Chapter 4
To Each Their Own Adventure
“Oh wow, so you have threads all through the armor that let you control it like a puppet.”
Peering into Mister Crawly Wawly’s armor, Rit was impressed by the complex yet efficient system.
“The armor’s lighter than it looks, but it’s still incredible you can move it with such a small body,” I said.
Mister Crawly Wawly seemed to sway happily at the compliment.
“But why are you wearing armor?”
It was the obvious question.
He traced a picture on the ground, using the armor’s boots to explain.
“Ahh, I see. You can’t go to places with people, but you can when you’re in armor…so you do this when you need to meet a person who doesn’t know you already?”
The helmet nodded.
With this, he could even communicate with strangers.
Mister Crawly Wawly stuck a card out from a gap in the armor.
““An adventurer’s identification card?!””
The name “Aaaa” was written on it.
Rit and I looked over the card again and again, wide-eyed with shock.
“E-rank adventurer Aaaa. I know Zoltan’s Adventurers Guild is careless, but I still can’t believe you managed to register under a fake name.”
“Who approved it…? Max, maybe?”
“Yeah. He definitely has moments when he just signs things without reading them.”
It was customary in Zoltan not to probe too deeply into people’s pasts, and there wasn’t too much trouble you could get up to with just an E-rank adventurer registration.
In fact, the adventurers in Zoltan are a lot more peaceful than in any other town I’ve seen.
“People will trust you if you show them this card, so I guess that’s enough to pass yourself off as a person.”
That would work well for someone clever like Mister Crawly Wawly, even if he couldn’t talk. Adventuring wasn’t just about fighting—it was also about resolving problems with the abilities you could bring to the table. Thinking about it like that, I imagine he made a pretty good adventurer.
“You’re not with Tisse?” Rit asked.
Mister Crawly shook his head.
“You go out on your own a lot,” I said.
“It feels like you’re always with Tisse, but you have your own adventures, too, don’t you?”
Mister Crawly Wawly and I had once recovered a horse that had been taken by a griffin. Tisse and Mister Crawly Wawly were best friends and partners, but they were equals who both had their own lives.
“Is there something you’re investigating that made you have to pretend to be a person?”
Mister Crawly Wawly drew a sketch on the ground.
“Hmm… Lately, there’s been fires in the forest late at night causing problems for the animals, and nobody knows what the cause is. You were asked to look into it, so you went out to investigate last night, and although you couldn’t figure out the cause, someone was there. Earlier, when you were at the Adventurers Guild, you heard about a request from a nearby village about suspicious fires in the woods, so you think the person was probably an adventurer looking into it. That’s why, tonight, you wanted to try approaching them as a person and asking them about it… That pretty much it?”
“I’m amazed you can make out that level of detail.”
Rit looked surprised, but Mister Crawly Wawly and I got along well. I’d started to be able to understand what he was thinking from his gestures and movements.
“In that case, maybe I should come, too!” Rit said. “I’m a pretty reliable adventurer myself.”
The armor clanked and shook, and Mister Crawly Wawly appeared from inside it, jumping up and down.
“Can I join the party, too? Despite how it looks, I used to be a member of the former Hero’s party, so I’m also pretty reliable,” I said jokingly.
Mister Crawly Wawly raised both his front legs and swayed delightedly.
Tonight’s party was the hero Rit, the apothecary Red, and the reliable spider Mister Crawly Wawly.
“… ”
Mister Crawly Wawly was practically humming, apparently pleased to have some comrades along on his adventure. Seeing his reaction was reason enough to make me glad we’d come with him.
We’d left his armor behind inside the shop. Mister Crawly Wawly had used that to pass for a human, but with Rit and me in the party, he didn’t need it anymore…which was a bit of a shame.
Running was really tiring, but apparently making the armor walk around wasn’t really a problem for him. By carefully manipulating the center of balance, depending on whichever foot was on the ground, even small Mister Crawly Wawly could move a human-sized set of armor.
It would take longer for him to get around that way, though, so we’d put it away when Rit and I had gone to pick up our swords.
“I can’t belieeeve it…”
Rit was a lot more dejected about it than I was.
“I was so curious about how Armored Mister Crawly Wawly would fight.”
She’d even given him a special name.
Sitting on my shoulder, Mister Crawly Wawly looked up at me with a troubled look on his face.
“We should spar next time!” Rit exclaimed.
“You and Mister Crawly Wawly?!”
She couldn’t be serious…
But Mister Crawly Wawly seemed up for it, and he cheerfully waved his front legs.
“Really?! Hooray!” cheered Rit.
Well, they wouldn’t be sparring seriously so much as playfully demonstrating their techniques, so I guessed it’d be fine.
It wasn’t as if Mister Crawly Wawly had any particular interest in fighting. He probably didn’t even enjoy sparring. He was just glad that his friend Rit had gotten over her disappointment and was happy.
He’s a kind spider who can empathize with his friends. If his companions are happy, then he feels happy, too. He’d taken this quest the forest animals had asked of him because he wanted to cheer up his sad friends.
That’s what made him so strong.
With the light of the moon obscured, the forest was so dark that we couldn’t see our own feet without a lantern.
There was no such obstacle for the sounds, though. Unlike noisy summer insects, there was almost a lonesome quality to the chirps in the woods.
“There aren’t any monsters around.”
