Shizuku Yaegashi watched the thick clouds roll by below her. She occasionally caught
glimpses of plains, forest, and villages through gaps in the clouds, but they flashed past
too quickly to make out details.
Despite the speed they were going at, the breeze was quite mild. Her ponytail fluttered
in the pleasantly cool air as she took in the scenery. After a while, she looked up and
saw the sun dazzling brilliantly above her.
It looked close enough that she felt she'd be able to reach it just by stretching her hand
out.
She brought a hand up to shield her eyes and leaned back against the guardrail.
Expression pensive, she muttered something in a tired voice.
"I can't believe he built an entire airship too. When it comes to him, I don't think
anything could surprise me anymore." Indeed, Shizuku was currently standing on the
aft deck of Hajime's personal airship, Fernir. He had crafted it primarily out of
gravityrock and spirit stone, and it served as his newest mode of transportation. It
possessed a multitude of features, and was about 120 meters in length. From above, it
vaguely resembled a manta ray. The ship's bridge sat near the front of the craft, while
the center served as a massive living room of sorts. There was also a residential
quarter, and each of the rooms came furnished with its own kitchen and bathroom.
It was easily the largest and fastest vehicle in existence, at least as far as Tortus was
concerned.
"It's like I'm dreaming…" She was soaring above the clouds. The world's greatest view
was all around her.
She breathed another long sigh. Despite the magnificence around her, Shizuku didn't
seem too impressed.
Hajime had declared that he wouldn't lift a finger for the people of this world, so Kouki
had begged him to help them conquer a labyrinth so he could gain the strength to do
it in Hajime's stead. As a result, he and Shizuku had decided to join Hajime on his
quest, though each for different reasons.
All that aside, the airship was just too amazing. There was so much to take in that
Shizuku had gone from wonder to a strange sort of resigned acceptance. Normally, the
trek to Haltina would take a party three months on foot. Hajime's airship could get
them there in two and a half days.
The Hoelscher Empire, which sat between Haltina and Heiligh, was a little over a day's
travel.
Liliana, Heiligh's princess, had almost fainted in shock when she'd seen the airship
and heard how fast it could travel. It had been quite unbecoming of someone of her
stature. She was heading to Hoelscher to discuss what countermeasures the humans
should take against the demons.
On an unrelated note, Hajime had actually wanted to make an airship ever since he'd
cleared Miledi's labyrinth. However, he hadn't been skilled enough to do so until just
recently.
Enchanting ore with gravity magic was a difficult process, and the larger the object
you wanted to enchant the more skill it required. At first, the biggest things Hajime
had been able to enchant with gravity magic were his Cross Bits.
Not only did enchanting larger objects require more skill, it also made remotely
controlling that object with spirit stone more difficult.
The larger the object made of gravityrock was, the more it took out of you to operate.
An otaku like Hajime had dreamed of making an airship ever since he'd discovered it
was possible, he just hadn't possessed enough skill to do so.
But of course, he was a Synergist at heart. He refused to compromise by making his
craft any smaller or less complex. Instead, he'd continued training at every
opportunity, until finally his transmuting skill had reached the point where he was
able to craft it to perfection.
Once it was complete, he'd unveiled his creation to the others the day they'd left the
capital.
"You always get air travel in the final act of an RPG, right?" He'd tried to sound as
nonchalant as possible, but he hadn't been able to hide the grin on his face.
Yue and the others had taken it in stride as they were used to Hajime's antics by now,
but the other students were surprised to see such a childish side of Hajime.
Their surprise grew when they discovered how much mana it took just to make the
ship float. Making it go at the speeds Hajime did took so much that the students
couldn't even wrap their head around the idea. Operating it for any length of time
would require an unbelievably large mana pool and a ridiculous rate of mana
regeneration. Only a scant few people could even make it move.
"I never knew the sky was so blue…" Shizuku muttered absentmindedly, trying not to
think of the logistics that were making this flight possible. Her thoughts were
interrupted by a familiar voice.
"So this is where you were, Shizuku."
"Kouki…" Shizuku looked back down at the deck. Kouki was in the process of
clambering out of the top hatch.
Once he was out, he walked over to Shizuku and placed both hands on the guardrail.
For a few moments, he just silently watched the clouds fly by.
"This is… amazing."
"Yeah. I'm actually getting tired of getting shocked every time."
Kouki was of course referring to Fernir. Though he was praising the airship, he seemed
more terrified and frustrated than impressed.
Shizuku could guess the source of his dissatisfaction, but she didn't want to talk about
it, so she changed the topic.
"Did you come up here alone? What's everyone else doing?" Kouki, Shizuku, and
Liliana weren't the only ones who'd joined Hajime on the ship. Liliana had brought her
personal maid and ten royal guards with her, while the rest of Kouki's party had
followed him on.
Aiko had stayed behind, as she hadn't wanted to leave the other students
unsupervised. The members of Nagayama's and Yuka's parties had remained behind
to protect the rest of the class and the capital. They hadn't wanted to leave the people
there completely defenseless.
Still, there was a possibility Freid might return with another army, so Kouki had
convinced Hajime to leave behind a long-range teleportation artifact in the capital so
that they could return at a moment's notice if necessary.
"Ryutarou and the royal guards are eating the dinner Shea-san made for them. Suzu
and Lily are talking in their room. Nagumo's… flirting with everyone. He's just lazing
about on the bridge…"
Shizuku examined her friend's face. Kouki's lips were twisted in a strange grimace, a
plethora of emotions showing on his face.
Shizuku smiled playfully at him.
"What, mad that Nagumo-kun's more popular than you now?"
"As if…" Kouki frowned at Shizuku's ribbing and replied in a curt tone. Finally, he spat
out what was really eating at him.
"He can make all these amazing things… and he's so strong… yet he acts like it's all
nothing to him. And how can he just abandon the people of this world like that?"
"...…" Kouki still wasn't able to come to terms with Hajime's decision to ignore the
gods and go back home.
He's got all this power, so why doesn't he use it to help these people and kill the gods?
Shizuku could read his thoughts like an open book.
"I think… that's because he's made his choice."
"What choice?" Kouki looked Shizuku in the eyes. She kept her expression neutral and
picked her words carefully.
"I don't think… he has it as easy as he makes it look. I'm sure he's just trying to make
it seem like nothing's bothering him, while in reality he's quite desperate. Desperate
to protect the ones he loves, and make it out of this ordeal alive."
"...…"
"Remember what he said? You don't do something because you're strong enough to
do it, you get stronger to accomplish what you want to do… Well, something like that,
anyway."
Deep furrows formed in Kouki's brow as he frowned. He averted his gaze, unable to
meet Shizuku's yes.
After all, he'd been thinking differently. If I was that strong, I would definitely save the
world. It seemed similar to Hajime's way of thinking at first glance, but was
fundamentally different.
"Kouki, I know you're feeling frustrated at the gap in your strength and his. But
remember, he didn't start out that strong. He earned that strength by crawling out of
hell despite being the weakest one of us. Everything he has now is a result of his
unbreakable determination. And what he's determined to do isn't kill the gods or save
the world. It's something a lot simpler. He's fighting for the sake of those close to him."
Shizuku observed Kouki's profile, gauging his reaction. Normally he'd meet her gaze,
but he didn't now. He continued looking anywhere but at her.
However, Shizuku continued talking, hoping that her words might lead her friend to
make better choices.
"He's different from us, who decided to help because we could. So you can't expect him
to agree to save the world just because it's something he can do. That's not what he
worked so hard for, and he knows that if he uses his power for something he doesn't
care about, he might lose the things he does."
