It was smooth sailing. Kisaragi Ryouko who could manage to traverse the dungeon solo, now had gained allies: The Thief, Natsukawa Minami, and the Archer Satou Aya. They seemed practically invincible.
Minami had a combination of her hitherto nurtured athletics which, together with her vocational skills, made her a perfect melee fighter. As for Aya, she was, as she appeared, of average talents but, her vocation instantly enabled her to enter battle.
‘Aim’: Increases aim, thereby raising the strength and accuracy of the bow.
‘Concentrate’: Can draw the bow without faltering of mind.’
‘Fletchery’: Can make arrows well.[1]
Though nothing blatantly overpowered, needing just a bow, attack and ammunition are covered while leaving room for improvement; they were a well balanced set of novice skills.
Luckily, Aya had cleared the first big hurdle of procuring a bow early on. Aya had met Minami just when the latter was about to take down a goma with a bow, it was practically like a blessing from the G.o.d of archery.
And now, a few hours after leading the dome and entering a fairy square, that girl was yelling hysterically.
“—Eh, let me get this straight, so this means only three of us will be saved!?”
“C-calm down, it’s okay, so just calm down alright!”
Even Minami, whose cheerful smile and relaxed att.i.tude wouldn’t crumble during dangerous dungeon battles, voiced those words tinged with impatience and unease.
“W-w-wh-what do we d-d-do...”
Quivering with all her plus sized body, Futaba Meiko was all too quickly in tears.
It wasn’t uncalled for them to fall into so much disarray. Since, when they checked on the updated information on the magic circle, they were made aware of that shocking rule.
The transfer gate located at the deepest part of the dungeon would only allow a maximum of 3 people to enter— that is, there was a limit to the number of people who could escape.
“We don’t know the veracity this information. So let’s not think too much about it.”
Only one of the four, Kisaragi Ryouko, was calm, and trying to put everyone at ease.
“Don’t think about it, then the heck are we supposed to think!”
Apparently ‘Concentrate’ only had effect when using the bow, in other times, there would be no convenient calming of mind. As if demonstrating the validity of that statement, Aya furiously argued back.
“We have to get a lot more monster cores to use this transfer gate. It’s been quite easy up till now, but who knows what’s to come. So don’t risk yourself with useless worries while fighting”
“But, then wh—”
“What we need to do right now, is hope”
Aya looked at the cla.s.s rep, who said all that with a straight face, as if she was talking to a mental case.
“So you’re just... gonna give me those sugared up lines even now”
“They aren’t just pretty words. Since we, we really do have a hope”
Ryouko proclaimed those words with a gentle smile of an utter confidence, no, a conviction one could say. Taken slightly aback from that bold counter, Aya asked the standard follow, ‘What would that be?’.
“Souma Yuuto and Tendou Ryuuichi. If it’s those two, they can definitely overcome this, yes, even this crazy place.”
Not one of them could deny or laugh at her answer. Most likely, not a sin
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
gle member cla.s.s 2-7 would disagree.
“Look, even we can fight those monster with our vocations. I bet those 2 with this power, would easily become real superheroes”
Ryouko’s words were not to be considered pitiable or faith based absurdity. Anyone would think so if they knew those two. Anyone would believe.
“We’re headed to the same place, so if we continue on like this, we’ll absolutely convene with Souma-kun. And then he’ll save you, and everyone else too”
“S-Souma-kun will save me...”
Perhaps she was imagining Souma Yuuto’s gallant figure as he leapt head first into danger. Aya’s cheeks blushed cerise, and her face dissolved into rapture.
Ryouko wouldn’t condemn her for such a display. Around half the girls of cla.s.s 2-7 would show the same reaction.
Like the boys who would fall for Souma Sakura’s beauty at first glance, the girls would have a similar wanting for Souma Yuuto. Satou Aya, she too was one of those who had secret feelings of wanting to be near him.
“Yes, believe me, Satou-san. Souma-kun, will come save us”
“—Fha! Y-you’re right... Souma-kun’s the type who can really do it”
Aya quickly agrees, saving face as if she had only been logically convinced.