Holding a lantern meant alerting all the monsters in the woods to your location, but there was no sign of anything coming.
Mister Crawly Wawly tapped my shoulder.
“Even the monsters are troubled by the fires?”
Apparently, they were willing to let us pass, since we were here trying to resolve the issue.
It was a sight you’d never see when taking a job from a person. All in all, it was a pretty interesting experience.
“I sense someone over there.”
There was a serious look on Rit’s face.
Was it the adventurer Mister Crawly Wawly had spotted last time?
I prepared myself and focused my thoughts.
“Should we extinguish the lantern?” I asked.
“No, it’s probably better to go like this instead of frightening them and putting them on edge.”
“True. That sound good to you, Mister Crawly Wawly?”
I ran it by him, seeing as he was the leader of the party.
“…!”
It looked like he agreed.
We continued down the animal trail through the forest. After we walked a bit farther, the person moved. They’d noticed us.
“Heeey!” I called out.
The silhouette of a rotund man stood up.
“We’re adventurers investigating the suspicious fires in the woods here. Are you an adventurer, too?”
“Yes, I am.”
We’d gotten a reply.
The lantern light reached the man, illuminating his face. He had a round belly and an ax at his hip.
“We thought as much. Am I right in assuming you’re investigating the same thing?”
I approached, trying to appear amicable. It was an encounter in the woods at night, so I had to be careful not to come across as a bandit.
“Eek!!”
But upon seeing my face, the man let out a squeal and frantically turned away.
At the same time…
“He’s not human!” Rit shouted.
I’d noticed it, too, seeing his face and the way he moved.
“An ax demon!”
It was a demon in human form—a survivor of the ax demons summoned by Bighawk to make the Devil’s Blessing!
“He’s a bit far away, but…!”
I activated my Lightning Speed and closed the distance in one fell swoop. I didn’t know much about the situation, so killing the demon would be premature, but I could take out its legs to stop it from moving!
I drew my sword and took aim at the fleeing ax demon.
“Wait!!”
A small shadow leaped out of the darkness, and a katana clashed with my sword, sending sparks flying.
I was going to launch another attack, but…
“…Habotan?!”
The person who’d protected the ax demon and stopped my sword was none other than Habotan in her ninja outfit.
“This ax demon is this one’s comrade, so please withdraw your blade!”
“Okay.” Shocked, I withdrew my sword as she’d asked.
“Phew. Thank you, Sir Red.” Habotan sheathed her katana.
“No, I should apologize for attacking.”
I made sure she wasn’t hurt, then breathed a sigh of relief.
“Eeeeek!”
Still in human form, the ax demon fell backward onto its bottom.
“Red! What’s going on?!” Rit had caught up.
Habotan helped the ax demon up and smiled. “Allow this one to introduce her comrade, Sir Frank!”
“Ah, th-th-that’s, um, hello, I’m Frank.” The man bowed his head repeatedly.
“So, Habotan, the comrade you were talking about is an ax demon?”
I knew there was something suspicious going on here.
“I can’t believe there are still any of Bighawk’s underlings around.”
Bighawk was a man who’d made a deal with a contract demon and had led the residents of Southmarsh to try to become king of Zoltan. Rit and I had fought him last year, which had resulted in Ruti coming to Zoltan.
There had also been a young man named Bui who’d turned out to be the Asura Shisandan in human form.
Shisandan was a powerful demon who could even be called Rit’s and Ruti’s archenemy, but it was also thanks to him that we had the lives we did now.
You really do never know what life might bring.
“Sir Frank is a money collector for the Thieves Guild.”
So he’d been passing as human this whole time?
“People give ex-Bighawk guys the cold shoulder, so this is perfect for blending in.”
Hiding as a low-level grunt with a face no one remembered seemed like the best way to get by.
“But why’d you stay in Zoltan? What was your goal in hiding your identity?”
Ax demons were lower-tier demons, so they weren’t particularly strong among others of their kind. That said, they were still powerful enough to overwhelm the average adventurer and would be able to single-handedly destroy a small town if it didn’t have a strong military.
Why had a creature like that been hiding in Zoltan for over a year…?
“Sir Frank is living a quiet life.”
“That’s right.”
The ax demon nodded at Habotan’s explanation.
Huh?
“But you’re a demon…”
“Is that really something the Hero’s brother should be saying, when you’re living a quiet life yourself?”
He had me there.
“Uh-uh, no way, I’ve never heard of a peaceful demon. And I’ll bet you came to Zoltan in response to Bighawk’s summoning.”
“Well, that’s true. The thing is, though, with a demon summoning, if the summoner dies, there’s no going back to where you were before.”
“Ah, right. There have been incidents where the mage who summoned a demon died, and the freed demon got up to some sort of evil.”
“Tell me, how exactly am I supposed to get back to the dark continent after getting dragged out here?”
“Couldn’t you have just joined up with the demon lord’s armies? They still controlled a lot of territory back then.”
“If I’d gone there, I wouldn’t have gotten home. I would have just died as a sacrificial pawn.”
I guess lower-tier demons had it rough, too.
“And if I made too much noise, the Hero would find me and put an end to me, right? So I had no other choice but to make a living as a low-level grunt in the Thieves Guild.”
The ax demon gestured dramatically, trying to impress on us just how hard it’d been for him.
