Whale Hunt (6)

It had been a while since I'd had a proper fight, and I could feel my growth slowing as a result. The best I'd managed lately was the Administrator, and then the Great Warrior — and even that battle had ended far too easily.

The captain, on the other hand, was the first genuinely strong opponent I'd come across in ages. That was exactly why I didn't want to end this fight too quickly. It wasn't as if I were so pressed for time that I couldn't spare a few moments of leisure.

Starting from the hand gripping my axe, I felt my whole body heat up with the thrill of combat.

Lightning Essence, only in limited bursts. No Chain Lightning, and no Shadow Monarch.

Azure lightning rippled along the axe blade. The distance between us shrank — and still the captain kept his mace lowered to the ground.

It had been a long time since I'd faced a mace-wielder, too. What kind of attack would he bring?

Holding the tension in my arms, I tightened my grip on the axe handle. Half a breath. The captain kicked off the ground and swung his mace in a rising diagonal, from low to high.

A mace and an axe — their contact surfaces are different.

Meeting him head-on would put me at a disadvantage. I drove power into my outstretched right ankle, slowing my advance as I pulled my upper body back.

Whoosh— The mace cleaved through empty air, a fist's width short of me. The blunt, whistling roar of displaced air was vividly clear.

Before I could even extend my axe, the mace that had soared skyward arced around behind the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠captain's head and came crashing back down.

My stance is all wrong for blocking.

Wind Path — the road of the wind guided me. Spinning my body sharply to the left, I swept the axe in a horizontal arc. The captain scrambled back a single step and evaded it by a hair's breadth.

At that razor-thin spectacle, the elves burst into gasps of admiration. For a brief moment, the initiative had come back to me. I took a step forward and closed the distance.

A short breath. The cold dawn air sank deep into my lungs. From lower left to upper right — I brought the axe up in a rising slash.

"Hup!"

I'd come in faster than my previous strike, and the captain's breathing collapsed in his fluster. Even so, he didn't simply take the hit. Clumsily, but decisively, he brought his mace up into the axe's path.

Clang—!

Metal shrieked against metal, and both weapons rebounded. What followed was a contest of raw strength.

Who seizes control of their weapon's momentum first?

The answer was me. I flexed my wrists and elbows, and quickly steadied the recoiling axe. The captain's mace was still adrift in the air.

Holding his posture exactly as it was, I stretched both arms out and stopped my axe dead just in front of the nape of his neck.

It had been a short fight, but I felt a rush of excitement for the first time in a long while — more satisfying than I'd expected. The captain's eyes wavered violently.

"I have no intention of drawing blood. It seems it's over… do you intend to continue?"

Instead of answering, the captain met my eyes. His gaze was so tangled with conflicting feelings that I couldn't begin to guess what he was thinking.

A few seconds passed like that, and then the captain loosened his grip on the mace. In the stillness, only the sound of the mace falling to the dirt rang out.

"…No. I'll go quietly."

"Thank you."

"Hm. Not quite what I'd heard. I figured you were nothing but a grubby little worm who'd been born to the right parents. I suppose rumors really aren't worth believing."

I had nothing to say to that, so I simply smiled in silence. A grubby little worm who'd been born to the right parents, huh. So the Subjugation Commander's backing was his family, apparently — and while that thought was still crossing my mind, the elves darted forward and bound the captain.

Roxanne approached with a smile.

"Well fought. You seem to have had room to spare."

"Haha… yeah."

All right, I take it back — the captain is NOT on Roxanne's level.

Even in that short exchange, the two of them had looked almost evenly matched. And yet she had seen past the surface of the fight to its essence — which meant Roxanne's skill was far beyond anything I'd imagined.

If this floor ended here, I decided, I would have to spar with her during combat training. As I stood there laughing awkwardly, Roxanne turned her gaze toward the airship.

"Shall we get moving, then?"

Once I actually stepped aboard the airship, there was nothing for me to do. The elves busied themselves adjusting this and that, and then the ship's engines began to turn over.

The noise was quite loud at first, but the moment Roxanne made a single gesture, it fell silent as if strangled. Of course, only the sound had vanished — the vibration of the engines still hummed up through the deck beneath my feet.

"Did you use the spirits' power?"

"Yes. The Sky Whales don't care for the noise of airships, you see."

"I see."

Come to think of it, they'd said the Sky Whales rammed airships on sight. The engine din must have been what grated on them.

While I was mulling that over, the airship lifted into the air. It wobbled unsteadily for a moment before righting itself and turning on its new heading. Startled by the strange, weightless sensation, I glanced down past the hull — and Roxanne spoke to me.

"Could you bring out the lure incense now?"

"Ah — yes, of course."

As I pulled the lure incense from my Mimic and laid it out across the deck, Roxanne let out a long, deep sigh. She had been running for hours through the night, and she looked fairly worn.

"You're tired, aren't you?"

"Haha, no, not really. It's not tiredness so much as… I haven't had a proper meal in days. I think my body's just a little run down."

"Ah… right, finding food is difficult for you."

"Yes. There aren't even many insects in the Tumei range."

It was her creed, so it wasn't my place to say anything — but all sorts of thoughts churned through me. How hard her life must be. And yet how admirable it was that she held fast to her beliefs even in circumstances like these.

I found myself pitying Roxanne, and recalled the rations I'd stored in my Mimic — but there was nothing in there an elf could eat.

Whether she read the worry on my face or not, Roxanne beamed at me brightly.

"Please don't concern yourself. Going without food for a month or so is nothing to us."

