I’m alive. I want to shout it out loud.

I’m alive!

I’m living like crazy!

How do you like that?!

Look how my life seems to shine!

He wasn’t gonna shout it, though.

“Ranta!” a voice shouted.

Hearing his name called, Ranta nearly jumped up, but no, he absolutely couldn’t do that. In times like this, rather than scramble around in a panic, it was better for him to be prepared to move right away if he needed to.

He wouldn’t stand up. He’d stay a little more than half crouched, his upper body leaning forward.

Where had that voice come from?

Not nearby. From the way it sounded, the speaker was tens of meters away, maybe about a hundred meters.

He’d been lurking around Thousand Valley for over ten days now. He had no clue where he currently was. He’d gotten out of the thick fog, at least. This area had morning mist, but that was all, and right now there was hardly any haze at all. However, the thick trees and uneven topography made visibility bad.

“Ranta! I know you’re there, Ranta!”

There was that voice again. Was it closer than last time? Well? He couldn’t say for certain.

“Damn that old man,” Ranta muttered, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand.

I know you’re there, Takasagi had said.

Really? That wasn’t a bluff? Unlike the frog he’d just eaten, this was a shrewd old man. His intuition was sharp, so he might have a vague idea of roughly where Ranta might be, but he probably hadn’t pinned down his exact location.

If he knew exactly, there would be no need to shout out and alert Ranta. He’d just have to creep in. If he wasn’t doing that, it meant Takasagi hadn’t found Ranta yet.

Also, it was guaranteed that Onsa wasn’t working with him. That goblin beast master had tamed black wolves and nyaas. Onsa’s nyaas had been devastated, and there were only a few left, but the pack of black wolves led by his big black wolf Garo was intact. If Onsa were around, the black wolves would have already sniffed Ranta out and be closing in.

This was just Takasagi and some orcs or undead. He could get away. Or, at the very least, he still thought he had some chance to slip away.

He had to take action calmly. That was the main thing.

They were waiting for him to panic and come out. So he wouldn’t move. He was just going to stay put for now. Then he’d watch the area around him.

Open his eyes wide. Perk up his ears.

About three meters in front of him, there was a tree that was awfully twisted, to the point that it looked like a mass of tangled tentacles. Ranta walked next to that tree, keeping his footsteps silent. Was it a single tree? Or was it a mass of many different trees? Well, what did it matter?

Ranta leaned against that tree. Quietly, he took a deep breath.

“Ranta!” Takasagi shouted. “Come out, Ranta! Do it now, and I won’t kill you, Ranta!”

This time, it was a little closer—maybe?

Takasagi was probably closing in little by little. But he wasn’t super close yet.

Do it now, and I won’t kill you, Takasagi had said.

Was he going to forgive Ranta for joining Forgan and then escaping? If Takasagi forgave him, Jumbo probably wouldn’t say anything. He might even accept him as a comrade again.

No, no, Ranta told himself. Takasagi only said he wouldn’t kill me. Even if he doesn’t take my life, he’s still gotta plan on doing something terrible to me, right? There’s no way he’s going to laugh it off and let it slide. Well, of course not, right? I mean, I betrayed him, after all.

“Ranta...!”

How many times had that voice yelled at him? He thought back...

“I’ll use this scrap of wood,” the old man said, and then picked up not just any scrap of wood, but a thin, dry, twisted old branch, before gesturing to Ranta with his chin. “You use your own sword, Ranta.”

“That’s a pretty big handicap, old man... You think you can underestimate me!”

It made him angry, but Ranta drew RIPer like he was told to and prepared himself.

He had gotten his hands on this weapon at Well Village in Darunggar, or rather he’d bought it from the blacksmith. It was a two-handed sword, but the blade wasn’t that long, and it was lighter and easier to use than it looked. The ricasso at the base of the blade had a protuberance, and he was fond of its vicious appearance. It would be no exaggeration to say that Ranta had cut down many enemies with this beloved sword of his.

You think you can take it on with that branch? Don’t be full of yourself, old man— was not a thing he thought, though.

Takasagi lowered his left hand, which he was holding the branch with, slightly, and stood up straight with his knees unbent.

He was about two meters away from Ranta.

If Ranta stepped into it, a slash or thrust would hit. What was more, Ranta was a dread knight, someone who specialized in high speed movement. He could reduce that distance to nothing in an instant.

Takasagi didn’t even have his arm up, and all he had was a branch anyway. Even if he hit Ranta, it wouldn’t hurt at all. It shouldn’t have been scary at all.

Yet his breathing had grown strained. His feet... no, his whole body was cowering.

The old man could kill me at any time.

No, that couldn’t be right. It was a branch, you know? A branch. That, and a look on the guy’s face. His single eye was half open, his neck slightly tilted, and his jaw slack.

It was an expression that made Ranta want to complain. I humiliated myself asking you to train me, and you agreed, even if it was only reluctantly. Come on, man, take this seriously. Shape up.

Had this man just woken up? Was he hung over or something? Despite that, why...?

Ranta couldn’t win.

No matter how he had attacked, he couldn’t win.

Did it only feel that way? Takasagi could see through Ranta completely. Was that overrating him?

Ranta could test it. If he did, he’d know for sure.

“What’s wrong?” Takasagi lifted up the branch, finally, but then all he did was move his wrist and twirl it around. “Come at me, Ranta. You want to get strong, right? If you stay there cowering, you’re never gonna make any progress.”

“...Yeah, I know that.” Ranta’s voice quivered slightly when he responded.

“Do you really understand?” Takasagi wore a slight smile. “That’s doubtful.”

Now’s the time!

It wasn’t something he decided. You could say it was his wild instincts. Ranta’s body sensed something and reacted.

It had felt perfect. Leap Out followed by Hatred. Basically, he’d jumped in and slashed downwards. It was simple, but a one-hit kill. He didn’t hold back at all.

If Takasagi had been holding a sword, he might barely have been able to block it. But not with a branch. He couldn’t hope to avoid it, either. This one strike was unavoidable. Ranta could say with confidence that it was a perfect Hatred.

Takasagi took a step to the left, and simply let RIPer go by. He stroked RIPer slightly with his branch, then struck Ranta in the face with it.

“Gah?!”

Did he see it coming?!

“It’s written on your face.” Takasagi planted a kick on the back of Ranta’s knee to throw him off balance, then pushed him in the back with his foot.

Ranta pitched forward. “Whoa!”

“You’re weak.”

“Urgh!” Ranta rolled forward. “Dammit!” He instantly turned around, only to be hit in the face with that branch again. “Ack!”

“You’re easy,” Takasagi said.

Ranta had taken a whole lot of punches and kicks before falling over, and when he tried to get up again, he was punched and kicked. RIPer was no longer in his hands. He’d dropped it at some point. He couldn’t lay a hand on Takasagi.

He flipped over, hitting his back and rear end, and as he lay flat on his back writhing, Takasagi sat down on his stomach.

“Gwuh!” Ranta yelped.

“You don’t have it together at all. What do you mean, you want to get stronger? Don’t make me laugh, you pissant.”

“You said yourself... that you weren’t always strong... didn’t you...?”

“Well, yeah,” Takasagi said, sneering. “But, thinking about it, I don’t think I was as bad as you.”

“If it were the you of ten years ago... you said... even I could’ve beaten you...”

“Don’t take that nonsense seriously, you moron. Even the me of ten years ago was obviously a hundred times stronger than the you of right now.”

“Th-That’s... harsh...”

“You make a lot of extraneous moves.” Takasagi tossed the branch, put his pipe in his mouth, and started smoking.

There he goes, puffing away while sitting on someone else’s stomach. Who does he think he is, damn it? If I tried to throw him off, it’s not like I couldn’t. But I bet I’d take another pounding right away. What should I do...?

“There’s something losing an eye and an arm taught me,” Takasagi told him. “Humans—well, I guess this goes for orcs and other races, too, but we end up carrying all these things we don’t need without realizing it. Getting stronger isn’t about increasing the number of moves you make. It’s about trimming the fat, and polishing what you have. It’s about how much you can do what you need to do, without doing anything unnecessary. Ranta, you don’t seem like you’d be good at that.”

“Don’t say that... like every part of me... is unnecessary...”

“After losing my arm...” Takasagi blew smoke, and wound back his left arm. Then he silently swung it down.

Oh, crap!

Takasagi had only swung his left arm. However, the katana in his left hand, its arc... Ranta could imagine it vividly. It didn’t exist, but Ranta could see it.

“I did nothing but swing my katana,” Takasagi said. “I was right-handed, after all. I realized that if I was going to live with just my left arm, I was going to have to break it in. Every day, every single day, I swung and swung and swung until I collapsed.”

“Work hard, you’re saying?” Ranta asked.

“Hard work is worthless.”

“No, but you were just saying...”

“Why did I keep swinging my katana so much? Simple. In the beginning, I couldn’t do it as well as with my right hand, and that pissed me off. But, you know, at some point, it started getting interesting.”

“...Seriously?”

“Seeing what was wrong, how I could do better, and such. Noticing things, fixing them, testing things out. That repetition was interesting.”

“That’s one warped fetish,” Ranta muttered.

“Do you think that without thinking, just continuing to swing, I could get my left arm as good at using a katana as my right had been? Sure, even if that was the only thing I did, like an idiot, I’d get some degree of growth out of doing it. Only to a certain degree, though.”

“You’re saying I’m not thinking?” Ranta accused.

“Not enough, that’s for sure. Normal people have to use their bodies until they collapse, and then they can finally see the difference between them and a genius.”

“Even I know that,” Ranta muttered.

“You must know a really strong guy or two,” Takasagi said. “But the way you are now, all you know is that they’re awesome. How exactly are they different from you? What could you do to trip them up? You have no idea, right?”

“I’ve got an idea, at least...”

“I’ve thought up a thousand ways to beat our boss, and three of them I’m confident would work.”

“Beat Jumbo?” Ranta asked, dumbfounded.

“The boss knows this, but my goal is to kill him.”

Ranta couldn’t believe it. “Why would you want to kill Jumbo?”

“The boss’s the one who lopped my arm off, you see. I don’t hold it against him, but if I can, I want to kill him before I die. If I could kill the boss, that’d have to feel pretty great. I’d be happy, with no regrets left. It’d be amazing, and—I’m sure all that’d be left after that is to die.”

“You really are crazy.”

“You think?” Takasagi asked. “It’s my life’s goal. Having one gives me something to strive for.”

“...Life’s goal...”

Do I have one of those? Ranta wondered.

When he asked himself that... faces came to mind.

Not one. Several faces.

No way, he thought. Why their faces? That’s crazy. They’re my life’s goal? What the hell? It makes no sense.

I only met them by chance, and was only working them for a brief time in the long, long life ahead of me. Sure, in Darunggar, I thought at times I might be with them until the day I died. But that was simply because the situation made it appropriate to think so. There were some friendly folks in Darunggar, so I might have found myself a partner like Unjo did, and I might have broken up with them. Who would hang out with those guys forever by choice? Moguzo was different. He was my partner, but the others, they were only comrades.

You could say we only knew each other through work. With them, I never felt at ease, or that they were where I belonged, honestly. We had a basic level of trust, but I didn’t like them, and they didn’t like me. It was less mutual recognition, and more that we compromised and put up with one another.

This place isn’t like that. Forgan’s different.

Only a few of them understood the human language, and they didn’t get clingy, and he was mostly left to his own devices, but it was strange how rarely he felt ostracized. Naturally, there had to be some of them who were less than fond of Ranta. He wasn’t trusted. Despite that, he was being accepted.

What was he to make of this? He couldn’t be trusted, and there was no way they did trust him, but they treated him like an ordinary comrade. Maybe this openness, this depth, was what was creating this unique sense that it felt good to be here.

Probably it was all up to how he acted from here. He just had to act in a way that said, I’m definitely one of you guys. If he did that, everyone would gradually grow to trust him. He’d eventually join their circle of friends. It was a shame there were no women, but that also meant he didn’t have to be considerate of any women’s feelings, so there were ups and downs to it.

