c15 9

The female goblins had small heads, large breasts, and swollen bellies. They may have been pregnant. It was apparently standard in goblin society for an influential goblin to take multiple females as wives.
Whatever the case, the viceroy and the members of the Hundred who were ruling Alterna in place of King Mogado Gwagajin lived in Tenboro Tower, along with their wives.
If there was a crisis, a messenger would run to Tenboro, and the Hundred would generally head out to handle it.
Tenboro had fallen. The door that had been destroyed at the time was removed, and a barricade erected in its place. There were always dozens of goblins on the barricade, sometimes including members of the Hundred.
“If we go about it right, it sounds like we could take it,” General Jin Mogis muttered, a dull glimmer in his rusty eyes. “If we launch a diversion, then strike Tenboro while security is thin, and if we can manage to take the viceroy’s head, perhaps.”
Haruhiro and the others had returned to General Mogis along with Barbara.
The reason they gave was that, rather than pass along secondhand information, it was better if Barbara spoke to him directly. But, more honestly, she wanted to decide for herself just how much they should reveal to the general. From Barbara’s perspective, there was a big difference between acting with knowledge of what sort of man the general was, and not.
Deep inside the Expeditionary Force’s camp, General Mogis had a space with a table and chairs set up where he could hold a war council.
As the dark of night encroached on the camp, General Mogis, three of his closest warriors, Neal the scout, Anthony, Haruhiro, Merry, and Barbara were all there.
They were short a chair, however, so Haruhiro ended up standing.
“I want a map.” The general looked at Barbara. “A detailed map. With all the escape holes drawn in. Can you prepare one?”
“That’s possible.” Barbara smiled. “We’d have to copy our map of Alterna and give it to you. It would take some time.”
The general put his hands down on the table, and gave her a sharp look. “Hand it over as-is.”
Barbara’s smile deepened. “That will not be possible.” “Why?” the general asked without missing a beat.
“The thing’s a mess.” Barbara licked her lips and let out a low chuckle. “I’m afraid, with the way it’s drawn, only we can understand it.”
“When we scouts draw maps, we have our own style,” Neal interjected. “If you don’t know how to read it, it’s probably meaningless. The thieves in the frontier must use similar methods. I should be able to read it.”
Barbara tut-tutted him teasingly. “No, you can’t. We have our own ways of doing things in the frontier.”
Neal shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Have the map ready in three days,” the general demanded in a monotone voice. “I cannot wait any longer.”
“Oh, my.” Barbara was still smiling. “You don’t like being kept in suspense, do you? But if you don’t wait, what will you do?”
“Anyone who does not cooperate with our army will be deemed an obstacle.”
“Forceful, aren’t we? I don’t mind that in a man.”
“Clever women like you are a favorite of mine, too. I always find myself wanting to devour them.”
Was he serious, or was that a threat? Or maybe even a joke? Whatever it was, if the general could say that with a serious look on his face, it was safe to say, at the very least, he wasn’t in possession of an average, ordinary frame of mind.
Though the way Barbara didn’t back down was extraordinary, too.
“Well, I prefer to be the one doing the devouring. Now, let’s assume
I’m going to make you the map. How many people will be going into Alterna?”
“50 to one 100 at most. The rest will attack from outside.”
“What will you do once you take Alterna?”
“That is nothing you need to be concerned about.”
“We’re surrounded by enemies, General. Just north of Alterna, there’s hundreds of orcs in Deadhead Watching Keep.”
“I am aware.”
“The goblins and orcs aren’t on friendly terms, but...” Anthony hesitantly said.
“Alterna is what the Kingdom of Arabakia wants.” The general looked around at everyone there. “The Expeditionary Force must take Alterna. That is the duty we have been tasked with.”
There was no room for negotiation. No matter what anyone said, the general wasn’t likely to change his policy.
Barbara looked up to the sky and sighed. She stroked her chin and thought for a moment, then glanced back at the general.
“Making the map, bringing the soldiers into Alterna, and getting them in position. It will take ten days to prepare.” “Five days,” said the general.
Barbara cocked her head to the side a little.
“How does eight days sound?”
“Seven days.”
“Can it be eight days, including this one, which is nearly over?”
“Very well.”
“Then we’ll prepare for eight days, including today, and act on the ninth day.”
The general silently nodded.
“Well.” Barbara gave him a sexy smile. “I think we might just barely make it in time.”
“You seem like you’d be better suited to running a brothel than working as a thief,” the general said with no emotion.
“I think sleeping with good men and women suits me.”