Hmm, sounds like it’s been behaving…
“But you would have taken jobs robbing and pillaging if the situation had allowed it, wouldn’t you?” Rit pointed out.
“No, no, not at all…”
His eyes had started darting all around.
This ax demon’s situation had kept him from causing trouble, but he was by no means virtuous.
Still…
“If you’re working for Habotan, it should be fine.”
Habotan was the demon lord’s daughter and a demon of the highest order. A lower-tier ax demon couldn’t disobey her. It would be her loyal servant.
When Habotan eventually left to reclaim her kingdom, this ax demon would be one of the retainers by her side.
…That said, demons didn’t have a whole lot of individual differences and had a clear hierarchy. Once Habotan got a full contingent of upper-tier demons, Frank would probably be kicked off the main team.
I almost felt a sense of kinship with him.
“You’re Habotan’s subordinate, so that’s good enough for me. You’re going by ‘Frank’? You probably already know, but I’m Red, this is my fiancée Rit, and this is my friend Mister Crawly Wawly. Let’s get along while you’re in Zoltan.”
“Y-yes, sir! I won’t let you down!” Frank bowed obsequiously.
People feared demons for their evil deeds. There had only been a few ax demons on this continent before the invasion, and they were infamous for being cruel mercenaries and bandits.
I never thought I’d see one looking like this.
“Getting back to the subject at hand, we’re investigating suspicious fires in the woods here. Are you two doing the same?” Rit asked.
Habotan nodded. “Yes. We took this quest from the Adventurers Guild and were investigating. It is a training exercise given to this one by Lady Torahime.”
“Torahime decides the quests you take?”
“She is selecting quests befitting this one’s current strength.”
I see. In other words, one of the former four heavenly kings of the demon lord’s army had judged based on her experience that an unexpectedly powerful opponent wouldn’t appear here.
“That’s a relief. Let’s share what we know and continue the investigation.”
““Yes, sir!”” Habotan and Sir Frank responded eagerly.
With that, we became a party of five: the hero Rit, the apothecary Red, the reliable Mister Crawly Wawly, the demon lord’s ninja daughter Habotan, and the ax demon living a quiet life as Frank.
Mister Crawly Wawly hopped up and down excitedly as our unusual party increased.
We soon found ourselves in a burnt field where one of the fires had happened. It was filled with plants that had turned to black charcoal.
“It’s still hot. Be careful, Mister Crawly Wawly.”
With a look of acknowledgment, Mister Crawly Wawly hopped down from my shoulder. However, he stopped in midair without touching the ground.
Spiderwebs sure are handy.
“Mister Crawly Wawly and I are gonna examine the area together, so let us know if you find anything.”
““Okay!””
We split up to investigate the scene of the fire.
From what we could see, nothing about it seemed particularly strange.
Rit and Habotan both said they couldn’t see any traces of magic.
“It doesn’t look like the fire happened because of a fight, either.”
It appeared to be a completely natural fire that had started from a single point and spread out—other than the fact that it had happened in the middle of a forest where there didn’t seem to be anything that could’ve caused the spark to start it.
Just then, Mister Crawly Wawly started gesturing as if he’d found something.
“Huh? What is it?”
He pointed at the ground with his front legs.
“…This is where the fire started?”
It was a perfectly normal object; however, it had no business being here, in the depths of the woods, far from human hands.
“Firewood.”
It was burnt, and only the charred remains were left, but it was clearly unnatural. The wood didn’t grow here—it was silver oak brought in from outside Zoltan. And it had been cut to the proper size from a log and dried out.
There was no doubt about it: This firewood didn’t belong here.
“What’s it doing here?”
The most obvious line of thought was that someone had come here, but…
“There’s no sign of a campfire, and there are only a few pieces.”
What could it mean?
As Mister Crawly Wawly and I were pondering that question…
“Ah!” Frank yelled.
We looked over to see him digging at the ground.
“What is it?”
Thinking he’d found something, Rit also stopped her investigation to look over.
“A ground rat.”
“A ground rat?”
Frank had dug up a single dead rodent.
“Looks like it got cooked up nicely in the ground.”
He opened his mouth and popped the little creature in.
“A bit rotten, but still good!”
He chewed at it contentedly.
“Urk,” Rit said with a grimace.
I was sure I was making the exact same face.
Frank might have looked human, but he was definitely a demon.
“Hm? What’s up, Mister Crawly Wawly?”
He was looking down at the ground, deep in thought.
“Are you wondering why the rat was underground like that?”
He nodded. Then he started gesturing to convey what was bothering him.
“You’re saying those rats go underground to escape predators, and that if it was a fire, they would’ve just run across the ground to get away…?”
Mister Crawly Wawly was right to be suspicious.
Firewood and the rat… There must be some explanation.
Thinking about it a bit…
“…Ah!”
I thought of one possibility.
“Did you discover something, Sir Red?”
“Yeah, probably. We need to hurry to the closest village.”
“Huh? You wish to leave the forest?!” Habotan asked.
I smiled at her.
“I don’t know where the next fire will happen, but I’m sure the arsonist will go to that village.”
The closest village turned out to be about a kilometer away from the woods, and judging by the number of houses, there were maybe twenty people who lived here.
It was already late in the night, so all the villagers seemed to be asleep.
A light shone in the center of the village.
Small settlements like this usually had a fire burning all through the night, to make sure they could see any monsters or bandits in case of an attack.
