The ustrels.

He wasn’t getting carried away, and after the first time they’d met this kind of monster, Haruhiro never would have imagined a time would come when he might think this.

They’re no match for us now, he thought confidently.

“We’re ending this!” he shouted.

When Haruhiro made that declaration, Yume drew her machete and closed in. Merry readied her short staff, not leaving Shihoru’s side.

The ustrel, of course, was trying to get back on his feet, but every time he did, Ranta would jeer and kick his arms or legs out from under him, keeping him from getting up.

Ranta always does these things with such glee, thought Haruhiro. It must come from his nasty personality.

Kuzaku was focusing his onslaught on the ustrel’s head and neck, not so much slashing him as bludgeoning him. Kuzaku had always been blessed with a tall, strong body. When Kuzaku swung down his longsword with all his might, the destructive force behind it was considerable. He lost the ability to talk when he got focused, but that wasn’t a shortcoming. Kuzaku silently continued grinding down what life force remained in the ustrel.

“Meow! Raging Tiger!” Yume called.

This skill of Yume’s, where she did a somersault followed by a powerful blow on the enemy, was pretty dangerous. Every time he saw it, Haruhiro thought, It’s amazing she’s not scared to do that.

While keeping an eye on his comrades, Haruhiro occasionally stared at the ustrel’s back. This was, well, just a habit. No matter what they were up against, if he observed closely, he could figure out what kind of creature it was—or at least he felt that way. It was only that he felt that way, and it couldn’t possibly be true, but it was strangely calming to stare at his enemy’s back.

Once in a while, a strategy would come to mind as he did it. Like, This guy seems weak here, or, He has this idiosyncrasy in the way he moves, or, This is where we ought to attack him.

And then, rarely, he would see that line. To be more precise, it was a dim light that was something like a line. It seemed to be a visualization, of sorts. My opponent will move like so, and has this sort of a weakness, so I should do this. It was a sort of instantaneous prediction. One he processed as if it were a single line.

Setting aside the question of whether it was actually a line or not, apparently everyone had these sorts of visualizations. Generally, they were easier to see when in a difficult situation. In some cases, he had heard it was possible to see multiple lines. In other words, some people were able to instantaneously make multiple predictions.

It differed from person to person. By a lot, actually.

Regardless, it was an ability every thief had. Nothing special.

Of course it wouldn’t be, Haruhiro thought. I’m fine with that, really. Haruhiro wasn’t disappointed at all. A special ability that only I have. It would be nice to have one, of course, but I doubt I’m going to have one. And, as a matter of fact, I don’t. That’s all there is to it. I don’t have what I don’t have.

That said, if you were to say I—we, have nothing, that wouldn’t be true at all. We might come up short in the quantity, quality, and variety of what we have when compared with a genius, but even ordinary people don’t have nothing. They have to make do with what they have. There are things ordinary people can do. Ordinary people can grow. We can get stronger in our plain, ordinary way.

There was a harsh, screeching sound. The ustrel was already foaming at the mouth and chattering his teeth. He was on the verge of death.

“Take that, and that, and that, and that, and that!” Ranta yelled.

He vigorously stabbed Betrayer into the ustrel’s back over and over. Kuzaku backed away, looking to Haruhiro. Haruhiro nodded. There was no need to waste more energy than they needed to. The ustrel was dying. Ranta could handle the rest. Ranta loved thoroughly tormenting a dying enemy and then snuffing the life out of them.

It wasn’t like Haruhiro didn’t question if he should really be acting like that, as a person, but his cruel mercilessness had helped them occasionally. Of course, if you asked Haruhiro whether he liked the guy or not, the answer would be that he truly hated him with every fiber of his being.

“Oh, yeahhhhhh!” Ranta shouted, mounting the motionless ustrel and starting to do something. Probably trying to get his hands on some loot.

That said, ustrels were not a good source of money. The only things they had that were worth a good price were their metallic skulls and the naginatas they carried. Both of those were bulky, and not worth the trouble of hauling back. Especially the metallic skulls. They might look like helmets, but they were actually something like an exoskeleton, and they couldn’t be taken off, so you had to carry them back with the head still inside. They had tried it just once, but for all the effort involved, they’d been disappointed with the minimal return on it. Haruhiro never wanted to do that again.

What Ranta wanted was to take a piece of the ustrel’s body, just because keeping trophies was his disgusting fetish—no, not really. Dread knights took an ear, claw, or other small piece of the enemies they personally killed to give as an offering to Skullhell. They would accumulate vice that way, which let them learn dread knight magic and fighting skills, or strengthened their dread knight magic with Skullhell’s blessing.

Well, he’s a brute, Haruhiro thought.

In a group of twenty volunteer soldiers, you would be lucky to find even one dread knight. It was easy to see why there were so few of them.

I couldn’t stand doing that, Haruhiro thought. Unless it really suits your personality, you can’t go on as a dread knight.

Worse still, even if you couldn’t go on, anyone who became a dread knight could no longer change to another job. They were forced to swear their loyalty to Skullhell alone, and to never betray him so long as they lived. In other words, their code said they couldn’t stop being a dread knight. If he left the guild, his fellow dread knights would chase him down. He’d be killed.

Scary. Dread knights were too damn scary.

“Uhehehehe!” Ranta cackled, lifting up something coated in blackish blood. A tooth from the ustrel, apparently. Haruhiro covered his mouth with the back of his hand, fighting the urge to vomit.

Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be just fine. The job really suits him. Actually, he’s a dread knight to the core. It’s his calling, I’m sure of it.

With Ranta’s work done, Haruhiro and the party decided to leave the ustrel’s remains and move on. This was the edge of the muryan nest. The muryans would clean up the body, no doubt.

The Wonder Hole. It had been more than four months ago that they’d first set foot here.

Honestly, it wasn’t very profitable. Actually, they were using all their earnings on food, drink, baths, equipment, and occasional trips back to Alterna to learn new skills.

The Lonesome Field Outpost had a branch of the Yorozu Deposit Company and, if they were willing to ignore the high fees, they could withdraw money they had on deposit at the main branch, but their savings hadn’t grown at all. Worse than that, Haruhiro’s had gone down, and he wouldn’t be surprised if his party members’ had, too.

We can go in a bit deeper now, Haruhiro thought. Kuzaku’s gotten used to the party, and he’s now a functional tank. Each of us have gotten stronger in our own way, to the point that we can easily wipe the floor with an ustrel. We’re making steady progress... maybe?

It’s hard to say. I think we’re going at a good pace, though. Sometimes things don’t go well, and that can be a real mess. There are times when I agonize over what to do, too. Then there are also times when I just accept that thinking too much isn’t going to change anything, and focus on that day’s work.

Are things okay like this? he wondered. The answer to that question changes every once in a while. Right now, yeah, it’s fine, or at least not bad, I’d say.

Not bad. At least, it shouldn’t be.

Haruhiro was standing at the front of the group, keeping a watchful eye on the area around them as they progressed through the muryan nest with its many side tunnels. Because that ustrel had appeared, the muryans had all retreated. They wouldn’t show themselves.

“Man...” Ranta said with a sniff of his nose. “Things have gotten, I dunno, kinda repetitive, haven’t they? Lately, that is.”

“...Here he goes again,” Shihoru said with a sigh.

“Huh? Did you say something, saggy tits?” Ranta asked.

“Th... They are not saggy!” Shihoru exclaimed.

“I dunno,” Ranta said. “I haven’t seen them. You’d have to let me check ’em out for myself. Yeah, that’s it. That’s what you’ve gotta do. Can’t say for sure that they aren’t saggy otherwise. Am I right, Kuzacky?”

“Could you stop it?” Kuzaku asked. “Don’t call me that.”

“Kuzackyyyy!”

“What are you, a little kid?” Kuzaku asked.

“I. Am. An. Adult. I’m an adult, no matter how you cut it. I’m so adult, I’m way too adult. You can tell that, right, Kuzacky?”

“Man...” Haruhiro said, cursing himself for butting in when he knew it would do no good and it was best to just stay quiet. Of course, he cursed Ranta even more than that. Half a billion times more. “Can’t you do anything other than bother people? Aren’t you ashamed to live like that, as a person?”

“I’m not ashamed, clearly,” Ranta said. “I do it with pride, and you know it. I live without showing restraint towards anyone. Can’t you tell that, you moron?”

“You’re a fine example of evil thriving,” Merry said coldly.

“Your hate,” Ranta said with a deep, sinister chuckle, “it gives me strength. Do you get it? That’s because I’m a knight of darkness, a dread knight. I am the darkness. Got it? By the way, Yume, Shihoru’s tits, they’re saggy, right?”

“Huh?” Yume furrowed her brow, and then, probably without thinking, brought her hands to her chest and made a gesture like she was lifting something heavy. “Wait, there’s no way Yume’s gonna tell you that, Ranta, you perv!”

Haruhiro hastily looked away. His eyes met with Kuzaku’s by chance. They had an unspoken conversation.

“...Just now, they looked pretty heavy...”

“Yeah. Really heavy...”

No, no, no, no, no, Haruhiro thought insistently. Stop. It’s awkward thinking about that sort of stuff with my comrades. It’s better if I don’t think about it. I shouldn’t think about it. If I think of them as men and women, it really does get awkward. But, well, with Kuzaku—

Haruhiro glanced over to Merry. Hmm. I wonder. I don’t really have any decisive evidence one way or the other. Not that I’ve tried to find any. I mean, they’re free to do what they want, yeah? That’s why, though I don’t know what’s going on for sure, Kuzaku leaves the tent at night sometimes. When I quietly follow him, sometimes he and Merry are talking outside. Just the two of them. I’ve spotted them doing that a number of times.

I dunno, but it feels like they’re making surprisingly little progress...? Though, that said, it’s not like they aren’t both conscious of each other in that way.

Of course, they’re free to do that stuff. Haruhiro told himself that they should do whatever they wanted. He had only tailed Kuzaku those first few times because he’d been concerned for the man, as a later addition to the party. Like, that he might be feeling out of place.

I mean, wouldn’t anyone worry in a situation like that? Haruhiro thought. I’m supposed to be the leader and all. So, from that, it seemed like Merry’s giving him advice, and I thought, “Oh, good.” But, is it just advice she’s giving him?! Is that really all?! If they’ve got something going on, I wish they’d tell me! I wish they’d stop sneaking around behind my back! I mean, I’m curious... I do feel that way somewhat, but, well, I guess it’s fine?

It is fine—isn’t it?

Like, you know, it’s fine while they’re getting along and all, yeah? But, if they break up or something, won’t that be awkward? Or maybe they’ll be able to compartmentalize?

Will they? Haruhiro didn’t know. I don’t have the experience. No, I don’t remember life before coming to Grimgar, but I probably don’t? That’s what it feels like. I definitely didn’t have a ton of experience. That much I can say for sure. There’s no way a guy like me was popular with the ladies. I mean, I’m not now. Sometimes, I get the feeling that Yume, Shihoru, and Merry don’t even see me as a member of the opposite sex. And what’s wrong with that?

It was actually more convenient that way. It meant that when something happened in the party, Haruhiro was the only one who could approach the girls with the same emotional distance that he did the guys. If things got bad between some of the others, Haruhiro could stand in the middle and try to mend fences.

It’s a pain in the butt, and I do wonder why I should have to, but I’m the leader, he told himself. I have to accept it. I’m well aware that I lack what you’d call leadership skills. But a good comrade, a relatively good friend, someone who values the harmony of the party, and who, even if he can’t pull everyone along with him, finds a way for us all to struggle forward together, that sort of central figure... that’s what I aspire to be.

Well, I think that’s what I’d like to be, if I can. Only if I can.

“Saggy tits,” Ranta sang. “Saggy, saggy tits. Saggy. Tits. Saggy. Tits.”

If I didn’t have stupid, stupid Ranta, and his weird, crappy song, it probably wouldn’t be that hard, you know? I’m gonna Backstab you, pal, Haruhiro thought viciously. No, ignore him, just ignore him. That’s always for the best. Everyone’s figured that out by now. Even Shihoru’s holding it in. Sorry, Shihoru, that you have to put up with that piece of trash. They aren’t even sagging. They don’t sag, right? Though, if they’re that big, you can’t fight gravity forever...

No, no, no, stop. Haruhiro shook his head.

The stone walls ahead were neatly carved out to look like buildings. No, not like, they were buildings. Quite impressive ones, at that. They had almost reached the kingdom of the devils.

“Ranta, we’re passing straight through, got it?” Haruhiro asked.

“...Yeah, I know already,” Ranta said. “You don’t have to tell me every single time. I just messed up a little bit that first time.”

And because of it, we ended up in real trouble, thought Haruhiro.

Haruhiro and the others set foot in the kingdom of the devils, which resembled a temple carved into the side of a cave. From the windows of the buildings, someone—many someones—was looking their way.

Not humans, of course. While they were built similarly to humans, their legs and nether regions were covered with thick fur, and they had goat-like horns on their heads. They all had staves that they carried with them everywhere. They were called staves, but some were like bludgeoning instruments, while others had spear or sword-like blades on the end. They were all quite imposing.

Baphomets. Also known as devils.

“Hello, hello,” Ranta said with a forced smile, and then the exact same voice came back.

“Hello, hello,” a devil said.

Ranta hadn’t repeated himself. It was the work of a devil. They didn’t necessarily understand human language, but they were amazing at imitating voices.

“Hey, stop that!” Yume cried, jabbing Ranta in the back.

Another devil spoke in Yume’s voice. “Hey, stop that!” it said.

The devils weren’t especially friendly towards humans, but they weren’t hostile, either. However, whenever a human said something, they would imitate them like this. It wasn’t clear why. They might have thought it was amusing, it might have been a natural trait of theirs, or perhaps they were looking to see how people would react. Honestly, it was a bit irritating.

All the devils would do was watch humans, thoroughly imitating their every utterance. Before they’d reached this kingdom of devils, Haruhiro and the party had acquired that information. Frustrating though it might be, so long as the party didn’t start anything themselves, having their voices imitated would be the worst they would have to deal with. In that case, all they had to do was shut their mouths. If they were silent, the devils would be, too.

Of course, that had been the plan. The devils had a great love for architecture and sculpting, and they valued their staves highly. However, aside from their staves and stone crafts, they had little of monetary value. There were a lot of them, too. Killing them would be pointless.

Despite that, after being imitated just a few times, Ranta had snapped and started shouting.