“Yup, well said, we’ll be just fine with Souma-kun around! This is like a game world, so rather than superhero, he’d be like, a warrior hero?”[2]
Silver armor and a cape fit him perfectly, that had been proven on the stage play at the school cultural festival the previous year. The piece was Snow White. His role merely that of pa.s.sing by at the end to give kiss, but his presence, more prince-like than any prince, almost made you forget the whole tragedy that was the brunt of the story.
“But rather than Souma-kun, Ryouko-chan’s prince charming is more like Tendou-ku—”
“H-hey, stop that Minami! We’re not like that ok!”
Ryouko reacts just like Aya did a few moments ago, Minami giving her the usual wide, teasing grin. In these situations, even the cool cla.s.s rep. is an open book.
“Nihaha, I’ll leave it at that then.”
“Why— you little!”
“Hey, ow! Wait, no violence please! And no using magic eitheer!”
Her pretty face dyed red, Ryouko one-sidedly catfighting her friend, was an image distant from the ever reliable cla.s.s rep. She looked more like a grade-schooler.
In that fas.h.i.+on, these girls had not made the information about the number restriction a big issue. That is, not yet.
The 4 resumed their journey.
It had been 10 minutes since, having rested with a nap, reinvigorating both their strength and vitality, at the fairy square, at which point their next encounter with monsters was upon them.
What appeared was a pack of wild dogs with blazing red fur. At a size somewhere between a s.h.i.+ba and a Golden Retriever, their rough panting and blood-shot eyes plainly displayed their savage nature.
“—Sorry! 3 incoming!”
Minami shouts while slicing open a dog at the neck with the chef’s knife in her right hand. 4 others had gotten around past her with the vigour of a fireball, but she had back-thrown the knife in her left hand, hitting one dead on the back. As a result, like Minami said, 3 of them were headed towards the two rearguards.
“Futaba-san, you’re on!”
Sharp instructions from Ryouko. The rear was occupied by the Ice Mage, Kisaragi Ryouko and Archer, Satou Aya. The Knight, Futaba Meiko was to be together with Minami at the front— was not something anyone expected of her, so she was put at the awkward position of mid-guard.
Though she, as a Knight, should be at the very forefront, tanking the enemy, she had been given the kind and considerate task of stopping even just one of the ones getting past Minami, a Thief.
“Kya—! Waa—!”
As if ripping apart that kindness from her allies, Meiko put full power into dodging. Without having swung her meat cleaver even once, she simply dropped it and rolled across the ground. Her figure exactly resembling a beer barrel rolling down a slope.[3]
“The h.e.l.l, are you do—ing!”
Her target set with ‘Concentrate’ Aya burst her shot with ‘Aim’ together with her angry voice. The goma-brand arrow pierced the fangs born, drool s...o...b..ring, fast approaching dog deeply right between the eyes. 100% accuracy. And, 1-hit-kill.
“...‘Ice Sagitta’”
Ryouko’s icicle was thicker and longer than an arrow, but certainly didn’t fire any slower then the bow. Even without a specific skill, her aim was true, and beautifully struck through the dog’s torso.
The 2 rearguards took out 2 of the dogs instantly, but there were a total of 3 approaching. There was still one left. Very close. A 2nd arrow or icicle wouldn’t make it.
The dog, as if a.s.sured of its kill, raised sparks as it clanked its jaws.
“Ugh, s.h.i.+—”
“‘Ice s.h.i.+eld’”
Just then, a s.h.i.+eld of ice soundlessly appeared, and the dog, having jumped in, mouth open wide for the kill, foolishly crashed headlong into it. Raising a miserable whine, the dog’s body promptly dropped to the ground.
“Though I can’t rapid-fire attack magic, defensive ones don’t seem to have that limitation, looks like”
Explaining this to Aya with a chill expression, Ryouko shot the dog with another ‘Ice Sagitta’ before it got back up.
“Ryouko-chan! Satou-chan! You guys ok!?”
At this point, the pack of red dogs was making hasty retreat. Minami didn’t give chase, and was running back, worried about her friends.
