Towards a Glory Not Worth Taking

by Ao Jyumonji

  “Zeahhhhhhh!” Kuzaku forcefully pushed the Pansuke down, but he wasn’t able to get in the killing blow. That was because the Tori-san intervened. Kuzaku had no choice but to run from his Thunder Sword Dolphin.

  Where’s Ranta? Yume? Merry? Haruhiro tried to look. I can’t look.

  The Pansukes that the Tori-san had beaten into awareness swarmed towards him. Haruhiro’s pulse raced and his breathing became strained. The pressure was intense. He felt like he was going to panic. Though, if he could still realize that, maybe it wasn’t so bad. His field of view had grown so narrow.

  The spears. They’re coming. Swat. Swat. Swat. No, I can’t. I feel like I’m gonna mess it up. I can’t afford the injury. Ahh—

  Uwah...

  Haruhiro leapt back without attempting a Swat. He couldn’t Swat in this state of mind. He’d fail for sure.

  A white giant. Not one of the four-meter class. Bigger than that. There’s a six-meter class one approaching. What are we gonna do about that?

  The spears came at him. One after another. Could he dodge? He’d have to. But he couldn’t quite manage it.

  Haruhiro instinctively threw himself to the ground and rolled.

  “Whaaaat’re you doing?!” Ranta flew in. He swept two spears away at the same time with his Thunder Sword Dolphin. Naturally, the two Pansukes holding them collapsed, twitching. Ranta had sheathed Betrayer Mk. II and was wielding Thunder Sword Dolphin with two hands.

  “I told you to do it like that from the beginning!” Haruhiro screamed.

  Haruhiro used Swat on the other Pansuke’s spear, then followed up with Shatter and Slap. His dagger and sap were both weapons with a short reach, so it was pretty hard to strike his opponent’s hands with them.

  Slap wasn’t a skill he used often, but it went well. The Pansukes held their spears with both hands. When Haruhiro hit one of the Pansuke’s right hands with his sap, the Pansuke let go of his spear with that hand. Without missing a beat, Haruhiro used the pommel of his dagger to strike his jaw with Hitter. When the Pansuke’s legs gave out and he collapsed, Haruhiro speedily circled around behind him, then grappled him and used Spider. His dagger sank into the Pansuke’s single eye.

  “Shut up! Worthless Parupirori!” Ranta went to finish off the Pansukes he had stunned, exaggeratedly raising his Lightning Sword Dolphin over his head. That was when his hands stopped. “Wait, there’s a white giant comiiiiiiiing?!”

  “Ranta!” Haruhiro shouted.

  “Wha...?!” Ranta used Exhaust to fly backwards with a burst of speed. The Pansukes he had stunned had thrust out their spears.

  Kuzaku was running around and avoiding the Tori-san and a Pansuke. Merry and Yume were each handling one Pansuke each, and they were unable to move.

  Shihoru had noticed the incoming white giant, and seemed to be thinking about what she could do with her magic. Sadly, however, there probably wasn’t anything. When it came to a white giant in the six-meter class, stopping its movement with Shihoru’s magic was practically impossible.

  The Pansukes that had failed to skewer Ranta to death now changed their target to Haruhiro. While using Swat on their spears, Haruhiro was appalled at himself for trying to escape from reality by focusing intently on just using Swat. But he couldn’t think of anything he could do, and he didn’t feel like he was going to be able to think of anything, either.

  It was crazy to fight. They had no chance of winning.

  So what, then? Would they run? They could get killed the moment they turned their backs on the enemy. Some of them might, at least. They were boxed in on all sides.

  That was why he was Swatting, Swatting, Swatting some more.

  Is this okay?

  There was no way it was. He needed to make a decision.

  If they dug in and continued the battle, they were guaranteed to all die. If they ran, some of them might survive.

  Of course, Haruhiro would stay to the very end, working to make sure as many of them got out as possible. He was the leader, after all. He had to do that much, at least. Yeah, he’d probably die. Not that he wanted to. He couldn’t do the admirable thing and say he was prepared for it, but he would do what he knew he ought to do.

  He didn’t care what happened to himself. If Haruhiro’s one life would pay for all of his comrades getting away, he was fine with that. But that wasn’t how it would work. More than one person would be sacrificed. It was looking especially bad for Shihoru.

