by Ryota Hori
It took considerable preparations and expenses to do so, and even with the situation being as unexpected as it was, they couldn’t afford to kill them off and remain with nothing to show for all their efforts. That was obvious from the fact that they had two men pinning each of the men down.
But what kept these knights stunned and aghast was the sudden appearance of Kouichirou Mikoshiba. He lorded over the scene with an overwhelming air of oppression.
“What’s wrong, Asuka? Did your knees buckle...? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Looking back at Asuka, who was gazing up at him with shock, Kouichirou spoke with the same flippant tone he often had. Looking at her grandfather and silent at his attitude, Asuka simply nodded.
“Good, that’s wonderful. Then I’ll just finish up around here and let’s go back. We don’t want to stick around here for too long, do we...?” he said, narrowing his eyes.
That gesture displayed no sign of the warmth and kindness he often showed Asuka. An artificial gaze, as cold as steel. It was fixed, of course, on Misha, who was squatting on the floor while holding her severed arm close to her chest.
The sight of a person weeping bitterly at such a severe injury would usually be enough to spur pity in anyone. Asuka herself forgot the relief of being rescued, and was instead flooded with guilt at seeing this person maimed so severely by her own flesh and blood.
But from Kouichirou’s perspective, Misha was the source of all evil, the one who summoned Asuka, who he held dear to his heart as a granddaughter, to this hellish world. He knew just how harsh this world truly was, and so he held absolutely no mercy toward this woman.
There was a discrepancy in what both of them knew and felt. The difference being that one of them understood what kind of hell this world really was.
It was then that Misha suddenly raised her face and glared at Kouichirou. Her eyes burned with dark flames of smoldering hatred. Words of malevolent agony escaped her lips with a voice so vicious that it struck fear into the heart of anyone who heard them.
“I won’t forgive you! I’ll never, ever forgive you! You mere pawn of Rearth, how dare you take my arm... The arm of the one who carries the fate of Beldzevia! How dare you, how dare you... I won’t rest until you’re cut to ribbons and fed to the pigs!”
She wasn’t shouting. But to Asuka’s ears, Misha’s words rang all too clearly. They were thick and rippling with pure, unadulterated hatred. What pangs of guilt and mercy she felt toward Misha were pushed aside by her words and the terrifying glint in her eyes. Even the knights who kept the detectives pinned down seemed to feel the same way, since their grip slackened somewhat.
But one man was unmoved by Misha’s words. To Kouichirou, feeling a hateful gaze directed at him by another didn’t even elicit a response. Not after all he’d been through. If something like that were enough to draw a pause out of him, Kouichirou would not have survived the battlefields he once ran through.
The next moment, Kouichirou’s right hand mercilessly swept through the air.
“You fool... If you have the time to utter curses, use it to chant an actual spell.”
Misha’s hung head tilted sideways, and after a short moment rolled down to the ground. Kouichirou knew one always had to kill the enemy swiftly. And he also knew just how important it was not to hesitate to kill when given the chance.
Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Flight
Tachibana couldn’t believe the sight that just unfolded before his eyes. Tachibana was a hard-faced detective who once worked under the Organized Crime Division. He’d faced off against professional criminals more times than he cared for. He’d even caught and arrested some criminals red-handed.
But when he looked at Kouichirou now, he felt something fundamentally different.
What the hell... Why is he so calm...?
Assuming she wasn’t going to suddenly exhibit some capacity for living without her head attached, there could be no doubting that the woman who called herself Misha Fontaine was lying dead now. Of course, having been their attacker, she wasn’t a normal person. She and her men didn’t show any reaction to Tachibana and Kusuda identifying themselves as police officers.
Normally, one would show some kind of reaction in that situation, be it surprise or enmity... And given the outfit she was wearing, she probably wasn’t a normal person.
Both of the detectives could no longer assume that the people pinning them down were normal civilians anymore. But even if it was committed against a group of suspicious criminals, even an officer like Tachibana couldn’t imagine someone killing another person so readily. Despite all the things he saw in his career, this was still hard to digest.
Especially considering the man who committed this atrocity was someone who had sat across from him and held a conversation just minutes ago. His shock couldn’t be adequately described with words.
But I guess he did save us...
In truth, having seen the man’s capacity for murder, he’d grown to fear Kouichirou Mikoshiba. But at the same time, he acknowledged that there was likely more chance for negotiation and understanding with him. At least, compared to the armored men pinning him down.
The problem was whether Tachibana could, as an officer, tolerate the murder he just saw Kouichirou commit.
Would that really be right...?
Relief, guilt, and the sense of professional duty years of police work had cultivated struggled within Tachibana’s heart. He may not have understood the situation they’d found themselves in, but he was no fool. He understood vaguely that they weren’t in Japan anymore.
The fact that those people didn’t react to Tachibana’s status as a police officer proved that much. If this was Japan, those people would react in some way to the presence of a cop, no matter what kind of professional criminals they were. Even if they didn’t know Japanese, very few people wouldn’t understand the meaning of the words ‘Japanese Policeman.’ This was an age where one had access to internet chats and blogs even on the battlefield, after all.
