Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 10 - Chapter 2

2. No Biting

This was weird. Strange. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Yes, Haruhiro had taken a risk. He’d finished the redback himself. Doing that was a gamble. He couldn’t deny that.

He’d had some anticipation of success. Even so, if he hadn’t had the idea in his head that it might end things, he would have chosen a much more cautious approach.

Guorellas formed troops of around twenty members. They were led by large-bodied males with hairy red horns called redbacks. When they lost their leader, would the young males fight to take its position? Or would a female temporarily become leader? Whatever the case, the troop would fall into disarray, if not fall apart altogether.

Guorella troops were persistent, stubborn hunters. They didn’t just chase and capture their prey. They followed them without haste or hurry, slowly closing in, and waited for their targets to run out of strength. The redbacks were particularly clever, and despite clearly having greater strength, they rarely showed it. That was why this had been his one and only chance.

Thinking back now, Haruhiro might have been actively trying not to think about that. Thinking that he had to succeed no matter what, or that he absolutely couldn’t afford to fail, or that if he messed up, it would be all over. The more he thought about stuff like that, the more tense he got, and that sometimes caused his hands to slip. For a mediocre person like Haruhiro to accomplish something properly, it was best to go about it with a level head.

With some trouble, he’d managed to take down the redback. Now, the guorellas wouldn’t trouble them anymore. Well, that wasn’t something he’d been optimistic enough to believe, but it seemed likely they’d have some degree of respite, at least. If the party used that time to pull away, they would at least be able to catch their breaths. And if they didn’t need to run and hide anymore, they’d be able to set a clear direction and choose a course.

However, nothing had changed.

He’d killed the redback, but the guorellas were still chasing them.

He also started to hear the to, to, to, to, to, to, of their drumming. When it was really bad, he’d hear the drumming start to the north, then after a little while, more drumming would come from the south. He could only assume there were multiple redbacks. But the one that was supposed to have been the sole redback in the troop was dead. What in the world was going on here?

The one good thing, though he wasn’t entirely sure it was a good thing, was that the guorellas were more cautious now that he’d taken out the redback. Before, the young males used to occasionally attack. That was entirely gone now, and the amount of time where all he could hear was his comrades breathing and footsteps had increased.

Have the guorellas finally given up the pursuit? he would think. But every time that thought happened to cross his mind, he would hear drumming or shouting, or a thin tree would bend in the distance, or a branch would snap.

According to Setora, Kiichi the gray nyaa was frequently spotting guorellas. They were out there. Close by.

Were they closing in from behind? Were they to the right, and to the left, too? Maybe they were even up ahead. He almost felt like the party had been encircled.

There had to be a number of them. Including the redback, their party had to have killed five... no, six. So, there were a little over ten of those things remaining? Really? Was that all? It felt like there were more.

Everyone was extremely quiet. Who had been the last to utter a word? He didn’t remember.

The guorellas clearly hadn’t lost Haruhiro and the party. They were tormenting them. They intended to weaken them, then strike when they could no longer move. So it ought to have been fine to talk. Rather than stay silent, a little chatter would have helped take their minds off it.

But what was there to talk about? If he opened his mouth, he felt like he might say, I’m exhausted, despite himself. What else was he to say?

I’m exhausted. My legs ache. My body feels heavy. I’ve had enough.

Give me a break. It’s hot. I’m hungry. I’m at my limit.

Whining would get him nowhere. Everyone had it rough. They were all enduring. Shihoru, in particular, looked like she could collapse at any moment. But she didn’t stop. Her shoulders heaving with each breath, she was forcing her feet to keep moving forward. In her desperation not to fall behind, not to drag her comrades down with her, Shihoru was following them.

Yume and Merry were always at her side. Even when it came to Kuzaku, who was walking in front of the three of them, he was wearing armor and carrying that stupidly heavy shield on his back. The rest of them had to be suffering more than Haruhiro could possibly imagine.

Only Setora, who was beside or a little ways ahead of Haruhiro, might be feeling otherwise. After all, most of the time Setora was riding on Enba’s shoulders.

If Enba the golem was given periodic injections of a mysterious liquid, and took special pills, he could operate for almost forever. Whenever he was moving, Enba was Setora’s vehicle. Even if he shook somewhat, it wasn’t going to cause her motion sickness, and it had to be easier than walking on her own feet. In fact, excluding Enba, whose face was covered, only Setora had a cool look on her face.

Sometimes it pissed Haruhiro off.

