Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 10 - Chapter 1

1. The Secret Hearts of Prey

We have to have shaken them by now, Haruhiro kept thinking.

Was he being naive?

Breathing silently through just his nose, he grimaced slightly.

His body wasn’t in bad shape. It didn’t hurt anywhere in particular, and it felt nicely relaxed. He was hungry, but not starving. His problem was on the psychological front.

It was tough running around. Still, he’d finally shaken his pursuer. But the moment he’d felt that sense of relief...

U-ho, u-ho, u-ho, u-ho, u-ho...

He heard its voice. It seemed he was still being chased. This went beyond mere persistence. His pursuer had an unbelievable degree of tenacity.

It was maybe fifty meters away. No, closer than that. He wanted to peek out from behind the tree he had his back against and see it with his own eyes.

But I won’t, okay?

The thing’s sense of smell was apparently keener than a human’s, but it wasn’t on the level of a bear’s. It didn’t have the hearing of a dog or cat either, and its vision couldn’t be much better than a human’s. Even so, those things were able to detect the presence of things that humans couldn’t. Maybe it wasn’t that they were especially sharp, but that humans were just dull.

They’re superior to us.

With that thought kept firmly in mind, Haruhiro was going to have to act carefully, cautiously, and with prudence layered atop more prudence.

Moving only his eyes and head, he looked around the area.

Green.

Green.

Green.

Green, green, green, green, green, green, green.

There were other colors here, too, but there were green leaves, grass, vines, or moss everywhere, so it felt like the whole place had been painted nothing but green.

This was the southwest of the Kuaron Mountains. The wyverns lived in the north, so he assumed this area was comparatively safe. He didn’t see wyverns flying overhead, so it probably was. The mountainside was forested, and densely at that. The slope was steep in some places and gentle in others, and there were branches of trees covering it that blocked out the sunlight, making it gloomy in some parts. There wasn’t much illumination reaching the surface, so that made things much easier.

When he thought about it, the areas around Alterna and the Wonder Hole might get awfully hot or cold at times, but they never stayed that way long. Thanks to that, he’d never thought much about the seasons. On top of that, because they had been in Darunggar for upwards of two hundred days, Grimgar was currently in the middle of July, apparently, even if it didn’t really feel that way to him.

It was summer. Even as he kept quiet, he could feel the sweat beading on his skin. He was in the shade, though, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Still, it was pretty humid.

“U-ho, u-ho, u-ho, u-ho, u-ho...”

His pursuer was hooting again. Was that characteristic holler, done by making its chest and throat vibrate, passing information to the rest of its group? Or was it gauging the reaction of its target, Haruhiro? Whatever the case, the cries were coming from a little closer this time. The thing was closing in on him.

Where were the rest of them? Could it be that they were right next to him? His own comrades were about twenty-five meters from here, hiding, scattered between holes in the ground and the bushes.

He probably had awfully sleepy-looking eyes right now. He wasn’t tired, of course. Not in the least.

Should he turn back and rejoin his comrades? He had some confidence in his Sneaking, but what if his pursuer detected him? He wanted to take as few risks as he could, but if it continued to close in on him here, he’d be found sooner or later. He couldn’t handle it alone, so he was going to need to rely on his comrades for assistance, no matter what.

He struggled to decide for a second, maybe two. Once he made his decision and began Sneaking, he started to hear the sound of footsteps and something violently colliding with trees and pushing them aside.

“Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!” his pursuer hollered.

It was racing. Racing towards him. Had he been found? This was no time to be taking it easy and Sneaking.

Run. Run. Run, run, run!

But this was a dense forest in the mountains. The ground here was thick with tree roots, rocks that jutted out, and moss that covered both of those, making them easy to slip on.

His pursuers moved on all fours, with their hands on the ground. That sort of knuckle-walking meant they didn’t lose their balance, even on bad terrain. If they were on level ground, that might be one thing, but here they clearly had the advantage. Overwhelmingly, at that.

It would be on him in no time. If his back was turned to it, he’d be killed. What was he to do, then?

Turn back and face it. Call his comrades. Endure his pursuer’s attacks. Buy time until his comrades could arrive. That was the only way.

When he stopped, he heard a loud, high-pitched, Funyaaaaaaow!

“Kiichi?!” Haruhiro cried.

A nyaa. That was the voice of a nyaa. He turned back.

It seemed his pursuer was surprised, too, because it was looking up and to the left.

Haruhiro didn’t think, This is the perfect chance! Still, its attention wasn’t on him now. The moment he knew that, his body moved on its own. Drawing his stiletto and the knife with a hand guard, he charged towards his pursuer.

