by Ao Jyumonji
He was injured, too. He had taken so many wounds.
In particular, the wound on his left arm was so deep that he couldn’t move it properly. The pain from his left arm was so bad that he couldn’t even tell where else he was injured. It was so serious that he didn’t even want to check what the wound looked like and how much he was bleeding.
His entire left arm felt like it was pounding. With each throb, he could feel the blood flowing out of it.
“Hahh... Hahh... Hahh...” Ranta suddenly noticed he was panting and gasping.
“I-I’m gonna cry... ★” He tried saying as cutely as he could, but it didn’t make him feel the least bit better.
A naked dance. I wanna see a naked dance. I want some super hot chick to dance naked in front of me. No, naked’s not good enough. I want her wearing something, at least. Maybe just her underwear.
Merry. —Hmm. Not quite. Merry’s too beautiful. My imagination can’t handle that. Guess it’s gotta be Shihoru. She’s busty, after all. That’s nice. I like ’em big. Yume’s not bad either, mind you. Big tits are nice and all, but there are other things that are important, too. Like her face. Yume’s more my type there. Yeah.
...Yeah, it’s no good.
It feels too realistic. Besides, we’re comrades. We’re always together. Or we were, at least. When I think of her like that, it’s kind of awkward.
Well, whatever. Guess it doesn’t matter anymore.
They’re not coming. Well, that’s a given. Of course they wouldn’t be. There’s no way they’d come. I’m not expecting anything, okay?
Ranta was going to have to get out of the mines by himself.
Could he do it?
Until a little while ago, he’d fully intended to do so. He’d been convinced he could. Or at the very least, he’d tried to convince himself he could.
Now, he thought it might be too difficult.
It hurt.
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.
He couldn’t use his left arm at all with it like this. If he ran around and moved his body vigorously, it would affect the wound. He’d end up moaning in pain. He couldn’t bear any more of that throbbing pain which made his brain shudder.
—I can’t go on. I can’t make it any further. Now way, no how.
Like hell I can’t! ...is what I’d like to shout and blow away my weakness. If I could do it, I would.
Why did things turn out like this?
Because I tried to act cool, huh. Telling Moguzo to go on ahead. I never should’ve done that. I wish I hadn’t. Why did I even do it? Because I wanted to try saying it once? I wanted to say that cool line that I’ve always admired? Was that seriously all there was to it?
No, that’s not it, right?
—I wanted their recognition.
If I did something self-sacrificing like that, I hoped they’d all think, “Ranta’s so awesome.” I think that was part of it.
I am me, others are others, and no matter what other people think of me, I’m totally fine—When I said that, it was a lie. If possible, I want people to think well of me. I want to be liked. To be seen as valuable. It’s not that I don’t know what I ought to do. That’s what I have to do, right? Act like I think a good person would. Think about everyone. Be considerate. If you do that, all you need is a handsome face and you’re set.
Ha. That’s Manato. I can’t be him. I’m not Manato. I can’t ever be like Manato. It’s too late, anyway. Way too late. Nobody thinks well of me. Nobody likes me. Nobody values me.
Though, I was pretty good there. With the “Moguzo, you go on ahead” bit. If they managed to get out, maybe they’ll think “Thank you, Ranta, it’s all because of you.” Ahh. Man, for that moment, I was so cool.
That’s enough, I guess.
After doing something good in the end—Having saved his comrades, Ranta dies in the Cyrene Mines.
“...Will you all remember me once in a while?” he mumbled.
The pigworms started oinking and vigorously licking his face.
“No, wait, guys, I didn’t mean you! You’re not the ones I meant!”
He had been feeling all sentimental, and now the pigworms had ruined it all. Well, maybe that was for the best.
If he was going to die, being crushed by pigworms wasn’t how he wanted to go out. He wanted a better death than that. He should fight hard and fall gloriously.
“...Yeah.”
Ranta pushed the pigworms off him and climbed over the fence.
