by Ao Jyumonji
Even so, when Haruhiro removed an earring that had been made out of polished horn or something similar from the other kobold, he tried to do as little damage to the corpse as possible. He wouldn’t consider changing his methods. Even if they were his enemies, his prey, there was a bare minimum of respect that had to be shown.
Haruhiro stood up.
“Let’s go. To the Cyrene Mines.”
4. The Ways of Darkness
Since they call them mines, there are probably tunnels that have been dug into the mountain. In those tunnels, it’ll be pitch black, of course. That was what Haruhiro had thought, but his expectations were betrayed.
There are flowers.
Flowers are blooming here and there in the tunnel.
These weren’t just any flowers; they gave off an emerald glow. According to Merry, they were apparently called lightflowers, which was exactly what they were.
On closer examination, rather than flowers, they were more like plants that were made out of moss, but, regardless, thanks to the lightflowers, the tunnels weren’t dark. They still couldn’t be called bright, but, well, the party could see, for the most part.
“But, you know, these things—“ Ranta said, picking a lightflower and, what was he thinking? sticking it in his mouth. He immediately spat it back out with a blech. “Yuck. That’s nasty. It’s bitter. So bitter I could puke. You can’t eat this stuff. Ugh. Yuck. Bleh, bleh, bleh.”
Haruhiro sighed. “...What are you doing?”
“Huh?” Ranta wiped his mouth and said, “Trying to eat it, obviously.”
“Why would you eat it...?”
“Don’t you get it? It felt like we had a bad mood going on here, so I did it to try to help you all chill out.”
“That’s never going to help anyone chill out, and the mood is totally normal. If it’s bad, then that’s probably your fault,” Haruhiro said.
“Huh? Don’t give me that bullshit. Why would it be my fault? Don’t try to blame everything on other people.”
“Don’t do it, Haru-kun,” Yume pulled on Haruhiro’s sleeve. “Ranta doesn’t hear a word people say to him. Tryin’ to have a conversation with him is just wastin’ your time.”
Haruhiro nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“—Wait! Hold on! Hey!” Ranta protested.
“We should keep quiet,” Merry gave Ranta a quiet glare. “We’re already in enemy territory, you realize.”
Ranta arched his eyebrows and screwed up his face. It was a terrible expression. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just gotta be quiet, right? Real quiet. The rest of you shut up, too. Don’t say a word. You got that? Well?”
“...He’s like a child,” Shihoru whispered.
That made a vein bulge on Ranta’s temple. “What’d you say...?”
“Enough already!” Haruhiro yelled despite himself. “We’re not here to play around. If this goes badly, someone could die, okay?”
Ranta looked to the side awkwardly. “...I know that. It’s not hard to figure out. You don’t have to tell me.”
“Do you really get it...?” Haruhiro snapped.
He really makes me mad. I’m so angry I don’t know what to do.
Is this okay? Haruhiro wondered. Can we really keep Ranta in the party like this?
If I consider what’s best for the party, wouldn’t it be better to chase him out? It’s not that I can’t count on him to contribute in battle, and it’s not like he isn’t useful, but... he causes trouble over every little thing. He irritates all of us. It’s becoming a source of stress. Is he more of a negative than a positive, maybe? Is he a hindrance?
That’s not something to think about right now, I guess. Though, if I say that, when am I going to make the decision?
They proceeded down the tunnel a ways, finding a group of three lesser kobolds. Their opponents seemed frightened, but didn’t run away, so they fought them. When Moguzo downed one, and Ranta another, the third one suddenly fled.
It had a unique way of running. Kobolds usually walked upright on two feet, but this one used the hand it didn’t have a weapon in for running, as well. This made it pretty fast. They had a hard time catching up to it and they were worried as they did. If other kobolds attacked while they were pursuing it, they’d be in trouble. Fortunately, they managed to avoid that happening, but they would need to keep how quickly the kobolds could run away in mind.
There’s a lot we’re uncertain about, but we’ll just have to get used to kobolds the way we got used to goblins, he thought. It’s a matter of building up experience points.
