Flowing Water Overturns the Tide
A single stroke of the greatsword's secret technique — Flowing Water — completely overturned the tide of battle.
Alice drew a deep breath and raised her greatsword high. The blade came crashing down in a sweeping arc from above, aimed straight at the arm of the Orco sprawled on the ground.
Shunk—!
The price of being thrown down mid-fight and failing to recover was its left arm. Just as the Orco had done to the Pantanotor, now its own arm left its body and went tumbling across the dirt.
Wracked by searing agony, the Orco heaved itself upright, kicked off the ground as if springing free, and scrambled back. Amid the bleeding and the pain, its frenzied mind gradually cooled; its burning body began to settle. Reason returned — and with it, a gulf of difference it had never felt before.
No matter how many times it had charged, no matter how hard it had tried to break through, that wall of unyielding resolve had never fallen. No — it was less a wall than the gaping maw of some enormous predator. The Orco had walked straight into that maw of its own free will.
Its heart hammered as if it would burst. The essence it had been pouring out without rest finally hit its limit. Its left head was still unconscious. If it threw its body around recklessly and died like this, it would never live it down. But escape no longer seemed possible. The killing will in Alice's eyes held the Orco fast.
If fleeing meant death either way, then better to die fighting gloriously.
Instead of the horn rolling on the ground, the Orco snatched up its own severed left arm. The stump of the cut stood out stark and raw — a grotesque, desperate bludgeon.
———KRRRAAAA!!
Scattering bright red blood, the Orco swung the arm. Alice met that thrashing defiance head-on.
Thoom—!
Her parry sent the attack skidding wide. The Orco lost its balance and staggered. In that instant of total vulnerability, Alice gripped her greatsword in both hands, leveled the tip, and charged.
Shunk! The Famine Blade punched straight through the Orco's belly. The left arm dropped to the ground.
Alice poured reinforcement into her grip for one final surge of power. The Famine Blade's edge tore through the creature's gut and punched brutally out through its back. The Orco stretched out a hand one last time. Its fingers trembled. Alice ducked the hand reaching for her head, released the greatsword, and stepped back.
———Krr…….
The Orco toppled backward. The greatsword still impaling its body kept it from sprawling flat; it caught for a moment, then rolled onto its side. Strength drained away. Along the Famine Blade's edge, the jagged tooth-like barbs writhed and greedily devoured the Orco's blood and flesh.
Alice took a long breath.
"Hooo…."
Sweat beaded on her brow; her heart was still pounding. No matter how strong the opponent, the one who won was her.
Footsteps approached. She snapped her head around. Another monster? No — Nicoletta and Pina were coming toward her. Right. They were here to observe. She'd completely forgotten in the heat of the fight. Alice let the hardness fall from her face and gave them a small wave.
Pina and Nicoletta hurried over to check whether she was hurt anywhere. She hadn't noticed during the fight, but small scrapes marked her here and there — grazes from dodging, or scrapes from flying debris. They would close up soon enough on their own, but Nicoletta fretted over them all the same.
"Even little cuts like these can get infected. You have to be careful."
"I'm fine…."
"Just do as the knight says."
They were only saying it out of worry, so she couldn't exactly refuse. Alice nodded.
She turned to Nicoletta.
"So? Get a good look?"
"…Yeah. Every last bit of it."
Nicoletta went on, "Honestly, I was so worried. If it hadn't been for Pina, I would have run straight in."
"That so?"
Alice looked at Pina. Pina gave a confident little ahem, coughed into her fist, and flushed.
"What is there to say? I believed in Miss Alice."
"Pina…."
Alice smiled quietly. After everything they had been through together, of course the bond was there.
Nicoletta seized her arm.
"Now I get why my classmates talked about you like that! It wasn't exaggeration — it was pure sincerity. No, you were even more incredible than I'd heard. I'm almost sorry I never got to see you fight Neveumano and Disastro."
Just what kind of stories had those knights been telling? Alice rubbed the back of her neck, a little embarrassed.
Nicoletta grinned.
"Seeing you fight, I can't just sit still either. You're too cool. I've decided. Once this assignment is over, I'm quitting the knighthood and becoming a hunter."
Her resolve sounded firmly set. Alice remembered something Nicoletta had said earlier and asked,
"You're a candidate for Knight Commander, aren't you? What about that?"
"That's a shame, but honestly, getting that far without any real sense of mission was pure luck. There are plenty of people better suited than me. And I'm glad I still have a chance."
Alice didn't follow.
"A chance?"
"A chance to watch you fight a supreme-grade monster."
