Towards a Glory Not Worth Taking

by Ao Jyumonji

  Yeah. It was thanks to Ranta that he’d been able to get along with the Tokkis so far. That was definitely part of how he had managed it. If he hadn’t already been used to Ranta, even communicating with the Tokkis would have been difficult.

  The Ranta effect sure was something. If people had a bad side, they had to have a good side, too. There could be no shadows without light.

  However, he could also flip the theory around, and say that because he was too used to Ranta, they had ended up working with the Tokkis, and that was getting them into real trouble.

  He could conclude that, in the end, Ranta was a plague upon the party. And, really, he had always been something incredibly close to a plague upon them.

  The big thing they saw out there, it was white and writhing. It might not be as big as the giant god, but it was pretty big. What on Earth was it? It wasn’t humanoid. He could say that much for certain.

  Is it an octopus... or something like that? Although I’ve never been to the ocean in Grimgar, I know what kind of creature an octopus is. It’s... not really like an octopus. But, somehow, I can tell it’s got a bunch of tentacle-like things, and it’s like its moving them around to walk—No, maybe it’s like a mass of tentacles?

  From this distance, it was hard to say. It was much closer than the giant god. Two kilometers, three maybe. Or perhaps only one.

  “It’s cute...” Mimorin was staring passionately in its direction.

  Haruhiro, Shihoru, Yume, Merry, Kuzaku, and even Ranta were shocked, but the Tokkis looked completely unfazed.

  This is the problem with Mimorin...

  “Um...” Haruhiro hesitantly raised his hand.

  Tokimune looked to him with a “Hm?”

  Now that they’d seen that thing—no, those things—with their own eyes, surely even the Tokkis would agree with Haruhiro. Or rather, they’d have the same opinion as him.

  “Why don’t we head back?” he said. “Those things are bad news. No matter how you look at it.”

  “You moron!” Ranta rounded on him. “You call yourself a man, saying stuff like that? Do you really have a pair of balls?! I’m asking if you’ve got a pair of balls hanging between your legs, you sissy!”

  “Does that have anything to do with it?” Haruhiro asked. “Whether I’m a man or a woman?”

  “Of course it does! It does, doesn’t it, Tokimune-san?!”

  “I dunno.” Tokimune cocked his head to the side. “Maybe not?”

  “It sure doesn’t!” Ranta was quick to change his mind. “Ha ha ha! There’s no way it would matter, would it? That’s why I said so, Panpirorin! It doesn’t matter if you’re male, or female, or if you have balls! You really are a piece of crap who doesn’t understand a thing, aren’t you?”

  “Balls, balls, balls, shut up already, yeah!” Anna-san snapped at Ranta from up on top of Tokimune’s head. “You too vulgar, yeah?! We have many untainted ladies here!”

  “You’re the last one I want telling me I’m vulgar! Even I’m not as bad as you!”

  “Do you know?! Ouch! No, wait, what you mean?! You tiny-dicked, smegma bastard!”

  “Um, anyway, moving on...” Haruhiro said, wiping Anna-san’s spittle from his face. “Can we go back? If we go now, we can make it back to the Lonesome Field Outpost today. We can decide what we’ll do from tomorrow on once we’re there...”

  “Huh?” Tokimune blinked. “Why?”

  “Hey, Haruhiro.” Tada put his hand on Haruhiro’s forehead. “Doesn’t seem like you’ve got a fever.”

  “I don’t.” Haruhiro brushed Tada’s hand away. “If anyone here has a fever, I have to say it’s you people...” he muttered under his breath, despite not intending to.

  “Heh...” For some reason, Inui burst out laughing. “Heh heh heh heh... Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

  Hold on, he’s roaring with laughter. What’s wrong with this guy? Is he even human? Maybe he isn’t? He’s scaring me.

  He’s really scaring me.

  “Listen, Haruhiro,” Tokimune said, putting a hand on Haruhiro’s shoulder while Anna-san was still riding on his own. “I’ve got a surprisingly high opinion of you. If I say it’s surprising, does it come off as rude, maybe?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. Call it surprising or whatever.”

