For the past several days, Kuuro the Cautious had been sleeping at the clinic in central Aureatia.
He was not a patient himself. He had bent the staff's arms to loan him an empty hospital room and continued to guard the defeated hero candidate—Toroa the Awful.
As long as he was Toroa's bodyguard, he couldn't let the admitted patient out of his sight. While Toroa continued to live here, Kuuro had no intentions of stepping outside the clinic, either. Eating the rations he had brought in with him, he quietly spent his time during the day ensuring he didn't get in the way of the other patients. He could ascertain how Toroa was doing without going to see him directly, but he still visited his hospital room around two times a day to chat.
On the other hand, his partner was apparently paying visits to Toroa's room with far greater frequency.
"Hey, Kuuro, listen. They said Toroa's wounds look a lot better today than they did yesterday. Incredible, huh? The doctor was really surprised, too."
The creature who fluttered around Kuuro's head like a songbird was a tiny girl, small enough to fit in two hands. She was a homunculus with two bird wings instead of arms. Her name was Cuneigh the Wanderer.
"The Life Arts aren't supposed to be having that strong of an effect yet, but they say he's already beginning to heal."
"That's great news. The more I hear about him, the more outrageous he gets." He was the man who'd leaped into the middle of the Particle Storm—a calamity capable of laying waste to entire cities. He had been gifted with vitality
worthy of his monster moniker.
"…My bodyguard job lasts only until he gets discharged, too. Has this whole arrangement been a big headache for you, Cuneigh?"
Gently catching Cuneigh as she fluttered into his palm, he then placed her inside his inner coat pocket. Cuneigh gleefully squinted her eyes as she smiled.
"Nuh-uh, not at all! Actually, I enjoy getting to talk with Toroa. Also, if I go up on the roof? I can see the street performers in the plaza! Since it's so far, I
can't really catch the music or their voices, but the children admitted in here all really look forward to it, too!"
A street performer. Must be Zeljirga. Her sleight of hand's always been real impressive. Even though I can see everything, she still might fool me.
In the past, Kuuro was once an assassin belonging to Obsidian Eyes. He had been feared for his Clairvoyance, a composite sensory ability that surpassed physical vision and was capable of perceiving any and all phenomena with ultra- precision.
The hero candidate Zeljirga the Abyss Web was his colleague at the time. She was a woman of the zmeu race, with a lizard's head and skin. Almost obnoxiously cheerful, the exact opposite of Kuuro, she was an assassin who lived to make others laugh with her clownish antics.
…Judging by the intentions behind that "street performance," it's very unlikely that she's acting out of a personal desire for Toroa's enchanted swords. Her close proximity to this clinic is either because the conditions simply lined up for her, or conversely, she's monitoring me to ensure I don't make any strange moves.
Currently, there were no signs that Obsidian Eyes had their sights on Toroa's enchanted swords and were planning to attack. Supposing that she did make a move—even if it was with a military force indirectly manipulated, regardless of any vampiric power—Kuuro would be able to expose everything about the attack, including the secret intents that lay behind it.
Possessing supreme sensory abilities and knowing everything there was to know about the spy guild's techniques, Kuuro the Cautious's very existence was their natural enemy, preventing Obsidian Eyes' activity. While they weren't in a definitively hostile relationship, to Obsidian Eyes, Kuuro was sure to be someone they wished to eliminate first and foremost.
"In any case, hearing that Toroa's recovering quickly is fantastic news." "Yup! Sure is!"
Toroa in perfect form was truly an unrivaled monster. Once his wounds were healed, he wouldn't need Kuuro to guard him anymore.
Kuuro would return the favor he owed Toroa from their fight against the Particle Storm then depart Aureatia immediately. Cuneigh might be reluctant to leave, but for both Obsidian Eyes and for Kuuro himself, that seemed like the best possible conclusion.
The problem is the few days until Toroa's wounds heal… The question is if all the powers in play will keep nice and quiet until then.
That wasn't going to happen.
Kuuro's Clairvoyance perceived the scene through the dividing hospital- room wall.
There were five men standing in front of the door to Toroa's room. Footsteps. Posture. The type and weight of the weapons they were concealing. Not there to visit Toroa as he lay injured nor messengers sent by his sponsor—they were undisputedly Aureatia soldiers.
…They're hiding short swords inside their coats. Never smelled this scent before… Some explosive I'm unfamiliar with? Then there's the strangely shaped weapon on their belt. Similar to a small handgun. Sitting on their dominant hand's side. I gotta be careful of that.
Finishing his thoughts on the scene in a single second, Kuuro stood up. He put on his flat cap.
"Cuneigh, wait here. Don't leave this room." "Hmm? Okay."
"I'll be right back."
He quickly exited out into the hallway.
