by Ao Jyumonji
Haruhiro went to take up position behind and to the right—or started to, before he reconsidered.
“Haru!” Merry called.
He turned back.
Behind us, huh, he thought. There are more coming from behind. Cultists. Those ones are lance bearers, so they look like ordinary cultists. But it isn’t just one. There are two—no, three of them.
This is bad. Beyond bad. We could take four lance bearers, but the sword bearer’s here, and he’s dangerous. They’re trying to catch us in a pincer, so we can’t ditch Tada and Inui and run. Huh? Am I out of moves?
Though it was only for a moment, Haruhiro was ashamed to admit his thinking had almost frozen up.
“Ohm, rel, ect, el, krom, darsh!” Shihoru began to chant as she drew elemental sigils with the tip of her staff. A black mist-like shadow elemental erupted from her staff and didn’t so much fly as drift towards the new enemies.
It was Sleepy Shadow—only not. This was the upgraded version, Shadow Mist.
The black mist was entering the cultists’ garments as if it were being sucked in through their eyeholes, sleeves, and hems.
But, will it work? Haruhiro wondered. Shadow Mist, like Sleepy Shadow, induces an intense sleepiness in the target. In other words, it’s a sleep spell. But, when the enemy knows it’s coming, it’s not as effective. Unless they don’t know we’re here, or don’t think they’ll be hit by magic, it’s hard to put them to sleep. That’s why its use is limited. Like now, when we’re the ones being attacked, it’s the sort of spell that’s basically useless. Shihoru, of course, probably knows that. Actually, she should know it better than anyone.
And yet, Shihoru deliberately chose Shadow Mist. It’s not like Shihoru, but maybe she’s taking a big gamble.
The cultists stumbled, then dropped one after another.
“It’s because Shadow Echo was really effective...” Shihoru bowed her head for some reason. “I’m sorry! That’s why... I thought they might be weak against Darsh Magic!”
“No?! Y-You don’t need to apologize for that, do you?!” Haruhiro’s voice cracked a little. “That’s amazing, Shihoru! You’re a model mage! You really saved us there!”
“S-Stop it...” Shihoru shrunk into herself. “It was almost a total coincidence...”
“Heh...” Inui adjusted his eyepatch, without a care in the world. “She’s a good woman...”
She is, but, no—Seriously, could you not be so random? I want to protest. Haruhiro was feeling peeved.
It was questionable whether Haruhiro had any right to say something like, Keep your hands off our precious mage. I’d never let a ridiculous guy like you have her. I won’t accept it. He didn’t think that he did, but he still felt that way. But, of course, this wasn’t the time. He wanted to shut Inui down, but it would have to wait.
“Yume! Inui-san! Finish off the cultists before they can wake up!” Haruhiro called. “Tada-san, Kuzaku, Ranta, keep the sword bearer busy! Kikkawa, you okay?!”
“Y-Yeah, somehow!” Kikkawa called. “It hurts, but that’s all, I guess?!”
“Okay!” Haruhiro ran forward, attacking one of the cultists that was collapsed in the pile of them.
The minimum, he thought. I need to take them down in the minimum time possible. This has got to be the spot. It’s the only one.
The hole.
He jammed his dagger as hard as he could into the single eyehole. He twisted and pulled, then stabbed in again.
“Meow-ow!” Yume stabbed her machete into another cultist’s eyehole.
“Heh!” Inui did, too.
“Don’t—” Haruhiro straddled his cultist and stabbed him again. “—let your guards down! Until they stop moving—make sure they’re good and dead!”
Four times. Five times.
The cultist’s limp. Doesn’t look like he’ll be getting up again. He’s dead. I killed him.
“This thing.” Yume held up one of the spears the cultists had been holding. “Maybe, do you think it could be useful?”
Haruhiro put his dagger away, nodding, then picked up the spear from the cultist he had killed. Inui smirked, sheathing his sword and picking up a spear.
Kuzaku and the others are struggling even when it’s three against one, Haruhiro thought. Because of the sword bearer’s sword. It’s a nasty one to deal with. It’s hard for Shihoru to use her magic, too, because we’d be in trouble if she hit one of them.