“Sigh... I’m seriously glad we got Kisaragi-san with us”
“Satou-san, you beat enemies too, so you’re not too shabby yourself”
“Hey, I’ve got the highest kill count! So praise me more Ryouko-chan!”
“You don’t have to tell me, it’s because you’re giving it your all at front that we in the back can actually attack, Minami”
At the cheerily bantering three stared Futaba Meiko, in all her ugly, dirt-smeared glory. Rising sluggishly like a bovine after its afternoon siesta, she hoisted up her round frame.
However, she didn’t have the courage to take a single step in returning to the other three.
“...Futaba-san, are you okay? hurt anyplace?”
Ryouko called out to a Meiko, hesitating at the corner of the room, in a gentle voice.
“Yes, I... I’m sorry, I’ll, go get the cores now”
No one was blaming Meiko for her unseemly display. Certainly, Satou Aya was glaring at her with un.o.bstructed scorn, but there were no hateful comments actually being made.
But if anyone were to condemn her behavior, Meiko wouldn’t have any valid refutation. She knew, knew exactly how incompetent and useless she currently was. Everyone was fighting with their lives on the line, while Meiko was so scared, so utterly terrified when enemies approached her, that she knew no action but to run. In reality, she did run. Not giving a d.a.m.n about her allies, just herself.
“Then, if you’d be so kind. You’re in the cooking club, Futaba-san, so you seem to be familiar with dressing and the like”
“She’s like, the right woman for the job? Nihaha, It’s a bit too much for mee”
It was not enough to just defeat monsters. Unlike in games, there was nothing like experience points that showed a solid numerical measurement of growth, never mind the corpse disappearing in smoke to reveal gold coins or item drops; even for a world of fantasy and magic, that was too much to ask.
There was no point in not collecting the core planted inside the cadaver. If they reached the transfer gate and didn’t have enough to actually power it, that would be a real problem.
“S-sorry... There was just three”
Making full use of her set of knives, Meiko quickly finished dismantling the dogs’ bodies and retrieving the cores with the proficiency of a seasoned chef. On top of her plump palms certainly rested 3 small cores like broken red marbles.
The number of dogs they had beaten were 10. Meiko missing another 7 cores was not because she had failed to find them but because they simply didn’t exist. As for the fang rats they had first defeated, not one of them contained cores.
Meiko who had been dealing with all the monster bodies on their journey, could easily tell if they contained cores or not. After skinning them a bit, she could somewhat sense them by presence. Additionally, she could also feel out what spot they were located. That is to say, core retrieval was a no brainer. Even without Meiko’s culinary expertise, a novice could find it randomly poking around.
For this reason, the real problem was the low rate at which they were collecting cores.
It was a scary thought, but maybe it was useless collecting these tiny gla.s.s-fragment-like cores in the first place. That was one of the worse cases.
“Can’t be helped, they were pretty weak monsters after all”
Ryouko received the 3 cores from Meiko with no complaint. Looking at it another way, there was no word of grat.i.tude either.
“At the pace we’re going, we’ll level up any time now! Then it’ll be a core smorgasbord!”
“But I don’t wanna fight stronger monsters... Sigh... If they don’t go down with one arrow... I just, no”
Minami tries to console the depressed and anxious Aya with her air-headed smile and optimism. And while Ryouko looked over them with a smile, they made their departure from that area.
Meiko, wallowing in shattering self-derision, followed the 3 from a step behind.
It was when, another 3 battles after the red dog encounter, they were on their 4th struggle.
What appeared were goma. The location, a pa.s.sage crowded in trees withered white. It was less dense, and brighter than the forest dome where they teamed up with the Minami party, but there were more than enough blind spots.
“—Ah!”
Cried Meiko. She stood at the very rear. Having been deemed completely useless in combat, she was naturally positioned in an only-to-be-protected rear, even farther back than the rearguard team of Ice Mage and Archer.
However, that was the case only if the enemy appeared from in front. Even in games, there are attack patterns where the enemy comes from behind. And in real life, there was no way monsters wouldn’t be able to take a similar course of action.
“KyaaAAAA!”
Armed with a large naked claw as a knife, a goma jumped out from behind the white snags.
