by Ao Jyumonji
The mud gob saw Haruhiro and started shouting noisily.
I don’t get why, but it’s coming at me. Seriously? It wants to fight? Come on, there are six of us. Well, it doesn’t know that. The hands. Its hands. Target its wrists.
Haruhiro took a slash at its left wrist.
“Slap...!”
With a surprised squeak, the gob leapt back diagonally, landing in the spring. Did he miss? No, the mud gob had a thin scratch on its left wrist that was bleeding dark red blood.
Looks like I did scratch him. It’s a shallow wound, though.
Kicking up water, the mud gob jumped out of the spring and came out swinging at Haruhiro.
Is it coming? It’s coming at me? You’re kidding me? Stay away from me, you idiot.
“Urgh!”
Haruhiro reacted at once by falling to the left, somehow getting out of the way of the mud gob’s charge.
“Hatred!” Ranta got in close, swinging his longsword down hard at it, but anyone could tell it was a sloppy strike. It missed, of course.
“Whuh? Whoa...!”
The mud gob cried out and gave Ranta a good hard kick, sending him flying. While Ranta was on his backside, the mud gob tried to get on top of him. Then, just in the nick of time, Manato stuck out his short staff, landing a blow on the mud gob’s shoulder. The mud gob cried out in pain, hopping away from them.
“M-Marc e—” as Shihoru started to chant and draw elemental sigils with her staff, Ranta shouted, “Hey, your eyes are closed again!” at her. Shihoru shrank back.
“...S-Sorry!”
“Moguzo, get in front of the mud gob!” Manato barked orders. “Everyone else, surround it! Don’t let it get away!”
“Yeah,” Moguzo ran toward the mud gob with heavy steps, stabbing the blade of his bastard sword at it.
Ranta said, “F-Fine, guess I’ll have to, huh!” as he rose to his feet and moved to the right side of the mud gob. Manato was on the left. Haruhiro and Yume, with her machete, positioned themselves behind it. Shihoru had her eyes wide open, and was aiming her staff towards the mud gob from far away. The mud gob looked around, taking steps in every direction and crying out loudly, like it wanted to run away but couldn’t, maybe. That was just how Manato had wanted it.
“Moguzo!” Ranta tried to stick the mud gob with his longsword. “Pile on the pressure! Pressure! More pressure!”
With a great roar, Moguzo raised his bastard sword and swung. And swung. And swung. The mud gob dodged. As it nimbly ducked and weaved, Ranta shouted, “Hey!” and took a stab at it with his longsword. The mud gob picked up a dry branch and threw it at Ranta with a shout.
“Woah?!” Ranta took a step back, just managing to strike down the branch with the base of his longsword. Their encirclement broke down. The mud gob might have tried to flee, but Manato’s short staff flashed immediately. The mud gob took a blow to the tip of its right shoulder and howled in pain. Despite that, it turned towards Manato in an instant, screaming as fiercely as it could. Honestly, Haruhiro was startled. Even Manato looked like he’d backed off a bit.
After all, it was scared. The mud gob was desperate. It didn’t want to die. It wouldn’t just let them kill it. It was going to kill them first.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
If nothing else, it would at least take them down with it. The mud gob was filled with the determination to do just that.
“G-Guys!” Ranta licked his lips over and over. “Don’t get cold feet on me now! It’s kill or be killed! I’m gonna murder this thing and accumulate vice...!”
“Stay cautious...!” Manato said as he smacked the mud gob with his short staff again. Even though it took a solid hit that sent blood splattering, the mud gob glared at Manato and grunted as if to say, “So what?”
“Gobsy’s a real tough guy, huh...” Yume said, her voice wavering a little.
Tell me about it, thought Haruhiro. It had taken a blow to the head that was hard enough to send blood flying, but it was still fine.
“Umph! Umph!” Moguzo swung his bastard sword two, three times, forcing the mud gob to back away. When it did, that meant it was forced closer to Haruhiro and Yume.
“This one’s ours, Haru-kun!” Yume said, and though it did make him think, Hey wait, since when do you call me Haru-kun? she was right, they were going to have to take it out.
