Tell Me (6)
“I must… deliver this news at once.”
The one who had woken was the soldier with the injured shoulder. In other words, the soldier who knew ‘Atya’.
“How do you intend to go anywhere in that condition?”
“My duty is reconnaissance and reporting the results. Until I am certain the facts we uncovered have reached the city, I must prioritize delivery.”
“At least wait until daybreak.”
“No. The longer we delay, the greater the danger.”
The man who had introduced himself as Licha still clenched his fists with a bloodless face. Clenching them did nothing to restore color to his pallid features.
“This will affect the village as well, so I will speak plainly, Village Chief. The demons’ attack on us was no mere chance assault on passing humans. It was executed under a meticulously laid plan.”
“That… so you mean……”
“Yes. An encirclement is forming. And at a very rapid pace.”
But was it truly because he had lost so much blood? Or was it that the truth he had uncovered in the course of his duty was simply too vast?
“…This village will soon fall within the radius of that encirclement as well. Therefore, until further word arrives, see that no one leaves the village, and place the food stores under strict control starting now.”
The soldier slowly pushed himself upright, though the pain in his shoulder made him furrow his brow.
“Increase the number of men on the walls, but you must also patrol inside the village at intervals. As you well know, goblins can dig tunnels and enter that way.”
“I understand. Truly… it has been thirty years since anything like this.”
“It may prove worse than back then. Steel yourselves.”
“Yes……”
Having said that much, the soldier met my eyes. His gray irises flickered once.
“…Additionally, in case I fail, I wish to find volunteers who can carry word to other cities as well. There remains the possibility that I will be caught in the demons’ encirclement before I ever reach Munmunt.”
Yet there was no tremor in the voice that laid out the contingency.
When he proposed taking out multiple insurance policies against failure, the village chief’s brows knitted.
“I’ll go.”
“Reksha!”
“If the encirclement closes, we’ll be in danger too. You know that, Father.”
“Urgh.”
“I appreciate the cooperation. Simply tell them that a demonic encirclement is forming around Munmunt, that its speed is extraordinarily fast, and that it is more organized than usual.”
“Understood.”
Whether the chief’s face twisted at the reckless courage of his son or not, the soldier finished explaining what needed to be conveyed. Judging by the clear, keen light in the young man’s eyes as he listened, the mission would succeed so long as no variables intervened. In other words, so long as the chief’s son did not run into any demons along the way.
“Well then, I will head for Munmunt at once……”
“Forgive the interruption.”
But the chief’s son was not what mattered to me right now. I took a step forward toward the soldier who was about to leave.
“I will go with you.”
I still could not afford to let him die. Yes— for the time being, at least.
“I know a little magic. I am certain I can be of help.”
“…This is no game. It is genuinely dangerous.”
“I know. When I stepped outside earlier, there were quite a few demons.”
“…Pardon? You went outside?”
The soldier’s eyes widened, and the chief let out an “Ah” before launching into an explanation on my behalf. The chief’s regard for me must have been rather high; my earlier actions were painted as something approaching heroism.
If that was the condensed version, I dreaded to think what the long form would have sounded like. I absently rubbed my burning face and offered an awkward smile.
“…That was reckless of you.”
“By that measure, what you are about to do is hardly any safer.”
“This is the duty I was assigned—something I am obligated to perform.”
“I see. But the same is true of me. Using the power I possess to aid others is, for me, a duty I am bound to fulfill.”
At my words the soldier narrowed his eyes. It looked more like a wince of pain than of irritation. His gray eyes shone with a light deeper than a well.
“…You may come to regret it.”
“That is for me to bear, not something you need concern yourself with, I think……”
“Ha… I was a fool to try besting a mage with words. Very well. Come with me.”
“Yes.”
“…Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it.”
Still, I had succeeded in securing his company. That was enough. No matter how many demons lay along the road or what awaited us, he would not die now.
“The shortcut to Munmunt lies through this gate.”
“Just in case, please do not open the gate. Lower us with the device you made earlier.”
“Yes.”
Within the radius lit by the torches there was nothing, but the sense of presence beyond the forest was different. I narrowed my eyes at several writhing presences.
“And you should not send your son out.”
“What?”
“It is already too late. Demons have saturated the forest. All the way to the rear of this place.”
“…Did you discover that with magic?”
“Yes.”
“Magic can do even that……”
Wow, it was lucky there were no real mages around here and that the people belonged to a class that never had dealings with them. Even if I bluffed and called it magic, no one could tell it was a lie!
Relieved on that point, I closed my eyes and pretended to murmur a spell. Magic spears, slipping through the pitch-black night air, skewered every demon that had been prowling nearby.
The demons’ screams shattered the night’s silence all at once.
“I have dealt with the nearby ones for now, but remain cautious.”
“…Thank you, Mage.”
“Think nothing of it.”
Um, had killing dozens at once been a bit too impressive? The village chief, who until moments ago had spoken to me casually, now addressed me with formal respect; I could only scratch the back of my head.
Well, hearing someone is a mage and actually watching them wield magic—fake though it was—do hit differently.
“Let us go.”
“Yes.”
Still, I would never return here, so it would be fine.
Praying that I would fade from their memories as quickly as possible, I descended the wall together with the soldier. The night forest held not even the sound of insects, and that only made it more eerie.
“I will continuously search the surroundings with magic and find directions free of demons, so please locate the path toward Munmunt within those safe routes.”
“Yes.”
But I had already experienced plenty of atmospheres that felt like the starting point of a horror game. What worried me instead was whether I could simultaneously gauge presences, kill them before they approached us, and keep walking after the soldier.