That left two options. The first was that they knew they were up against the police, but were part of a crime organization so vast and powerful that they knew they had nothing to fear. The other was that this was some kind of other country, where the Japanese police force had no influence.
If it was the former, they would have to be members of some South American drug cartel or a Russian mafia like the Bratva. Those groups employed submarines to smuggle drugs and used the profits to buy enough arms from other countries to keep a small army supplied. They had tens of thousands of operatives spread out across the globe.
To them, the police may have been a nuisance, but not a threat. At worst they could kill any policeman that got in their way and be done with it. In the end, the police needed firepower to back its authority, which was something Tachibana knew all too well from his time in the Organized Crime Division.
But this did raise a question. Assuming a crime organization of that caliber were to expand to Japan, would they really wear these old suits of armor and arm themselves with swords and spears?
The Chinese Mafia does use swords and katanas during internal feuds... I suppose it isn’t entirely impossible...
But Tachibana had to deny that option. Any such crime organization would use small automatic firearms and submachine guns. True, firearms were hard to come by in Japan, but that was just a circumstantial factor, and they’d likely still choose to use them.
So they might use knives, but suits of armor, swords and spears were still out of the question. That made the possibility of this not being Japan all the more plausible.
Absurd... This isn’t a cartoon or a comic... There’s no way that’s possible.
Stories of being spirited away or even the trend of otherworld stories which had grown in popularity recently surfaced in Tachibana’s mind. He could only scoff at his imagination choosing to be overactive in a situation as strained as this. It may have been the most fitting explanation to this situation, bu
t it did make a certain problem rear its head.
Well, no, that wasn’t apt. It wasn’t so much a problem as it was that Tachibana simply didn’t want to believe it. The chains of the common sense that dictated his life up to this day kept his thoughts tightly shackled, as they naturally would.
Tachibana could hear the knights whispering among themselves. Sadly, he couldn’t understand the language they spoke, but given the situation, he could imagine what they might be saying.
It feels like they’re debating if they should run or fight...
Even Tachibana could tell that the dead woman held some kind of high position, which meant those knights were guards meant to protect her.
And this isn’t a decision to make lightly... They still have us to consider.
The person they were meant to protect was killed so easily right in front of their eyes, which meant they would definitely be persecuted for their failure. True, they were ordered to keep the officers pinned down, which left the woman with fewer men to protect her. Even without understanding their language, Tachibana did realize she verbally gave them the order to keep them pinned down. But sadly, this excuse simply wouldn’t hold any water. Not with the person they were meant to protect lying dead...
I guess that’s the same no matter what organization you’re in...
For a moment, Tachibana thought back to his own superior, and how he kept pressing his subordinates for achievements. What superiors like him said wasn’t entirely unreasonable in most cases. Their ways of dealing with a situation were often apt and fitting.
But that was only logical in hindsight. A countermeasure pieced together after the fact, with all the results lined up and clear to see, was different from a countermeasure that one had to think of on the spot when faced with a situation. It was only natural, but most people wouldn’t forgive the discrepancy. They’d simply cut down those responsible with the blade of sound judgment, with no consideration for the situation or environment.
Anyway, I should watch things play out for the time being...
He wasn’t pinned down as tightly as before, but the knights were still larger than he was, so trying to face both of them would’ve been reckless. He sent an eye signal to Kusuda, who was being pressed on the floor next to him. Kusuda wasn’t his partner for nothing, and a single glance was all it took to convey his intentions to Kusuda, who mouthed the words “roger that” silently in response.
All right, all that’s left is...
As a human being, Tachibana couldn’t accept the murder that took place before his eyes. But his sense of justice and morals could only be maintained assuming his life wasn’t in danger. Biting his lips, Tachibana cast a sharp glance in Kouichirou’s direction.
“Now, then...” Kouichirou curled his lips up into a smile as he helped Asuka to her feet.
“Grandpa?” Asuka furrowed her brows at that smile.
Few people would smile in such an unusual situation. Perhaps things were different for madmen without distinctions of good and evil, but as far as Asuka knew, Kouichirou’s personality was that of a rational, if a bit unconventional, old man. He might have something of a mocking smile every now and then, and was idiosyncratic enough to tease people at times. But generally speaking, he was a good person who loathed injustice.
Right now, however, he was being overly suspicious. Glances of doubt and reproach were being turned toward him, but his smile didn’t diminish in the slightest.
“I’ve kept up my training, but it’s been some time since I drew Ouka last... It’s a relief to see my skill hadn’t dwindled.”
Those words made Asuka realize what sword was gripped in his hand.
“Isn’t that one of the swords in the alcove...? The ones you wouldn’t let Ryoma touch?”
It was still dripping with blood, but it was definitely one of Kouichirou’s beloved swords. She’d never seen it drawn, but having visited the estate many times to help with the cleaning and cooking, she’d seen this sword plenty of times. She wouldn’t mistake it.
“But... Why?”