“For me,” the general gave her a smile so faint it might not even have been there. “Whether it’s men or women, barbarians, beasts, or monsters, trampling them is what suits me best.”
Jin Mogis was as inscrutable as ever. But that he enjoyed trampling things and stomping them into the ground might have been the truth.
Whatever the case, the discussion was at an end.
In nine days, they would carry out the operation to retake Alterna. Though it wasn’t the ten days that Barbara originally asked for, it was a fair amount of time to work with.
When Barbara went back to Alterna to prepare the map, Neal was sent to accompany her. They said it was to help with the work, but he was basically there to monitor her.
Haruhiro and Merry headed to the tent where their comrades were waiting. They had a mountain of things to talk about, but Neal wasn’t the only scout around. There might be people working for General Mogis or Neal listening in, so they had to be careful when sharing information. They didn’t have a lot of time, but they had enough. There was no need to rush.
The next day, the general made an announcement to the whole army.
“Eight days from now, our Expeditionary Force will launch a glorious and critical operation. To that end, I will be recruiting for a suicide squad that will go on a dangerous mission. Until we reach the 50 volunteers needed, I will personally execute one person who has broken regulations each day.”
It was an abnormal, even crazy announcement.
Haruhiro was sure the general must be serious, but most of the soldiers didn’t seem to be taking it that way.
There were no volunteers on the first day.
Just after the sun set, the general looked around the camp.
Though they feared the general, a good number of the soldiers were grinning or lying about as if they didn’t care.
The general suddenly stopped, and ordered one soldier who was sitting on the ground looking away from him to “Stand.”
The man didn’t hesitate. He was on his feet fairly quickly. He was a young soldier, probably around twenty years old.
“...What is it?”
“Have you ever broken regulations?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Is that true?”
“I have not.”
“Who is your superior officer?” The general looked around.
The old soldier who was sitting nearby stood up. “I am,” he said.
“Has he broken regulations?” the general asked.
“...I don’t believe he’s done anything in particular,” the old soldier responded.
“Then were you given orders that said you could sit here?”
“No,” the old soldier looked uneasy. “...We were not.”
“That’s right. I didn’t order you to sit. Doing things I didn’t order you to is against regulations.”
The general suddenly drew his sword, and decapitated the young soldier.
His head rolled, and his body slumped to the ground.
The camp fell silent.
The general calmly wiped the blood from his sword using his black fur cloak, then returned it to its scabbard. “Clean this up,” he ordered the old soldier.
“Y-Yes, sir!” The old soldier nodded repeatedly.
“Now, then.” The general looked around at the soldiers. “Is there anyone in this Expeditionary Force who has not violated regulations? I wonder how many more I will have to kill. What a bother.” And so, the soldiers were left with a dilemma.
Jin Mogis had specifically called it a suicide squad. The mission was sure to be harsh. They had to be prepared to die in the battle to come, because they surely would. Though not all of the volunteers were guaranteed to die, there was a high likelihood of it.
If they volunteered, they might die during the mission, but they wouldn’t be executed for violating regulations. In addition, if the number of volunteers reached 50, no one would be cut down by the general until the operation started. However, if there were a thousand troops in the Expeditionary Force, there was a one in a thousand chance they might be executed by the general tomorrow. If they weren’t exceptionally unlucky, they weren’t going to win — no, in this case, perhaps lose was the better word — this particular lottery.
The soldiers thought about it on their own, talked with their friends, told those they didn’t get along with to volunteer, fought, mediated, loudly criticized others, got into fist fights, and spent the night without sleeping.
Haruhiro and his group probably wouldn’t be executed, but the murderous air in the camp was uncomfortable.
In the middle of the night, as they were talking in secret, no more able to get to sleep than the soldiers were, Anthony came to visit them.
“I told you, didn’t I? The general is no ordinary man. Though, even knowing that, I was waiting to see how he would get this army to fight, but... I never expected that.”
“Think he’ll get 50?” Kuzaku asked in a tone laced with disgust.
“I wonder,” Anthony mumbled, not giving a proper answer, and then sat down next to Kuzaku. Kuzaku was clearly annoyed by him.
It seemed, for Anthony, the distinction between who was a mainlander and who was from the frontier was the most important factor. Haruhiro and his group were people of the frontier, so he felt closer to them than the mainlanders.
“The true situation in the mainland that the general told me about...” Anthony said in a low voice. “Do you think it’s all true?” “We couldn’t possibly say.” Setora didn’t mince words.
Anthony hung his head.
“I guess not.”
“Me, I’m just gonna do what I have to, y’know?” Kuzaku said, trying to smooth things over.
