by Funa
The Silver Fangs left the guildhall in a hurry, and soon enough the Crimson Vow were in their sights. They appeared to be standing around chatting about something—and the Silver Fangs, who had overheard their conversation in the guildhall earlier, decided against approaching them directly, instead choosing to follow at an appropriate distance.
“All right, time for our ‘Sahnik Spied’ move! Let’s go!”
“Okay!”
At Reina’s call, the other three crowed in reply, and all four switched into the high-speed mode that Mile had introduced to the group, the so-called “Sonic Speed.”
First, Reina, Mavis, and Pauline all dropped their swords and staves, along with the dummy packs that they carried, and placed them in front of Mile. Mile stored these away, along with her own sword and pack, and in exchange, produced a set of small flasks, handing one to each of them.
Indeed, with each of them carrying the minimum amount possible, they could move much faster. Even if they should suddenly be faced by robbers, it would not take Mile more than a second to retrieve everyone’s gear from storage and hand it over. Anyway, the staves actually had nothing to do with casting spells. As long as they were walking on a road with good visibility, there was no increase in danger.
“Now, onward to Golem Ridge! Crimson Vow, roll out!”
“Oh, they’re walking now. What were they just doin’?”
“Who knows? C’mon, let’s follow ’em!”
And so, the Silver Fangs began following the Crimson Vow, leaving a wide gap between them. Still, as soon as they started walking, the men noticed something peculiar.
“Th-they’re fast!”
“We can’t keep up with them at this rate!”
“Th-there’s no way a bunch of little girls can keep up this pace! They’ve probably just temporarily sped up for some reason. I’m sure they’ll slow down soon.”
The Silver Fangs were optimistic about this, but soon enough, one of them noticed something else.
“Say, is it just my imagination, or are they not carrying anything?”
Because the Fangs were traveling at a distance that would keep them from being discovered—or at least allow them plausible deniability if the girls did notice them, they could not clearly make out the details of the party. Yet now that he mentioned it, it did appear that they weren’t holding anything at all.
“I’m pretty sure they all had packs on when they left the guild, didn’t they?”
“Yeah… Plus, there’s no way anyone could just go up to Golem Ridge empty-handed.”
“………”
No matter how long they walked, the Crimson Vow’s pace did not appear to slacken.
Even if they were in the prime of their lives, there was no way that a group of men, burdened down with gear and weapons, food and water, medicine, camping materials, and so forth, could ever hope to keep up such a pace on foot. And yet that was the pace of these four speedy young girls, who wore nothing more than a single tiny flask at each of their waists…
The Silver Fangs. The silver breastplates that each of them wore were the party’s namesake.
This armor that they all wore was not only for the sake of granting them stronger protection, but also served as a proud mark of the party’s unity. At the moment, however, that proud mark was nothing but a burden.
That beautiful, gleaming silver armor was rather heavy.
Truthfully, this was the reason that most hunters wore only leather armor. Even knowing this, it was party policy for each of the Silver Fangs, from the frontline fighters to the backline mages, to wear their silver breastplates. This policy favored protection over ease of movement, and it was perhaps due to this that they had all lived to become B-ranks, so perhaps it was not such a bad choice after all. On the contrary, it was the optimal choice for this party.
Now, however, they were finally seeing the downside.
“This is hopeless. Sorry, you all go ahead. I’ll catch up with you when those girls stop to take a break…”
One of the mages dropped out.
Then the second mage dropped out.
“Sorry guys, just go on without me. When those girls make camp for the night, come back up to the main road and wait for us to catch up.”
Typically, mages did not have the stamina of frontline fighters to begin with. Unlike the mages of other parties, the mages of the Silver Fang were stalwart in battle, thanks to those silver breastplates; however, the burden of their armor became enormous when they tried to move fully laden.
“Damn it, they aren’t slowing down at all,” the leader grumbled, some time after the two mages had dropped out.
Just then, the Crimson Vow broke into a run.
“Wha?!?!”
The distance between the two groups widened in the blink of an eye.
“I can’t do it, I can’t keep up! This is it for me!”
“Idiot! If we go back with our tails between our legs like this, Felicia will… Well, you know! That! It’s that I’m talking about! There’s a reason she’s called ‘No-Hope Felicia’!”
“In that case, please, leader, you go after them! And once they’ve settled on a campground, please come back and let us know.”
“……”
It was then that the Silver Fangs finally understood what the swordswoman who seemed to be the leader of the Crimson Vow had said:
“You’d never be able to keep up with us…”
That was not just some empty boast meant to make a fool of the other hunters but an expression of an honest fact.
“Think we’ve lost ’em, Mile?”
“Huh?”
“The other party that was following us. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? If there wasn’t something like that, you wouldn’t have suddenly said, ‘Why don’t we jog for a bit?’—would you?”
“Ahaha!”
Reina’s guess was dead-on. Mile laughed and scratched her head.
