The Archer of Beast Woods

by Kanata Yanagino

  “About that. You’ve done enough already, so I’m sorry for asking this, but the people here don’t have any money. If possible, they’d like to borr—”

  “Menel, let’s go explore some ruins! We’ll split whatever we find!”

  “What?” Menel’s mouth dropped open.

  ◆

  “I can’t believe you’re this good at ruin-hunting as well...”

  “I’m used to it.”

  Menel and I conquered the ruins that neighbored the village, and saw off the spirits of the wandering undead there at the same time.

  I’d been thrown into the city of the dead’s underground quarter and had some seriously hard training at the hands of Gus and Blood, so I was relatively good at this kind of thing. Menel’s past experience as an adventurer had clearly helped him, too; he was very quick on his feet.

  By collecting money and magical items from the ruins, Menel got the amount he needed to rebuild the village, and I succeeded in replenishing the various supplies I’d consumed. I’d been told that there were a lot of untouched ruins around here, so it seemed that I’d be able to amass the funds I was going to need on my own, at least for the time being.

  “Seriously, who are you...” Menel wondered aloud.

  “You weren’t going to pry, right?”

  “Yeah, and I’m sticking to that, but... hell.”

  I was on a journey north with Menel right now. Our destinations were the same—Whitesails, the most prosperous city in Southmark—but our reasons for going were different.

  Menel’s was simple: he needed to go there to buy the draft animals and various tools that Marple’s village needed.

  As for me, I had many reasons. I wanted to help Menel, I wanted to learn about the activities of the demons in Beast Woods, and I wanted to get more information on the continents and countries of this world. Doing something about the demons’ suspicious behavior, spreading faith in the god of the flame, helping villages—all of these required first heading to a city where people and things gathered.

  We were walking through Beast Woods. The view surrounding the trail barely changed, and the heavily wooded forest let little light through. Fortunately, with it being late winter, the bushes and undergrowth weren’t that thick, but even so, we had spent so long walking that it was starting to feel like we were just going around in circles. I’d seen nothing but this same kind of scenery for several days now.

  Today, too, we had been walking about half the day, and as the sun was starting to shine through from high in the sky, I could hold it in no longer. “We are making progress... right?”

  “Of course we are,” Menel said. “Starting to get you down?”

  “Kind of.”

  “Well... Can’t say I blame you. I can’t wait to get out to a village somewhere, or at least to a nice, open plain. The ears of winter wheat should be waving in the wind at this time of year. Should be pretty beautiful.”

  “Oh, that sounds really nice,” I said, getting a little excited as I imagined the view.

  Then, a long, loud, and piercing shriek filled the air, and a second voice with it. “He-Help! Anyone!!”

  Menel and I glanced at each other, and immediately ran in the direction of the voice.

  ◆

  There was a deafening bellow.

  It came from a gigantic ape with dark brown hair. The ape was easily over two meters tall, and I estimated its weight at close to three hundred kilograms.

  It was big. Its arms were thick, as were its legs. Its torso, its neck, its lips, its eyes—all were large and bulging. It reminded me of the depictions I’d read in martial arts stories in my previous life.

  There was another high-pitched shriek. Two people were frantically running in our direction and away from the ape. One was a scrawny man with a pack on his back who looked to be a hawker. The other, carrying a stringed instrument of some kind on her back, was a little girl—no—

  “A halfling, huh,” Menel muttered.

  She was definitely very short, and a pretty fast runner for her size. Her ears were pointed like leaves, and her hair was red and curly. I’d learned about halflings from Gus—they were a vagabond tribe of cheerful little people who enjoyed singing, dancing, and eating... Hmm, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about this.

  The two of them ran madly towards us. The short girl caught up with the man and his goods and began to pass him. “What are you doing?!” she cried. “Dump it! Dump it, you dingbat!”

  The hawker looked ghastly pale and was sweating profusely as he tried to run. “But—” he started.