When Meiko turned and saw that suddenly appearing goma, with that figure, more repulsive than any demon, right at her face, she had completely forgotten to run and froze up.
“GuobuBiBA!”
It came slas.h.i.+ng with a strange war cry. A straight, wide, horizontal swipe. Meiko could clearly see the movements of that goma.
With the Knight’s ‘Abandon’, she could achieve the miracle of evading that attack with room to spare. Meiko could pre-cognitively see with a faint white glow, the exact trajectory of that blade.
She understood that the path of the blade was swiftly approaching her plump abdomen. She could fathom it.
There was room for dodging, and even defending.
‘Repel’ would allow her to use that meat cleaver she was holding to easily bounce back the coming strike. If she triggered it, the counter from Meiko’s think arms would fling away the goma’s attack along with its lightweight body, launching it straight to the ground.
Yet, the future with her taking that course of action would not come. Sole reason being, Futaba Meiko, and her own lack of courage. She cowered in fear. Her attacks, bound.
“Gyi, iyaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaa!!”
Her middle was shred. A straight, level line. The goma, though a stranger to the way of the sword, had struck its target just as planned.
The blade of fang cut deeply into Meiko’s belly. The cloth of her sailor uniform possessing no defence against the edge. That her layer of fat wouldn’t be enough to stop the blade was something Meiko, who had cut, dressed marbled meat countless times, knew all too well.
Raising a deranged scream, more from the psychological shock from the attack than the violent pain, Meiko collapsed belly up.
“Bah, guRuA— GebA!”
As the goma swung up its knife, attempting to mount Meiko and deliver the killing blow, A chilling bolt of frost drove into its ugly, twisted face.
“Futaba-san!”
Luckily at that moment, the bout with the goma platoon had reached its terminus; which was a fact Meiko was bound not to notice.
At any rate, Ryouko, then Aya, and finally Minami too, quickly ran over to the injured Meiko.
“Huff, haa, ah... Aa... I-it h-ouw... It huurts...”
“Don’t talk! I’ll get first aid righ—”
“How are you gonna do that, we have no bandages or disinfectant!”
“B-Band-Aids, I have tho...”
“Those won’t do frick here!?”
The girls fell into a tumultuous panic. But to Meiko, whose mind gone blank in shock, they sounded just like the sports clubs people shouting their vigor-filled mantras as they practiced on the grounds outside.[4]
“No it’s alright, we still have those herbs from the fairy square”
Ryouko had calmly, yes even in this uproar, calmly singled out the ideal solution.
What she retrieved from her bag was a mere handful of gra.s.s. With their particular heart shaped leaves, they were of a form quite similar to that of the 4-leafed clover.
“Herbs you... that’s everything we have you know!”
“Yes, but even one of these are very effective”
The wound on Ryouko’s left leg had all but disappeared. This was pulled off using only one of these 4-leafed herbs.
Thanks to the info from the magic circle, they knew the effects of this clover-like herb found at the fairy square. When they doubtfully tried it out, everyone had the thought that it must be a magic plant.
Its usage, simplicity itself. Just grind up and apply to the affected area.
“That’s what I mean! With a cut that deep, we’d need all of, no, maybe even all of it wouldn’t be enough”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right. We actually have... no guarantee it’ll work”
“So why the h.e.l.l are you trying to waste our precious medicine!”
Indeed, this herb was precious. They could gather a handful of these from the fairy square overgrown in flora. The place was chock full of 3-leafed ones. Only the 4-leafed one being curative. Having gone scouring for them like they were back in kindergarten, the 4 girls understood that the chances of finding one were as slim as on Earth.
“It’s not a waste, and if we don’t, Futaba-san will...”
“So what do you propose we do next time when it’s one of us! Can you guarantee we’ll find more of these at the next square? If someone gets there before us, I a.s.sure you they’ll be h.o.a.rding every one of them!”
Veins spreading in her eyes, discharging sputum, Aya kept on talking in a state of maximum frenzy. Nevertheless, her a.s.sertions indeed hinted at a slight soundness. Even Ryouko couldn’t completely refute her.
“So Satou-san, are you implying... we leave Futaba-san to die?”
