The last day was awfully tiring. I didn't care about anything besides sleep. Sleep, that's what was in my thoughts. Only sleep. I fell and buried my head into a pillow made of straw. How long are we going to stay here? That damn Yuuto, where the hell is he? Is he already dead?
After a couple of minutes, I slowly started to lose my consciousness.
…
I heard a strange voice that I couldn't understand, not a single word. A bad dream?
"Wake up."
Uh… Definitely a bad dream. Begone, evil spirit.
"Wake up, brat."
"Mhm… a few more minutes."
In that instance, I felt how he grabbed my legs and pulled me out of bed, dropping me down on the floor.
drop
"Oi! What the hell?!"
"Well, well. Now you woke up" — said Yamazaki with a proud face, clapping his hands.
You crazy old man…
"Get ready, we're leaving."
Tsk
"Yes, yes" — I scratched my head.
We didn't find a hint about him yesterday, I hope we will not repeat ourselves today. At least someone should have heard of him.
…
"We can eat sweets and watch that new magic show!"
"I don't want to. Go alone."
"Come on! It is going to be fun, Maen!"
As we went downstairs, I had a weird feeling of déjà vu. Tal was once again trying to invite Maen to a date, unsuccessfully.
"Oh! Good morning, Kaz!" — Tal had noticed me.
"How was ya night?"
"The night itself was alright, the morning though was demoralizing."
"Hm?" — Tal tilted his head in bewilderment.
He reminds me a bit of Saru…
"Good morning, dear customers" — Maen greeted us.
"Uhm" — we nodded.
"May I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"You are not from these places, are you?"
Huh… she is quite insightful, although, with our modern outfits… Maybe we should dress up like the locals.
"Yes, kind of" — sorry, can't say anything more.
"I knew it! Then, since you already know each other, Tal, show them the city."
"Eh~? Don't want to" — he answered, holding the back of his head with both hands.
"I. Didn't. Ask."
"Heuk!"
She used us as an excuse to get rid of Tal for some time… Maen is a scary but smart woman.
***
"Ngh… I don't want to! I want to sit in the tavern and watch her working all day!"
Boy, are you a maniac? There is no way she would be interested in you if you stalk her everyday!
"I wish to smell her scent, I wish to listen to her voice… sigh… whatever! Kaz, wanna have a drink?"
Oi! Don't you think your attitude changed too quickly?!
"Eh… maybe later?"
Cough, cough
"Anyway, what's the plan for today?" — I turned my head and asked Yamazaki.
"What would your suggestion be?"
Don't ask me in response to my question, you moron…
"Erh… I would ask the people."
"Good" — he nodded — "and what are you going to ask them?"
"Mhm, if they know Yuu-" — no, that's meaningless. We will just repeat what we did yesterday, losing a day without any progress. I scratched my chin for a minute. Hm…
"Maybe ask for the places where the demonic attacks are more common? They probably have camps with soldiers stationed there."
"Great, you are making some progress there."
Yamazaki pointed his thumbs up.
"Now, you take it from here on."
Oi!
Tsk…
I'll try with Tal first. He should know about it as a mere citizen.
"Hey, Tal."
"Mhm?"
"Where do the demonic attacks happen the most?"
"Dunno, could be to the east of the city. Could be to the north."
You useless maniac.
Sigh
We went back to the bazaar, where we were asking by passers yesterday. At least this information shouldn't be a secret to the local population, right?
…
"Excuse me!"
"Yes, son?" — answered an old woman.
"Do you perhaps know where the demonic attacks happen the most?"
"I won't tell you." — she turned her back to me.
Huh?
"Excuse me? But, why?"
The grandmother turned to me.
"I know you young lads very well. You all imagine battles in which you kill monsters and become famous and heroes. But the harsh reality is different from your wet dreams." — she stretched her hand and pointed a finger at me — "you are all weaklings, you will all die in the first battle! Just like my stupid grandson."
"Erh…"
I can understand her, but… Well, anyway, I'll ask someone else, or rather, I wanted to ask someone else, but Yamazaki stepped in.
"Grandmother, you misunderstood my son…"
Huh…Hah?! What?!
"You see… my son and this stupid one's older brother was taken to one of the camps…" — he pointed at his eyes — "Look at me! Look at my eyes! I can't sleep during the nights because the only thing I think of is my poor son Mal!"
Who is Mal?!
"Please, grandmother, spare me from my sufferings, tell me where I can find my son!"— he forced tears to appear under his eyes.
Old man… stop humiliating yourself, it's useless…
Hic-hic
Huh?
"Poor you, I understand you!" — the old lady started to cry out.
Ho~… it worked…?
She wiped off her tears.
"We have two camps outside our city" — she stretched her hand and pointed to a direction — "one to the east, near a destroyed windmill" — she rotated her hand — "and one to the northwest, under the cliff. If your son is still alive, then he should be in one of the two camps."
Yamazaki collapsed to the ground, to the grandmother's knees.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Please, stop this circus…
"I pray to the heavens that you find your son alive" — said the old woman and then disappeared inside the crowd.
After she left, Yamazaki stood up and wiped his tears off.
"Cough, cough. Well, then, to which camp should we head off first?"
Don't act like nothing happened…
"Ka-a-a-a-z!" — Tal screamed my name with a fountain of tears coming out of his eyes.
Crap…
"Why didn't you tell me about your brother! If I knew, I would help!"
