Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 8 - Chapter 5

5. A Loss Too Great to Compensate For

Though they had faced many... no, countless... crises of the sort that would have made any other man abandon hope and give in to desperation, Ranta had carved his way through every one of them and made it his own. 

Difficult situations are nothing to me,  he’d always thought confidently. I can get out of anything. 

That was what he believed. He was confident of it. Abso-total-lutely. 

Ranta grinned to himself. That word just then was clever. Abso-total-lutely. Should he have shouted it out loud? Who knew? It was hard to say. If he shouted, they might get mad, maybe? More than that, perhaps? Or maybe them just getting mad was the least of his concerns? 

Fog. 

He had been in the fog for some time now. 

There was nothing but fog, and he couldn’t help but be sick of it. 

Good grief. Was there no way he could use the poor visibility provided by this fog to run for it? 

Yeah, no. Great though he was, that was a little too tall of a task. He was tied up, after all. 

Neatly bound, you could say? 

The ropes bit into his upper body. This was that thing. You know, the turtle one. Turtle shell binding. Surprise of surprises, his legs were free, but his arms were cuffed together behind his back, so he couldn’t move them the way he wanted to. The rope extending his handcuffs was tied tightly around the trunk of a nearby tree. It was tiring to stand, so he sat and crossed his legs. 

Ranta’s helmet had been taken off. His armor, he was still wearing. 

Before being tied up, he’d been subjected to a body search that was more violent than thorough, and he’d been relieved of all his possessions, weapons included. 

Well, of course he had been. It was a body search, after all. He’d gone through it, and so had she. 

He glanced to the side. Their shoulders were touching. She was next to him, kneeling with her head hung. 

Hey, hey, hey, don’t get so touchy-feely. Do you have a thing for me, huh? 

Well? How about it?  Ranta could have engaged in some light-hearted banter with her, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. They might get mad. 

Just maybe, they might do more than get mad. If he was unlucky—maybe they might kill him...? 

He couldn’t see all that well through the fog, so he didn’t know what kind of place this was, but they weren’t on top of a hill, at least. There was a cave right nearby. Of course, it wasn’t the exit they’d come out of before. 

Ranta and Merry weren’t the only ones here. There were others. Lots of others. 

First, there was those things. The cat-like creature with the dexterous-looking hands and the slightly oversized head. There were lots of them around. It was fair to say they were surrounded by the catty critters. Up in the trees, on the ground, lying around, curled into balls, there were all sorts of them, but it felt like they were being watched by them. Or, well, the creatures were definitely watching them. He already knew those creatures weren’t wild. 

It wasn’t just the cat-like creatures. There were the deep black wolves by the mouth of the cave. They were all trained pets. 

It was that goblin. 

There was one black wolf lying down next to the cave that was larger than the rest, large enough to be called magnificent, and the goblin that was sitting next to it, petting it lovingly, was apparently the keeper of the cat-like creatures and the wolves. Based on what he had observed, that was the only possible conclusion. 

However, that goblin that was wearing tight-fitting leather or something... 

It had a goblin’s face, a goblin’s figure, and a goblin’s physique—it was the gobliniest goblin ever—but there was something different about it. It was completely calm, like it was intelligent, and had an air of something like sorrow about it. 

That’s no ordinary goblin,  Ranta thought. Must be some kind of special goblin, huh? 

That was plain to see. Well, of course it would be. 

“H-Hey?” Ranta tried talking in the quietest voice he could manage. 

“Don’t let it get you down. We’re still alive, you know. So long as we’re alive, we can do something. Okay...?” 

“You’re right.” Merry kept her head hung as she spat the words at him. 

“So long as you’re alive, you can get down and kowtow.” 

“Urkh...” 

Dark memories rushed back to him in an instant. 

Kowtowing. It was true, yeah... he’d kowtowed! They’d been surrounded by wolves, and it’d seemed like things were about to get bad, okay?! It’d been on the spur of the moment! He’d done it reflexively, as one viable option! It’d been a masterful choice anyway! 

Yeah, he’d done it! 

He’d done it, okay? He’d gone and done it, because of course he would, right? He’d kowtowed, okay, all right?! That was fine, right? It’d been the right choice, in the end. 

“Th-Thanks to that, we’re still alive,” Ranta said. “We managed to avoid getting killed there. Show a little gratitude, why don’t you. My rapid and timely kowtow overwhelmed our opponents.” 

“More like it appalled them.” 

“...Either way, we survived. Think positively, Merry.” 

“Positively? In this situation?” Merry let out a strained sigh. “Quit joking around.” 

Ranta gave her another sideways look. Well, if she couldn’t be positive, maybe he couldn’t blame her. They were tied up, after all. The ropes were digging in a bit, too. Wasn’t that kinda erotic? No, not kinda—it was pretty erotic, right? 

