The North (2)
CRASH!
A massive hunk of steel slammed down where Kenis had been standing a heartbeat before. Had the blow connected, it would have reduced her to pulp in a single strike.
"Tch—!"
Friga clicked her tongue. Soft footfalls pattered behind her.
She dodged behind me in that instant?
While everyone watching was still too stunned to react, the commander drew his sword and charged forward.
"Stop! What in the world is—!"
"I'm fine, Commander!"
Kenis's voice rang out from within the billowing cloud of dust. At her words, the commander faltered and halted.
"Kenis! Are you all right?"
"Cough, cough! Yes—I'm fine!"
Whoosh—!
"There you are!"
Friga's axe sliced sharply through the air, hurtling toward the sound of Kenis's voice. The enormous weapon spun furiously as it punched through the dust cloud.
"Kenis!"
CLANG!
The commander's cry was swallowed by a tremendous metallic crash. Steel rang against steel. The axe spun away, rebounding, then dropped with a heavy whoosh—only to be caught cleanly in Kenis's hand.
Thud.
With her great holy sword already drawn in one hand, Kenis set the captured axe down with a heavy thud. She looked at Friga with a wry smile. Friga grinned right back at the sight.
"It's been a while, Lady Friga."
"Yeah, it's been a while, Kenis. Whoa—not bad. Didn't think you'd dodge that. What happened while you were down south?"
"What happened… Yes. Quite a lot happened."
From the Lich's attack to Cale and Hans's sacrifices, to her own appointment as Hero—far too much had happened. Kenis shook her head.
"Hmm? Whatever! I'd love to go a round with you right here, but…!"
Friga's dark eyes swept over the party. The priests stood trembling with fear. The holy knights watched warily, hands already ready on their sword hilts.
Friga drew in a deep, delighted breath, as if savoring the mingled scents of terror and vigilance.
"Haah— We've got a job to do first. The after-party can wait till after. Kenis."
Grinning, she yanked her axe free of the earth. The enormous weapon rose as lightly as a cotton bat. Shouldering it without effort, Friga bellowed:
"Hey! What are you lot standing around for?! Those soft priest types are gonna freeze to death! Move it!"
"Oof, Captain, cut us some slack!"
"J-just let me finish this drink first!"
Friga spotted her men off in the distance, using her and Kenis's fight as entertainment while they drank. Fire seemed to spark in her eyes.
"You absolute—! Slow as molasses! Drink in moderation, damn it!"
She booted her subordinates in the rear, driving them forward. Even while getting kicked, they finished their bottles before finally getting moving.
"All right, priests! This way, please. Warm, cozy northern specialty tents!"
"Wh-what?"
Before they knew it, the priests had been swept into the tents. One-Eye sidled up to the still-bewildered commander.
"Hmm. Right. We'll go this way."
"…Pardon? Ah—yes."
The commander followed as if entranced. By the time he came to his senses, he was astride a reindeer. He couldn't process any of it.
What in the world just happened in less than ten minutes?
A northern-style welcome designed to scramble the mind. Beside him, One-Eye had a bottle clamped in his mouth, guzzling straight from the neck.
Snort—
Even the reindeer the commander rode had a bottle of liquor shoved into its mouth. Looking back, every man and every reindeer was drinking. And yet the alcohol was so potent that not a single one of them staggered. The holy knights on their reindeer stared with glazed, exhausted eyes.
…This is dizzying.
The commander swallowed a rising sigh and nudged his reindeer up alongside One-Eye.
"One-Eye, may I ask you something?"
"Yeah? What is it?"
The commander edged closer and spoke low.
"That Friga—Lady Friga? What history is there between her and our Hero Kenis?"
He remembered that Kenis's special notes, which he'd read before the northern deployment, had contained nothing of the sort. One-Eye pulled his mouth from the bottle and snorted a laugh.
"Ha, so that's what you were curious about. Nothing much. Our captain just has this, uh, what do you call it… that…"
He stammered, then took another gulp of liquor.
"Ah, right! Rivalry! Something like that. Nothing serious, so don't sweat it. They won't kill each other."
One-Eye said it casually and went back to drinking. The commander stared at him, dumbfounded.
"What kind of rivalry has someone swinging an axe like they mean to kill the moment they meet? What if Kenis had been hurt?!"
"Huh, Kenis? That level of axe-work is a greeting—a greeting. Our captain knows it, and so does Kenis."
One-Eye chuckled.
"Even if our captain greets a bit rough, she swings with this in mind."
He tapped his temple with a finger.
"See? Our captain's actually pretty thoughtful, yeah? She figured Kenis would dodge something of that caliber."