It was around two meters tall. It wasn’t standing upright, though, so its head was around a meter and a half off the ground. Still, it was huge. An ape. It was built like a big ape, even though the surface of its body was covered with a shell-like skin that was like a blackish-brown exoskeleton structure. It was almost like it was wearing armor.

The males had thick, mane-like hair that grew from the back of their heads down to their backs, and it turned red when they came into maturity. These males, called redbacks, would form a troop, including a number of females and their offspring, with themselves at the center, living with them as they hunted.

Guorellas. That was what they were called.

The females were smaller than the males, but his pursuer was a male redback. Its arms, neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, waist, and legs were all frighteningly powerful. Even at a glance, it looked like it had a lot of muscle. In fact, even a small female could rend a person limb from limb. Redbacks were nuts. So nuts, that if Haruhiro fought it fairly, he had no chance of winning.

Of course he was scared. But wasn’t that true of more enemies than not? In other words, things were the same as ever.

“I’m doing this!” he shouted, rousing himself to action and calling out to his comrades. Then he sprang at the redback.

The redback turned towards him and hollered, “Du-hoohhh!”

Its arms. It was swinging its right arm. If Haruhiro took a blow like that, he’d go down in one shot.

He stopped short, as he’d planned to. Its right hand swung past, right in front of his eyes. Without time for pause, the left arm came, too. It was a sideways swipe. Reaching out. If that left arm caught him, he’d be done. That was why he had to keep calm.

Look closely, he told himself. Dodge it. Don’t back away. The right. Forward and to the right. Throw myself that way.

Grazing its left arm as he passed by, he went to its left. Rolling, he tried to get behind it. It wasn’t going to let him, and it jumped in place and spun around.

Without missing a beat, Haruhiro changed direction. When he rolled backwards, the redback was a little too slow.

He attacked. Or he made it look like he was about to, and the redback tensed itself.

But it soon saw that this was a feint. That it was a threat with no substance. This prey was nothing to be feared.

Sensing that, it bared its canine teeth and came at him in earnest.

Now that it had come to this, there was no room for threats and tricks. It was closing in on him. At an incredible speed.

Haruhiro backed away. He might not be able to dodge the next one. But even if it wasn’t much, he’d been able to buy some time. This had been his goal all along.

“Dark, go!” He heard a comrade’s voice.

He immediately lowered his stance. Something flew past over the top of his head. Then a humanoid, or rather star-shaped, black thing, Dark the elemental, collided with the redback.

“Ah! Fuh!” Its whole body shuddered and its head was knocked back. It looked like it might go down like that, but it managed to hold out.

Still, it had taken damage. Now was the time.

Haruhiro turned. Not to run away. He needed to put distance between them.

“Haruhiro!” a tall man bellowed. He was wearing a helmet that was shaped like a hawk’s head, carried a metal shield, and wielded a large katana in one hand. While charging forward, he hollered, “Ohhhhhhhh!”

A big man whose whole body was covered in scarlet and indigo cloth and leather followed suit. Was he a man? Well, he probably had been one in life, but he wasn’t human anymore. He was a flesh golem.

“Kuzaku, Enba, I’m counting on you!” Haruhiro shouted.

“Yessir!” Kuzaku gave an enthusiastic reply, while Enba was silent.

The two passed him.

When he turned back, Kuzaku was swinging his large katana, and Enba was swinging his long, thick left arm at the redback.

“Nurrrrraghhhhh!” screamed Kuzaku.

“Nu-hoooohhhhh!” shouted the redback.

The redback swung both of its arms, knocking back both Kuzaku’s large katana and Enba’s left arm. Enba backed away, but Kuzaku stood his ground. The redback’s right arm, and then its left, rained blows on Kuzaku in quick succession. Kuzaku moved his shield from right to left, blocking them.

“Hah! Nuwah! Kwah!”

He was fully stopping each one. When Kuzaku tightened his defense like that, it wasn’t going to be shaken by any little thing. He was blessed with a height of over one hundred and ninety centimeters, and even with his hips bent and his waist lowered, he still looked really big.

With a silent exclamation, Enba pressed in on the redback from its side. Unable to withstand that, the redback jumped backwards diagonally.

“Hah!” Kuzaku stuck out his large katana, his shield still raised, and chased after it.

He did a combo chaining Thrust and Punishment. The redback pulled back. Enba looked like he planned to get around behind it.

They were pushing it back.

No. It was still too soon to think that.

The redback had its back pressed to a tree—or it looked like it did, but then it jumped. To the rear. Then, kicking off of a tree, it sprang towards Kuzaku.

