“You…shouldn’t be able…to kill her.”
“That was a lie. Of course that was a lie. What are you talking about?”
“Give…her…back.”
“No, I said. And while I’m at it, I’ll tell you something else: Once Chamo is dead, I’m going to kill Nashetania on the spot. You don’t mind, do you? Since she’s the enemy of the Braves, anyway.” Smiling broadly, Tgurneu watched Goldof shudder with fury. “The truth is, I thought you would be the greatest obstacle to this plot. I imagined the information she sent you through the Helm of Allegiance combined with Adlet and Hans’s brains might lead you to find her. That was why I separated you from the other Braves and arranged it so that you wouldn’t be able to share information with them. Well, you ended up breaking off from the group on your own, so it turned out I didn’t need to bother.”
Goldof ground his teeth.
“You were such a good fool. I was listening in on your conversation with Dozzu. Frankly, I had a hard time restraining my laughter. I was the one who ordered Dozzu to incite you to fight the other Braves, but I didn’t think you would actually take it so seriously for me!”
Tgurneu drew back, and then a blade sprouted from its body and impaled the other commander.
“I know what you and Nashetania were after, Dozzu. You planned to have Goldof save Nashetania for you, didn’t you?”
Goldof was taken aback. Dozzu gave a small nod.
“Of course you would,” said Tgurneu. “That was clearly the option that could have kept both of you alive. But it’s just as you see: Goldof, you are incompetent. There’s no way you can save Nashetania. Chamo will die. The rest of you will also die here. And then it will be over.”
Dozzu glared at Tgurneu, but it was not bothered at all. “Hey, do you know why I’m babbling on and telling you everything?” This time, the fiend faced Goldof.
“What?” said Goldof.
“It’s because your knowing won’t hinder my plans at all. If you pass on what I’ve told you to the other Braves, I’ll kill Nashetania.”
“!”
“It’s true that would mean I couldn’t kill Chamo. But I know you’d never abandon Nashetania. And besides, I had a different plan for killing Chamo, anyway. If this stratagem fails, it won’t bother me one bit. If you tell the others, the seventh will let me know—and just so you know, I’m not bluffing. If you talk, I will end her life.”
“…The princess… You’d…you’d kill…”
“You want to save her? Then I think you should hurry up. The other Braves as searching for her. They may be able to find her, too.”
“If…Adlet…finds her…” Goldof trailed off.
“Heh-heh-heh. I’m sure they’d kill her, of course.” Smiling, Tgurneu got close to him. “Hey, Goldof. Give me a good look at your face.”
“…What?”
“I like looking at humans’ faces,” Tgurneu said, examining Goldof’s. “They reveal many things to me: anger, panic, sadness, despair, and the last threads of faintest hope. I like seeing all of those feelings.”
“…”
“I love human emotion. By greeting someone, you create a connection. Through speaking, you can understand one another. You look at someone’s face, and you can pick up on what they’re thinking. I relish drinking in the feelings of humans I’ve defeated. That is what I fight for, and what I live for.” Tgurneu flicked its tongue out and licked Goldof’s cheek again. “I could kill you right now, but that wouldn’t be fun at all. I want to see your anguish, your confusion, and your regret. I want to give you the hope of possibly saving Nashetania so I can savor your despair when you fail.”
Goldof was looking for his chance to kill Tgurneu, but it didn’t seem to be the least wary of him.
“That’s a nice look on you. You—no, all of the Braves of the Six Flowers—are truly a wonderful spectacle.”
Dozzu said, “You can’t kill Tgurneu, Goldof. He would execute Nashetania at the same time.”
Hearing that, Goldof was unable to do anything but keep silent and bear it.
“Hey, Goldof,” said Tgurneu. “Do you think you can save Nashetania? You can’t unravel any of my plots, and you’re a mess after fighting Dozzu, to boot. I doubt you can fight anymore.”
“…You monster…”
“And what’s more, you’re fighting solo. You attacked the other Braves. If they see you, they’re sure to immediately come after you with deadly purpose. You’ve been terribly foolish.”
