder.
“I’ll deign to hear whatever it is you have to say. But first, let me check one thing. Does it have something to do with Arara?”
It turned out, Setora and Arara were around the same age, and they had been childhood friends. Because she was the third daughter of one of the six
houses, the House of Shuro which carried on a tradition of necromancy, she’d associated with Arara, the eldest daughter of the House of Nigi, the foremost of the four samurai houses.
Despite that, while Arara was the heir of her house, Setora had two elder sisters and was not. On top of that, despite being born into a house that practiced necromancy, she’d come to devote herself to the skills of the onmitsu. As was apparent from looking around here, it was the nyaas. She had gotten completely hooked on nyaas, which were primarily raised by the village’s onmitsu spies.
Though she still made flesh golems as a necromancer, most of her passion went into raising and breeding nyaas, so Setora was seen as a nuisance, and a stain on the good name of the House of Shuro.
Haruhiro might have thought, Well, what’s the big deal? but they probably had their own traditions, their common sense, their standards, and all sorts of other things to consider.
One was the heir to the House of Nigi, the other was an embarrassment to the House of Shuro. That had made Arara and Setora a contrasting pair, once upon a time. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean the two of them had grown distant.
“What a fool Arara was, falling for a weakling like Tatsuru,” commented Setora. “Still, I always had a feeling she’d go astray somewhere. If she were the sort of woman who could keep quiet and inherit the House of Nigi, she’d never have paid me any mind.”
“I was wrong, too.” Katsuharu slumped his shoulders. “I should have stayed a wanderer, and not gotten involved with Arara. I may have been a bad influence on her.”
“You can say that again, wanderer,” Setora said scornfully. “You’re the root of every kind of evil.”
“That’s awfully harsh. I’ve been trying to reflect on my actions, you know.”
“It’s too late. If she picks a personal fight with Forgan, and that leads to sparks falling on the village, they won’t let her off with being sealed in a cave. They may well cut her hair and expel her.”
“Cut her hair...” Rock’s eyes went wide. “Wait, how short are we talking here?! They wouldn’t shave her bald, would they?!”
“This short, I’d say.” Katsuharu pointed to his shoulders. “When the
women of the village turn six, they grow their hair long. That means a short- haired woman is no member of the village.”
“...Like a bob cut, huh?” Rock nodded. “That’d look pretty good on her.
Well, anything looks good on Arara.”
That aside, what were they doing, visiting Setora the nyaa-wrangling necromancer in a situation where that might happen to Arara? Haruhiro more or less had it figured out. It was just like he’d thought.
“I didn’t expect the hair cutting thing, though,” Rock said. “Her being disowned and expelled was more or less assumed. Either way, we’re still going to avenge Tatsuru. I want your help with that, Setora. Forgan has this goblin beastmaster called Onsa, and he’s keeping a lot of nyaas, you see.
You’ve got to fight nyaas with nyaas. I can’t turn anywhere else for help with that.”
It was true, these nyaa critters were trouble. It still wasn’t clear how effective they were in combat, but they seemed excessively nimble, and could hide themselves and move around silently. They’d no doubt been trained to alert their trainer if they detected enemies. That meant they could be laid out in a network. If their opponent was operating a nyaa security network, they had no choice but to try to break through with force.
That meant that even if they could find where Forgan was, searching for Arnold’s specific whereabouts would still be difficult. The same went for finding where Merry was being held captive. Obviously, it would be practically impossible to rescue Merry quietly.
“How many nyaas does Forgan have?” Setora’s expression was completely unreadable, and her brusque tone hardly changed at all.
“Maybe ten, maybe twenty...” Rock held up both hands, tilting his head to the side. “No clue.”
“I keep a total of one hundred and twenty-four nyaas. Of those, eighty- two are usable.”
“I’d say the enemy has maybe thirty, at most,” Katsuharu said, stroking his chin. “That’s only my intuition, though, so it may not be reliable.”
“Indeed, I can’t rely on it.” Setora snorted. “Still, I doubt they’ll have more than double that. If that’s all, my nyaas can keep them under control.”
“You’d do that for us?!” Rock said, his glee showing clearly. “I refuse.”
“Seriously? It sounded like things were leading up to you agreeing to do
it, just now.”
“That was your imagination. For a start, would there be some merit for me in doing it? I could ask the same of you people. The wanderer aside, what do you outsiders have to gain from helping Arara with her worthless revenge?”
“I fell for her, so there’s that,” said Rock. “...Say what?”
“I fell for Arara. If the woman I fell for is putting her life on the line to accomplish something, I’ve gotta be willing to take a risk or two for her.”
“Do you think that if you do all that for her, the woman in question will fall for you, too? You’re wasting your time.”
“Huh? Why would that make Arara fall for me? Hardly any time’s passed since Tatsuru died. It’d never happen.”
“This is making less and less sense,” Setora fumed. “What are you doing it for, then?”
“I already told you, it’s because I fell for her. I’ll make the woman I love’s wish come true. What happens after that doesn’t matter.”
“I understand,” Setora snapped. “You’re a complete fool. No, you all must be fools.”
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t lump me in with him,” Moyugi said, pointing at Rock. “This man might be a fool, but by no means am I one.”
“That’s right.” Rock stretched a bit, then threw his arm around Moyugi’s shoulder. “I might be a fool, but my comrades are just having fun tagging along. Right, Moyugi?”
“...Would you let go of me? I hate being touched by other men.” “In a way, we may be even worse than Rock.” Tsuga’s smile was so
peaceful it was kind of scary.
“Regardless.” Setora sighed a little. “Even if you people have a reason, I have none. If Arara is expelled from the village, she can live freely. Revenge is pointless. Tell that fool she should forget Tatsuru already, and—”
“A-A deal!” Haruhiro burst out. Uh oh...
He hadn’t been able to help but go and open his mouth.
Haruhiro glanced to Rock, Moyugi, Tsuga, and Katsuharu. None of them were going to try and stop him. Well, it looked like he was stuck. He’d have to finish what he’d started saying.
“...Can we make a deal?” Haruhiro asked. “We could give you something
in exchange for your help. If we do that, there’s something in it for you.” “Do you believe you’re able to offer me what I want?” Setora demanded. “That... I’m not sure of. It’d depend what it is...”
“If I had to choose a word for it, it would be material.” “Material... Wait? For what?”
“Golems,” Setora began, patting Enba on the head, “are made by stitching together parts from corpses. The more freshly dead, the better, they say. But, the truth is, they apparently don’t even have to come from the dead. I’ve yet to try it myself, but I hear there are methods for using parts from the living.”
“...So, basically, what you’re saying is, ‘Give me a part of your body’?” Haruhiro asked.
“One arm.” Setora looked Haruhiro’s body up and down with awfully cold eyes. Those were the eyes of someone evaluating a product. “No. It’s only an experiment, so I can let you off with just one eyeball. Why, yes. I think an eyeball will do quite nicely. It will be something to toy with.”
“Just so you’re aware,” Tsuga explained calmly, “if she takes your arm, or your eyeball, light magic can’t bring it back. Even a shaman shouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Isn’t that common sense?” Moyugi pressed on the bridge of his glasses with the middle finger of his right hand while letting out a gentle sigh. “It seems we have no choice. Let’s give up on the nyaas. Our optional objective will be more difficult, but the main one is still doable.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rock frowned. “Too bad, huh.”
The optional objective. Was that what he thought it was? Haruhiro and his party’s objective, rescuing Merry.
Well, Moyugi might have been right. If they could confuse the nyaas, it would make having Haruhiro use Stealth to sneak into enemy territory, then rescuing Merry and running, a viable option. If they were going to do something about the enemy’s nyaa security network, they absolutely needed Setora and her nyaas.
Haruhiro pulled out his dagger with the hand guard. He tried to bring it up to his own eye, but he had no confidence he could do it right. Setora was sitting on Enba’s shoulder.
“Um, sorry.” Haruhiro approached Enba, offering the dagger hilt first. “Could you use this to do it? If I try to do it myself, and screw it up, it’d be a waste. I’ll sit still the best that I can. If possible, I’d prefer you take the left
eye. Because I’m right-handed, you see. If you could do it real quick, I’d be much obliged.”
Setora’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re saying you’ll make the deal?” “Yes,” Haruhiro said. “Oh, right. Also, Tsuga-san, when she’s done, heal
up the wound, please.”
“I can do that.” Tsuga was still smiling. The guy had clearly reached enlightenment.
“...You’re okay with this?” Katsuharu seemed a little flustered.
“I’m not okay with it, but it’s just one eye, not both, so fine, whatever,” Haruhiro said. “My comrade’s life is at stake. I want to raise our odds, even if only a little. If I don’t do everything I can, and then end up regretting it later, I wouldn’t like that, you know?”
Rock and Moyugi looked at one another. This guy’s an idiot, was what they must have been thinking.
Was he an idiot? It was hard to say. Whatever the case, he’d said everything he had to say. There was something he could do to accomplish their goal. So he was going to do it. Haruhiro didn’t exactly have a level head right now. He wasn’t thinking deeply about it. He felt like he’d get scared if he did, so he was deliberately not thinking.
“Put that thing away.” Setora nimbly hopped down from Enba’s shoulder, drawing the thin short sword at her waist. “I’m more used to using my own blade. You’re absolutely sure about this?”
“Go ahead.” Haruhiro returned his dagger to its sheath, clearing his throat. “...So, should I bend over? To get to the right height. Or should I crouch down?”
“Sit.”
“Right. Okay then...”
Haruhiro sat with his knees in front of him. He wasn’t feeling that tense. Or afraid. That only lasted until Setora crouched down and opened his left eye with her left hand.
Ohhhhhh, crap. Seriously? She’s seriously doing this? Will it hurt? I bet it will.
The dagger closed in.
Hurry up. Get it over with already.
Haruhiro held his breath. Right after he did, she inserted the knife between his eyeball and eye socket. What he felt was not so much pain as an
intense feeling that there was a foreign body that didn’t belong there. The pain was sure to come. He winced without meaning to. That must have caused the blade to nick something. He heard something like a small puncturing sound, and then came the pain.
Hurry, hurry, do it, do it, do it, he screamed internally. Huh? Why?
Setora pulled back her blade. “...It can wait.”
“Huh...?” Haruhiro blinked. There was a pain in his left eye. The tears started to run.
“You have things to do, don’t you? I can take the material from you once you’re done.” Setora turned her back to him. “I’ll handle Forgan’s nyaas.
Rest assured. My nyaas would never lose.”
“Ah...” Haruhiro shut his left eye tight, pressing down on it from above his eyelid. Damn, it hurt. “...Thank you.”
“I’ll be taking my payment. There’s no need for thanks.” With that, Setora went inside the building along with Enba.
Tsuga tapped Haruhiro on the shoulder. “You want me to heal that?” “Please...”
“Why, everything went exactly as I expected,” Moyugi whispered gloatingly, but Haruhiro thought that absolutely had to be a lie.
“Well, whatever the case, it’s all good, huh?” Rock winked to Haruhiro.
Maybe Haruhiro was supposed to wink back, but his left eye still hadn’t been healed, so he wasn’t quite sure he could do it, and he didn’t want to, either.
Katsuharu raised his goggles up on top of his head, crossing his arms. “Now, that just leaves Arara.”
|
In the end, their reading of the situation might have been too optimistic. In the midst of the fog, four men moved forward carrying a palanquin.
Though it was called a palanquin, it was a simple one. Just a rectangular board with two long poles beneath it. A woman dressed in a crude, unbleached cloth robe was sitting on top of the board. Or rather, she was being forced to sit there. Her hands were bound behind her back, and the ropes around her neck, chest, hips, and thighs were tied tightly to the poles. The way she was tied, she couldn’t move. If she moved carelessly, she’d likely strangle herself.
The woman was sitting with her back straight, but her face was looking downwards. Her hair was short. They hadn’t just cut it to shoulder length; they had gone all the way to just below her ears.
Haruhiro, who was hiding on a hill in the shadows of the trees to watch events unfold, assumed all of this had to be hitting her pretty hard. He didn’t know how much, but he assumed it had to be shocking. After all, even for Haruhiro, who didn’t know the situation that well, his first impression upon seeing her had been, They took off a lot more than I thought they would.
And even if that was fine because her hair would grow back, she was still being banished and expelled from her village.
The palanquin headed westward, further westward.
According to the information Setora had gathered using her nyaas, that was where Forgan had made camp. The men carrying the palanquin surely knew that.