He closed his eyes.

He could easily imagine a future here.

He’d fit in more and more, living every day with good humor. Even if he rebelled occasionally, there were people who’d hold his head down and make him apologize. He’d have chances to go as wild as he wanted, too.

That outfit Jumbo wore, he liked it. It was cool. If he got his hands on that, he’d wear it over his armor.

Nah, maybe he wouldn’t even need armor. Jumbo didn’t wear any, after all. Yeah. Mobility was his greatest asset, so he was better off without heavy armor, honestly.

No matter what the attack, if it didn’t land, he was fine. He just had to dodge, right? He could learn to dodge. What would he need to do to get to that point? There were people here he could ask about that.

What he had always wanted... He couldn’t quite put into words what it was, but whatever it was, he felt like it was here.

“Ranta!” Takasagi called his name.

“...Yeah?”

No matter how he looked, it had never seemed like he’d be able to have it. That’s why he’d half... no, mostly given up on it.

There was no place for him, and no one could ever understand him. Why did he feel that way? He didn’t know. Had there been some trigger, and after that, he’d started to think it? Even if there had been a trigger, it must have been before coming to Grimgar. He couldn’t remember it.

It doesn’t feel right, he thought. Nothing ever does. No matter where I am. My heart’s on edge. Or it was, huh. Now, maybe not so much.

“What?” Ranta asked.

“Do you really want to become strong?”

Was that his life’s goal? That was what Takasagi was asking.

For instance, if he wanted to get stronger, was that the goal? Or was getting stronger only as a means to an end, and he wanted to accomplish something with that strength? Or was the desire to get stronger an escape, and he was just trying to avert his eyes from what he needed to be facing?

What do I want to do? What’s my wish? he wondered. I have no idea. Like I ever would.

“Get off me already, old man,” he muttered. “How long are you going to sit on my stomach? I’m not a chair, okay?”

“Not gonna happen.” Takasagi laughed a low laugh. He put leaves in his pipe and lit it with what looked like a lighter. It took skill to do that with one arm. “Whatever the case, if you want to get stronger, I don’t mind training you, but—”

“Please do.” Ranta was surprised to find he said those words easily, and without hesitation.

Takasagi seemed a little surprised, too, but after a short silence, he said, “Well, fine then.”

It was a response that maybe made sense, or maybe didn’t.

Haruhiro rolled off its back and fell into the mud. The now lighter rain lashed at his cheeks.

What the hell was this?

Following after Jessie, a number of rangers gathered around.

“Haru-kun!” Yume cried.

“Haru!” Setora shouted.

“...Haruhiro-kun!” yelled Shihoru.

“Haruhiro!” Kuzaku called.

Hearing the voices calling his name, Haruhiro closed his eyes. He placed his left hand over his closed eyelids.

Haru-kun. Haru. Haruhiro-kun. Haruhiro.

There were voices for four people.

Four people.

“What happened to your priest?” Jessie asked.

Haruhiro couldn’t answer immediately.

He moved his hand from over his eyes.

When he opened them, Jessie was looking down at him.

How was Haruhiro reflected in this man’s unreadable blue eyes, which gave no indication of what he thought or felt?

It’s your fault, Haruhiro almost said, but then, That’s wrong, he thought and ground his back teeth. It might not actually be wrong, but he really felt it was.

“I see.” Jessie blinked, then took a short breath. “So she died.”

“...Don’t say it.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t say it. Don’t you... say that.”

“I was only asking because you seem pretty badly hurt, and it looked like you could use some healing.”

That doesn’t matter. I don’t care anymore. You get that. Don’t you? Yeah, you probably don’t.

You’re weird anyway. You took a solid hit from my Backstab, but you seem just fine. You don’t look like a mage, and you were apparently a hunter, but you can use magic. Incredible magic at that. You look human, but you’re clearly not.

Haruhiro rolled over to lie on his front, then tried to get up. His comrades were coming. He couldn’t lie around.

But his body felt heavy. So heavy. His arms and legs wouldn’t push him up.

“Haru-kun!” Yume called.

In the end, Yume helped him up. Though he was up now, he couldn’t stand without support. He wasn’t just weak with exhaustion. Like Jessie had said, he noticed he was fairly seriously injured. He didn’t feel much pain, but he was bleeding all over, and it looked pretty bad. If he didn’t get treatment, he’d eventually pass out, and his heart would stop.

“Haru—Argh, you’re in the way! Move, hunter!” Setora pushed Yume aside and held Haruhiro in her arms. “Are you okay? Hey, Haru, keep your senses. The guorella troop scattered. If this is their leader dead here, then we should be safe for the time being, at least. Listen, Haru, whatever else happened, we won.”

“...We won?” he asked numbly.

“Yes. Even if you can’t believe it, think that we won. For now—”

“We won...”

Haruhiro wanted to push Setora away. But even if he searched for the willpower to take on such a momentous task, he probably didn’t have it left.

That was why Haruhiro just shook his head. Again and again.

Shihoru moved up next to the smiling redback’s corpse. She wasn’t just winded, she was almost completely out of breath. Shihoru sat down where she was.

Kuzaku tripped somewhere about six to seven meters behind Shihoru, and he didn’t get up. Haruhiro could hear his wheezing, labored breaths all the way over here. That ranger that walked over to Kuzaku was probably Yanni.

“Yanni!” Jessie called out to her.

She hurriedly ran over in this direction, so it looked like that was, in fact, Yanni.

Jessie gave Yanni some sort of order. It was in a language Haruhiro couldn’t understand, but the words “vooloo yakah” stuck in Haruhiro’s ears. Maybe that was because when Yanni heard those words, a look of tension and fear came over her face.

When Yanni gathered the rangers and gave orders, he heard her use the words “vooloo yakah,” too. The rangers led by Yanni split off into a number of groups and dispersed.

The rain had fully stopped, and the sun was even peeking through the clouds in places. It had apparently been a passing storm.

“Well, fortunately...” Jessie shrugged.

What was fortunate?! At that point, Haruhiro snapped.

Jessie said, “Our shaman survived, so assuming we heal the wounded immediately, the only problem is your priest. For now, we can’t say anything until I see the state she’s in, but—”

“Merry’s...!” Haruhiro pushed Setora aside and closed in on Jessie. “She’s dead! Merry died! I... I let her die! None of this shit about the state she’s in! What—What are you even talking about...?!”

“No, listen...”

Even with Haruhiro holding him by the collar, Jessie was unperturbed. He wasn’t intimidated, but he didn’t have a hint of a smile. It wasn’t a blank look, either. Did this man even have emotions? Maybe he didn’t have human emotions. This man’s behavior was unnatural enough to make a person suspect that. Haruhiro thought it, and anyone who saw Jessie now would have had to agree.

“We can’t say anything until I see the state she’s in,” Jessie said. “Did I not tell you that?”

“She died! There’s no state to look at! We have to hurry... Hurry, before No-Life King’s curse affects Merry... Before she ends up like her old comrades... Right, we can’t let that happen to Merry...”

“The curse of Enad George, the No-Life King, huh.” Jessie snorted, and then scowled.

That was unnatural somehow, too. Maybe it was better to say it seemed disjointed.

“Enad George...?” Haruhiro repeated.

“Let go.” Jessie hit Haruhiro in the chin. No, Jessie just pressed his palm hard against Haruhiro’s chin.

Despite that, Haruhiro flipped over.

Haruhiro struck his hip, and hit the back of his head. All the strength left his body.

Yume and Setora were protesting to Jessie. No matter what they said, Jessie didn’t take them seriously.

Haruhiro moved just his eyeballs to look at the man. Jessie was creepily silent, and he was looking down at Haruhiro in a way that had no apparent implications.

“Her state...”

His voice was as weak as a mosquito’s, and Haruhiro himself had no idea what he was trying to say.

No, the truth was, he knew. Haruhiro was trying to question Jessie. But it was ridiculous. After all, Merry had died. What was he getting his hopes up for?

Don’t cling to it, he told himself. Don’t think about stupid things.

It would be foolish to have hope. Indeed. He must have been an incredible fool. If he were clever, this never would have happened.

“Depending on her state, are you saying there’s something that can be done...?”

“There’s a way,” Jessie responded immediately. Then, with a snort, he added, “Just one.”

“You can’t,” Yume replied instantly. It was a low, slightly hoarse voice, with an awful lot of intensity given it was coming from her. “What’re you sayin’? Merry-chan’s Yume’s comrade. Don’t you go touchin’ her.”

Jessie shrugged. “I thought it would be bad to just touch her, so I’m asking permission.”

“Yume’s sayin’ you can’t!”

“Yume,” Shihoru hugged Yume close, and glared at Jessie. “...What for? What meaning is there in what you’re trying to do?”

“I want to check how fresh she is,” Jessie said, then smiled wryly. “Ah. That was a poor choice of words. Too blunt? My apologies.  Roundabout...” He paused as he searched for the appropriate word in the language they all spoke, and said at last, “I’m not so good at saying things in an indirect manner. Basically, if the corpse is too badly damaged, it will cause problems. There’s some preparation involved, you see. I want to verify things.”

“What... Just what are you preparing to do...?” Shihoru managed.

“Did I not say? There’s no question she’s dead, but there’s one way to resurrect her. I’m preparing to do that, of course.”

“Re—” Yume opened her eyes wide, looking from Merry’s face to Jessie’s and back. “Resurrect... Resurrect? You mean bringin’ Merry-chan back to life?”

Jessie didn’t respond to Yume’s question, turning his gaze instead to Haruhiro. “Can I touch her?”

Haruhiro looked at Shihoru to see her reaction. No, he was looking for help. He couldn’t decide anything himself. He could make no decision. If Shihoru didn’t nod, Haruhiro would probably keep quiet forever.

Without waiting for Haruhiro’s response, Jessie pressed his fingers to Merry’s neck, lifted her arm up, and tried bending her fingers. It was like he thought Merry was some kind of doll, and he was testing the range of motion of her joints, and their durability.

Haruhiro felt dizzy. Stop, he thought. He wanted to shout at Jessie and kick him away. Why didn’t he do it? Probably because he didn’t think he had the right.

“She’s not in bad shape.” Jessie moved his hands away from Merry’s body. “If we start right away, there’s no real preparation needed. Now it’s just a question of what to do.”

“...What do you mean, what to do?” Finally opening his mouth, that was all Haruhiro could say.

“Do we resurrect her, or not?” Jessie stood up, then took a short breath. “I can’t decide that, after all. It’s up to all of you.”

“Up to... us?”

“Before that, I guess I should explain at least a little.”

“Is there some sort of... condition?” Shihoru asked hesitantly.

“I guess you could call it that.” Jessie raised one eyebrow and snorted. “You want to know in advance what will happen, right?”

Had he been listening from outside? Kuzaku came inside the building and knelt next to Haruhiro. Why was he kneeling formally? His big body was twitching.

“Wh... What’s going to happen?” Kuzaku asked. “To Merry-san?”

“Well, if I do a certain thing, for the time being, she will come back to life.”

Haruhiro tried to say something in response, but his voice failed him.

Hold on.

Wait.

Just wait.

What does that mean, for now?

“For the time being.” Those are some awfully foreboding words. “For the time being.” My chest is so tight, it hurts. The inside of my head is a mess.

“Is there some sort of risk?”

Shihoru was the one to ask the right question. Most likely, the only one with a level head—or the only one trying to keep a level head—was Shihoru.

“’Risk.’” Jessie parroted the word back, cocking his head to the side slightly. “Risk, huh. You could say that, I guess. Let me tell you this, at least. I died once, too, and I came back. I’m not the only one who’s come back this way, either. The chance of failure is—well, I won’t say it’s nonexistent, but you can assume it practically is.”

