Existence (2)
I barely managed to hide my expression, but Dev looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
Berserk scratched her cheek in an awkward gesture.
“Um, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you on purpose…….”
…C-creepy. Just a few days ago she charged at me with her eyes rolled back, so why is she like this now……
Ah, or is it? Completely different person? Now that I look closer, she does seem a little different……?
“Begone.”
I issued the dismissal with a light edge of irritation to the one who had spoken. Of course, even in that moment I still examined her appearance.
I was curious whether she was the real Berserk or not.
What I saw was this:
A body thickened with muscle as if proving that even the Slend race could turn burly, and a frame even more massive than that, with skin the deep color of ebony wood.
Platinum-blonde hair that looked almost white when sunlight touched it hung loosely enough to brush the nape of her neck, and her amber eyes held more years than the fine wrinkles at the corners of her mouth and eyes.
Yes—that was the problem. Every other point matched Berserk exactly, yet those eyes alone made the entire impression completely different.
“Y-y-you…… No, H-how is Big Sis……”
“My little sister set her course this way……”
“Of course she would, but……! Wait—maybe the reason Yamma isn’t coming…… Big Sis, have you already met Yamma?!”
“No, not yet. My sister did send a letter, but I haven’t seen her face since I arrived.”
“……!!”
Meanwhile Kankan, who had been talking with Berserk(?), let out a soundless scream. The shock and terror carved into his face were actually pretty funny.
“A l-letter—when……”
“I think she sent it half a year ago? Since it came from the north, it would have arrived more recently than that.”
“……!!”
At her answer Kankan clawed at his hair. His ashen face made the depth of his panic painfully clear.
“Then what did it say……”
“Mm. Nothing special. Just a short line saying she was coming to ask about the meaning of something said long ago.”
“…Words?”
“Yamma once told my little sister that someday she would topple over. She ignored it at the time, but looking back she must have grown curious why he said it. For the record, I tried to stop her.”
“…So that’s why he went so completely berserk after receiving that letter……!”
I still didn’t know the details, but it seemed the reason Martial King had become hypersensitive to the point of madness had just come to light. What kind of letter would make a man go wild enough to kill people, though, I had no idea.
“Um…… Who are you? You don’t seem to be the same person we know……”
“Ah, sorry. Kankan and I are from the same hometown. Um, if the one you know is Berserk, then for the moment, no.”
Looking only at the body one could accept it without thinking, yet wisdom and intelligence seeped from her eyes and every gesture, creating a truly strange impression.
That she wasn’t the same person made sense, yet the gap with the image already burned into my mind……
“It’s true.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are we……”
“As I said earlier, I came to apologize.”
She spoke and gently scratched the back of her neck. Her softly curved eyes were full of embarrassment.
“My little sister—that is, Berserk—seems to have caused far too much trouble.”
…I thought they looked too much alike, so they really were family!
Dev must have reached the same conclusion; his face immediately settled into understanding.
Yeah—whether sisters or twins, if they were blood relatives then looking like stamped-out copies wasn’t that strange. Plenty of families didn’t resemble each other at all, but plenty of people really did look like they came out of the same mold.
“I won’t say it twice.”
But my concept didn’t exactly feel like accepting an apology from family.
Apology or not, having a face identical to the bastard who had provoked me loitering around would put me in a bad mood, wouldn’t it? That was how I read it, at least.
“…Mm, you seem angrier than I expected.”
She scratched her cheek once more and raised a hand. Looks like she meant to withdraw this time.
“This won’t be the only chance. I’ll head back now. I snuck out saying I was going to the bathroom, so I should return soon.”
Regular army, adventurer, or gladiator—they all said not to leave your assigned post carelessly, yet somehow someone I hadn’t even seen during deployment was standing right here.
In the army that would earn discipline; I guess adventurers and gladiators get a pass?
“Ah, right. This is personal curiosity, but have you ever received formal education? From you I sense an eastern……”
Even so—if you snuck out on a bathroom excuse, hurry back already! I thought this one might be a little more normal, but the way she just leaves is exactly the same as her little sister!
I didn’t bother with a long reply. Instead I simply slid the longsword I had spent the whole day acquiring—cheap junk—halfway out of its sheath.
“…Mm, I understand. I’ll apologize once more for my sister’s actions. Then, take care.”
She got the message at once and withdrew.
“…No, even for family, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone who looks that identical. Twins?”
After she left, Dev rubbed the back of his neck with a dazed look.
I felt much the same. Knowing they were blood relatives brought a little relief, yet the image of Berserk had been branded in far too strongly.