“Gah?!” Kuzaku just barely defended himself against the redback’s surprise attack. However, he ended up being kicked away, shield and all, and was knocked over.

Enba tried to step in and help, but the redback swept him away with a single violent swing of its arm. It looked like Kuzaku had determined he couldn’t get away. He tried to cover his upper torso with his shield.

“Ha!” called the guorella.

The guorella was tenacious, and smart. In order to avoid a fatal wound, Kuzaku had chosen to protect his head, neck, and his torso where his heart was. That wasn’t wrong. It was the right choice, but doing it left his lower half defenseless. The redback didn’t miss that, and it seized Kuzaku by the right leg and threw him with all its strength.

“Kuzaaaakuuuuuu!” Haruhiro screamed despite himself.

Kuzaku flew about five meters before colliding with the trunk of a tree and falling to the ground. It was impressive that, even after being put through that, he didn’t let go of his large katana or shield.

He’s okay, Haruhiro told himself. I don’t know whether he can stand or not, but as long as he’s still breathing, we can make it all work out.

“Merry, tend to Kuzaku!”

“Right!”

“Yume!” Haruhiro shouted.

“Meow!”

There was no need to call her, huh, Haruhiro realized. Their hunter was already in a low posture, her long braids and cloak trailing behind her as she closed in on the redback.

In her hands, she held a single-edged sword. She was holding a katana in two hands. She’d found it in a place called the Mound of Katanas. The skills she knew were meant for use with a machete, a tool originally meant for breaking firewood and hacking through branches. The katana wasn’t a hunter’s weapon. However, her katana skills were so legitimately good that he had to say that didn’t even matter.

First, she used Brush Clearer as if she were trying to chop down some of the plants, and then she chained into a Diagonal Cross. This special combo of hers actually seemed even more effective now than when she’d been using a machete or curved sword.

When the redback jumped to the side to dodge it, Yume did a forward flip and swung down with her katana. “Gah!”

Raging Tiger.

Intimidated by the strong-willed and bold Yume’s offensive, the redback retreated even further. That was where Enba was closing in.

A flying kick. The redback took Enba’s flying kick in its left side and stumbled.

Merry was helping Kuzaku to his feet. Thanks to Yume and Enba keeping the redback away, Merry must have been able to focus on Kuzaku’s treatment without any worries.

Yume let out a cry of “Hi-yah!” and Enba silently whaled on the redback. This was where it started. Could they pierce its shell-like skin? It crouched down, taking a position where it could cover its head with both arms.

“Ungyah...” Yume’s katana bounced back.

Enba landed another flying kick on it, but this time the redback didn’t even flinch. It immediately went on the counterattack. Slamming both hands on the ground, it used the rebound to tackle Enba.

Enba was unable to avoid it and was pushed down. The redback tried to get on top of Enba, but Yume let out another odd cry and showered slashing attacks on it.

That was no good. Its shell-like skin deflected it. The redback wasn’t afraid of Yume’s katana anymore. If this kept up, it was going to get Enba.

Not that I’ll let it.

Haruhiro hadn’t been sitting on his hands the whole time, either. He’d put away the knife with the hand guard, surveyed the combat situation, erased his presence with Stealth, and climbed a tree. He hadn’t been able to get directly above the redback and Enba. This would do, though. If he jumped in the direction of two o’clock, he could reach.

He jumped down. The point of his stiletto was sharp. It normally could barely cut anything, but if he exerted enough force at the right angle, it could even pierce solid metal armor.

Redback seemed to have noticed Haruhiro. It tried to look above its head. That was when he struck.

Haruhiro slammed his stiletto into the top of its head, a little to the left of center. He hadn’t thought about the landing, but he ended up clinging to its body.

“Ngggggggggggnnnnnnnnngggggg!” The redback let out an incoherent scream as it writhed. It swung both its arms around, battering Haruhiro. The impacts were incredible, but he wouldn’t let go. Like he’d ever do that.

He’d felt it. Haruhiro’s stiletto had broken not just through the redback’s shell-like skin, but through its skull, too. It might even have reached its brain. Grasping the hilt of his stiletto with both hands, he put all his strength into it.

“Gu-aaaaaaaahhhh!”

The redback was either in more pain than it could bear, or it was trying to shake Haruhiro off, because it finally started to roll around.

“Haru-kun!” Yume shouted.

“Haru!” This one wasn’t Merry, it was Shuro Setora. He didn’t have the time to look around, but he could hear his comrades’ voices.

Not yet. He could still hold out.