And when I considered that I would also have to change direction often enough that the corpses would not be discovered, my head already ached.
Gulp. My throat swallowed a different kind of tension.
“…Let’s go.”
Even rescuing those two soldiers earlier had been enormously difficult. Would I succeed this time as well?
I was a little worried.
“This is almost embarrassing after how resolved I was.”
Licha—his true name was Erich.
In twenty-six years as a scout he had believed he had seen every sort of ordeal under the sun, yet even he could not help swallowing a hollow laugh at the present situation.
“…I never expected it to be this smooth.”
After all, he was currently passing through a forest blanketed with demons without encountering a single moment of danger.
And he was doing so without any comrades volunteering as bait at the risk of their lives, without any traps set to draw the demons’ attention—none of that.
“Is that so… oops.”
Even veteran soldiers who had done this work for twenty years apiece could not manage such a thing. Bring the Chief Knights recorded in Munmunt’s histories and the result would be much the same.
Avoiding detection by demons whose instincts rivaled beasts and whose senses were razor-keen—moreover, while those same demons were in the midst of forming an encirclement—
was impossible unless pure luck itself had descended upon them.
“That makes four times now. Careful.”
“…Apologies. With nothing visible, I keep tripping.”
“It happens.”
And yet it was happening. Not by anyone else, but by this young mage who kept catching his feet on tree roots and nearly falling.
“As long as you don’t actually fall, it’s fine.”
“…Yes. Ah—there are demons ahead. We should circle left. About… ten meters.”
“Understood.”
Consequently Erich responded with patience even to things that would normally have drawn his irritation. The fruits of the mage’s search far outweighed the noise he made when he stumbled, so there was no choice.
Besides… an ordinary person walking an unlit night forest without falling was impossible to begin with. That a mage who had never received the relevant training had kept pace this well was something for which he ought to be grateful instead.
Erich gripped the mage’s hand firmly and pressed onward.
“Again ahead……”
Yet even that began to grow more difficult. Demonic sounds rose from every direction in increasing numbers, and the frequency with which the mage said they needed to turn back climbed as well.
“Hoo.”
Still, he had steeled himself for this much. From the moment their scouting party had been wiped out without being able to lift a finger, this encirclement could never have been an ordinary one.
“…Come to think of it, I never said this.”
“……?”
“For risking danger to save my comrades as well… thank you.”
And small wonder—they had not been a simple reconnaissance unit dispatched merely to confirm the numbers and species of the demons.
They had been sent to determine whether the missing merchant caravans truly were the work of demons, and if so, whether the incidents had been chance occurrences or events that had taken place while an encirclement was already being formed.
“I only managed to save two of them.”
“…You saved two people.”
In other words, they had been dispatched from the outset under the assumption that an encirclement might already exist.
They had been organized so that even if several died, at least one could flee to Munmunt and deliver the situation.
“Those bastards were truly… relentlessly persistent in their pursuit.”
And even so they had been crushed without recourse. The foolishness of failing to read any meaning from that, unfortunately, was not something Erich possessed.
“More precisely, they prioritized hunting those heading toward Munmunt……”
The enemy had not wanted the near-completion of the encirclement itself to be revealed, and so they had focused first on killing any soldiers racing for Munmunt.
That was precisely why Erich and his two comrades had been able to survive.
He had realized it early and run in the opposite direction, thereby dropping off their priority list—whether under the pretext that he could not complete the mission if he died, or as the unconscious thrashing of a man who valued his life above the mission.
“…Leaf-litter zone. The noise here is far too loud. Let’s go around.”
“Yes.”
Even so, he was fulfilling his mission now. Safely enough that they could even converse in low voices without being detected.
That became his consolation.
“…I’m thirsty. Do you happen to have any water left?”
“Not much… one moment.”
Yet even that consolation could not fully dispel the tension; as time passed his throat grew parched. It felt like enduring half a day under a fierce sun without a single sip of water.
“This is the last of it.”
“Sorry. I’ve gone and drunk all the water myself.”
“It happens.”
The problem came after he drank. No matter how much water he swallowed, the burning sensation in his throat would not fade.
Only after emptying half of the final waterskin did the sense of wrongness strike him; Erich narrowed his eyes.
“…No. This is clearly abnormal.”
“……?”
Erich pulled the mage closer. The other, his colors washed indistinct by the pale dawn, had now shed the resemblance to his nephew.
“I am a trained man. Trained to last as long as possible without water. Yet how many bottles have I just drunk?”
“…Two and a half?”
“Whereas you, Mage, have drunk almost none. Mage—can this truly be coincidence?”
No. The resemblance remained. Only the subject had changed.
“Mage.”
“…Licha-ssi, how much farther to Munmunt from here?”
“Still a third of the way remains.”
“In time?”
“…Three hours. Is there a problem?”
The face barely visible in the faint moonlight had set hard. In a form that resembled someone who had once come to steal his younger sister—someone from Please Allow the Marriage.
“This has become troublesome.”
“What—”
“Don’t open your mouth. You could bite your tongue.”
But before his thoughts could finish, the mage’s hands lifted him. His vision flipped upside down.
“And you’ll feel dizzy… I apologize in advance.”
What in the—
Erich barely swallowed the words that almost escaped by reflex. Making any noise above a murmur in this silent night was unacceptable. That was survival instinct existing prior even to pride.
“We’re going.”
“……!”
Yet the instant his body floated free and the dim outlines of trees and ground were wiped away, he for the first time felt the urge to scream.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-ga-ga-ga-gak.
Whether wind or branches, something was being ground to pieces as his body began to shake and jolt violently.