Incidentally, at the point when the palanquin left the village without so much as a sendoff, the village readied themselves for battle. They weren’t setting out to attack. They were hardening their defenses. It was a stance that
said, If you’re going to come, come. While cautious of an attack by Forgan, they were also trying to communicate, We have no intention of starting anything ourselves.
The other day, a group attacked Forgan, and it included people from this village, but that was by no means a representation of the will of the village, and it in fact had nothing to do with us. That was what the village was trying to say.
Arara was no longer Nigi Arara. Now that she had been disowned by the House of Nigi, she was simply Arara. The present head of the house’s younger sister had two daughters, and it seemed the eldest of those two had now become heir to the House of Nigi.
When he’d heard that, Haruhiro had been taken aback. Is it just that simple?
Being the eldest daughter of the House of Nigi, foremost of the four samurai houses, he’d been sure they wouldn’t just say she was no good and switch her for someone else. Besides, Arara was the daughter of the head of the house by blood. Haruhiro had expected, somewhat arbitrarily, that her mother would cover for her, and she would get off with a slap on the wrist.
He had been very wrong.
The village was throwing Arara out on her own, with none of her possessions. That was almost a death sentence.
Haruhiro and the others had planned to regroup once Arara was released, then try to take out Arnold and rescue Merry. However, now that this was happening to Arara, their plans were disrupted.
How far was the palanquin carrying Arara going to go? They wouldn’t turn her over to Forgan, would they?
The people of the village seemed prideful, so they wouldn’t try to appease Forgan like that. Or so Haruhiro hoped, but he couldn’t say anything for certain.
Whatever the case, when someone was in a position of leadership in the village like the head of the House of Nigi, they would cut even their own daughter loose if she was deemed a detriment to the village. It was easy to condemn that as cruel, cold blooded, and inhumane. But if the head of the house showed mercy out of affection for her daughter, and that in turn led the village to be put in danger, she would face more than just condemnation.
Whatever her true feelings, she might have been forced to do this in her
position as head of the house.
“This is bad.” Haruhiro couldn’t see the palanquin from his position. “They’re getting pretty close to Forgan...”
There were two broad directions he could see things going from here.
The first was that the men would lay down the palanquin before they came into contact with Forgan. In that case, it would just be a matter of collecting Arara right away.
However, in the second possibility, the one where they made contact with Forgan, essentially, that was going to become difficult. It seemed unlikely, but if the village had contacted Forgan somehow, and there was an agreement to turn Arara over, that would be worse.
Haruhiro walked quickly along the top of the hill, going further and further to the west.
This hill was to the north of the course the palanquin had taken. Forgan was camped west-northwest of here at a spot where the ground was comparatively level, and the palanquin really did seem to be heading that way. The palanquin was going fairly slowly, so he could circle around ahead of them without too much rush.
Despite himself, he ended up thinking about Merry. Ranta, too.
Damn you, Ranta!
Not now. He banished the thoughts from his head.
The fog had gotten deeper. He didn’t actually see it, but he thought he noticed something moving to his left. A nyaa, maybe? Was he imagining it?
Haruhiro nearly came to a stop, but he thought better of it and sped up instead.
Faintly, he could hear wolves howling. He had an incredibly bad feeling about this.
Why does nothing ever work out? It made him want to gripe a little. Not that he had anyone to listen to him, or anyone he would actually say that to.
He was done with this hill. The palanquin was still out of sight. Haruhiro descended the slope.
He really did sense some sort of presence. Had he been found by a nyaa that was tailing him? Should he verify that? No, he had to hurry on ahead right now. Westward. It was okay if his footsteps made some noise.
Westward.
The ground of Thousand Valley had patches of damp soil and slippery
rocks here and there, and almost none of it was flat. In some places, there were moss-covered fallen trees lying atop one another, and there were deep, gash-like holes everywhere. It was strangely difficult to walk here, but he’d gotten used to it.
Westward.
He saw it. The palanquin.
It seemed, at some point, he’d passed it. The palanquin was now heading towards Haruhiro.
The fog still showed no sign of clearing. He could probably see fewer than a hundred meters around him, but the sky was slightly blue. He could tell where the sun was, too. It was maybe ten o’clock in the morning.
According to the rough map that he had memorized in advance, there was a land formation that was like a little ravine about a kilometer past here. If they passed through that valley, they’d come to Forgan’s camp. Was the palanquin going to stop before the ravine or not?
Hoping it would, Haruhiro continued westward while remaining careful not to be spotted by the palanquin bearers.
Oh, but—No, this wasn’t his imagination. He was probably being monitored by nyaas.
When he suddenly heard the small, sharp cry of some animal, his heart jumped in shock. What? Was it a nyaa?
Moving forward with nervous steps, he found a black nyaa holding a striped nyaa down and biting at its throat. The striped nyaa was thrashing and resisting, but it was weak. The black nyaa glanced at him. The two were roughly the same size, but the black nyaa had the clear advantage.
It wasn’t long before the striped nyaa went limp, at which point the black nyaa wagged its tail while opening its mouth as if to meow, but no sound came forth. This was called a silent meow, and it was apparently a way of signaling, I’m a friend.
Was it one of Setora’s nyaas? He’d heard some nyaas might use a silent meow to trick humans, so he couldn’t be sure. He’s also heard that a nyaa handler could see through an insincere silent meow, but that was beyond Haruhiro.
The black nyaa disappeared into the fog. For now, Haruhiro would have to assume it was on his side.
The palanquin was still moving forward. Weren’t they going to stop? No.
They showed no sign of it.
“Haruhiro,” a voice called out from behind him. He wished people wouldn’t surprise him like that.
Looking back, it was Kuro. He was crouched down and beckoning.
When Haruhiro approached, Kuro whispered in his ear. “Good news, or bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
“...Okay, start with the good news.”
“There is...” Kuro smiled maliciously. “...no good news.” “Then don’t act like there is. What’s the bad news?”
“Forgan seems to have noticed their delivery from the village. They’re on the move.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling that’d be the case,” Haruhiro said grimly.
“The plan’s to lay in waiting at the entrance to the ravine,” Kuro said. “Once we’ve snagged the package, you guys can go steal the treasure.”
“Sorry for the trouble... and thank you.”
Kuro slapped Haruhiro on the shoulder lightly, then gave him the go sign. Haruhiro nodded.
It was starting.
Because of Arara’s harsher-than-expected punishment, they hadn’t had the leeway to make adequate preparations. Haruhiro was feeling uncertain, but they’d have to go for it.
He followed Kuro. He’d started to feel a fluttering in his chest. He had to make sure he didn’t get too stiff. Even if there wasn’t much time, he couldn’t act haphazardly. He had to think as much as he could, then choose the best option.
The flow of time suddenly seemed to quicken. They reached the ravine in no time.
The ravine was a valley, maybe around twenty meters wide, between steep slopes to the north and south. The north side and south side were both thick with trees, offering plenty of places to hide.
Rock, Moyugi, Kajita, Tsuga, and Sakanami were already on the north side, while Yume, Shihoru, Kuzaku, and Katsuharu were in position on the south side. Setora and Enba were elsewhere, giving orders to the nyaas. Kuro naturally went to join the Rocks, and Haruhiro headed towards where Yume and the others were.
Yume was the first to spot Haruhiro, and she waved to him. Shihoru,
Kuzaku, and Katsuharu seemed to have noticed him, too. Haruhiro crouched down next to his comrades.
“I think we’ll probably end up rescuing Arara-san around here.” “Meow.” Yume nodded, biting her lower lip.
“’Kay.” Kuzaku was sitting still, doing his best not to let his armor make noise. He was already wearing his helmet. His shield was in hand, too.
“For our part...” Shihoru said in a whisper. “Once we’ve rescued Arara- san, Merry’s next?”
“Yeah,” said Haruhiro. “The Rocks and Arara-san will start a fight with Forgan. We support them while looking for Merry.”
“It will depend on the situation, but... it may be better for the rest of us to act as decoys while you to go in alone, Haruhiro-kun,” Shihoru said timidly.
“True. If that’s what we do, Shihoru, I’ll be counting on you.” Shihoru nodded, without even asking him what for. “Got it.”
Of course, if she asked for an explanation, he’d give her one. But it was highly reassuring that she didn’t need it. He didn’t want to rely on Shihoru too much, and he had no intention of relying on her completely, but it would make a lot of difference to have a second pillar that could support the party.
The wolves howled. They weren’t far from here. He could just barely make out the palanquin.
It stopped.
There were still nearly another hundred meters to the ravine. “Indeed...” Katsuharu wiped his goggles with a finger.
The palanquin began moving forward again. If the men just laid down the palanquin there, it would make this a lot easier, but there was no way things would be that convenient.
At this point, both the Rocks and Haruhiro’s party were unwelcome guests in the village. They would likely never be able to enter again. Even so, as much as possible, they wanted to avoid any acts of open hostility against the village. If the village sent pursuers after them, the villagers knew Thousand Valley like the backs of their hands, so that would make them more than just a pain to deal with. That was why, frustrating as it was, they couldn’t assault the palanquin to save Arara. They had to wait.
Until the situation changed, just wait. “They’re here,” Yume whispered.
Beasts. They were racing through the valley in this direction. Wolves? It
was a pack of black wolves.
The Rocks still hadn’t moved. Katsuharu put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
It was hard to breathe. It felt like something was pressing down on his chest.
The black wolves howled, one after another. The leader of the pack was already two, three meters from the palanquin.
The men finally dropped the palanquin. With their weapons at the ready, they began to back away.
“It should be fine now!” Katsuharu raced out.
Though it felt a little too soon, Katsuharu had been holding himself back up until now, even though he had to have been worried sick about his niece. It was hard to blame him.
Now that one of them had moved, the rest had to follow. When Haruhiro waved his hand and gave the signal, Kuzaku jumped out and Yume followed. Haruhiro would stay in the rear, protecting Shihoru for now.
The Rocks acted in response to Haruhiro and the others. Kajita was the one leading the charge.
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Kajita let out a great War Cry.
The black wolf pack flinched, coming to a stop, and then all looked up to the north slope in unison. By that point, the rest of the Rocks had already split up and were nowhere to be seen.
Katsuharu headed straight for the palanquin, shouting “You people...!” the men, who still hadn’t turned around. “Forgan is coming! Pull back!”
“You vagrant!” one of the men shouted back as he turned. “The next time I see your face, you’ll become rust on my blade!”
One after another, the other three also ran away.
“No, I’ve not fallen so far that I could be cut down by the likes of you!” Katsuharu rushed to the palanquin, cutting the ropes that bound Arara to it with his katana. “Arara, are you all right?”
“Yes, uncle! I’m so sorry you had to do this for me!”
“Indeed! I had to help my darling niece!” Katsuharu got Arara to her feet, then handed a second katana he was carrying to her, sheath and all. “If we were to fail in your goal now, there would be nothing left but regrets. Take your vengeance for Tatsuru, Arara. If that satisfies you, you can find another love or two after that.”
“I will not...” Arara shook the sheath off of her katana. “...find a new love! I will slay Tatsuru’s killer with my own hands, and remain loyal to him! That is my only wish!”
Rock had said he didn’t want anything in return, so maybe it was fine, but when Haruhiro heard Arara declaring that so clearly, he felt a little sorry for the guy, even if it was none of his concern.
The black wolves were racing up the slope to attack Kajita. Were there more?
There were. Incoming. Orcs. Undead. More and more of them, coming from beyond the valley.
“Show yourself, Arnold!” Arara shouted and readied her katana, but she seemed to have trouble moving.
It had to be the robe. When they’d first met her, she had worn a coat and riding pants, much like Katsuharu, but now she was wearing a kimono that went all the way down to her ankles, tied tightly with an obi.
It was apparently as constraining as it looked, because Arara suddenly shouted, “Argh!” and cut a vertical slit in the hem. “This will do!”
True, it was no doubt easier to move in now, but she didn’t seem to be wearing pants underneath, so Haruhiro didn’t know whether to think she was too exposed, or what, but it didn’t really matter.
Without going all the way down the slope, Haruhiro and his party pressed to the west. The wind blew. The fog suddenly thickened. In no time, visibility was reduced to less than ten meters.
Yume nocked an arrow to her bow. There was something up ahead. An orc?
“O light, O Lumiaris.” Kuzaku held up his black blade, making the sign of the hexagram on the center of the sword’s guard. “Bestow the light of protection on my blade.”
