Maple Leaf Village (6)
"Miss Orphe! Watch out!"
At Satton's shout, Orphe dropped her spear in a flash and raised her shield with both hands.
Screeech!
A dragonkin's claws raked across the shield.
"Tch."
Orphe clicked her tongue. The moment she had finished off one of them, another had come charging in to ruin it.
The silver lining was that the frenzied dragonkin's vision had narrowed so much that it paid no attention to Jina in the rear or to Satton, who was guarding her.
"Die!"
Clang!
The blue-skinned dragonkin yanked its claws free and smashed a fist down onto the shield.
Orphe held her ground without giving an inch and glanced at the other one.
"Ah... ah... hungry..."
The yellow-skinned dragonkin, Orphe's spear still buried in its gut, muttered as it lurched back to its feet.
"Mealtime... mealtime... it's mealtime."
Completely unhinged, the yellow dragonkin yanked the spear free, blood pouring from the wound, and charged on all fours.
Its movements were pure wild animal.
Whoooom!
"Kh!"
Sensing she could not dodge, Orphe took the yellow dragonkin's body slam head-on.
The magic woven into her armor sent the attacker bouncing away, but the full force of the impact still slammed into Orphe.
She forced her trembling body under control just as the blue dragonkin, waiting for the opening, rammed its head into her shield.
Clang!
Orphe lost her grip on the shield and went down.
Idiot.
Killing the first two dragonkin had burned through most of her stamina and mana; she had nothing left. Training with Nobin had sharpened her skills a great deal, but she still lacked the strength to handle a group.
"I'm dizzy—hurry up and eat!"
The yellow dragonkin gaped its jaws wide and closed in on Orphe.
Thwip!
An arrow loosed by Jina punched clean through its eye.
"Gyaaaaah!"
The yellow dragonkin shrieked and collapsed.
Seeing its comrade fall, the blue dragonkin rolled its eyes wildly, then ducked behind the nearest tree.
"Hah... hah..."
Orphe caught her breath, pushed herself up, and surveyed the battlefield.
Two dragonkin dead by her hand, one by Jina's, one by Bonita's.
Four of the original seven were down. The remaining two were locked in combat with Bonita and Lamina, so finishing the blue one would make the rest of the fight far easier.
"Huff... huff..."
Recalling everything Nobin had taught her, Orphe picked up her spear.
"The whole village reeks of barbecue! What kind of festival is this supposed to be?!"
I forced the words out at the top of my lungs, just to get under Delamion's skin.
They were nothing but man-eating yokai anyway—desecrating the dead didn't count.
Grrrrr...
Delamion, stripped of reason and vocabulary, fixed his remaining left eye on me.
The tongue that had been lapping at my blood slid back into his maw.
He smacked his lips a few times, then—
Kyaaaaaaah!
—charged on three legs like a completely senile old man.
Missing an arm, he couldn't keep his balance and was ridiculously slow.
"Come on."
I drew my right leg back, ready to pivot.
If I had given up at the last second, I never would have won.
"—Secret technique."
In the end, will is what matters most.
The gap in combat power is just something you have to live with.
"Horse-Riding Ninjutsu."
I twisted my body at the perfect moment.
Whoosh—!
As Delamion's bulk grazed my ninja suit, I seized the headband tied around his skull and vaulted onto his back.
A special-grade mount that had claimed countless lives over the ages—Delamion was marked for instant execution.
Clack-clack!
Damn it, his shell was hard and bumpy as hell—my ass was already killing me. To stop him, I drove a dagger straight at his last remaining eye.
Kuaaaaaaah!
Even with his mind gone, combat instinct remained. Just before the blade could gouge the eye, Delamion tilted hard to the right.
Whirrr—
I rolled free with a breakfall before I hit the ground.
Almost got flattened into jerky.
"Nin-nin."
Still, I finally had a little physical breathing room.
I had sealed the wound in my lower abdomen to stop the bleeding and used mana to pin the broken bones in place—both were paying off.
Mana couldn't regenerate flesh, but it could boost natural recovery.
Delamion, meanwhile, kept rolling in that same tilted posture until he must have given himself a concussion; his head swung left and right without stopping.
"Playing peek-a-boo now?"
Victory had swung completely to my side.
I jogged toward him at a gentle auntie-pace so I wouldn't put any more strain on my body.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Delamion flailed the claws of his left hand in a desperate attempt to ward me off.
Only the villains in stories who get dogpiled by the PTA ever take hits that inaccurate.
Shunk!
I slipped behind him, stabbed the left eye, and retreated.
Keh! Keh!
Blinded, Delamion howled and thrashed like a tantrum-throwing child.
But I wasn't his mother, so I wasn't about to indulge him.
"All right, open wide."
I walked up to the now-limp Delamion, who couldn't even swing his arm anymore, and pried his jaws apart with my hands.
Holy crap, that many cavities?
"Confiscating every last tooth."
I smashed those hideous things to pieces with my dagger.
Compared to his claws, their durability was a joke.
Finally I drove the dagger deep into his throat.
"Ebeh... ebebeh..."
Making strange little noises, Delamion collapsed.
I stripped off his headband and stuffed it into my pocket.
"Confiscating the headband too, you piece of shit."
