Contract (2)

My thoughts raced.

No matter how I turned it over, none of this was normal.

The monsters numbered roughly a hundred — gargoyles, goblins, orcs, creatures of that sort.

Their defining trait is that they never join forces with monsters outside their own kind.

And yet the scene before me was nothing like that. The gargoyles had goblins and orcs clutched to their chests, carrying them the way one hauls cargo.

"This is clearly demons at work."

"Certain special demons can command monsters."

Just as Vivian and Freyja said, demonic involvement was beyond doubt. Even so, that did nothing to make the situation normal.

This was unmistakably imperial territory. Close to the borderlands or not, it was strange that more than a hundred monsters could invade the land and raise not the slightest alarm. Even if someone had deliberately hidden them, it felt as though they had warped in without a sound.

Has a dungeon sprung up nearby?

A dungeon was the Demon Realm's simplest means of invasion. But if a new one had formed, the nearby garrison would have dealt with it quickly. They would not have sat idle until the numbers swelled this far.

The Hero recalled the mission Regina had passed to him.

Had the Count truly betrayed the Empire? The possibility that demons had slipped into imperial lands in secret could not be dismissed either.

And none of that was what mattered now.

The monsters were splitting in two, preparing to strike Contract and the village at once. When I swept the surroundings, I saw no demons. It seemed they had never meant to attack in person.

I suppose that counts as one less thing to worry about.

The tension I had been carrying eased a notch. Monsters, and not demons, I could handle well enough. What I could not do, as things stood, was save both the village and Contract. Weak or not, there were far too many of them, and I had only one body.

Contract, or the village...

There was hardly a comparison. Set against Contract, packed with mercenaries and the territory's knights, the village was all but defenseless. And unlike the village, where the raid was nearly upon them, Contract still had a little time left to prepare.

What kept me from deciding was the memory of a woman with a basket, a child beside her.

I was still hesitating, unable to choose either way, when Vivian spoke, looking at me as if my indecision exasperated her.

"Hero. Let's go to Contract."

"...What?"

Her words caught me so off guard that I answered a beat late.

"You want to leave this place as it is? Not save the people here?"

"Look a little further than your immediate self-satisfaction, Hero."

She spoke in a cold, cutting tone.

"Honestly, saving this place gains us nothing."

"What do you mean, nothing?"

"Villages like that are everywhere. Refugees flee, throw up houses, and those houses pile up until, by chance, they become a village."

"......"

"Contract, on the other hand, is a great city nicknamed the City of Mercenaries. Plenty of mercenaries operate there, the economy is solid, and there's even a Warp Gate. If the city were destroyed — or if the monsters proved intelligent enough to use that gate..."

"Stop circling. Say what you want to say."

Vivian flinched under my gaze, then let out a thin sigh and went on. I listened in silence to the point she had been working toward.

"...If we can save only one place right now, we ought to save Contract rather than some nameless village. Fame, achievements — at the very least a reward from the lord. Contract will give us something."

"......"

Vivian's proposal was, in its way, extremely efficient. It simply wasn't human.

"And if word gets out that the Hero abandoned a village in crisis and ran? Isn't that a loss?"

"That only becomes a problem if people know we're the Hero's party. A Hero who's done nothing but grind through battlefields, whose face no one has properly seen, out on a secret mission — who would recognize him?"

Thinking about it coldly, Vivian was probably right in the long run. The hero who saved a great city — that title alone would be gain enough for the party members here. Fame, honor, recognition, and the rest.

For people bound together not to slay the Demon King, but by assorted private motives and political entanglements, it would look far more attractive than saving a handful of wretched villagers. Save the great city, and I would have proven my necessity and my potential more clearly than all my time on the battlefield, and I might receive even more sweeping support than before. That would get me home faster. In the end, it would benefit me too.

Honestly, that was the more sensible thing to agonize over. Not a woman with a basket, and a child.

I turned and looked at the other two.

"...Do the rest of you think the same as Vivian?"

Serena and Freyja kept their silence, as if it did not matter to them either way.

"...Hah."

I would rather they just said something. I raked a hand through my hair and let out a hollow laugh.

"...Fine. Contract. Great. Save it, and I get fame, maybe a rise in station, people praising me for how honorable I am."

"Right, Hero? Then let's get ready to head straight for Contract..."

"Except I don't need any of that. You know that?"

I was from another world. And I was someone who would return to it. Wealth piled up here, honor won here, power held here — none of it was of any use to me.

"I don't know how you see this Hero's party. I don't know what you were thinking when you joined, or whether you were dragged in, or recommended. Honestly, I don't think I need to know."

Save the great city and receive sweeping support? So long as I was the Hero, support was something I was going to receive anyway.

"But I have to kill the Demon King. No exceptions. I have to kill that damned bastard if I'm going to get what I want. So whether I save the village or save Contract, it's the same to me."

"Then, Sir Hero, you mean you'll simply leave without saving either..."

"I'm saving the village."

I answered Serena's question with a short laugh, and her face went rigid. In that instant the air seemed to loosen.

Freyja and Vivian pressed me.

"Why? If you want a gain, save Contract. Or at least pretend you saw nothing and walk away. Saving the village? That doesn't add up."

"By your own logic, Hero, saving the village doesn't help you kill the Demon King."

I stopped for a moment at that. Did I really have to spell this out?

"Do you only reach out a hand when it's guaranteed to help? I'm just saving them. That's all this is."

I don't save just anyone, either. I know how to weigh a gain, and sometimes I move for one. I don't cherish the ideal of saving every person alive. But this was less a matter of principle than a habit worn into the body.

"If someone in danger is standing right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of me, my hand goes out before I think."