Instantly, the black blade began to shine. It was the paladin’s light magic spell, Saber. The light of Lumiaris sharpened the cutting edge of a paladin’s sword engraved with the hexagram. That light would dazzle anyone who looked directly at it up close, and it had one other important effect: when the sword was shining like that, it really stood out.
“Wohhhhh!” When Kuzaku held up his sword and charged forward, the enemies gathered. Like moths to the flame.
Don’t take on more than you can handle! Haruhiro wanted to shout out to
him. But he held it in. That was Kuzaku’s role. Kuzaku with his heavy armor was the only one who could handle multiple enemies at the same time.
Haruhiro and the rest had other work to do. Obviously, cheering Kuzaku on wasn’t it.
Anyway, there were three orcs. Three whole orcs beating on Kuzaku.
Kuzaku deflected an orc’s katana with Block. “Kwah!” He used Bash to drive them back. Swinging his sword around earnestly, he tried to make the orcs back down.
The orcs were as tall or taller than Kuzaku, and far thicker than he was, too. They were trying to gang up on Kuzaku and beat the stuffing out of him. It seemed like he should be crushed in no time, but Kuzaku held in there.
What was more, he was far from being pushed to the edge.
Kuzaku was predicting their attacks’ strengths and angles in an instant, nailing the call on whether to block with his shield, dodge, or take the blow. In a three-on-one fight, Kuzaku had basically no chance to counterattack, but looking at that from another angle, it also meant he could focus fully on defending. If all he had to do was protect himself, Kuzaku knew a lot about how to do that. When an opponent that was confidently defending himself, breaking him down was hard even for the most experienced of warriors.
“Dark.” Shihoru stopped to summon Dark the elemental.
Haruhiro moved up to the left of Kuzaku, while Yume went to his right. He didn’t want to leave Shihoru alone, but there was no helping it when they only had four people. It was fine, though. Kuzaku would hold the enemy back, no matter what.
Yume loosed an arrow at close range. The fog meant she couldn’t see, let alone hit, distant targets, but if she got up close like that, she wouldn’t be able to miss that easily.
It looked like she’d hit one of the orcs. Where, exactly, wasn’t clear. Haruhiro, for his part, was using Stealth to get around behind the orcs.
Kuzaku was drawing their attention, and Yume was in their line of sight, too. Thanks to that, they hadn’t noticed Haruhiro.
Any more enemies? No sign of them yet.
Haruhiro got behind the orcs. The copper armor they were wearing seemed thin and light, but it guarded them securely all the way up to their necks. It was probably good quality. They were wearing protectors like elbow guards, knee guards, shin guards, and gauntlets, too, and though their helmets
were the type that left the face exposed, their heads were securely protected. They were more than twenty centimeters taller than Haruhiro. Their bodies were the picture of health. It was easy to see how strong they were.
Think. Think. Think. Think fast, and come to a conclusion.
It didn’t look like he could finish them with Backstab. Spider was very likely to end in failure. Which meant...
Haruhiro landed a jumping kick on the back of Orc A, the orc that was on the right-hand side from his perspective, and the left-hand side from Kuzaku’s.
When Orc A nearly pitched forward, unable to keep his balance, Kuzaku shouted “Rah!” and used Bash.
The orc in the middle, Orc B, tried to cover for his comrade. Kuzaku didn’t pursue too far. While Orc A regained his balance, he turned to look for Haruhiro.
By that time, Haruhiro had already set his sights on Orc C, the one on the left from his perspective, and the right from Kuzaku’s.
Yume’s arrow was lodged in Orc C’s left arm. Despite that, he was holding his katana in both hands, and was about to take a swing at Yume.
This didn’t need to kill him. Backstab.
Haruhiro’s stiletto couldn’t penetrate Orc C’s armor, but he never intended for it to. Unable to ignore Haruhiro, Orc C turned this way.
Using that gap, Yume fired at point blank range. “Meow!”
Contact Shot. No, this wasn’t just one shot. She followed up immediately with another. Rapid Fire.
She was using a combination of the skills Rapid Fire and Contact Shot. One arrow missed, and one bounced off his armor. Still, it was enough to intimidate Orc C. Seeing her opponent was shrinking back, brave Yume wasn’t about to back away.
An arrow. Yume didn’t knock it to her bow, she stepped up with the arrow in hand, stabbing it into Orc C’s right thigh.
Narrow Spear. This was apparently a skill for use in emergencies, but it was just like Yume to use it when attacking a retreating enemy.
Haruhiro wasn’t going to let the groaning Orc run away, or strike Yume with his katana. He used Arrest on Orc C’s arm. He locked the orc’s left elbow joint, and swept his leg.
Orc C braced himself, trying not to fall, but because he’d taken an arrow
in the thigh, he couldn’t quite manage it. When Orc C fell to one knee, bending backwards, Haruhiro shifted his stiletto to a backhanded grip and slammed it into the orc’s left eye.
Yume drew Wan-chan and knocked the katana from Orc C’s right hand. Haruhiro twisted the stiletto, pulled it out a bit, then screwed it back in.
He pulled it out and stabbed it back in, but Orc C was still alive.
While shouting, “Yume, go support Kuzaku!” Haruhiro finished off Orc
C.
There were still no enemy reinforcements, but they couldn’t afford to let
their guards down.
While using Block on Orc B’s katana, Kuzaku shouted “Zwah!” and used Thrust on Orc A. Orc A turned this aside with his katana.
Next, Kuzaku used Punishment on Orc B. At the same time, he used Bash to knock back a thrust from Orc A.
When that made Orc A back away slightly, Yume attacked. It was a somersault followed by a powerful strike. Raging Tiger.
With what was probably a reflexive reaction, Orc A jumped sideways to evade it.
“Go!” Shihoru launched Dark.
Orc A tried to twist out of the way. But Dark turned. He hit. Dark slipped inside Orc A’s body, like he was being sucked in.
Convulsions. Orc A frothed at the mouth. His legs gave out.
Haruhiro couldn’t be like Moyugi and say, Just as planned, or, Just like I thought. They hadn’t signaled each other, and his hope that Shihoru might do it had been only a hope. It had been incredibly close to being a haphazard decision.
While admonishing himself, I’ve got a long way to go still, he grappled Orc A from behind. Spider.
Shihoru’s Dark was doing his thing, so Orc A’s reactions were dulled. Haruhiro quickly jabbed his stiletto through the orc’s right eyeball and into his brain.
That wasn’t all. He used all the strength in his body to twist Orc A’s neck while falling to the ground with him. No matter how tough an enemy’s body was, they became surprisingly fragile when hit in a vital spot by a surprise attack.
Orc A went limp. He’d nearly expired. Haruhiro leapt away from Orc A.
“Nuwahh!” Kuzaku was continuing to defend himself against Orc B’s katana with his shield while occasionally using his sword, but he wasn’t going in to finish him.
Now that Orcs A and C were down, it wouldn’t be that strange for him to want to go on the attack, but Kuzaku continued enduring. Being almost stupidly committed to his role was one of Kuzaku’s strengths. It was also a mark of his faith in Haruhiro and his other comrades.
Shihoru was keeping her distance. Any new enemies? No. Haruhiro signaled to Yume with his eyes.
It would have been possible for Kuzaku, Haruhiro, and Yume to attack from three directions, but they’d do something else here instead.
Haruhiro rushed over behind Yume. Yume closed in from behind Orc B.
Orc B quickly noticed her and jumped backwards on an angle, trying to get it so that both Yume and Kuzaku were in front of him.
Haruhiro lowered himself and leapt out from Yume’s shadow. Outwards. Outwards.
Kuzaku and Yume closed in on Orc B. Orc B backed away. He had no choice but to do so. He’d completely lost sight of Haruhiro.
When he got into a position to look straight at Orc B’s back, Haruhiro took a short breath. His target hadn’t noticed him. Haruhiro was staring right at his back. In an instant, it felt like he had understood his opponent. Of course, that was merely an illusion, but Haruhiro wanted to present the theory that, while people believed that the eyes said more than the mouth, they ought to instead believe that the back said more than the mouth. At the very least, what he ought to do next was apparent at a glance.
Orc B put his weight on his right foot which had stepped back, sticking his right elbow out so that his katana was to the right side of his face.
When Haruhiro slammed his stiletto into that right arm, Orc B first reacted with shock. Who’re you? What’re you doing there? That was the kind of look it was.
While the fingers of his right hand weren’t completely severed, he wasn’t going to be getting much use out of anything but his thumb. Orc B gripped the katana’s hilt with his left hand. That was all Orc B could do.
“Gaarah!” Kuzaku tackled Orc B with his shield, pushing him down. He pressed his shield against the fallen orc’s left arm, locking down his katana.
Without missing a beat, he used his black blade to cut up Orc B’s face, and there was nothing the orc could do to stop it. It looked like Kuzaku could handle the rest, but this was no time to feel relieved.
“Haruhiro-kun!” Shihoru shouted.
They’re here, huh, Haruhiro thought. Reinforcements.
Was that it?
There was something big charging in from beyond the fog.
“...A giant?” Haruhiro was reminded of the white giants from the Dusk Realm. It looked that big.
No, it wasn’t that big in actuality. But it felt nothing if not dangerous.
Kuro had told him, Once we’ve snagged the package, you guys can go steal the treasure.
Haruhiro’s party’s goal wasn’t to fight Forgan. That big guy was coming their way, but, if at all possible, they didn’t want to run into him.
“Come on,” Haruhiro said in a low voice, walking off to the southwest.
His comrades followed in silence.
While climbing the southern slope of the ravine on a diagonal, he watched the big one’s movements.
We’re good! Haruhiro wanted to cry out in glee, but he obviously refrained. The big guy hadn’t changed course. He didn’t seem to have a fix on their location. Even so, once he found the orcs’ corpses, he might start looking for the culprits. They needed to get away quickly.
The fog made it impossible to know how the battle was going, but there were definitely clashes going on here and there between friend and foe. Were they winning or losing? If the Rocks, Arara, and Katsuharu were killed or retreated, Haruhiro and the others would be left behind. That would be incredibly bad.
There was also the issue of whether they could find Merry. Even if they did find her, could they rescue her? Looking back, having misread how serious Arara’s punishment would be had hurt. It had hurt them badly.
The slope was getting steeper. It would be hard to go any higher. “Can hardly see a thing...” Kuzaku muttered to himself.
Haruhiro was about to say something, then shut his mouth. There was a sound above, and some gravel rolled down the slope.
Haruhiro looked up and immediately shouted, “Above!” But, to be honest, he had no idea what to do.
It wasn’t the big guy from before, but this enemy looked plenty dangerous, too. It was that one. The giant wolf. Nimbly loping down the slope. On the giant wolf’s back was a goblin. Onsa the goblin beastmaster.
“Get away!” Kuzaku spread his arms wide, pushing Shihoru and Yume away.
No, that’s not going to work!
Haruhiro tried to stop him. It was too late.
The giant wolf plowed into Kuzaku with a growl. Kuzaku wasn’t sent flying. Had he grabbed on and clung to it? He’d done more than just that. He tried to brace himself, but when it became apparent that wouldn’t work, he twisted his body.
“Rahhhhhh!” Kuzaku screamed.
The giant wolf toppled over sideways with Kuzaku. The two of them slid down the slope together. Onsa grabbed the back of the giant wolf’s neck like it was a set of reins. He must have been trying to get the wolf to stand up.
But Kuzaku didn’t let him. He rolled.
The giant wolf and Kuzaku wrestled with one another as they rolled down the southern slope.
It wasn’t long before Onsa was thrown off. He quickly got up, chasing after the giant wolf and Kuzaku.
“Kuzaaaaku!” Haruhiro chased after Onsa like he was jumping down a flight of stairs two to three steps at a time. “Yume, watch Shihoru!”
Kuzaku! Kuzaku! Kuzaku! Damn it! Haruhiro cried out in his mind.
He hadn’t been able to move. Hadn’t been able to do anything. Kuzaku had saved him.
“Hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou!” Onsa was making a strange noise.
What was that supposed to be? Haruhiro had a bad feeling about it. Was he calling something?
Kuzaku and the giant wolf finally came to a stop. The giant wolf shook his head.
What about Kuzaku? Haruhiro couldn’t see him. Where was he? Was he underneath? He started crawling out from under the giant wolf.
Kuzaku.
He’s moving! He’s alive! Haruhiro wanted to shout out. But not yet. It was too early to celebrate.
