Meruru, Vanishing

The beastkin woman who had appeared out of nowhere and blown Sauld's head clean off vanished from my sight before I even had a chance to speak.

A beastkin who looked to be of the same race as Meruru.

Don't tell me...

Before the thought could even reach its conclusion, a chill crawled down my spine. The presence I felt was above me.

I tipped my head back. From the darkness, the beastkin woman was dropping toward me, poised to drive me into the earth.

Danger.

I brought my sword up into a guard at once. And in the next instant—

CLANG!

A tremendous metallic crash rang out, and my body lurched hard. She had struck my sword with her bare hand from midair. The impact was so fierce I nearly lost my grip; I found myself checking with my own eyes that the blade hadn't snapped, that it was still in one piece.

A sword packed full of mana had no business breaking that easily—and yet the blow had been strong enough to make me think it just might.

The instant after she struck, the beastkin woman planted her foot on my blade, whirled her body backward in a spin, and landed far away on the ground. Her two eyes, glowing red like a predator's in the darkness, locked onto me. It was unnerving.

Fast.

And strong.

This was not an opponent I could fight while holding back, trying to disable rather than kill the way I had with those slave-trader small fry. I'd managed to block that last attack with my sword, but the shock still lingered in my body. If I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to meet her at full strength. That much was obvious.

But...

"Wait! I think there's been a misunderstanding—"

Every nerve in my body drawn taut, I tried to talk to her. Before I could even finish a single sentence, she dropped into a crouch and came charging at me with ferocious speed.

No talking it out, then.

Damn it. Looks like I have no choice but to fight.

If she wouldn't listen to reason, maybe she wasn't Meruru's sister after all? I'd been planning to hold off on using techniques for a while, since my mana control was still incomplete, but at this rate...

That was when it happened.

Meruru, who had somehow already worked the gag out of her mouth, scrambled in front of me and threw her arms wide. Then she shouted.

"Sisteeeeeeeer!"

It was a voice loud enough to shake the forest. The beastkin woman, who had been hurtling toward me like an arrow, stopped dead. She was crouched low, her hands curled back like a hawk's talons. If Meruru hadn't stopped her, she would have come straight at me and struck with those hands.

"It's Aruru, so it is! Stop fighting, so it is! This human is Meruru's friend, so it iiiis!"

Meruru shouted, her ears and tail standing straight up.

The identity of the beastkin woman who had appeared so suddenly was, as expected, Meruru's older sister. Aruru, was it. Meruru's sister... she certainly looked far more mature. But it was more than just an age difference. Something about her appearance was off. If Meruru was a pet dog, Aruru had the presence of a wild wolf's alpha. She felt closer to a beast or a monster than a person.

The fact that she'd stopped attacking upon seeing Meruru suggested she could at least understand speech.

"Sister! Meruru came all the way here from Helvetica Island to find you, so it is! Come back with Meruru, so it is!"

Meruru cried out desperately to her sister. But Aruru said nothing. She simply glared at me with those crimson eyes, then slowly rose from her crouch and began to step backward.

"Meruru missed you so much, so it is!"

When Meruru tried to approach her, Aruru spoke for the first time.

"Stay back."

"Why are you doing this, so it is?! Come with Meruru, so it is!"

"I can never go back. Don't mix with the humans. Go back to the island."

Aruru's voice was firm.

"What is that supposed to mean, so it is?! Did Aruru not want to see Meruru, so it is?!"

"......"

Even in the face of Meruru's desperate cries, Aruru said nothing more. Then she turned, kicked off the ground, and shot up into the branches of a massive tree—and vanished.

"A demon, then..."

What on earth had happened to Aruru? If she had truly become a demon, coming back to Meruru's side was impossible under the present circumstances. She must have known that herself—that was why she'd said she could never go back.

At any rate, I was grateful I'd been able to avoid fighting her in front of Meruru. Even that single attack had been threatening enough to send a chill down my spine. If Meruru hadn't intervened, I might have ended up drawing on the still-uncontrolled mana from Einblad. And if I had, one of us—Aruru or I—would not have walked away unharmed.

But Meruru...

"Meruru, are you all right?"

After Aruru vanished into the darkness in an instant, I asked out of concern. Meruru didn't even seem to notice that her clothes were torn, her body exposed. She just stared blankly in the direction her sister had gone.

"Meruru..."

Her ears and tail drooped, hanging limp. A moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠later, a small, hitching sound began to surface.

"Hic... hhgh..."

The hitching soon became weeping, and then Meruru was crying like a child.

"Waaaaaaaah!"

Her enormous wail rang through the dark forest. Watching her, there was nothing I could do but stand beside her until the crying stopped.

After Meruru had cried for a long time and finally quieted, I went about putting the area in order by myself. I rebuilt the campfire, which had all but gone out, and gathered Sauld's unconscious underlings in one place, binding them tightly. I draped the tattered robe I'd picked up while tracking them over Meruru's body, covering her as best I could for the moment. The plan was to wait like this until dawn, then head back.

I collected Sauld's headless corpse in a rough sort of way and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dumped it beside the bound underlings. They were horrified to find their boss reduced to a body with no neck lying next to them. I didn't particularly care.

