17 11

Okay...” Shinohara looked from Haruhiro, to Inui, to Tsuguta. “I’m counting on you.”
The three of them each nodded in response. It was impossible to tell what an eccentric like Inui was thinking, and Tsuguta wasn’t the type to show his emotions either. Though they were all very different people, none of the three gave off the sense of being overly anxious. Maybe that was just how thieves were.
“Haru,” Merry called out to him.
What could it be? he wondered.
However, after calling his name, Merry didn’t say anything more. When she stared at him like that, it made him feel a little, uh, confused, maybe even kind of tense. Not that he wasn’t tense already.
“...?”
As Haruhiro let out a small grunt that couldn’t quite be categorized as either a “Huh?” or a “Hm?” and cocked his head to the side, Merry moved closer.
Huh?
What? What?
Wh-Wh-Wh-What is it?
“Whoa...?!” someone exclaimed. Kikkawa, maybe?
Haruhiro couldn’t say a word. He’d gotten all stiff. It had been so sudden. Of course he’d be surprised.
Merry’s face was so close her nose nearly grazed Haruhiro’s. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but she’d moved in so close and so fast that it felt that way. She didn’t make contact, of course.
Haruhiro’s left shoulder and Merry’s right, while not touching, were not very far from each other at all.
Their faces were right beside each other.
What is this?
What is she doing?
What’s going on here?
It wasn’t very thief-like to let events make him freeze up or panic. A thief needed to be bold. But, as far as he saw it, this didn’t really have anything to do with his job as a thief, so he was still in the clear. Uh, maybe? Was that really the problem here?
It felt like they stayed that way for a rather long while.
Or...maybe not. Yeah. That couldn’t be right. It must just have felt that way. Like time was standing still.
Obviously, time stands still for no one. His heart was beating too. At an incredibly fast rate. He could sense it. His heart rate, that is. Hear it, even. But he got caught in the illusion that it wasn’t his own pulse he was hearing, but Merry’s. He was so embarrassed to catch himself fantasizing like that.
“Be careful...” Merry whispered in his ear.
If he’d replied immediately, it would have come out slurred. A “yesh,” or maybe a “yuss,” and that would have been pathetic.
Haruhiro made a wise decision. The best one, he’d like to think.
He held it in, pausing for a moment. Then, when the right moment came, he nodded.
“Yeah...”
He’d be careful, of course. That went without saying. Or rather, he didn’t need to be told. She didn’t have to tell him to. He was going to be very careful. It was the most basic, fundamental part of his job.
“I-I’m sorry, I...” Merry backed away. She hadn’t done anything that demanded an apology, so maybe she didn’t need to act so flustered. Still, Haruhiro was struggling to maintain an unaffected facade, so he couldn’t say anything.
Seriously, what was that just now? Haruhiro had no idea. He wished someone would tell him. It would be fastest to ask Merry herself, but it felt wrong. What was wrong about it? That, he couldn’t say. He really didn’t know.
“Mm!” Mimorin stepped forward. “Haruhiro.”
“Yes...?”
This seemed like it could get complicated, so he couldn’t help but be wary. Mimorin grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close.
“I like you,” she said right into his ear. Well, that wasn’t so complicated. Actually, it was fairly clear and simple.
“Oh, yeah...?”
“I love you.” Mimorin pushed Haruhiro away, her face contorting as if she were fighting back tears. But she didn’t cry. “Be back soon.”
“I will...”
Haruhiro felt an urge to apologize, but that felt wrong. What was wrong about it? In the end, he couldn’t figure that out.
“Why, you!” Ranta suddenly whacked him on the back of the head.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“Why are you so popular with the ladies all of a sudden?! Screw you, Parupiro! What is this? Foreshadowing for your death? Yeah, I’ll bet it is. Don’t go triggering death flags like that. You’re triggering ’em like crazy. You’re a dead man walking. Absolutely dead. It’s pretty much a done deal, all right? So be careful while you’re dying out there, okay?”
