“We’ve gotta keep up.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, do you remember?”
“Remember what?”
“Your oath.”
I couldn’t help but give a small smile. “Sorry. I forgot it for a moment.”
“Heh. I thought as much.”
— I dedicate my whole life to you! As your blade I will drive away evil, and as your hands I will bring salvation to those in sorrow!
“You go through working out pros and cons and whether you can win or not, but the final outcome’s always been something you never bother to think about. Am I right?”
If pros and cons were what concerned me, I could have left Beast Woods alone. I could have gone literally anywhere else.
“You did what you did ’cause it was the right thing to do. So all you gotta do is keep that up.”
Menel smiled. I smiled back.
There was no need to think about how to stand up or summon courage. As you struggle desperately forward to protect someone or fight for something you believe in, courage comes afterwards all by itself.
◆
Once I’d made my decision, the rest was quick.
I walked to my front door with Menel, who was kind enough to come with me. I think we were both smiling. I opened the door and, in front of Al and all the other dwarves, including the dirt-covered one who’d been thrown on the ground, I made my declaration.
“I will slay the dragon!”
Everyone stopped moving with the same shocked look on their faces.
I composed my expression and posture and continued speaking. “I have decided that I will go to slay the dragon. Al—Vindalfr—I commend your words about taking back your grandfather’s mountains. Will you accompany me?”
Al’s eyes went round. He broke into a wide smile, his hazel eyes glittering. “I had faith you would say that. Gladly!”
Menel shrugged. “You sure you want to accept that easy?”
“That’s rich coming from you, Meneldor. You’re planning to follow him no matter what happens! You’re not fooling anyone!”
“He’s learned to defend himself.” Menel laughed and gave him a nod. “We’re against a dragon, so numbers aren’t gonna help. And we can’t spare too many people who could defend the villages, either. We’ll take you, me, Will, and someone who knew the mountains two centuries ago to show us the way.”
“I would—”
“No, I will go.” Ghelreis, the dwarf with the scar, stopped Grendir as he tried to volunteer, and he put his own name forward.
“Ghelreis, you—”
“I can’t leave this to someone without a will to live. Besides, you have a duty to unite your fellows.” I noticed that Ghelreis’s clothes weren’t dirty. It looked as though he had managed to stay out of that frenzied fight and hadn’t taken Al on, either. “I will guide you.”
“Thank you very much.” I was thankful to have someone composed.
So we had me, Menel, Al, Ghelreis...
“And me.” Reystov appeared from behind a building. “I’ve packed already.”
I chuckled. As usual, Reystov wasn’t one to let a challenging foe pass him by. “Very glad to have you on board. Looks like we’re decided.”
“So us five men are off to pick a fight with demons and a dragon. It’s not gonna be a pretty trip, that’s for sure.” Menel laughed. “Do we have some kind of winning strategy?”
“No,” I said definitively. I may have been undecided for a good number of days, but I hadn’t been wasting my time doing nothing. I had been giving my magical equipment a check-up, turning the pages of my spellbooks, and moving my body as I remembered my training with Blood. And as I did all this, I thought of all kinds of plans. As a result of all that thinking, I was forced to a single conclusion. “There’s no surefire way to kill a dragon.”
They weren’t so easy that you could do something about them with a cunning plan or unusual item. That was what made them dragons. But, at the same time, this world was real. It wasn’t a computer game with systems like levels and hit points. It was possible to get unlucky and be easily killed by something much weaker than yourself, and conversely, it was possible to get lucky and kill something stronger. At the end of the day, a dragon was a living being with a body of flesh, and if its head was chopped off or stabbed through, or its heart was impaled, it would die. As low as the probability of victory was, I was certain that it couldn’t really be absolutely zero, no matter what the god of undeath said. Of course—
“The odds aren’t good. Will you still come with me?” I looked around at everyone.
“Yes, sir!” Al was the very first to nod. His eyes were clear and earnest.
“That’s where honor and glory are.”
“There could be no greater satisfaction for a warrior.”
Reystov and Ghelreis spoke calmly, with the dignity of seasoned warriors.
“I’m used to having to deal with your craziness.” Menel shrugged his shoulders, and so it was settled.
I declared it anew—
“Let’s go. To slay the dragon and take back the mountains!”
Everyone who had come to see what the fuss was about joined the dwarves in raising a huge cheer.
◆
Sometimes, when you finally make the decision to do something and start the ball rolling, unexpected good luck can follow. This was one of those times.
With our departure looming, I penned letters to the bishop and His Excellency, brother to the king, in which I explained all the details of the situation and humbly requested for them to take care of things while I was gone. After that, I went out to my yard and was inspecting my equipment there when a red blob came hurtling towards me. I caught it in a hug, and within a moment we were holding hands and spinning around.
“Wa-haaa!!” She let out a cheerful squeal of laughter. I hadn’t heard this voice in a while. “Heheh. It’s the one and only... ME!”
“Bee! Long time no see!” Clutching my hands was a playful halfling troubadour with ears pointed like leaves and red and curly hair—Robina Goodfellow! “I haven’t seen you for months. Where were you this time?”
