7. Heart, Open
That said, leaving it like that bothered him. How could it not? He’d be crazy not to be bothered.
They decided to split up and each do their own thing until 6:00, but Haruhiro already knew how he planned to spend his time.
I’ll look for Merry.
He had some idea where to look. Alterna seemed like a big place, but it was small in a lot of ways too. If he wandered around, he suspected he’d come across her soon enough.
As he did a bit of this, and a bit of that, the bell indicating it was now 12:00 rang and he was still alone.
“Whaa... Seriously? I haven’t found her...”
Haruhiro crouched down, powerlessly, in the corner of a plaza that was somewhere near the center of Alterna.
A tall building called Tenboro Tower was across the plaza from here. The tower was the abode of the margrave. Garlan Vedoy. Ruler of Alterna. —Apparently. He knew the name of the guy, but he’d never seen him, and honestly, “there’s a big shot with that name,” was all he really knew. Well, a volunteer soldier like Haruhiro was unlikely to ever encounter someone that important, anyway.
“...It doesn’t matter.”
Maybe I’ll get lunch. Though, even that seems like a hassle. But I’m hungry. My stomach’s empty, but I’m in no mood to eat.
While he was loitering around, he heard a voice in the distance.
“Huh?! Haruhiro-kun?!”
“...Moguzo.”
Moguzo rushed over.
“What’s up, Haruhiro-kun? What are you doing here?”
“Hmm. No, nothing’s really ‘up.’ I’m not doing anything...”
“Erm...” Moguzo looked like he felt awkward, but he still spoke. “Were you able to meet up with Merry-san?”
“Uh... Wh-Why would I be meeting Merry?”
“Well. This morning, Merry-san was acting a little strange. ‘Maybe Haruhiro-kun got worried, and went looking for her,’ I was thinking. To tell you the truth, I was searching for her, too, sort of.”
“O-Ohhh... Yeah. Merry was acting weird. Yep. Well, you know. I guess it bothered me? Of course it did. I mean, we’re comrades and all...”
“I-I know, right? We’re comrades. And you’re our leader.”
“Technically I am, yeah? It doesn’t really suit me, and it feels embarrassing, though...”
“But you really were looking for Merry-san, right?”
“Uhhh.... Yeah, but not, like, super hard or anything. I was just idly looking around, too...”
I was looking, yeah? I looked around a lot. —He was hesitant to tell Moguzo. He didn’t want the guy guessing about what he was really up to. Haruhiro was doing this with pure intentions, as her comrade, and as the leader, because he was concerned for Merry. That was all.
“W-Well then, Haruhiro-kun, um... if you’re looking for her anyway, why don’t we search together?”
“Good idea!” Haruhiro jumped up. “L-Let’s do that! It might be easier to find her that way. Yeah. Oh, Moguzo, you had lunch yet? No? Then let’s eat somewhere around here. At a stall in the market, or wherever. Just something light. Merry’s gotta be eating somewhere, too, right? I’m sure of it.”
On that note, they headed to Dory’s Skewers in the market, and Yume and Shihoru were already there.
“Hah...!”
Shihoru had a skewer stuffed in her mouth at the time, and was awfully embarrassed about it.
Yume, on the other hand, went, “Unyoh!” her eyes going wide, and finished devouring the meat she was already working on.
“Hey, it’s Haru-kun, and Moguzo. You here for some meat?”
“Yeah.” Moguzo nodded, and immediately ordered a skewer. “I’ll have two. No, make that three.”
“...You’re ordering three right off the bat? That’s amazing, Moguzo. I’ll just have one.”
“Nah. I know one’s not going to be enough. Two might be, but Dory’s skewers are delicious, and I’m here already...”
“Ohhh. Yeah, you’re right. It’s weird how good the meat here is.”
“Yeah. Yume, she was askin’ Shihoru what we oughta do for the afternoon, and Shihoru, she said we should go to Dory’s.”
“...I-I couldn’t think of anything else. That’s all... Oh!”
Shihoru hurriedly turned her head to the old man who ran the stall, and bowed her head.
“U-Umm, y-your meat is delicious. Really. I-I love it, too...”
The old man gave her a magnanimous smile. Thinking back, Haruhiro had first visited this stall when he was a volunteer soldier trainee. The guy seemed to recognize their faces, so you might be able to say they were regulars.
The number of places in Alterna where that was true for them was slowly but surely increasing.
Was it the same for Merry? She must have had places she frequented, too.
