Grimgar vol9 pt 2

6.    If You Can Chase After it, it Isn’t a Dream

I won’t lose, Ranta thought furiously. Not to that damn wimp.

He shouldn’t have lost.

That was the first time the two of them had fought for real. He’d known they’d come to blows eventually... was one thing he absolutely could not say. He hadn’t even considered it. But, if it came to it, he’d known he’d win.

Ranta had been confident of that.

I mean, the guy’s a thief. Fighting’s not his specialty. I’m a dread knight.

“All is born from darkness, and to darkness will return. All who live, will equally be embraced by death.” This was the creed of the dread knights.

Conflict was the duty of those who followed the Dark God Skullhell, as was bringing death to the defeated. Every dread knight magical or fighting technique existed to that end. The lords had beaten other unique techniques that would bring death to their enemies, irrespective of the means they had to resort to, into the dread knights.

Only a servant of Skullhell could understand, but in abandoning morals and emotion, and sharpening the spirit, a dread knight reached a peak of purity. In that place, a battle was no longer battle, but something no different from breathing. Fight as you breathe, emerge victorious, and bring death.

This was the ideal for a dread knight.

There was no way that a dread knight like Ranta would come up short against a mere thief.

The fact was, Ranta had been toying with the thief. When he closed his eyes now, his senses from that time returned to him. The more that thief’s stiletto and dagger had clashed with Ranta’s RIPer, the more fired up he’d gotten.

The thief had known Ranta, so it wouldn’t have been easy to finish him with a single blow. Ranta had known that, too. However, because he thought he’d known that, Haruhiro had been surprised.

Is it this different? he’d been asking himself. Every time he’d sensed Haruhiro’s shock, Ranta had wanted to say, Have you learned your lesson?

He’d barely been able to hold it in.

Know your place, Haruhiro. In the end, you’re no match for me. You can’t beat me. Just accept it, and surrender.

Exhaust. Leap Out.

Then, Missing.

The movement-type dread knight skills weren’t just about footwork; they also involved shrinking, stretching, bending, and twisting the entire body. For Ranta, who was on the small side for a combatant or a dread knight, and whose athletic abilities weren’t significantly better than other people’s, movement skills were the main focus. Basically, if he couldn’t move, he couldn’t fight. If he stopped to trade blows, he was sure to lose.

He had to move. Just keep moving. The more he moved, the more victory came into sight.

That was why, in actual combat, he went around constantly using his movement skills, like he was an idiot and that was the only trick he knew. Even once he’d used them, and used them, and used them some more, he would still keep using them. If he didn’t go that far, Ranta the dread knight had no future. Ever since he’d learned Exhaust at the guild, Ranta had thought that. No matter what anyone said to him, he’d fought his battles with an excessive use of movement skills.

He did it to win.

This was the only path to becoming stronger.

You get that, Haruhiro? he thought furiously. I’m not like you.

I’m no leader, after all. Your job is keeping the party together. Even when you’re fighting, you need to keep tabs on everyone else, and control things.

I’m different. The one thing I have to do, more than anything else, is kill the enemy. I’ve gotta get stronger.

I’m a shrimp, but I’ve gotta get tough. Do you know how hard that is, Haruhiro?

I’m gonna get stronger and stronger. “I’m strong,” I tell myself. D’you

know what happens when I do? I hear it. That mocking laughter. “Hey now, come on, are you serious? Do you seriously, seriously,

seriously think that? Look around. Every one of these guys is bigger than you, and they swing around these huge weapons like they’re nothing. Even among the guys who enlisted at the same time as you, there are Renji and Ron. They’re on another level. How many centimeters did Moguzo have on you? There’s no closing that gap, you know? If Renji hit you with everything he has, Ranta, man, you’d die in one shot, wouldn’t you?”

The more seriously I think about it, the more I’m forced to think the gap is huge. Too huge.

“Don’t let it get me down”? That’s impossible, and you know it, don’t you? It’s normal for that to get me down. It’s easily enough to make a guy despair.

I mean, we aren’t playing around here, you know? Lives are on the line, okay?

“If I die, I’ll just be embraced by Skullhell”? Well, yeah. But you think I’m gonna be able to accept that? So easily?

I don’t wanna die.

If I die, that could be the end. I know that.

I’ve seen it.

The guys who died turned to ash, and now we’ll never see them again. I can’t die yet.

I mean, I’m not done yet.

“This is as far as I go, this is my limit, I can’t go any further”—I haven’t hit that point yet.

You get that, Haruhiro?

I’m not burned out yet. I’m not going to end here. Not me. That’s what I tell myself to get going, and I move forward. I’m not a pathetic, indecisive loser like you. Like, playing nice with our comrades? That’s dependency, and you know it. It’s relying on other people. If I do that, I’m gonna get weak.

Haruhiro. I’ve gotta be stronger than you. I’ve done everything I can to be that way, and I’m still doing it. That’s why I’m stronger than you.

Now’s a good chance, so let me teach you a lesson!

That had been his intent.

Haruhiro had been sure to go save Merry. Given the situation, Ranta had

known he’d probably do it alone.

Ranta had two options. Stop him, or don’t.

No, there’d been no choice. He’d had to stop him. Old man Takasagi would have surely noticed Haruhiro going on the move. And Takasagi had suspected Ranta.

Ranta hasn’t truly joined Forgan. He’s sure to try to make things easy for his comrades. That was what Takasagi had thought. So he would have been watching Ranta, and paying close attention to Haruhiro and the others, too.

Takasagi never missed a trick. If Haruhiro’d moved, Takasagi would’ve been guaranteed to detect it.

Ranta had to stop him. He’d had to do it, on his own.

Naturally, he’d known Takasagi would come, too. He hadn’t trusted Ranta, after all. In fact, that was exactly how it’d gone.

Now that it had come to this, Ranta had known he couldn’t let Haruhiro go. He’d known how good Takasagi was. That old man was incredibly skilled. He only had one arm, and he only had one eye, but none of that even mattered. Even if Ranta, Haruhiro, and Kuzaku ganged up on him, they wouldn’t stand even a slim chance of winning. Even if Yume, Merry, and Shihoru the mage joined in, it would be dicey. Takasagi would kill Haruhiro easily.

We were comrades once, Ranta had said. I’ll do him the decency of killing him myself.

Saying it that way, Ranta had expected that Takasagi wouldn’t refuse.

Why? Because, judging by Takasagi’s personality, he’d want to test Ranta.

In a way, that might have been Takasagi’s weakness. Takasagi was too good. He was too perceptive, and could tell the clear difference in their skill levels. Takasagi knew Ranta was beneath him. He was a kid. Not worth fighting. Because of that, Takasagi had thought he could take care of Ranta any time he needed to. He hadn’t really been looking down on him. It’d been an accurate assessment of reality. So that was the one opening Ranta had to work with, that Takasagi would let Ranta do his thing, even while suspecting him.

If Ranta had turned out to be fully loyal to Forgan, good. If not—if Ranta had tried to betray Forgan—he would’ve been dealt with then.

In the end, Ranta had gotten into a one-on-one fight with Haruhiro. After that, he’d just had to win it. To beat Haruhiro down. Make him

surrender.

They won’t kill you, Haruhiro, he’d thought. There’s a path. A way to make this all work out.

I show you what I’m made of. Then, when you’re good and beaten, I’ll make a proposal. All you have to do is say, “Okay.” It’s simple.

Joining Forgan will solve everything. No, not just me joining. All of us. We’ll become members of Forgan. For now, there’s no need to think about whether that’ll be a permanent thing or not. Just join. Live with the orcs, the undead, the elves, and the other races here. Just once, try talking with Jumbo. You’ll shit yourselves. The man’s huge. Oh, I guess he’s an orc, not a man. Well, you’ll forget that in no time.

It’ll broaden your horizons. We don’t know a thing about Grimgar. You’ll realize that so bad it hurts. You’ll find out the human world is small, damn small. We became volunteer soldiers out of necessity, and we’ve been living that life, but I seriously question whether that’s okay. Did we choose this for ourselves? Weren’t we just forced to make that choice? Maybe we’re just being used, you know?

Haruhiro, I know you won’t believe this, but I’m wracking my brains, too.

I’ve thought about a whole lot in a short time. I want to tell you, and the others, what I’ve been thinking. I want you to hear me out. What do you all think?

Just because they’re orcs, does that make them our enemies? Sure, undead are creepy, but they can drink and party, too, you know? They sit shoulder-to-shoulder with comrades, telling stories. For me, if I set my mind to it, I think I could get by here. I want to talk it over properly, and hear what you guys have to think.

You especially, Haruhiro.

I want to hear what you think.

I mean, you mull things over forever. You’re not the type to decide on intuition. I won’t say we’re polar opposites, but we’re pretty different.

I hate you, and I bet the feeling is mutual. Frankly, we just don’t get along. Even after all this time working together, you and I aren’t friends. I can’t be your friend. If you weren’t doing a bang-up job as leader, I’d have ditched you long ago. That’s all you’re worth to me, after all.

I’m sure you see things differently than me, and you think things I never would. You think differently. In ways that irritate me. You say things that piss

me off.

That’s exactly why I wanted to show you this world. This is another world that exists. Even without going to another world like the Dusk Realm or Darunggar, there are worlds out there that we don’t know. With the long time we spent in Darunggar, don’t you think we could accept another side of Grimgar? Don’t you think we should?

Haruhiro, what do you think...?

“...Geh,” Ranta muttered. That ass.

Ranta pressed down on his right shoulder with his left hand.

He’d known that Haruhiro was going to pull something. If he hadn’t done something drastic, Haruhiro would’ve stood no chance of winning. He was normally cautious to the point of cowardice, but sometimes he could be bold.

What is he going to try? Ranta had wondered.

His most special of specialties, Backstab and Spider, had both been completely locked down. Keeping them locked down only required not letting Haruhiro get behind him, so that was easy for Ranta, with his superior mobility. He’d known that if he stayed on the lookout for that combo of Swat, Arrest, Shatter, Slap, Hitter, he could defend against it, too. Outside of that, any distractions or feinting maneuvers wouldn’t work on Ranta, who knew all of his tricks.

He’ll try to take us both down. Ranta had thought the possibility of that was high. Even if Haruhiro hadn’t tried something that would kill both of them, he might’ve sacrificed an arm to land a lethal blow on Ranta. It was exactly the sort of thing that guy would think to do.

Assault.

Ranta had known about it. Haruhiro didn’t use the skill often. It was too exhausting, and it required him being prepared to die with his opponent, so it was only a valid move in a limited number of circumstances. But Ranta had known he might try to bet it all on that.

He’d predicted it.

Haruhiro’s Assault had been beyond what Ranta had expected. He hadn’t calculated for that.

That momentary burst of speed. To be specific, the start of it. That was what had settled it.

No.

He settled it.

Haruhiro had decided this was the only way he could beat Ranta. He’d resolved himself to do it, and he’d bet on that one moment.

That had probably been all Haruhiro had. If Ranta had just lasted through it, he’d have won. There would’ve been no second attempt.

If Haruhiro tried it again, he’d be able to respond.

It was true, Ranta had lost. But if you asked which of them was stronger, it was still Ranta. Haruhiro would probably acknowledge that, too.

Ranta was stronger than Haruhiro, but he’d lost. Haruhiro had stolen the win from Ranta using a method that was so very like him.

“...Didn’t I know?” Ranta muttered. “That he’d pull something like that.

Why’d he manage to get me? Was I underestimating him?”

He’d had an elf shaman heal the shoulder that Haruhiro had stabbed with his stiletto. The wound was closed now. It couldn’t hurt, but there was a dull throbbing.

“Hey...” came a voice like a damp breeze.

Ranta’s eyes snapped open. Arnold was sitting across from him at the campfire.

Arnold, who was half-naked, was a type of undead called a double arm, and he should have had four arms, but one of his left ones was missing. His whole body was wrapped in blackish leather, so Ranta couldn’t see how bad the wounds were, but he had to be all beaten up.

From what Ranta had heard, so long as the undead didn’t leave their wounds open, they’d heal. That said, it wasn’t immediate. It would take some time. They could apparently stick another arm on, or something like that, too. However, it had to be held in place until it took, and—Ranta didn’t really know anything about how this worked, but there was an element of compatibility between the undead and the other creature’s body, so there were times when it wouldn’t take at all. In bad cases, the arm or leg would just hang there limply until it eventually rotted and fell off.

The undead were without life. That was why they wouldn’t die. Their bodies were not their own. They were based on other living creatures. The undead were markedly different from other living creatures. In fact, they weren’t living creatures at all.

I wonder what it’s like living as an undead... Well, not that they’re alive to begin with.

But it was hard to see them as anything other than alive.

He was probably being misled by his fixed preconceptions. If something moved like a living being, that meant it was alive. It has to be alive was what he’d decided in his head. However, he had the undead in front of him, and they didn’t fit into that classification.

“...Yo.” Ranta bowed his head a little. What sort of expression should he make?

Arnold had faced Rock, the head of the Typhoon Rocks, a group within the Day Breakers, one-on-one, and it had ended in a tie because Jumbo had put the match on hold. Ranta had only seen part of the fight, but it’d been an intense back and forth brawl, and either of them could have emerged victorious.

It had been guaranteed that that the match wouldn’t be decided until one, or perhaps both of them, died or was destroyed. Jumbo hadn’t liked that outcome.

Ranta didn’t really get it. Isn’t that what fights are like?

What did Arnold think about it? Was he satisfied?

“Hey there.” When Ranta finished wondering what to do, he ultimately settled on smiling. “Arnold-san.”

Arnold said, “Heh...” his face distorting slightly. It might have been a laugh. Then he threw the container in his right hand over to Ranta.

Ranta caught it. It wasn’t porcelain, or wood, or metal. The container was made of a material similar to leather, but it was awfully hard for that to be the case. It had a narrow mouth, and a stopper. He knew what was inside.

Alcohol. Though, sadly, he didn’t have a cup handy.

How much time had passed since sundown? Takasagi had apparently taken around half of Forgan to go chasing after the Rocks, Haruhiro, and the others. The other half that stayed with Jumbo were resting in this general area, or they were around the fire having a good time.

Ranta had built the campfire in front of him by himself. The elf shaman who’d treated him and a number of others had called out to him, but Ranta hadn’t even given them a proper response. He hadn’t known what they were saying, and he wasn’t in the mood to wildly gesticulate in an attempt to get his intention across. Honestly, please, just leave me alone, was his attitude right now.