“…Goldof…” Dozzu said sadly.
“Yes, a good look on you. You’re truly incompetent. I love seeing your powerlessness.”
Tgurneu pulled away from Goldof, and then a fiend with the head of a crow and the body of a yeti approached it. The yeti-fiend stuck its hand down Tgurneu’s throat, withdrawing a fig from deep within and biting into it.
The yeti was now Tgurneu. It crushed the head of the snake-fiend it had been using as its body. Apparently, it was done with that one.
“Now, then, I suppose we’ll get going,” it said. “You should run, too, Goldof. Adlet and his friends will be coming soon.”
Goldof glanced beyond the hill. Tgurneu was right. Adlet would be after him and Dozzu, and if he stayed here, it would only be a matter of time before they found him.
“Dozzu,” Tgurneu continued, “you fry everything around here with your lightning bolts, and once you’re finished, rest for a while to heal. I know you can recover quickly. You should be able to fight again within an hour, I’m sure. After that, go kill the three in the crater. You can’t refuse.”
“Understood… Not that I have a choice,” said Dozzu.
“Indeed. See you, Goldof,” Tgurneu said, departing.
Left behind, Goldof remained in a daze. He had come here to save Nashetania. He’d meant to crush whoever it took in order to do that. But what was the reality? All along he’d been dancing in the palm of Tgurneu’s hand. The word incompetent echoed in his head. He couldn’t deny it.
“Goldof.” That was when Dozzu spoke to him.
“Dozzu…is what…Tgurneu said…true?” Goldof asked.
“It was all true—aside from just one thing.”
“Just…one thing?”
Dozzu looked Goldof straight in the eye and said emphatically, “You are not incompetent. You’re the most capable knight in the whole world. It’s not impossible for you to save Nashetania.”
“But…”
“Right now I cannot save her. You’re the only one who can.”
“I…”
“I swear to you: If you save her, we’ll immediately release Chamo. I swear this is no lie.”
“…Really…?”
“Now, please run. At this rate, Adlet and his companions will kill you. You’re our only hope. You’re her only chance,” said Dozzu.
Goldof trudged away, heading out of the gem’s area of effect. He hurt all over. Even moving was hard. The spear dangling from his grasp felt like dead weight.
Save…her.
Those were the only words racing through his head.
Running was impossible for Goldof now. The fake Nashetania’s blades had pierced his arms and legs. He’d endured Rolonia’s whip and Fremy’s bullets and burns from Dozzu’s lightning strikes. And the exhaustion seeped into his bones.
He forced himself onward through the barren land. About three kilometers from where he knew Chamo was, he stopped. The burns had left his throat parched. The pain and thirst alone made him feel like he would die.
“…The princess…”
He found a geyser and approached it. He figured for now he’d quench his thirst. But the moment he put his lips to the water to take a sip, agony shot through his tongue and nose. Moaning, he spat out the boiling water.
His knees hit the ground. He couldn’t move anymore.
He had to drink something. At this rate, he wouldn’t even manage to live through the next few moments. Plus, he had to treat the wounds from his fight with Dozzu. He wasn’t carryi
ng much in the way of medicine, but still, something was better than nothing.
Goldof looked back. He had to return to the lava zone right away to rescue Nashetania—before Chamo died and before the others found him. He had a mountain of things to do. But he still couldn’t move.
He sensed a presence behind him. Ten fiends were licking their chops, watching him.
“Givén up yet, Goldof?”
“I’ll protect…her.” Goldof raised his spear and stood up. His body heavy like lead, he fended them off. With every breath, his throat stung. With every movement, his body ached. The pain, thirst, and exhaustion leeched his willpower. His hope of delivering Nashetania was draining away.
“We’ve caught hím!” A giant earthworm wrapped itself around him. Goldof hacked its head off with his spear, but the fiend continued squeezing him tight, even in death.
A dog-fiend lunged for his neck to bite him, but Goldof dodged and smacked it away with a fist. “I will…protect…her…” he muttered to encourage himself. But despair was gradually creeping up, starting at his feet. Could he really find Nashetania? Tgurneu had said a certain fiend’s power kept her hidden. It had sounded quite confident that Goldof would never find her.