It was fine, though. It wasn’t like he was thinking, That’s no fair, or, Suffer with us, or anything like that. If she could conserve her stamina for when it was needed, it was best that she do so. Haruhiro had it in his head that, in a worst-case scenario, if there was nothing left they could do, he wanted Setora and Enba to be able to run away, at least.

Setora wasn’t his comrade, after all.

Even if a sequence of events had brought them together, they had no real connection, and she’d been dragged into some real trouble. Haruhiro was no optimist, so while he wanted to believe they could get through this, he couldn’t say the outlook on that was bright.

He was sure his comrades were prepared for the worst. They’d been through a number of crises together. Once they had exerted all possible efforts, they could only rely on the heavens to sort out the rest. If they did all they could, then no matter how things shook out, he could accept the result. Haruhiro wouldn’t blame his comrades, and he doubted his comrades would condemn him, either. However, Setora didn’t have to share their fate.

Where was this place...?

It wasn’t Thousand Valley. It was the southwestern portion of the Kuaron Mountains. He knew that much, but where was it, precisely? Where were they headed?

East. More or less. What were they going to reach if they continued this way? The sea? No, the sea was still a long way away. How far was a long way? A hundred kilometers? If they went that far, surely the guorellas wouldn’t follow them. He had no basis to say that, but he hoped it was true.

If that idiot were here, there’s no way he wouldn’t be complaining. He’d insult me, make a huge fuss, and cop a horrible attitude. Even just thinking about it, Haruhiro was mad.

It was a good thing that guy wasn’t here. They were better off with him gone. He wasn’t their comrade anymore. He’d always been a seed of worry. Haruhiro didn’t even want to see his face. There’d been times when he hadn’t even wanted to breathe the same air as him.

He’d done well to put up with that guy. It had made him more patient. That was something like a side effect, but the guy was so detestable that it felt like anyone else would be preferable. Had it helped Haruhiro to grow as a person, having to deal with that guy being utter trash?

Now that he wasn’t around, it really was quiet. Or “dead” might be another way to put it. Well, they were fine without him. This was far preferable to having that guy, who was too noisy for his own good, around.

Hey, man, that guy would’ve said. If you keep spewing nonsense like that, you’ll regret it, you know? I mean, you’re regretting already, aren’t you, Parupiro? Well? Hmm?

“Oh, crap...” Haruhiro muttered. He’d started having auditory hallucinations.

No, he hadn’t actually heard it. It was just a thing that guy totally would have said. It had suddenly popped into his mind, and he’d played the scenario inside his head. Even though he wanted to forget the guy.

“Shihoru.” He heard Merry’s voice.

When he turned back, Shihoru was crouched down, hugging her staff, and leaning against a tree. Her shoulders were heaving.

Yume, who was leaned over, rubbing Shihoru on the back, looked over at him. “Haru-kun,” was all she said.

Shihoru’s head was hanging low. Yume’s face was a little dirty, and she looked worn out. When Merry shook her head, sweat flew everywhere.

Kuzaku let out an exaggerated sigh and sat down. He was expressing that he had reached his limit in an overblown way in order to lessen Shihoru’s psychological burden. It was so like Kuzaku to show his consideration that way.

“Let’s rest,” Haruhiro said, taking a breath. Looking up, he could see the scarlet sky peeking through the branches of the trees. Was it already evening? He wanted to sit down. No, to sleep. This was no good.

In the distance, the drumming of the guorellas began once more. To, to, to, to, to, to...

Seriously?

Were they being watched? Given the timing, he had to suspect that.

Shihoru lifted her head. She was trying to get up. Yeah, of course she was. They had no choice but to go. To move on.

Haruhiro started to move.

Setora got ahead of him. “Rest.”

“No, but...” Haruhiro tried to argue, but he didn’t continue. His body was rejecting it. Was he that exhausted?

“Kiichi and I will search for the enemy.” Setora glanced at Haruhiro, her lips turning upwards for just a moment. “You people stay here. I doubt you’ll be able to relax, but try to be able to move at least a little.”

“Sorry. We’re counting on you.” It was all Haruhiro could do to say that. Once he sat down on the ground, his breathing suddenly became ragged and labored. His vision blurred. Uh oh. It looked like he’d been on the verge of collapsing.

Setora got down from Enba’s shoulders. Was she going to walk with Enba following her? Where was Kiichi? He was nowhere to be seen.

Yume hugged Shihoru close and patted her on the head. “There, there...”

Merry looked up, in an almost dazed state.

Setora and Enba disappeared into the trees in no time.

Haruhiro’s racing pulse just wouldn’t return to normal. It was like his heart no longer belonged to him.

The next thing he knew, the guorellas had stopped drumming.