“The Cyrene Mines have more than 10 levels, and—” The way Merry’s voice echoed through the tunnel, it sounded like it was seeping into his heart. “The ore veins on the first level have long since been exhausted. Basically, there’s nothing but lightflowers, so the lesser kobolds with their low social standing live here. There was a vertical shaft in the back at one point, but it was buried by a cave-in, and now you have to go down through wells to reach the second level.”
“Wells...?” Shihoru asked.
“Yes,” Merry responded, with a nod. “Wells. Though, that’s just what volunteer soldiers call them. Basically, they’re vertical holes. From the third level down, there are vertical shafts with elevators installed in them, but we primarily use wells to go up and down.”
Moguzo gave a nasal, “Hmm,” and then asked, “Is it because security is tight...?”
“Yeah. With kobolds, there are three types: lesser kobolds, normal kobolds, and elder kobolds, which are larger. Only the elder kobolds can use the elevators freely. Normal kobolds can only use the elevators when they are permitted or ordered by an elder kobold to do so.”
“It’s soundin’ like these elders act real bossy,” Yume said. Knowing Yume, she was probably sympathizing with the other kobolds.
Merry smiled faintly. “The leaders are the ruling class, the normal kobolds are the workers, while the lesser kobolds aren’t even seen as self-sufficient. The second level is the living space for the lowest of the laborers, the low workers, so think of that as where things will get started for real.”
“Up ahead then, huh?” Haruhiro licked his lips to moisten them.
Haruhiro and the others had stopped in front of an open vertical hole.
This is it: a well.
He would have placed the hole at about 3 meters in diameter. It was a bit irregular, but the hole was mostly round, and there were four rope ladders attached to it.
Do we go? Or not?
While Haruhiro was swallowing his spit and agonizing over it, Ranta started to climb down the ladder.
“Wait, isn’t that a bit fast...?”
“Huh?” Ranta narrowed his eyes. “Come on, quit dragging your feet. After coming this far, is not going even an option? It isn’t, is it? Like it ever could be. Let’s get going, you bunch of buffoons. I’ll leave you behind, you got that?”
“Actually, I almost want to leave you behind here...” Haruhiro murmured.
“Try it, and I’ll kill you. Seriously, I’ll do it.”
Well, nothing else for it, then. Haruhiro descended one of the rope ladders.
The second level was rather different from the first. It had originally been a mine level, of course, but there were countless holes dug into the sides of the walls, and it looked like there were residences... or rather, dens... through them. Well, it more than just looked like it, since they had become more or less sure of it at this point.
As proof, when Haruhiro peeked into one of them, there were kobolds snoring away. That surprised him a little.
“...W-Won’t we be in trouble if they wake up? There’s a good number of kobolds just in this hole...”
Just as Haruhiro was wondering that, he heard a dog-like barking in the distance. The kobolds were quarreling among themselves. That’s what it sounded like.
Is there a fight going on? he wondered.
The barking quickly faded, but then he heard more barking from another direction.
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“It’s pretty noisy, huh?” Yume didn’t seem that frightened.
“...May...” Shihoru clung to Yume, trembling. “...Maybe we should turn back...?”
“It’s fine,” Merry said in a calm voice. “They’re always noisy like this, so once the low workers are sleeping, they won’t wake up unless something really major happens. Even if we make a little bit of a scene, it’s rare for many of them to gather.”
Moguzo said “Oh...” and took a breath.
“That’s only true as deep as this level, though,” Merry said with a little laugh. “Because, from the third level down, there are elders. We have to be careful with elders. Also, there’s the one that has the spots of death, Death Spots.”
It wasn’t just Haruhiro. The moment they heard that name, even Ranta’s expression went a little stiff.
With black and white spotted fur, it had a body that was bigger than an elder, apparently. This extremely vicious super-kobold went around the mines with a small group of underlings.
