That was no good. Its shell-like skin deflected it. The redback wasn’t afraid of Yume’s katana anymore. If this kept up, it was going to get Enba.

Not that I’ll let it.

Haruhiro hadn’t been sitting on his hands the whole time, either. He’d put away the knife with the hand guard, surveyed the combat situation, erased his presence with Stealth, and climbed a tree. He hadn’t been able to get directly above the redback and Enba. This would do, though. If he jumped in the direction of two o’clock, he could reach.

He jumped down. The point of his stiletto was sharp. It normally could barely cut anything, but if he exerted enough force at the right angle, it could even pierce solid metal armor.

Redback seemed to have noticed Haruhiro. It tried to look above its head. That was when he struck.

Haruhiro slammed his stiletto into the top of its head, a little to the left of center. He hadn’t thought about the landing, but he ended up clinging to its body.

“Ngggggggggggnnnnnnnnngggggg!” The redback let out an incoherent scream as it writhed. It swung both its arms around, battering Haruhiro. The impacts were incredible, but he wouldn’t let go. Like he’d ever do that.

He’d felt it. Haruhiro’s stiletto had broken not just through the redback’s shell-like skin, but through its skull, too. It might even have reached its brain. Grasping the hilt of his stiletto with both hands, he put all his strength into it.

“Gu-aaaaaaaahhhh!”

The redback was either in more pain than it could bear, or it was trying to shake Haruhiro off, because it finally started to roll around.

“Haru-kun!” Yume shouted.

“Haru!” This one wasn’t Merry, it was Shuro Setora. He didn’t have the time to look around, but he could hear his comrades’ voices.

Not yet. He could still hold out.

Haruhiro wrapped his legs tightly around the redback’s body. No matter how much its hairy horns stabbed into him, or where it hit his head, shoulders, back, and hips, he kept twisting his stiletto into its head. He was going to stop this thing from moving. Or slow it, at least. If he could just do that, it’d be enough. And he wanted to spend as little time on it as possible.

If he didn’t, they were in trouble.

Thousand Valley, bordered to the east by the Kuaron Mountains, to the north by the Whiterock Mountains, to the west by the Nehi Desert, and to the south by the Nargia Highlands and Rinstorm Mountains, was two hundred and fifty kilometers from north to south and four hundred and fifty kilometers from east to west.

There were a number of major rivers, along with their countless tributaries. Those ran into one another in this area, intertwined, and created a complex series of seemingly unlimited valleys and hills that obstructed a traveler’s path.

There was fog year-round in a central area that measured about a hundred kilometers in every direction, making visibility extremely poor, as if nature itself were forbidding humans from entering.

According to one theory, long ago, when the gods fought a battle so fierce that the once-blue moon turned red, the land had been sundered. They said that the fog had been called in by the curse of one god who was defeated, left as nothing but a severed head.

To find the shortest route to Alterna, they just had to go straight south. Once they crossed the Nargia Highlands or the Rinstorm Mountains, made it through the former domain of the Kingdom of Arabakia, traversed the Bordo Plains, which lay between the Kurogane and Dioze Mountains, and the Grey Marshes, they would be in the Quickwind Plains, and it would be easy street from there.

If they went another three hundred and something kilometers south-southwest from there, they would arrive in Alterna. At the very least, that was what it had been like on a map Shuro Setora said she’d seen before.

There was a problem, though.

Or rather, lots of them.

First, it was a long way. Way too long.

Then again, if we’re going to have to brace ourselves for a seven to eight hundred kilometer journey on the shortest route, complaining isn’t going to do much good. Let the distance be what it is. We’ll just have to accept it.

It wasn’t just the distance, though. Another objection was that the former domain of Arabakia, on the other side of the Nargia Highlands, had been divided between those who held power during the time of No-Life King’s Alliance of Kings, and there were many fortresses and large cities there.

Thousand Valley might be enemy territory for humans, but it was nothing by comparison. The orcs in this place, in particular, would capture humans on sight and kill them, no questions asked. For Haruhiro and his group, who didn’t know the lay of the land, it would be nigh suicidal for them to fumble through the area and figure it out as they went.

There was the option of avoiding flat land and walking through the mountains, where the orcs didn’t live, but they couldn’t follow the mountains all the way south, and it went without saying that crossing mountains came with its own risks.

The shortest route had to be eliminated from the list of possibilities. If they were in a hurry, they had to go around. Even if it was a roundabout course, they’d choose the safest one possible.

The Whiterock Mountains to the north weren’t just a massive mountain range. Those mountains, topped with silver snow that would never melt, housed the capital of the former Kingdom of Ishmal. That kingdom, along with the surrounding scattered fortresses and cities, made up what was known as Undead DC—the main stronghold of the undead.

Soma and his group were apparently plotting to invade Undead DC at some point, but that meant that if Haruhiro and his party tried to approach the area, they wouldn’t get off lightly. It was the wrong way anyway, so there was no going north.

The Nehi Desert had originally been the territory of the Kingdom of Nananka. There seemed to be nothing but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see, but there were actually oases to be found here and there. Most oases had a town, and orcs or other races that had aligned themselves with No-Life King inhabited them. There was also talk of a tribe of humans, the Zafah, who had lived in the desert for centuries, and might still exist, too.

For Haruhiro and the others who didn’t know the desert, it would be too reckless to go there. So the west was out, too.

East was the only option.

In the beginning, he had considered going northeast to detour around the Kuaron Mountains. However, that way apparently led into the former territory of the Kingdom of Ishmal, and it was swarming with undead. Besides which, those wyverns lived in the north of the Kuaron Mountains.

The wyverns apparently didn’t eat undead, but Haruhiro and his group would make tasty treats for them. He’d heard that, long ago, in the Kingdom of Ishmal, they’d had the techniques needed to render wyverns harmless and tame them, or something like that. But according to Setora, that knowledge had been lost with the fall of Ishmal.

Whatever the case, they had just finished going through a hard time fighting off one of the beasts. There was no way he wanted to go anywhere near where those things lived.

So they put their heads to discuss, Now then, whatever shall we do? And Kuro of the Typhoon Rocks popped up and dragged off Tsuga, the priest with the buzz cut.

“Hey, Bonze Tsuga, we’re going.”

“Oh, sure,” said Tsuga. “Well, see you all later.”

That was all there was to their too-quick parting, and they were so dumbfounded that they neglected to ask Kuro, who seemed like he’d be more knowledgeable about the geography, for advice. That hurt.

Now it was a total unknown where the Rocks had gone, or what they were doing. If possible, Haruhiro would have liked to go with them. They were supposed to be fellow Day Breakers, too. This was just downright cold of them.

Still, even if they had been together, that seemed like it would have been a lot of trouble in its own way.

That being that, with a prayer that the fog would clear, Haruhiro and the others set out for the east. Not long afterwards, pursuers from Jumbo’s Forgan closed in on them, and they ran this way and that, not knowing what to do.

They ran into a large river, but couldn’t cross it. They hid in a cave at the bottom of a valley to elude their pursuers. They were attacked by unknown beasts. They caught mysterious diseases...

Honestly, a lot happened.

In the end, it felt like a miracle that they never once had to cross blades with their pursuers. Kuzaku and Yume had lost their weapons, so it was helpful that they managed to get away without fighting. If they hadn’t been in Thousand Valley, with its heavy fog and complex terrain, it wouldn’t have worked out that way.

In exchange, there were times when even Setora got lost, and so they couldn’t quite go in the direction they wanted to. Even though the straight-line distance was only about five kilometers, they had to walk two to three times as far. That sort of thing happened all the time.

Still, even if they had decided on a destination, there was no guarantee they would be able to make it there. They had settled on going east, but they might not be able to go east. Thousand Valley was an untamed frontier.

They had parted ways with Tsuga and Kuro on June 15th. Right at the beginning of July, Haruhiro and the others had reached a place that was apparently called the Mound of Katanas. According to Setora, it was located almost due south of the hidden village, and not more than fifty kilometers away.

This meant that, after sixteen days, they had only gone something shy of fifty kilometers. What was more, they’d meant to go east, but this was south...

They hadn’t wandered into it, though. The Mound of Katanas was an old battlefield with copious amounts of corpses and equipment scattered over a plateau of around thirty square kilometers. These were people who’d died in battle before No-Life King’s curse had started to influence the frontier, so they wouldn’t start moving.

Whether it was the bodies themselves, or their armor and equipment, the vast majority of everything was rotten.

The people of the hidden village didn’t come near the place, but Haruhiro and his party had figured there might still be usable weapons they could get their hands on. Besides, if they went to the Mound of Katanas, that would apparently make it comparatively easier to head east, west, or south.

It was a creepy place to look at. There was an incredible volume of intertwined bones. And the swords, spears, and such that were thrust into the ground here and there looked like grave markers for the warriors. The fog thinned, and a moist breeze blew through.

Did something just move over there? Haruhiro thought and squinted his eyes, but it was just a skull hanging on a spear.

It was impossible to walk without treading on bones.

Whether it was single-edged katanas, double-edged swords, spears, axes, shields, or armor, it could be found here. However, everything was all badly rusted or decayed, and more than a few items crumbled just from being picked up.

It wasn’t clear if it was because of their quality, pure coincidence, or some other effect, but on very rare occasions, there were pieces of equipment that were just dirty and had not degraded. If the katanas, which there were an overwhelmingly higher number of, were used as a baseline, it was one in a hundred... no, one in every few hundred.

Wandering the Mound of Katanas, Haruhiro and the party found a large, solid katana, a thick, somewhat short katana, and a large, heavy shield. Or rather, they excavated them from the mountain of bones.

Naturally, they needed to sharpen and repair them. It took some hassle, but getting Kuzaku and Yume back into a position where they could fight was a big deal.

They had never expected they’d lose something in exchange. Even Setora seemed not to have predicted it, so there was no helping it.

Somewhere, off in the distance, there was a shriek. Gyahh!

It was a nyaa. They knew instantly.

Setora had been raising hundreds of nyaas in the village. Of those, she had deployed around eighty in the conflict with Forgan, sacrificing a little over ten there, and then having another ten or so drop out during their flight after the battle. Even so, there were still over fifty nyaas scattered through the area, serving as Setora’s eyes and ears.

The gray nyaa called Kiichi was about the only one that made frequent appearances in front of Haruhiro and the others, and they never knew if the other nyaas were there or not.

