Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 16 - Chapter 16

16. They Appeared Like the Wind

He managed to meet with Eliza. Not that she showed her face, though. Regardless, once he told her the situation, she agreed to help search for Shihoru.

However, as a mentor in the thieves’ guild, Eliza had a job to do, too. She was attached to the Volunteer Soldier Corps. Her work required her to travel back and forth between Alterna and Riverside Iron Fortress, which they were currently occupying. Therefore, there was a limit to how much she could do inside Alterna.

“The Volunteer Soldier Corps doesn’t know that Jin Mogis is trying to join hands with the goblins yet, so I have to go tell them first. I expect that will cause some discord. Maybe a lot.”

How would the Volunteer Soldier Corps react if the Expeditionary Force and the goblin race formed an alliance? Not even Eliza could predict that. However, the Volunteer Soldier Corps couldn’t afford to be completely isolated, either. Even if Mogis was working with the goblins, they might still find themselves forced to coordinate with him. Naturally, Mogis knew this, and was moving forward with that outcome in mind.

Furthermore, in regards to what Shinohara of Orion had said about Mount Grief, it seemed that the remnants of the Southern Expedition were, in fact, gathering there. Though they were “remnants,” there were roughly three thousand kobolds from Riverside Iron Fortress and around five hundred orcs from Deadhead Watching Keep, along with a considerable number of undead that had already been at the mountain. It was a formidable force.

“Mount Grief may be the key now,” Eliza said.

For Mogis and the Volunteer Soldier Corps, the forces at Mount Grief were clearly the enemy. Normally, the goblins would have been on the other side, too, but their alliance with Mogis was essentially a withdrawal from the Alliance of Kings.

It seemed unlikely that the goblins would fight against the forces at Mount Grief. However, it was entirely possible they would remain neutral.

The Volunteer Soldier Corps wanted to eliminate the enemies at Mount Grief due to their proximity to Riverside Iron Fortress. If Mogis lent them a hand, it would strengthen the ties between them.

Haruhiro and Kiichi evaded the watchful eyes of Neal and the Black Cloaks to begin the search inside Tenboro Tower. They searched every nook and cranny of the first floor, which contained the entrance hall, storage area, and the room that had been assigned to them, plus the second floor where the great hall, reception room, dining hall, kitchen, and fireplace room were. Everything from the third floor up was a literal tower. The security around Jin Mogis’s bedroom on the third floor was too tight for them to even approach it, but they searched the rest. It looked like the other rooms were all unoccupied and unused.

They split up to search throughout Alterna, but had no more success there.

Alterna could be divided into the northern district and the southern district, with Tenboro Tower in roughly the center. The high ground in the east was called East Town, and the lower western block was called West Town.

Soldiers of the Expeditionary Force were currently staying in the former headquarters of the Frontier Army, the lodgings in Flower Garden Street, the pleasure quarter in Celestial Alley, and the craftsmen’s town in the southern district. Apparently Mogis had given orders to that effect.

There were soldiers positioned on the walls, but inside the city there was only the occasional Black Cloak on patrol. Sometimes soldiers who were slacking off from their jobs clearing debris or repairing buildings might wander by, too. Not many of them, though. Hardly any soldiers ventured outside the living area Mogis had designated for them.

If there were no soldiers around certain places, contrary to what one might expect, it might have been easier to hold Shihoru there. That was one way of looking at it. However, Mogis and his Expeditionary Force weren’t at all familiar with the city. Could they really find a well-thought-out place to lock Shihoru up in?

Haruhiro tried investigating the angle that Anthony Justeen, formerly of the Kingdom of Arabakia’s Frontier Army, might have helped the abductors. But when he crossed paths with the man inside Tenboro Tower, before Haruhiro could even bring up the subject, Anthony was already suspicious about Shihoru’s disappearance, and was worried for her. It was possible he could have been acting, but Haruhiro found it hard to imagine Anthony was secretly aiding the general.

Maybe Shihoru wasn’t in the northern or southern districts after all.

The looting and destruction had hit the cozy mansions of East Town extremely hard, and there was no chance of the area being repaired any time soon. After a cursory search, Haruhiro found nothing moving there beyond bugs and mice.

West Town, where the dread knights’ and thieves’ guilds were, was a slum, made up of complicated and interweaving streets. Even if you were just taking an ordinary walk, it was easy to get lost there. Haruhiro had Eliza help with searching that part of town, but he didn’t have much hope of turning anything up.

Four days after Haruhiro managed to infiltrate Ahsvasin, the handover of the hi’irogane equipment took place.

