Skeleton Knight in Another World Vol. 5

by Ennki Hakari

Ariane somehow managed to pick up on the perverse thoughts running through my mind. “Get your head out of the gutter, Arc.”

  “Whatever could you be talking about?”

  I was starting to think that Ariane had some kind of sixth sense for this sort of thing, but decided to keep my eyes facing straight ahead while avoiding her accusatory gaze.

  Past the town’s wall, Fernandes was surrounded by a vast swath of rich farmlands. However, here on the other side of the river, there were only small, mostly unkempt fields.

  Considering the stories we’d heard about all the monsters and other beasts that ran wild throughout the Singareeka Plains that lay ahead, I supposed it only made sense that they hadn’t had much success developing the land.

  I also remembered hearing that the humans ruled the lands beyond the plains, so the people of Fernandes probably put a great deal of emphasis on protecting the river.

  As we moved along the road, I watched as groups of farmers slowly split off toward their respective fields.

  After a short time, we found ourselves standing before a vast, endless plain that seemed to go on forever. There were scatterings of underbrush and stands of trees here and there. I wondered if this was where the monsters were lurking.

  It all kind of reminded me of a savannah.

  I mumbled to myself as I cast my gaze across the plain. “Hmm. I can’t really spot anything resembling the Black Forest the merchant mentioned.”

  As the merchant had been preparing the driftpus for us and explaining the route we should take through the plain, he’d mentioned several areas to avoid. The Black Forest was one of them.

  Apparently, it was a vast forest that ran along the southern border of the plains, cutting it in two. It was also known by other names, including the Magic Forest and the Death Forest. But by whatever name, it obviously wasn’t a place we wanted to be.

  Chiyome looked at me, her cat ears perked up at attention.

  “Well, the plains are pretty big, so as long as we don’t veer off to the south, maybe we won’t even run into it.”

  “You’re probably right. The biggest problem we’re going to face is trying to keep our bearings.”

  I glanced back at Fernandes. We were still pretty close to the town, so it was easy to use as a landmark. However, once we found ourselves in the vast, open plains with no roads to travel by, I worried we’d easily lose track of the correct direction.

  Somehow, I felt like I’d run into this same problem before.

  While I was dealing with this sudden sense of déjà vu, I felt Ariane’s fist jab into my side.

  “Leave the directions up to Chiyome and me. You just keep pointing straight and steering.”

  I shrunk a bit in the saddle and readjusted my grip on the reins.

  Much like with a horse, all I had to do was guide the driftpus, and it would easily adjust its speed whenever I prompted it to.

  Goemon didn’t seem to be having any problems, either.

  I could feel my body lean back slightly and the ride get a little rougher as the driftpus picked up speed. The scenery began flying past us.

  Sadly, I didn’t have a speedometer, but I figured we must be going around normal driving speed.

  While I was busy being impressed with the physical prowess of the animals here in this world, Ariane yelled into my ear. She sounded far more alarmed than I’d ever heard her.

  “Ahh! S-slow down Arc, you’re going way too fast! Eeeeeek!”

  She was practically screaming in my ear as she huddled tightly against my back.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw that she was hanging on to me for dear life, her eyes closed tightly. There were tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

  I pulled back a bit on the reins to slow the driftpus down.

  “It’s not like you to yell out, Ariane. Are you uncomfortable riding on animals?”

  “I’m just… I’m just not used to it is all! You remember where I live, don’t you?”

  Ariane shot me a glare, her breathing rough and her amethyst cheeks taking on a light shade of red.

  When I thought back to her village and its surroundings, it all made sense. In the Great Canada Forest, where she and the other elves lived, traveling by horse was probably unheard of.

  Even in the villages themselves, I didn’t recall seeing any mounts.

  It was probably fair to say that Ariane wasn’t used to the whole riding experience.

  “Could… Could you just hold back on the speed a bit until I’m more used to it?”

  Hearing Ariane plead like that brought out my teasing side. “Hmm, I dunno. It’s kinda funny hearing you cry like a little kid…”

  The red-faced elven woman delivered several hard blows to my back before I could finish getting the words out of my mouth. Fine, fine.

  I slowed the driftpus down a bit and began using Dimensional Step wherever I could to gain some more ground. Unfortunately, the technique wasn’t really all that useful while we were riding animals.

  Whenever we teleported, it took a few seconds for the driftpus to get their bearings. They’d stop and look around a bit before starting off again at a slow trot.

  If we were going to go through this stop-and-start routine every time we teleported, it seemed like a better idea to just let the driftpus keep speeding along. Besides, out here in such a wide-open plain, I’d be lucky to travel six, maybe seven kilometers at most with Dimensional Step, and that was only if I focused on the very edge of the horizon.

  All of this, of course, was based on the assumption that this world was of similar size to the Earth.

  The plains spread out around us, blank, endless, and generally featureless, in every direction. We continued our journey west as the sun slowly began falling, adding a deep scarlet hue to the sky and bathing the distant horizon in darkness.

  I held my hand up to try and shield my eyes from the setting sun.

  “I guess we should probably look for some place to set up camp.”

  “How about that tree over there?”