“Those are exactly the words I’d expect from someone without a thought in his head.” Setora scoffed.
“You’re always so quick to say things like that, Setora-san.”
“You guys have got it good,” Anthony said all of a sudden. “I’m jealous.”
Haruhiro wasn’t sure what he was jealous of, but if Anthony learned that all of them but Merry had lost their memories, would he still feel the same way?
Maybe he’d actually feel even more envious.
But the more things you cared about enough to fear losing them, the harder it was to act.
Since returning to Alterna, Haruhiro hadn’t had a proper conversation with Shihoru. She seemed kind of cold, like she was avoiding him.

 
13. No One Is Alone

Barbara was standing about ten meters ahead, directly in front of Haruhiro. They were in the forest, but there were no trees obstructing the line of sight between them. The ground was mostly flat, too. Barbara looked like she might be smiling faintly, but she was close to expressionless.
Before a person or animal made a move, there were signs. A tension in the muscles, tendons, and even the skin, phenomena which told you that they’re about to take action.
He couldn’t feel any of that from Barbara.
She was wearing a highly revealing outfit, and her physique and face were awfully sexy, so Barbara stood out like a sore thumb. Despite that, for some reason, she had oddly little sense of presence.
She was just standing there. Like a Barbara-shaped plant. It was hard to imagine she was even alive.
Haruhiro blinked. It was unintentional.
In that instant, there was a sound to the right of him.
Haruhiro was distracted by the noise, and while he was, Barbara disappeared.
A person had vanished in an instant. Was that even possible?
It was. Haruhiro knew the trick.
His eyes were closed only momentarily when he blinked. It was impossible to hide in that time, but it was possible to throw something to make noise. Naturally, if there was a noise, he would reflexively focus on it. At that point, Barbara had gained the time she needed to disappear.
His pulse was elevated, and blood rushed to his head.
Damn. She got me.
He couldn’t help but panic, but if he lost his head, he’d be doing just what Barbara wanted him to.
He took a breath. Straightened out the knees he had bent at some point. Loosened up his tense shoulders and arms.
Of course that would happen, he accepted. Barbara was a level or two above him in ability, so it was entirely to be expected.
Where was she lurking now? It was important to predict that. But he couldn’t let his predictions bind or mislead him.
Haruhiro kept his eyes focused on one point, scanning a wide area around him.
He perked up his ears. Was there another sound, well hidden in the rustling of leaves, the sound of insects, the chirping of birds? His own breathing got in the way. He tried to make his breaths as gentle as possible.
Going all-out, he tried closing his eyes.
Time went by without him being able to pick up on anything.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. Haruhiro was gradually learning to sense the entire forest around him.
He opened his eyes.
He could even feel the places he couldn’t see, now.
Something felt off ahead of him, to the left.
There was a tree about seven meters from Haruhiro, a chinquapin, or something like that.
Oh, he thought. There, that has to be it, he immediately became convinced, as prediction turned to certainty. Feeling a need to confirm it for himself, he stepped forward.
Haruhiro walked.
He walked around to the other side of the tree.
She wasn’t there.
He’d considered that as a possibility. It would be easy for Barbara to work against Haruhiro’s assumptions.
Barbara would be able to leave her presence here somehow, then secretly move elsewhere.
Where was she now?
Very close.
Haruhiro tried to turn.
No. She wasn’t behind him.
He jumped back, and something fell from the tree. She was above him, not behind him.
“You got it.”
The moment Barbara landed, she drew her dagger and came at him. Haruhiro pulled out his own dagger, but Barbara smoothly avoided his attempts to parry her. Haruhiro immediately went on the counterattack, but was that his will, or was he forced into it? No matter what angle he attacked from, Barbara slipped away. He couldn’t catch her.
What is this?
The moment he sensed he had no way to attack her, their roles as attacker and defender were switched as Barbara went on the offensive. The arc of her dagger bent and twisted, making it hard to see, and Barbara frequently closed or opened the gap between them, trying to sweep his leg, or using the hand she wasn’t holding the dagger with to push his arm. It was seriously hard to deal with.
Though he was having difficulty, he tried whatever he could do, or felt like he might be able to do, one after another. However, Barbara could apparently see through everything he tried. She read his every move. Barbara could probably even hear the beating of his heart.
There was so little he could do about it, it was comical.
Haruhiro’s breathing quickened, his movements dulled, and finally his right hand, which he was holding the dagger with, was put in a joint lock. He let go immediately, and was thrown, then instantly pressed to the ground.
“Surrender?” Barbara asked.
She had him in a side control hold.
