Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: Volume 1

by Ao Jyumonji

  Once I save up enough money, Sneaking is one of the thief techniques I definitely want to learn. Of course, I’m doing my best not to make any noise while walking now, but there must be some trick to it. I want to know what that is. I want Barbara-sensei to teach it to me.

  The goblins were in a broken-down, two-floor building made out of stone. The second floor had largely collapsed, and part of the wall on the first floor had crumbled in places, as well. On the second floor, which was more like an open balcony, there was a goblin clad in solid-looking metal armor with a sword slung over its back, while on the first floor there was another goblin sitting on the ground. It was a big one.

  Most goblins were between 120 and 130 cm tall. If they reached 140 cm, they were pretty big for their kind. They were a race of creatures the size of human children. But this goblin there was nothing like that. From a distance it was hard to tell its exact height, but it was easily one, maybe two, sizes larger than the goblin upstairs.

  I’ve never seen a goblin like that before. As for equipment, is that chain mail it’s wearing? It’s even got a simple helmet. Can’t tell what weapons it has from here.

  I’ve searched the area around the building, and it doesn’t look like there are any more. There are two goblins. The armored goblin and the really big goblin.

  Haruhiro went back to the others.

  “It’s dangerous. There are only two, but one of them’s huge. It might be as big as I am.”

  “A hobgoblin.” Manato’s eyes widened a little. “They’re a subrace of goblins, with a larger build than the ordinary ones. They’re stupid brutes that the goblins use like slaves, so maybe that’s what that one is.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Ranta licked his lips. “If it’s got a slave, that could be a high-ranking gob, don’t you think? If it is, it’s gotta have some good loot, for sure.”

  Haruhiro stroked his chin. “...It did have plated metal armor on. The hobgoblin was wearing chain mail, too. That, and a helmet. It might have been large enough for one of us humans to wear.”

  “Ooh...” Moguzo groaned in approval. Since, as a warrior, Moguzo faced the enemy in straight-up battle, defensive items were important to him. But they were also expensive. New ones were well out of their price range, and if they went with used goods, they’d have to search hard to find ones that fit, or go to an armor blacksmith to have them resized. That was why all of them, Moguzo included, were still using the stuff their guilds had given them.

  “Two of them, huh.” Manato lowered his eyes. He seemed uncertain.

  “Hmm,” Yume looked up diagonally in thought. “Yume thinks we can handle two of them, though.”

  “If I...” Shihoru grasped her staff tight. “...were to target one first, and manage to hit it with a spell, it would be easier to handle things after that... I think.”

  “Yume’ll try whooshing some arrows at it, too. Even if she misses, the gobbies’ll get scared, so then you can go right at ’em.”

  Manato looked at his comrades’ faces. They were all eager to fight. Perhaps his earlier praise had raised their morale, because they were more fired up than usual. Haruhiro wasn’t, and he felt a bit left out because of that, but he didn’t want to be a wet blanket. Haruhiro said, “Guess we’re doing this,” and Manato nodded.

  “Okay, let’s do it.”

  The plan came together in no time. Haruhiro, Yume, and Shihoru would go first, starting the attack from long range. Once the enemy noticed them, Moguzo and Manato would move up to the front. Moguzo would take the hobgob and Manato would take the armored gob. Haruhiro, Ranta, and Yume would attack from behind or to the sides, while Shihoru would support them with magic from a distance.

  They got in a circle, all putting their hands in the center. Manato yelled “Fighto!” and they all threw their hands up at once and shouted “Ippatsu!”

  At some point, they had started doing this to get their spirits up, but why they did it remained a mystery to Haruhiro.

  “...What is fighto ippatsu, I wonder?” he commented.

  “...I dunno.” Shihoru tilted her head to the side, puzzled. “But doing it gives me this vague feeling of nostalgia.”

  “Yume gets that feelin’, too. But she doesn’t know what it is. Weird, huh.”

  Haruhiro approached the two-story building with Yume and Shihoru in tow. Manato, Moguzo, and Ranta were following them, too, about six or seven meters behind. Whatever the range of a bow was, magic had a range of around ten meters.

  Can we get close enough to be ten meters away? That might be a bit difficult. More like impossible. Not using this wall. It’s about fifteen meters away from the building, but if we go past it, the gobs will notice us.