Haruhiro wanted to roll his eyes, but knew better than to actually do it. Ranta was the kind of trash he needed to ignore. Haruhiro wanted to sigh, but he held that in too.
“You’re ignoring me, huh?!”

 

Ranta stomped his feet in indignation. What was he, a child?
Haruhiro wanted to quip about it, but had the courage to hold back. That was the most effective counter to Ranta.
“You’re ignoring me...?!”
“Ranta, you cryin’?” Yume didn’t just not make fun of Ranta, she was actively consoling him. Wasn’t that being too kind?
“I am not crying. As if I’d cry! But if I wanted to cry...would you lend me your chest?”
“Mewww. Dunno about that. That sounds really unpleasant.”
“Really unpleasant, huh?!”
“Let me ask you instead, what made you think Yume-san would ever let you cry on her chest?” Kuzaku interrupted.
“Oh, shove off, you beanpole. It was a moment of indecision...”
If anything, your real feelings just slipped out there, Haruhiro thought, but he kept his mouth shut. If he said anything, this would just turn into a headache. It was plain as day that Ranta felt a certain affection for Yume but didn’t want to admit it to himself. Not in front of others, at least.
Haruhiro glanced at Merry. She was looking down at the floor.
Affection?
Is that what that is?
Could it be...maybe?
“No, no, no...” Haruhiro mumbled to himself.
Come to think of it, there had been a conversation like that. Like, about what might have happened between Merry and him while Ranta and Yume had been away from the party.
Obviously, Haruhiro didn’t remember it. But that wasn’t true for Merry. When Yume asked her about it, Merry had been awfully flustered.
What if, unlikely as it seemed, something had happened between them?
What if Merry remembered it, but Haruhiro had forgotten?
What then? How did Merry feel? Haruhiro wasn’t particularly perceptive about that kind of thing, so he had trouble imagining it. But suppose, to use a concrete term, there were two lovers, A and B. A had forgotten the relationship, and only B remembered. Wouldn’t B feel terribly lonely?
Well, he couldn’t say for sure that anything had happened. Only Merry knew.
If she said something had happened, it had. If she said it hadn’t, it hadn’t.
To take that logic to its extreme, even if Merry lied about it, Haruhiro would never be able to tell, and neither would anyone else. There was only one truth but no way to tell what it was.
Maybe she couldn’t say? Whether something had happened, or nothing had happened, the moment she put it into words, it either became a fact or something he would doubt. If Haruhiro were in Merry’s position, he might keep his mouth shut too.
It might not just be about that; there could be any number of things Merry was keeping to herself that she wished she could say but couldn’t. If that were the case, the psychological toll on her might be higher than Haruhiro had been thinking.
“Heh...” Inui stood in front of Setora. The eye not covered by his eyepatch had a sinister light in it.
“Are you even human...?” Haruhiro said what he was thinking out loud, but Inui apparently didn’t hear him.
“If I manage to return alive,” Inui said, without a hint of shame, “I’d like you to bear my child.”
“I would never,” Setora replied immediately. That was to be expected. “Only one person needs to send the signal to the main force. You don’t need to come back. In fact, I hope you fail. Never show yourself before me again.”
“Heh... To think, even now, you would persist in hiding your embarrassment. How precious...”
“How can he be so nervy...?” Kuzaku shuddered.
“You showed her your fighting spirit.” Tokimune flashed his pearly whites and slapped Inui on the back.
“Farewell...” Inui said, then quickly departed.
“Oh... All right, bye, I’m gonna head out now too.” Haruhiro and Tsuguta set out as well. It was a bit rushed because of Inui, but there was no need to drag this out. Actually, it felt stupid to.
Haruhiro had nearly muted his footsteps as he climbed the stairs. It was quiet inside tower #4, as he’d expected. There were no enemies here. Inui was gone too.
The spiral staircase had been built into the inside of the cylindrical tower. Haruhiro could hear what sounded like footsteps, so were there enemies up above? Or was it Inui climbing the stairs? If so, he was being awfully bold, but this was Inui. There was no discounting any possibility with him.
