Unification of the South

by Hyougetsu

  “I won’t sleep for long, don’t worry. Once I get up we can start searching for a way out.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll keep a lookout while you sleep.”

  “There’s no one here, so I doubt that’s necessary.”

  Despite my protests, Firnir didn’t put her spear down.

  “It’s better to keep watch, just in case. Besides, it’s a habit of mine.”

  “If you say so... In that case, I’ll sleep first and go on watch when I wake up so you can rest. Good night, Firnir.”

  “Mhmm. Night, Shatina.”

  ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

  —Firnir’s Light—

  After Shatina fell asleep, I moved some sticks to trim the fire. Firewood’s a precious resource, after all. If we ran out of things to burn, we’d never make it out.

  But you know, I’m amazed Shatina can sleep in a situation like this. I heard that Meraldia assassinated her dad and tried to kill her too, but she got away with Vaito’s help. Seeing how calm she is, I can see how she managed that. I could never be so calm in a crisis like this.

  Even though Shatina’s not a good fighter, she knows a lot. Plus she’s really diligent and has a strong sense of responsibility. She gets angry easily, but I think that’s because of how much she cares about others. In a way, she kinda reminds me of Vaito. Meanwhile I still just rush in without thinking.

  I’m pretty sure the floor crumbled because I was too heavy. While kentauros aren’t as heavy as horses, they’re still heavier than people. If I’d remembered that back then, could I have done something to prevent this predicament? Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.

  At least I managed to catch Shatina when she fell. Thanks to that I hurt my leg, but... I’ll probably be fine after a little rest. No wait, I can’t just think baseless things like that. How do I become wiser, like Vaito? Maybe I should ask Shatina when she wakes up, she thinks before she acts. But first... I need to protect her until she does.

  ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

  “Shatina, get up!”

  I’m roused from my slumber by Firnir’s firm voice. While she was perhaps overly energetic at times, I knew she wasn’t the type of person to wake someone for no reason. This must be an emergency.

  “Wh-What’s wrong!?”

  I scrambled to my feet and belted on my sword. Meanwhile, Firnir gathered our things and explained, “We need to move. Something’s closing in on us.”

  “What!? Who!?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Firnir’s expression was grim. She didn’t look anything like her usual, cheerful self. She picked up a makeshift torch she’d made by wrapping sticks together with a string made from the remnants of her shirt. She must have done that while I was asleep.

  “Shatina, hold on to this for me.”

  “Understood.”

  I lit the torch using the campfire. In the distance, I heard a strange sound.

  “Iite... Avec...”

  It sounded like a voice, but not one belonging to a human. There was a chilling quality to it, like the sound of wind blowing through the trees at night.

  “Firnir, what is that?”

  “No clue. But I think it’s best if we never find out.”

  Firnir slung our packs over her shoulder and beckoned to me.

  “Let’s get out of here before we run into whoever that voice belongs to. I think my leg’s healed now, so we should be able to go fast.”

  “Healed? Does that mean it was hurt before?”

  “Oops.”

  Firnir made a face that made it clear she hadn’t intended to let that slip. But then she smiled awkwardly and said, “Kentauros’ legs get hurt easily. I just landed badly when we fell. But I’m good now, it doesn’t even hurt.”

  I felt a twinge of guilt as she smiled at me. As I was now, all I could do was sit there while Firnir protected me.

  “I’m... sorry.”

  “Huh!? There’s nothing you need to apologize for, Shatina! Come on, let’s go!”

  “A-Alright...”

  Still feeling guilty, I nevertheless hurried after Firnir.

  “Iite... Avec...”

  I heard that same voice again, but this time from further away. Whatever it was, we were outpacing it.

  “This is a weird place,” Firnir said. She was examining the walls around us as we jogged away from the voice. “Look, there’s all these carvings on the walls. They’re all really elaborate, too.”

  “You’re right.”

  I stopped for a moment and took a closer look at the walls.

  “These look like they were made by the old dynasty. If they’re real, they must be centuries old.”

  “Now I’m worried they might collapse...”

  “I feel like we have more important things to be worrying about right now!” I shouted. Firnir cocked her head and asked, “What could be scarier than a cave-in?”

  “The old dynasty was responsible for conducting all manner of strange magical experiments. I heard they even tried to give birth to a strange species that was a cross between man and beast.”

  “You realize I’m half-human half-beast too, right?”

  “Th-That’s not what I mean.”

  Firnir didn’t seem to understand what I meant when I said “give birth to.” But as I opened my mouth to explain, I realized how embarrassing it would be to say that out loud and stopped myself.

  “Umm... they also researched how to raise the dead, and how to curse lands with plague. They were very dangerous people.”

  “Really?”

  “You’re the disciple of the Great Sage, aren’t you!? Why don’t you know this!?”

  “Huh, you’re right. Why don’t I know this?”

  How would I know!?

  “Regardless, we should hurry. If the creature emitting that strange sound is one of the old dynasty’s creations, it’s likely dangerous.”

  “If you’re saying that, it probably is. Got it, I’ll be careful!”

