by Mamare Touno
Minori’s words probably hadn’t convinced Marielle, but even so, at the end, she’d forgiven her: “Aw, for the love of—! You better be careful out there, or you’re gonna live to regret it, you hear?!” (At any rate, she thought that had been forgiveness.)
“I think we’ve wiped out the enemy around here. Maybe we should move.”
Isuzu had taken over Minori’s binoculars and was looking through them.
“To the northwest… Oh! That’s amazing—they’re traveling really quietly,” she continued to report, sounding impressed.
Nyanta’s impromptu party had Naotsugu and Lezarik as its vertical axis, with Shouryuu and Nyanta as the attackers. In other words, it was built around two Swashbucklers.
Swashbucklers were the type that earned damage through attack speed. With two of them, it had been possible to conduct successive attacks across a wide range, without the magical attacks’ glaring lights or explosions. In an extermination battle fought in the woods, they could display terrifying efficiency.
Okay, um… Move three kilometers north-northwest, then climb the ridge… They’re heading for the ruined shrine from before… Yeah, that’s it. In that case, we’ll avoid the forest road…
That had meant going down into the valley, but the route would take them sideways, over the opposite ridge.
“What do we do? Minori?”
As everyone’s eyes focused on her, Minori folded the map and stood up, nodding firmly.
“We’ll go down into the valley for a bit, moving from west to northwest. Stay on the alert as we travel.”
The party began to move, following the plan.
They received regular reports from Nyanta, which they then passed on to Marielle. Was Marielle speaking with Choushi’s People of the Earth, in turn? Had the other summer camp members already used Call of Home and returned to Akiba instead? No, they thought, a few must have stayed behind for Choushi’s sake…
As they walked along in the darkness, an indescribable unease and a sense that all their work was in vain threatened to surge into Minori’s heart.
It sounded as though what they were fighting now was only a portion of the huge goblin army. Minori didn’t know the details, but from what she’d overheard from Nyanta, the incident had begun with a huge outbreak of goblin tribes in the north, and they’d already closed in on the ruined city of Eastal.
In other words, the plunder unit they were fighting now was only a small part of the main goblin army. In fact, they could probably consider it an undisciplined group of irregulars.
When she began to think like that, futility welled up inside her.
Even if they beat back this plunder unit, it might be no more than a drop in the bucket. Wouldn’t they just be buying time? The doubt billowed up like a black cloud, and she couldn’t stop it.
“This’s scary stuff. Fighting at night.”
Touya, who was walking in front of her, spoke quietly.
“The silver streaks of light from my blade get in my eyes. Sure, I can see in the dark, but I’m still afraid I’m gonna trip on a root or in the mud and lose my balance. My heart pounds like a jackhammer, and the stink of blood is nasty—but.”
Touya didn’t turn around.
He was at the head of the line, and without breaking concentration, he pushed his way through gaps between the trees on a path that couldn’t even be called a deer track, steadily descending into the valley.
“But it’s okay if we do our best… It’s okay if we save them.”
Touya’s voice was like a light in the darkness.
Minori raised her eyes.
She looked at her little brother’s back. Somewhere in his heart, he really had been thinking, We have to protect them. We have to save them. In him, Minori could see a strength she didn’t possess. Touya’s will was simple and straightforward, and even if he wavered, he got there quickly enough to shake it off.
“Yes. That’s enough, isn’t it.”
Isuzu was the first to agree.
I knew it…
If Isuzu, who usually took things at her own speed, was agreeing like that, then Minori’s guess was right on the mark. Isuzu had been hesitant right up until they began fighting—she’d been worried about Rundelhaus. Which meant that they couldn’t lose this battle.
Rundelhaus was Minori’s friend, too, after all. In order to protect his pride and his secret, in order to save his friends, Minori and the others had to come here.
“What are you saying, Touya and Mademoiselle Isuzu? That’s only natural. As if anyone could abandon someone who’d collapsed in front of him and still call himself an Adventurer! I’ll do what I want to do, as I see fit. I became an Adventurer because I wanted to be someone spectacular.”
Rundelhaus continued, indignantly.
Touya answered him, vigorously.
Minori watched over all of them.
Damage Interception spells weren’t recovery spells.
On the contrary: The way Minori saw it, they weren’t even magic.
They were a vow that one would protect one’s companions to the end. The determination of a Kannagi. If Minori’s friends were standing on a battlefield, she’d shoulder all the danger that came their way, protecting them so thoroughly they’d never even realize the aggression had occurred.
I don’t have a lot of experience yet…and there isn’t much I can do, but…
Still, she thought.
Even so, she thought.
She didn’t plan to use woolly-headed words like someday. She would get that power. Tomorrow, even. Maybe today.
As a result, she didn’t have time to be afraid of the darkness in front of her.
“Look sharp.”
Isuzu’s hushed voice pulled Minori’s mind back to reality.
With narrowed eyes, Isuzu was looking at the end of the ridge. All that was there was vast, pitch-black forest without a single light in it, but the Bard’s keen senses seemed to have found something in that darkness.