Haruhiro wrapped his legs tightly around the redback’s body. No matter how much its hairy horns stabbed into him, or where it hit his head, shoulders, back, and hips, he kept twisting his stiletto into its head. He was going to stop this thing from moving. Or slow it, at least. If he could just do that, it’d be enough. And he wanted to spend as little time on it as possible.

If he didn’t, they were in trouble.

Thousand Valley, bordered to the east by the Kuaron Mountains, to the north by the Whiterock Mountains, to the west by the Nehi Desert, and to the south by the Nargia Highlands and Rinstorm Mountains, was two hundred and fifty kilometers from north to south and four hundred and fifty kilometers from east to west.

There were a number of major rivers, along with their countless tributaries. Those ran into one another in this area, intertwined, and created a complex series of seemingly unlimited valleys and hills that obstructed a traveler’s path.

There was fog year-round in a central area that measured about a hundred kilometers in every direction, making visibility extremely poor, as if nature itself were forbidding humans from entering.

According to one theory, long ago, when the gods fought a battle so fierce that the once-blue moon turned red, the land had been sundered. They said that the fog had been called in by the curse of one god who was defeated, left as nothing but a severed head.

To find the shortest route to Alterna, they just had to go straight south. Once they crossed the Nargia Highlands or the Rinstorm Mountains, made it through the former domain of the Kingdom of Arabakia, traversed the Bordo Plains, which lay between the Kurogane and Dioze Mountains, and the Grey Marshes, they would be in the Quickwind Plains, and it would be easy street from there.

If they went another three hundred and something kilometers south-southwest from there, they would arrive in Alterna. At the very least, that was what it had been like on a map Shuro Setora said she’d seen before.

There was a problem, though.

Or rather, lots of them.

First, it was a long way. Way too long.

Then again, if we’re going to have to brace ourselves for a seven to eight hundred kilometer journey on the shortest route, complaining isn’t going to do much good. Let the distance be what it is. We’ll just have to accept it.

It wasn’t just the distance, though. Another objection was that the former domain of Arabakia, on the other side of the Nargia Highlands, had been divided between those who held power during the time of No-Life King’s Alliance of Kings, and there were many fortresses and large cities there.

Thousand Valley might be enemy territory for humans, but it was nothing by comparison. The orcs in this place, in particular, would capture humans on sight and kill them, no questions asked. For Haruhiro and his group, who didn’t know the lay of the land, it would be nigh suicidal for them to fumble through the area and figure it out as they went.

There was the option of avoiding flat land and walking through the mountains, where the orcs didn’t live, but they couldn’t follow the mountains all the way south, and it went without saying that crossing mountains came with its own risks.

The shortest route had to be eliminated from the list of possibilities. If they were in a hurry, they had to go around. Even if it was a roundabout course, they’d choose the safest one possible.

The Whiterock Mountains to the north weren’t just a massive mountain range. Those mountains, topped with silver snow that would never melt, housed the capital of the former Kingdom of Ishmal. That kingdom, along with the surrounding scattered fortresses and cities, made up what was known as Undead DC—the main stronghold of the undead.

Soma and his group were apparently plotting to invade Undead DC at some point, but that meant that if Haruhiro and his party tried to approach the area, they wouldn’t get off lightly. It was the wrong way anyway, so there was no going north.

The Nehi Desert had originally been the territory of the Kingdom of Nananka. There seemed to be nothing but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see, but there were actually oases to be found here and there. Most oases had a town, and orcs or other races that had aligned themselves with No-Life King inhabited them. There was also talk of a tribe of humans, the Zafah, who had lived in the desert for centuries, and might still exist, too.

For Haruhiro and the others who didn’t know the desert, it would be too reckless to go there. So the west was out, too.

East was the only option.

In the beginning, he had considered going northeast to detour around the Kuaron Mountains. However, that way apparently led into the former territory of the Kingdom of Ishmal, and it was swarming with undead. Besides which, those wyverns lived in the north of the Kuaron Mountains.

The wyverns apparently didn’t eat undead, but Haruhiro and his group would make tasty treats for them. He’d heard that, long ago, in the Kingdom of Ishmal, they’d had the techniques needed to render wyverns harmless and tame them, or something like that. But according to Setora, that knowledge had been lost with the fall of Ishmal.

Whatever the case, they had just finished going through a hard time fighting off one of the beasts. There was no way he wanted to go anywhere near where those things lived.

So they put their heads to discuss, Now then, whatever shall we do? And Kuro of the Typhoon Rocks popped up and dragged off Tsuga, the priest with the buzz cut.