“Is the arsonist in this village, Red?” Rit asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It looks like they’re not here yet.”
“They’re not?”
“Let’s hide and wait for now.”
We hid in the shadows cast by the light.
The sound of insects was all that filled the air as we waited.
After an hour or so had passed…
“!!”
A dark shadow cut across the moon.
It’s here!
“…!”
I signaled for everyone to keep waiting.
I was sure that was the culprit, but we had to catch them in the act.
The shadow flew through the sky…and the fire hawk swiftly descended without a sound.
Sticking its feet into the burning fire, it clutched one of the logs in its talons and started to fly back up into the sky.
“It was hunting using that!”
I leaped out, drawing my sword.
Fire hawks were birdlike monsters that stole from manmade fires and used the flames to hunt, causing forest fires and preying on the fleeing animals.
“…!”
It reacted immediately.
Kicking the flaming logs to scatter them, it immediately spread its wings and took off.
The sky was its domain. No matter how sharp their sword was, a person couldn’t reach them from the ground.
That was probably what it was thinking…but it was underestimating us.
“…!”
Its eyes filled with shock.
“Too bad, but we can fly, too!”
Rit, Habotan, and I all closed in on the fire hawk.
We leaped up to the height the bird was flying at using Mister Crawly Wawly’s threads, which he’d spun earlier for us to use as footholds.
I had the Acrobatics skill, Rit’s blessing was designed for light combat, and Habotan was a ninja.
All three of us could handle ourselves fighting in midair.
“Haaah!”
“Hiyaaah!”
“Prepare yourself!”
A combined attack by me, Rit, and Habotan.
Without even a chance to defend itself, the fire hawk was cut down and fell to the ground.
“Owww.”
Frank groaned and rubbed his forehead.
The log kicked by the fire hawk had hit him in the brow, leaving a bump and a burn.
Fire hawks had dangerously powerful legs, and their attacks were capable of breaking a normal person’s bones. But for the ax demon Frank, it had just left a bump on the head.
He hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing while we were in the air. He had gathered up the firewood with Mister Crawly Wawly to make sure none of the homes nearby caught fire.
It was a surprisingly thoughtful reaction for an ax demon, who normally specialized in destruction.
Was that just Frank’s individual personality showing?
Thanks to that, the village hadn’t suffered so much as a scorch mark, and everything was settled without incident.
“Fire hawks are weak to the cold. They migrate south for winter, but it’s rare for them to come to Zoltan,” I explained from memory.
It was a monster I’d never fought before. I’d never heard of them causing issues in Zoltan before, either. I thought they usually went farther west along the edge of the coast…so had it gotten separated from its flock?
“A fire hawk? So you have them here, too?” Frank asked.
He dipped the fire hawk’s wing in blood, then sucked it.
Urk…
“We’re in a village here.”
At least try a bit harder to hide your identity.
But Frank just looked puzzled, not understanding what I was getting at.
I was amazed he’d made it this long without getting caught.
This wasn’t something we should be talking about in the village, though, so we left.
“There are fire hawks on the dark continent?” Rit asked.
Frank nodded. “More than over here, I’d say. There’s less farming and more nomadic herding, so it’s probably easier for fire hawks to get by. I had to drive them away all the time.”
Apparently, land in the dark continent was all-around less fertile. Because of that, they’d developed nomadic pastoralism aboveground, as well as agriculture belowground, using specialized crops. Some races had also established kingdoms underground.
“So you know a lot about fire hawks?”
“I suppose so. And it’s pretty normal for them to go off their migration route.”
“Really? Is there a reason why?”
“Yeah, they’re migratory, but their sense of direction isn’t as good as a bird’s.”
“Huh.”
“So whenever they migrate, they mix in with flocks of normal hawks.”
“Interesting.”
It probably wasn’t that fire hawks lacked a sense of direction but that the direction sense of actual migratory birds was exceptional. Their ability to accurately navigate the sky without a map went beyond the abilities of humans and most monsters.
“They blend into the flock and act like they’re normal hawks, but as big as they are, they sometimes get caught. When that happens, the hawks all fly away, leaving the fire hawk alone and lost, and they end up in the wrong place.”
“Right. So that’s how it ended up in Zoltan?”
“Probably. Which means there shouldn’t be any other fire hawks around. I think by killing this one, the issue’s most likely resolved.”
Fire hawks are monster arsonists. They don’t just attack animals, either, but also children. Their hunting posed a danger to both the animals of the forest and people nearby.
Mister Crawly Wawly looked at me, as if trying to convey something.
We’d had no choice but to kill it…but I decided to bury it in the woods rather than hand the corpse over to the guild.
I’m sure it wouldn’t feel lonely that way, becoming a part of the lively forest.
A dungeon deep in a forest of the Kingdom of Avalonia.
Harmon held up a lantern and continued through the expansive labyrinth sprawling out beneath the earth.
It had been quite some time since they’d entered, and he could no longer tell whether it was day or night. Having only ever fought as a soldier, exploring an underground dungeon was a new experience for him.
“It’s hard to believe there’s such a massive tomb down here that no one knew about,” Harmon said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
“That which is underground cannot be seen, which is why the dead are buried beneath the earth,” Taraxon responded.
Harmon shook his head. “I don’t get it. This is the tomb of the previous Hero, right? The great Hero who saved the world. Why hide it from people?”
