by Ao Jyumonji
“Huh?” Manato said, narrowing his eyebrows and looking down. “Warrior armor is supposed to be—”
“Here’s the announcement!” Ranta said, puffing his chest out so far his head was tilted back. “I said I was going to become a warrior, but I didn’t! The whole warrior thing just wasn’t me. I felt that I was brimming with a talent that’d blossom in a different dimension, an alternate dimension, so I didn’t join the warriors’ guild!”
“Wha...?” Manato seemed like he was about to say something, but then lost his voice. He’d gone quite pale. And who could blame him, really?
After all, according to the info Manato had gathered, the warrior and priest were the center of any party. The warrior stood on the front line, putting up a furious battle against all enemies, while the priest was a healer who treated his allies’ wounds. Every party needed at least one of each. So, when Manato had chosen to be the priest and they had determined that either Haruhiro or Ranta would be the warrior, Ranta had volunteered for the position on the basis that it sounded cool. Because Ranta had wanted to do it, and had said as much, Haruhiro had decided to join the thieves’ guild.
“Hm?” Ranta was unabashed. He looked at them as if wondering what was with the strange looks he was getting. “What’s wrong? Be more shocked, would you? This is one super surprise.”
“...We’re more than surprised,” Haruhiro rubbed his pulsing temple. “We’re exasperated. What did you join a different guild for?”
“Like I said, it was a feeling. It was instinct, man. Instinct. A hunch. My sixth sense at work. I heard a whispering from the god within me, see. ‘Don’t become a warrior,’ he said. ‘That’s not you. You’re a bigger man than that.’”
“And?” It looked like Manato had regained some of his composure, though he was still grimacing a bit. “What guild did you join, Ranta?”
“Check this out!” Ranta pulled out a skull-like... well, actually, it was just a skull... necklace and thrust it towards them. Then he pointed to the breast of his armor. There was a skull emblem burned into it, too. “Glory be to the master of death, the dark god, Lord Skullhell! I went and became a dread knight!”
“A trendy light?” Shihoru asked.
“No!” Ranta shouted, spittle flying everywhere. “A dread knight! A knight of darkness! Even the name is cool! Sounds way more awesome than ‘warrior,’ doesn’t it?!”
“...Could it be,” Shihoru said hesitantly, “you only became a dread knight because it sounds cool, and for no other reason...?”
“‘Only’? Listen...” Ranta said with a sigh. “Is there anything more important than coolness? Yeah, I didn’t think so. I mean, how could there be? Think about it.”
This guy could use a good punching, thought Haruhiro. He didn’t do it, though. Punching him wouldn’t help. It was too late for that.
“...So, once you become a dread knight, you can’t quit, right? They’ll send people to hunt you down if you try to leave the guild, or something.”
“Yeah, kinda. There’s this rule, ‘Thou shalt not betray us until Skullhell takes you.’ You get what that means? ‘Until Skullhell takes you’ means until you die.”
“So, what can a dread knight do?”
“Summon a demon!” Ranta clenched his hand into a fist, and... lowered it. “Can’t do it now, though. I can’t do it during the day when the god of light, Lumiaris’s, power is strong yet.”
“So, it’s just at night...”
“Only for now! As I accumulate vice, the demon’s power goes up.”
“So, what can that demon do?”
“It whispers to me! Telling me there’s enemies nearby. Oh, and sometimes it’ll let loose a demon joke!”
“Huh...”
“Don’t ‘huh’ at me! I’m a knight of darkness! A dread knight! It’s a perfect fit for me!”
“Sure enough,” Manato nodded with a half-grin. “It’s a perfect match for you, Ranta.”
“I know, right?” Ranta said proudly. Apparently sarcasm was lost on him.
What a blissful idiot. He might have been fine with his choice, but it was absolutely not okay with anyone else there. Had Haruhiro and the others been stupid to rely on Ranta? Maybe.
Haruhiro’s shoulders slumped. “...No, I don’t know...”
