The Milestone Pointed by the Full Moon - 4
"Ugh! Tsk!"
Bern clicked his tongue under a swelling wave of disappointment.
No matter how thoroughly he rummaged through the man's belongings, nothing useful turned up.
Ten gold coins, a battered little crossbow, a flashbug capsule, and a single mithril halberd.
The halberd might fetch a decent price, but it was far too cumbersome to cart around. More importantly, he was hardly short on funds. The income Hades brought in was substantial enough that even his retirement nest egg was already secure.
Still, just leaving it here feels wrong.
Abandoning the weapon that slew the wolves of the valley would be an insult to the ones who survived.
"Fine. I just have to chuck it far away, right?"
Bern hoisted the halberd, took aim toward the south where the magic tower stood, and hurled it with everything he had. Outstanding as his strength was, there was no chance it would actually reach the distant tower. He simply threw it carrying the heartfelt wish that the place would go straight to ruin.
"Cleanup complete!"
And what if some innocent person dies from that halberd you just flung?
"Oh, come on. Like that would actually happen."
You always—!
"Hold the lecture a second. One question first—aren't you a magic sword?"
What kind of obvious nonsense is that?
"Then if somebody gets killed by the halberd I threw, shouldn't you be cheering? A holy sword would be right to scold me, but you ought to be defending what I do."
Uh...?
A magic sword was a blade that housed ma—demonic power. At her core, Frach was a sword that stood a long way from words like divinity or justice.
...You have a point.
"See?"
Strange. Your deeds are true deeds, so why has this body been scolding you all this time?
"Beats me."
The reason was simple enough: he casually committed the sort of evil that even a magic sword found repulsive. But Frach, now wrestling with a sudden crisis of identity, was simply confused.
Chaos, on the other hand, was sparkling his eyes from inside the shadows. The little beast had already sworn to follow Bern for the rest of his life. The way he panted with his tongue lolling out was cute enough to stop the hearts of dog lovers the world over.
"Anyway, I didn't do anything wrong. Right?"
Uh, umm... w-well, is that so?
"Great. Then this matter ends here! I'll head back, grab Marianne, and—"
"""Awooooo!"""
Just as Bern turned to head back toward Marianne and the wolf pups, wolf howls suddenly erupted from every direction. He froze mid-step and let out an incredulous laugh.
"These guys sure know how to show up after the party's already over."
Bern scratched the back of his head and once more drew up his fighting spirit. He was the benefactor who had saved the pups, yet under the circumstances it would not have been strange for the pack to mistake him for the one who slaughtered their own. Preparing for the possibility that he might have to subdue every last wolf by force, he settled into a wary stance.
"It's all right. They aren't trying to oppose you, Mr. Bern."
A gentle voice drifted from behind him. Recognizing it as Marianne's, Bern let the tension drain from his body the way he always did. At the same moment the fog peeled away, revealing the scene around them.
Dozens of wolves had formed a ring with Bern at its center.
"They wish to offer you their thanks."
Marianne walked slowly toward him and set the wolf pups she had been cradling down onto the ground. Freed at last, the little ones kicked off hard and raced to their mother. Sadly, both parents had already become cold corpses.
"Kiiing...!"
The pups whimpered mournfully as they licked at the bodies. Watching them, Bern's brow furrowed—the face he made whenever something sat poorly with him.
...I told that magic-tower lackey to go screw wolves in hell. Does that count as a parent insult now?
Contractor, you are most certainly bound for hell.
Wang! Even if it's hell, I'll follow Master all the way!
No thanks.
Kiiing?!
While those unwholesome exchanges flickered through Bern's mind, Marianne gently slipped her arm through his.
"Please don't take it too hard. None of this is your fault."
"......?"
Why is she stating the obvious?
Bern found her behavior puzzling, yet he saw no reason to correct her. He simply decided she was laboring under some misunderstanding and let it slide.
"Awoo!"
Having accepted their parents' deaths, the pups left the corpses and trotted over to Bern—the benefactor who had not only saved them but taken revenge in their stead. They sprang lightly onto his shoulders. Even as pups their bodies were large for a human frame, so the perch looked decidedly precarious. Still, they showed the good sense to dig in their claws and lock themselves in place. The moment they felt secure they began earnestly licking his cheeks.
Those detestable little brats...!
C-calm yourself.
Every shadow in the vicinity began to seethe, only to fall still the instant Bern shot a sideways glare. No matter how jealous he felt, Chaos had no desire to be disliked; he had no choice but to tuck his tail for the moment.
"Sigh... You lot seem to be under a serious misunderstanding."
Bern carefully took the scruffs of the pups still licking his face, lifted them off his shoulders, and set them gently on the ground. Then, like a scolding father, he straightened his back and looked down at them squarely.
"I'm not some shady guy who treats being licked by wolves as a reward, all right? You've got the wrong address."
"Kiuung...."
"I get that you want to repay me, but you're not strong enough yet. So grow up, get powerful, and settle the debt later."
"""Awoooo!"""
At Bern's stern words the pups answered with high, ringing howls. He could not understand wolf speech, yet he took the sound as agreement. They had lost their parents, but if they rose above that pain they would surely grow into something great. Bern smiled with quiet satisfaction, dropped to one knee to meet their eyes, stroked each little head once, then dusted off his knee and stood.
"All right—let's table the kids' repayment for now and accept a little sincerity from us grown-ups, shall we?"
Leaving the pups behind, Bern approached the rest of the pack. The wolf that appeared to be the leader slowly closed its eyes and turned its back—not a refusal to repay, but an invitation to follow. Bern grinned and set off after the leader with Marianne at his side.
Meanwhile the pups watched Bern's receding figure with the rapt gaze of creatures who had found something to revere. That was when a clump of mugwort and a few cloves of garlic landed right in front of them.
"Awoo?"
"Wangwang!"
The thrower was none other than Chaos. The Pomeranian poked its face out of the shadows, spat the garlic it had been holding with a wet ptew, and tossed the lot at them. Then it pulled the exact same gloating winner's face it had learned from watching Bern.
You can't follow Master—but I can. If that pisses you off, eat this junk and try becoming human.
Having delivered the message with pure expression, Chaos slipped back into the dark. The pups, who even at their parents' deaths had felt fear, shock, and grief more than rage, now found themselves drowning in a brand-new cocktail of defeat and fury they had never known.
And so a war among beasts that Bern never even noticed quietly began.
"Wh-what in the world...?!"
A woman lay sprawled on her back. While wandering the mountain she had thrown herself aside to dodge a suddenly incoming halberd and toppled over in the process.
"An ambush...? No—there wasn't a single trace of presence. It must have been launched from a great distance."
Her keen senses had barely saved her. Had they failed, one of the black wings she prized so highly would have been cleanly shredded. Even if the fall had been undignified, she was satisfied simply to have kept her life and her body intact.
"The human continent is a frightening place. If weapons this vicious can come flying at any moment from any direction, I won't sleep a wink...."
She dusted off her rear and stood. Then she seized the mithril halberd and crushed it in one bare hand. Possessing that much raw strength yet still failing to react meant the projectile's speed had simply been beyond her. She concluded it had been thrown by someone formidable and turned her steps in that direction.
Conveniently, moonlight was illuminating the path the weapon had taken. She did not know who waited at the other end, but she wanted to meet them. For all she knew, it might even be the one who had slaughtered her own people from the continent she once called home. Meeting them once seemed only fair.
The woman left the spot without a second glance.
Truly an entertaining continent.
And in the place she abandoned so coolly, a yellow puddle remained. Some might have called it holy water, but given the true nature of the one who left it, the term could never apply.