If You Stay Here, You'll Die, Junior (2)
I straightened up at the sight of her. “H-Hylken!”
Her full name was Hylkenbesta, but since it was such a mouthful, we all just called her Hylken. The moment she saw me, she froze like she’d witnessed something she shouldn’t have. Then, forgetting the pain of having just fallen from a tree, she snapped to attention and snapped off a crisp military salute.
It had been a while, but she was a soldier who’d passed through the military academy in Vitagarte. She’d always called me “Senior” and followed me with genuine respect, so this kind of reaction wasn’t surprising.
Still, I waved it off immediately. What kind of position was I in to be receiving salutes right now?
“There’s no need for that, Hylken. The fact that you’re here means you’ve left the military too, right? I’ve also stepped away from Vitagarte for a while, so we don’t have that kind of vertical relationship anymore.”
“Ah… I’d heard something like that, but I never imagined I’d actually run into you here. I saluted without thinking, Senior.”
“No, no, really, you don’t have to do that!”
Our connection wasn’t all that deep. I’d simply noticed her while traveling around the North and paid a bit of attention, that was all…
“No! How could I possibly act so rudely toward the person who changed my entire life?!”
She was the soldier who had failed the military officer exam countless times, only to pass after I wrote her a recommendation letter. I hadn’t thought much of it, but she treated me like her personal benefactor. That was why she was being so overly formal.
But I had no real reason to be called anyone’s savior. She already possessed a natural talent for archery. Her entire family came from a long line of hunters who ate, slept, and breathed the bow. Her skill was obvious. And yet, some invisible twist of fate kept tormenting her, making her fail again and again no matter how hard she tried. I couldn’t just sit by and watch.
I didn’t usually throw my weight around, but when you stand beside the Grand Duke’s daughter, you’re supposed to use that power when it actually matters, aren’t you?
Especially since that suspicion was an actual setting in the story…
She was also one of the characters I knew. Not exactly a playable character from the original work, but the moment I saw her name, I remembered her immediately. She was the younger sister of one of the future Aligners that Eclipse would discover.
Well, the blood relation was distant. It was ridiculous that I even remembered. No matter how many times I’d replayed Eternal Eclipse, memorizing every single side character who only appeared in the setting documents was a bit much. It would’ve been perfectly normal to forget her.
But her relationship with her older brother had become a meme. And not just any meme—one of those filthy, embarrassing ones you could barely say out loud.
If I’m being honest about my shameful past, back when I was deep into Eternal Eclipse, I’d posted more than a few garbage threads about it on the gallery. Sorry, Hylken. After doing all that, how could I possibly forget?
…I really was pathetic back then.
Anyway, that was the extent of her predetermined fate. After failing the Vitagarte military exams over and over, she’d luckily catch the Emperor’s eye and be selected as a hunter for the Karlandel training grounds. And soon after—
She would be torn apart and crushed by Yagnus, who would come to Karlandel right before the field training.
That was why, when I saw her name among the candidates hoping to become a military officer in the North, I deliberately chose her. It was a small act of pity so she wouldn’t die for nothing here. Of course, she might still end up roasted by a wyvern’s breath soon enough, but anything was better than being confirmed dead as a hunter in these grounds.
Honestly, after making that decision, I hadn’t paid her much attention. I never expected to run into her here again.
Which means things didn’t go according to my intentions.
I had no idea what had happened, but this girl had left the North?
Hylken seemed to read the confusion in my eyes. She answered me with perfect posture.
“Ah, you’re wondering why I’m here!”
“I am.”
“…I feel bad toward the North that recognized my talent, but His Majesty the Emperor personally summoned me to serve as a hunter here. After much deliberation, I accepted.”
She spoke hesitantly, as if worried she might look like a traitor.
Well, that kind of culture does exist in the North…
I could say this because I was from there. Northerners were terrifying. Even if they faced discrimination, they were never weak. It was an open secret that those who left for the outside world, like Hylken, were often branded as traitors. That ugly culture existed.
But if she was worried about that, she was mistaken. If she’d chosen to survive, I had to understand. After all, the only reason I’d stayed in the North was for one girl.
I couldn’t force my own narrow-minded way of thinking onto a junior I’d personally selected.
“…You did well. If His Majesty was watching, that was the right choice. Your talent exists for exactly that reason.”
At those words, her eyes sparkled for the first time in a while as she beamed at me.
Ah, that brought back memories. She used to react like this whenever I taught her something.
“Hehe, thank you, Senior…! Thanks to you, I feel rewarded every day protecting Karlandel!”
But then, as if realizing the conversation had gone completely off track, her expression suddenly darkened and she snapped at herself.
“Wait, that’s not what’s important right now. Damn it.”
“Oh please.”
She really wasn’t letting this go easily. What a stubborn girl.
“Lord of Steel, what in the world are you doing snooping around here?! Do you realize this is a capital offense?!”
I played dumb. “I had unavoidable circumstances and had to sneak in. Can’t you cut me some slack? If you do, I’ll even give you that jerky you used to love.”
“I-I may not look it, but I’m a city girl now. I don’t eat that stuff anymore…! And anyway, is this really something jerky can fix?!”