  “Nuts to your but! Oh, why me?!”

  Before they could bicker any further, the giant ape charged them, and with two simultaneous yelps they darted away in opposite directions. Taking advantage of her small body, the girl rolled into an area heavily obstructed by branches.

  It looked like she was going to be able to get away.

  But she looked at the hawker, and saw that now he was the one being chased. Her eyes went hard with determination. Shouting, “Hey! Over here!” she picked up a tree branch and threw it at the ape. Evidently, she was hoping to draw its attention to her.

  I stepped between the short girl and the ape instead.

  “Look a—ah?! Wh-Who—W-Wai-Watch out...!”

  When the giant ape saw that I had barged in front, it stopped its charge. Its large eyeballs rolled in their sockets towards me, and it stared. Then, its enormous mouth opened wide as it roared and threatened me with its long, thick canines. Its rage made the air tremble.

  I stared unblinkingly into its eyes.

  It roared again, pounding on its chest with the palms of its hands. The sound was incredible, like it was beating a set of enormous drums.

  I stared unblinkingly into its eyes.

  In my peripheral vision, Menel seemed to be helping the hawker to his feet, but I wasn’t going to take my eyes off the ape. I kept on staring. The ape was looking back at me while emitting a very low growl. Blood had told me that in an encounter with a wild animal, you lose the moment you look away.

  Come on then. Wanna wrestle? I’m game.

  I continued staring intensely, letting the ape know that I was more than willing to fight. Its growl grew steadily fainter, and it began to back off. Finally, the staring contest was ended by the ape breaking its gaze, and it turned around and headed back into the depths of the woods.

  I breathed out.

  I didn’t have to fight. What a relief, I thought, and turned around.

  “Are you all right?” I said, and the halfling girl came flying at me.

  “What was that?! What was that, that was crazy crazy crazy! Hey tell me tell me, who are you, an adventurer?! Giant apes don’t stop just ’cause you look at them, that’s just wow, I mean wow!”

  Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

  ◆

  “I’m Robina! Robina Goodfellow! I’m a troubadour, I sing, I dance, I go where the wind takes me, you can call me Bee! And this dweeb is a hawker, he’s Antonio! But I call him Tonio! The ships of the trading company he was working for all sank one after another and it folded, so now he passes himself off as a hawker on country roads at the border!”

  Robina had red, curly hair and a childlike physique. A halfling girl—could I call her a girl? A “young woman,” perhaps? She looked small, but she probably had a longer lifespan than humans, so I wasn’t really sure of her age. What I did know: she talked a lot. I’d never met anyone like her before.

  “Hahaha... I don’t believe there’s anything left for me to say. Hello, my name is Antonio. Please feel free to call me simply Tonio. As Robina says, I’m a lowly hawker of goods. I was on my way back to where I’m based in Whitesails, when... well, dear me, that was a close shave. Thank you truly.”

  Antonio was a bearded man somewhere in his late thirties. He looked peaceable and friendly, but a little fatigued, lacking any get-up-and-go... Yeah, no offense to him, but I could see where Robina was coming from with her �
�dweeb” comment.

  “I’m Meneldor. I used to be an adventurer, but now I’m a hunter around here. I was just going to town to buy some stuff. And this is—” Menel looked at me.

  Self introductions were never my strong point—not in my previous world, and not in this one. I always got nervous at times like this. “William. William G. Maryblood. I’m an adventurer, and a priest to the god of the flame, Gracefeel.” I made sure to smile. “Call me Will.” Yeah, that was probably passable.

  “Woww that’s a real noble’s name, wait did you say Gracefeel?! Gracefeel’s that one right, from the south! The god that has basically no priests anymore! Whoaaa, what a discovery you are! And you’re not just a priest you’re also a skilled warrior? I mean you must be, who else just stands in the way of a giant ape?! So are you or what?!”

  “That’s about right,” Menel said on my behalf. “He looks a little slow, but he’s ridiculously good. I mean, I’ve been walking with him, and there’s hardly been a single beast attacking us.”