If they are within reach, I want to save them. I don't want to scrape my humanity away with excuses like to kill the Demon King efficiently. This world had been a game to me. Now it was real.

I let the heat that had risen cool, then smiled and asked them.

"It may look like selfishness. Like I'm deciding alone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But I want to save the village. Help me."

"Then Contract..."

"We save the village, then we go. It won't take long."

I meant to end it as fast as I could.

As I said it, a bright chime rang in my head.

The second main quest I had received since falling into this world.

The reward doesn't even compare to a sub-quest.

This wasn't what I had been hoping for. Still, it ought to be reason enough to save the village.

"Even so, this is too much. Saving the village and Contract both... Even if I use teleport, if I have to move after fighting at full stretch, there's a real chance I'll be combat-incapable."

"Oh, if that's the problem, I just solved it. We're fine."

"What? Hero, what are you—"

"Save the village, and everything works out. Just trust me."

???

Vivian looked at me as if I had taken leave of my senses. I paid her no mind. Serena still wore a face that said she didn't understand, and Freyja, for some reason, looked displeased.

"...Well, okay. So in the end we're saving the village, Hero? And after that, we go to Contract."

The carriage that had been racing along had stopped long ago. The driver had already fled, screaming at the incoming flock of gargoyles, and we were the only people left at the junction.

Freyja leapt down from the carriage without warning and stepped outside. A small dagger was already in her hand — a thin blade, its surface etched all over with ornate patterns. However you looked at it, it was closer to a ritual tool than a weapon.

"Monsters to deal with, about a hundred. It'll be rough, but give it time and there's no reason we can't kill them all. I like this, too."

"Hey, wait. Freyja, that's dangerous!"

Just then, as if it had spotted us, a gargoyle broke from the flock and came winging our way. Larger than the others. It was plainly coming for Freyja, and I called out to warn her, but she didn't care.

"Whatever. It's all fine. I happen to like hopeful things. Monsters and demons, I hate those a great deal."

She didn't so much as glance at the approaching gargoyle. She stood there at a crooked angle and kept turning the dagger over in her fingers.

"Mm... this is nice, though."

Then, in one smooth motion, she opened a shallow cut across her own palm.

Blood welled, and the tattoo carved into her shoulder drank it down with a greedy hunger. A moment later she asked, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

"So how are you going to solve this?"

Kieeeee—!

One punch was enough. A motion as small as brushing away a troublesome insect.

KRAAANG!!

The gargoyle's face caved in under Freyja's fist. Her eyes never left me.

"Hero, you're ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weak. Can you really deal with this many monsters?"

There were a great many of them. Gargoyles filling the sky, and from their arms goblins and orcs beginning to drop, one after another. For a village this small, it was nothing short of a calamity.

"You know what I hate most? A weakling with a fancy mouth."

I watched the monsters descend on the village, and a few of them wheel back toward us, and in that brief span Freyja had already closed the distance and planted herself in front of me.

"No real plan. Just this much strength ought to be enough, while you lean on someone else's power. That's what it looks like to me."

And then she seized me by the throat.

Serena and Vivian cried out in shock, but Freyja didn't seem to hear them.

"A thoughtless chieftain who blindly trusts nothing but his subordinates' strength will drive those subordinates to die like dogs. So show me something. Something I can believe in, and follow. Otherwise..."

Killing intent rolled off her. The air around us went cold, but the monsters kept descending, and the ones coming our way had not slowed in the least.

"Sorry, but dying for you isn't on the table."

"Why? Is your life that precious?"

"Less precious than unfinished. I've got things I still have to do. And you couldn't manage it anyway."

"What?"

Freyja narrowed her eyes, turning my words over. I tapped her hand, light and easy, asking her to let go. When she released my throat with a look that said go on, then, I loosened my body and stepped forward.

"Freyja. You're from Hardrun, the shamanic tribe, aren't you?"

"...Why bring that up now?"

Hardrun. A tribe that served as something like the staff officers of the Drum Circle, the southern tribal alliance, and home to the finest shamans on the continent. Fortunately, it was a tribe that had existed in the original as well.

As I remember it, they wielded a power of their own, distinct from mana.

The Shamanic Power stat on Freyja's status window was one piece of evidence. She seemed to have developed it in the direction of reinforcing her own body.

"Anyway, don't worry. Just as the rest of you have a special ability or two, so do I."

"A special ability?"

Calling them special abilities was generous. They were closer to curses — things I would have been better off without.

Enough, at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠least, that I would not fall here.

Gargoyles had already filled my vision. I looked at them without particular feeling and opened my mouth.

"Sorry, but flying here is about to get a little difficult."

The moment I finished speaking, the gargoyles' movements began to go wrong.

"Huh? The gargoyles..."

"Why are they suddenly doing that?"

They lurched in the air, pitching this way and that. They did not quite fall out of the sky, but some dropped the monsters in their arms at the wrong moment, and others started fighting among themselves. It was a mess.

"You... don't tell me that was—"

Freyja stared at the scene with a stunned look, then turned to me as the realization landed late. I shrugged at her and quietly drew my sword.

"As you can see. An ability like this."

I condensed mana along the blade and wrapped it in aura.

Explosive force surged up from my thighs and legs, and I closed on the gargoyle at speed. Take away that peculiar gift for flight, and a gargoyle is nothing but a lump of rock. The result was already decided.

Shhk—!

I came down in the middle of the village.

There were few intact monsters on the ground. Most had failed to absorb the impact of the fall; something on each of them was broken. The unlucky ones had landed headfirst and died on the spot, and the gargoyles were still wobbling through the air.

"Well?"

The battlefield had flipped in our favor in an instant. The others were still staring, struck dumb, and I turned toward them with a short laugh.

"Not entirely weak, wouldn't you say?"