Here’s how it went. The Expeditionary Force carried the hi’irogane equipment to the wall that divided the Old City of Damuro from the New City. Then they pulled back. The goblins came out of the New City and checked the items.

It seemed the goblins knew precisely what hi’irogane items there were, and how many of each. If even one was missing, there was going to be trouble. Fortunately, all of the hi’irogane equipment was returned, and the exchange was completed without incident.

The goblins set up a meeting place in the Old City, and the Expeditionary Force investigated it. By the day that the items were handed over, they had already completed a building that looked like half a mud dumpling. Weird by human standards of architecture.

Haruhiro and his group were sent out to go over the building with a fine-toothed comb, but they found nowhere that the goblins might be hiding ambushers inside. There were no other strange tricks, either. Though the building had a skylight, the only other opening was the door, so there wasn’t any risk of snipers targeting the participants with ranged weapons from outside.

The next day, Jin Mogis would reorganize the Expeditionary Force into the Frontier Army, and take the title Commander of the Frontier Army.

Then, he would meet with Mogado Gwagajin in the Old City of Damuro at noon, and the Frontier Army would forge a formal alliance with the goblins.

Was he planning to celebrate the night before? Mogis called all of the soldiers, except for those on wall duty, to the plaza outside Tenboro Tower, set a large bonfire, and served generous amounts of alcohol.

He slaughtered a number of ganaroes, those large beasts of burden, and fried them whole, while boiling the rice they had brought from the mainland in pots with a variety of ingredients. The barrels of booze that seemed to invite everyone to drink to their hearts’ content contained watered-down spirits that had been pumped full of spice. They tasted and smelled awful, but the soldiers were somehow convinced that the brew was healthy for them.

The soldiers were given plates, bowls, and mugs made of wood or crude pottery. Haruhiro and his group ended up sitting with the soldiers, and had to wait to be served with them. Neal the scout and his subordinates were watching them, so unfortunately they had no choice but to participate in this off-color celebration.

There were a good number of empty barrels and boxes scattered around the plaza. Apparently they were expected to use them as tables.

Haruhiro sat around an empty barrel with Kuzaku, Merry, Setora and Kiichi, eating bowls of some kind of gruel. It didn’t taste bad, as much as he hated to admit it, and the skewer of meat Kuzaku was chowing down on looked tasty, too. He might not be able to convince himself to try the booze, but the food had done him no wrong. He’d be fine so long as he didn’t stuff himself to the point it impaired his ability to move around.

Maybe a chance would come their way.

Mogis gave a speech, and they expected he would leave after that, but instead he sat at a table in front of Tenboro Tower’s front gate and watched the soldiers. Though there were drinks prepared, he had barely touched them so far. He had four Black Cloaks guarding him. There were likely a number more inside Tenboro Tower.

Haruhiro and Kiichi had almost run out of places to search in there.

But only almost. Not completely.

They hadn’t ever been able to enter Mogis’s room on the third floor.

Anthony Justeen tried to talk to them, but they brushed him off, and he left, looking lonely.

“Enjoying yourselves?” Neal came over carrying a wooden mug. “What? You’re not drinking? We’re celebrating before we all set out again tomorrow. Why don’t you let loose a little?”

“You’re sober, too, aren’t you?” Kuzaku said, making no attempt to hide his distaste for the man.

Neal brought the mug to his lips, and made a show of drinking from it.

“No matter how much I drink, it never shows on my face. I’m like a sieve.”

“Is that really even alcohol...?”

“You want to test it?”

Neal brought the mug to Kuzaku’s nose, smirking.

“I won’t let you tell me you can’t drink my booze.”

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m gonna say.” Kuzaku enunciated every syllable as he said, “I can’t drink your booze.”

Neal laughed and withdrew the mug, instead giving Kuzaku a friendly slap on the shoulder.

“Hey, let’s play nice.”

“I don’t wanna!”

Kuzaku twisted, and brushed Neal’s hand away. Neal not only wasn’t offended, he apparently found it hilarious.

“Don’t hate me so much, Brother. We’re all in this together. Right?”

“Yeah,” Haruhiro replied instantly. “That’s right.”

The words may have sounded hollow, but he didn’t care. Neal wasn’t sincere, either.

“Enjoy yourselves,” Neal said and then left.

The party was being monitored by Neal and his subordinates, a total of four men. Haruhiro had a clear memory of each of their faces. But the scouts were busy, too. Many of them were posted to Damuro now. Only Neal and one of the others was in the plaza now. When Neal wasn’t looking their way, the other man was watching what Haruhiro and the others did.

While they’d been dealing with Neal, Mogis had left his seat. Had he gone back to Tenboro Tower? No, that wasn’t it. He was walking around the plaza. The Black Cloaks were with him.