“Aw...” While holding the container in his right hand, Ranta shook his left hand, indicating to Arnold that he had no cup.

“Dwin,” Arnold said, gesturing with his chin. Just drink it already, was what that apparently meant.

“Don’t mind if I do, then.” Ranta uncorked the container and drank directly from it. When he tilted it back, the dry liquor with just the right amount of sourness poured down his throat. “...Yeah. This is good stuff. I like it.”

Arnold said, “Gimme to me...” and bent one finger.

Once Ranta put the stopper back in and tossed the container over, Arnold took a drink, too, and chuckled.

His eyes are totally dead, though.

There was no life in Arnold’s eyes. It still felt bizarre to see an undead drinking, eating, and laughing. But it didn’t surprise him anymore. More than that, when Arnold was considerate like this, he found it calming, if strange.

What is this? he wondered. Huh, Haruhiro? Would you guys feel this way, too? Or is it just me?

He’d wanted to find that out, to know.

If Haruhiro and the others felt similarly to Ranta, it might mean there was something here that the human society in Alterna lacked.

But what if they didn’t?

What if Ranta were the only one to feel this strange sense of calm?

It’d mean I was different, of course. It’d mean the place where you guys are isn’t for me. Because I spent all that time in a place where I didn’t belong, I always felt irritated, and unable to settle down. Is that what it’d mean?

Ranta had started to think he couldn’t be friends with his comrades. He was probably right. It required mutual understanding. But they didn’t have to be buddy-buddy. No, it was the opposite. It was best if they weren’t. Instead of being clingy, they should keep an appropriate distance. That way, they could fight about what they were thinking. Hating one and other was just fine.

Ranta hung his head. But was it really like that from the beginning...? “Ranta-kun,” Moguzo had said.

He had such a great look on his face then. It was a long time ago now, but I remember it so well.

“Someday, let’s do it. Open a restaurant.” Moguzo...

No doubt about it, he’d been serious about that. Damn straight. Even if the whole world got turned upside down, Moguzo wasn’t the sort of guy who’d say a thing he didn’t mean.

He hadn’t been just a comrade. He’d been a partner.

Was Ranta scared? Of losing someone again? Was that why he didn’t want to get close to the others?

Thinking about it, back when Moguzo’d been alive, for all their bickering, the three guys had hung out together a lot. Ever since Moguzo had died, unless Ranta had some business with the others, when he’d wanted to drink, he’d gone out by himself.

It hadn’t been a conscious decision. He’d probably been distancing himself from his comrades on an unconscious level. It hadn’t caused any particular problems.

It’s not like I need friends, you know?

Was that true?

It would be fine to have people he could open up to. Didn’t he want them? Still hanging his head, Ranta stretched his right hand out in front of him.

He heard Arnold standing up.

Arnold approached, and put the container of alcohol in Ranta’s hand.

Ranta knocked the container back and gulped down its contents.

It stung.

“Heh...” Arnold laughed, but not to mock Ranta. He wasn’t the type to do that.

Haruhiro. Why didn’t you just go down quietly for me...?

I had to do that. Yeah, I was serious. I went at it hard enough that I might’ve killed you. Damn straight I did. If I didn’t, Takasagi might’ve finished me. Besides—you aren’t who you used to be, either. If I don’t go all out, I can’t beat you.

But, man, you know there’s no way I’d kill you, right?

We may not be friends, but we’re comrades, okay? You understand that much, don’t you? You’re supposed to be Haruhiro, but you couldn’t read what I was thinking? We’ve been together all this time, so why didn’t you get it...? Then, to top it all off—

You tried to kill me, didn’t you?

If Merry hadn’t stopped you, man, you might’ve killed me, huh? That means—yeah, you don’t trust me.

Not that I’m disappointed. It’s just an, “Oh, yeah, that figures.” It’s nothing. That’s all we were, in the end.

I just feel a little pathetic, that’s all. That I tried to put my trust in someone who doesn’t even trust me. I was an idiot. A total idiot.

“Hey...” Ranta muttered.

He’d only drunk from the container twice, but he could already feel the alcohol taking its effect. Arnold had already returned to the opposite side of the fire and sat down.

Ranta smiled to him. “Arnold.”

Even when he addressed him without an honorific, Arnold didn’t seem offended in the least. He looked at Ranta with those dead eyes, as if to say, What is it?

Ranta didn’t fully understand what it was he was trying to do, or what it was he wanted. “O darkness—” He started to chant, then, Oh, right, he realized. He might be trying to reveal himself. He might be planning to open up, to have a heart-to-heart. That might be something that he wanted.

“Heya,” Takasagi broke in.

If the guy hadn’t suddenly appeared, Ranta probably would have summoned Zodiac-kun. Why had he not used Demon Call even once since joining Forgan?

Because he hadn’t felt like it. He hadn’t had the opportunity. If you said that, then that was all there was to it, but there had likely been an element of fear involved, too.

The nature of a dread knight’s demon was difficult to explain succinctly. They weren’t what you would call a familiar, but they weren’t a part of the dread knight, either. Demons were unquestionably sentient. They had a will of their own, too. They wouldn’t appear unless called by their dread knight, and they were bound tightly to their summoner, but they were independent, in a way, too. The dread knight couldn’t control the demon. They couldn’t move them about at will, but the dread knight was connected to their demon.

The demon grew, or changed, as the dread knight accrued vice, and the way they developed was up to the dread knight. Furthermore, that growth and change was irreversible. There was no turning back. A dread knight couldn’t remake their demon, and they couldn’t cast it away. The precepts stated that a dread knight’s devotion to the Dark God Skullhell lasted a lifetime. The demon would be with the dread knight until they were embraced by Skullhell.

The demon was their partner of the journey towards their inevitable death.

From experience, Ranta knew. A dread knight couldn’t deceive their demon. Even if he could lie to himself, his demon would never be tricked.

Ranta’s demon, Zodiac-kun, was very different from him. It was said that most demons didn’t resemble their dread knights. It was apparently common for male dread knights to end up with female demons. There were cases where burly muscle men had little puppy-like demons serving them, too.

Despite that, the demon really did reflect their dread knight.

If he called Zodiac-kun, how would the demon act? Ranta had no idea, and that was scary.

The uninhibited Zodiac-kun might hit him where it hurt. Ranta might let how he really felt slip when he was with Zodiac-kun. Zodiac-kun might spill Ranta’s real emotions, which even he himself was unaware of.

There was also the reason that he didn’t want to go out of his way to reveal that he was a dread knight. He was hiding his Skullhell necklace, and the armor he had been using didn’t have a brand that stood out, so it wasn’t apparent from his appearance. Though, that said, Takasagi might’ve discerned it from his fighting style. Ranta never knew what might happen, or when, so he didn’t want to tip his cards. More than that, though, he didn’t want to give away what was in his heart.

With an “Oof...” Takasagi sat down next to Ranta, bending his head left, then right. His joints cracked.

When Ranta handed over Arnold’s alcohol like it was no big deal, Takasagi said, “Oh, thanks,” and took a swig.

“...So, you were back,” said Ranta.

“Just now. I just got in.” Takasagi scowled and clicked his tongue. “No luck, I’m afraid. Worse yet, Onsa’s not coming back. I’d like to think they can’t have taken him out, though.”

“That’s—” Ranta rubbed his nose.

The words wouldn’t come to him. What am I thinking?

No luck. That meant the others hadn’t been killed, or captured. Assuming Takasagi wasn’t lying to him.

He couldn’t be sure about that. Takasagi was probably capable of being as underhanded as he had to, and wouldn’t hesitate to resort to deceit or anything else. Furthermore, he didn’t trust Ranta. Takasagi might be dropping hints about Haruhiro and the others’ fates to see how Ranta would

react. That was entirely possible. If so, he was best not to show too much interest.

Maybe he should show concern for Onsa, who hadn’t come back? That seemed too forced.

Ranta sniffled without a word, and shrugged.

“The Rocks, was it?” Takasagi threw the container of alcohol over to Arnold, then pulled his pipe out of his pocket. “They’re pretty good. Ranta, your comrades still have a ways to go, but they may be surprisingly stubborn.”

“Former comrades, you mean.”

“You’re not completely without compassion for them, surely.” “For guys who tried to kill me?” Ranta shot back.

“What, are you sulking about that?”

“I’m not—” Ranta narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Takasagi. “Huh?” “That thief.” Takasagi filled his pipe with ground tobacco. “He could have

killed you, but chose not to. That’s how it looked to me.” “...I dunno about that.”

“You have the cheek to resent him?” Takasagi took a burning branch from the fire, and lit his pipe. “To him, you’re the traitor. You’ve got no place to resent him, have you?”

“Don’t be silly. I don’t resent him.” Ranta nearly raised his voice, but he just managed to restrain himself. “There’s no way I would.”

Takasagi blew smoke. “It’s a shame your plan didn’t work out, Ranta.” Ranta’s heart went cold. Had Takasagi seen through him? If so, how far?

Or was he just acting like he knew something? Takasagi was trying to shake Ranta up. To tear off his disguise?

Though, if he wasn’t wearing a disguise, it couldn’t be torn off. He’d thought he was wearing one, but maybe he’d been naked all along. What if he were wearing another disguise beneath the disguise?

Honestly, Ranta wanted to know the answer myself.

How do I really feel...?

“Things never go as planned. That’s life.” Ranta forced himself to let out a nasal laugh. “That’s what makes it fun.”

“You act like you’re so experienced.” “What, has your life gone as planned, then?”

“Mine?” Takasagi took a puff from his pipe, then another, then, phew, he

blew smoke and emptied the ashes out of the pipe bowl. “Well...”

When, and how, had this middle-aged man lost his left eye and right arm?

He said he’d once been a volunteer soldier. Why was he in Forgan now? Would there come a day where he’d be able to hear Takasagi’s story, from the man’s own lips?

“Old man,” said Ranta. “Huh?”

“Me, I want to get stronger.”

He’d thought he might get laughed at for saying this. But Takasagi merely snorted and said, “And?” indicating he should continue.

“Do you understand? ...Well, not that I need you to. I wanna get strong. I’m sure you know this, but damn, I’m weak. Even this is better than I was before, though, you know? Still, I’ve got a long way to go. I dunno how to say it, but living when you’re weak, you wouldn’t understand, but... It’s tough. You’ve gotta give up on all these things. It’s lame.”

“Listen, Ranta,” said Takasagi. “Yeah?”

“You may have trouble imagining this because you’re young, but even an old man like me was young once. While I had both my eyes and arms back then, I lacked skill with the sword.”

“...I’m sure you did, yeah, but I can’t imagine it.”

“As far as I know, only a handful of geniuses are able to get strong without seeking strength for themselves. Our boss, for instance. I’m not like that. Even if there were ten of you, you couldn’t beat me the way I am now. But the me of ten years ago, you could.”

“You’ve gotten stronger.”

“It’s like you said, Ranta. It’s tough being weak. It narrows your path.” “...It’s suffocating.”

“Strength doesn’t only come in one variety, though.”

“There’re lots of types of strength.” Ranta nodded. “Even I understand that. Vaguely. But what I want is to be able to fight earnestly, and not lose. That sort of easy-to-understand strength.”

“There’s always someone above you,” said Takasagi.

“I know that... I know so bad that it hurts. But if I don’t have enough room that I can stand up without hitting my head. That’s tough.”

“There’s too much that you’re lacking.”

“I don’t have the height, after all.”

“Even with that, those who are strong are still strong.” “You’re saying I lack talent, right? Basically.” “That’s right.”

“...You’re blunt about it.”

“I don’t lie when I don’t have to.”

“I know that already.” Ranta strained his neck, which had been about to droop down. “Everyone’s got a limit. But they’re not all the same. It’s different for all of us. There are guys who start at one and can go to ten, and there are guys who end up stuck at five. There are guys who start at ten and go to one hundred, too. For the guy stuck at five, no matter how he tries, he can’t even hit ten. The best he’ll do is a six, maybe a seven. That’s all he’s good for.”

“Listen, Ranta.” Takasagi started filling his pipe again. “Having gotten to my age, there’s something I think whenever I see younger folks. That’s, Don’t do things that are futile. Generally, you can’t see yourself. Even in a mirror, the image is distorted. There’s no helping that. If you live wanting for this and that, eventually you learn your place. Up until then, all you can do is struggle. If you bite it while struggling, well, that’s interesting in its own way. You have to take it as it is.”

“I’m not gonna bite it,” Ranta shot back. “I have no intention of learning my place, either.”

“I see guys like you sometimes.” Takasagi lit his pipe. “Morons, basically.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“You wanna get strong, Ranta?” “Yeah, I do.”

“Rahntah...” Arnold suddenly called his name, which surprised him.

When he looked over, Arnold was smiling with his gash-like maw.

When Ranta smiled back, Arnold let out a “Heheh...” and took a drink. “There’re a lot of morons out there.” Takasagi twisted his neck around as

he blew smoke. “They’re everywhere.”

“All right!” Ranta jumped to his feet. He bent his knees and stretched. He moved his shoulders up and down. He spun his arms in circles. His right shoulder didn’t hurt one bit. It was in great shape.

The fog in Thousand Valley was thin tonight. Almost nonexistent, you

could say.

Looking up to the night sky, he could see the red moon.

7.    Indulgence

Floating... and sinking. He would notice he was floating, then sink. Sink endlessly.

There was no bottom. None, anywhere.

He felt heavy. So heavy that he didn’t know what was weighing him down. Then... he’d get lighter.

Ah. This is bad... he thought. Huh? What is this? What’s... going on? It’s so... dark.

It was pitch black. And... he couldn’t move. Or maybe not?

It wasn’t like he couldn’t move his hands and feet. But somehow... it felt cramped.

Was he sleeping? Was he lying down somewhere? No.

Obviously, he wasn’t standing, either.

His body was at an angle. His head was below his feet. It was like... he was wedged in somewhere? Or something like that?

It felt like a bad idea to call out.

Why?

Enemies.

That was right.

He’d be in a bad spot if the enemy found him. But who was the enemy? What were they again?

I...

What was I doing?

Nothing, really.

I took a shower, dried my hair, and then was watching TV when Big Sis said something to me, and I was like, “Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

Then I went to my room, lazed around checking my smartphone, and got a call from Yukki saying, “I can’t head out after this,” or something like that.