“You...” Kuzaku looked up at Jessie, unable to even speak properly. “You... died once...? Huh...? Died...? Then came ba—Wha?”

“To put it simply, she can come back to life, like me, who already died once. There’s no risk, but there is a price to pay. That’s because she’ll be coming back in my place.”

It was hard to understand so suddenly. What had Jessie said?

“She’ll be coming back in my place?”

“In my place”—What exactly did that mean?

Merry was dead. But he said she could be revived in a certain way. So?

What about Jessie?

“In order to bring Merry back...” Haruhiro’s voice sounded like it was echoing somewhere very distant. “...you have to die...?”

“Yes. That would be the phenomenon.” Jessie said like it was nothing.

“That’s...” Shihoru hung her head. “B-But...”

Yume gently hit Shihoru on the back, as if patting her. It was probably an unconscious movement. While Yume’s hand moved, she seemed to be thinking.

“Ha ha...” Kuzaku let out a short laugh. He had no idea what was going on anymore, and that may have caused him to laugh despite himself.

“By the way, you people don’t need to worry about that part.” Jessie’s tone was nothing if not disinterested. This clearly involved him, but it was like he didn’t feel it had anything to do with him at all. “It was a little scary the first time, but I’ve experienced it before, so I know what will happen. My Jessie Land’s taken a pretty decisive blow. It’s too much of a hassle to start over from stage one. I’m happy to call this game over.”

“G-Game over? That’s...” Kuzaku lifted his hips, adjusted his sitting position, and pressed his hands down on his knees. “...Irresponsible, wouldn’t you say? Yanni-san is still...”

Jessie sighed, and snapped his fingers. “This was never a charity to begin with. I did it because it was fun. If it’s gotten boring, then it’s over. That’s what a game over is, right?”

This man was bizarre.

He’d died once, so since this was his second time—

No, so what if he knows what death is like? He’ll still be dying.

No, that’s not it, right?

Jessie had died once, and, if they took his story at face value, someone had died to bring him back.

Before then, Jessie hadn’t been the sort of creature that it was hard to call human, one that could take a Backstab and shrug it off. Jessie had been human. When he’d come back, that had changed.

Haruhiro pressed both his hands on the back of his head. He clutched his hair. By dying and coming back, Jessie had ended up like he was now...?

She can come back to life, like me who already died once, Jessie had said, right?

Didn’t that mean... Merry would end up like Jessie?

Haruhiro looked at Merry’s face. Her smile on the verge of death had vanished. When he inspected her closely like this, honestly, it could only be called a lifeless expression. In fact, she had no expression at all. Because her vital functions had ceased.

He didn’t want to recognize it, but the Merry there was nothing more than an object. He couldn’t think of her that way, and he couldn’t possibly treat her like a thing, but that was the fact. The Merry there was no more than the remains of what had been Merry.

If he didn’t use the method Jessie was talking about, Merry wouldn’t just stay that way; she wouldn’t even be able to maintain the form that was Merry.

Consider the season. She’d start to rot in no time. Eventually the curse of No-Life King would come into effect, and she would start to move.

They had to bury her quickly. Taking the curse into consideration, cremating her would be best. This wasn’t Alterna, so there was no crematorium. They’d have to burn her themselves. They would see Merry burning up with their own eyes.

He didn’t want to see that. But he probably had no choice. If he didn’t see this through, he was sure he’d have regrets. Even if he saw it through, he’d probably have regrets. If it was going to be the same either way, then he should see it. Haruhiro would probably watch.

I don’t want to see it.

Even imagining it—no, even attempting to imagine it—every cell in his body felt like it would be crushed to powder. If someone were to ram hot iron rod into his brain and jerk it around, it might feel like this.

I don’t want this.

Merry.

I really don’t.

He didn’t want to burn her at all. But he had to. The only other option was—

Bringing her back to life.

Jessie was saying it was possible. He would die, and Merry would come back in his place. Was that really a thing that could be done?

If she were his mother, his lover, or someone he had a great debt to, maybe it would be understandable. But that wasn’t the case. There was no good reason for him to offer, but Jessie had said he was fine with dying to bring Merry back.

Was there something he wasn’t telling them?

For instance, was Jessie thinking he was ready to die, or would rather be dead, and just wanted to die already? Like there was some sort of downside to coming back to life, and though Jessie looked healthy, he actually wasn’t? Maybe Jessie felt some sort of suffering or discomfiture, and he was trying to push that off on Merry?

If she came back, what would happen to Merry?

Naturally, Haruhiro wanted her to come back. If it meant a living Merry would come back to him, he’d do anything. He’d be fine with dying himself. In fact, he was ready to offer up his life instead of Jessie’s.

But what if that was a result the revived Merry couldn’t be happy with? If it was going to be like this, I wish you’d left me dead. What if Merry got turned into something that made her feel that way?

“Now then...” Jessie spread his arms wide, and looked around at Haruhiro and each of his comrades.

Haruhiro was suddenly suspicious. What had this man been like before dying? He might have been an entirely different person before then. He might have ended up like this because he was revived. Merry would be the same. If she came back to life, wouldn’t this happen to her...?

“What will you do?” Jessie asked. “Bury her, or bring her back? Decide as soon as you can. It’ll be a pain to do it if her condition gets worse, and the way things are going, the vooloos will come by sundown. It takes some time, after all. If we’re doing it, I want to be done before then.”

“...Vooloos?” Shihoru asked in a whisper.

Vooloos. That was a word they were hearing for the first time. If he recalled, Jessie and Yanni had been saying it.

He hadn’t known what it meant, but, Vooloo yakah, he’d said.

It wasn’t Jessie, but Setora who was standing by the entrance, who answered. “Vooloos are carrion scavenger wolves.”

Her tone was strangely flat.

“They’re related to canines, apparently, but they are also cat-like. While they prefer carrion, they will at times attack living creatures—humans and orcs included. They often target hunters who have made a kill and are in the process of carrying it home. The hunter becomes the hunted, and both they and their prey are eaten by the vooloos. With this many dead people lying around, I wouldn’t be surprised if the vooloos sniff them out.”

“The ones in Thousand Valley are small, right?” Jessie pointed to the north. “East of the Kuaron Mountains, there are vooloos that are bigger than the mist panthers in Thousand Valley. They’re the size of bears. If everything had burned, I don’t know how things would have been, but it rained. The eagles and crows are probably gathering as we speak. The vooloos will come next. We can chase off eagles and crows, but vooloos are a lot harder. Regardless, we need to abandon this place for now. I’ve already told Yanni that.”

“They’ve started evacuating?” Shihoru asked.

Jessie responded, “Yes, that is so,” with what was probably a deliberately foreign sounding accent. “If they come back here to rebuild, or if they search for another place, that’s up to Yanni and the others. I won’t get involved. I’ve lost interest, you see. I don’t do things I don’t want to do. I decided that before I died, and I’ve stuck to it.”

Jessie paused.

Then he added, “By the way. Since this probably has you worried, just let me say, nothing changed dramatically inside me when I came back to life. That’s up to you to believe or not. But I’ve always had this kind of personality. It did get harder for me to die once I came back, though. That was, well, I guess that’s a big change, not a small one. But it wasn’t a bad thing. If anything, it’s convenient.”

“...Details,” Haruhiro said, then pressed on his throat.

My voice, it’s all hoarse. But yeah. That was it. That’s what I wanted to say. Why couldn’t I say it before now?

“Please give us details. In concrete terms... if she comes back, how is she going to end up? What happens, and how... Basically, I want to know everything. In order to make a decision. I mean, without really understanding... I can’t decide that. Because... it’s not about me. I dunno how to say it, but without being able to receive her consent... I’d just be reviving her without permission. I need to think over it carefully. I need material to think on. Without that, while it’s not impossible...”

“I refuse to explain.”

“Huh?”

Jessie shrugged. “I’ve told you more or less all I can. There are things I can’t tell you myself, you see. You people aren’t stupid, so you understand, right? This isn’t normal. It’s common sense that people can’t come back to life, and that’s a fact. Things like this almost never happen. This is a special occurrence, and there are unique conditions. It’s no miracle, though. Like with a magician’s tricks, no matter how mysterious they seem, there’s a proper explanation behind it. I can’t spoil the trick. I have a reason why. I can’t tell you that reason, either. What will you do? Accept my offer, and bring her back to life? Or will you bury her? Decide already. I don’t care which it is.”

Haruhiro gazed up to the heavens.

There was a hole. He could see the sky. Whether the sky was clear and blue or black with thick clouds, what difference did it make?

That didn’t just go for the sky. For now, at least, he probably had no interest in anything. For now. Was it only now? Tomorrow, the next day, and beyond—as time passed, would that change?

Yeah, that was a thing that happened, huh. This happened, too. She was alive, huh. We spent time together, huh.

Would he be able to look back and remember it like that?

“Please,” Haruhiro said, his gaze still fixed on the sky he could see through the hole in the ceiling. “If you can really do it, I want you to bring Merry back.”

Is this a bad dream, or a scam? He still couldn’t shake those doubts. The next moment, I’ll wake up, Merry and I will be alone together, and Merry will be dead. There’s no one else around. There’s nothing I can do. Merry is just dead.

Or Jessie will say, “Sorry,” with a half-hearted laugh. “It was all a lie. My bad. Was just pulling your leg a bit. You know there’s no way to bring back the dead, right?”

It was neither.

“Well, let’s get to work, then.”

What would they do? What was about to start?

Bizarrely, it wasn’t just Haruhiro, Yume, Kuzaku, or Setora who was still by the door who said nothing. Even Shihoru didn’t ask Jessie about it.

No one opened their mouth, but when Jessie said, “Could you move? You’re in the way,” Yume and Shihoru backed away without a word, as did Kuzaku and Haruhiro.

Jessie pulled out a knife, pressing it to his own wrist. Then, he said, “If Yanni or the others come, do not, under any circumstances, let them in. This is going to take hours. I won’t tell you not to watch, but there’s no need to watch the whole thing. Some of you go outside and stand guard.”

First Kuzaku, and then Yume, stumbled out on unsteady legs. Yume was in a daze, and Kuzaku was tearing up.

Shihoru remained. Haruhiro stayed, too.

Jessie knelt next to Merry, and mumbled, “It’s here, right?” He slit his left wrist. He showed no sign of hesitation. It looked like he’d cut fairly deep, because the blood didn’t just flow, it gushed out. Jessie said, “Oops,” and hurriedly pressed the cut against Merry’s shoulder.

There was a horrifying wound there. That was where she had been bitten by the guorella, and that wound may have been the direct cause of Merry’s death. It was clear that Jessie was trying to touch the cut he had just made in his wrist to Merry’s wound. What good would that do? Haruhiro had no idea. It was a horrific sight, but Haruhiro didn’t stop him.

Jessie discarded the knife, clutching his left wrist with his right hand. He seemed to be trying to fix it in place. He took a breath. He grimaced.

“Haruhiro,” he called.

“...ah...” Haruhiro had meant to reply, but his voice hardly came out.

“Could you help me a bit here?”

“...With what?”

“I’m holding it in place, but I want to keep it from separating better. This is my first time doing this, so I don’t really know the process that well. I think it’ll be fine, though. You know what they say, take every due caution, right?”

It was Shihoru who did as he asked. She found a large piece of cloth in her belongings and, with her whole body trembling, and sharp labored breaths, she wrapped it around Jessie’s left wrist and Merry’s neck.

Haruhiro did nothing. He couldn’t do a thing. He just watched.

Shihoru returned, wiping her hands on the hem of her robe.

“...Sorry,” Haruhiro apologized in a small voice.

Shihoru wrapped both her arms around Haruhiro’s right arm and turned her head to the side. She was still trembling. It must have been hard enough just standing. Shihoru wanted his support.

Even I can manage that much, so I have to do it, and I ought to, Haruhiro thought.

“Haruhiro-kun, if you hadn’t said it...” she said softly.

I was wrong.

That wasn’t it.