The “Spots” in its name came from its spots, while the “Death” came from its having killed a large number of volunteer soldiers. Among its victims were Merry’s former comrades.
For Merry, she must have felt she needed to kill Death Spots to avenge her friends. If someone had managed to slay it, people would have been guaranteed to talk about it. Since that hadn’t happened, that meant it was still alive.
“It will even appear on the first level sometimes, is what they say.” Merry’s tone didn’t change. It was strange that it didn’t.
Isn’t she just forcing herself to keep up the appearance of calmness? Haruhiro couldn’t help but think.
“We don’t have any trustworthy reports of it being sighted there, so I don’t think we need to think about that for now,” Merry said. “However, from the second level down, it’s a different matter. You need to keep Death Spots in mind. If it comes at us, we need to run right away, or—”
“This,” Ranta grinned and made a gesture like his throat was being clawed out. “That’s what’ll happen to us, right?”
“Oh, geez!” Yume slapped Ranta on the shoulder.
“Ow. Wh-What?”
“How can you be so darn insensitive?!” Yume demanded.
“Huh? How am I insensitive? I don’t think you’ll find a person out there as sensitive as I am.”
“Drink before you speak!”
“...Yume, it’s think before you speak, okay?” Haruhiro corrected her, but he felt like he’d interrupted her when she was in the middle of trying to say something, and he regretted it a little.
Clearing his throat loudly, he looked over at Merry. Merry is acting like she’s fine. I expected that, but I don’t know whether she really is or not. She seems like the type to bottle her feelings up inside her, so I’m worried.
“Anyway, Ranta, shut up for a bit,” Haruhiro said. “If you have to talk, at least say something better.”
“Fine, then let me suggest something better.” Ranta used his chin to gesture towards the hole where the low worker kobolds were sleeping. “Those guys don’t wake easily, right? In that case, why don’t we just kill the lot of them in their sleep and score some easy loot? Let’s snuff ’em, quick and easy.”
Haruhiro was speechless for a moment. “...Are you a demon?”
“Tch, tch, tch.” Ranta waggled his index finger back and forth while clicking his tongue. “I’m no demon. I’m a knight of darkness, a dread knight. Understand? I serve the dark god Skullhell. ‘All are equal before death’ is part of our philosophy. The vices that we value are, basically, the antithesis of the meaningless platitudes you people call morals and common sense. Their antithesis. It’s important, so I’ll say it a third time: their antithesis.
“I mean, anyway, we’re all going to be embraced by death someday, so doesn’t it feel stupid letting yourself be tied down by all that stuff? If there’s one thing we should be beholden to, it’s our desires. Our instincts, impulses, that sort of stuff. At the end of it all, the equality of death awaits. Understand?”
“I don’t understand at all, and I don’t want to.”
“Haruhiroooo. You should get a little more training, you know? For that head of yours. You can’t serve as leader with that low level of comprehension, can you? Let me just say, I’m warning you out of the goodness of my own heart here, you know?”
...Wow. What should I do? What do I do here? What’s the right thing to do? I really want to slug him.
Had Ranta ended up like this because his mind was poisoned by the dread knights? At the very least, there had to be more to it than that. After all, Ranta had originally been meant to be a warrior, but he had run off and became a dread knight instead. Warriors were indispensable to the party, so he had volunteered for the position. Despite that, because he thought they were cooler, or some reason like that, and without telling Haruhiro and the others, he had gone and become a dread knight. Ranta had always been a selfish and unreasonable guy. It was his personality. His nature.
Ranta’s never going to get better. He won’t change. He’ll always be like this. Can I keep working with a guy like this? To be totally honest, I’m not confident I can.
Or, rather, is that something I should have to be confident about? For a guy like Ranta?
It’s not something to decide on right here and now, though, I know. If I just said, “We don’t need you anymore, see ya,” and broke up with him right here, somehow, I feel like that’d put me on the same level as Ranta.
“Your suggestion is rejected. I don’t think we even need to take a vote,” Haruhiro said.
Everyone nodded. Everyone except for Ranta.