Seeing that face act in a completely different way made it impossible to adjust. Honestly, it felt like being possessed by a ghost.
“Not twins……”
At that moment Kankan, who had finally managed to collect himself, spoke.
“Though they do look like twins.”
His eyes had already sunk into a deep, quiet light.
“Come to think of it, you said same hometown. Do you know them well?”
“Hard to say I know them well…… It’s more that she was unilaterally famous. In reality we’re just nodding acquaintances. The little sister’s personality is a bit…… you know.”
“Seemed that way. Considering how she picked a fight with the young master out of nowhere.”
“……! You already met her? No—more than that, she picked a fight? You didn’t actually fight, right?”
“We did. Not me—the young master did.”
“And yet you’re still alive?!”
What, why, what. Is being alive a problem?
“Looks like you were stronger than expected.”
I stuffed the word “begone” into the look I gave him for eyeing me in a new light. Catching the meaning, Kankan quickly averted his gaze.
“Is she strong?”
“Strong. In a hometown where the law is survival of the fittest, natural selection, winner-takes-all, she grew up without a single guardian and swept not only the Great Warrior title but also the names Weapon Master and Berserk—honors only the contemporary best can receive.”
“Oh……”
Wait. Weapon Master? Since Berserk was the one who charged me, Weapon Master must be the Big Sis I just met.
Did the sisters each take a different class branch? Then who ends up joining the party?
“Of course her head is a little off…… so a lot of people didn’t want to get involved. Big Sis is relatively fine, but the little sister isn’t something you can just call ‘belligerent’.”
Don’t tell me both of them? That would be a bit much.
“Yamma, because of that, would have a fit just from hearing the first syllable of Berserk……”
But my thoughts—and Kankan’s words—never reached their end.
Bwoo! Bwoooo!
A ram’s-horn trumpet blared.
“……!”
“That sound!”
“Demons!”
“Everyone prepare!”
The leisurely atmosphere flipped in an instant. That signal meant the demons had begun to move, so of course it would.
Needless to say, every person nearby started preparing one after another.
We had been standing still at our assigned posts because we never knew when the fight would start, so there wasn’t much that needed rushing. Equipment maintenance had already been finished over the entire previous day.
“Catapults, fire!”
Thanks to that, unless it was someone’s first battle, almost no one was flustered.
As the signal flare announcing the opening of battle, boulders began flying toward the demons.
Kwaang!!
“Good, good! Smash them all!”
The catapults’ pathetic accuracy didn’t matter much. Wherever the rocks landed was exactly where the enemy stood.
“Magic signal incoming!”
“Arrows ready!”
Next the desert sand itself began to heave.
Kugugung!
The result was the ground convulsing as if the earth itself were exploding, densely carpeting the outside of the walls with spikes.
In an instant hundreds of demons were skewered and died.
“Looks like the mage lord has stepped forward.”
It certainly looked that way. Of course Archmage hadn’t done it alone…… but he had almost certainly taken the lead. Area damage really is a mage’s specialty.
“Fire!”
Plenty of demons still remained, however. Next came the arrows. Their main targets were not the ones walking on the ground but the flying types approaching through the air.
“O God!”
At that moment the Inquisitor with the priest contingent shouted in a ringing voice.
The subtle light that began in her silver-blue armor mingled with the light of the priests and swelled into a massive beam.
Because they needed to stay mobile, they were stationed higher on the wall, so the sight was perfectly clear.
“The wicked ones persecute Your lambs. Grant me the power to destroy them and protect the living. Make me a stake and turn this land into a sanctuary!”
A vast blessing of Holy Power soaked into every gap of the walls. I didn’t know the exact effect, but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad one.
“We can win!”
“Kill every last one of them!”
Morale soared from the Hero—though she wasn’t known as such—and her little miracle. I felt a touch awkward about it, but……
“Young master!”
“……! You—what are you doing?!”
Still, it was good for everyone else. Thinking that, I laid my hand on the opening. Luckily the hole was just large enough for one person to pass through.
“Again, again!”
No, Meat Dumpling. When you put it like that it makes my concept sound like a complete lost cause. It’s not wrong, but isn’t that a little harsh?
It’s not as if I’m actually crazy enough to do this on a whim. I simply can’t fight properly inside walls that are walls on every side.
I did consider Martial King and the small fry, but staying put just to keep an eye on them also feels off.
If I get stabbed in the back for it, sure, it’ll hurt—but I can’t just stand here worrying about a knife that may or may not come from behind while a sledgehammer is clearly swinging at my face.
“The mage lord said not to go outside!”
“That crazy—!”
Ah, don’t worry. I’m not going out. Not going out. I’m not going “outside” the walls.