Could he figure out Tgurneu’s scheme? He wasn’t smart like Adlet and Hans. He didn’t have Fremy’s knowledge of fiends, either. What could someone like him do?
“Dïe!”
Goldof shook off the worm-fiend, but the dog bit into his leg next. He stabbed it in the torso with his spear, but its jaws stayed clamped on his armor.
The other fiends seized the opportunity to rush him. Goldof fled, dragging the corpse of the fiend biting him. He tried to rip it off as he ran, but his fingers felt weak. “Damn it!”
The other Braves saw him as their enemy. If he encountered them, they’d immediately try to kill him. He couldn’t expect them to go easy on him like they had before. Now he didn’t even have the strength to survive another fight against them. If he got close to the gem’s area of effect, he’d meet a quick end. Forget finding Nashetania—he couldn’t even get near her.
“He’s rünning!”
“After him! We can finish him off now!”
He couldn’t count on Dozzu’s help, and neither could he hear Nashetania’s voice. He had no clues as to how he could keep her alive.
Goldof fled the fiends. When one nearly caught him, he killed it and then kept running. Another loomed close, and he slaughtered that one too without stopping. He repeated the same thing over and over—there was nothing else he could do.
How much time had passed? Goldof could only think of one way out of the situation.
And that was to abandon Nashetania.
Tgurneu had informed Goldof that if he shared the truth with the other Braves, it would immediately kill her. His liege’s death meant that Chamo would live. What Goldof should do was kill these fiends, head back to Adlet, tell them the truth, and beg forgiveness. Adlet wouldn’t kill him without hearing him out. Goldof would fight Tgurneu and its minions, destroy the Evil God, and then just disappear somewhere. He should forget all the time he had spent with Nashetania, like how a dream evaporates upon waking. That would solve everything.
Goldof killed the last of the gang of enemies, a leopard-fiend. Then he looked to the south, where he knew Adlet and the others were.
“…Princess…” Emotion swelled in his chest. The shock of their first meeting. His elation when he’d headed out to save her with nothing but a hammer in hand. How moved he’d been when she had listened to his request afterward. His confusion upon finding out what an outrageous tomboy she was. Anger at being the target of her mischief. Attraction, as day by day she became a woman. Bewilderment when she’d first declared she would become a Saint. Worry when he’d found out she was throwing herself into severe training with no care for her own life. Joy at watching her grow into her power as the Saint of Blades. Then regret for how he’d gone easy on her in the Tournament Before the Divine, when he’d handed victory to her.
Unease when she had been chosen as a Brave of the Six Flowers, and then determination to fight when he made up his mind to see her back safely from the Howling Vilelands. His slight jealousy of Adlet. And finally, the relief of knowing she was alive in his heart.
“If I could…forget it…like a dream…” A single tear welled in his eye. “It would be…so much easier.” Goldof took the corpse of the leopard-fiend lying at his feet, lifted it up, and bit into its neck. He noisily sucked down what remained of the fiend’s blood. The moment had to be a first for humanity—a man eating a fiend. The blood quenched his thirst.
Removing his armor, Goldof daubed what medicine he had left on his wounds and then quaffed the secret tonic passed down through Piena’s royal family. This medicine was so powerful it was practically poison. Agony rippled down his throat and into his stomach. He hunched over, resisting the urge to vomit.
“…”
Then he rose to his feet. He clenched his fists and gave his spear a few swings. He could move. I can still fight, he thought, and he calmly began striding away. He’d made a decision—no matter what difficulties stood in his way, he would protect Nashetania.
About eighteen hours earlier, Nashetania and Dozzu had been in the Cut-Finger Forest. Hiding in the undergrowth, they leaned in close as they convened.
Their comrades weren’t with them. Every single one had died after their fight with Cargikk’s fiends. Dozzu was bleeding all over, and Nashetania’s wounds were even more severe. A fiend’s horn had impaled her, and the puncture wound reached all the way to her back. There was a deep cut in her leg, too, and the tendon was severed. Nashetania was fused with a fiend, so her capacity for recovery was far greater than a normal human’s, but these injuries were grave, even for her.