The devils must have interpreted it as a hostile action, because they had come and attacked. Haruhiro and the others had managed to escape somehow, but ever since then, whenever they approached the kingdom of the devils, the devils would gather around to intimidate them. In fact, they had been attacked twice and forced to retreat. Haruhiro had thought they were going to die one of those times.

They went through the valley known as the domain of the three demi-humans to reach the muryan nest, but without passing through the kingdom of the devils, they couldn’t go any further. The kingdom of the devils had a complex layout. No matter how capable a party was, it would be difficult to get through it if they had to fight devils all the time. That was why they maintained good relations with the devils. Everyone did, and Haruhiro had meant to do the same, but because Ranta acted like a total moron, the devils hated them now. Worse yet, the devils seemed to have good memories, and they weren’t about to forget what Haruhiro and his group had done. Even if they tried to wait for that enmity to die down, there was no telling how long that might take. Haruhiro and the others had tried everything to get the devils in a better mood.

“Ugh, these guys piss me off... can we just kill ’em?” Ranta muttered in an oddly cheery tone.

“Ugh, these guys piss me off... can we just kill ’em?” the devils imitated.

“He’s a certified idiot,” Shihoru said darkly.

“He’s a certified idiot,” the devils imitated.

“Seriously, man, cut it out...” Haruhiro said with a sigh.

“Seriously, man, cut it out...” the devils said, even replicating his sigh perfectly.

“But, seriously, this has got to piss you off,” Ranta cackled. “Ha ha ha!”

“But, seriously, this has got to piss you off. Ha ha ha!”

“You can just plug your ears,” Merry said, her tone colder than ice.

“You can just plug your ears,” the devils imitated, no less cold than her.

“How about you try not talkin’ in the first place,” Yume said.

“How about you try not talkin’ in the first place.”

“Shut up, Tiny Tits.”

“Shut up, Tiny Tits.”

“Don’t call them tiny!”

“Don’t call them tiny!”

“This is going to drive me crazy...” Kuzaku muttered.

“This is going to drive me crazy...”

“If this is enough to drive you crazy, you sure are weak, Kuzacky! You beanpole!” Ranta hollered.

“If this is enough to drive you crazy, you sure are weak, Kuzacky! You beanpole!”

“Please, would you just shut up?” Haruhiro said, plugging his ears so he wouldn’t have to hear the devils imitating him. It didn’t help.

“Please, would you just shut up?”

I can still hear them pretty well, you know, Haruhiro thought. Is there something special about the devils’ voices? I don’t know why, but putting my hands over my ears barely blocks their voices. I’m not Kuzaku, but I really do feel like this is driving me crazy. Actually, if Ranta would just keep his mouth shut, nobody else would say anything. This is Ranta’s fault. Everything is always Ranta’s fault.

Haruhiro struggled to maintain his sanity as they walked through the kingdom of the devils. There were lights shining out of the windows, so it was fairly bright, but the roads were narrow and twisted, making it hard to see ahead. Sometimes what he thought was a road wasn’t a road, too. There were a lot of dead ends. If he let his guard down, they’d get lost in no time. He had considered trying to make a map, but he had to give up on the idea. He didn’t have a good grasp of distances or direction, so it would be too hard to draw a map. It would probably be impossible, short of measuring everything out.

A low-end estimate for how long it took to pass through the kingdom of devils was 40 to 45 minutes.

I think we’ve been walking 45 minutes already, Haruhiro thought.

The cave’s temple-like buildings had ended a little ways back, and it had grown darker. Haruhiro pulled out a lantern to light their way.

“Huh...?” he said.

That’s weird. Haruhiro stopped. He shined his light around the area.

“This is the mineshaft, isn’t it?” he asked. “It should be...”

“How should I know?” Ranta spat out. “You’re the one leading the way, Parupiro. We’re following you because we trust you. If you’re saying you’ve betrayed our trust and taken us to some weird place you don’t know, then that’s a big problem, pal, a big one. It’s your responsibility! Now ritually disembowel yourself to apologize, you moron!”

“We took the right path... or we should have,” Shihoru ignored Ranta and agreed with Haruhiro. “If I’m not wrong, at least...”

She didn’t sound all that confident.

“Hmm.” Kuzaku turned around. “I don’t think you’re wrong. Personally, that is...”

Again, not sounding very confident.

“Wait, hold on,” Yume looked around restlessly. “This isn’t the mineshaft? Wasn’t the mineshaft like this?”

As for Yume, it seemed she didn’t even remember what the mineshaft she had already visited several times looked like...

“There’s something different about it...” Merry said, cocking her head to the side, “...maybe?”

She didn’t sound confident at all.

“It’s wrong,” Haruhiro said, sure about that now.

The mineshaft.

It was called the Grimble Mineshaft, to be precise.

The name came from creatures called grimbles that lived in this area. They were like huge rats, but with rock-hard skin and shells on their backs. Some rare individuals had gold, silver, and diamond in their shells, which of course sold for a high price. However, because of excessive hunting, their numbers had dwindled—or that was the common belief, but it seemed that their population was showing a recovering trend recently.

That was what Haruhiro and the others thought, anyway. This was their seventh trip to this mineshaft. The past six times, they hadn’t seen any diamond grimbles, but they had spotted a gold grimble once and a silver grimble on four separate occasions. They clearly weren’t on the verge of extinction. While they hadn’t managed to catch any yet, even the silver shells were worth a lot of money, so what was the harm in trying?

However, whether it was gold or silver shells, it would be best if, once they succeeded in catching one and gained the necessary know-how, they managed to gather as many as they could and sell them all at once. If it looked like there was money to be made, a number of other parties would probably rush to the mineshaft. If that happened, Haruhiro and his party probably wouldn’t be able to compete. They needed to make a tidy profit before then.

That was their plan. And they had come to the mineshaft to catch gold or silver grimbles.

That was how it was supposed to be, Haruhiro thought. It’s been three days, though.

They couldn’t afford to spend multiple days in a row doing nothing but search for grimbles. If they went too long without fighting a difficult battle, their combat senses would start to dull.

Three days since we last came here, Haruhiro thought.

“This wasn’t here,” he said. “Not last time.”

Haruhiro turned his lantern towards what should have been a rock wall. The light was sucked into the darkness and vanished. It looked pretty deep.

“...This hole,” Haruhiro said.

“Like! I! Said!” Ranta shouted emphatically. “You got it wrong! Boroborwo! You took the wrong path! This isn’t the mineshaft, man! I mean, they call it a mineshaft, but it’s just an ordinary maze-like cave-like thing! They’re all over the place! This place just looks similar! That’s all it is! Use some common sense!”

“No, but...”

I didn’t take the wrong path—I don’t think, Haruhiro thought. I’m confident... But, well, why is this hole here when it shouldn’t be?

It was three meters across, and more than two meters high. There was no way they could have overlooked it. If they’d passed by it, they would have been guaranteed to notice. It was a big, round hole.

Haruhiro looked left and right. Because, like Ranta said, the mineshaft was like a natural cave, with nothing special about it. It had no special characteristics that made it stand out, nothing that he could use to recognize it at a glance. So, though he couldn’t say anything definitive, aside from the existence of this hole, it was no different from before, he thought.

“Someone,” Yume said absently. “They came and dug it, don’t you think? This hole.”

“Like they could!” Ranta kicked the ground. “Who’d dig a hole! Here in the Wonder Hole! Like anyone has the time! Think a little before you talk!”

“You say that, but the Wonder Hole, it’s just a big hole, too!” Yume shot back.

“Hm...?” Ranta crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. “Now that you mention it, I guess so...?”

“It might not have been a human,” Shihoru said in a conspiratorial tone. “There could be all sorts of creatures here digging...”

“Wow,” Kuzaku said, poking his head into the hole. “Sure is dark. Y’think there’s something in there?”

“Hold on.” Merry pulled on Kuzaku’s arm. “That’s dangerous.”

Yeah, just show off how close you two are, Haruhiro thought— Or that’s something I may or may not have thought. No, I’m not thinking it, okay? It’s just really awkward. Though, it’s something I could warn you not to do, you know? Uh... maybe?

But, when Haruhiro cleared his throat a little, Merry seemed to snap to her senses, turned around, and let go of Kuzaku’s arm.

Huh? Huh, huh, huh? Haruhiro thought. Why is she awkwardly trying to put some distance between herself and Kuzaku, I wonder? Maybe it really is awkward for her? Did I get in their way? Maybe I should say sorry? Not that that’s what I was trying to do.

Haruhiro sighed.

I should stop, he thought. I mean, it’s almost like I’m jealous. Not that I am. I mean, yeah, I was interested in Merry. There was a time when I felt that way. But, well, she’s clearly out of my league, you know? Though, if I had to say whether I like or hate her, I’d say I do like her. Like, if Merry asked me to go out with her, obviously, I’d say yes. But that’s as far as it goes.

I wish she’d just come out and say, “Actually, the two of us are going out.” That’d make it easier for me to accept.

Actually, doesn’t it bother everyone else? Like, they’ve got to have more or less noticed, right? That something fishy’s going on between Merry and Kuzaku? Like, it’s plain to see, isn’t it? Or does everyone else just not care? Maybe I just care a little too much?

Maybe I’m just horny? Haruhiro wondered, half-mocking himself. Horny. If I said I was like a wild beast in heat, that’d be too blatant. I feel like that’s not quite it anyway. What is it then? I want to be in love? To have a girlfriend? Yeah, maybe that’s it.

I want a girlfriend.

—Not that I could get one.

“Yeah, this is the place,” Haruhiro said. “This is the mineshaft.”

Haruhiro looked to each of his comrades. He thought, I want to dropkick Ranta. But other than that, my current party is more precious to me than anything.

“But there’s a hole now,” Haruhiro said. “I dunno why. The question is, what do we do about it?”

Now’s not the time to be saying that I want a girlfriend. When I think about Moguzo, somehow, I feel like it might be too early for me, too. I don’t meet a lot of new people, so it’s not like I have options. Besides, if I let my heart get distracted by silly things and have my head in the clouds, that’d be a big problem. I’ve got to keep myself together.

“It could be a new discovery,” Haruhiro concluded.

When Haruhiro said that, his comrades, Ranta in particular, got excited.

A discovery.

Someone must have discovered the Wonder Hole in the first place. Then, as exploration had progressed, there had been further discoveries inside the Wonder Hole, which continued to this day.

For instance, Soma, the head of the group Haruhiro and the others were, technically, members of, the Day Breakers, was always exploring uninhabited lands to find a route to the former kingdoms of Ishmal and Nanaka. He and his party were discovering unknown places and creatures every day.

Fundamentally, the glory of new discoveries would go to parties like Soma’s, which were always pushing deeper and deeper. However, the Wonder Hole was infinitely vast. It was said that even the valley of holes, the muryan nest, and the kingdom of devils hadn’t been fully explored, especially since natural disasters or the actions of the creatures that resided in it could cause the Wonder Hole to change at times. There was no way to anticipate where those changes might happen.

In other words, even Haruhiro and his party had a chance of making a new discovery. This hole could very well be it. On the other side of this hole, there might be a whole other world that nobody knew anything about.

“What do we do about it? Man—” Ranta licked his lips. “I don’t even need to say it, do I? There’s only one thing for it.”

“I have a bad feeling...” Shihoru clutched her staff close, shrinking into herself and trembling.

“Is it my fault?!” Ranta shouted. “Is it my fault, huh, saggy tits?!”

“I told you, they’re not saggy!” Shihoru shouted.

“And I told you, show me!”

“Oh...?” a voice said.

“Huh?” Haruhiro furrowed his brow.

Who had that “Oh...?” just now come from? It had been a guy’s voice. But not Ranta’s, or Kuzaku’s.

Haruhiro turned around. He could see a light from a lantern or a similar piece of lighting equipment.

Someone was coming their way from the direction of the kingdom of the devils. Not just one person. He couldn’t tell the exact number, but it was a party.

“Ah!” another man shouted.

“Huh?” Haruhiro reacted with surprise. This time, it was a voice he recognized.

Someone rushed out of the unfamiliar party and ran over to them.

“Hey, hey! Harucchi! If it isn’t my ol’ pal, Harucchi! What a dinky-coink! Oh, was that one too hard to get?! I mean a coinkydink, a coincidence! And what a coincidence it is, us meeting up here! It’s me, me, little ol’ me! Kikkawa! Yay, yay! Let’s have a rah-hoo for chance encounters! Get it?”

They had met up with Kikkawa.

Haruhiro didn’t know that many leaders. Offhand, he could think of Shinohara of Orion, Renji of Team Renji, Kajiko of the Wild Angels, Soma of the Day Breakers, and, finally, Tokimune of the Tokkis. That was about it.

When I list them like that, each of them is cool in their own way.

“...Is it charisma?” Haruhiro wondered.

Yeah. That’s it. They have charisma. An aura that’s all their own, something that makes them stand out. They feel different. I dunno if they were always that way, but, really, I think they must have had an aptitude for it.

Maybe they were people who had something Haruhiro didn’t.

He’d felt that way all along. He knew it to be true. Haruhiro couldn’t be like Soma, obviously, or even Renji or Shinohara. Still, he had to be marginally better than Ranta, at least, and he couldn’t push the job off on anyone else, so he’d have to do it. He’d managed to do it somehow, so far.

Haruhiro was trying as hard as he could, and he didn’t think things like, I want to be recognized for it, or, Give me a break already.

“...Sorry...” Haruhiro buried his head in his arms again.

It’s gonna be painful. I’m sorry I’m such a bad leader. He was starting to feel bad for his comrades. A more charismatic, decisive, capable leader might be able to make his comrades’ strengths stand out more. Renji had tried to poach Ranta. Shihoru and Yume had received an offer from Kajiko. Haruhiro suspected that even Merry and Kuzaku ought to be able to do better than they were now. That perhaps he, as the party leader, was the bottleneck holding everyone back.

“...I wanna be cool...”

Haruhiro laughed.

Yeah, I can’t say that.

I can’t say that to anyone.

I have to hold onto it all by myself.

“...Okay.”

Haruhiro sat up and polished off the rest of his beer in one go. He winced.

Disgusting. Why do I have to drink this awful swill? He often thought that. Yet, still he drank it. It was a mystery why.

He left his ceramic mug on the counter.

“Thanks.”

