Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 5 - Chapter 8

8. Let’s Go Down the Hill

I’m fine with being mediocre. Just let me be more decisive, Haruhiro thought. I want to become a leader who can make split-second decisions and not leave his comrades feeling uncertain. I probably can’t be the sort that makes them think, “I want to follow him,” but I want to at least be the kind of leader that makes them think, “Well, I guess I’ll follow him.”

That seems pretty hard, though.

One more step, and they would be in the Dusk Realm, and yet Haruhiro’s eyes were still looking sleepy. No... he couldn’t see them himself, but he knew they probably were. They had to be.

The feeling of tension, the indecision, the regret, the feeling of, Yeah, let’s not do this after all, and the thought that, No, we have to do it, were all getting mixed together. At times like this, Haruhiro’s eyes looked even sleepier than usual. He was aware of that himself.

Of course, it wasn’t that he was sleepy. He was confident that, right now, even if Shihoru hit him with her Sleepy Shadow spell, he wouldn’t feel even the least bit drowsy.

Despite that, his eyes looked sleepy.

He couldn’t have looked less prepared.

“My bad, Haruhiro,” Kikkawa said, sounding sincerely contrite.

“Well, yeah. This is your bad.” Ranta gave a nasal laugh. “Let me say, Kikkawa. This favor is gonna cost you big, man. You’d better understand that.”

“Oh, stop!” Yume jabbed Ranta in the shoulder. “You shouldn’t be sayin’ stuff like that. Kikkawa’s havin’ a really bad time right now.”

“Yumecchi...” Kikkawa teared up. It seemed he really was feeling weak right now.

“Magic... is usable,” Shihoru said, nodding to Haruhiro. “I can feel the elementals. It’s fine.”

“I’ll defend Shihoru with everything I have.” Merry hit the ground with her short staff.

“As for me...” Kuzaku lowered the visor on his close helm. “...I’ll protect everyone.”

“Let’s take it easy.” Haruhiro scratched the back of his head. “...Hmm. No, that’s not quite right. I’m trying to say don’t be so on edge, maybe. I guess that’s the same thing. Well, just to make sure I get the point across, don’t be reckless. Sorry, Kikkawa, but if things go bad, I plan to pull out. Also, there are a number of points where we have an advantage over the Tokkis.”

“We have me! The great Ranta-sama!” Ranta puffed up his chest proudly.

“First, we have information.” Haruhiro, naturally, ignored him. “The cultists. The white giants. We know that there are enemies here. We can stay on guard. Kikkawa also remembers the way to the ruins. We’re also aware that light magic and, though this one is just an extra, dark magic don’t work.”

“And we have me!” Ranta spun around and struck a weird pose.

“Also, there are our numbers.” Haruhiro, it went without saying, ignored him. “We don’t have anyone like Anna-san who needs protecting—okay, that was just a joke, but we do have Kikkawa, so we have one more. Kikkawa, you’re a tank, right?”

“Yeah,” Kikkawa nodded. “Tokimune-san’s a paladin with a shield and everything, but he doesn’t feel very tanky, does he? That’s why I’m our main tank.”

“Well, together with Kuzaku, we’ll have two tanks,” Haruhiro said. “For now, Kuzaku will be the main, and we’ll have Kikkawa be a sub tank.”

“Righto,” said Kuzaku.

“Okay,” said Kikkawa.

“Now, as for the third advantage—”

“It’s me, right?!” Ranta burst in.

“Yeah, that’s right, it’s you, Ranta,” said Haruhiro. “We can sacrifice you any time we need to. That’s a huge advantage.”

“Heh heh heh... Isn’t it, though? I mean, I’m—” Ranta stopped. “Wait, sacrifice me?! I oughta sacrifice you! Go die!”

“Also, there’s one more advantage,” Shihoru said, pointing to Haruhiro. “A cautious leader.”

“Huh?” Haruhiro blinked. Right now, I don’t think I have sleepy eyes.

“Ha ha! Ahahaha!” Kikkawa, who had been looking depressed all this time, sounded just a little cheerful when he burst into that short laugh. “You can say that again. When we get in our groove and just go boom, boom, boom, we’re invincible, but once we get tripped up, well... we can be pretty weak, you know. Harucchi, your party seems pretty stable. Maybe your lack of enthusiasm is a positive there?”

“What’s positive about it?!” Ranta hollered, looking ready to puke in distaste. “It’s clearly a negative! He’s a drag! It’s like being at a funeral every day! Try to put yourself in my shoes!”

