Ancient City (5)
Roy turned to Freddy and said,
"The mana stone—may I extract it?"
By rights, anything the knights had brought down belonged to them. Roy and his companions could claim only the byproducts of the monsters they themselves had felled. This one, however, had already been on the brink of death when they found it. One leg was missing; several holes punched clean through its torso. It would have expired soon enough without anyone laying a hand on it.
In cases like this the corpse ordinarily went to whoever discovered it first. The knights’ advance scouts had found the body, so ownership should have been theirs without question. Yet both the knights and Freddy nodded without hesitation at Roy’s request.
"In that case, I’ll take it out."
Roy first slit the creature’s throat, severing the windpipe. The last thing he needed was a thrashing arm catching him while he dug for the stone.
"What the—? It’s enormous."
A massive mana stone embedded in the skull came free. With the Golden Eyes he had already pinpointed its location; pulling it free was trivial.
This might be the biggest one I’ve recovered so far.
Roy’s expression said it all—pure windfall. To receive a mana stone of this caliber for free… it was even larger than the corrupted unicorn’s stone from before.
Freddy, watching, spoke up.
"It’s huge."
"Y-yes, it is."
Roy felt a guilty twinge in his side. What if Freddy asked for it back? While he was entertaining that greedy little thought, Freddy said something entirely unexpected.
"If the stone is that large, this monster must have been extraordinarily powerful. Yet look at the state of it. Doesn’t it look as though something utterly one-sided it?"
A knight beside them answered.
"Indeed. Among every mana stone I’ve seen in my life, this ranks among the largest. To reduce a beast that strong to this condition… just how terrifying must the thing that did it have been?"
Relieved that no one was demanding the stone’s return, Roy added his own observation.
"If we have to face whatever did this, the fight will be grueling. We don’t know what it is yet, so for now we should fix its location and wait until our mana is fully restored before engaging tomorrow. No need to force the issue."
"Hmm… First we need its precise position if we’re to establish a safe base. Leave the corpse as it is. We move out again."
"Yes, sir!"
Roy, Freddy, and the knights alike could not quite hide the unease that settled over them as they imagined the unknown monster waiting ahead. That unease only deepened as they pressed forward and began to discover, one after another, the rotting carcasses of other monsters. By the time they neared the heart of the mana vein, some remains had withstood the passage of years so poorly that nothing was left but desiccated bones.
What kind of creature had done this? One? Or many? The only way to know was to see it with their own eyes.
"Run! Run, you stupid bastards!!"
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM—!
"Aaaagh! M-my arm!"
The party had not yet reached the center of the mana vein. More accurately, they could not. The moment they tried to set foot there, an attack had come out of nowhere and, in the blink of an eye, claimed a knight’s life.
"Fall back! Now!"
They had nearly been wiped out. One life and one arm had been the price that let the rest of them survive. Both casualties were knights. Had those men not been scouting ahead, the entire group would have blundered into the heart of the vein and been swept away without ever knowing what hit them.
"Faster! We’re going to die at this rate!"
An agitated Freddy herded the priests along. Every priest rushed to the knight whose arm had been severed, chanting blessings. One cast a quick, simple spell while the others intoned longer, more powerful rites. At last the light of blessing washed over the wounded man. Even so, it could not restore a missing arm. The best they managed was to seal the stump so the bleeding stopped.
Three days underground without sight of the sun. They had all set out knowing such losses were possible, yet not a single person could accept it with calm. Torchlight flickering across their faces only made the gloom deeper.
The knights saved our lives. If I’d brought only the kids… I might have ended up like that myself.
Roy’s expression was no better. The knight who had just died was the middle-aged man who, two days earlier, had poured him a drink and told him everything would be fine. Why hadn’t he accepted that cup? If he’d known, he would have drained it gladly and poured one in return.
While he stood brooding, the children approached. Anna spoke first.
"Roy, you don’t have to look like that. The knight went to a better place."
Chloe followed.
"She’s right. The knights of our territory are always prepared. He came here to protect the domain, and he died saving many lives. It was an honorable death for a knight. Looking the way you do might be a greater insult to him."
"But… I was the one who suggested we come this way."