Of course, the owner, his face half-hidden behind a bushy beard, only cast a glance in Haruhiro’s direction, not saying anything.

A “Thanks you for your business,” or a “Come again.” Say that much, at least. Haruhiro thought that every time. Yet, still he came to this place. But, maybe I should stop. He’d thought this a number of times now, too.

He walked slowly through the back streets.

They had managed to wrap up their exploration for the day safely. It had been a first-time experience, so he didn’t know if it had gone well or not. Regardless, as they’d progressed down the path, there had been more of those wide rooms with the faintly glowing egg-like objects in them. They had searched ten rooms of roughly the same width before turning back, and he felt like he’d be stuck looking at those eggs in more of those wide rooms tomorrow.

He felt like, Is that all? But at the same time, there was a unique sense of tension and anticipation, so it was fun in a way. If they encountered a creature no one had ever seen before, that would get him pretty fired up. But that excitement would probably come with an equal measure of terror.

He didn’t want to lose anyone the way they had lost Manato and Moguzo.

Though, now, he didn’t feel the same pain he did back then. If anything, he noticed that he was beginning to forget the pain. If this kept up, he might repeat the same mistakes. That was scary, too.

I can’t talk about this, either.

When Haruhiro talked with his comrades, Manato and Moguzo’s names never came up.

Was that intentional? It might be something he was doing unconsciously. Either way, he was avoiding the topic.

“...What a pain.” Haruhiro stopped walking and looked up into the night sky.

He couldn’t whine in front of his comrades. Was he trying to look cool? As leader, he didn’t want to show any weakness. He couldn’t make his comrades worry. Couldn’t get careless. Couldn’t do this, that, or the other thing. He couldn’t do anything. Gotta do this thing. Oughta do that thing. And even after forcing himself to try so hard, he was always going to be ordinary. He could only be an average leader, at best.

“It’s just not fair, huh...” he mumbled.

I wish I at least had a girlfriend.

“No, that’s, I dunno... Would I call what I want a girlfriend?” Haruhiro scratched his head vigorously.

What is it? Peace of mind? Someone I can speak openly with, in a fully trusting relationship? Or is it warmth? Well, maybe I want that, too. Like, wouldn’t it be great to have someone to hug? Or more like someone to hug me, maybe?

“Aughhhhh... I’m gross... Ahhhh!” he burst out.

Oh, crap, he thought, appalled. This isn’t the bar. I’m in the middle of the street. What do I think I’m doing here?

Haruhiro sensed someone stopping. He looked to see who it was, and... Those two up ahead, huh. He was struck by a slight bout of dizziness.

“Ohh...” the little one said.

The one next to the little one was huge. Had to be over 180 centimeters. Not just tall, but big in general, though not fat. Because the little one was small, they made an incredibly contrasting pair.

“What you doing, Haruhirokawa?” the little one asked.

“Nothing, really...” Haruhiro said, backing away. “...Nothing special...”

They’re staring. They’re staring at me. Staring hard. Especially, no, not Anna-san, it’s the big one.

The giantess, Mimori, with those small, animal-like features of hers that were incongruous with her height, was staring reeeeeeally hard at Haruhiro.

He wanted to run away, but that’d be awkward. It’d make them wonder what was wrong with him. He didn’t want them, of all people, thinking he was the strange one.

“H-How about you two?” Haruhiro stuttered. “What are you up to, out so late?”

“It’s walk, yeah,” said Anna-san. “Girls’ walk. It’s night walking, yeah. Is Haruhirokawa on journey of self-discovery?”

“Ha ha,” Haruhiro laughed awkwardly. “It’s not like that. I’m not on a journey. No way. What’s that supposed to be? What do you mean, self-discover...?”

“Aughhhhhh!” Anna-san started tearing at her hair, a horrifying look on her face. “I’m gwosssssh!”

“I didn’t say ‘gwosh,’” Haruhiro said, confused. “Wait, what is ‘gwosh’ even supposed to...”

“Why? Why you ask Anna-san, yeah? You the one who say it, you ringworm!”

“No, I said I’m gross...”

“Gross!” Anna-san pointed her finger at Haruhiro, laughing so hard she cried. “Gross! That word fit you like glove, yeah! Gross!”

“...You could be right.” He didn’t have the willpower to refute her—or, rather, he couldn’t refute it.

Yeah, I’m lame, I know it. I’m plain, boring, indecisive, and gross. Yeah, yeah, you’re right. That’s exactly it.

“Well, anyway, it’s night, so be careful,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

Haruhiro turned around and went the other way. It was the opposite of the direction he needed to go to get back to the tent, but he could take the long way around.

As soon as he started walking, one of them immediately called after him.

“H-Hey!”

“...Yes?” Haruhiro asked.

When he looked back, Anna-san was fidgeting awkwardly. “Uh... you know... um... J-Just now, too much... I go too far, maybe? Yeah? Yeah...?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

“...Uh... G-G-Gross?”

“Ohh.” He finally understood. Anna-san was apparently trying to apologize. Haruhiro smiled wryly.

It’s no big deal, really. It didn’t bother me that much.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Honestly, I think it’s a fair thing to call me. I’m aware of that.”

“No! Y-You not gross, yeah?” Anna-san raised the index finger of her right hand and shook it back and forth. “You not all that gross.”

I’m not all that gross, huh? he thought, but it might have just been how she talked. She didn’t seem to mean anything bad by it. He felt like he might understand, just a little, why Anna-san was treasured as the Tokkis’ mascot. She had a foul mouth, and was loud too, but it was hard to hate her.

“Thank you,” he said. “Well, anyway, I need to get back and sleep. Good night, Anna-san and Mimori-san.”

When he bowed and turned to go, he was stopped again.

“Wait.”

“...Yes?” Haruhiro asked, turning around again.

This time, it wasn’t Anna-san. It was Mimori. And she was walking over to Haruhiro at a steady pace.

“Huh? Wha? Wha...?” he fumbled.

What? Am I about to get killed? Mimori’s as expressionless as ever. But her intensity’s incredible. I mean, she’s huge.

Mimori came to a sudden stop right in front of Haruhiro’s face. She was looking down at him. She had a good ten centimeters of height over him.

“Mimorin,” said Mimori.

“Huh?” Haruhiro said, blinking while scared stiff. “...Mi? Mimo... Mimo...rin...?”

“My God...” Anna-san covered her mouth with her hands.

“Yes,” Mimori nodded. “Mimorin.”

“...Huh? What’s that...?”

“My name.”

“...Mimori-san?” he said.

“Call me Mimorin. From here on, that’s what I want you to call me. Mimorin.”

“...Mimorin?”

“Right.”

“...S-Sure,” Haruhiro stuttered. “I... can do that. Mimorin.”

“That’s good.” Mimorin narrowed her eyes, both corners of her mouth rising. It was a smile. And a satisfied one, at that.

Mimorin made an about-face and took off. Anna-san chased after Mimorin, making a lot of noise about something.

“Mimorin! What the hell?! Are you crazy?!”

—or something like that.

I don’t get it. Haruhiro had no idea what to make of it. Well, whatever. Is this okay? I’m not even sure, but I should get back and sleep.

For tomorrow’s sake.

Haruhiro stopped next to Mimorin. “This...”

Encountering a scene like this, and only being able to say “This...” was an accurate manifestation of Haruhiro’s mediocrity, and it hurt.

“Fwahhhhhhh...” Yume had her mouth open wide.

“I can’t believe it,” Shihoru whispered as she held her hat down.

“Seriously?” Kuzaku narrowed his eyes.

“This is—” Merry shook her head back and forth, beginning to reach out towards Kuzaku before she pulled her hand back.

There was a sky.

Haruhiro and the others were below a sky studded with deep blue, blue with a light red undertone, purple, orange, yellow, red, and all the colors in between.

It was the evening sky.

Behind them was a hole that just opened into the side of a hill, and the sky spread out in all directions. They saw the sky at twilight nearly every day, but this was different. The hues were too vibrant. No, that wasn’t all. The sun rose in the east and set in the west. When the sun went down, it was the western sky that was red. When the sun rose, it was the opposite. But not in this sky.

He couldn’t tell the cardinal directions, but it was red all over, with yellow as well.

There was no sign of any sun.

It was almost as if the sky had been splattered with different colored paints.

Ranta and all of the Tokkis except Mimorin were rushing down the grass-covered slope. There were whitish pillar-like rocks dotted around the hill.

Haruhiro noticed that Tokimune, the others, and the pillars cast no shadow. Of course, it was the same with Haruhiro.

“No,” Mimorin mumbled. “This isn’t our world.”

“Yeah,” Haruhiro nodded. “It’s another world.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about that,” said Haruhiro. “So? Why are you alone back here?”

“They told me to go. So here I am.”

“I can’t tell what happened from just that,” said Haruhiro. “Did Tokimune-san tell you to run away?”

“Yeah... That guy, like, says I’m the Tokkis’ lucky charm. That’s why, like, he sent me back to the Wonder Hole alone... to call for help. He figured you guys’d be at the meet-up point.”

“Help?” Haruhiro went pale. He hadn’t even imagined a situation like this. It was bad. Really bad. “...Any losses?”

“They’re alive,” Kikkawa said.

Haruhiro let out a sigh of relief.

“...But only as far as I know.”

“That figures,” Haruhiro said, nodding. “Some time must have passed... Well, even so, it means there’s some hope for them.”

“Hope, huh...” Kikkawa sniffled.

“Dammit,” Haruhiro muttered. “Why did this have to happen?”

Haruhiro brought Kikkawa back to where Ranta and the others were and had Merry treat him. Kikkawa had wounds on his left leg, right shoulder, and a deep one in his belly. He’d been in a pretty dangerous state.

“They do something underhanded like try to steal a march on us, and then this happens to them! Pathetic!” Ranta punched his right fist into the palm of his left hand.

“Still, that doesn’t mean we can abandon them...” Haruhiro said.

“First, we need to get a precise account of what happened,” said Shihoru. She was right.

“Right...” While Kikkawa had finished being healed, he had bled out a lot. He might have been feeling woozy, because he stayed sitting on the ground as he talked. “It was just... Remember yesterday? There was nothing dangerous then, so, honestly, we may have let our guards down a little...”

“Mm-hm,” Yume crouched down next to Kikkawa, patting him on the head to console him. “There wasn’t anythin’ dangerous yesterday. Did you find enemies?”

“Hey! Yume! Cut that out! There’s no need to be nice to the guy!” Ranta yelled.

“It’s fine! Don’t you feel sorry for him?!” Yume shot back.

“No, Yume. Ranta’s right.” Kikkawa looked away, brushing Yume’s hand aside. “I don’t have any right to have you treat me like that. ...Enemies, huh. Yeah. There were. Enemies. They didn’t even try to communicate. Just attacked us out of nowhere, man...”

As Kikkawa told the story, when the Tokkis had moved away from the hill with white boulders scattered around on it and arrived in the valley where the white pillar-like boulders were the thickest, the enemy had ambushed them.

They had been humanoid; they’d worn a white cloth over their heads with holes cut out where their single eye was, and they’d carried extremely sharp spear-like weapons. They had also been about the same height as humans.

When they’d seen them, Tada had muttered, “They look like a cult.” And so, the Tokkis had taken to calling them cultists.

The cultists had hidden in between the white pillar-like rocks to ambush the Tokkis. Apparently, they had outnumbered them. What was more, because the enemy had the element of surprise, the Tokkis had started out at a disadvantage. Even so, the Tokkis had put up a good fight and killed seven of the cultists. The rest had fled.

On the Tokkis’ side, Kikkawa, Inui, and Mimorin had been lightly injured. The Tokkis had two priests, Tada and Anna-san. Tokimune himself was also a paladin, so while he couldn’t heal himself, he could heal his comrades’ wounds. When they had gone to heal themselves, though... that was when they’d realized it.

“No light magic?” Merry brought a hand to her mouth.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Kikkawa hung his head. “It didn’t work, or it didn’t activate? Something like that. Our Protection had worn off at some point, too.”

“Now that you mention it... it happened yesterday, too,” said Merry slowly. “I noticed it when we went out there. I just thought the duration on it had run out, though.”

“Oh...” Ranta’s eyes went wide. “Zodiac-kun vanished, too, huh.”

“The gods,” Shihoru said in a whisper. “Light magic borrows power from Lumiaris... and dark magic borrows power from Skullhell to produce their effects. That’s why.”

“It’s another world.” Merry bit her lip. “The blessings of Lumiaris and the malice of Skullhell don’t reach the Dusk Realm.”

“Meow...” Yume put her hands on her cheeks. “If that’s true, then if anyone gets hurt, Merry-chan won’t be healin’ them, y’know. That’s gonna make it real tough.”

“That’s terrifying,” Kuzaku said simply. As the one who stood on the front line as the party tank, it wasn’t just a problem, it was a matter of life and death.

“So, like...” Kikkawa lifted his right hand weakly, then lowered it. “Of course, we panicked. Even though you wouldn’t expect it from us. That’s when enemy reinforcements... or something like that... showed up.”

“Cultists?” Haruhiro asked.

“No, not them,” said Kikkawa. “Well, they were there, too. These guys were huge... I dunno how to describe them. Big, white, like statues. They had human bodies, but their heads were like lions’. As for their size... How big were they again? I’d say four meters tall, maybe. Maybe not that much? Could have been three meters.”

“White giants...” Haruhiro said slowly.

“That’s right,” said Kikkawa. “There were three of those... guys? Or things? Whichever. Along with a whole pile of cultists. Well, we ran, of course. Not like there was much choice. So, like, there was the rubble of some kinda building? A ruin? Something like that. It was, like, crazy big. We fled into there, but they just wouldn’t give up. They chased after us forever. They searched for us, we ran and hid. A number of times, we had to fight them, and so Tokimune-san and Tadacchi got hurt, too. Well, basically everyone but Anna-san was battered and bruised all over.”

“You guys really do protect Anna-san,” Haruhiro said.

“It’s a part of our identity. It’s a thing we do.” Kikkawa gave a weak laugh. “So, Tokimune-san, he told me to run for it. To go and call for help.”

“Now listen...” Ranta said, rubbing his face. “If you tell us all that dangerous stuff, do you think we’re really going to go? I mean, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t. Everyone has to look out for their own hide, man. Even if, deep down, they want to help...”