This underground facility hidden by cloaking magic was called the Hero’s Tomb. It was the final resting place of the previous Hero who’d fought the demon lord several hundred years ago, bringing about the age of mankind.
“There are three ahead,” Bui warned.
The three of them raised their swords and advanced.
Three giants soon appeared. They were painful to look at, crawling across the ground with staves sticking out all over their bodies. Blood vessels the size of a human fist throbbed on their skin.
“No matter how many times I see them, I can’t believe the legendary Sage Lilith made this sort of a monster.”
Sage Lilith had been a comrade of the previous Hero and the founding mother of Gaiapolis, the first human kingdom.
According to Taraxon, the monsters crawling around the Hero’s Tomb were giants that had been modified while still alive. Taking advantage of their nature to draw energy from their environment, the giants had been set as nigh-eternal guardians for the sealed tomb.
“Lilith was a great woman who both saved and dominated the world. We can leave it at that,” Bui said with a faint smile.
Harmon raised his eyebrows, dodging a giant’s attack and calmly breaking its defense. Bui used the opening to attack, dealing a wound deep enough to make Lilith’s modified giant recoil.
The monsters in the Hero’s Tomb were by no means weak. Even an A-rank adventurer’s party would have struggled…meaning that these monsters required a strength greater even than that of Rit the hero to defeat. They were monsters far beyond Harmon, who was just a simple soldier.
And yet he fearlessly supported Taraxon and Bui in their fight.
From his experience surviving battles against a superior opponent like the demon lord’s army, Harmon had gained a strength that surpassed Divine Blessings.
“Truly wonderful.”
The most powerful Demon Lord Taraxon and the great swordsman Bui, who’d crossed swords with the Hero and Danan, found Harmon’s support reassuring.
They couldn’t use large-scale attacks that might cause the dungeon to collapse around them, and the giants had been modified to be able to fight at their best in this terrain. Fighting in a situation like this, where the opponent had such an advantage, was stressful—even for the demon lord.
The two of them both valued Harmon and considered him their comrade.
The battle ended with none of them injured.
“Haah, I’m exhausted,” Harmon said, dropping his sword limply to his side.
He’d been fighting so hard that any ordinary soldier would’ve collapsed long ago from fatigue.
Taraxon was impressed, wondering if Harmon had learned how to manage his stamina like that on the battlefield.
“Sorry, can we take a little rest?”
“Of course. You joining us has been a great help.”
“Really? That’s nice of you to say… Still, though, a comrade of the previous Hero, huh?”
“Are you still having trouble accepting it?”
“Well, I fought behind the Hero on the battlefield before. She even saved my life. So the Hero’s something special to me.”
“You’ve fought with the Hero before?”
“Lady Ruti. She kept on fighting without ever getting tired. I learned how to fight longer so I could keep up with her even just a little more.”
“Hero Ruti? Apparently, she made quite an impact during the war.”
“Yeah, I doubt she’d remember a lowly grunt like me…but I really looked up to her. If I’m any help to you now, it’s because I saw Ruti the Hero back then,” Harmon said with a wistful smile. “She went missing, though. They say she died in battle.”
“In a war, even great heroes can fall.”
“She stood out in front, fighting, being hurt for everyone’s sake…to die without any reward… Don’t you think that’s too cruel?”
“…I’m sure the Hero is able to fight because there are people who feel that way.”
Just then, a monster’s roar and a woman’s voice rang out.
“What?”
Even Taraxon was surprised.
There was someone else other than them in this hidden Hero’s Tomb.
“They’re fighting. What shall we do?” asked Bui.
“We don’t know the situation, but we can’t just leave it be. Harmon, can you keep going?”
“If someone’s in danger, then I can fight. I’m one of the Hero’s soldiers!”
Harmon thumped the armor he was wearing.
Seeing that, Bui smiled a genuine smile.
The three of them ran toward the sounds of combat and dropped down a ladder into a shaft. There, they saw a high elf woman with a quarterstaff and a witch wearing a big hat fighting five giants.
“We’ll help!”
Taraxon leaped out, and Bui and Harmon followed.
“I don’t know who you are, but thanks!”
The high elf deflected a giant’s attack and formed a seal.
“Thorn Bind!”
Green vines sprouted from the stone floor, wrapping around three of the giants’ bodies.
“Oh, a Singer of the Trees?”
In that opening, Taraxon and Bui removed the giants’ heads.
Furious at seeing its comrades slain, a giant swung its arm at the high elf.
“Watch out!”
Harmon leaped out from behind her, his sword thrust forward. The giant flailed around, knocking Harmon across the floor with his sword still stuck in the monster. A chill ran down his back as Harmon realized he was defenseless and surrounded by enemies.
“Polar Ray.”
A silver light erupted from the witch’s finger, piercing the giant and freezing it.
The last remaining giant tried to attack Harmon, wanting to take at least one enemy down with it, but Taraxon and the high elf had already moved to cover him. The elf’s quarterstaff shattered the monster’s knee and rendered it unable to move, and Taraxon’s katana sliced through it.
“Phew.”
Harmon exhaled, sitting there with his heart still racing.
“Are you all right?” the high elf asked.
She was a beautiful woman, with silver hair and distinctive earrings dangling from her leaflike ears.
“Guess I didn’t make a great impression there.”