“I’m tired. Can we go back to walking now?” wailed Pauline, who had the least stamina of all of them.
Mile figured it was probably fine now, so she allowed them to return to a normal pace.
***
“So this is the place…”
Thanks to the map that was provided to them by the guild staff and some directions from a helpful traveler they met along the way, the Crimson Vow arrived at the mountainous area known as Golem Ridge around sunset the next day.
For most normal hunters, the journey would have taken a bit longer, but if they did not arrive by sunset, then they would have had to make camp for yet another night and not arrived until the next morning. It was only a half day’s difference in time, but the difference between getting started on their job in the afternoon when they were already weary and getting started bright and early in the morning after a full night’s sleep was immense.
“Let’s take it easy tonight so we can be ready for tomorrow. First, let’s start getting dinner ready…”
“And then it’s story time!”
What exactly had Mile so excited for those folktales of hers this time?
***
The Wolf Boy
Once upon a time, there was a young wolf boy named Ken…
The Ant and the Grasshopper
Grasshopper: “Would you mind sharing some food with me? Even a little will help.”
Ant: “Uh, sorry Grasshopper, but this is all for me.”
Grasshopper: “Aw c’mon, Ant…”
The Little Matchgirl
“That’s it! If I’m going to freeze to death anyway, I might as well use this little match to set the whole town ablaze!”
“………”
As tonight’s Japanese folktales drew to a close, all four girls were overtaken by sleepiness.
***
The next morning, the Crimson Vow used magic to draw some hot water and had a simple breakfast. Mile packed away the tent, still erected, and they were ready to roll out several times faster than any normal hunting party would be. Their de
stination was the peaks of the mountains. Naturally so, as the other hunters’ reports of suspicious people had come from parties who were heading up toward the summit.
Even if they came up empty-handed, they could still go home with the same things that those other hunters were likely after—AKA rock lizards and herbs that grew only on the summits of rocky mountains, such as the elusive “rocky mountain summit grass.”
They could have at least put a little bit more thought into that name, Mile grumbled internally.
“About 30 meters ahead, in the two o’clock position! There’s one rock lizard, medium size!” Mile reported.
Reina was swift with the command.
“Let’s get it! Mavis, Mile, get ready for an ambush! Pauline, get your freezing magic ready and then hold!”
“Roger!”
After their first experience hunting that large rock lizard, they had since acquired many others, all stored away in Mile’s inventory. That way, even if they ended a job without catching one, they would not end up taking any demerits.
After dealing cleanly with the rock lizard, they continued to head for the summit. That was when Mile reported, “At the 12:30 position—huh…? R-rock golems! Three of them! That’s right, now that I think about it, based on our past encounters I should’ve expected there would be golems around, since wherever there are rock lizards…”
“Huh?”
The other three stared blankly at her.
Very timidly, Mavis asked, “M-Mile, do you have any idea what the name of this place is?”
“Huh? Of course I do…”
“Then say it!” Reina said with a scowl, rubbing her temples.
“Okay. I’m pretty sure it was Golem Ridge… Ah.”
The other three were struck by a terrible fatigue before the battle could even begin.
Ker-blam!
Wham!
Ka-smack!
It was over.
The three golems rolled onto the rock face, their legs obliterated. As they tried to drag themselves along with their arms, Mile and Mavis pierced the golems through the heads with their swords, and the creatures ceased to move.
“I knew it. If you destroy the parts of their heads that are in charge of their sight and hearing, they stop moving. But why? It doesn’t seem like that should count as a vital area for them.”
Mile stared at their lifeless bodies, her head cocked, but the other three appeared wholly uninterested.
“What are you doing? Let’s go already!”
“C-coming!”
The Crimson Vow proceeded toward the summit, slaying rock lizards and rock golems along the way, but soon Mile began to feel a sense of unease.
“Are we being watched?” she asked.
Reina nodded. Mavis and Pauline, whose senses were not so sharp, stared blankly.
“That’s strange. According to the guild’s information, the suspicious parties were split up into several groups, all keeping hidden and working in separate areas. As soon as the hunters encountered them, they ran away. They didn’t say anything about lookouts.”
“Maybe they’ve gotten farther along in whatever they’re doing, and the circumstances have changed?” Mile suggested.
“Why is it only at times like this that you show a bit of smarts?!” Reina shouted.
Mavis and Pauline nodded in agreement.
“Th-that’s rude! Even at the prep school, my marks on our class assignments were better than all of yours, weren’t they?!”
“That’s right, come to think of it.”
Mavis and Pauline looked as though they could not believe it. Seeing their expressions, Mile puffed out her cheeks.
“I’m the one who can’t believe you guys!”
Somehow, Pauline managed to calm Mile down, and they returned to their conversation.
“Well, nothing’s going to come of all this if we continue on this way. So, shall I do it?”
“Please do,” Reina confirmed.