Well, what about six against one, then?
Haruhiro and Yume, along with Inui, attacked the sword bearer with spears from behind Kuzaku and the others. When the sword bearer blocked the spears with his sword, zong, there was an incredible shock that made their brains tremble. But Kuzaku and the others were in front of them, and the spears were long, so there was no real fear of a counterattack.
Even as Haruhiro and the others slowly whittled him down, the sword bearer put up a good fight. It wasn’t just that he had a sword and shield in place of a spear. He was probably on a higher level than the ordinary cultists. His easy, fluid movements betrayed no openings, and the way he used his sword and shield was good, too. He was far better at it than Kuzaku, the paladin.
Though, that said, it was six-on-one. The party had a lot of leeway in what they could do, while the sword bearer couldn’t drop his guard for a second. Also, Haruhiro, as was his nature as a thief, was watching vigilantly for any opportunity.
That hazy, shining line is something anyone can see, he thought. To be blunt, it’s just a matter of probability. If they do the same thing one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand times, anyone would get better at it. They’d start to see paths that made them say, “If I do this, I’ll succeed.” In a given situation, with certain conditions, a path that they’re confident leads to success will naturally emerge. Could they see that path in a certain form—a line, for instance, once every hundred times, every thousand times, every ten thousand times? Either way, it’s a matter of probability.
The only way to raise the probability is to increase the number of trials. Even if the probability doesn’t rise, the more trials there are, the more successes there will be.
Visualize, and continue to take aim. Keep at it, with a sort of indifference, but tenaciously nonetheless.
When I’m taking aim, there’s something that looks like a chance every few seconds. I need to accurately judge which of those is a real chance.
Even if it’s not a special or unique skill, if I just keep doing this for a while, sometimes I’ll see that line.
—Look. There it is.
Next time I see it, I can’t hesitate. There’s no need to think. No need for fear. Just do it. Follow through.
Haruhiro grappled the sword bearer from behind, jabbing the dagger that he was holding with a backhand grip into the eyehole. He pulled it free, then immediately jumped away.
The sword bearer tried to turn around, but Ranta and Kuzaku, along with Tada, all whaled on him and knocked him to the ground.
“Oohohohoo!” Ranta whooped gleefully as he tried to go in for the kill.
“Out of the way, you monkey. Eat—” Tada pushed Ranta aside, winding back with his warhammer before smashing it into the sword bearer’s head. “—this!”
He crushed it.
Haruhiro quickly glanced in all directions. They’d taken out all of the cultists. For the moment, it didn’t look like any more reinforcements were coming.
Haruhiro must have had sleepy eyes right now. Like always.
That’s fine with me, he thought.
“Good work, guys,” he said. “Let’s move on quickly. Kikkawa, you can move, right?”
“I can... yeah?” Kikkawa was swinging his arm to test that it still worked, and he was on his feet, so, well, he was probably fine. “But can’t you be more... I dunno. Nah, that may just be how you are, Harucchi, but when we absolutely nail it like that, doesn’t it get you excited? Like, don’t you want to shout out ‘Hurrah!’?”
“Hurrah.”
“Man, that’s the
most emotionless yippee I’ve ever heard!” Kikkawa complained. “It’s, like, an ultra-rare hurrah, don’t you think?!”
“This is what he’s like. Boring! That’s what he is!” Ranta snatched that special sword out of the sword bearer’s hands. “Hyuk hyuk hyuk! I got me a sword! For the tingling paralysis you cause when you hit, I christen you Lightning Sword Dolphin! Yay! Yes! Yes! Yes!”
“Lightning Sword Dolphin, huh.” Tada pushed up his glasses with his index finger. “That’s pretty good.”
“I don’t think it’s good,” Shihoru muttered.
“What’s not to like?!” Ranta rounded on Shihoru.
“A dolphin’s an aquatic mammal, right?” Merry said looking at Ranta with contempt. “No matter how you look at it, it’s weird.”
