Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 3

by Ishio Yamagata

  He racked his brain, trying to think of a way to kill the fiend in one strike, a way to guarantee it would die instantly, without time to bite Nashetania’s head. And the more he thought about it, the clearer it became that such a method didn’t exist. There was no way for him to succeed with his own power and weapons.

  He couldn’t back off for now to find a way to save her, either—he couldn’t afford to. There was no time. If he left, the fiend would go into hiding again. Right here, right now, was his only opportunity to save her.

  That moment, the fiend’s eyes crinkled. Goldof could tell it was smiling.

  “…”

  The boy didn’t take his eyes off the fiend—but he knew what was happening. He had sensed the presence of someone to the right, as well as a bloodthirsty aura sharp enough to pierce his flesh.

  Fremy was thirty meters away, gun trained on. “Adlet and Rolonia will be here soon, Goldof,” she said. She couldn’t see what he was looking at. “Just so you know, if you release Chamo, we’ll let you live. What will you do?”

  Goldof didn’t reply. His gaze never left the fiend. He could tell Fremy was a little irritated at being ignored. What kind of nonsense are you talking about? he thought. He wanted to free Chamo, too.

  Fremy didn’t fire. She wasn’t looking to see if this was a trap. She was waiting for Adlet and Rolonia. Before long, the two of them arrived as well.

  Goldof knew what the fiend was after. It was waiting for the other Braves to kill him. “You came…Adlet,” he said.

  “What’re you looking at?” Adlet asked him. Goldof didn’t reply. “What’s over there?” Adlet asked again.

  That was when Goldof understood—Adlet hadn’t found a thing. He hadn’t even figured out that there was a fiend with stealth powers here. Still, Goldof asked him anyway, “Have you…found Her Highness?”

  “Yeah, we’re close,” said Adlet. “You’ve been giving us a rough time, but…that ends now.”

  “…Have you figured out…what’s really going on?”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the strongest man in the world.”

  Goldof could tell immediately that was a bluff. Adlet was a surprisingly bad liar.

  “Tell me about your helmet. What’s that hieroform, really?”

  “…Hieroform?” How did he know about the Helm of Allegiance? And why was he asking about something so trivial right now? Goldof didn’t know, and it didn’t matter.

  The fiend was watching Goldof, eyes narrowed. Now it just had to wait for the three of them to kill Goldof. That had to be what it was thinking. And the fiend’s assessment of the situation was entirely accurate. Goldof doubted he could win the other Braves over this late in the game. Whatever Goldof said, they’d try to kill him, regardless. He could tell that clearly, from the vicious looks they directed at him. He didn’t imagine he had a chance, not against the three of them. If he could hold on for even a minute, he’d accept that as a good fight.

  Then, in that single minute, he’d win.

  Goldof focused every nerve in his body, steadied his breathing, felt his blood pound in his veins, tensed every muscle. And then he trusted that he would be able to save Nashetania.

  “I’m going to kill you now,” said Fremy. “But before that, let me ask you this: Is it your hieroform that’s keeping Nashetania hidden?”

  “That question…is pointless. For you…and for me.” What a stupid question, thought Goldof. They really didn’t know anything. They hadn’t even managed to puzzle out a sliver of the truth. Fremy and Rolonia aside, Goldof had thought that Adlet, at least, might be able to figure out something. Unconsciously, the gaze Goldof had leveled at them grew contemptuous. “I’m disappointed…Adlet.”

  “About what?”

  “I thought…maybe…you’d figure it out.” Goldof raised his spear, and while the others were raising their weapons, Goldof observed the red-haired Brave—and the variety of tools at his waist—closely. Adlet inched forward, while Rolonia began to whisper invective under her breath.

  Finally, to show them his determination, as well as to shock them, Goldof announced, “I will…protect Her Highness.” He crouched low and readied himself to charge. “And…I’ll save Chamo…too.”

  That seemed to startle them. That instant, Goldof launched himself at Adlet. Their confrontation lasted only an instant, and the fight reached its conclusion in mere seconds.

  “StinkingGoldofI’llscatteryourinnardseverywhereyoudemonI’llspillyourbloodandwringyououtandcrushyoutrashworm!” Rolonia’s lash danced as she tried to intercept Goldof’s charge toward Adlet. Fremy leveled her gun while Adlet, too fast for the eye to follow, whipped out a chain with a metal fitting on one end.