  Firnir flashed me a confident grin. Had it been Master Veight smiling at me, it likely would have assuaged my fears, but I couldn’t say the same for Firnir. That being said, if it weren’t for her I would likely have lost my wits long ago.

  “Let’s go. We may as well see how far this corridor goes.”

  After a long distance, the passageway turned to the right, and then again to the right after another long trek.

  “These carvings are really smooth.”

  I hadn’t noticed it before, but Firnir was right. The details of the carvings were fuzzy, the ridges and grooves smoothed out. Human faces especially had been eroded to the point of being indistinguishable from one another.

  “It’s like they took sandpaper to the carvings, but kept sanding them for too long.”

  I wasn’t sure how that observation would help us in our current situation though. I tried to get a closer look to see if maybe there was some clue I’d missed, but stopped when I heard a faint voice in the distance.

  “Iite... Avec...”

  Whirling around, I saw only darkness behind me. It seemed the owner of the voice was still far away.

  “L-Let’s go, Firnir.”

  “Yeah.”

  After a while, the passage once again turned to the right. Worried, I muttered, “Was that turn at a right angle?”

  “What’s a right angle?”

  “Uhh... actually, never mind, it’s fine.”

  I should have known better than to ask Firnir. When it came to architecture and geometry, I knew far more than her. I was, after all, the viceroy of the labyrinth city. By my estimation, all three turns had been right angles. And this passage seemed to go straight.

  “Firnir, stop for a second.”

  “What? Something wrong?”

  Firnir came to a halt and turned around.

  “Shouldn’t we hurry? Won’t it be bad if we stop here?”

  “I know, but hold on a moment. We just turned right three times, didn’t we? Meaning...”

  I pulled out the
parchment I’d been using to draw a map and pointed to its corners. Firnir gave me a puzzled look, but after I’d pointed to the third corner, realization dawned on her.

  “We’re going in a circle!?”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  I folded up the map and glanced back. We hadn’t heard the voice in a while.

  “Of course, it’s also possible this is a square-shaped spiral if the distance between each turn isn’t uniform. In that case, we wouldn’t really be going in circles, but I have no way of measuring the distance.”

  “Umm, so what should we do?”

  Firnir was being surprisingly hesitant. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what to do either. If this really was a square, then we’d just be retracing our steps over and over. But in that case, there was no point in turning back either. However, if this was a spiral, then we’d eventually end up somewhere. After saying as much to Firnir, I pointed forward.

  “Either way, we have no choice but to hope this is a spiral and keep going.”

  “I see.”

  Firnir nodded, then grinned again.

  “If it’s not a spiral, then I’ll fight whatever’s chasing us. Don’t worry, I know I look unreliable but I am still Firnir the Swift Gale, General of the demon army.”

  Though our situation was still precarious, her words reassured me. I had no one else to rely on, of course, but even so, she seemed dazzlingly dependable. Firnir readied her spear and peered into the darkness.

  “Alright, be ready to fight at any time! Both flanks, be wary of ambushes from the sides!”

  “We don’t have any flanks...”

  “Think of yourself as a one-person army. That’s how I see myself too.”

  “Very well.”

  But even so, I don’t think it’s possible for us to be ambushed from the sides. Since there are only walls on either side of us.

  We continued down the straight path, the walls occasionally glinting in the torchlight.

  “You can’t hear the voice anymore either, right?”

  Firnir turned around and strained her ears. I wiped a bead of sweat off my brow and nodded.

  “No, I can’t. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like it’s catching up to us.”

  All of the patterns on the wall looked unfamiliar. I couldn’t be certain, but it didn’t seem like we were going in a circle. Feeling somewhat relieved, I stopped to study the carvings some more.

  “It looks like this stretch of wall depicts an army of undead sieging a castle.”

  “Whoa, you’re right. Those skeletons look just like the ones Master summons.”

  “By master, you mean the Demon Lord?”

  Something about that statement nagged at me, but I was too focused on the wall to give it much thought. The undead appeared to be led by a warrior wearing a crown. He held aloft a massive claymore in one hand, and in the other a shield with an engraving of a tower on it. Behind his army lay the smoldering ruins of numerous towns and castles. To be honest, the scene wasn’t very pleasant. But as the story progressed along the wall, a great number of magicians appeared and sealed the undead army underground. They then burned the warrior who summoned them alive, and finally the last part of the mural depicted his grave.

  “I guess that’s the story of how a tyrant met his end?”

  Firnir nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, I think so. Do you think maybe that voice belongs to the tyrant they killed?”

  “It just might.”

  Since he’d been leading an army of undead, I assumed he’d been a necromancer. And I’d heard that powerful necromancers oftentimes turned immortal.

  “Maybe they couldn’t actually kill him, and instead just sealed him here.”

  “If that’s true, he’s not someone we can handle.”

  It would be nice if the owner of the voice wasn’t hostile toward us, but considering the story the mural told, I didn’t have much hope.

  “These carvings might give us some clues as to what we’re up against. Let’s see if we can find anything... Huh?”

  The corridor came to an abrupt end, leading into a spacious room.

  “Isn’t this room...” Firnir trailed off. I didn’t like the look of this one bit. The center of the room was covered in scorch marks, traces of a recent campfire.