“Well, yeah,” Kikkawa said to Ranta with upturned eyes. “Listen, Ranta. I know that much. Tokimune-san knows it, too. But, still. It was a question of losing everyone or having just one of us get away, that’s what I think. If we’d had to choose just one of us to get out of there, obviously, it would be Anna-san. But Anna-san can’t do anything on her own. Still, protecting Anna-san while all of us ran felt like it’d be a bit too much for us. If we did that, in the end, it’d get us all killed. So, with Tokimune-san and Anna-san not being options, as the one who was only lightly injured, and who had the shortest career as a volunteer soldier, I was the one they chose. We were going to risk everything to get one of us out. I just happened to be that one. So, like, with me being the seriously lucky man that I am, I was able to run all this way. But, you know, really... I want to do something to save Tokimune-san and the others. Those guys took me in, man. When I’m with them, I have a crazy amount of fun. I mean, we get along great. Man, I love those guys. That’s why—thanks, Haruhiro. And Merry-chan. For healing me. Me, I’m going back.”

When Kikkawa tried to stand, Haruhiro blocked his way. He couldn’t say, Hold on. Haruhiro hadn’t decided anything yet.

Options. How many were there?

They could choose to let Kikkawa go alone. In other words, abandon him.

They could choose not to abandon him, and instead go with him.

They could choose to go back to the Lonesome Field Outpost to gather people, then go to help.

Haruhiro thought the third seemed like the best option. Now that it had come to this, it was no time to worry about the knowledge of their discovery, the Dusk Realm, spreading. They needed to give up, accept that, and focus on rescuing the Tokkis. And, well, Haruhiro personally had no issue with that. If it was the sort of place that could easily put the Tokkis in a crisis, it was too much for Haruhiro and his group to handle. But, time.

It would take time.

If they left for the Lonesome Field Outpost now, it would take more than four hours to get there and back. That wasn’t counting the time it would take to get a group of people together. This was the time of day when all of the volunteer soldiers would be out, so it would probably take some work.

The Tokkis had been so pressed that they had been forced to send Kikkawa off on his own. The sooner help reached them, the better. Or rather, they had no choice but to hurry.

Basically, choosing the third option would be little different from choosing the first. It meant those two were the same option. The question was: Would they abandon Tokimune, Anna-san, Tada, Inui, and Mimorin, or would they go save them right now?

This is bad. Beyond bad. We could take four lance bearers, but the sword bearer’s here, and he’s dangerous. They’re trying to catch us in a pincer, so we can’t ditch Tada and Inui and run. Huh? Am I out of moves?

Though it was only for a moment, Haruhiro was ashamed to admit his thinking had almost frozen up.

“Ohm, rel, ect, el, krom, darsh!” Shihoru began to chant as she drew elemental sigils with the tip of her staff. A black mist-like shadow elemental erupted from her staff and didn’t so much fly as drift towards the new enemies.

It was Sleepy Shadow—only not. This was the upgraded version, Shadow Mist.

The black mist was entering the cultists’ garments as if it were being sucked in through their eyeholes, sleeves, and hems.

But, will it work? Haruhiro wondered. Shadow Mist, like Sleepy Shadow, induces an intense sleepiness in the target. In other words, it’s a sleep spell. But, when the enemy knows it’s coming, it’s not as effective. Unless they don’t know we’re here, or don’t think they’ll be hit by magic, it’s hard to put them to sleep. That’s why its use is limited. Like now, when we’re the ones being attacked, it’s the sort of spell that’s basically useless. Shihoru, of course, probably knows that. Actually, she should know it better than anyone.

And yet, Shihoru deliberately chose Shadow Mist. It’s not like Shihoru, but maybe she’s taking a big gamble.

The cultists stumbled, then dropped one after another.

“It’s because Shadow Echo was really effective...” Shihoru bowed her head for some reason. “I’m sorry! That’s why... I thought they might be weak against Darsh Magic!”

“No?! Y-You don’t need to apologize for that, do you?!” Haruhiro’s voice cracked a little. “That’s amazing, Shihoru! You’re a model mage! You really saved us there!”

“S-Stop it...” Shihoru shrunk into herself. “It was almost a total coincidence...”

“Heh...” Inui adjusted his eyepatch, without a care in the world. “She’s a good woman...”

She is, but, no—Seriously, could you not be so random? I want to protest. Haruhiro was feeling peeved.

It was questionable whether Haruhiro had any right to say something like, Keep your hands off our precious mage. I’d never let a ridiculous guy like you have her. I won’t accept it. He didn’t think that he did, but he still felt that way. But, of course, this wasn’t the time. He wanted to shut Inui down, but it would have to wait.

“Yume! Inui-san! Finish off the cultists before they can wake up!” Haruhiro called. “Tada-san, Kuzaku, Ranta, keep the sword bearer busy! Kikkawa, you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah, somehow!” Kikkawa called. “It hurts, but that’s all, I guess?!”

“Okay!” Haruhiro ran forward, attacking one of the cultists that was collapsed in the pile of them.

The minimum, he thought. I need to take them down in the minimum time possible. This has got to be the spot. It’s the only one.

The hole.

He jammed his dagger as hard as he could into the single eyehole. He twisted and pulled, then stabbed in again.

“Meow-ow!” Yume stabbed her machete into another cultist’s eyehole.

“Heh!” Inui did, too.

“Don’t—” Haruhiro straddled his cultist and stabbed him again. “—let your guards down! Until they stop moving—make sure they’re good and dead!”

Four times. Five times.

The cultist’s limp. Doesn’t look like he’ll be getting up again. He’s dead. I killed him.

“This thing.” Yume held up one of the spears the cultists had been holding. “Maybe, do you think it could be useful?”

Haruhiro put his dagger away, nodding, then picked up the spear from the cultist he had killed. Inui smirked, sheathing his sword and picking up a spear.

Kuzaku and the others are struggling even when it’s three against one, Haruhiro thought. Because of the sword bearer’s sword. It’s a nasty one to deal with. It’s hard for Shihoru to use her magic, too, because we’d be in trouble if she hit one of them.

Well, what about six against one, then?

Haruhiro and Yume, along with Inui, attacked the sword bearer with spears from behind Kuzaku and the others. When the sword bearer blocked the spears with his sword, zong, there was an incredible shock that made their brains tremble. But Kuzaku and the others were in front of them, and the spears were long, so there was no real fear of a counterattack.

Even as Haruhiro and the others slowly whittled him down, the sword bearer put up a good fight. It wasn’t just that he had a sword and shield in place of a spear. He was probably on a higher level than the ordinary cultists. His easy, fluid movements betrayed no openings, and the way he used his sword and shield was good, too. He was far better at it than Kuzaku, the paladin.

Though, that said, it was six-on-one. The party had a lot of leeway in what they could do, while the sword bearer couldn’t drop his guard for a second. Also, Haruhiro, as was his nature as a thief, was watching vigilantly for any opportunity.

That hazy, shining line is something anyone can see, he thought. To be blunt, it’s just a matter of probability. If they do the same thing one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand times, anyone would get better at it. They’d start to see paths that made them say, “If I do this, I’ll succeed.” In a given situation, with certain conditions, a path that they’re confident leads to success will naturally emerge. Could they see that path in a certain form—a line, for instance, once every hundred times, every thousand times, every ten thousand times? Either way, it’s a matter of probability.

The only way to raise the probability is to increase the number of trials. Even if the probability doesn’t rise, the more trials there are, the more successes there will be.

Visualize, and continue to take aim. Keep at it, with a sort of indifference, but tenaciously nonetheless.

When I’m taking aim, there’s something that looks like a chance every few seconds. I need to accurately judge which of those is a real chance.

Even if it’s not a special or unique skill, if I just keep doing this for a while, sometimes I’ll see that line.

—Look. There it is.

Next time I see it, I can’t hesitate. There’s no need to think. No need for fear. Just do it. Follow through.

Haruhiro grappled the sword bearer from behind, jabbing the dagger that he was holding with a backhand grip into the eyehole. He pulled it free, then immediately jumped away.

The sword bearer tried to turn around, but Ranta and Kuzaku, along with Tada, all whaled on him and knocked him to the ground.

“Oohohohoo!” Ranta whooped gleefully as he tried to go in for the kill.

“Out of the way, you monkey. Eat—” Tada pushed Ranta aside, winding back with his warhammer before smashing it into the sword bearer’s head. “—this!”

He crushed it.

Haruhiro quickly glanced in all directions. They’d taken out all of the cultists. For the moment, it didn’t look like any more reinforcements were coming.

Haruhiro must have had sleepy eyes right now. Like always.

That’s fine with me, he thought.

“Good work, guys,” he said. “Let’s move on quickly. Kikkawa, you can move, right?”

“I can... yeah?” Kikkawa was swinging his arm to test that it still worked, and he was on his feet, so, well, he was probably fine. “But can’t you be more... I dunno. Nah, that may just be how you are, Harucchi, but when we absolutely nail it like that, doesn’t it get you excited? Like, don’t you want to shout out ‘Hurrah!’?”

“Hurrah.”

“Man, that’s the most emotionless yippee I’ve ever heard!” Kikkawa complained. “It’s, like, an ultra-rare hurrah, don’t you think?!”

“This is what he’s like. Boring! That’s what he is!” Ranta snatched that special sword out of the sword bearer’s hands. “Hyuk hyuk hyuk! I got me a sword! For the tingling paralysis you cause when you hit, I christen you Lightning Sword Dolphin! Yay! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“Lightning Sword Dolphin, huh.” Tada pushed up his glasses with his index finger. “That’s pretty good.”

“I don’t think it’s good,” Shihoru muttered.

“What’s not to like?!” Ranta rounded on Shihoru.

“A dolphin’s an aquatic mammal, right?” Merry said looking at Ranta with contempt. “No matter how you look at it, it’s weird.”

“Huh?! Who decided dolphin has to mean an aquatic mammal?!” Ranta shouted “In my head, dolphin’s just categorized as a cool word, so Lightning Sword Dolphin is cool! Bam! How do you like that?!”

“Whatever,” Haruhiro said. “Let’s just go.”

“You need to give me more attention, Parupiroooo!”

“Nah, man. I’m boring. I can’t.”

“Fine, I take it back! You’re funny!” Ranta hollered. “Now give me attention! Give me attention, please!”

“You’re such a pain,” Haruhiro muttered. “‘Pay attention to me, pay attention to me’... what, are you in love with me or something, man?”

“Th-There’s no way I’d be in love with you, is there?! You moroooon!” Ranta screamed.

“Ahh.” Yume smirked. “Your face’s gone all red. That’s kiiiinda suspicious, y’know.”

“I’m not turning red! Hold on, my helmet’s visor is down! You can’t even see my face to tell!”

“Was just sayin’ it to get a reaction,” smirked Yume. “The way you’re protestin’, though, that’s suspicious, too, huh?”

“...Um.” Kuzaku raised his visor and gestured up ahead with his eyes. “Seriously, isn’t it time we move on?”

“Heh...” Inui offered his hand to Shihoru. “If you like, how about I escort you?”

“No.” Shihoru backed away, shaking her head. “I’m fine, thanks. Besides, you’re half-dead, anyway...”

Inui collapsed on the spot, and he didn’t try to get back up for a while.

“Take that! And that! And that! And that! And that! And that, and that, and that, and that!”

“Go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

The giant swung down its right arm, trying to crush Tokimune. It was a terrifying strike that threatened to make an instant pancake out of him, but Tokimune dodged it with a laugh. Using a back flip, for some reason.

“That was unnecessary,” Haruhiro commented.

“It was, too, necessary!” Tokimune shouted. He got in close to the giant, visiting blows on it with his sword and shield. “Because it was damn cool! Strong and cool are synonymous—Yeahhhhhh!”

“Tch! Dammit, Tokimune!” a man shouted.

It was Tada. Tada was here. He was bleeding all over, but Tada ran forward with his warhammer over his shoulder.

“I don’t care who’s cooler, but I’m stronger!” Tada bellowed. “Somersault Bomb!”

That skill—he ran up, did a forward somersault, then slammed his weapon down into the enemy. That wasn’t a priest’s self-defense skill. A warrior. It was a warrior’s heavy armor combat skill.

Ker-smash! Tada’s warhammer caught the giant’s left knee. The giant’s knee caved in, causing white fragments to fly everywhere.

Tada did a backwards roll to get behind it, then was unable to get up, lying on his backside. “Urgh... Not enough blood...”

“Wahaha! It’s ’cause you’re trying too hard, Tada! Whoa there...” Tokimune slipped through the giant’s arms as he fell back, then hit those arms with his sword. He hit them and hit them. “But that was a good attack there! It’s slowed it down!”

It was true, the giant was dragging its left leg. Tada’s Somersault Bomb must have been pretty effective.

“Seriously?! Are we seriously, seriously going to finish this thing here?!” a voice screamed.

Someone annoying had arrived. It was Ranta.

“Then that’s gotta mean, gotta mean, gotta mean it’s my time to shine, right?!” Ranta hollered.

No, you get lost! was what Haruhiro wanted to say, but Ranta wouldn’t have listened.

“Yahoo!” Kikkawa yelled. “I’m getting in on this too!”

“Haru!” Merry called.

“Haru-kun!” cried Yume.

“Haruhiro-kun...” murmured Shihoru.

“Haruhiro?!” cried Kuzaku.

Yeah, and it looks like everyone’s come down here now, Haruhiro noted. We’re doing this. Is that the way things are going? It probably is. I don’t like it. I mean, my left arm, butt, and back hurt. If we’re going to do this, we have to win. Sure, it’s slowed down a bit, but can we take down that monster?

Haruhiro didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

The giant was going after Tokimune, reaching out with its right hand, then its left. Tokimune was nimbly avoiding its grasp and striking back, but he wasn’t managing to do any damage.

Tada was still on the ground. It didn’t look like he’d be able to move. Ranta and Kikkawa seemed to be trying to get behind the giant. Yume, Shihoru, Merry, and Kuzaku were trying to get closer to Haruhiro.

Haruhiro’s left arm was starting to seriously hurt now. It kept drawing his attention, and he couldn’t help it. He needed to get his mind back on track. What was it? What did he need to be thinking about? Reinforcements. That was right. Enemies. There could be cultists coming. There didn’t seem to be any yet.