  “Well, anyway, you’re plain, and you’ve got basically no passion or spirit, but you’re calm, and you’ve got reasonably good decision-making skills, so it’s reassuring to have you as an ally. That’s because you’ve got something that we lack.”

  “Flattery’s not going to get you anything from me, you know...”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Tokimune asked.

  “No, I’m serious.”

  “Well, I don’t hate that about you.”

  “You don’t, huh.”

  I am happy to hear that, though, you know? As much as anyone would be.

  He might not look it, but Haruhiro was happy in his own Haruhiro way. Probably. Though, that had nothing to do with the matter at hand.

  “So, what about it?” he asked.

  “I rate your skills highly, and I like you, but sometimes, I think, ‘Huh?’”

  You guys don’t just make me think “Huh?” sometimes, you make me think it all the time. If he told them that straight-up, it would probably just be a headache, so Haruhiro kept his mouth shut.

  Tokimune flashed him a glimpse of those shiny white teeth. “Our goal is already decided, right? So what do you mean, we’re turning back? I’m not sure I understand.”

  “Our goal?” Haruhiro repeated.

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A goal is something that you aim for and try to accomplish as part of your work, right?”

  “No, I know that. I understand what the word ‘goal’ means.”

  “Well, what do you want to know?” Tokimune asked.

  “What this goal you think is already decided is...”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Tokimune gestured with his chin. “We’re taking that thing out, right?”

  “...Whaaaaa?” Haruhiro staggered.

  What is this guy saying? Well, it did seem like something he’d say. But still, there’s no way that’s happening. He’s crazy, totally crazy. What kind of thought process could possibly bring him to that conclusion?

  Shihoru, Merry, and Kuzaku were all shuddering. Yume was just sort of staring blankly; she didn’t seem to have any clue what was going on. Ranta, being the hopeless moron that he was, actually looked excited. The Tokkis were utterly unperturbed. Kikkawa was doing a little dance with Ranta.

  Have they mistaken this for some kind of festival? They’re hopeless. I mean, come on... when he says “that thing,” he means that thing, right?

  Either the giant god or the bizarre creature, right?

  No matter how he thought about it, or didn’t think about it, it was impossible, right? That much was self-evident, wasn’t it? This was the sort of thing that was part of the collective understanding that all humans had, something every person was aware of, wasn’t it? It was, right? Yeah, it was.

  Haruhiro was right. He couldn’t be wrong. So, what now?

  At last, the time had come. It was here.

  He’d suspected it would come eventually. Not that he had wanted it to. He had hoped it wouldn’t.

  The Tokkis were a bunch of weirdos and they were a real mess, but they were fun people to be with. If you were to ask him if it was because he could use them, to be way too frank, yes, that was one aspect of it. None of the Tokkis were particularly mercenary. They weren’t the calculating sort who hung around with people or helped them because they had something to gain. That didn’t mean he could trust them implicitly, but the Tokkis would probably never stab Haruhiro in the back again. They weren’t the type of people who would deviate from whatever code of honor they held. Still, there might come a day where they parted ways.

  Haruhiro had worried it might come.

  He was ready to accept that the Tokkis might dr
ag them into situations that caused them some pain. These were the Tokkis, after all. If he didn’t accept at least that much, the alliance wasn’t going to work.

  But that only applied to pain they could recover from. There were limits.

  If they were going to take on those things, he had to be ready for more than just pain. Major damage, casualties, losses—He had to be prepared for death.

  If they spontaneously found themselves in a situation where fighting them was the only option, that would be one thing. However, deliberately throwing themselves into that sort of peril was absolutely reckless.

  If they discussed it as a party, others might disagree. That’s why he wouldn’t do that. This was going to be entirely Haruhiro’s choice. He’d already decided. They were going to split up with the Tokkis.

  He wouldn’t say something naïve like, Let’s work together again, if the chance comes up. That would be selfish reasoning, meaning, You can count us out when it’s dangerous, but if it’s not dangerous, we’re okay with joining in. Sometimes working with them and sometimes not wasn’t something Haruhiro wanted to engage in.