Once in a while, a nyaa would cry out, and Setora would nod. When that happened, Haruhiro would think, Oh, they really are there.

Even if she didn’t feed the nyaas, they would hunt and gather on their own to feed themselves, then continue serving their master. They had been trained to be more loyal than dogs, but with a strong sense of independence, and they looked cute, too.

On their way to the Mound of Katanas, the nyaas had gathered food for them. It was no exaggeration to say that the nyaas were the party’s lifeline. Without the nyaas, they’d have likely starved.

Those nyaas were in danger. Naturally, that meant Haruhiro and the others weren’t safe, either.

When Setora clicked her tongue, the high-pitched voice of a nyaa came back from beyond the fog.

Tch, tch, tch!

In that short exchange, Setora seemed to have figured something out. “We’re moving, Haru. Hurry. I’ll have the nyaas scatter and flee. For the time being, we won’t be able to count on their support. Now!”

“Okay.” Haruhiro nodded, and Setora let out a sharp fricative sound.

Shh, shh, shh!

She must have given an order to the nyaas. It seemed some unexpected situation had occurred. From the way Setora acted, he understood it was reasonably serious.

But looking back on it later, he had to admit his thinking had been naive.

Haruhiro and the others had immediately departed the Mound of Katanas and headed east.

They kept their losses to a minimum by acting quickly, so they figured they’d be able to get by somehow.

Or so he had thought at the time.

He was a fool.

Finally, it stopped moving.

Of course it had stopped. It probably wasn’t breathing. It was most likely dead.

Haruhiro was clinging to the fallen redback’s back. His stiletto was still buried to the hilt in its cranium.

It was damn heavy. Half... no, two-thirds of his body was underneath it. On top of that, its hairy horns were stabbing into him, and it hurt so badly, it just wasn’t funny.

Speaking of pain, he ached all over, to the point where he suspected there might actually be fewer spots that didn’t hurt than did. He’d taken a real beating from it, after all. He’d been slammed into the ground and trees, too. He was also bleeding. He might have a broken bone or two.

“Hold on,” he murmured.

I’m amazed I’m still alive.

He came close to feeling a sense of relief, but...

No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, not yet, not yet, not yet, he cautioned himself.

The redback. Was that thing really dead? With his hand still gripping the hilt of his stiletto, he felt its neck. He was searching for a pulse, but he didn’t really know if he was doing it right. Or rather, he didn’t know at all. For a start, could he take a guorella’s pulse like he would a human’s? It had this scale-like skin, too. He felt like it might not be possible. Its whole body was relaxed, certainly. It was crazy heavy, too. Whether it was alive or not, it had to weigh more than a human, so he couldn’t go by the weight.

Oh, right. Of course it felt heavy.

It’s heavy. I can’t breathe. This hurts. Oh, no...

“Haru!” Merry shouted. “Everyone, help him!”

His savior had arrived. With a grunt, Kuzaku lifted up the redback, and in the opening that provided, Yume pulled Haruhiro out from under it.

“Meow!”

Merry. Merry was crouched down next to him, with an incredible look on her face. She looked like she was about to say, “Oh, please!” or “Again?!”

Was she angry, maybe? He wanted to defend himself. He hadn’t done anything too reckless. He’d thought he could pull it off. There’d been a need to settle things fast, too.

...Sorry. Haruhiro apologized in his heart. For now, he’d sit still.

Merry made the sign of the hexagram over her forehead. “O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you! Sacrament!”

Shihoru was clinging to her staff and looking around restlessly. Setora had Enba doing something for her, and did not look amused. The light flooded forth. It was blinding. Haruhiro shut his eyes.

Not long after heading east from the Mound of Katanas, they learned that it was guorellas who’d killed Setora’s nyaa.

“What rotten luck,” Setora said in a displeased tone. “Of all the things, we had to be targeted by a troop of guorellas. They can be unbelievably tenacious. They won’t give up on us easily.”

Setora made all her other nyaas run away, but Kiichi she kept close at hand. She said that Kiichi was the cleverest, most loyal, considerate, and capable of all her nyaas. He was trusted by the other nyaas, too.

Once things settled down, she would have Kiichi look for the other nyaas. But they soon came to the conclusion that it didn’t look like things were ever going to settle down.

The day after they moved away from the Mound of Swords, they saw a guorella for the first time at a distance. It was small, and they couldn’t spot any hairy horns on it, so that apparently meant it was a female. It was looking in their direction. In other words, they had been found.

The female went, Po, po, po, po, po, po, po, making plosive sounds. Even without knowing the ecology of guorellas, it wasn’t hard to guess it was a warning, or a report or signal.

If a certain stupid piece of trash had been around, he might have urged them to intercept and attack it. However, that guy was no longer their comrade, and according to Setora, guorella troops normally consisted of about twenty members. There was only one of the frightening redbacks per troop, but the females were still much stronger than a human, and the young males were mischievous and vicious.

Whenever the people of the village were pushed by necessity to drive off a troop of guorellas, a group consisting of tens of elite samurai warriors, necromancers, and onmitsu spies would take on the task.

Haruhiro and the party hurriedly fled. They didn’t stop walking, even after it got dark, and just before dawn, when they thought it was safe to stop and rest, they were ambushed by a group of young, male guorellas.

By the time they managed to kill one, the rest had taken off, but they had to assume there were still guorellas with their sights set on them. That meant that even if they fought, they couldn’t win, so their options were to run or hide.

Haruhiro didn’t want to remember what the days after that had been like.

It was too painful.

Haruhiro opened his eyes. Merry was glaring at him. No, maybe not glaring, but her expression was scary.

I’m probably going to get chewed out again, he thought.

Merry looked like she was about to say something, so Haruhiro braced himself for it.

“If you’re done, then move it.” Setora pushed Merry aside.

“Ah!” Merry nearly fell over.

How could Setora do that? This, he could object to. Even though it wasn’t like she’d done it to him, Haruhiro was mad. Merry must have been even madder.

Despite that, Merry looked down, took a single breath, and then, for some reason, said, “I’m sorry” to Setora instead.

“So long as you understand.” Setora crouched down right in front of Haruhiro. Haughtily.

Yeah, that was right. Setora had always had a big attitude. She acted like he owed her something, was sharp-tongued, and had far too little compassion, consideration, or concern for others.

He was about to give her a piece of his mind when Setora reached out with both hands and grabbed Haruhiro by the back of his head.

“Are you all right?”

“...Yeah. Um. Er... Merry did heal me. My wounds are all gone.”

“Even if your wounds have vanished, surely that doesn’t mean it is as if you are back to the way you would have been without them.” Setora cocked her head to the side slightly.

Um, she’s getting kind of close. Her face. It’s less than fifteen centimeters away. Twelve, thirteen maybe. Isn’t that a little too close?

If he averted his eyes, there was no telling what she might do. Was it okay, looking into each other’s eyes this closely? Wasn’t it kind of, no, really embarrassing?

Either way, her eyes sure were big. Setora’s eyes. It was a little late to be noticing, though. Her eyes were so big that they looked like they might fall out, and she had bags underneath them. Was that from exhaustion? He felt like those bags had been there to begin with.

Huh? Doesn’t she kind of resemble someone?

Who could that be?

“Haru,” her cheeky lips moved, speaking Haruhiro’s name.

He hadn’t asked her specifically, but Setora had to be around Haruhiro’s age, maybe a little younger. But ever since they’d met, she’d taken an attitude like she was his elder. Setora was like that towards everyone. The high-handed attitude had become ingrained.

“...Wh-What?”

“You are my lover.”

Merry coughed.

Haruhiro came very close to looking in her direction, but there was a risk that would displease Setora, so he stopped short. No, but wait! He wasn’t her lover; he was just acting the part until Setora grew tired of it.

He owed Setora. He’d borrowed her strength. She’d helped. It had been agreed that Haruhiro would let her remove his left eye and take it. He had accepted that, and he’d also had no choice but to play her lover.

If Setora asked him, You are my lover, yes? Haruhiro would have no choice but to answer, Yes, you are exactly right. That said, when it came to whether or not he was really her lover, the answer was a flat no.

It was only an act, like a children’s game of pretend. Did Setora understand that point? Of course, she had to.

You will act as if you are my lover.

That was what she’d demanded of Haruhiro. They had only just met then, so it would have been totally unbelievable, but if she had felt something greater than curiosity towards Haruhiro, something akin to romantic feelings, then the words Be my lover would have been enough.

In other words, this was just her toying with him.

“Haru,” said Setora. “I’m worried about you.”

Even if she told him that with a straight face, he had trouble responding. “...Th-Th... Thanks...?”

When he just barely managed to force out a response, Setora chuckled and mussed Haruhiro’s hair with both her hands. “You really are an odd man, you know that? That is what I like about you, though.”

“I... I see.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be able to take you dying on me.”

Right now, he badly wanted to tease her. Oh, come on. What’re you talking about, Setora-san. Geez, he wanted to say. If he said it, she’d probably beat him. So he wouldn’t say it, and he couldn’t.

“...Nah. I don’t, uh, want to die, or anything, either... you know?”

“You trust in your comrades, and you did it with some chance of victory,” Setora said. “That’s what you want to say, yes?”

“Well, yeah...”

“But, to my eyes, it looked purely like a dangerous gamble. You rate your own value too lowly. That is why you can cast yourself aside so easily. That is your strength, but also your weakness. Do you understand that?”

He understood it pretty well, actually. Shihoru and Merry had pointed it out to him, too. But still, he’d never thought Setora, of all people, would be cautioning him like this.

Honestly, it was unexpected. Unexpected that she was willing to be so kind, and to think about what was best for Haruhiro.

“If you were to die...” Setora looked around to Merry, Shihoru, Yume, and Kuzaku. “...what would happen to that bunch? They might be somewhat useful and excel at one trick, but they’re a fundamentally unreliable bunch. They can’t get by without you.”

“Well, yeah,” Kuzaku mumbled. “She’s kinda got a point. Seriously.”

“If Haru-kun weren’t here, huh...” Yume murmured.

“I don’t want to imagine it...” Shihoru agreed.

Merry was keeping quiet, but what did she think?

Setora raised one eyebrow in exasperation. “Look how pathetic they are,” she said with a sigh. “They’re completely reliant on you. If you’re thinking about what’s best for them, you are the one person who can never die. If someone must be sacrificed, you should be the last in line.”