"I don't get it…" Kouki's expression grew more complicated. This was the first time
he'd had to deal with a set of values so completely different from his own, and it was
confusing him.
However, he didn't ignore Shizuku's words, and did his best to make sense of them.
Shizuku could tell how hard he was trying, and her expression softened a little.
"Hmm… It's not exactly the same, but think of it this way. You spent your whole life
training to be the world's best boxer, but then someone comes along and says 'If you're
that strong, how come you're not patrolling the streets beating up thugs and
gangsters!?' You probably wouldn't like that, right?"
"Now that you mention it… I guess you're right… B-But lives are at stake here!" Kouki
was arguing more out of stubbornness than anything at this point. And so, Shizuku
narrowed her eyebrows and responded.
"I mean it's a good thing that you can't ignore anyone in need, but… that's how you
think Kouki, not how Nagumo-kun does. You can't force your values onto him."
"So you're taking his side now?"
Shizuku sighed at Kouki's pouting.
"You sound like a five-year-old. I'm just trying to explain how everyone's different. And
in case you've forgotten, Nagumo-kun's saved plenty of people already. Not just us,
either. He saved the town of Ur, and according to Kaori he saved everyone in Ankaji
too. Plus, he destroyed an underground slavery ring in Fuhren and took that dagon
girl, Myu, back to her mother. If you ask me, I think he's saved more of the world than
we have."
"That's… true, but…"
"I'm sure… he only did it for the sake of Yue and the others close to him, but… Fufu. At
this rate, he might just end up saving the world and killing the gods while on his quest
to get back home."
"I kind of feel bad for the gods now…" Shizuku snickered. As ridiculous as it sounded,
it seemed like something that Hajime might really do.
Though he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't really deny it either, so he settled for
making a lame joke.
The two stood there in silence. Shizuku knew Kouki was trying to wrestle with his own
feelings, so she didn't say anything.
It felt like hours passed.
At some point, Shizuku could feel Fernir change direction. That's odd. There shouldn't
be anything blocking our path this high up. They should have been flying in a straight
line to the empire, so if they'd changed directions, something must have happened.
Kouki and Shizuku exchanged a look.
"What do you think happened?"
"Let's go back inside for now."
The two of them nodded to each other and hurried back inside.
By the time Shizuku and Kouki arrived at the bridge, everyone else was already there.
They were crowding around a large crystal placed in the center of the room. It looked
like everything was starting to heat up…
"What happened?"
"Oh, hi Shizuku-chan. We spotted some people being chased by imperial soldiers,"
Kaori explained.
She pointed to the cube-shaped crystal, which showed a pair of rabbitmen being
chased through a ravine by a group of imperial soldiers.
The cube crystal was another one of Hajime's artifacts.
He'd crafted it out of sightstone, ore enchanted with Farsight, and transferstone, ore
enchanted with magic that let it display things seen by other objects linked to it.
Hajime had equipped Fernir with a number of external camera-type crystals, and then
linked them to the crystal in the bridge. That way, he could see everything going on
outside from here. He'd dubbed this artifact SCD, or Solid Crystal Display.
Shizuku leaned closer to the crystal and nodded in understanding when she saw what
was displayed. Two rabbitmen girls were running for dear life through a dry ravine.
But they were clearly exhausted, and the imperial soldiers were on horseback. It was
only a matter of time before they were caught.
Behind the horseman was another imperial squadron carting along a few large
wagons. According to Liliana, they were the kind used to transport slaves within the
empire.
From the looks of it, the two rabbit girls were escaped slaves. That, or the imperials
had run into them by coincidence while transporting the slaves they'd already caught
back.
"I see. So that's why you changed course…" Shizuku muttered to herself.
Normally Hajime would just ignore something like this, but there was a possibility
they might be someone Shea knew. He couldn't afford to ignore their plight if that was
the case, so he'd decided to at least get a closer look.
Kouki paled and shouted, "They look like they're in trouble! We have to go save them!"
He looked ready to jump down at a moment's notice, nevermind that they were
thousands of meters in the air.
However, Hajime ignored Kouki's outburst and frowned suspiciously at the crystal.
"Hey, Nagumo! You're not planning on just leaving them like that are you!? If you're
not gonna save them, I will! Let me off this thing!"
"Wait up… Hey Shea, aren't those two…"
"Hm? Wait… I recognize those two!"
Hajime held Kouki back as he talked to Shea.
He zoomed the image in to get a better look and Shea's bunny ears twitched as she
recognized them.
"How can you guys act so unconcerned!? Aren't those your comrades down there,
Shea-san!? Shouldn't you be worried!?"
"Sorry, but could you shut up for a bit, please?"
Shea's bluntness stunned Kouki into silence.
By the way, the reason Kouki used -san with her was because she had insisted. When
they'd first met Kouki had introduced himself with a smile and attempted to act as
familiar as possible, but Shea had smiled and demanded he use honorifics. It was the
first time Kouki had ever been terrified of someone's smile.
"Hajime-san, I'm sure of it. That's Lana-san and Mina-san!"
"Thought so. They changed so much during training it'd be hard to forget them. Going
by their expressions, and those movements… I see."
Hajime folded his arms and mused to himself.
He watched as the two rabbit girls, Lana and Mina, stumbled to a halt, seemingly
exhausted. They'd stopped in the center of the ravine, at its widest point.
Kouki returned to his senses and stalked to the bridge's exit. If no one else was going
to help, he would. Though they were quite far up, he was sure he'd at least be able to
distract the imperial soldiers with his magic.
"Wait up, Amanogawa. It'll be fine."
"Wh-What are you saying!? Those two frail girls are about to be captured!"
Hajime just grinned in response.
Still staring at the crystal, he said in an amused tone, "Frail? Hardly. Those two are…
Haulias." What the heck is he talking about? Kouki thought to himself, puzzled. "Ah!"
someone gasped in surprise.
Kouki hurried back to the crystal and saw something he could hardly believe. Imperial
corpses littered the ravine; most of the soldiers had either been beheaded or shot in
the back of the head by arrows.
"Huh?" Kouki wasn't the only one surprised, everyone's jaws had dropped open.
The students especially, as this was their first time seeing such a brutal slaughter.
Liliana and her guards were surprised too, but that was because they'd seen
something that defied the logic of this world.
They watched in silence as events continued to unfold down below. Seeing as the
pursuit party hadn't returned, the commander of the transport unit ordered a few
scouts to reconnoiter.
It didn't take long for the scouts to stumble across the corpses of their allies. The two
bunny girls were trembling in what appeared to be fear at the center of the bloodbath.
The scouts' expressions grew grim, and they began yelling at the bunny girls. Though
the crystal didn't transmit sound, it was obvious they were interrogating the two
bunny girls.
Normally they would have been more cautious, but not only had they just seen the
corpses of their dead comrades, they didn't expect a pair of weak rabbit girls to pose
a threat. Shaken as they were, they didn't realize that the bunny girls were luring them
into a trap.
They paid for their carelessness with their lives.
Just as one of the scouts tried to grab Lana's ears, an arrow flew out of nowhere,
catching the man behind him in the back of the head.
The man spasmed once and slumped to the ground with a thud. The first scout turned
around, wondering what happened.
The moment he took his eyes off Lana she leaped at him, pulling a knife seemingly out
of nowhere. With one clean stroke, she parted the scout's head from his shoulders.
