You Have To Accept That Things Won't Always Go Your Way

by Ao Jyumonji

  If you do that, you’re going to crush them. They’ll be crushed to death.

  The orcs tried to push back, but Renji and the others were pushing downwards while they had to push up. Renji and the others had the overwhelming advantage to begin with, and probably having made the first move helped more than anything.

  The orcs fell down one after another.

  What about Renji and Ron? They were still there.

  Well, no, of course they were there, but they were still standing. Renji and Ron stepped over the orcs and headed down.

  They’d done it. They made it down the stairs.

  “Damn, Renji’s awesome!” Ranta bellowed.

  I can understand why Ranta’s so excited. He’s right. You’re just too amazing, Renji. To think, those guys came to Grimgar in our group. I don’t want to compare us with them. It’ll only make me depressed.

  Even so, I’m a little bit proud. Those guys are my contemporaries. I want to be able to brag to people about that. I won’t do it, though. That’d be depressing in its own way.

  Still, you’re cool, Renji.

  I already knew it, but you’re amazing. You’re not like us. It’s like you’re so different, all I can really do is laugh.

  “Don’t push in too hard! The main force hasn’t broken through the front gate yet!” Bri-chan was shouting from on top of the wall as arrows came flying from one of the watchtowers sticking up out of the keep.

  Bri-chan knocked one of the arrows out of the air with his sword. He hadn’t even been looking in the direction it came from, so it was amazing how easily he’d done it.

  Bri-chan didn’t have so much as a scratch on him, but there had been more than a few arrows. A number of volunteer soldiers had been hit and were squatting down.

  “It’s dangerous to stay here!” Haruhiro shouted loudly enough for Choco’s party to hear, as well. “Hurry! It’ll probably be safer once we get down off the wall!”

  “I know that, you dolt!” Ranta shouted.

  Ugh, Ranta, just shut up. You always say too much. Actually, you being here at all is too much. No... restrain myself, I have to restrain myself. Think of it as a trial. The worst kind of trial imaginable.

  The watchtowers had been built strong, and they had slits, or tiny windows to fire arrows out of. Haruhiro’s side couldn’t see the enemies, so they couldn’t tell when they would fire.

  As they were about to head for the stairs, more arrows came. The volunteer soldiers going down them were being targeted.

  “Shields!” Haruhiro cried, holding up the shield that had been fastened to his back.

  However, none of the others had shields.

  “...Huh? Why don’t you have shields?” he called.

  “Yume, you know, she thought she wouldn’t be needin’ hers anymore. So, down below, she threw it away. It was heavy, y’know.”

  “...I-I did that, too,” Shihoru admitted.

  “M-Me, too,” Moguzo said.

  “Me, too, dammit!” Ranta yelled.

  “...Same here,” Merry added.

  “Urkh... Even Merry did it...”

  In fact, Haruhiro was in the minority. From the looks of it, Choco’s party and nearly all of the other volunteer soldiers no longer had their shields.

  It seemed Haruhiro’s penny-pinching nature had served him well. Though, that said, one shield wasn’t going to—

  “Ah! We do have shields!” he called. “The orcs’ shields!”

  As far as he could see, Green Storm Force hadn’t taken any serious losses yet, but there were a lot of dead orcs. Along with the corpses and swords, there were shields scattered around, too. They were fur-coated Zesh clan shields.

  “Oh! This is just what the doctor ordered!” Ranta cried.

  Once Ranta and the others had picked up some shields, the other volunteer soldiers started to imitate them.

  They held up their shields towards the watchtowers and rushed onto the stairs. An arrow or two stabbed into the shields, but that was no problem. They were managing to protect themselves just fine.

  Halfway down the stairs, the path in front of them became too crowded to move ahead.

  In order to get inside the keep, they would need to ascend the outer stairs and make it to the entrance on the roof. The outside stairs were near the southeast corner of the walls. It would take nearly a full circuit around the outer walls to reach them from the front gate. In fact, the east wall was the closest to them.

  Renji and his group were almost at the stairs that went up. However, more and more orcs were piling out of the keep, so even the incredible Team Renji was starting to get slowed down.