“...I give. It hurts.”
“You sure it doesn’t actually feel good?”
“No, it just hurts...”
“Even without your memories, you’re the same as ever, huh?”
Barbara released Haruhiro, but didn’t stand. She sat on the ground, with one knee raised.
Following her example, Haruhiro sat up and crossed his legs.
“How am I doing?”
“Your instincts are coming back, aren’t they? It seemed like your body remembered me.”
Haruhiro put on a strained smile. He wasn’t sure about the way she’d phrased that, but the thief techniques that Barbara had drilled into him were certainly still there. They hadn’t vanished.
Before dawn tomorrow, the Expeditionary Force would launch the operation to retake Alterna.
There were multiple holes connecting Alterna to the outside. Those holes were interconnected in a few places, too.
There were already a little over 80 soldiers, including the 54 in the suicide squad, hiding beneath the dread knights’ guild in West Town, under the warriors’ guild in the southern district, and below the Temple of Lumiaris in the northern district.
There had been forty-eight volunteers for the suicide squad on day two, and when the general began looking for someone to execute for violating military protocol, six more rapidly raised their hands. There were more volunteers than needed, but the general said, “If you’re so eager to die, I’ll let you,” and added all six of them to the squad for a total of 54, but that was just another fond memory now.
To give a rough rundown of the plan, the main Expeditionary Force, led by General Mogis, would attack Alterna’s south gate.
When the goblins began defending, the 54-member suicide squad would move into action. Their mission was to open Alterna’s south gate from the inside. Even if they couldn’t open it, the fact that there were humans inside Alterna to try to open the gate was meaningful in and of itself.
If they were attacked from both outside and inside, the goblins were bound to panic.
Using that confusion, a group composed of people the general trusted, along with Anthony Justeen and his subordinates, as well as Haruhiro’s group, would storm Tenboro Tower, and strike down Viceroy Bogg.
The group had been given a rather important job.
Kuzaku could fight as he was. Setora could manage, too, if she just had a weapon. Plus, she had Kiichi. Shihoru had learned to use her Dark magic. Merry, it went without saying, would have no problems.
Would Haruhiro be alright, in the end? He wasn’t without misgivings, but Barbara had certified his skills while retraining him.
“...Okay, so, I guess we can say I pass?” Haruhiro asked his teacher.
“Old Cat.”
“Yes?”
Barbara wrapped her arm around Haruhiro’s head and mussed his hair.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“You’ve really grown in the time I didn’t see you, huh?”
“...Do you think? I don’t remember it, so I couldn’t say one way or the other.”
“But you held back because you were facing me, right?”
“That wasn’t my intent. I sure wasn’t doing well enough that I could afford to...”
“It was a bad match-up. You weren’t trying to kill me, right?”
“Huh? But... Isn’t that obvious?”
“It’s not about whether you have the balls to do it or not,” Barbara said, reaching down to try and squeeze the actual balls hanging between his legs.
Haruhiro stopped her at the last second.
“Whoa, you don’t have to grab them, right?!”
“Nah,” Barbara smiled, then hugged Haruhiro’s head. He was surprised, of course, but he couldn’t resist.
“Listen, Old Cat. The important thing is to set an appropriate goal.”
Barbara rubbed Haruhiro all over, kissed him on the forehead, and gave him an intimate lesson.
“Work backwards from that goal to formulate a plan. Obviously, things will happen, so you need to stay flexible. But if you have the wrong goal to begin with, any strategy is going to be meaningless. If you’re facing me, even in practice, you’ve got to kill me. That has to be where you set your goal. Even if you don’t ultimately do it. Do you get it?”
“...Yes, Sensei.”
Haruhiro felt incredibly embarrassed, and he wanted to run away, but for some reason he didn’t push Barbara off of him. He couldn’t defy her. Was that something that his body had learned?
 
 
“You’re just running straight ahead, with no idea where you’re going. There’s no way to win like that. In fact, you were never convinced you needed to, I’ll bet. You lost because you were meant to.”
Maybe, even though this was embarrassing, he actually found it comfortable.
“Old Cat. Here’s the thing. You’ve got a wide perspective, and you don’t scare easily. Your thinking’s only average, though. You don’t overestimate yourself, and you’ve got the stubbornness to work through things a little at a time. Those parts of you won’t change, even if you don’t remember them. You’re not the type who can do things if he tries. You’re the type that tries until he can do things. That’s why, right now, it’s good that there are things you can’t do.
Because someday you’re going to be able to do them.”
Haruhiro couldn’t help but think, Before I lost my memories, I was a pretty lucky guy.