The other girl, Mina, ducked low underneath the headless corpse and rushed at the
final scouts. The confused scout didn't even have a chance to react as Mina beheaded
him as well.
Kouki paled and covered his mouth as he watched the scout's head bounce across the
ground. Suzu fainted, and Ryutarou had to catch her before she fell to the ground.
Unable to comprehend how a few rabbit girls had managed to kill the empire's
soldiers, Liliana and her guards turned to Shea. You're not the only one that's super
strong!? Their gazes seemed to say.
"Don't worry, I'm the only one who's this strong. There's no way there'd be a bunch of
people like me out there. Lana-san and the others just trained a lot. Hajime-san's
training regimen from hell can turn anyone into that."
"...…" Everyone turned to Hajime. You again!? Their reproachful gazes seemed to say.
Hajime awkwardly turned away.
While that was going on, the battle between the empire and the Haulia drew to a close.
The soldiers who'd remained behind originally had also discovered the slaughter now.
They came to a halt as they saw their dead comrades scattered across the ravine.
Obviously they couldn't just trample over their comrades bodies, but even if they could
have they were too shaken to take action.
And the Haulia lost no time in taking advantage of the empire's hesitation. Or rather,
they'd planned things to create such an opening in the first place.
There were thirteen soldiers left. A mere three Haulia burst out of hiding to charge
them. Together with Lana, Mina, and the rabbitman sniper who'd killed the scout, that
made six people in total. In other words, they were outnumbered two to one.
However, by the time the soldiers had drawn their weapons, four of them had already
lost their heads, while a fifth had been shot through the forehead.
The Haulia were relentless. They moved with fluid grace and impeccable coordination,
chipping away at the soldiers' formation.
When one of the soldiers moved to block a sword thrust from one rabbitman, another
popped up from the side and sliced his head off.
A second later, a hail of arrows came flying at the soldiers. Focused as they were on
deflecting the deadly barrage, they didn't notice when another Haulia got into their
blind spot and took out another one of their number.
The rabbitman then kicked his adversary's decapitated head toward another soldier,
fouling his sword arm. Distracted by the enemy in front of him, the soldier didn't even
notice when another rabbitman got behind him and chopped his head off.
If they focused to the enemy on their right, the soldiers would get assassinated from
the left. If they tried to take on the arrows to their front, they'd be stabbed from
behind.
It wasn't long before all of the soldiers were lying dead on the ground.
"A-Are those really rabbitmen…"
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
"Rabbitmen are scary…"
Ominous muttering filled the bridge.
"Oh, looks like they've gotten a lot more skilled. I see they kept up their training.
Though, they let their guard down a little at the end." Hajime ignored Kouki, who
looked like he might throw up, and the girls who were hugging each other in terror,
and pulled out Schlagen.
He walked over to the windshield, retracted the glass, and took aim outside.
They were still a good five kilometers away from the scene of the battle. Yue and the
others watched calmly as he put his eye to the scope and adjusted his shot. Then he
silently pulled the trigger.
There was a loud bang, and a streak of red light shot out of the barrel.
It struck the last remaining soldier who'd stayed behind inside one of the wagons and
was just about to finish casting a high-level spell at the rabbitmen.
His head was blown clean off, as if there had never been anything attached to his neck
in the first place. Extreme heat cauterized the wound, and no blood spilled out of his
neck. The corpse looked like a doll who's head had been detached.
Hajime breathed a satisfied sigh and shouldered his rifle.
"H-How could you tell he was there?"
"Are you psychic or something, Nagumo-kun?"
Suzu, who'd regained consciousness, and Ryutarou exclaimed in surprise.
"If it had been a physical attack I probably wouldn't have been able to tell… but since
he was casting magic, I could sense it." Hajime pointed to his eyepatch. His Demon Eye
possessed the powers of Farsight and the ability to detect mana, which was how he'd
sensed the ambush.
"Oh, so it wasn't just to look cool! I thought you might be one of those, you know…"
"Yeah, I thought it was like a fashion statement or something… Sorry, man! I should
have known you wouldn't just wear an eyepatch cause you thought it looked cool—"
Two gunshots echoed through the bridge. The first hit Ryutarou squarely in the
forehead, while the other ricocheted off the wall and hit Suzu in the butt. They were
rubber bullets so they didn't leave any lasting injuries, but they still hurt.
Ryutarou and Suzu both let out squeals of pain and leaped backward. Suzu covered
her butt and hopped around in pain while Ryutarou cradled his forehead and
staggered about.
"Don't you dare call me a chuuni. I'll shoot you." You already shot them. No one dared
to say that aloud though.
Hajime turned back to the crystal display. The Haulia were all staring at the headless
soldier in shock. They then looked up, following the trajectory of the bullet back to its
origin and saw Fernir.
Normally someone would be wary when they saw a strange flying object shooting
bullets at people, but the Haulia all broke out in smiles.
The sniper, a rabbit boy with a crossbow shouldered his weapon and brought his hand
up in a rough salute.
They all could tell who was inside that strange flying contraption. In a way, it made
sense. After all, those streaks of red light were their boss' trademark. The others all
followed the boy's example and gave Hajime respectful salutes.
Back in the airship, everyone once again stared at Hajime. This time in a mixture of
exasperation and amazement.
Liliana couldn't fathom how Hajime had turned the gentle, peace-loving rabbitmen
into such a crack team of killers.
"Hajime-san, Hajime-san! We need to go down there. If they're attacking people
outside the sea of trees… there's no telling what kind of recklessness they've gotten
up to…" Shea urged Hajime to go down.
It was obvious from what they'd seen that the Haulia had lured the imperial soldiers
into that trap on purpose.
Shea was worried that her family had gotten so addicted to violence that they'd started
rampaging outside of the Haltina Woods.
"From the looks of it, I don't think you need to be that worried." Though he said that,
Hajime, too, was curious as to why the rabbitmen were killing people out here.
Moreover, he didn't want to leave Shea worrying, so he changed course and began
rapidly descending.
When they stepped out of the airship, Hajime was greeted by six Haulia standing at
attention, with a group of terrified beastmen cowering behind them.
There must have been over a hundred, all of various races. Rabbitmen, Foxmen,
Dogmen, Catmen, and even Elves huddled together. The majority of them were women
and children, and they were all collared and shackled. As Liliana had expected, it had
been an imperial slave caravan that they'd targeted.
"H-Hey Kaorin, Shizushizu, is it just me, or do those beastmen look like they just saw
a bunch of aliens come out of a spaceship?
"Hm? Suzu-chan, are you calling us aliens?"
"Well they're definitely face to face with the unidentified right now."
Kaori blinked in confusion, while Shizuku thought to herself Kaori's the one who looks
most like an alien here probably.
Yue had an unearthly beauty to her as well, but Kaori's silver hair made her seem even
more alien. If it wasn't for the fact that Shea was with them, all of the beastmen would
probably have focused their attention on Kaori.
Hajime ignored the beastmen, most of whom were stunned speechless, with the rest
eyeing him warily, and turned to the rabbit boy with the crossbow. The rabbit boy
sauntered over, straightened his back, and saluted again.
"It's an honor to see you again, Boss! I've been waiting eagerly for your return! I never
expected you would come riding an unknown craft, but… allow me, Baltfeld the
Executioner, to express my admiration for your dramatic entrance! Allow me to also
thank you for your earlier assistance."
"Yo, it's been a while. I'm thinking with how skilled you guys've gotten you would have
been fine even if I didn't interfere. From the looks of it, even if he'd gotten his spell off
you could have handled it. Gotta say, you've improved a lot."