Jin Mogis wasn’t the kind of commander who could strike up a friendly conversation with his men. Most of them actually avoided him. Some even fled when Mogis approached.

There had once been a large number of soldiers who were blatantly underestimating what Mogis was capable of. However, once he took Alterna, they must have reevaluated their opinions of him. There was still no shortage of men who couldn’t abide by military protocol, but even the most slothful of them feared him. Talking back to their commanders was one thing, but defying Mogis himself was another. He was the kind of man who would lop their heads off without hesitation.

There were even signs of affirmative, even passionate, support for Mogis from a number of the troops.

“Here’s to General Jin Mogis!”

“It’s not General, it’s Commander now!”

“That’s right! We’re not the Expeditionary Force anymore! We’re the Frontier Army!”

“To Commander Jin Mogis!”

“Hail the Commander!”

“Take the throne, Commander!”

“Be our king!”

“Take Vele! Go for it, Commander!”

“The frontier is our homeland now!”

Did Mogis enjoy being surrounded by the boisterous young soldiers lifting up their drinks in his honor? His expression was the same as ever. But he didn’t raise a hand to stop them from cheering. Nor did he show any sign of disliking it. From Mogis’s perspective, things were going as planned, and he could breathe a sigh of relief for now.

“Sigh...” Kuzaku scowled as he bit into his meat skewer, and chewed it loudly. “This’s making the meat taste bad.”

“Just how much do you plan to eat?” Setora said, setting her bowl down on the empty barrel they were using in place of a table. Kuzaku cocked his head to the side.

“Well, I figured I’d eat all I could, you know? Something like that. Maybe I’ll go get another two or three. Anyone else want one? I’ll get some for everybody while I’m there.”

“I’ll pass,” Merry replied politely, but Setora just shook her head. Kiichi, meanwhile, looked up at Kuzaku expectantly.

“Oh, you want one, Kiichi? I see. I see. You, Haruhiro?”

“I...” Don’t want one, Haruhiro was about to reply, but felt a sensation like all of the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

“Heya.”

Haruhiro was shocked to realize he hadn’t even noticed the man’s presence until he spoke.

He turned to see a man wearing a black cloak that covered his whole body, with the hood pulled low over his eyes. That wasn’t all. His face was covered with some sort of mask, too.

“Erm...”

Before he could ask, Who are you? Merry gulped.

Haruhiro hid his confusion, and looked around, trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary. Neal was fifteen meters away, and the other scout was with Mogis. They were both looking this way.

But did it matter? Wasn’t the masked man in a blind spot for both of them? They likely hadn’t spotted him.

Was that coincidence? Or had he deliberately made contact while avoiding their watchers?

“You don’t get it, huh?” The masked man chuckled in a low voice. “I hear you’ve lost your memory, Haruhiro. ...On a completely unrelated note, don’t you need to go take a piss?”

Before Haruhiro could respond, the masked man turned to go.

He was beyond quick. In no time flat, the man slipped into the crowd, and was gone.

Haruhiro and the rest of the party all looked at one another.

“Um, I’ve, uh, gotta go...” Haruhiro mumbled, making a gesture to indicate he was going to go heed nature’s call. Obviously, he didn’t actually have any pressing need to urinate. His comrades understood that.

“Ohh... Sure, okay!” Kuzaku said with an exaggerated nod, and Setora sighed as she watched him.

Merry’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. Was that because, unlike Haruhiro and the others, she remembered?

When Haruhiro left his wooden plate on the empty barrel and left, Neal moved, too. He likely meant to leave monitoring Kuzaku and the rest to the scout who was with Mogis, while he tailed Haruhiro personally. But he’d chosen the wrong guy to try to follow. Haruhiro used Stealth to ditch Neal. He left the plaza, and before he had time to consider where he ought to go, his feet were already leading him to the volunteer soldier lodging house.

The masked man was waiting for Haruhiro inside one of the rooms there.

“Do you really not remember anything?”

“...Why? What do you ask that for?”

“Because you came to this room without hesitating.”

The man removed his mask, and pulled back his hood.

Haruhiro could at least make out his features in the moonlight that streamed in through the window.

“It’s true. You don’t remember.”

“...Uh, yeah?”

The man threw his mask down on the bed, and started scratching at his hair in irritation.

“You know who I am, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a good idea.”

“A good idea, you say? Do you want me to kill you, man?”

“Nope.”

“Even without your memories, you still have the same stupid, lame responses as ever.”

“Ranta.”

What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to say it?

“Long time no see.”

