by Ao Jyumonji
“Dammit! Fine, then!” Ranta leapt in, swinging his longsword down diagonally. “Hatred...!”
There was a bark and a clang as the low worker deflected Ranta’s longsword with its pickaxe.
Ranta took two, three, steps backwards and then exhaled. “You’re not half bad. For a mutt, that is. I don’t mind recognizing you. You’re my rival...!”
The low worker bared its fangs. “Grrrrr...!”
“Oh...” Shihoru whispered disinterestedly, “your rival, huh...”
“It’s a matter of feeling!” Ranta shouted angrily.
What kind of feeling? Haruhiro couldn’t help but wonder, but he kept his mouth shut. He felt it would be stupid to say any more.
“But! This next one will finish you!” Ranta jumped at the low worker. “Anger...!”
With a yelp, the low worker dodged the blow and struck back at Ranta.
Ranta ran away. It was Exhaust.
Avoid. Miss.
Hatred. Exhaust.
Anger. Exhaust.
Anger then Exhaust.
Hatred followed by Exhaust.
Anger. Exhaust.
Hatred. Exhaust.
Hatred. Exhaust.
Anger. Exhaust.
Exhaust.
Exhaust. Exhaust.
Exhaust, Exhaust, Exhaust.
“...Hahh, hahh, hahh, hahh.” Ranta was wheezing. Of course he was. After chaining that many skills that required a lot of moving around, there was no way he wouldn’t be tired.
“Shouldn’t someone help...?” Merry looked to Haruhiro and asked.
Ranta’s bloodshot eyes went wide. “I don’t need your help! This guy is my rival! My prey! I’ll take him down! Me! When I say I’ll do something, I do it! You all go have a nice time sipping tea or something!”
Why does he have to get so serious about it? Haruhiro didn’t understand it at all. He could probably spend five centuries pondering the question and still not understand. “We don’t even have any tea...”
“It was a metaphor, dammit! Hatred...!”
The low worker yelped in pain.
He finally scratched it.
The low worker was pulling back.
Ranta swung his longsword at it several times in rapid succession. “Take that, and that, and that, and that...!”
The low worker cried out with each blow.
Ranta wasn’t so much cutting it up as pummeling it. The low worker must have been totally exhausted. It couldn’t dodge. With one final blow to the head, it yelped and collapsed.
“Die...!” Ranta stabbed his longsword into the fallen low worker’s chest, giving it a hearty twist before pulling it out. “Whew...”
When he wiped his brow with an expression that seemed to say All in a day’s work, honestly, it was pretty off-putting. In many ways, Haruhiro couldn’t help but be repulsed.
Haruhiro shook his head lightly. I dunno...
What am I going to do, seriously? I know I can’t do anything now.
“...Well, should we collect the loot and move on?” Haruhiro asked.
“That’s all you have to say?! Can’t you come up with something?! Like, ‘Good work’ or ‘That was special, Ranta’ or ‘That was great, Ranta’ or ‘That was fantastic, Ranta-sama’?!”
“Yeah, no.”
“Trip!”
Ignoring Ranta as he did an exaggerated facefault, Haruhiro collected the talismans from the fallen low workers. Unlike lesser kobolds, the low workers had what looked like gemstones embedded in their earrings and nose rings. These look like they’ll fetch a high price.
Ranta had made things harder for himself for no good reason, but having taken down four low workers was an achievement. Haruhiro continued advancing towards the well.
To reach the well down to the third level, with everything involved, it had taken about 30 minutes.
After defeating three low workers that were coming up out of the well, they started to discuss the question of what they should do next.
“What do we do? We go down, of course?” Ranta asked.
In a flash, the other five came to an agreement.
“Let’s head back for today,” Haruhiro said. “We have to take the road back, and I’m starting to get the false impression that we’re used to this place when, really, we aren’t. We should go for a reset, clear our heads, and come back tomorrow.”
Of course, Ranta fiercely opposed the idea, but Haruhiro didn’t care.
—I mean, deciding what to do with you is the biggest problem.
5. Capacity
They returned to Alterna before sundown, selling the loot from five lesser kobolds and seven low workers to a buyer near the market. It only made them a little over 7 silver.