Harmon had intended to help and had ended up having to be saved instead.
“No, your attack was very brave. Thank you.”
The woman bowed, and Harmon got up in a fluster at seeing a noble high elf lower her head.
“You should thank Taraxon and Bui if you’re gonna thank anyone! I’m Harmon Pearlman, a simple soldier.”
“Taraxon…?”
The high elf’s expression clouded over for just a moment, but her cheerful smile quickly returned.
“I’m Yarandrala. Nice to meet you.”
Yarandrala beckoned to her witch comrade, who was farther back.
“I am the Winter Witch Baba Yaga,” she said with a bewitching smile. “It’s good to meet you, brave soldier.”
An encounter with heroes inside the Hero’s Tomb.
Yet Harmon knew nothing of its significance.
Yarandrala set a barrier that covered the area.
“We should be able to rest a bit now.”
“I see. A spirit magic barrier works well for monsters created by a sage,” Taraxon said with a nod.
Sages could use both the arcane arts of a mage and a clerical magic of a priest, but not spirit magic.
“Uh, Ms. Yarandrala,” Harmon said nervously. “Yarandrala, a high elf Singer of the Trees… You wouldn’t happen to be the Yarandrala who was in the Hero’s party, would you?”
Yarandrala looked at Harmon as if sizing him up.
Their gazes clashed for a few seconds. Harmon’s stare was filled with curiosity and admiration, matching the elf’s without looking away.
She smiled.
“That’s right. It wasn’t for long, but I did fight alongside Ruti.”
Yarandrala had been in the Hero’s party from the battle in Loggervia until the defeat of Desmond of the Earth. When Gideon was kicked out of the party, Yarandrala had left as well.
Yet even then, as the woman who’d led the party through the bewitching woods to save the Duchy of Loggervia and one of the people who’d orchestrated the historic reconciliation between Avalonia and the Cataphract Kingdom, Yarandrala was a legend whose feats had given courage to the soldiers fighting on the battlefield.
“I-it’s such an honor to meet you!!”
Harmon stood up and started to salute, but Yarandrala stopped him with a wry smile.
“I’m just a regular adventurer now. The real question is, what’s a human doing here in the Hero’s Tomb? This place was concealed by magic. Without Baba Yaga’s help, I wouldn’t have found it myself.”
“I just came along, since my friends said they were going someplace dangerous,” Harmon said, glancing at Taraxon.
Yarandrala turned to face the other man.
“There is a relic of the previous Hero lying here in this tomb that I must find, so I came to investigate,” Taraxon explained. “…I would like to ask you as well.”
He looked at the smirking witch beside Yarandrala.
“Am I correct in assuming you to be the revered Winter Witch Baba Yaga, a member of the previous Hero’s party?”
“You are, indeed,” the witch replied calmly. “I was a comrade of the previous Hero, who saw his journey to its end.”
The Winter Witch Baba Yaga.
A legendary figure of Avalonia and the leader of the Overseer Alliance, one of only three S-rank parties in the world.
“A comrade of the previous Hero?! But that was hundreds of years ago!” Harmon exclaimed.
“Compared to saving the world, overcoming time is not so difficult. Sage Lilith granted these giants eternal life, did she not?” Baba Yaga said.
Harmon looked confused, and the witch snickered at the simple soldier.
“Comrades of the previous generation’s Hero and the current generation’s Hero together. How interesting.”
“Hehe, yes, indeed it is. It seems fate alone is beyond the grasp of God.”
Taraxon and Baba Yaga chuckled, but Yarandrala openly scowled.
“It’s a bad habit of strong people to just laugh things off. You should share your knowledge with your comrades.”
Taraxon and Bui both laughed out loud.
“Sorry, you’re right.”
“I do it, too, so let’s all be careful going forward.”
Taraxon roared with laughter, finding it especially funny for some reason, then turned serious again.
“Bui and I have need of the Hero’s relic, but why are you here?” he asked Yarandrala.
“To investigate the demon lord.”
“The war is over, is it not?”
“I’m not investigating for the sake of the world, but for my dear friend.”
“Oh,” said Taraxon, looking impressed.
“My investigations led me to Baba Yaga.”
“I saw the Hero’s journey all the way to the end, crossing the dark continent and battling the demon lord,” said the witch.
“Yet this is the previous Hero’s Tomb. I would think there’s very little to find here related to the demon lord,” commented Bui.
Baba Yaga shook her head.
“Lilith understood the demon lord. However, having that knowledge would be dangerous, so she sealed it away in this tomb without passing it on to anyone.”
“Hmm.”
“I want what she tried to monopolize. I am here because I judged that with Yarandrala’s power, it would be possible to reach the end of this dungeon.”
Taraxon stroked his chin in thought.
“In that case, our goals are not in conflict.”
“So it seems,” Yarandrala agreed.
“I suggest we form an impromptu party until we clear this dungeon. What do you say?”
“Fine by me. It’s clear from the earlier battle that both sides are quite capable.”
“Our party was lacking in spell casters, so that is reassuring,” said Bui.
“Really? Both of you seem like you can also use a considerable amount of magic.”
Taraxon and Bui smiled beneath Yarandrala’s sharp gaze.
They would cooperate, but they didn’t trust each other.
Both sides understood that.
“Haah, I don’t really get how strong people think,” Harmon said. “All of you are just beating around the bush.”