“...Did they run off?” Kuzaku muttered to himself.

A moment later, it occurred to Haruhiro that he meant Setora and Enba. Then he realized he’d been careless. She could use them as bait to make a clean getaway.

Haruhiro hadn’t thought of it, but he couldn’t rule the possibility out entirely. But, well... No, probably not. If she’d intended to do that, she would have acted on it earlier. Besides, it just wouldn’t be like her. Setora was cold, or more like heartless and inconsiderate, but she was also strangely true to her word. He figured that, probably, if she was going to abandon them, she’d abandon them, and if she was going to use them, she’d use them, but she’d be sure to tell them before she did. She might be merciless, but she wasn’t underhanded. That seemed like the kind of person Setora was.

“Rest,” Haruhiro told him, and Kuzaku replied, “’Kay,” and lay down on his side. A moment later, he was already snoring.

“No one told you to go to sleep, though...” Haruhiro muttered.

Shihoru giggled, and Yume’s shoulders heaved as she let out a bizarre laugh that sounded like “Funyunyu.”

His eyes met with Merry’s as she was stifling a yawn. She hung her head in embarrassment.

“...I’m sorry.”

“You don’t...”

...have to apologize, he was about to finish. But then his pulse, which had begun to calm down, suddenly picked up once more.

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

Drumming. From a different direction than before.

Damn, he wanted to curse, but he held it in. Losing his temper wouldn’t help. If he got emotional, he’d be giving the guorellas what they wanted.

...But what did that matter, anyway? They were out of options. Why didn’t the guorellas just swarm them? Were they playing around? The party wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

Or maybe that wasn’t true?

It might be that, in fact, the number of guorellas was lower than it seemed to be. They might just be making it look like there were more of them.

No, but it was definitely true that there were multiple guorellas drumming. In other words, multiple redbacks.

Then again, that was just something Setora had told him. Setora could be wrong. Maybe the ecology of guorellas wasn’t actually that well understood, and her knowledge was only based on guesswork. Even if it was generally the case that only redbacks drummed, there might be exceptions.

So if the guorellas attacked head-on, they were either anticipating they couldn’t win against the party, or fearing they would take serious losses.

Losses, huh.

If they were hunting in order to acquire food, they ideally would want to take no losses. Haruhiro felt the same way. He was fine with taking injuries they could heal with light magic, but he didn’t want even a single death. Naturally, the guorellas would hunt with that as a prerequisite.

Haruhiro and the party had already killed guorellas. The creatures should have given up. But suppose that, right now, they were to launch an all-out attack. Haruhiro and the others might not be able to run away, but they wouldn’t die quietly, either. They’d fight with everything they had. He could guarantee they’d take a few guorellas down with them.

The guorellas had to know Haruhiro and the party weren’t easy opponents. They weren’t first-rate volunteer soldiers, or even second-rate, but the party was still tenacious.

If guorellas could talk, Haruhiro would want to tell them this: You’re not going to kill us easily. If you don’t want to die, find some other prey. If you want to do this, bring it. But I’m sure you don’t want to die, either. Let’s stop this.

There was a rustling of leaves.

Haruhiro leapt to his feet and drew his stiletto.

“Ah!” He was so startled, he thought his heart might stop.

It was Setora and Enba. Had they come back?

“What, Haru?” Setora asked. “That’s an awful look you have on your face.”

Unable to respond so suddenly, Haruhiro adjusted his grip on his stiletto. He tried to swallow his spit, but found the inside of his mouth was dry.

“Kuzaku!” Merry called out.

“...Yeah. I’m awake...” Kuzaku sat up slowly, shaking his head.

“Hey, Setora.” Yume’s tone of voice was so fluffy, it seemed out of place, but Haruhiro found it soothing. “Where’d the nyaas all go?”

Setora ignored Yume’s question and approached Haruhiro. She got closer and closer, touching his right arm, his right shoulder, his hips and sides...

That tickles, you know?

“...Wh-Wh-What?” Haruhiro asked nervously.

“Just testing. Don’t let it bother you.”

“I’m gonna let it bother me...”

“Wh-What exactly are you testing?” Merry asked for some reason.

“Keh...” Had Shihoru burst out laughing, coughed, or done something else?

“Haru.” Setora glanced over at Merry for some reason, then brought her lips up right next to Haruhiro’s ear. When she did that, by necessity, her body pressed up against his, too. Haruhiro nearly backed away. If it weren’t for the requirement of having to pretend he was her lover, he might have jumped backwards. “I have a plan. Will you listen?”

“I want to hear what it is, but can you back away a little first...?”

