173. A Minor Problem
173. A Minor Problem
By the time we finished eating and cleaning up, the night had grown deep. The rain still hadn't stopped. If anything, it was coming down harder than before.
Still, well, it has its charm.
There's nothing quite as pleasant as listening to the rain from inside a cozy cave.
"...Rain's only charming when it falls in moderation. Coming down this mercilessly, it's just noise."
Silina apparently didn't feel the same way.
She'd turned thoroughly vicious and was grumbling away.
The reason she was even more vicious than before was, of course, the bathroom.
While we were eating and cleaning up, Silina—apparently unable to hold it any longer—trembled and whispered to me to save her, so I quietly handed her a wet wipe.
She asked if I couldn't just give her a Cleanse Scroll, but I firmly refused.
Other teams don't even have toilet paper and will have to make do with rough leaves they pick, but we have soft, plush wet wipes.
Even this much is a blessing.
They'd only realize how gracious the existence of toilet paper is if they truly had nothing.
Tsk, tsk. This is why kids these days have lost their minds. Back in my day, there were no leaves or toilet paper.
You just grabbed a bucket filled with muddy water and, well, uh?
Ugh.
"When do you think the rain will stop?"
"Who knows. It needs to let up a bit before we can go out and move around."
Honestly, I don't mind going out right now.
If I wrap myself in a thin layer of Mana, I won't get wet from the rain.
Eurasia's the same. Her Mana control isn't at my level, but if it's just maintaining a thin layer, Eurasia could keep it up for about a week.
But the others aren't like that.
They couldn't even last a day, let alone a week.
That doesn't mean I can leave them here and go.
I have a lot of enemies. Just yesterday, weren't there Hurnt students glaring at me? The look in their eyes said they wanted to do something to me.
I've never made enemies with them, so why?
It's obvious. Shivria Eustetia. That brainless branch-family girl put them up to it.
I don't know the details, but... something like, if you beat me up, I'll pay you. And if problems arise afterward, she'll cover for them?
Anyway, there are people keeping me in check.
So I can't just leave everyone here all alone.
"If it doesn't stop by lunch tomorrow, let's at least go look around in short bursts. We did a lot today, and we're not adjusted yet, so we're all tired, right?"
The night was already deep. If I just lowered my head, I could see Pina sleeping on my thigh, purring away.
And behind me.
Gailan, who had dried the kids' clothes, kept the campfire going, and used magic all day to create a breeze and vent the smoke out the back, was pale as a ghost.
"I'm not good at anything, so I should at least do this," she'd said, leaving Pina alone and doing it all herself.
If she can't use magic tomorrow, isn't that just robbing Peter to pay Paul? I was about to say so, but maybe Eurasia read my mind, because she covered my mouth.
Something about how saying that would cause big trouble.
I couldn't understand it.
"Sleep time is roughly 4 hours 30 minutes... no, 6 hours? 7 hours? How many hours do you all need to sleep?"
In the past, when we roamed the Demon World, our sleep time was 4 hours and 30 minutes. The watch had to sleep even less than that.
We had no choice. Staying in one place too long was no different from offering up your life.
But this place isn't that dangerous.
And these kids have never even experienced something like this.
Eurasia, well... she's probably been on expedition subjugations here and there once or twice, but the others haven't even done that.
So how many hours should the kids sleep?
"I don't really mind either way."
"If we factor in the watch... I think at least 7 hours would be appropriate."
As expected, Eurasia said she didn't mind, and Silina, after heavy deliberation, spoke cautiously.
"Right. Then decide on 7 or 8 hours yourselves. I'll take the middle watch every day, so you all figure out the rest. There's no need for all five of us to do it. Let's rotate in groups of three."
"Yes—wait, no. I'll take the middle watch. Please rest comfortably, my lady."
"Forget it. I prefer the middle watch."
As a rule, the middle watch is the most exhausting.
The first and last watches let you sleep straight through, but the middle watch has to wake up once in the middle.
And if you fully wake up, you end up tossing and turning even after your watch ends.
Of course, I don't mind. I've made a habit of sleeping in broken segments when necessary.
This... isn't something uncertain like starting a fire. I confirmed it multiple times even back at the ducal estate.
"You all decide the first watch yourselves. If anything happens, scream or whatever—just let us know. Though, I'll wake up even if you don't."
Waving my hand dismissively, I flopped down onto my spot.
"Hnn...?"
"Lie back down."
Pina had woken up blinking sleepily—maybe because my head shifted—so I laid her back down beside me and gave her my arm as a pillow.
Within three seconds, I heard purring again.
"...I'll take the first watch."
Eurasia, who had been watching, gulped and then went outside the passage.
"Eliarnes."
"What?"
"That Eurasia girl... is she really okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Her eyes, they're a little... suspicious."
"Ha, suspicious eyes. Our Eurasia isn't that kind of person."
Calling clear, pretty eyes like Eurasia's suspicious.
There's slander, and then there's this.
*****
A faint presence.
The moment I felt it, my eyes opened.
"Eep...! Y-you're already awake?"
Eurasia, who had been tiptoeing over stealthily, startled in surprise.
"Yeah. Good work."
I whispered quietly to Eurasia, then carefully got up so as not to wake Pina.
My mind was wide awake. My eyes weren't cloudy but clear. My voice was a little hoarse, but... that's because this small body is weak.
Anyway, I was fully awake.
"Nothing happened?"
"Some other students came nearby, but they seem to be staying down below for now."
"The ones who've been following us since earlier?"
"...Yes. Should I go subdue them now?"
"No need for that right now."
We just need to subdue them once they've piled up a nice stack of points.
Take their points, and take the game they've hunted too.
Points will roll in even if we stay still, so there's no need to move already.
