by Ao Jyumonji
I’m in pain, so I’ve probably been hit or cut somewhere, but I’m not sure where it was. I don’t really have a good grasp of how I’m pushing these kobolds down or out of the way, either. It’s like I’m going by instinct? Something like that? Actually, am I even moving forward? I wonder. For now, there’s just one thing I’m completely sure of.
The kobold in front of him, probably an elder, lifted up its sword, taking a hard swing at Haruhiro’s head. For some reason, that scene seemed to freeze for Haruhiro.
He couldn’t hear a thing.
It was strangely silent.
Somewhere, in a place that seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time, a room of some sort, he saw himself sitting in a chair.
—What am I doing there?
In another place, he saw himself surrounded by people who seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar. He was smiling.
This time, I’m riding in some sort of vehicle. It looks like I’m going somewhere. There are other people besides me in the vehicle. Who are they? I know them... is what it feels like. But I don’t understand. Not who those people are.
I’m crouched down in front of some big box full of light. There’s someone standing next to me. A woman with her hair in a bob.
—Choco.
That’s what Haruhiro called the woman.
Choco.
Who...?
I don’t know. I don’t know any Choco. But—
I feel... like I do know her.
Who... is she?
Where did we meet?
Did we meet somewhere?
At that place I saw just now... where was that...?
Choco. Hey, Choco. Who are you? Do you know me? Where was I? When? At some point—When I was in that place, did I know you...?
I don’t know.
I can’t remember.
—No.
That’s not it. When I try to remember, the memory vanishes. Choco’s face. Choco’s appearance. But, Choco. That name is the one thing I remember. That one thing... didn’t vanish.
But, you know... it doesn’t mean anything. I’m going to die now, anyway.
You know, for some reason, the kobolds are moving really slowly, but they aren’t stopped like they were before. They’re moving. And yet, I can’t move. I can’t avoid them. I’m not wearing a helmet like Moguzo, so if that sword hits me in the head, I’m not gonna make it. I’ll die... I think.
Could this be, you know? My life flashing before my eyes?
In that case, I really am going to die.
Choco, it looks like I’m going to die.
I wish I could have met you.
I only know your name, but I wish I could have met you.
But, it looks like that’s not going to be possible.
I’ll try to fight it. To dodge. Somehow. I don’t feel the least bit confident that I can, though.
I mean, they’re suddenly getting faster.
The kobold’s sword was coming. It was coming down. Haruhiro raised his arm. He tried to block it somehow.
I don’t think I’ll make it.
“Anger...!”
I don’t think I made it.
If Ranta hadn’t leapt in and stabbed the kobold in the gullet, Haruhiro’s head would have been cracked open for sure.
“Take that! Ranta-sama’s coming through...!”
I’m amazed he can still move like that.
Ranta swung his longsword. He spun his body around, swinging the longsword with it. Then, he suddenly turned around. “Exhaust...!”
“Wha...?!” Haruhiro was caught by surprise.
It was a hip attack. Ranta used Exhaust to back up at high speed, not so much body-checking as butt-checking the kobold that was there and knocking it flying. “Wahahahaha! I’m awesome...!”
“Thanks...!” Without missing a beat, Moguzo took down one of the kobolds with a rage blow while Merry used Smash with her priest’s staff to knock over another kobold.
Yume went “Yah, yah, yah, yah...!” forcing a kobold back with her machete which Shihoru then struck with her staff.
“—There!” she shouted.
“Haruhiro!” Ranta deflected one kobold’s fire poker with his helmet, stabbing it through the belly with his longsword. “You’re weak, so be careful, you idiot! If you go and die on us, too—it’d be a problem!”
“...I know that!”
You’re the last person I wanted to hear that from.
Ranta.
You, you’re the one person I never want to hear that from—but I can’t blame you for saying it.
I’d totally given up. I was close to just accepting it. That’s not good enough. I’m the leader. Yes, I’m incompetent. Yes, I’m weak. But even if I’m weak, I can still choose not to give up. Calm down. Even if I calm down, it’s pointless. But even if it’s pointless, I have to do it. I can’t let myself be dispirited.
