Chapter Five: Mass Destruction
Compared to the last time I had seen it, the coalition army was fractured. Still, I assumed it was successful in drawing the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks— there was plenty of destruction. But I didn’t see many casualties.
We decided to have our strategy meeting inside of a carriage and we kept moving.
The queen, Ost, and I all squeezed into a carriage that was already packed with soldiers from the army.
“My apologies for the venue,” a commander of the army said to me. I recognized him from the last battle with the Spirit Tortoise.
“It’s not your fault. That’s just how it is.”
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to prepare an airship.”
“I didn’t even know that you had one,” I muttered. I should have expected as much—this was another world, after all.
“Faubrey has an airship that it has agreed to lend us. Unfortunately, it did not arrive in time.”
Considering how suddenly this had all happened, it probably hadn’t even made it to Melromarc yet. I wondered if the seven star heroes were on it.
“Waiting for something that may never come will do us no good. What the hell is going on out there?”
“When the Spirit Tortoise reawakened, it had already taken on this new form. I suppose you were not able to make anything out from here, but the town on its shell is still there.”
“Oh.” The spikes must have obscured it from view.
“This is the information our research division was able to obtain,” the man said as he passed me a thick, substantial stack of papers. I flipped through it and quickly found the report that detailed the rediscovery of the town on the beast’s shell.
But we didn’t have time to flip through reports. I’d have to delegate the reading to a smart person. “Read through it and report back to me. I’ll give a copy of this to Rishia as well. It might be the best way for her to contribute to the battle efforts.”
“Understood.”
“Pardon my intrusion, Shield Hero, but who is this woman behind you?”
“She’s a Spirit Tortoise familiar.”
“What?!”
A look of shock swept over the faces of the assembled army generals.
I couldn’t blame them.
“In another country, she is known as Ost Horai. Please see to it that you become acquainted.”
Ost politely bowed to the army officers, who only answered with pointed fingers and gaping mouths. When everyone had calmed down, we explained all that we had learned about the true aim of the Spirit Tortoise, as well as Ost’s claim that it had been taken over by someone with nefarious intentions.
“So the Spirit Tortoise is an even greater threat than we imagined.”
“Yes, but we must destroy it either way, so I don’t see how this new information affects our plans.”
“Yes, well, that’s true . . .”
“I hope to cooperate with you all,” Ost said.
“How presumptuous of you! Do you have any idea how many people have died because of you and the Spirit Tortoise?”
“Burdened with terrible knowledge, I had no choice but to procure the necessary sacrifices. However, what is now happening is no longer within the purview of my goals, and I condemn it. However, I will not apologize for actions I took on behalf of the greater good.”
The queen intervened in the conversation to mediate the growing hostilities between Ost and the army. “While this woman’s goals may not have been in line with our own, she was still trying to save our world. This is no time for squabbles over the past. She has offered her assistance in the coming battle, and we will need it.”
She tried, but it wasn’t convincing. The generals stood with their arms crossed, doubtful expressions on their faces.
“Originally, they were to be a last defense for the world. They were to save it when the heroes were not strong enough to do so. She was only a representative for the Spirit Tortoise, who required sacrifices to fulfill his mission,” I explained.
But the generals were not interested in hearing it.
“Such a woman should be butchered on the spot!”
Ost quietly shut her eyes and closed a fist around the sleeve of her robe as she endured the insults and shouts of the soldiers.
“Sacrifices . . . right.”
I turned to the army generals and muttered quietly. “Who can save the world without requiring sacrifices? Is that how war works? Who can save anything without sacrifices?”
Everyone looked confused. They turned their heads to the side and stared at me, puzzled. The look on their faces made it clear that they had no idea what I was getting at. But I was at the end of my rope—a guy can only put up with insanity for so long.
The last time we’d fought the Spirit Tortoise, I’d done my best to put on a good face and give a rousing speech, but I was quickly running out of patience with the army generals, and I thought it was about time someone put them in the their place.
“You know what? Whenever anything goes bad around here, what do you do? You summon heroes to fight for you. You think that the heroes will save you. Has it ever occurred to you that you are asking for the heroes to sacrifice themselves?”
“Heroes . . . sacrifice?”
“The heroes exist to solve your problems, right?”
I had to correct their misunderstandings, starting with the basics. These idiots clearly didn’t understand that we might not share the same perspective.