Incidentally, that goblin had been the one to tie up both Ranta and Merry. 

It’d done the body search, too. That meant it had gotten to feel Merry all over. Ranta hadn’t thought of it at the time, but looking back on it now, he was jealous. 

No! It was outrageous! How dared a lowly goblin do that? Ranta hadn’t even touched her yet! 

“...What are you looking at?” Merry glared at him. 

“I-I wasn’t looking.” Ranta turned to face forwards. “...Okay, so I was. I was looking, I was looking, I was totally looking. Is looking wrong? Hmph... 

You okay there? If they’re tight, or it hurts...” 

“You pervert.” 

“I... I was just concerned!” 

“Your voice.” 

“Urkh...” Ranta hurriedly shut his mouth and looked around. 

The cat-like creatures were all looking their way. The wolves were, too. 

And that goblin. There were others, too. 

The truth was, in addition to the cat-like creatures, the black wolves, and the goblin, there were a number of green-skinned orcs here, too. There were also a number of non-orcs hiding their skin. They went in and out of the cave, or loitered around the area. 

What was with those guys? Who were they? For starters, why weren’t they trying to kill Ranta and Merry? If they’d wanted to do it, they could have. Even now, they still could. Weren’t orcs the enemy of humanity? What were goblins that should have been in and around Damuro doing here? 

Ranta peeked at Merry again. They wouldn’t kill them quickly... was that it? Like, the fun was still to come? If there was something coming, was it that?  Was it gonna be that?  Like, Gehehehe, everyone gets a turn, guys? 

Like, Merry’s gonna be in trouble?  No, not like she was gonna be in trouble, she already was in trouble. 

Yeah... That’s how it goes, huh. 

If they were in a situation where their enemies could do them in at any moment, it meant they were in a situation where they could do her at any moment, too. Merry had to know that. She was definitely in for a bad time. 

She must be thinking it’d have been better if they’d killed her quickly and gotten it over with. 

Which would come first? Would they kill Ranta, or would they get to Merry first? They might do it right in front of him while he was still alive... 

That would be hard on his psyche. He didn’t want to see it, but he kind of did. No, no, he did not. There was no way he’d want to see that. 

Ranta shut his eyes tight. S-S-S-Scaryyyyyyyy. So damn scaryyyyyyyy. No, no, no, I don’t want this. Save me, save me, save me, please, I’m begging you! 

He heard Merry gulp. 

Ranta opened his eyes. Opened them wide. 

Someone had come out of the cave. Someone. 

It was no orc, no goblin, no humanoid creature. It was humanoid, though. 

Because, well—it was a human. 

He was coming. Walking this way. A human. His long, stiff hair was tied up at the top of his head. His face was covered in hair. His cheeks were sunken. 

A kimono? He was wearing that sort of outfit, with an obi tied tightly around it, and his left hand was thrust inside his collar. He... had no right arm? Or was it just hidden inside his sleeve? 

The long, thin object he held in his mouth seemed to be a pipe. He was smoking tobacco. The man was one-eyed. His left eye wasn’t just closed. 

There was a scar there. 

Was he in his forties, maybe? He was an old man. But... 

What was going on? 

There was a human, together with orcs and goblins? Were they comrades? 

“Hmm...” The old man stopped in front of Ranta and Merry, removing his hand from his collar to stroke his chin. It made a scratchy sound. He had a curved sword at his hip. It looked like a katana, maybe. 

“What a fine woman. She looks delicious.” 

“What, you’re going to eat her?!” Ranta couldn’t help but poke fun at him. 

The old man raised a bushy eyebrow and looked down at him. “The brat’s a feisty one, too.” 

“Freshness comes first, huh? Dammiiiiiiiiit... W-We’re gonna get eaten, huh?” 

“...I’m pretty sure that’s not it,” Merry said coolly. 

“Shut up, Merry! And hold on, what are you so calm for?!” 

“I wouldn’t say I’m calm, exactly...” 

“Well, settle down.” The old man yawned. “It’s true, if we decide we want to boil you, or bake you, and eat our fill, we’re free to do that. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. If Onsa weren’t so capricious, you two would already be wolf food. You managed to avoid that. Why not be happy about your good fortune? Hm?” 

The goblin was petting the big black wolf fondly as it looked at them. 

Maybe Onsa was that goblin’s name. 

Ranta looked at Merry. Merry was looking down, her shoulders heaving up and down. Her breathing was ragged. Her entire body was shuddering. 

Was she scared? Of course she was. 

Ranta took a deep breath, and fixed his eyes on the old man. He was scared silly, but he wasn’t going to let anyone think he was a chicken. He had his pride as the most atrocious dread knight to consider, after all. 

“Kill me,” Ranta told him. “If you’re gonna kill us, do it already. But, you know what? You guys aren’t gonna do it. You’ve gotta have some reason, right?” 