“Huh?! Who decided dolphin has to mean an aquatic mammal?!” Ranta shouted “In my head, dolphin’s just categorized as a cool word, so Lightning Sword Dolphin is cool! Bam! How do you like that?!”
“Whatever,” Haruhiro said. “Let’s just go.”
“You need to give me more attention, Parupiroooo!”
“Nah, man. I’m boring. I can’t.”
“Fine, I take it back! You’re funny!” Ranta hollered. “Now give me attention! Give me attention, please!”
“You’re such a pain,” Haruhiro muttered. “‘Pay attention to me, pay attention to me’... what, are you in love with me or something, man?”
“Th-There’s no way I’d be in love with you, is there?! You moroooon!” Ranta screamed.
“Ahh.” Yume smirked. “Your face’s gone all red. That’s kiiiinda suspicious, y’know.”
“I’m not turning red! Hold on, my helmet’s visor is down! You can’t even see my face to tell!”
“Was just sayin’ it to get a reaction,” smirked Yume. “The way you’re protestin’, though, that’s suspicious, too, huh?”
“...Um.” Kuzaku raised his visor and gestured up ahead with his eyes. “Seriously, isn’t it time we move on?”
“Heh...” Inui offered his hand to Shihoru. “If you like, how about I escort you?”
“No.” Shihoru backed away, shaking her head. “I’m fine, thanks. Besides, you’re half-dead, anyway...”
Inui collapsed on the spot, and he didn’t try to get back up for a while.
11. Rondo of the Leopard, Whale, and Dolphin
Tada wasn’t complaining, and his expression hadn’t changed, but his breathing was ragged. He looked like he was having a hard time.
As for Inui, he was holding onto Shihoru’s staff as she used it to pull him along. He had initially asked her to lend him a shoulder, or to hold his hand, but when Shihoru had curtly refused, he’d begged her to at least let him have this much, and Shihoru had ultimately relented. Even if half of it was an act, Inui was probably suffering, too, somehow.
Kikkawa had apparently busted a few ribs. They seemed to be hurting him sometimes when he moved.
Haruhiro and the others were still wandering through the maze of rubble. They had tried to get back to where they entered, but that only got them more lost.
“If only Anna-san were here...” Kikkawa whined. “Anna-san does, like, make-mapping as a hobby, and because it’s useful. It really helps at times like this...”
“With those maps...?” Haruhiro couldn’t help but ask.
“You just need to know how to read them, man,” Kikkawa insisted. “If you know how to read them, you can figure them out. Sure, they’re, like, wrong sometimes, but that’s all part of the appeal.”
“Drop it, Kikkawa,” Tada said with a laugh. “We’re the only ones who need to understand Anna-san’s greatness.”
“Yeah, you said it,” Ranta snorted, clearly not caring. “You people can keep that stuff to yourselves...”
They were all exhausted. Mentally and physically.
Haruhiro stopped, then looked up at the roof. “...Oh.”
“Huh? What is it?” Kuzaku looked up at the ceiling, too.
“Hold on.” Haruhiro didn’t wait for a response from his comrades before he began scaling the wall of rubble to reach the roof.
He’d called it a roof, but it wasn’t like there was a single plate covering the whole thing. There were plenty of gaps. If one was big enough, it wouldn’t be impossible to slip through it.
There were lots of bumps and indentations, so the climbing wasn’t all that hard. However, it felt like it could come tumbling down easily, so he had to be careful of that.
Sliding his body into a gap, he climbed and climbed. Not looking down as he headed upwards.
He came out.
He was on top of the roof.
It was slanted, so it was a little hard to stand on. While staying crouched, Haruhiro looked around the area.
“We came in from—which way?” he murmured. “Whoa. I’m not sure...”
He had thought if he could get up top he’d be able to get a handle on their current position, then figure out what direction they should be going to get back, but... now that he had actually done it, all he’d found was himself standing in the middle of a mountain of rubble.
“No good, huh,” he muttered.
No, but I can’t let that get me down, Haruhiro told himself. It’s hardly the first thing that hasn’t worked out. Things normally don’t work out, and we’re always scraping the bottom of the barrel. We’ve fallen as far as we can fall. It’s only up from here.