“I can’t do that,” he responded immediately, despite himself. “Rather than die myself and let them get wiped out, the right thing to do is to stay alive and, as leader, make sure that nobody dies. That’s what you’re trying to tell me. I know that in my head, but when I find myself in that sort of situation, I’m probably going to put everyone else’s lives before my own.”

“Even if that’s wrong?”

“I do want to make the right decisions, as much as that’s possible. However, I can only live as myself. I can’t become someone else. I can tell my comrades, This is the kind of guy I am, but I still want you to believe in me, if you can. But acting like someone I’m not in order to get them to believe? Doesn’t that sound kind of unfair? We’re entrusting each other with our lives, which are more important than anything, after all. I don’t want to lie to my comrades. I can’t.”

“I’m jealous,” Setora said.

“Huh?”

“I want to steal you away now.”

“Whuh...?”

It was a surprise attack. Setora was suddenly pulling Haruhiro towards her.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was his forehead. Setora pressed her lips to Haruhiro’s forehead, and there was a smacking sound as she kissed it. Her lips were cold, but soft.

Merry coughed again.

Does she have a cold? Haruhiro wondered. Wait, Setora-san! What are you doing? Everyone’s watching, you know...

Haruhiro might not be in a position to refuse, but, at the very least, he didn’t want his comrades watching. That said, asking her to do this when the two of them were alone, with no one else watching, seemed wrong, too. Like it might invite misunderstandings, maybe? Was that the problem here?

Somewhere, Kiichi the nyaa meowed.

“We’ll do the rest later.” Setora gently pushed Haruhiro away and stood up.

What did she mean, “the rest”? He didn’t want to know, but if she was going to force him to do “the rest,” he’d have no choice but to comply—right?

Haruhiro stood up and wondered as he looked around the area. If the guorellas hadn’t been chasing them, what might have happened?

They continued to run and run, but the guorella troop kept relentlessly chasing after Haruhiro and the party. After not sensing their presence for several hours, maybe half a day, just as he was feeling relieved that, finally, it was all right, the guorellas would ambush them, or shout out and surprise them.

They weren’t just stubborn. The females were comparatively cautious, and not quick to attack. The ones that kept on coming at them were the young males, full of vigor. The females would first call in the others, and they had only seen the redback a few times before now.

“...Meow?” Yume tilted her head to the side.

“Why...?” Shihoru whispered.

“Huh?” Kuzaku had his shield on his back, with only his large katana drawn. “What is it?”

Merry pressed a finger to her lips as she looked at the dead redback. “The redback...”

“Ah!” Haruhiro’s eyes went wide. That was right. The redback. “Wasn’t this guy the leader of the troop?”

“He should have been, but...” Setora fell silent.

To, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to, to, to to, to, to to, to, to...

This sound. He’d heard it a number of times.

“This is... drumming, right?”

The guorellas pounded on their chests with both hands, as if they were beating a drum. It was a behavior seen only in guorella males. It was thought to be done to intimidate, and when drumming started between a pair of males, a scuffle was about to follow. However, because the young males of the troop were kept in line by the redback, they didn’t drum often. Normally, only the redback would drum.

That was what Setora had told them before. But the redback was here, dead.

“Dwelling on it will get us nowhere.” Setora slapped Haruhiro on the back, then quickly jumped on to Enba’s shoulders. “I told you. They can be bizarrely tenacious. Go, Enba.”

There was nothing he could do, though. He just had to bear with it.

“The truth is, I was worried,” Setora said. “That maybe you actually hate me.”

“I don’t... hate you.”

“But you don’t like me, either?”

“No... That’s not true.”

“You’re an honest one.”

“I... I don’t know about that.”

“Nyaas go into heat twice a year, but there doesn’t seem to be a mating season for humans,” she said. “So when is it we go into heat? I’ve always wondered that.”

“O-Oh, yeah...?”

“I see. So when an agreeable man is next to me, this is how I feel, is it?” Setora pressed her nose and lips to Haruhiro’s neck, breathing in as if she were sniffing him, then let out a hot sigh.

His comrades weren’t so much surprised as dazed. Even Haruhiro was at a loss for what to do. If he didn’t stop Setora, what was she going to do? What was going to happen?

No matter what it was, wasn’t this kind of crazy? Should he push her away?

While he was still flustered, suddenly, pain jolted through the right side of his neck.

“Ow!” he shouted. “Huh?! Y-You bit me?! Just now, you did, right?! Why?!”

“Forgive me.” Setora smoothly backed away. Her face was flushed bright red. “I can’t tell you why, but I wanted to bite you. I see that when people go into heat, you never know what they’ll do.”

“I-Is that how it works...?”

“There may be differences on an individual level. This is my first time, too, you realize? I had an interest in romantic and sexual love, and it’s true that you had impressed me, but I never expected to fall for you.”

“Fall for...” Merry said to herself, and Shihoru let out another strange cough.

“Haruhiro’s kind of popular with girls, huh,” Kuzaku commented.

He was saying things that were total nonsense. Why was Yume nodding in agreement?

“Popular?” Setora glared at Kuzaku. “What do you mean? Are you saying Haruhiro has a woman other than me?”

“No, it’s just there was this other person who said she liked Haruhiro. She was in another party, though...”

“What did you say?!”

“Mimorin, yeah?” Yume crossed her arms and puffed up one of her cheeks. “Haven’t seen her in a while, huh. Wonder what she’s been doin’. Hope she’s all right.”

Setora clicked her tongue and ground her teeth. “There was someone before me? Well, he is the sort of man I would fall in love with, so I can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s still vexing.”

Unable to keep quiet, Haruhiro corrected her misunderstanding. “No, I’m not going out with Mimorin, okay?”

“Oh, I see!” Setora cried out with a gleeful smile. “That’s good! I’d prefer it be the first time for both of us. I don’t want to let anyone else touch you, and I don’t want anyone but you to touch me, after all. If I ever found you kissing another woman, even tearing her into little pieces wouldn’t be enough.”

Into little pieces? You’re saying some extreme things there, and it scares me, you know? And wait, the conversation’s gone so off topic, it’s been completely derailed...

“U-Um, about that plan?” Haruhiro said nervously.

“Ahh—” Setora was about to say something when...

To, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to...

“Not again!” Kuzaku kicked the ground.

Shihoru was looking at Haruhiro with upturned eyes. Even if she was completely exhausted, the look in her eyes was one of strength. “...It doesn’t look like we have room to decide.”

Haruhiro nodded. She was right. Haruhiro and the party had already been chased down. No matter what the plan was, they would have to do it.

The sun would soon set. It was gloomy, or rather, it was dark already. The insects were chirping. Even if they occasionally heard the guorellas drumming, the other sounds didn’t stop. Sounds that were like paper being torn, metal being scratched across glass, and weeping.

His ears hurt, and his head felt ready to split. More than that, his whole body felt heavy.

No, he told himself. Don’t think about difficult or unpleasant things. It’ll only make this rougher. It’s cooler now than it was during the day. That’s right. It’s not all bad.

With Setora guiding the way from atop on Enba’s shoulders, Haruhiro and the party pushed further and further east through the southwestern portion of the Kuaron Mountains. Even though these were the mountains, they were near the foot of them, so it was a gentle slope, on the whole.

I can keep going, he told himself. My body will move. It’s okay.

More than himself, it was his comrades, especially Shihoru, that he wanted to encourage. But if he turned back and tried to talk, he felt like his strings might snap. What strings? He wasn’t sure, but those strings were hair thin, stretched tight, and if they loosened or snapped, he was in real trouble.

Again? When were they going to arrive at their destination? Did they still have to keep walking?

What if the guorellas attacked right now?

That was the one thing he tried to avoid thinking. If only a few of them attacked, maybe they could do something, but if it was more than ten and they all attacked at once, the party wouldn’t last long. Worrying about things he couldn’t do anything about was pointless.

Besides, they hadn’t attacked yet. Maybe they wouldn’t attack as long as the party kept moving. They might be waiting for the moment when their prey were exhausted and unable to resist.

It was a contest of endurance. The pursuer, or the pursued. The chase wouldn’t end until one of them gave in.

Up ahead, Enba stopped. Setora, up on his shoulders, raised her right hand.

It wasn’t clear when he’d gotten there, but there was a gray nyaa at Enba’s feet. Kiichi.

“Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh!”

What?

Was that a guorella’s voice?

Haruhiro hadn’t heard that call before.

“Heh!”

“Huh!”

“Hoh!”

“Heh! Heh!”

“Huh! Huh!”

“Hoh! Hoh!”

“Heeeeh! Hoh!”

“Hoooooooh! Huh!”

“Heh! Huh! Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!”

“Hoh! Hoh! Huh! Huh! Hoh! Huh! Ho-hoh!”

The shouts of what were probably guorellas came from all over.

Haruhiro turned back. Kuzaku. Yume. Shihoru. Merry. Everyone was ready to run. Haruhiro was scared, too.

It’s finally time, huh.

“Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Heh, heh, huh, hoh, huh, hoh, heh!”

“Hah, hah, huh, heh, huh, hah, huh, hoh!”

“Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh!”

The sky was still a little bright, but the sun had sunk below the western horizon, and twilight was pressing in. Though he couldn’t make out their figures, the voices told him the guorellas were coming in from all directions.

No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t all directions.

Setora came down from Enba’s shoulders. Crouching down, she extended a hand to Kiichi. Kiichi let out a short, “Nya,” then ran over to Setora. Setora picked up Kiichi and hugged him tight. Then she looked at Haruhiro and the others.

“You’re all ready?”

Kuzaku took a deep breath, then responded, “...’Kay!”

“Meow!” Yume made a salute-like gesture.

Shihoru silently nodded her head.

Merry gave a short, “Yes,” looked to Haruhiro, and smiled a little.

“Houh!”

“Huh!”

“Hauh!”

“Huh! Hoh-hoh!”

“Heh, huh, huh, hoh, huh, huh, huh, huh!”

“Hauh, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!”

Close.

They had gotten pretty close now.

Haruhiro and the others moved up to the place where Setora and Enba were standing. Peering over the edge, a chill ran down his back.

It sure is high...

Thinking it best not to say that, Haruhiro kept the words inside his head.

This was a dead end. If they took another step, there would be nothing there. Beyond them lay a cliff so steep they couldn’t roll down it. It wasn’t just ten meters high. It was over twenty. Tens of meters. Fewer than fifty, though. Probably.

Fortunately, it wasn’t land at the bottom, but a river. If not for that, this plan wouldn’t work. Obviously.