Are the kobolds my enemy here?
No.
The enemy is my weak self.
“Merry! How far to the well...?!” Haruhiro shouted.
“A little further!”
“Okay! Hang in there, everyone! Let’s stick closer to the walls! If you get into trouble, put your back to the wall! Being attacked from three sides is better than four! Ranta, you be the vanguard! Moguzo, move back! Yume and Merry, to the sides! Shihoru, don’t push yourself! Let’s move forward little by little!” Haruhiro shouted.
There isn’t a single one of us who’s unharmed. All of us are banged up all over. Still, we haven’t lost heart.
Haruhiro had come close to giving in once, but he was fine now.
When he looked closer, the circle of kobolds around them wasn’t that thick. It wasn’t as though there was a circle ten to twenty kobolds deep around Haruhiro and the others. There were a lot of them, yes, but they were poorly organized. They didn’t move in unison, and when the party fought back they would get scared and run away.
Maybe because the kobolds had the overwhelming numerical advantage, they weren’t taking it seriously. They weren’t playing around, of course, but rather than surrounding Haruhiro and the others with the intent to kill, it was more like they were jeering at them and chasing them around.
Of course, the party were as seriously serious as serious could get, so they didn’t hesitate to kill kobolds that got in their way. As for the kobolds, they didn’t want to die, so they’d run away. As a result, the encirclement was too soft, and Haruhiro and the others were still able to keep fleeing.
Scary is scary, but there’s no need to be more frightened than necessary. If we overestimate the threat and panic, we’ll lose the ability to do things we can actually manage.
“It’s the well...!” Haruhiro shouted. “Shihoru, you go up the ladder first! Next, Merry! The order after that will be Yume, myself, Ranta, and then Moguzo!”
First Ranta, then Merry, Yume, and Haruhiro cut open a path to the bottom of the well. This was a small well with only one rope ladder coming down. Shihoru put her hands and feet on the ladder. She got a bit muddled up, but rushing her would only have the opposite effect.
“It’s fine! You don’t have to rush!” As Haruhiro called up to Shihoru to say that, for an instant—he saw that shining line. There was a kobold that just happened to have its back to him. With smooth motions, Haruhiro planted his dagger into the kobold’s back.
Merry started up the ladder, and Yume was trying to follow her, as well.
“Go, Haruhiro!” Ranta pulled off his thoroughly dented bucket helm, throwing it at one of the kobolds. “Take that! Exhaust! Hatred...!”
Hip-checking the kobold behind him with Exhaust, Ranta leapt forward immediately with Hatred, slashing the kobold in front of him. It was a bold and skillful move.
“Ruohhhhhhhhhhhhngh...!”
Moguzo had intimidated the nearby kobolds with War Cry. Now was the time.
Haruhiro swiftly scurried up the rope ladder. I’m actually pretty good at this sort of thing.
“Next! Come on, Ranta...!” he called.
>
“—No! Moguzo, you go next!” Ranta said, slapping Moguzo in the back with his longsword. “Hurry up! Since you’re so slow...!”
“Ye-Yeah?!” Instead of having accepted Ranta’s reasoning, it seemed more like Moguzo was surprised and just did as he was told without thinking.
Moguzo started climbing up, so Haruhiro couldn’t stop now. He had to keep climbing.
“Wai—Ranta...! Hurry up...!”
“Sure!”
Haruhiro could hear his response. But there was no sign of him climbing up. Not Ranta.
Rather than Ranta, a kobold started climbing up the rope ladder.
“Damn! You!” Moguzo kicked it down, but another kobold came up after it.
“Climb up for now!” Haruhiro made it up to the fourth level and pulled Moguzo up—or tried, at least, but he was heavy. Too heavy.
“Ohhh...?!” Haruhiro grunted.
“We’ll help!” With Merry, Yume, and Shihoru lending a hand, they somehow hauled Moguzo up onto the fourth level.
That was great, but what about Ranta? There was no Ranta. Instead of Ranta, kobolds came up the ladder one after another.
“Ranta...!” Haruhiro called his name, but there was no response.
—No.