“Hey, Bonze Tsuga, we’re going.”

“Oh, sure,” said Tsuga. “Well, see you all later.”

That was all there was to their too-quick parting, and they were so dumbfounded that they neglected to ask Kuro, who seemed like he’d be more knowledgeable about the geography, for advice. That hurt.

Now it was a total unknown where the Rocks had gone, or what they were doing. If possible, Haruhiro would have liked to go with them. They were supposed to be fellow Day Breakers, too. This was just downright cold of them.

Still, even if they had been together, that seemed like it would have been a lot of trouble in its own way.

That being that, with a prayer that the fog would clear, Haruhiro and the others set out for the east. Not long afterwards, pursuers from Jumbo’s Forgan closed in on them, and they ran this way and that, not knowing what to do.

They ran into a large river, but couldn’t cross it. They hid in a cave at the bottom of a valley to elude their pursuers. They were attacked by unknown beasts. They caught mysterious diseases...

Honestly, a lot happened.

In the end, it felt like a miracle that they never once had to cross blades with their pursuers. Kuzaku and Yume had lost their weapons, so it was helpful that they managed to get away without fighting. If they hadn’t been in Thousand Valley, with its heavy fog and complex terrain, it wouldn’t have worked out that way.

In exchange, there were times when even Setora got lost, and so they couldn’t quite go in the direction they wanted to. Even though the straight-line distance was only about five kilometers, they had to walk two to three times as far. That sort of thing happened all the time.

Still, even if they had decided on a destination, there was no guarantee they would be able to make it there. They had settled on going east, but they might not be able to go east. Thousand Valley was an untamed frontier.

They had parted ways with Tsuga and Kuro on June 15th. Right at the beginning of July, Haruhiro and the others had reached a place that was apparently called the Mound of Katanas. According to Setora, it was located almost due south of the hidden village, and not more than fifty kilometers away.

This meant that, after sixteen days, they had only gone something shy of fifty kilometers. What was more, they’d meant to go east, but this was south...

They hadn’t wandered into it, though. The Mound of Katanas was an old battlefield with copious amounts of corpses and equipment scattered over a plateau of around thirty square kilometers. These were people who’d died in battle before No-Life King’s curse had started to influence the frontier, so they wouldn’t start moving.

Whether it was the bodies themselves, or their armor and equipment, the vast majority of everything was rotten.

The people of the hidden village didn’t come near the place, but Haruhiro and his party had figured there might still be usable weapons they could get their hands on. Besides, if they went to the Mound of Katanas, that would apparently make it comparatively easier to head east, west, or south.

It was a creepy place to look at. There was an incredible volume of intertwined bones. And the swords, spears, and such that were thrust into the ground here and there looked like grave markers for the warriors. The fog thinned, and a moist breeze blew through.

Did something just move over there? Haruhiro thought and squinted his eyes, but it was just a skull hanging on a spear.

It was impossible to walk without treading on bones.

Whether it was single-edged katanas, double-edged swords, spears, axes, shields, or armor, it could be found here. However, everything was all badly rusted or decayed, and more than a few items crumbled just from being picked up.

It wasn’t clear if it was because of their quality, pure coincidence, or some other effect, but on very rare occasions, there were pieces of equipment that were just dirty and had not degraded. If the katanas, which there were an overwhelmingly higher number of, were used as a baseline, it was one in a hundred... no, one in every few hundred.

Wandering the Mound of Katanas, Haruhiro and the party found a large, solid katana, a thick, somewhat short katana, and a large, heavy shield. Or rather, they excavated them from the mountain of bones.

Naturally, they needed to sharpen and repair them. It took some hassle, but getting Kuzaku and Yume back into a position where they could fight was a big deal.

They had never expected they’d lose something in exchange. Even Setora seemed not to have predicted it, so there was no helping it.

Somewhere, off in the distance, there was a shriek. Gyahh!

It was a nyaa. They knew instantly.

Setora had been raising hundreds of nyaas in the village. Of those, she had deployed around eighty in the conflict with Forgan, sacrificing a little over ten there, and then having another ten or so drop out during their flight after the battle. Even so, there were still over fifty nyaas scattered through the area, serving as Setora’s eyes and ears.

The gray nyaa called Kiichi was about the only one that made frequent appearances in front of Haruhiro and the others, and they never knew if the other nyaas were there or not.

Once in a while, a nyaa would cry out, and Setora would nod. When that happened, Haruhiro would think, Oh, they really are there.

Even if she didn’t feed the nyaas, they would hunt and gather on their own to feed themselves, then continue serving their master. They had been trained to be more loyal than dogs, but with a strong sense of independence, and they looked cute, too.