  Besides, even if they cut their way out of here, after that, they would—No, he had to focus on now. What was the best thing to do at this moment? If he started thinking about what came next, he wouldn’t be able to decide on anything. Even if it was just one of them who would get away, he wanted that person to survive.

  The white giant had closed in to a distance of around ten meters away. Haruhiro didn’t have any time to spare.

  While Swatting a spear, Haruhiro shouted. “Ru—”

  Or he started to, but then he quickly closed his mouth.

  No way. That’s just too cool. Haruhiro Swatted another Pansuke’s spear, then shouted something else. This time, a name. “Tada-san!”

  “Tornado Slam!” Tada whooshed in with incredible speed, spinning around horizontally and slamming his warhammer into the white giant’s left ankle. The impact made the white giant stop and look down at Tada.

  “Go, go...” the giant said.

  “Hey there, small fry.” Tada shouldered his warhammer, then stuck up the middle finger of his right hand. “I’ll take you on. Bring it.”

  “Ohm, rel, ect, nemun, darsh!” Shihoru shouted.

  Shadow Bond. Shihoru fixed a shadow elemental to the ground, stopping the Tori-san who was directing his Pansuke follower to put pressure on Kuzaku.

  “Haaaaa!” Kuzaku immediately lured the Pansuke away from the Tori-san and went to work on him. He used Block on the Pansuke’s spear. Then, stepping in after a Thrust, he used Bash to hit the Pansuke in the face with his shield. From there he pushed him down, ramming his longsword into the Pansuke’s one eye.

  “Ranta, get the Tori-san!” Haruhiro called.

  When Haruhiro called out, Ranta’s reply was “Die!”

  Who’re you telling to die?!

  Even so, Ranta started to cross blades with the Tori-san. When it was Thunder Sword Dolphin against Thunder Sword Dolphin, neither would be shocked. The Tori-san had his Mirror Shield, too, though, so Ranta wouldn’t be able to push past his defenses that easily, but even a total idiot like Ranta (that piece of trash) could be used to buy time. Without Haruhiro needing to tell him what to do, Kuzaku went to support Yume and Merry.

  Haruhiro Swatted, Swatted, and Swatted again to defend himself from the spears of the two Pansukes in front of him.

  The six-meter class white giant chased after Tada, slamming its fist down and trying to stomp on him, both with resounding thuds, but it hadn’t managed it yet. Tada still had his warhammer resting on his shoulder, leisurely avoiding the white giant’s attacks with minimal effort. He wasn’t especially nimble, but he was unnaturally gutsy. Did Tada think he was invincible or something? He moved with absolute confidence. Even if it did manage to kill him, it didn’t feel like that would be enough to keep Tada down.

  Not long after that, Tokimune arrived, his white teeth shining.

  “You’re still alive, huh?” Tokimune called.

  Kikkawa was there, too. Inui, Mimorin, and Anna-san, as well. Tada and Tokimune got on opposite sides of the white giant, taking turns provoking it, and skillfully dragging it around.

  “Yahoo, Ranchicchi! I’m here to make my dashing entrance!” Kikkawa declared, taking a swing at the Tori-san.

  “You dolt! Who’re you calling Ranchicchi?!” Ranta immediately went on the offensive. “I don’t let people make me owe them one!”

  “You just can’t show your gratitude, Ranchicchi! You’re so tsun, tsun, dere, dere, it’s just adowable!”

  “Shut your face!” Ranta screamed. “I’ll kill you, Kikkawa!”
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br />   “Shut up and kill them all! Yeah?!”

  Inui, for some reason, had a glint in the eye that wasn’t covered by his eyepatch. “Heh...” he laughed to himself, as he wandered around the area.

  What’re you even doing, man? Haruhiro was so dumbfounded, he slipped up and nearly missed his Swat.

  “Ah!”

  “Hahh!” Mimorin yelled.

  If Mimorin hadn’t swung down her staff with all her might, whacking the Pansuke’s head from behind with a loud thud, he’d almost certainly have been injured, or worse. Following her staff, Mimorin’s sword landed a punishing blow on the top of the Pansuke’s head.