  “You’re doing fabulous! If we keep on pushing, eventually our allies will come!” Bri-chan was shouting things like that as he batted arrows out of the air with his sword, but was this okay?

  “...No, it’s not!” Haruhiro shouted.

  Haruhiro opened his eyes wide. There were orcs incoming from the north wall where the rear gate was. The main force had attacked from the south and the detached force had attacked from the east and west, so there had been no one attacking from the north. When they’d learned that enemies had broken through on the east wall, the orcs defending the north wall might have come to reinforce the east wall.

  “This is bad!” Haruhiro moaned. “Renji and the others are going to get caught in a pincer!”

  “Anyone with hands to spare, go defend against the enemies on the other side!” Bri-chan ordered immediately. A number of parties headed to intercept them at once.

  Though, of course, it wasn’t going to be that simple. Even if they were going to try to intercept the enemies from the north wall, the area between the stairs down off the wall to the stairs going up the side of the keep was packed with volunteer soldiers. Thanks to that, most of the volunteer soldiers couldn’t move very well.

  “We’ll do it, too!” Mr. Pleasant, the guy who seemed to be the leader of Choco’s party, said, jumping down off the wall stairs. Choco and the others looked surprised, but they were about to go after him.

  “Hey, wai—” Haruhiro began.

  I don’t know if you’re excited or what, but there are limits to how reckless you can be. There are probably around twenty enemies coming from the north wall. You guys are rookies, okay? Think this through a little.

  “Don’t we need to go, too?!” Ranta hollered.

  When Ranta poked him in the shoulder, Haruhiro hesitated for around two seconds. Dammit. I can’t just watch.

  “Okay, let’s go!”

  When Haruhiro leapt from the stairs, the battle had already been joined. The orcs’ momentum was incredible. In no time flat, a number of volunteer soldiers were taken down.

  —They’re down. Are they dead?

  The orcs got past the volunteer soldiers’ front line.

  Two—no, three—orcs attacked Choco’s party.

  Mr. Pleasant, Laughing Man, and Mr. Tall each went to take on an orc, but they clearly weren’t up to the task.

  First Laughing Man got knocked flat on his backside, then Mr. Tall got pushed back against the wall. Mr. Pleasant was managing to trade blows with his orc, but it looked like he might get killed at any moment.

  Mr. Priest moved up, trying to block an orc’s blow with his short staff.

  No good. He’s being overpowered.

  Choco and Ms. Short Hair were holding each other tight and cowering.

  What are they doing? That’s like asking them to kill you.

  Of course, the orcs wouldn’t pass up that chance.

  He wanted to help, but—Haruhiro couldn’t possibly make it in time.

  “Ohm, rel, ect, palam, darsh...!”

  It was Shihoru. Shihoru did it.

  An elemental that looked like a ball of black seaweed fired forth from the tip of Shihoru’s staff. The shadow elemental flew in a spiral, striking an orc in the face just as it was about to brutalize Choco and Ms. Short Hair.

  It was Shadow Complex.

  The shadow elemental s
plattered on impact, working its way in through the orc’s nose and mouth and quickly taking effect. The orc suddenly stood there, staring vacantly. It was a spell that was easy to resist if you were anticipating it, but not as easy as Sleepy Shadow. The orc hadn’t seen it coming at all, so the spell had worked well. First the orc stood there in a vacant stupor. Soon it would go into a state of confusion and excitement, losing the ability to make rational decisions.

  “Anger...!” Before it could get to that stage, Ranta leapt in and skewered the orc’s gullet.

  Haruhiro had wanted to be the one to take down that orc, but Ranta had beat him to the punch.

  Oh, well. Not much I can do about it.

  Haruhiro got behind the orc that had Mr. Tall pushed back against the wall. He threw away his shield.

  He really couldn’t see that line.

  They weren’t like the orcs in the camps. The back plate on the red armor that these Zesh Clan orcs wore had no weak points. It was plate mail. His dagger wouldn’t go through that. Backstab wasn’t going to be good enough.