6. Lost and Found Warrior
Well, what was done was done and they’d have to live with it. Haruhiro could have left the thieves’ guild to join the warriors’ guild, but, realistically, that wasn’t going to be possible. He couldn’t make the others wait seven days. Besides which, he didn’t have the money. Volunteer soldier trainees were given ten silver for joining. And eight of that silver was earmarked for joining a guild, so, in the end, trainees only had two silver to spend freely.
Even then, “freely” was only so free. Once the seven days of introductory lessons and the room and board that came with them ended, they had to deal with the daily costs of living. If they were frugal, they could feed themselves on ten copper a day. But, unless they felt like roughing it, they were going to have to find rooms to rent. They hadn’t properly researched the market price for rooms yet, but it looked like it ordinarily cost forty to fifty copper per room per day.
Basically, that meant that, even if they did decide to camp out to save money, they would need to spend ten copper per day. Two silver was 200 copper, so they could only keep themselves fed for twenty days.
Haruhiro and the others needed to make money. Before they could buy their badges from Bri-chan and become fully fledged volunteer soldiers, they would first need to figure out how to survive until then.
How could they make money?
They had to work for it.
They were still trainees, but Haruhiro and the others left through the north gate to go work as volunteer soldiers. Not far outside, there was a big man wearing chain mail, crouching in the brush to the side of the road.
“...Moguzo?”
When Haruhiro called out to him, the big guy languidly turned towards them and blinked a few times. He was mumbling, as if trying to say something, but the words weren’t coming out. Haruhiro looked to Manato.
“Huh?” Yume said, looking up to the sky full of fluffy clouds. “Moguzo-kun got taken away by Kuzuyama, didn’t he?”
Haruhiro said “Not Kuzuyama, Kuzuoka,” correcting her off-handedly before walking over to Moguzo. “What’s up, Moguzo? What are you doing here? And, wait, why are you by yourself?”
Moguzo furrowed his eyebrows, nodding slowly.
“I know,” Ranta said, with an attempted snap of his fingers that failed to produce a sound. “Kuzuoka threw you out, I’ll bet. He was fine letting you in the party, but then you proved yourself such a slow-witted dunce that he decided he was better off without you.”
“Ranta...” Haruhiro was about to tell him off, but decided against it. Telling Ranta anything was an exercise in futility.
“...My money,” Moguzo said, hanging his head. “...They took all of it. Told me they’d taught me enough, so to pay up...”
“That’s terrible...” Shihoru said quietly.
“See? Told you so,” Ranta said with a snort, looking pleased with himself. “That’s why I tried to stop you back then. I mean, it’s Kuzuoka. The guy had ‘scumbag’ written all over him.”
“You act pretty scummy yourself, though...”
“Oh, shove it, Haruhiro! How am I scummy? Give me one concrete example!
“Can I? Well, let’s see, for starters—”
“Stop! Come on, are you keeping a mental list of people’s scummy points or something? That’s scummy! The act of a scummy person! You, sir, are a bona-fide scumbag!”
“Whoa... When a scummy guy starts trying to call you scummy, it really kills the mood...”
“Moguzo-kun,” Manato crouched down next to Moguzo and put a hand on his shoulder. “You joined the warriors’ guild, right?”
Looking closer, Moguzo wasn’t just wearing chain mail armor, he also had leather gloves and boots, and a
bastard sword in a sheathe slung diagonally over his back. They were all secondhand, no doubt, but he looked every bit the part of a warrior. It all suited him pretty well, especially with his large body.
“I did at least...” Moguzo peeked in Manato’s direction. “...manage to become a warrior, yeah...”
“Oh, you did?” Haruhiro clapped. “Well, thanks to a certain scumbag, our party doesn’t have a warrior at the moment, so—”
“By a scumbag’s fault, you must mean your fault, right, Haruhiro?”
Haruhiro ignored Ranta, looking to Yume and Shihoru. “What do you two think?”
“Oh...” Shihoru nodded. “I think that would be good.”
“What’d be good?” said Yume, failing to understand.
“Well, we’re short a warrior, aren’t we? So, Moguzo’s a warrior and currently, how shall I put it, free? He’s perfect for us, is what I was thinking.”