Hajime grinned at the boy who called himself Baltfeld the Executioner. His real name
was Par, and he was only ten years old. Lana, Mina, and the three other rabbitmen all
rushed over and saluted as well, their eyes welling up with emotion.
They clacked their heels together and said in unison, "We are honored to receive such
praise, Sir!" Their voices resonated throughout the ravine.
Though tears pooled in their eyes, they refused to let them fall in front of their beloved
boss.
After all, they had to be strong like him.
The rabbitmen looked up at the sky, willing their tears back into their eyes. In fact they
put so much effort into it their eyes became a little bloodshot.
Though Hajime, Yue, and Shea were used to this by now, Tio, Kaori, Kouki, and Liliana
all shrank back in disgust.
"Umm, it's been a while guys! I'm glad you're all still doing well. By the way, where's
my father? Are you guys the only ones here, Par-kun? Also, why are you fighting the
empire all the way out here?"
"Calm down, Elder Sister Shea. It's a long story. It's only the six of us here, but it'll take
time to explain the rest. Let's go somewhere we can discuss this at length. Also, Elder
Sister. My name isn't Par-kun anymore, it's Baltfeld the Executioner. Do try not to get
that mixed up."
"What? I'm not even sure what to say to that. I can't believe you're still using that
ridiculous name… Lana-san, Mina-san, could you say something to him for me too?"
Shea rubbed her temples and lamented the fact that Par was still acting edgy.
Still, Par was right that this wasn't the place to discuss things in length. So Shea turned
to Lana and Mina, two girls who had been like older sisters to her, and asked them to
help out.
Sadly, reality never works out the way people want it to.
"Shea, my name isn't Lana anymore… I am now Lanainferina the Swift Gale."
"Lana-san!? What are you…"
Lana had always been the level-headed one of the tribe. This was the last thing Shea
had expected to hear out of her mouth.
Worse, the other Haulia all chimed in with their new names as well. Coordination was
their strong suit, and now they brought it to bear against Shea.
"I am Minasteria the Skybreaker!"
"Huh!?"
"I am Yaozelius the Phantom!"
"Huh!?"
"I am Yorgandr the Silent Blade!"
"Huh!?"
"Hmph, and I'm Riquidbriek the Squall!"
"Huh!?"
All six of them struck Jojo-esque poses as they introduced themselves.
Despair filled Shea's heart. She groaned softly, unable to formulate a response.
It appeared chuuni names were in fashion among the Haulia right now. If the six of
them were like this, the rest of the tribe had probably adopted new names as well.
Par aside, they had all taken the first half of their real name and used it as a base for
their new chuuni names.
Poor Shea watched on in horror as her family grinned and struck the most
embarrassing poses she had ever seen.
For Shea's sake and his own, Hajime decided he needed to put a stop to this nonsense.
He sighed and took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Par, that is Baltfeld
the Executioner, delivered the coup de gra ce on Hajime.
"By the way boss, which do you prefer? Rondo of Red Death, or White Fang
Hurricane?"
"…What?"
"For your nickname. The whole clan spent ten days in heated debate about what to
call you, and eventually we settled on these two options. But we still couldn't decide
which one was better, so, we had a mock battle and the winner's side would determine
the name. But that ended in a tie, so… we decided to leave the decision to you when
you finally returned. Personally, I think Red Rondo of Death sounds much cooler."
Par said that with fervor that didn't befit a ten-year-old.
"Wait, why do I need to have a nickname at all?"
"Boss, I personally believe White Fang Hurricane suits you much better."
Lana countered, her tone strangely obsessed.
"Wait, listen to me. I don't really…"
"How could you say that, Lanainferina the Swift Gale. Red Rondo of Death is clearly a
superior name!" Mina exclaimed, with bloodshot eyes.
"Hey seriously, cut it…" "Indeed! Those crimson sparks that dance through the air
every time boss fires one of his magnificent weapons are his trademark! It's only
natural that he be named after them!" Yor added, making a fist and raising it high.
"Please stop, you're embarrassing—"
"Come now, Yorgandr the Silent Blade. If we're talking about trademarks, it would have
to be that stark white hair of his and the way his weapons lash out about like the fangs
of a ferocious beast. His attacks strike with the force of a hurricane, so of course White
Fang Hurricane is the only name that fits. How can you not understand that no other
words perfectly encapsulate boss' splendor? Have you lost your mind!?"
"You said it. This is why the Rondo faction disgusts me." Yao and Riqui shrugged their
shoulders and sighed in an exaggerated fashion.
"Gah…" Hajime groaned in despair and slumped to the ground next to Shea.
Even the monster of the abyss couldn't handle such an embarrassing display. Hajime
and Shea lay kneeling on the ground, strange white ghost-versions of themselves
leaking out of their mouths.
Behind them, Shizuku couldn't contain herself and started chuckling.
"Sh-Shizushizu, don't laugh at them, it's rude— Puhaha!"
"B-But you're laughing at them too, Suzu… Haha… I guess chunnibyou's contagious…
Hahahaha."
By the time Hajime came back to his senses, the two of them were trying their best to
hold in their laughter. It wasn't working.
At least Yue and Kaori aren't laughing at me. The two of them were just smiling
uncomfortably instead.
Tio didn't understand what was happening at all, so she just looked at them blankly.
What hurt Hajime's pride the most though, was Kouki and Ryutarou's pitying looks.
Hajime's embarrassment reached its peak, and then boiled over into anger. He hit Par
and the others with a barrage of gum bullets to get them into line, and gave Shizuku
and Suzu a venomous glare.
"Just so you know Yaegashi, I'm going to put you into twintails later and record how
you look."
"Huh!?"
"Taniguchi, I'm going to squish you down a few centimeters so you're even shorter."
"What!?"
The laughter stopped instantly. Shizuku and Suzu shivered in fear. Even if it wasn't fair,
they knew they wouldn't be able to get out of their punishment if they made Hajime
mad.
And Hajime was definitely mad.
Suzu turned to Kouki and Ryutarou, her gaze clearly saying "Why only us!?" The two
boys were staring pointedly at the sky. They had a few embarrassing stories buried in
their own past, so they could understand. For once, they sympathized with him.
A gentle voice interrupted Hajime.
"Umm… Excuse me." One of the beastmen picked their way across the Haulia rolling
around in pain on the floor and walked up to Hajime, preventing him from exacting
his revenge.
He turned to see a slender, beautiful girl with wavy, long blonde hair and striking jadegreen eyes. She had long ears that tapered to a point; she was an elf.
Her face reminded Hajime of the elven elder he'd met in Verbergen, Ulfric. He nodded
to her, indicating that she could go on.
"You are Hajime Nagumo-dono, correct?"
"Hm? Yeah, that's me…"
Hajime answered hesitantly. Why does she know my name? The girl breathed a sigh of
relief and put a hand to her chest.
The shackles on her wrists clanged loudly as she did so.
They looked rather painful. Her ankles were chafed bloody from the restraints that
had been put on them. Every time she walked she winced as they rubbed against her
wounds.
"Then would I be right in assuming you won't be making us into slaves? My
grandfather told me that for better or worse, you see all races as equal. And that you
weren't one to torment beastmen for simple pleasure…"
"Your grandfather? Wait, is your grandfather Ulfric?"
"Yes. My apologies for not introducing myself sooner. I am the granddaughter of Elder
Ulfric of Verbergen, Altina Heipyst."
"If the empire managed to kidnap an elder's granddaughter… things must be pretty
bad over there."