“...I would have,” she finished. “‘Revive Merry’... I’d have said... so don’t shoulder this by yourself. Because Yume and Kuzaku-kun... I’m sure they’d have done the same.”

“Yeah,” Haruhiro nodded.

Shihoru hadn’t wanted him to support her. She had been trying to support Haruhiro herself.

The one who was about to collapse right now... was Haruhiro.

“I...”

While he was unable to get another word out, Shihoru held Haruhiro’s hand tight.

He’d sworn, if nothing else, he’d have no regrets. He didn’t know what Merry would think, and he might cause her suffering. Even so, Haruhiro could not let himself regret this. If this decision was wrong, and he’d made a mistake, Haruhiro would take the blame. He couldn’t complain if Merry resented him. Let her. But he’d had no other choice.

Taking any other option just hadn’t been possible for him. No matter how many times he went that scene, Haruhiro would ultimately have always asked Jessie to do it. He might not even have wavered over it.

If Merry could come back to life, of course he would wish for that. So he would have no regrets.

Haruhiro squeezed Shihoru’s hand in return. His heart was no longer racing. He didn’t have trouble breathing, either.

There was a lot of noise outside for some reason.

Caw. Caw. Caw. Caw, ca-caw. Caw. Caw. Caw.

Was that sound of birds? He looked to the hole in the ceiling. There were many black points flying back and forth in the sky. It looked like it really was birds.

Jessie had been kneeling with his right knee down, and his left knee up. Now both knees were down. His shoulders were moving up and down slightly. He’d started coughing, too.

Haruhiro perked up his ears, but his voice was so quiet, he couldn’t make it out. However, rather than talking to himself, he seemed to be talking to someone else.

Who exactly? Merry? But Jessie wasn’t looking at Merry’s face. His eyes were on the ground.

“Damn...!” Kuzaku yelled outside.

When Haruhiro looked, the birds had gathered and descended. The fairly large birds were eagles, and the comparatively smaller ones were crows, apparently. The birds were swarming around the corpses that had once been the gumow residents of Jessie Land and guorellas.

Kuzaku swung his large katana around, trying to drive the birds off, but there were just too many of them. Yume was occasionally swinging her katana, but only to menace any birds that came near her.

He didn’t see Setora and Kiichi. Had they gone off somewhere?

“Shihoru,” Haruhiro said.

“...Hm? What?”

“Why don’t you sit?”

“I’m... fine.”

“I see.”

“What about you, Haruhiro-kun? Are you okay?”

He came close to saying, I don’t know, but swallowed the words.

“I’m fine. Me, too.”

“...Okay.”

“Yeah.”

Jessie didn’t just have two knees on the ground; his right elbow was on the ground too, now.

That man doesn’t look fine at all, Haruhiro thought, but he couldn’t get into the mood to say anything to him.

Merry would come back to life in Jessie’s place.

What exactly does that mean? he came close to wondering again. Haruhiro shook his head. Let’s not do this. Even if I think about it, nothing will change. Besides which, it’s too late. No, he’s not done yet, so it might not be too late to act. Still, I have no intention of stopping Jessie now. Whatever else happens, Merry will return to life. I can see Merry again. Isn’t that good enough? It might not be good, but that’s fine.

Crows landed on the hole in the ceiling and started cawing. It was noisy, so he wanted to chase them off, but it was higher than he could reach by jumping and swinging his stiletto. Should he ask Shihoru to do it? With Dark? There was no need to go that far. For now, they showed no sign of coming in through the hole, so he could leave them be.

Jessie finally had his forehead on the ground. Haruhiro couldn’t hear him talking anymore. His back was moving slowly, and slightly. He was apparently not dead.

But it was bizarre. Even after being hit by Backstab, Jessie had been fine. He hadn’t treated it, but the wound had healed on its own. And what about the wound from before?

That time, Haruhiro’s stiletto had definitely punctured his kidney. It had been a fatal wound. It’d healed, but now the man was in this bad a shape from a mere cut to his arm?

It was weird.

Caw, caw, caw. Caw, caw, caw. Caw, caw, caw, caw.

The crows were cawing. There were a lot more of them than before. Not just four or five. There were easily more than ten.

“Sma...ller...?” Shihoru said.

He got a chill.

Was it a trick his eyes were playing on him? Was he just imagining it?

Jessie hadn’t been a mass of muscle to begin with, and he hadn’t been exceptionally tall, either. Even so, the size of his body... Was it because he was crouching? It was hard to imagine that was it. He was clearly small. Jessie had gotten small. There was less of him, you could say.

Haruhiro squinted. It’s no good, he thought. I can’t see well enough from here.

Shihoru let go of his arm.

Haruhiro moved to a spot where he could see the profile of Jessie’s face. He used Sneaking, not consciously, just naturally.

Jessie’s cheeks and eyes were extremely sunken, and he looked emaciated. Or perhaps desiccated was the better word. It wasn’t just his face. His whole body had lost its thickness. His collapsed torso, his bent legs, they were unpleasantly thin. Jessie’s arms had never been that thin before. They were like twigs now.

Caw, caw, caw.

Caw, caw, caw.

Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw.

The crows were cawing noisily.

Jessie shrank more and more.

What was this?

Why had he not found it strange sooner?

Jessie had slit his wrist. Even if the wound healed, he would lose a large amount of blood in a short time. Even if he pressed the opening of the wound against Merry’s injury, tying it there with a piece of cloth like that, it would make little difference. The cloth would be soaked in blood in no time, and a sea of blood would spread out. However, that didn’t happen.

Jessie kept on shrinking. Like he’d been nothing but a bag of blood. Like the skin on the outside had held the human form of Jessie, and the inside was filled with blood. Like, if the blood was let out, only the skin would remain. But that was impossible, of course. If he hadn’t had bones, and muscles, and organs, he couldn’t have walked around or breathed.

“...No way.” Shihoru covered her mouth.

Jessie was practically flat at this point.

What the hell was this?

Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw.

The crows were cawing shrilly.

Haruhiro threw up. There was no going back. He knew that.

Really? No, that wasn’t true. If he acted now, he could still take it back. He honestly thought that might be for the best. However, if he pulled Jessie, who had become like a leather bag now, away from Merry, that possibility would vanish entirely. He would never be able to meet with Merry again.

Was he okay with that?

Haruhiro said nothing.

“Still, if she’s adorably loyal like a golem, that’ll be something. But what will you do if she isn’t?”

“What will I...?”

“No,” Setora said. “There’s nothing you can do. You will have to recognize and accept it all.”

“I... know that.”

“Really? Can you hold your head high and say you’re prepared to do that, Haru?”

If he was prepared for it, he should have held his head high and nodded immediately. But he couldn’t.

“If you can’t do it...” Setora softened her tone and spoke quietly. “...then there is something you must do right now.”

“Something... I must do?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sure there’s still time. Pierce that woman’s head and heart with your stiletto. End it like that. If you can’t do it, I can do it for you. I’m used to shouldering others’ bad karma. I can do it without hesitation. I’ll do it in an instant.”

There’s still time. Is there? I have to do it. Me. With my own hands. That, or have Setora do it. No, if anyone does it, it has to be me. But is that necessary? It’s not. Resolve. Yeah. If I just have the resolve. If I can say I’m fine, no matter what happens.

“Urgh...” There was a groan.

It wasn’t from Haruhiro. Or Setora. It wasn’t from Shihoru, or Yume, or Kuzaku, either.

It was Merry.

Merry’s limbs all thrust outwards. It wasn’t just her arms and legs. Her neck and torso bent back like a bow, too.

“Merry...!” Haruhiro jumped on her. His head was soon knocked back.

“Uwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” he screamed.

It was dark so he couldn’t see well, but something was flowing out of Merry’s mouth, and likely other parts of her, too. What? What was coming out of Merry?

“Ngh...” Haruhiro covered his mouth despite himself, and held his breath.

This stench.

Blood?

Could this be blood, maybe? It was similar to the smell of blood. No, but it was more raw.

“What...?!” Setora backed away.

“M-Merry-chan?!” Yume cried.

“Merry-san!” Kuzaku yelled.

“Eek!” Shihoru let out a little scream.

What was this? What the hell was this? Haruhiro ended up kneeling with his left hand on the ground. The blood, or whatever it was, he didn’t really know, but the liquid that was coming out of Merry got Haruhiro’s left hand wet, and then his knees. There were copious amounts of it.

“Aguh, goh, guh, gah, gwuh, gwah, agah, cack, fugagh...” Merry let out bizarre sounds instead of her voice as she continued to vomit the liquid substance.

What now? What should I do? I can’t just do nothing. I have to do make some move. I’ve got to do something. I mean, she looks like she’s suffering.

“M-Merry...!”

Haruhiro took a bold step forward, hugging Merry around the shoulders. He wanted to stop it. Stop the liquid from coming out. But was it okay to make it stop? Could he stop it? How?

The liquid just kept coming out from inside Merry. Merry was already soaked with it. Haruhiro was, too. His hands, his arms, his legs, they were all drenched. It had splashed up as far as his face. This liquid was probably not just ordinary blood. Or was it even blood?

Haruhiro pressed down on Merry’s right shoulder with his left hand, reaching out to her cheek with his right hand. It wasn’t just her mouth, after all. The liquid substance was seemed to be flowing out of her nose and eyes, too. Haruhiro tried to wipe it away. It was meaningless. It kept on coming out. Was there a bottomless reservoir of it? It never stopped, not even for a moment. But he couldn’t help but wipe it. Because it wasn’t possible for him to just do nothing.

“Merry, can you hear me?! Merry! It’s me, Haruhiro! Merry!”

He wanted to do something, but couldn’t do anything about the liquid substance. It was impossible to stop it when it was gushing out like this.

“Merry! Merry! Merry!” Haruhiro kept calling out to her.

Merry’s whole body was rigid, and she might start flailing around again at any moment. This had to be tremendously hard on her. She was probably suffering.

If she was suffering, that meant she was in a state where she could suffer. In that case, weren’t they almost there? Almost where, though? It was hard to explain. But, probably, it would just be a little longer.

Haruhiro held Merry and shouted. “It’s going to be okay! You don’t have to worry! I’m here! I—we—are here! Merry, we’re with you!”

Your body is here, but maybe you’re still somewhere else. Somewhere my voice can’t reach. You may not even be able to hear my measly voice. In that case, I’ll keep shouting until it reaches you. I’ll roar, let my voice echo, so that it reaches you. I may not be able to take your hand, wherever you are, and lead you back here. But, in that case, I’ll shout for you as loud as I can, and pull you towards me.

“Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merry. Merryyyy!”

Haruhiro hugged Merry tighter. He tried shouting her name one more time. His voice had long since gone hoarse. He didn’t care if he ruined his throat. He’s call her name as long as he had to.

Merry inhaled. Up until now, all she had done was spew the liquid substance.

She started coughing. “Ha...ru?”

Through a great deal of coughing, he was certain he heard Merry say that.

Then she managed, “Haru. It was you, Haru?”

What was Merry thinking had been Haruhiro? Haruhiro didn’t know. But it didn’t matter.

“Yeah! It’s me, Merry. Haruhiro. You know me. You can hear me, right? Merry. You came back. Merry! Merry...!”

Merry nodded. It looked like her coughs were subsiding. Her breathing was still extremely ragged. Regardless, Merry had demonstrated her consciousness. Clearly, in a way that couldn’t be misunderstood. Merry had called Haruhiro’s name. She understood what Haruhiro was saying.

Which meant...?

This is unbelievable.

No, I can believe it.

What words can possibly express this feeling? “We did it”? “Thank goodness”? Should I say, “Welcome back”? “I’ve been waiting”? “Thank you for coming back to us”? “I missed you”? They’re all true, but even if I said them all, it wouldn’t be enough. But if Merry’s with us, that’s more than enough.

Awooooooo! Awoo! Awoo! Awoooooo! Awoooo!