Imagine if it had been solid land down below. If they fell, they’d be guaranteed an instant death. They had not, for lack of better options, decided to commit mass suicide rather than be eaten by the guorellas. Even if this was a desperate measure, it held some hope. The party intended to survive.

“Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Heuh! Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Remember, feet first,” Haruhiro told the others. “Fall feet first. Just focus on—”

Before he finished, he jumped. He suddenly felt the resolve to do it, and he did it on the spur of the moment.

Had he screwed up? Blown it? Made a mess of things?

But, rather than pushing one another, going, You go first, no, you go first, if someone took the first plunge, maybe that would make it surprisingly easy for the rest to follow.

“Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”

No way, no way, no way, no way, no way, he thought frantically. High, high, high, high, high. This is way higher than I thought. Oh, crap, I’m scared. My guts. They’re going to escape. Through my mouth. My brain’s going, “Guwahhhhhhhhhh!”

Is this what I think it is?

A one-way trip to death?

It’s kind of long, too. I’m not falling hundreds of meters, so I figured it’d be over fast, and I’d be fine, you know?

I’m kind of wondering, why is it not like that? What about everyone? Did they follow me? Were they able to jump? How did that go?

Oh, crap. I kept thinking it was long, but there’s the river now. It’s not long, or far off. River, river, river. Close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close.

“Feet first!” he shouted.

Why am I shouting something I already said? Haruhiro was exasperated with himself.

Then there was an unbelievably loud splash, and the impact, of course, was incredible.

What was the signal?

There was no such thing.

The terrain up ahead was a little unusual. There were massive boulders jutting out of the slope, and countless vines hung from them, making it kind of eerie. Maybe this area ought to be called the Eerie Rocks.

When he looked up to the top of the Eerie Rocks, Shihoru happened to have just poked her head out. Riding on top of her shoulder was the person-shaped, or more like starfish-shaped, elemental: Dark.

“Go, Dark!”

Shuvyuun! was the sound Dark made as he flew.

While turning right, Haruhiro turned back to look at the guy. He’d come to a stop. Was he dumbfounded by the ambush? If so, that was a surprise. Was he the easygoing guard of a peace-addled town, someone who’d chased after Haruhiro without much thought?

That couldn’t be right.

The guy drew something in midair with his right index finger, and spoke. “Marc em Parc.”

That’s...

Haruhiro hadn’t seen it in a long time, but he remembered it. That spell. Those elemental sigils.

It was light. A bead of light appeared in front of the guy’s face.

No doubt about it. That was Magic Missile. The first spell mages learned. The most basic of basics.

But, that....

It’s big.

The size of his head—no, probably larger.

With a silent exclamation, Shihoru waved her staff.

It looked like Dark tried to swerve around the bead of light and attack the guy. He didn’t fly straight. Shihoru could control Dark, to a degree, and she was doing so. But he got caught.

The bead of light moved slowly, and captured Dark.

The moment Dark made contact, there was a whirlwind.

Haruhiro, who was about ten meters away, was fine, obviously, but the guy’s coat flapped about vigorously, and his hood blew back.

“You...” Haruhiro was speechless, his eyes wide.

The light grew stronger for just a moment, then contracted as if being neutralized by Dark, and ultimately vanished.

Darkness and the bead of light alike.

With just one Magic Missile, he had erased Shihoru’s Dark.

Was he a mage? If he was, that might not be surprising—maybe. After all, he...

“Uwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!”

From up and to the side of the Eerie Rocks, Kuzaku was running down towards them with his shield and large katana. The stupidly loud shout was intentional. He was trying to draw attention.

The guy turned to look at Kuzaku. It happened right after that.

It was Yume. Yume pounced out of the bushes. She was close. Not more than five meters away from him. To think she’d been hiding there. Haruhiro hadn’t noticed at all. This was a shot to his pride as a thief.

Nice one, he thought.

Yume rushed at the guy silently.

The guy wasn’t looking her way. His eyes were on Kuzaku.

Haruhiro thought it was strange. When the guy’s coat had been blown open before, he’d seen it. The guy had a sword or something hanging at his waist. Despite that, he didn’t draw it. The guy seemed to be a mage, so maybe that weapon was just for show.

Apparently not.

Yume took a swing at him. Just before that, he drew his sword.

“Chuwah!” Yume swung down diagonally, but he blocked with his sword.

Easily, without looking.

Without missing a beat, he kicked Yume in the belly and pushed her away.

“Gwah...?!”

“Sowahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Kuzaku charged at the guy.

He had momentum, and his body was protected by his helmet, armor, and even his shield, so there was no stopping him. Kuzaku clearly intended to ram into the guy, send him flying or knock him down, then run him through with his large katana. It was rough and unsophisticated, but when Kuzaku, who was blessed with a large stature, did things that way, he was really strong. Even if the guy tried to avoid him, Kuzaku would use his long arms to swing his large katana or shield. His intensity was amazing, and while it might seem avoidable, it tended not to be.

“Nnngahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Kuzaku’s shield slammed into the guy. They definitely collided.

Had the guy been blown away? But something was strange. He flew to the rear, or backwards diagonally and up. What was more, it looked like he did a midair flip.

“Wha...?!” Kuzaku stumbled a few steps forward, unable to stop, and looked up.

The guy had already landed behind him. He ended up passing under the guy.

The guy planted a kick on Kuzaku’s back. Kuzaku let out a “Whoa,” and lost his balance.

If Enba hadn’t jumped out from the Eerie Rocks and sprang at the guy, Kuzaku might have been subject to a follow-up attack.

Enba’s club-like arms swung violently towards the guy. But missed.

The guy fell back. To the right, to the left, he retreated with small, quick steps, using trees as cover to escape from Enba’s arms.

What was with that guy? The party were serious, and had a numerical advantage, but he seemed almost to be playing with them. Was the gap in power too great?

No, Haruhiro and the group still hadn’t taken full advantage of their numerical advantage. Shihoru and Merry were still up in the Eerie Rocks. Setora, too. Haruhiro, Yume, Kuzaku, and Enba were down below. He didn’t want Shihoru and the others to get into close-quarters combat, so assuming that wasn’t possible, it was four-on-one. Despite that, for the moment, they had only managed to have one-on-one exchanges with the guy. That was, well, because the guy was skilled, but if they surrounded him, that had to work. Even if four-on-one or three-on-one were too difficult, if they could just make it two-on-one...

“...It’s me,” Haruhiro muttered.

This was exactly what thieves were for, wasn’t it? Yume and Kuzaku were already chasing the guy. But that was no good. He was dealing with Enba’s attacks while moving to spots where Yume and Kuzaku couldn’t reach him.

The guy had blond hair that was neither long nor short, as if he only cut it whenever it started to get in the way. He might only shave occasionally, too. White skin. Blue eyes. He was much older than Haruhiro and the rest. He was tall, but not as noticeably tall as Kuzaku.

No matter how you looked at him, the guy was human.

If he could use magic, did that mean he was a former volunteer soldier?

There were humans in Forgan, the group lead by Jumbo the orc, so maybe it was nothing to be so surprised about. Or rather, now wasn’t the time to be surprised or suspicious. No matter who the man was, no matter what his situation, no matter how he’d come to be here, none of it mattered.

Haruhiro glanced up to the Eerie Rocks. His eyes met with Shihoru, Merry, and Setora’s. Shihoru nodded, then called Dark.

Shihoru, at least, knew what Haruhiro wanted to do. Merry, if anything happened, she’d take care of Shihoru. Setora would handle herself well, too.

He took a single breath.

Relaxing all the joints in his body, he let his mind sink into a deep place. He erased himself.

Stealth.

His thoughts and feelings grew distant, and thinned out.

Even so, Haruhiro was still here. Here?

Where was here?

It didn’t matter.

Wherever he was.

If he became a ghost, it might feel like this. Setting aside the issue of whether ghosts existed or not.

He didn’t try to avoid making noise as he walked; it was more like, when he walked, he didn’t make noise for some reason. He was in the world, but it felt like he existed a little apart from it.

Was he breathing?

He was.

Rather slowly.

His heart was beating.

Awfully sluggishly.

Kuzaku was completely unable to keep up with that man. The guy seemed to move with ease, and he was rather quick. Enba was able to keep up because he was a golem and never tired, but even Yume was having trouble, and just chasing after the guy was all she could manage. The way things were, getting behind him and catching him in a pincer attack with Enba was going to be extremely difficult.

There was a gray nyaa in the tree ahead of the guy and to the left. Kiichi didn’t seem to have detected Haruhiro.

Haruhiro hid in the trees as he moved forward. It was like his nerves extended outside his body, to the wider area around him.

The ground.

Grass.

Bark.

Wind.

He could feel it all.

This might be the first time he’d immersed himself so fully. When aiming for a Backstab, there were times when he’d seen a vague line of light. Was this the Stealth equivalent of that?

I’m really into this.

I can kind of see things. It’s not like that line. It’s like, I should do this. Or rather, I have to do this, maybe?

It’s like I have a choice, but I really don’t. In any given moment, there’s really only one option. I’m not making the choice, or being made to. In a word, it’s fate? I don’t decide it. It’s already decided.

It had long since been decided that this was where Haruhiro would get behind the guy. While that guy jumped backwards to avoid Enba’s blows, his attention was focused ahead of him to his left. On Shihoru.

Shihoru was descending from the Eerie Rocks with Merry and Setora. She was trying to let Dark loose.

“Go!” she shouted.

Dark flew off.

The man didn’t fall back; he did an about-face and took off running. He was fast. While putting distance between him and Enba, he shifted his sword to his left hand, and probably planned to draw elemental sigils with his right.

Yume and Kuzaku couldn’t catch him. Enba, either.

Haruhiro didn’t have to move, because he already was.

The man cast a spell. “Marc em Parc.”

A bead of light. It was another Magic Missile.

The man drew Dark in as close as he could, then hit him with another bead of light.

There was another whirlwind. He made his move at the same time.

Haruhiro thrust his stiletto into the man’s back. He’d already confirmed the man wasn’t wearing heavy armor, thanks to the coat blowing open.

The blade of his stiletto was tough but thin, and could slip between the guy’s ribs. However, if Haruhiro thrust it in a closer to the hips, on a slightly upward angle, where he wouldn’t strike the ribs, he’d hit the internal organs, so that was simpler. He could aim for the kidneys on each side. Then there was the liver, too.