They had to take it down. Kill it. That giant. How? Tada’s warhammer. The giant’s... outer skin? Was it skin? He wasn’t sure, but the giant’s outside was really hard. It seemed bludgeoning weapons would still work, though. Even so, it was too much to ask Tada to pull off another hit like before. Haruhiro’s sap was a bludgeoning weapon, too, but he would be hard-pressed to pull off a powerful attack like Tada had with it. Or rather, it would be impossible to. Merry’s short staff was probably a similar case. That left magic, maybe. The cultists had been weak against Darsh Magic. What about the giant?

Shadow Bond couldn’t bind powerful enemies to begin with, so it was going to be pointless. Even if Shadow Complex could confuse the giant, if it thrashed around violently, it wouldn’t be any different. That one was out, too.

What about putting it to sleep with Sleepy Shadow? It would wake up if they attacked it, so that one was also no good. Shadow Echo didn’t seem like it would be a game-changer, either.

“What do we do?” Haruhiro mumbled to himself as he looked around them, and above.

Where were Anna-san and Mimori, he wondered? Had Inui not managed to keep up with the group, after all? What was he going to do?

“Kuzaku, you join in and help surround it,” Haruhiro said. “Don’t get too close. Yume and Merry, cover Shihoru. Shihoru, use magic. Try nailing it with a Thunderstorm.”

“Right!” Shihoru immediately turned to face the giant. “Everyone, get back a little!”

Tokimune and the others backed away from the giant. Shihoru began to draw elemental sigils with the tip of her staff and chant a spell.

“Jess, yeen, sark, kart, fram, dart!”

It was a big target, so the entire bundle of lightning struck the giant. There was a pretty incredible noise, and the giant’s body shook, with smoke rising from it here and there, but, as if everything were normal, it turned to look in this direction—or rather, in Shihoru’s direction.

Oh, crap, Haruhiro thought. Here it comes.

“I’m not gonna let you—” Ranta stabbed Lightning Sword Dolphin into the giant. “—do thaaaat!”

The giant shuddered. That was all. Then it reached out and tried to grab Ranta. “Go, go, go...!”

“Whoa, hoh!” Ranta let out a weird cry and swung Lightning Sword Dolphin again. The tip of the blade grazed the middle finger of the giant’s right hand.

The giant shuddered.

Ranta leapt back during that time, and Tokimune and Kikkawa, along with Kuzaku, closed in on the giant, whaling on its lower extremities with their swords and shields. However, no matter how much they hit it, they couldn’t do the same kind of damage that Tada’s Somersault Bomb had.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

“Whoa!” Tokimune shouted.

“Yipes!” Kikkawa screamed.

“Wha...!” Kuzaku cried.

When the giant made a grand swing with both of its arms, Tokimune, Kikkawa, and Kuzaku were all forced to back away. Could they really defeat it by just repeatedly doing this?

“Haruhiro!” Tokimune shouted to him while dodging the giant’s right hook. “As your senior, let me teach you the secret to beating down enemies like this!”

“What’s that secret?!” Haruhiro shouted back.

“A concentrated attack!”

“Come again?”

“You concentrate your attacks! If there’re five people, that’s five times the attacks! If you have ten people, it’s ten! You slam all of that into it at once! A focused attack! That’s the secret!”

“...I see,” Haruhiro muttered. He felt like an idiot to have expected anything.

What’s the big deal about a concentrated attack? You’re just concentrating your attacks. Anyone would think to do that. It’s obvious, isn’t it?

The issue was where to concentrate their attacks. How would they concentrate their attacks?

A concentrated attack, Haruhiro thought.

“Mimorin! Keep trying, yeah!” a new voice shouted.

That voice, that way of talking—it’s Anna-san, he realized.

Looking up, he saw Mimorin wedged into a gap in the ceiling. No, she wasn’t wedged in there, she was trying to come down. Her chest was kind of large, though, and she seemed to have gotten stuck. Still, she slipped through.

Or rather, she fell.

“Eek!” Mimorin landed on her rump, letting out a surprisingly cute little scream as she did. Then she groaned. “Ngh...”

The fall looked like it had been painful.

“Mi-Mi-Mimoriiiin?!” Anna-san was trying to come down through the same gap. She had large breasts, too, but unlike Mimori, her body was small, so it didn’t look like she’d get caught. “Are you all right?! You not hurt, yeah?!”

“It’s nothing major.” Mimorin used her staff for support as she got up, then drew her sword.

That’s right, Haruhiro remembered.

She was a mage now, but Mimorin had once been a warrior, and she also carried a sword in addition to her staff. What was Mimorin planning to do with her staff in her left hand and her sword in her right?

For now, she looked around restlessly, then seemed to find what she was after. She started walking towards it, but her leg was injured, and it looked like her butt hurt, too, so she was tottering unsteadily.

“Hold on, that’s dangerous,” Haruhiro told her.

Mimorin was trying to face down the giant. She was apparently going to join in on the concentrated attack. Why did everyone in the Tokkis have to be like this?

Concentrating our attacks, Haruhiro thought.

No plan came to mind. Fighting this way was absurd. Why did they even need to defeat the giant to begin with? Dealing a major blow to it, to buy the time to retreat, would be enough. Any more was unnecessary.

“Ranta!” Haruhiro shouted. “Keep on whacking the giant’s legs with that Lightning Sword you’re so proud of! When you do, everyone will go for the eye! It can still see with that eye! We’ll blind it, then run! You can complain later, just do what I say for now! Now, do it, Ranta!”

“Don’t act so full of yourself when you’re just Parupiro!” Ranta hollered. He closed in on the giant and hit its leg with Lightning Sword Dolphin. “You’d better cry and thank me later!”

Not gonna happen, Haruhiro thought. I’ll never thank you, but if you do well, I might praise you for it.

“Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hahhhhh...!” Ranta swung Lightning Sword Dolphin continuously, without stopping for a breath. He swung it like crazy, striking the giant’s left leg.

Each time he hit the giant, it shuddered. Shudder, shudder, shudder, shudder. Each of those shudders only took a short time, but when they came continuously, it was almost like it was paralyzed, because the giant couldn’t move.

“Mrrow!” Yume nocked an arrow to her composite bow, then let it loose.

In rapid succession, she fired, and fired, and fired, and fired.

It was the archery skill, Rapid Fire. With Yume’s skill level, every couple shots one would fire off in completely the wrong direction, or not fly far enough, but two in every five hit the giant right in the eye. This was a result so successful, Haruhiro could only imagine it was a fluke.

“Haruhiroooo!” Tokimune raced up the giant’s body. “It looks like you’ve mastered the secret! Now it’s time for my super attack! Float like a leopard, sting like a whale!”

You’ve got something wrong there, Haruhiro thought. You probably meant float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

But it would be uncouth to correct him—maybe? Besides, Tokimune didn’t float like a butterfly or a leopard, and he didn’t sting like a whale or a bee. However, once he got up on the giant’s shoulders, he did stab the hell out of its one eye.

“Me, too! Me, too! Let me in on this!” Kikkawa tried to climb the giant, too, but failed.

Kuzaku shook his head, as if to say, Yeah, no, I can’t. Haruhiro was more or less fine with that. He was the one who’d said everyone should attack its eye, but maybe Tokimune alone would be enough.

Of course, Mimorin, who was injured, didn’t need to do anything. Haruhiro rushed over to Mimorin, patting her on the back lightly.

“You’ve done enough! Let’s run, Mimorin!”

“Huh?” Mimorin looked down at Haruhiro, then nodded. “Okay.”

Haruhiro waved his right arm wide, calling out loudly, “Retreat! We’re retreating! Tokimune-san, get down here! Kikkawa, you, too!”

“Zwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Tada, who had been hanging his head until this point, shouted as he rushed towards the giant.

Before Haruhiro could say, No, we’ve done enough, and stop him, Tada did a forward somersault and slammed his warhammer into the giant’s right knee.

“Somersault Booooomb!”

Crunch. The giant’s right knee caved in.

Tada stumbled backwards, then sat down. “How do you like that? I’m the strong one here... heh heh...”

Who really cares? Haruhiro thought.

“Nwahhhh!” Ranta backed away two, three steps, then thrust Lightning Sword Dolphin into the ground. “I-I’m... so... exhausted... dammiiiiit!”

This is the limit, huh, Haruhiro thought.

The giant began to move.

Ultimately, Kikkawa, who had never fully managed to scale the giant, came down from it, half-falling off in the process, and helped Tada to his feet. He lent him a shoulder for support, and made him walk.

“Tadacchi! You can go, right?!” Kikkawa called.

“Damn straight!” Tada called. “Who do you think I am?!”

Tokimune made a graceful landing. “Anna-saaaan! We’re getting out of here! You know the way, right?!”

“Of course, yeah?!” Anna-san was still clinging to the wall of rubble, but she nimbly jumped down. “You follow Anna-san, yeah! Let’s go!”

Was this going to be okay? Haruhiro wasn’t fully convinced, but he didn’t know the way himself, so he had no choice but to let Anna-san lead on.

“Ranta-kun!” Kuzaku dragged Ranta behind him.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go...!”

The giant might have been trying to thrash about, but with both legs collapsing underneath it, it was forced to squat. The two Somersault Bombs had hurt its knees badly.

Haruhiro looked quickly to Yume, Shihoru, and Merry. “Follow Anna-san!” he shouted.

All three nodded in unison.

Anna-san and Tokimune took the lead; then Yume, Shihoru, and Merry; Kuzaku and Ranta followed, as well as Kikkawa and Tada; and lastly, Haruhiro and Mimorin followed them, in that order. They were far from running away at top speed. Even setting Ranta aside, Tada and Mimorin were in no shape to run. The best they could manage would be a hurried walk.

Mimorin had returned her sword to its sheathe and was using her staff like a cane, but she was still having a hard time. It looked like she had lost the strength in her left leg. She was bleeding, too.

If her left side was weak, if he supported her left side with his right, she might have an easier time of it. Fortunately, it was Haruhiro’s left arm that hurt. If it had been his right, it would have made things difficult, but this he could handle.

Haruhiro smoothly slid in between Mimorin’s left arm and her left flank, putting his right arm around her shoulder.

“Let’s do our best,” he tried saying to her, but Mimorin didn’t say a thing. When he looked, she was biting her lip. It looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

The giant was behind them, putting a great deal of effort into tackling the walls of rubble, grabbing onto chunks of rubble and throwing them. Hopefully, none of it would fly their way.

This is kinda awkward, thought Haruhiro.

They had been working with the Tokkis to explore the Dusk Realm, which they had both discovered, after all, and—well, the Tokkis had stabbed them in the back and tried to steal a march on Haruhiro and the party, but they still felt like comrades, and that was why the party had accepted Kikkawa’s request and come this far.

Having come all this way, Haruhiro wanted to save anyone he could, and that was a feeling that didn’t apply to any particular individual, but to the Tokkis as a whole. Of course, that whole included Mimorin. That was all there was to it. What he was doing now was just another part of that. He could explain he didn’t mean anything else by it, and maybe he should have, but this really wasn’t the time, was it?

“Um... say, Mimorin,” said Haruhiro. “Uh... I-Inui-san’s kind of not here, you know. Nobody’s saying anything, though.”

“Ohh,” said Mimorin.

“Is that okay?” Haruhiro asked. “No, I mean, there’s no way it’s okay, but...”

“It’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“I think.”

“Y-You think?”

“He’s a stubborn survivor, that Inui.” Mimorin was back to her usual deadpan expression. “Like a cockroach.”

“...Wow,” Haruhiro murmured.

“But he’s not cute like a cockroach.”

No—I’m pretty sure cockroaches aren’t cute.

But, even if he said something normal like that, Mimorin probably wouldn’t be able to understand. He had a feeling that this girl and he would never understand one another. They didn’t have to, though. He didn’t particularly want to understand her.

I don’t care, he told himself. It doesn’t matter.

First, they had to get out of the maze of rubble. Then they could get out of the Dusk Realm. Once they were able to receive the blessings of the God of Light, Lumiaris, they would heal up with light magic. Then they would return to the Lonesome Field Outpost.

I don’t care what happens after that, Haruhiro added silently.

“My God!” exclaimed Anna-san, coming to a stop in the middle of a four-way intersection.

Everyone had to stop.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, Anna-san!” Ranta sputtered.

“Shut the fuck up!” Anna-san turned around and said something foreign that probably meant she wanted him to shut up. “’Kay! We going, yeah! I make little bit mistake! No big deal, yeah!”

“Is that actually true?” Kuzaku mumbled to himself.

“You people.” Tokimune gave them the thumbs up and flashed his white teeth at them. “Come on, just trust Anna-san. I’m sure we’re about to witness a miracle. Yes, a miracle. No doubt about it.”

Tokimune was a big fan of miracles, apparently. Haruhiro couldn’t help but want to simply retort, They’re called miracles because they don’t usually happen, but he refrained. That was primarily because he had bigger concerns.

Straight ahead of them, across the four-way intersection, a whole bunch of cultists appeared.

To the right, too.

And on the left, as well.

“Which way is it, Anna-san?!” Tokimune shouted.

Anna-san pointed to the path to the left. “That way, yeah! Maybe... Absolutely! Absolutely that way, yeah?!”

“No, asking us won’t help,” Haruhiro couldn’t help but point out.

Anna-san glared at him.

“One, two, three, four...” Tokimune was getting a rough count of the number of incoming cultists. “Well, it’d be tough to run away. We’ll have to kill them, huh!”

Haruhiro didn’t bother counting. But, well, they were going to have to kill them. That was a fact.

Haruhiro moved away from Mimorin and tried moving his left arm. It hurt. It hurt intensely. It didn’t even move all that well. He drew his dagger with his right hand. The number of cultists was five in front, five more to the right, and four to the left. That was a lot. There might be more coming, too.

“Ohm, rel, ect, el, krom, darsh!” Shihoru drew elemental sigils with her staff and chanted the spell for Shadow Mist. The black mist-like shadow elemental burst forth, drifting towards the cultists down the right-hand path.

This’ll work—or it should, Haruhiro thought. It’s there. How is it?

The five cultists all collapsed.

Follow up with another one down the left-hand path or straight ahead, was what he would have liked to tell Shihoru to do, but it wasn’t an option. The cultists were already too close, and some of the party would end up in the area of effect, too.

“Man, Haruhiro! I sure am glad you guys came along!” Tokimune yelled.

Tokimune took off. Straight ahead. Knocking aside a cultist’s outstretched spear with his shield, he aimed for the eye. The cultist leaned back to avoid it, but Tokimune kept charging forward. He pushed down that cultist, then used Bash on the cultist to his left. At the same time, he used his sword to knock away the cultist on his right.