  “You mean even the beasts know how much stronger he is and they avoid him?! Whoaa, that’s amazing!”

  Hm? “There’s normally more beasts than this?” I asked.

  “I would say so... That is why it’s called Beast Woods.” Even Antonio was looking at me as if I had something wrong with me.

  “What about you two, you alone?” Menel asked, looking around. “Didn’t you have any bodyguards? They get killed or something?”

  “Well, the thing about that, you see... I’m ashamed to admit that when we ran across the giant ape, they all ran off...”

  “And they made such a foofaraw over it that the ape got worked up and then look what happened! Giant apes never attack people normally!” Robina sounded very frustrated. “They just look scary, they’re actually really nice!”

  When Menel heard this, he burst out laughing. “So they showed up totally unprepared, ripped you off the up-front payment, and ran for it! You need to work on your eye for people, brother, if you’re gonna be a merchant!” Cackling, he slapped Antonio on the shoulder several times sympathetically. Antonio looked embarrassed and timid.

  It seemed like this was something every adventurer went through once or twice. That was a bit of a shock... More importantly, though, that meant that these two had lost their protection.

  “What are you going to do now?” I asked. “If you like—”

  “We can tag along if you want,” Menel chimed in. “You can pay us back later.” His eyes were very loudly saying, You leave the negotiating to me! so I was forced to keep my mouth shut.

  “Hmm. And how would you like us to do that?”

  “I’m looking to buy some draft animals from Whitesails. I’ve been helping this guy out with some ruin-hunting, and we made out pretty well from it, so I want to use the money to take the strain off the people back at the village.”

  “Ah, I see! Yes, I wouldn’t mind helping you with that, of course. I have connections with a merchant I can introduce you to.”

  “That’s a big help. Sorry for butting in. This guy can be a bit... His world knowledge has a few holes.”

  “Oh, so I was right with the noble birth thing? He does kinda give you that feeling, doesn’t he?! Sheltered maybe, or like, naïve...”

  “L-Look, there’s no point saying where I came from, you probably wouldn’t believe me, and anyway, it’s not something I can go spreading around...”

  “So you’re an adventurer from a noble house who’s gotta keep his past a secret ’cause of noble business?! I get it! And not only that, a priest to a forgotten god! Wahaaa! How magical! My poet’s brain is loving this!”

  Wait... what? It seemed like no matter what we said, it only deepened her misunderstanding...

  ◆

  What followed that was several more days of walking along the trail through the unchanging late-winter scenery of Beast Woods.

  Robina and Antonio quickly became Bee and Tonio. Tonio was gentle-mannered and skilled at closing the distance between himself and others; as for Bee, she held nothing back, to the point where I found it doubtful whether the concept of closeness with other people existed in her head to begin with.

  Every time we got to a village, she would whoop out something like, “Woohoo! Here I am, baby!” with a rowdy and cheerful laugh, and make sure everyone there had a wild time. After she’d sung, danced, livened up the place, and had plenty of tips thrown at her, Tonio would then open up shop. By then, everyone would be in a good mood, and their purse strings nice and loose.

  They were a pretty effective combination. Even Menel was impressed by the way they did business. According to him, there were good hawkers and bad hawkers, just like everything else. They weren’t all like Tonio; there were also a lot of aggressive sellers and others that were not much different from petty thieves. Which probably meant it was true that Tonio had originally come from a reputable company.

  Tonio now had me with him, and he was putting this new element to fantastic use as well. Bee gathered people together, then I asked whether there were any sick or injured among them, gave them treatment, and we transitioned from a celebration of their recovery into a party. Apparently, the parties were getting into full swing even faster now because of this new approach.

  “Okay,” I said. “Show me your affliction.”

  I cast the miracles of Cure Illness and Close Wounds on everyone I could.