Seogeok!
I cut down the one charging toward the hole I occupied, then grabbed the roof and climbed up on top of it.
Strictly speaking this was also “outside,” but what Archmage meant by “outside” was the desert beyond the walls. In that sense I hadn’t broken the promise.
I’ll fight right here.
Kiaaa—!?
Seugeok!
A few flying types that had escaped the arrows tried to brush past me and were split clean in half. Chamgyeok was always good.
Seureureuk.
And the Mana Spear I obtained this time was the best of all.
Chamgyeok could target several at once, but they had to be in a straight line, and the larger the scale the more mana it cost.
Mana Spear, on the other hand, could precisely shoot down one per twenty mana. The fact that raw damage was low meant nothing when a clean headshot was instant death.
The only real drawback was that I had to think carefully enough to burst their heads…… but still, ranged attacks were the best. Always new. Always thrilling.
“Victory to my sword, glory to the heavens above……”
With Mana Spear in hand, swatting the ones that flew past became easy. For the first time in a long while I offered a prayer with proper etiquette.
Even as I did so, every flying demon that tried to slip past me around me fell from the sky with a hole punched clean through its skull.
The days when I had to sprint around because there was no way to catch something in the air were now finally over.
“Death to those vermin……!”
Uwahak! Mana Spear is too good!
Deathbringer lamented. The past self who had believed that man would stay put had been a complete idiot.
“C-can I live……?”
“Damn it, just keep drawing them, buddy!”
“That one—kill that one too!”
At the same time a bitter taste rose in his mouth. Even if Demon Knight had been someone you could reason with, there would still have been no way to stop him.
The performance he was putting on right now proved that fact beyond any doubt.
“Cy-Cyclops and the rest…… Ah! Eliminated!”
A demon as infamous as the Ragged Golem—one that was said to bring down a castle every time it appeared—died in a single blow.
“Tarrasque eliminated!”
“Manticore shot down!”
Even the demons that were subspecies of dragons, the ones you had to prepare for hundreds of casualties just to kill, fared no better.
Demon Knight slaughtered them faster and more easily than people who had endured here for a long time and built up experience.
Naturally the resulting damage decreased. Soldiers still died occasionally to demons that managed to climb the walls, yet looking at their attitudes this barely even counted as damage.
Comparing it to other sectors made it obvious. The situation made clear numbers impossible…… but here the rate of personnel replacement was slower than anywhere else.
That meant fewer deaths.
And every bit of it was Demon Knight’s credit.
With what excuse could you possibly stop a man like that from fighting? Even this much was him restraining himself in his own way.
If not for the words Archmage had carefully impressed upon him, he would have dropped below those walls and swept the entire force away. Deathbringer was certain of it. If it was Demon Knight, it was possible.
And if he had, the casualties would have fallen even lower. Though Demon Knight’s own life would have been placed in greater danger.
“Is this really all right……”
Deathbringer kept loosing arrows so he could at least do his share, forcibly pushing down the thoughts that kept rising.
Demon Knight was strong—that much was true—but was leaving him alone up there the right call?
They had said a Great Demon might already be targeting him. Was it safe for him to stand in such a conspicuous place?
…Would the sealing tool they had spent a mere ten days creating really hold until the end?
Demon Knight, who had begun using a technique that only demons holding the initiative had ever employed—never once used even when fighting dragons—truly……
“Arrows……!”
The falling arrows silenced the stray thoughts. Deathbringer hurriedly reached for a fresh bundle of spares so he could grab what he needed.
“……!”
A highly suspicious scene caught his eye.
Far away, a person of massive build was approaching the praying priests. And he was raising a weapon as he came.
Even if Deathbringer died, that approach did not feel friendly.
“Going crazy. I thought maybe, but……”
He had memorized the entire list of people Martial King and the other irritating types. Not only their faces and personal details—he had also locked down exactly where each of them had been deployed on the battlefield and what role they had been given.
“So he really was a traitor……!”
In his own way it had only been the mindset of never discarding the one-in-a-million possibility, plus Archmage’s careful warning, yet one truly never knew the affairs of the world.
That this would actually happen……
“More than that, these humans here didn’t all go blind as a group.”
He would pound Martial King—who still hadn’t shown up—and every other name on the list later.
For now he simply sprinted toward the sinister hand reaching for the priests.
Yeah—though the man was a detestable thick-headed wall, he was still the Hero, and those were the healers who would save the wounded. Once noticed, that was reason enough to move.
“They can’t even see that!”
In his hand the blade steeped in impurity already held a chilling killing intent.
Blood sprayed with a wet chwak inside the walls.