Premonition (1)
I thought I saw glittering stars.
I had become the Milky Way, freely floating and swimming through the cosmos. Or had the Milky Way become me? I couldn't tell.
A dream of drifting, weightless, through the black expanse of space. I was infinitely free.
"Stars?"
Ahead, in the black darkness, five stars appeared. Five stars that no longer shone. Great stars that must once have blazed with brilliant light now sat in deathly silence.
Why weren't those stars shining? As I wondered and tried to move toward them—
"Huh?"
What should I call it? Instinct? Intuition? Some unknown call drew my body forward. I pushed through the black cosmos, following an inexplicable pull.
"That's..."
A small planet came into view. Was that what Earth looked like from space? A tiny, beautiful world glowing blue and green—a little planet overflowing with life force and potential.
"Beautiful..."
Yes. It was a beautiful star. Beauty I could gaze at for a lifetime without ever growing tired of it.
Then something strange happened to that beautiful planet.
"...What's that?"
Black fog rose and began to cover the star in patches. Wherever the rapidly spreading black mist struck, the metallic scent of blood rose with it. The star that had overflowed with life force began to darken and die.
"What is that..."
The star was slowly dying.
I have to stop it. I can stop it. I must stop it.
Only you can stop it.
Only you can stop it.
A woman's voice brushed past my ear. A flash of red hair skimmed the edge of my vision.
My sight warped as if I were being sucked down a drain—twisting, distorting, coming apart.
"I have to... stop it...!!"
Hah—!
I bolted upright in bed, gasping for air. What was that? What had I just seen? The memories scattered like mist. I had clearly seen something in the dream...
The Milky Way... stars...
The dream blurred the moment I woke, fading so fast it left only holes—like cheese riddled with sparse bites. Before long I gave up trying to recall it.
"What the hell... I've been having some weird dreams lately."
I had sweated so much the blanket was soaked through. I worked out regularly—was my energy just that drained these days?
"Ugh, this sweat..."
I peeled off the clammy clothes stuck to my skin and tossed them aside. Shower first.
—Shhhhhh
Standing under the cascade from the showerhead, I looked at myself in the mirror. Hmm. Was it the recent workouts?
"Oh. Six-pack. Looking good."
—Hup! Hah!
Alone in the bathroom, I struck a few poses in the mirror. Steady training had paid off—I'd put on a decent amount of muscle.
"Whew—"
After a refreshing shower, I shook out my hair and powered on my phone. I'd forgotten to run Monster Subjugation before falling asleep earlier.
"I can skip everything else, but not this."
Monster Subjugation was the only drug the country still allowed, after all...
My fingers moved on familiar autopilot as I launched the run.
...
But only Friga showed up. Where was Kenis?
—Beep!
Hero-rank Adventurer Kenis is under the status effect: Cursed.
"Huh?"
What kind of nonsense was this? A curse? What curse? Kenis? A flood of question marks crashed through my head. Out of nowhere?
"...Ah. The Frost Dragon's Curse, maybe?"
A boss fight flickered through my memory. That had to be it—the Frost Dragon's Curse. Hadn't that cleared when the boss fight ended?
"So how am I supposed to remove it?"
In situations like this, the shop usually had the answer. I scrolled through the package list, checking every option...
"...Nothing?"
And so, with Kenis still cursed and unable to deploy for Monster Subjugation, several days slipped by.
"This goddamn trash game!"
Clatter—clatter—
The carriage rocked gently along the well-paved road. Kenis kept glancing this way and that, clearly unused to riding in one.
The attending priest seated across from her watched with a quiet smile.
"Heh. The carriage feels quite strange to you, doesn't it?"
"Ah—yes. I've ridden more things that weren't carriages, you see."
Kenis looked up at the sky beyond the window with a distant expression. How much had she suffered riding reindeer up north? The bruises on her backside still ached on cold days.
The priest chuckled softly at the look in her eyes.
"Still, you're a Hero now—and a patient. You mustn't overexert yourself riding a horse."
"R-right..."
Kenis scratched her cheek, looking sheepish at the word Hero. Then something seemed to occur to her; she clapped her hands together.
"Ah! Please tell me about the Holy Land. Ruel went there, didn't she?"
"Yes, so I hear. A shining star descended upon Priest Ruel and guided her through a door. Quite remarkable, isn't it?"
"Ruel... so what happened to her?"
"The god is said to have given her a staff with a great star upon it. The other two as well—Paladin Demonic and Great Priest Antonio—received weapons and blessings from the god."
"I see..."
Kenis thought of her friend Ruel. She didn't know what that fragile, pure-hearted girl had felt when she accepted a weapon—but she hoped Ruel would never have to face danger.