“Wow...” Yume looked at the seven silver coins and handful of brass ones with a sad look on her face. “This’s kinda iffy, y’know...”
“It’s more than just iffy...” Ranta’s cheek twitched a little. “This is pitiful, to put it bluntly. Seriously... Seriously...”
Moguzo laughed uncomfortably. “I... I had expected a little more, y’know...?”
“Yeah.” Shihoru hung her head. “...I thought it would be more profitable than hunting goblins...”
“W-Well—” Haruhiro tried to address his comrades, but he just couldn’t find the right words.
“Today was just normal kobolds,” Merry quickly chimed in with a calm, clear voice. “If we take on elders, I think that will pay more.”
Haruhiro quickly nodded, “Y-Yeah, she’s right. Yep. Well, you know how it was. We didn’t struggle that much, either, you know? We were a bit awkward at it at first, but we didn’t take any real wounds, so we had room to push ourselves more. We only put in a little effort, so that’s why we only earned a little, don’t you think?”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Ranta snorted derisively. “If it’s like this again tomorrow, Haruhiro, you’d better take responsibility for it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Take responsibility?”
“I’m telling you to give me your share, to show some sincerity,” Ranta said.
Haruhiro was astonished. “Why should I have to do that...?”
“Huh? Come on, you were the one who suggested we go to the Cyrene Mines.”
“You were in favor of it, too, remember?” Haruhiro reminded him.
“I only approved of the idea. I wasn’t the one who suggested it. For the past hundred million years, everyone’s known that the guy who suggests doing a thing is the one who’s the most responsible for whatever happens.”
“Fine, just say whatever you want...”
“Huh? I’m already saying whatever I want.”
Yeah, you sure are. Haruhiro could find no retort, and it depressed him. I know it’s nothing to be depressed about, but I can’t help it. Am I tired? If I am, it’s Ranta’s fault.
Even here, eating dinner at a cheap-but-still-pretty-good stall, every time he spoke to Ranta, it wore him down a little more.
When I don’t want to talk to him, he goes and bugs me about every little thing. That’s just the kinda guy Ranta is. Fine, then. If that’s how it’s gonna be, I’ll just ignore him entirely.
“Hey, Haruhiro,” Ranta said.
“...”
“Yo, Haruhiro.”
“...”
“Ahoy, Haruhiro.”
“...”
“Ahoy-hoy.”
“...”
“Why, you!” Ranta started doing a bizarre dance while still holding a half-eaten meat skewer. “Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy, ho-ho-hoy, ho-ho-hoy! Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy, ho-ho-hoy, ho-ho-hoy! Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy, ho-ho-hoy, ho-ho-hoy!”
Well, this is bad, Haruhiro thought.
Ranta kicked up his legs in turn, shaking his hips around, but for some reason, his upper body barely moved. It looked weird—really weird—to the point that it was actually funny.
Haruhiro turned and looked away. I’ll bet everyone’s doing their best not to look at Ranta. But... I can hear so
meone suppressing a chuckle. Not just one person. A few of them are about ready to start laughing.
“Pft!” Yume burst out laughing.
“Whoa-ho!” Ranta was thrilled. “Ho-ho-hoy!”
“Pft!” Shihoru couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Ranta jumped around. “Ho-ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy! Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hoy!”
“Gwahah!” Moguzo caved in.
Only Haruhiro and Merry remained. Haruhiro looked at Merry, who was looking downwards, her shoulders shaking. Ranta came up next to her, pressing the attack with his entirely too intense Ho-ho-hoy Dance.
Merry. It’s no good. You’re at your limit, Haruhiro thought.
Merry finally buried her head in her arms at the counter. Come hell or high water, she wasn’t going to let him make her laugh.
“Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy! Ho-ho-ho-hoy! Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy! Ho-ho-ho-hoy! Ho-ho-hoy, hoy-hoy! Ho-ho-ho-hoy!”
“...!”
Hang in there, Merry. You can get through this somehow.
—Wait, why do we have to fight a battle like this?
Suddenly, the impulse to laugh faded. Haruhiro slipped behind Ranta, kicking him in the back of the knee with the tip of his foot.