If she was Ulfric's granddaughter, that effectively made her the princess of all elves.
Which would mean she'd be much better guarded than almost anyone else. On top of
that, she would have known of all of the secret escape routes.
The fact that she'd been captured despite all of that meant that the situation in Haltina
was grave indeed.
What if they did something to the Grand Tree? Worried, Hajime realized it was of
utmost importance that he hear Par's story.
He turned to the boy, who had since recovered from Hajime's rubber bullets and said,
"Hey, get everyone together. I'll take you all back to the sea of trees."
"Yes, sir! Oh yeah, boss. I need to get in touch with the others near the imperial capital.
Would it be alright if I split off from your group halfway?"
Hajime and the others were still a good deal west of the capital. The fact that there
was a slave transport here meant that it hadn't come back from a trip to the sea of
trees. These people had left the capital for some other destination and had run into
Par and the others here.
Which meant that originally Par's squad had been scouting the capital for some reason
or another, and had come chasing this caravan when they'd learned of its departure.
After putting all the pieces together, Hajime gave his consent.
"Yeah, that's fine with me. There's a few people I needed to drop off at the capital
anyway. I can drop you off close to there too."
"Thank you very much, sir! Come on, you louts! Boss said he'll take you to the sea of
trees! You better be damn grateful he's willing to spend his precious time on you!
Follow me if you wanna get home!"
Even grown men flinched at the vehemence in Par's voice.
Still, he was promising to get that home, and that gave them hope. Despite their fear
and unease, the beastmen all dutifully followed Par's instructions. Seeing that he had
everything under control, Hajime and the others began heading back to Fernir.
Just then, Hajime heard a cute scream behind him. Altina had tripped on her shackles.
She fell forward, her arms flailing wildly. She tried to angle herself to fall into Hajime's
back, but he stepped to the side without even looking back.
She crashed into the ground with a painful thud and let out a very unladylike squeal
of surprise.
The other beastmen watched on in surprise. Some of them thought of going over to
help, but they were too intimidated by Hajime to attempt it.
"Hm?" Finally, Hajime turned around. He saw a young girl trembling on the ground,
though whether it was in pain or in embarrassment he couldn't tell.
It appeared he hadn't actually dodged Altina on purpose. He'd unconsciously stepped
aside because he'd sensed something heading his way.
Had Hajime been a true hero and gentleman, he would have hurried to help her up.
But this was Hajime.
"If you don't hurry, Par'll leave you behind." He said curtly.
Hajime truly was a monster of the abyss. For better or worse, he treated everyone he
didn't know equally. And that didn't include just race, but gender as well. The only
exception he made was for children.
Of course, that didn't mean he was nice to everyone equally. Rather, that he was equally
cold to them.
"You know, Hajime-kun. While I'm glad you're not automatically nice to every girl you
meet, you could still…" Kaori said hesitantly.
"Hajime-san. Surely you could be a little nicer to people." Shea said with a bitter smile.
"Whoa. He's so blunt to everyone who's not Yue-oneesama or the others… What a
heartless guy."
"Nagumo-kun…"
Suzu and Shizuku looked at Hajime in disgust.
"Nagumo. You're a guy, you can't just do that."
"I won't blame ya for dodging, but you could have at least asked her if she was alright."
Kouki and Ryutarou berated him as well.
Even Liliana, who was from a country that discriminated against beastmen, looked a
little sorry for Altina.
"Yue, do you think this is my fault too?" When in doubt, Hajime always turned to Yue.
His eye twitched a little when he asked that.
In response, Yue said, "Hm? I don't think so really. You were like this to Shea in the
beginning too."
"Now that you mention it, that's right! If Hajime-san's nice to Altina-san now, I'll feel
like I got the short end of the stick!" Shea's bunny ears flopped back and forth as she
said that. Everyone looked sympathetically at her.
There was one other person who chimed in her support of Hajime's actions.
"You did nothing wrong, Master! This is in fact how you should always act! By the way,
do you think you could…" Tio sidled up to him and threw herself at his feet.
She spared Altina, who was still lying on the ground, a quick glance before looking up
at Hajime.
"S-Step on me, please?" Altina twitched in disgust as she watched Tio blush to the tips
of her ears.
When everyone is watching it's even more exciting than usual!
"...…" Hajime shivered.
Two beautiful girls were prostrating themselves before him. Just going off
circumstantial evidence, it made him look like a massive sadist.
Annoyed, Hajime completely ignored Tio and went to help Altina to her feet.
"U-Umm…" After being hauled unceremoniously to her feet, Altina tried to stammer
her thanks. Before she could get the words out though, the other beastmen
interrupted her.
"I-Impossible! Boss gave someone a hand!? He's never even helped us before!"
"Curse you, Altina!" The Haulia cried out in rage, causing Altina to flinch.
"I only helped 'cause I was tired of people getting mad at me, but that just caused
another problem… Maybe I should just blow everyone away…" Though his voice was
barely a whisper, it carried across the entire ravine.
Everyone present paled instantly.
A few of them looked warily up at the sky. They didn't doubt that Hajime would bring
that pillar of light down on them if they made him too mad.
Sighing, Hajime knelt in front of Altina.
"N-Nagumo-dono?"
"Don't move."
Flustered, Altina was unsure how to respond. And Hajime's next actions only served
to confuse her further. He reached a hand out to her feet, or to be more exact her ankle
cuffs. Altina stood stock still, her gaze darting about.
This was the first time in her life a human had knelt in front of her. Moreover, Altina
had grown up a very sheltered girl. Outside of her family, no man had ever touched
her before. Her confusion was understandable.
Worried, she watched as crimson sparks shot out of Hajime's hands. A second later,
her worry turned to surprise as her shackles soundlessly came off.
"I guess since beastmen can't use magic, they just used regular metal for their
restraints. There's nothing here inhibiting the flow of mana. The metal's pretty tough,
so I don't think you'd be able to break free with brute force… but it's not so sturdy that
I'd want to use it for my transmutation…" Hajime muttered to himself as he got to his
feet. This time, he took Altina by the hands.
Altina knew what to expect now, so she was able to calm down.
"It's so pretty…" she muttered, looking down at the flurry of crimson sparks
connecting her hands to Hajime's.
As a result of his constant training, Hajime's mana had become more vibrant than
before.
Once her handcuffs were off, Hajime moved to the collar around her neck. It was a
slave collar.
Altina blushed as Hajime's serious gaze met hers, and his fingers brushed against the
nape of her neck.
"Here, no complaints now, right? Anyone who's got a problem can take it up with
Donner." After getting Altina's collar off, Hajime swept his gaze over Liliana, Suzu,
Kouki, Kaori, and all of the beastmen.
They all looked away awkwardly.
With a sigh, Hajime turned back to Altina's removed shackles and began transmuting.
He turned the lumps of metal into a set of keys.
Once he was done, he chucked them over to Par.
"There's no way all of those shackles have unique locks. These keys should work for
all of them I think. I don't want anyone thinking something stupid like I'm a slave
trader transporting goods or anything. Get everyone out of those things."
"Yes, sir! Thank you for your generosity!"
Par gave Hajime a crisp salute, and he nodded in return. Hajime then turned around
and headed back to the ship.
Yue, Kaori, Shea, and Tio smiled to themselves as they followed after him. Shizuku and
Liliana seemed somewhat stunned, while Kouki didn't know what to make of this.
He is quite the interesting character. Altina thought to herself as she watched Hajime's
back recede in the distance.
Once all of the beastmen were freed and had boarded Fernir, Hajime started up the
airship.