The giant wolf got on top of Kuzaku.
Kuzaku shouted, “Screw you!” as he struggled.
Onsa would soon reach the giant wolf and Kuzaku. He’d get to them. “Funahhh!”
That was Yume. Yume’s voice. An arrow. An arrow was flying.
It grazed Onsa’s shoulder. Onsa ran into the shadow of a nearby tree without looking back.
All right, thought Haruhiro. Good! Now’s our chance!
Haruhiro not so much ran as jumped. Every time he kicked off the ground, he went two to three meters, jumping, jumping, jumping. It was dangerous, and super scary, but this was far faster than running. Finally, he passed Onsa. He kept going and leapt onto the giant wolf.
“Get off of Kuzaku!” Haruhiro screamed.
He clung to the giant wolf’s back, stabbing his stiletto into its neck. He pulled it out and stabbed it in again repeatedly. The giant wolf writhed in agony, thrashed around, and tried to throw Haruhiro off, but to no avail.
I’m not letting you go!
Maybe the giant wolf had decided that doing something about Haruhiro was its priority, because it stood up and started to run.
What? What? What? Huh? Why are you running towards that tree?! Have you gone crazy? We’re going to collide!
“Ngah?!” Haruhiro shouted.
Haruhiro released the giant wolf at the last possible moment, and ended up rolling around on the ground. The wolf ended up striking his back on the tree, but it seemed fine. By the time Haruhiro leapt to his feet, the giant wolf was baring its fangs and facing him. It hadn’t felt like his stiletto was doing much, either. Probably the wounds weren’t that deep, thanks to its hard fur and the fat beneath its skin.
Kuzaku had risen to all-fours, but he wasn’t standing. Was he hurt? He couldn’t be completely unharmed.
How bad was it? Where was Onsa?
No. Now wasn’t the time to worry about him. The giant wolf lunged.
It was impossible to think. The next thing Haruhiro knew, his body was moving on its own.
The giant wolf sailed above him.
Why was Haruhiro lying on his back? He didn’t know, but it seemed he’d ended up in that posture by sliding to the ground. Thanks to that, he’d dodged somehow.
However, the giant wolf turned immediately, and was about to come at him again. Haruhiro scrambled to his feet, but—
Isn’t this kind of impossible?
He couldn’t dodge the next one. It’d get him. It wasn’t that he’d given up, though.
His throat. He’d protect that. If it sunk its fangs into his throat, that’d be the end. Rather than make a poor attempt to run away, he’d be better off standing ready and trying to avoid taking a fatal wound. Not dying was the key. He wouldn’t die instantly. No matter what, he could guarantee that.
The giant wolf was coming. Coming.
Closing in.
When an arrow sank into its right eye he thought, Yume?
The giant wolf’s head shrank back. It winced, shaking its head and whining.
“It’s not like I care about my juniors,” Kuro said coldly.
Kuro, huh? thought Haruhiro.
The warrior who was a former hunter was surprisingly close by. He’d appeared from the shadow of a rock not five meters from Haruhiro.
Kuro unleashed two arrows. “Don’t misunderstand that, junior.”
The giant wolf suddenly changed the way its head was facing. Because of that, the arrows struck its shoulder. Haruhiro didn’t know how serious the damage was, but the arrow was firmly lodged in there. What a powerful bow.
There was the sound of a whistle, and the giant wolf turned. It was Onsa whistling. Would they run?
“Kuzaku?!” Haruhiro glanced over to Kuzaku.
“I’m okay.” Kuzaku had risen to his knees. He turned his head to look at Haruhiro. “Somehow.”
“I want that guy dead.” Kuro went to take a shot at Onsa.
Onsa jumped to the side, dodging it, then jumped onto the giant wolf’s back. Kuro loosed another arrow, but Onsa lowered his head and avoided it.
“Hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou, hou!”
There was that weird vocalization again.
What is that supposed to be? Haruhiro wondered.
Haruhiro rushed over to Kuzaku. Kuzaku rose under his own strength, then looked up the southern slope. Haruhiro turned his gaze in that direction, too. Yume and Shihoru were coming down.
“Damn that uppity little goblin.” Kuro nocked an arrow to his bow. He drew back the string. Halfway, he stopped and looked up to the sky. “...Huh?”
There was a beating of wings. Was it birds? They were close. Getting closer. Large bugs? Birds? Or bats, maybe? There were a lot of them.
Haruhiro ducked down, screaming, “Whoaaaaa?!” as he swung his arms around.
The birds, or bats, or whatever they were... those things were running into him. Into his arms, back, chest, head, and face. They hit him hard.
He saw them, though not that clearly. They weren’t birds. They weren’t bugs, either. They were close to bats, but different.
Lizards? Like winged lizards.
The size of his two hands put together and spread out. Dragons? They were like little model dragons, but it was clear these were no models. They moved, and flew. They were attacking Haruhiro and the others. However, if they could fly around so nimbly, they had to be fairly light. Even when they hit him, it only hurt a little, so it wasn’t a big deal. They were just a huge nuisance.
“What the hell?!” Haruhiro used his stiletto to lop a wing off of one of the mini wyverns. The mini wyvern let out a screech and fell to the ground.
When he saw that, it was time to—well, no, even if he hadn’t seen that, it would have been time to run.
The swarm of mini wyverns dispersed as he ran. Haruhiro couldn’t see the giant wolf anymore. Had Onsa used that weird vocalization of his to call the mini wyverns as a distraction?
The mini wyvern Haruhiro had sliced a wing off of was waddling away.
He thought of giving it a good kick, but refrained.
“That surprised me...” Kuzaku raised the visor on his helmet and sighed. “Lost him, huh.” Kuro gave a hearty guffaw and clicked his tongue. “Oh,
there’s Kajita.”
True enough, they could hear a whole lot of manly battle cries in a husky
voice. But who did the other voice belong to? It was deep and low, like the rumbling of the earth. It didn’t sound human. So it was an enemy, then.
Somewhere nearby, Kajita was going at it with an enemy. A powerful one, most likely.
“Kuzaku-kun!” Shihoru ran over to Kuzaku. She was carrying his shield.
Had he dropped it in the middle of the battle?
Yume was beside Shihoru with her bow ready, looking around restlessly. “Maybe you guys had better stick near us, after all. For now, at least,”
Kuro said and disappeared into the fog.
Haruhiro wanted time to sort his thoughts out. He knew, though, he’d get no such thing.
Something was coming from the west. Enemies, no doubt. From the east, too.
Here. This place was probably going to see heavy fighting soon.
“Stick together!” Haruhiro raced over to where Kuzaku was. “For now, let’s support the Rocks here!”
That figure he could faintly make out in the fog, was that Kajita? “Zweh!” Kajita swung his massive mushroom sword, and the ridiculously
big guy they saw earlier, probably an orc, bellowed “Fuuuuuungh!” as he blocked it with his katana.
Kajita was pretty tall himself, but that orc was still a good head or two taller—no, even more than that. Three meters tall seemed like a bit too much, but he had to be at least two and a half. And because of that—
“Goahhhh!” The giant katana that the giant orc had raised overhead on the diagonal must have had an incredible amount of power behind it. It was clearly a blow to be avoided at all costs, but Kajita tried to catch it with his massive mushroom sword.
“Doehh!” Kajita shouted.
There was no way he could stop it. Kajita’s body soared through the air.
Hey, wait, Haruhiro realized. He’s flying towards me.
What now? Should I catch him? No, I can’t do it. But, that said, I don’t know if it’s okay to dodge him, either.
For better or for worse, Kajita slammed into the ground with a loud thud, right in front of Haruhiro. He was completely spread-eagled. His sunglasses were starting to fall off.
“Ka... Kajita-san...?” Haruhiro timidly called out to him.
The giant orc was trudging towards him. “Ha-Haruhiro-kun, run!” Shihoru shouted.
The giant orc raised his giant katana overhead.
No way! He was already in range? Could he reach from there? He could? It felt like he could, too. Because the giant orc was so big, it might have been throwing off Haruhiro’s sense of distance.
No other choice, thought Haruhiro. I’ll have to run.
“Heh!” Kajita rose with a frightening display of leg, abdominal, and back muscle strength that seemed unnatural. His massive mushroom sword turned sideways, he blocked the giant orc’s giant katana. This time, it stopped. Not just that, Kajita pushed back and made the giant orc bend backward. He stepped in, then swung down diagonally.
The giant orc didn’t block with his giant katana. With a “Gwah!” sound, he just turned it aside. He was surprisingly dexterous.
Kajita spun his massive mushroom sword around, locking blades with the giant orc. “Nghhhh! Nuhhhh!”
“Guhhhh! Ohhhhhhhgh!” “Zwehhh! Humph! Zeahahh!”
Kajita used brute force to push back the giant orc, then, quickly taking a moment to adjust his sunglasses, he held his massive mushroom sword in a low stance.
“Hmph... What’s your name?” Kajita said in a language that was foreign to Haruhiro.
“Gai, Godo Agaja! Danjinba?” “My name is Kajita.”
“Den, dogaran...”
“Ha ha ha! Me, too.”
What is with these people? Haruhiro wondered. They both clearly speak different languages, but they’re managing a conversation?
I shouldn’t get involved. Leave them to it. Well, it’s not like I could get involved, and the two of them seem to be having fun, so let them have at it for as long as they like. Looks like I’ve got things of my own to do.
More and more orcs and undead were coming in from the west. They were going to the east—was that Arara? Katsuharu was there, too. And Rock.
Gettsu the mirumi was running right behind Rock. They were three people and one critter, pushing westward through the valley. Not far behind was
Tsuga with his buzz cut. Then Moyugi. Sakanami the thief was nowhere to be seen.
Tsuga and Moyugi seemed to be being chased by orcs and undead. No, since this was Moyugi, maybe he was deliberately not turning to fight, and pulling the enemy along with him that way.
It looked like enemies were coming for Haruhiro and the others, who still weren’t fully down the southern slope yet, too.
Two orcs, and two undead. Four on four, huh. Tough, but they couldn’t run away now. They’d have to prepare themselves for the worst. They’d have to fight.
“Kuzaku, you handle the front! Shihoru, Yume!” Haruhiro shouted. “’Kay!”
“Okay! Dark!”
“Meow!”
Yume loosed an arrow. Dark flew forward. Kuzaku acted as a shield.
Haruhiro looked for openings, going in for a single decisive blow when he could. If he could, that was. It turned into a chaotic melee in no time.
Your mind feels like it might turn into a frantic mess, but don’t lose yourself. Look around.
He couldn’t see through the fog. That wasn’t just true for Haruhiro; it was true for the enemy, too. It wasn’t a one-sided disadvantage. That meant they were on equal terms. His range of vision was extremely limited.
Cool your head.
Kuzaku was keeping the enemies in front under control. That didn’t mean he could relax, but he had to believe in him.
It wasn’t just Haruhiro—Shihoru was also looking around. Yume would occasionally do something considerate, too.
Don’t try to do everything alone.
He couldn’t do it all, anyway. He’d do his best, of course. He, his comrades, and everyone else would do everything they could.
We don’t need to overextend ourselves to kill enemies. Surviving is the key. First, defend. Hang in there. Then, be tenacious. Harass the enemy.
Don’t stay in one place, either. Move.
There was no reason they had to fight the enemy straight out. They could attack enemy groups that Arara, Katsuharu, and the Rocks were already fighting from the side or behind. Once they had poked at them a bit, they’d
immediately withdraw and target other enemies.
Read the flow. If the Rocks, Arara, and Katsuharu start to push back the enemy and advance, follow immediately. If the flow stagnates, do not, by any means, move up to the front.
Fundamentally, they would stay ready to pull out, and act to disrupt the enemy. They didn’t need to think about delivering a direct, crushing blow. In fact, they shouldn’t think about that at all.
There were a number of times in which they struggled with an enemy, and it was all they could do just to protect Shihoru. No matter how scared they got, they didn’t panic.
The Rocks had Kuro, who loved to take down enemies with a surprise attack, and he was very good at it. Sakanami was the same way. Haruhiro wasn’t completely counting on those two to save them, but he didn’t think they’d miss the perfect chance when it presented itself.
Everyone was at their most exposed when they went in to press the attack.
Even if they knew not to let their guard down, at times like that openings tended to form naturally. If the enemy showed the slightest opening, Kuro would bring them down with a well-placed shot from that powerful bow of his, or Sakanami would murder them with an ambushing strike so frantic that it would seem to be filled with some sort of grudge.
