The Chasers, Once More (5)
After handing our filthy armor off to Amias and Steedman, I flopped down onto the edge of the manor's courtyard with a heavy thud.
"Whew."
Sir Esselda had been every bit as powerful as her reputation promised.
Her technique was refined, her experience deep, and on top of all that, her physical abilities were outright superhuman.
My current strength, equipment bonuses included, sat at over 30. I couldn't speak for trolls, but it was enough to overpower an ogre through raw might alone.
That she had parried a sword I swung at full power was, by itself, proof of how far beyond the ordinary she was.
That she'd taken two of my full-force punches and was still breathing easy was equally astonishing. Whatever you looked at it, that was not the toughness of a human being……
And yet I had brought down a knight like that without even using Bloodcalm. That was undeniably encouraging. But I couldn't let myself be happy about it.
'The finest knight of the Marbar region.'
That was the world's verdict on Sir Esselda.
She was no unprecedented powerhouse, no strongest swordsman of her age, no contender for the title of finest knight in the kingdom. There were more than a dozen knights believed to surpass her, thirty or so judged her equal, and just under a hundred considered slightly beneath her.
……So this really was a world crawling with superhumans, huh.
Well, in a place where magic and psychic powers actually existed, it wasn't all that strange for humans strong as monsters to swarm the land.
It was because I'd realized this anew that, despite winning the duel, I couldn't simply celebrate. I had felt, firsthand, that my strength was still nowhere near absolute.
Absolute power, huh.
For a moment, MyVillainFanClub drifted to mind. That level 95 blood mage who traveled between dimensions, carving up legendary monsters like it was dinner time — and every so often killing something divine……
At that level, a campaign through the Middle Realm wouldn't even register as hardship. It'd be a vacation.
"……Ugh."
As I shook my head to scatter the useless thoughts, Drillmaster Chester came over and spoke to me.
"Sir Phoinix. The Baroness is asking for you."
"The Baroness?"
"Yes. She says she has something to discuss regarding your conversation this morning……"
"……Ah."
I glanced back. Amias and Steedman were still scrubbing down the armor.
"Would you tell her I'll come up as soon as we've finished maintaining the armor?"
"I'll do that, Sir."
Just as I was sending Chester off, I felt a prickly gaze land on me from somewhere.
Arms crossed, glaring daggers in my direction — none other than Ellen.
She'd heard the news late, too late to even know I'd been fighting a duel, and from the looks of it, she'd been sulking about it ever since.
"Hey, quit staring. My face is going to develop a hole."
When I shot her a crooked grin, Ellen pouted her lips in a thoroughly displeased expression.
"What exactly did you do so well?"
"Well, I can't say I did anything wrong."
"You didn't do anything wrong? You went and stirred up some pointless mess again."
"Couldn't be helped. That guy was spouting trash talk — I wasn't about to just stand there and listen."
"Since when did you care so much about honor?"
Out of things to say, I rose awkwardly with an embarrassed laugh. Then, without a word of warning, I slid an arm under Ellen's knees and swept her up off the ground.
"Eep — wh-what are you doing!"
"Let's walk like this for a bit. It's been a while."
"Hnnngh……"
Unable to spit on a smiling face, as they say, she went quiet at last, her face burning scarlet.
For all her embarrassment, Ellen's arms wrapped around my neck just as they always did. It was a motion that had practically become habit.
When Mungchi, who had been standing off in a corner, hurried to follow, I turned and stopped her.
"We're just going for a short walk. Rest in your room."
She stopped short with a little "eh," her eyes flicking back and forth between me and Ellen as her lips pursed.
"……I want to walk too."
"No. You've been run off your feet since before dawn. Go rest."
"Mungchi is fine, really."
"Go."
"……Ooooh. Fine."
As Mungchi trudged off with a sulky face, Ellen, seated in my arms, straightened her back stiffly.
"Hmph, hmph."
……Why does she look so smug about it?
We left the manor and strolled along near the fence, chatting about this and that.
The new spells she'd learned. The wind that shifted flavor by the day. Cheesecake made of ewe's milk drizzled with honey. Complaints that might have been grievances or boasts about her thick, luxurious hair — they all came and went in turn.
"Hey, Ellen."
"Mm?"
"That meditation thing. I think it's actually working."
"……You've noticed already?"
When Ellen asked back in surprise, I nodded without hesitation.
"Yeah. I felt it during the duel."
"How so?"
"It's…… when I face someone at Sir Esselda's level, something in me — my blood just heats up before I know it, you know?"