I was like, “It’s fine! You can, you can.”

Big Sis was still nagging me. When I said, “Who do you think you are?

You’re not my mom,” she came back at me with, “We don’t have parents, so I’m the one who has to say it!”

When did I ever ask for this? I didn’t, did I? Frankly, I don’t need it.

“Cut it out.”

“What? You’re saying I’m annoying?” she demanded. “Well, to be honest, yeah, you’re annoying.”

“Well, then try getting your act together.” “No, I’m acting normal.”

“In what way?” “On the whole?”

“You’re taller than anyone, so I can’t stand to see you acting so irresponsible.”

“I’m not being irresponsible.”

“You so are. No matter how I look at you, you’re acting irresponsible.” “No one’s ever said that to me. Only you, okay?”

“Don’t take that tone with me.” “Yeah, yeah.”

“Honestly, you get me so ticked off.”

“Isn’t it exhausting, getting ticked off over every little thing?” “It is exhausting. Isn’t that obvious? Don’t wear me out.” “Then why don’t you just leave me alone?”

“That’s not going to work, and you know it.” “It’ll work, seriously. I’m fine.”

“Says the guy who can’t even feed himself properly.” “I can eat. If I wasn’t eating, I wouldn’t be so tall.” “Like, seriously,” she muttered.

Big Sis was tiny. It wasn’t just that she was just small compared to me. She was under 160 centimeters (155, I thought it was), so I was pretty sure she was small even for a woman. That was why, when we were facing each other like this, Big Sis looked up at me. She was forced to turn her face way

up.

Big Sis wasn’t just short; she was like a little animal. You could see it in

things like how her head was small, even though she was short, but her eyes were big and dark, and her mouth was tiny. Or her hair, that she cut sometimes, and grew out at other times. Or the way her mood changed easily. Or the way she was pretty thin, but her skin was squishy.

She was my Big Sis, and there was nothing else she could have been, but she didn’t look like a big sis. It might’ve been different a long time ago, but if people were to see me walking with Big Sis now, not many would think we were brother and sister. Not that it really mattered, but we didn’t look like we were brother and sister.

“You’ve sure grown,” Big Sis said. “What’re you getting all sappy for?”

“Well, Mom, she was big. So I always thought you’d grow. People say it, don’t they? That if a boy’s mother is big, he’s going to be big, too.”

“Ohh. Yeah, they do. I’ve heard that from Aunt Yasuko repeatedly.” “But I never thought you’d get this big.”

“It’s not like I’m the one who decided on it. I was always telling my body to stop. You’re probably fine up until about 182 centimeters. But any more than that, and you start hitting your head all over the place in this country.”

“182? Why so precise?”

“Well, my friend says anyone 183 and over hits their head, no exceptions.

If you’re under 182, that’s not the case.” “Your friends are like giants, after all.”

“I know a lot of them are big because I used to play basketball, but some of them are small, too.”

“Are you going out?” she asked. “Yeah.”

“You delinquent.”

Big Sis always puffed her cheeks up like a little kid when she got angry. That was another way she wasn’t like a big sis. But this big sis who wasn’t like a big sis had gotten herself into a good company, was working hard, and was making money. She always wore a camisole and short pants around the house, like she was now, but when she went to work, she wore a suit. She’d tie her hair up, too.

I pinched Big Sis’s cheeks and pulled on them.

“Hey!” Big Sis cried, brushing my hands away. “Stop that!” “Yeah, yeah.”

“Geez!”

“Well, I’m off,” I said. “You go to sleep, Big Sis.”

“Of course I’m going to go to sleep,” she retorted. “I have work tomorrow.”

“Keep at it.”

“You tick me off so bad!”

I left the house. When I closed the door, the hallway in our apartment building were awfully quiet. I didn’t like this sort of silence, where it felt like I had something plugging my ears.

Before Mom died, I was at the hospital for days. I’d been told it was against regulations or something to stay overnight, but when I laid down in the hall, or on the couch in the waiting room, the nurses on the night shift didn’t complain. In fact, they even talked to me sometimes. There were clearly people in the hospital at night, but unless something happened, it was strangely quiet, and I couldn’t take that.

I should’ve gone home, but I felt obligated not to, like it was my duty to stay in the hospital. I worried that if I left, Mom might die. I had no reason to think she would, but that was how it felt.

At the same time, though, I didn’t want to be there when Mom took her last breath. It was unpleasant watching her gradually die. I knew she would die eventually, but I didn’t want to accept it. The sadness had long since passed.

Mom hadn’t just been sickly to begin with; she’d also been through several operations for cancer. When I was a kid, I’d cried every time, but I was long past that.

I hated the hospital, but for some reason, I couldn’t leave it. Big Sis went to school up until the day Mom died.

It finally started looking bad, and the nurse told me I should call my dad and big sister, so I phoned them both. Neither answered, so I called Dad’s company and Big Sis’s school. Big Sis came immediately, but Dad said on the phone that he might take a while.

I calmly thought, Well, it’s noon, so he’s probably not with his mistress.

Must be work.

My dad had a mistress he’d been seeing forever. I knew, Big Sis knew, and Mom knew, too.

Just once, I’d said to my father, “I’m amazed you could just leave her like that, and find yourself another woman.”

Instead of snapping at me, he’d calmly said, “I doubt you understand, and I don’t expect you to, but if I didn’t do something like this, I couldn’t keep things in balance.”

In the end, Dad made it in time, but Mom had lost consciousness well before her heart stopped, so it didn’t make much difference. Big Sis was crying like a baby, and Dad sobbed a little, too.

I couldn’t cry.

The silent hall I stood in now took me back to how I’d felt then. In a word: miserable. It had felt unpleasant being there, and I just wanted it to end already.

I walked down the hall quickly, and got in the elevator. Inside the elevator, I checked my smartphone, and then—

Then what...? “...Huh?”

What was it?

There was something bothering him.

No, there was nothing bothering him. There had been something there.

There should have been, but there was nothing. It had vanished. “Big Sis... I... Wait, huh?”

Big Sis.

Had he just said “Big Sis”? If he’d been saying “Big Sis,” he had to be talking about a big sister. A big sister.

He had a big sister? He had a vague sense that he’d had a sibling. But even when he thought about it, he didn’t know if it was a big sister or a big brother that he’d had, and he obviously couldn’t remember them.

Had he had a big sister? He had called her Big Sis. “...It doesn’t feel real,” Kuzaku murmured.

Whatever the case, there was one thing that was certain. Forget a Big Sis; he didn’t even have comrades here. It was just him.

Also, he didn’t know where “here” was. Why was he in this dark,

cramped place alone?

Think, he told himself. If he couldn’t even remember that, he had it pretty bad.

His head hurt. If he moved it even a little, it ached. It wasn’t just his head.

His neck hurt, too. He was still wearing his helmet. He hadn’t taken it off.

He’d been running.

Right. He was still in the middle of running away from Forgan. Just what had happened?

He didn’t know. When he’d come to, he’d been like this. Anyway, he needed to get out.

Get out.

Of this place.

Could he get out? How?

First... Yeah, first... the situation. He had to get a grasp on the situation.

Haruhiro was always saying that.

It was dark, so he’d have to feel around to figure out what was what.

Kuzaku tried to do that, and he was shocked.

He was empty-handed. No sword, no shield. “...Seriously?”

This was the worst. He wanted someone to help him. But it wasn’t going to happen. No one would save him. He was alone.

After his original party had been wiped out, he had been alone in Alterna for days. But that was Alterna. There’d been people around. He chased Haruhiro around, too. Basically, he’d wanted someone to save him. Who was he going to turn to help now, though?

Things were completely different this time. There was no one here. Kuzaku had probably been here for a good amount of time. Maybe Haruhiro and the others were looking for him, and just couldn’t find him.

If he stayed put here, they’d find him eventually. No, that line of thinking was probably far too optimistic.

There was an earthy smell, but it wasn’t the same as dirt. It seemed damp near his left hand.

The area near his right hand was dry, more of a curved wall than a sheer cliff. The incline on his left was fairly steep, but that didn’t mean it was totally unclimbable... or was it? He couldn’t say without trying.

I’ll try it, I guess, he thought. I have to do it.

First, he turned his body around, getting his head facing upwards. Then he started slowly clambering up the steep slope.

He came close to giving up several times. Every few minutes, no, every ten seconds, he would think, I can’t take any more, I hate this, it’s over, I want to stop, fine, I’ll die, somebody kill me, and a whole lot of other things, but so what?

Alas, when there was no one to save him, getting dejected and desperate only made him feel empty. It was fine if someone would comfort him when he cried, but when there wasn’t the remotest possibility of that, he couldn’t even find the willpower to cry.

Kuzaku had no will to try harder. He just wanted to run away from the difficulty, the pain, the loneliness, the uncertainty, and the fear. He wanted to be released.

He knew he was near the outside. The air here was different. The cold, moist air was flowing in from up above.

Once he crawled out, he lay on his back facing up for a while. “...Wait, I’m alive, right?”

The sky was studded with countless stars.

They were so clear it felt like he should be able to reach out and grab them, but they weren’t bright in the slightest.

Dark.

This world was endlessly dark, and it weighed heavily on Kuzaku. He found it suffocating. But he only felt suffocated by it; his actual breathing wasn’t impacted much. He hurt all over, but he wouldn’t be dying immediately, at least.

He stood up and tried to remove his helmet. His neck hurt when he bent it.

He didn’t feel dizzy or nauseous. He felt much better without the helmet on, so he decided to carry it under his arm.

He stood up and tried walking around. There were no trees nearby. It looked like an open area. It wasn’t very grassy, and was more or less level.

It seemed Kuzaku had fallen into a rift and lost consciousness. It wouldn’t be funny if he fell into another, so he’d have to watch out.

His current location was unclear. He had no idea where it was. He’d even lost the weapon with which he protected himself. The situation was nothing if not terrible.

“...What now?”

No one was going to tell him. He had to think for himself, and act on his own.

“Well, I’ll manage... is something I’m gonna have a hard time thinking.

Yeah.”

Despite that, Kuzaku was trying to walk forward. He could hear the chirping of insects and birds. He didn’t know the reason why, but he hated when things were so silent that it felt like his ears had been plugged.

This darkness wasn’t that quiet. That alone made it much better than that hole.

8.    Not Weird

His left foreleg was probably broken, or he had some similar injury. That was why Garo was keeping his left foreleg raised, and was trying to avoid it touching the ground.

Because he was in that state, Garo couldn’t climb slopes, so they could only go along the flat areas. Onsa was using a branch he picked up as a walking stick, too. He seemed to be hurt somewhere.

Yume was the only one who was fine—or at least, that was what she’d have liked to say, but she was pretty tuckered out. It also seemed she’d cut herself on something sharp while sliding, and she had gouges on her right arm, left leg, and left side. However, none of them were that serious. Or so she’d thought, but it looked like they were festering.

She was sure she had a fever.

Yume had decided that if Garo and Onsa tried to rest, she would sit down and catch her breath, too. It wasn’t like they had talked it over and decided to travel together, and they couldn’t understand each other when they talked to begin with. But, as far as Yume was concerned, if they weren’t going to fight, there was no need to split up. It was obvious that two people was better than one, and two people and one wolf was better still.

If Yume took a rest, what would Onsa and Garo do? Would they leave her behind? She didn’t want to be left alone.

It was something she just had a vague sense of, but Yume thought Onsa and Garo felt the same as her. So she might be surprised to find Onsa and Garo would stop for her, too. She couldn’t be sure.

It’s high time for Garon or Onsan to be restin’, too.

If they would, then Yume could take a break without worries. Where was this place?

It’d been a while since the sun had gone down.

Onsa and Garo’s steps were faltering, but they showed no sign of hesitation. They probably knew the way. It was just that they could only go at a sluggish pace, so it was taking a while to get to their destination.

Where were Onsa and Garo headed? To their comrades’ place? “...Forgan, was it?” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but she

mumbled the words.

Onsa gave a low grunt. Was that a response?

Yume pressed her hands to both cheeks. It’s hard tellin’ if they’re hot or not. It is, but Yume’s feeling real fuzzy and woozy. What’s goin’ on?

“Hurmm...” she murmured.

Forgan, huh.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

What’ll happen if Yume goes to Forgan’s place? Feels like it might be not so good. Will Ranta be there, too?

Stupid Rantaaaa. But Haru-kun, he...

What’d Haru-kun do to Ranta again? What was it?

Yume can’t remember so well.

This could be tough... Yume thought, despite not wanting to, and almost stopped.

That was when it happened. Garo, who was up ahead, fell on his side. “Garo!” Onsa raced over to crouch at the wolf’s side.

Yume forgot all about her fever, and tried to run over to Garo, too.

Did she trip over herself? Or stumble over something else? She tried to recover, but she fell down.

Once she was down, it was hard to even raise her face. Before she knew it, her eyes ended up closed. It was too dark to see much of anything anyway. There was no need to strain herself.

Yume curled up into a ball, like Yume was some sort of larva. Doing this made her feel at ease.

“What’s that supposed to be? Are you trying to get a laugh out of people?” She remembered... someone saying that to her.

“That’s filthy. You’re all covered in mud.” “Nuh uh. It’s dirt, y’know.”

“Same difference.”

“Is not. They’re as different as water and ice.” “Water and ice’re the same, y’know.”

“Oh, that’s right.” “You’re hopeless.” “Oh, shove off.”

Those people sure like talking, she thought. Even after she’d gone out of her way to go into the bushes in the school yard, and curled up there...

How did they find Yume? Yume didn’t want to be found.

“Hey, you, aren’t you gonna come out?” a girl called. “You think she’s feelin’ intimidated?” another girl asked.

“Wow, that’s gross. You make it sound like we’ve been bullyin’ her or somethin’.”

“You’re a natural bully, after all, Hii-chan.”

“Hey, Kina, don’t go sayin’ stuff that makes me sound bad. What’re you gonna do if she takes it seriously?”

“But it’s true, y’know.”

“You, too, Rucchin? Don’t jump on her awful bandwagon.”

“You say that, but if someone thinks they’re bein’ bullied, then it’s bullyin’.”

“I told you, I’m not bullyin’ her!”

“You can sound harsh, Hii-chan. The way you speak.”

“Well, sure, Kansai dialect can sound harsh enough on its own, too.” “Sure, if you’re not a Native Kansaiberian.”