“Hehe. Grassland to the north. I started at the Fertile Kingdom, then I went around the coast visiting the Allied Kingdoms to the west. And now I’m back!”
“That’s amazing!”
Most of that area, I only knew through books and rumors. She traveled to so many more places than me. The circumstances of this unstable place had me running around so much that I hadn’t even managed to cross to the northern continent at all yet.
“Was it cooler in the north?”
“Yeah, but listen, listen!”
“What?”
“A dragon roared, right?! You’re going off to kill it?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Then I can make it into a story like we promised before?!”
“Of course. Be my guest.”
“Yahoo!” Bee did an excited little dance while still holding my hands. I ended up being spun around in the yard again. “It’s a troubadour’s dream to be able to make a new dragon-killing saga.” Bee laughed. “I’ll start by spreading around a prologue for you. You need one, right?” This smile was mature.
“Yeah, I really do. Thanks.”
Simply spreading that I had headed off to slay the dragon would do a lot to calm people, and the power of songs and stories was indispensable for that. They were this era’s media.
“It’s no problem. Just don’t give me a sad ending, okay?” She raised her eyes to mine as she said it.
I nodded. “I’ll work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Yep. Do your best. ’Cause tragic endings are not popular right now!”
“The audience reactions are what you’re worried about?!”
As Bee and I laughed and talked nonsense to each other, Tonio came following after her.
“Bee, you’re in too much of a rush. Please don’t leave me behind.”
; “Haha, sorry, sorry!”
“Will, I’ve secured you a full suite of everything I thought you might need, including provisions, travel gear and clothes, mountain equipment, and so on.”
Tonio didn’t disappoint. He was quick to prepare. Too quick, actually. I only just decided I was going...
“You went ahead as if I was definitely going?”
“Yes. In fact, I was very anxious that I might not make it in time for your departure. I was constantly expecting you to burst into action at any moment. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you are very quick to act once you know you have a battle on your hands.” Tonio laughed. “I’m not sure if you were deliberating or merely biding your time, but in any event, I confess myself relieved.”
“Imma make it so he was biding his time. That way’s cooler!”
“Don’t build it up like that! That’s the reason ‘Sir William’ is turning into this massive brawny man loaded with ingenious tricks!”
I’d happened to hear a poet who wasn’t Bee reciting a story about me on a street in Whitesails, and he was using phrases like “a towering giant of a man” and “eyes of profound wisdom.” Sure, a little bit of embellishment couldn’t be helped, but I thought that people around where I hung out made too big a deal of me.
“I hesitate like anyone else. I don’t want to die or get hurt or anything.”
“But you’re going, right?”
“Yeah. It’s a precious oath I made to my god.”
Bee smiled softly when she heard that. “I’m stealing that for my story. O champion of the flame, devout warrior who serveth God, may the winds of fortune be with thee!” She strummed her rebec.
Tonio smiled gently as usual. “Will, I won’t tell you not to overdo it or try anything crazy, because I’m sure now is the time you most need to push yourself. If there is anything else you need, please let me know.”
Feeling grateful for that offer, I thought for a moment and decided to execute one of the strategies I’d been brewing.
“I would like to ask you for one thing. It’s quite big...”
◆
Then, when I fell to sleep the night before we set off, I awoke under a starry sky of dancing phosphorescence. The ground below me was dark and reflected the stars like a vast plane of water, but in the water’s surface there was the large reflection of a faint light. It was behind me. I turned to see a figure holding a lantern-like light with a long handle.
The figure was wearing a hooded robe that covered the eyes. I already knew who it was.
“It’s very good to see you again, god of the flame.” I bowed my head, as I had some time ago.
“...”
My god gave no response. She stood there in silence for a little while, and then—
“Victory is very unlikely.”
She began with that.
“Stagnate is right. As you are now, you are not the dragon’s match. But if you spend a few years training, you may contend with him.”
“What will happen to Southmark in that case?”
“Man shall be there almost no more. Even the land to the north shall suffer.”
“I thought so.”
“You will go, then?”
I nodded. Then I bowed deeply to her once more. “Thank you for telling me it’s okay to run.”
I was surprised to sense slight unease coming from below her hood. Her silence felt as if she was carefully choosing her words.
Regardless of how I was feeling inside, I would probably have headed straight for the dragon if she’d simply ordered me to. I had that much of a debt of gratitude to this god of mine. And yet, for the entire time I was undecided, she didn’t respond to my prayers or give me any revelations. There had to be a reason, and I was sure I knew what it was.
“I... I would not that you should die.”
I couldn’t help smiling after hearing those kind words. “I’m honored. Thank you very much.”
“But still you say you will go? To hold to the oath you made to me.”
“Yes.”
“Then I shall not say it displeases me.”
I sensed a faint smile under her hood.
“The oath you made that day belongs to the two of us.”
— Please, go forth with me.
On that day, I had indeed said it: that I would dedicate my whole life to her, that as her blade I would drive away evil, and that as her hands I would bring salvation to those in sorrow. Yes, I had indeed made her that oath.