Haruhiro had started to get a handle on it. The Rocks didn’t do anything that could be called coordination. They were all acting on an individual basis. Rock and Kajita fought on their own, and even Moyugi was wandering around. Tsuga, being the priest, kept an eye on things, going here and there, but Kuro and Sakanami disappeared most of the time so that they could ambush enemies.
In Haruhiro’s party, everyone acted as one unit. If even one of them was missing, their combat potential fell drastically. They might become completely dysfunctional.
Meanwhile, the Rocks were different. They were each a unit unto themselves. For Moyugi, as their commander, if he included himself and his demon Moira, he had up to seven units he could move around and plan strategies with.
If Haruhiro’s party could increase the number of units they had, too, it would give them more options. It would broaden their range.
Could they do that?
First, there was Merry. Merry was indispensable. No matter what, they would definitely get her back.
Also... Ranta.
If they had Ranta...
No, Ranta had betrayed them. How it had happened wasn’t clear, but he’d probably ended up in a situation in which he was about to be killed, then gotten down and performed a kowtow or something to get Forgan to let him join.
Ranta was an enemy. They hadn’t encountered him yet, but he might appear before them as an enemy at any moment. The Rocks might have already killed him. If they had, well, that was that.
But had he really betrayed them?
The guy had been with them since they’d first arrived in Grimgar, so maybe Haruhiro just didn’t want to think it was true, but there was still something bothering him about it. What was it?
This was no time to be thinking about Ranta. Although it did show that Haruhiro had a lot of leeway for his thoughts to be drifting like this.
Rock stood as the vanguard and was making steady progress. The enemy’s resistance was weak. Haruhiro and his party were moving up while hardly even engaging the enemy.
Even though the fog hadn’t thinned, it felt awfully bright. Brilliant, even. They came to an open area. They were finally through the valley.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Rock let out an excessively cheerful laugh.
When he laughed like that, Haruhiro was no match for him. Rock made it feel like nothing was impossible. If they just stuck with him, everything would work out somehow.
He didn’t just provide a push from behind; he dragged everyone along with him. The propelling force that was created by Rock’s very presence was crazy. It had to be some sort of charisma. It felt dangerous, but they had no choice but to press onward.
Haruhiro looked back as he ran. They settled on a system where Haruhiro took point when they moved, and when they encountered enemies, he quickly changed places with Kuzaku. Kuzaku and Yume were both walking with strangely light steps. Only Shihoru, who was sandwiched between the two of them, was looking left and right busily, questioning whether this was all right, and whether there were any problems.
“Merry should be up ahead!” Haruhiro called out to his comrades. “Keep on your toes, and let’s go as far as we can!”
“Meow!”
“’Kay!”
“Right!”
Rock. Arara. Katsuharu. Those three were ahead and to the left of Haruhiro’s group.
Was Kajita still fighting with Godo Agaja somewhere? Tsuga was behind Rock and the rest. Moyugi was nowhere to be seen. Were Kuro and Sakanami hiding in the mist?
It wasn’t just Haruhiro and his group; none of them were trading blows with the enemy. Even though there were still enemies. He could see silhouettes that looked like orcs and undead here and there.
Wait, are we being lured in...?
There was a resounding and unsettling howl that likely came from the giant wolf.
There was a hill up ahead. On top of that hill, there were people there.
Three people, and one large animal. There was a person on top of the animal, too, so make that four people.
Then, at the bottom of the hill, there was a far greater number of enemies. Rock, then Arara, Katsuharu, and Tsuga all stopped one after another.
Haruhiro and his group were forced to stop, too.
Moyugi caught up to them walking at a leisurely pace. His thin sword was sheathed. He pressed the middle finger of his right hand against the bridge of his glasses.
“Things went just as I planned, I see.”
Was that really true? It felt like a blatant lie, but, even if it was the truth,
this was what he had planned for? “Dohhhh!” Kajita shouted.
Something big came flying at them from the rear. Well, hey, if it wasn’t Kajita-san.
Kajita landed next to Tsuga. Spread-eagled, of course, like before. He didn’t look dead, but he wasn’t moving.
The giant orc Godo Agaja approached them with his giant katana resting on his shoulder. There were swarms of orc and undead behind him. Black wolves, too. There were a bunch of members of other races Haruhiro didn’t
recognize, too. Not many of them, but they were there.
No matter how he looked at it, the Rocks, Arara, Katsuharu, and Haruhiro’s party were being caught in a pincer attack. What was more, Sakanami and Kuro weren’t here, so they were ten people and one pet.
The enemy weren’t just a hundred people, which would already be ten times their number. It wasn’t possible to get a clear count with the fog, but there were probably hundreds of them.
The four people and one animal atop the hill were, starting from the right, the great wolf with Onsa on its back, the one-armed, one-eyed, middle-aged human Takasagi, an orc of small build with a black eagle perched on his shoulder, and a double-armed undead with four arms, Arnold.
There was a familiar face in the great mass of Forgan members at the base of the hill, too. No, they couldn’t see his face. He was wearing his helmet.
But there was no way it could be anyone else.
He crossed his arms, puffing out his chest. More self-important than anyone. It seemed he’d already settled in as a member of Forgan.
“Rantaaaa!” Kuzaku walked forward, pointing at Ranta. “How dare you show your face in front of us! I knew you were brazen, but I still can’t believe you!”
Ranta shrugged silently. Wasn’t he going to argue back? Haruhiro ground his back teeth. That’s not like you, man, Ranta.
He was a nasty, arbitrary, nonsensical, stupid, and moronic, but still somehow cunning, strangely confident, ill-mannered, annoying dread knight who was a nuisance just by being there, and whose personality was rotten to the core, so he ought to have hurled a bit of verbal abuse their way there. He was a dread knight, after all.
“Murrgh!” Yume stomped her feet. She was teary-eyed. “Yume hates you, Ranta!”
“Yume...” Shihoru reached out and rubbed Yume’s back.
“And?” Takasagi slowly rotated his head. “What is it you people want to do, picking a fight with us? Do you just want to fight? If so, we’ll face you. We don’t mind a little fighting ourselves. If we’re doing this, we’ll go all the way. We’ll crush you all here. Kill every last one of you.”
“I’m not here to fight you.” Rock laughed and leveled his sword at Arnold. “Arnold! I want a duel with—”
“No!” Arara jumped forward to stand in front of Rock. “Rock! I am
grateful to you for bringing me here, but this, this is one thing I cannot leave to you! Arnold the Bloody Whirlwind! If you are a warrior of honor, face me in a duel!”
Haruhiro saw Katsuharu look down and shake his head. Kajita still hadn’t risen.
What about Kuro? Sakanami? He hadn’t sensed a nyaa since the black nyaa had killed the striped one, either. Had Setora suppressed Forgan’s nyaas for them?
If they were going to fight one-on-one, Haruhiro would be glad to let them have at it. For his part, he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. He had to find Merry and save her.
Hopefully they could get away with the four of them, but that might be difficult. At the very least, even if Haruhiro had to go it alone, was there not some way he could sneak away from here? Forgan were in front of them and behind, but not to the sides. If he timed it right, it might not be impossible?
Right?
Timing. The timing was crucial. But even if Haruhiro managed to get away alone, and supposing he somehow was able to rescue Merry, what about their comrades? What would he do about the other three? Was it better to give up on Merry, and to try to get back alive with just the four of them? If he did, he would have to question why they came all this way. But setting aside what they came here for, shouldn’t he use the best method, the best path available to him in his current situation? Haruhiro was the party’s leader, after all.
How had it come to this? What did that matter? This was just how chance worked. Even without going and looking for trouble themselves, they might still find themselves in a dangerous predicament. Things like that happened all the time. Whining about it would do no good. The question was what to do in the situation they found themselves in. Or, if he could change the situation somehow, to move it in a better direction, even if only slightly. In order to do that, he needed to think, then act.
“For what reason?” the small orc asked in fluent human speech.
This caught Haruhiro a bit by surprise. That was Jumbo. Jumbo, the head of Forgan, huh.
“Woman of the village,” Jumbo said. “For what cause do you seek a duel with my companion Arnold?”
“There was a man,” Arara said. “I adored him. And he, too, loved me. However, the two of us were torn apart. He was looked down upon in the village. By building his fame as a warrior, he hoped to make the village recognize and accept his love for me.”
“There was indeed one who came alone by night to challenge Arnold,” said Jumbo.
“Ohh... Tatsuru-sama...”
“It was over with one swing,” Takasagi said with a snort. “I didn’t see it, just heard about it later, but that man was cut down by Arnold more easily than he might swat an irritating fly.”
“...He never returned,” Arara said softly.
“Well, of course not,” Takasagi shot back. “If he’d been skilled, some of our undead might have wanted an arm, or a leg, or two for themselves.
Nobody has any use for a weakling’s body.” “You dare mock him?!” Arara screamed.
“I’m only telling you the truth. And? You’ve got a misguided grudge against Arnold, and you’re telling me you raised all this hell just to have a duel with him?”
“My grudge is not misguided! The first one to commit an outrageous act of violence was Arnold! It was for that reason that Tatsuru-sama went to slay Arnold, the sworn enemy of the village!”
“Oh, yeah, that did happen, huh,” Takasagi mused. “Well, Arnold gets thirsty for blood and does weird stuff sometimes. It’s like a fit. When it happens, even we can’t stop him. He’s doing his best to control himself so he doesn’t attack our people. We’ve just got to leave him to it. He doesn’t mean anything ill by it, so forgive the guy.”
“Y-You think what he did is forgivable?!” “Well, you’ve got a point.”
That man, Takasagi... it was hard to tell if he was he messing around, or if he was serious. Either way, the fact that Arara was enraged and ready to blow her top made her like a toy for Takasagi. He wasn’t just handling her; he was toying with her. He couldn’t have been treating her more derisively.
“Enough, Arara,” Rock said quietly. With just one word, the atmosphere changed drastically.
Rock had his back to Haruhiro, so he couldn’t see, but he most likely was not smiling. Not one bit. Haruhiro’s hair had already begun to prickle, and
now it was standing straight up.
“When a person—” Rock took a step forward. Haruhiro got goosebumps. “Whether they’re human, or something else, when a person—” Rock was angry. “She risked her life to demand you face her in a fair fight, and that’s your attitude?”
With each step forward that Rock took, Haruhiro’s stomach contracted another five millimeters. That was how it felt.
“You’re lame, Forgan. They say you’ve got orcs, and goblins, and even humans, so I thought you’d be a more interesting group. But I misjudged you. You’re a bunch of scum.”
Most of Forgan probably didn’t understand the human language. Even so, could they still understand they’d been insulted? The members of Forgan were suddenly seething with anger and making a fuss.
“Shut up!” Rock bellowed. With that, he silenced Forgan.
Rock began walking towards the hill. No one could stop him. Not Arara, not anyone.
Gettsu stood on his hind legs and watched Rock go. The Forgan members at the base of the hill seemed paralyzed, unable to move.
“Bring it.” Rock stopped a few meters from the hill, beckoning with one hand. “All of you, come at me. I’ll send every last one of you flying. You get it? I’m mad. Don’t think you’re gonna get off lightly after pissing me off. I’m a gentle guy, but, you know, once you make me snap, I don’t settle down until things are made right. That happens when either I bite it, or all of you are wiped out. I don’t especially like killing, but you guys, I’ll kill. Let me see you get serious. I came here for that, anyway. I’m not planning on going back alive. Can’t live if you’re afraid of dying. If you’re always scared, you can’t enjoy what there is to enjoy. I’ll show you all. The brilliant fire of life that burns inside me, that is. You show me, too. Live, fight, and die here.
Entertain me. If you put up a boring fight, I won’t let you get away with it. Kill me. If you can, that is. I’m gonna kill all of you. I’ll fight, and fight, and kill you. Shall we get started? You ready? Who wants to die? Who’s gonna entertain me? I’ll take any of you. I like guys who entertain me. Friend? Foe? Who cares. Well? Why’s no one coming? You don’t mean to tell me you’re scared, are you? You’re all that lame? Show some spirit. Let me see how you live and die!”
“I wan... duel wi... you...” Was that... a voice?
Arnold jumped down from the hill. It was fluid in a way that didn’t let you sense his true weight. The grim reaper had descended. That was what it looked like.
Rock didn’t budge. Arnold was approaching Rock.