“Uwah?!” Having suddenly been kicked in the back of the knee, Ranta turned around and got up in Haruhiro’s face. “The hell’re you doing?! Haruhiro! I almost had her...!”
“Say it, don’t spray it. Man, you’re gross.”
Ranta deliberately sprayed Haruhiro with spit. “Peh! Peh! Peh! Peh!”
“Whoa! Hold on! Stop!”
“Who do you think’s gonna stop, moron? Peh, peh, peh, peh, peh, peh!”
Haruhiro wasn’t the only victim of Ranta’s spittle attack: the rest of their comrades and everyone’s food were hit, as well.
What a disaster.
What’s more, even though everyone else was upset and angry, Ranta seemed to be delighted with himself, which made it all the worse.
Thanks to that, their trip back to the lodging house was the worst ever.
That, even in this situation, Ranta could still feel that way showed there was something very wrong with him.
“—Okay!” Ranta declared. “Since the girls are taking the first bath, that means today’s gonna be the day I peep!”
Haruhiro rolled over in his bunk, turning his back on the infuriating Ranta. I don’t even want to respond.
“Huh? What, Haruhiro? You’re not coming? I’ll bet you’re worrying about silly things like what’ll happen if we get caught again. You moron. Moguzo, you’re coming, right?”
“...Huh? N-No, I’m not...”
“Why not? Come on. If you don’t come, I’m gonna be short a stool to stand on.”
“I’m not a stool...”
“But you can act like one! You, sir, can become an excellent stool!” Ranta declared.
“I don’t want to...”
“At this point, I don’t care what you think! Trust me, and go along with it for my convenience! I won’t let it end badly for you! Okay?!”
“I-I’m not going.”
Faced with an uncharacteristically strong rejection from Moguzo, Ranta seemed dispirited.
“...Fine, then! I see how it is. I’ll go by myself and make a brilliant success of this mission. If you regret not coming later, it’ll be too late. I’m not gonna care. You fine that?”
“I-I’m fine.”
“You’re reeeeeally fine with it?!”
“I-I said, I’m fine.”
“Well, I’m not fine with it! Moguzo! If you won’t be my footstool, this plan’s failed before it’s even begun! Come on! Get going! No matter what you say, I’m bringing you with me! ...Damn, you’re heavy! If I’m pulling you this hard and you don’t even budge, just how heavy are you? Are you a fatso?”
“...Yes, I’m fat, but...”
“He’s not fat,” Haruhiro interjected despite himself. “Moguzo’s not fat. His belly doesn’t stick out. He’s just big.”
“Oh-ho.” Ranta slapped Haruhiro’s bed. “Finally in the mood for it, huh, Haruhiro? You’re hopeless, you know that? Well, let’s get going then. Come on, get up already!”
How could he have possibly interpreted what Haruhiro said to mean that? Haruhiro had no clue. Can someone, please, just get rid of Ranta for me, already?
—I’m hardly even joking.
After that, he took a bath once the girls were done. When he returned to the dark room and was lying in his bed, Haruhiro kept thinking to himself. The question is, should I cut him loose, or shouldn’t I? In terms of my personal feelings, there are times I wish I didn’t have to see Ranta’s face anymore. If Ranta would just go away, I’d probably think it was good riddance.
Haruhiro was sure he wasn’t the only one who felt that way, either.
I don’t know about Moguzo and Merry, but Yume and Shihoru have a lot of bitter words for Ranta. I’m pretty sure neither of them are the type to say when they dislike or hate things. Despite that, they make a pretty blatant show of hating Ranta. That means Ranta’s got to be pretty bad.
Still, I can’t decide just based on that. After all, I’m the group’s leader... right? I need to consider the practical side of things, too.
Basically, how is Ranta as an asset in battle? How would it affect the way we fight if we lost him?
Haruhiro gave that some thought.
Right now, Ranta’s functioning as a second tank after Moguzo. He wears a chain shirt under his leather armor, and he has that bucket helmet, so... well... he’s a reasonable choice for the role.