“Pft. Yeah, I thought it might be like that.”
“Then don’t say it in the first place...”
“I’m going out of my way to suggest the things that won’t even occur to you. Can’t you understand it? My fatherly love.”
“What kind of father are you?” Haruhiro cried.
I can’t get along with this guy. Or, rather, I really shouldn’t.
Haruhiro and the party progressed through the second level. There were apparently five wells down to the third level from the second. For now, they headed towards one of them, and—
Are these guys coming back from work?
—they bumped right into a group of low worker kobolds carrying pickaxes and shovels. Four, in total.
“Four... that’s a lot!” Haruhiro reflexively stabbed at one of the low workers. When he did, that low worker swung its shovel to block Haruhiro’s dagger. It quickly went on the attack.
Shovel. Shovel. Shovel. A flurry of shovel blows.
Haruhiro went Swat, Swat, Swat. He responded with the thief fighting skill that targeted an enemy’s weapon and swatted the blow away.
It damages my dagger, so I don’t want to use it too often, but I guess I can’t afford to say that now. What about the others? Moguzo, Ranta and Yume look like they’re taking on one each.
There was a stalemate that lasted a few seconds.
“Ohm, rel, ect, vel, darsh...!”
Vwong. Shihoru hit the low worker Moguzo was fighting with Shadow Beat. The low worker’s body convulsed, rendering it defenseless for a moment.
Moguzo did not miss the opportunity. “Thanks...!”
There it was. Rage Blow, a.k.a. the Thanks Slash.
Haruhiro had no sense for how he himself had grown, but he felt that Moguzo’s slashes had definitely gotten sharper and more precise. With a splat, the low worker crumpled.
Moguzo immediately went to help Yume.
Good. We can do this—
Something bumped Haruhiro in the back.
“Whuh?! Haruhiro, dammit!” Ranta shouted.
“It’s you, Ranta? Watch where you’re going—”
“I could say the same to you!”
“I’m sorry!”
“As long as you get it!”
He complains about every little thing, and it pisses me off. Even when I was
apologizing. What’s his problem?
“Thanks!” Moguzo cut another one down with a Thanks Slash.
With that freeing up Yume and Moguzo, Ranta shouted, “I’m fine! I’ve got this! Go help stupid Haruhiro!”
“Who’re you calling stupid?!”
Give me a break already. I’ve had it up to here with this. I can’t believe you. You’re the worst, just the worst.
Haruhiro could feel the blood rising to his head, but he had to control himself. Moguzo and Yume were coming. The low worker turned to face them.
Its back. I can get behind it. Now.
“Backstab...!”
That didn’t feel like a good hit. Bone. The dagger blade struck bone.
Haruhiro clicked his tongue and jumped away. Even so, the low worker seemed concerned about the wound in its back, and it ended up in a vague position that looked like it might turn around, or might not.
Then Moguzo attacked. “Thanks...!”
That’s his third one.
The Thanks Slash struck again, to explosive results. The low worker’s right shoulder looked like it had burst.
“Moguzo, you’re amazing!” Yume shouted out in joy. He really was amazing.
He was strong, but not very clever. Some people might have thought him slow and stupid, but Moguzo was earnest and single-minded. Even as he accepted the enemy’s blows on his bastard sword and armor, he looked for an opening. Otherwise, he locked blades with them and used the Wind skill or brute force to make his opponent falter, breaking their stance. Then, he finished them with the Thanks Slash.
He didn’t have a lot of variation, but by repeating those same moves without ever tiring of it, he had become polished at it. Moguzo was the party member who had grown the most.
“Exhaust...!” Ranta retreated backwards so fast he looked like he might take off into the air.
As if being sucked in, the low worker moved up.
Ranta thrust out his longsword. “Anger...!”
The low worker yelped, twisting aside and avoiding the blade, so Ranta backed away further.
“Exhaust...!”
As if being sucked in, the low worker... did not move forward.
Yeah, of course it wouldn’t. It’s not that stupid.