Giving a small hand signal, she left the front of the line and began scouting.
“They’re magical beasts… I don’t know what type, but I can see goblins riding creatures that look like big dogs,” Isuzu reported in a small voice.
The wind that crossed the valley would probably keep their scent and voices from reaching the ridge. That was an advantage, but on the other hand, the enemy had the high ground, and that hurt.
“Three beasts and three goblins…” Minori murmured. “Dire Wolves. …They’re a powerful enemy.”
She’d acquired basic knowledge from Shiroe’s lessons. Dire Wolves were a larger, more dangerous variety of wolf. However, although they might be wolves, they weren’t a wild species. They were full-fledged monsters, driven mad by mana and the moon, and their combat abilities were twice those of normal wolves.
“Weak points?”
“They don’t have many. In this situation, we might be able to use…flashes and loud noises, I think, but that’s about all. And those will probably only work once, too.”
Minori answered Rundelhaus’s question briefly.
Still, the group didn’t hesitate. Even if they had, there was nowhere to run.
“Let’s go. Rudy, you be the attack’s main axis. We’ll win by protecting him. Minori, you cast Damage Interception on him, too. Isuzu, you follow Rudy’s lead.”
After Touya summed up everyone else’s views, the party made for the ridge, paying close attention to the direction of the wind.
The moon was high in the sky. The long night had only just begun.
4
That night, at the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice.
The preliminary talk, which had begun in the middle of the night, dragged on, swallowed by a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere. It had been announced as being for “anyone who wished to attend,” but nearly all the lords and counselors of the League of Free Cities were there, along with the three representatives—delegate and vice delegates—of the Round Table Council. That meant that it was
a “discussion” among the same members as the great conference.
Ordinarily, with that many participants, even if they were quiet, their slight movements and coughs would have given the place a somewhat restless atmosphere. However, today, no one made a sound. It was as if they were afraid of pulling some sort of trigger.
The topic of discussion was “The Recent State of Security in the Northern Yamato Archipelago.”
The conference had been convened by Baron Clendit, lord of the town of Utsurugi-Shinzen. That said, it was obvious to everyone that, rather than proposing the meeting himself, the baron had been swept away by the situation or caved under pressure and had had this important role thrust upon him.
As the one who had convened the meeting, the baron was presiding over it, but he was so flustered it was hard to look at him. As Shiroe watched, he kept incessantly fidgeting with his black whiskers and wiping away greasy sweat.
“You may well say that, but…”
“Hmm…”
“Haaah…”
The conference skated around and around the edge of the apparent topic, without making any progress.
“The army of goblins that sprang forth in the northeastern region of the Yamato Archipelago has departed from Seventh Fall…and…erm… Has, uh, laid waste to my territory… Yes.”
Even so, having been forced to the top by the rest and speaking in a cracked, shaking voice, Baron Clendit had mentioned the topic several dozen minutes ago, and hadn’t managed to develop it at all since.
It’s probably an attempt by the lords to get us to bring up the subject ourselves so they can extract information or concessions from us somehow. Either that, or they may be trying to leverage our responsibility for not having captured Seventh Fall, or our sense of guilt…
As he observed the many lords that were present, Shiroe speculated. The lords’ faces held all sorts of expressions: fear, resignation, anger, supplication…
They seemed far from relaxed. One whose attitude was fidgety and restless, and who sometimes turned resentful, hate-filled eyes on the Round Table Council members, was Marquis Kilivar, the lord of Tsukuba.
Tsukuba… That’s one of the places closest to the goblin army, along with Maihama. It’s practically on the front line. On top of that, compared to Maihama, the largest city in the east, its military strength is poor, and its wall can’t be that sturdy. …I hear it’s a town of magic-users, too, built around a school for philosophers. I’d imagine he has a few thoughts about us.
“Ah… Ahem, harrumph! And so, for these reasons… At present, this invasion of demihumans, this unparalleled disaster, iiiis, as an urgent situation, occurring here, in our Eastal, the League of Free Cities. With regard to this state of affairs…”
Baron Clendit’s verbose presentation began again, but this time, the murmur of whispered conversations didn’t stop. Both the lords and the civil servants who waited behind them were talking to nearby companions in hushed voices. Each individual voice was low enough to keep the words from being heard, but together, they made for an undeniably agitated atmosphere.
When he glanced to the side, Michitaka gave an exaggerated shrug.
If this kept up, the conference wouldn’t take shape.
However, even so, when they considered the future of the Round Table Council, giving in on their end would be conceding too much.
“Could someone who’s familiar with the movements of the Knights of Izumo be kind enough to inform me of them?”
With no way around it, Shiroe spoke. The conference room had been on the verge of growing noisy, but his words seemed to abruptly dash cold water on it. Some of the lords’ eyes went perfectly round, and they stared at Shiroe with their mouths half open.
What a reaction… What is this? Do the People of the Earth think we’re brainless monkeys? …Ahh, good grief. I suppose there’s no help for that. Up until a little while ago, we were underestimating them as NPCs, too. I guess this makes us even. That said… Apparently the Knights of Izumo really aren’t in a situation where they’re able to move. Not only that, but… Would simply not being able to move warrant a reaction like this? Is there a deeper reason?
