The Paramere Search Operation (8)
The Paramere Search Operation (8)
Ian shook the residue from his sword. It had been a grueling night. Bad enough that he never wanted to go through it again.
But Ian himself knew better than anyone that it could not possibly end in a single day. If he could not escape it, he had to adapt.
Fortunately, no one had died during the previous night.
"...What in the world..."
"Undead that don't die? I've never heard of such a thing."
"They don't disappear even when burned, and instead they charge in even harder."
Hudson bent over. He peeled off a scrap of flesh trying to flee underground and sealed it inside a glass bottle.
"Wizard. What exactly is this?"
"I don't know... However, it's certain that they're active at night. When night falls, the surroundings grow so dark that not a single ray of light gets in, so these were life-forms that couldn't be observed from outside. No—whether this can even be called a life-form in the first place... For now, they don't fear fire. They don't seem to dislike light either. It appears their active period is simply nighttime, nothing more."
One of the knights groaned. He forcibly tore away the rotten flesh that had burrowed deep into his arm.
The wizards clustered around him and fired off healing magic in rapid succession. Hudson glanced back at Ian.
"We spent the night without any rest. Sir Ian. You ought to take at least a little rest."
"I can't."
Ian looked around Paramer. Once night ended, those rotten creatures had fled like rats.
The only chance to examine anything was during the day. Now, while the light was faintly coming in, was exactly when they had to move.
"We search the city. Wizard. Guide the way. We'll start with the places you said were suspicious."
"...But..."
"Rest can come later. Even if we sleep on the way back after finishing the investigation, we can still get three hours."
"Th-that's too harsh!"
"Quiet. Wizard. We didn't come here to play. We came to save the city of Paramer."
"...B-but still, that's too..."
"Normally I'd say if you resist, I'll leave you behind..."
This was Paramer. A wizard was precious combat strength, and could never be abandoned.
Ian placed his hand on his sword. He drew it halfway.
"Today, I can't do that. If you won't follow, I'll drag you along by force."
"......"
The young female wizard eventually nodded. Hudson let out a sigh.
"...If the situation is like this, the other squads are practically as good as annihilated."
"Squad 2 is probably alive. Cunning elves always keep a hidden trump card."
"...Then the place where the church members are..."
"They're probably all dead already."
Ian slid his sword back into its sheath with a click.
"We're moving. We are Paramer's only hope."
. . .
Daniel spat out a curse. He couldn't endure it without letting it out.
"Dylan! Get a hold of yourself! Dylan!"
"He's already as good as a corpse."
The elf pulled an arrow embedded in the wall. The rotten creature impaled on the arrow scattered as if collapsing and fled.
"Life-forms that can't even be killed... What in the world are they?"
"Blessed arrows don't work on them... The spirits refuse to go near them too."
"Restraining their movements seems to be the best option."
The only elf wearing a hood among them walked forward. She stood before the fallen mercenary and slowly reached out her hand.
A bright light burst forth. The spirit coiled around the woman's hand whispered like a song.
But the mercenary, who had been heaving and vomiting blood, eventually closed his eyes. He never opened them again.
...He was dead.
Daniel stared straight into Dylan's eyes. Dilated pupils. Fading warmth.
"Why... why... why did it have to be you..."
"Flora!"
"You mustn't get close!"
"There could be poison!"
The elves immediately pulled the hooded elf back. Daniel ground his teeth with a crunch.
"Are we... fucking diseased or something? If you bastards had properly watched our backs in the first place...!"
"You were the one who insisted on following us. We would have refused."
"You fucking bitches... what did you just..."
The elf placed a hand on an arrow. One of the mercenaries let out a sigh.
"Captain. Calm down. Fighting among ourselves is pointless."
"But... Dylan..."
"Let him go. The dead can't be brought back."
Daniel slowly pulled his hand away from the corpse. He leaned his back against the wall and rubbed his face.
"...Fuck."
Silence fell. Daniel regretted it.
The commission fee. Ten times the usual amount.
He had thought something was off from the moment the fee was that high. But having accepted the job, he had no choice but to join the Paramer Search Operation.
Still, since only veterans who had been through hell and back in the mercenary business were here, he'd thought no one would die...
Once they saw what Paramer was really like, it was even more horrifying. It was such a mess he didn't know where to begin.
"...Captain."
"I know."
Daniel inhaled deeply. The stench of rot was sucked into his nose. It was a filthy smell, enough to make him gag.
But there was nothing to be done. That was the mercenary business. No matter how precious something was, you could lose it in an instant.
"...Give me a moment."
It had already been five years with him. He'd been together with the guy since his rookie mercenary days. Daniel took a coin from his pocket. Following the old mercenary custom, he placed the coin in the corpse's mouth and closed it.
"...Go on ahead, you bastard."
Fire lit in Daniel's eyes.
"I'm going to burn this godforsaken city to the ground."
The elves left. Daniel slowly slid the sword he'd drawn back into its sheath. The mercenary wizard who had advised him asked cautiously.
"What are you going to do?"
"Let's follow the elves. There's no choice. Even if those bastards are goddamn bitches, they'll need our help too, so they won't turn us away."
"Do we really have to go that far..."
"You saw it. How horrifying the nights here are. We need allies. Unless you want to chase after Squad 1 late."
The wizard nodded.
"Even if we chased after that imperial knight, we'd just be used as meat shields."
"Those elf bitches are at least better."
"Fuck... why did we have to come to a shithole like this."
"Enough chatter."
Daniel followed the elves' retreating backs. His gaze, once playful and light, had sunk heavily.