  Chiyome was pointing toward a tall, solitary tree in the middle of the plains. I steered the driftpus toward it, and we all settled down for a quick dinner.

  While I’d felt a degree of anxiety trying to camp among the trees in the darkened forest, being out here in the vast, open plains left me with a general sense of unease.

  There were no breaks, no boundaries, no obstructions. This was quite different from the places I’d been thus far, and it left me feeling more than a bit lonely.

  Ariane’s eyes also darted around uneasily, which made sense, considering how much of her life she’d spent surrounded by trees. Chiyome and Goemon, on the other hand, moved with practiced ease as they got the camp ready. They must have done this countless times.

  Ponta darted about the camp, looking at everything with great curiosity. Seeing its excitement brought an easy smile to Chiyome’s face. She must have been around fourteen or fifteen, but seeing her act so tough out here in the middle of the plains made me more than a little sad—a sadness, no doubt, brought about by the privileged life I’d led.

  If I were still human and left on my own to survive the night out here in these empty plains, I knew I’d never make it. It was thanks to being a skeleton, and the inhibited emotions this afforded me, that I’d been able to make it as far as I had.

  That being said, I still had no intention of staying this way forever.

  And that was how I spent my first night on the plains: my mind fruitlessly wandering while I watched Ponta get in Chiyome’s way as she diligently prepared our camp.

  ***

  The next morning started off as many did nowadays: with Ariane and I training.

  Unable to get ahold of anything like our usual wooden swords, we spent the morning armed with feeble branches and practiced our footwork instead. I had nowhere near the experience of Ariane and the others when it came to fighting, so I figured that learning how to move my body in combat would be of the greatest importa
nce. I trained and trained until it was nearly reflexive.

  With power and speed already on my side, all I needed was practice. I was slowly getting used to it under Ariane’s tutelage, but was still nowhere near Glenys’s level.

  After finishing our morning practice, we ate a quick breakfast before continuing our journey west. Right around sunset on the second day, I could make out a mountain range running up from the south. Some of the peaks were capped in snow, indicating they must be pretty high up.

  The mountain range didn’t entirely bisect the plains however. Turning my gaze to the north, I could see where they ended.

  “So, I guess this is the Khinray mountain range the merchant told us about. The Syla River should run from the base of the mountains off to the north, and on the other side of that will be the Kuwana Prairie.”

  “And that’s where we’ll meet the tiger clan.” Goemon finished my sentence for me as he gazed ahead at the mountain range. Behind him, Chiyome nodded.

  My mind ran wild as I thought about the tiger clan waiting for us on the other side of the mountains. I cast my gaze to the south, where I spotted the forest.

  There was something about it that seemed…odd. I shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted.

  “What…is that?”

  A gigantic tree poked up out of the forest, standing tall and proud.

  We were too far away to tell how tall it was, but it was obviously completely out of scale with the trees around it. At a glance, I thought it might be as tall as Tokyo Tower. It looked a lot like the Lord Crown, actually, though it didn’t have anywhere near the huge canopy that capped the Lord Crown, which gave it a rather lanky appearance.

  But that wasn’t what was so odd about it.

  This mammoth, Tokyo Tower-sized tree was slowly moving south.

  Every time the tree moved, little black specks flew out from the surrounding forest—probably birds, or some type of monster.

  Ariane’s stunned voice came out as a whisper. “Is that…a tridentinum?”

  “What’s a tridentinum?” I repeated the word.

  Chiyome was the first to respond, her eyes also fixed on the massive tree moving in the distance. “A tridentinum is a creature.”

  Ariane continued, “The humans consider them to be a type of monster, but in reality, there are several kinds of tridentinum. Some are inhabited by spirits, others consumed by death. Still others live by the power of rune stones. They’re known collectively as tridentinum. However, I’ve never seen one that big before.”

  She let out a surprised gasp as we watched the tridentinum slowly but surely make its journey south through the woods.

  “I wonder if those woods are connected to the Black Forest we heard about.”

  “Who knows? Best to avoid them either way. Tridentinum can be pretty ferocious.”

  I squinted and focused my gaze on the lumbering juggernaut.

  Ferocious or not, even being next to a thing that size could prove dangerous. One misstep and you’re done for.

  “You’re right. Better we stay out of the forests unless we absolutely have to go in.”

  Steering clear of any place that had such outrageous animals living within it seemed like a great idea to me.

  Chiyome turned her gaze away, ears still twitching. “Why don’t we look for a place on the bank of the Syla River, where it comes out of the northern side of the mountain range? We can set up camp there.”

  I glanced back at Ariane, who nodded in agreement.

  Well, it looked like we’d have to save the Kuwana Prairie for tomorrow.

  ***

  Early the next morning, we crossed over the Syla River and into the Kuwana Prairie.

  Under normal circumstances, crossing the wide river would be impossible, and you’d need to head upstream toward the Khinray mountain range. However, Dimensional Step took us to the opposite shore in the blink of an eye.

  Or two blinks, really. We had to go back for the second driftpus.

  The Kuwana Prairie, home of the tiger clan, looked a lot like the Singareeka plains we’d just left. After crossing the river, I could spot four gently sloping mountains ahead of us, seemingly placed at even intervals from south to north. Other than these, there was little else in the way of noteworthy landmarks.