Haruhiro and Tsuguta headed outside the tower. There was a faint light in the sky. It would soon be dawn. Tower #4 was directly opposite the castle gate. Just as he’d thought, there were no enemies here. There were lookouts on the top of the other towers and the walls, though. He could see their watch fires.
It wasn’t even five meters from the wall to the main building. The walls were maybe six to seven meters high.
He could hear jeering, mixed with barks that presumably came from the kobolds. It didn’t seem like there was a pitched battle underway. They were trying to provoke the humans that, despite displaying their intention to attack, weren’t getting any closer to the gate. Maybe that was it?
Haruhiro and Tsuguta nodded to one another.
The enemies would be packed into the area between tower #1 and tower #7. Haruhiro kept an eye on the top of the walls as he headed toward tower #3.
It was pretty bright past tower #3. Not only were there watch fires lit, the walls were packed with orcs, kobolds, and undead carrying torches. The space between the walls and the building was crowded too, with enemies going in and out of the towers, carrying supplies back and forth.
Haruhiro couldn’t go any farther. On the top of the wall between towers #4 and #3, there were watch fires every few meters, and orcs standing guard. Though that was “all,” it was still questionable whether he could get up on the wall without being detected. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn’t going to be simple. In fact, it would be incredibly difficult.
Well, he didn’t have any other choice. Tsuguta put a gentle hand on Haruhiro’s shoulder, as if to say, Give it your best shot. Haruhiro sighed and began clambering up the wall.
If he climbed here, he’d be halfway between two fires. Once he reached the top, he’d send the signal using the luminous rod before the guards near the fires could spot him, though lighting it up would probably get their attention right away. How could it not? But once the signal was sent, his job was done. He could flee. And if he couldn’t? Well, he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.
It wasn’t like he assumed things would just work out somehow. He’d send the signal. That much, he could manage. He was pretty pessimistic about what came next, but he’d do what he had to do first. For now, he would focus on the task at hand.
So Haruhiro thought, but just as he’d almost reached the top, it got noisy all around him.
Haruhiro nearly muttered, You’re kidding me. It wouldn’t have been that much of a problem if he had. The enemy was making a ton of noise. And who could blame them?
There was a light spinning around on top of tower #3.
It was a luminous rod. Someone was sending the signal.
Well, there was only one “someone” it could have been. It obviously wasn’t Haruhiro, and Tsuguta was down below, ruling him out too.
“Heh...!” It was Inui. “Gwah ha ha ha ha ha! The demon lord has descended!”
The enemies on top of the wall started loosing arrows at Inui.
“Hoo...! Hah...!”
Inui jumped and ducked to avoid the projectiles. If Haruhiro shouted, Enough of that, hurry up and run, the enemy would find him too. Haruhiro decided to leave Inui alone and hurriedly descended the wall he had just finished climbing. Tsuguta was nowhere to be seen. He’d already headed back to tower #4 where Shinohara and the others were waiting.
Haruhiro headed toward tower #4 too. The others were already coming out.
He heard what sounded like war cries in the distance. Not from orcs or kobolds. They were clearly human. The main force had seen the signal and begun the assault.
“Renji, Tokimune, take point!” Shinohara shouted. Renji and
Tokimune stood at the front of the group. Tada, Ranta, Kuzaku, Kikkawa, and Shinohara followed. Haruhiro joined Yume, Mimorin, and Orion’s warriors and paladins behind the vanguard.
He instantly felt lighter. Merry had cast support magic on him.
“Go, go, yeah!”
Haruhiro couldn’t explain why, but hearing Anna-san’s voice was strangely uplifting at times like this.
“Rahhhhhh!”
“It’s on!”
Renji and Tokimune began tearing into their nearest targets. The enemies were packed in pretty tight, but the platoon pierced through them at an amazing speed. The orcs, kobolds, and undead were absolutely losing their heads. They had never imagined the invaders would attack from inside as well as outside.
Slaying enemies and stepping over their corpses, the detached force just kept on going. The vanguard was fighting, but Haruhiro hadn’t even had to use his weapons yet. He just followed the vanguard. There wasn’t much to do other than avoid falling enemies or hop over their corpses.