Carefully Mile retrieved her slingshot from her inventory, moving in such a way that anyone watching might think that she was pulling it from her pocket. Of course, there was a mismatch between the size of her pocket and the size of the slingshot, but, well, one couldn’t think too hard about that.
She gripped a metal pellet, likewise drawn from her “pocket,” and fired a quick shot. These were not the pebbles that she normally used for this purpose but specially made metal slugs. Most pebbles were oblong, which meant that their firing accuracy was lower, and there was a chance that they might explode on impact, which could cause quite the disaster. The metal pellets would not miss their mark and were guaranteed to sink in or pierce through their target.
Fwip!
“Gaaaaah!!”
It hit.
Apparently, the metal slug had pierced its target.
Really, being pierced through was not such a bad thing—far better than the alternative of having something lodged in your body. If there was a metal pellet lodged in your flesh, you would have to dig deep to wrench it out again.
Naturally, she had not struck any vitals.
On the surface, it would seem as though the Crimson Vow had taken the preemptive strike, but in this world, if you were following someone at a close distance undercover, observing them, it was likely that you were planning a surprise attack, so you could not complain if you were attacked in return. Being struck by a surprise attack would put one at a huge disadvantage, so it was only natural that the Crimson Vow might counter with all they had the moment they caught wind of such a thing. Anyone who subscribed to daft philosophies like, “If you aren’t attacked, then there’s no need to counterattack,” or “No attacks until you can justify a legitimate self-defense,” would soon perish here. The ones who abandoned such foolishness lived on.
Therefore, it went without saying which of these two opinions was most prevalent in this world. Dead men could tell no tales, after all.
Anyway, what if their followers were only scouting without any intent of violence? Well, scouting undercover was malicious enough, so it was fine to knock out or capture them.
“Now to bring them in for questioning…”
“Don’t move a muscle!”
“Frame!”
“Wha…?! A magic barrier?!”
Hearing the sudden, commanding voice from behind, Reina immediately shot off a fire spell, but the suspicious person quickly countered, putting up a wall of magic in defense. Unlike ice javelins, which were made of tangible, materialized ice, fire spells could be deflected with magic.
The man, who appeared to be some sort of leader, had just managed to get the magical barrier up in time before shouting, “Wh-what’s the big idea?! Why would you just attack us like that?!”
The group of suspects was made up of four men, the same number as the Crimson Vow. All four of them were wearing hoods. At first glance, they appeared to be human, but two protrusions atop each of their heads made their hoods stand up at points.
Those are beast ears, aren’t they?! That’s way too conspicuous!
Among the beastmen they had encountered at the excavation site, the majority were far more fuzzy in appearance, but that did not mean that there could not be those among them who appeared mostly human. The Crimson Vow, who had just recently seen little Faleel at the inn, would not be so easily fooled.
Likely, the beastfolk had chosen from those of mixed blood for this cover operation, sending out those individuals whose human traits were more predominant so that the humans would not suspect their true nature.
“What are you talking about? Isn’t it obvious?! You were lurking at a close range, scouting us out, so that you could launch a surprise attack. Shouting, ‘Don’t move!’ is as good as saying, ‘We’re about to capture you!’ isn’t it? Who do you think would just stand there and obey? If you like, why don’t you come along with us to the capital and report to the authorities? We wouldn’t mind that all.”
“Er…”
The man who appeared to
be their leader was lost for words.
“Now, why don’t you go ahead and tell us why it was that you were planning to attack us? Be honest. If you don’t, you’ll be executed as bandits.”
“What?! Why would you call us bandits?! Humans are such cretins…”
“Shut up, you idiot!”
The leader frantically tried to stop his companion’s reply to Reina’s needling, but it was already too late. He had already as good as confessed that they were not humans. Though, honestly, the state of their hoods had given them away from the start.
“My,” said Mile, “I’ve heard an exchange just like this before. We’ve already encountered cohorts of yours investigating some ruins in another kingdom, so we know the whole story. Plus, your hoods are sticking up. We’ve found you out, and you must be hot under there. Why don’t you go ahead and take those off?”
“Y-you bastards! Just how much do you know?!”
The leader, already resigned to the fact that their cover had been blown from the get-go, lowered his hood. Seeing this, the other three lowered their hoods as well. With their ears covered, it was more difficult to hear, and of course, Mile thought, the continuous pressure on those ears had to be uncomfortable. But then…
What appeared from under their lowered hoods was a pair each of… horns. Horns. HORNS!
“Th-they’re cowmen!” Mile exclaimed unconsciously.
At this, the four men all screamed at once. “We’re demooooooooooooooons!!! We aren’t beastmeeeeeen!!!”
“Huh?”
“Huhh??”
“Huuuuuuuuuuhh???”
They had heard that demons and beastmen were on friendly terms, but apparently demons could not abide being mistaken for their allies. Interracial relations are such complicated things…
Bonus Story:
After the Rain
“Looks like the rain’s finally stopped,” said Mile.
“Thank goodness,” Reina replied.