There was less than a meter between them now. When that closed to fifty centimeters—no, thirty centimeters—Arnold finally came to a stop.
“This’ll be our second time.” There was finally a hint of a laugh in Rock’s tone. “Let’s do it, Arnold. I’m not the same me as I was before, so watch out. I’m in top mental and physical shape, you know.”
“I wi... ki... you...” “Sure. Just try it.”
There it was again. They were talking different languages. How did they understand one another?
Takasagi slapped his forehead with his left hand and sighed. “You’re actually doing this?”
“U-Um...” Arara reached out, her hand hanging in the air. “What about... me...?”
“I’ll be blunt, Arara,” Rock said, still facing Arnold. “This man is damn strong. You don’t even stand a chance against him alone. Maybe you’re fine with losing and getting yourself killed. I’m not. I’ll avenge Tatsuru for you. Leave it to me.”
Instead of digging her heels in, Arara hung her head. Haruhiro could only infer, but it might have been that Arara had been well aware of the painful difference in ability between herself and Arnold from the beginning. Even if she stood no chance, she might have meant to do as much as she could, then follow after Tatsuru. If that had been her plan, well, it was practically suicide. However, perhaps Arara had had a change of heart, and it had shaken her resolve to do this or die trying. If she no longer meant to die, she couldn’t fight Arnold anymore. Even Haruhiro could tell he was just that dangerous of an opponent.
The black eagle lifted off from Jumbo’s shoulder.
It looked like they were about to start. It could happen any moment now. But wait, this...
Could this be Haruhiro’s chance?
Once Rock and Arnold’s one-on-one duel began, friend and foe alike would be focused on them. During that time, he would quietly sneak away from here. It might be doable. No, he could do it. He would.
That just left the timing. When should he make his move? Would he consult his comrades? Would they all go? Or just him? Would he go without a word?
Jumbo lowered himself down, sitting on the ground with one knee raised. The great black eagle rose as they watched, disappearing into the fog.
Everyone held their breath and waited for the moment to come.
Which would make the first move? Either way, weren’t they too close to one another?
Haruhiro couldn’t decide what to do. Was it safe to move now? Was it too soon?
He looked at Ranta. He was still wearing his helmet, but the visor was up.
He seemed to be looking at Rock and Arnold.
If Ranta had completely betrayed them, he might be subtly watching Haruhiro. If he noticed anything, he might report it to Jumbo, or someone else. That would be bad.
And... they started.
It was Arnold. That undead had four arms. While moving backwards, he used two of those arms, one on each side, to unsheathe katanas.
Rock didn’t take a single step back. He knocked them with a clang back using his sword.
He charged.
Arnold drew another two katanas, stopping and standing still. Four katanas and one sword collided as if intertwining with each other.
Neither Rock or Arnold moved, as if both were rooted to their respective spots. They just kept trading blows.
What? How could they do that? Especially Rock? His opponent was a quad wielder, so how could he deflect them all with one sword?
So fast.
The four katanas and one sword were picking up the pace. Scary.
This absolutely had to break down sometime, somewhere. If either of them was even a little slow to act, even the slightest bit off, this balance would collapse. And if one of them was going to be too slow, it would be
Rock.
Thinking about it normally, there was no way he could keep fending off unceasing attacks from four different directions indefinitely.
But look.
That prediction had been completely off the mark. One of Arnold’s katanas broke and went flying.
The moment he went down to three katanas, Arnold moved smoothly to the left. Rock returned his sword to its sheath and drew another.
He closed in, and attacked.
Arnold blocked Rock’s series of attacks with his three katanas. While defending, he moved further and further to the left, as if trying to divert Rock’s momentum.
Suddenly, Rock stood bolt upright and switched swords again. “Looks like my movement is nice and snappy today. How about you, Arnold? Hurry up and get serious.”
Haruhiro snapped back to his senses. He’d been watching intently despite himself.
This was unexpected. Wasn’t Rock just too damn amazing? Honestly, Haruhiro had thought it’d be a tie at best, or Arnold would have the upper hand. Rock had said he was in top shape, though, so maybe that was it.
Could he win? Was Rock going to win? Maybe he would make this surprisingly quick and easy?
If he did—what then?
If he said, Okay, we won, now give us Merry, who you have captive, would he be able to get them to accept that? That would probably be expecting a little too much. If the rest acted like Rock, challenged them to a duel, and asked for them to return her if they won, in this atmosphere, it felt like they might let that pass. But who would fight? Haruhiro? With whom? Ranta had been saying, That woman belongs to me, or something like that. So, with Ranta, then?
“KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!”
Arnold hollered.
Haruhiro’s thinking was forcefully interrupted. That dreadful sound. Arnold had his arms spread wide and his back arched backwards. It was coming, coming, coming, here...!
Arnold did a spinning jump. It was like he’d turned into a whirlwind.
That was probably Arnold taking this seriously. No way. There was no defending against that. Rock needed to run, no two ways about it.
But, of course, Rock didn’t pull back. More than that, he stepped in. There was an incredible cacophony, and Arnold was pushed back.
How had Rock taken Arnold’s whirlwind attack? Had he deflected it? Haruhiro couldn’t see well enough, so he didn’t know. Regardless, he was completely surprised. The chain of surprises continued.
Even once he was pushed away, Arnold kept spinning! Just like that, he closed in on Rock again.
“Ha ha!” Rock finally laughed. It shattered.
One katana shattered.
Rock had pushed Arnold back again, and that wasn’t all, he’d smashed another katana.
“I’m coming,” Rock said.
He switched swords again, closing in on Arnold. He’d been using his sword with just his right hand up until now, but this time he held it in both hands.
“Oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah, oorah!” he yelled.
It was a combo too fast for the eye to follow. What was more, each and every blow had an awful lot of power.
He was pushing Arnold back. It might even have been more correct to say he was locking him down. Yes, that made sense.
The katanas. Rock’s swords were targeting Arnold’s katanas. When Arnold began to swing his katana, Rock would slam his sword into it. Arnold couldn’t even spin. He had far bigger problems.
Rock had two swords, but he only ever used one at the same time.
However, the length and thickness of the two was considerably different. By switching to whichever of the two was more appropriate, he made it difficult for his opponent to respond. That part was a little unorthodox, but for the rest, it was a frontal attack.
Rock didn’t have some especially refined technique. His attacks and his defense were actually both clearly defined. How was he that strong?
He had a small physique, but a high degree of physical ability. If that was correct, it was probably his eyes. Rock had good eyes. His kinetic vision was
outstanding.
He wasn’t just in good condition. Rock had fought Arnold once before.
That time, he’d seen Arnold’s movements.
Rock had seen through Arnold.
That was probably why he was in such good shape. Rock had known that if they fought a second time, he was confident he could win. More than that, he might have intended from the beginning to cross blades with Arnold lightly the first time, then settle things definitively on the second.
The third katana broke. One more.
For a moment, Arnold stopped moving. Had he sensed his defeat and become overcome with surprise? Or was it a trap?
Whatever the case, Rock didn’t rush things and go in for the kill. With his sword raised aloft in both hands, he let all the muscles in his body relax. In the middle of this intense battle, it wasn’t normal that he could let the tension out like that. It showed he had mastery over his own mind and body.
Arnold swung his katana at him. Rock immediately hit it back. The next moment, Haruhiro doubted his eyes.
Arnold was holding the katana in one of his two right hands. He took a swing at Rock with his two empty left hands. If he did that...
Of course, the inevitable happened. Rock slashed both of Arnold’s left arms with his sword. It wasn’t hard enough to make them go flying.
One of the arms.
Rock’s sword cut off one of Arnold’s left arms, and bit deeply into the other. He couldn’t sever it.
Arnold might have been sacrificing his left arm in an attempt to rob Rock of his sword. In fact, Arnold’s empty right hand reached out for Rock. But before his sword could be stolen, Rock let go of it himself and drew the other.
“If you want it, it’s yours.”
Rock’s sword sent Arnold’s katana flying. He dealt a shallow cut to Arnold’s shoulder. One of his right arms was cut up pretty badly.
Arnold staggered backwards. For every bit Arnold backed away, Rock moved up.
“Zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah, zooah!” Rock yelled.
It was one-sided.
Arnold ran, desperately trying to escape. He didn’t turn his back on Rock, but not out of choice; it was because he couldn’t.
“Hey,” someone whispered in Haruhiro’s ear.
Haruhiro nearly had a heart attack. He wanted to praise himself for not screaming and jumping into the air. No, maybe it wasn’t that praiseworthy.
There was someone behind him. They weren’t touching him, but they were so close they might as well have been.
To think he wouldn’t notice until they got this close. He’d been just that fixated on Rock and Arnold’s duel. This when Haruhiro had important things to be doing. He was such a fool.
From the voice, he had an idea who it was.
While still facing forward, Haruhiro said, “...Sakanami-san?”
“I am your substitute,” said Sakanami. “Let not the light of youth be clouded, for it is a high-density curse. It mustn’t be muddied with blood. If you have time to repent, embrace ambition. Your heart will break anyway.”
“You’re not making any sense, man...”
But Haruhiro did understand what he meant. Sakanami was saying, Go search for Merry. He was going to act as Haruhiro’s substitute.
My substitute?
“...No,” Haruhiro whispered. “We don’t look particularly alike, Sakanami-san, so if we trade places, it’ll be immediately obvious I’m not here.”
“We share the same blood.”
“We do not. There’s no way we’re blood relatives.”
“Is your mentor Barbara? Does that woman tie you up and make you faint?”
“Oh, because we’re both thieves? That’s a bit simplistic, don’t you think?”
“Can you tell orcs or undead apart?” Sakanami asked. “Well, not that well, no,” Haruhiro confessed.
Haruhiro understood. He had to do it. Rock was chasing Arnold down. He had no confidence in his success, he could make no predictions, but it was still now or never.
What was Ranta doing? He wasn’t looking this way. He seemed to be following the fight between Rock and Arnold. Kuzaku, Shihoru, and Yume were the same.
The great black eagle was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it was overthinking things to assume that eagle might be monitoring Haruhiro and the others from above.
Haruhiro nodded slightly. “I’ll go.”
“We change places on the count of five, eight.” “...Why not one, two?”
“Five, eight.”
Holding back his urge to say, Listen when people talk to you, Haruhiro turned around and traded places with Sakanami. When he turned, he was surprised by what he saw of Sakanami’s back. His posture, the position of his center of gravity, the way he stood... it was all Haruhiro. Was he imitating him? What kind of special talent was that? It was creepy.
Shihoru put her right hand behind her back and made a fist. That was Shihoru for you. She was the only one to notice. She was quietly sending Haruhiro off, saying, Do your best, to cheer him on.
Haruhiro nodded.
Stealth. The fog. This fog which hangs over Thousand Valley. Become one with the fog.
First, he went south. There was no one there.
He did his best to pay as little attention to the duel between Rock and Arnold as he could. It would distract him, no matter how he tried not to let it.
Don’t rush it. Float away. Don’t be hasty.
Don’t, under any circumstances, let your breathing be disrupted. My heartbeat is under control.
I can do this.
That was the last thing he thought before panicking. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Arnold turned into a whirlwind again. This time, he was low. Folding his body, lowering himself as far as he could, he spun like a top.
“Oh?!” Rock flipped over.
Had Arnold tripped him? Wasn’t that kind of bad?
Arnold quickly picked up his katana and went after Rock. Rock jumped up and went to fight back.
Rock’s sword and Arnold’s katana both broke.
It had turned into a brawl. If they ended up grappling, which of them had the advantage? Haruhiro didn’t really know. However, the one thing that was clear was that it was going to be more complicated than a fight with swords and katanas that could easily deal a lethal blow. It was sure to be a real mess.
Don’t hesitate, he scolded himself. Go. Move forward.
Turn your heart to ice. Don’t feel anything now.
If you see anything that looks humanoid, just avoid it. While making sure you’re not spotted, move to the south. Then to the west.
If he searched blindly, he’d never find Merry. From the rough map in his head, he knew the scale of Forgan’s encampment, even if only vaguely. First, he’d try focusing his attention on the center.
It was like grasping at a cloud. He might be doing something reckless. This might be frivolous of him. Was this really okay? He wasn’t making a mistake?
He cast aside all hesitation. Depending on how things went, it might be no use.
Merry.
Merry.
I want to see you.
I want to hear your voice. I want to see your face. I want you to call me Haru. I want to know you’re safe as soon as possible. Am I acting out on my feelings here? Yeah, I am. They’re my feelings. I can’t get rid of them.