“I’m doing this because I don’t want to back away,” Setora said. “Is that a problem, somehow?”

“It’s... not a problem, no.”

“Good.” Setora nuzzled up against Haruhiro’s ears and neck as if she were a cat.

Umm... he thought uncomfortably. Everyone’s staring, you know? What is this? I really... just don’t know what to do.

There was nothing he could do, though. He just had to bear with it.

“The truth is, I was worried,” Setora said. “That maybe you actually hate me.”

“I don’t... hate you.”

“But you don’t like me, either?”

“No... That’s not true.”

“You’re an honest one.”

“I... I don’t know about that.”

“Nyaas go into heat twice a year, but there doesn’t seem to be a mating season for humans,” she said. “So when is it we go into heat? I’ve always wondered that.”

“O-Oh, yeah...?”

“I see. So when an agreeable man is next to me, this is how I feel, is it?” Setora pressed her nose and lips to Haruhiro’s neck, breathing in as if she were sniffing him, then let out a hot sigh.

His comrades weren’t so much surprised as dazed. Even Haruhiro was at a loss for what to do. If he didn’t stop Setora, what was she going to do? What was going to happen?

No matter what it was, wasn’t this kind of crazy? Should he push her away?

While he was still flustered, suddenly, pain jolted through the right side of his neck.

“Ow!” he shouted. “Huh?! Y-You bit me?! Just now, you did, right?! Why?!”

“Forgive me.” Setora smoothly backed away. Her face was flushed bright red. “I can’t tell you why, but I wanted to bite you. I see that when people go into heat, you never know what they’ll do.”

“I-Is that how it works...?”

“There may be differences on an individual level. This is my first time, too, you realize? I had an interest in romantic and sexual love, and it’s true that you had impressed me, but I never expected to fall for you.”

“Fall for...” Merry said to herself, and Shihoru let out another strange cough.

“Haruhiro’s kind of popular with girls, huh,” Kuzaku commented.

He was saying things that were total nonsense. Why was Yume nodding in agreement?

“Popular?” Setora glared at Kuzaku. “What do you mean? Are you saying Haruhiro has a woman other than me?”

“No, it’s just there was this other person who said she liked Haruhiro. She was in another party, though...”

“What did you say?!”

“Mimorin, yeah?” Yume crossed her arms and puffed up one of her cheeks. “Haven’t seen her in a while, huh. Wonder what she’s been doin’. Hope she’s all right.”

Setora clicked her tongue and ground her teeth. “There was someone before me? Well, he is the sort of man I would fall in love with, so I can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s still vexing.”

Unable to keep quiet, Haruhiro corrected her misunderstanding. “No, I’m not going out with Mimorin, okay?”

“Oh, I see!” Setora cried out with a gleeful smile. “That’s good! I’d prefer it be the first time for both of us. I don’t want to let anyone else touch you, and I don’t want anyone but you to touch me, after all. If I ever found you kissing another woman, even tearing her into little pieces wouldn’t be enough.”

Into little pieces? You’re saying some extreme things there, and it scares me, you know? And wait, the conversation’s gone so off topic, it’s been completely derailed...

“U-Um, about that plan?” Haruhiro said nervously.

“Ahh—” Setora was about to say something when...

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

“Not again!” Kuzaku kicked the ground.

Shihoru was looking at Haruhiro with upturned eyes. Even if she was completely exhausted, the look in her eyes was one of strength. “...It doesn’t look like we have room to decide.”

Haruhiro nodded. She was right. Haruhiro and the party had already been chased down. No matter what the plan was, they would have to do it.

The sun would soon set. It was gloomy, or rather, it was dark already. The insects were chirping. Even if they occasionally heard the guorellas drumming, the other sounds didn’t stop. Sounds that were like paper being torn, metal being scratched across glass, and weeping.

His ears hurt, and his head felt ready to split. More than that, his whole body felt heavy.

No, he told himself. Don’t think about difficult or unpleasant things. It’ll only make this rougher. It’s cooler now than it was during the day. That’s right. It’s not all bad.

With Setora guiding the way from atop on Enba’s shoulders, Haruhiro and the party pushed further and further east through the southwestern portion of the Kuaron Mountains. Even though these were the mountains, they were near the foot of them, so it was a gentle slope, on the whole.

I can keep going, he told himself. My body will move. It’s okay.

More than himself, it was his comrades, especially Shihoru, that he wanted to encourage. But if he turned back and tried to talk, he felt like his strings might snap. What strings? He wasn’t sure, but those strings were hair thin, stretched tight, and if they loosened or snapped, he was in real trouble.