What was his personal, beloved katana doing here? The obvious answer was that Kouichirou brought it over, but that wasn’t what Asuka was doubting.
Why? Why did he bring a sword sitting in the alcove? And two of them, at that...
True, Asuka did scream when everything started, so it wouldn’t be surprising if her scream reached Kouichirou’s ears. He may have realized something was wrong and grabbed a nearby katana as he sprung up to help her. But if that’s the case, why choose to bring two heavy, unwieldy swords?
It’s like he knew we’d end up here from the start...
In Asuka’s mind, the realistic scenario would be that he’d been confused by Asuka’s scream and grabbed whatever was at arm’s reach. But the less believable scenario was that he already knew this would happen ahead of time.
“Take this... Keep it for now, for self-defense.” Kouichirou handed Ouka over to Asuka.
“Huh? Wait just a second... What is this?” Asuka reacted with confusion as she took the sword with both hands.
“Don’t worry, I just need to deal with the other people here.” Kouichirou shrugged. “And if I use Ouka all the time, this one might become moody.”
With that said, Kouichirou picked up Kikka, which lay on the floor, and gently stroked its scabbard with his finger.
“My apologies, dear. Asuka was in danger so I had to... All right?” He whispered like a man trying to calm down a disgruntled woman, and drew Kikka from its scabbard. “There’s still four left. That’s twice as many as Ouka cut. Let that encourage you, yes?”
Kikka’s blade seemed to shiver slightly, as if to deny Kouichirou’s words...
“Oh... So twice as many won’t satisfy you... I understand, dear... But things won’t end just by cutting our way out of this place... You’ll have your share later on.”
Kikka’s blade stopped shivering at those words.
“Then let us begin.”
With those words leaving his lips, Kouichirou stepped forward. His hands hung down in a relaxed manner as he walked in a natural, calm stride. Kikka was gripped lightly in his right hand, its tip turned down toward the floor.
It was like he was taking a walk near the estate.
“H-Huh? Grandpa!” Asuka couldn’t help but raise her voice in surprise.
She knew very well how skilled he was, but he was still up against four knights, clad in armor and twice his size. Perhaps things would be different if this were a surprise attack, but the knights would hold the advantage in a straight-on fight.
The knights, on the other hand, had an entirely different impression of the situation.
“S-Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”
Perhaps losing his nerve at the atmosphere, one of the knights holding Kusuda down grabbed his spear and got to his feet.
“You monster!”
Perhaps taking after his comrade, one of the knights holding Tachibana down drew his sword in fear. His sword was held in a middle-level posture, but its tip shook nervously. Kouichirou sneered as he watched them get up.
“Are you this terrified of a decrepit old man?”
“Stop screwing around... No one’s afraid of you!”
But of course they were. They already saw for themselves how transcendent his skill was. The man cut a knight in half through his armor. But they couldn’t afford to admit their fear, even if they knew how obvious their bluffing was.
“There’s plenty of men of your level in our country!”
“Oh, is that so...? My, my...” Kouichirou nodded grandly. “You must be extremely skilled, then... I’m looking forward to this.”
The way he nodded and spoke seemed to imply the opposite of what his words were saying, though. The way he spoke could only be described as provocative and irritating.
“You dare look down on us?!”
Their hearts, shivering with terror, were now also filled with scorn. That stirred the knights’ emotions, which were
already far from calm. Still, they had some intelligence. The two exchanged nods and moved in two different directions.
“Oh...”
Watching the knights spread out so as to close in on him from both directions, Kouichirou raised his brows as if pleasantly surprised. It was a tactic that made utmost use of their two on one advantage. It was an orthodox, inflexible sort of tactic, but it was the most optimal answer they could employ in this situation.
But against Kouichirou and his experience of many battles, it was an extremely bad idea.
““Die!””
The tip of the spear thrust forward, aiming at Kouichirou’s throat, while the other knight slashed horizontally toward him. At that moment, Kouichirou turned his body toward the knight with the spear as his free, loose right hand moved like thunder. It was like a leaf fluttering through a stream. He easily avoided the powerful spear thrust and slashed his opponent in one go, from his left leg up to his right shoulder.
He cut through the knight’s arm even as he held the spear aloft, after which Kouichirou switched Kikka to an upward stance in one fluid motion. The following moment, the loud sound of metal clashing rang out and red sparks filled Asuka’s field of vision. The other knight crumbled to the floor with an animalistic howl.
“Hmph. You’ve at least put a bit of thought into your tactics, but that was still child’s play... All you people seem to talk a big game, but are amateurs when it comes to real combat... I suppose that would work on the average person since you can use martial thaumaturgy... I suppose that’s that, though...”
A splitting blow from the top of the knight’s head down to his chest, while he still had his helmet on. Having completed this astounding feat, Kouichirou scoffed with displeasure.
“Shit! He’s making fools of us!”
Losing his nerve at the fact that his allies were falling one after the other, the knight holding Tachibana down panicked and changed his position to draw his sword. The knight’s hold on Tachibana slackened as he made to get to his feet.