  Haruhiro brought his face next to Shihoru’s ear. He was about to whisper something to her, but she had a distinctive, sweet smell coming from her, and that made it hard for him to breathe.

  “...Shihoru, do you have something on?”

  “...Huh? What do you mean?”

  “No, never mind. Sorry. Think you can hit them from here? It’s a bit far, I know.”

  “...I’ll try. I have zero confidence, though.”

  Shihoru brought her hand to her bosom, taking a deep breath. Yume readied her bow and nocked an arrow. The gobs weren’t looking in their direction. The two popped up from behind the wall, and Shihoru began drawing elemental sigils with her staff.

  “Ohm, rel, ect, vel, darsh...!”

  With a vwong, a shadow elemental that looked like a blob of black seaweed launched from the tip of Shihoru’s staff. At the same time, Yume let an arrow fly. The arrow sailed over the armored gob’s head, while the shadow elemental struck the hobgob in the left arm, causing it to sputter and convulse. It looked like the armored gob had noticed the arrow. He turned their way and Haruhiro cried out, “We’ve been spotted!”

  “We’re going in!” Manato gave the order at once.

  The hobgob picked up a spiked club that had been left at its feet, rising unsteadily. It looked like the Shadow Beat spell had worked.

  The armored gob had something in its hands. What was that? A weapon? There was something that looked like a bow mounted on the end of a sturdy stock. The armored gob turned to point it at them.

  Haruhiro put a hand on Yume and Shihoru’s shoulders. Get behind cover, he tried to say. The arrow flew before he could.

  Haruhiro pushed Shihoru and Yume down, causing them to land on their backsides. Haruhiro stepped backwards with a groan. Then came the pain. In the left side of his chest. It was there. An arrow. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

  Haruhiro crouched. Changing position hurt. Staying still hurt. It hurt so bad, he couldn’t breathe.

  Shihoru let out a little scream, while Yume put a hand on Haruhiro’s back.

  “Haru-kun...?!”

  He gasped, unable to say it hurt.

  Don’t touch me. Just don’t. It hurts. This is bad. I’m gonna die? Aren’t I? Me, die? No, that won’t happen. I don’t think so. I don’t want to die, at least. It hurts, though. It really hurts. Help. Someone. This is no good. I can’t go on like this.

  “Haruhiro!”

  It’s Manato. Manato’s here for me.

  Manato suddenly tore the arrow out. It felt like something important had been torn out with it, and Haruhiro coughed up blood.

  I-If you do that, I’m gonna die, Manato.

  Manato didn’t worry about it, making the sign of the hexagram and saying a prayer.

  “O Light, may Lumiaris’ divine protection be upon you... Cure.”

  Light shot out of Manato’s hands, closing up Haruhiro’s wound.

  I think I’m probably healed. But the pain won’t go away.

  Haruhiro breathed in, and in, and in. It hurt too much to breathe out. With time, the pain lessened. He could breathe properly. Haruhiro tried touching the right side of his chest. It was soaked with blood, but it didn’t hurt.

  “M-Manato...!” Ranta shouted. “Hurry up! W-We can’t keep this up...!”

 
“Manato shouted, “You’re fine now, right?!” and as soon as Haruhiro nodded, he took off running.

  Oh, right. In the time while Haruhiro was being healed after getting hit, the battle had kept going. He looked over towards the building. There was an intense battle going on, with Moguzo against the hobgob, and Ranta and Yume against the armored goblin. Was Manato planning to go assist Ranta and Yume?

  A bead of light from Shihoru’s Magic Missile spell struck the hobgob, but it didn’t even shake it. Haruhiro jumped hurriedly to his feet. With Manato going to help against the armored gob, they’d manage somehow. He needed to do something about the hobgob.

  “Moguzo, hang in there...!” Haruhiro called out to Moguzo as he took up a position behind the hobgob. Its attention must have been focused solely on Moguzo in front of it, because the hobgob didn’t even look at Haruhiro. It would be easy to line up a Backstab like this. Or, at least it should have been, but he just couldn’t get close enough.

  The hobgob’s height was somewhere between Haruhiro and Moguzo. It looked like it was thicker-set than Moguzo, too. Its spiked club looked to be made out of wood, but it was pretty thick. If one of them took a good hit from that thing, even Moguzo with his chain mail wouldn’t get off unharmed.