  So far, the trip was going along splendidly. We continued west, the sloping mountains an ever-present sight to our right. I was glad we hadn’t run into any of the predatory creatures we’d heard so much about, though riding along day and night through vast, unending plains wasn’t quite the adventure I’d had in mind.

  Ariane was now used to the driftpus’s speed and spent the time quietly watching the scenery pass by, only piping up occasionally to complain about her butt being sore and wanting to take a break. Other than that, we didn’t talk much.

  It was Ponta, enjoying the breeze from atop my head, who notified us that our peaceful journey was about to end.

  “Kyii!” The cottontail fox let out a mew of alarm as if it had just spotted something.

  Ariane instantly responded. “Someone’s coming.”

  Off to the right, two shadows were moving across the plains toward us. Judging by the plumes of dust behind them, they were approaching at a high rate of speed.

  There was no way we could outrun them, even if we tried.

  I pulled back on the reins to slow the driftpus down while keeping an eye on the shadowy figures. Ariane was the first to identify them.

  “They’re riding the same mounts as we are. Do you think maybe they could be part of the tiger clan?”

  I brought the driftpus to a full stop.

  Lacking Ariane’s superb eyesight, I still couldn’t quite make out the figures, but I was excited about the opportunity to finally meet the tiger clan. I’d been searching for them everywhere.

  My excitement was quickly doused when I realized that the incoming figures were bearing down on us to attack. However, once they drew close, they slowed down a bit and took a more investigative posture. There was no doubt about it—they were members of the tiger clan, just as Ariane had said. Each of them rode their own driftpus and carried a spear. The weapons had decorations dangling from the ends of them.

  It was hard to get a feel for how tall they were while seated atop their mounts, but they seemed to be even taller than Goemon. I figured they had to be around 250 centimeters. They were about as buff, if not more so, than Goemon too. However, their bodies were covered with black and orange fur, giving the impression of large tigers. Much like Goemon, the two men were bare from the waist up and showing off their impeccable muscles. They wore similar gauntlets as him as well.

  Almost all of the cat people I’d seen were quite slender. These two tiger clan members, however, were both hulking masses of muscle. While most of the cat people had rounded ears poking out of their short, shoulder-length hair, these men had more of a beast-like appearance.

  They brought their respective driftpus to a stop about five meters in front of us.

  One of the men spoke in a loud, booming voice as he thrust his spear in my direction. “Where did you fiends get those mounts? Those saddles belong to the Ena, one of the six great clans of the prairie. Spare us your excuses! We’ll strike you down where you stand!”

  I glanced at Ariane, and Goemon glanced back at Chiyome.

  Apparently, the saddles we’d picked up marked which clan owned them. These men probably suspected us of stealing the driftpus.

  I raised my hands in a gesture of peace and tried to explain. “We come from the land of the elves in the Great Canada Forest, up on the northern continent. We’ve journeyed here into the prairie to meet with the tiger clan. A merchant in the town of Fernandes gave us these driftpus, and we’ve ridden them here to return them to you.”

  I decided to start there and see how they would respond.

  The two men looked slightly perplexed and leaned in to whisper among themselves.

  “We are soldiers of the ancient Whilee clan! What business d
o you have with us, fiends?” The man punctuated his words with another thrust of his spear in my direction. All eyes were on me.

  I figured I had nothing to hide. “I found this peculiar spice known as a red nail back at a stall in Fernandes. I came out here in the hopes of acquiring some from you. Would you be willing to discuss this with me?”

  The men looked back at me in disbelief.

  Trying to explain in such simple terms amid the tense standoff that my only reason for being here was a desire to buy chili peppers probably came off as little more than a poorly thought-up excuse.

  While the two were puzzling over how best to interpret my explanation, Goemon and Chiyome suddenly jerked their heads in another direction. They seemed to have picked up on something.

  “Hm?”

  “What’s that?”

  The members of the tiger clan also noticed something was amiss and turned to face the same direction. Off in the distance, I spotted a thin plume of dust rising up into the sky, and it was getting closer. This figure seemed to be traveling alone, however. Another member of the tiger clan perhaps?

  A look of concern washed over one of the men’s faces. He lifted his spear high into the air, as if to convey some sort of message.

  The newcomer pulled up nearby and breathlessly delivered a message. “Two giants have appeared near the camp! Round up everyone you can and head back at once!”

  “It can’t be!”

  “Dammit!”

  No sooner had the words left the man’s mouth than he immediately turned his mount around, tugged on the reins, and dashed off in another direction.

  The remaining two men quickly glanced over at us before also turning their mounts to face in yet a different direction.

  “You’re a fighter, aren’t you? If you want to meet the chieftain, then come with us!”

  The men didn’t even wait for a response before snapping the reins and taking off at high speed. I stared at their backs as they grew smaller.

  Ariane’s head popped out from behind me.

  “What should we do, Arc? It seems like they want us to help them out of a pretty tough situation.”

  I glanced over toward Goemon and Chiyome. They both nodded. The final call was up to me.