  Goldof knew the longer this battle went on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. So he used his strongest move first, spinning as he advanced, using the centrifugal force to fling his spear. He’d unchained it from his wrist beforehand. The heavy weapon spun toward Rolonia.

  He was aiming for Adlet—or that was what they’d think. They’d assume Goldof wouldn’t let go of his spear since he had to beat all three of them. That was why the shaft of the spear landed a hit on Rolonia’s chest. Thanks to her armor, it probably didn’t hurt her much. But it did jostle her whip away from Adlet’s defense. Adlet seemed a bit worried, but he quickly prioritized killing Goldof. If he’d been distracted by Rolonia, even just a bit, it would have made things easier, though.

  “Haa!” Adlet jumped to the side as he flung the cuff and chain. This was the same tool he’d once used to restrain Tgurneu. Goldof tried to avoid it, but he wasn’t fast enough. The binding caught his now weaponless right arm.

  Meanwhile, Fremy was firing at a gap between his armor plates around his stomach. She had probably chosen that rather than his head so it would be harder to avoid. Goldof didn’t block her shot and let the bullet pierce his body. If it went right through without hitting bone, it wouldn’t stop him. Feeling the hot slug pierce his stomach, he kept racing forward. Adlet strafed sideways, yanking the chain in perfect time with the moment when both Goldof’s feet left the ground. Goldof’s upper body jerked forward.

  “!” If he landed on his stomach, Fremy would immediately shoot him in the face. If he caught his fall with his hands, he wouldn’t be able to use them for what came next. So he deliberately drove his forehead toward the ground. As he descended, he used his left hand to rip off his right bracer. His face scraped the ground, but a moment later, his arm was free. Fremy shot at his head, but he blocked it with an armored shoulder. As his body rotated from the impact, he grabbed the chain he’d just removed and yanked with all his strength. The unsuspecting Adlet stumbled toward him.

  Discarding the chain, Goldof reached out for the boy’s throat. Adlet drew his sword and swept it horizontally in an attempt to slice the hand away. But the attack at his throat was just a feint. Goldof immediately snatched his hand back and crouched to grab Adlet around the waist.

  That was when Rolonia recovered from the earlier blow and cracked her whip at Goldof. Fremy charged toward him, too, reloading in preparation for a near-contact shot. As Adlet toppled backward, he landed with practiced technique and tossed a poison needle at Goldof.

  The very next moment decided the fight. Goldof dodged the needle, released Adlet, and rocketed backward. In his hand, he now held a twenty-centimeter-long spike.

  “Yaaaagh!” he screamed as he threw the weapon he’d stolen from Adlet at the stealth-fiend right beside them—which had been dispassionately observing them.

  That missile was called the Saint’s Spike—one of a set of four, the most powerful weapons Atreau Spiker had ever made, entrusted to Adlet.

  Only one weapon could kill the stealth-fiend, which had its fangs sunk into Nashetania’s head, with a single instant, infallible attack—and that was Adlet’s Saint’s Spike. Goldof had not been stuck frozen and passive. He had been waiting. Biding his time for Adlet, the one with the weapon that could save Nashetania.

>   “Guh…gurgle-ugh…gyahh…gahhh!” The Saint’s Spike piercing its flesh, the fiend writhed and spasmed. As Rolonia’s whip skimmed his body and Fremy’s bullets thudded into his armor, Goldof sprinted toward the fiend with zero hesitation.

  “!” His behavior confused Fremy and Rolonia. Then they turned in the direction of the screech. To them it must have looked like Goldof had suddenly flung the spike at nothing, and then that nothing screamed.

  “What was that?!” said Fremy, firing at him. Goldof turned aside to avoid the bullet, but it grazed his cheek, taking a strip of flesh with it.

  “WaityoutraitorrottenGoldofyou’renotwatchingmespillyourblood!” Rolonia’s whip cut through the air.

  “Your Highness!” Goldof yelled, and then he plunged his hand into the fiend’s mouth to grab Nashetania’s shoulder. Feeling her presence filled his heart with joy. He’d done it. Tasting the feeling of accomplishment, he dragged her out of the maw. “Your Highness!” he cried again, and then, with Nashetania in his arms, sprang sideways. Rolonia’s whip, Fremy’s bullet, and Adlet’s poison needle all landed where Goldof had just been.