With nothing coming to him, he went for something inoffensive. It was true, he was boring. He had to accept that.

Ranta hung his head.

“Is that something a guy with no memories should say? You idjit...” Ranta said, trailing off as he lost momentum.

It seemed he and Ranta hadn’t necessarily been on good terms. Actually, they’d gotten along quite badly. They wouldn’t have gone their separate ways otherwise.

The guy had a real mouth on him. Haruhiro could tell that even from this short exchange with him. Was that why he’d disliked Ranta? It couldn’t have been that simple. There had to be something about each of them that the other couldn’t accept. But they’d still been comrades. They’d gone through many hardships together before parting ways.

“Don’t call me an idiot, you moron.”

For some reason, the words slipped out on their own.

Ranta looked up, his eyes widening for a moment, then he turned to look down again.

“I didn’t call you an idiot. I called you an idjit. Get it straight.”

“...Aren’t they the same?”

“They’re different, duh. It’s idjit and idiot.”

“It’s way too minor a difference, if you ask me.”

“That sort of nuance is pretty important, man. You get it? Yeah, no, you don’t. You’re sloppy, Parupiro. That’s the problem with guys like you.”

“Listen... I dunno what this difference in nuance you’re on about is, but I think I can see why I didn’t get along with you.”

“Because I’m sensitive, and you’re sloppy. We’re like water and oil. Nah, like the moon and a turtle. By the way, in this analogy, I’m the moon, and you’re the turtle.”

If Haruhiro said one thing, Ranta would come back at him with ten. He was different from Setora, who was argumentative and sharp-tongued. The guy couldn’t stop running his mouth. If Haruhiro tried to respond to everything, it’d be pretty exhausting.

“I heard you were with the Volunteer Soldier Corps.”

It seemed wise to just ignore him and move things along.

“Did you quit and leave on your own?”

“Like hell I did. I heard Shihoru got kidnapped, and... I mean, I don’t really care, but, you know, she does, so—”

Just as Haruhiro was about to ask who Ranta meant, something sprang at him from behind.

“Haru-kun...!”

“Whaa?!”

What was this? A piggyback ride? Haruhiro was giving someone a piggyback ride? Someone who jumped on him, out of nowhere? No, no, that wasn’t it. They were just clinging to him on their own. Haruhiro hadn’t put his arms behind himself to support them. He was adjusting his balance to keep from falling over. Should he throw them off? But Haru-kun? Wait, what?

“Haru-kun! It’s Haru-kun! You smell like Haru-kun! It’s Haru-kun...!”

“No, hold on, hey...!”

They were smelling him. With their nose pressed against his neck, behind his ear, sniffing like crazy. Was it a dog? No. Obviously not.

“Hey, Yume, stoooop...!” Ranta was trying to tear whoever it was off of Haruhiro. “What do you think you’re doing, you moron?! Get off!”

“Noooo! Yume hasn’t been with Haru-kun in forever!”

“You haven’t ‘been with’ him? People are gonna misunderstand if you word it like that, okay?! Besides, have you ever snuggled up to Haruhiro like that before?!”

“Yume has!”

“You have?! No way! Seriously?!”

“It was a long time ago, but Haru-kun hugged Yume real tight!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever! That was forever ago! And let me tell you, this piece of shit doesn’t remember it at all! Do you get that?!”

“Even if Haru-kun’s forgotten Yume, maybe his body remembers!”

“I told you, people will misunderstand if you say stuff like that...!”

“U-Umm...” Haruhiro struggled to speak.

It hurts.

Ranta tried to pull Yume off him, and Yume — yes, it was Yume — was clinging onto Haruhiro. She had her arms wrapped tight around his neck, digging into it, so he couldn’t breathe properly.

“H-Help! L-Let go of me...!”

“Wh-Whaa! Sorry!”

Yume jumped back and away from him, stopping him from suffocating, at the last possible moment.

He squatted and tried to catch his breath, and Yume rubbed his back as he did.

“You okay? Sorry. Yume was just so darn happy to see you, Haru-kun.”

“What’re you so happy to see this snot-nosed idiot for, stupid? Don’t make such a big deal about it, you loose woman.”

Ranta seemed awfully mad. Yume snapped at him.

“Yume’s not a loser!”

“I never said you were! I said you were loose!”

“Hrrm?” Yume cocked her head to the side, and her hair, which despite being braided was still very long, touched the floor. “What’s that supposed to mean? Yume’s all muscle, so if anything, she’s tight?”

“Oh, forget it! I don’t even know anymore!”

“...Are you two always like this?” Haruhiro asked after clearing his throat, and Ranta started to panic.