  Haruhiro pinioned the orc, jabbing his dagger into the gap between the orc’s helmet and armor. Once he stabbed through its throat and jumped away, Mr. Tall hit the staggering orc with his longsword. He had a reasonable height advantage, so when he swung his longsword down from overhead, it was pretty powerful. Until the orc fell to the ground motionless, Mr. Tall kept on swinging his longsword down at him.

  “...Th-Thanks,” Mr. Tall said breathlessly at last.

  Ignoring that, Haruhiro looked around the area. Choco had another orc after her.

  “Choco, behind you!” he shouted.

  “...!”

  She reacted just in the nick of time. Choco jumped to the side, dodging the orc’s slash.

  “Gashwarl!” the orc roared.

  The orc turned his way. It was charging at Haruhiro. A straight-up fight was out of the question. Haruhiro wouldn’t stand a chance in one.

  Sharpening his senses and mustering them, he focused on the orc’s movements.

  The weapon. That single-edged sword. I think it was called a gahari. It’s coming. From the top left. Knock it back. Swat. Wrist back in position, the next strike is coming from the top right. Swat. Swat. Swat. Swat.

  He sure is strong. He’s got power. He’s not letting up. If anything goes the slightest bit wrong, I’m done for.

  If the enemy had made it a test of endurance, relentlessly pushing Haruhiro with safe attacks, Haruhiro probably would have made a mistake eventually. Thankfully, his opponent went in for the kill, which saved him.

  Next it’ll be a big swing. I can’t stop that.

  Haruhiro took a risk and moved up. He stepped in on the diagonal and, rather than block the gahari with his dagger, he slid his dagger along the gahari’s blade. He turned the blow aside.

  At the same time, he grabbed the orc’s arm. After two days of Barbara-sensei using this technique on him, he had received two full days of practical combat training with it. He followed up his Swat with an Arrest.

  This won’t break.

  I mean, seriously, orcs have some thick arms.

  Making a snap decision, he tried to sweep the orc’s leg out from under it while still pushing its elbow joint as far as it would go.

  The orc responded. Haruhiro didn’t manage to trip it; the orc jumped on its own.

  It rolled, then started to get back up. As it did...

  “Thanks...!”

  There was Moguzo.

  Rushing in, Moguzo landed his most deadly attack, the Thanks Slash, on the orc’s head. It had been deadly, all right. The orc’s head split in two, helmet and all.

  Damn, Moguzo’s awesome.

  “Th-Thanks,” Choco stammered, her big eyes open wide as she was clutching her chest. She seemed half-stunned.

  “Nah—” Haruhiro began to respond, then grabbed Choco by the arm.

  It was an orc. Another orc had come.

  Moguzo took it on for them, so they were safe for now, but—though he hadn’t intended to, Haruhiro noticed he was holding Choco tight to him. He immediately let go and pushed her away.

  “S-Sorry.”

  “...No. Hiro, you saved me.”

  “Well, yeah, but—Ah! Later...!”

  Later, what? Haruhiro didn’t really know that himself, but right now he was busy.

  “Gahaha! Moguzo’s already taken down two of them, huh! That’s my partner for you!” Ranta bellowed.

  Ranta was using Exhaust to take on one of the orcs. Moguzo kept on swinging hard, looking like he was going to take down yet another.

  Shihoru took aim at a distant orc, using her magic to keep him in check. It was reassuring to see Merry there guarding Shihoru.

  Haruhiro traded glances with Yume. They would do their usual routine. Support Moguzo and Ranta in order to deal with the enemies as quickly as possible.

  “Haruhiro!” Ranta shouted, leaping back with Exhaust. “What’s your relationship with the girl...?”

  “Why’re you acting like you can afford to ask questions right now?!” Haruhiro screamed.

  “I’m acting like I can afford to because I can, duh! Whoa...?!”

  “You can’t afford to at all!” Haruhiro shouted.

  “Shut up, moron! Take that! Reject...!”

  When Ranta locked blades with the orc, he tried to push him back, but he wasn’t able to put much distance between them.

  At some point, Moguzo had ended up fighting two-versus-one. Even though it had been one-on-one just a moment ago.

  Yume was trying to pull one of the orcs away from Moguzo, but that was dangerous in its own way. Haruhiro felt like they would probably be better off if he bought time against the orc by using Swat.