Yume was impressed by the idea, letting out an “Ohh” and leaning in to peek at Moguzo’s face. “Moguzo, do you want to join Yume and her friends’ party?”
“...Are you sure? Is it okay if I join?”
“I want you to join,” Manato said to Moguzo with a smile. “That’s only if you’re all right with it, of course.”
Haruhiro glanced sideways at Ranta. If anyone was going to complain, it would be him. What happened surprised him. Ranta playfully threw his arms around Moguzo’s neck from behind.
“You’re hopeless, you know that? I’ll take good care of you, so be my shield, Moguzo! Do it like you’re ready to die for me!”
“...Ah, now it makes sense.”
“What, Haruhiro? I haven’t said anything wrong, you know? A warrior’s job is to fight furiously on the front line in battle, isn’t it? That means standing up front and drawing the enemy’s fire. That’s why they wear hard chain mail and other metal armors with high defense to protect themselves, got it?”
“Ranta’s got it right,” Manato looked at Moguzo with a serious expression. “I’m not trying to scare you off here, but I think warriors have the hardest job of all. Still, we’ll all support you the best we can, and if anything happens, I’ll heal you up with my light magic right away, so you don’t need to worry about that.
“Y-Yeah... I’ll do my best. But...” Moguzo rubbed his belly. “I have no money...”
“I’ll lend you what you need. I think we can scrape by for now. And once we’re earning, we may not need to worry about it anymore.”
“Let me tell you, though!” Ranta said, mussing Moguzo’s hair with a big grin on his face. “I won’t lend him one red cent. I’m a firm believer in borrowing money but never returning or lending it!”
“Honestly,” Haruhiro was taken aback. “You’re a real natural when it comes to being the worst, you know that...”
Ranta tut-tutted him, waving a finger. “Haruhiro.”
“What?”
“What happens when you multiply a negative by a negative? It becomes a positive, right?”
“So what?”
“That’s me!”
“I don’t get it...”
“Moron. I chose to be a dread knight instead of a warrior, yeah? That’s why Moguzo the warrior is able to join our party, yeah? It worked out perfectly, yeah? Everyone should be thanking me, yeah?”
“I envy you,” Manato laughed. “Being able to see it all in such a positive light. That’s not something you can do just because you try to. It’s a talent.”
“I know, right?! That’s my man, Manato! I knew I kept you around for some reason. Now this scumbag, Haruhiro, on the other hand...”
“Whatever...” Haruhiro would have liked to argue back, but knew it would just wear him out more. He extended a hand to Moguzo. “Let’s go, Moguzo. To make some money!”
“...Y-Yeah.” Moguzo took Haruhiro’s hand.
Haruhiro pulled his hand, trying to get him up on his feet, but he didn’t budge an inch.
“...Uh, Moguzo, you’re gonna have to stand on your own. It’s a little too much for me...”
Moguzo said, “Oh, s-sorry,” and languidly rose to his feet.
Is this really going to work out? Haruhiro wondered for a second.
7. Slow Start
South of Alterna rose the Tenryu Mountain Range, a line of incredibly high and inaccessible mountains. This land called Grimgar was bisected by the mountain range. The far side, to the south, was called the homeland, while here on the north side was called the frontier.
Well, the frontier was just what humans called it. To be more specific, the Kingdom of Arabakia, which ruled over the homeland, Alterna, and the area around them, was treating the area north of the mountains as the frontier.
Incidentally, the frontier hadn’t been a frontier around 150 years ago. Which is to say, there had been many human countries at that time. There were non-human races, too, but humans were the most powerful. But, with the coming of a being with terrifying magical powers called the No-Life King, everything had changed.
The No-Life King had created a new race, the undead, and with him as their leader, they had done more than just expand their power. In addition to martial and magical prowess, he had likely been a capable politician as well, because he had allowed the foremost members of each race to name themselves kings, and with them, he had formed an Alliance of Kings.
They had declared war on the human race. The humans had been easily defeated, either being wiped out or forced south of the Tenryu Mountains. After that, at the recommendation of his fellow kings, the No-Life King had become Emperor and founded the Undying Empire. Humans couldn’t set foot north of the Tenryu Mountains.