Nicoletta swept her hair back and smiled brightly.
"I'm a squad leader stationed by the lava river, you know."
They finished the commission in a hurry. They submitted the materials taken from the Pantanotor's corpse, along with the Orco's materials, to the Association and explained the situation. They hadn't killed the Pantanotor themselves — but they had killed the high-grade monster Orco that had killed it, so the reward ended up in their hands all the same. Not that the reward was anything grand; it was just the ranch owner's hard-earned commission fee, sweat and all.
Alice had never been the type to obsess over money, so she handed the entire sum to Pina, who had been dragged into an unexpected job without so much as a break.
"I-I'm fine! We can just split it!"
"Ah-ah. At times like this, you just say thank you and take it."
"Th-tha…nk you."
Pina refused at first, but the moment the money was in her hands her mouth curved into a happy little grin. Alice had no idea what pleasant thoughts were running through her head, but if getting paid made her happy, that was enough.
After dividing the money at the Association counter, Alice walked over to Nicoletta, who had been waiting in a chair.
"Nicoletta."
"Ah, so you got the reward. That means it'll go on the Association record, right?"
"That's right."
Nicoletta made a thoughtful little sound and touched the corner of her mouth. Alice asked her,
"When are you heading back?"
"Tomorrow, straight to the capital — then I have to get ready to leave again."
"Not going to rest any longer?"
"The job isn't finished yet. I can't just lounge around on my own. You two took down a supreme-grade monster, but I haven't done a thing. And the sooner I wrap this up, the sooner I can quit the knighthood and become a hunter."
She answered with a soft laugh. She claimed she wasn't cut out to be a knight — but her mindset was already more knightly than anyone's.
Then Nicoletta's eyes lit up.
"Oh, right — have you decided where you're going next?"
Alice shook her head.
"Not yet…."
"Then how about coming to Calor? I'll be there, after all~."
"Calor, huh…."
While Alice was still turning it over, Pina asked Nicoletta,
"What's Calor like?"
Nicoletta described it exactly as Alice already knew — though Alice barely listened. Nicoletta's explanation was enough to make anyone's head spin. A river of flowing lava, and the Calor Outpost built there. The place was full of scalding water and molten rock. Monsters adapted to that heat roamed freely, and a single misstep could be fatal.
"Eek, it's that hot?"
"You basically can't survive without Cooling Powder. Sometimes if you sit down wrong, your rear end catches fire. I've kicked the flames out for people before."
Pina blinked.
"…Miss Alice, isn't this just the opposite version of Lacrima?"
"Nice summary."
Pina was right. If the highland where the snow never melted tormented people with endless cold and altitude sickness, then the lava river killed them with murderous heat and heatstroke. On top of that, failing to manage your body temperature with Cooling Powder meant risking actual burns.
Alice asked Pina lightly,
"What do you want to do?"
"W-well, we did just spend a whole month in a freezing place…."
Pina spoke carefully. Nicoletta tilted her head, then looked a little forlorn.
"Is it that bad? If it's too much for you, that's fine, even if it's a shame…."
"Did you come to Antico just for this?"
"Mm, well, that was part of it…."
She had the look of a cat with big, pleading eyes. Pina couldn't hold out against that gaze and passed the decision to Alice.
"…I-I don't know! I'll leave it to Miss Alice."
"Hmm. In that case—"
Alice nodded.
"Let's go to Calor."
"Wait, really?"
"F-for real!?"
Joy and despair crossed paths. They did keep choosing the physically hardest places, but even if she put it off now, they would have to go eventually. She felt bad for Pina — but when you were already in the middle of hard work, it was better to just keep going straight into the next hard thing.
"Great! Then I'm counting on you!"
Nicoletta beamed and held out her hand. Alice shook it lightly. The knight's palm was as callused as her own.
Pina already looked haggard. They hadn't even started yet — so what was with that face that looked ten years older overnight? It was a little pitiful, but a bump in her hazard pay would fix that expression in no time.
Alice leaned in and murmured,
"Pina, if it gets too hard, just say so. I'll raise your pay."
"Money isn't— money isn't the problem. Physically, this is just too much…."
Huh. Pina's face didn't brighten at all. Clearly the offer still wasn't enough.
Alice went bigger.
"I'll give you the entire Neveumano subjugation settlement on top. You know I don't really need it."
"Ah…."
Pina furrowed her brow, hesitated, and chewed on her lip. Then she shot up a firm thumbs-up and nodded.
"…I'll get ready."
Hey — she'd believed in her all along!
And with that, not a single person left unhappy. A perfectly happy world, complete.