Once he climbed the stairs, it was only a few paces to reach Toroa's room.
The five Aureatia soldiers were prying open the door to the room and getting ready to rush inside when Kuuro arrived.
"…Hey, you five over there."
The soldiers laid their eyes on Kuuro. One of the men spoke up with an annoyed tone.
"What's this, some kid?"
"Piss off. I'm a leprechaun. You got some business with the patient in there?" "We're with the Aureatia army. We're here on an official directive from the
council. If you don't have business here yourself, then beat it."
"You have a seal from the council? You should have a warrant from whoever sent you guys here, right?"
"Of course we do. On the orders of Aureatia's Fourth Minister, Kaete the Round Table, we are here to seize Toroa the Awful's enchanted swords."
The soldier produced the seal.
Kuuro was, if anything, impressed by the behavior.
They've got guts, I'll give them that… Coming to take them like this without trying to be coy about the one who put them up to it.
Still, he also understood that the men had come to steal the enchanted swords and wouldn't take no for an answer.
"…Sorry to say, but Toroa there commissioned me to guard him. If you all plan on stealing those swords by force, then I'll have to get forceful myself."
"Pfft. Get a load of this guy."
The man who appeared to be the commanding officer of the group smirked. "Let's go out front. I want the whole avenue to get a good look at the fate of
this bastard who dares defy Minister Kaete."
Kuuro was perceiving the vicinity around the clinic at all times. They weren't using this opportunity to bring Kuuro outside and attack Toroa with a separate force.
Seriously…these are a rare breed to see nowadays.
Kuuro followed their orders and went outside the clinic.
These Aureatia soldiers likely thought that Toroa, with his injuries, would be an easily dispatched opponent. Given that, Cuuro believed it was necessary to ascertain what was the source behind their swelled confidence.
"All right. Around here should be fine," said the soldiers.
"…Tell me something. Are these sorts of…pretend duels a popular pastime in the Aureatia army?"
"Not at all. This isn't a duel."
At that moment, there was a dry gunshot, and Kuuro's small body collapsed to the ground.
"It's an execution."
Sniper fire from a distance.
Not only that, but from an abnormally long distance…that went beyond all this world's existing knowledge of weaponry.
The commanding officer stooped down beside Kuuro's collapsed body and smiled like a wolf.
"Kuuro the Cautious. Surely, you didn't assume that we knew nothing about you, hmm?"
The blatant attack on Toroa had been bait from the very beginning to lure his bodyguard, Kuuro, out onto the main road with its unobstructed sight lines. If they were expecting to go up against someone with deviant sensory abilities, they simply needed to attack him from outside the range of his perception.
"Break in again. If Toroa the Awful looks like he's going to bolt by himself, you can let him go. Prioritize securing the enchanted swords above all else."
"…I get it. An interesting weapon you've got there." "..."
Kuuro spoke, still collapsed facedown on the ground.
"A lot of areas to adjust on the gunstock. So it can adhere close to the body and match up with the shooter's physique and quirks, huh…? The barrel looks like it's covered, but it's actually constructed to be free-floating and only contact the mechanical action. This mechanism's gotta be to increase its accuracy. Producing a gun this accurate goes beyond any Craft Arts or machining techniques… This has to require an outlandish degree of engineering precision
—"
"I-impossible."
Kuuro the Careful appeared to have been shot through and collapsed on the ground. He only appeared that way.
There was no blood splattered on the street. Given how inconceivable the situation was, the Aureatia soldiers hadn't been able to immediately pick up on this abnormality, either.
"H-he—he dodged it…?!"
"Impossible! That shot came from over nine hundred meters away!" Kuuro the Cautious hadn't collapsed.
"You seem to know a lot about me, right? You didn't assume that a mere nine hundred meters behind me was beyond my sight, did you?"
Faster than the sniper rifle could launch its bullet, he had perceived not just the muzzle it came from but also everything down to the rifle's internal construction, then dodged the bullet by falling to the ground.
The soldier behind him went to retrieve a gun from his breast pocket. It was a firearm called an automatic pistol, whose stopping power and burst speed far exceeded the latest model of small firearms; however…
"Hnaugh!"
"Tell the doctor you've got a torn flexor tendon."
…Kuuro stood back up like nothing had happened. Not only that, but he had also finished making his attack far faster than the soldier could pull the trigger on his gun.
Tucked inside his coat sleeve was a collapsible crossbow.
The soldier still had his gun trained on Kuuro but was unable to fire. The second joint of his finger had been pierced through by an extra-fine arrow and was no longer capable of moving.
"You really think I don't know that's a bomb?" Kuuro said without looking at another soldier who was trying to make his move.
He was conscious of it all, even the initial movements of an attack occurring from a total blind spot.
"...!"