And then the No-Life King, the Undying Emperor, had contradicted his name and somehow died 100 years ago. Having lost the emperor who held it together, the Undying Empire had splintered. The Kingdom of Arabakia had taken that opportunity to establish the fortress city Alterna, and the rest was history.
Incidentally, this was all stuff they had heard from Manato.
The area between Alterna and the Tenryu Mountains to the south was dotted with farms and villages, while the area to the north was mostly fields and forests.
“So, like Yume was sayin’,” the hunter, Yume, was explaining as she patted the grass, “there’s deer, and there’s fox, yeah? Since it’s spring, you’ll get a bear comin’ out every once in a while, too. Oh, and there’re chimos. They’re round and fluffy with beady little eyes and long, thin tails. They’ve got little ears and paws, and they bounce everywhere they go, see? They make for pretty good prey. Oh, and there’re pit rats. They’re big as cats, they’ve got hard fur, and they’re darn ferocious, I hear.”
“Oh, yeah?” Ranta shaded his eyes with his hands, making a show of looking around. “From the look of it, there ain’t nothing around here, though.”
Yume let out a little groan and frowned. “When my master from the guild took me outside for lessons, I saw them here and there. Master would nock an arrow and, whoosh, take one down.”
“Maybe over there,” Manato gestured towards the woods that were up ahead and to the right. “It feels more likely there will be things hiding where there are trees, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Haruhiro nodded. “Maybe. If I were an animal, I’d be scared to stay out in the field where there wasn’t tall grass or trees to hide me.”
Ranta laughed. “They’re all terrified of me, aren’t they...?”
“Fine, it’s your fault we have no prey then, Ranta.”
“Shut up, Haruhiro! Say it’s thanks to me! Say, with dignity, that it’s thanks to me!”
“Shut up, would you? If you shout like that, you’ll scare off any animals that are still around.”
“It’s thanks to me!”
“I am so sick of this... He doesn’t hear a thing anyone says...”
“Um...” Shihoru, who had been keeping quiet the whole time, opened her mouth for the first time in a while.
“Can we ki— take down animals?”
E
veryone stopped walking.
Now that she mentioned it, a volunteer soldier’s job was to slay monsters and members of hostile races, not to hunt for food and things they might be able to sell.
“Yume thinks...” Yume screwed up her face, having a hard time saying what she wanted to. “Yume learned from Master how to show appreciation to an animal after taking its life, you know. But Yume likes animals, and Yume really doesn’t want to kill them. They’re cute. Yume’d feel bad about it, you know.”
Ranta scoffed. “Don’t be a softie. What are you, a prim and proper young lady? Because every living thing is eventually going to die and be embraced by Lord Skullhell. If something needs to die so we can survive, there’s nothing weird about that at all.”
“If that’s true...” Yume suddenly took aim and nocked an arrow. She was aimed squarely at Ranta. “...it’d be okay if you had to die for Yume and everyone’s sake, Ranta.”
“Do—!” Ranta leapt backwards. “D-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Don’t be stupid, Tiny Tits! Killing me won’t do any good, you know?! It won’t! It seriously won’t! I mean it! S-Stop it, please!”
“Yume would feel better after doing it. You did call Yume’s breasts tiny, after all.”
“Y-Y-You called yourself that before, didn’t you?! You said your tits were tiny!”
“Saying it yourself and getting called it by someone else are different. Especially when it’s from a boy. It hurts, you know?”
“I-I-I’m sorry! I-I apologize! I apologize, okay?! Look, I’m begging you!” Ranta did a jumping kowtow. “See?! My bad! Forgive me! Please! Yume, they’re not tiny! Those things are huge! Explosively huge! They’re almost into marvel-of-nature territory!”
“Man...” Haruhiro looked not so much down at as down on Ranta. “You haven’t repented in the least, I’ll bet.”
“I-I have, okay! How haven’t I?! How can you say I haven’t?! On what basis?!”
Yume sighed, returning her arrow to its quiver and putting down the bow. “...Waste of an arrow.”