"Your blood heats up?"
"Yeah. Not a metaphor. It literally gets hot. And when it gets worse than that……"
I licked my dry lips and picked my words with care.
"Mm, I sort of… go a little mad. Like I told you before."
Ellen, who had been nodding quietly, looked me straight in the eye.
"And this time it didn't happen?"
"No. It just…… stopped at a pleasant sort of warmth."
"And you're saying that's thanks to the meditation you did last night?"
"Probably. My mind definitely felt clearer."
At my confident answer, she let out a small sigh and smiled.
"I'm glad. Really, that's a relief."
Her slightly parted pink lips curved into a soft line.
Then, all at once, my gaze caught on her — the translucent skin stained by sunlight, the large eyes blinking with their long lashes.
When I stopped without a word, Ellen, who had been sighing in relief, wore a puzzled look.
"……What? What is it?"
That didn't last long either. As if my gaze had set her alight, her face began to burn red.
The way her relieved smile froze into trembling anticipation — it was like a rainbow shimmering through colors. Like a pond greeting its first spring rain. Like a flower dampened by dew.
"……Phoi?"
"Ah,"
I swallowed the wicked greed, and all the fantasies that came with it, along with my spit.
"R-right. Mm. Where were we?"
"Ah, right."
Forcing my eyes away from hers, I snapped my fingers with an air of nonchalance.
"The meditation. We were talking about the meditation."
"……Mmhm."
"Could you get me another one of those potions you brought yesterday?"
Ellen, who'd had a blank look for a moment, narrowed her eyes slightly.
"A Potion of Focus? Why?"
"To keep one on hand for emergencies. I figured it'd help clear my head when……"
"No."
"……Uh, why not?"
The soft, melted expression that had been like something dissolved in warm water was gone, and in its place her eyes had turned suddenly resolute.
"The potion helps you exactly once. The moment it becomes twice, meditating on your own becomes dramatically harder."
"That's why I said emergency use."
"Don't tell me you plan to drink the potion to calm yourself whenever you feel like you're about to 'go mad'?"
"……That's exactly the plan?"
At my admission, Ellen's gaze hardened further.
"Don't say stupid things. Do you honestly think that makes sense?"
"Why wouldn't it?"
"You go…… mm, mentally unstable during combat, Phoi. So what, you're planning to stop mid-fight and meditate?"
"I'm not saying I'll meditate mid-fight. I'm saying if I drink the potion, my head clears a little. So——"
"No. Learning to master your mind through meditation is not that simple a matter."
Ugh. This isn't going anywhere.
Scratching at my brow, I tried again.
"I'm not talking about taking shortcuts. I literally just want one emergency failsafe. Just in case——"
"Phoi."
Calling my name in a low voice, Ellen gently cupped my face in her hands.
"Are you anxious?"
"……Huh?"
"I asked if you're anxious."
I fell silent.
Well. Was I?
Standing dumbly beside the manor's fence, I stayed quiet for a long moment.
"You'll be fine."
"Don't be anxious. Let's take it slow. I'll help you, ngh——"
Thud.
I impulsively grabbed Ellen's hand and pulled it away. Because the touch against my face felt scorching hot, like fire.
"……Phoi?"
Meeting her slightly startled eyes, I forced a smile. Her blue eyes trembled faintly.
The next day, we climbed Mount Graduil. Our objective was reconnaissance.
Ellen, Utekwai, and Mungchi were there, of course — along with Amias's crew and Siren's party.
The main goal was figuring out where the remaining Anupads, including the 'Queen Ramashda,' were and what they were up to, and while we were at it, we'd search for any trace of Baron Mallory as well.
As for Baron Mallory — let's get this out of the way first: we found nothing.
Well, it had already been two full weeks since the Baron had been defeated by the Anupad army and gone missing. No wonder finding his trail now wasn't going to be easy.
Truth be told, I had another hope pinned on this trip. I intended to use the druid Zanavas's ability to search for humans in the area.
"It seems people have been moving through here. Recently, I mean."
"Recently?"
"Yes. From what I can gather, no more than three or four days ago……"
Zanavas sent off the little sparrow he'd been conversing with, then let out a vague, thoughtful murmur.
"Hmm, it seems they're rather confused, too."
"Confused? Confused how?"
"They all tell different stories. Some say there were barely a handful. Some say an overwhelming horde. Some say they crossed over the mountain. Some say they came back……"
Listening quietly, I swept my gaze across the whole group.
"Could some trade caravan have crossed the pass? Anyone hear anything about it?"
