Blossoming Doubt
The lion's head drew steadily closer, its jaws parting to close around Sasha's slender neck.
At any moment, her throat would be torn open.
Thwack!
Something struck home with a sharp, clean crack, and in that instant the lion's strength drained away. Seizing the opening, Sasha—who had been sprawled flat on her back—swept her blade across the beast's throat, and it toppled over sideways.
Cale came rushing up in a panic, bewildered. "What in the—?! ...An arrow?"
He spotted the arrow buried deep in the lion's flank, and where he looked, there stood a woman with a bow at the ready—along with Felix's party, the very group he'd crossed paths with not long ago.
The archer called out in a loud, sing-song voice. "Heeey~! You okay over there~? Do try to be more careful~!"
*
When Cale had torn open the request form, I'd felt a flicker of worry. Lions were another matter entirely—I'd never faced one, though who knew, perhaps he'd gained the experience in the time since I left. Cale, Mary, even the usually composed Sasha were all reckless types by nature. If anything, Daisy's timidity made her the thorough one of the bunch.
They weren't hunting in a wolf pack, so surely they'd manage on their own—or so I'd thought, barely a few hours ago.
At least, until I watched them wander into a patch of overgrown brush and thicket in pursuit of the lion.
Crossing the hill with my party, I had paused for a moment to watch, and witnessed the lion ambushing them. Thank goodness Eira, watching beside me, loosed an arrow that punched clean through the beast's lower flank.
"Are those people idiots or what?"
She, of all people, had a history of getting blindsided by a wolf out in the open. But I wasn't about to say it—no one enjoys eating an arrow. Besides, I still hadn't opened my mouth to speak in the first place.
"Still, it's a relief no one was seriously hurt."
"It's weird, though. They could've just handled it with magic. If only it weren't fire and lightning..."
Cerise was as warm as ever, and Lily, unusually, let a thought run long. It wasn't that she seemed taciturn—her words were simply short by default, so it felt like a rare occasion. Sadly, Mary really is nearly useless at anything besides fire magic. In Lily's eyes, the woman must have looked like a fool.
"Haha, but we have our own job to get to, don't we? I trust Ahjussi to look after us~"
"Lily trusts Ahjussi too."
"We're counting on you, Sir Knight. We'll be in your care."
Given how capable they all were, I wasn't sure the words "in your care" were anywhere near warranted.
Our request was an ogre. Likely just one.
Ogres don't run in packs—they roam alone—but like lions or tigers, they're masters of the ambush. And unlike a lion, an ogre's hide is a mottled green, which would make it far trickier to spot.
Once we located somewhere it might be lurking, I'd have the others take position on high ground and slip in alone.
"I won't do anything dumb like those people earlier! Ahjussi, I'll hide reeeal tight behind your back!"
"I'll hide too."
"...Then me as well."
Our search would end up slower than going solo at this rate—and if someone lunged at me from behind mid-fight, turning to face a new direction would be that much harder.
"Leave the back to Lily."
She hoisted her staff high as she declared it, apparently brimming with confidence. And fair enough—Lily's magic would have more than enough stopping power.
I gave a nod and took the lead. But seriously, why was everyone already clinging to me? I decided to write it off as a kind of bonding exercise and pressed on.
This is uncomfortable...
With our pace so drastically slowed, would the ogre wander off somewhere far away before we found it?
The hour was creeping toward sunset. We searched two forests.
"Ugh, why aren't the forests even connected... This is the third one already!"
Eira had started to whine—apparently her complaint was that each forest sat in its own separate patch. If they'd been one contiguous stretch of woodland, the area would've been far larger and we'd only be that much more exhausted for it.
"They say ogres move quietly once they spot an enemy."
Lily nailed the ogre's traits precisely. She did attend school—maybe she'd learned it there. Either way, I felt I could trust her with my back without worry.
By the time we'd walked far enough to cut clear through a forest, Lily's voice came in a rush. "Ogre! Ogre!"
Boom!
A fireball struck true, bursting apart with a dull roar and blowing the ogre back. Lily was already prepping her next spell, and Eira had loosed her arrow ages ago.
Amid the ogre's unceasing screams, an arrow laced with faint mana punched through its shoulder.
I took up position behind the small ice wall Lily had raised. Hm. This thing's coming down fast.
Raising a wall with magic is harder than it looks—it takes at least Mary's caliber of skill.
Of course, Mary can't actually wield any element suited to wall-building.
"Ahjussi, you're way too close."
Lily had clearly registered the danger of ice shattering into flying shards, and voiced her concern. I was fine, of course, but to put her at ease I edged back a step at a time.
The ogre closed in before we knew it, charging with enough fury to smash straight through the ice—but not a single one of us wavered.
Three arrows already protruded from the ogre's body. Compared to the marksmanship I'd seen from Eira so far, they'd only landed in non-lethal spots—was that because I was blocking its center line? Then I'd simply have to work harder, in proportion to how much I was disrupting its attacks.