“It makes it easy on me.” Kuzaku slowly turned his head.

“For me, too.” Merry raised one hand.

“And me.” Shihoru smiled.

“Yume, too. It’s easy and breezy, and that’s real great, isn’t it?”

“The only thing breezy is the inside of your head, Yumeeee!” Ranta yelled. “Only you, with your tiny tits, feel that way!”

“Don’t call them tiny!”

“If you don’t like it, try rubbing them until they get big!” Ranta hollered.

“When Yume rubs her boobs, she starts feelin’ all funny, so no!” she shot back.

“...What, you’ve actually tried rubbing them?” Ranta asked, startled.

“They’re Yume’s boobs, if Yume wants to rub them, or do anythin’ else to them, that’s Yume’s business,” she snapped back.

“W-Well, yeah, but that’s not what I meant...”

“Pervert.” Merry focused an icy glare on Ranta.

“Deviant.” Shihoru looked at Ranta with blatant contempt.

It looks like everyone’s starting to get into it.

Though, in truth, Haruhiro had already thought his presence was one advantage they had.

Not as a leader, but as an active thief, and as a scout. Haruhiro himself thought that his personality was a good fit for being a thief. He might not be so great in combat, but in exploration or spying, he figured he might be pretty useful.

Haruhiro’s self-appraisal aside, he was happy to receive praise from his comrades. It helped motivate him.

“Harucchi.” Kikkawa tapped the back of his gauntleted hand on Haruhiro’s shoulder. “I’ll leave the call on when to retreat to you, and I’ll obey it. For now, you can think of me as one of yours. I may not look it, but I’m pretty useful, you know?”

“I’ll be counting on you.” Haruhiro punched Kikkawa in the arm. “Okay. I’ll take the lead. Everyone, follow behind me at a distance of around ten meters. The marching order will be Kikkawa, Kuzaku, Ranta, Shihoru, Merry, Yume. Yume, watch the rear for me.”

“Righty-meow!” she cried.

Once he had heard Yume’s odd reply, Haruhiro started to walk.

He set foot in the Dusk Realm.

The sky that, at first glance, looked like the evening sky, but was actually random colors, hung high above them, and the wind was fairly strong.

This wind is a bit of a problem, he thought. According to Kikkawa, there weren’t enemies around this first hill today, either. Still, a lack of caution could be the death of us. Those pillar-like white rocks scattered around the grass-covered slope are large enough that a person could easily hide behind them. For those pillar rocks, rather than approach them going straight in one direction, it would probably be better to move left and right to eliminate any blind spots. It’s not easy, but thinking about what I need to do and how to do it as I walk is pretty fun.

Haruhiro went down the hill at his normal walking speed. When he turned back, Kikkawa nodded and pointed ahead of him.

Looks like I have the direction right, Haruhiro noted.

They had left their tents, provisions, and heavy equipment just in front of the entrance to the Dusk Realm. Haruhiro and the others were traveling light.

Eventually, when the ground leveled out, Haruhiro felt a certain sense of foreboding. He turned back, looking to the top of the hill he had come down.

Was it needless anxiety?

There are enemies up the hill. That idea had flashed through his mind, but there were none there. This time, it was my imagination, but it’s far better to wear myself out with unwarranted anxiety than to be careless and let the enemy catch us unaware. I’m gonna take every caution and be overanxious like crazy.

Eventually, they reached a point where there were hardly any of the pillar rocks.

However, he still hadn’t spotted anything resembling a tree. Were there no trees in this world?

Haruhiro would occasionally turn back, checking with Kikkawa that he was heading in the right direction.

“That’s bizarre...” he muttered, then exhaled.

It was as bright as evening, but there was nothing like a sun.

There were no birds or bugs flying around. There was no sound of wind. When he turned around for somewhere between the tenth and twentieth time, Haruhiro noticed something was off. But, as for what that was, he wasn’t sure.

Still, it bothered him. He signaled with his hands for everyone to come to a stop.

He looked around.

Where is it? What...?

Haruhiro gulped. Is that it?

The pillars on that initial hill, he thought. Not all of them. Only a few.

Haruhiro squinted his eyes. There was no doubt about it.

They’re moving.

The rock pillars, maybe one in ten of them, they’re slowly—honestly, it’s just a little bit at a time—moving around.