Not long ago— how long, he honestly didn’t know—the place had been overrun with kobolds, but now it was desolate.
“Did they give up already...?”
Spineless mutts. Ranta grinned. —If it’s like this, maybe I can make it out of here?
He gave his longsword a test swing with his right hand. It made his left arm hurt a little, but it was nothing he didn’t think he could grit his teeth and bear.
“Well, I’d never die so easily, would I? Now that I think about it.”
As he walked along, humming to himself, suddenly a doubt crossed his mind. —Did those guys really abandon me?
They’re a bunch of losers, but they’re not bad folks, really. I’m sure they hate me and all, but I’m a comrade. Maybe they wouldn’t abandon me so quickly? Actually, even if they wanted to, maybe they’d feel it was too harsh and not be able to go through with it...?
Just maybe, Ranta’s comrades might be searching for him. There was a non-zero chance of it.
“Don’t do that...” Ranta sighed.
—You’re a bunch of losers, okay? Going and risking yourselves for my sake just doesn’t suit you. That’s something that a guy like, say, me would be doing.
If his comrades were searching for him, and any of them were to lose their lives because of it...
“That’s not funny.” A cold chill ran down his spine, and Ranta shuddered.
No. No matter what, I don’t want that. I don’t want to incur a huge debt like that. Stop it, please.
If his voice could reach his distant comrades, he wanted to tell them he was fine, and to get themselves out of the mines right away.
He wouldn’t go so far as to say they should return to Alterna. If possible, he hoped they’d wait outside for him.
“...Whoa.” Ranta leaned against the fence. For a moment his left arm throbbed, but this was nothing to him.
A kobold worker had come out from around a corner a little ways ahead. It hadn’t noticed him yet, but it was only a matter of time. He’d have to kill it.
The decision made, Ranta acted swiftly. He didn’t run, because it would affect his wound. He closed in on the worker with smoothly sliding steps. He got up to within two meters of it.
The worker turned to face him. In that moment, Ranta stepped in to close the gap.
“...!”
Anger.
No.
This wasn’t just Anger.
This was Anger Version 2, Silent Anger.
Ranta’s longsword brilliantly pierced the worker’s throat. The worker was flailing around, but with its throat taken out, it couldn’t make a sound.
Ranta gave his longsword a twist, kicking the worker away from him. He stomped on its head, grinding his boot in. The worker stopped moving in no time. Ranta crouched down.
—It hurts. My left arm. It hurrrrrts...
However, as he stayed still and tried to bear it, the pain lessened.
Ranta tore the talisman from the worker’s corpse, nodding to himself in approval.
“I’m gonna do this. One mutt at a time.”
16. Wish and Determination
There had been a visible—er, no, an audible—change now.
It had gotten quiet.
Haruhiro and the others were hiding out in an empty pen, one without pigrats or pigworms. It was some distance from where they thought Ranta was, but there had been a great clamor from that area until just recently.
Now, something had changed. There was almost no sound at all.
Wh
at did that indicate?
Had Ranta been caught, or had he escaped?
If he had gotten away, he might well have gone up to the third level. That thought suddenly occurred to Haruhiro, worrying him because he had never even considered the possibility before.
If I were smarter, all the possible outcomes would come to mind, and I would be able to quickly choose the one with the greatest chance of success. Or would I? Sadly, Haruhiro couldn’t imagine himself ever being that intelligent. He’d just have to make do with what he had.
“Let’s move. We’ll go look for Ranta. We’ll find him...” I think, probably, Haruhiro almost said, but he fell silent.
“It’s okay,” Merry said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Haru, you should handle things in the way that suits you best.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Yume agreed, and then, for reasons he didn’t quite understand, patted Haruhiro on the head. “Haru-kun, you’re Haru-kun because being Haru-kun makes you Haru-kun.”
I don’t get what you’re trying to say, or rather it seems so straightforward that it has no meaning whatsoever, but being patted on the head felt nice, if embarrassing, so, oh well, I guess it’s fine.