The gates are already in sight. This might work.
This might actually work.
Any time he started thinking that, it was bad news. Was this Haruhiro’s experience speaking? Could he use his experience, even without remembering it? Or was this his nature? Had he simply been born without the ability to get caught up in the moment? “Ooooooossshhhhhhh...!”
Thanks to that, when he heard the incredibly loud voice echo throughout the compound, he wasn’t surprised. Here it comes, he thought.
Still, it was dramatic. After the first shout, the orcs responded in kind.
“Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh...!”
Soon, the kobolds began barking and howling.
“Awooo!”
“Woof!”
“Bow!” “Wow!”
“Awooo!” “Bow!”
“Woof!” “Woof!” “Woof!”
“Awooo!” “Awoooooooooo...!”
Then the undead joined them, hollering something or another.
Was every orc, kobold, and undead in the old castle raising their voice now? It wasn’t just that. The roar of stomping feet and weapons banging on shields shook the whole castle.
Renji, Tokimune, and the others in the vanguard tried to keep going, but they had clearly slowed. The enemy had been going down without much of a fight until now, but that had changed. They were fighting back in desperation.
“They’re coming from behind us too!” Setora shouted. The detached force had made their way past tower #3 and #2, and were closing in on #1. The gate was between #1 and #7. It looked like a group of enemies from up on the wall had come down through towers #2 and #3 to attack the detached force from behind.
“Delm, hel, en, balk, zel, arve...!” Mimorin turned and fired off a Blast. It sent some kobolds flying, but the enemy didn’t falter.
“Bullshit! This looking bad, yeah?!” Anna-san was running around. Setora, Merry, Yume, and the members of Orion were fighting defensively, but they couldn’t advance at the same time as they were fighting the enemies behind them.
“Shinohara-san, let’s stop for a moment! If we keep going, we’re going to get split up!” Haruhiro warned.
“No, we can’t...!” Shinohara instantly shouted in response. “We can’t stop until the gate’s open! Everyone, fight your hardest! You are not allowed to die! Don’t let any of your comrades die either!”
His orders were harsh. But they couldn’t show weakness now. It would turn into a vicious cycle, and they’d lose. That must have been what Shinohara had decided.
Mimorin, Adachi, and the Orion mages let loose with their magic. Magic was incredibly powerful, but because of the time it took to chant their spells, there were inevitably openings. Haruhiro and the others needed to step in and fill them. Nobody worried about some minor injuries. If someone went down with a major wound, Merry, Chibi-chan, or Anna-san would be right there to heal them. There was no time to waste on slow healing, so they stuck to using Sacrament, which would heal anything, even otherwise fatal wounds, in an instant, no matter how inefficient it was. Haruhiro just focused on trying his best to defend the mages and priests. In the current situation, he couldn’t do everything. As he’d worried, Renji, Tokimune, and Tada were pushing ahead. Everyone else was getting left behind, but there was nothing to be done about that at this point. He had to do what he could within the limits of his own abilities.
“Ooooooossshhhhhhh...!” That voice again.
It was coming down.
Something was.
From the building? The second floor. Or maybe higher.
Was that an orc? With white hair streaming behind him and a big sword in each hand, he landed on the ground near the gate. Wasn’t that where the vanguard was? Or rather, hadn’t that orc jumped off the building to get in reach of them?
As soon as the orc landed, he was crossing blades with Renji.
“Urgh...!” Renji grunted.
“Human warrior!”
Was that the orc’s voice? Had he just spoken? Using human words?
“Whoa?!”
“Tch!”
Tokimune and Ron backed away from Renji and the orc to begin taking on other opponents. They couldn’t help him. They knew that. What would happen if they got close to Renji and the orc now? It was hard to imagine exactly, but it seemed likely they’d get in Renji’s way. The two who were facing off both used large weapons, so they were able to deal lethal strikes from a good distance. If the others didn’t keep away, they would likely get caught in the crossfire. Basically, it was dangerous and terrifying to be near them.