“Haruhiro!” Kuzaku shouted. “It’s those vooloo things!”

“Vooloos,” Merry said clearly. She tried to get up.

Haruhiro immediately tried to hold her down. “Merry, not yet—”

“Now isn’t the time to say that.”

She was absolutely right. Now wasn’t the time to be telling her she wasn’t ready yet. Haruhiro helped Merry to her feet.

Merry tried to walk, then stumbled. Her head staff was leaned up against the nearby bars.

Merry took it in hand. “For equipment,” she murmured, then let out a low groan and shook her head. “It would help to have a shield. A bow and arrows, too. They should still be in the storehouse...”

“Merry...?”

“We need to hurry.”

Merry crouched down, searching through Jessie’s body, which was not so much a corpse as a cast-off shell. What exactly was she doing? Before he had time to ask, Merry stood up.

“I’ll show you to the storehouse. It’s really close. Come on.”

“Er... Uh, okay.”

Haruhiro had some doubts, but he cast them aside. Now wasn’t the time to talk about them.

Setora and Kiichi were by the entrance, as well as Yume and Shihoru.

Kuzaku was outside. He was a little ways away, his large katana shining with white light. He must have cast the light magic spell Saber on it.

Awoooooooo! Awooo! Awoo! Awooooooo!

They were close. The howls of the vooloos.

“That’s huge!” Kuzaku cried out.

Was he talking about a vooloo? Where were they? Haruhiro couldn’t see them yet.

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

Merry used light magic. A shining hexagram appeared on Haruhiro and everyone else’s left wrists.

“Hahhhhh!” Kuzaku swung his large katana. There was a flash of white light, and...

It was just a glimpse, but I think I saw one. A vooloo. Is that it? But seriously, isn’t it kind of huge...?

“Kuza—” he began.

“Whoa...?!”

The shadow of the apparent vooloo swallowed Kuzaku. No, had it jumped on him and pushed him down? Haruhiro couldn’t even take a step. Yume, Shihoru, and Setora were the same.

It was only Merry. Leaving behind Haruhiro and the others, Merry rushed in.

“O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you...” Merry unleashed a blinding light towards the vooloo that was on top of Kuzaku. “Blame!”

It let out a yelp, its entire body shuddering, and, though it was only for an instant, this time they got a clear look at it.

It was covered in fur, and probably blackish in color. Blackish brown, blackish gray, or something like that. It was a carrion-eating wolf.

A wolf? Haruhiro thought incredulously. How is that a wolf? What part of it? Wolves aren’t that big, right? They’re more lean, aren’t they? Isn’t that thing too solid? But I feel like the shape of its head was dog-like. It was like a wolf. But taken as a whole, it gave off a very different impression. Rather than a wolf, that thing was like a bear.

The moment the word “bear” came to mind, he remembered. Jessie had been talking about them.

“East of the Kuaron Mountains, there are vooloos that are bigger than the mist panthers in Thousand Valley. They’re the size of bears,” he’d said.

Bears.

That was it. He’d said bears!

“Gwahhryahh!” Kuzaku pushed the vooloo away, getting out from beneath it. At almost exactly the same time, maybe immediately before, maybe right after, Merry wound up and slammed her head staff into the vooloos face. It looked like that gave the vooloo pause.

Merry cried, “Haru!” as she took off running. Was she heading for the storehouse, or whatever it was?

“We’re moving!” Haruhiro said, then immediately it occurred to him, This is bad. I’m not making decisions myself. I’m just going with the flow. What’s the point in me even existing? No, my reason for existing isn’t important here.

“Ahh, damn it!” Kuzaku cried. “Thanks, Merry-san! I’m glad you’re okay! Zahhhhhh!” He struck the vooloo with his large katana, then turned and ran.

“Go, everyone! Go!” Haruhiro swung his arms around, urging them on.

Setora and Kiichi, Yume, Shihoru, and finally Kuzaku followed after Merry. Haruhiro followed behind Kuzaku.

The vooloos were coming.

Awoooooooo! Awoo! Awoooooo! Awooo! Awoooo!

There were vooloos howling here and there. How many of them were there? There were many. How could there be several of those bear-like things? No, before he worried about the other vooloos, he had to worry about the one from before.

Fweh, hah, hoh, hah, hah, hahh, hah, hahh.

He could hear its breath as it closed in. The vooloo from before was making a frenzied charge. It would catch them. It was coming to attack.

“Ru...!”

Haruhiro let out an odd exclamation as he jumped to the side, rolled, and got back up.

That was close! Its claws, or something, grazed him!

The vooloo let out a dissatisfied growl, crouching back its large body, like it was preparing for something. Was it?

Oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap!

Haruhiro ran. He ran as fast as he could. But he felt like he couldn’t hope to beat it in speed.

Look. See? The vooloo’s already this close.

It was dark, so he couldn’t see it that well, though. Its eyes were shining.

It’s close. It’s too fast, way too fast. It’s gonna get me.

“Eagh...!”

He tried to get away somehow. Did he not make it in time? The next thing he knew, he was being crushed. There was an intense animal smell. He couldn’t breathe. Was he going to get eaten? Devoured?

“Take thiiiis...!” Kuzaku yelled.

Was Kuzaku turning back to make a strike on the vooloo that was trying to eat Haruhiro?

The vooloo yelped, but it didn’t let Haruhiro go.

Kuzaku shouted, “Hey, you!” and slashed the vooloo again. “What do you think you’re doing to Haruhiro? Get off! I’ll kill you! Die, you damn bear!” He repeatedly hit it with his large katana.

No, I don’t think this thing’s a bear, Haruhiro reflected. Or is it a bear? Does it matter?

Finally, the vooloo got off Haruhiro.

Immediately, Kuzaku pulled him to his feet. “Haruhiro, are you okay?!”

“Yeah, somehow...”

“This is bad news. I can’t cut that thing. Its fur’s kind of—Oh...?!”

Kuzaku was knocked back. The vooloo had charged in again. Kuzaku, however, instinctively defended himself with his large katana. He managed to dig in and not to get knocked over somehow.

Awooooooooooooo! The vooloo was about to pounce on Kuzaku.

Haruhiro drew his stiletto. He hadn’t even had a weapon ready before now.

What the hell am I even doing?

He grabbed onto the vooloo that was about to charge Kuzaku again, wrestling with it and stabbing his stiletto into it. He stabbed and stabbed. He was definitely stabbing it like he meant to, and the vooloo was twisting around because it didn’t like it, but—this wasn’t working, was it?

The fur. This oily, tough fur was the culprit. The matted fur itself wasn’t that hard, but it was dense and layered, forming something like a cushion. With something as short as his stiletto, Haruhiro could stab it in to the hilt, and the best it might manage was to pierce that fur cushion.

This was even more trouble than the guorella’s shell-like skin. If he was going to do this by the book, would he have to target the eyes, or something like that?

The vooloo let out a howl as it raised its upper body. It was standing on its hind legs.

“Oh?!” Haruhiro yelped.

Is this thing really not a wolf, and actually a bear? I mean, when this things stands, it’s really huge!

“Whoa?! Ohhhh?!” Kuzaku looked surprised.

Haruhiro desperately clung to the vooloo’s back. But the vooloo bayed and shook its body violently, so he couldn’t take it.

This is bad.

I can’t do this.

I don’t have the strength.

He was shaken off, went flying, and instead of the ground, he struck the wall of a building. The wall wasn’t able to stop Haruhiro, so he broke right through it.

“Ungh... Guh...”

Huh?

It’s... bright?

“Yikes!” That was... Yume’s voice?

Haruhiro was on his back. He’d hit his head hard on his way through the wall, apparently. Because of that, he was a bit shaken up.

Looking around, he eventually found Yume. Shihoru, too. And Setora, and Kiichi.

Oh, so that was it. The storehouse. This was the storehouse. That made sense. That was why the lights were on. That was Yume was here, Shihoru was here, Setora was here, Kiichi was here, and, of course, Merry was, too.

“...Huh?”

How bizarre.

For some reason, it looked like Merry wasn’t wearing any clothes.

What was this? An illusion? It had to be. After all, there was no reason she would be getting naked here.

“Haru...!”

Merry flew over to him. Not literally, of course. That was a given. Merry couldn’t fly. But she was fast.

When a naked Merry hugged him, Haruhiro thought maybe this might be heaven. Nah, probably not. There was no heaven, right? But in that case, was this reality...?

“Hey, you!” Setora threw a greenish coat at Merry. “Put that on, at least!”

“Ah...!” With Haruhiro’s head still in her lap, Merry took that green coat-like garment and covered her breasts. “Th-This is, um, my clothes were soaked, so I was getting changed...”

“O-Oh.” Haruhiro shut his eyes tight. “...Yeah. I won’t look. No matter what.”

“Meow! Kuzakkun’s in trouble!” Yume shouted.

“We’ve gotta support him!” Shihoru yelled.

Yume and Shihoru are making a fuss for some reason. No, not for some reason. Kuzaku’s taking on a vooloo on his own. Me, meanwhile? What is this? Is it okay for me to be using Merry’s lap as a pillow, shutting my eyes tight while she changes? It isn’t, right?

“Er, um... Haru, I’ve got the upper half on, so...”

“Oh, ohh...”

Haruhiro opened his eyes and hurriedly sat up. He peeked at Merry.

Merry was in the middle of standing up. She had the green coat on, like she ought to. Only her legs were bare. She said she’d covered her top. What about her bottom...?

He shook his head. Even if she was naked down below, what did it matter? Besides, if she had a change of clothes, yeah, she was going to want to change. Her previous outfit was a total mess at this point. Honestly, Haruhiro wanted to get changed himself.

Yume was carrying a bow, and had a quiver full of arrows slung over her shoulder. Setora had a spear in hand. She was carrying a square shield, too.

Shihoru was carrying a shield as well, but not for herself, so she probably meant to pass it to Kuzaku.

Looking at it again, small though it was, this building was most definitely a storehouse. The racks were lined with swords and spears, and a number of shields were leaned up against the walls.

There were bows. There were arrows. There was a shelf with cloth and pieces of clothing on it. It wasn’t clear what was inside them, but there were jars. It wasn’t just lamps hanging from the rafters. There were some other things he couldn’t readily identify there, too.

Haruhiro looked in Merry’s direction despite himself. He immediately averted his eyes. Merry was crouched down, fumbling around inside her coat. She was probably putting clothes on.

“Nuwah! Zwah! Seahhhh!” Kuzaku was fighting the vooloo by himself.

“R-Right!” Haruhiro returned to his senses, but before he could give any orders...

“The shield!” Setora shouted, rushing Shihoru.

“Right...!” Shihoru responded well, heading out through the hole Haruhiro had busted in the wall. Yume followed after her.

Haruhiro slapped his left cheek with his left hand. Get it together, he told himself. He followed after Yume. Setora brought Kiichi and went with him.

When he looked, Shihoru had just finished shouting, “Kuzaku-kun...!” and throwing the shield. The shield rolled to Kuzaku’s feet. Kuzaku glanced down at it, but that was all. It looked like he didn’t have the leeway to pick it up.

Kuzaku closed in on the vooloo, shouting and swinging his large katana. The large katana struck the vooloo’s left shoulder, but he couldn’t cut it, after all.

Kuzaku pulled back his large katana. “Keeahh...!”

He swung it down. The vooloo took a blow to the top of the head, but it just stumbled and backed away. The cushioning from its fur was a thing to be feared. What were they even supposed to do about it?

“You dolt, don’t slash! Thrust!” Setora shouted.

She didn’t just shout that. She raced towards the vooloo. Her spear outstretched, she rammed it into its throat. Incredibly, it stabbed in properly.

Setora let the spear go without hesitation, jumping back. “Get in there, you idiot!”

“Rarrrghhhh!”

Kuzaku charged at the vooloo. When Kuzaku went on the attack, unleashing his combat instincts all at once, he was violent to the point of being a little scary. And that was how it was now.