When he shouted and went to take a stab at it with his dagger, it turned to face him. As the mud gob roared in his face, Haruhiro struggled against his urge to step backwards. He took one swing with his dagger, then another. It connected. He felt it strike something hard. The mud gob’s right arm, between the elbow and wrist. Surprised, Haruhiro pulled his dagger back. This was the first time he’d cut anything other than the scarecrow-like practice dummies. It was kind of sickening.
Wailing madly, the mud gob whirled around, splashing blood everywhere as it tried to intimidate Haruhiro and the rest.
It was six-on-one. Haruhiro and the others had the mud gob surrounded. They could attack from any direction, yet no one did.
Everyone was breathing heavily. Aside from Moguzo with his heavy sword, none of them had moved around enough that they should have needed to.
“What’s with this...?” Haruhiro tried to get his breathing under control. But he just couldn’t.
What is this? Is the mud gob strong? Or are we just weak? Too weak? Can we really get by like this? Not a chance. If you just think about it, there’s no way we can. We aren’t cut out for this. I’m not cut out for fighting. It’s scary. I can’t do this. Why am I doing this? Shouldn’t I stop? But what would I do then? What would happen to me?
“Lives are at stake here...!” Manato shouted. “There are lives at stake here! Ours, and its! The goblin is serious! It doesn’t get any more deadly serious than this! There’s no way it’s going to be easy! Because no person, no living being, wants to die!”
“Marc em Parc...!” Shihoru fired a bead of light from her staff. The bead of light flew between Moguzo and Manato, striking the mud gob square in the face. It howled in pain and confusion.
“Now!” Manato commanded, striking the mud gob.
Ranta brought down his longsword and buried it in the mud gob’s shoulder. “—That’s hard! Was that bone?!”
“Hungh...!” Moguzo swung with all his might, slamming his bastard sword into the top of the mud gob’s head.
What power. One half, maybe a third, of its head caved in.
We did it.
The mud gob collapsed, and Ranta pumped his fist with a “Hell, yeah!”
Haruhiro began to sigh, but halfway through it turned to a gulp.
The mud gob was getting back up, and quite nimbly at that.
“...You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me,” Yume stared in disbelief. Haruhiro was sure he had to be mistaken somehow. Though, it didn’t look like a mistake.
The mud gob started running. It probably was trying to get away.
Manato said “Wha...?!” looking flabbergasted, but still went for a leg sweep with his short staff. Surprisingly, the mud gob managed to jump and avoid it. Then, it came right towards Haruhiro. Was it trying to get past him?
“That’s pushing your luck!” Haruhiro caught the mud gob’s right leg with his foot. Apparently it couldn’t dodge this time, so the mud gob tripped and fell over.
As Moguzo bellowed, ready to slam his bastard sword into the mud gob, Ranta cut ahead of him. “Out of my way, Moguzo! I’ll strike the killing blow...!”
Haruhiro looked away despite himself.
There was an unpleasant noise, and Ranta laughed maniacally. “Lord Skullhell! Did you see that?! To accumulate vice, a dread knight takes life from a living being and offers a part of its body at the guild altar, see! The ears are a bit big, so maybe a claw will do— Wait, whoa?!”
“Huh...” Haruhiro looked over at Ranta, and was horrified.
The mud gob was moving. It was crawling, trying to get somewhere.
Shihoru le
t out a sob, on the verge of bursting into tears.
“Guess it doesn’t want to die, huh...” Yume said solemnly, putting her hands together in prayer. “Rest in peace...”
“No...” Haruhiro hesitated a moment, then corrected her. “It’s not dead yet...”
“We have to finish it,” Manato raised his staff to swing. “otherwise... we’ll only prolong its suffering.”
Haruhiro didn’t want to watch, but he felt obligated to see this through to the end.
Manato landed a painful blow on the mud gob and, once he confirmed it had stopped breathing, he closed his eyes and made the sign of the hexagram. Haruhiro thought he might say something to it, but Manato didn’t speak. Perhaps he didn’t want to make excuses for what he had done.
“Ahh!” Ranta pointed at Manato. “M-Manato, you jerk! You finished it off! I told you, if I’m not the one to do it, I can’t accumulate vice...!”
“Oh,” Manato said with a forced smile, scratching his head. “Sorry, slipped my mind.”
“Don’t tell me your hand slipped!”