“Let me be more blunt. There’s no significant difference between what the Spirit Tortoise does and what you do with the heroes—you both sacrifice others to save the world. Get it?”
“How dare you!”
“Am I wrong? Don’t you summon heroes here to save the world for you? How is that different from sacrificing the heroes to save the world? If heroes have to die to secure your own safety, would you even hesitate?”
“Um . . .”
They must have finally begun to understand what I was saying. Half of the generals fell silent, and the other half stood there with their mouths open, unable to process what they were hearing.
“The heroes have a duty to fight on behalf of the world! What’s so strange about that?”
I sighed. The last time I’d been with the army, I’d given a speech where I said things like “heroes are a matter of the heart” and “heroes never give up in the face of adversity—heroes protect people!” Did I need to recant my whole speech?
“Heroes are courageous, and heroes have the strength necessary to fight on behalf of others. But that doesn’t mean I’m your pawn, does it? No matter how much power a hero commands, they are still a human being, aren’t they? We aren’t sacrificial offerings!”
Many people in the crowd looked uncomfortable when they heard “sacrificial offerings.” This was an army that was forced to rely on external power for their own protection, which must have made them feel weak. If I wanted to hurt them, that was the note to hit.
“How is that different from the rest of you here today? You can all be sacrificed to the Spirit Tortoise to save the world, can’t you? Isn’t that obvious?”
The angry generals appeared to come to their senses.
“If you want to say that the heroes are different from the people of this world, so of course they should be treated differently, or something absurd like that, then I am not going to help fight this battle. When you’re dead and gone, I’ll help the remaining ones, the ones that understand what I’m trying to say, defeat the Spirit Tortoise. How does that sound?”
“Damn you.”
“Shield Hero . . .” Ost said, raising her eyes to meet mine.
The queen stepped in between the army and myself and attempted to mediate. “This is not the time to debate our responsibilities. The Spirit Tortoise was originally a monster that fought on behalf of the world, though not necessarily on behalf of humans. That is no longer the Spirit Tortoise we face. The monster out there is simply out for destruction, for blood. Is there anything left to debate? Isn’t it clear that we must defeat the beast?”
Everyone fell silent as they listened to the queen.
She was right. No matter how the debate proceeded, the answer was going to be the same. We had to defeat the Spirit Tortoise. The option to sacrifice lives to the Spirit Tortoise so that the world might be saved . . . That option didn’t even exist anymore.
“Even if we were not in possession of these new facts, our goals and responsibilities would not change. It is just as Mr. Iwatani has said. There is no problem with Ms. Ost.”
“But what are we supposed to do? We were not able to stand against the Spirit Tortoise during the last battle, and it appears to have become more powerful in the interim.”
“Isn’t there only one thing that we can do? Just like last time, my party and I will lead the charge. We’ll cut the damn thing’s head off and buy ourselves time to find other options.”
“But . . .”
I could understand their hesitation. During the last battle, I had barely managed to protect everyone from the monster’s powerful attacks, and those attacks had grown much more powerful now. What if I wasn’t able to withstand them anymore?
“Ost, you said that you don’t know how to defeat the Spirit Tortoise, right?”
“Correct. My role was simply to pave the way for the Spirit Tortoise’s awakening. I was simply to supply the heroes with hints regarding the method to break the seal on the Spirit Tortoise’s imprisonment.”
She wasn’t going to be much help, but I suppose it was better than not having her on our side at all.
“Isn’t their anything you can tell us? Anything at all?”
“When I was ingratiating myself with the royal family, I did learn about the Spirit Tortoise legends.”
“Great. Go talk with Rishia—she’s the girl wearing the kigurumi back in my carriage. She might be able to figure something out from your stories.”
“Very well,” Ost said, leaving to return to the carriage we’d come in.
Something about the way she moved struck me as odd. She moved lightly, as if she was unaffected by gravity, when she leapt down from the carriage. Something about her seemed . . . inhuman. Was it because she was a Spirit Tortoise familiar (human type)?
I turned to address the queen. “You should probably join in on those talks.”
“Agreed. And I’m quite interested to hear more about the Spirit Tortoise legends. Hopefully we’ll be able to glean a hint from them.”
The queen had apparently made a hobby out of studying various legends of the world. In this case, I hoped that her hobby would lead us to a path forward.
“In the meantime, we have our own things to discuss. What sort of formation should we use in the attack? The monster’s attacks have grown stronger too. How are we to avoid them for long enough to make a counter-attack?”