“What’s a Native Kansaiberian supposed to be? It’s too long!” “Native Kansanberian.”

“You’re not even sayin’ it right! You’re trippin’ over your own tongue!”

Yume tried staying curled up in a ball and ignoring them, but the three tried dragging her out. She flailed about and tried resisting, but it was no use.

“Ooh...” she moaned.

“Don’t you be groanin’ at us. Stayin’ in there all the time ain’t gonna do you no good. It makes no sense.”

“Y’think this girl is a space case?” another girl asked. “What’s a space case supposed to be?”

“Nah, I dunno.”

“You don’t?!”

“But this girl, she doesn’t talk all that much.” “What’s her name supposed to be again?” “XXX?”

“That’s her last name. I meant her first.” “She said it in her self-introduction, y’know.”

“Yeah, that’s why I was askin’ you. She doesn’t talk herself.” “Lessee... it was Yume, I think.”

“She really is a space case!” “How so?!”

“No, I don’t know either.” “You don’t?!”

“It’s Kina, after all.”

“Hey, Yume?” one girl asked.

“Your name’s Yume, right?” another added.

“...It’s Yume, yes,” Yume said. “Is that a problem?”

She’d responded because they were being so noisy, but they all went “Whoa!” and sounded taken aback.

“She’s totally speakin’ standard dialect!” “Whaddaya mean ‘standard dialect,’ Kina?”

“They call them Osaka dialect and Kyoto dialect, so why not call theirs a dialect, too?”

“Kina’s got a point.” “Fine, fine, I’m wrong.”

“You’re the straight man, Hii-chan. You can’t help it.” “Yep, yep.”

“You make no sense!”

You people make no sense. This was why Yume hadn’t wanted to move here. It was always like this.

She knew there was no helping it. It was because of her parents’ situation.

She’d resigned herself to it. It was like this every time. “Yume’s not a space case,” she said insistently. “Oh! She spoke again!”

“Well, yeah, she’s human, y’know.”

“Human? C’mon, Hii-chan, that’s a pretty basic thing to be callin’ me out on.”

It was kind of funny, and she mouthed their words back to herself, which only made it funnier, and she giggled. That made the three of them happy.

“What’re y’all so happy about?” Yume asked. She tried imitating the way they spoke around here, but the three of them clutched their sides laughing.

“Y’all, she said!”

“There’s a serious misunderstanding!” “What a weird girl!”

Yume doesn’t think she’s a weird girl, though. Yume gets called that a lot. Why?

What for?

Yume’s just acting normal.

And as time passed, she had some hesitation at first, and there were times when she had trouble fitting in, but it wasn’t as if she made no effort at all.

Yume’s not weird, Yume thought. She’s not.

“...Ungh.”

Yume opened her eyes and tried to get up. But her body felt awfully heavy, and she couldn’t lift it up at all.

There was a goblin looking down at her.

“...Onsan,” she whispered. Only an incredibly hoarse voice came out.

Onsa was staring at Yume with his light brown eyes. His goblin face had no real expression on it. What in the world was he thinking? Yume had no idea.

“Where’s Garon?” she asked.

Onsa gestured behind him with his chin. Garo was sitting right behind Onsa. With his left foreleg lifted a little, of course. But he looked to be in pretty good shape, even though she remembered him collapsing.

“Yume’s even more worn out, huh?” Yume pressed the back of her right hand to her forehead. It felt cold. Had her fever gone down?

The sky was just a little bright. “Did Yume sleep for a while?”

There was no response. Onsa was still scrutinizing Yume. “You were waitin’ for Yume, yeah?” she asked.

Onsa turned up the corners of his mouth and snorted.

“...Thanks. If you left her here, Yume’d have been perpexed about what to do. Huh...? It’s not perpexed, it’s purpluxed? No? Hm...”

“What a weird girl.”

She had the feeling someone had said that about her. When had that been, and who had said it?

She didn’t know. She couldn’t recall.

Or was it just a feeling she had?

“Well, sure, but Yume doesn’t think she’s weird,” Yume said.

Onsa shook his head side-to-side lightly, and clicked his tongue. Was he irritated? That didn’t seem to be it.

Onsa raised the palm of his right hand over here, waggling his fingers around. Though this was only Yume’s guess, Onsa had probably clicked his tongue to get her attention, and now he was trying to communicate something with gestures. Like, Get up. Or maybe, Can you get up?

Yume sat up fast. When she tried to stand, she stumbled. “Eek!”

If Onsa hadn’t reacted and supported her, Yume would probably have fallen over.

“...Ngh. Sorry about that, Onsan.”

“Kuh.” While still holding her up, Onsa turned to look away from Yume. “But, y’know, Yume, she might be doin’ better than she was before? You

two’re lookin’ good, too. Y’think it’s ’cause we got some good rest?” Onsa didn’t respond, but Garo sneezed.

“Oooh,” said Yume. “Wolves sneeze, too, huh. They would, huh. It’s just sneezin’, huh. They’re animals, too, huh. They’re alive, after all, huh?”

Garo tilted his head to the side, as if he was thinking, What is this human talking about? Maybe he just looked that way, though.

Yume let out a breath, nodded, “Okay!” and patted Onsa on the back. “Yume’s feelin’ great now! Maybe she’s a little woozy, but that’s just a little handycup. Right?”

With a “Shh!” Onsa knocked Yume’s arm away, then started walking away using a branch as a cane. Garo followed Onsa. His steps were tottering because of the wound to his left foreleg, but that actually made it more cute. Yume followed after Garo with a giggle.

The sky was becoming brighter as she watched.

This whole area was densely forested. Because of that, even though there was hardly any fog, visibility was limited.

“Come to think of it, Yume trained in the forest with Master...” she mused.

There were times when she’d thought that they might never make it back to Grimgar. That she’d never see her master again.

“Yume might be able to see him, huh. Now that all this has happened, there’s no tellin’ when that’ll be, though. But, before that, there’s Haru-kun and everyone, y’know? Ahhh...!”

When Yume stopped and shouted, Onsa and Garo stopped, too, and turned back. Onsa’s eyes bugged out with surprise.

“Nwuh?! Onsan, you’re makin’ a real shocked face!” she exclaimed. “Kuh...”

“Oh, it’s not that Yume’s makin’ fun of you, it’s just—You know, Yume, she doesn’t have any weapons! She does have a spare knife, though. Oh, a throwing knife, too! Maybe this’ll be enough? Hrmm. Yume’s not feelin’ too confident...”

Onsa let out a sigh, then went to turn back forward. As he did, there was a strange sound.

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The sound was probably coming from above. Yume reflexively looked up to the sky.

“Kih!” Onsa let out a short, powerful shout and waved his arm. Hide, it seemed he wanted to say.

“Well, sure, but where—”

Onsa shouted, “Hah!” and pointed up ahead to the left. That area was dense with trees that had vines and leaves hanging from their thin branches, and it looked like they could hide themselves there. Yume and Onsa positioned themselves to the left and right of Garo and headed into the bushes.

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The sound echoed through the area again. It was a real unpleasant sound. It disturbed her, and it was definitely coming from above. Did that mean the thing making that noise was up in the sky?

Garo laid down, with Onsa on his right, and Yume on his left. Garo was panting and his back went up and down with each breath. Yume stuck close

to Garo’s side, listening closely, and her eyes went as wide as saucers.

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

That voice. This was the third time now. It was like a scream, but it clearly wasn’t human. This was probably the voice of a larger creature.

A voice. Right. This had to be the cry of some creature. If it was coming from the sky, did that make it a bird?

Onsa probably knew what the voice belonged to. It had to be a dangerous creature.

Yume looked up to the sky. The blue sky was peeking through the branches in some places.

Just now, she’d caught a glimpse of a shadow... maybe?

Onsa had his hand on the back of Garo’s neck, not so much patting it as holding him in place.

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! This time, the cry was really loud. She could hear other noises, too. Fwump, fwump, fwump.

It was like the sound made when you swung something large and thin as hard as you could. Wings, huh? Was that the sound of beating wings?

Yume naturally held her breath. It was coming.

Descending.

Something big.

It was—not close. Probably around the area where Yume and the others had been before. But, still, there was the sense that it was getting closer.

Yume covered her mouth with her hands. Why did she do a thing like that? There was no meaning to it. She just couldn’t help herself.

There was a winged creature coming down, kicking leaves and branches out of its way.

It landed. There was an impact a second time, then a third time.

She could hardly see it. At all. The most she knew was there was something big, and it was over there.

It was probably blue. It seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. The creature’s body was hitting the trees and branches, making a lot of noise. She could hear what sounded like footsteps, too.

Was it walking?

Somehow, she got the feeling it wasn’t a bird.

Yume wanted to close her eyes. That wouldn’t be good. She was struggling to breathe.

It was because she’d stopped. There was no need to hold her breath the whole time. At least, if she didn’t breathe, she was going to die. She should breathe. She had no choice. Quietly. In and out, as quietly as she could.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Measure the distance using sound and its sense of presence.

Was the winged creature coming closer? Or was it getting farther away?

Unfortunately, it was approaching them. The rustling of leaves and sound of footsteps forced her to come to that conclusion.

Master had told her, Listen, Yume, there are three times I’ve thought I was a goner. One of those times, I got stranded, and was on the verge of death.

The other two times, I was up against an incredible foe. One that transcended human wisdom. There are creatures out there that’ll make you realize how tiny you are. It’s best not to encounter them at all, but if you happen to, what do you think you should do?

Don’t focus too much on them, Yume’s master had warned her. Their size and power is overwhelming. If you focus on an opponent like that, you’ll be overcome with awe. You won’t be able to think straight. In the worst case, you may not be able to move. So look at yourself, instead.

Being a hunter is a lifestyle, Master would often say. To live at one with this world. It’s a path to doing that. Those who live with the world will learn that they are only a small part of it. Even the White God Elhit is. Live as part of the world. That’s what a hunter is.

But understand, Master said with a gentle look in his eyes. If you do that, it means being eaten by those who’ll try to eat you. That, too, is a truth.

That’s how living beings go through the cycle of life and death, after all. They throw their lives away in front of a being of overwhelming power, and are consumed. They become its flesh and blood. It’s the law of nature.

But if you do that, you’ll die.

When you want to live, when you want to survive no matter what—cut yourself off from the world. Yume, become a single person. Ask yourself: “What do I want to do? What should I do?” If you do that, you’re sure to find an answer. If you can’t find anything, it means you were missing something

you needed. There’s nothing you can do then.

But, Yume, this is something I want to say to you, not as a hunter, but as someone who’s lived longer than you have: I believe in you. So believe in yourself, too. When it comes down to it, you’re the only one you can rely on. The person who’s going to be there to help you, and to save those you care about most, is you yourself.

What did Yume herself want to do? And what should she do?

This isn’t scary, she thought.

She didn’t know why; she just thought, There’s nothing to be afraid of.

She didn’t have to be scared.

Garo was shaking. His whole body was trembling violently. Onsa was trying to calm Garo, but it didn’t seem to be having any effect. Onsa was looking noticeably tense, too. Maybe Garo was picking up on his uneasiness.

Yume leaned against Garo. Rather than hug him too tight, or try patting him, she figured this would be better. She obviously didn’t use her voice, but she mouthed the words, It’s okay, it’s okay.

Garo’s heart was racing.

It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.

It wasn’t that she was certain of that. But, in the end, the winged creature never came to where Yume, Onsa and Garo were.

That noise...

Was it flapping its wings? It was taking off.

Yume came close to saying something, but she held it in. Through a gap in the trees, she saw the winged creature ascending.

Was it a bird? No, not quite. It had a snake-like tail. It was blue. Its wings and body were blue, too.

“Wyvern...” whispered Onsa.

Wyvern? she thought.

Was that the creature’s name? A wyvern.

Yume buried her face in Garo’s fur and took a deep breath. “There’re things like that out there, huh. If it finds us, is everyone gonna get eaten?”

9.    That’s What I Decided

She woke up.

Tsuga, the priest with the buzz cut, was crouching down right next to her, stroking his chin.

When Tsuga had suggested, Why not rest a bit? it had occurred to her that if she pushed herself too hard, she might actually end up causing more trouble for him, so she had laid down, and then immediately fallen asleep.

That had been closer to dawn than to midnight. It wasn’t noon yet. It was probably early in the morning. She hadn’t gotten much in the way of sleep, but had he seen her face while she was sleeping? That embarrassed her, and Shihoru looked away, pulling on her bangs as she got up.

“Um... Just now, did you hear something?” “Yeah. I did hear it.”

“Any idea what that sound that might be...?”

“Nope, not the foggiest,” said Tsuga. “Sounded like some sort of creature, though.”

“I thought it sounded awfully loud...?” “But it was pretty far away.”

“Do you think it’s okay?”

“I wonder.” Tsuga cocked his head to the side and let out a short yawn. “I’m not that good at living in the wild.”

“...Huh? But you’re a volunteer soldier.”

“Yeah, but only because I have to be. Because of the people I associate with, you could say. If it were just me on my own, I wouldn’t be doing this. If I hadn’t happened to enlist at the same time as Rock, and we hadn’t paired up, I’d probably have long since given up on it. When Rock’s around, it’s never boring, and I’d say the reason I’m continuing is because I don’t get

bored.”

“That’s your motivation, or rather... your reason. I see.”

“Well, yeah.” Tsuga searched through his pack which was at his side. “How about you?”

“For me...” Shihoru hugged her staff tight. “This was the only thing I could do. I can’t imagine there were any other options. So, basically, it just sort of worked out like this. I went with the flow, and it took me to where I am today.”

“Still, if I had quit, who knows?” Tsuga shrugged. “There are guys like that occasionally. One took up a trade; another started a business in the free city of Vele. There was a guy who went to the mainland of the Kingdom of Arabakia, too. Wonder what he’s doing now. Did he make it there?”

“...You know a lot of people.”

“Because we’ve been all over the place. Well, it’s Rock, you know. Because of the kind of guy he is... what is it, a person’s vibe? Not many people’s match his. If they don’t feel right, Rock’s quick to give up on them. I’m not picky, so I get along fairly well with anyone I’ve worked with, even if it was just once, and any time I meet them, I’ll talk about what they’re doing, or what they’ve done.”

“...I see.”

This person was a competent priest. But he really was normal. So normal that it made him weird for a volunteer soldier.

