The Leaders and the Led

by Ao Jyumonji

  Maraika’s customers were about nine-tenths or, actually, more often than not, 100% women. It wasn’t that men were unwelcome, it was just that the mostly-female clientele made it harder for men to approach.

  On the other hand, that made it easier for women to come in, and it was a relaxing environment for them. There weren’t many places like this, or rather, Shihoru didn’t know of any others, and the food was good, so when they were going out to eat with just the girls, Maraika’s was always their first option.

  It went without saying that women who ate out frequently—mostly volunteer soldiers or those in the service industry—tended to eat at Maraika’s, so it was always packed.

  Today they had avoided the busier hours, coming a little early, so there were open seats. Even so, Shihoru and Yume were forced into the corner of a large table, sitting next to one another. The food they ordered was brought out, and by the time they had half-finished eating, the restaurant was already packed.

  “So, how’s it goin’ for you, Shihoru?” Yume asked. “You learnin’?”

  “...Yeah,” Shihoru said hesitantly. “It took me four days to learn one spell... It’s really going to be hard to get used to... I think. I’ve only ever used Darsh magic before this, after all...”

  “Darsh magic, huh,” Yume said.

  “In magic, there’s what’s called mastery, you see...” Shihoru began.

  “Hmm? Mustardy?”

  “...Uh, no. Mas-ter-y.”

  “Ohh,” Yume said. “You meant mastery, huh. Mastery, right. What’s that?”

  “For a mage, their magical power is drawn from elementals,” Shihoru said. “They’re a sort of magical creature, just so you know, and there are four types...” Shihoru counted them on her fingers. “Arve, Kanon, Falz, and Darsh.”

  “Amp, and Maroon, and Fax, and Dash? Mm-hmm,” Yume said. “That’s hard to remember.”

  “...Anyway, there are four types of elementals. The knowledge about each of them... the techniques to properly control them... and the experience you gain from doing so, all of that goes into what we call mastery. Each type of elementals has its own quirks. There are some similarities, but other things are completely different...”

  “So, then, are there four masteries, or somethin’ like that?” Yume asked.

  “That’s right,” said Shihoru. “For instance... the mastery for Arve and Darsh are separate. For me... I’ve been using Darsh all this time, so I have some mastery built up. But it doesn’t carry over to other magics, so it’s like starting from scratch...”

  “Ohhh,” Yume said. “Sounds tough. Yume, she’s a hunter, so there’re only so many options for her. There’s her bow, her machete, and then, what, huntin’ skills? That’s all. Huh? Wow, that’s three whole things. But Yume, she’s not got any huntin’ skills, y’know.”

  “...Does keeping a wolf dog fall under hunting skills?” Shihoru asked.

  “Yep. But, y’know, Yume’s thinkin’ she may have to give up on it. Yume’s got the money, but if she wants to raise one, it has to be from when it’s a puppy. She’d want to take proper care of it, y’know? It’s possible to leave it with someone else, but Yume doesn’t really want to have to do that.”

  “In our current situation, it might be hard for you to give a puppy all the attention it needs...” Shihoru agreed.

  “Yeah, Yume was thinkin’ that, too. Even if Yume were able to raise it, she’d feel bad for the poor thing.”

  “It’s not easy taking care of an animal...”

  “That’s right,” Yume said. “It takes... determination, maybe? So, anyway, if you train a wolf dog well, it’ll never betray its master. It’ll defend its master to the death.”

  “...I wish I had someone like that,” said Shihoru.

  “Hoh? Shihoru, you’d rather have a pet person than a pet dog?”

  “Huh...? Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that...”

  Shihoru used her fork to push around what little food was left on her plate. Yume was kind of dense when it came to this stuff, or just completely uninterested, so sometimes she didn’t quite get what Shihoru was talking about.

  When she looked at Yume, Shihoru sometimes worried that she herself was abnormal. She couldn’t help but divide people of the other gender into two groups: those she could fall in love with, and those she couldn’t. Shihoru felt a little disgusted by that part of herself. She wished she could be more ignorant of it, like Yume.

  When I do decide I like a boy, it only brings me suffering, she thought sadly. I’m better off never falling in love.