The expedition would have happened even without Roy; the knight order had already planned it. Without him they might have suffered heavy losses to the monster apes on the first day. Still… the decision to push toward the heart of the mana vein had been his alone.
…It’s my fault.
Roy squeezed his eyes shut. His tightly clenched fists trembled. The children watching him wore equally grave faces. Some of them must have been thinking, So this is how the expedition ends. With their leader in such a state, the less experienced ones would naturally assume they were turning back.
Yet what came from Roy’s mouth was something else entirely.
"It’s my fault. Someone died because of me."
"Roy… it wasn’t your fault."
"Exactly. It was unavoidable. If we hadn’t followed you here—"
"No. It was my fault. That’s why I have to get revenge."
"…!?"
"What?"
"Weren’t you about to say we should turn back?"
"Of course not. No matter what it takes, we avenge him. How could we just leave after what happened to that knight? We find the thing, kill it, flay it, strip the bones, and take it apart piece by piece."
"……"
"Geez. I was worried for nothing."
"Hm? Worried about what?"
"Never mind. Now I just feel like I wasted the worry."
"Yeah…"
Roy gave them a look that asked what on earth they had been fretting over, then rose. At that moment Freddy called everyone together. Treatment of the maimed knight must have finished; it was time to decide their next move. Knights and representatives of every group began gathering. Naturally Roy was among them.
"I’ll head over there for a bit."
With a heavy heart he walked toward Freddy. They still had not chosen a site for a base camp. Standing in the middle of an ancient city’s thoroughfare without so much as a tent for rest, they were about to begin a war council that might decide the entire expedition’s fate.
While the meeting progressed, Roy listened quietly.
"We have no way to identify what attacked us. Whatever it was, it seems to have struck from considerable range."
"Any arrows found?"
"None."
"Then what hit us? A spear?"
"No spear either. Just… a pure white flash, nothing more."
One blow had taken a life—an able knight who, though a cadet branch, carried Bacon blood. Another knight had lost an arm. The attack was clearly no ordinary strike, yet no matter how thoroughly they searched the direction it had come from, they found not a single trace.
"Perhaps the flash itself was the attack. Magic could manage that, couldn’t it?"
"Does that make any sense? The first strike came and the next followed immediately. How can anyone cast magic that rapidly?"
With the Golden Eyes active, Roy could. There was also the precedent of James Biswald chaining flame attacks through a spirit. Roy kept silent. Even if he said nothing, Knight Commander Freddy would already know as much.
"Why the hell couldn’t it? There are spirits, and single spells that fire multiple times in succession! Don’t pretend you know magic when you don’t!"
"What!? You finished talking?"
—Clang!
"Quiet! We didn’t gather here to fight. We gathered to understand the situation."
"Ahem. Apologies."
Grief over their comrade’s death had made some of the knights’ words rough. Had Freddy not intervened, fists might have flown.
"Lord Freddy, what do you intend to do now? We still don’t even know the enemy’s identity…"
"Hmm…"
Without solid information, no one could find their bearings. Only then did Roy, who had remained silent, step forward.
"We can learn its identity as we go. If we close in while dodging the attacks, it will reveal itself."
"Roy Greenhilt. Are you talking like that because you didn’t see the attack yourself? It was the flash itself! One blink—and the arm was gone!"
"If it’s a magical attack, it won’t be faster than an arrow. Just as an aura shield can swat arrows out of the air, that strike can be blocked or deflected."
Silence fell. Most faces said, Is that really possible? Yet no one could be certain enough to speak. When no further opinions came, Freddy spoke again.
"If we had no choice but to defeat it, of course we would try. But it’s too dangerous. We also have the option of stopping here and turning back. Judging by its behavior, it won’t attack unless we set foot inside a certain area. If it would, none of us would still be standing."
They agreed, yet everyone swallowed dryly. What if the thing had pursued them, raining that glittering flash the whole way? The thought alone was unbearable. One knight who had watched his comrade die right in front of him trembled from head to toe.
Everyone except one person.
What? Just turn around and leave?
"That is absolutely unacceptable!"
It was out of the question. Roy knew better than anyone that walking away could never be a proper respect for the sacrifice already made.