Kuzaku slammed his whole body straight into the vooloo. His large katana stabbed deep into its chest. Surprisingly, by that point Setora had already turned back to head for the storehouse.

“Haru!” When he heard his name and turned, a spear was flying his way.

Why? he questioned, but Haruhiro instinctively caught it.

“You, too, hunter!” Setora threw Yume a spear as well, and took one for herself. “Come on!”

Even as Haruhiro thought, I’m a moron, indecisive, incompetent, useless, and beyond all help, he put away his stiletto and readied the spear.

He’d probably never used a spear before. But so what?

Kuzaku shouted, “Get back for now!” as Setora and Yume rushed in, each trying to get there first.

The one thrust Kuzaku had gotten in had been especially effective. The vooloo was completely on the back foot.

Saying that Haruhiro’s, Setora’s and Yume’s spears were going to skewer it was a bit of an exaggeration, but all three of their spears stabbed into it wonderfully. The vooloo bent backwards in pain, but twisted its body just before it would have ended up on its back, so it fell on its side. It might have wanted to get on all-fours, but it looked like the four spears and Kuzaku’s large katana, which were jammed in its throat, chest, and other places, were getting in the way.

“Out of the way!” Kuzaku, who had temporarily fallen back, jumped on the vooloo in a frenzy. He tore his large katana free, and immediately stabbed. He pierced through it.

The mouth. Kuzaku rammed his large katana in the vooloo’s mouth. That wasn’t all.

“Nuwohhhhh!” He twisted his large katana with brute force, pulling it up. The large katana bisected the vooloo’s head from inside. No matter how tough of a beast it was, that had to be a lethal blow.

Haruhiro was relieved. Then, as if to tell him off for being too naive, Setora gave the gray nyaa some order. “Kiichi!”

He really was being naive. So naive, he had to wonder what had gotten into him. There were still vooloos howling all over the place, weren’t there? This was hardly over. They hadn’t overcome them yet. If they hadn’t gotten out of this yet, what was he acting relieved for?

Merry left the storehouse, her head staff in one hand, a lamp in the other. That green coat which didn’t look priestly in the slightest was a fresh new look for her, and Haruhiro couldn’t take his eyes off her.

He could only be exasperated with himself for that. There was something seriously wrong with him. He wasn’t managing to do anything a leader should. Wasn’t Setora acting far more like a leader? Was he in a slump or something? Was that it?

No, how could he call this a slump? He hadn’t been cut out to be a leader to begin with. He’d never once been a good leader. Still, he’d had no choice but to do it, so he’d done what he could to the best of his ability, hadn’t he?

If he was going to call this a slump, he was in a perpetual slump. It was normal for him to be in a slump, and he’d never be able to get out of it for the rest of his life.

He was dull, but he had to think.

Setora had given Kiichi some sort of order. It looked like Kiichi had gone off somewhere. Setora probably meant to have Kiichi look for an escape route for them.

Merry was carrying a lamp. Was that okay? The light seemed like it would stand out. But vooloos were nocturnal, right? They could see in the dark. If the party couldn’t see, they were at a disadvantage in the darkness. It was better to have the light.

Anyway, for now they had to run. To get away from here.

He was an uninspiring leader, and there were far more things he didn’t know or couldn’t do than otherwise, but he couldn’t whine about that, and since he couldn’t get out of this alone, yeah, he’d have to borrow everyone else’s strength.

“Setora! Which way should we go?!” he shouted.

“Wait.” Setora made a sharp noise with the gap between her teeth. She closed her eyes, turning her head around.

It was faint, but there was a slight, Nyaa.

Which direction had it come from? Haruhiro couldn’t decide. It seemed Setora had heard it. She opened her eyes, pointing to the left.

“This way, for now. I can’t guarantee it’s safe, but—”

“Good enough. Kuzaku, take point!”

“’Kay!” Kuzaku picked up the shield and nodded.

“Setora, stay by my side and give directions.”

“Okay, understood.”

“Yume, stay in the back.”

“Meow!”

“Merry, you...” He came close to muddling his words. He felt like he might cry. What good would that do? He just had to do as usual. To think, he was still able to tell Merry the usual. “You protect Shihoru, and stay in front of Yume!”

Without missing a beat, Merry replied, “Yeah!”

“Shihoru, conserve your magic,” Haruhiro added. “We don’t know what’s out there.”

His voice was halfway to tears.

“Okay!” Shihoru replied quickly, her voice was tearful, too.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Haruhiro and the party took off running.

He could hear the howling of vooloos. He sensed them moving around, but just how many vooloos were there, and where were they? He had no grasp on that whatsoever.

Setora frequently said, “This way!” and “That way!” giving directions. Haruhiro just followed them, and even though he felt like his whole body was being torn up by a sense of powerlessness. While he couldn’t shake it off just by accepting it had always been this way, he was able to endure it.

Looking back, it wasn’t like there had been absolutely no times when things seemed to be going well. It only happened occasionally, though. Most of the time, it didn’t go so well.

Even if he got results, he never got a perfect score of one hundred out of one hundred points. It was always, I should have done this, or, I should have done it this way, but I just can’t. He would think he needed to fix his shortcomings, but he’d also think it was a pain to, and wouldn’t commit to it.

The score he gave himself was always below fifty points. Forty-seven or forty-eight points, maybe.

“It looks like we can get out!” Setora shouted.

This is when I really need to get my act together, thought Haruhiro.

“Man, do you have any fun living like that?” He thought he heard that idiot Ranta’s voice, and it made him sick.

If you’re asking if it’s fun or not, it’s not like it’s ridiculously fun or anything, he retorted silently. But you’d be surprised; it’s actually a little fun. Not that you’d understand that, Ranta. When you live like me, there are no intense ups and downs. Instead you get pretty happy or sad over the little things. I’m fine if someone wants to call it a boring way of life. I can’t help that. This is who I am. I can only live as myself.

It looked like he’d gotten back to his usual self. Because of what had happened with Merry, he’d uncharacteristically lost his composure. Despite that, Merry had come back somehow, and Kuzaku, Yume, Shihoru, Setora and Kiichi were all fine, too. He should probably consider this lucky.

Because Haruhiro, who was the leader despite all his faults, had been useless. Given that, it wouldn’t have been strange if this had turned into an even bigger disaster.

He was fine with a score of fifty out of one hundred. Even a score in the forties wasn’t bad. Looking for a sixty was asking too much. He’d do his best to avoid scoring lower than forty. He himself was around a fifty, but he wanted to make it so everyone to be able to score a sixty, maybe even a seventy.

Somehow, he wanted to make this party a sixty or better. He’d contribute what he could to make that happen. That was Haruhiro’s job as a leader.

Know your place. Don’t overextend yourself. If you lose your balance because of doing so, it defeats the purpose. Just calm down for now. Look. Listen. Feel. Use everything you can. Especially your head. Even if it’s repetitive and there’s no progress, don’t lose interest. Keep doing it without getting tired of it. There is something more important than you moving forward, step by step, yourself. Move your comrades forward. I think it would be fine to have larger ambitions, like “I want to do something big,” or “I want people to think I’m incredible,” but in the end, I have hardly anything like that. Wishes like “I want to see new sights,” or “I want to rise up and look out into the distance” have nothing to do with me.

But for my comrades, I can try reasonably hard.

I don’t hate that about me. I do my best for my comrades. That’s my core. If I lose sight of it, I can’t keep walking. No, I can’t even stay standing.

They got out of the village, joining back up with Kiichi as soon as they entered the fields.

Awooo! Awoo! Awoooo! Awooooo!

The howling of the vooloos was coming from behind them... or at least that was what Haruhiro thought, but he couldn’t be sure. If it was true, they could run away like this. He really hoped that was the case.

“Kiichi!” Setora sent the nyaa out again.

Kiichi ran ahead of Haruhiro and the party. If there were vooloos up ahead, he would alert them.

“I can still kill another one or two!” Kuzaku was winded, but he sounded reliable.

“Merry, put out the lamp!” Haruhiro shouted.

“Got it!” Merry called and put it out.

The vooloos had good night vision. That said, having a bright lamp lit out in the middle of the field was like telling them their prey was right here.

There were a lot of clouds, and no moon. There were few stars. It was a suffocating sort of darkness. Even so, once his eyes adjusted, Haruhiro could just barely make out the outlines of his comrades beside him.

The howls of the vooloos were not close. They’d gotten further away—or so he thought.

“They are carrion eaters, after all...” Setora muttered.

She had to be talking about the vooloos. The vooloos weren’t that interested in living prey like the party to begin with, so they might not be that fixated on them. Ideally, that would be the case. That said, that was only his hope, so they couldn’t let their guards down.

“Yume, she’s thinkin’ there aren’t no more of them around here!”

If Yume felt that way, it might be true. But no, no, they couldn’t relax.

Stay cautious. To the point of being cowardly, if anything.

“Shihoru?! You’re not tired, are you?!” Haruhiro couldn’t see her very well when he turned back to ask.

“I’m still okay!” Shihoru replied.

Immediately, Merry added, “It’s okay!”

If Shihoru was pushing herself beyond her limit, Merry would have stopped her rather than say it was okay.

Setora let out a snorting laugh. “You people...” she started to say, then closed her mouth.

“Huh? What?”

“No,” Setora said, and shook her head.

Kuzaku’s steps were heavy. It looked like he was having a pretty hard time. It was a bit late to be noticing, but Kuzaku must have been struggling all along. Haruhiro wanted to let him rest, but not yet. Even if he was going to let him rest eventually, now wasn’t the time. Though, that said, it would be a problem if he collapsed on them.

“Let’s drop our pace,” Haruhiro said.

“’Kay!” Kuzaku stopped running, and started to walk with long strides.

The howling of the vooloos was a good distance away now. Could they make it?

Whew. Haruhiro let out a deep sigh. Whenever there was an opening, he tried to loosen up. That frailty was his greatest enemy.

He was his own greatest enemy. It was ironic that when his own, weak self was the enemy, he was actually pretty frightening.

He came close to thinking about Ranta, but banished the thought. Why would he think about that guy? They weren’t comrades anymore. But...

Maybe I don’t think that? I don’t believe he completely betrayed us.

Forget about it. I can say, at the very least, that thinking about him isn’t going to do any good right now.

I want to relax. Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I just want to take it easy and relax. To eat something good, then to sleep soundly. For just one day, no, even half a day, I want to spend my time like that. It’s an incredible luxury. I know that. I have to put aside even dreaming about it for now.

“Kuzaku,” he said.

“Hey.”

“Setora.”

“Yeah.”

“Shihoru.”

“...Right.”

“Merry.”

“Yes.”

“Yume.”

“Mew.”

“Okay,” Haruhiro said with relief.

Am I tired?

There’s no point putting up a strong front. I’m tired. It’s best to be aware of these things. But I can keep going.

How long do we have to keep walking? Until it’s bright out? Will I last until then?

I should calculate, predict, and plan things out. It’s difficult to make precise predictions. Even so, just flying by the seat of my pants is the worst thing I can do.

“Are we heading east, more or less...?” Haruhiro asked.

Yume told him, “Headin’ northeast. Maybe a little more east than north, though?”

Whatever the case, we’ll eventually end up setting foot in the mountains. It would be best to rest at least once before then. The odds are good that there are no vooloos around here. Let’s rest. Should I say that now, in advance? It would be bad if we lost focus, so maybe I shouldn’t say it until the time comes.

Unaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooo!

There was a sudden cry that seemed to come from Kiichi, and Setora took off running.

It seemed some unforeseen situation had arisen.

Haruhiro reflexively shouted, “Setora, wait!” to stop her.

Setora didn’t stop. She was already out of sight. He couldn’t leave her be.

“Don’t rush! Get ready, then move forward!”

Haruhiro drew his stiletto, passed Kuzaku, and chased after Setora. He soon realized there was something up ahead. He didn’t so much see it as feel it. Initially, he thought there was a swell in the ground. Like it might be a small hill.