Again? When were they going to arrive at their destination? Did they still have to keep walking?

What if the guorellas attacked right now?

That was the one thing he tried to avoid thinking. If only a few of them attacked, maybe they could do something, but if it was more than ten and they all attacked at once, the party wouldn’t last long. Worrying about things he couldn’t do anything about was pointless.

Besides, they hadn’t attacked yet. Maybe they wouldn’t attack as long as the party kept moving. They might be waiting for the moment when their prey were exhausted and unable to resist.

It was a contest of endurance. The pursuer, or the pursued. The chase wouldn’t end until one of them gave in.

Up ahead, Enba stopped. Setora, up on his shoulders, raised her right hand.

It wasn’t clear when he’d gotten there, but there was a gray nyaa at Enba’s feet. Kiichi.

“Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh!”

What?

Was that a guorella’s voice?

Haruhiro hadn’t heard that call before.

“Heh!”

“Huh!”

“Hoh!”

“Heh! Heh!”

“Huh! Huh!”

“Hoh! Hoh!”

“Heeeeh! Hoh!”

“Hoooooooh! Huh!”

“Heh! Huh! Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!”

“Hoh! Hoh! Huh! Huh! Hoh! Huh! Ho-hoh!”

The shouts of what were probably guorellas came from all over.

Haruhiro turned back. Kuzaku. Yume. Shihoru. Merry. Everyone was ready to run. Haruhiro was scared, too.

It’s finally time, huh.

“Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Heh, heh, huh, hoh, huh, hoh, heh!”

“Hah, hah, huh, heh, huh, hah, huh, hoh!”

“Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh!”

The sky was still a little bright, but the sun had sunk below the western horizon, and twilight was pressing in. Though he couldn’t make out their figures, the voices told him the guorellas were coming in from all directions.

No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t all directions.

Setora came down from Enba’s shoulders. Crouching down, she extended a hand to Kiichi. Kiichi let out a short, “Nya,” then ran over to Setora. Setora picked up Kiichi and hugged him tight. Then she looked at Haruhiro and the others.

“You’re all ready?”

Kuzaku took a deep breath, then responded, “...’Kay!”

“Meow!” Yume made a salute-like gesture.

Shihoru silently nodded her head.

Merry gave a short, “Yes,” looked to Haruhiro, and smiled a little.

“Houh!”

“Huh!”

“Hauh!”

“Huh! Hoh-hoh!”

“Heh, huh, huh, hoh, huh, huh, huh, huh!”

“Hauh, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!”

Close.

They had gotten pretty close now.

Haruhiro and the others moved up to the place where Setora and Enba were standing. Peering over the edge, a chill ran down his back.

It sure is high...

Thinking it best not to say that, Haruhiro kept the words inside his head.

This was a dead end. If they took another step, there would be nothing there. Beyond them lay a cliff so steep they couldn’t roll down it. It wasn’t just ten meters high. It was over twenty. Tens of meters. Fewer than fifty, though. Probably.

Fortunately, it wasn’t land at the bottom, but a river. If not for that, this plan wouldn’t work. Obviously.

Imagine if it had been solid land down below. If they fell, they’d be guaranteed an instant death. They had not, for lack of better options, decided to commit mass suicide rather than be eaten by the guorellas. Even if this was a desperate measure, it held some hope. The party intended to survive.

“Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Heuh! Hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh!”

“Remember, feet first,” Haruhiro told the others. “Fall feet first. Just focus on—”

Before he finished, he jumped. He suddenly felt the resolve to do it, and he did it on the spur of the moment.

Had he screwed up? Blown it? Made a mess of things?

But, rather than pushing one another, going, You go first, no, you go first, if someone took the first plunge, maybe that would make it surprisingly easy for the rest to follow.

“Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”

No way, no way, no way, no way, no way, he thought frantically. High, high, high, high, high. This is way higher than I thought. Oh, crap, I’m scared. My guts. They’re going to escape. Through my mouth. My brain’s going, “Guwahhhhhhhhhh!”

Is this what I think it is?

A one-way trip to death?

It’s kind of long, too. I’m not falling hundreds of meters, so I figured it’d be over fast, and I’d be fine, you know?

I’m kind of wondering, why is it not like that? What about everyone? Did they follow me? Were they able to jump? How did that go?

Oh, crap. I kept thinking it was long, but there’s the river now. It’s not long, or far off. River, river, river. Close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close, close.

“Feet first!” he shouted.

Why am I shouting something I already said? Haruhiro was exasperated with himself.

Then there was an unbelievably loud splash, and the impact, of course, was incredible.