“We owe you for life, man!” Kikkawa shouted. “I love you, Harucchi!”

Kikkawa followed after Tokimune. It seemed Tokimune acted like no paladin should, rushing in and messing up the enemy, while Kikkawa would go in and attack the enemy Tokimune had left in utter disarray, while taking their attacks and serving as a tank.

“I’m on break,” or so Tada said, as he nonetheless sent a cultist flying with a shower of blows from his warhammer.

Mimorin used a two-handed staff and sword style, standing in front of Anna-san.

“Do it! Kill them all! Massacre, yeah!” Anna-san was apparently the team’s designated cheerleader.

“Ahh, this is dangerous!” Kuzaku cried.

Even as he complained, Kuzaku charged into the left cultists’ line of spears. While he did have a sturdy shield, it was obviously still scary. But, despite what Kuzaku said, he didn’t falter. Even as the spears scratched his shield, he closed in on a cultist and swung around his longsword. He thrust. The four cultists stopped advancing.

“Don’t worry!” Ranta declared, attacking the four cultists whose momentum Kuzaku had killed. “I’m here! Here I go! Secret skill... Dolphin Dance!”

For a moment, the vivid image of a pod of dolphins jumping around playfully flashed through Haruhiro’s mind.

Dolphins. They were sea creatures. Since coming to Grimgar, Haruhiro hadn’t been to the sea even once. Despite that, he knew what the sea was, and he could imagine it. He knew what dolphins were, too. Had Haruhiro seen dolphins at the sea before?

Regardless, this had basically nothing to do with dolphins.

Ranta slapped the cultists’ spears with Lightning Sword Dolphin. When he did, the cultists’ bodies shuddered. Using that gap, Ranta stepped in and hit their bodies with Lightning Sword Dolphin. Because of those coats they wore, he couldn’t cut them, but the cultists convulsed and collapsed. Kuzaku pressed the attack. Ranta took full advantage of the situation to attack, too.

“Use Stop-eye, then... Quick-eye!” Yume nocked an arrow to her composite bow, moving her eyes around and squinting them.

These were archery skills. Stop-eye used special eye exercises, methods of breathing, and methods regulating the body to increase shooting accuracy. Quick-eye was something like a trick for hitting moving targets.

She fired.

One cultist took an arrow in the eye.

“Nice, Yume!” Haruhiro praised her as he headed for the collapsed cultists down the right-hand path. “Merry, take care of Shihoru!”

“Okay, leave it to me!” Merry called.

Even with his left arm out of commission, Haruhiro could still handle this much. Or rather, he had to handle it. He was going to finish off the cultists Shihoru had put to sleep.

His dagger gouged out each of the cultists’ one eye. He did nothing unnecessary. He just jabbed his dagger, held with a backhand grip, deep into their one eye, twisted, and tore it free. Haruhiro probably had sleepy eyes right now. He didn’t feel anything. He carried it out like routine work.

Three down, two to go.

Cultists were rushing in his direction from further down the path. Or rather, they had come around a corner right next to him, so the danger was already close at hand. Yes, they. Sadly, it was more than one. Two. No, three.

Reinforcements. He had considered the possibility. He hadn’t done anything to prepare for it. There was nothing he could have done. The party’s hands had been full enough as it was.

I guess it can’t go that easily, huh? Haruhiro thought.

“Haru?!” Merry shouted.

It looked like she had noticed the difficult situation Haruhiro had fallen into. That might mean magical help from Shihoru would be coming. Would she make it in time? Who knew. It could go either way. After all, Haruhiro was already trying to Swat the leading cultist’s spear with his dagger. He knocked it aside, somehow.

The spears were coming. One after another.

It’s not looking like I can do this, you know? he thought.

While he focused his nerves on using Swat to deflect the cultists’ spears, Haruhiro prepared himself for the worst.

Rather than resign myself to it, I need to think about what to do next. Of course, I don’t have the time to. Still, I need to think about it and give orders. I may not be much of one, but I am the leader, after all. No, maybe I really can’t do this...?

He failed at using Swat. That was because he was thinking about things he shouldn’t be.

On his right arm, the cultist’s spear sliced off the flesh between his wrist and his elbow. He nearly dropped his dagger.

With the dagger in his weakened right hand, he tried to Swat the next spear. Somehow, he managed it. But the next one was going to be pretty hard. Well, it was probably impossible. Even so, he couldn’t stand to just die quietly.

Haruhiro tried to Swat. He missed.

“Heh!” Inui called.

Someone had beaten him to the punch. Behind the cultist who was trying to skewer Haruhiro, a man wearing an eyepatch appeared. With his trademark—or maybe it wasn’t, Haruhiro didn’t know—ponytail having come undone, his hair was loose and disheveled. But, still, it was Inui.

Inui caught the cultist’s head between his hands, then twisted hard, and suddenly...

You know, I think I’ve seen it somewhere before, Haruhiro thought. That killing style.

Inui had probably broken the cultist’s neck. It wasn’t clear if the cultist had died instantly, but it slumped to the ground limply.

The remaining two must have been surprised, because they turned to look at Inui. By that point, Inui had already drawn his two swords.

Inui stabbed his sword through one cultist’s eye. The other cultist twisted his neck, evading Inui’s sword.

His back, Haruhiro thought.

The cultist’s back was half-turned to Haruhiro. When that happened, sometimes he would see it. That line.

Haruhiro practically glued himself to the cultist’s back, kicking his heel into the back of the cultist’s knee to break his stance. His left arm wouldn’t move properly. However, it wasn’t completely immobile. He put his left elbow against the cultist’s neck, then put his body weight on it. At the same time, he mustered what strength he had remaining to ram his dagger through the cultist’s one eye. The cultist jerked a couple of times, his body convulsing.

Is he dead?

Yeah, he was dead.

Haruhiro couldn’t hold the dagger any longer, and he let go of it. The cultist slumped to the ground.

“Ow...” Haruhiro mumbled. He was ready to cry. At this point, his right hand was more or less useless.

“Heh...” Inui picked up the dagger, then held it up in front of Haruhiro’s nose. “In the end, was it over so easily for you?”

No, you don’t know that, Haruhiro thought. What’s that line supposed to mean? Are you an idiot? And, wait, why are you alive? Damn, you’re stubborn. Seriously, you’re like a cockroach. What’s with you?

“I thought you were dead.” Haruhiro forced himself to accept the dagger using his right hand, which was causing him a distressing amount of pain. He couldn’t feel his fingertips. “I’m glad I was wrong.”

“I call myself Inui the Immortal!”

“It’s just a self-proclaimed title, huh.”

“At last, it seems the time has come for me to unleash my true power!” Inui added.

“And you’re not even listening to what I say...”

“Heh...” Inui took off his eyepatch and threw it away. “Now, I begin in earnest.”

His left eye was... normal.

He hadn’t been left with one eye after some injury? Well, what was the eyepatch for, then?

“Follow me, Harunire!” Inui cried.

Inui looked like he was about to walk off, but then he stopped to stab two cultists to death, the ones Shihoru had put to sleep, which had been looking like they were on the verge of waking up.

I don’t really understand him, but he seems reliable, Haruhiro thought.

“I’m not Harunire, though. I’m Haruhiro,” he said.

Tokimune and his group pushed, and pushed, and pushed like crazy, trying to wipe out the five remaining cultists. Ranta’s group had taken down two of their four. Inui moved soundlessly, not towards Tokimune’s group, but to Ranta’s. Then, without missing a beat in between the two, he buried his swords in the two cultists’ single eyes.

“Huh...?” Kuzaku said.

“Hey!” Ranta yelled. What do you think you’re—Wait, Inui?!”

Kuzaku and Ranta were dumbstruck.

“Pissants...” Inui pulled his swords free from the cultists, then turned slowly with a devilish smile on that face of his which looked middle-aged. “Prostrate yourselves before my true power. For I am Inui! The Demon Lord, Inui!”

“Not again, yeah.” Anna-san slapped her own forehead. “Well, fine. Everyone, follow Demon Lord Inui, yeah! Demon Lord Inui! Go!”

“Hahaha!” Tokimune kicked the last cultist to the ground, stabbing his sword into his one eye. “Hey, Inui! You were alive! And you’re in that mode, too, huh! We’ll just have to roll with it! Haruhiro, let Inui do as he pleases! When he gets like this, there’s no stopping him anyway!”

It’s not just Inui, Haruhiro thought exhaustedly. All of you people basically do whatever you want, and you can’t be stopped.

Inui was charging down the stone path at a good clip.

Haruhiro groaned. “Let’s follow him.”

Oh, whatever, thought Haruhiro. Let whatever happens happen. Or rather, I’m sure it’ll all work out.

If it all went south, they could use the Tokkis as disposable pawns and escape. Even if they did, his conscience probably wouldn’t fault him for it. No, not probably—it definitely wouldn’t. The Tokkis would have no right to hold it against them. Haruhiro and the party had done enough. No, they had done more than enough. To the point they had done more than they should have.

In the time between then until they left the maze of rubble, Haruhiro lost count of how many cultists they took out. However, with his eyepatch off, Inui was ridiculously strong. Tokimune was getting into a good groove, too. Kikkawa was in high spirits. Tada looked intense. Ranta was loud and annoying. Kuzaku was trying hard. Anna-san lost the path multiple times. Yume, Merry, and Shihoru took turns supporting Haruhiro and Mimorin.

Finally, when they escaped the maze of rubble, Inui suddenly collapsed. On closer inspection, it wasn’t just that his hair was disheveled; he had wounds all over his body. He was so heavily injured, it was a wonder that he had been moving around like he was totally fine. When Merry, Anna-san, and Yume tried to care for him, Inui didn’t even move, but when Shihoru reluctantly talked to him, he suddenly sat up. That said, he was having a hard time walking, and that was true for Tada, Mimorin, and Haruhiro, too.

Whether they were having a hard time of it or not, they had to walk back towards that initial hill.

Twice, maybe three times, Haruhiro saw Manato and Moguzo off in the distance.

That girl who was facing in his direction, was she Choco, maybe?

The next thing he knew, Tokimune and the others were trying to chase off a one-eyed dog.

Leave it alone, Haruhiro recalled saying. Though, he might not actually have said it. It might not have been Haruhiro. Someone else might have said it.

“Ohh! Look!” Ranta yelled in a big loud voice like an idiot.

He was an idiot, though. Haruhiro looked idly for Ranta. Ranta was right next to him. He was pointing at something. Haruhiro looked in that direction.

“That’s bad news...” Kuzaku, or someone else muttered.

“Sure is,” someone, maybe Tokimune, replied with a laugh.

It was a silhouette the size of a mountain.

The giant they had fought in the maze of rubble had been four meters tall, at most. They had seen a giant before on the Quickwind Plains, too. That one had surprised him, too, but it paled in comparison to this. It was a few hundred meters away, but it was truly as big as a mountain.

That giant was moving around slowly.

It was walking.

Who said, “Someday, I’m gonna beat that thing down”? It might have been Tada.

It was impossible.

Wait, why would you want to beat it? Haruhiro thought. He didn’t understand. Haruhiro didn’t understand it at all. He didn’t know when he had started walking again, either.

Even when they were attacked by the cultists hiding in the shadows of the pillar rocks, and Merry was forced to swing around her short staff, all Haruhiro could do was crawl around and try to get away.

After awhile, he lost consciousness. Whenever he came to, he was always being lent a shoulder by someone, and was surprised to find himself walking on his own feet.

He was in pain, yes, but he didn’t have a leg injury like Mimori, so he figured he was better off.

At some point, a cloth was wrapped around the wound on his right arm, and that cloth was dark, red, and wet. Who had wrapped it for him?

The wound on his back might be a surprisingly tricky one. He couldn’t feel anything from his back to his waist, but it felt strangely heavy.

“Don’t die, man,” Ranta said with a serious look on his face.

Was that a dream? Or was it reality?

“Like I could die and leave you behind...” Haruhiro mumbled.

That’s what he responded, but, I’m saying something weird, he thought. No. It was a mistake. Why would I have to die before Ranta? Don’t be silly. If you look at the way both of us act on a day-to-day basis, Ranta’s gotta die before me. I’m not gonna let myself die before Ranta, damn it.

That was what he had wanted to say.

When that initial hill came into sight, Kikkawa carried him.

It’s fine, no need to do so much for me, Haruhiro thought, but he lacked the strength to speak up and refuse.

When they entered the hole, and advanced down it a ways, it seemed the blessing of Lumiaris had returned. Merry cast Sacrament on Haruhiro. The effect was immediate. He still felt groggy, but the pain vanished completely. His head cleared, and he at last met with the goddess called relief.

“Everyone’s okay... huh?” Haruhiro mumbled.

The Tokkis had two priests, Anna-san and Tada. The two of them had, incredibly, not learned Sacrament yet, but with Merry helping, too, the healing was done in no time.

“That was an incredible experience.” Sitting with his back leaning against the rock wall, Kuzaku let out a deep sigh. “No, maybe not so much incredible as terrible, I guess...”

“Honestly...” Merry was crouched next to Kuzaku. “I’ve had enough...”

“That’s right.” Yume was letting the lantern she was holding bob around for no reason. She looked sleepy. “For stuff like this, y’know, doin’ it maybe once a year is enough.”

“I don’t think I want it even once a year...” Shihoru looked exhausted, too.

“Weaklings.” Tada used the index finger of his left hand to adjust his glasses. “You’re all weak. This is why you never move up in the world. Try to learn from our example.”

“Hell no,” Haruhiro said firmly.

“Huh?” Tada clicked his tongue, looking down at Haruhiro diagonally. “Well, this time, since you were able to bask in the honor of helping us, you must have felt a lot of things, too. Ruminate on this experience, and grow from it. If you don’t, it won’t have been worth us letting you help us.”

“Um, Tada-san, why are you being so condescending?” Haruhiro asked.

“Because I’m better than you, duh.”

“...Are you now?” Haruhiro asked.

“What, Haruhiro?” Tada snapped. “Do you think you’re better than me?”

“No... Rather, I don’t really care who’s better than who,” Haruhiro said.

“Hahahaha,” Kikkawa laughed. “That’s so you, Harucchi. I kind of love that side of you, you know?”

“...Sure,” Haruhiro said. “I kind of envy how you can take things so lightly.”