  When he looked over to Shihoru, Merry was swinging her priest’s staff to keep an orc away. He needed to do something about that, too.

  We’re stretched to our limits, he thought. Still, don’t panic. We’re not alone. There are other volunteer soldiers here, too. We don’t need to be able to defeat them. We just have to slow them down.

  Still, they’re not easy enemies. It’s taking everything I have just to keep calm. They’re scary. For now, deal with Shihoru and Merry. After that... After that... No, don’t worry about after that. First—

  “Eryeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!”

  What was that voice?

  It wasn’t an orc. It was a human. The ear-splitting shriek of a woman.

  “They’re here!” Bri-chan shouted, leaping for joy up on the wall.

  The orcs from the north side slowed noticeably. Actually, they were losing their heads. Behind them. That cry had come from behind them.

  “They’re here! Our reinforcements!” Bri-chan cried, blowing a kiss. “It’s Wild Eagle Force! I love you, Kajiko!”

  Chapter 13: Our Mistake

  From there, the fight became one-sided.

  Caught in between Haruhiro and the others in the intercepting group from Green Storm Force and Wild Eagle Force, the orcs from the northern side dropped like flies.

  How many minutes did it take to eliminate them? It was fast. In mere minutes, more than twenty orcs were transformed into silent corpses.

  They were his enemies, so Haruhiro didn’t feel sorry for them, but he did think it was kind of brutal. He’d grown used to the smell of death, but when there were this many corpses, it was still pretty hard on him.

  Kajiko’s Wild Angels walked past Haruhiro’s party.

  The feathered stoles around their necks, their helmets and hats, even the feathers on their bandanas... all of them were dyed red with the blood of their enemies.

  “...A-Awesome...!”

  Ranta’s staring in admiration, but... that’s not awesome, it’s scary, Haruhiro thought.

  “Britney! What about the main gate?!” Kajiko asked in a menacing voice, but Bri-chan, who was still up on the east wall, simply shook his head.

  “It’s no good! It doesn’t look like they’ve broken it! I can’t see fro
m here, but it looks like they’re fighting a hard battle!”

  “In that case, we’ll just have to take the keep ourselves!” Kajiko said, spreading her arms wide. “Listen up, volunteer soldiers! The Frontier Army has put one hundred gold coins on the keeper, Zoran Zesh! Also, there are fifty gold coins on the head of Abael, a sorcerer who’s killed many soldiers and volunteers with his black magic!”

  “One hundred...!”

  “A hundred coins!”

  ”A hundred gold coins!”

  “Fifty coins?!”

  “One hundred gold?!”

  “Did she say one hundred gold?!”

  “That’s incredible!”

  “Seriously...?!”

  As if trying to pour cold water on Green Storm Force and Wild Eagle Force as they buzzed with excitement, arrows rained down from the watchtowers. It looked like a number of volunteer soldiers had been hit by them. Laughing Man from Choco’s party had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, and Mr. Priest had started to treat it.

  “Sh-Shields...!” Haruhiro hastily picked up an orcish shield. However, it looked like nobody was worrying about the arrows much anymore. The volunteer soldiers had a different look in their eyes now.

  They wanted to get up the keep stairs. Then from the stairs to inside the keep. There were one hundred gold coins, then fifty more. One hundred. Fifty. One hundred. Fifty.

  One hundred and fifty gold total. Was that the only thing in their minds now? Sure, one hundred and fifty gold was a tempting sum. It was so much money that it hardly felt real, but still.

  Haruhiro heard a familiar war cry echo through the courtyard.

  It was Ron. “Get into that keep! We’re gonna be the first ones in!”

  While he had been watching from the stairs on the eastern wall earlier, they had been being pushed back as often as they’d advanced, but finally the enemy’s tough defense had been broken.

  Green Storm Force and Wild Eagle Force were jumbled together, rushing up the outside stairs. It was like a flood of volunteer soldiers. Arrows were raining down from the watchtowers, but there was no stopping this flow.

  The wills of individuals in it no longer mattered. None of them could stop. Haruhiro was being pushed along, as well. His comrades were at his side. That much, he could still tell somehow.