On their way to the Mound of Katanas, the nyaas had gathered food for them. It was no exaggeration to say that the nyaas were the party’s lifeline. Without the nyaas, they’d have likely starved.

Those nyaas were in danger. Naturally, that meant Haruhiro and the others weren’t safe, either.

When Setora clicked her tongue, the high-pitched voice of a nyaa came back from beyond the fog.

Tch, tch, tch!

In that short exchange, Setora seemed to have figured something out. “We’re moving, Haru. Hurry. I’ll have the nyaas scatter and flee. For the time being, we won’t be able to count on their support. Now!”

“Okay.” Haruhiro nodded, and Setora let out a sharp fricative sound.

Shh, shh, shh!

She must have given an order to the nyaas. It seemed some unexpected situation had occurred. From the way Setora acted, he understood it was reasonably serious.

But looking back on it later, he had to admit his thinking had been naive.

Haruhiro and the others had immediately departed the Mound of Katanas and headed east.

They kept their losses to a minimum by acting quickly, so they figured they’d be able to get by somehow.

Or so he had thought at the time.

He was a fool.

Finally, it stopped moving.

Of course it had stopped. It probably wasn’t breathing. It was most likely dead.

Haruhiro was clinging to the fallen redback’s back. His stiletto was still buried to the hilt in its cranium.

It was damn heavy. Half... no, two-thirds of his body was underneath it. On top of that, its hairy horns were stabbing into him, and it hurt so badly, it just wasn’t funny.

Speaking of pain, he ached all over, to the point where he suspected there might actually be fewer spots that didn’t hurt than did. He’d taken a real beating from it, after all. He’d been slammed into the ground and trees, too. He was also bleeding. He might have a broken bone or two.

“Hold on,” he murmured.

I’m amazed I’m still alive.

He came close to feeling a sense of relief, but...

No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, not yet, not yet, not yet, he cautioned himself.

The redback. Was that thing really dead? With his hand still gripping the hilt of his stiletto, he felt its neck. He was searching for a pulse, but he didn’t really know if he was doing it right. Or rather, he didn’t know at all. For a start, could he take a guorella’s pulse like he would a human’s? It had this scale-like skin, too. He felt like it might not be possible. Its whole body was relaxed, certainly. It was crazy heavy, too. Whether it was alive or not, it had to weigh more than a human, so he couldn’t go by the weight.

Oh, right. Of course it felt heavy.

It’s heavy. I can’t breathe. This hurts. Oh, no...

“Haru!” Merry shouted. “Everyone, help him!”

His savior had arrived. With a grunt, Kuzaku lifted up the redback, and in the opening that provided, Yume pulled Haruhiro out from under it.

“Meow!”

Merry. Merry was crouched down next to him, with an incredible look on her face. She looked like she was about to say, “Oh, please!” or “Again?!”

Was she angry, maybe? He wanted to defend himself. He hadn’t done anything too reckless. He’d thought he could pull it off. There’d been a need to settle things fast, too.

...Sorry. Haruhiro apologized in his heart. For now, he’d sit still.

Merry made the sign of the hexagram over her forehead. “O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you! Sacrament!”

Shihoru was clinging to her staff and looking around restlessly. Setora had Enba doing something for her, and did not look amused. The light flooded forth. It was blinding. Haruhiro shut his eyes.

Not long after heading east from the Mound of Katanas, they learned that it was guorellas who’d killed Setora’s nyaa.

“What rotten luck,” Setora said in a displeased tone. “Of all the things, we had to be targeted by a troop of guorellas. They can be unbelievably tenacious. They won’t give up on us easily.”

Setora made all her other nyaas run away, but Kiichi she kept close at hand. She said that Kiichi was the cleverest, most loyal, considerate, and capable of all her nyaas. He was trusted by the other nyaas, too.

Once things settled down, she would have Kiichi look for the other nyaas. But they soon came to the conclusion that it didn’t look like things were ever going to settle down.

The day after they moved away from the Mound of Swords, they saw a guorella for the first time at a distance. It was small, and they couldn’t spot any hairy horns on it, so that apparently meant it was a female. It was looking in their direction. In other words, they had been found.

The female went, Po, po, po, po, po, po, po, making plosive sounds. Even without knowing the ecology of guorellas, it wasn’t hard to guess it was a warning, or a report or signal.

If a certain stupid piece of trash had been around, he might have urged them to intercept and attack it. However, that guy was no longer their comrade, and according to Setora, guorella troops normally consisted of about twenty members. There was only one of the frightening redbacks per troop, but the females were still much stronger than a human, and the young males were mischievous and vicious.