Although their goals aligned, none of them were willing to reveal what they’d do once they got their hands on what they wanted.
Feeling awkward in the moment, Harmon just shrugged.
“Ms. Baba Yaga, can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly.”
“It wasn’t like this in the Hero’s party, was it? You, Sage Lilith, and the Hero must’ve gotten along while you were traveling, right?”
Harmon’s words were filled with the hope that they’d shared a deep level of trust.
But Baba Yaga shook her head.
“It may have been that way at first; however, when we realized that the Hero we believed in was an empty puppet being manipulated by his blessing, we also realized that we had never been true comrades.”
It didn’t really make sense to Harmon, but he felt like there was despair lurking behind her smile and in the depths of her eyes.
After an hour’s nap, the party resumed their exploration.
Overcoming furious battles and terrifying traps, the party eventually reached the previous Hero’s final resting place.
Taraxon and Bui took the proof of the Hero.
Yarandrala took Lilith’s sealed notes.
Baba Yaga took the Hero’s corpse.
And Harmon took the simple compass that had been used by the Hero.
By the time they got what they’d come for and exited the Hero’s Tomb, it was already starting to get light outside.
Noon, at Red & Rit’s Apothecary.
With last night’s adventure done, I found myself peacefully making medicines in the workroom, accompanied by a rhythmic grinding sound.
Our stock of medicinal herbs was getting low, but Ruti was planning to come by later with more.
The quality of the herbs from her plantation had improved quite a lot. They were getting to be even more effective than what I could gather up in the mountains. Ruti seemed to be struggling to turn a profit, but the plantation was gaining a reputation among the apothecaries and doctors in Zoltan, so I imagined the number of orders would increase.
“All right, this should be enough for a week.”
I felt satisfied looking at all the medicines lined up.
“I’ve got the cosmetics Storm wanted, too, so I’ll deliver those once I take Ruti’s delivery.”
I looked out the window and let out a yawn.
It must be because I was up late last night.
In the past, even if I hadn’t slept, I’d been trained not to let it show. My skills from fighting in the war must have gotten rusty…
“I’ve only been training my sword techniques at a hobby level as well. At this rate, I’ll turn into an old man apothecary in no time.”
I could already imagine myself with a beard and a bit of a paunch, standing behind the counter.
“Mmm, I’d like to stay handsome for Rit.”
Maybe I should ask Mister Crawly Wawly to invite me along when he goes on another adventure.
Just as I was putting the freshly made medicine away on the shelves…
“Big Brother.”
I heard Ruti’s voice from the shop.
I left the back room and came out to meet her. She was standing in the store with a bag on her back.
“I came to deliver the herbs.”
“Thanks, I was waiting for those.”
We went straight to the workroom so I could inspect the delivery.
“Yeah, these are all good.”
“Yay!”
They were proof of Ruti’s growth. Filled with joy, I paid her for the herbs.
“I’m planning to go make a delivery after this, but what are you up to? Wanna have some tea before you go?” I asked.
“You’re going out?” responded Ruti.
“Yeah, I’m going to deliver the makeup Storm asked for.”
“How long will that take?”
“Hm? I’m just going to drop it off, so not long. I’m sure he’s busy making the bottles we’re going to use for the Harvest Festival, so I was planning on coming straight back so I didn’t get in his way.”
Right, maybe I should make him a sandwich, too. The last time I saw him, it seemed like he’d been cutting back on time spent making food to work.
“In that case, Big Brother, I have a request.”
“You do?”
“You went on an adventure with Mister Crawly Wawly last night.”
“Yeah, it was an unusual experience.”
“No fair. I want to have an adventure with you, too.”
“Huh?”
“We haven’t had many adventures together since I came to Zoltan. It’s not fair.”
“We haven’t?”
“I’m losing to Mister Crawly Wawly.”
“…Now that you mention it, I have done things with him pretty often.”
Well, if Ruti’s around, she can resolve pretty much everything without needing my help.
“I got a request from the Adventurers Guild today. A simple quest that should only take half a day. I want you to give me a hand. We’ll split the reward evenly.”
If you asked me whether Ruti needed my help on an adventure, then the answer would obviously be not at all, but…
“Tisse needs to watch over the plantation, and it’ll be annoying for me to go alone.”
It was endearing to see her try to convince me like that.
It was a request from my adorable little sister. If she says she needs me, then she does.
“Okay. You don’t mind if I join the party?”
“Of course not! You’re always welcome.”
She took my hands, and her expression softened into a smile.
After that, I went to Stormthunder’s furniture store with Ruti, carrying a bag filled with the makeup he’d asked for and a sandwich.
“He’s open for business?”
It looked like Storm wasn’t in such a rush that he’d had to close for the day to focus on work.
“Welcome in! Oh, it’s you.”
But it took Storm longer than usual to come out after the doorbell rang.
He really must have been pushing himself harder than normal with work. That was why I didn’t bother getting annoyed by the gruff way he’d greeted me when I’d come to make a delivery he’d asked for.
“Thanks for coming right when I’m working my ass off,” Storm said.
“I brought the makeup you asked for, but I can come back if you’re busy.”
“Wait, wait!!” he said, hurriedly stopping me. “Sorry, it was just a little joke, same as always.”
“I promised to go on an adventure with my little sister after this, so I’ll gladly put any requests from an old half-orc aside for later.”