  Taking advantage of her unusual physique, Mimorin’s sword technique was incredibly powerful, even though she used more than a sword. There was no careful technique involved—it was basically just big swings, and she left a lot of openings. However, when she hit, her blows had the force behind them to one-shot her enemies.

  Incidentally, elementals, which weren’t visible to the human eye in their normal state, hated most metals, so mages had to stay away from iron and copper. However, if they used a special process called elemental coating, it was apparently fine. Mimorin’s sword had an elemental coating, and that was supposed to be pretty expensive. Despite that, she treated it with little care.

  Mimorin kicked the Pansuke she had just landed that two-blow combo on to the ground with a “Hmph!” and then swung at the other Pansuke with her staff and sword.

  “You bullied Haruhiro!” Mimorin shouted. “You can’t do that! Absolutely not!”

  Could it be that Mimorin’s... angry? wondered Haruhiro. Looks like it.

  Though she was expressionless, her face was red. Though the Pansuke tried to swing and stab at her with his spear, Mimorin ignored it and whacked him with her staff and sword. She pounded away. It was terrifying how hard she whaled on him.

  Eventually, the Pansuke couldn’t even stay on his feet, collapsing to the ground where he stood, but she still hit him, and hit him, and hit him until he collapsed to the ground, pulverized. He was close to breathing his last, if he hadn’t already.

  Mimorin turned to face Haruhiro. “I was worried.”

  “...That’s, uh... well... So...rry...?”

  “It’s okay.” Mimorin shook her head. “I’m glad I could see you again, safe and sound.”

  “...Me, too.”

  “Yeah. It’s great.”

  Haruhiro started to panic. “Uh, uhhhhh, hold on, th-there’re still enemies!”

  “There are.”

  “We’ve gotta kill them.”

  “I’ll kill them.”

  “L-Let’s do it,” Haruhiro said.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “B-But...” Haruhiro looked around the area.

  Kuzaku, Merry, and Yume were working together against two Pansukes. Ranta and Kikkawa were overwhelming the Tori-san. At the rate things were going, they’d have things wrapped up here sooner or later.

  Inui was still wandering aimlessly.

  No, seriously, what are you doing, man?

  Ignoring that nonsensical deviant for the moment, the issue, it went without saying, was the white giant.

  “Come on!” Tokimune banged his sword on his shield.

  “Go, go!” The white giant lowered itself down and swung its right arm.

  “There!” Tokimune slipped under the white giant’s onrushing right arm, avoiding it marvelously.

  “Over here!” Tada called out to the white giant.

  The white giant looked for Tada, and it found him. Instead of its hands, it used its foot. The white giant tried to kick Tada. It was a close one. Tada tumbled to the left, avoiding the white giant’s right foot.

  The first thing Tada had done was slam his warhammer into the white giant’s right shin. While it showed a clear indentation, the way it was moving didn’t indicate anything resembling damage.

  “Kill it! Kill it dead, yeah?!” Anna-san shouted. Anna-san could shout and encourage them until her voice went hoarse, but it was going to be a little difficult to pull that off.

  Shihoru gripped her staff, looking around restlessly. It looked like there was nothing she could do, and no spell she could cast.

  If it had been a four-meter class white giant, maybe she could have done something, but against a six-meter class white giant, it would be seriously tough. If there had been more obstacles, or something she could’ve used to stand on, she might have been able to do something better... maybe? Either way, in the current situation, she couldn’t even find a way to attack.

  “Haru?!” Merry shouted his name. Haruhiro was being asked what to do.

  Don’t ask me. He got frustrated. Calm down, calm down, calm down. Look, and think. That’s right. Look.

  His body suddenly floated up.

  No.

  It wasn’t that Haruhiro was actually floating. That was obvious. It could never happen. This was a mental thing, you could say. Haruhiro’s mind left his body—like an out-of-body experience, maybe? He hadn’t experienced one before, so he couldn’t say with any certainty that this was what one would feel like, but Haruhiro was seeing things that he couldn’t possibly have been able to while standing down on the ground.

  It only lasted an instant.

  Maybe that was a hallucination. Or rather, it has to have been, right? But... I was able to see it. Or, at the very least, I felt like I was able to.