  “Oh no...”

  Firnir and I both groaned in despair.

  “It was one big square...”

  As I’d feared, it was a loop. There was no exit. We’d been trapped inside this floor. Together with some strange creature.

  “Iite... Avec...”

  This time, the voice came from close by.

  “Fir!”

  “On it!”

  I transferred the torch to my left hand and drew my sword with my right. Firnir moved protectively in front of me and lowered her spear.

  “I am a General of the demon army, Firnir of Swift Gale! Whoever you are, if you have even a shred of honor, I demand you name yourself!”

  Her sharp voice cut through the darkness like a knife. I never knew she was this brave. A harsh scraping sound, like that of rusted iron grinding against itself, reached my ears.

  “Iite... Avec...”

  When the creature ambled into the torchlight, I nearly screamed. It was wearing rusted brown armor, and carrying a shattered sword. In its free hand, it held a chipped shield with a tower pattern engraved on it. And on its head was a broken crown. But most terrifying of all, its face was nothing but bones.

  “Eek!” I nearly dropped the torch, but caught it at the last second. “F-Fir!”

  “This looks like an undead soldier, but the fact that it can speak means it’s not normal!” Firnir shouted as she kept the skeleton at bay with her spear.

  “Who are you!? If you possess intelligence, then speak! If you refuse to name yourself, I will strike you down!”

  The skeleton warrior fell silent. After a moment it raised its shattered sword and said, “Vaw Moona Yuni Dei!”

  “Wh-What? Is that your name?”

  Firnir faltered, so I screamed from behind her, “Idiot, it’s obviously angry!”

  “Huh!? Oh, s-sorry!”

  “What point is there in apologizing to a corpse!?”

  The fact that the skeleton could speak, but not in words that either of us could understand, seemed to have left Firnir at a loss. Heedless of our confusion, the skeleton warrior raised its shield and yelled, “EEMAGENCE!”

  The skeleton’s rotted shield emitted a strange noise. What’s it trying to do? Firnir was the first to realize what was happening.

  “Shatina, we’ve got twenty more enemies coming from the front!”

  A group of skeleton soldiers, these only equipped with weapons, appeared from behind the one with the crown. These were smaller than the first, so I assumed that one was special. The skeleton soldiers pointed their swords and spears at us.

  “Dieeee!”

  Firnir’s spear shot out. Normally spears were ineffective against the undead, but her thrusts hit as hard as a warhammer. Her thrust shattered the skull of the skeleton closest to her.

  “I’ll kill you allllll!”

  Firnir swept her spear to the side, mowing down an entire row of skeletons. She’s strong. Really strong. I’d heard that undead warriors were about as skilled as the average living soldier, but Firnir was sweeping them aside like they were nothing. But no matter how many she defeated, the enemy’s number continued to grow.

  “Fir, fall back to the hallway! At this rate, you’ll be surrounded!”

  “G-Good point!”

  Firnir cut down the skeletons closest to her, then wheeled around and galloped for the corridor. I hurriedly ran after her. The passageway was just wide enough for an adult to lie down. The ceiling was low as well, making it difficult to swing a spear around.

  “Fir, can you fight here?”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not a spearman, I’m a warrior!”

  Firnir smiled and patted the hatchet strapped to her
waist.

  “Though I guess I’m best with a spear!”

  “Sorry.”

  I worried I might have led her to a more disadvantageous spot. Still, at least she wouldn’t have to worry as much about protecting me. They wouldn’t be able to circle around her in such an enclosed space.

  Wait, circle around? I turned, looking at the dark passage behind me. The corridor was an enclosed square, with a single room at this spot.

  “Fir!”

  “What is it this time!?” Fir shouted, smashing the shields and skulls of any skeletons that got too close. She didn’t have the leeway to turn around.

  “Let’s run to the corner! This is a closed loop, meaning the two passageways leading out of this room are connected!”

  “Oh yeah!”

  Firnir wheeled around and held her hand out to me.

  “Climb on!”

  “On where!?”

  “Onto my back!”

  I assumed she meant the horse part of her back. It was small, but still large enough to accommodate a single rider. It feels wrong to ride on a friend’s back, but I suppose now’s not the time to be worrying about whether it’s disrespectful or not.

  “Very well! And sorry!”

  I’d been trained in horseback riding, so I had no trouble jumping onto Firnir’s back. There was no saddle, or stirrups, or reins though, so it was hard to keep my balance.

  “U-Umm, Fir...”

  “I’ll carry the torch, you just hang on tight.”

  Firnir took the torch from me and I sheathed my sword. I then wrapped both arms around her stomach.

  “Hyaah!? That tickles!”

  “S-Sorry!”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. Hang on, I’m gonna dash!”

  Firnir sped up and galloped down the corridor. Unable to keep up, the skeleton soldiers soon disappeared from sight. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad we finally had some time to regroup.

  “Let’s set up a defensive formation at the corner. Even if the enemy has ranged weapons, they won’t be able to hit us if we duck behind the wall. And if they try to circle around us, they’ll hit us from the flank instead of from behind, so they’ll be easier to deal with.”

  “Makes sense. I knew I could count on you, Shatina.”