As Kenis sank into thought, the priest watched her for a moment, then spoke again.
"At this pace we should reach the Holy City within a few days. How is your body holding up?"
"Ah—yes, I'm fine. Honestly, I barely feel like I'm cursed at all."
Kenis looked herself over. When they'd told her her soul was slowly being drained by a demon, she had been genuinely frightened.
But aside from the absence of holy power, nothing felt particularly wrong. Without the priest's word, she might never have known she was cursed at all.
"That's a relief, then."
Beside the gently smiling priest, Friga—who had been sleeping as if knocked out cold—bolted upright.
"Are you sure you're fine? You are cursed, right?"
Her eyes raked Kenis up and down as if licking her over—Kenis looked far too healthy for someone under a curse. Kenis made a face as if her skin were crawling.
"Ugh... Lady Friga, must you look at me like that? It's deeply unpleasant."
"What of it? We're both women."
"Even between women, that kind of look is a bit..."
"Well, well... our Kenis. This won't do. How about we rekindle a little 'comradeship' between us, just like old times?"
Friga wriggled her fingers in a distinctly creepy way and began edging closer. The middle-aged-uncle gleam in her eyes made Kenis yelp and shove her back.
"Comradeship, my foot! Get away from me!"
"How cold. Comradeship is a proud northern tradition, you know."
"Don't lie, Lady Friga! The priest will believe you!"
The priest, who had been awkwardly staring out the window, gave an embarrassed laugh.
"Hahaha... Ah—Lady Friga. Are you truly all right following us like this?"
A painfully transparent change of subject. Friga sat back down without protest and answered.
"It's fine, it's fine. The place won't fall apart just because I'm gone. I talked it over properly with my father before I left."
"The Duke didn't try to stop you?"
"Me? Why would he?"
Friga crossed her arms and grinned.
"He knows it'd be useless. I told him I wouldn't come back until I'd taken the heads of the demons and heretic bastards who killed my mother."
"Lady Friga..."
Kenis looked at her with a soft, pained gaze. Friga recoiled the moment she saw it.
"Ah, damn it! Why are you looking at me with those warm eyes? Look somewhere else! It's creepy!"
"Lady Friga! I was only worried about you—that's too much!"
"Who's worrying about whom right now?"
The priest watched the two of them bicker with an awkward smile. Like oil and water, they always squabbled when they were together—and yet they didn't seem to be on truly bad terms.
Using their arguing as background music, the priest gazed out at the scenery rolling past. Holy knights ringed the carriage in a tight escort.
With this many holy knights guarding us, it should stay quiet until we reach the Holy City.
Reinforcements were already en route from the Holy City; they would arrive without incident.
The priest propped his chin on his hand and watched the endless drift of clouds. Blue sky, white clouds... and, far in the distance, a column of black smoke rising.
...Smoke?
He shot to his feet, staring at the black plume. Far beyond the forest flanking the highway, dark smoke was billowing upward in thick clouds.
The holy knights had spotted it too; their movements grew suddenly restless.
"Priest, what is it?"
Kenis, having shaken Friga off, asked him. Without a word, the priest pointed at the smoke. Kenis's face hardened the moment she saw it.
"That... isn't ordinary smoke."
In air thick with the scent of burning wood, a faint, wicked presence lingered. Without holy power it was hazy—but the traces of a demon were unmistakable.
The priest's face went rigid as well; he had felt it too. Friga, who had no holy power, only looked confused.
"What? What is it—tell me too."
"Lady Friga, I can sense a demon's presence in that smoke. There are likely heretics nearby."
"Ha! Demons? Perfect. Let's go take their heads right now."
Friga grabbed her axe and made to leap from the carriage, but Kenis stopped her.
"Lady Friga, wait... doesn't this feel wrong?"
"What's wrong about it?"
"Heretics and demons aren't fools. With this many of us here, lighting a fire so openly to draw our eyes... it's almost certainly a trap."
"...Is it?"
Commander David, who had been riding ahead, approached the carriage and spoke.
"She's right. The demons are almost certainly targeting us—more precisely, targeting Kenis. The odds of a trap are high."
The black forest waited like a beast with its jaws open, ready for them to walk in. There was no reason to step deliberately into so obvious a snare—and yet...
"Aaaagh!!!"
"Ghk—aaagh! Please, just kill me!!"
"Kyaaaah!!"
The horrific screams carried on the smoke made it impossible to turn away. Friga's face hardened as she heard them too.
"Those son of a bitch..."
"...They know us too well, after all the years we've fought them."
The commander's eyes glinted with killing intent. A cheap, contemptible ploy—dangling the suffering of innocents like bait to lure them into a trap.
Blatant. And for that very reason, certain to work.
Because they had never once looked away from the suffering of the innocent.