Let's Become a Weak Man (2)
Haru was a woman. I'd thought she was a man, but she was a woman. It was just that simple—a problem that could be summed up in a single sentence—yet why was I so shaken?
The bandages wrapped tightly around Haru's chest kept flashing in my mind. It was an emotion beyond words.
"Vivaldi-nim... Are you... okay...?"
"...Huh?"
When I snapped back to reality, a vast tunnel like a cavern stretched before me. We'd already entered the first underground floor of the Great Labyrinth—a battlefield swarming with monsters.
I was just a regular guy who couldn't wield a weapon or cast spells. I had no intention of ever stepping foot in the Great Labyrinth; I'd planned to beg and plead for a pass if I had to. But because of Haru, I'd spaced out and ended up here.
The silver lining was that Natalia and Gerda were keeping me safe. I'd been anxious since Gerda had a history of sabotaging party members to "save" monsters, but thankfully, she seemed to mesh well with Natalia.
"Just cut off their limbs and make sure they can't bite wa yo!"
—Kieeeek!
Natalia sliced off the monster's limbs with movements too fast for my eyes to follow. Then she jammed her blade into its maw, pinning it to the ground so it couldn't bite.
Gerda ripped open the restrained monster's belly with her four sharp hands and extracted the magic stone.
"This way, it won't attack anyone until the stone regrows, and we can come back later to harvest another wa yo."
"...I like your method. If only we could handle people the same way."
I decided to pretend I hadn't heard Natalia's chilling remark.
"Um... Vivaldi-nim..."
"...Yes."
"You keep... putting distance between us..."
"Must be your imagination."
Even when Haru spoke to me, I didn't turn my head. It was true—I was unconsciously keeping my distance from her, and my tone had grown stiff.
"Did I... upset you that much? Hiding my gender..."
"Of course not. I just don't get why you did it."
"...Everyone looks at me like I'm pathetic if I say I'm a guy."
True enough, a male handling odd jobs was just fair game—someone you could grope in passing without a second thought. Was being treated like that someone's kink or something?
"Ugh, I can't see inside well wa yo. Ainu! Can you light it up wa yo?"
"Ah, sure!"
'Ainu' referred to Haru's race—people with canine ears and tails. They matched the classic 'dog beastkin' from my past life memories, but lumping them under 'beastkin' in this world was a grave insult.
"Here."
"Thanks wa yo."
A tiny flame flickered to life on Haru's fingertip, and Gerda used the light to locate the magic stone. Once the job was done, Natalia and Gerda took the lead, and Haru returned to my side.
"I wanted to hide that I could use fire too."
Ainu women were born with an innate talent for fire magic. Since Haru had been pretending to be male, no one would have suspected her.
"Why hide it?"
"...Fire is dangerous."
Haru said no more, and neither did I. I didn't dislike her, but things felt awkwardly off somehow.
"We'll reach the exit soon at this rate wa yo!"
"...Good. Once we escape, Kali won't have any excuse to kick Vivi out."
The test Kali had given me as vice-guild master was to enter the first underground floor of the Great Labyrinth within the day and make it out alive. The Great Labyrinth didn't have stairs; special gates teleported you down. You'd arrive at a random point and had to find the gate back to the previous floor or down to the next.
Natalia and Gerda seemed familiar with the layout of the first underground floor, navigating the branching tunnels with ease. Guild expulsion seemed off the table, but... this was a dangerous place. Better to focus solely on escaping.
"Ah~ fucking hell..."
A unfamiliar woman's curse echoed from ahead. Another guild's adventurer party had stopped there. One of them noticed our presence, turned, confirmed we weren't monsters, and relaxed her grip on her weapon.
"The exit's just ahead—what's the holdup wa yo?"
"See for yourself."
At Gerda's question, they parted to let us see. Beyond the tunnel lay a massive chamber filled with hundreds of monsters. Rotten tree roots crammed the space, writhing like crashing waves.