"...Let's go."
One of the mercenaries suddenly asked Daniel, as if curious.
"What do you think happened to Squad 1?"
"They're alive. There's a knight and a wizard with them, so there's no way they're dead."
"What about Squad 3...?"
"If it's the church members..."
Daniel silently moved his feet.
"...They're dead. All of them. Because it wasn't a trial they could overcome."
. . .
I picked at my ear. Rosemary looked back at me.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing, just felt like someone was spouting bullshit."
As we'd said that morning, we searched Vinsmoke's tavern. A strange sound was coming from the basement storage. I pulled Pablo back as he was about to check it.
"Don't check that. If you don't touch it, it won't bite."
"That's not... surely..."
"It's Ratten. The ones we saw plenty of last night. Just don't go down to the basement and search everything else."
"What are we looking for?"
"If there's anything strange, bring it all to me. I'll look it over and decide."
We searched the tavern all through lunch. We rummaged through bottles of old liquor and flipped over furniture. A pink-haired figure covered in dust came trotting over to me.
"How about this?"
It was just paper. The contents were nothing special either. It was a receipt.
I tossed it behind me.
"Not stuff like this. Bring me something unusual."
"What do you mean by unusual?"
"Something that just looks unusual at a glance."
"No, I mean, what is that?"
"I'm saying there's something unusual."
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
I couldn't explain it. No, I mean, there really is something that looks unusual?
I placed my hand firmly on Rosemary's shoulder.
"Trust your instincts."
"That makes even less sense?!"
Grumbling, Rosemary started searching the room again. I dumped out the books that had been stuck on the second-floor shelf.
Not here... not there either...
There really was something that would stand out. Was it somewhere other than here?
In the end, nothing turned up at Vinsmoke's tavern. Rosemary let out a small cough.
"Achoo."
"Cute sneeze."
"Shut up."
"Let's move. This doesn't seem to be the place."
"What a dog's life..."
"A cat's life, actually."
"Oh, come on!"
The brothers Lucas and Marcus sidled up next to me.
"Aren't you tired, brother?"
"Combat is good, but I think rest is also necessary."
"You're tired already?"
"Not us."
"It's because of the brother behind us."
Pablo was shuffling along behind. His head was nearly touching the ground. He couldn't even straighten his back properly.
"Mental fatigue seems to have built up and affected his body."
"Not everyone is as resilient as you, brother."
Spoken like true paladins, looking after others first.
Well, they weren't wrong. Not only that, but the others were just hiding it—there were shadows under their eyes. Same for me.
"Let's search one more place."
If it wasn't Vinsmoke's tavern, then we just needed to stop by Belstina's cafe nearby.
There had to be a clue somewhere. That was how it went in most scenarios.
We diligently searched the shop. Fortunately, this time there was a result.
Rosemary came over with a sour look, holding a scrap of a letter.
"...It was the only thing without dust on it. There was a strange aura lingering around it too. It was hidden inside a drawer on the second floor."
"I told you, didn't I? That there'd be something special."
"How in the world did you know about something like this?"
"...Intuition?"
"That can't possibly explain it."
"I am an unreasonable and absurd existence."
"...I ought to just—"
[You have acquired the 'First Letter'.]
I unfolded the letter scrap. Fortunately, it was the first one. No need to go untangling them in a mess.
{Hello. I am ###.}
The name had been erased. The handwriting was crooked too. But as if each letter had been written with great care and sincerity, the writing was pressed deeply into the page.
"Hello...?"
"Isn't that what the monster kept saying?"
"Shh. Quiet."
I read down the letter.
{It has been a long time. I am doing well. Actually, I may not be doing well. Even as I write this letter, I know you will not see it, but I wanted to write it anyway. There is plenty of time, but I do not know how much longer I will be able to write letters.}
{Today was a little sunny. It was a little clearer than yesterday. Actually, I do not know if the sky I look up at from here is ever clear. The underground was very dark, and even when I looked up, there was nothing but earth.}
{It has not been long since I came to my senses. Only after eating a little food did reason return to me. I was very hungry after waking from a long sleep. So I had no choice but to lay my hands on it. I am sorry. I tried not to eat, but I could not help eating.}
{Today I saw a young child planting flowers. They were tending the flowerbed diligently with their tiny hands. It was very cute. I want# to ea# I am sorry. It seems I am still hungry. Still, I plan to endure for as long as I can.}
{There is one reason I am sending this letter. Even knowing you are dead, even knowing you will not see it, I saw something strange today. Perhaps I saw wrong. Someone who looked exactly like you was atop the tower. The very top of Paramer. The place where the ticking clockwork stood out.}
{The world has changed beyond recognition. Now that I think about it, the fact that the world has changed but only you are absent felt a little strange. So that day, I thought I saw you atop the tower. I thought you had come back to life and would welcome me.}
{But it was not so. She was not you. And I, too, was no longer the me of old. She was afraid, and I fled.}
{I know that the same relationship will never come to me again. Today, I intend to go to the place where I first met you. The place that was once an empty lot has now become a public cemetery called 'Amelda'. Still, I intend to go and see it.}
{I know I cannot go back to the old days. But... I will stop writing here. I will write the rest after I have been there.}
"...Amelda?"
I searched the map for the only place name that had appeared. There it was. Amelda. There it was.
The first one would be here.
"Let's go right..."
No. We couldn't go right away. I glanced back at my exhausted companions. The sun hadn't set yet, but it would be fine to sort out a place to rest a little early.
"Let's go rest."