“Yahoo! I got envied! Yay, yay! Hey, hey, Anna-san, Anna-san, did you hear that? Did you hear? I’ve got someone who envies me. For my... superiority? Rarity? Incomparable lightness! I am super light!”

“Kikkawa, you not light, you shallow!” Anna-san called. “Yeah?!”

“Huh? What? What? I don’t know what shallow means, whatever shallow I do?! Just kidding!”

“Not funny! You want to die?! Shallow mean frivolous! Yeah!”

“Wow. Frivolous, huh. That one, huh?! Frivolous! It sounds kinda luxurious to me?! Is my value on a sudden rise?! Or, like, am I priceless?!”

“Kikkawa’s value is forever zero, yeah?!” Anna-san yelled.

“Whaa?! Like, multiply it or divide it, it’s still zero?! It’ll never change, you mean?! Whoa, Anna-san, I didn’t know you thought so much of me! I’d never have thought it! I’m so happy?! There’s, like, tears in my eyes?!”

It was odd to say it now, since this happened every time, but Kikkawa’s positivity was so out there that it was like a supernatural phenomenon. Haruhiro didn’t just find it surprising or appalling. He found it scary.

It is scary. It really is, he thought. There’s something wrong with him. How can he be so cheerful and energetic, even after what we went through?

“Heh...” Inui walked along while swaying, then stopped in front of Shihoru. He had thrown his eyepatch away, so he no longer had it, but his left eye was closed. He might have been sealing away his true power. The man was an idiot.

“Allow me to give you one very important right,” Inui said. “The right to be my wife, that is... Heh...”

“I-I don’t want that.” Shihoru stuttered, but she replied immediately.

“I don’t hate reserved girls,” Inui said.

“I, um... I don’t like people like you, so...”

“You don’t... like me?” Inui asked.

“...Right.”

“You don’t hate me, either?”

“I-I wouldn’t say I hate you...” Shihoru said.

“You neither like nor hate me... then.”

“W-Well... Yeah... That’s right.”

“Very well.” Inui turned on his heel. “In time, you, too, will come to understand... the hidden truth, that is... Heh...”

“I don’t want to understand, though,” Shihoru said.

“Kwahaha... Heheheh... Ha hahahaha!” Laughing as he went, Inui departed for the Dusk Realm.

“Huh?” Haruhiro looked to each of the Tokkis. “Y-You’re okay with this? Huh? Inui-san’s going by himself...”

“It fine, yeah.” Anna-san waved her hand and laughed. “He have broken heart? He in shock, so better leave him alone, yeah.”

“But, isn’t it dangerous?” Haruhiro asked.

“Well, he probably won’t die!” Tokimune laughed as he walked up, giving them a peek at his white teeth as he extended his right hand to Haruhiro. “That aside, thanks, Haruhiro!”

“...Nah.” Haruhiro hesitantly took Tokimune’s hand. “Well, it’s a bit awkward after you guys tried to steal a march on us.”

“Ahaha! Don’t let that bother you!” Tokimune called.

“I’ve kind of realized that letting it bother me wouldn’t do any good...”

“There you have it! We didn’t mean any harm! Forgive us!”

“Couldn’t you at least apologize first?” Haruhiro asked.

“Man.” Tokimune stopped shaking Haruhiro’s hand and playfully slapped him on the cheeks. “You act like you’re weak, but you can speak your mind pretty well, huh.”

“S-Stop it,” Haruhiro said. “Don’t touch me like that.”

“When you tell me to stop, it makes me want to stop less, you know?” Tokimune asked.

“Th-Then don’t stop!”

“Gotcha. I won’t stop.”

“Whaa...” Haruhiro muttered.

“What do you mean, ‘Whaa’? Don’t make me kiss you.”

“No, seriously, don’t do that!” Haruhiro yelled.

“No!” Mimorin screamed.

For some reason—no, the reason was obvious—Mimorin barged in between the two of them. She stole Haruhiro away from Tokimune and tucked him under her arm. Haruhiro wasn’t an object, though.

“No kissing,” Mimorin said fiercely. “This is mine.”

“Since when did I belong to you?” Haruhiro muttered. “Come on, let go of me...”

“Wahaha!” Tokimune gave a thumbs up. “Anyway, we owe you one, Haruhiro. A big one. I’m a forgetful guy, but I don’t forget this kind of stuff often.”

“Not often, huh,” muttered Haruhiro. “So it’s not an absolute thing.”

“I rarely forget,” said Tokimune.

“That’s fine. Really. Whatever...”

“If you need something, come talk to me anytime,” said Tokimune. “If it’s for you guys, the Tokkis are ready to break a leg, two legs even, for you. I won’t lend you money, but I’ll lend you my life.”

“Money’s more valuable than your life?” Haruhiro asked skeptically.

“No. When money gets involved, it complicates things, you know? I don’t like that. I’m the type that would rather give out money than lend it. So, if you need money, ask me to give it to you, and I’ll give you everything I have. Not that I have any savings.”

Haruhiro blinked. “You don’t?”

“Yeah. None.”

“Me neither,” Tada said, with an attitude like, What’re you saying an obvious thing like that for, moron?

“I’ve got, like, almost nothing, too, I guess?” said Kikkawa.

“I have nothing,” Mimorin said clearly.

“Anna-san has money, yeah! Like, five hundred gold?! Hahaha! It’s joke! I maybe have thirty silver, yeah?!”

What about Inui, who departed for the Dusk Realm? Haruhiro wondered. None of my concern, I guess.

While Haruhiro struggled to get away from Mimorin, his teammates, Kuzaku, Merry, Yume, and Shihoru exchanged glances. Everyone seemed too dumbfounded to do anything.

The Tokkis. These people were worse than they had thought. With how ridiculous they all were, it was a wonder how they had survived this long. What was more, they seemed to be having more fun than anyone.

Was this a viable lifestyle, too? Haruhiro really couldn’t approve, but even if someone rejected the way they lived, the Tokkis probably wouldn’t care. But, well, Ranta might be comparatively similar to the Tokkis.

Speaking of Ranta, he’s being unusually quiet. The moment Haruhiro thought that, Ranta sprang at him.

“Haruhirooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“Wah!” Haruhiro cried.

He didn’t know what had driven Ranta mad, but Ranta was pressing the tip of Lightning Sword Dolphin up against Haruhiro’s cheek. It stabbed him a bit.

“Wh-What are you doing? It’s stabbing... Huh?”

“I knew I wasn’t imagining it...” Ranta threw Lightning Sword Dolphin away and started crawling on the ground. He didn’t seem to be apologizing to Haruhiro. He must have been depressed. “Dammit... This is awful... Seriously... Seriously... Seriously... Seriously...”

“Wh-What’s up?” Haruhiro asked.

“There, there.” Mimorin still wasn’t letting Haruhiro go.

“Nothing’s up...” Ranta punched the ground. “My Lightning Sword Dolphiiiiin! Its shocky effeeeect! It’s goooone! On the way back, when I hit a cultist, I thought I noticed something weeeeird...”

“Wow.” Kikkawa picked up Lightning Sword Dolphin and touched the blade. “You think it was, like, you know? It had a limited number of charges, or something?”

“This isn’t what I was promiseeeed!” Ranta wailed. “I only threw away Betrayer because I got Lightning Sword Dolphin! This isn’t Lightning Sword Dolphin anymoooore!”

“Y’see.” Yume looked at him, as if to say, Serves you right. “Told you it was a waste. It’s ’cause you do these wasteful things that stuff like this ends up happenin’ to you, don’t you think?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!” Ranta screamed. “Haruhiroooo! You jerk! What’re you gonna do about this?! How’re you gonna make it up to meeeeeeeeeee?!”

“It’s not my problem,” said Haruhiro. “No matter how I look at it, this isn’t my fault.”

“Well, you know?” Tokimune patted Ranta on the back. “Just give it up, and try to forget, okay?”

“Like I could forgeeeet! I lost Betrayer while saving you people, so, basically, it’s all your fault, isn’t iiiiit?!” Ranta screamed.

“Hahaha!” Tokimune laughed. “You could say that, huh. Well, let’s go looking for another one. A good weapon. Okay?”

“Oooooooooooh—that’s not a bad idea, huh?” Ranta bellowed excitedly.

“I’ve had enough,” Shihoru muttered to herself.

Merry was nodding. Kuzaku wasn’t saying anything, but he almost certainly agreed.

“By the way,” Mimorin said, finally releasing Haruhiro.

He was in a better state than when she had him under her arm, but Mimorin lifted Haruhiro up and sat him down in front of her. They were facing each other, kneeling formally, with the expressionless Mimorin looking down at Haruhiro.

“Haruhiro,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Haruhiro, you’re not pitiful. The way you’re not pitiful, and you try so hard, that’s cute.”

“I see,” he said.

Huh? I wonder why. I feel like I’m going to grin.

Was Haruhiro feeling... happy? Apparently, yes. Not pitiful. It wasn’t much of a compliment, but maybe because it was so moderate, that actually made it easier to accept and he felt happier about it.

“You think?” he said. “Well... Thanks.”

“I...”

“Yes?”

“I want to raise—”

Did she start to say, “Raise you as a pet” just now?! Haruhiro thought.

Mimorin cleared her throat, then corrected herself. “I want to go out with you. Please, go out with me.”

Haruhiro quietly bowed his head to her.

I’m happy, Mimorin. No, I really am happy. Happy that you gave me that moderate bit of recognition. But this and that are two separate things.

Haruhiro wasn’t strong-willed, but he could say what he had to. He could say it clearly.

“I’m sorry.”

Afterword

There’s a game called Romancing SaGa 2. It was originally for the Super Famicom, so there may not be many of you who have played it (there’s an iPhone port, too).

As you’re aware (?), Romancing SaGa is an RPG series that sells itself on its open scenario. In RS2, you play as a succession of your original protagonist’s heirs. I liked this system of succession, and I thought Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War was satisfying for the same reasons, but I played RS2 years before it, so it’s the one that’s had the deeper impact on me.

In Japanese RPGs (or rather, console games in general), there’s a scenario to follow, and you enjoy it from the perspective of a single protagonist. However, in RS, as I already mentioned, the scenario is open, and depending on how you advance through the story, it changes a little. RS2 takes this a bit further with its succession across generations, and it allows the player to create the history of the game world.

I was charmed by this RPG, which had a lot in common with one of Koei’s historical simulation games. (Which, by the way, I like historical simulation games, too. Though I usually stop playing before I finish them.)

I really doubt I’ll do it in Grimgar, but someday I’d like to write a fantasy novel where we watch history be created through a succession of the protagonist’s heirs. Or rather, I want to play a game like that with modern technology. Could someone please make it? Actually, is there going to be a new SaGa game? In early December 2014, when I’m writing this afterword, there’s still no word on one. I have hope, based on certain signs, that there will be one announced soon. (Later, SaGa 2015 (Temporary Title) was announced. Yay!)

When I was in middle school, there was a period where I was reading magazines and studying programming by myself, so if things had gone completely wrong, I might have gone into game development. If that had happened, what sort of game would I have attempted to make before becoming frustrated with it and becoming a piece of human refuse? I wonder about that.

I’ve run out of pages.

To my editor, K, 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. My other work which shares the same setting as Grimgar, What’s Wrong with a Hero Being Jobless?, will have its third volume published at the same time as this volume, so I ask you to please read that one, too, if you can. Now I lay down my pen for today.

I hope we will meet again.

Ao Jyumonji

Bonus Short Stories

The Bad Customer With Sleepy Eyes

In the craftsmen’s town in the southern district of Alterna, there was a store called Madam Yun’s. Her husband had been a well-known leather worker who’d died of a famous sexually transmitted disease, yet Madam Yun who inherited the business was no craftsperson at all, just a craftsman’s wife.

She kept her late husband’s apprentices in line with carrot and stick, and worked hard to sell off the leather goods they produced. With a gift for the gab and an affable personality, along with an ageless beauty, she must have had great potential as a businesswoman from the beginning. In short order, the business had flourished. Now, it was said if you were buying leather goods in Alterna, Madam Yun’s was the place to go.

In order to learn from her, Lenya had apprenticed herself to the madam.

Lenya’s father had been one of the leather workers working under the madam, and he’d said that it wasn’t possible for a woman to become a craftsman—which wasn’t true, but it was definitely a man’s world, and heavy labor, and really hard on the hands, and she knew what their wages were like.

Looking at it objectively, her face was common, her figure was average, her voice wasn’t especially attractive, and, well, she was overall a plain girl. If she lived her life “normally,” she would marry a mediocre man, have mediocre children, and live a mediocre life.

No, if the life she led was mediocre, that would be doing well. She might marry a man who seemed mediocre, but who was actually a good-for-nothing, and suffer for it. If that happened, as a mediocre woman herself, she would have no choice but to silently bear it.

She didn’t want that. It was her life, and she wanted to make something of it on her own terms. She wanted to be able to live however she liked. For that, she needed money...

With that in mind, she had approached the madam, and she had now worked for her for three years. Now Lenya was a capable salesperson. Her father had been a craftsman, so she knew the product, and after starting the job, she’d learned she was good with numbers. If she wore a close-fitting leather top, a short leather skirt, and lace-up leather boots, even the average-looking Lenya could make men’s hearts race for a moment.

That customer is no good. Lenya’s instinct as a salesperson was telling her that.

He had looked around the shop where leather goods were displayed beautifully, and sometimes boldly, for close to an hour, and then crouched down in front of one of the displays for another half hour, picking up the products, putting them back, picking them up again, looking at them, then returning them to the shelf.

He was still young, a volunteer soldier in his teens. He had unusually sleepy eyes. He sighed again, and again, and again, looking up to the roof and twisting his neck around. How long did he plan to agonize over it? If she called out to a customer like that, they often got intimidated and fled the store. She had left him alone because she knew that, but he was the type to agonize about things forever and then not buy anything. Lenya made up her mind, then approached the volunteer soldier.

“Excuuuuuse me,” she said with a smile, pushing the volunteer soldier aside to rearrange the products.

The volunteer soldier stood up, saying, “Ah! I-I’m sorry,” but made no attempt to leave.

What, he’s not leaving? she thought.

The volunteer soldier was looking at Lenya with upturned eyes, as if he wanted to say something. With no other choice, she asked, “Were you looking for something in particular?”

“You could say that,” he responded, not getting to the point.