“You go on ahead...! I’ll catch up later...!” In between the howling of the kobolds, they heard Ranta’s voice faintly.
“What do you mean, later...?! Moguzo, get that kobold that’s coming up!” Haruhiro shouted.
“Hungh!” Moguzo stabbed his bastard sword at the kobold that was coming up the ladder. “Hungh, hungh, hungh...!”
With the lead kobold having its face messed up good, it fell down, taking a number of other kobolds with it. The kobolds were barking noisily at the bottom, but perhaps out of fear of the same thing happening again, they didn’t try to climb up.
“...The ladder!” said Shihoru, grabbing the rope ladder.
Hey, yeah. We can just pull up the ladder.
“Got it!” Haruhiro hurried over to Shihoru and started pulling up the ladder, but his hands stopped halfway. “...B-But.”
Yume put her hands on the rim of the well, looking down. “Ranta...!”
“It’s just for now...!” Shihoru said.
Haruhiro nodded, pulling up the ladder. That’s right. If the kobolds give up and go away, we can lower it again. The way things are now, Ranta can’t get near the well anyway, I’m sure.
Ranta. Did he run away? Did he get away all right? Honestly, I have a hard time thinking he did. Ranta may have the devil’s own luck, but this is just too much.
“That ass!” Haruhiro punched the ground. “Trying to act cool, telling us to go on ahead without him...! It’s not like you, man! You’re supposed to be lame! What gives...?!”
No one said anything.
The kobolds were making a lot of noise down below.
—Ahh.
What now? What am I supposed to do now?
Haruhiro and the rest were safe. They were bruised all over, but their wounds wouldn’t keep them from walking.
Ranta was the only exception.
If Ranta were here, too, they would leave the mines without a second thought. They would probably head straight for the outside.
If Ranta were here.
Probably, even without Ranta, they could still make it outside.
By leaving Ranta behind.
Do we go save him? Go down to level five through another well and search for Ranta? Of course, it would be risky. Besides, we don’t even know if Ranta’s still alive. He could be dead already. If Ranta’s dead, anything we do would be in vain.
—What am I thinking?
How can I think about Ranta being dead?
Still, the problem is, it’s a genuine possibility. With that many kobolds, and with him being surrounded all by himself, it’s hard to imagine he could have gotten away.
At the very least, Haruhiro knew he couldn’t have done it. He’d likely have given up at some point.
Then... how about Ranta?
He might not give up.
“Haru,” Merry called out to Haruhiro, snapping him back to his senses.
Oh, crap.
I was totally lost in thought.
“Huh? Wh-What?”
“Enemies!” she said.
“You’re kidding—” is what Haruhiro wanted to think, but it was true.
When he looked in the direction Merry pointed, there were kobolds running in their direction. Elders. With workers in tow, too.
“There are a whole bunch of them!” Yume said, sounding ready to cry.
“Wh-Wh-Whuh...” Moguzo was confused and flustered.
Shihoru shook her head back and forth, as if trying to reject the reality of the situation, then said “W-We... We have... to run away!”
Haruhiro’s mind went blank for a moment. But it was only for a moment. He didn’t have time to agonize over his decision.
Haruhiro stood up. “—Let’s run!”
11. That
—Man, am I awesome or what? Ranta thought. Actually, I’m clearly way too damn awesome. I’m a genius. Was I chosen by some god? If so, I’ve gotta wonder what that god was a god of. A god of darkness, like you’d expect? Was it Skullhell? Anyway, am I badass or what?
I mean, I’m still alive and all.
“Man...” Ranta said with a sigh.
Even the great Ranta-sama figured he might be in trouble this time. Just maybe, he might be done for. There sure wasn’t much to suggest he wasn’t. Maybe this was the end. Honestly, the thought had crossed his mind.
Nearly pissed myself back there. Didn’t actually do it, though. Well, I did come pretty close.
Maybe I pissed myself a little, just the littlest, tiniest bit.
Still, Ranta was alive.
That’s the important thing. The incredible thing.
Ranta had done something no one else could have.
I think I can boast about that. I want to praise myself silly.