  For that instant, Haruhiro had been looking down at an angle on the six-meter class white giant. The many cultists, the other giants, and the other volunteer soldiers, too—he had been able to see the whole area.

  It was a strange way of seeing things. It wasn’t like he was seeing it clearly with his eyes, but it wasn’t vague and blurry, either. It had been sort of like a picture, or a detailed diagram. Whatever it was, he’d had a flash of inspiration thanks to it.

  It was the sort of idea that made him think, Why didn’t this occur to me sooner? Not that he could have helped that.

  “Well, you know, I’m just an ordinary guy, after all,” Haruhiro murmured.

  “You’re special, Haruhiro,” Mimorin said with a sullen look on her face. “To me.”

  “...Thanks.”

  I went and thanked her without thinking about it. I don’t think it’s good for me to be doing that. I need to shut her down more firmly. I’ll be more careful from now on. For now, though, I’ll focus on doing what needs to be done. That’s what I’ll do.

  “We’ll drop it into the valley,” Haruhiro said, to which Mimorin nodded, then tilted her head to the side quizzically.

  “How?”

  “Yeah. That there is the problem...”

  “You can do it if you try,” she encouraged. Mimorin was acting like she always did, and it was strangely calming.

  When Haruhiro and Mimorin moved, Kuzaku, Merry, and Yume came with them. Ranta and Kikkawa looked like they’d still need some more time to take down the Tori-san. Anna-san had moved next to Shihoru at some point. Also, Inui was there, too.

  Haruhiro caught Tokimune’s eye. “Into the valley!” Haruhiro tried to communicate it with those few words and a gesture.

  Tokimune flashed him a toothy grin, so he must have understood—right? It was probably fine.

  “Come on, come on, come on!” Tokimune was banging on his shield and trying to lure the white giant to him, just like he had been all along, but he was clearly choosing a course that would take him to the settlement’s valley.

  Tada was a weirdo, but he was by no means slow, so he was bound to catch on.

  “Mimorin, protect Anna-san!” Haruhiro said to her and then sped up. He needed to get ahead of them and pick out a good spot. He had an idea.

  In that valley with the spring, there were some slopes that were gentle and easily climbed up or down, but there were also steep ones that could be called cliffs. First, they needed to drive it to the cliff’s edge. Could he do it...? Well, according to Mimorin, he could if he tried. He was going to do it.

&
nbsp; He scoped out the location of the cliff he had been thinking of for himself. It was about ten meters deep there, maybe. That wasn’t too shallow. Well, it would be good enough.

  The white giant was getting closer, led on by Tokimune and Tada. Ranta and Kikkawa seemed to have taken out the Tori-san, too.

  There were another seven or eight cultists and a four-meter class white giant coming their way. He wished they wouldn’t, but he was hardly surprised. It was always really apparent where the Tokkis were.

  It made Haruhiro realize all over again that his party alone wasn’t enough. And not just by a small margin. They were far from being sufficient.

  He’d been aware of that, of course. But had he not been starting to misunderstand it? If something happened, there was no guarantee the Tokkis would be there to help them. In fact, just a moment ago, they had been on the verge of defeat. The Tokkis had only come around by chance. That was why they’d survived. It had been a bit of good fortune. Or, putting it the opposite way, if they hadn’t gotten just a little lucky, there would have been casualties.

  The difference between life and death was paper-thin. One mistake, or even one spot of misfortune, and they might trip and fall through that thin barrier between one and the other.

  That was how Manato and Moguzo had left them. They had gone far away, to a place where Haruhiro and the party couldn’t reach them.

  It wouldn’t be strange for any of the others to follow them there. They had found themselves at the crossroads many times before now. It was only because, somehow or another, the paths he had chosen had all led to “life” that Haruhiro and the rest of the party were still here. This time had been the same.

  If they messed up and walked down the path to “death,” they would never come back.

  It was a dizzying thought. He didn’t want to do this anymore. He wanted to live in peace. Probably, it wasn’t like he couldn’t do it if he tried. They could find some sort of work in Alterna, earn money that way. Haruhiro had changed from how he’d been when he’d first enlisted as a volunteer soldier. If he tried it now, surely it wouldn’t be impossible for him.