One-Eye gazed fondly at Friga's back as she rode ahead. The genuine pride in his eyes gave the commander chills.
If she thought that far, she shouldn't have swung an axe the moment they met!
The commander screamed inwardly. In this mad place where a friendly greeting meant an axe swing, he squeezed his eyes shut.
A pitch-black future filled his vision.
Regardless of the commander's dark future, the reindeer-mounted party advanced smoothly. At the head, Friga stuck right beside Kenis, chattering away.
"So get this—not long ago I buried this axe right in the skull of a monkey beast this big! Its brains just poured out, and man, that gray stuff came out in unbelievable amounts, you know?"
"Ahaha… Is that so…"
"Right! If I hadn't gotten so excited when I got the letter saying you were coming and chopped that monkey to pieces, I could've shown it to you! Krr—what a shame!"
"Hahaha… Truly a shame…"
A conversation that had nothing to do with a young woman's flowery talk. Kenis laughed awkwardly as she listened to the tale of a demonic beast being butchered.
"But Kenis. What's that sword? Never seen it before… Looks good?"
"Ah, this sword… It is a blade the God bestowed upon me along with my mission."
"Ha, you met a god?"
Friga squinted as if she'd heard something absurd.
"Hah, spit— Hey, Kenis. Don't give me that god talk. That fancy god is useless to us. This booze is more useful than any god. You can pray a hundred days and a god still won't help you."
In this godforsaken place, the only things you can trust are family and liquor—
Friga muttered under her breath and chugged her drink. Two years ago, Kenis had realized again and again that Friga's view was shared by most northerners.
People who chose weapons over faith in order to survive…
When they requested troops from the Holy City of Civitas, it was the holy knights' combat power they needed—nothing more. Civitas accepted those requests out of respect and humanitarian concern.
A show of honor toward the Duchy of Montegros, which alone held the line of the Mount of Demonic Beasts and served as the shield of the entire continent—and a humanitarian deployment of forces.
"The only things that can save us in this shitty land are the weapon at my side and my family. Pray all you want—a god never lifts a finger to help."
Friga said it looking straight at Kenis. Kenis understood perfectly why Friga spoke that way, but she couldn't quite suppress the surge of feeling.
Ordinarily she would have let it pass—but perhaps because she had seen God with her own eyes? Before she knew it, Kenis raised her voice.
"That's not true, Lady Friga! God is watching over us—of that I am certain!"
"Haah— Our Kenis has grown up. Raising your voice at me like that? Looking for a fight, are you?"
Kenis narrowed her eyes and glared back. Friga's black pupils gleamed like a snake's. Friga's hand drifted toward her axe; Kenis's fingers twitched.
A hair-trigger moment.
Snort—
Just then, Friga's reindeer violently shook its head and glared toward the forest beside them.
"Hm?"
Friga's eyes darted across the dense woods growing thick on either side.
Rustle, rustle—
Shadows moved nimbly between the trees. Quite a number of them, shifting beneath the forest's gloom. Sinister red eyes gleaming.
"Ha, damn. I made such a big deal about how safe this area was. Embarrassing."
Friga scratched her head, deflated. Then she raised her voice.
"Hey, get out front already! You gonna make the guests handle this themselves? Clean it up quick so we can head in!"
"Oof, yes ma'am! On it!"
"Son of a— Who the hell was supposed to clear this sector?"
Northern warriors came forward grumbling—though their eagerness for the coming fight was plain to see.
Friga grinned and looked back at Kenis.
"Guests rest in the rear. We clean up our own yard."
She hoisted her axe in one hand and bellowed with all her might.
"All right, move! You idiots! Finish this and let's go drink!"
"Ha!"
With a short battle cry, the northern men charged into the forest.
"Hmm…"
I sat deep in thought, smartphone in one hand. It wasn't that something was wrong with the phone. Or… was it?
"…What on earth is this?"
I held two identical smartphones, one in each hand. Why did I have two phones? No matter how I looked at them, both were mine.
One screen had a slight crack, but otherwise they were completely identical. Same case, same hand grip stuck on the back, even the same everyday scuffs.
"Hmm… Where did this come from?"
The cracked smartphone had been wedged between the bed and the frame. What was this? It felt familiar somehow…
"Does it even turn on?"
I pressed and held the power button, but nothing happened. Probably dead. I plugged it into the charger and put it out of mind. I could look once it powered on later.
"More importantly—time to play the game."
I fired up the game at once and flopped onto the bed. I'd been grinding for ages to unlock a single A-Grade weapon. Today was the day! The day I finally reaped that harvest.
"Ha. Hand over that A-Grade weapon."
Nothing could stop me now.