“I was being so negative there, it actually ended up swinging back around to being positive...” Haruhiro murmured.
“Haruhiroooo...!” Ranta called out.
“Yeah, yeah...” Haruhiro sighed, then called down to him, “I’m coming back now!”
“You figure anything out?!”
“Yeah, that we’re totally lost...” Haruhiro muttered, then went to head back down.
Why had he stopped and decided against it? He wasn’t sure. It was just, something bothered him. But what was it...?
Haruhiro stood up. “Oh... Whoa...”
He stumbled a bit, which scared him. He wished he had something to lean on for support. When he looked, not far away, there was a spot that was like a slightly slanted, shallow cup.
In order to get there, he would have to leap over a gap that was easily over a meter wide. Haruhiro hesitated, but he went for it. Well, it wasn’t a hard jump by any means. He managed to make it to the cup safely.
What? What was bothering him? Had he heard something? Or, perhaps, seen something?
“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Haruhiro! You ass!” Ranta shouted again.
Haruhiro was about to yell Shut up! but then thought better of it.
“Ah!” he cried.
They weren’t close.
They were far away.
Practically specks off in the distance.
More than a hundred meters away.
He wasn’t sure what direction. He’d never been clear on which way was north, south, east, or west here. Anyway, from Haruhiro’s perspective, they were ahead of him and to the left. There was rubble piled up there, almost like a tower.
He saw them halfway up. Moving. He couldn’t tell what shape they were. But, while the rubble was mostly white, these specks were black.
One, two, three. There were three of them.
Three, Haruhiro told himself.
Tokimune, Anna-san, and Mimorin would make three.
Haruhiro formed his hands into a horn and was about to try calling out to them. He stopped himself just short of doing it.
Bad idea? It might be.
It was probably best to assume there were still more of the cultists and who-knew-what-else inside the maze of rubble. The cultists below might hear Haruhiro’s voice.
Haruhiro poked his head through a gap in the roof. “I may have spotted them. Tokimune-san and the others. I can’t make them out clearly, though.”
“Whaaaaat?!” Ranta screamed.
Now, what were they going to do? Going through the maze of rubble to reach the tower was going to be
a lot of work, what with it being a maze and all. On top of that, while the nimble Haruhiro might not have had much trouble getting up here, the heavily armored Kuzaku and Kikkawa would exhaust themselves doing it. Even if everyone managed to get up top, there was still the issue of whether or not they could make it all the way to the tower. There were no paths up here, and it wasn’t even level. Still, there was no reason not to try.
The girls came up first, then Inui, Tada, and Kuzaku, with Ranta coming up last. It took some doing, but they managed to get up.
It really did look like there were people in the tower. Yume, with her superb eyesight, said definitively that there were three people there. Distance-wise, it wasn’t just a hundred meters away, it was two hundred.
Haruhiro took point, advancing slowly as he searched for pieces of rubble that were viable footholds. Even if it was something of a roundabout route, he prioritized ease of passage while choosing his path. If his comrades couldn’t follow him, it would defeat the purpose.
Just to advance ten meters, it was taking five or ten minutes. Haruhiro was mostly fine, but his comrades were getting frustrated. He could understand why. Haruhiro had to focus on choosing a path, and he could focus on that, but the others were just following him. Whenever people had the leeway to do so, they would think about things they probably shouldn’t.
Haruhiro stretched out his right foot, testing the rubble. Will here work? No, it’s loose. He shifted his foot to the left, stepping on a different piece of rubble. This one seems fine.
“Ranta,” he said.
“Huh? What?”
“What happened to Betrayer?”
“I chucked it,” said Ranta. “Who needs that thing? Not me. ’Cause I’ve got Lightning Sword Dolphin now. If I kept it, it’d just be excess baggage.”
“What a waste,” Yume complained. Haruhiro couldn’t afford to look in Yume’s direction right now, but he was sure her cheeks were puffed up.
“Me, I think it’s lovely, y’know,” said Kikkawa. “The way Ranta does stuff like that. You’re the man, Ranta.”