"…Good judgment. You're not going to be able to throw that thing my way. I could pierce through your wrist right before you release it and make you blow yourself up, for one… Even if it's some weapon I've never seen before, I can pin down its intended use just from the initial movements the person wielding it makes."
He slightly cocked his head. Another gunshot rang out.
Not a single hair on his head scattered into the air. Kuuro dodged the second nine-hundred-meter sniper shot without the slightest hint of difficulty.
"Y-you monster…!"
"The man you guys are trying to attack is much more of monster than me." Kuuro brushed sand off his fallen hat and placed it back on his head.
His opponents were regular Aureatia soldiers. Although they were the ones who'd started this fight, there was no need to stir up the situation any further. He was all too accustomed to having his life threatened already.
"…Be good and get lost before I end up stealing all the information you have," said Kuuro.
After he had settled things, Kuuro once again headed toward Toroa the Awful's room.
"Got into a little trouble, did you, Kuuro?"
It went without saying, but Toroa had also been fully cognizant of what had occurred outside his hospital room. Bending his enormous upper body, he apologized to the leprechaun.
"Sorry. Ended up causing you trouble," said Toroa.
"It wasn't a big deal. I just figured it'd go smoother if I handled things." At the very least, he had resolved things without any deaths.
The weapons Toroa wielded were not anything like Kuuro's arrows with their low degree of lethality. He had a treasure trove of enchanted swords, boasting the potential to deal instant death. If Toroa himself had dealt with the Aureatia soldiers, at the very least, it wouldn't have ended with nothing more than a torn tendon.
"That said, though…I think you need to be cautious of Kaete the Round Table. I've never seen a gun constructed like that before in my entire life. Its precision was on an entirely different level, even compared with the Gray-Haired Child's latest models."
"A weapon no one's ever seen before, huh…? Kaete the Round Table is Mestelexil's sponsor, right?"
"Yeah."
Cuuro and Toroa, along with Mestelexil. There was a slightly bizarre connection between the three of them.
The trio had fought to the death as the supernatural disaster of the Particle Storm swept over them. The reason Kuuro was guarding Toroa now was to repay him for saving his life at the time.
In addition, just as Toroa had saved his life, Mestelexil and Kiyazuna had saved Kuuro's life as well. Be that as it may have been, though, it certainly hadn't been their intention.
After thinking a moment, Toroa began to speak.
"…Back then, I witnessed the way Mestelexil fought. Guns that spit out bullets like rain. Bombs that tracked me and flew at ultra-high speeds. Weapons that caused only acute pain, totally invisible. All the weapons he produced looked more calamitous than any enchanted sword… That stuff was truly on an entirely different level."
"A weapon that creates weapons, then. That means that Kaete the Round Table is mass-producing those weapons and making his soldiers use them, huh?" "That might be it. This doesn't just apply to enchanted swords, but see… A weapon's greatest strength is the ability for anyone and everyone to wield it.
There's no logical reason why the weapons Mestelexil makes would only be able to be used by the golem himself."
"If that's the case, their groups come up with some truly crazy ideas in their heads. I was able to settle things peacefully this time, but no guarantee that next
time'll go the same way."
"…It's okay. When that time comes, I'll handle it myself." Mestelexil was a nigh-invincible weapon just on his own.
However, if Kaete the Round Table, leader of Aureatia's third-biggest faction, was to make use of Mestelexil, the golem's true value would far outstrip his fighting power.
While Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge was the ultimate immortal construct, at the same time, he was a factory that tirelessly produced weapons from another world.
These assailants didn't attack us without thinking. They must have come here believing they had a chance of beating Toroa.
Kuuro thought back over the words and actions of the soldiers under Kaete's command.
That confidence he'd felt from the soldiers had come from having a mighty weapon backing them up after all. Just as throughout history, a single enchanted sword had influenced the tides of war, the visible strength that came from having a superior weapon bestowed morale on the entire force.
What a pain. Damn near everyone's crawling around with their individual motives. Rosclay the Absolute. Haade the Flashpoint. The Gray-Haired Child and the Free City of Okafu. The Old Kingdoms' loyalists. Obsidian Eyes…
Among them all, Kaete the Round Table wasn't the type of opponent to lay out multiple layers of schemes against his enemies. The ones Kuuro needed to be cautious of were still the Gray-Haired Child and Obsidian Eyes.
However, Kaete's group alone was the only one able to utilize technology that even Kuuro's Clairvoyance was barely able to comprehend, and they could do so in large groups as well. The more time they were given to produce these technologies, the worse it would get.
On top of that, if by any chance there was a weapon…beyond what he saw in that fateful battle, that even Kuuro's senses couldn't perceive…
There might be a chance…that Kaete the Round Table is the most dangerous power out of them all.