There were apparently volunteer soldiers who only worked alone. Some like Lala and Nono only worked in pairs, too. That said, the vast majority of volunteer soldiers formed parties of five or six, so it was a hard life for those who couldn’t work in groups.

Working in a party was similar to working in a group like, for instance, a military unit, but also different. If tens, hundreds, or more people were going to act or fight together, there needed to be a certain amount of discipline maintained. Frivolity, incaution, rashness—those were all things that could disrupt that order. The way Shihoru saw it, if the commander was logical, intelligent, and bold, the soldier only needed to be loyal and able to endure.

The commander gave the right orders, and the soldiers followed them.

That was all they had to do. In fact, that was optimal.

In the case of volunteer soldiers, that wasn’t necessarily true. There was a certain level of basic cooperation and sociability needed to keep the party

intact, but after that, the individual members’ individual personalities and abilities did the talking. The volunteer soldiers had to adapt to many different environments, and had to be able to deal with every situation imaginable.

Many of the most capable volunteer soldiers wouldn’t make for good soldiers of the more traditional variety.

Even a poor volunteer soldier like Shihoru was confronted with situations where she had to make her own decisions and overcome them with her own power. Without realizing it, she had picked up the habit of thinking things through for herself, in case the worst should happen. If she couldn’t, she might die. Or let one of her comrades die instead.

This was something she had felt for a long time now, but volunteer soldiers tended to be very unique. It might be that the really unique ones were more likely to survive. But was that really all there was to it? Didn’t living as a volunteer soldier draw out those quirks?

When she thought about it, her days as a volunteer solider had been absurd. Losing those she cared about, nearly dying herself, seeing nothing but unfamiliar things, and going to places she didn’t know. It had been frightening, but also fun.

There might have been more days than not when she’d thought she might not live to see the next one. It wasn’t like she’d been in constant fear of death. But though she wasn’t ready to die, death was around her at all times. She didn’t want to have regrets. The one thing she didn’t want was to meet her end feeling regret.

Everyone else must feel the same. Because they could never know when their lives might end, they wanted to kill as little of themselves as they could while they were alive, at least.

There were times when patience was necessary. But they didn’t want to spend all their time restraining themselves. Wouldn’t that just feel stupid?

They were alive. Because, unlike those who had died, they were still alive.

I want to live true to myself, until the day I die.

That was probably why the volunteer soldiers tended to go their own way.

They charged down their own paths with the limited time they had.

But it was strange.

Even if Shihoru weren’t a volunteer soldier, even if she were working in a cafeteria in Alterna, the truth was, nothing would change. Even if she didn’t

go outside, she might be killed when the orcs raided, or she might get caught in an accident and die in a way she never expected. She might come down with an incurable disease. In the end, death would come, and her life would be over.

Even if she was doing dangerous things on a daily basis, that didn’t necessarily mean she would die early, and some who tried to live as safely and quietly as possible still didn’t live long lives. Even so, if she had lived normally, this thought likely would never have occurred to Shihoru.

If I don’t live true to myself, even if it’s just for a day or two, that would be such a waste.

Even if Tsuga lived an ordinary life, not as a volunteer soldier, maybe he wouldn’t change all that much. That was kind of how Shihoru felt.

Maybe that was really weird. Maybe Tsuga was actually not normal.

There were people like this.

I... need to find who I am.

She wanted to be true to herself. But what did that mean? When she thought about it, there was nothing that she could say represented her. She was still inexperienced, as a volunteer soldier and as a person.

Could she mature?

Would she be able to live that long?

Shihoru shuddered and gulped. “...Tsuga-san!”

“Yeah.” Tsuga was taking it easy, holding his knees close, and looked nothing if not calm. That said, his face was turned up, and he was looking back and forth slowly. “Looks like something’s there.”

“Looks like...? Don’t you mean there definitely is?” “Think it’s a bird?”

“...Those cries don’t sound like it.” “Maybe it’s a real big bird.”

“Do you have any in mind?”

“Nope. But...” Tsuga rubbed his buzz cut hair. How did it feel? Shihoru was just a little interested. Tsuga’s attention seemed to be caught on something else. “...Now that I think about it, it’s not foggy today. This is kind of a first for us, since coming into Thousand Valley.”

“...I don’t think good weather is a bad thing.”

“That would be the normal way to feel, yeah. It’s just that, speaking from experience, unusual happenings tend to overlap with one another. What is it, I

wonder? It’s like, the ground hardens after it rains, and that’s good, but when it rains in the desert, it turns into a massive storm. There’s lightning, and hail, and then it starts raining arrows and spears, too. I’ve been through a lot of things like that. Oh, there it is again...”

Far off, something cried out, Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It was ominous, and it grated on the ears. “Um...” Shihoru said.

“What?”

“I was just thinking... Is it safe for us to be sitting here?” “I wonder. Honestly, I have no idea.”

“Tsuga...”

“Huh? Did I just get addressed without an honorific?” “I think you must have imagined it...”

“I heard it, though.” Tsuga blinked, and looked around the area. “There it is again.”

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

This was the quietest it had sounded yet. Did that mean it was farther away?

Shihoru sighed. It was too soon for relief, but at least the threat didn’t seem to be bearing down on them.

“Listen, I just wanted to say...” Tsuga got up and stretched. “I’m not taking this lightly, either. But just acting tense isn’t enough. If you relax, you’ll be able to respond better, and you’ll make fewer mistakes, too.”

“Relaxing... I might not be so good at that...”

“Yeah. I’m sure you’re not. Even when you were asleep, you were curled into a ball, after all.”

“Please, don’t just arbitrarily decide to watch me.” “I was awake with nothing better to do.”

“Well... sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize over every little thing, you know?” “...I won’t apologize anymore, then.”

“Okay,” said Tsuga. “I mean, I can see you’re being humble like that to try to avoid being blamed for things. That might be unconscious, though.”

“Th-That’s awfully blunt...”

“If you think something, you have to say it then, or you may never get the chance. Have you never felt like that before?”

Shihoru tried to respond, but she found herself unable to speak, and only a sigh escaped.

That was when it happened. In an instant, it became dark.

A shadow. Something was passing overhead. It had to be that shadow.

They heard the sound of it cutting through the wind, too.

Shihoru and Tsuga looked up at the same time. They were in a small, open space. The area around them was green with trees, grass, and moss. Green, green, green, as far as the eye could see. The sky was very clear. Not a cloud to be seen.

“Something flew by, just now, right?” she asked hesitantly.

“Probably, yeah.” Tsuga shouldered his pack, picking up the club that was beside him. “It seemed dangerous, so let’s scram. Think we can make it?”

He said that like it was someone else’s problem. Shihoru didn’t want to waste the time to call him on it, though, so she stood up vigorously. Tsuga seemed undecided on which direction to flee in. Shihoru couldn’t decide, either.

At a glance, there was nothing nearby that would give them cover against the sky. It didn’t seem they could do any better than hiding in the shadows of the trees. No, even that...

“Ah!” Shihoru clutched her staff and crouched down. If she didn’t, she’d be blown away. That, or mown down. She didn’t shut her eyes. Shihoru saw it.

Blue. It was a blue creature with wings. It had suddenly swooped down from the sky. Did that mean it was a bird? She didn’t know. But it felt like something else.

Big. It was massive. Were those feet? There were five hooked claws on the end of them. Those two hand-like feet were pointed their way as it came at them.

Tsuga held his club. “A dragon!” he shouted as he jumped in front of Shihoru.

A dragon. That was a type of dragon? Like the fire dragon in Darunggar?

If so, they clearly stood no chance against it. “Sto—”

“Hah!” Tsuga swung his club with both hands. Was he trying to hit the incoming winged, blue dragon?

His club probably hit the dragon’s feet somewhere. But it didn’t care. It grabbed Tsuga tightly in its right foot, and went past to the right of Shihoru. Shihoru nearly tripped, but she managed to steady herself somehow. When she turned around, the dragon had Tsuga pressed to the ground with its right foot, and was stretching its neck out to try and chomp on him.

“Ahh! Urgh!” Tsuga was struggling wildly. It hadn’t gotten him yet. He was alive.

“Dark!” Before she could think I want to save him, Shihoru had already summoned Dark the elemental. Even without orders, Dark took starfish form and flew towards the dragon.

No, she realized.

That wasn’t good enough.

A little impact wasn’t even going to shake that dragon. “Spread out!”

Dark scattered into thousands of pieces. He diffused, enveloping the area around the dragon.

This was Dark in mist form. Dark Mist.

The dragon cried Pigyahhh! and raised its head, swinging it violently in all directions. That wasn’t going to be enough to shake off Dark. The dragon suddenly couldn’t see anything, and that had it badly confused. Hawks, eagles, and other such birds of prey searched for their prey from a high altitude, so they had very good eyesight. In exchange for that, they had to become reliant on it. This dragon probably was the same. The dragon was so confused, it accidentally loosened its grip on Tsuga. He escaped immediately.

The dragon cried, Pigyahhh, Pigyahhhhh, flapping its wings and wandering around in confusion.

Tsuga crawled and rolled away, and once he had some distance, it looked like he was healing himself with light magic. There were times when a heavily wounded priest couldn’t focus well enough to cast magic, and they couldn’t heal themselves as a result. Would Tsuga be okay? Even if it concerned her, she wouldn’t worry.

Shihoru focused on maintaining Dark Mist. How far could she spread Dark Mist? To what degree could she move him? Shihoru didn’t have a grasp of that yet.

No. This line of thinking was a mistake. It was up to Shihoru, but Dark could spread as far as she wanted. She could move him, too.

Don’t put limits on it, she told herself. They’ll turn into restrictions.

She started sweating. Her vision was shaking.

Shihoru gritted her teeth. Not yet. She could keep going. If she started to think she couldn’t, at that moment, it would be over.

The dragon started running and flapping its wings. Did it plan to fly? “Sorry!” Tsuga shouted.

The moment she heard Tsuga’s voice, she lost focus. Immediately after that, the dragon jumped up, and Dark Mist scattered and disappeared in an instant.

“We’re getting out of here!” Tsuga grabbed her arm, and pulled her along.

Shihoru stumbled, and fell into Tsuga. Tsuga was covered in blood, but his wounds all looked healed, and he lifted Shihoru up as he took off running.

“Well, doesn’t that just beat all? Never expected something like that...” he commented.

“S-So—” Shihoru was about to apologize, but then she caught herself and stopped short. “Th-That was dangerous, you know! You’re so reckless!”

“You should’ve made a break for it while I was getting eaten!” “I-I couldn’t! I won’t do a thing like that...”

“Well, I’d hold it against you if you did, though.” Tsuga glanced overhead. “I’d kind of hoped, after that, it’d give up on us and let us go...”

Shihoru didn’t want to look up. But she had to see it for herself. No matter if it was frightening, and no matter if she really, really didn’t want to, she had to take these things on herself.

She didn’t want to leave it to others anymore.

10.    Someday, With Honest Feelings

I have some problems with what Haru did, but I don’t think he had any choice in that situation, Merry thought. Or rather, he probably didn’t have any choice... so...

There was probably no helping it. Besides, Merry couldn’t see with her own eyes exactly what the two of them were doing. Haruhiro and Shuro Setora walked side by side in front of her, behind them was the golem Enba, and Merry was bringing up the rear.

Enba wasn’t that tall. He was around 170 centimeters, or thereabouts.

However, his arms were bizarrely long. His upper body was muscular, with awfully broad shoulders, and, honestly, he was in the way. She couldn’t see up ahead that well.

Haruhiro had had no choice but to accept the conditions Setora had forced on him. If Merry had been in his position, she’d have made the same choice, no matter how gut-wrenching it felt. She understood. She could accept it.

However, this was hardly the time... That was a feeling she just couldn’t keep from bubbling to the surface. They weren’t doing anything all that substantial, but it was irritating, and downright vexing. Setora had ordered him to act like her lover, or something like that, but what was that about? Did she mean, you know...?

It’s not like it’s any of my business, she told herself firmly.

The fact was, Merry didn’t know. She’d never dated a boy, or a girl for that matter. At least, not since coming to Grimgar. She didn’t remember what had come before, so she couldn’t know about that, but she felt like she’d never been in a serious relationship of that sort.

And when she looked at her personality, even if she’d decided she liked someone, she was likely to have thought it over hard before she decided she

wanted to spend the rest of her life with them.

She’d probably get cautious. Just feeling, Hey, he’s kind of nice, wouldn’t make her lose her head. She wouldn’t make a fuss. She’d try to maintain her composure.

Considering all that, she must have been timid when it came to love. That still might not have changed, even now.

“Haru.” Setora called his name in a not particularly syrupy tone. “Uh, yes, ma’am?” Haruhiro responded. He sounded so distant. “Did you just call me ma’am?”

“Oh, sorry.... Yeah. What is it?”

“I just wanted to try calling your name. Is that wrong?” “It’s not wrong................. okay?”

“I see.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice,” Setora said. “Huh? What is?”

“To have someone I can casually address by name so close.” “Ohh. Erm..................... I guess it is.” Haruhiro gave a hollow laugh.

Enba might be deliberately acting to create a wall between Merry and the two of them, so that Merry wouldn’t get in their way. It looked like they were just talking like that occasionally as they walked, so she had to question what exactly she was supposed to be getting in the way of, though.

Or could Merry just not see it, and they were actually cheek to cheek, hand in hand, with their arms linked? Or maybe they were engaged in some even more intimate kind of physical contact?

Whatever the case, because of Enba, Merry couldn’t see them from her position in the rear. Still, although she couldn’t say anything for certain, that didn’t seem particularly likely. She could more or less tell that from their conversations.

So, what exactly are the two of them doing?

They were supposed to be lovers? Like that. ?

It seemed that was how Setora thought lovers acted when they were together. Haruhiro was going along with it. With doubts, probably. Thinking, This is kind of not what I was expecting. After all, when you said the word “lovers,” you expected something more like...

More like... What exactly?

More clingy, and flirty?

What constituted being flirty, exactly?

Merry wasn’t that knowledgeable about it, so she didn’t know, but whatever it was, they weren’t it. They didn’t feel like lovers at all. Or maybe she’d be surprised to learn that most of the lovers out there were like them? Maybe they were like that in front of others? Even if Merry found herself in that sort of relationship, she’d restrain herself in public places, where people were watching.