“It’s not much of a reason.” The old man blew a puff of smoke. “When we take captives, no matter what they’re like, we don’t just kill them. That’s the law.” 

“The law...? What kind of group are you guys?” 

“What, you don’t know about us?” 

“Well, no.” Ranta licked his lips. 

So that’s how it is,  he thought. 

They wouldn’t kill them right away. The old man had guaranteed that. In that case, what did he have to fear? He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t scared one bit. 

“We just got back from a little trip to another world, you see,” Ranta told him. 

“Another world, huh?” The look in the old man’s eyes changed a little. It looked like he had the guy’s attention. Good, good. 

“I may not seem it, but I’m kind of a well-known volunteer soldier,” 

Ranta bragged. “So, after building a ton of experience in another world, I’ve come back to Grimgar, bigger and better than ever. If you wanna hear about it, I can tell you stories.” 

“Are you stupid?” Merry was whispering something in a low voice, but what did he care? 

“It was an adventure that’d make your blood boil and your flesh dance!” 

Ranta declared. “No, it was a whole series of super adventures! Unknown lands, surprising creatures, our gold not worth a thing, our words not understood, our hard-earned experience irrelevant, we went through the ultimate survival experience in a place like that! How about it?! If you don’t hear me out, I guarantee, you’ll regret it later, you know?! You want that?! 

To not hear this? If I were you, I’d listen, though!” 

“Let me think.” The old man tilted his head to the side, and blew another puff of smoke. “I’ll pass.” 

“No waaaaaay...” 

“Let me ask you one thing.” 

“A-Ask away! N-No! D-Depends what it is?! I don’t mind answering, I mean, I’m happy to cooperate... Really?” 

“It’s in your own best interest to answer,” the old man said. “You two, what’s your connection to the village?” 

“Village...?” Ranta and Merry looked at one another. 

Merry shook her head, not seeming to understand. Ranta had no clue either, but was it okay to answer truthfully? 

“The village, huh?” Ranta looked up at the old man. He tried to read the guy’s intentions from his expression, but it was no good. He wasn’t displaying anything that could be called an expression. The old man was expressionless. He’d have to go with his gut here. 

“...Oh, the village,” Ranta said. “Yes, I know what that is. I mean, I’m the most knowledgeable guy around. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re a liar. 

Why, I could stay up all night telling you all about villages! But let’s save that for another time...” 

“I see.” The old man frowned and scratched the back of his head. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to pretend you know, or desperately trying to hide the fact you do.” 

“Heh...” Ranta closed his eyes. 

Yeah, I’ll bet you can’t,  he thought. That’s exactly what I was going for. 

“Looks like it’s safe to dispose of you.” 

“Whaa?! Why is that?! Why’s it sabe?! Sabe?! What’s a sabe?!” 

“You, you’re a funny one, but shut up.” 

“Sh-Shutting up... right now. Okay?” Ranta said. 

“Woman.” The old man crouched down, seeming to lick Merry’s body up and down with his eyes. “The thing about human women, strangely enough, is that it seems the other races don’t mind them, either. We’re an all-male group. If you don’t put up any strange resistance, you may not die.” 

Merry said nothing. She looked down at the ground, gritting her teeth. 

Maybe imagining the horrifying fate that awaited her in the near future had left her unable to say anything. 

Ranta didn’t have time to feel sympathy for Merry. The way things were going, Merry was going to become a plaything for the orcs and goblins, and Ranta would get killed either before or after it happened. 

Ranta-sama, the most atrocious of all dread knights, didn’t think there was any way he could die here like that. Honestly, it just felt so unreal. 

It had to be a scam where they make him think, You’re gonna die, you’re gonna die,  or rather, You’re gonna get killed, you’re gonna get killed.  They’d never actually kill him. Yeah. Of course he was gonna be fine. 

Or maybe he just wanted to think he’d be fine...? 

When you died for real, was it really just that easy...? 

Die. 

Was he going to die? 

No way. 

He couldn’t die. Not yet. 

He hadn’t even done it with a woman yet! 

No, well, he didn’t remember anything from before he came to Grimgar, so he might already have had that experience, but if he didn’t remember it, it was the same as if he hadn’t. He wanted to at least do it before dying. No, no, he didn’t want to die. He wanted to do it, screw around like crazy a whole lot more, and live. No matter what happened, he had to live. 

If the most atrocious of all dread knights went down like this, it would be a great loss for humanity. He had to live, for the sake of all humanity. 

But how? 

“Don’t make trouble,” the old man said with a low-pitched laugh, then blew on his pipe and walked off in the direction of the cave. 

Ranta clicked his tongue. 

Damn it. 

Before the old man left, he should have performed one last theatrical, brilliant, and powerful kowtow...