  Chain mail. Right. The hobgob’s chain mail is the problem. It’s not just on its upper body, it’s even wearing pants made out of linked chain. Then there’s the helmet on top of that. You could call it a perfect defense. Can I even do anything with my dagger?

  “Thanks...!” Moguzo let loose his special attack, the Thanks Slash.

  Haruhiro was ready to applaud for a second, but then found himself agape. Moguzo’s bastard sword had hit the hobgob’s left shoulder, and yet the hobgob merely staggered a little, not missing a beat before it counterattacked. Moguzo was almost too late in deflecting the incoming club. No, it was pushing him back. Moguzo’s stance fell apart.

  This is bad. Moguzo’s gonna get taken out.

  “Why, you...!” Haruhiro body-checked the hobgob, trying to stab it with his dagger. There was an unpleasant noise, but— No good, the blade wouldn’t go through. It bounced off. Still, the hobgob stumbled forward, then turned to face Haruhiro.

  The club’s coming.

  Haruhiro jumped out of the way.

  “Whoa?!”

  That’s scary. It didn’t even graze me. I had room to spare. But that was dangerous. It felt like my organs curled up inside me, like I was more dead than alive. Haruhiro backed away. He had no other choice.

  “I-I can’t do this...!”

  “Ohm, rel, ect, vel, darsh...!” Shihoru chanted a spell. A shadow elemental slammed into the hobgob’s flank, causing hyper-vibrations.

  Moguzo brought his bastard sword down on the convulsing hobgob. “Hungh!”

  A blow to the head. Sparks flew, the helmet was dented, and the hobgob staggered.

  Haruhiro shouted, “N-Now’s our chance!” and rushed in to help. He’d give it a flying kick. The hobgob was scary, but not if he could just knock it off its feet.

  Before he could jump, Manato called him.

  “Haruhiro, get over here! Ranta’s down...!”

  “What?!” He looked over to see Ranta on the ground, bleeding from the neck. “H-His neck...?!”

  Manato was trying to check Ranta’s wounds, which meant Yume needed to face the armored gob alone.

  Damn, that’s not good.

  Haruhiro charged at the armored gob which was shrieking and swinging a sharp sword at her as it chased after Yume.

  “Hey, gob, over here!”

  That caught its attention, but now he had to trade blows with it. Not that he could. The armored gob nimbly swung around a sword that was about the same length as Ranta’s longsword.

  Haruhiro ran around. It was taking all his effort just dodge, evade, and generally run away. The armored gob was more quick-witted than any goblin they had faced before. With the skillful swordplay it was demonstrating, he started to suspect it had undergone some sort of specialist training. If he carelessly tried to parry the armored gob’s blows with something as flimsy as a dagger, who knew what would happen to him. He worried whether Moguzo was all right on his own, but he couldn’t afford to look over to check.

  “Brush Clearer...!” Yume swung at the armored gob from behind, with a powerful sideways sweep with her machete. However, it appeared it had been anticipated. The armored gob turned and easily parried the machete, knocking it from Yume’s hands, then went on to follow it up with another attack.

  “Not happening...!” Haruhiro sprung himself at the armored gob. He didn’t want to think it, but maybe the gob had predicted this, too, as it turned around, swinging down its sword at him.

  Oh, crap! Haruhiro tired to catch the blow with his dagger. No good. I can’t stop it completely.

  There was a scream of metal on metal as the armored gob’s sword ran down the blade and, when he couldn’t stop it, even with the hand-guard, it bit into Haruhiro’s right arm.

  “Yowch...!” Haruhiro dropped his dagger. The armored gob pushed in further.

  He’s gonna cut me down, thought Haruhiro. This was a close call.

  “Anger...!” It was Ranta.

  Ranta leapt in from the side, thrusting. The armored gob crouched and got out of the way, not missing a breath before shifting to counterattack.

  Ranta fell back. Right away, he retreated diagonally. “Dammit! This is bull! You’re just a goddamn gob...!”

  Ranta wasn’t looking so good. He had gone pale, and he was sweating profusely. It looked like the wound had been healed, but that didn’t bring back all the blood he’d lost. Still, he had come just in the nick of time. Haruhiro had survived.