  It was too early to relax. He had to stop the three of them and make them understand that the battle was over. “Your Highness! Release Chamo! Hurry!” he kept yelling at the unconscious Nashetania. She just barely opened her eyes, gazing into his face. Then she smiled.

  Meanwhile, back in the pit, Hans and Dozzu’s fight had reached its climax.

  The residual sparks from the lightning had burned off Hans’s clothes, leaving him naked from the waist up. He was red all over and flecked with burn marks. There was a deep gash in Dozzu’s right foreleg and a large wound on its face. The situation was about even, as were the skills of both parties. However, Hans was at a disadvantage. He had to kill Dozzu as quickly as possible so he could head out to look for Nashetania—even if there wasn’t much time left.

  Mora watched over their fight with the feebly panting girl in her arms. She mustered all her strength to pour energy into Chamo. If there was even the slightest break in the stream of energy, Chamo would die.

  “Cat…boy.”

  Chamo spoke, which startled Mora. She should have already been too drained to speak.

  “Catboy…” She was smiling. The strength had returned to her eyes.

  “Chamo? It couldn’t be…”

  “Chamo’ll help you out!” The girl opened her mouth wide and shoved a finger down her throat. Up came buckets of blood, along with a black fluid, and before their eyes, the fluid took the form of her slave-fiends.

  The moment the youngest Saint shouted, Dozzu turned away from Hans to dash away. Hans didn’t follow it, running up to Chamo instead. “Chamo!” he said. “They saved ya?!”

  “Catboy! You can’t relax yet! We’ll kill them all—Goldof, and that little animal, too!” From her attitude, one wouldn’t think she’d been dying just moments ago. No, she must have still been in pain. But even after coming back from death’s door, she was as belligerent as ever.

  “CHAMO HAS BEEN SAVED! ADLET! CHAMO HAS BEEN SAVED!” Mora’s enhanced voice thundered.

  As Dozzu escaped, it glanced back at them. To Mora, it seemed to be smiling.

  What had happened? Utterly confused, Adlet stood facing Goldof. A fiend had suddenly appeared, and then Goldof had immediately pulled Nashetania out of its mouth. Adlet didn’t understand, so he decided to ignore all that and just attack. That was when Mora’s mountain echo reached them. All three of them, right about to descend upon Goldof, froze at the same time.

  “It’s over? Why?” Rolonia murmured.

  Fremy’s eyes were wide. Did this mean Nashetania had surrendered? What was that creature that Goldof had killed with the Saint’s Spike?

  Adlet was half joyful and half confused. He couldn’t understand what was going on here. He eyed the girl in Goldof’s arms. She wore no armor, carried no sword, and her clothing was in tatters. She was wounded all over, and most noticeably, her left arm was missing from the shoulder. It looked painful for her to even breathe. Cradling her, Goldof glared at the trio as if to warn them that if they took so much as one step forward, they were dead.

  “It sounds like…Chamo’s been saved.” Fremy lowered her gun. She must have been unable to judge whether or not she should fight Goldof and Nashetania.

  “What a relief! We did it! We did it, didn’t we?” Rolonia cheered, now back to normal and sounding elated.

  Fremy asked her frostily, “Did what? What did we do?”

  Rolonia couldn’t give her an answer.

  “Thank you…for stopping,” said Goldof. “Don’t…kill her. She can’t…hurt you anymore. We don’t…intend to…fight anymore.”

  Adlet considered his next course of action. Nashetania was their enemy—as was Goldof. Though he didn’t have a full handle of the situation, that much was still true. Should they kill the pair here and now?

  No, we shouldn’t, he thought. “Fremy, Rolonia, put away your weapons. Leave them be.”

  “…Adlet…I…” Goldof began.

  “I know,” said Adlet. “You don’t want to fight anymore, right? First, tell us what happened.”

  “I’ll tell you…everything.”

  Fremy and Rolonia put their weapons away, but Goldof still didn’t let go of the young woman in his arms. Nashetania, breathing weakly, looked to be faintly smiling in victory.

  “You’re okay with this, Adlet? We’re not going to kill Nashetania?” asked Fremy.