  Just as the essence of magic was creation from chaos using the Words, the essence of benediction was rewriting reality using the influence and benevolence of the gods, the higher beings of this world. It really was faintly terrifying how people were healed as if nothing had ever happened to them in the first place, almost like erasing a part of a pencil drawing and effortlessly redrawing it. The greatness of the gods could never be matched by human magic.

  Benediction was inflexible—you had to become the servant of a specific deity, each of which had a specific focus—so it was not a superset of magic, and there was some separation between the two fields, but every time I re-examined benediction, I was reminded of what an incredible power it was.

  This power was one I was borrowing from Gracefeel. I had to be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking it was my own power. If I ever did, I was sure that nothing good would come of it.

  “E-Excuse me,” said the housewife I’d treated for burn scars on her arms, “how much should I give you in return for this...?”

  “Oh, that’s not necessary. I’m only in training at the moment, and your thanks should go to the god of the flame, not to me. If you still feel like you owe something, please buy an item from Tonio.” The woman bowed to me several times, then went over to where Tonio had laid out his wares. Menel was giving me a reproachful look for describing myself as “in training.”

  I wasn’t pulling a fast one on her... I really was in training...

  And like that, we walked from village to village treating people, playing songs, and selling things and buying them as we headed north over ten days.

  I couldn’t say just how far we’d traveled; the forest paths were constantly twisting, and we’d taken quite a lot of detours to stop by villages that Tonio knew. My senses told me we’d walked quite far, but it wasn’t easy for a person on the ground to convert that into a straight-line distance.

  In any case, today was another day in the gloomy forest.

  After an age spent doing nothing but walking, there was a huge, sudden cheer at the head of our group from Bee. As I ran up to her to see what was up, my surroundings got brighter and brighter, and then my view cleared.

  There were no trees to the left or right, and there was no gloom or darkness.

  When I looked up, light was pouring down from the sun which had started to tilt into the western sky. A clear blue sky of an imminent spring was spread out overhead. I lowered my eyes; the road gently meandered towards the horizon, and on both sides was a series of partitioned fields, creating a patchwork of beautiful, natural colors. A gust
of wind blew, and the young, green wheat swayed.

  Even though it wasn’t cold, I got goosebumps.

  “WHEAT ROAD!! YAHHOOOO!!”

  Bee danced around, then grabbed Tonio by both hands and spun around in circles.

  Menel gazed at the wheat swaying in the wind, deep in thought.

  The sheer expansiveness of the plain left me speechless for a while as well—then Bee grabbed my hands, and I too was dancing in circles. I laughed in spite of myself, and started goofing off with her.

  However, because we spent so much time fooling around, the sun started to set well before we could make it to the nearest village. Visiting late at night and getting mistaken for robbers would just be stupid, and we happened to have come across a little shrine, so we decided to set up camp there.

  “Heheh, I’m in a good mood today!” Bee said. “Why don’t I perform for you all? Free of charge!” She took out a small three-stringed instrument shaped a bit like a pear (it was apparently called a rebec), and placed a bow against the strings with an overdramatic flourish.

  “Ooh!” Menel said. “Generous of you.”

  She laughed proudly. “Oh right, have to pick something. Of the recent songs... Reystov the Penetrator is overplayed right now, but then the Berkeley Tale of Valor is such old hat...” She hummed in thought for a moment. “Right, I know! I can do one of the epics of the Three Heroes from the famous Killing of the High King. The Wandering Sage, the War Ogre, and the Beloved Daughter! Sound good?”

  I thought my heart was going to stop.

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” Tonio said.

  “Seems a fair choice,” said Menel.

  “Come to think of it I haven’t played for a li’l while. Um, ’sup Will?”

  “U-Uh, nothing, it’s nothing! Please, go on! I’d love to hear it!”

  “Oho! Nice, nice, that’s just what I like to hear! Okay, let’s get started!”

  The bowstrings started to sing. It was a sad tone that made the air tremble, bringing back memories of distant homelands. My heart was pounding.