“I said I’m sorry… You’re spending today with Ruti?”
“Yep! Big Brother and I are going on a grand adventure,” Ruti said, puffing out her chest.
She’s so adorable.
“So let’s get the product check over quickly.”
“Yeah, okay. Just whose request do you think it is that’s got me so busy?”
We bantered back and forth a bit while conducting our business.
It was coming to Zoltan that had allowed me to make friends like this. Honestly, I couldn’t help but feel a little touched.
“This is a cream, and this is a lipstick. The cream can be used for sensitive skin and will work for pretty much anyone. I made the lipstick a color that will stand out in the evening light.”
“Oh, I don’t know a thing about makeup, but you seem to know your stuff.”
“I have Rit to help. She talked it over with me.”
“Always talking up your sweetheart whenever the opportunity presents itself.”
Storm gave me an exasperated look. All I’d done, though, was tell the truth.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
“I threw in a lipstick brush for free.”
“Oh, thanks. People’d probably get mad if I gave ’em one of my furniture-making brushes, wouldn’t they?”
“Yeah, you’d get your butt kicked. You owe me your life.”
Storm laughed at that.
It was a relief to see him in such good spirits after how exhausted he’d been yesterday.
“All right, Ruti and I are gonna head off to take care of the guild’s quest.”
“Sure. What sort of job is it?”
“I haven’t heard yet.” Turning to Ruti, I asked, “Is it something you can say here?”
She nodded. “It’s not a secret. There have been loud noises and a foul stench reported by a nearby village, so we have to solve it.”
“A neighbor dispute?”
“Mhm. It’s the house of a man who moved in about six years ago. He has a history of causing trouble, but lately it’s gotten particularly bad. We’re going to give him a warning.”
It was a lot different from the adventure I’d been expecting.
“Zoltan’s really peaceful if that’s the only quest left to be done.”
“That’s a good thing.”
Zoltan’s strongest adventurer heading out to handle a neighbor dispute. It was so peaceful, I couldn’t help smiling.
“Is it Davis in Northmarsh?”
“Yeah… Is he a friend of yours, Stormthunder?”
“No, he bought some furniture from me when he moved in. I offered delivery, thinking he was inside Zoltan city, but the address turned out to be in Northmarsh, outside the wall, and it turned into a big mess.”
Northmarsh was on the opposite side of a swamp from Southmarsh.
It was a long way to carry something like heavy furniture.
“That’s rough.”
“You got that right. When I found out where he lived, I told him it was outside the area I delivered to, but he wouldn’t listen at all. I quoted him a heavily inflated price to get him to try and give up, but he still insisted on delivery. He was really stubborn.”
Huh. So he was the type of person to hold fast to something once he’d made up his mind.
“He’s a gloomy guy, but weirdly excitable. He paid well, but I couldn’t see myself being friends with him,” Storm said with a shrug.
Davis, huh…? I had a bad feeling about this.
“I truly am a genius! With this power, I will have vengeance on the royal court for banishing me!”
The shrill voice was audible even outside the Northmarsh house.
“This guy’s a lost cause,” I muttered to myself.
His voice was audible through the thin walls, and the smell of some sort of medicine wafted from a heap of trash piled up outside. Even though I was barely an apothecary, the needles and bucket filled with a toxic-looking medicine just sitting around outside was incredibly unpleasant.
“I’m sure he’s a bad guy. Let’s teach him a lesson.”
“You can’t judge a book by its cover, Big Brother.”
Ruti’s expression was calm as she walked toward the front door.
“I’m telling you, he’s no good,” I said, following behind her.
“Let’s talk to him first. He probably just doesn’t know how to get along with his neighbors.”
“…Sure.”
Ruti knocked on the door.
“Who’s there?!”
The voice had sounded shrill earlier, but now it was a low, bestial growl.
It almost seemed like a different person…but it wasn’t.
“I’m an adventurer,” Ruti called out. “We’ve had noise and smell complaints. Please stop shouting at night and follow the proper rules for the disposal of garbage.”
“Complaints?! You should be sentenced to death for wasting the time of a great alchemist such as I!”
“Please open the door. I wish to speak face-to-face.”
“Stop! You’ll regret it if you open that door!”
Not listening to his warning, Ruti tried to open the door, but it made a rattling noise.
“It’s futile. No one can open this door—it’s fastened with the ultimate invincible dark lock I invented. You should be grateful for my genius. You’re lucky to escape with your life!”
Crack!
There was a loud sound of metal snapping.
“It’s open.”
“What?!”
Ruti unhesitatingly opened the door, and I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword, just in case.
What was going to appear?
“Yooou saaaw iiit!”
“A demon?!”
A three-meter-tall monster with a goat’s head came into view. It looked a lot like a demon, but I’d never seen a species like it.
“You must be surprised. However, this is the evolved form of humanity. If we are going to be victorious against the demon lord’s army, we must become devils ourselves. Unable to comprehend that, the accursed fools in the royal palace of Avalonia banished me… I’d like to see them try to laugh at me now!”
“You’re a bit loud. It’ll disturb the neighborhood.”
“Atone for the sin of ignoring me with your blood! Know the power of my ultimate invincible dark demon elixir!!”
The man who’d become a demon picked up an ax that had been leaning against the wall in the entranceway and swung it down at Ruti.
“Ruti!!”
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