  “Hey, you two,” someone said.

  Shihoru hadn’t expected anyone to call out to them, so she was really surprised. She turned to look towards the voice. She knew—no, that was a bit too strong of a word for it—she recognized the speaker’s face, or rather, the way she was dressed. She was a muscular woman with a white feathered stole wrapped around her neck and her hair tied back with a bandana that, naturally, was also decorated with white feathers.

  “The name’s Kikuno, but I guess you wouldn’t know that,” the woman said. “We’ve never really been introduced before. Still, I know about you two. We fought together at Deadhead, yeah?”

  “Ahh!” Yume pointed at Kikuno. “You’re one of those Wily Angels, aren’t you?”

  “...It’s the Wild Angels,” Kikuno said. “And don’t point at people. It’s rude.”

  “Yikes. S-Sorry. Yume’ll be more careful about that from here on.”

  “You do that,” said Kikuno. “I’m pretty forgiving, but a lot of people are more temperamental. Well, not that that matters. —Kajiko!”

  Kikuno turned around and started waving. Was she trying to call someone over? No, not just someone.

  “Whoa-ho!” Yume let out a weird cry.

  Shihoru’s entire body froze up, and she could only stare at the tall woman walking towards them with huge strides.

  “Sorry, would you mind giving us your seats?” Kikuno asked, chasing off three of the female customers who were sitting across from Shihoru and Yume.

  Kikuno and the tall, frightening beauty sat down in their now-vacant seats.

  The frightening beauty. Truly, Kajiko was frightening. Frighteningly beautiful, and just plain frightening. Just being seated across from her like this was intimidating. Honestly, Shihoru wanted to run away. But she couldn’t. If she took off running, she was sure she’d be cut down. Even Yume, always so carefree, was quiet as a mouse.

  “I’d say ‘long time no see,’ but it hasn’t actually been that long.” When Kajiko smiled, Shihoru felt like a cold blade was being pressed up against her heart. “I’m Kajiko, head of the Wild Angels. It’s Shihoru and Yume, right?”

  Shihoru nodded silently and mechanically, like a puppet.

  “...Huh?” Yume cocked her head to the side. “Why do you know Yume and Shihoru’s names?”

  “I look into any girl who catches my interest.” Kajiko off-handedly said something very frightening. “That warrior of yours, he had guts, for a man. My condolences for your loss.”

  Shihoru bit her lip. Why? It was strange. Though she hadn’t been sad about it like her comrades, and couldn’t even cry for him, now, when she heard Kajiko praising Moguzo, her heart was suddenly swept with emotions. Happiness, pride, and loneliness.

  At last, it finally hit her that she had lost a wonderful and irreplaceable comrade.

  “...Moguzo sure was strong, wasn’t he?” Yume mumbled, looking down.

  “I thought he was,” Kajiko said, looking off into the distance for a moment. “You’re still inexperienced. You’re practically rookies. You have a lot of room for growth. If that warrior had been allowed to keep growing steadily, he might have made a name for himself. At the very least, I’m sure he’d have grown enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that show-off who joined up at the same time as you.”

  “...With Renji-kun...” Shihoru ground her teeth. Kajiko probably wasn’t one for flattering others. She could tell that much. This
was the honest appraisal of the person running a major clan like the Wild Angels. She could trust it.

  Moguzo had been strong. He could have gotten stronger. Much stronger.

  “Well, it happens all the time,” Kajiko said with a shrug. “It’s not unusual for someone with budding talent to die before it can bloom. Actually, the more talent a person has, the more likely they are to die early. Those who are weak and timid don’t try to bear the brunt of things in a fight. That’s how they survive. I was the same way.”

  Kikuno looked at her and rolled her eyes. “...No you weren’t, Kajiko.”