She knew which of their products he had been inspecting from every possible angle, of course. It was these leather pants. She thrust a pair of leather pants in front of the volunteer soldier’s nose. “These ones would look good on you, you know? Would you like to try them on?”

“N-No. Oh, but... Hm... A-Actually. Oh, sorry, excuse me...” the volunteer soldier said as he backed away, then turned and left the shop.

If you’re going to do that, then get lost already, she fumed. You and your stupid, sleepy eyes.

She spewed venom at him mentally, keeping a smile on her face as she rearranged the shelves, then helped other customers try on and buy the store’s products... for about an hour. Then, when she went back to that shelf, the young volunteer soldier who she’d thought had left the store was crouched there, looking at those same pants. When had he gotten back?

“Oh...” When the volunteer soldier saw Lenya, he bowed his head.

Lenya instinctively replied, “Welcome back,” and greeted him with a smile, but... if he had entered the store without her noticing, this guy was no ordinary customer. She was a capable salesperson, and had a firm grasp of everything that happened in her store. No, she controlled it. She had to. She crouched down next to the volunteer soldier. “Was something the matter? I do think those would look great on you. We’ve used a special process on the leather, and it’s incredibly durable. It’s quiet and flexible too, you know? Let me tell you, it’s a steal at that price. What do you say?”

I’ll make him buy them. If it’s come to this, I’m not letting him leave without them. Lenya pushily explained the product to the volunteer soldier.

“No... um...” The volunteer soldier blinked, his face turning bright red.

She thought, Just one more push—

He stood up. “Can I try these on?”

“Go right ahead,” Lenya responded immediately, taking the volunteer soldier by the arm and dragging him over to the changing room. Inside the changing room, the volunteer soldier mumbled, “...Yeah. Oh. These fit well,” so she was assured of her success. She had him now. Success. He’d buy them. No doubt about it. Naturally, he would. When Lenya worked her magic, it was this easy. How did he like that?

The volunteer soldier soon came out of the changing room, then handed her the leather pants. “I’ll pass, after all.”

“...Huh? But, um, they fit...”

“They fit just fine. Sorry, but, well, I can still use the ones I have, so I don’t think I need to buy a new pair.”

“But, um...”

“I’ve made up my mind. Really, sorry,” the volunteer soldier with the sleepy eyes said with a strange resolve, then left the store as if fleeing. He had been wavering. Really wavering, so what the hell? He had really looked like he was going to buy them. Someday, she was going to brutally murder that volunteer soldier.

The capable salesperson Lenya wore a smile as her mask as she raged for the rest of the day.

Master

Itsukushima was at a loss for what to do. He was a hunter. He had lived as a hunter for twenty years now, and he was also a volunteer soldier, but out of a desire to live more purely as a hunter, fifteen years ago he had chosen the path of helping to instruct his juniors in the guild while he lived the hunter lifestyle to its fullest.

To the young hunters, he was by no means an easy instructor. In fact, he was probably seen as very strict.

“So, Yume, she does what Master’s been tellin’ her to, or she tries, at least, but she can’t get it right, and she’s been wonderin’ what she can do, but she just doesn’t know anymore...” Yume said with a sob.

“I-It’s not that bad...” Itsukushima stammered. “D-Don’t cry, Yume...”

“But, Master, you try your hardest to teach Yume, but Yume can’t do anythin’ right. Yume, she’s real frustrated about that, y’know.”

“I-I know that you’re trying your hardest, too, you know...”

“Reeeeally?”

“R-Really.”

“But, y’know, with the effort she’s been puttin’ in, Yume wants to be able to do it well,” she sniffled.

“...I-I imagine you would, yes. I want you to be able to do it well, too.”

“Uh huh. That’s why, Yume, she’s gonna work real hard!”

“Y-Yeah. Go for it.”

“Master, thank you! Yume loves you!”

“Y-You idiot, you’re not supposed to hug me!” Itsukushima shouted.

Itsukushima pushed Yume away and clutched his head. What am I doing with myself? Whaaaaaat?! I’m strict. I’m a strict teacher. Everyone says that. There’s no one who doesn’t. So, why?

But when he looked at Yume who he had pushed away, her eyes shimmering with tears. When he looked at her... he felt the corners of his eyes heating up, as if he was about to cry himself!

“D-Don’t cry, Yume!” Unable to bear it any longer, he patted Yume on the head. “Don’t cry, please. Okay?”

“Okay.” Yume nodded and wiped her tears away. “Yume, she’s gonna try her best. She doesn’t want to embarrass her master, y’know. Yume’s gonna try real hard, so Master, she wants you to be real, real hard on her.”

“...R-real, real hard...” Itsukushima shook his head. “I-I can’t, Yume... I can’t do that... I can’t be that hard on you...”

“Well, how about real hard? Can you do that?” she asked.

“...Real hard, huh. I think I can manage that...”

“Yume wants you to do it. She’s gonna work real hard to catch up to Master.”

“R-Right. Real hard, got it. Leave it to me, Yume.”

“Yume’s gonna leave it to Master!”

“O-Okay.”

Itsukushima reluctantly drew back the hand he was using to pat Yume’s head. Ohhhh, damn it, what is this? If I’d gotten married and had a daughter, would it have been like this? Damn. I want to get married. I don’t really care if I have a wife, but I want a daughter. If I had a daughter like her... No, but I already do have Yume. No, but Yume’s not my daughter, damn it, damn it, damn it.

Itsukushima hid his distress, showing her a (probably) stoic smile. “Come with me, Yume.”

“Yume’s gonna follow Master! Anywhere, and forever!”

Forever... That word made him tear up again, and he turned his back to Yume. Before he knew it, he found himself thinking, If Yume manages to acquire this skill, what should I buy her as a reward?

If That’s What it Takes

“They’re not onto me, right?”

Ranta peered out just a bit from the shadows, checking up ahead. He was looking at the back of a lord in black clothing, a figure wavering like a black heat haze.

He had laid in wait near the dread knights’ guild, and had been tailing this lord for the past thirty minutes. The lord had never turned back, and Ranta didn’t think he’d been noticed. However, the lord wasn’t going anywhere with a lot of people. Something was weird.

He stopped. Oh, crap. It looked like they were going to turn around. Ranta hid. Then, after a little while, he poked his head out.

No one there.

Vanished.

The lord was gone.

That lord had had breasts. There was only one female lord, the one Ranta was secretly gunning for. Ranta didn’t know himself what he was gunning to do with her, but he was gunning for her. He’d resolved himself to tail after her.

“Dammit!” Ranta came out of the shadows, then dashed over to where he’d lost sight of the lord. He took a thorough look around the area, but there really was no sign of her. He stomped his feet in frustration, and then... he heard a cold, female voice from behind him.

“Foolish slave. Will you be embraced by Skullhell?”

“Whoa?!”

He hurriedly started to turn around, but the woman said, “Do not look. If you look, I will send you to Skullhell.”

“...Y-Y-Yes ma’am, I-I won’t... look.”

But, this was one of those things. It would be a problem for her if he looked, so he wasn’t supposed to look. In other words, the lord, right now, had her mask off? She was showing her face? He wanted to see. To find out if she was hot or not. He had a feeling she was. She had to be damn sexy. No doubt about it. He wanted to see. To find out. If he could find out she was a beauty, he’d gladly die for it. No, maybe not? He didn’t want to die, but he did want to see. She wouldn’t actually go as far as killing him, right? It’d be fine, right? Just a little. Yeah. It was gonna be fine! She’d be hot! A hot teacher!

Having resolved himself, he turned to look, for which he took a fist to the face and lost consciousness for a moment. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, spread-eagled. No one else was around. Only Ranta. His nose was bleeding. He had a cut in his mouth, too. But... he’d seen. He remembered it. Ranta smirked... and laughed.

“Heh... I knew she was hot...”

A Girl’s Heart

Whenever Shihoru had the chance, she exercised.

She stretched and tried to improve her posture as much as possible. Whenever it occurred to her, she tried to stand on her tiptoes. She clamped down on her stomach as much as she could when she walked. She was doing everything she could think of, and yet...

Inside the tent, Shihoru pinched her flank.

...she had put on weight again.

It wasn’t right. Nearly every day, she was walking through the Wonder Hole. She was fighting, pretty much as hard as she could. She couldn’t just not eat, but she was making an effort to not eat too much. There was no reason she should be putting on weight... none that she could think of. And yet, she clearly was.

She heard Yume’s shallow breaths as she slept next to her. Just now, she had mumbled something. Was Merry sleeping? Shihoru couldn’t tell. Merry had it good. She ate a fair bit, but she was slim. Yume had a healthy amount of meat on her bones, and though she couldn’t be called thin, she didn’t seem to care. It was Yume, after all. That was cute in its own way, and Shihoru thought it was good.

Shihoru was no good. She already had nothing going for her, but if she got fat, it would be even worse. She couldn’t let that happen. And yet, she was putting on weight.

Shihoru turned on her side. Her breasts were in the way. Why did she have to have these things? They made her shoulders hurt, and they were sweaty. She wished her boobs would just disappear. If she lost weight, they ought to get smaller. How could she lose weight? Was fasting really the only option? But if that reduced her stamina, it would cause trouble for the others. That was no good; she couldn’t do that.

She heard someone getting up. Merry. Merry left the tent.

Is she going to see Kuzaku-kun again, maybe?

“Hmph...”

She let out a bitter laugh. Merry had it good. Her figure was great, she was beautiful, and she had a boyfriend. Not that Shihoru knew whether they were going out or not. She was sure they were, though.

Meanwhile, Shihoru was getting fat, she wasn’t cute, and there was no way she could get a boyfriend.

She wanted to lose weight. If she could just manage that, she felt like she could be more positive.

“Isn’t there one?” she murmured. A spell to make me slimmer?

If there was, she wished someone would teach it to her. Not that she thought anything so convenient existed.

Love Tomato Juice

“Hm-hm, hm-hm-hmmm.”

Tada was humming as he stared into a pot. Inside the pot was boiling water and sliced ripe red tomatoes. The steam was causing Tada’s glasses to fog up.

“Hmm-hm-hmmm. Hm-hmm-hmm.”

“Wow. You doing your usual thing, yeah?” Anna-san crouched down next to Tada and looked into the pot.

The Tokkis, the group led by the paladin Tokimune, were camped out in tents near the Lonesome Field Outpost like other volunteer soldiers did. They weren’t the type to put money away, and they often lost things (big things like tents were no exception to this), so they had three cheap tents that were on the verge of falling apart. The utensils Tada used were just whatever they had been able to pick up in the back streets of the outpost, but the tomatoes had been carefully scrutinized.

“Hmm-hmmm. Hm-hm-hm-hmmm-hmmm.”

“It almost ready now, yeah?” Anna-san asked.

“Nah, not yet. It’ll be a little while longer.”

“You a picky guy, yeah. You piece of horse poo.”

“You just don’t get it, Anna-san.”

Tada put on a faint smile, took off his glasses, and pulled back from the steam a bit. The condensation quickly cleared, so he put his glasses back on. “There’s a right way to make good tomato juice. There.”

Tada shifted the pot off of the heat, placing it on the ground. “You do it like this, roughly.”

“You get rough at night, too?” Anna-san asked.

“That depends who I am with. But I was talking about a different meaning of ‘roughly.’”

“What the hell?!”

“I mean, you have to let it cool down a bit.”

“Is that supposed to be some secret for romance?!” Anna-san shouted.

“Nothing like that.”

“Why?!”

“Anna-san, you’ve got love on the brain, huh.”

“Oh. Love affair?” Anna-san asked.

“Nah, I wouldn’t know. Did you fall in love with some guy?”

“...Wh-What you suddenly asking?!” Anna-san turned bright red and started fidgeting.

Tada patted her on the head. “Don’t be shy. I’ll be praying for your happiness. Praying for it like crazy. If you find a guy you like, tell me. I’ll do something about it.”

“...D-Do something? What you gonna do, yeah?”

“Well...” Tada tilted his head to the side in thought as he looked into the pot. “First, I catch him.”

“Wha?!”

“Then, I’ll make it so he can’t move.”

“My God?!”

“And then, you do whatever you want with him, I guess.”

“Anything, yeah...?” Anna-san asked.

“Anything.”

“No!” Anna-san bopped Tada on the shoulder repeatedly. It didn’t hurt. “That not it. Not what Anna-san wants, no! I want something more sweet, the sweetest romance, yeah?!

“Not sex, huh?” he asked.

“Sex come later, yeah! Wait, sex?! What you making this waffle and sexy lady say?!”

“Waffle?” Tada asked, perplexed.

“I say it wrong! Slip of tongue! Mouth is out of control, yeah?!”

“You’re awfully mature there, Anna-san. You’re gonna start by teasing him with oral, huh?”

“What that even mean?! First comes going on date, yeah!” Anna-san shouted.

“That’s where you want to start?”

“Obviously, yeah?!”

“Well, you are a virgin and all.”

“Why?! How you know that?!”

“Of course I know,” he said. “It’s you we’re talking about.”

“...Tada,” Anna-san said slowly.

“What?”

“Maybe... you have feelings for Anna-san?” Anna-san looked down, fidgeting about ten times as much as before.

Tada burst out laughing, then adjusted his glasses with the index finger of his left hand. “I’d love to do you once—no, three times, maybe—but no more than that. Before that, though, virgins are a pain in the butt to deal with, so maybe I don’t want to after all.”

“You dummy!”

“Ow!”

Anna-san hit him in the head as hard as she could. For an instant, Tada was pissed, but, well, it was Anna-san, so he decided to forgive her.

“What’re you mad about, Anna-san?” he asked.

“Of course I get mad, yeah?! The feelings rampaging in Anna’s chest go past rage and become fury, yeah?!”

“Hmm. Is that how it works? I wouldn’t know.”

“You stomp all over my maiden heart, yeah! Tada!”

“I did, huh? Well, my bad.”

“If you get it, then okay, yeah?!”

“Even if I had the chance to do it with you, I wouldn’t. You’re just too precious.”

“Tada...” Anna-san began.

“Also, I might not be able to get it up for you.”

“Fuck you! Kill you!”

“Ow! Ow! Augh!”

Anna-san’s fists rained down on Tada. It hurt pretty bad, and he was kind of pissed, and occasionally felt the urge to kill her, but it was Anna-san, so he let it go.

Yeah, this is love, thought Tada.

Tada loved Anna-san as much as a well-made glass of tomato juice.