Ryouko raised the ultimate question.
“... Isn’t that question’s a bit unfair? Kisaragi-san, You get it too, don’t you, honestly?”
At Aya’s reply in a warped smile, Ryouko impulsively averted her eyes.
“Y-you’re wrong, I’m...”
“No I’m not! I’m not the bad guy here ok, I mean, there’s no other way to look at this! Think a bit about the future, then anyone, even I get it you know!”
“But, that’s—”
“H-hold up!”
Minami came in to stop the two delving further into their unsightly squabble right in front of the victim. Speaking of whom, they realized they hadn’t noticed her at all since the part about band-aids being useless.
“Be any louder, it’s like you want more monsters. Like, there’s the blood too, those dog-like ones’ll smell us right away!”
At Minami’s very-likely-to-happen statement, Aya’s face paled, and Ryouko’s lost color. Realizing that, even as one of them was on the verge of life and death, they too were being exposed to danger.
“S-so let’s just get out—”
“Got us covered, I found a fairy square just a bit from here! Yeah, so let’s carry Futaba-san there first”
Minami points at the right of the T-junction where the pa.s.sage of snag ends. Apparently, she had quickly gone and checked beyond there.
“Right, let’s. If there’s more herbs at that fairy square, then all our problems are as good as solved”
“... Hm, I guess”
Thus, the three immediately began working.
“N, ngu...”
Groaned languishedly, not Meiko, but Ryouko.
“Ngah! Heavy d.a.m.nit! How many frickin’ kilospounds are you even packing!”
It was a miracle that three girls were able to lift Meiko’s ma.s.sive frame. No, to be precise, they were only having her lean on their shoulders.
Feeling as if being crushed, they somehow or other managed to get Meiko walking. So as to suppress the bleeding even a little, Ryouko had wrapped her own jersey around her abdomen. Looking at the navy blue of the s.h.i.+ramine Academy jersey steadily darkening from blood, its efficacy was doubtful.
“Huff... Haa... Finally, made it...”
Aya wheezes in ragged breaths. Ryouko was silent, and even the chippy Minami had lost her words.
“Let’s just, find those herbs...”
Beads of sweat acc.u.mulated on her forehead, Ryouko voiced the demand, and the three made for the fairy square’s herbage.
Meiko laid to sleep right by the fountain; the three silently searched with her occasional gripes of pain as BGM.
“...no good”
The result, obvious from those 2 words. A single stalk. That was the totality of the harvest.
“Haha... Ahaha... It’s over”
With a tired expression, Aya says, indolently seated on the lawn with her legs thrown out.
“Wh, hey, it’s over, you...”
On the verge of crying, Minami nervously looks back and forth between Aya and Ryouko.
“Don’t, make me say it ok... Hey, cla.s.s rep, what do we do”
Ryouko had deeply furrowed her brows, choosing silence. How long had she hung her head in shame? Likely not even a minute, but yet, her painful silence felt eternal.
“Futaba-san... we can’t save her anymore”
A bitter decision.
“Eh!? Ryouko-chan!”
“Ahaha, you can stop the miss goody two-shoes act you know, Natsukawa-san”
“N-no, I wasn’t—”
“Like, it’s fine. It’s over, over means over ’kay. No one’s fault here”
Aya was muttering ‘fault’, ‘not my fault’ in-between dry laughter. How could she, a normal highschooler, be expected to keep composed after these cruel events. Nothing wrong with wanting to escape reality.
“These curative herbs are extremely valuable to us right now. What if I got injured enough to be unable to use magic, what if Satou-san got her arm cut so bad she couldn’t draw her bow... Most of all, Minami, you who’s been fighting monsters at the front, you’re the one most likely to receive a wound”
Ryouko had been watching from behind and knows exactly how well Minami kept avoiding all sorts of attacks with her unparalleled athleticism, physical prowess, and ‘Abandon’. But it wasn’t good to be hubristic upon this evasion ability. Even if they weren’t against a powerful monster, it was easy to imagine her surrounded by more goma than she could cope with.
“Uh, but I’m... fine, see...”