“Good questions. To begin with, I suggest that, just like last time, we lure the monster to a place that is best suited for battle.”
“How are the evacuations proceeding?”
“The Spirit Tortoise is moving much faster than last time, and the evacuations are a little behind schedule.”
That wasn’t good, but it wasn’t so different from the last time.
“However, compared to the last time, the Spirit Tortoise appears to have taken a greater interest in the movements of the coalition army. I believe we will be able to draw its attention for long enough to allow the evacuations to proceed before the battle begins in earnest.”
“That would be ideal.”
The last time we faced the Spirit Tortoise, it seemed more interested in proceeding on to the next population center than it did with entering a skirmish with the army. If it cared more about the army now, that might give us an advantage.
“The Spirit Tortoise’s attacks have grown very powerful, but there appear to be fewer familiars in the area. The tortoise also stops from time to time, so I believe we are having a fair amount of success in drawing its attention. At the moment, the beast has yet to use the sort of powerful attacks it deployed against the Shield Hero in the last battle. We can only hope . . .”
“True. We’ll be in trouble when the tortoise starts to use those attacks again.”
During the last battle, the Spirit Tortoise familiars had attacked along with the Spirit Tortoise proper. With so many monsters and people in the mix, it had been nearly impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. However, its shooting attack appeared to have a limited range, which was something we could be grateful for.
Huh? Did they say that it stops from time to time?
I turned around to see what they meant, and sure enough, the Spirit Tortoise was standing still, staring off into space.
We stopped the carriage, too.
“When the beast stops moving like this, it tends to stay still for anywhere from thirty minutes up to two hours.”
“Hmm . . .”
That was another thing to be grateful for. If the Spirit Tortoise moved nonstop, then the army would never be able to escape its attacks. Everything had limited stamina—carriages too. Whether horses or filolials pulled them, they had to stop from time to time.
“Make sure you keep your wits about you once we enter close-quarters combat. There’s no telling what that thing might do.”
“We will do as you say, Mr. Iwatani.”
In the end, our only option was to force our way though and try to buy ourselves more time. We spent the rest of the meeting with the coalition army going over the details of the plan. Once we had agreed on a plan, I went back to my own carriage.
“Welcome back. Were you able to agree on a battle strategy?” Raphtalia asked.
Eclair and the old lady were already asking the queen the same questions.
Rishia and Ost were deep in conversation. They referenced a stack of papers while they spoke.
“We’ll arrive at the intended battleground shortly. The battle will start when the Spirit Tortoise begins to move again.”
The Spirit Tortoise had stopped walking, but it was still keeping an eye on its surroundings. It appeared to be cautious. If anyone approached it while it was still, it would immediately start moving again and attack. All of that was well and fine, but I was curious about what seemed to be happening to the landscape around the resting Spirit Tortoise.
As if to answer my private question, Ost stood and spoke. “The Spirit Tortoise is absorbing power from the earth. It is preparing to use that powerful attack you saw. You must be very careful.”
“You mean the attack where it shoots those spikes from its shell.”
“Yes.”
Ost was the only one who could sense the beast accumulating power.
“Should we attack while it is resting like this?”
“The earlier you can attack, the better. But if you are not fully prepared, then you should not attack.”
“Why is that?”
“Further down from here, in the direction the Spirit Tortoise is proceeding, the earth has less power. If we wait until it gets there, it will have a harder time replenishing its energy stores.”
“That’s great information. By the way, what is this energy, this power, that you’re talking about?”
“There are two types. One is what you might call experience. The other is a form of magic that is in the atmosphere.”
Ost seemed to know a lot about how the world worked.
“So we should wait?”
“I believe so, yes. And it will give us all more time to prepare for the battle.”
“Alright then.”
Getting prepared wasn’t too difficult. We’d already done it plenty of times before, so we just needed to go through the motions.
“Soon . . . Soon enough, we’ll be fighting the Spirit Tortoise again,” said Raphtalia.
“Yeah. Just like last time, I think we should try to cut off its head. At the very least, that will buy us time to figure out how to defeat it for good.”
We still didn't know how to defeat it permanently. Of course, it would be better if we had the time to search for a permanent solution, but I had to admit that there was a ball of anxiety in my stomach that wasn’t going away.
For the moment, there was nothing we could do but silently watch the Spirit Tortoise’s giant bulk on the horizon and wait for time to pass.
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