A third-rate bastard who couldn't even stick to the concept and just threw punches like a boxer, trying to cosplay as some mutant ninja dinosaur.
I waited until he was completely still, then turned my back.
"Requiescat in pace. Sayonara."
He was the first real powerhouse I'd met, so I gave him a little respect.
In the end, every experience like this becomes blood-and-flesh combat power.
I felt like I finally had a rough idea of how to handle a balanced damage-tank type like Delamion next time.
"Hah..."
The adrenaline was fading; strength drained slowly from my limbs.
Maybe it was the smoke, but I was getting drowsy.
"Nin-nin!"
Get your head on straight, you idiot!
I at least had to make it outside the village.
I used the Ninja Disguise Technique to transform into the wandering swordsman Robin, then set off in search of the village gate.
For the sake of looking cool, I strolled out as casually as I could manage.
Seven lizard corpses lay neatly lined up on the ground.
A few of the bodies still twitched, so they must have been finished only moments ago.
Looks like my party members pulled it off.
They were all lying or sitting on the ground resting, so I spoke up first.
"Village... wrecked..."
"Robin!"
Orphe, covered head to toe in yokai blood, was the first to scramble to her feet and greet me with open relief.
"Sorry. I meant to wrap it up quick and join you, but the dragonkin put up a hell of a fight. Guess I'm still not there yet."
"Nin-nin."
I scanned the area to check on the remaining yokai.
Lamina was leaning against a tree, blood soaking her chest, while Diana—somehow free of her bonds—stood beside her waving her hands and whining.
Lamina looked at me and let out a disbelieving little laugh.
"You really... defeated Delamion."
"That guy? Total scrub."
Dead yokai tell no tales.
If he didn't like it, he should have won.
"As expected, you're amazing."
"Robin, my boy! I believed in you all along!"
"I can't believe it... I only took down this many and I'm already wiped..."
Each of my party members offered a line of praise.
I had hard-carried the group project, so a basic "good job" sticker was the least I deserved.
"It's... all over now. Thank you so much."
Lamina forced herself upright and bowed her head to me.
"Nin-nin."
Now all that remained was to kill Lamina, and everything would be finished.
"Robin. Please look after Diana. Teach my little sister how to live strong. This is all I have, but my parents always said it was something very precious."
Lamina held out a strangely shaped necklace.
It looked cool enough, so I took it.
"Hmm..."
She was speaking so calmly, and because yokai had different physical capabilities from humans, the others seemed to think she was just badly hurt. But the dark-red blood still seeping steadily downward made it clear Lamina would be dead within minutes.
In that case, I didn't need to finish her myself.
"I'll pray to the heavens every day that you always win, no matter what powerful foe you face—wherever I may be."
Lamina smiled as she spoke those meaningful words.
After offering her thanks to the rest of the party, she turned and walked away.
"Unnie? Where are you going? We have to go together!"
Diana came scampering after her, but Lamina stopped her.
"I'm going my own way. There's something I want to do."
"We have to go together!"
"Diana! Stop whining!"
Lamina's face twisted with pain as she raised her voice.
"You know we can't stay together forever!"
"But still..."
"Do you still not get it? I'm tired of looking after you! I don't want to anymore!"
"Unnie... waaah..."
"From now on I'm going to live for myself. Don't follow me."
As if to make sure Diana wouldn't even think of chasing her, Lamina broke into a run toward the forest.
Doing that with a ruined body couldn't have been easy.
"Waaah... Unnie...! Waaaaah!!!!"
"Quietly follow me!"
She was so loud I knocked her out with a light knuckle to the head for a while.
A kid's crying is every bit as horrible as a yokai's ultrasonic screech.
"We should get going too. We need to find somewhere to get treated."
I handed Diana over to Orphe and urged the others along.
Honestly, my whole body ached so badly I felt like dying.
"It's sad."
Orphe, carrying Diana on her back, gazed toward the forest Lamina had entered.
Sharp-eyed as always.
We gathered our gear and were just finishing preparations to leave when—
Thud.
From a distance only I could hear, someone collapsed and never rose again.
"Namu Amitabha."
Are there yokai who possess human hearts?
If so, even the Buddha would embrace them.
We didn't head straight for the carriage; instead we stopped at a nearby village—an ordinary human one, not a yokai settlement.
The Red Whale Magic Tower also ran the village hospitals, so in any town of decent size you could go there for treatment.
Bonita had already ridden ahead on horseback; she said the matter was important enough that the Adventurers' Guild needed to hear about it immediately.
If things went well, we might even receive our adventurer badges the moment we arrived at the guild.
After receiving treatment at the hospital and resting at an inn to shake off the fatigue, my party members were all in good shape again.
My own body had recovered considerably as well; a few more days and I'd be good as new.
An iron will and an iron body are basic requirements for a Runaway Ninja.
"Time to get up."
I woke Diana, who was sleeping curled up against Orphe in the next room.
Orphe must have soothed her a lot; Diana was already following her around obediently.
"Today's lesson begins."
Her sister had entrusted her education to me, so I had a duty to train Diana thoroughly.
"Speak. What are your conviction and your mission?"
"Umm..."
Diana rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Answer me!!! What are conviction and mission?!!!"
"I-I don't know!"
"Then study until you do!"
Teaching her how humans live was clearly going to take a while.