Now, if someone had asked him, So what?, he wouldn’t have known what to say. If he were asked what they were, and what it meant, Haruhiro would have no answer. However, the fact of the matter was, for at least some subset of them, while he couldn’t be sure they were alive, he could be sure they were moving. They were able to move.

“That’s really bizarre,” Haruhiro muttered.

Should I explain to my comrades? he wondered. Maybe not yet. If the pillar rocks all moved, that would mean we couldn’t navigate by them, which would be a problem. That doesn’t seem to be the case, so it isn’t an issue—I think.

Ranta raised both his hands to the side, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, What’s up?

Nothing. Haruhiro shook his head in response. The first thing, or rather, the only thing, we need to focus on is heading for the ruins. We shouldn’t think about anything but rescuing the Tokkis while avoiding danger as much as possible.

Haruhiro advanced forward. It was smooth, but there were a lot of ups and downs. In the places where it was higher or lower, he often saw the pillar rocks.

It seems the pillar rocks don’t like level ground, Haruhiro thought. Then he realized he was viewing the pillar rocks as something close to living creatures. Whatever the case, it’s probably best not to get too close to the pillar rocks.

But, as soon as he made that decision, there was a dog.

It was sudden, but it seemed so natural. It was lying low in the grass, wagging its tail, and it wasn’t that close, so, Huh... was all he thought. He wasn’t particularly shocked. At first, that was.

Hey, wait, he quickly reconsidered. This is the Dusk Realm. Another world. It’s weird that there’s a dog—or at least, I can’t say that for sure, but I should be suspicious of it.

Well, on closer inspection, it wasn’t a normal dog anyway. It was somewhere between a large and medium sized dog. It looked like a dog with long, white fur, but it wasn’t clear whether it was really a dog. Actually, it probably wasn’t what you’d usually call a dog.

That pseudo-dog, it only had one eye. If Haruhiro were to give it a name, he’d call it a one-eyed dog.

This was something he had no choice but to stop for. The others had stopped walking, too. Well, now what?

The one-eyed dog looked in their direction, its posture low and its tail wagging, like a friendly dog that had found people in an uninhabited field and wanted to play. That was what it acted like. But it had only one eye.

If it wasn’t going to attack, could they leave it be? But that friendliness made Haruhiro think something was up. Could it be the cultists’ dog? Might it let the cultists know about Haruhiro and the others? Or was he overthinking things? Was he being needlessly anxious?

He decided to wait and see what it did. While motioning for his comrades to come in closer, Haruhiro watched the one-eyed dog. The one-eyed dog didn’t move.

“Never seen one of those before,” Kikkawa whispered. “Oh, but, now that I think about it, if I recall, the cultists only had one eye hole, and the lion-headed white giants, they only had one eye, too.”

“Then this guy’s with them?” Ranta went to draw Betrayer.

“Either that,” Shihoru began hesitantly, “or it’s possible all the creatures in this world... have just one eye...”

“It’s kind of creepy.” Merry sounded dubious. “The way it’s wagging its tail.”

“It’s like a pet dog, isn’t it?” Kuzaku was apparently thinking along the same lines as Haruhiro.

“This’s a job for Yume,” Yume declared, proudly thumping her chest. “Yume’s a hunter, after all. Yume’s gonna try and get up close, so everyone keep an eye on it.”

Haruhiro decided to let Yume handle it. Of course, he got ready to jump in and help at any moment.

“Ahem.” Yume cleared her throat loudly, then slowly approached the one-eyed dog. It was a slow, easy pace, but it was kind of... normal. Yume didn’t particularly try to make eye contact with the one-eyed dog, or stick out her hand and try to present a friendly attitude. It was so normal, Haruhiro had to wonder, Is this going to be okay?

The one-eyed dog was staring at Yume with its single, but large eye.

What was the one-eyed dog thinking as it stuck out its tongue, panting?

There was about four meters between them.

“Easy, easy,” Yume said, talking to the one-eyed dog for the first time. “It’s okay. Yume’s not gonna do anythin’ bad to you.”

The one-eyed dog didn’t respond. It just kept staring at Yume.

Three more meters. Two meters.

That was when the one-eyed dog got up from the down position and sat.

Yume started to stop, but then kept moving forward. Lowering her hips, she slowly approached the one-eyed dog and stuck out her hand.

“Paw.”

“O, o, o, o, o!”

That voice. Based on the fact that it had opened its mouth, it had probably been the one-eyed dog that made it. It was rather low in tone, an eerie voice.