It’s no good. My heart’s getting so heated, it feels like it’s going to boil over.
Cool it. Even if I took my feelings out of the equation, I couldn’t abandon a comrade. First of all, Merry’s our priest, the center of the party. How massively does the absence of a healer limit the party? We learned that in the other world where we couldn’t use light magic. Now, when we finally get back to Grimgar, this happens. Not having Merry is more than just an inconvenience.
I’m going.
To the center of Forgan’s encampment.
“Nyaa.”
Inhaling sharply, Haruhiro readied his stiletto and the knife with a hand guard despite himself.
He’d heard the meowing of a nyaa. Where? Not far. It was close. There.
Ahead on the right. There was a gray nyaa sticking its head out from the bushes.
The gray nyaa showed Haruhiro a silent meow. I’m a friend, it was saying.
Could he trust it? It was hard to decided.
When the gray nyaa emerged from the bushes, it walked off on all four legs. It went a little way, then turned back to look. It did another silent meow.
Haruhiro bit the corner of his lips. “...You want me to follow you?” The gray nyaa turned to face forward, then took off at a half run.
I’ve got to go, Haruhiro decided.
Intuition, that was all it could be called. But there was, at least, some reasoning behind it.
Forgan’s nyaas were being suppressed by Setora’s nyaas. That meant it was probably one of Setora’s. Setora knew Haruhiro’s objective. That nyaa must have found where she was. It was trying to lead Haruhiro there.
That said, he’d pieced all of this together while following the gray nyaa.
He thought it was logical, but he’d only come up with this reasoning after the fact. Intuition had come first.
In the end, it was a good thing he’d gone with his gut. Because the gray nyaa was leading the way, he only had to pay the bare minimum of caution, and could focus on moving forward as they crossed two small valleys.
Beyond them there was a place like a basin that was small, but wide and deep, probably over a hundred meters.
In the corner of it, she was there. It was Merry.
She was facing downward, sitting on the ground. Was she chained or bound somehow?
Not far from her, was that a human? It was from a race that looked similar to a human, a child...? Was it? There was a creature like that lying down with his head resting on its elbows. Was he guarding Merry? If so, he couldn’t be sleeping. Did he have nothing to do, so he was lazing about?
Haruhiro and the gray nyaa were poking their heads up from behind a swell in the ground to see what the situation was, so they were still some distance away. Merry’s guard hadn’t noticed them yet. From the look of it,
there was nothing else moving.
The gray nyaa was looking at Haruhiro. When Haruhiro nodded, the gray nyaa did another silent meow and ran off.
It still didn’t feel real. He felt like his feet weren’t touching the ground.
Merry was there. Alive. It should have been fine for him to be happy, but he felt no emotions.
Strange. Was he calm? Was that it? He had to help her. Right. It didn’t matter how; he just had to help Merry fast.
Merry was facing towards the north. The childlike guard was to Merry’s southeast, maybe two meters away, with his body was facing northwest.
From behind. He’d creep up on the guard from behind. He couldn’t let him get away. He didn’t want him making a racket, either. Knock him out? No, that was no good. Had he forgotten the mistake he’d made in Waluandin?
The guard had to die. He’d do it in one blow.
That’s... not a kid, right? Haruhiro wondered. He’s a guard, so he can’t be. He probably just comes from a race that’s like that. Besides, even if it were a human child, that wouldn’t change what I ought to do. I’ll kill him.
I can do it.
Haruhiro carefully crept up to the guard with Stealth. That he might make a noise was a thought that never crossed his mind. What he had to worry about was that the guard would happen to look in his direction. Or that Merry would happen to see him, and that would clue the guard in to his presence.
There was no way to avoid accidents like that. If that happened, he’d finish it quickly. He was prepared. But he was glad it didn’t come to that.
Haruhiro had almost reached the childlike guard. The guard was short and fat, had pointy ears, and was humming a happy tune. Haruhiro didn’t need to work himself up with a One, two, go.
He leaned over the guard, and used Spider. He covered the guard’s mouth with is left hand, turned him over, stabbed his dagger into the guard’s throat with his right hand, then slashed it. The guard struggled, but it was too late.
While Haruhiro was using all his strength to hold the guard down, Merry raised her face. When she looked over in his direction, her eyes went wide.
“...Haru,” she whispered.
Haruhiro didn’t know how to respond. For a start, he smiled. That had to be a horribly awkward smile. The guard was still alive, after all. Desperately struggling. But naturally, it was all in vain. Finally, the guard stopped
moving.
Haruhiro was about to move away from the dead guard, but he thought better of it. Merry was wearing handcuffs. The key. The guard probably had the key.
He hurriedly searched the guard’s body. This guy really wasn’t a human child. The bridge of his nose was thick, but awfully low, and the shape of his head with the broad, pronounced forehead was a distinctive feature, too. His coarse body hair was like an animal’s.
There was a cord around his neck. It was there. The key was hanging from the cord.
Haruhiro rushed to Merry and removed her handcuffs. Neither of them said a word. They had no time for pleasantries. Haruhiro offered Merry his hand, and helped her to her feet.
They couldn’t return to the village, of course. They’d decided on a meetup point in advance. That exit. From here, it was to the northeast. It should have been around eight kilometers. He wanted to run, but Merry was exhausted. It was best not to overexert themselves. They left immediately.
“I had an awful time,” Merry said in a low voice, then laughed a little.
Perhaps she meant to reassure Haruhiro by joking around. But he wanted to be the one reassuring her.
“An awful time.” Just how awful had it been? What had they done to her? It bothered him. But what reason did he have to ask? What good could come of it? At the very least, now wasn’t the time.
“You’re okay now,” Haruhiro said. “Yeah.”
“I wish I could have come faster, though.” “You were plenty fast. Where are the others?” “Uh, yeah...”
Honestly, he couldn’t say there were no problems, or that she didn’t have to worry, because that wasn’t necessarily the case. What had happened during Rock and Arnold’s showdown? How had it developed from there? How were Shihoru, Yume, and Kuzaku doing? There were too many unknowns, or rather there was nothing but unknowns. But what of it?
Merry was all right. The rest would work out somehow. They could surely overcome it. They would overcome. In order to do that, he needed to keep his head working. To not relax. Because he didn’t let his guard down, he’d be able to detect it.
Haruhiro stopped and raised a hand. Merry immediately stopped, too.
Nearby, there was a hole that was probably not even a meter deep. The two got down inside it and sat there.
He’d heard it.
It was faint, but it was the voice of a nyaa. Were Forgan’s nyaas still left?
No, probably not. It was Setora’s nyaa. Was that a signal? Was it trying to tell Haruhiro something? What?
“Hey!” a voice called.
That, huh. The nyaa was probably trying to tell Haruhiro that the owner of that voice was approaching.
“I know you’re there, Haruhiro! Get out here, you piece of shit!”
Merry huddled close to him. She was trembling. Her breathing was suddenly ragged.
Haruhiro stuck his head up out of the hole. Was that it? It was coming from the east. He could see silhouettes. Not far off. They were obscured by the fog, but they weren’t more than fifty meters away.
They weren’t alone. Four... no, five people.
Not good. If they were going to run, they had to do it fast. Those guys were getting closer and closer. For every bit closer they got, the odds of escape went down that much.
He’d made the wrong call. What good would hiding do? They should have run immediately. He’d failed.
Should he play decoy so that Merry could get away on her own? Merry didn’t know the area, so the overwhelming likelihood was that she would get lost. They’d catch her eventually. They had to run away together.
Why was Haruhiro hesitating like this? He knew. Because he thought if it came to this, they probably couldn’t escape. At the very least, taking the most obvious approach wouldn’t work. Unless something happened, or he made something happen, they wouldn’t be able to get away.
For Haruhiro’s part, that meant he had to make something happen. He had no idea what, but he’d do something.
“Merry, when I give the signal, run,” he said urgently. “With me.” Merry took a short breath. “...Got it.”
Even if he told her, Go by yourself, there was no way Merry would agree.
Either way, they were sticking together. He wouldn’t leave Merry alone anymore. Not a chance.
“Get the hell out here, Haruhiro!”
“Stop shouting.” Haruhiro didn’t just stick his head up, he got out of the hole.
This is the worst, he thought, his heart sinking.
In with the other members of the group that included Ranta was the one- armed, one-eyed, middle-aged man called Takasagi. In addition, there were two orcs, and the thin man with a poor complexion and long ears who seemed to be an elf.
Ranta, Haruhiro thought. Damn it, Ranta.
The orcs and the elf might be fine, but why, of all people, had he had to bring Takasagi? That old man was clearly trouble.
Takasagi held his pipe in his mouth and scratched the back of his neck with his left hand. Between him and Haruhiro, which had the sleepier eyes?
When Takasagi came to a stop and pointed to the left and the right with his chin, the two orcs went right, and the elf went to the left.
“Hey, Parupirorin.” Ranta jaunted right up to him. “Where’s Merry?” “Dunno.”
“I’ll bet she’s here somewhere. Hiding.”
Haruhiro didn’t answer, gripping the hilt of his stiletto. Do I do it? Can I fight with him?
“I see right through you.” Ranta lowered his visor and drew RIPer. “Every thought you have.”
“...Like?”
“From the beginning, you were planning to sneak out and save Merry, weren’t you? I waited and waited, but you didn’t, so I thought you’d gotten scared.”
“Like I’d—”
Damn it.
His hands felt weak. It wasn’t just his hands. It was everywhere.
Is this okay?
Ranta.
Is this really okay with you...?
“Takasagi.” Ranta leaned forward a little, readying RIPer. “Let me be the one to kill him. I’ve got to prove my loyalty. You’re fine with that, right?”
“Do as you please.” Takasagi shrugged. “Let me say, though, I don’t particularly doubt you.”
“Liar. Well, whatever. I’ll make you believe in me soon enough.”
...Ohh, Haruhiro thought. I see. So that’s it.
Haruhiro drew not just his stiletto, but his knife with the hand guard, too.
Ranta flew at him. Leap Out. Then, from outside his range— “Hatred!”
Haruhiro stepped forward and diagonally to the right, dodging it by a hair.
Dodging it with room to spare was beyond him. It was a terrifyingly sharp slashing attack, filled with vigor. If he’d never seen it before, he might have been hit. But he had.
More than that, he’d seen Ranta’s Hatred with his own eyes, hundreds of times, probably over a thousand by now. He’d been watching it all this time.
But now that it’s turned on me, it’s this bad?
It hurt. He felt like his nerves were raw and exposed.
Ranta used another Leap Out, trying to get to Haruhiro’s side. His specialty was to chain that with a Slice.
I won’t let you, thought Haruhiro. You won’t take me down.
Haruhiro kept on moving to keep Ranta directly in front of him. Move as he might, Ranta was always bouncing around with Leap Out. He was swinging RIPer. He was stabbing at him. Haruhiro couldn’t catch his breath.
He was fast. Or rather, he was blinding. This was tough.
Haruhiro knew all the cards in Ranta’s hand, so he could still deal with it somehow. If he hadn’t known Ranta, he’d already have long since taken a wound or two. Until he saw through him, it would be a tough fight. He might be beaten, unable to hold out long enough.
He had to get serious, or he’d be in trouble. No, he was serious, and he was using everything he had to dodge. That wasn’t it.
If he didn’t seriously intend to defeat Ranta, he might be cut down. He had to take a “kill before you’re killed” approach. He couldn’t stay passive like this. If he was going to go on the offensive, the sooner the better. While he was still unharmed.
“Nuwah!” Ranta used Leap Out to try to get to Haruhiro’s left side. Haruhiro stepped forward diagonally to the left.
He passed Ranta, and turned. He got there.
Behind him.
He’d quickly get him with Backstab or Spider, and— “Missing!” Ranta shimmered and vanished.
No, he was using a particular moving style, one that made his opponent,
that was to say Haruhiro, hallucinate.
Left. From the left.
He came.
Immediately, Haruhiro caught Ranta’s RIPer with his stiletto. He was sure he’d be pushed back with Reject. Before that, Haruhiro jumped back to put distance between them.
Without missing a beat, Ranta closed in. As expected. If he avoided it any longer, Haruhiro was going to run out of breath first. He’d use Swat.
Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat.
Damn it! Ranta.
Each of his attacks are heavier than I thought.
“Weak! Weak! Weak! Weak, weak! What’s wrong?! Why’re you so feeble, huh?!”