Whenever the people of the village were pushed by necessity to drive off a troop of guorellas, a group consisting of tens of elite samurai warriors, necromancers, and onmitsu spies would take on the task.

Haruhiro and the party hurriedly fled. They didn’t stop walking, even after it got dark, and just before dawn, when they thought it was safe to stop and rest, they were ambushed by a group of young, male guorellas.

By the time they managed to kill one, the rest had taken off, but they had to assume there were still guorellas with their sights set on them. That meant that even if they fought, they couldn’t win, so their options were to run or hide.

Haruhiro didn’t want to remember what the days after that had been like.

It was too painful.

Haruhiro opened his eyes. Merry was glaring at him. No, maybe not glaring, but her expression was scary.

I’m probably going to get chewed out again, he thought.

Merry looked like she was about to say something, so Haruhiro braced himself for it.

“If you’re done, then move it.” Setora pushed Merry aside.

“Ah!” Merry nearly fell over.

How could Setora do that? This, he could object to. Even though it wasn’t like she’d done it to him, Haruhiro was mad. Merry must have been even madder.

Despite that, Merry looked down, took a single breath, and then, for some reason, said, “I’m sorry” to Setora instead.

“So long as you understand.” Setora crouched down right in front of Haruhiro. Haughtily.

Yeah, that was right. Setora had always had a big attitude. She acted like he owed her something, was sharp-tongued, and had far too little compassion, consideration, or concern for others.

He was about to give her a piece of his mind when Setora reached out with both hands and grabbed Haruhiro by the back of his head.

“Are you all right?”

“...Yeah. Um. Er... Merry did heal me. My wounds are all gone.”

“Even if your wounds have vanished, surely that doesn’t mean it is as if you are back to the way you would have been without them.” Setora cocked her head to the side slightly.

Um, she’s getting kind of close. Her face. It’s less than fifteen centimeters away. Twelve, thirteen maybe. Isn’t that a little too close?

If he averted his eyes, there was no telling what she might do. Was it okay, looking into each other’s eyes this closely? Wasn’t it kind of, no, really embarrassing?

Either way, her eyes sure were big. Setora’s eyes. It was a little late to be noticing, though. Her eyes were so big that they looked like they might fall out, and she had bags underneath them. Was that from exhaustion? He felt like those bags had been there to begin with.

Huh? Doesn’t she kind of resemble someone?

Who could that be?

“Haru,” her cheeky lips moved, speaking Haruhiro’s name.

He hadn’t asked her specifically, but Setora had to be around Haruhiro’s age, maybe a little younger. But ever since they’d met, she’d taken an attitude like she was his elder. Setora was like that towards everyone. The high-handed attitude had become ingrained.

“...Wh-What?”

“You are my lover.”

Merry coughed.

Haruhiro came very close to looking in her direction, but there was a risk that would displease Setora, so he stopped short. No, but wait! He wasn’t her lover; he was just acting the part until Setora grew tired of it.

He owed Setora. He’d borrowed her strength. She’d helped. It had been agreed that Haruhiro would let her remove his left eye and take it. He had accepted that, and he’d also had no choice but to play her lover.

If Setora asked him, You are my lover, yes? Haruhiro would have no choice but to answer, Yes, you are exactly right. That said, when it came to whether or not he was really her lover, the answer was a flat no.

It was only an act, like a children’s game of pretend. Did Setora understand that point? Of course, she had to.

You will act as if you are my lover.

That was what she’d demanded of Haruhiro. They had only just met then, so it would have been totally unbelievable, but if she had felt something greater than curiosity towards Haruhiro, something akin to romantic feelings, then the words Be my lover would have been enough.

In other words, this was just her toying with him.

“Haru,” said Setora. “I’m worried about you.”

Even if she told him that with a straight face, he had trouble responding. “...Th-Th... Thanks...?”

When he just barely managed to force out a response, Setora chuckled and mussed Haruhiro’s hair with both her hands. “You really are an odd man, you know that? That is what I like about you, though.”

“I... I see.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be able to take you dying on me.”

Right now, he badly wanted to tease her. Oh, come on. What’re you talking about, Setora-san. Geez, he wanted to say. If he said it, she’d probably beat him. So he wouldn’t say it, and he couldn’t.

“...Nah. I don’t, uh, want to die, or anything, either... you know?”

“You trust in your comrades, and you did it with some chance of victory,” Setora said. “That’s what you want to say, yes?”

“Well, yeah...”