Yume let out an “Eek...!” and stopped walking.

“O, o, o, o, o!”

“That’s scary!” Ranta half-drew Betrayer.

In that instant, the one-eyed dog turned and started to race off.

“Ah!” Haruhiro gave chase. “No, we can’t let it get away!”

“Ohm, rel, ect, nemun, darsh!”

At the same time as Haruhiro went to chase the one-eyed dog, perhaps sooner, Shihoru began chanting a spell. The shadow elemental flew forth, fixing itself to the ground right in the path of the fleeing one-eyed dog. The one-eyed dog stepped on the shadow elemental with its right front paw.

“O, o, o, o...!”

Struggle as it might, the one-eyed dog couldn’t free its paw from the shadow elemental.

“W-Wait!” Yume tried to stand in Haruhiro’s way. “Not yet! It’s just runnin’. That doesn’t make it an enemy!”

“Sorry, Yume!” Haruhiro walked past her. “We can’t take risks here! No, actually...”

“O, o, o, o, o, ooooooooooo!”

The one-eyed dog was struggling violently—

But that’s not all, Haruhiro thought. There’s something... coming out of it, I think?

They were growing out of its body here and there. White, bone-like protrusions with sharp tips.

“Eeeek!” When Yume turned and saw them, she let out a shriek. “Scary, scary, scary! That’s no doggie!”

“Damn straight.” Ranta lowered the visor on his skull helm. Using Leap Out, he sprung towards the one-eyed dog. “Take this! Hatred!”

“O, o, o, ooooo!”

The one-eyed dog couldn’t run away thanks to Shihoru’s Shadow Bond. Still, it contorted its body. Ranta had probably meant to split the one-eyed dog’s head open with Betrayer, but he missed his mark. The sword struck one of the bone-like growths coming out of the one-eyed dog’s shoulder, and was deflected.

“Whoa?! That’s hard!” Ranta leapt back.

“I’ll do it!” Kuzaku charged forward with his shield in front of him.

Kuzaku’s shield and the one-eyed dog’s bone-like growths collided. The one-eyed dog lost the pushing contest, but there was an intense screeching. Kuzaku’s kite-shaped heater shield was made of wood and reinforced with leather and metal. It was a sturdy piece of equipment. It didn’t break, but the surface was scraped off.

“Hah!” Kuzaku didn’t care. He just continued to push in and thrust his longsword out from beside his shield. While protecting himself with the shield, he used Thrust. It was a basic tactic for paladins.

The one-eyed dog cried O, o, o! and tried to avoid the longsword. Those bone-like things were in the way, but the longsword weaved between them to strike at the one-eyed dog’s body. Its blood was red.

Haruhiro decided not to charge in, instead keeping an eye on the situation. A straight-up melee wasn’t a thief’s place anyway.

“Aw, yeah!” Kikkawa slammed his bastard sword into the one-eyed dog. The one-eyed dog had been preoccupied with Kuzaku, so it took the full force of this blow.

“Heh heh heh!” Ranta bounced around using Leap Out to get around to the side of the one-eyed dog, then swung Betrayer in a figure-eight pattern. “My super deadly attack! Slice!”

“Oooo, oo, oooooo, oooooo...!”

The one-eyed dog was bloodied in an instant. No matter how fierce it was, if its movements were sealed with magic and it was surrounded by a paladin, a warrior, and a dread knight, it was going to have a hard time.

The one-eyed dog collapsed in short order, but until it stopped twitching, Ranta stubbornly continued to stab it. It was cruel, but they couldn’t afford to take half-measures.

“A perfect victory! Am I right?!” Ranta raised his visor, flashing a sinister smile in Yume’s direction. “That was one hell of a pup! Ga ha ha ha!”

“That thing wasn’t a doggie!” Yume’s cheeks were puffed up in anger.

“...Still.” Shihoru glanced to Haruhiro. “What if... there were a whole bunch of these things...”

“No question, we’d be in trouble,” Haruhiro said with a glance at the one-eyed dog’s remains. “It looked fast. If a big pack of these one-eyed dogs were chasing us, it’d be pretty rough.”

Oh, not good, he realized. Everyone’s gone quiet.

“W-Well.” Haruhiro forced a smile. “It’s a good thing. We’ve found out there’re creatures like this one here. I mean, now that we know, there’re countermeasures we can take.”

Were there really, though? He couldn’t think of any at the moment.