“No, I didn’t say my hand slipped, I said it slipped my mind.”
“Like I care, one way or the other! I want a do-over, you hear me? A do-over! How?! We can’t do it! Argh! That... That should have been my first vice, and now it’s gone!” Ranta fell to all-fours, punching the ground in frustration. Then he added, “Eh, whatever.”
Haruhiro blinked. “W-Whatever...?”
“It’s done now. Nothing we can do about it.” Ranta stood up and went over to crouch beside the mud gob. “Yuck. This is pretty grotesque. Our loot is... This, I guess? There’s something hanging from the string around its neck. What is this?”
“Where?” Haruhiro crouched down next to Ranta. Trying his best not to look at the mud gob itself, he looked closely at the string around its neck. Ranta was right, there were definitely things on the string. One was an animal fang or something that had a hole drilled through it. The other was pretty dirty, but it was a coin.
“...Isn’t that a silver coin? It’s got a hole in it, though.”
“Hey!” Ranta went to yank the string off, but quickly drew his hand back. “...Haruhiro, you do it. This thing’s filthy.”
“Fine, I guess...” Haruhiro cut the string with his dagger and pulled the fang and coin off.
Looks like it really is a silver coin. Well, it’s got a hole in it, though.
“Can we... sell this? Actually, I’m impressed it managed to put a hole in it. That seems like a lot of work.”
“Well, whatever the case,” Manato placed a hand on Haruhiro’s shoulder, “this is our first win.”
Ranta threw his chest out with pride. “And it’s all thanks to me!”
“Yeah, sure,” Yume said coldly.
Ranta clicked his tongue, glaring at Yume. “...You’re still holding a grudge against me? For a girl with such tiny breasts, you’re pretty vindictive, you know that?”
“There’s no connection between breast size and bein’ vindictive!”
“Well, if there isn’t one, then forget about it already! It’s water under the bridge! Let me say, though, vindictiveness has long been known to cause booblessness!”
“Don’t call me boobless! If they’re just tiny, that’s not so bad at least!”
“Boobless! Boobless! Boobless! Boobless! Hello, Miss Boobless! Goodbye, Booooobless!”
“Argh,” Yume’s face turned bright red, and her cheeks puffed up. She nocked an arrow and took aim at Ranta. “Yume’s gonna shoot, and she’s got a feelin’ this arrow won’t miss!”
“S-Stop—You—Agh—S-Sorry?!” Ranta spun around and fell to his hands and knees before her. It was a spinning kowtow. “I-It won’t happen again?! Okay?! F-Forgive me!”
“Why are you sayin’ ‘forgive me’ like it’s an order? That oughta be ‘Please forgive me, Yume-sama, I beg of you’!”
“Y-Yume-sama! I’m sorry, I beg your forgiveness. I’ll do anything, please!”
“Well, if you insist,” Yume’s cheeks were still puffed up, but she loosened up on her bowstring faster than anyone expected, gesturing towards the spring with her chin. “Jump in.”
“Huh...?”
“Go dive in the spring. If you do, Yume will let it go for today.”
“Idio—You—No wa—Who do you think would do that?”
Yume drew back her bowstring again. “If that’s how you want it, fine. Yume’ll just shoot you.”
“I’ll dive.”
“Good luck with that,” Haruhiro said, slapping Ranta on the shoulder, and Manato said, “Be careful, okay?”
“You don’t have to tell me that!”
As Ranta stood on the edge of the spring, ready to dive, Haruhiro heard Shihoru mutter, “Serves you right,” under her breath.
Ranta muttered, “Here goes,” and dived immediately after that, so he probably missed the comment.
“Y-You’re going to catch a cold,” Moguzo said.
9. Heavy Resolve
There were a number of pawn shops in Alterna’s marketplace, but none of them would pay more than thirty copper for a silver coin with a hole in it. It was hard to accept that one hole should reduce it to a third of its original value, but, in a happy surprise, the fang was worth one silver.
It turned out that there were three kinds of wolves in the frontier of Grimgar: forest wolves, also known as grey wolves; white wolves, which were servants of the White God Elhit; and finally black wolves, which served Elhit’s enemy, the Black God Rigel. That fang had come from a black wolf, apparently. Black wolf fangs were believed to hold magical power, and they were often used as an ingredient in talismans.