  “…” He couldn’t reply to her. He had stopped the fight because he’d wanted to hear what Goldof had to say—and because he thought that if they tried to kill Nashetania, they’d have no guarantee of winning. Even now that Goldof was disarmed, wounded, and exhausted, Adlet didn’t feel like they could beat him. Goldof would make it through any trial for the sake of protecting Nashetania, or so it seemed.

  “I want to ask you one thing, Goldof. What was your goal?” Adlet asked.

  Goldof replied, “…I wanted to see her.”

  “That was it?”

  “Yes. Nothing more…than that. I couldn’t think…about anything…else.” His expression was different now. No longer the monstrous warrior who had barred their way so many times, he was now just a boy. Adlet noticed the distinct youthfulness of his face. Tears overflowed from Goldof’s eyes.

  “…Gol…dof…” Nashetania whispered in his arms. Her voice was hoarse because of her crushed throat. “…Now, I’ve…granted it. Your request…six years ago.” She smiled.

  Goldof bowed his head to the woman in his arms and said, “Your Highness…thank you…so much.”

  From what Adlet could see in this situation, Goldof had been the one to save her. So why was he thanking her? But the meaning behind that was surely meant for just the two of them, something he would never be privy to.

  Epilogue

  An Alliance Formed

  Night fell, and the group returned to the Cut-Finger Forest from the hot, sulfuric area. If they lingered, Tgurneu’s fiends might come to attack them next. In a corner of the woods, they sat together, keeping as quiet as possible.

  After Adlet’s trio had finished fighting Goldof, they’d headed over to meet up with the other Braves. They told Nashetania and Goldof they’d put the fight on hold for the time being so they could learn the truth about what was going on. Chamo didn’t seem pleased, but since she had no choice, she did as Adlet said.

  When Dozzu discovered they’d stopped fighting, it had returned from where it had fled to come meet up with them.

  Chamo removed the blade gem from her slave-fiend’s stomach and then meticulously inspected the rest of her pets. Dozzu, meanwhile, spat up the parasite in its mouth that had been feeding information to Tgurneu and immolated the Saint-sealing fiend on Nashetania’s back.

  In the faint glow of light gems, Adlet’s party faced Dozzu. A short distance away from where the Braves huddled together sat Goldof, holding Nashetania firmly against his chest. Dozzu situated itself right next
to the group of six, telling them the truth behind their fight. It explained the contract between Cargikk, Tgurneu, and Dozzu, about how Cargikk’s fiends had chased Dozzu and Nashetania, how the pair had chosen capture by Tgurneu over the alternative, and how they’d had Goldof save Nashetania. Dozzu did most of the talking. Nashetania’s throat was destroyed, so she couldn’t speak, and all Goldof’s nerve had been consumed protecting her.

  “I swear that all I’ve said has been completely true. Please, I do hope you will trust that,” said Dozzu, tying up the long story.

  The six looked at each other, silent. They had no guarantee that everything Dozzu said was genuine—but still, it didn’t seem to be lying.

  Adlet was shocked. Now he knew just how far from the truth he’d been, and the degree to which he had been manipulated. The hieroform he’d been chasing had just been a tool for Goldof to speak with Nashetania. The traces of the hieroform that he had mistaken for a clue had been from their communications. Tgurneu had tricked him and won.

  “So in other words, it was mew guys, the Dozzu camp, who won this one?” said Hans, ignoring Adlet as he reflected upon this humiliation.

  “Exactly. We achieved our goal, which was the survival of both myself and Nashetania. That was all,” Dozzu replied, quite composed.

  “So you used Tgurneu in order to escape from Cargikk,” Fremy reflected, “and to escape Tgurneu, you used Goldof. Quite a pair you are.”

  “I will take that as a compliment. Thank you.” Not even Fremy’s sarcasm bothered Dozzu.

  “Hey, so now that we’re done talking, Chamo can kill it, right? Chamo just can’t hold back anymore.”

  “…Miss Chamo.” Dozzu lowered itself and pressed its face to the ground. “You have my deepest and most sincere apologies for everything that has happened. I realize that this is not a transgression that can be forgiven, but I beg of you, please, have mercy.”

  “…Um…are you apologizing?” Taken aback, the girl tilted her head in bafflement.