Gyaa! Gyaa! Gyaaaaaaa!

Kiichi was yowling. It was a frightening voice, like cats used when they were fighting.

The hill moved—or he got the sense that it had.

“Kiichi, get back!” Setora shouted.

“Haruhiro?! What is it?” Kuzaku caught up with him.

Haruhiro had come to a stop at some point. “I don’t know, but—”

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

A low, heavy sound like the earth rumbling was closing in on them. He had no idea what it was, but there was no doubt about it. Without any logic at all, he could say one thing with complete certainty. This thing was bad news.

“Whew! Ohhhh!” Yume had good eyes, so she might be able to see something surprising, unlike Haruhiro.

“Ma...!” was all Shihoru could get out. Had she been trying to say something about magic?

“This is—”

There was something deep about the way Merry was speechless. Why did Haruhiro feel that was the case?

“I don’t really know what it was,” Kuzaku muttered. “But whatever world I came from before, there’s no way it was like this. Seriously, Grimgar is such a—”

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

It was here. What was coming? Haruhiro didn’t know. How was he supposed to deal with it if he didn’t know? He had no way of knowing that. But he had to do something about it. It was awful. He might not feel as strongly as Kuzaku, but he was sick of the way Grimgar did things like this to him. Sick of it or not, though, Haruhiro and the others were alive. They were living here. In Grimgar. The image of Merry, with her eyes closed, unmoving, flashed through his mind. It was enough to tear his heart to pieces. He never wanted to go through that again.

“Retreat!” Haruhiro backed away as he raised his voice. “Don’t split up!”

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

What was it? Something was coming. That much was clear. What was coming? If he only had some clue...

“Dark...!” Shihoru summoned Dark the elemental.

Yume took a sharp breath, and fired an arrow. Did it hit? Or not?

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

Merry said something in a pained voice. It was probably “Sekaishu...” or something like that.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNSekaishu.

Was that a name? But why would Merry know its name? That didn’t matter.

Haruhiro jumped back. He felt like something had touched the tips of his toes. No, he didn’t just feel like it. Something had definitely touched him.

“It’s coming from below!” Haruhiro shouted to warn the others.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN Damn, I can’t see. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN What is that? NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN But it keeps pressing in closer, that I can tell. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN I can feel it, keenly. NNNNNNNNNNNNNIt’s a thing, but at the same time not a thing. NNNNNNNNNNN... I feel like it’s invading my heart. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN... No, don’t be led astray.

He felt something brush the tip of his toes again. Haruhiro didn’t jump back. He stomped it instead of running away. It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t soft, either. He could stomp it, but his foot sank in deep, and he felt like he might get pulled in.

In the end, Haruhiro tore his foot free and jumped back. Was that dangerous, just now? If he’d left his foot there, who knew what would have happened.

That said, it was a thing. No matter how crazy of a thing it was, he could touch it. It had an actual physical form.

It touched the tips of his toes again. Haruhiro kicked it away.

“Don’t be afraid! It’s just—just some weird monster...!”

“Ahahaha!” Kuzaku laughed. “O Light, O Lumiaris, bestow the light of protection on my blade!”

He drew the sign of the hexagram with the point of his large katana and it began to emit light. When Kuzaku swung his large katana, some black lumps were sent flying. They were like massive caterpillars.

“They’re just caterpillars!” Haruhiro said, correcting himself from earlier. But he said it mostly to himself.

They were caterpillars. Mere caterpillars. They were caterpillars, so they were creepy. They might be poisonous, so he had to be careful, but there was no need to be unduly frightened.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...

This NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN... What was it? It bothered him, but he wouldn’t be able to figure it out even if he dwelt on it, so it was best not to worry about it. Haruhiro kicked the caterpillars that got close to him. Backing away a little at a time, he kicked, and kicked, and kicked away the caterpillars which gave him an unpleasant sensation when he did.

Kuzaku didn’t back away much. “Ooorahhhhh!” He made a big swing with his large katana to sweep away the caterpillars.

Yume was using her katana, too, it looked like.

Was Merry swinging around her head staff? What were Setora and Kiichi doing? He couldn’t check.

Shihoru cried, “Go, Dark!” She was apparently sending out Dark.

It was questionable if the elemental had any effect.

Either way, this NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN was irritating. It was like deep inside his ears, inside his head, a metal orb was vibrating. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN It was a unique, low rumbling noise.

Right after he kicked the caterpillars for the umpteenth time, Haruhiro realized he had a nosebleed.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN What could it be? Behind his eyes it felt hot, painful even. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN “Guweh!” Kuzaku suddenly threw something up, his sword flashing as he nearly fell to his knees, cutting up more caterpillars. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN There were tears, no, these weren’t tears. NNNNNNNNNNNNN Blood, there was blood coming out, from his eyes. NNNNNNNNNNNNN Haruhiro coughed. NNNNNNNNNN He was dizzy. NNNNNNNN He was caught. NNNNNNNN His right leg. NNNN By the caterpillars. NNNNNN Haruhiro fell on his backside. NNNNNNN This NNNNNN was bad. NNNNN It felt awfully cold. NNNNN Like he’d lost NNNNNNN his right foot. NNNNNNN What was NNNNNN a Sekaishu? NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN No, this was no good, no good, no good. NNNNN He kicked the caterpillars with his left foot, kicked, and kicked them away from his right foot, then crawled away and fled. He had to get away. It was going to swallow him up.

“Dark!” Shihoru called.

Dark let out a bizarre vwoooooong sound as he shrunk down as he flew, and Haruhiro could see the arc of where he was going. Dark was going to slam into the main body of the caterpillars, or primary mass of them, the thing that was like a small hill made of caterpillars.

But all that happened was that the NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN noise grew stronger, and there was no other effect.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!” Kuzaku was doing a good job fighting on his own, swinging his large katana this way and that, five or six meters ahead of Haruhiro, but he was in the process of being taken in by the caterpillars.

“No! We can’t let this go on!” Merry was practically screaming. “Run! With everything you have! Get some distance from it! I’ll...!”

What was Merry going to do? Why Merry? Casting aside his doubts, Haruhiro turned to go.

Kuzaku. Kuzaku was making no attempt to move. Had he not heard Merry’s voice?

To Merry, Yume, Setora, anybody, he yelled, “Watch Shihoru!”

Protect her! I’m counting on you! Haruhiro thought as he rushed towards Kuzaku. He stepped on and over the caterpillars, brushing them away, opening a path.

“Kuzaku! Get back, Kuzaku!” he yelled.

Kuzaku turned towards him. “Ah! Sorry!”

“Hurry!”

“’Kay!”

Haruhiro ran as the caterpillars, a great number of them—no, was it better to say a great volume of them—rushed in from all over.

Kuzaku ran hard, too. If the caterpillars wrapped around him, that part of his body would go cold.

The NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN sound was getting stronger, too.

Haruhiro somehow beat the caterpillars off, shook them away, and ran for his life. The caterpillars were not advancing particularly quickly. That was his one salvation. That was why, though he didn’t think for a moment that he could handle this situation, he felt like maybe he might be able to shake them off.

There was someone, probably Yume, who took his hand. Shihoru was probably beside them. Was Setora holding Kiichi? Also, Merry.

Merry.

Merry was...

“Delm, hel, en, saras, trem, rig, arve!”

“Oof?!”

“Doh?!”

The oof was probably Haruhiro, and the doh came from Kuzaku. Haruhiro and Kuzaku pitched forward at almost the same time as an intense blast of hot wind struck them from behind.

It was crazy hot. Rather than hot wind, it might be more appropriate to call it a blast wave. Haruhiro narrowly managed to roll forward, but when he looked back before getting up properly, it burned his face. “Augh!”

No, it might not have burned him, but the heat felt painful enough to make him think he had maybe gotten a little singed. It was far too large to call it a pillar of flame. There was a wall, no, a cliff of flame rising before him.

Magic.

This had to be Arve Magic.

But it wasn’t Shihoru’s magic. Shihoru only used Dark these days. Besides, Shihoru hadn’t acquired a single Arve Magic spell.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!” Kuzaku cried as he crawled forward at an impressive speed.

Haruhiro stood up. Hot. There were sparks flying off the cliff of flames. It was more than just hot.

Haruhiro sheathed his stiletto, covered his face with his hands, and stumbled towards his comrades.

Shihoru was cowering as she stared at the cliff of flames. She seemed a little out of it.

A few words slipped from Shihoru’s mouth. “Blaze Cliff.”

That had to be the name of a spell. But Shihoru wasn’t the one who’d used that Arve Magic.

Yume looked at Merry who was beside her. She immediately averted her gaze.

“I...” Merry looked down, pressing her left hand to her forehead. “I... Sekaishu. Removal. With just this. I can’t. So I. Magic. I... used magic. While I still can. I—”

Setora was holding Kiichi. Crouching down, she set the gray nyaa down on the ground. “Priest. What is Sekaishu?”

“Sekai...shu.” Merry mumbled. “I...”

I don’t know, she continued in a mumble that trailed off and vanish.

Haruhiro stood there dumbfounded. There was practically nothing he could do.

I don’t know. That’s what Merry had said.

Sekaishu. Even after she had clearly spoken that unfamiliar word, Merry had used magic. Using Blaze Cliff. Arve Magic. This was likely the second time they’d seen that spell used. The first time had been in the village, with Jessie.

Merry didn’t know it. Light magic was one thing, but a priest like Merry couldn’t use Arve Magic.

“We have to run, while we still can.” Haruhiro made every effort to make sure his voice didn’t quiver. Then, walking over to Merry, he extended his right hand to her.

Do I have the resolve? he wondered. I will recognize it all. I’ll take it in, and accept it.

“Let’s go, Merry.”

Merry raised her face. He didn’t intend to wait for her to nod. Haruhiro took Merry’s hand.

Yeah, of course. I have the resolve.

Haruhiro took Merry’s hand and started walking. First, they had to get away from the Blaze Cliff. He didn’t know what Sekaishu, or whatever it was, was, but they’d run away from that nonsensical monster. Then they’d head east.

If they went east, they should come to the sea.

If they could reach the sea, they’d manage somehow.

Bonus Short Stories

Scene #1

“Senpai! Hey, Senpai!”

When he heard the voice calling him, Haruhiro slowly lifted his face.

In one corner of the school courtyard, there were a number of benches, and Haruhiro always left class as soon as the lunch break started in order to seize one of them for himself. With one look to the student who had addressed him, who was far too tall considering he was in the year below Haruhiro, he gave an empty reply, and then looked back down.

“Oh...”

“What’re you doing?” The younger student sat down next to Haruhiro.

“Games, and stuff.” Haruhiro fiddled with his cell phone.

“Hmm.” The younger student looked at Haruhiro’s hands. “Is it fun, doing that?”

“Kinda,” Haruhiro said, pushing the younger boy away with his shoulder. “You’re too close, man, and kinda in the way.”

“Oh, sorry,” the younger student apologized and backed off.

Haruhiro played his game a bit longer, then shut it down. “D’ya want something?” he asked the younger boy.

“Nah, I just figured I’d find you here if I came,” the younger boy said with a little laugh.

“You came to see me, you mean?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, not that there’s any real reason to. I just was thinking, ‘Hey, maybe you’re here,’ and sort of came.”

“Oh, yeah?” Haruhiro replied, debating whether to start his game back up again, but he couldn’t quite get in the mood to. “Come to think of it,” he decided to ask the younger student, “you’ve got kind of a weird name, huh?”

“Sure do,” the younger boy replied. “It’s written KU-ZA-KU.” He drew the kanji 久座工 in the air with his finger. “This last name is super rare, I hear. I don’t think I’ve met anyone with it who wasn’t related to me.”

“Heyyyy, Parupirooo,” came a voice from up above.

When they looked up, Ranta was leaning out from a second floor window with a grin. Haruhiro averted his eyes without a word.