Most of the adult beastmen were so shocked that they were traveling in a flying vessel
that they passed the trip in a semi-catatonic state. The children however loved the
Fernir. No matter their race, kids everywhere were the same. They ran around the
deck, excited to see the world from such a high vantage point.
They were all smiles as they played around; the dark expressions they'd had when
they'd been prisoners of the empire were long gone. It was as if they were back in
Verbergen.
Altina was watching the children play when her attendant, another elf girl, came up to
her and asked, "Altina-sama. Do you think he'll really return us home?" Her voice
trembled with a mixture of fear and hope.
Altina kept her eyes on the children as she responded.
"He's exactly the man my grandfather described him to be. For better or worse, he has
no preconceptions about what kind of people beastmen are—no, perhaps it would be
more accurate to say he has no interest in what kind of people beastmen are. If it suits
his convenience, he won't hesitate to save us, nor does he have any qualms about
letting us ride on such an amazing and valuable artifact. In fact, he gave us free reign
of the entire vessel."
"I understand, but… he's human. On top of that, he was the one who crippled Jin-sama,
the former bearman elder, wasn't he? What if…" Altina shook her head, cutting her
suspicious attendant off.
"Regardless of his intentions, there is nothing we can do except trust in him. If it comes
down to it, I will offer him my body to protect my people…"
"Altina-sama…"
Indeed, they had no other choice but to trust in Hajime. After all, he was powerful
enough to create an artifact of this magnitude. They couldn't oppose him no matter
how hard they tried. It was both tragic and admirable how Altina was willing to
sacrifice herself for her people. At least it seemed so until she opened her mouth again.
"B-By the way, do all men enjoy… s-stepping on women?"
"Come again?"
"I have never been stepped on by someone before, so I am unsure of how to make
myself a good stepping subject. Would you happen to have any experience in the
matter?"
"Absolutely not."
Altina's attendant replied in a curt tone, having lost all respect for her master.
Altina blushed bright red and said, "If possible, I would prefer my first time to be
gentle…"
"The only person who would be stepping on women would be an uncultured brute!
Why would they ever be gentle!? Return to your senses, Altina-sama! Why are you
assuming you'll be stepped on at all!?"
"I just don't know what to do. Perhaps I should ask that beautiful black-haired lady to
teach me how it's done…"
"Come back to us, Altina-sama! You can't let yourself be sucked into that realm! And
stop blushing like that! Oh, Ulfric-sama, your poor granddaughter has been
corrupted!" A single wail cut through the joyous laughter of children playing.
Around the same time as that discussion, Hajime was in the bridge, listening to Par's
report of what had happened to Haltina.
"Alright, so what were you doing that far out of the forest? If Ulfric's granddaughter
was kidnapped, does that mean Verbergen's been taken over by the empire?"
"You would be correct, Boss."
Par stood ramrod straight as he replied.
Apparently the Haulia with him were all part of his unit, the Baltfeld Squad. Par had
been chosen as the squad leader because of his overall leadership skills and his
impressive sniping ability. It was hard to believe he was still just a ten-year-old boy.
"Are you… certain? How did the empire navigate through the fog?" Liliana asked
hesitantly.
She was curious as to how they'd done it of course, but if even the empire had
developed some new weapon or magic and not told Heiligh, that spelled trouble for
the kingdom. Her youthful features scrunched up in worry.
Par glanced over at Liliana before shooting Hajime a questioning look.
Liliana's guards bristled at his insolence.
Par ignored their glares and kept his attention focused solely on Hajime.
"Princess, let me handle the questions. Things will just get more complicated if you
stick your head in."
"Ugh. I suppose you're right… I shouldn't have run my mouth. I'll leave this to you,
Nagumo-san."
Liliana hung her head and took a few steps back.
For most of her life, Liliana had been a devout follower of the Holy Church. Until
recently, she'd believed that beastmen really were an inferior race. But now that she'd
learned the truth about Ehit, her disdain for the beastmen had all but vanished.
It pained Liliana both that Par had ignored her, and that trying to get closer to the
beastmen and perhaps bridge the gap between their races would be a bad move for
her politically.
Though Par hadn't ignored her because she was a human. He was just a disciplined
soldier who wouldn't report to anyone other than his superior without express
permission. In other words, this was all Hajime's fault too. There was still some time
until Liliana discovered that though.
"Par, tell me everything that happened. Start from the beginning."
"Boss. I would like to respectfully remind you that my name is Baltfeld."
Some things Par wouldn't budge on, even for his beloved boss.
"Fine, Baltfeld. Give me your report."
"Yes, sir. First, you need to know that it was the demons, not the empire, that started
this." Par stopped there and took a few moments to organize his thoughts. After
sorting through everything he'd seen personally, the reports he'd heard from
Verbergen survivors, and the information he'd tortured out of prisoners, Par began his
story.
An ominous gloom had hung over the sea of trees the morning of the attack.
Most of the beastmen instinctively felt that something was wrong, though they
couldn't quite explain what was making them so uneasy.
The rabbitmen however, could tell. They were the weakest of the beastmen races, and
didn't possess sturdy bodies, or powerful claws or talons, or overwhelming physical
might like the other beastmen. They feared fighting more than anything, and were
known by all to be a kind and peaceful race.
Which was precisely why they were the best at sensing danger and hiding themselves.
The Haulia—the abnormal rabbitman tribe that had honed their combat skills along
with their stealth and perception abilities—had been even better equipped to pick up
on the threat ahead of time.
"My ears throb…" A young Haulia boy, Par, perched atop a thick branch and listened
intently, his bunny ears twitching.
Originally, he'd been a cute child who all the older girls of the clan had fawned over.
Right now though, he looked like a grizzled war veteran.
"There's a chill in the air… It reminds me of the day we fought against those imperial
scum." Nea Haulia replied in a smooth voice. She brushed a strand of navy-blue hair
out of her eyes. Her gaze was as sharp as Par's.
Like Par, Nea was also only ten years old. She was one of his good friends.
Most of the Haulia clan were patrolling the forest on Cam, the chief of the Haulia's,
orders.
They weren't doing this for the other beastmen. None of the Haulia had any love for
them, but they had no intention of abandoning their fellow rabbitmen.
Which was why they constantly patrolled the area around Verbergen and the other
sizable settlements.
"Yeah. But things are different now. We won't let them take any of our family away
from us."
"Exactly. This time, we'll chop their heads off. But you know, I didn't think they'd just
barge into our sanctuary like this."
For a ten-year-old girl, she sure said some violent things.
A second later, the two of them turned toward the same direction.
"Did you feel that?"
"Barely. But that doesn't seem like…" The fur on their rabbit ears stood on end. Neither
of them had sensed a presence like this before.
They nodded to each other and dashed off toward it.
They barely disturbed the thick fog as they leaped from branch to branch.
"I hear screams!"
"It sounds like there's fighting up ahead. But… what's that other noise?" A strange
noise pierced their eardrums. It sounded like the flapping of an insect's wings, but
more high-pitched and headache-inducing.
Par and Nea masked their presence as they neared the site of the battle.
When they arrived, they found a bearman and wolfman lying on the ground in pools
of their own blood.
There was so much of it, the floor was a sea of red.
"This is… terrible."
"Some of them were cut clean in half. How sharp does your sword have to be to do
that?"
Par and Nea grimaced as they examined the two corpses. From the looks of it, the
bearman and wolfman had been patrol guards for Verbergen.
A second later, their bunny ears shot up.