"Anyway, good work. Get some proper sleep now."
"...Okay."
Leaving behind Eurasia, who wore an expression that seemed somehow regretful, I went outside the cave.
The rain was still falling. Though the drops had weakened compared to before. Morning? At the latest, it looked like it would stop around lunch.
I filled my lungs with the damp, sticky air and exhaled it all at once. The scent of the forest was refreshing.
"Reminds me of the old days."
Gulaka of Gluttony.
This was the smell of the place where I'd first encountered a Legion Commander. A place steeped in memories...
No, can I even call that a memory?
"Not a memory. An experience."
A horrible experience I never want to repeat.
Back then, we were weak and inexperienced.
But we were under the illusion that we were strong and skilled.
Paulo, chosen by the Sacred Sword, and Luna, chosen by the Stigmata. None of us showed it, but we had the pride of being the Hero Party.
Even against high-grade Demons, we didn't struggle. We had the Sacred Sword and the Stigmata. Three Tier 7 Martial Artists, one 8th Circle Wizard, and the Saintess.
We were a party of the strongest humans of our era. So, fearless, we set out from Anketin to kill every Demon on the road to the Demon World.
And when we'd killed eighty percent of the Demons occupying Anketin.
Gluttony descended.
The bodies of three hundred eighty-seven knights burst apart. They didn't even leave corpses—only bloodstains scattered into the empty air.
We vomited blood. Our minds fell into delirium. We were seized by the urge to tear out our own eyes, rip out our own hearts, and kill ourselves.
We couldn't breathe. Pure Demonic Energy. The Demonic Energy was thicker than oxygen. The scenery looked warped. It felt as if I had lost my sense of self, lost who I was.
My skin itched as if maggots were blooming beneath it.
Inside my skull, my brain ached as if needles were stabbing and scraping it. In my ears, I heard the voice of the orphanage director who was already dead. In my body, winter's cold. In my head, the smile Diana had worn when she died, twisted like a demon.
Within that terror.
Paulo let go of his sword. Luna doubted her faith. Kaloso denied magic.
I stood up. How could I do that? I was weak. I had no Sacred Sword, no Stigmata, and I wasn't loved by Mana. That was precisely why I couldn't fully grasp the gap between us and the enemy, and why I felt comparatively less fear.
And Arisa.
Arisa felt no fear.
She stepped out one pace ahead of me and faced Gulaka.
At the time, I thought it was because she was like me—because she was weak like me. But... thinking about it now, I don't think that was the only reason.
Well... anyway, the subjugation of Gulaka obviously failed.
It was an obvious result. How could we subjugate something that overturned everything we thought we knew, something that couldn't even be expressed by the word disaster, something we couldn't even look at with our own two eyes?
But we survived. The five of us survived, keenly felt our inadequacy, regretted it, and steeled ourselves with bitter resolve.
Guilt, incompetence, shame, wretchedness, self-loathing, doubt.
We pressed all those negative emotions down inside.
We knew we would collapse the moment we felt and acknowledged them, and we had no time to examine them one by one.
We knew that if we stopped, more people would die than had died that day.
Even so, we didn't let it show.
We were considerate of one another.
We drank and got drunk like usual.
We laughed and chattered. I twisted Luna's wrist when she palmed a card, stabbed a dagger into the back of Paulo's hand when he tried to steal cards in the middle of it, knocked out Kaloso when he tried to use a sobering spell, and got inexplicably slapped across the ear by a drunk Arisa.
I still can't understand it.
Why did I get hit back then?
...Anyway.
Morning came like that, and we sobered up.
With completely changed hearts, we headed into the Demon World.
"If you call it a memory... I guess it is a memory."
I laughed lowly and plopped down onto a rock in front of me. Judging by the warmth still lingering on it, it seemed to be where Eurasia had been sitting.
I leaned back against the rock and propped my chin on my hand.
Past Life, the past, memories... I'd sunk too deep.
This is exactly why I avoided places connected to my Past Life experiences.
Getting too buried in the past isn't good.
Normally I'd be able to shake it off easily, but maybe because this body is what it is, it's hard to shake off. The moment I let my guard down, I start turning sentimental.
I exhaled deeply once more and turned my head.
[Ronaaaaan!]
I saw Sparkle fluttering over.
"You're allowed to come out?"
[There's only Demonic Energy, no Demons!]
"There are Monsters, though."
[Aren't they made by Illusion Magic anyway? Then they're not scary. And you're here too, Ronan.]
Poke, poke—
Two soft little paws poked at the corners of my mouth.
[You were thinking about the old days, weren't you?]
"No, I wasn't."
[Liar.]
Giggling softly, Sparkle climbed down my body and rummaged through my pocket.
"So, what did you come out to talk about?"
I handed Sparkle an almond and lifted it back onto my shoulder.
Crunch, crunch—nibbling at the almond that was as big as its face, Sparkle whispered quietly.
[I came out to tell you why the Artifact broke.]
"You know the reason? You?"
[Yeah. Ronan, you bought a bit of a... uh, how should I put it. A slightly unusual Artifact, didn't you? Its power source was a Mana Stone, right?]
"...Right. Why? Is that... bad or something?"
According to the shopkeeper, it was the latest technology... something about the highest quality with all those things packed in... did that bastard sell me a dud?
[It's probably not bad? I don't know for sure either, but it didn't break because the Mana Stone was defective.]
"Then?"
[Uh... should I say the Mana Stone got overloaded?]
"Overloaded?"
Crunch, crunch—Sparkle, which had been diligently chewing the almond, nodded its head vigorously.
[Something that forcibly wakes up the Demonic Energy sleeping around here? Anyway, there's this weird, pointless Barrier set up around here. That's probably what broke it.]