  “Nah,” Kajiko said. “You girls have too high an opinion of me. True, I’m not average. I’m no match for Soma or Kemuri, but I doubt I’d lose to ‘Red Devil’ Ducky, ‘One-on-One’ Max, or Shinohara. But it’s not like it was always that way. I was pretty pitiful back when I first got my start as a volunteer soldier. It was just that, thanks to my looks, there was no shortage of stupid men who would try to protect me. I used them to survive. Honestly, it makes me sick to my stomach. But the facts are the facts. I used those stupid, vulgar, scummy men as stepping stones to get stronger, little by little. Of course, I’m not going to claim I didn’t have raw potential. I must have. It’s just, everyone has that. At something. What’s important is not dying. You need to live, no matter what it takes, feed on anything you can, and build your own abilities. Shihoru. Yume.”

  “...Y-Yes?” Shihoru stuttered.

  “Meow?” Yume asked.

  “You’ve lost that warrior,” Kajiko said. “He must have been the central pillar of your party. Even at a moderate estimate, your party’s lost at least half of its strength. You can’t survive like this.”

  Shihoru tried to gulp, but her mouth was dry, without so much as a drop of spit for her to swallow. When she turned to look at Yume next to her, Yume’s eyes were open wide and her lips were pursed.

  “You two have a lot going for you,” Kajiko said, softening her expression a little. “Zoran Zesh was a powerful enemy. The orcs are a powerful race, but, to be frank, not many individual orcs get that strong. About the only people who could have taken him one-on-one were Soma and Kemuri, I’d say. Looking at your history before that, it wouldn’t have been surprising if you had all died. And yet, you’re still here. That’s impressive. However, unfortunately, your party is finished. You can’t fight without that warrior. It won’t take long before another of you dies. Once one of you dies, it’ll be a second, then a third. That’s usually how these things go. If that warrior had survived, your party would’ve been one to watch, I’m sure. Considering the other well-known party that joined up at the same time as you, people might have started talking about you all as a golden generation. But that possibility is gone now. If you cling to that party forever, Shihoru, Yume, the only thing waiting for you will be a miserable death.”

  “...You’re saying... we should drop out... then?” Shihoru asked, her voice trembling, to which Kajiko immediately responded, “I am,” with a nod.

  “Join the Wild Angels,” Kajiko continued. “I won’t insist you decide right this second, but you’re welcome to. I have a party that could take in a mage and a hunter as soon as tomorrow.”

  “We’re an all-female clan,” Kikuno added with a strangely friendly smile. “There’s not one filthy guy allowed. Nobody will use you. We’ve banded together to improve ourselves, to survive, and to enjoy life. Men are banned, but not having them around has never caused us any problems. Actually, you know what? We’re better off without any stupid men around. No matter how hard they try to keep up appearances, when it comes down to it, they’re all the same. They only see us as an outlet for their filthy lust.”

  “Kikuno, you’re getting a little too fired up,” Kajiko said.

  “Ah, sorry, Kajiko. I got carried away...”

  “It’s true that men are banned, but that’s only from joining the clan,” Kajiko said. “What you do on your own time is none of my business. However, if anyone hurts one of my comrades, I’ll never forgive them. They can run and hide, but I will find them and make them pay. It would take a real idiot to not realize that, so nobody makes a move on one of our girls half-heartedly. If there’s a man who’s still willing to approach you despite that, you can be sure he’s serious. I won’t beat a man like that half to death, so you don’t have to worry.”

  “I dunno...” Kikuno said.

  “If you’ve got something to say, Kikuno, look me in the eye and say it,” Kajiko said sharply.

  “N-Never mind.”

  Death, Shihoru thought. A miserable death. At this rate, we’re going to die.

  Shihoru looked down and closed her eyes. —Manato-kun. Moguzo-kun.

  She remembered the looks on their faces as they’d died. Were Shihoru and the others going to end up like that...? No, not necessarily. Kajiko was inviting them to join the Wild Angels. Was she exaggerating the situation in order to get them to? That had to be it.

  But, the fact was, the party’s strength had been cut in half. Even if Shihoru learned new magic and Yume picked up new skills, they couldn’t fill in the hole left by Moguzo. Without Moguzo, would they be able to make it through difficult battles like the one at Deadhead Watching Keep?

  Shihoru was always at the rear of the party, watching over them. She could answer that question with certainty. They could not. When she imagined not seeing Moguzo’s large back in front of her, the scene looked so hopelessly empty.