Even after the crying stopped, Meruru barely spoke. She just sat there with a sad expression, watching the campfire burn down. I had never seen her so deflated, and the sight of it sat poorly with me too.

A demon, though...

I had been to the Demon Realm myself, and I had received help from the Karia Tribe, the ones with mushrooms growing from their heads. I didn't harbor any great hostility toward demons as a whole. So long as they weren't the type to lead monsters into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Kingdom the way Bloodstain, that direct subordinate of the Demon King, had tried to do, I was willing to talk things out rather than draw a sword first.

Most demons and most humans, however, did not share that view. If it hadn't been for Shari, the Pureblood Demon ghost, I would never have made it out of the Demon Realm alive. And a demon living in the Kingdom was equally impossible.

Did Meruru understand why her sister had said those things? I had no way of knowing what was going through her mind. The reality, in any case, was that now that Aruru had become a demon, a normal reunion between the sisters was no longer something anyone could expect. I could only hope Meruru would find a way to pull herself together.

After a long wait, dawn finally came. The support Silphy had requested from the guild arrived; I explained the situation and handed all the slave traders over to them. Meruru and I returned to Kubel by carriage, separate from the guild personnel.

The next day, I visited the guild, and Tina settled the standing request for me.

"Here—that's thirty gold, all settled. Thank you for your hard work."

"Yes, thank you..."

I took the money and glanced, a little bitterly, at the still-empty demi-human liaison desk. Meruru had made it back safely, but she'd been through a great deal, and the shock of it had been considerable; apparently Algot had given her time off.

"Will Meruru be all right?"

I asked Tina, worried.

"She'll need some time, I imagine. I've been stopping by after work every day to look after her a little, so please don't worry too much."

"You're going to a lot of trouble, Tina."

"These days, time is about the only thing I have too much of."

Tina smiled, a little sheepish. The dark circles that had once sat so heavily under her eyes were all but gone. After being run ragged under Philstone's regime, she seemed to have become a master of the work.

We were exchanging a few simple words when the door to the Guild Master's office opened.

"Yunoa, a moment, if you would."

Algot called me in, so I went. She would already have a general picture of what had happened. Did she have something to say?

"It's about the beastkin presumed to be Meruru's sister."

The conversation started the moment we sat down across the office table from each other.

"Yes."

"You said it was that beastkin who killed Sauld in a single blow."

"That's right."

Algot's expression grew grave.

"Yunoa, are you familiar with the beastkin of Helvetica Island?"

The beastkin of Helvetica Island meant Meruru's people. I saw Meruru at the guild all the time, so I supposed I knew them well enough. I knew they had some strange sense that let them find plants underground, at least.

"Most beastkin possess a blend of animal and human physical traits. The ones living on the continent tend to take after predators, so they're generally stronger than ordinary humans."

"I've never actually seen a beastkin other than Meruru."

"They all live in deep forests where people almost never set foot. It's only natural you wouldn't see them unless you went looking."

"I see."

"But the beastkin of Helvetica Island are different. Unlike their continental cousins, who developed combat ability as a matter of survival, Helvetica Island beastkin like Meruru mostly have below-average physical capabilities."

Listening to her, I remembered Meruru getting her face buried in a Blue Slime and flailing helplessly as it held her fast.

"Looking at Meruru, I can believe that."

"The problem is this Aruru. She took the head off a slave trader of Silver Rank or higher in a single blow... that's not a level of strength you can attribute to the same race as Meruru. Yunoa, you said she attacked you as well, didn't you? How was it?"

Algot's question cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sharply toward the truth. The facts reported through the guild wouldn't have included that Aruru had become a demon. For now, I was the only one who knew that for certain, thanks to Narration.

"I only took one attack. If it hadn't been for Meruru, it would have been harder."

"Nothing that comes to mind? No guesses?"

"......"

I hesitated. Would it be better to tell Algot honestly that Aruru was a demon? For all I knew, she already had some idea and was asking to confirm it. What worried me was the possibility of the guild issuing a subjugation order. Halberi Forest, where Aruru had appeared, was human territory, not the Demon Realm. The sentence handed down to a demon who showed up on human land was, of course, extermination. I didn't want Meruru's sister put down without my ever having had a proper conversation with her.

When I hesitated to answer, Algot offered a slight smile, as if telling me to ease up.

"Yunoa, you've been to the Demon Realm, haven't you?"

"Ah—yes."

"Did you encounter any other demons while you were there?"

"That's..."

It was a question I didn't particularly want to answer. It felt as though she were trying to determine whether I was the sort of human who took the demons' side.

Algot held my gaze for a moment, then let out a small sigh.

"For now, let's set this matter aside. But I'm not the kind of person you seem to think I am. I expect the day will come when we talk about this again. I understand your caution. I feel the same way."

"......"

"For the time being, please look after Meruru. We went to the trouble of setting up a demi-human liaison desk, and now it's sitting unused."

"...Understood."

I couldn't read Algot's thoughts or her intentions at all. What was she driving at, saying these things to me? I found myself wishing Narration would tell me—but as always, in moments like this, it stayed silent.