Cargikk’s forces had surrounded them with wave upon wave of fiends. How many more hours would they be able to keep running around? It was uncertain if they would even live to see the sun rise.
“Nashetania,” said Dozzu. “I’ll cut a path for you. Flee, please.”
“Dozzu…”
“If you die, it’s all over. As long as you’re alive, we’ll still have hope. Please, you must survive this.”
“I can’t! I can’t do anything by myself. Both of us must survive this, or our ambitions will fall apart.”
Dozzu was about to say, We have no other choice.
But then Nashetania suggested something unbelievable. “Let’s ask Tgurneu for help.”
“…Are you out of your mind?!”
“I’m not crazy. It’s our only option. We’ll use the blade gem in Chamo’s stomach as leverage to negotiate. We’ll have Tgurneu defeat Cargikk’s fiends for us, and we’ll kill Chamo in exchange,” said Nashetania, looking toward the western side of the forest. She estimated Tgurneu’s position based on the movements of the fiends. “I think Tgurneu will agree, since he’s been having trouble with Chamo, too. We’ll be protected until we kill her.”
It could work, possibly. But Dozzu just couldn’t agree to it. It knew better than anyone just how formidable Tgurneu was. There was no way it would actually end up helping their situation.
“If we can make it through this,” said Nashetania, “then things will get better. We have to survive, no matter what it takes. We don’t have any other options now.”
Dozzu knew that, but it still couldn’t agree. “Nashetania, after we kill Miss Chamo, Tgurneu will be done with us. I can’t imagine he’d let us live.”
“We’ll only be working with him temporarily. Once he’s eliminated Cargikk’s minions, we’ll escape—before we kill Chamo.”
“You’re underestimating Tgurneu. He would never allow it,” Dozzu said.
Nashetania replied, “If Tgurneu captures me, then Goldof’s Helm of Allegiance will activate. He’ll come to rescue me.”
“…But he…”
“The Helm of Allegiance only activates if I’m held captive, so I can’t call for him right now. But it Tgurneu catches
me, it’s another story. The helmet will let him know I’m in danger.”
“You’re saying he’ll come save you? Really?”
“I trust that he’ll come.”
Dozzu closed its eyes and thought about Goldof. During its time pretending to be Nashetania’s pet, it had observed the knight. It knew quite well that Goldof’s loyalty to her was absolute. In Dozzu’s whole life—which had by no means been a short one—it had never seen such a loyal boy. He was so faithful, Dozzu found it tragic.
That loyalty had been the reason they had decided not to bring him into the fold. Goldof would not fight to achieve his ambitions—he would only fight to protect Nashetania. Dozzu’s goal was bound to endanger her life many times over. Goldof might have tried to interfere for the sake of her safety.
“You betrayed him,” said Dozzu. “I don’t doubt his devotion, but your evaluation of him is plainly naive.”
“You don’t understand him, Dozzu. He can’t live without me.”
“…Nashetania…”
“He’s been like that ever since we first met, and he’s still the same.” There was a rustling sound behind Dozzu. Cargikk’s fiends were already close. “Goldof will come,” she insisted. “He will come to save me. Please, Dozzu. Believe, as I do.”
“Could he do it? Could he save you if Tgurneu captured you?”
“He could,” Nashetania said, smiling. “The strongest person in the world is not Chamo—and it’s certainly not a dunderhead like Adlet. I believe that when Goldof is defending me, he’s the strongest man in the world.”
Dozzu closed its eyes and nodded.
On the outskirts of the lava zone, Dozzu heard Goldof roar. Its hearing was far more sensitive than that of a human. When Dozzu heard the cry, it knew Goldof had not yet given up on Nashetania.
Everything was unfolding just as she had known it would. Tgurneu had readily agreed to their proposal and killed all of Cargikk’s forces for them, and then it had taken Nashetania captive to force Dozzu to do its bidding.
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 3 Page 17