Damn it, he thought. This is scary. The Dusk Realm is beyond crazy.

Haruhiro pulled out a canteen and took a drink of water, and each of his comrades rehydrated themselves, too, as if following his example.

Calm down. No, I am calm. I’m not panicking.

When he looked over to Kikkawa, the man was hanging his head. He probably felt bad for getting them involved in this.

That’s true, yeah? Haruhiro thought. If someone said he got us wrapped up in this, that much might be true. But we had the option of not getting involved. We just didn’t choose to take it. That’s not Kikkawa’s fault.

Did I make the wrong decision?

There’s scarcely a day when I don’t ask myself that question. In fact, I’ve made the wrong decisions more than a few times. I’m always making mistakes.

I go on making mistakes, never learning, but still, somehow we’re here today, and I know I have no choice but to move forward. Even if the choices I make are wrong, I have to move forward without a word about it. If I don’t, then everyone will be at a loss for what to do.

“Okay,” Haruhiro said. “Let’s go.”

Haruhiro started to walk, then quickly looked around the area. This is bad. Like, seriously.

This is crazy.

“O, o, o, o...”

“O, o, o, o, o, o...”

“O, o, o...”

“O, o, o, o, o, o, o, o...”

With that creepy growl, one-eyed dogs with those bone-like protrusions were closing in on them.

From there, and over there, too, he thought, alarmed. At a quick count, there are four of them. No—

“O, o...”

“O, o, o...”

“O, o, o, o...”

“O, o, o, o, o...”

“O, o, o, o, o, o...”

From behind, another five. That makes nine, total. —For now.

Haruhiro couldn’t be sure there weren’t more coming.

“Hey, Paropiruro...” Ranta was sounding uncharacteristically unenthusiastic.

“What is it, Rantanius?” That lame comeback was a clear indication that Haruhiro was far from calm.

“So, how about those countermeasures?” Ranta asked. “You’ve got some, right...?”

“Y-Yeah...” If Haruhiro just confessed I’ve got nothing, it felt like that would be easier. But it’d only be easier on Haruhiro; the rest of them would suffer. That was no good. He was the leader, after all.

“F-Fall back,” he said. He immediately questioned, Is that going to be okay? but Haruhiro shook off his hesitance. “Form a circle. Fall back. Oh, I guess in a circle, there is no back, huh? Erm, I’ll give orders for the direction, so go where I say. Quickly. Get into a circle. Hurry, Ranta, Kuzaku, Kikkawa! Yume, don’t you dawdle, either! Shihoru and Merry, get in the center!”

Haruhiro, Ranta, Kuzaku, Kikkawa, and Yume got in a formation around Shihoru and Merry.

There were now nine one-eyed dogs surrounding Haruhiro and the others. Though, that said, it wasn’t as if the one-eyed dogs had formed a ring around them with equal distance between each of them.

Haruhiro chose to break out through one of those openings. Haruhiro and the others advanced in that direction. They didn’t run. With weapons out, shields at the ready, they advanced at slower than a walking pace while intimidating the one-eyed dogs.

“Hey! Heyyy!” Ranta kept shouting and swinging Betrayer. “D-Don’t you come any closer, you mutts! I’ll kill you, dammit!”

“Ha ha ha. Man...” Kikkawa looked dispirited. “I dunno what to make of this. I’m beat...”

“We’ll get through somehow.” It was hard to tell if Kuzaku was feeling confident or not. “...Probably.”

“Nnyoahhhhhhhh.” Yume had nocked an arrow to her composite bow, and seemed to be struggling to decide whether to let it loose or not. “Yume’s gonna end up hatin’ doggies. Even though these aren’t doggies...”

“H-How far will we go like this...?” Shihoru asked.

Was she asking Haruhiro that, maybe? There was no way he could answer.

“If we have to fight, we fight,” Merry said.

That’s right, Haruhiro thought. Do we fight? Do we just fight? Are we gonna fight? It’s fine, right? We might be able to manage it. If we go at it with everything we have, try our hardest, we may win.

“May, huh.” Haruhiro ground his back teeth. It’s no good. “May” isn’t good enough. Even if we win, what if one of us gets seriously wounded? We can’t heal. In fact, even if we keep moving like this, is there any hope that the situation will get better? What will the one-eyed dogs do? When will they strike? Or will they give up?

What should we do?

Haruhiro was always making mistakes, but this time he couldn’t afford to get it wrong.

What will we do?