Moguzo stood up, punctuating it with a grunt as if to psych himself up.
Shihoru was taking deep breaths to calm herself.
The party moved into action.
First, they headed to the area where they thought Ranta maybe, potentially, was.
Like I thought, there aren’t many kobolds, Haruhiro thought. Or, actually, there are none. It’s quiet.
Too quiet.
As they walked through a gap between the pigrat and pigworm pens, Haruhiro suddenly got a bad feeling.
No matter what’s happened, it’s just not right for it to be so quiet. Has Ranta been caught by the kobolds?
Haruhiro had a strong urge to shout out Ranta’s name.
Not that I’m gonna do it. It’d be gross. Though I guess that’s not the problem, huh. It’d be a bad idea to raise my voice now.
From their expressions, each of his comrades seemed to have their own thought about this. They probably weren’t imagining a happy outcome.
“We don’t know yet,” Haruhiro said in a whisper, then reflected that his wording could have been a bit stronger.
If I were going to say anything, I ought to have said I was sure he was alive. It’s always half-measures with me. I’m glad my comrades encourage me to be myself, but I need to work on fixing my bad points. Am I even capable of that? Are people able to change so easily?
Awoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
“Just now—” Merry said, stopping in her tracks.
Yume looked around the area. “...Did they find us?”
“No,” Shihoru opened her eyes wide, shaking her head a little.
Moguzo drew his bastard sword and got into a fighting stance. “Ranta-kun.”
Where? To our left? I only heard the distinctive sound of kobolds howling once, but it came from that direction. Still, there weren’t that many of them—or I didn’t feel like there were. At the very least, it hasn’t turned into a major disturbance yet.
What do I do?
Haruhiro started running. “Let’s go!”
Is this okay? I may be putting everyone in danger. Am I sure I’m not making a mistake?
If it looks dangerous, we’ll just turn back. Yeah. We’re not in a critical situation just yet.
It frustrates me that I keep making excuses like this and dragging my feet. I want to be a decisive leader. Can I become one? If I can’t, I can’t, but I’d be fine with just looking like one. I want to pretend to be decisive. You know, that’s cooler in some ways. I’m sure it’d reassure everyone, too.
There.
I see kobolds running.
There’re three, maybe four. No, five. There’re five. One elder, and the rest look like workers. Not numbers we need to worry about.
The kobolds were chasing someone. Or rather, they already had someone surrounded. There was a single, armed human surrounded by kobolds.
That guy had a longsword in his right hand and was swinging it around. He was trying to shake off the kobolds pursuing him, but it wasn’t going well at all.
He leapt straight back, putting distance between him and the kobolds. Or tried at least, but they soon caught up to him.
“Ranta...!” Haruhiro shouted.
Hearing that, Ranta looked like he’d seen a ghost.
No, man, that ought to be my line, thought Haruhiro, but when he thought about it, Ranta hadn’t said anything. Not my line—My what, then? Guess it doesn’t matter. I don’t have time to think about it.
While Ranta was standing still after having stopped out of surprise, one of the workers sprung on him and pushed him down.
“Whoa...?!” Ranta cried.
“We’re coming to save you now!” Haruhiro shouted.
One of them’s got Ranta pinned. The other four are also targeting Ranta, and they’re not paying attention to us. We can pull this off.
“Everyone attack! All at once!” By the time he said that, Haruhiro could already see that hazy line of light. The line snaked from Haruhiro’s dagger to a worker, then to the elder’s back.
That’s one long line, thought Haruhiro.
Even without actively thinking about it, his body moved as if being controlled by someone else.
First, a quick thrust for the worker. Next, he stabbed his dagger into the elder. He didn’t know quite how to describe the response he felt when he struck a vital point. It was like a tightening in his chest.
Yeah, I got it, he would realize when it happened.