“But, to my eyes, it looked purely like a dangerous gamble. You rate your own value too lowly. That is why you can cast yourself aside so easily. That is your strength, but also your weakness. Do you understand that?”

He understood it pretty well, actually. Shihoru and Merry had pointed it out to him, too. But still, he’d never thought Setora, of all people, would be cautioning him like this.

Honestly, it was unexpected. Unexpected that she was willing to be so kind, and to think about what was best for Haruhiro.

“If you were to die...” Setora looked around to Merry, Shihoru, Yume, and Kuzaku. “...what would happen to that bunch? They might be somewhat useful and excel at one trick, but they’re a fundamentally unreliable bunch. They can’t get by without you.”

“Well, yeah,” Kuzaku mumbled. “She’s kinda got a point. Seriously.”

“If Haru-kun weren’t here, huh...” Yume murmured.

“I don’t want to imagine it...” Shihoru agreed.

Merry was keeping quiet, but what did she think?

Setora raised one eyebrow in exasperation. “Look how pathetic they are,” she said with a sigh. “They’re completely reliant on you. If you’re thinking about what’s best for them, you are the one person who can never die. If someone must be sacrificed, you should be the last in line.”

“I can’t do that,” he responded immediately, despite himself. “Rather than die myself and let them get wiped out, the right thing to do is to stay alive and, as leader, make sure that nobody dies. That’s what you’re trying to tell me. I know that in my head, but when I find myself in that sort of situation, I’m probably going to put everyone else’s lives before my own.”

“Even if that’s wrong?”

“I do want to make the right decisions, as much as that’s possible. However, I can only live as myself. I can’t become someone else. I can tell my comrades, This is the kind of guy I am, but I still want you to believe in me, if you can. But acting like someone I’m not in order to get them to believe? Doesn’t that sound kind of unfair? We’re entrusting each other with our lives, which are more important than anything, after all. I don’t want to lie to my comrades. I can’t.”

“I’m jealous,” Setora said.

“Huh?”

“I want to steal you away now.”

“Whuh...?”

It was a surprise attack. Setora was suddenly pulling Haruhiro towards her.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was his forehead. Setora pressed her lips to Haruhiro’s forehead, and there was a smacking sound as she kissed it. Her lips were cold, but soft.

Merry coughed again.

Does she have a cold? Haruhiro wondered. Wait, Setora-san! What are you doing? Everyone’s watching, you know...

Haruhiro might not be in a position to refuse, but, at the very least, he didn’t want his comrades watching. That said, asking her to do this when the two of them were alone, with no one else watching, seemed wrong, too. Like it might invite misunderstandings, maybe? Was that the problem here?

Somewhere, Kiichi the nyaa meowed.

“We’ll do the rest later.” Setora gently pushed Haruhiro away and stood up.

What did she mean, “the rest”? He didn’t want to know, but if she was going to force him to do “the rest,” he’d have no choice but to comply—right?

Haruhiro stood up and wondered as he looked around the area. If the guorellas hadn’t been chasing them, what might have happened?

They continued to run and run, but the guorella troop kept relentlessly chasing after Haruhiro and the party. After not sensing their presence for several hours, maybe half a day, just as he was feeling relieved that, finally, it was all right, the guorellas would ambush them, or shout out and surprise them.

They weren’t just stubborn. The females were comparatively cautious, and not quick to attack. The ones that kept on coming at them were the young males, full of vigor. The females would first call in the others, and they had only seen the redback a few times before now.

“...Meow?” Yume tilted her head to the side.

“Why...?” Shihoru whispered.

“Huh?” Kuzaku had his shield on his back, with only his large katana drawn. “What is it?”

Merry pressed a finger to her lips as she looked at the dead redback. “The redback...”

“Ah!” Haruhiro’s eyes went wide. That was right. The redback. “Wasn’t this guy the leader of the troop?”

“He should have been, but...” Setora fell silent.

To, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to, to, to to, to, to to, to, to...

This sound. He’d heard it a number of times.

“This is... drumming, right?”

The guorellas pounded on their chests with both hands, as if they were beating a drum. It was a behavior seen only in guorella males. It was thought to be done to intimidate, and when drumming started between a pair of males, a scuffle was about to follow. However, because the young males of the troop were kept in line by the redback, they didn’t drum often. Normally, only the redback would drum.

That was what Setora had told them before. But the redback was here, dead.

“Dwelling on it will get us nowhere.” Setora slapped Haruhiro on the back, then quickly jumped on to Enba’s shoulders. “I told you. They can be bizarrely tenacious. Go, Enba.”