If those two were going to fight a duel, everyone else would have to wait for it to run its course. Haruhiro didn’t have time to worry about it either. That orc wasn’t the only enemy here. They were surrounded on practically all sides. It was nothing but enemies, enemies, and more enemies.
Haruhiro was still guarding the mages and priests, tripping enemies that got too close and letting his allies finish them, or hitting them with Backstab himself.
More enemies kept swarming in, and his comrades fought them off valiantly. Despite that, no one, friend or foe alike, seemed able to focus. They weren’t dazed, just distracted by the duel between Renji and that orc. It was almost impossible to ignore.
The orc’s pure white hair flapped about wildly, his two swords swinging again and again. Renji deflected them with his greatsword, or dodged and counterattacked. The white-haired orc didn’t avoid Renji’s slashes. He always guarded. Their swords were about the same length. They probably weighed about the same too. Even the shapes were similar. But Renji held his in two hands while his opponent was dual-wielding them. Renji should have been able to put more power into each of his swings, but the orc wasn’t giving any ground. There was a height difference. Renji was tall, but that was only by human standards. Orcs, as a race, were larger than humans. That white-haired orc was probably large even by orcish standards, though not tremendously so. It wasn’t as if he was overwhelming Renji. In fact, Renji probably had the advantage in flexibility and agility. But not by much.
Renji and the orc were at a stalemate. That’s how it looked.
Each was probing the other for weaknesses.
“Osh!”
The orcs on top of the wall were cheering.
“Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!”
“Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!” “Osh!”
“Oooooosh...!”
For the first time, the white-haired orc dodged instead of parrying Renji’s greatsword. The orc probably swung his swords in from both sides right after that. There was an intense screech of metal on metal, so had Renji blocked them with his greatsword? Haruhiro hadn’t been able to see it, but Renji hopped backward, then immediately stepped in again.
In that moment, the orc’s twin blades struck at Renji’s knees and head at the same time.
Renji jumped. But what did he do next? Haruhiro couldn’t tell. He couldn’t follow it with his eyes.
Renji’s greatsword collided with his foe’s twin swords a number of times, and then both backed away.
“My name is Don...” the white-haired orc moved slowly as he gave his name. “No... Zan Dogran. Human warrior. You use that sword knowing it is Mozzo?”
“It belonged to an orc who attacked Alterna.” Renji held the greatsword in a diagonal stance and did not move. No, while his voice remained level, his shoulders were rising and falling slightly. “That was way back. His name was Ish Dogran.”
“Ish Dogran...!” Was the white-haired orc smiling? Or was he angry? It was hard to read an orc’s expressions, but Haruhiro thought it looked like he was smiling.
“He was my brother! Fierce human warrior!”
“The name’s Renji, Zan Dogran.”
Renji lowered his stance. It was as if he was tensing his entire body, storing up energy.
“Gwah hah...!”
Yeah, the orc, Zan Dogran, was definitely smiling. Renji had killed his brother. That made Renji someone he needed to take revenge on. What was so fun about that? Did orcs feel differently than humans about these things?
“Haigodoh! Zasshahehg! Zawaggah Dogran...!” Zan Dogran must have been saying something in the orcish language. The orcs in the old castle shouted.
“Zawaggah Dogran!”
“Zawaggah Dogran...!”
“Zawaggah! Dogran...!”
“Zehn sidah!” Zan Dogran said something again. The enemies grew far more menacing, and the human platoon was forced onto the defensive, so was that an attack order?
Haruhiro was busy grappling with a particularly large kobold that was about to pounce on Merry. He slit its throat, then circled around behind an orc who was charging with his sword already in motion, hitting him with a Backstab. He didn’t have time to focus on Renji and Dogran.
Merry was fine. He knew because he was still able to invest time in keeping track of her. She was a priest, and therefore defending her was a top priority. Yume and Setora were always defending the priests and mages, so he naturally ended up taking note of them too.
He hadn’t seen Kuzaku and Ranta in some time. He wanted to look around and check that they were all right, but there was no getting around the fact that they were a lower priority.