I raised my shield and stopped the ogre dead, head-on. With arrows buried in its shoulder and arm, I held the advantage in raw strength.
"Eh? What—what is...?! You just stopped an ogre in its tracks?!"
Eira gaped in astonishment even as she kept firing. Truly admirable form.
Under the endless hail of ice shards and razor-tipped arrows, the ogre went down almost immediately.
Impressive as the magic was, so that's how terrifying a well-shot arrow could be.
I'd seen plenty of archers in my time and witnessed their skill firsthand, which made it land all the more. Eira's marksmanship alone could reasonably be called S-rank or better.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
Had I been gawking? As I scratched the back of my head—the bandages dulling even the sensation there—Cerise spoke up with a smile.
"Maybe it's because Eira is pretty?"
"I-Is that so? Ahem, Ahjussi, it'd be a problem if you fell for me~"
She'd said it'd be a problem, so I took that to mean I should make sure no such thing happened. I gave a nod.
"He was staring because you're pretty, Ahjussi."
So that was how Lily had read it. This was the sort of moment where I ought to shake my head, but Eira seemed happy about it, so I let it be.
*
A low murmur of chatter hummed through the room, and sunset light bled in from the windows.
"...Damn it all."
Seated alone on the tavern's first floor, dyed vermilion in the fading light, the party's leader Cale was in a foul mood.
His comrade had escaped with her life, yes—but his pride had been blasted to pieces. Being rescued by the entourage of the man he'd treated as a simpleton did not sit well with him.
Right. It was a fluke. It had to be—because if it wasn't...
He let out a short sigh to steady himself and tried to think things over afresh.
With that bandaged freak gone, we're short-handed compared to before. Maybe I should use this chance to recruit an archer.
He eventually concluded that a four-person party had simply been too small all along.
Well... the guy only fancied himself S-rank anyway. He probably scraped together some B-rank or A-rank archer at best.
He grudgingly, unconsciously, allowed himself a sliver of acknowledgment for the companions of Felix—the very man he'd finally chased out. They weren't utterly worthless, perhaps. But naturally, they'd never measure up to his party.
The idea that someone he considered beneath him traveled with such capable comrades was something he could neither comprehend nor tolerate.
He's nothing but a cheap imitation of me!
Slam!
When his palm cracked against the table, every eye in the quietly bustling tavern turned toward him.
Meanwhile, on the tavern's top floor, the healing mage Daisy sat in her own room.
That archer woman... her skill is decent. And the one in black robes—she must be a healer, no doubt about it?
Cerise, whose role overlapped so directly with her own, kept circling through her mind.
Why would she obsess over a woman who wasn't even in her party and had no connection to her whatsoever?
A woman with no pedigree, that's why. Her true colors will show soon enough. She'll regret it, without fail. In the end, she'll come looking for me.
It was all because of that man—the gall of him, daring to leave her.
Then, abruptly, a question occurred to Daisy.
Come to think of it, things had been quiet lately. Why would he suddenly leave? If he'd wanted to go, he'd have gone long ago.
Her feelings were too tangled to dig into it deeply, so she settled on a conclusion.
As if that man would walk out on his own two feet and leave me behind. This time I'll ask Mary instead of Cale.
To confirm that Felix hadn't left of his own accord—he'd been thrown out.
*
Our party was buzzing at full pitch after wrapping up the request.
It made sense. Though I'd roughly expected it, apparently they'd only ever hunted low-threat creatures like goblins. If they'd pushed themselves even a little past their comfort zone, they wouldn't still be stuck at D-rank.
"Lily is going to brag at school."
An ogre was roughly a lower-tier B-rank creature—the kind of quarry a party of three or four C-rank adventurers might test themselves against. For a school-age child to accomplish it, no wonder Lily reacted the way she did.
Under normal circumstances, their adventurer ranks would climb too, but since I submit the request reports together with them, their ranks never rise. They're riddled with holes as it is; no sense making things awkward for no reason.
While I was lost in that thought, Cerise murmured softly, "Are you all right? That ogre came at you head-on earlier..."
I nodded. It had been a very simple matter.
If anything, my face was the more uncomfortable of the two—though this was no worse than before. If I'm capable of growth too, it ought to heal soon enough.
Cerise spoke again. "Would you like me to change your bandages, perhaps?"
Everyone's eyes turned to me.
"She's right, you know. It's better to change them regularly."
"Have you two ever wrapped bandages before?"
"Not me. No help there..."
"...Me neither, really. I'm sorry—that wasn't mine to offer so carelessly."
I shook my head. Changing them once every few days was plenty, and above all, they were too filthy to foist onto someone else's hands.
Cerise's fingers brushed my cheek, my brow. A soft, gentle light cradled my face.