“L-L-L-Like what? What do you mean by that, huh?!”

“Well, yeah. We’re always actin’ like this.” Yume confirmed with a sigh. Ranta seemed kind of embarrassed.

“...It’s true, we’re always kind of like this. Joking around, or whatever, you know? It’s nothing more than that, so don’t get any weird ideas, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah...” Haruhiro responded without any emotion, and Ranta snapped.

“One ‘yeah’ is enough! One! Since the dawn of the universe, everyone has known that—”

“Oh, yeah!”

When Yume suddenly sprang to her feet, Ranta let out a little shriek and jumped back and away from her.

“Wh-Wh-What’s this about, all of a sudden?!”

“Shihoru’s been kidnapped, right? We came here to meet Haru-kun and everyone, but we came to rescue Shihoru, too, didn’t we? Huh?”

“...Y-Yeah. Right. Th-That’s right!”

Ranta pointed at Haruhiro.

“That’s right, Parupororon!”

“Who’s Parupororon supposed to be...?”

“Who would it be but you? No one, right? Don’t you get it? Is your head that empty?”

“...Don’t we need to talk about Shihoru?”

“We will! You don’t need to tell me that! I mean, you talk! Explain the damn situation. Out with it. Keep it short and to the point. Hurry up!”

If Ranta were the only one here, Haruhiro might have refused to talk out of sheer stubbornness. It was a good thing Yume was around.

He’d heard from Merry that Yume and Shihoru were relatively close. Shihoru had lost her memories. That had to be shocking enough for Yume on its own. Now, she was missing, too. Yume had left the Volunteer Soldier Corps to come to Alterna because she couldn’t sit still anymore. And she’d brought Ranta with her. Ranta was just a tagalong.

“...And I think that’s everything. For now.”

When Haruhiro explained Shihoru’s current situation, Yume had to sit down on the bed for a moment. Ranta crossed his arms and chewed on his thumb.

“...Oh, this is a real fun situation. No, Yume, I did not mean that literally, okay? Don’t attack me. I was just trying to sound cool. Wait, if I explain it, it defeats the purpose...”

Yume was still hanging her head. She wasn’t even hearing Ranta’s nonsense. Ranta clicked his tongue, and glared at Haruhiro.

“So? What’re you gonna do?”

“Do?”

Haruhiro looked down, and averted his eyes.

“...Wait for an opportunity, then search Jin Mogis’s bedroom.”

“And what if Shihoru’s not there, either? I can’t see him hiding a hostage somewhere so obvious.”

“Well... maybe you’re right.”

“How about the Forbidden Tower?”

“Huh?”

“Mogis is working with Hiyomu’s... I guess I can just call her Hiyo, huh? Anyway, he’s working with her master. If he’s the owner of the Forbidden Tower, like you say...”

“...Oh. If he leaves the hostage... Shihoru with the master of the Forbidden Tower for safekeeping...”

“There’s no getting inside the tower. I mean, there’s probably a way, but we don’t know it. That’d make finding and saving her impossible from the get-go.”

“I...” Haruhiro sat down next to Yume. “...I never thought of that.”

“Well, that’s because you’ve got shit for brains, moron.” Ranta smirked. “You were always a downer, thinking about things in the most negative way possible. Does it make it easy for you, creating an out for yourself like that?”

“Could you not say that like you understand? ...Honestly, it’s unpleasant.”

“Do I get anything out of making things pleasant for you?”

“What do you get out of harassing me?”

Ranta shrugged. “It feels good. Only a little, though.”

“Ranta.”

It was a low voice. For Yume, at least. The coldness of it left more of an impression. It was scary. Haruhiro wasn’t the only one who got the chills from it.

“...Yipes!” Ranta said, sounding obviously frightened.

“Yipes,” really?

Haruhiro wanted to poke fun at him, but decided it was better not to.

“If you don’t stop picklin’, Yume’s gonna punish you, okay?”

“You mean—”

Ranta was probably about to say, You mean bickering, not pickling. But he didn’t. Maybe she had given him a serious scolding before? Yume was supposed to be pretty scary when she got mad.

“...A-Anyway. If you’ve got time for that, wouldn’t it be faster to just clobber this Mogis guy and make him let Shihoru go?”

“Clobber him?”

If Haruhiro took issue with every word Ranta used, they’d never get anywhere. Haruhiro more or less knew what he meant.

“...Well, I had considered taking Mogis hostage. It’s not that easy. He’s on guard against us, too.”

“Even with me and Yume here?” Ranta smirked and gave him a thumbs-up. “I’m sure you’ve forgotten, but I’m more reliable than a hundred other guys combined, okay?”