Mimorin was with Anna-san almost constantly. He couldn’t see Chibichan. Was she with the vanguard? He didn’t even know who was who when it came to the members of Orion.
In addition to Zan Dogran, there were many other white-haired orcs.
They probably bleached their hair. Was that meant to imitate him? They used similar single-edged swords too. These guys were especially strong. Not so much individually, but as a group. They frequently barked orders to one another, encouraging and covering for their allies. When one got injured, other orcs would drag him away and retreat. “Dogran!”
“Zawaggah Dogran!”
“Dogran!” “Dogran!” “Dogran!” “Dogran!”
“Dograaan!”
The orcs were hooting and hollering. It was a strange atmosphere. The intensity, or perhaps the kind, of fervor on display was unlike anything they’d seen before.
“Renji...!” Ron shouted. He glanced, if only for a moment, at Haruhiro.
Zan Dogran, endlessly trading blows with Renji, was different from before. He’d grown a size larger. No, that was absurd. But that was how it looked. His hair was unreal. It stood on end, crackling with static electricity. What was with that? And not just his hair. That static discharge seemed to come from Zan Dogran’s entire body.
“Diiiieeeeiiii...!” Zan Dogran let out some sort of orcish battle cry and brought his twin swords down like he was playing a taiko drum. It couldn’t be normal for anyone to be able to use two swords of that size so easily. Renji was on the wrong end of a one-sided beatdown. But somehow, he’d managed not to get chopped to bits. It made no sense. How in the world could he block that flurry of blows? Haruhiro had to assume it was impossible. Wasn’t that beyond even Renji?
Purple electricity raced along Renji’s greatsword. The single-edged orcish sword that had once been possessed by Zan Dogran’s elder brother, Ish Dogran, was wreathed in violet light. Thanks to a relic.
Renji had used his trump card. The power of Aragarfald.
Now he can turn the tables...right?
The sword of Ish Dogran grew sharper, and Renji became faster and more fierce. No doubt about that.
But it wouldn’t last long. If he kept using that power, it might kill him. Impressive as he was, after just a minute or two under its effects, he needed to stop and rest for a while. He wasn’t going to be able to rest and recover in the middle of a duel with Zan Dogran.
Renji had no choice but to take down the orc while the effect lasted.
Well, no, it would be great if slaying Zan Dogran were the end of things, but was it, really? He wasn’t the only enemy here. Zan Dogran seemed to be a charismatic enemy leader. Losing him might cause the others to lose their will to fight, but it might also send them into a rage as they fought to avenge him. Renji had to know that. He’d no doubt wanted to avoid using Aragarfald if he could.
Zan Dogran had forced his hand. Renji had no choice but to rely on it. He stood no chance of winning otherwise. That was why he’d reluctantly fallen back on the relic.
“Urgh...!”
Setora was up against the ropes facing two orcs when her spear snapped. She immediately discarded it and drew her sword, but was unable to fully defend herself and took a number of slashes.
“Rah...!” Mimorin swung her two longswords, keeping the orcs that were trying to finish off Setora at bay.
“Merry!” Haruhiro left Setora to Merry and raced between the orcs. He tried to land a Backstab on them as he passed, but another orc sprang at him, forcing him to roll out of the way, and then yet another orc kicked him.
“Haru-kun...! Twa-tah!” Yume came flying in with a mysterious battle cry and sent an orc flying with a tackle. Impressive, considering the weight difference between them. Not that Haruhiro had the time to be in awe of her. He jumped to his feet and used Stealth. He hadn’t consciously planned to. That was just what he found himself doing.
Enemies. Enemies. Enemies. There were a lot of orcs in particular. Maybe eighty percent of the enemies in this area were white-haired orcs. He could see his allies, dotted around in the middle of the mob of orcs. Merry, Setora, Anna-san, and Orion’s hunter and female paladin were clustered together, but pretty much all the others were on their own. Everyone must have been trying their best not to get separated, and so was Haruhiro, for that matter. But it had still happened at some point.

Chapter end