“Tsk.”
“What do you mean, tsk?! Even if you are the benefactor who pulled me up from the bottom, work is work. So this incident should just…”
BOOM—
But while we were arguing—
“?!”
“Damn it. Looks like we don’t have time to waste.”
A spine-chilling wave of danger washed over us, triggering every survival instinct we had.
He’s fast.
The arrival of Yagnus, one of the Six Swords. It seemed that after fabricating the evidence and riding here, more time had passed than I’d expected. From the looks of it, he’d already begun tearing through the hunters’ quarters.
The moment that intuition hit me, I erased the option of saving every single hunter from my mind. In this vast forest, they could have been useful allies, but Yagnus was faster than I’d anticipated. That plan was dead.
Now that he had appeared, there was no way for me to save them all.
Hylken asked me calmly, “…Just a moment. What is this?”
“We need to get out of here. Now.”
She was skilled enough to sense death approaching.
“Senior… did you come here to avoid… that thing?”
“Well…”
I ran my hand over the hilt of my sword. “Of course we have to run. The conditions aren’t right to fight him right now.”
It would be difficult. I’d have to put in an insane amount of effort. But if that effort paid off, taking his head wasn’t entirely impossible.
Still, I couldn’t guarantee it. Even if I didn’t lose, if something went wrong and he escaped… it would only be a matter of time before Vankite learned of my plans.
And my true target was Vankite. Yagnus was too big a fish to be called a mere side objective, but burning everything down just to catch him wasn’t an option. Besides—
I still wasn’t certain I could walk away unscathed after killing him. That was the nature of the Six Swords. If an unavoidable situation arose later, I’d have no choice, but I refused to take that risk now. I didn’t want all my hard work to go up in smoke.
Since Yagnus had made the first move, escaping his sight was the priority.
However, Hylken didn’t seem able to focus on my words. I understood. The other hunters were strangers whose names I didn’t even know, but to her they were comrades she’d befriended after leaving the North. Of course she was worried.
“Senior, I… I have to go save my colleagues…!”
She looked ready to dash off to rescue them at any second. But my thoughts were different. Saving every hunter and turning them to my side was already impossible, so—
At the very least, I should save the one standing right in front of me.
That was what I’d decided. So when she tried to climb the tree, I grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her back.
“Hylken.”
“Hii—! S-Senior?”
“It’s better to lie down where there’s a bed waiting. Don’t do anything that’ll get you killed for nothing.”
She demanded in a panic, “L-Let go of me…?! We don’t have time!”
“He’s one of the Demon King’s Six Swords.”
“What?!”
Those words finally made the situation click for her.
“If I didn’t mishear you… you’re saying the one who came here is one of the Six Swords?”
An absolute being that could not be defied. Not an opponent a human could possibly resist.
“Why would someone like that come here…”
“And he has absolute sight. No matter how vast this forest is, hiding won’t guarantee survival. So what do you think will happen if you run out to save them?”
“…A dog’s death.”
“Exactly. Smart girl.”
“…Please don’t mock me. Who do you think recommended me in the first place, Senior?”
For her, this was a life-or-death crossroads. Perhaps the last rope heaven had thrown her. If she chose to run out and save her comrades, she would die without even putting up a proper fight. But if she chose to trust me and hide, she could survive and plan her revenge.
So I spoke firmly.
“Then, how about you humor me and follow me for now? At the very least, I can definitely keep you alive.”
“…Ugh.”
“Hylken. Don’t you remember the first rule of Vitagarte’s military doctrine?”
“Honor is protected by the living. Death is failure…”
“You remember it well.”
“It’s already been years since you taught me that. It was a day with fierce snow, wasn’t it…”
…Hmm. Did I really teach her that? That was before I received my title, back when I was just serving as a frontline knight under the young lady. Come to think of it, she was around the same age as me, so she used to come ask me all sorts of questions. I only remembered after she mentioned it.
“Then give me your orders. I will follow them immediately.”
“I’ll track down everyone still left in this area. Hiding with ordinary methods won’t work.”
But I had a proven method that had already escaped his absolute sight once. When I summoned Rorschach and explained, she spoke in admiration.
“…As thorough as ever, both then and now.”
“If I wasn’t, I’d have died long ago.”
At that moment, the already dark night sky grew even blacker.
KWAAAAAAAANG——!!!!
A storm of countless iron fragments swept across the earth. Birds flying through the air were pierced by the razor-sharp shards and plummeted to the ground, but by the time they hit the earth, their bodies had been shredded beyond recognition, reduced to nothing but ground meat. The sky was dyed with blood, and entrails burst from the heavens. The screams of wild beasts filled the world.
Vwoooooong—!!
An impossible pressure. The instinct of death.
“Fuck. I knew it would be bad, but this is on another level?”
“Senior, hurry! This way!”
“Right—get down!”
Following her guidance, I barely managed to squeeze into a cave that could shelter us from the iron storm. Then I unfurled the veil.
Thank you so much today, mirror world.
Rorschach has distorted perception and reality.
Absolute sight has been temporarily evaded.
“Damn it.”
When I stepped out from behind the veil, hell itself lay before my eyes.
Was this really allowed to happen?