  He looked Tokimune in the eye. I’m sorry, he was about to say—

  Suddenly, beneath his clothes, that thing he kept in constant contact with him started to vibrate. “Whoa...”

  In shock, Haruhiro completely forgot what he had been about to do. What was it again, anyway? Right, before that, he had to deal with this first.

  That thing was hanging from his neck on a chain like a pendant. When he stuffed his hand down his collar and pulled it out, the lower end was shining green. It was an object like a black, flat stone. But this was no ordinary stone.

  “What’s that?” Tokimune raised an eyebrow.

  “Uh, um, this is...”

  While Haruhiro was deciding whether to explain or not, the thing—the receiver—began to vibrate and produce sound. Not just sound, a voice.

  “Members of the Day Breakers, are you listening? This is Soma.”

  “Haeeee?!” Anna-san let out a bizarre cry of surprise from up on Tokimune’s shoulders, her eyes popping out of her skull.

  “Did he say ‘Soma’?” Tada adjusted the position of his glasses.

  “By Soma, he means the Soma, right?!” Kikkawa looked ready to start dancing with glee at any second.

  “Somatic...” Mimorin mumbled something irrelevant.

  “Heh...” For some reason, Inui drew his sword and showed off a practice swing.

  Haruhiro looked to Ranta, Shihoru, Yume, Merry, and Kuzaku.

  They hadn’t told the Tokkis that they were a sad stain on the membership list of the Day Breakers. Ranta had wanted to boast about it, but Haruhiro had made him keep quiet.

  I dunno. Honestly, it’s still hard to believe. We have the receiver as proof, so there’s no way it was a dream. Still, I just can’t quite see us as members of the Soma’s Day Breakers. It just doesn’t feel real. I mean, Soma’s never contacted us. I don’t know much about the Day Breakers, either. Even if you ask me to believe it, isn’t it kind of hard to?

  It was hard.

  “We plan to return to the Lonesome Field Outpost tomorrow night,” said Soma’s voice.

  Still, when he heard Soma’s voice like this, he could believe it. He had to.

  “I repeat. We plan to return to the Lonesome Field Outpost tomorrow night. If you can make it there, please come. I want to see you occasionally. Lilia, did you want to say anything?”

  “Wh-Why are you asking me?!” her voice cried.

  “Just thought I would. Can’t you?”

  “It’s not that I can’t, just...!”

  “I see. You can’t, huh.”

  “I-I can! Please, hand me the sender.”

  “Sure,” Soma said.

  This was followed by the sound of Lilia clearing her throat. “I-I have nothing in particular to say, but for many of you, it has been a long time since we’ve met. Look forward to it—No, I do not look forward to it, but you are free to feel as you will. Do as you please. That is all.”

  The receiver stopped vibrating and the green light vanished.

  Haruhiro sighed, looking to gauge Tokimune’s reaction. Tokimune was deep in thought. What on Earth was he thinking? Haruhiro couldn’t imagine.

  “Erm... A-About this...” Haruhiro fumbled for words. “Well, what can I say...?”

  “If we’re doing it anyway, why not invite Soma along?” Tokimune asked.

  “Huh?”

  “To hunt the giant god.”

  “...Come again?”

  “Soma’d probably be up for it if we invited him along,” said Tokimune.

  “Wha? Huh? Wait, hold on... You and Soma-san know each—Huh...?”

  “We enlisted around the same time, and, yeah, you could say we know each other, I guess. We’ve gone for drinks a number of times.”

  “No, but...” Haruhiro was at a loss for words.

  But what? What is it?

  Like, what should I do?

  What’s going to happen here?

  5. My Natural Self

  Whatever the case might be, Haruhiro had been wanting to meet with Soma. Well, he also felt like he didn’t want to see him, but that was because he didn’t feel he was worthy to, and he did still want to meet with him.

  Soma, renowned as the mightiest of all volunteer soldiers; Kemuri, who was generous and powerful; Lilia, the beautiful elven sword dancer; Shima, the insanely sexy shaman everyone called “Big Sis”; Pingo, the creepy necromancer called the “Devil Child” for his childlike appearance; and Zenmai, the flesh golem that he created—none of them were normal. Each one gave off an exceptional aura, and they were, in fact, way ahead of the rest.