"Ah!? Get down!"
"Roger!" The two of them leaped in opposite directions.
Something shot past the spot they'd been standing in seconds ago. Neither of them
could tell what it was. It flew by so fast all they could make out was a blur.
As they landed, the tree behind them slid diagonally downward, then crashed to the
ground with a resounding thud.
"Baltfeld!"
"Tch!"
A two-meter tall creature rushed at Par from behind. This one wasn't moving as fast
as the last, and Par could make out the details. However, he didn't have time to do
anything more before he had to dodge out of the way.
He was up against a massive insect with spikes running down its carapace. It looked
like some kind of deformed rhinoceros beetle. The creature spurted jets of mana from
underneath its wing cases, which was what allowed it to propel itself so fast. At top
speed, it was able to reach one hundred kilometers an hour.
The insect slammed into the tree behind Par and blew it apart like it was made of jelly.
At the same time, another creature hurtled toward Nea. The moment she heard it, her
months of training took over, and she threw herself to the ground faster than she could
think. It flew inches above her head, narrowly missing her.
"Are you alright, Neaschtatrum!?"
"Negative! That bastard shaved the tips of my rabbit ears off! I'll kill the fucker!"
Nea's cute face transformed into that of a demon as she watched a few of her hairs fall
to the ground.
Neaschtatrum was the nickname she'd chosen for herself, by the way. Her full title was
Neaschtratum the Butcher. Not the name one would expect of a ten-year-old girl.
Her bloodthirsty scowl vanished when she saw just how many monsters they were up
against though.
"Baltfeld." Par had seen them too. Expression grim, he gave out orders.
"We can't win. Our biggest priority is getting this information back. Retreat. I'll back
you up."
"Yes, sir." Nea replied curtly. As veteran soldiers, they knew a protracted conversation
would just waste time.
Bloodlust welled up within Par, and he manipulated it to make himself seem more
threatening than he was.
At the same time, Nea faded away into the mist.
One of the monsters shot after her, determined not to let her escape. But as it began
closing on Nea— "Gyaaah!?" It let out a bloodcurling scream and veered headfirst into
a tree.
Now that it wasn't moving, Par could tell the super-fast monster was a giant bee with
six pairs of thin wings.
Par's bolt had struck true, and the bee's abdomen had an arrow sticking out of it.
"It doesn't matter how fast you are if your movements are predictable!" Par
shouldered his crossbow and smiled triumphantly.
He had guessed that the bee would go for Nea, and so had used his superhuman
hearing to ascertain when the bee started moving and then fire his arrow at where he
predicted it would be. The boy who had once loved flowers had become the Haulia's
greatest sniper.
Nea was nowhere to be seen. She'd masked her presence so well not even Par could
tell where she was, and had likely already distanced herself from the battlefield.
Three of the beetle monsters charged Par from different angles.
"Whoa, looks like I should get out of here too. What are these things, anyway?" Par tied
a rope to the end of a crossbow bolt and loaded it. He fired it above him and pressed a
button in the crossbow's side. It started winding up the rope, taking Par with it. He
shot up into the air, and the three beetles below him all rammed into each other with
a sickening thud.
As he alighted on the branch above, Par heard a swarm of insects flying toward him.
On top of that, other monsters were following behind them this time. Beads of cold
sweat dripped down his forehead.
"If I don't get outta here fast, there's gonna be trouble." Any normal rabbitman would
have just given up on survival at this point. In fact, any beastman would have given up.
They'd be praying for mercy right about now.
Par, however, set up a few impromptu booby traps and began his retreat. It was like a
game of tag, except the penalty for being caught was death. Despite that, he was
grinning fearlessly.
In that moment, he looked just like his beloved boss, the monster of the abyss.
Using his considerable stealth skills to their utmost, Par was able to escape from the
army of unknown monsters. While they could learn other things, rabbitmen were still
the best at hiding.
Once he was clear, he changed directions and headed back toward his village. But
before he arrived, a deep rumbling echoed through the entire forest, stopping him in
his tracks.
"Isn't that… Verbergen's alarm trumpet?" It was supposed to sound just once a year,
when they tested to make sure it still worked. It was only blown when there was a
major threat to the city, or to the entire forest.
It appeared this unknown assault was of a large enough magnitude that the capital
was in danger.
"Either way, I've gotta report to the chief first." Par dashed off even faster than before,
and was home before long. He walked past the boundary of verdren crystals keeping
the fog at bay and into the village proper.
Cam was at the central square, listening to reports from a dozen or so people. Nea was
there as well.
"Baltfeld!"
"Yo!"
Nea raised a hand in greeting. The Haulia smiled when they saw Par had returned safe
and sound.
"I'm glad you're safe, Baltfeld."
"Thank you, chief. I have a report to make on a number of new monster species that I
spotted."
"Let's hear it."
Cam folded his arms and closed his eyes. He looked like the very picture of a dignified
leader.
Par reported everything he'd seen after splitting up with Nea.
Apparently there were quite a few new species in this monster army that had
appeared out of nowhere. Naturally there were the bees that shot forward in a straight
line, bisecting anything in their path, and the giant beetles who used mana propulsion
to charge forward with their sturdy horns. But Par had also spotted butterflies that
could shoot heat rays from their wings and another flying creature that could create a
strange bell-like noise to control the monsters that originally inhabited the forest.
These new monsters should have been disoriented by the fog, but it seemed that the
fog didn't affect them at all. After all, they'd been able to keep track of Par's location
until he got much further away. In fact, if he hadn't been part of the rabbitmen race,
who were notorious for being able to manipulate their presence freely, he might not
have gotten away.
"So they're all new species. The other squads reported running into monsters that
could blend perfectly into the background. Or monsters that lurked in the trees and
then attacked with their long limbs. Some of them were poisonous too."
"I see. And they're all attacking Verbergen right now."
"Technically it's the demons who control those monsters who are behind the assault."
"Wait, demons!? They're invading the sea of trees!?"
"It's a possibility. According to Iorniks' report, the fog still affects the demons
themselves. However, it appears they've gotten their hands on an army of monsters
who are immune." The Haulias' expression grew grim.
As they were brooding over the implications of this, another Haulia girl burst into the
square.
"Lanainferina and Minasteria, reporting!" Lana and Mina had been sent to scout out
the area around Verbergen and see how they were faring. Everyone's bunny ears
perked up; they were eager to hear the news.
"Verbergen has closed its gates, and is currently fighting to keep the monster army out
of its walls. But the city was taken by surprise, and their garrisoned army has already
suffered major casualties. The units that had been patrolling to the south have all been
wiped out, and morale is low. Considering how powerful these new monsters are, it's
only a matter of time before the city is breached."
Though everyone had expected that to be the verdict, they still broke out in a buzz of
conversation. Sure, the Haulia were banished from Verbergen. But this was a crisis
that might lead to the end of the only beastman nation.
"Don't panic!" Cam's voice drowned out the commotion.
The Haulia instantly stood at attention.
Cam glared at them all like a hawk.
"So what if Verbergen is on the brink of collapse? That doesn't change what we have
to do. Those bastards are our enemies, and we kill our enemies. That's all there is to
it. Am I wrong?" Feral grins lit up the faces of the Haulia clansmen.
"Verbergen's being kind enough to buy us some time. We should make the most of it
and complete our preparations. Listen up, Haulias!" None of the rabbitmen seemed
perturbed that Cam was treating Verbergen as a disposable distraction.