While Haruhiro was making short work of a worker and the elder, Moguzo was using his specialty, the Thanks Slash, to cut a worker down. Merry used her priest’s staff to strike another worker, and then Shihoru hit it with Shadow Beat. Once Yume used a chain combo of Brush Clearer and Diagonal Cross to chase it into a corner, Moguzo used Thanks Slash.
“God! Dammit!” Ranta was still being held down by a worker.
Haruhiro silently ran over to that worker, grappled it from behind, then slipped his dagger under its chin as he pulled it down. Spider.
“Healing!” Merry helped Ranta to sit up and immediately started healing him with light magic.
Ranta’s shoulders were heaving with heavy breaths. He glared sideways at Haruhiro. “...Don’t just call a guy’s name out of nowhere. I nearly died of shock, you dolt.”
Still, he’s in a terrible state, Haruhiro thought. Merry started by healing that one wound on his left arm that looked pretty deep, but his face is a real mess, too, so it’s hard to get too mad at him.
“Sorry,” Haruhiro apologized earnestly.
Ranta turned and looked away.
“Ohhh?” Yume circled around in front of the direction Ranta was now facing, then opened her eyes wide. “Ranta, are you cryin’?”
“I am not!”
“But your eyes’re all watery.”
“Yeah, because I hurt all over!”
“There’s no need to get all mad. We’re lucky, bein’ able to see each other alive again like this, you know.”
“I wanted to see you guys!” Ranta said, then hurriedly followed “—N-No! No, I didn’t! I didn’t want to see you at all! Not you losers! It’s just, when I thought I might never see your faces again, m-my chest, my chest...”
“What’s this about your chest? Did it feel like it was bein’ torn apart?”
“Sh-Shut up, Tiny Tits!”
“Don’t call them tiny!”
“I’ll call ’em what I want! I’ll call ’em that a million times! They’re tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny.”
“Hold on,” Merry grabbed Ranta by the jaw. “Shut up, and stay still. Or would you rather I not heal you?”
Merry was expressionless, her voice level. That lent her words an even greater im
pact.
“...N-No.” Ranta sat up straight. “...I’m sorry.”
“You got scolded,” Yume teased.
Ranta just scowled at her, not moving an inch. He must have been awfully scared of Merry.
“...Thank... goodness...” Shihoru said, slouching to the floor.
Moguzo let out a sigh of relief, saying, “Yeah.”
It suddenly occurred to Haruhiro, We’re starting to relax. It’s at times like this...
It’s at times like this when we most need to stay cautious. Our greatest enemy is mistakes brought on by letting our guards down.
Haruhiro took note of their surroundings.
See, they’re here. They’ve come.
A number of kobolds jumped out from one of the pens off in the distance.
There are two, no, three of them? If that’s all, then we can handle them, but there’s no guarantee it’ll stop at just three.
“Merry, how’s Ranta looking?” Haruhiro asked.
“I’m almost done with him,” she said.
“Let’s get out of here. Ranta, get up. You can run, right?”
“Damn straight I can! Who do think you’re talking to, you trash?” Ranta snapped.
Who’re you calling trash, and how about a word of thanks, man? Haruhiro thought.
If he had said he hadn’t thought that, it would have been a huge lie, but Ranta was Ranta because being Ranta made Ranta Ranta. With that Yume-like thought, he decided to just let it slide.
Awoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
As might be expected, one of the kobolds howled, but Haruhiro and the others were already running away. Still, they were back to being on the run again, so the situation was still dangerous. However, it was important not to overreact.
“Head to the third level! Sorry, Merry, I’m not confident I remember the way! You lead us to the nearest well!”
“Got it!”
“Ranta, you stay next to Moguzo! Bring up the rear!”
“Got it! It pisses me off follow orders from a loser like you, though!”
“Quit whinin’!” Yume snapped.
Yume had taken the words right out of Haruhiro’s mouth, so he was able to avoid getting too angry at Ranta.