  Even from a distance, they were a sight to behold. To put it in somewhat grandiose terms, Soma and his crew were living, walking legends. This wasn’t just a chance to see these people. It might be a chance to talk to them.

  No, not “might be.” It was. After all, Haruhiro and the others were in the Day Breakers, too.

  That said, he needed to think about it calmly.

  That was what he told himself, but oh, man, they could meet Soma and the others. Oh, man, seriously, what should they do? What should they talk about? How should they greet him? What if he’d forgotten them? Yeah, that probably wouldn’t have happened, but still, you never knew. Despite all appearances to the contrary, when they interacted with him directly, Soma had been a bit of an airhead. He might have completely forgotten Haruhiro and the others.

  These were the sorts of thoughts that raced through Haruhiro’s head.

  Tokimune was planning to hunt the giant god and wanted to get Soma and his group mixed up in the action. That was something Haruhiro couldn’t just ignore. He needed to do something, but first they needed to head back to the Lonesome Field Outpost. They could talk about whether or not that was a good idea during the time it took for Soma to get there.

  He was gonna do that. He totally was. He was, okay? Really, he meant it.

  And so, having made it back to the Lonesome Field Outpost, they decided they should get something to eat in the back streets.

  While Haruhiro was standing in line for one of the stalls, thinking, Okay, I’m gonna say something, I’ll bring it up, definitely, an unfamiliar man spoke to him.

  “You’re Haruhiro-kun, right?”

  “...Yes, why?”

  He definitely didn’t know this old guy. The guy looked to be around forty or so, maybe. He was nothing if not an old man from Haruhiro’s perspective, but he seemed pretty incredible.

  For starters, he was well-built. He must have stood over 180 centimeters tall. He wasn’t just tall, though. He was broad and thick, too.

  He had a gentle face, with wrinkles from smiling that reached his eyes, and his calm, low voice gave off a favorable impression, but somehow, he was threatening. Judging by his armor and the shield he carried, he was a paladin.

  The old guy had company.

  One of his companions was short and s
lender, a man who, unsurprisingly, was also in his forties. He looked like an artist of some sort and was wearing a priest’s outfit.

  Next, there was a mage who looked to be in her thirties. She was older than Haruhiro, but not the kind of person he’d have felt right calling ma’am. She was incredibly beautiful.

  The woman standing next to that incredible beauty was huge. She reminded him of Kajiko of the Wild Angels, only she was way older than Kajiko. She must have been in her thirties, too. She wore a massive sword slung over her back. She was a warrior, no doubt.

  The remaining two were—Haruhiro opened his eyes wide despite himself.

  They weren’t human.

  The two of them were both men, but otherwise they were contrasting figures.

  One had a short, barrel-like body. Not fat, though. He was a mass of muscle. No, a mass of muscle and beard and body hair, to be fully accurate. Much larger than his hairy, boulder-like body was the powerful-looking and terrifying ax he carried.

  He was a dwarf.

  The other was the opposite of a dwarf. He was slender. He was similar in height to Haruhiro, maybe a little taller. He looked like a beautiful and fair-skinned young boy. He was very pale, and the color of his hair and eyes seemed not so much bright as thin. He had a somewhat sharp look in his eyes, looking stubborn. He carried a bow and quiver, so maybe he was an archer.

  The thing to take note of was his ears.

  Long and pointed.

  He was an elf.

  “Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!” Kikkawa suddenly let out a strange cry. “An older paladin, a priest, a mage, a female warrior, and a dwarf, could you possibly be hiiiim?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakira-san, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?!”

  “Wait! Akira,” Ranta whispered and then immediately got down and kowtowed. “I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I’m very sorry! How clumsy of me! I accidentally called you just plain ‘Akira’! I’m so, so sorry, Akira-san! Please, please, overlook this mistake!”

  “What a funny boy,” said the thirty-something beauty with a laugh.

  Ranta’s cheeks turned a little red. “Heh heh. I’m a funny boy. Heh heh heh.”