With that, their earnings for the day came to one silver, thirty copper. Twenty copper went to rooms for the night, and then they split the remaining one silver and ten copper evenly amongst themselves. There was two copper left at the end, so Manato held onto it to be added to the pile next time they divvied up their earnings.
Each of them got food at the stalls in the market, and when they reached the dilapidated lodging house for volunteer soldiers in the west of town, they finally felt like they’d made it home.
Even though anyone with a Corps Badge could use it, the lodging house was largely empty. The four guys washed themselves off in a bathing room that looked like someone had just laid down some stone on a dirt floor. Afterward, they dropped by the girls’ room to tell Yume and Shihoru the bath was ready before going back to their own room. At the time, Haruhiro was pretty sleepy. He lay down on his hay bed and closed his eyes right away.
The volunteer soldier lodging house had four-person and six-person rooms, but no matter which you chose, it was ten copper a night for trainees. As for why the four and six-person rooms cost the same, it was probably because the rooms themselves were the same size, and, while the six-person room had two more beds, it was all the more cramped for it.
The six-person rooms’ beds were small, too. The beds in the four-person rooms were compact already, so even if 170-cm-tall Haruhiro might fit in one of the six-person room beds, 186-cm-tall Moguzo probably wouldn’t.
There were two bunk beds stuffed with hay. Other than that, there were two wall-mounted lamps. That was the grand total of all the amenities in the lodging house’s four-person rooms. They couldn’t do anything but sleep here, and they had no intention of trying to. They had an early morning tomorrow, so Haruhiro figured it was time to get some shut-eye.
The bed beside him creaked loudly. Apparently Moguzo had just lain down. Moguzo had the lower bunk of the bed next to Haruhiro, while Ranta had the top. Haruhiro was in the top bunk of his bed, while Manato would be sleeping in the one beneath him.
“Manato...? You still up?”
“Yeah, I’m awake. Something up?”
“Nah, nothing really—” It wasn’t true that he had nothing he wanted to talk about. Like what Manato thought about making eighteen copper in a day.
Of the ten silver Bri-chan had given him, he had spent
four copper on skewers the first day, then eight silver to join the thieves’ guild, which had left him with one silver, 96 copper at that point. Once training ended, he had spent four copper on lodgings yesterday and ten on food, with an income of zero. Today he had spent twelve copper on food, while making eighteen copper. His cash on hand at the moment was one silver, 88 copper. As a side note, he had left 60 copper with the Yorozu Deposit Company because it was cumbersome to carry it all around. That was going to cost him a deposit fee.
Haruhiro wasn’t too bad off, but Moguzo was another story.
They had split his share of the room fee between them yesterday, but Moguzo must have borrowed money from Manato for food. He had eaten a lot today. He had a big body to keep fed, after all. Moguzo probably had less than nothing. He was living in debt.
When might the same happen to Haruhiro?
No... for now at least, no one other than Moguzo, who could borrow from the others in the group, would fall below zero.
If no one will lend you money, zero is the bottom. Nothing, nada, zilch.
If it came to that, what would they do?
We need to earn more. Food and lodgings cost around fifteen copper a day, so I want to make double that. Double? Is double enough? The volunteer soldier lodging house is old and squalid. Having a pit full of urine and excrement for a toilet is disgusting, and while the bathing room is fine now while it’s warm, when the cold season comes around, it’s going to be torture. Hay beds aren’t exactly comfy, either. I wish I could get a blanket or something...
He wanted to stay somewhere better than this. He didn’t even have a change of underwear, and he’d washed them while in the bath, so he wouldn’t have any to sleep in because he’d left them out to dry overnight. It looked like he, Manato, and Ranta weren’t the type who needed to shave often, but Moguzo was starting to look unkempt, so he’d have liked to have a razor, too.
A razor, or a small knife. That was just another thing they’d have to buy.
We’re going to be in trouble if we don’t start earning more, aren’t we? Actually, it was a coincidence that the mud gob happened to have a black wolf fang we were able to sell for one silver. We may have gotten luckier than usual today. So, wait, what does that mean? Today’s income wasn’t so bad? It was on the higher end for us?