Restrain herself from what? Well... From flirting? Though, there was the question of whether she wanted to flirt in the first place. Maybe she didn’t really? Or did she just feel that way because she had no one to do it with, and her mindset would change if she did?

But she was sure she’d never be able to. She didn’t want it, and didn’t need it.

It wasn’t like Merry hadn’t known about Kuzaku’s affection for her.

However, she’d also doubted it, thinking she was being overly self-conscious. Besides, Kuzaku had joined the party after everyone, so he had felt uneasy.

Her desire to be kind to a comrade, to be useful to him as someone who had been around longer, had been much stronger.

When he’d confessed to her, she’d thought, I knew it. She’d hoped she was wrong, but Kuzaku had been looking at her that way.

She’d readied herself for it, so she gave him a straight answer.

I can’t, she’d said immediately.

Merry couldn’t think of going out with someone. They had been comrades in the same party up until that point, and comrades they would stay. That was how she wanted it. If possible, she wanted Kuzaku to feel that way, too.

I wasn’t that she disliked him. If she were asked whether she liked or disliked him, well, she liked him. He was tall, and his face was probably not bad, either. He got along with people, though she felt some weakness in him, and he wasn’t selfish or pushy like Ranta, so it was fair to say he was a pretty good guy.

She didn’t dislike him. It might not be wholly impossible for her to love him.

But she  wouldn’t. Because he was Kuzaku. No, that wasn’t the reason.

She wouldn’t fall in love with anyone. There would be no romance for her.

It was impossible for her to feel love for others.

Merry had something far more important than that. She had comrades, and she had to protect all their lives. She couldn’t let herself get preoccupied with other things. She didn’t have time to waste on silly things like romance and love. That was just how she was.

Even when it came to the members of her party, she had no intention of forcing her views on them. If one of them fell in love with another, she felt that was just fine.

Not that it seems all that likely in our party.

Even when she was with the other girls, Shihoru and Yume, they hardly ever got talking about the topic. No, not even “hardly”... they never did. It was always about cute things, or tasty food. Thanks to that, she felt incredibly comfy, and it made her like Shihoru and Yume all the more.

There was no rule against romance inside the party, but she thought they might as well put one in place. If they did, Merry could feel even more at ease. She wanted to interact with her comrades as fellow humans. Even if she could be their friend, there was no way she could be someone’s girlfriend or wife. She didn’t even want to consider the possibility that she might end up in a relationship like that.

“By the way, Haru,” Setora said in the same, not particularly familiar, tone.

“Uh, yes—Yeah.”

“How many children do you want?”

“Bwuh...!” Haruhiro sputtered, and Merry coughed strangely, too. “Hm? What’s the matter, Haru?” Setora asked.

“...No. I-It’s just kind of sudden... Erm, w-we’re lovers, right?” “Yes. You and I are lovers.”

“...Just until you grow bored of it and say otherwise, though.” “You may be surprised to find that I never grow bored with it.”

“Huh...?” Haruhiro seemed surprised, but Setora’s conditions had stood out to Merry from the very beginning.

“Until I grow bored of it, and tell you to do otherwise.” It wasn’t impossible to read that as, I’ll eventually grow bored of it, so do your best until then. Had Haruhiro been optimistically assuming that? He had a

strangely low opinion of himself, so he might have underestimated this in a variety of ways. He must have figured that Setora had to be doing this on a whim, or by some mistake, and so not only would she just grow tired of him soon, she’d get fed up. That had to be what Haruhiro was expecting.

But you never know, right? Merry thought.

It seemed Setora had been interested in Haruhiro to begin with. She might never grow bored, and decide to keep him as her lover.

Haruhiro would deny that, saying it would never happen, but it was entirely possible. Even if he wasn’t the type that was popular with girls, there was already a precedent set by Mimori of the Tokkis. There were women out there who were into Haruhiro. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise Merry if there were a lot of them.

Haruhiro always looked sleepy, but that meant he wasn’t noisy, and while he didn’t have an imposing presence, that meant he was relaxing to have around. He was considerate of his comrades, had a sense of responsibility, and was patient. That, and he said what needed to be said. He seemed timid, but he could be surprisingly courageous.

He didn’t have any abilities that let him excel, or traits that put him ahead of the pack. Yet he was doing his job as a leader properly, and he never tried to abandon it. Who knew how many crises Haruhiro had gotten them through now?

Even if Haruhiro was betrayed, he couldn’t betray others. He was a leader she could be proud of, one she could trust, and who she could respect as a fellow person. She’d never told him that to his face, though. In fact, she probably should have. Even if she praised Haruhiro, he wouldn’t let it go to his head.

“Ha—” Merry had been about to call out to him, but hurriedly coughed to cover it.

—Why now? Even if I’m going to tell him, now isn’t the time. Obviously.

What’s my hurry?

“Hm?” Had Setora stopped? Enba, who was right in front of her, came to a stop, and Merry nearly walked into the back of him. “Did you say something, woman?”

“...Not really.” Merry hung her head, and bit her lip slightly. It felt like she was talking to Enba’s back. Setora had been practically ignoring Merry. Why, despite that, had she responded at a time like this? “I didn’t say

anything.”

“I see,” Setora said coldly. “It felt to me as if some ill-mannered person was ignoring me, his lover, and referring to Haru as Haru.”

“I’m free to call Haru whatever I want,” Merry snapped.

“That will not do. We are lovers now, and I will be giving birth to Haru’s child. Naturally, I’ll not be letting any other woman lay a hand on him.”

“Child?!” Haruhiro cried out.

Merry said, “Lay a hand on him, you say?” Then she was hit with a relatively minor dizzy spell.

“Erm, y-y-you’re going to have a child?!” Haruhiro yelped. “So suddenly?!”

“Naturally. Is there anything else for a man and women so besotted with one another to do?”

“I...” Haruhiro seemed to be in a daze. “I don’t know about that...”

“Th-There’s an order to these things!” Merry slipped past Enba to the side and moved up to the front. “Y-You have to do things in order, you know! N- Not just suddenly go and make a b-b-b-baby...”

“An order?” Setora furrowed her brow. “You mean like coming together at night, sucking on each another’s faces, and feeling each other’s bodies all over? It hardly seems like a suitable thing to discuss here.”

“Y-Yeah...” Haruhiro stuttered. “What do you mean, yeah, Haru?!” “R-Right?! Sorry...”

“Don’t apologize to that woman, Haru!” Setora shouted. “You are my lover. I’ll not allow you to apologize to anyone but me!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

No, that’s not something you say “Yes, ma’am” to! Swallowing the words that almost came out of her mouth, Merry pressed down on her chest hard.

Even now, Setora’s nyaas were spread out over the area, looking for their comrades. Haruhiro couldn’t push back against Setora. Practically speaking, he had no choice but to do as she said. If Setora ordered something, Haruhiro had no choice but to obey. So, basically...

They’re going to meet up at night? Suck each other’s faces?

Feel each other’s bodies all over?

And then... do something to make a baby?

“Heh...” Merry laughed. Why had she laughed? Merry didn’t know that herself. It was a mystery.

Was it because this was more sudden than she’d expected? You’re going that far all of a sudden? Wow, you’re really going for it, was one thing she certainly felt. So that’s what you’re going with? Really? Wow.

But are you okay with it, Haru? she wanted to ask, but couldn’t. That was something she couldn’t ask.

There was no being okay with it or not. He had no choice. If they were going to do it, he’d have to do it. He’d have to do it. Yeah, that “it.”

No big deal, though? It didn’t break the rule against romance inside the party, after all? Not that any such rule existed. So, it had nothing to do with her? It was no problem?

Yeah. What was she getting so disconcerted about? There was no real problem here, was there? It was something that not just humans, but all beings that reproduced sexually did. Even if Haruhiro did it with Setora, how could that be a problem? At least, it was no business of Merry’s. If Haruhiro didn’t want it, she felt bad for him, though. But it was for their comrades.

Haruhiro was the leader, so he’d have to tolerate it. This was Haruhiro, after all, so he’d get through it and do a great job, she was sure.

He might not be so against the idea, anyway. If she looked at Setora with unbiased eyes, she was a cute woman. That, and she looked like her.

That girl. Choco.

Maybe he wasn’t entirely against it?

So that’s it. That might have been why Merry laughed.

Haruhiro was keeping up appearances by saying, Oh, woe is me, I’m in a real spot of trouble now, but deep down, he thought this was a perk, and maybe he was glad it’d turned out this way. If she recalled, that idiot Ranta had said something about this before. Men got pent up, apparently. For Merry, this was something about the opposite sex, so she didn’t really understand, but it basically meant they wanted to do that sort of thing, right? Haruhiro was a man, too. If he had a good partner for it, of course he’d want to.

That was fine, she figured. In its own way. If they kept it somewhere she didn’t have to watch, she didn’t mind.

There’d been this annoying, Pigyahh, Pigyahhhh, for a while now, but she’d more or less sorted out her feelings.

Merry sighed. “...So, what is that sound anyway?”

“That is the cry of a wyvern,” Setora said, looking up to the sky and squinting as if it was blindingly bright. “Thousand Valley has an inseparable relationship with fog. However, there will be a few days in every year, up to around ten, when the fog fully clears like this. On those days, they fly in from the Kuaron Mountains to the east. The creatures here aren’t adapted to wyverns, after all. For them, this must be a hunting ground with easy prey lying around.”

“Huh? Hold on, wai—” Haruhiro asked in a panic. “Those wyverns, what are they? What kind of...?”

Pigyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The cry of that wyvern creature echoed through the area again.

It was different from before. Loud enough that Merry flinched despite herself. Did that mean it was close?

“A sort of dragon,” Setora explained nonchalantly. “They have wings, and can fly like birds. A flying dragon, you could say. They come in many colors

and sizes, but blue wyverns are said to be the largest, and the most vicious. They’re completely carnivorous. Whether it be humans or orcs, they’ll eat anything.”

Merry looked up at the sky, despite herself. It was splendidly clear. When she thought about it, it had been a pretty long time since she’d seen such a beautiful blue sky.

No, now’s not the time to get sentimental.

“That’s... dangerous, isn’t it...?” she asked.

“Naturally, it’s not safe.” Setora snorted. “The village is in utter chaos now, I’m sure. On clear days, rather than be able to enjoy the precious sunlight, they’re busy preparing for wyverns. There was a time in the past when the village was attacked by a flock consisting of tens of wyverns. After that, they sent an expedition to the Kuaron Mountains to burn their nest, and there hasn’t been such a major disaster since. However, those creatures build their nests at high altitudes, up steep inclines, so it isn’t possible to exterminate them entirely. When the fog clears, they fly in. They feed until they are full, and when the fog comes back, they return home. Those who live here are forced to accept this as a fact of life.”

“We could...” Haruhiro started to say, then covered his mouth with his hands. “...try to run, but it wouldn’t work. Uh, what then? If it comes, it comes, and there’s nothing we can do?”

“Surely not.” Setora poked Haruhiro in the forehead with her index finger. “There.”

“Ow!” Haruhiro held his forehead. “No, it didn’t hurt, but...”

It seemed like they were having fun. Playing around. That was kind of lover-like, maybe? If it had been at any other time, she’d have been all for them doing it, but the situation was what it was.

“So?” Merry demanded. “You got any way to prepare? You do, right?” “That’s an awfully self-important tone, woman. If it comes to it, I think

I’ll choose to abandon you.”

“Setora, um... Merry’s an important comrade to me,” Haruhiro said hesitantly.

“I don’t know if she’s your comrade or what, but a woman is a woman. She could bear your child. That makes her presence unsightly to me. I see. Could this be jealousy, perhaps?”

“I’m...!” Merry couldn’t help but raise her voice. “Haru’s comrade, not

anything more, and not anything less! I’m never going to get pregnant with Haru’s child, and you getting jealous is nothing more than a headache for me, so, please, just stop!”

Once she got all of that out, she snapped back to her senses, and glanced to Haruhiro to see his reaction. Haruhiro was looking down, and he had a strained smile on the corners of his mouth.

“If you’re going to say that much, well...” Setora shrugged. “For all you say to the contrary, I had thought you two were close, or had a relationship that was similar to that. It would seem I was mistaken. Or, perhaps, were you harboring a one-sided affection for her, Haru?”

“...No.” Haru rubbed his belly. “That’s not it, okay? I think of Merry as a comrade, too... She’s a precious comrade, and comrades are important, they really are, so... a comrade’s a comrade, you could say.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I understand, but I’ve taken measures to prepare for wyverns. My nyaas are watching. That, and this isn’t entirely a bad thing.

Wyverns may help us, too.”

One of those nyaas jumped out of a nearby bush. It was a stripped yellow nyaa. The nyaa purred and gestured to communicate something to Setora.

When Setora nodded, then shook her head, the nyaa let out a single “nyaa” then vanished again.

It’s frustrating to admit, but they’re cute, Merry thought.

“It seems they’ve found them.” Setora quickly covered her face with the cloth wrapped around her neck. “Or rather, a wyvern found them for us. If they haven’t yet been eaten, I’m sure you’ll be able to see them.”

So that was it.

The wyverns had flown here in search of prey. When the sky was clear, the people of the hidden village, and probably the members of Forgan, too, would be on the lookout for wyverns. But those who didn’t know about wyverns would be unguarded, and make for easy targets.

Setora took off running, and Haruhiro, Enba, and Merry followed. They occasionally heard the voices of nyaas. The nyaas seemed to be guiding Setora.

Where were they running through, and where were they trying to get to?

Merry had no idea. They went up and down hills, so it was all she could manage just to keep up.

Occasionally, Haruhiro would turn back to look at Merry. He must have

been worried for her as one of his precious comrades. But still, why had she gone and said that? That she would never get pregnant with Haru’s child?

The fact was, Merry did think that, but it was too blunt a way of saying it.

It was inappropriate. Setora had incited her. It was Setora’s fault. Setora was in the wrong.

Pigyahhhhhhhhh, that cry echoed.

There was something in the sky. It had wings, but it was no bird. It was probably a wyvern. It was swooping down.

Setora seemed to be heading in that direction. That was where the wyvern’s prey was. It might be Shihoru and the others.

The wyvern they had briefly lost sight of rose into the air once more. It came about, and was it preparing for another attack run?

There was someone up ahead. They were running this way. “Shihoru!” Haruhiro and Merry both called out in unison.

She wasn’t wearing her hat, and she had an unfamiliar gray coat on, but there was no mistaking her.

