Drawing the Line
"We're here."
The return march that had taken a full three days finally came to an end. Seeing the tents and buildings of Lacrima Outpost in the distance put my mind at ease.
There was one thing that worried me, though — Neveterde.
I trailed off as I looked at her.
"We're here, but…"
— — — ♬?
Neveterde, who had been trotting along behind us, tilted her head.
She had stayed with us the entire way back. Following us would be the more accurate way to put it. But that journey had to end here.
Bringing Neveterde all the way to the outpost was far too dangerous a choice. Everyone stationed at Lacrima was wound tight from fighting monsters. In conditions this extreme, who wouldn't be?
If Neveterde showed up, she would be kindling and nothing more. Even if she was friendly toward humans, would people actually take it that way? Expecting that of people who had come here specifically to find and kill monsters was asking too much to begin with.
Pina asked carefully,
"What should we do?"
I turned my gaze toward her. She didn't have a good answer either.
"We part ways here."
I delivered the verdict coldly. Pina looked at me with a faintly sulky expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"We've gotten a little attached, you know. It's a shame."
I shook my head at her words.
"Attached? She's a monster in the end."
Pina pressed on.
"But Miss Alice, you played with her so much."
"…I only played along because she kept clinging to me. It wasn't that fun."
A detector for finding Neveumano. That was the extent of Neveterde's value to me.
"You laughed the most out of anyone…"
"Hey."
I gave her a warning look and Pina shut her mouth. Even so, she still looked thoroughly reluctant.
I let out a short sigh and spoke my real thoughts.
"Fine. Honestly, you're right."
"See?"
"But that's a separate matter."
I shook my head.
"We came to this land on a mission. We don't have time for playing house."
"Ugh…"
"And even if we did bring her, then what? Adelaide might like it, but the general… definitely wouldn't. It would only be more dangerous."
I glanced at Neveterde. Having no idea what we were talking about, she simply rolled her eyes back and forth between me and Pina.
"…We part ways here for now. We'll meet again later."
"But will she even understand that?"
"Good point."
That was the problem. I blinked at Pina's sharp observation. No matter how I looked at it, Neveterde seemed ready to follow us all the way.
She had figured out that sticking with me was the safe option. Given that I had stepped up and handled every monster that appeared along the way, it was only natural.
I fretted for a moment, then pressed a hand to my forehead and sighed. I had been sighing a lot lately. Maybe it was all the monster business.
In situations like this, there was only one method.
"…Guess I'll have to wave a sword around."
"Th-that's too much."
Pina stopped my hand as I reached for my dual blades.
"Isn't there another way? Something more peaceful, maybe…?"
"Nobody's getting hurt, so don't worry. I'm just going to scare her."
"That's not the issue. How can you do that to a creature like her?"
Pina spoke with what seemed like a very soft heart. I blinked, then answered,
"I could manage it fine."
"Miss Alice, you really are like a machine made of steel…. I bet molten iron flows through your veins instead of blood."
"Hmm… then what do we do?"
I rubbed my chin. No matter how I looked at it, there wasn't much I could do. My hand drifted toward the hilt of my sword.
"I'll try!"
Pina stepped forward reluctantly.
"If you can't, I'm drawing."
"J-just wait a little! Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I want to get back and wash up…. Even cold water would be fine."
"Ah, then I'll hurry. Miss Alice, could you at least pretend to leave for now?"
"Uh, sure."
Pina drew a line in the snow-covered ground. Then she threw herself into a full-body performance of gestures, trying to convey her meaning to Neveterde. I stepped back a little as instructed and watched.
Neveterde tilted her head, staring at Pina with curious eyes. Then she tried to cross the line Pina had drawn and come toward me.
"Ah, no!"
— — — ♪ ♬?
Pina cried out and blocked her from crossing, and Neveterde mumbled something in a low hum. Pina pointed at the line, demonstrated crossing it herself, then shook her head vigorously over and over.
Was she seriously trying body language on a monster right now?
I watched, finding the whole thing rather cute. Neveterde seemed to consider what the line Pina had drawn was supposed to mean, then stretched out a hand and wiped it away.
"I said no~!"
— — — ♩!
The two of them wrestled through another round. Every time Pina drew a line and blocked her, Neveterde would casually swipe it away with one hand. Judging by the way she was smiling, she thought it was a game.
Of course, Pina was the one losing.
…
Right. Being cute and actually succeeding were two different things. How was a human supposed to overpower a monster?
Pina simply could not stop Neveterde. Perfect — time for some invigorating sword-waving.
I drew my dual blades and walked over to Pina.
"M-Miss Alice?"
"This is how you draw a line."
Unlike Pina, who had used her feet, I carved the line directly with my dual blades. If words wouldn't get through, this was the only way left.
Neveterde reached out to erase the line again. We weren't playing around. I thrust my dual blades into the ground to block her hand.
— — — ♪♩?
Neveterde flinched back from my attitude and bared her teeth. She had watched me cut down and drive off plenty of monsters with these blades, so she would understand what I meant by this.
Still holding that stance, I slowly stepped backward and shook my head. No further than this.