The sight of her smiling tugged at my heart, so I changed the subject. Any more talk of meals would only make things harder for her.

"Oh, right. So from now on, we just roam the range? Until we've found every last Sky Whale?"

The words were barely out of my mouth before I realized how short-sighted they were. Just how many Sky Whales did I think lived in this mountain range, that I'd suggested herding them by airship? I worried that if we slipped up and missed even a single one, the hidden mission would fail.

I was wallowing in belated regret when Roxanne waved a hand as if to say, don't be absurd.

"Honestly — when would we ever finish circling a range this size?"

"Then how…?"

"You seem to have forgotten that we have the wind spirits at our command. We'll find every Sky Whale here before midday."

"Ah…"

I must have made a rather foolish face, because Roxanne snorted a quiet laugh. Right — she'd said the Protectors had interfered with the subjugation force every time it came hunting the Sky Whales. They hadn't merely been keeping watch over the hunters.

It had only been possible because they tracked the whales' locations through the wind spirits. That much made sense — but still, mapping an entire mountain range? Weren't spirits a little bit broken?

Roxanne spoke in the gentle tone one uses to soothe a child.

"Set your worries down and rest easy. It's an important promise, isn't it? We'll manage it well within the time you've given us."

Come to think of it, I had told Roxanne ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about the remaining time and called it a promise. She had evidently mistaken the anxiety on my face for fear of breaking my word.

Well — no cause for worry, then. Feeling the wind stream across my face, I turned my gaze down toward the mountains below.

Beneath the morning sun, six Sky Whales swam in formation behind the airship. It was a sight that never grew old, no matter how long I watched — one that filled me with awe.

Dobby seemed equally entranced; even in his exhaustion, he stared up at the Sky Whales with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Kkiik! Suyeok! One more is coming!"

And now the seventh Sky Whale was about to fall in behind the airship. According to Roxanne, there were seven Sky Whales in the Tumei range — so this was the last one.

Contrary to my fears, herding the whales had proven anything but difficult.

Scatter the lure incense near a Sky Whale, and it just follows you.

When we'd first encountered the whales, I'd worried quite a bit. The elves were burning through the incense at a staggering rate, and I feared the sacks we'd prepared would run dry in no time.

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the elves used the wind spirits to preserve the airborne incense clouds for as long as possible.

Of course, they couldn't stop it from dissipating entirely, little by little — but…

Even so, I figured we'd still have ten sacks or so left after a full week.

Watching that sight, I thought again how glad I was that I'd chosen to talk things through when I first entered this floor, instead of fighting. It had been a hidden mission I never could have cleared without reaching out to the elves.

Long live the wind spirits.

The moment the last whale was lured into formation, Roxanne stretched her arms high overhead with a groan of satisfaction.

"Ahh! Thankfully, the last Sky Whale is right on the route to Ledgium. Thank you for all your hard work."

"Hardly — after the airship was commandeered, the elves did all the work. Say, how long until we reach eastern Ledgium?"

"We'll be clear of the range soon, so I'd say about five days."

I gave a small nod and turned my eyes past the airship's bow. The sunlight that had been gilding the mountain peaks was, as the sun climbed higher, spreading slowly down toward the base of the range.

And then, the notification window appeared.

What? That was it — Floor 31 was over?

More than the satisfaction of clearing the floor, shock and bewilderment washed over me. Moving the Sky Whales all the way to eastern Ledgium hadn't been the requirement at all…

Getting them out of this mountain range — that alone had been enough?

Diverting from its branch — the trials were being altered?

It was the first time I'd heard such a thing from a notification window. This wasn't like Floor 17, where the trial had simply collapsed.

I couldn't say for certain, but one thing was clear: this had happened because I'd chosen to save the Sky Whales.

I hurriedly turned to look at Roxanne. Perhaps because I'd panicked so abruptly, she was watching me with a worried expression.

Steadying my rattled heart, I examined the Tower's message. As on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Floor 11, the transition had carried me straight into Floor 32 without passing through the Waiting Room. The remaining time hadn't changed, either.

All right. Let's take a calm look at this.

The certain thing is that the situation changed because I saved the Sky Whales.

The trial had originally been to hunt the Sky Whales alongside the subjugation force. The consequences that would have flowed from that had been wiped away — and in their place, a different trial had been granted.

Nothing had really changed. No — if anything, this was a windfall. Just as I'd originally planned, all I had to do was move the Sky Whales to eastern Ledgium. You could even say I'd picked up an extra floor for free.

Of course, that just means the trial has gotten that much harder…

Hunters, and on top of them the kingdom's pursuit. It had probably come about because the subjugation force and the captain had reported up the chain — all to capture me, the one who'd seized their airship.

"…Are you all right?"

"Ah — yes. I'm fine. Just… some unpleasant memories surfaced for a moment."

I hastily smoothed my expression at Roxanne's words. My vague answer hung in the air, and she didn't press further — she simply nodded.

I turned toward the ship's cabin.

"I'm going to rest a little while. If anything comes up, just call—"

"Wait a moment!"

The instant I turned my back, Roxanne seized my shoulder.

What now?

As I glanced back, she hurried on.

"My friends are tidying the inside of the cabin right now, so… it would be better to go in a little later."

"That's quite all right."

It was a considerate gesture, no doubt — but right now I needed a little time alone with my thoughts. Yet Roxanne caught my wrist with an uncharacteristically firm look.

"No. They're terribly thorough, and you'd find it very uncomfortable in there right now. All that cleaning will kick dust into the air, too. I'll tell them to hurry — please, just give it a little while longer."