She was holding her staff. It was Shihoru.

She was all right.

Merry ran earnestly forward. The corners of her eyes felt hot.

Thank goodness, she thought. Shihoru. You’re alive.

But who was that with her? His hair was short. He had a buzz cut, and he wore a priest’s outfit. It was an unfamiliar man. Where were Yume and Kuzaku?

Haruhiro shouted, “Tsuga-san!” and sped up, breaking away from Setora. “Haruhiro-kun!”

“Come along, Shihoru!” Haruhiro caught Shihoru in his arms, then immediately had her get behind him.

What was that supposed to be? Merry thought. It was pretty cool. “Haru! Don’t hug other women!” Setora shouted.

“Shut up!” Haruhiro shouted back without delay. “Merry, watch Shihoru!” He gave directions, then went further forward.

Tsuga. The Rocks’s priest. Tsuga was a good distance behind Shihoru.

Haruhiro must have planned to go assist him.

The wyvern had begun another rapid descent. Its target was probably Tsuga. But Tsuga looked fairly exhausted, dripping with sweat as he ran

towards them. He couldn’t afford to look up at the sky. Though, that said, would Haruhiro be able to save him even if he went?

Shihoru was winded, too, and she collapsed into Merry’s chest. “Merry, thank good...ness. I...”

“I wanted to see you!” Merry was overcome with emotion and hugged Shihoru despite herself. She dragged her into the bushes beside them.

Haru...

The wyvern was closing in from above Tsuga’s head.

Haruhiro lowered his posture, tackled Tsuga, and kept going, pushing him over, forward and to the left, diagonally.

It was a close call.

The wyvern’s hooked claws passed right above them. But Setora and Enba were in the wyvern’s path.

“Enba!” Setora gave the order, and Enba the golem moved up.

The wyvern stuck its right leg out, grabbing Enba, and pressing him to the ground.

Wasn’t that bad? Was he going to get killed?

When Enba bellowed, “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!” in a loud, frightening voice, it happened.

It must have shocked it. The wyvern let out an ear piercing screech, released Enba, and started beating its wings. It was ascending. No way... was it trying to flee?

“Wyverns hate golems!” Setora rushed over to Enba. “They’re built to have that effect! However, it only stops the wyverns from eating them, not from attacking them! We’re running away!”

“Tsuga-san!” Haruhiro helped Tsuga to his feet. “Can you run?!” “I’ll run! Because I’m probably going to die if I don’t!”

“Shihoru!” Merry held Shihoru’s hand. “I’m here, so it’s going to be okay now!”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you!”

“Setora, everyone will follow you, so give directions!” Haruhiro commanded.

Setora said, “You’re uppity, for a man!” But she still took off running alongside Enba. “Well, I don’t mind that! I want your seed even more now! So this is love, is it?!”

“S-Seed...?!” Shihoru’s eyes went wide.

“We’ve been through a lot!” Merry shouted. Somehow, she was now over it. It made sense to her, you could say.

I mean, Haru was cool just now. I don’t know about wanting his seed, but I could see how someone might fall in love with him.

Setora was a bit extreme, but she was interested in Haruhiro in her own way, and she was presently in love with him. That wasn’t strange at all.

For me... He’s an important comrade, so I don’t feel that way at all, though.

Setora and Enba led the way. Haruhiro had Tsuga go ahead of him, and Merry watched Shihoru, while frequently looking to the sky to confirm the wyvern’s position. During times like this, Haruhiro could be so focused it was scary. Despite that, his eyes would be even sleepier than usual. His nerves were sharpened to the point they couldn’t get any sharper, and he should have been worn down, but he looked almost aloof. He couldn’t have had much left to work with, but it still felt like he could keep going, and that made her feel like he’d manage things somehow.

Hey, Haru, do you realize? she thought silently. You’ve saved us many times like that. If you look at our power levels individually, or as a group, we may not be first rate or even second rate volunteer soldiers, so why do you think we’ve survived up until today?

More than anyone, more than anything, it was thanks to you, Haru. Do you know that?

You probably don’t. I’ll bet you think it’s thanks to everyone. Thanks to the comrades who kindly follow an unreliable leader and support him.

I can’t help but find you strange. I think it’s because you’re that kind of person. The kind that everyone follows, tries to support, and wants to walk forward with together. Haru...

I don’t need to be at your side. I’m fine with walking behind you, but I want there to be a place for me there. For as long as I live, I’m going to do my job. I’ll fulfill my duty.

Setora seemed to be guiding them down a decent path. It might be fair to say it was a highly appropriate one.

The wyvern was circling overhead, as before. It was following them, not willing to let them get away. It had swooped down several times, but it hadn’t gotten anyone. It was narrow on both sides, or sometimes only on one side, and was often dense with trees. There were many obstacles for the wyvern,

and Setora was choosing places with spots the party could take shelter in for their route. That, and the nyaas were probably playing a role or two, as well.

There were a variety of nyaas. No, not just nyaas. Shuro Setora.

If she, the necromancer and nyaa tamer, hadn’t been with them, they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere. Merry probably needed to recognize that fact. She had to be grateful to Setora. Maybe because she was from the hidden village, there were some areas where she lacked common sense. But she wasn’t a bad person. Besides, the only reason Merry was here at all was thanks to Setora.

If Haruhiro thought it was a good idea, Merry would cheer him on if he wanted to make a baby with Setora, or in anything else he wanted to do.

Maybe because it had been so sudden, there were some parts of it she was finding hard to accept. That would resolve itself with time, though, she was sure. Soon enough, she’d be able to think that was just how things were. The reason her chest ached was from running.

Honestly, she might be nearing her limit.

No, Merry could still push herself a little more, if she had to. However, Shihoru’s face was all screwed up, and she was panting in a weird way.

Tsuga, who was up ahead, looked bad, too. He’d tripped over his feet a number of times, and nearly pitched forward. The only reason he hadn’t fallen was that Haruhiro had helped him each of those times.

“Wyvern incoming! Everyone, to the left!” Haruhiro called.

Eventually, Haruhiro started giving out precise orders. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted, their attention was diffused, and their ability to make decisions was lowered. Haruhiro realized that. If they were just doing as told, Shihoru and Tsuga could still manage somehow. But it wouldn’t be long before even that became difficult.

No more. I’m at my limit. Those words were on the tip of Merry’s tongue.

But she couldn’t say them. Haruhiro was doing his usual thing, and putting up a furious struggle. The burden was clearly heaviest on Haruhiro, and he must have had it twice as hard as anyone else. Merry couldn’t say she was done.

“Setora, we can’t run anymore!” he called.

Oh, that’s why. Haruhiro had spoken up for them. He was on top of everyone’s condition, so even if Haruhiro could keep running himself, he would realize they were on the verge of not being able to go any further. No

matter what the result, he would make a call, ready to bear all of the responsibility himself. Haruhiro could do that. He certainly wasn’t fine with doing it, and it was obviously a burden, but he didn’t try to set down that burden.

Merry had heard about Manato the priest. Him, and Moguzo. Ranta might have betrayed them all, too.

Even after losing comrades, Haruhiro had been able to remain the leader.

Through trials and tribulations, he led the way.

Haru, do you know how incredible that is?

When I think of your pain, my heart could easily be torn in two. Just imagining the loneliness you must feel, my whole body feels like it might freeze.

I want to hold you tight, and to warm you up, but it’s fine, I’m sure you’d rebuff me.

You’d say, “You don’t have to do this. I’m fine. We’re comrades, but we’re only comrades.”

I wish I could embrace you, while we both stay precious, irreplaceable comrades to each other.

“Even if we fight, there’s little hope of winning!” Setora counterargued as she came to a halt. “Even just driving it off! There’s little hope of that, too!”

“We’ll do it!” Haruhiro raised his voice and drew his stiletto. “Enba and I will take it as it comes in! Merry, Tsuga-san, be ready to heal us at any time! Shihoru, spread Dark all over the place! Don’t anyone die! I won’t let you die! We’re going to live!”

“Okay!” Merry and Shihoru responded in unison.

Tsuga was holding his club, but he didn’t seem like he had the strength left to wield it and fight.

When Setora gave the order, “Support Haruhiro!” Enba moved next to him. Merry, Shihoru, and Tsuga rolled into the bushes to the right. What would Setora do?

She was diagonally behind Haruhiro and Enba, her eyes fixed on the wyvern in the sky. That meant she didn’t mean to let the two of them risk themselves alone, it seemed. She was respectable.

The blue wyvern started coming down. Naturally, it wasn’t falling. It was swooping down. But it did feel like it was falling headlong to the ground. It was scary. Merry wanted to scream.

Haru, no! Run! It’s too dangerous!

Naturally, she didn’t do it. Now that it had come to this, she could only watch. She had to trust in him.

Shihoru shouted, “Dark!” and called forth her elemental. Merry opened her eyes as wide as she possibly could, and she stopped breathing.

The wyvern cried Pigyahhhh, strongly batting its wings and turning around.

Its legs. Both of its legs were pointed down. Even so, it was unable to break the inertia of its descent. It was about to not so much land as crash feet first into the ground. Did it mean to crush Haruhiro and Enba beneath it?

Haruhiro, Enba, and Setora jumped to the side to avoid it. The first time, that is.

It didn’t end with just once. The Wyvern trod on the ground with its right foot, then left, and jumped.

Pigyahh, pigyahh, pigyahh, it squawked, dancing around as it beat its wings and jumped.

The vibrations were intense. It was like being right above the epicenter of an earthquake. Were Haruhiro, Enba, and Setora all right? There was a cloud of dust rising, making it hard to see.

“Haru! Haru! Haru!” Merry called out his name repeatedly. She couldn’t help herself.

The wyvern. A blue wyvern. What was that monstrosity?

The fire dragon of Darunggar was clearly in another dimension from it, and it was nothing next to the hydra in the Dusk Realm, either, but it definitely had an intimidating aura that could match a white giant, and an eight-meter class one at that. It was much less tall than one of them, but its wingspan, the width of its wings when spread out, was nothing to make light of.

The wyvern cried Piiiigyahhhhhh, and flapped its wings. Was it going to fly?

She saw a humanoid silhouette in the cloud of dust. Who could it be? “Go!” Shihoru sent Dark forward. “Spread!”

The human-like, or rather doll-like, form of Dark exploded with a bang. But he didn’t just explode. He was spread out. Dark presented a thick, black mist-like form, and enveloped the wyvern’s head with it. The wyvern ran.

Pigyahh, pigyahh, it squawked, moving its wings up and down furiously

and gaining altitude. The misty Dark gave chase. He chased, and—couldn’t keep up, huh. When the wyvern had flown up about three meters, the black mist suddenly grew thinner and vanished. Had it shaken him off?

Or...

“Shihoru?!” Merry hurried to catch her comrade. Shihoru had been about to crumple. She was in no state to be using magic. Despite that, she’d summoned Dark.

What can I do?! Isn’t there anything?!

“Haru!” Merry called.

There was an immediate “Yeah!” in reply.

She couldn’t confirm his location, but Haruhiro was alive.

What should I do right now?!

“O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you. Circlet!” A shimmering ring of light appeared, and it surrounded Merry and

Shihoru. The light of Lumiaris would heal those inside the circle. She could maintain the circle to a degree. Because I’m a priest.

“O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you. Protection!

Assist!”

Two hexagrams of different colors appeared on Shihoru’s left wrist. One of the two also appeared on Merry’s own wrist, and on Tsuga’s wrist because he was nearby. It didn’t reach Haruhiro, Setora, or Enba.

At the very least, she should have put Protection on them in advance. She kept repeating the mistake she’d made when they’d lost Moguzo. It was careless, and she felt like a terrible priest, but— I’m still a priest!

“Shihoru, I’m going to protect you! You use all of the strength you have!” “Merry...” Shihoru gave her an exhausted smile, and then a firm nod. In

that moment, there was a sparkle brighter than the light of Lumiaris. “All right. I’m feeling better thanks to you... so I’m going to go until I collapse!”

Though the light of healing could mend wounds, it couldn’t be counted on to recover a person’s stamina or willpower. Assist boosted all kinds of resistances, so it might give some slight boost in vitality, but it was going to be small. Shihoru must have known that, too. There were few things Merry could do. Very few things, but that still wasn’t nothing. Besides, if she was here, she could at least cover Shihoru if the worst should happen.

My existence isn’t meaningless. I’m going to do everything I can!

“Maybe I’ll try praying to God. Not a big fan of it, though.” Tsuga

brought his fingers to his forehead, and made the sign of the hexagram. “O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you. Prayer.”

She’d never seen this one before. Prayer.

A single beam of light shone down from beyond the heavens to illuminate Tsuga. Some sort of supernatural phenomenon had been brought about by the great power of the God of Light, Lumiaris. It wasn’t clear what would happen. It might be that nothing would happen at all. Or, perhaps, even if something happened, it might not necessarily be observable or recognizable by mere humans?

This was said to be one of the ultimate spells of light magic, on par with Sacrament, but it was said few priests attempted to acquire it. The thing was, it wasn’t just unreliable, its effects were uncertain. If it were just without benefit sometimes, that would be one thing, but it might be harmful.

If Tsuga had consulted her beforehand, Merry would have probably objected. But he’d gone and used it. It was too late. All she could do was pray that nothing terrible happened.

Perhaps Merry’s prayers were granted. Or maybe it was the power of Prayer.

The light shining down on Tsuga vanished, and—that was it. It seemed nothing had happened.

Tsuga clicked his tongue. “...What, that’s it?”

“Tsuga...” Shihoru said distastefully, dropping the honorific. “Huh? Did you just address me without an honorific again?” “...You imagined it. That, or your hearing is abysmally bad.”

The dust cloud started to clear, and Merry caught sight of Haruhiro and the others. There were still three of them, like there should be.

“It’s coming!” Haruhiro shouted. The wyvern.

The wyvern turned in midair. Was it trying to get in position for another dive?

“Dark!” Shihoru summoned the elemental.

Merry wrapped her arms tightly around Shihoru’s back, and gritted her teeth. What good was this going to do? She didn’t want to think about that. For now, she was going to stay at her side.

Piiiiigyahhhhhhhiiiiiyahhhhhhhhh!

The wyvern swung its head around as it shrieked. It folded its wings in a little and dropped down. It seemed to be going strangely slowly, but that was her imagination. It was almost right next to them.