How much easier it would be if I could just say it in words.
I watched Neveterde bare her hostility, then sheathed my dual blades again. And I held out a hand toward her. The growling, teeth-bared Neveterde gradually settled back into a calm expression.
She stared at my hand hovering in the air, then reached out her own. I took her cold hand and stroked it.
Wait here.
I ran my hand once more over Neveterde's cold fingers. In that spot, the two of us shared a quiet moment of understanding. Then I gently let go.
And I stepped slowly backward.
Only then did Neveterde stop coming closer. She simply watched. She murmured something under her breath.
— — — ♪ ♬ ….
Perhaps she had grasped it by instinct — that she could not go with us into that outpost. Monsters were smarter than people gave them credit for.
As a final gesture, I pulled out a piece of jerky and tossed it. Neveterde watched the jerky soar high and fall, then caught it in her hand. I wasn't going to eat it once I got back to the outpost anyway, so I figured I might as well give it to her.
After one last look at Neveterde clutching the jerky, I turned my back completely. The sound of footsteps following us no longer came.
"…I hope she doesn't go too far."
If we wanted to find Neveumano, having Neveterde nearby would make things much easier.
Then I heard Pina's startled voice. At some point she had fallen into step beside me.
"I thought you were going to hurt her."
"…If I'd needed to, I would have. She's a monster either way."
"Hehe, I see."
Pina let out a small laugh even at that. Laughing like an idiot. I swallowed the words and kept walking.
"Do you think she'll actually stay put, though?"
I shook my head as I answered.
"She has to eat and sleep and do all sorts of things. Probably not."
"Then finding her again will be hard."
"…But her cry should still be audible nearby."
We just had to follow that. She would remember our faces, so even if we met again, she would probably face us without trouble. Besides, we couldn't keep looking after a monster forever.
"Still, Miss Alice, you managed to leave her alive."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You always kill monsters because you hate them. Is there some reason this time?"
I blinked at Pina's persistent questioning. Apparently, in her eyes, me heading back while leaving a monster alive was a genuine puzzle. At this point, it was fine to tell her.
"If she has a cry that lures monsters, I figured it might also lead us to those giant footprints."
Of course, Neveumano wasn't entranced by Neveterde's voice. But it would recognize the sound and come looking for her. That was what I was counting on.
Pina blinked at my words, then startled with realization.
"Of course! I never thought that far ahead. Miss Alice, the moment you see a monster, you're already planning for the distant future…. Is this what it means to have the makings of a Master Hunter?"
"…Ah, no, well, I mean, you could put it that way."
Pina's praise left me flustered. That wasn't it at all… I just knew their relationship from playing the game…
I kept my expression as composed as possible.
"As expected… it was the same with Disastro, too… It's really amazing. Back then you said you'd only looked at the records, right? A monster that drags sandstorms behind it, chasing the sound of life."
"Mm, well, yeah, that was the case then."
"Looking at you, Miss Alice, I'd say information is a hunter's greatest strength. When did you even study all that?"
"…You just, you know, study a little here and there. Bit by bit… you study everything."
Did she already know the truth and was just needling me? Her questions had a strangely pointed edge that made me wonder.
"The Miss Alice I know spends all her time either maintaining weapons or lounging in bed doing nothing…. So you were studying the whole time I wasn't looking. That's incredible…. I just thought you beat everything down with pure physical talent."
So that was how she saw me on a regular basis — some kind of gifted brute.
I thought over my usual habits at Pina's words. Lounging in bed doing nothing. Sipping warm tea or coffee while lost in leisurely thought. Maintaining weapons and armor.
…
Why could I only think of those three things? And the lounging-around part was by far the most frequent of the three.
"…A-anyway, that's how it is."
The world outside the bed was dangerous, okay? That was how I roughly defended myself.
Pina nodded with sparkling eyes, then asked me something else.
"Once we're back, when do we head out again? Honestly, I'm exhausted…"
"If you want to stay in this freezing place for a long time, feel free to rest as long as you like."
"I'll work hard. Let's go, let's go!"
Pina pumped her fist with determination. But whether we worked hard or not, finding the monster ultimately came down to luck. We needed fortune on our side to find Neveumano quickly — and the exploration so far had left me with a few nagging doubts.
No matter how much Neveterde cried, Neveumano never appeared, which meant Neveumano was not in the coniferous forest. Was it because we hadn't gone deep enough? But in my judgment, no amount of searching the coniferous forest would turn up anything.
The place it was likely to be was toward the frost caves — the tundra snowfield region. If I had my way, I would take Neveterde straight into the tundra.
"…"
Wait a second.
Honestly, if I just said we were going to the coniferous forest and then headed for the snowfields instead… nobody would know, would they?
The thought hit me so hard I could have slapped my knee. It was a brilliant idea.
I finished thinking and spoke out of nowhere.
"Good."
"Huh? What's good all of a sudden?"
"Next time, we're not going to the coniferous forest. We're going to the snowfields."
"Didn't the royal army say they would handle that area?"
"So we'll go in secret."
"Oh…"
Pina held her tongue.