"Our foe will make their way here eventually. Only fools twiddle their thumbs and wait
for death to take them! Let's show these upstart demons that the Haltina Woods are
not to be taken lightly! Gulfstream unit, see to our defenses! Make sure all of our traps
are still functioning!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Aidelheid unit, scout out the demon's numbers!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Invisible unit, find out what special characteristics these new monsters have! I want
a full report on their attack patterns and the special magic they can wield!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Baltfeld unit, head to Verbergen and provide them with backup! However, keep your
actions covert, and focus on buying time! The longer the city holds out, the better it is
for us! Retreat once the situation grows too dire, and report back to me!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"All remaining units, head to our brethren's villages and evacuate them to safety! If
required, guide them here to our village!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Now, gentlemen. These demons have traveled far from the south just to entertain us.
I say they deserve a warm welcome!"
"Yahoooooooooooo!"
This would be the Haulia's first large-scale war. This time they'd protect their home,
their family, and their comrades. This world was unfair and unreasonable, but they'd
trained and trained and finally obtained the strength to fight back against it.
They'd been forever ridiculed as the weakest race, but the time to show their true
mettle had finally come.
Five hundred meters or so south of where Verbergen's defensive line was engaging
the demons, another fierce battle was about to break out.
"We're almost there! Keep going, we have to get as many people to Verbergen as
possible!" Gil, the tigerman captain of one of Verbergen's patrol squads, called out to
his men. He was drenched in blood and sweat. His squad was currently protecting a
number of villagers as they made the desperate flight to Verbergen. They were
survivors from the carnage that had swept over the south of the forest. When the
remnants of the southern patrol squads had staggered in and told Gil what was
happening, he'd taken his unit to go evacuate any surviving villagers.
"Captain, we won't make it! Their defensive line is too far!" He'd already made it this
far with the refugees.
Gil ground his teeth in frustration.
"Don't you dare say you can't do it! We have no choice but to do it! That's the job we
signed up for!"
"But sir, most of the refugees are rabbitmen, no one—"
"Not another word!"
Most of the survivors had been rabbitmen, as they were the best among the beastmen
at fleeing. Right now, they were running for their lives. Most of the other beastmen
looked down upon them because of how weak they were. Gil couldn't blame his
subordinates for not wanting lay their lives down for the sake of a few rabbitmen, who
wouldn't even be any help in a fight.
Though he himself held no such prejudices against rabbitmen.
"I'll say it again. We're going to defend our countrymen to the last. That's the job we
signed up for. At the very least, that's the oath I swore when I became a warrior of
Verbergen. Were yours different?"
"Err… No sir." Gil's subordinates sucked in a deep breath and steeled their resolve.
Seeing their determination, Gil nodded in satisfaction.
A second later—
"Ah! Move!"
"Huh!?"
Gil pushed his subordinate out of the way just as a giant beetle burst through the fog.
He raised his sword, attempting to block the beetle's horns.
"Gah!?" The beetle rammed into him with such force that he almost blacked out.
Gil skipped across the ground like a stone in a pond before slamming into one of the
trees behind him and coming to a rest.
"Captain!" He heard his subordinate call out to him, but he was in too much pain to
respond. Vision blurry, he looked up to see the beetle still charging at him. Hitting him
hadn't slowed it down at all.
This is where I die!? Gil ground his teeth in frustration. The beetle was just meters away
from him now.
Just as it started to blot out his vision—
"I wonder if this'll work." He heard a voice from above.
Right after, the beetle screamed in agony and veered off course, barely missing Gil.
There was a loud rumbling and a number of other monsters screeched in the distance.
After that, silence.
"Short swords can't pierce their shells. But their joints are unguarded so we should
target those."
"It looks like the beetles are at their weakest when they open their carapaces to
charge. That's the best time to attack them."
"Their special magic appears to be jettisoning mana to increase the speed of their
charge. The organs on either side of their wings are used to control their speed and
direction. By destroying one or the other, you can force them to lose control."
"We've analyzed this species enough. Let's move on to other monsters."
Grimacing in pain, Gil craned his neck up. A number of figures were perched on the
branches above him.
Upon closer inspection, he realized they all had bunny ears.
"R-Rabbitmen?" Gil watched in blank amazement as the rabbitmen leaped from
branch to branch. One of the rabbitmen turned back and grinned at Gil.
"This is thanks for protecting our comrades. Keep struggling and try your best to stay
alive." With that, the last of the rabbitmen vanished into the ever-present fog. Though
Gil prided himself on his perceptions skills, he couldn't sense the rabbitmen at all.
"Captain! Are you alright!? What happened!?" Gil let out a raspy chuckle as his
subordinate rushed over to him.
Panicking, Gil's subordinate started checking him over before Gil had a chance to tell
him he was fine.
Though Gil's mind was still on the blue-haired rabbitman who'd saved him to pay
attention to his men. After the incident with the cursed child, he had heard a report
that had been so outlandish he hadn't believed it.
"Leggin-dono… I'm sorry I ever doubted you. If I make it out of this alive, I'll make sure
to give you an apology." For some reason, he didn't see any other monsters coming to
attack him.
Those rabbitmen must have handled it somehow. Gil thought to himself as he staggered
to his feet.
"Captain?"
"Ngh. Don't worry, I'm fine. Thanks to some unexpected assistance, my head's still
attached to my shoulders. But there's no telling when more monsters'll show up. Let's
make a break for Verbergen while we have the chance."
"Y-Yes sir!"
Gil watched his subordinate dash off to relay his orders.
They were still stuck in a difficult position. Though they'd been saved by the
rabbitmen, it would still be a struggle to make it to Verbergen's defensive line.
"Goddammit. I haven't felt so powerless since the time I faced off against that boy." Gil
spat angrily.
An oppressive atmosphere hung over the elders' meeting hall in the center of
Verbergen. Ulfric looked grimmer than he ever had in his life, and he'd lived longer
than most.
The crisis this time was that grave. The very existence of Verbergen was threatened.
All of the elders sat in a circle, exchanging uneasy glances.
Zel, the tigerman elder slammed his fist down onto the ground and roared, "Fuck, what
the hell is going on!? How come those strange monsters aren't affected by the forest's
fog!?"
"We still don't have enough information to answer that question. Our priority
shouldn't be on figuring out why this situation occurred, but on how to deal with it."
The youngest of the elders, the foxman Lua, narrowed his slit-like eyes as he spoke.
"Calm down, Zel. Lua's got the right of it."
"But the monsters these demons have brought are far stronger than any we've faced.
There's no telling how long our army will hold against them." Guze the dwarf said
cautiously. Mao, the birdman elder, shook his head in despair.
"We know that! Ulfric, you're the oldest among us, do you have any ideas!?" Grasping
at straws, Zel turned to Ulfric.
Ulfric slowly opened his eyes and muttered, "Perhaps they are led by another who has
met the qualifications." Everyone present shivered. They thought back to the whitehaired boy with an eyepatch who'd so easily dispatched the strongest of their number.
"Impossible. We'd never seen anyone who'd fulfilled the requirements and now you're
saying two of them have shown up at almost the same time!?"
"Is that really so surprising? We already know one exists, who's to say there can't be
more? This time, however, it seems it's a demon who's acquired the power of the
labyrinths. And unlike Hajime Nagumo, I doubt they'll be willing to sheathe their
weapons if we tell them we have no quarrel with their kind…" After a few moments of
deliberation, Ulfric made his decision.
"We may have to consider drastic options, such as abandoning Verbergen."
"What!?"
Zel opened his mouth to object, but then shut it again. The other elders were all
speechless as well.