Ugh. Shut up. You’re annoying. You’re just Ranta. Damn it, stupid Ranta.
It was compatibility. He knew his personality didn’t match Ranta’s, but he was an equally bad match for someone to fight. Ranta was the type that fought with agility, variation, and the number of moves he had available. Just like Haruhiro knew Ranta, Ranta knew Haruhiro, too, so it was close to impossible to get behind him in a one-on-one fight. If he couldn’t surprise him, couldn’t twist his joints backwards, and couldn’t move faster than him, how exactly was he supposed to win?
Maybe I can’t win...?
Lose, to Ranta?
Haruhiro was a thief. Thieves, unlike dread knights, were not combat specialists. They were ill-suited for straight-up fights to begin with. Even their equipment was light and thin. That was why it was going this way. Haruhiro was in no way inferior to Ranta. No, it didn’t matter who was better or worse. However, before worrying that he’d hate to lose to Ranta, or how he didn’t want to lose, there was the more practical problem that if he lost, it was over.
He had to win. He’d have to risk it all. Like he had when he’d defeated the orc at Fire Dragon Mountain. He had to accept that. If Ranta’s power was a ten, Haruhiro was a seven, maybe an eight at best. It wasn’t as bad as with the orc at Fire Dragon Mountain, but Ranta was stronger than Haruhiro. Even so, there were things he could do. He might end up battered and blue himself,
too, but—
This is okay, right? Haruhiro thought. Ranta, you’re okay with this? You know, right? I can’t hold back, okay?
How Haruhiro had beaten down the orc at Fire Dragon Mountain was something Ranta hadn’t seen. That meant he hadn’t seen Haruhiro giving it absolutely everything he had. Ranta wouldn’t be able to deal with that.
Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat.
With each time he used Swat, his senses sharpened. Ranta took a big swing with RIPer. It was deliberate.
Haruhiro wouldn’t go for that bait. Not yet. It wasn’t time yet. Haruhiro just used Swat.
“Heh!” Ranta laughed and used a light Exhaust. He jumped straight backwards to put distance between them. “Man, what are you trying to do? Fine. Bring it. It won’t work on me. I’m gonna prove right here that, in the end, you can’t beat me!”
“Whatever. Just come at me, Ranta.” “You don’t have to tell me!”
Ranta lunged towards him with Leap Out. That stance was for Anger.
He’d chain from that stab into a combo. Haruhiro wouldn’t let him.
Assault.
Surpassing his limits, Haruhiro moved up with a speed that betrayed Ranta’s expectations.
RIPer’s sword point grazed Haruhiro’s left cheek. Using his knife with the hand guard, Haruhiro used Slap on Ranta’s left hand.
He slammed the pommel of his stiletto into Ranta’s helmeted forehead, sweeping his left leg out from under him with a trip.
Ranta fell on his backside. By that point, Haruhiro was already behind Ranta. He wasn’t thinking with his head. Even if he didn’t think, his body would move on its own.
He stabbed his stiletto into Ranta’s right shoulder. “Agh!” Ranta groaned and dropped RIPer.
While pulling his stiletto free, Haruhiro wrapped his left arm around Ranta’s neck. Even with the visor down, the helmet had holes for him to see
through. If he put the stiletto through there— If he put the stiletto through there—
If he did that— “Haru!” a voice cried.
Haruhiro pulled back his stiletto. “No...!”
Merry. She was standing up, and shouting.
“Haruhiro!” Ranta shook free from Haruhiro’s left arm. “You—” “Ur...” One of the orcs crumpled, holding his face.
It was an arrow.
The orc’s face had taken an arrow, probably in the eye.
“Huh?!” Takasagi drew his katana, knocking something out of the air.
That something was an arrow. Someone was firing arrows from somewhere.
Haruhiro dashed. Whoever it was, whatever their objective, it didn’t matter. For now, something had happened. Thanks to that, a one-in-a- thousand chance had come his way.
Merry was already running, too. Haruhiro soon caught up with her.
“Dammiiiiit! Haruhiroooo! Merryyyyy!” Ranta’s shouts grew more distant by the second.
What about the others? Were they giving chase? Even if they did, Haruhiro would shake them off.
Haruhiro ran, only continuing to sense the presence of Merry beside him.
His body felt heavy due to the feeling of lethargy that was a side effect of Assault. What was a little heaviness? It wouldn’t kill him.
The next thing he knew, the fog had gotten thicker. Even though he couldn’t see the sun, and he’d lost all sense of direction, Haruhiro didn’t stop. North. He knew he should be heading roughly north.
They probably didn’t have any pursuers. At least, he didn’t think any were nearby.
“You owe me, junior.” Shockingly, there was a voice. Haruhiro hadn’t been able to count on his own detection abilities. Although part of that was he’d been up against a tough opponent.
Haruhiro stopped and looked around the area. “...Kuro-san?”
A tree to the left shook, and there was a rustling of leaves. When he
looked up, Kuro was sitting on a branch.
“Moyugi told me to do it, see. He said to go help you out. Feel free to be grateful, okay?”
“Well, of course I’m grateful,” Haruhiro said. “Earlier, that was you, Kuro-san?”
“...Who?” Merry squared off against him while her shoulders heaved with each breath.
“Ohh—He’s in the Day Breakers... Basically, that makes him our ally, or our comrade, you could say.”
“I’m the guy who saved your life, yeah? If you want to make it simple.” “I... suppose you are,” Haruhiro sighed, shaking his head right away.
This was no good. He felt like he was going to relax. It was too soon to let the tension out now.
“...How are Rock and the others?”
“Dunno. Well, I’m sure they’re doing fine. It all went according to Moyugi’s plan, like always.” Kuro put a hand on the branch, hung down from it, and dropped to the ground with an, “Oof.” Then he yawned and stretched. “All right. Well, later then, junior.”
“...Huh? Where are you going?”
“I’ve worked a little too much today. I’m gonna go get some sleep somewhere. I’m tired, after all. Oh, yeah. You guys were planning to meet up at that cave, right?” Kuro pointed ahead and to the right. “It’s thataway.
Maybe six kilometers from here. Well, there you have it, bye.” “...Okay.”
Kuro waved to them, then disappeared into the fog. They might have been able to stop him and ask for directions, but Haruhiro didn’t feel like it. He didn’t just not feel like it; he didn’t feel like much of anything.
His hands trembled a little. His feet wouldn’t move.
What was he standing around in a daze for? Well, no, he wasn’t in a daze. So what?
“Haru, are you okay?”
He felt Merry’s hand on his back.
Haruhiro nodded. Giving her that nod was the best he could manage.
Would Haruhiro have killed Ranta if Merry hadn’t stopped him? In the end, he might not have been able to. Or he might have done it.
Had Ranta meant to kill Haruhiro?
It felt like it, but he might have been planning to show mercy at the very end.
Either way, Haruhiro had wounded Ranta with his stiletto. That hadn’t been a scratch. It had been a fairly deep wound. If not treated properly, it was entirely possible it would develop into something really bad. It was a serious wound. That wasn’t something you gave to a comrade.
Haruhiro wanted to squat down. If he lowered himself down, surely Merry would cheer him up. She’d comfort him. She might even embrace him.
Haruhiro wanted those things. To be honest, he wanted them badly. But he couldn’t do it.
He didn’t want to indulge in Merry’s kindness. It wasn’t appropriate for Haruhiro to do that. He didn’t have the right.
Obviously, he couldn’t forgive Ranta. No matter what happened to Ranta, he deserved it. Even so, at least for the moment, he wasn’t ready to forgive what he had done with his own hands, and wasn’t willing to forgive himself.
He didn’t want to accept it. That Ranta was no longer their comrade.
I think I’ll write about anime. I’d like to have this written down somewhere, so I’ll write it here.
I’ve lived over ten years as a novelist, and taking a quick count, I’ve put out over 80 volumes, but Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is my first series to be turned into an anime. It might be my first and my last. Honestly, I was half- convinced it was something I wouldn’t experience in my lifetime as a novelist. I figured if I could live and die as a novelist, that wouldn’t matter to me one bit.
That said, I had imagined it before, if it did happen for me, how I would feel, and what I would think. I was sure I’d be happy and, as it’s common to say, I was sure I might think it was a tasty proposition. I might feel gratified that, after XX hard years of struggle, I was finally being recognized, so take that. I haven’t exactly walked a flat road to get here, so I figured it might be a moving experience for me, too.
But, really, I was sure it would be a complicated feeling. Novels are, at least in my case, something where I create the main text myself from the ground up. Now that’s going out of my hands. Others will be involved.
They’ll have their interpretations, and it will be expressed in a different way. It’s going to become something different.
I might, for instance, have feelings like these about some parts. Like, What were you thinking?
Or like, No, not like that, it’s like this.
Or like, What? You just don’t get it. Ugh, you’re making me mad now.
Well, there’s no helping it, I guess. I mean, I am an adult, after all. I’m writing novels, but I’m still a member of society. It’s fine. Yes, yes. Even if I’m not satisfied, I can pretend I am. Well, what does it matter? You’re all doing your best. Things are different for everyone, after all. I’m sure this is just how it is. I’ll digest it, and accept it.
While I can’t claim not to have a strong ego, everyone, it’s impossible not to have one, at least to some degree. Even if I do have one, I won’t let it
show, and I’ll handle things cleverly. I’m an adult, after all.
Well, once the production of the anime Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash began, I was surprised. I didn’t fall into that complicated emotional state at all.
In fact, the more I met with Director Ryosuke Nakamura, character designer Mieko Hosoi, the producers, and all the other staff, and the more I saw the scripts, design drawings, setting drawings, and storyboards, the more purely I found myself just looking forward to the anime. I could barely contain myself.
In the first meeting, I recall saying that they were free to change anything, in any way, for the sake of the anime adaptation. The most important thing was for it to be interesting as an anime, so I wanted them to not hesitate and to do all the things that needed to be done for that.
Director Nakamura immediately rejected this. I recall him saying that, even in the anime, they intended to depict the story of Haruhiro and the others in a way that followed the novel. Rude as this is for me to say, I really got the sense that he had read the novel Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash. The structure, the images, seeing various bits and pieces... I thought I could trust him completely, presumptuous as that is of me to say.
However, in fact, it was more than that.
Every time the production moved forward, I found myself captured by a strange feeling. Why did these people know so much about Grimgar? I mean, it was a novel I’d written, you know? I, obviously, understood it entirely.
Well, there were some bits that hadn’t even been written down, so I understood 120% of it.
What’s this? These people understand as much as I do? That’s strange.
Do things like this happen?
While sitting in on the first recording session, I felt that feeling expand even more. In front of these voice actors who would portray the characters, there was Director Nakamura, who could perfectly put what Grimgar was into clear words better than I could, and who could describe it richly.
I had my chance to greet them, and though I’m an adult, a member of society, I was embarrassed that I could only say silly things. Then, finally, the voice actors performed.
Performed? Acted? No, no, this was Haruhiro. Haruhiro was there.
Manato was there. Yume, Shihoru, Moguzo, Britney, Barbara-sensei, and
Renji were all talking. There were goblins!
When I heard Nobunaga Shimazaki who plays Manato, Mikako Komatsu who plays Yume, Haruka Terui who plays Shihoru, and Chika Anzai who plays Merry on internet radio and Niconama speaking about it, sometimes with passion, other times with cheer, and other times with tears, I would fall out of my chair laughing, or sometimes cry a little. Especially when it came to Manato, considering that he leaves the story early, I, in my amateur estimation, felt it must have been a difficult role.
But Nobunaga really was Manato. Nobunaga even looks the part of Manato. Having written novels for a reasonably long time, this was my first time feeling this way, but I wished Manato could have lived longer. Seeing Nobunaga’s Manato, hearing him, I couldn’t help myself but think that.
Novelists are isolated. In isolation, there is freedom. In order to truly take hold of that ability to gain freedom, a novelist must be isolated. That’s what I think, and that isn’t going to change. However, just for the time that I am touching the anime Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, I feel I may not be alone. It gives me the courage to be alone and write novels again.
I’ve run out of pages.
To Yusuke Kimura, who can fairly be said to have given birth to Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, to Eiri Shirai, to the designers of KOMEWORKS among others, to everyone involved in production and sales of this book, and finally to all of you people now holding this book, I offer my heartfelt appreciation and all of my love. Now, I lay down my pen for today.
I hope we will meet again.
Ao Jyumonji
Comentários
Postar um comentário