For any organ Haruhiro hit, it would cause massive internal bleeding, and eventually be a fatal wound, but the kidneys would really hurt. No matter how tough he was, the pain would be unbearable, and the guy would scream. If he wasn’t healed with light magic, he wouldn’t make it. It would have to be quickly, too. This was the same whether you were a human, an orc, or probably even an elf or a dwarf.

“Nngh...”

The man, however, did not scream. He merely groaned, twitched, and turned back to look, Haruhiro reflected in his blue eyes. He raised his left eyebrow, and let a slight breath out through his lips. He was so surprised, he was impressed. That was what the expression said.

“Not bad,” the man said. Then, unwilling to admit defeat, he smiled. “But sorry.”

“...Huh?”

Haruhiro had messed up. It was a painful mistake. He’d been naive. Why had he thought this would take the guy down? How foolish could he be?

It was inexperience. He’d gotten full of himself, thinking he’d built up some experience. Why had he thought this man was an ordinary human? Even if he looked that way, he might not be. It wouldn’t be strange at all if there was a monster that looked human.

Many thoughts and feelings raced through Haruhiro’s head, confusing him. It was already too late. The man wrapped his arm around Haruhiro’s neck, pulling him in close and twisting his hips.

It’s like a judo technique, thought Haruhiro. Judo...?

He was thrown and spun threw the air. The next thing he knew, the man had mounted him and was looking down at Haruhiro.

“I’m not a big fan of punching people. It’s barbaric, you know?” What he said and what he was doing didn’t line up. The man pressed his palm hard against Haruhiro’s chin.

Oh, but—

This isn’t really a punch, huh. It was a strange blow that made his brain, and his vision shake, causing the strength to drain away from his whole body.

Then, while drawing elemental sigils with his right hand, “Marc em Parc,” the man chanted.

...Whoa. What are you doing? Stop it.

Magic Missile.

The bead of light came down.

I’m not getting out of this unharmed. No way.

Maybe because his mind was fuzzy, it felt like it was happening to someone else, but the bead of light was closing in on Haruhiro’s eyes.

It was so bright.

Haruhiro heard the crunching of bones. That was probably his nose. Or maybe his cheek. Well, it was some part of his face.

It wasn’t dark, but he couldn’t see anything.

Not a thing.

Blugh... A breath escaped his mouth. His nose seemed to be blocked. His throat felt constricted, too, and his mouth wouldn’t move. He was stunned—maybe?

He didn’t really know.

His comrades were all calling Haruhiro’s name.

“Don’t move,” the man said.

Haruhiro couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to.

Sorry, everyone. I’m really sorry.

“Move, and this kid gets it,” the guy said. “I don’t particularly want to kill him, either. So, all of you, stay put. Understood? Okay. Good. Now, let’s have you drop your weapons. Oh, you there—you’re from the hidden village, aren’t you? Trying to hide won’t work. Also, you have a nyaa following you, I see. The gray nyaa. You’d better not have him try anything funny, either. If it’s just the one, he must mean a lot to you. Okay. That’s good...

“Now, what to do? There are six of us including the golem, one nyaa, and then this kid. I’ll carry him, but I’m going to need the rest of you to walk on your own feet. I could kill you here, but like I was saying, I don’t want to. I’m not a fan of the needless taking of life. You get that? It’s Buddhism. Maybe not. Well, if the need arises, I won’t shy away from it, but it’s rare for humans to come out here. I’ll get a better idea about you before I decide anything.”

I can kill you anytime, after all, Haruhiro heard the man saying from far off.

Was it no good?

He wanted to hold on. To be here.

He had to do something.

Despite that...

...his consciousness was fading.

“Welcome to Jessie Land,” the guy said.

No matter how happy she was, and no matter how important Haruhiro was to her, that was only as a comrade, and there was no more meaning to it. Even if her affection came out unintentionally, and even if that was all it was—she felt like it was wrong.

There was the risk of being misunderstood, after all.

If she were in Setora’s position, she wouldn’t like it, either.

Merry didn’t really understand relationships between men and women, but that was probably how it worked.

She opened her eyes, took a deep breath.

Standing up, she turned to face Jessie.

His expression wasn’t just calm; it could even be called soft, but Jessie’s blue eyes were, like always, like two still pools of water, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Merry bent at the hips, bowing to him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Jessie laughed. “Wait, it feels a bit off for me to say that.”

“...Whew.” Kuzaku fell to his knees, as if collapsing.

Yume meowed like a cat, then rubbed her eyes with her bound hands. She was tearing up.

When Shihoru’s eyes met with Merry’s, she smiled a little and nodded. Merry wanted to cling to her.

When had Shihoru become so dependable? Shihoru was supporting Haruhiro. It was Merry who needed to help Shihoru.

Setora was looking at Haruhiro, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Had the great relief made her lose her senses?

Suddenly, it occurred to Merry that she didn’t hate Setora.

Setora seemed warped, but she was open about her feelings. She seemed to prefer to do her own thing, unrestrained by others, but never left her golem behind. She loved nyaas, and would nuzzle up to people she took a liking to. Unlike herself, Merry thought Setora had a certain charm, and was lovable.

Merry liked people like Setora. Despite that, she’d been pushing back against her.

It was because Setora was trying to hog Haruhiro.

Haruhiro was everyone’s leader, and you could say... Yeah, Haruhiro belonged to everyone. It might be strange to say that, like he was an object, but it would trouble everyone else if someone hogged him. Besides, Setora wasn’t even a member of the party.

That said, Setora had braved death alongside them. They were something like war buddies now.

It’s going to be okay now, she wanted to say to Setora. Your lover, he’s not going to die from something like this. I won’t let it happen.

Enba was right behind Setora, and the gray nyaa was perched on his shoulders.

For now, everyone was all right. There was no telling what would come after this, but they’d overcome it, whatever it took. Believing in that, and pressing forward, was the one thing they could do at the moment.

“Now, then.” Jessie looked around at Merry and the others before giving directions to the green coat gang. His words were in a different language than the one Merry and the rest spoke. It felt similar to the language the orcs spoke, but it probably wasn’t the same.

The coat gang had Merry fall back, then turned Haruhiro on his side.

“About those questions,” Shihoru said, stepping forward. “I’ll be the one to answer them.”

Jessie drew his sword, pointed the tip at Haruhiro’s throat, then turned his blue eyes on Shihoru. “Who are you people?”

“Just what we look like. Volunteer soldiers from Alterna.”

“I see a necromancer from the hidden village, too. What’s more, you’ve brought a nyaa with you.”

“She’s... a nyaa lover.”

“From my understanding, nyaa tamers generally command a number of nyaas.”

Shihoru glanced over to Setora. Setora was still out of it, and didn’t seem to even be listening to their exchange.

“Right now, it’s just the one,” said Shihoru. “Things happened, and we were split up.”

“Things happened, huh. I see.” Jessie shrugged. “It seems like you people were on the run from something. If it was orcs or undead, we may have a little problem.”

Shihoru furrowed her brow, biting her lower lip a little. She was thinking. Merry found it suspicious.

This was in between the mountains of the Kuaron Mountain Range, to the northeast of the Nargia Highlands. She didn’t know specifically, but this land was probably in the former domain of either the Kingdom of Arabakia or Kingdom of Ishmal. Whatever the case, this ought to be enemy territory for humans, and the domain of orcs, undead, and the like. Why would it be bad if the party was being chased by orcs or undead?

Jessie didn’t look like an orc or undead, but he wasn’t on the party’s side. He had to be in cahoots with the other side, right?

Merry had been looking at it in simple terms like that, but was she wrong?

“It wasn’t orcs, and it wasn’t undead, either,” Shihoru answered. It wasn’t the complete truth, but it wasn’t a lie. The last group to chase Merry and the others around certainly hadn’t been orcs or undead. “We were running from beasts.”

“You people are volunteer soldiers, aren’t you?” Jessie raised his left eyebrow. “If it was just one of you, I could see it, but you’ve got a whole group. If it’s just beasts, drive them off. How pathetic.”

“It was a troop of guorellas,” Setora said in what was almost a whisper. “We killed several, but they never ran away.”

“Ohh.” Jessie’s eyes went a little wide. “That’s some rotten luck. If you’re telling the truth, that is.”

“It’s a fact,” Shihoru said in what was, for her, an awfully strong tone. “We finally shook them off, barely holding on to our lives, and finally found this village. But we didn’t know what kind of people lived here, so Haruhiro went out alone to scout things out.”

“So you could steal or pillage some food, was that it?” Jessie asked.

“If there was something we could offer in exchange, we would have preferred to trade,” Shihoru said. “But we... we didn’t know if you were people we could negotiate with, and we needed to see that for ourselves.”

“I suppose that’s a reasonable explanation.” Jessie retracted his sword.

Suddenly, Merry was breathing a lot easier, as if she hadn’t been breathing at all up until now.

If she could, she wanted to trade places with Haruhiro. No matter what, they couldn’t afford to lose him. No matter the cost, she had to protect Haruhiro. She didn’t want him hurt anymore.

Knowing Haruhiro, he was always trying to be considerate about this or that, attempting to take everything on himself, and not resting properly. Merry wanted to feed him some good food, and let him rest well.

“Something!” Unable to endure it any longer, Merry shouted out. She immediately thought, What am I doing? and deeply regretted it, feeling an intense sense of shame.

Her face was hot. So hot it hurt. She wanted to dig a bottomless hole under her feet and jump down it.

Of course, she couldn’t do that.

Obviously.

“Something!” Merry added in a more normal tone. “Isn’t there something I can do? “I’ll do anything.”

Jessie shouted, “Wow!” raising one hand, with a surprised look on his face. “That’s not something a girl should be saying.”

“I... I didn’t mean it like that...”

“No, if you’re going to say you’ll do anything, isn’t that stuff kind of included?”

“I-If you demand it...”

“M-Merry, no! You can’t!” Shihoru said in a panic.

“Y-Yeah!” Kuzaku agreed in a shrill voice. “Th-That’s no good, at all! I mean, I’ll do anything, okay?! If it’s me, I’ll honestly do anything! It’s no big deal for me, okay?!”

“Yume’ll do anything, too!” Yume cried. “Like, she can do an impression of the White God Elhit!”

“Oh?” Jessie stroked his chin. “Let’s see you do it. Show me your Elhit.”