“Kneel.”
I got down on my knees and bowed my head. I heard her gently lowering her hood, and I felt her walking up to me.
“I command thee, William.”
She rested her small, white hand gently on my head.
“Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy god. I will strengthen thee; I will help thee; I will keep thee with my flame.”
My god’s Words and the feelings they carried slowly permeated through my entire body.
“Go, my knight. Slay the dragon and pay that which you have vowed.”
While still on my knees, I looked up at the face of the goddess smiling at me gently. I placed my hand on the left side of my chest and vowed.
“By the flame.”
◆
When I woke up, I could feel a warm energy slowly working its way around my body. My god’s words and feelings burned as a flame inside me.
Then we finished our preparations, had a huge celebratory send-off, boarded our river boat, left the city, and went down the river to slay the dragon and fulfill my oath. And that night, concealed by a nearby rocky section of riverbank, we got straight off the boat again.
“We’ll take ’er from ’ere,” one of the men said, slapping his shiny metal chestplate. A thirty-some adventurer with a red face, thick arms, and carrying a sword on his hip with a vibrant red sheath, he was one of those people who Reystov had called “bluffers” back in the tavern two years ago. I’d learned his name later; it was Marcus.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Just as we discussed, please.”
“Aye.” Marcus grinned. “Easy money. Thanks for the job as always.”
“Not at all.”
“’Ere’s ’oping for more in the future.” Then, after slapping Reystov on the shoulder and telling him to stay alert, Marcus and his team disappeared down the river.
Reystov and I quietly watched them go. When we turned around again, Al was looking at us blankly. Ghelreis also looked a little puzzled. Menel wasn’t showing much in his expression, but he looked as if he wanted to say something.
“Umm, why are we getting off here?” Al said. “It’d make sense after going a little farther, but—”
I nodded. Indeed, Al would be making a good point if we were going to continue down the river, cut through the forest, and aim for the mountain range to the west. However...
“The demons are just as aware that we would come that way.”
A look of epiphany swept over Al’s face, and Ghelreis nodded in understanding. Yes, in addition to the sleepy-eyed foul-dragon, those mountains were crawling with intelligent demons from Hell. If we were careless enough to act in a way our enemies were anticipating, we would be allowing them to seize the initiative.
“We had a rousing send-off down the river. I guess it won’t be long before the lowest of the demons and their familiars start watching from a distance. You know, to try to pin down where we’ll disembark. The leaders of the demons will probably want to predict the path we’ll take. They’ll be eager to surround us and kill us as soon as possible.”
It was unclear what kind of relationship there was between the demons and the foul-dragon right now. Were they cooperating, in opposition, or simply indifferent? I didn’t even know that much. I decided to remove from consideration the extremely optimistic picture that if the demons’ base was attacked, they would leave everything to the foul-dragon while they sat and did nothing. It was probably safe to assume that they would defend themselves at least inde
pendently, or worse, by working together.
In just the same way that I’d been checking my equipment and gathering various kinds of information while I was making my decision, I was of course also thinking of a strategy for how to attack the mountains.
“Which is why...” I walked along the riverbank to a place tucked away behind some rocks. Al followed me, and his eyes went wide. What was there was the sleek silhouette of a river boat that I’d had Tonio secretly arrange for me. A surprise attack would have been the ideal situation, but the Rust Mountains were untrodden ground, which meant we couldn’t use a fairy trail. So the method I’d chosen was this one. “We’re going up the river.”
The Rust Mountains were once called the Iron Mountains, and a country of dwarves had prospered there. At this era’s level of technology, it would be impossible for a major city to exist anywhere except beside a large water source. Which meant that naturally, there had to be an enormous flow of water into the area. By analyzing geographic information from neighboring areas, I discovered that it was a branch of this huge river. I also confirmed it with the dwarves themselves.
The river forked somewhere further upstream and flowed to the west, so if we went upstream and then went back down again at the point where the river forked, we could invade from the other side of the mountain range.
“While the demons are all on guard around the front entrance, we’ll break in by kicking down the back door.”
That was why I’d asked Marcus and the others to be decoys. They would throw off the eyes of the demons for us, toying with them by disembarking, all breaking up and going separate ways, then coming back, going out with the boat again, and doing that over and over again all the way down to Whitesails. Now that’s living up to the reputation of bluffers.
Incidentally, Bee supervised their disguises. She really got into it, giving advice like, “Act knighty, you know, kinda like you’re used to fighting! Oh, the handsome look is good, but don’t hit on anyone! Oh, and definitely don’t be wishy-washy, that’s even worse!” Thanks to her, their group took on the perfect image of the Paladin and his party that had been spread through song and poetry.
We paid them a more than satisfactory reward, and their morale was high as well after Bee declared that if we succeeded, she would tell the story of the Shadow Knights along with the story of my slaying of the dragon. And if some low-ranked demons attacked them, they had the people to deal with it, so I was confident they’d do a good job.
The Lord of the Rust Mountains Page 16