"Wh-why are there so many monsters gathered here wa yo?!"
"...Monster Protection Association."
Natalia muttered as if she'd figured it out, and the other adventurers nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Those lunatics blocked the path with monsters to screw over adventurers."
"No idea how they herded them, though."
"Th-this is bad wa yo. We can't get through like this."
"Eh, wait a day and they'll scatter looking for food eventually."
Everyone's faces darkened at the adventurer's words, but mine lit up. Spend the whole day here doing nothing? I'd thought expulsion was off the table, but heaven hadn't abandoned me yet! If we didn't make it back today, Kali would boot me from the guild!
"Let's camp nearby and mine more stones."
"Good luck."
They turned back toward the depths, leaving just the four of us. I feigned deep regret and clapped my hands.
"No helping it! We can't kill all those monsters, so shall we find a spot to camp?"
"...Killing them all is doable."
"No way wa yo!"
I panicked at Natalia's casual agreement, but Gerda cried out almost in tears, hugging her with all four arms.
"We can't kill monsters wa yo!"
"...But at this rate, we won't make it back in time. Then Kali will expel Vivi from the guild."
"Ugh... B-but."
"...You came to repay Vivi's kindness, right? Now's the time to stick to your beliefs..."
"No! You don't need to abandon your ideals for me! Stick to your conviction of coexisting with monsters, Gerda-nim!"
Gerda's eyes wavered, on the verge of caving to Natalia, so I hurriedly shook her resolve. This was the golden opportunity I'd barely grasped in desperation—I couldn't let it slip!
"We just need to drive them off without killing them, right?"
Haru stepped forward.
"How wa yo?"
"...Start a big fire, and the monsters will all flee."
"Nooo? That's no good wa yo!"
"Don't worry. Monsters have a lot of moisture in their bodies—they won't burn easily."
"Not that—how do you plan to make a fire big enough to scatter that many wa yo?"
Gerda shrugged all four shoulders. Fire could be deadly depending on how it was wielded, but even by my knowledge, an Ainu's flames weren't overwhelmingly powerful on their own. To make a blaze like Haru described would take dozens of them.
"I'll give it a shot. Nothing to lose, right?"
"...Wait, Haru. Why go this far?"
Natalia placed a hand on Haru's shoulder as if to stop her. Haru turned her gaze to me with a faint smile.
"The guild feels more lively since Vivaldi-nim arrived. I want you to stick around as long as possible."
"H-Haru-nim, don't push yourself for my sake."
Something felt ominous, so I tried to dissuade her too. But red light and heat were already radiating from Haru's body, making it hard to approach. Even Natalia backed away.
Then, as Haru extended her hand toward the monsters—
Kwaaang!
A blinding light and scorching blast that could peel skin assaulted us. It felt like the sun had crashed into the Great Labyrinth.
—Kieeeek!
—Kiaaaak!
The monsters' ear-shattering screams were swallowed by the explosion. As the shockwave faded, the chamber came into view, hazy with heat shimmer and black smoke.
Monsters aflame scattered in all directions.
"Th-this is impossible wa yo... Such power from one person..."
Gerda trembled, tears streaming down her face in shock. To think someone like that had been stuck on odd jobs. I recalled how I'd been harsh to her over ticket management before. I felt like dropping to my knees in apology right then, but that would be too pathetic, so I stayed put.
"Phew, looks like it worked."
"...Your fur's singed."
Haru wiped her brow as if tired, though she didn't look it. Natalia scowled at her own scorched tail fur.
"Shall we head back now?"
Gerda and I nodded vigorously without a word.
On the way to the gate, we saw Haru hadn't kept her promise. She'd said no killing, but plenty of monsters lay as ash piles, vaporized before they could flee. All that moisture talk didn't matter against firepower that extreme.
"Wh-when an elephant passes, bugs get stepped on—it's unavoidable wa yo...!"
Gerda averted her eyes from the corpses and kept walking. Convictions bent easily before overwhelming power, it seemed.