Haruhiro, who Barbara said didn’t seem likely to live long when she first met him, had survived to this day.
Haruhiro must have done his best, in his own way. Or, at the very least, he’d tried to. But, more than anything, it had to be thanks to his comrades, and his teacher. If they weren’t there, Haruhiro would long since have died, wouldn’t he?
He didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, but the outlook wasn’t exactly bright.
Barbara returned to Alterna with Neal, her watcher.
Haruhiro and the Tenboro Tower raid squad would set out when the sun set. He was supposed to take a nap in the evening.
Haruhiro lay down inside the tent, but he couldn’t get to sleep.
Kuzaku was snoring next to him. Even though he’d said, “There’s no way I could sleep,” he was out in an instant. Haruhiro seriously envied that part of Kuzaku.
He knew it was going to be like this, but he couldn’t help it. There was no way he could sleep. Haruhiro gave up and left the tent.
Merry and Shihoru were sitting next to each other.
The two of them looked at Haruhiro.
“Haru.”
“...Haruhiro-kun.”
No, they weren’t next to each other. There was about a meter between them.
They weren’t facing each other, but they weren’t parallel, either. They were at a bit of an angle, but not one where their eyes met, and it didn’t seem like they’d been talking.
“Yeah...” Haruhiro nodded vaguely.
He didn’t know what to do.
The distance between them was awkward. It would be weird to sit between them. Not impossible, but a tight fit. Yeah, no, Haruhiro thought. That wasn’t an option.
He agonized over it for a moment, then sat down so that Merry, Shihoru, and him formed an equilateral triangle.
He immediately regretted it.
No matter what he did, he constantly had the two of them looking at him.
It was awkward, but it would be weird to move now, so he’d just have to live with it.
“Erm... Where’s Setora?” he tried asking, then regretted it again.
“Sleeping with Kiichi,” Merry answered.
“...Oh, yeah?” Haruhiro said, adding an, “Of course she is,” under his breath, and rubbed the point between his eyes.
He should have chosen a topic it was easier to build a conversation off of.
“It...” Shihoru opened her mouth.
“Huh?” Haruhiro said.
Shihoru hung her head.
“...It’s tomorrow, huh? It’s finally happening...”
“Ohh, uh. Yeah,” Haruhiro hurriedly replied. Shihoru had gone out of her way to give him an opening, so he wanted to make something of it. “...Well, we’ve just been going with the flow. But I have to wonder if... I dunno, wasn’t there a way to handle things that would have been less dangerous for everyone...?”
“I don’t think it’s your fault, Haru,” said Merry.
“M-Me, too!” Shihoru vigorously agreed. “...I don’t think it is, either. You’ve really, really... been trying hard, for all of us...”
It had felt like Shihoru was avoiding him, but maybe he’d just been imagining it. Haruhiro was relieved.
“...Nah, when you say I’m doing it for everyone, it makes me sound like I’m some great guy, but it’s nothing that impressive. Really. Yeah...”
Merry smiled.
“You were always like that, Haru.”
Shihoru glanced sideways at Merry, then immediately looked down.
Merry looked at Shihoru, lowered her eyes, and bit her lip, but just a little.
After that, the two of them were quiet.
Why?
Huh? Huh? Huh?
Why would they get quiet all of a sudden there?
Haruhiro had no idea.
This sort of thing troubled him, and it was tough, so he wanted to make things better. If there was a problem to fix, he wanted to fix it. He would have liked to talk it over, but he wasn’t sure. Much as he’d have liked to propose listening to their unvarnished opinions, and then having a constructive debate over whatever the issue was, the silence dragged on, without him being able to do anything about it.
In the end, Haruhiro finally managed to open his mouth.
“L-Let’s do our best.”
When he did, the two of them gulped, then looked at him.
They were both expecting something. That was the look on their faces.
I’ve got nothing, though?
They could expect all they wanted, but nothing would be forthcoming.
“Tomorrow, let’s all... work together...”
Adding that was the best he could manage.
“Yes,” Merry nodded. “Of course.”
Shihoru smiled just a little. Or she tried to, at least.
“...Okay.”
Before sundown, Kuzaku, Setora, and Kiichi came out of the tent.
“Whew, I know I said I couldn’t, but I was pretty soundly asleep there, huh?”
“I was just resting my eyes, though.”
“Nyaa.”
“Setora-san, really, is there some reason you need to act tough like that?”
“I am not acting tough. I am merely stating the facts.”
“You can be like this sometimes, huh, Setora-san?”
“Be like what?”

Chapter end