  It hurts, though. My right arm. That cut went really deep. I’ll pick up the dagger with my left. I can’t get my right arm to move. It hurts.

  “Haruhiro!” Manato rushed in, getting ready to use his light magic right away. “O Light, may Lumiaris’ divine protection be upon you... Cure.”

  Gritting his teeth and bearing the pain, Haruhiro checked his surroundings while Manato healed him. Moguzo was fending off the hobgob’s fierce attacks somehow, but he was having a really hard time of it. He was starting to look a little unsteady on his feet.

  They probably couldn’t count on any more support from Shihoru. She was crouched down, probably after overusing her magic. Ranta, somehow or other, was managing to slip away from the armored gob’s attacks. It looked like Yume was hurt somewhere, possibly her arm.

  “...Okay,” Manato touched Haruhiro’s right arm, then yelled to Yume. “Yume, get over here! I’ll cure you!”

  “Yume is fine! She can keep fightin’!”

  “Just get over here! Haruhiro, trade places with Yume!”

  “...On it!”

  Haruhiro did what Manato had said, but he had some misgivings. Is this going to be okay? Manato was running short of breath. Hasn’t he used magic too many times in a short span?

  But Haruhiro was a thief, he didn’t know much about magic. And besides, between himself and Manato, whose judgment did he trust more? Manato’s, of course. Haruhiro didn’t have that much self-confidence.

  It’ll be fine like this. It should be fine. It has to be.

  Haruhiro switched places with Yume.

  I want to attack the armored gob. But I just can’t get myself to do it. If I attack, I’m scared it’ll get me with a counterattack. Is it the same for Ranta? The armored gob is tough. There are no openings to attack. On top of that, it put on a helmet at some point. Plated armor and a helmet. This is hopeless. Even if I get a lucky hit with my dagger, it’ll bounce off. It’s questionable whether Ranta’s longsword would do any better. Maybe Moguzo’s bastard sword? But he has his hands full fighting the hobgob, and he’s probably losing that fight right now.

  We’ve already lost, he suddenly thought. Yeah. We’ve lost. We can’t win. There’s nothing we can do to win this. Honestly, I must have known. Must have realized it a while ago. This is what losi
ng looks like. We’re losing? If we lose, what happens to us? We get taken out? We die? All of us?

  Haruhiro looked over to Manato. Manato was still healing Yume. No, it looked like he’d finished. They were coming over his way now.

  “Haruhiro, go help Moguzo!” Manato said, and Haruhiro nodded reflexively.

  Is this okay? Well, I do need to help Moguzo. That’s for sure.

  Haruhiro tried to get behind the hobgob. That was when it happened.

  “Ngahhhhhh!” The hobgob let out a bestial roar, slamming its club into Moguzo. Moguzo turned his bastard sword sideways, blocking it with a grunt of exertion, but the hobgob didn’t stop. “Ngah! Ngah! Ngah!” It battered his bastard sword with its club. Again, and again harder. Its club was made out of wood, so why didn’t it break?

  Moguzo was unyielding. He held his bastard sword by the hilt and blade, blocking the club with it. He was managing to hold it off somehow, but the hobgob was at an overwhelming advantage.

  “Ngah! Ngah! Ngah! Ngah! Ngah! Ngahhhh...!!” it hollered.

  “Ungh...!” Moguzo was finally forced to take a knee. He was bleeding from the head. Had one of the club’s spikes gotten him? The hobgob kicked Moguzo down, trying to get on top of him.

  I can’t let that happen. It’ll be bad. Seriously, bad.

  Then next thing he knew, Haruhiro was grappling the hobgob from behind. It would have been nice if he could pin its arms behind its back, but that was impossible. The hobgob thrashed around violently, trying to throw him off as Haruhiro held on for dear life. “Whoa! Ohh! Whoaaaaaaa...?!”

  “You’re doing fine, Haruhiro! Keep buying time like that...!” Manato was trying to treat Moguzo, apparently.

  And you want me to keep this up while you do that? You’re kidding me, right? No way, it’s not even possible.

  The hobgob cried, “Ngah!” and elbowed Haruhiro as he clung to its back.

  That got me in the belly. It doesn’t just hurt; I’m feeling faint. Not good. If I pass out, that’s the end. If it throws me off, it’ll be seriously bad. I’ll die. I’ll absolutely die.

  “Ah...!”