“What, ignoring me? Like you’re so special, Parupiron!” Ranta shouted.

“Ugh, he’s so noisy...” Haruhiro muttered, but it seemed Ranta’s devilishly good hearing picked up on that.

“Who’re you calling noisy?! Huh?!” Ranta hollered.

Haruhiro tried to ignore him, but crumpled paper and empty boxes of candy flew down from above. They didn’t hit Haruhiro, so he didn’t care, but, “Ow!”

The younger student next to him let out a cry. Looking over, it seemed a slipper had scored a hit on the younger student’s head. The younger student kicked the fallen shoe.

Looking up, he shouted at Ranta, “You ass! What kind of person throws a shoe, really?!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Ranta apologized, but still grinned like an idiot. He clearly didn’t feel bad in the least.

“Get down here, Ranta-kun.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“You scared?”

“I’m not scaaaared. Why should I be scaaaared of you?”

“Damn, the way you said that pisses me off!”

“Then be pissed off. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.”

“Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah? Are you a kid?! Who does that, really?!”

“I do!”

“Just ignore him,” Haruhiro said as he picked up Ranta’s slipper and threw it as far away as he could.

“Ahh! Haruhiro, you...! What’re you doing?!” Ranta protested, leaning even further out the window, only to almost fall. “Ohh! Oh, crap! I’m gonna—” Ranta cried in distress before Monzo pulled him from behind.

“Oh! Moguzo-san,” the younger student said. “You didn’t have to save that ass. We’d have been better off if he fell.”

“What’re you saying?” Ranta said as he brushed off Monzo’s arm in anger. “For a start, who ever said a younger student like you could call Monzo-san Moguzo, you idiot?!”

“Oops, sorry,” the younger student shrugged and scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay,” Monzo said with a smile. “Everyone calls me Moguzo, so I don’t mind.”

“Gwahahaha!” Ranta laughed like an idiot and spun one of his arms in a circle. “You’re such a softie, Moguzo. If you keep this up, people’re gonna take advantage of you.”

“Yeah, like you...” Haruhiro muttered as he sat back down on the bench. When he looked around, he saw Manato looking in their direction from another window. Their eyes met. Manato waved. Haruhiro waved back.

—And then the dream ended.

When he awoke, he’d forgotten the dream almost entirely, but some fragment of it remained within Haruhiro. Holding it tight, he knew he didn’t want to let it go. Even if he would soon forget that, too, he wanted it for now, at least.

Scene #2: In the Courtyard During Lunch Break

“What are you doing, Haruhiro?” Manato asked, looking at what he was holding.

“Huh? Ohh, just a game...” Haruhiro replied as he tapped his smartphone’s screen.

Manato was staring at Haruhiro’s screen. Hmm, he grunted thoughtfully, but said nothing.

Haruhiro tapped, tapped, and tapped some more.

Manato wondered, suddenly, Is that game fun?

“Looks fun,” Manato said with a smile. When he said that, he got the feeling he was right.

“Yeah, it kinda is, huh.”

“Maybe I should try some games, too.”

“There’re all sorts. It’d be a good way to kill time, I think.”

“Oh, yeah? I don’t play many games, so I don’t really know. Any games you’d recommend?”

“The one I’m doing now’s pretty fun, I guess. Uh, the title is—”

“Oh, wait. I don’t have my phone on me. Forgot to bring it.”

“You don’t? It’s such a pain when that happens, isn’t it?”

“You find ways to get by without it, though.”

“Oh, yeah? Is that how it goes?”

Looking down, Manato saw Haruhiro’s screen had gone black. It looked like it was set to go into sleep mode if he didn’t touch it for a set time.

“You don’t want to keep playing?” Manato asked.

Haruhiro thought for a moment then said, “Nah, I’m fine, I guess,” and put his phone in his pocket.

This bench in the school courtyard, which was in the shadows during lunch break, was Haruhiro’s special seat. Naturally, if someone else arrived before him, he couldn’t sit here. That was why Haruhiro went into the courtyard as soon as he could, in order to sit on this bench.

Manato looked up to the sky. “Nice weather,” he said.

“Sure is,” Haruhiro agreed.

“This is a nice spot, huh,” Manato added with another slight laugh.

“Yep.”

“It feels nice.”

“Nice and cool, even in summer, too.”

“Isn’t it cold in winter?”

“It is cold. I have to bundle up.”

“Even though you don’t have to go that far to be able to be here?”

“Nahh, I dunno. It’s a habit. Like, a custom of mine?”

“That’s so like you, Haruhiro.”

“Really?”

“You can be pretty particular about things.”

“Maybe it’s my personality,” Haruhiro said. “I’m fairly easygoing, but maybe I get particular about things that don’t even matter.”

“That’s funny.” Manato was smiling, like always.

I’m a boring guy, though, Haruhiro thought but didn’t say. He was sure he was a boring person, but Manato was free to feel otherwise.

“Hey, Manato,” he added.

“Hm?”

“You’re...” Haruhiro hesitated, scratching his head. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

“What?” Manato poked Haruhiro lightly in the shoulder. “It’s fine if you don’t want to say, though,” he added with a smile.

The two stayed silent for a little while. It was awkward.

“It might be kind of unusual,” Haruhiro mumbled.

“What might?”

“Oh, no, I dunno... Having a friend like you? For me, that might be kind of unusual, I think.”

“Is it really?”

“Not that I have a lot of friends to begin with.”

“It doesn’t really matter if you have a lot or a few, does it?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s what I think.”

That’s what I think, too, Haruhiro silently said to himself. The wind was nice, and the lunch break would soon end.

Scene #3: In the Classroom

“Hrmm...”

While Ranta was staring at his smartphone and groaning, Monzo asked him, “What’s up?”

Ranta ignored him. “Hmm...” He kept groaning. “Hmm... Hmmmmmm... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...”

He glanced to the side. Monzo was facing forward.

“Hey!” Ranta stood up and whacked Monzo lightly in the head. “Moguzo! Listen! Normally, you’d ask what’s up!”

Monzo held the spot where Ranta had hit him. “Y-Yeah...” he said weakly. “I did ask, you know? But you didn’t answer...”

“If you’re interested, ask two or three times! Ask, man!”

“I’m not that interested, though.”

“Huh?! Did you say something?!”

“No, um... Sorry. You were thinking, so I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Heyyyy. Hey. Hey. Heyyyy.”

“...Wh-What?”

“Moguzo!” Ranta threw his arm around Monzo’s shoulder forcefully. “We’re buds! No need to be considerate! Even if I was thinking, there’s no way I’d snap at you for talking to me, right?!”

“Huh? But you do snap at me sometimes...”

“Okay, sure, sometimes!”

“So you would...”

“I’m human! When I snap, I snap! When I don’t snap, I don’t snap! That’s how humans are! Because we’re human, right?!”

“...Human, right.”

“We’re human, aren’t we? Moguzo, don’t tell me you’re not human?! What are you, then?! A frilled lizard, or something?! I can’t see how you would be, though!”

“I’m not a frilled lizard...”

“What? You aren’t?! Say these things sooner! You had me shocked for a moment there!”

“...So, what were you doing? On your phone?”

“Hm? Ohhh, that? Ramen.”

Monzo’s eyes opened wide. “Rameeeeen?!”

“Y-Yeah... Wh-Why so excited, all of a sudden?”

“When I hear ‘ramen,’ how can I not be? I mean, it’s ramen! Ramen!”

“Did you say that twice because it was important...?”

“Of course! I mean, it’s ramen, right?! So, what’s this about ramen?!”

“Nah, I’ve been in a ramen mood since this morning, so I was thinking I’d go eat some after school. That’s why I was searching for ramen places on my phone...”

“If that’s all, then leave it to me!” Monzo brushed off Ranta’s arm and pulled a notebook out of his bag. “Here! Shio?! Shoyu?! Or miso?! You’re fine with seafood broths, too, right?! You love meat, so you’ll want to be particular about your chashu pork! That means...”

He flipped and flipped through the notebook. Each page packed tight with details. It looked like it was all info on ramen shops. Monzo opened to a certain page, showing it to Ranta.

“This is the ramen place I recommend for right now! Uchinachu Haiden-ken! The name sounds kind of Okinawan, but that doesn’t matter! This place is delicious! The asari clam broth is exquisite! The nori on top is raw, but that’s the best part! Their chashu is excellent, too!”

“O-Oh, yeah?”

“You want a thicker broth?! If so, then, uh, right, here! Ramen House Kanzen Jizai! It’s super rich, and their portions are great. It’s super hearty, and you’ll be so satisfied! But it’s rather heavy, so it’s tailored to a certain self-selected crowd, but, right, if you want something easier to eat...”

Class was about to start soon, but Monzo wasn’t about to stop.

Scene #4: The Little Guy

It had been one week since she’d gotten her first smartphone.

It was on top of the desk.

She reached out.

Pulled her hand back.

She averted her eyes. Looked outside the classroom. The sky was blue, with cotton candy like clouds shining in it.

She lowered her eyes to the desk. Came close to reaching for the phone. Resisted.

“Hey, hey!” a voice called out to her. Yume’s face popped into view from the side of the desk.

“Wh-What?” Merii asked.

Yume opened her eyes wide and tilted her head to the side. “Merii-chan, what’ve you been doin’?”

“...Nothing, really.”

“Really?”

“I haven’t really... done anything.”

“Hmm. Okay. But, y’know, you were lookin’ back and forth between the phone and the window a whole lot, weren’t you?”

“I was looking.”

“You were lookin’, huh. That phone, is it broken?”

“He’s not broken. If anything, he’s too boisterous...” Merii hung her head. “Yeah... He’s full of energy, the little guy... Full of energy? Is my way of saying that weird?”

“The phone?”

When Merii nodded, Yume puffed up one of her cheeks.

“Maybe you wouldn’t say a phone’s full of energy? If you say it’s full of energy, it’s like it’s a critter? No, like a living creature.”

“You’re right. But the little guy—I can’t get my mind off him.”

“Hmm.”

“For some reason, I can’t help but look at him. Even when I don’t have the time, it just happens.”

“Ohhh.”

“I look so much. I can’t use him well yet, but I end up taking pictures, checking the news, searching for things, and that’s about it.”

“You’re usin’ it real well, then.”

“...You think? I’m managing to use him well?”

“Yeah, sure. Yume, she can only use her phone to phone. See, Yume’s phone is one her mom used before her, one of those fold ones.”

“A flip phone?”

“Ohh! Yume learned it wrong, huh? So it’s a flippin’ phone!”

Flip, not flippin’, but whatever, thought Merii.

“I didn’t have a smartphone before, either, but they bought me one,” she said. “I wanted to learn how to use it, and I seem to have gotten hooked on it while trying out various things.”

“Oh, yeah? Fungh...”

“Yume...”

“Nyoo?”

“You shouldn’t bite the desk.”

“Unoo.”

Yume had apparently begun absentmindedly gnawing on the edge of the desk, She immediately pulled her mouth away from it.

“Meow! Yume’s got her slobber all over it. Even though it’s not her desk. Sorry, Merii. Yume’ll wipe it now.”

“...You shouldn’t wipe it with your sleeve.”

“It’s fine! These are Yume’s clothes.”

Merii produced a packet of tissue paper from her pocket and handed it to Yume. “Use this.”

“Nyoh! Thanks.”

While watching Yume wipe the desk with tissues, the smartphone at the corner of her eye caught her attention. Merii reached out, unable to resist, and touched the phone. She pressed the button. The lock screen appeared. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pressed the button again, turning off the screen.

She brought up the lock screen. When she inputted her password, the home screen came up. She immediately turned it off.

“Nyeehee!” Yume let out a weird laugh. “Merii-chan, you sure like that phone!”

“...Do I?”

Merii held the smartphone in both hands.

Yume might be right, she thought. I have to be careful with the little guy, so he doesn’t break.