  As a mage, she didn’t wear anything fit to be called armor, so she felt naked standing on a battlefield without Moguzo. She felt uncertain, frightened, and wanted to run away. Everyone knew their situation was hopeless, and they were desperately trying to do something about it. They were trying to walk a thorny path.

  If they joined the Wild Angels, Shihoru and Yume wouldn’t have to walk that path anymore.

  Shihoru opened her eyes, looking to see Yume’s expression.

  Yume would probably decline right here. “Sorry, it’s kind of you to invite us, though,” she’d say. When she did, Shihoru would probably come to the same conclusion. That was what she thought. However, Yume...

  Yume furrowed her brow and stuck her lips out like an octopus.

  She was thinking. She didn’t seem to know what to do. Even Yume was at a loss for what to do.

  “Um...” Shihoru bowed her head. She didn’t even know who it was she was trying to be apologetic to. “...Give us some time to think about it.”

  10. Those Who Remain and Those Who Are Left Behind

  “Oh, man...” Haruhiro groaned, rolling over in bed. Just changing his position was enough to cause unbearable pain all over his body. “I’m gonna die...”

  After mumbling those words, No, no, no! he rejected them. I shouldn’t use that expression so lightly. But, still, it really hurts.

  “...You’re a real ogre, Barbara-sensei,” he moaned. “Not that I didn’t already know that...”

  There was a skill called Assault. It was one of the thief fighting skills. The name made it sound strong, but as for the kind of skill it was, well, it was a desperate attack.

  You accepted being hit by any counterattack in return for landing a combo on the enemy. You didn’t even consider defense or evasion. You just attacked, attacked, and attacked some more.

  It wasn’t just a matter of swinging wildly, though. You used weapons efficiently, creating as little of a gap between attacks as possible. Instead of taking defensive or evasive actions, you reduced the risk of a counterattack by keeping up a relentless assault.

  If there was a counterattack, there was nothing left that you could do. You’d have to graciously accept death. You had to kill before being killed. It was a manly skill.

  Haruhiro was resting his exhausted and hurt body in the top bunk of his bed back in a dimly lit room at the volunteer soldier lodging house. The new equipment he had bought, a new, good quality dagger and a bludgeoning weapon called a sap, were lying at his side.

  The sap was a short c
lub made of a flexible material, about 30 centimeters long, with the end of it being heavier. The whole thing was wrapped in leather cord, the end of which would wrap around the user’s hand.

  Haruhiro had prepared the new dagger and sap to use while learning Assault. In other words, to power himself up, Haruhiro had chosen to learn Assault and adopt a dual wielding style.

  Haruhiro was, of course, not ambidextrous. He was right-handed. It wasn’t simple to use a weapon in his left hand. When you factored in that he would be using a weapon in both hands, it became even more difficult.

  Barbara-sensei had told him to just get used to it. It should be natural for you to hold your weapons the entire time you’re awake, and I want you holding them while you’re asleep, too, she had said.

  Haruhiro held his dagger and sap. Holding his weapons around the clock was too much, but he tried to touch them like this whenever he had time.

  The six days he had spent learning Assault had been as punishing as they always were. For the first two days, he had just spent a lot of time experiencing Barbara-sensei’s Assault first hand. For the two days after that, he had practiced the patterns for Assault basically without sleep or rest. For the last two days, he had sparred with Barbara-sensei—ultimately, Haruhiro had never successfully hit Barbara-sensei with Assault, but she’d hit him with her wooden swords more times than he could count. He had fainted several times and had to be healed by a priest that Barbara-sensei called in.

  So, technically, I’m unharmed, Haruhiro thought. Or, rather, I’ve healed. My body still hurts all over, though. That, and it feels heavy. This goes way beyond just feeling sluggish.

  “Ranta’s not back...” he murmured.

  Shihoru and Yume aren’t at the lodging house, either. They had both left to learn new magic and skills. Is that what Ranta’s doing, too?

  Haruhiro suspected Ranta was off goofing around, but apparently he wasn’t.

  Haruhiro had plans to go to the thieves’ guild again tomorrow to learn another skill, but with his body in this state, was he going to be able to do it?