Shihoru let out a gasp. Had she hesitated over whether to send Dark or not? She seemed to have stopped short of it. That said, Shihoru had reached an extreme of exhaustion, and there was no guarantee she could use more magic. That had to be why she was betting on her current Dark. Shihoru was trying to do something decisive. In order to accomplish that, she needed to find the perfect chance. Even with it so close, she could be cautious. That was Shihoru’s strength.

Merry thought something was strange, too. What was strange?

The speed and angle of its descent.

It was only a slight difference, but it wasn’t going at as steep an angle as the descent had been until just now. The wyvern was coming in on a bit of a diagonal. It was probably a little slow, too. This time it didn’t have the power it had before. Even so, Haruhiro and the others could only choose to evade it. There was no other option.

Haruhiro threw himself to the right, and Setora and Enba threw themselves to the left to avoid the wyvern. The wyvern then landed on the ground with enough force to crash—or not. It didn’t put out its legs, either.

It had pulled up suddenly just before the surface.

The wyvern didn’t fly up high, either. It pulled a tight turn, then came down again.

“Whoa!” Merry very nearly clung to Shihoru despite herself, but just managed to hold back.

Steep dive, steep climb, steep dive, steep climb. The wyvern repeated that like it was a pendulum.

Though she compared it to a pendulum, it wasn’t like the wyvern was always flying the same course. It changed course in all directions. Its angle and speed were probably different every time. The dust cloud was incredible, but not as bad as when the wyvern jumped up and flew. She could see, faintly.

Someone tripped after getting out of the way of the wyvern’s charge. Was that Setora?

Enba immediately went to scoop Setora up. In that instant, the wyvern shifted from a steep climb to a steep dive, and it assaulted the two of them.

This time, its feet were out. It intended to stomp them.

With an “Nnnnnngh!” Enba threw Setora away, and tried to jump out of the way himself.

It was really close. He didn’t make it.

The wyvern’s right foot grazed Enba’s right arm. That was all it took for Enba’s arm to be torn off, and taken away.

“Ennnnnnnbaaaaaaaaa!” Having positioned herself to fall safely, as soon as Setora got up, she tried to rush over to Enba, but Haruhiro snatched her and pulled her away.

The wyvern started its usual ominous, terrifying dance. It beat its wings and jumped.

Enba was—unaccounted for. What had happened to him? That wasn’t just dangerous to Enba, though; it was a threat to Haruhiro and Setora, too.

“Dark! Here’s everything I have!” Shihoru shouted.

Had Shihoru decided it was no longer time to be looking for an opening?

The Dark floating over her shoulder finally launched.

Dark charged towards the wyvern, emitting a noise that made it feel like electricity was running through their eardrums and skin. There would be no second shot. Shihoru had put everything into that Dark. That was why Merry had naturally assumed it would get bigger. Her expectations were betrayed. It was the opposite. Dark gradually contracted. The strange sounds got quieter, too.

Partly because of that, the wyvern didn’t attempt to avoid Dark. It might not even have noticed him. After all, even Merry couldn’t see him. She suspected that Dark had hit the wyvern somewhere around its chest. He had become too small to see before that, so Merry had lost sight of him.

But there was no doubt that Dark had hit the wyvern. If not, the wyvern wouldn’t have spread its wings out, thrown its head back, and its entire body wouldn’t have started shuddering like mad.

It worked.

As Shihoru’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, which lolled to one side, Merry held her tight and let out a silent cheer.

Shihoru! That was amazing. You’re great. It was beyond amazing. I’m can’t believe you could use magic like that.

The wyvern pitched forward. Had that taken it out, maybe?

No.

Pyohhhhhhhhhhhhhh... the wyvern cried as it started beating its wings. It was less like it was trying to fly, and more like it was striking the ground with its wings to try to catch its balance. It might look like it was struggling, but it wasn’t out of strength yet. It was coming.

The wyvern was coming their way, even if it was stumbling as it did.

Where were Haruhiro and Setora? Merry didn’t have time to look for them. Tsuga held his club tight, exhaled, and said, “Take care of that girl for me,” in a whisper.

Shihoru had passed out in Merry’s arms. Merry nodded, crouching down with Shihoru still in her arms.

She picked up Shihoru’s staff. If she had a mage’s staff, maybe she could use it for something. It had to be better than going barehanded.

The wyvern was still unsteady on its feet, but it was definitely closing in.

Could it be because of Circlet? If the wyvern had discovered Merry and Shihoru because of the ring of light, and that made it target them, what a way to screw up. It was too late for regrets now, but it was frustrating.

I’m just so...

Suddenly, something heavy came from behind her and fell at her feet with a thud. When she looked, it was a tall man she had definitely not expected to see. What was he doing here?

Kuzaku raised his face. “Ha ha! I found you. Things look crazy bad, but...

I’m all fired uuuuup!” He jumped to his feet.

Wounds. Kuzaku looked injured. He was covered in bruises. Were they being healed by the Circlet? You never knew what was going to work in your favor.

Kuzaku shouted, “Let me borrow that!” and snatched Shihoru’s staff out of Merry’s hands. “Even this is better than nothing! Merry-san, take Shihoru- san and run!”

Merry shook her head. She just wanted to get Shihoru out of here. She’d hide Shihoru somewhere, then be right back. There might still be something she could do with light magic. There ought to be. The ring of light was vanishing. Kuzaku and Tsuga moved up to the front. The wyvern came at them with thunderous steps that made the ground shake.

Even if Kuzaku and Tsuga went at it with all they had, they couldn’t possibly bring that monster to a halt. But they might be able to stall it for a

few seconds. They could buy some time. That was probably their intention. Naturally, Merry was going to help, too.

But she never imagined there would be a sudden howl of, Awoooooooooooo echoing through the area, with tens of black wolves rushing at the wyvern at once.

If the wyvern had been in top form, it might not have mattered, but it was still suffering from the punishing blow Dark had dealt it. The black wolves tore into the wyvern’s legs, and tore the edges of its wings.

The wyvern writhed about, swinging its wings to keep the black wolves from getting closer. However, the black wolves were quick and persistent. When it kicked one away, there was another, and when it shook that one off, there was yet another. They came at it from all directions, taking turns attacking it. They were used to attacking as a pack to take down creatures that were much larger than them. They were organized. They had an absolute leader, and they were following that leader’s orders.

“Meoooooooooooooooooow!”

This voice wasn’t a wolf. That was a human’s voice.

On the right side in the direction Merry was facing, there was a gradual rise as the ground got higher. That was where she was. It wasn’t just her.

There was a big black wolf, too. That, and the goblin beastmaster, too.

Why were those three together?

Yume puffed up her chest and stuck her fist out. “Yume, and Onsan, and Garon’re here to savage the situation! Meooooooow!”

Yume, you probably mean “salvage” the situation. Also, why are you meowing?

Not that it mattered. It was cute, after all. There was something hot welling up inside her chest. Her vision blurred. Merry held it inside. She wasn’t going to cry. No way. The tears went away in no time.

The wyvern. Someone had grabbed the wyvern by the neck. The wyvern, being a sort of dragon, had its body covered in scales, but on closer inspection, it had hair, too. Someone was clinging to that hair, and not just trying not to get thrown off, he was climbing up.

“Haru!” Merry cried.

What was he thinking? When had he gotten there?

Stop. It’s dangerous! she wanted to shout, but her voice wouldn’t come out.

She knew. Haruhiro wouldn’t stop. Because this was where the fight would be decided. Everything had come together. There might never be another chance like this.

Haruhiro was trying to settle it. In order to break out of this situation, he’d gone all-in on this attempt. He wasn’t desperate. Even when Haruhiro was risking his life, he had a solid plan behind it. There was no stopping him now. So Merry had to believe in him and hope. Watch him. And be sure not to miss it.

Haru will pull through.

Like with a bird, the wyvern’s front legs had developed into wings. It had no arms or hands. That was why it couldn’t throw Haruhiro off very well.

Knowing Haruhiro, he’d probably taken that into consideration before he’d gone for it. Once he got to the back of its head, the rest was quick. Haruhiro pounced on the wyvern’s face, then stabbed it in the right eye with his stiletto. He went for three thrusts, then moved on to stab its left eye, too. The wyvern emitted a sky rending shriek and writhed in pain.

Haruhiro waited for the wyvern to swing its head down, then jumped away. Even if he seemed death-crazed, he’d still make the choice to live. Naturally. If he died on them, they’d be in trouble.

The wyvern flapped its wings. Was it going to fly? It was trying to. Its eyes had been put out, so it wasn’t going to be safe, even up in the sky. But it had to be better than the ground, which was swarming with enemies that meant it harm. That must have been what the wyvern decided. Yes. That was good.

“Us, too!” She heard Haruhiro’s voice. “Run for it! While we can!” “Meow!” Yume cried as she rushed down the slope.

The big black wolf and the goblin didn’t move.

Yume said “Meow bye!” to them, and it looked like she waved. Kuzaku snatched Shihoru from Merry’s arms and carried her himself.

“Let’s go, Merry-san!”

“Right!” If she were being honest, Merry wanted to carry Haruhiro. But Haruhiro wouldn’t want that. The thing Haruhiro had most on his mind right now was his comrades. In order to put their leader’s mind at ease, they ought to withdraw as soon as possible. That was for the best.

The wyvern was taking off, and Haruhiro and Yume were both fine.

Merry took Shihoru’s staff back from Kuzaku, and led the way as they fled.

The rear guard, Tsuga, started laughing.

Merry doubted her eyes. Was this really possible? It was fog. Suddenly, the fog rolled in.

Who’d have thought? She’d believed there hadn’t been a single supernatural phenomenon. Had she been wrong?

Prayer. Could that be what had brought in the fog?

She had heard that the wyverns flew in from the Kuaron Mountains in the east on clear days. There had apparently been a time when tens of them had

attacked the hidden village at once, too. That meant the blue wyvern might not be the only one around. Other wyverns might have come to Thousand Valley in search of prey, and they might still have encountered them.

With the fog out like this, though, that was no longer possible.

Had they gotten lucky? Merry thought otherwise. Luck had played into it, no doubt, but there was definitely more to it. Because they had all done their best and not given up, they had been able to make it to this result.

Because of the fog, visibility was rapidly getting worse. Even when she turned back to look into the sky, she couldn’t even make out the shape of the wyvern.

“Yume!”

“Haru-kun!”

The moment she heard those two call each other’s names behind her, she couldn’t hold it back anymore. Merry kept running, not even bothering to wipe the overflowing tears.

Even when Setora cried, “Haru!” and Haruhiro responded, “Thank goodness you’re okay!” Merry didn’t feel anything but relief. She was able to feel glad from the bottom of her heart that Setora was all right.

If Merry stayed like this, she could get along without hating her. Everyone was precious to her, she loved them, and embarrassing as it was to admit it, she wanted to tell them that honestly. She wanted to tell everyone with a smile on her face. Someday, she’d surely be able to.

That was how she felt.

11.    Save the Fun for Later

“Did I have too much to drink last night?” Takasagi got up still hugging his katana, and sniffed his nose.

Ever since the short sunny period a little earlier in the morning, Thousand Valley had been enveloped in the usual thick fog.

Forgan operated freely over a wide area including the former territories of the kingdoms of Nananka, Ishmar, and even Arabakia. They never settled in one place for long. That was exactly what Takasagi liked about the group. He didn’t understand how people could put down roots in one place, and he’d thought for a long time that when he died, he wanted it to be in a place he didn’t know. Even so, he had some familiarity with Thousand Valley, having visited a number of times, and that clearing of the fog was unusual, bizarre even.

“Thanks to it, we let those guys get away, too.”

Takasagi scowled and clicked his tongue. He’d remembered something trivial and boring.

When he looked around, he spotted Garo sleeping, and Onsa petting his neck. The other black wolves were sitting next to them, or lying down nearby. There were a number of nyaas he’d started training, too. Onsa and Garo were fine, so maybe he should leave it at that. The number of nyaas had dwindled considerably, but they could breed and raise more.

Takasagi stood up and sighed. He had a headache. A hangover, huh? “Still, I’m getting tired of it. This fog. Maybe it’s time to move. I’ll talk to

Jumbo, and—”

“Takasagi,” Weldrund addressed him, walking over with a dour look on his face. The gray elves from Broken Valley had the gray skin you would expect from that name, and this shaman was no exception. He was a rather

expressionless man for someone whose hobbies were poetry and music, and so he couldn’t help but look dour.

“What is it, Duke Wel?” he asked.

“I have something to show you. Please, come with me.”

Takasagi followed him to a place behind the rocks where a wangaro pelt was laid out, and a single piece of parchment was laid on top of it. The parchment had been weighed down with a stone so it wouldn’t blow away.

Takasagi burst out despite himself, “Oh, come on, seriously?”

He crouched down, moved the rock, and picked up the parchment. This is what was written, in sloppy letters:

Sorry.

Not going to make excuses.

I’ve decided to leave on a journey. Don’t look for me. I’m begging you. With love, sincerely,

Ranta-sama

“That bastard...”

Takasagi crumpled the piece of paper. Oh, man. This is great. It’s more than just a laugh.

When he reached his limits, Takasagi laughed. He burst out laughing. “What do you mean, you ‘want to get strong’?”

There were tears in his eyes.

He was laughing so hard, he thought his sides might burst.

“Since you were so insistent, I was ready to give you some real training, and this is what I get for it?! This is perfect, Ranta! You’re a real funny guy! Don’t look for you, huh?! Like hell! I’m gonna look for you! I’m gonna find you, and murder you with my own two hands! It’ll be fun! I can’t wait, Ranta! You little shit!”

Afterword

This doesn’t just go for Grimgar, it goes for my other novels as well, but I don’t do much planning before I write. This time, in particular, it wasn’t just that I didn’t do much planning, I did none at all. When I first started writing, even I had no idea how things were going to turn out, and where we would end up.

When it’s like this, how things will go really depends on the characters showing up in the novel. In this volume, I particularly leaned on Haruhiro’s group. Well, I did have the intention to make it that sort of story, but it seemed like it would be a little hard for just Haruhiro to do, so I had the rest work hard, too.

The road to Alterna still looks long and fraught with peril, but I’d like them to make it there somehow. Will they be able to, I wonder...?

I’ve run out of pages.

To my editor, Harada-san, to Eiri Shirai-san, 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