“Sure thing!” Yume hunched her back like a wolf, and howled. “Awooooo! Awoooooo! Woof, woof, woof. Awooooooooooooo!”

“Hmph. So, is that what Elhit’s like?”

“It is! Yume, she sees Elhit in her dreams sometimes, and Elhit howls like this! Awoooooo! Elhit-chan’s super cute, y’know. Real fluffy, and gentle!”

“Ohh,” Jessie said. “All right, then. You’re a hunter, after all. I was one, too.”

“Fwuh?! Then do you know Yume’s master, maybe?! Um, lessee, his name was Itsukushima.”

“Yeah, I know him. You’re Itsukushima’s pupil, huh?”

“Yep! Yume hasn’t seen her master in a real long time, though. It’d be nice to see him...”

“I hope you can.” Jessie smiled broadly, but though it didn’t seem fake, it seemed hollow somehow.

It was important not to forget that this man should have taken a fatal blow from Haruhiro’s Backstab, but he was just fine. He seemed human, and was apparently a former volunteer soldier. He’d said he was a hunter like Yume. Even so, he was clearly not a normal human.

“Like I’ve said before, it’s not like I have some burning urge to kill you people,” Jessie said. “I’ll do it if I have to, and it won’t keep me up at night, but... yeah. How things go from here is up to you.”

“What does that mean?” Shihoru asked, bracing herself.

“It’s simple.” Jessie sheathed his sword. If they took that act as a sign of reconciliation, they’d probably be dead wrong. “It’s give and take. You get me?”

Just what did Merry and the rest have to give Jessie?

At the same time, Merry thought about it.

What could she do to repay all that Haruhiro had done for them up till now?

“‘I don’t know,’” Jessie responded. “That’s what you were saying. You said, ‘I don’t know.’”

“...I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to worry about it,” Jessie said. “That’s normal.”

“Normal...?”

“I’m sure you don’t understand what I’m saying. That’s how it is. If something seems meaningless even when you think about it, you’re better off not to think about it, right?”

“Meaningless...” she murmured.

Jessie crouched down next to Shihoru’s ear. “That’s right. There’s no meaning to it,” he whispered. “Japan. Tokyo. Shinjuku. Akihabara. You’ll forget everything that happens after hearing those things. I don’t know the reason. For my part, at least, there’s no helping it. You’ll even forget that you’ve forgotten.”

She felt like her brain was being stirred up.

Memories.

Things she remembered.

They were inside her head.

Whatever form they took, they were carved into her brain somewhere.

That was the part of her that Jessie’s words touched. Like a pair of fingers, pinching at her memories.

Twisting, then crushing them. That, or moving them to a different place.

However, they needed to exist where they were. If he moved them, they would cease to function as memories.

That can’t be right.

After all, Jessie had just been whispering something to her. But what?

He’d said something.

xx.

xx.

xx.

xxx.

xxxx.

xxxxx.

xxx■■■■.

■■■■■■■■.

■■■■■■■■■.

No.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

“Shihoru,” he said. “You came to Grimgar from Japan, too, didn’t you?”

Japan.

xxxxx.

■■■■■.

Came?

To Grimgar.

“From out of that tower that never opens...”

Out?

Of the tower that never opens. Tower that xxxxx xxxxx. xxxxx that ■■■■■ ■■■■■. ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■.

—x.

Tower. From that tower.

“Um... Where is this, do you think?”

Someone was asking that.

“Um, d-does anyone...”

—Was that her?

“...know? Where is this place?”

Asking did no good.

No one was saying anything.

No one knew.

They didn’t know.

“Did you see the red moon, too?” Jessie asked. “When you first saw the red moon, what did you think?”

...The moon.

The red... moon.

That was right. She’d seen the red moon. The moon was red, and she’d gulped despite herself.

“I don’t know how it’s set up,” Jessie said. “But you people forget. I was the same at one time. It was a coincidence.”

“A coincidence...”

“Something happened, you see,” Jessie said. “As for what exactly... It’s a private matter, and doesn’t concern you directly, so it’s not that important. In any case, because a number of special circumstances happened to coincide, I recalled everything, and I stopped forgetting, too. Fascinating, right?”

“You... know?” Shihoru said slowly.

“The truth? You’re asking if I know the truth? I wonder about that. I have no way to test it, after all. It may all just be a grandiose fantasy of my own making. At the very least, it’s a fact as far as I’m concerned, and that’s all I can say.”

“What... are you?” she whispered.

“Me?”

Jessie moved away from Shihoru and closed one eye.

“My name Jessie Smith. I was volunteer soldier.”

He spoke with a deliberately heavy accent. Normally, there wasn’t anything odd about the way he spoke. He spoke fluently, but his intonation was just a bit off at times.

That, and Jessie would add, “For my part, at least.”

“For my part, at least.”

It felt like she had heard it several times. There was no need to say that. Was it a simple speech quirk? It bugged her.

“For my part, at least.”

“This place... the place you call Jessie Land... just what... is it?”

“It’s a game.” Jessie thrust out his chest, spread his arms wide, and spun around. “In terms of genre, I was more of an FPS or RPG fan, but I didn’t mind simulation games, either. I built this village from nothing.”

“F... R... simu... Come again?”

“The people are what are called gumows,” Jessie went on. “In Orcish, it means something like ‘demi.’ Basically, it refers to children that orcs forced humans or other races to give birth to, as well as their descendants.”

“Then... the residents of Jessie Land are...”

“Exactly. They’re all gumows.”

“These... gumows... Are they oppressed?”

“You’re fast on the uptake, so that makes things quick. That’s right,” Jessie said. “Orcs discriminate against gumows. Violently, at that. Orcs value bloodlines highly to begin with. While that’s lightened somewhat over how it used to be, clans are still important. You know what clans are, right?”

“They have shared ancestors, and a shared last name... right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Jessie suddenly started walking, so Shihoru hurried after him.

“To spread their blood, and to strengthen their clan, orcs would often abduct and rape women from other clans. Maybe this isn’t a good conversation for me to be having with a girl.”

“...No. I’m fine.”

“When the Alliance of Kings was formed, and when Kuzen, Ishmal, Nananka, Arabakia, and the elf and dwarf lands were invaded, the orcs did as they always had. The humans had seen orcs as savages or beasts, enslaving them and putting them on display, so there was an element of revenge to it, too, I’m sure. Honestly, I’m not sure I should be saying this to a girl, but I’ll bet all that murder and rape was a great way to take out their frustrations. The surprise was that humans, elves, and dwarves could interbreed with orcs.”

“There were children,” Shihoru said.

“See, that’s the thing. It should be a surprise. I mean, cats and dogs are both mammals, they walk on four legs, and they have tails, and if they got in the right mood, they could even copulate. I doubt they ever do get in the right mood, though. Regardless, it’s possible. However, it would never produce offspring. With two dogs, no matter how different they look, even a Chihuahua and a Saint Bernard, it’s theoretically possible for them to get pregnant.”

“Chihuahua?”

“It’s a tiny dog. They’re a small breed of dog. Saint Bernards are really big. The size difference is so huge, it’s unbelievable. Even closely-related species like lions and tigers can interbreed. However, only for one generation. Well, what about humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs, then?”

“‘The children orcs forced other races to give birth to, and their descendants’... You were just talking about that.”

“That’s right, I did say that. Gumows can reproduce together. If it was a gumow with an orc, or a gumow with a human, those pairings would probably be fine, too. Did you understand, Shihoru? Basically, this means that humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs are extremely closely-related species.”

“...Like how dogs can look very different?”

“It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Did they diverge through a process of evolution? Or were their genetics similar by chance? Or were they created to be that way? Whatever the case, they’re kin. Humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves, they’re like siblings. Normally, siblings don’t do it, and—excuse me, this is a crude way to put it—while they wouldn’t usually be driven by lust to engage in sexual intercourse, it’s not that they can’t. If they decide to do it, they can. There will be children, too.”

Jessie used large gestures as he spoke. When he got into what he was talking about, that was apparently what he did. It was likely a habit of his.

Still, why did this man know so much? He recalled things, and he’d stopped forgetting. That was what Jessie had said. What did he mean by it?

Could it be that Shihoru had known this, too, before forgetting?

She’d forgotten the things she had known. That’s why all the things Jessie was talking about sounded completely unfamiliar to her.

Jessie didn’t stop. He continued speaking smoothly and articulately. “For the orcs, the birth of a large number of gumows was both a great shock and a mark of shame. More than a few gumows were disposed of like trash while they were still babies. I can understand why. The gumows carried in them the blood of the humans, elves, and dwarves that they hated. However, it’s not like they were all killed. The orcs aren’t as savage as humans think they are. They couldn’t expect to be treated equally to an orc, but many gumows were allowed to live. Go to any large orcish city. There are gumows working everywhere. They do jobs no one wants, for food only fit for livestock, and somehow manage to live. They’re ugly, unsanitary, smelly, and if they approach an orc without taking the proper caution, they’ll either get yelled at or kicked until they run away. They’re not worth anything. They live on by the mercy of the orcs. That’s your standard gumow. They have no dignity, of course. Do you feel bad for them, Shihoru?”

“They look different on the outside, but they aren’t so different from us...” Shihoru said slowly. “That’s what I think.”

“You’re right. The gumows’ appearance makes an impact. Their build is somewhere between an orc’s and a human’s, I’d say. They’re not that far from human. Generally speaking, they’re about as intelligent as humans or orcs. Teach them, and they can learn anything. The gumows living in orcish cities are mean, underhanded, and slothful. But that’s the fault of their environment, I’m sure. If you give the gumows in my Jessie Land ten, they’ll try to give you eleven or twelve back in return. If seems like if they can’t pay you back with ten to twenty percent more, they aren’t satisfied. There are some with violent tempers, yes, but if you lock them up for a day or two, they’ll repent, and act more docile. On the whole, they’re obedient, and hard workers. They’re basically the ideal villagers. It helps that they’re easy to manage, but that takes away some of the entertainment value.”

“That’s why... you want to add us... as villagers?” Shihoru asked.

Jessie’s shoulders heaved with laughter, but he didn’t answer.

Eventually, they left the area where the buildings were concentrated. There were fields to the left and right.

The sun had already set.

“Shihoru.” Jessie came to a stop.

“...Yes?”

Shihoru let out a short breath. Her grip on her staff naturally tightened.

“You use unusual magic. Where did you learn it?”