No one answered; everyone just shook their heads.
Well, word that the pass was blocked by an Anupad army would have spread like wildfire through the whole region. Unless someone was insane, no one would set their route this way.
"It could be mercenaries."
"Mercenaries?"
The archer Cole spoke up.
"Yes — the mercenaries from Randahl. They may have judged there was nothing left to salvage around here and crossed north."
It was a plausible theory, but hardly certain. Then again, it was a guess pieced together from what the mountain beasts had said, so there was only so much to expect.
We climbed the pass again.
The mountain birds Zanavas had called on, and Mungchi with her robe pulled over her head, took the lead as scouts.
Since there was no telling when the Anupads might come at us, we stayed on high alert, watching every direction.
But by the time we'd climbed the entire pass, not a single Anupad had shown so much as the tip of its nose. A living Anupad, that is.
Utekwai, who had been examining one of the Anupad corpses, muttered something, chewing the words out slow and heavy.
"Darran miqiel……"
Zanavas, standing beside him, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Miqiel? Kanggu sepa?"
"Nge'elti."
Utekwai traced the marks where the entrails had been drawn out, then rose to his feet.
"……What did he say?"
He only looked around with sunken, hollow eyes and gave no answer. Just as I was about to press him, Zanavas quickly supplied the reply.
"He says there was an offering."
An offering? What on earth is that supposed to mean?
"……An offering? This is the trace of an offering?"
I looked around me, almost incredulously. Rot and the stench of blood drifted from every direction, while beasts and insects of all sizes were holding their banquet. The food laid out for it was the countless Anupad corpses. A ghastly sight……
Ellen and the Rao siblings, their stomachs evidently turned, couldn't even make it up onto the pass, and Amias and the other mercenaries had all gone pale in the face.
I pressed a hand to my aching head and let out a hollow laugh.
"Ha — I think you misspoke. This isn't an offering. It's a massacre, no?"
"No. It's an offering."
"What?"
Utekwai looked over the corpses — there had to be more than two hundred — and continued in a heavy voice.
"What beasts love to eat — entrails, all."
"……And?"
"Entrails lying wide open. Nobody eats."
Come to think of it, the corpses had indeed been gnawed at their flesh, but the entrails stretched out long across the ground still held their full shape.
No — not their full shape. They were shriveled up, as if someone had stuck in a straw and sucked them dry.
"……Why are they like that?"
"Cannot touch. Someone else owns them."
Unease prickling at me, I scanned our surroundings. Just then, Mungchi, who had been perched at the very top of a great spruce, showed off a squirrel-like scramble and landed on the ground.
"Phoi."
"Find something?"
"No. Anupads — gone."
She said this, pointing north.
"Gone? How do you know?"
"Smell. I smell it."
"……Smell?"
"Yes."
Mungchi nodded with utter conviction.
"Hold on. You can figure that out from a smell? What are you, a hound?"
"Mungchi is not, not a hound. But Mungchi smells too. Anupad smell — very strong."
Watching her answer so earnestly in her slurred, stumbling speech, I quietly scratched at my brow.
……Well, with her Agility climbing that high, her Senses must have gone abnormally high too. Of course her nose would be sharp.
That aside — what in the world was going on here?
When I'd checked with Simos again last night, he'd said the 'Herald of the Dark Realm' should be somewhere in this area.
It was supposed to have latched onto 'Robber Baron Albienne,' but since that one had died early, it would be waiting for another host, he'd said……
I shot him a questioning look, but Simos only wore a confused expression, as baffled as I was.
And even more puzzling was the whereabouts of 'Anupad Queen Ramashda,' the boss of Chapter 3. Among all those countless corpses, hers was nowhere to be found.
"……What the hell is going on?"
Had the Queen alone fled while all her kin were dying?
Or had she offered up her own children to something — and then left?
As I was mulling it over, Mungchi pointed south and spoke up.
"Over there — lots of people."
"Hm? What people?"
"Wearing armor. They hiding."
At this out-of-nowhere remark, the expressions of the whole party — mine included — froze solid.
"……They're hiding?"
"Yes. They waiting for us."
People in armor, hiding, waiting. Malice radiated off the very idea.
While I hesitated, Mungchi opened her mouth again.
"So,"
Her black eyes gleamed like glass beads as they swept across the party. Then came a wide, blooming smile — and a look that begged permission.
"Should we kill them first?"
As everyone fell silent, only Utekwai quietly clicked his tongue.
"This girl-child is strange too."
……I couldn't have agreed more.