Every sentient being in this world ought to have been singing Ranta’s praises.
“...Hey, you think so, too, right, Zodiac-kun?” Ranta asked, turning to the blackish purple demon floating beside his head.
Demons were minions of the dark god Skullhell that dread knights could summon with their dark magic spell, Demon Call.
Demons changed shape as the dread knight who summoned them accumulated vices, and Ranta’s Zodiac-kun was shaped like the headless torso of a human with two hole-like eyes in the chest area and a slit like a mouth beneath them.
“No, no... No... No, no... Not at all...” When Zodiac-kun talked, its mouth hissed and burbled as it moved. A demon’s voice sounded almost like a group of children all whispering at the same time. It was pretty creepy until he got used to it.
Actually, even now that he had gotten used to it, it was still creepy, and he got goosebumps every time he heard it.
“Still, it beats being alone...” Ranta murmured.
“Wimpy, wimpy... Wimpy, wooly caterpillar... Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy... Caterpillar, caterpillar... Caterpillar, caterpillar, caterpillar...”
“Hey, by the end, you were just repeating the word caterpillar...”
“Caterpillar, caterpillar, caterpillar... Ehehehehehehe... Caterpillar... Ehehehehehehe... Caterpillar, caterpillar, caterpillar...”
“That’s enough out of you!” When he swung his hand up to whack the demon for comedic effect, Zodiac-kun floated up to avoid Ranta’s hand.
“Ehehe... Ehehehehe... Ehehehehehe... Caterpillar, caterpillar... Ehehehehehehehe...”
“...Dammit. Friggin’ Zodiac-kun...” Ranta hugged his knees, pretending to sob.
Doing that just made him feel empty, so he stopped.
“Still, I’m impressed I made it up to the fourth level...” he said.
—That’s right.
Ranta wasn’t in the refinery on the fifth level. He was in the farm on the fourth.
Just how in the world had he cut his way out of that
bloody battle? He didn’t know himself how it happened, but after sending Moguzo on ahead, he’d just run around like crazy and eventually he’d ended up at another well. He did remember kicking down a number of kobolds as he’d climbed the rope ladder, though.
At least some of the kobolds from the fifth level had chased him up to the fourth, but luckily the gate on the fence around one of the enclosures they kept those critters in had been left open.
When Ranta had raced inside it, the pigrats inside had made a frenzied rush to the entrance. That had let him distract a good number of his pursuers. Still, while it hadn’t been enough to lose all of them, it had make him think, I can use this.
Ranta had gone from one pigrat or pigworm enclosure to the next, shaking off kobold pursuers little by little, and when he finally shook off the last of them—
Here I am. Inside a pigworm enclosure.
There are pigworms everywhere.
Ranta and Zodiac-kun were surrounded by pigworms.
“Still, though...” He tried poking the pigworm that was right next to him just a little bit.
No response.
As if it were the natural thing to do next, he tried slapping it with the palm of his hand.
Knew it. This pigworm won’t give me a response.
“Fine, be that way!” Ranta snapped. If that’s how you want it—
Ranta tried pinching the pigworm’s thick hide. When he did, the pigworm glared at him with black eyes half-buried behind its droopy eyelids, and it let out a cry of gufuu.
“...D-Did I make it... mad?” Ranta stammered.
“Gufuu. Gufuu.”
“Whoa! Hold it! Wai—Don’t nuzzle up to my face, that’s gross...!”
“Bufuu. Bufufuu. Gufuu.”
“You! Did you just lick...?! Wait, what’s with your tongue?! It’s too rough, it hurts!”
“Fuu. Gufuu. Fufuu. Fuu. Fuu.”
The pigworm rubbed up against Ranta. He tried to push it away, but it was no use. It was incredibly strong. He couldn’t get away.
Finally the pigworm wrapped its body around Ranta. If he squirmed, it would squeeze him, but when he stayed put, the pigworm calmed down.
“...Seriously? This guy’s just chilling out, isn’t he? Seriously...?”
“Caterpillar, caterpillar, caterpillar... Ehehehehehehe... Caterpillar, caterpillar... Ehehehehehehe... Caterpillar...”