“The— The Knights of Izumo are the guardian deities of Yamato. They mustn’t be summoned for a battle like this one. Never mind that, let me pose a question to the gentlemen of Akiba’s Round Table Council: Why have you not risen up in Yamato’s time of crisis? I am told that the knights under Sir Krusty’s command are incomparably powerful. Does the Round Table Council not intend to dispatch troops for this incident?”
“We thought the conference was being held in order to hear each of the lord’s opinions on that. Did you hold it to get Akiba’s opinion? The Round Table Council’s decision was to gather more information.”
Michitaka answered brusquely, scratching his head.
His attitude seemed to say that they were attending the meeting, after all, and they didn’t mind being asked for comments, but it was irritating to be used as a device to divert the discussion.
“I hear the knights of Akiba are invincible in both the east and the west,” added a skinny noble whose name they didn’t know, in what was nearly a yell.
“I’m not sure what sort of rumors you’ve heard, but neither the Round Table Council nor the town of Akiba has the sort of standing army or chivalric order you seem to be thinking of.”
Shiroe shrugged his shoulders in something approaching disgust.
He finally understood that, particularly for the People of the Earth, “chivalric orders” were the standard unit of military force for war in this world. Their knights weren’t elite soldiers who rode on horseback; they were professional soldiers. It didn’t seem to be too much of a stretch to consider that “chivalric order” meant “a specific military force that was always standing by for combat.”
In this world, where the Adventurers existed, you almost never heard the word mercenaries. In addition, militias made up of ordinary citizens who’d armed themselves were only seen defending farming villages. This was apparently due to the fact that the lords weren’t comfortable with the idea of armed farmers.
In other words, chivalric orders were the only type of military force the nobles could understand.
However, Shiroe didn’t feel that that meant the town of Akiba had to match their style.
“Then what the devil are the Adventurers for?!” Marquis Kilivar railed with bloodshot eyes, and Michitaka reacted:
“‘What are the Adventurers for?’ …What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That should be obvious. The Adventurers’ abilities are a divine favor, granted by the gods. You have a duty to save the land!”
“I don’t recall hearing anything about it.”
“Don’t be daft! Immortal, indestructible! With abilities like that, you still intend to neglect your duty to the world?! Shame, gentlemen! You’re blessed with such a wealth of abilities— How can you be so arrogant?!”
“—Don’t give me that crap!”
Michitaka’s bellow resounded, making the air shiver.
Before beginning this conference, as they talked with each other and discussed the intelligence that had been gathered since noon, they had examined the memory loss in detail. …That, along with the possibility of going to war.
Certainly, the idea of missing memories was terrifying. Losing memories of the old world would be as lonely as losing their birthplace and getting lost in this other world. Still, that said, it was clear that they couldn’t avoid living here.
To Shiroe and the other Adventurers, even death no longer meant “the end.” There was no telling how long it would last, but… For now, the only way open to them was to live a life without end.
Since that was the case, even if they managed to avoid sending soldiers to meet the Goblin army, they’d inevitably be pulled into a war they couldn’t avoid someday, somewhere. The Round Table Council had been unanimous on that point. If they had to fight somewhere, it would be fine to rise up in this
clash with the Goblin King, although of course they’d need to figure their odds of victory. They had decided that they were prepared for it, and had placed that authority in the hands of the three who were in charge of on-site negotiations.
However, letting themselves be unilaterally used would set a bad precedent. Shiroe had stressed that easily providing soldiers would scar not only the Round Table Council and Akiba, but, in the future, the League of Free Cities. There was nothing wrong with joining forces, but it would have to be done through the proper channels.
Then they’d gone over their roles for that night’s conference.
Shiroe would approve of sending soldiers from the Round Table Council, drawing out information as he did so.
Michitaka would oppose sending soldiers from the Round Table Council, extracting concessions.
Krusty would make the final decision.
In other words, when Michitaka had taken exception to Marquis Kilivar’s demand for troops, it had technically been in line with the scenario. However, Michitaka’s bellow had exuded more anger than the acting had planned on.
…I guess that’s only to be expected after hearing, “You’re immortal, so there’s no risk. Since there’s no risk, get to work…”
Now that the Adventurers were aware of the memory loss, language like that was enough to incur their wrath. It was no wonder Michitaka was angry.
Is it the arrogance of the weak regarding the strong…? No, that’s not funny at all. We may have gotten arrogant, too, while we weren’t paying attention…
“First off, we’re not lords in your League of Free Cities. We haven’t gone through that ceremony deal we need in order to participate yet. That’s why we weren’t called to the full conference yesterday. Am I right?”
Michitaka kept talking, fixing them with a hard glare from his intense eyes.
They knew from Akatsuki’s investigations that the lords had convened in secret the previous night.
The lords’ spies had kept her from learning what was being discussed, but from the way this meeting was progressing, it was self-evident.