“That’s not the point, Minami. If something happens to you, Satou-san and I who are ranged attackers will surely go down right after. Honestly, we should’ve decided how to use the herbs long ago.”
As if to escape the suffering, Ryouko averted her eyes from Minami, and of course, Meiko too, just staring at the gra.s.s. At the end of her gaze, a conveniently placed 4-leafed clover, was not there at all.
“So you see, we have to let Futaba-san go now. So that we can survive. Wasn’t it obvious, that useless pig was bound to be thrown away”
“Stop it Satou-san, you can’t say it like that”
“So what way can I say it your highness? Will you forgive me if I cry and apologise to Butaba... isn’t that like, a little bit hypocritical?”
“Whatever she did, you can’t call yourself a person if you say that!”
You can’t just give up on a human life just because it’s more efficient or if they’re useless.
“...No sorry. Like, I shouldn’t spit on the dead huh”
Ryouko’s face was sour enough to make her teeth grind. She had been stumped. Aya was right. No matter how many morals you held on too, having decided to let Meiko die, all of them would become utter hypocrisy. All three of them, would have to carry that weight.
“Hey, can’t we leave already? If you wanna watch over her till she dies, that’s a bit too much for me alright?”
It wasn’t fun for any of them. One could tell at a glance that Aya, and or course Ryouko and Minami too, all of them wanted to get away from this place of guilt.
“...You’re right. There weren’t any herbs here, so there could’ve been previous visitors”
“If some selfish trash gets to the transfer gate first, they’re pretty much not gonna wait around. If that 3 person limit thing is true, we’ll really be in at the deep end”
They could trust in Souma Yuuto’s strength. Still, whether they could or couldn’t make it to the goal first, was indeed a bit doubtful. The girls had seen many times along the way, places where the dungeon was caved in, pa.s.sages that you couldn’t take. With a bit of bad luck, they could need to go on long detours to arrive at the transfer gate. Worst case, they could also be completely blockaded from their destination.
If there was student luckier than Yuuto, yet utterly self-centered, they would undoubtedly rush to the exit with no regard to others.
“Also hey, there’s exactly 3 of us now. Casting aside Butaba was just a matter of sooner or later huh?”
“...Just, stop Satou-san. You don’t need to spell it out, I, got the full picture”
“If you do, then fine. I’d be happy if I didn’t die ’cause of some hard feelings— but, you two seem alright. Since we made a decision everyone’s ok with right?”
And then, Aya soberly stood up. After patting off the gra.s.s on her skirt, she walked towards Meiko at a casual pace. And from the bag lying beside her, she took out a squarish black case.
“Satou-san, that’s—”
“Something she won’t be needing anymore. And much better than using those goma knives”
The case being handed straight to Minami, was of course, Meiko’s beloved knife set. Those sharp blades would be a G.o.dsend for a Thief. Perfect for carrying and storage, too good to pa.s.s up. Naturally, the meat cleaver equipped on Meiko would also be collected.
Minami was already borrowing a chef’s knife, having a spare carried no loss. Moreover, Ryouko and Aya could both carry one for self-defence.
“E, I umm...”
“No worries, I’ll give it over later”
Being considerate to Minami’s feelings, who was tearing up, and hesitating to receive it, Aya forcefully shoved the knife set into her own bag. It was quite the size, but a schoolbag devoid of the deadweights known as textbooks and reference books could manage the room.
“Guess we’re about done here”
And this time, Aya really did head on straight out of the fairy square. Ryouko and Minami, be as downcast as they may, followed after her.
“... W-wait... Help, me...”
Though feeble, that clinging voice definitely reached the ears of those two.
“...I’m sorry, Futaba-san”
“S-sorry... I’m so sorry...“
Leaving her with just that, the two left. Not once turning back.
Futaba Meiko was thus abandoned. A fitting end for the useless pig— was not a sentiment she herself would ever truly accept.
Her consciousness fading, what remained in Meiko’s heart was simply fear. Neither regret at her own actions, nor resentment towards the 3 who left her.
Just scared, frightened, and cold. She felt like she could just sink into that sea of cold but,
“Futaba-san! Futaba-san, are you alright!”
Descended the voice of her savior—