Although it didn’t seem like dread knights usually faced the enemy in straight-up exchanges. They did their best to avoid locking blades and kept their distance. Then they would attack from outside the enemy’s reach, or attack while retreating from the enemy. They used their somewhat unorthodox skill set to toy with the enemies. Fundamentally, dread knights weren’t tanks, they were attackers. Considering Ranta’s personality, he might have been more suited to that, too.
Still, they couldn’t have Yume, with her light armor, be the second tank, and Haruhiro couldn’t do it either. Merry, as the priest, and Shihoru, as the mage, were out of the question. By process of elimination, that left only Ranta.
If we lose Ranta, the party would lose their second tank, Haruhiro concluded. We don’t have a replacement, so that would hurt.
In that case, we could try to find another volunteer soldier, or something. Unlike priests, who have no shortage of groups looking for them, if we looked, we could probably find someone—is the sense I get. If we go to Kikkawa, with all his connections, he could probably find someone for us.
After all, Merry joined the party through Kikkawa’s introduction. Things were a bit touchy at first, but Merry has gradually blended in with the rest of the group. He’s excessively outgoing, and acts buddy-buddy with everyone, but Kikkawa’s eye for people might not be that bad after all. At the very least, there have got to be plenty of warriors who are better than Ranta.
Maybe... It’s an option. It seems like it would be worth considering.
Haruhiro could hear Moguzo snoring away.
How about Ranta? Usually, he’s the fastest to fall asleep. But, even now that I’m listening for it, I don’t hear Ranta’s distinctive snores.
“Ranta,” Haruhiro called, and got a response.
“...Yeah?”
“Listen.”
“What?”
“There’s something I should talk to you about.”
“Hmph.”
“But not here... I don’t want to wake Moguzo. Can we go outside?”
“Fine with me.”
The two of them went outside the lodging house. Haruhiro wondered why it was that he had called Ranta out here.
Do we have something to talk about? I sure don’t want to talk to him. It’s just... I feel like I have to tell him. Regardless of what I end up doing, if I were to plan it all out without him knowing and then suddenly one day throw him out, saying, “We don’t ne
ed you anymore,” that would just be cruel. That would be taking it too far. Even if it would be Ranta who I was doing it to.
Or maybe it’s just that I don’t want to act underhanded. Of course I don’t want to. Of course not. If I’m just cutting Ranta loose, why should I have to plot in secret, like I’m getting my hands dirty somehow? It’s not funny.
“So, tell me,” Ranta said.
Haruhiro crouched down, leaning against the building, and Ranta did the same.
“Hm?” Ranta demanded.
“How do I put this...? What do you think about it? The party, I mean,” Haruhiro answered.
“The party’s a party, isn’t it? No more, no less.”
“What’s that mean? No more, no less?”
“Have you got a problem with me? I think I’m playing my role pretty well.”
“How...?”
“Well, I am, aren’t I? I mean, just today, I proved I can take on one of them all by myself.”
“Yeah, and if we’d all ganged up on it, it’d have been over in no time.”
“Can you guarantee you’ll always be able to do that? You can’t, can you? If I can handle one of them on my own, it gives us some, what, breadth? Tactically? Something like that.”
“...Even so...” Haruhiro held his forehead tightly in the palm of his hand. In his own way, is he thinking about things, too? But, you know... even if he is...
“I can’t tell when you’re doing that sort of thing,” Haruhiro explained. “Not unless you tell me.”
“What, do you want me to tell you every little thing I’m gonna do and what my intentions are beforehand or something?”
“I’m not saying you need to take it that far. I’m saying there are things I won’t understand unless you tell me. You’re already easy enough to... misunderstand, I guess you could say.”
“I’ll bet you don’t think it’s a misunderstanding at all.” Ranta picked up a pebble and threw it. “It doesn’t matter what I’m thinking. You’ve all come up with your own impressions of me, and you’ll all judge me based on that.”
“...Even if that’s true, our impressions of you are built based on the things you’ve said and done.”
“What, you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“Well, whose fault do you think it is?” The blood was rushing to Haruhiro’s head. “Is it mine? Yume’s? Is it Shihoru’s? Moguzo’s? Or Merry’s?”