I looked at Yamazaki for support, but he looked away and whistled.
Screw you!
"Erh… I am not on good terms with my brother…"
"Family feud?! Such a tragedy! I know very well how bad family members can treat each other sometimes!"
"Erh… yes, yes." — whatever, just stop screaming.
"Hmpf! It's decided! Kaz! From now on, I will be your named brother!"
Hah?! How can you decide it without asking me?!
hic-hic
???
"I am so proud of you, Kaz! You now have a named brother… your deceased mother would be proud of you!"
Oi! Old perv! I clearly see your laugh under the facade of a proud father-face!
"Kaz! Your mother is dead?!"
Argh… Screw you all! I ran away to the direction the grandma pointed. There was a big crowd of women and kids on our way. We passed through it with some difficulties.
"Was that acting necessary?" — I whispered to Yamazaki.
"Hm? Yes and no. The old lady knew where the camps were located. Of course, we could just ask someone else, but it would be risky."
"Erh…"
"You must take all opportunities and act if it's necessary. There is no shame in it, especially when you will never see the person again."
"Alright… but now I have to deal with this" — I pointed at Tal.
"Kaz! I will replace your brother! You can trust me!"
The old perv released a laugh — "well, that's a side effect, s-o-n."
Hiiek! My entire body shivered when he said the last part.
After approximately an hour, we finally arrived at the place where one of the camps should be, but were surprised to find nothing but a field of grass, bushes, and flowers.
"Hm, strange. It's definitely the place where the windmill is."
Yamazaki looked at the field and started scratching the back of his head.
My body suddenly shivered again.
"Kazuya-kun~" — Yamazaki looked at me, with a sadistic smile.
"No."
"Eh? I didn't even say anything?"
"Still no, I got a bad feeling."
"How rude, well, anyway."
We walked into the field, searching for the camp. It looks pretty peaceful, despite the rumors. After a couple of minutes, I regretted my words. A big shadow appeared in front of us on the ground. A strange noise came from behind our backs, we slowly turned our heads and saw a monstrosity that looked like a mixture of a gigantic ant and a gorilla.
Hiiek!
We immediately ran forward, but the creature was fast as hell. I slipped on a stone and fell down. I looked up and saw the creature's head in front of me, with big fangs sticking out of his mouth and drool flowing out of its mouth.
I must move, I must move… but I can't move a single muscle of my body.
The beast popped its head and pounced on me, its fangs pointing at my flesh.
Shit… I am dead.
Just before the fangs could sink into my flesh, someone pulled me back.
"Move you brat!"
Yamazaki helped me stand up, but the gigantic ant was already in front of us. Instinctively, Yamazaki pushed me back. The next moment, my manager's flesh was penetrated by the monster's fangs.
"No!"
Drop
"Huh…?"
The ant's head dropped on the ground.
"Few… I was almost late. Are you all alright? Any injury?"
A man came behind the ant's body, holding a sword covered in purple blood. A swordsman?
"Uhm, no… we are fine."
"Glad to hear it" — the man cleaned and put the sword back into its sheath — "my name is Ael. What were you doing here?"
What were we doing here… right!
"Sir Ael, I want to sincerely thank you for saving us. Second, we search for a hero named Yuuta. He probably should be in your camp."
"Yuu-ta?" — the swordsman raised his chin and started scratching it — "actually, no, never heard of him."
Ah… this, again.
"Want to come with me to the camp? Maybe he is there."
Yamazaki and I exchanged looks and nodded.
"Yes, please."
"Kaz? I thought your brother's name was Mal?
"…"
Yamazaki…
"Erh… yes, but he likes to call himself Yuuta. He thinks it's cool."
***
When that old lady said, "next to a destroyed windmill", I assumed he meant it literally, next to a destroyed windmill. In reality, it was almost half an hour away from it.
The camp wasn't that big. It had about 10 to 15 tents. Soon it became clear that there was no hint of Yuuta here, either. It's getting quite frustrating…
Ael insisted on treating us to a meal. Declining our savior's offer would be rude, so we accepted his invitation. We were served a simple soup. Not like I expected something better in a military camp, but a bit of pepper wouldn't hurt it. During the meal, Ael asked the purpose of our search. To my regret, Yamazaki repeated his spectacle about his lost son. Ael seemed to believe it, at least. After finishing the simple soup we got served, we left the camp. When we returned to the city, the sky began to darken.
"Sigh, we will check the second camp tomorrow" — said Yamazaki.
Is there a point, though?
"That camp is our last hope. If he isn't there, then we return to our company. He is dead."
Quite harsh words. His face was serious, but Yamazaki's eyes depicted frustration and concern.
"Ah, sorry Kaz, I'll be heading forward! I want to tell everything to Maen!"
"Uh, sure."
And like this, Tal disappeared. We followed Tal's footprints, holding an awkward silence. At one point, we were walking by the place where the crowd of women and kids were. There were still some of them.
"Sir! Will you be here tomorrow as well?" — asked one young voice.
"Ah, I don't know."
"No! Please, stay for one more day!"
"Alright, alright. I'll be here tomorrow too."
"Hooray!"
Ah, so it's a show to entertain the children? Cute. I bumped into Yamazaki, who had suddenly stopped.
"What's the matter?"
He stretched his arm and pointed at the man who was talking to the children.
"It's… Yuuta?"
"Hah?!"
"Huh?"
…