This man probably had a stronger sense of curiosity than anyone. He liked to learn things. She had anticipated he would ask her eventually. There were things Shihoru wanted to learn, too.

“You countered my magic with a Magic Missile,” Shihoru replied. “I never thought someone could use it like that. Besides, you... don’t look like a mage.”

“Because I’m not a mage,” Jessie said with a shrug. “For my part, at least.”

There it was again.

For my part, at least.

Jessie turned back. “Could you try using it again? That magic. I want to see it once more, closely.”

“I might try to take you down, you know.”

“If anything, I actually want you to try. It’s fine. It’s really hard to kill me. You’re no idiot, so you understand that, right?”

“Dark.”

When Shihoru called, the unseen door opened and he appeared. No, there was no door. He was always there. It might be more appropriate to say that elementals were always everywhere. However, they were invisible. Even a mage like Shihoru couldn’t see them.

Magical creatures. Elementals. In the mages’ guild, mysteriously, they would never teach exactly what they were. But they definitely existed, it was possible to sense them, and magic borrowed their power to produce its effects. Once she had been shown clearly that this was the case and tried using magic for herself, she’d had no choice but to believe it.

The things called elementals existed. The way Shihoru thought of them, they probably had no defined form. Arve. Kanon. Faltz. Darsh. Those varieties didn’t exist.

In all likelihood, they were entirely different from what Shihoru and the others thought of as living creatures. Invisible, and without mass. If you used your common sense, you wouldn’t say that something like that existed. They were different even in the way they existed.

The existential axis of the elementals and of Shihoru and the others were parallel, and they would never cross ordinarily. Mages called elementals to this side. By doing that, a point of connection was formed.

Normally, a mage used elemental sigils or spells to do that. By focusing their mind, imagining a specific elemental, and chanting a specific spell, it was possible to pull in an elemental. She firmly believed that. If she followed the path of those who came before her, the path the pioneering mages had carved out and established, she could use the same magic they did. In a way, that was the essence of the magic she had learned in the guild, and its secret.

Shihoru’s Dark appeared as a dark vortex, taking on a star-like form, and it hovered just above her shoulder.

When she called the elemental to this side, Shihoru anthropomorphized him. That was the easiest way to come up with an image. He had no heart that could communicate with humans. Even so, it was convenient in many ways to posit that he did.

“That’s interesting. It’s like summoning magic.” Jessie drew elemental sigils with the index finger of his right hand. “Marc em Parc.”

Magic Missile.

A shining ball manifested in front of Jessie’s chest.

It was big.

It had been small at first, a perfectly ordinary Magic Missile, until it had gotten bigger.

Based on what she had learned in the mages’ guild, she was forced to think it was odd. By following a set procedure, an expected effect was triggered. That was what they called magic. That was why, in the mages’ guild, they learned how to perform proper magic the proper way.

However, his trick was basically the same as her Dark. It was a matter of how he called the elemental to this side, and how he used its power. Shihoru had used Dark as her method. Jessie was accomplishing the same with a Magic Missile. They might look different, but both were elementals.

“...Go, Dark.”

With a sound like shuvyuuung, Dark went straight forward. Shihoru didn’t hold back. Dark accelerated, heading for Jessie at top speed.

The corners of Jessie’s mouth turned upwards just a little. With a gesture like he was pushing it with his right hand, he sent the ball of light forward.

Immediately afterwards, Shihoru willed, Turn.

Dark, who had been going straight, changed course. To the right. It wasn’t a sharp-angled turn, but he didn’t collide with the ball of light. He traced an arc around the ball, with the intent to hit Jessie.

Jessie had said to try to take him out, so she deliberately made the attempt. But it didn’t work. She’d known it wouldn’t.

As expected, the Magic Missile moved in response to Dark.

It hit him.

For a second, the light grew stronger, then there was a gust of wind. Not sideways, but a strong upwards draft. Her hat was nearly blown off, and her body felt like it might lift into the air.

Dark was swallowed up by the ball of light. Then again, the ball of light also disappeared, so it might be more accurate to say they consumed one another.

Shihoru couldn’t breathe either in or out.

She knew. She’d known for a while. More than that, she had known all along.

The flaming Arve resembled burning flames.

The freezing Kanon resembled icy crystals.

The electric Falz resembled lightning.

The shadowy Darsh resembled a mass of dark seaweed.

The four types of elementals. Elementals were everywhere. They sucked up the power of a mage’s spirit, their magic power, to manifest and to unleash their power.

“I’m not a mage,” Jessie said with his eyes downcast, almost as if he were making excuses. “But, for certain reasons, I guess you could say, I can use magic. Shihoru. Who did you learn under in the mages’ guild?”

Shihoru could finally breathe again. Steadying her breath, she answered, “My chief instructor was Wizard Yoruka.”

“Yoruka. Ohh. She made wizard, huh? That’s impressive, given how young she must still be.”

“However, I underwent basic training with Wizard Sarai.”

“That’s a real senior mage,” Jessie commented.

“Wizard Yoruka told me... that the things Wizard Sarai taught me would become an invaluable asset. Even if I didn’t understand them now... later, I’d realize that.”

“That makes sense,” Jessie nodded. “In that case, did she say anything about the meaning behind having every mage learn Magic Missile first?”

Magic Missile. It wasn’t Arve, Kanon, Falz, or Darsh. What kind of elemental was it? She vaguely remembered having that doubt crop up in her mind at the end of basic training.

“No... Nothing directly.”

“I see. Even if she didn’t convey it clearly, she gave you the key, huh.”

“The key...”

Shihoru clutched her staff. Her hands... no, her entire body... was trembling.

—The key. That was right.

She’d been given the key long ago.

From there, she’d needed only to fit it into the keyhole, turn it, unlock the door, and open it. Despite that, Shihoru had kept the key in her pocket, not even giving it a proper look. In a way, Wizard Sarai and Wizard Yoruka had told her everything.

Shihoru had taken an incredibly roundabout route. She didn’t think the effort was in vain, but if she had realized sooner, she might have been able to do things back then that she still couldn’t. When her comrades were in difficult situations, Shihoru could have offered a hand, and pulled them up.

I’m an idiot.

I’m worthless, and a moron.

That was something she already knew, though. And she had improved from before, so it was best not to think that way. She had to keep it firmly in mind.

She was inferior. That was why she had to think her hardest, and could never stop walking. If she stopped, she would decide it wasn’t worth it anymore, sit down, and no longer be able to make progress.

Shihoru looked upwards, and took a breath. Then she fixed her eyes on Jessie.

“You said... you’re not a mage.”

“I did.”

“Despite that, you know a lot. Why is that?”

“It’s not something I can explain briefly.”

“Even if it’s not brief, I don’t mind in the slightest.”

“Oh, did you not get what I was saying?” Jessie cocked his head to the side. “I was trying to be indirect. Maybe I chose a bad way of saying it.”

In other words, he didn’t want to say. He probably meant he had no intention of telling her.

It was probably best not to trust this man, after all. He hadn’t needed treatment even after taking Haruhiro’s Backstab, and he kept a lot of secrets. He looked human, seemed to be a former volunteer soldier, and knew a lot about Alterna, too. However, at least now, he wasn’t human in the same way that Shihoru and the others were. It was best to think that way.

For the present, she had no choice but to listen to him. To not resist, to earn his trust if possible, and wait for her chance. But then...

“By the way, Shihoru.”

“...Yes?”

If she acted too obedient, it might seem forced, and he’d see through her. If she tried to build a web of lies, it would surely collapse. While doing her best not to be untruthful, she would deceive him about the most important of things. Could she do that? Even if it was difficult, she would.

She didn’t know what his intentions were, but Jessie was leading Shihoru around like this. If they were going to be together, she had the chance to curry his favor.

“What is it?” she asked.

“That’s one hell of a body you’ve got.”

“...Huh?”

“Do you look even better with those clothes off?”

“Whuh...?”

Unable to understand what was just said to her, she fell deep into thought.

Oh, I get it.

The moment she figured it out, she got scared, and jumped back a little.

“...I-I-I-I-III-III don’t have th-th-th-thaaaat great a body, I-I-I-I-I’m just fat, that’s all. I-If you saw it, you’d just be disappointed, s-s-so, um, I-I can’t show it off to anyone!”

“I was joking.” Jessie laughed. “You really are entertaining, you know that.”

“J-Joking...”

Oh, right. Joking. Yeah. Of course it was a joke. Obviously. Who would ever want to see her ugly, unsightly body? Not that she’d let him see it if he did. Even though it was nothing so important. She couldn’t. That was one thing she absolutely couldn’t do.

It was a joke. But was it really a joke? She couldn’t trust this man. How could she say for sure that he wasn’t a degenerate who might turn his poisonous fangs not necessarily on Shihoru, but on anyone he pleased?

“...I-I’m sorry about that.” Shihoru cleared her throat. “I’m embarrassed... to have taken it so seriously...”

“Nah. If you don’t mind, I’m up for doing it anytime, though.”

“I-It’s not that I don’t mind... though...”

“I told you, I’m joking.”

“Jessie...” she muttered.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“No... Nothing. I think you must have imagined it.”

“Really? I could swear I heard someone whispered my name with murderous intent...”

Jessie suddenly spun around. He was facing to the northwest. Shihoru looked that way, too.

Someone was walking along the road through the fields. Who could it be?

The gumow residents had already finished their farm work, and returned to their houses. It was pretty dark.

Shihoru narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t just one person; there were two. One was waving.

“Meow! Shihoruuuuuu!”

“Yume!” Shihoru waved back. “Welcome home, Yume! Did nothing happen?! Good!”

“I’m back! Yume’s doin’ real great! How’re you, Shihoru?!”

“Erm, me, too! I’m fine, just like you can see!”

“Oh! That’s swelled! No, that’s wrong! It’s swell!”

“It really is!”

“How’s everyone else?! What’re they doin’?!”

“Everyone’s...!” Shihoru felt a pain in her throat, and held it with her hand.

“No need to shout so loud.” Jessie laughed so hard his shoulders heaved. “You can talk all you want once you’re closer.”

“Right...”

“Shiiiihoruuuu! Yume’s comin’ right over!”

“Y-You don’t have to rush...”

“Okay!” Yume cried. “Tuokin, time to dash!”

“...You don’t have to run, either.”

But Yume probably couldn’t hear Shihoru’s voice now that she had stopped shouting.

Yume tapped the person with her on the back, and they both took off running.

“They’re getting along,” Shihoru murmured.

If she were to say it was like Yume to do that, it was, but even though it always happened, she was still surprised. How was it that Yume could get along with anyone, even crossing racial boundaries? Honestly, Shihoru envied her. Yume seemed to shine so brightly. In the past, she had even been jealous. The recent past, too; it wasn’t like it had been five or ten years ago.

If she thought about it, it hadn’t even been two years since they’d come to Grimgar. She had no concrete memories of her life before that. However, there must have been all sorts of things. It wasn’t like she’d been spontaneously born into Grimgar with a poof. She was certain of that, just as she was certain that the memories she should have were missing.

That made these two years everything Shihoru had, and more precious than anything. The people she’d met, the things she’d lost, she wanted to hug all of it tightly for as long as she could.

Yume passed the gumow in the coat who was accompanying her at top speed, and broke away by a wide margin. “Shihoruuu!” She raised her right hand.

“Huh?! Wh-What...?!”

Even though she was flustered, Shihoru still managed to move her staff to her left hand, and extend her right.

Yume declared, “Yume meowins!” and slapped her right hand against Shihoru’s.

There was a loud clap, which startled Shihoru, and she closed her eyes despite herself. Her palm hurt, but for some reason, it felt good, too.

Yume followed it up by jumping on her, and Shihoru’s head was knocked back. “Meowhahahah! Shihoruuu!”

“Eek!”

Shihoru’s legs were unsteady. Before she could trip, Yume lifted Shihoru up and spun her around sideways.

“Whoa... Whoa! Y-Yume, th-this is dange...! My eyes are spin...!”

“Whoa!” Yume cried. “If that’s it, we’ll try doin’ a reverse spin on the trouble!”

“Th-That’s not the problem...! A-Also, it’s not on the trouble, it’s on the double...!”

“Nwuh! Yume went and learned sumpkin else thing wrong, huh?!”

“N-Not sumpkin, something...!”

“Summin’, huh! Nice job, Shihoru! Thanks for pointin’ it out!”

“Not summin’, something! P-Put me down, Yume, please, my eyes really are...”

“Roger! Rodger dodger! Roger dodger dodger roger! Stoooop!”

Yume stopped spinning her, then rubbed her cheek against Shihoru.

Yume had always liked to get touchy feely with comrades of the same gender, but this was not normal. Most likely, having spent all that time working with a gumow, Yume had gotten tense in her own way. Thinking of that, Shihoru couldn’t tell her to stop anymore. Besides, Shihoru felt relaxed when Yume was touching her.

Though I’d be too embarrassed to ever say so. I can’t be as honest with myself as Yume is.

The coated gumow came after Yume. Tuokin, was it? If she recalled, she’d heard Yume call him that.

Tuokin was talking to Jessie about something. Was it Orcish, or the gumows’ own language? Either way, Shihoru couldn’t understand a word of it. But she found it odd.

Jessie crossed his arms, looked up to the sky, where the stars were beginning to show themselves. He tilted his head to the side with a pensive look. It gave her a premonition she couldn’t call good.

Shihoru had a tendency to imagine things getting worse and worse, even when that wasn’t true. She hoped that was all it was.

Bonus Short Stories

To All You Cockroaches

All he wanted was a little drink, and that was why he headed for Celestial Alley.

A woman saw him at a distance.

“Renji!” she cried. “Hold on! Hey, Renji! I found Renji!” And she waved over the other women nearby.

She was noisy, but there was no need to pay her any mind. He continued walking, looking straight ahead.

It only took a few seconds. In no time, women had surrounded him. It wasn’t five, ten, or any number like that. There were around thirty of them. This wasn’t the first time, but he couldn’t help but think, What’s with these women, and what do they want?

Once, a woman had tried to touch him, and when he’d warned her with a, “Don’t touch me,” she’d burst into tears. Ever since, the women had stopped trying to touch him. They didn’t get that close, either. They simply gathered around and gazed at him, whispering to one another, and screaming when his eyes occasionally met theirs. When he moved, the women moved, too. And they talked so excitedly.

“Where do you think Renji’s going?”

“Sherry’s Tavern?”

“But Renji hates places with lots of people, doesn’t he?”

“You’re so right. He feels like more of a solitary drinker.”

Yes, that was exactly right. That was why being surrounded by those women was so unbearable. He wanted to go to an establishment where he could be alone, and to drink there.

Move it! Get lost! he was ready to shout at them. But he’d already done it before, and he knew how much good it would do. The women would scatter. Temporarily. They wouldn’t be back right away, but they’d keep watching him from a distance. That was unbearable in and of itself.

So he reconsidered doing that. He just had to not let them bother him. Let them do as they please. If he left them be, they’d eventually get bored and leave on their own.

However, it just wasn’t happening. The women still rushed over whenever they saw him.

“So, like, when he gives me the complete cold shoulder, I just can’t get enough of it,” one of the women said.

“I so get that,” said another one.

“Me, too. Me, too,” some others agreed.

Were they idiots? They had to be. He didn’t have time to waste on idiots. He didn’t want to waste time on them. He wasn’t even interacting with them. Didn’t these women feel this was pointless? He wasn’t even seeing them. He didn’t even see them as fellow living creatures. He thought of them like bugs. Besides, why were they surrounding him? What was the point? It was meaningless to wonder about such things. It was stupid.

One of the women tripped over another’s foot and almost fell over.

He reflexively reached out and caught the woman. “Watch yourself,” was all he said.

“...Y-Yes, sir!”

Damn bugs. They’re packed in too densely to begin with. That’s why they trip over each other’s legs. Why didn’t they think a little about that? They probably lacked the capacity for thought, insects that they were. He didn’t have time to think about bugs. He walked off.

The women didn’t follow.

Of course, that was wonderful. But it bothered him just a little, wondering why, so he turned back. The moment he did...

“Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

The bug... no, the woman who had fallen before... crouched down and let out a bizarre squeal. As if responding to her, there was a buzz from the other women, and they started making a scene.

“Th-That was so cool, just now!”

“‘Watch yourself,’ he said!”

“Omigawd, omigawd, omigawd!”

“Awesome!”

“Renji, Renji, he’s so crazy!”

“I could just die!”

“Then die,” Renji muttered despite himself.

“Ahh!” The bug, no, the woman who heard him went red in the face and collapsed. “I’ll die! I’m dying! Renji told me to die! This is the best! I have to die now...!”

“I’m so jealous! I want Renji to tell me to die, too!”

“Me, too!”

“Me, three!”

“Renji...!”

“If you’d just say that, Renji...!”

“Get wiped out,” Renji said in exasperation.

That was exactly what happened. Every last one of the women... no, the cockroaches... fell to the ground, rolling around and squealing.

A Super Girl

While drawing elemental sigils with the tip of her staff, Mimori smoothly chanted a spell.

“Delm, hel, ru, en, jil, van, arve.”

“Whoa...! Mimorin!” Anna-san tried to stop her, but she was too late, and if she didn’t get down now, this spell was going to be crazy.

Heat Wave. Tokimune, Kikkawa, Tada, and Inui, who had been trading blows with the famous Minotaurs of Crown Mountain in the Quickwind Plains, cried out, panicked, clicked their tongues, or opened their eyes wide, and then all ducked and covered at practically the same time.

Hot! Hot, hot, hot?! There limit to how hot things get, yeah?!

There was a stupendously hot blast of heat that seemed like—no, that absolutely would burn if it hit them directly. The minotaurs, who were good at taking pain, or rather were total masochists, and also tough, macho, and did nothing but engage in non-procreative homosexual intercourse all year long for the sake of pleasure alone, mooed in agony. They probably were enjoying it. Even as they writhed in ecstasy, they were probably still suffering from the seriously unbearable heat. Their fur was a little on fire, after all.

Finally, the terrifying blast of heat subsided, and the tall, slender, busty and beautiful Mimori, AKA Mimorin, who had somewhat transcended humanity lately, ordered Tokimune and the rest to, “Back away.”

“Huh...?” Tokimune raised his face to look at Mimorin.

“B-B-B-Back away?! On the bubble?! No, that wrong! On the double! Quigly?! No, quickly! Hurry up!” Anna-san’s voice was raised.

Tokimune and the rest ran away screaming. They were her comrades and worked with her, so they knew how super crazy Mimorin was nowadays. Mimorin began drawing elemental sigils with the tip of her staff and chanting again.

“Delm, hel, ru, en, jil, van, arve.”

“That?!” Anna-san shouted. “You going use that magic?! What the hell?! Oh, my God! That be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big boom, Madam. Who’s a madam? Anna-san not just married, she still a fresh virgin, too, you know!”

Detonation. Even among Arve Magic’s many destructive spells, this was one of the most powerful.

Anna-san cried, “Whaaaaa?!” and she spun around like a geisha being stripped out of her clothes. It was an incredible blast wave, after all. Anna-san was sent flying a stupendously long distance. There was no fighting her fate as she rolled, and rolled, and rolled. “Eeeeeeeeeeek...”

The blue sky. Death. Anna-san. Spread-eagled. Her survival, a mystery. No, a miracle.

That bastard Tada crawled over. “Anna-san, you okay?” he asked, but there was no way she would be, was there?

I kick your ass, Tada, she thought, but Anna-san was a grown-up. She took Tada’s hand and stood up. How big of her. So moving...

Mimorin was alone, with a cool look on her face and showing off a damn awesome pose. Where had the minotaurs gone? For now, they must have been blasted away by her magic.

Tokimune crawled over to Mimorin’s feet like a caterpillar, and flashed his white teeth in a grin. “Mimori, lately, you’re kinda in top shape, huh. You learned some amazing spells, and you’re managing to use them, too. I’m happy for you, but also a little scared...”

Without even looking down at Tokimune, Mimorin curtly said, “Because there’s nothing else to do.”

“O-Oh, yeah? Ha, ha. Well, okay then...” Tokimune’s hung his head, looking all dried up. He must have been out of strength.

The hair that flowed out of Mimorin’s hat streamed in the wind. Narrowing her eyes, she looked into the distance. Then, she whispered his name. “Haruhiro.”

She still wanted to see him? She hadn’t given up yet? Anna-san couldn’t help but resent Haruhiro for it.

Damn Haruhiro. Mimorin is sad, lonely, she lost weight and got slim, and now she a super beauty. She learning awesome magic, too. This feel like maybe a bad thing, yeah. What he going to do about it? That stupid brat...