While eating his skewer, Haruhiro decided to ask Yume and Shihoru.
“Hey, we were thinking of looking for Merry. I mean, yeah, I know we’ll see her at 6:00, but... this morning, she was acting a bit strange, right? That’s got me a little concerned.”
“...Us, too, actually.”
Shihoru had finished her skewer and moved on to a drink she had bought from another stall. It was a carbonated drink flavored with herbs and honey. It cost 2 copper, but if you returned the thin earthenware cup to the stall, you got 1 copper back.
“We were worried about Merry... I was keeping an eye out for her as we were looking around the market...”
By the way, why did Shihoru pause after saying, “Merry...”? Was it that? They were comrades, so it was natural to refer to her without the honorific, and she was trying to do that. But because she wasn’t used to it, there was some hesitance—was that it?
If Haruhiro’s guess was right, it might make things awkward if he drew attention to it.
She’d get used to it eventually. Even if it took time.
But time was not unlimited. It could run out tomorrow.
Shihoru likely knew that they weren’t guaranteed to live to see tomorrow. She was more painfully aware of that than any of them. That might have been why Shihoru was doing everything she could to close the emotional distance between her and Merry.
They might have time to relax, and they might not.
“Where do you think Merry-chan’s gone off to?” Yume asked between bites, “Did she already go back to the inn?”
“...I-If she did, we can’t go see her, huh?” Moguzo groaned, holding the three skewers in both hands.
...He’s already done eating all three? That was fast!
“The inn, huh...” Haruhiro slapped his left palm against his forehead. “...Come to think of it, what’s Ranta up to? Does anyone know?”
“Yume, she hasn’t seen, and she doesn’t know.”
“...I haven’t, either. And I don’t particularly care...”
“Oh. Ranta-kun was saying something about a game.”
“A game?”
What kind of showdown might that be? Haruhiro had no idea, but he did have a bad feeling about it. This was Ranta, after all. Nothing good would come of leaving him to his own devices. Though, monitoring him all the time would be too exhausting. If he had to watch Ranta 24-7, he’d start to seriously hate the guy.
For now, he’d forget Ranta and search for Merry with the other four. It was hard to imagine she would be in the eastern part of the city where the mages’ guild was, or the western part where the thieves’ and dread knights’ guilds were. Was she in the southern district where their lodgings and the craftsmen’s town were? Or in the northern district where the marketplace, Flower Garden Street, and Celestial Alley were? When they went to leave the market and check Flower Garden Street, there was a crowd gathered along the way.
“Aww, yeahhhhhh...!”
That voice, coming from the other side of the crowd...
“That’s Ranta talkin’, isn’t it?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“...We should ignore him.”
Haruhiro understood how Shihoru felt, but he couldn’t do it. He was the leader, after all. And, well, the guy was technically their comrade, right?
He pushed through the crowd, and found Ranta with some other men sitting around a low wooden table.
“Ranta, man...”
“Huh? Well, if it isn’t Haruhiro. What’re you doing here, man?”
“No, I was going to ask you that... What’re you doing?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Ranta showed Haruhiro the rectangular cards he was holding. He had four or five of them, and there were pictures drawn on each. Looking closer, there were a number of similar cards not lined up on the table, but scattered across it.
“I’m in the middle of a game here. Obviously, right? I am a natural gamer, born to game, the game master, got it?”
“...Okay then. I’ve never heard that before, though.”
“Okay, my turn! This is how you do it!”
Ranta slammed his card down on the table, flipping two other cards over at the same time.
“Yesssss...! A double! I got a doublllllllllle...!”
“Damn it!”
Another dirty, red-faced man slammed his card onto the table, flipping over three cards.
“There! How’d you like that...?!”
Ranta and the other men cried out, “A triple...?!” and clutched their heads.
“...Ranta, you’ve got money on this, don’t you? I know you do.”
“Huh?! Of course I do! What fun’d it be if I didn’t make any money?! I couldn’t get serious without that!”
“So... you’re winning, then?”
“Hah!” Ranta looked away. “I’m just getting started! This is where I turn things around! It’s gonna be a huge turnaround...!”
“...I’m not gonna ask how much you’ve already lost. I’m kind of scared to. But keep it under control, okay?”
“You dolt! In every game, it’s all or nothing! There’s no keeping it under control! You didn’t know that, you moron?! You dunce! Go die in agony from hemorrhoids!”
Was he gonna play until he went bust? Haruhiro was worried, but couldn’t muster the will to stop him. He wasn’t going to listen anyway. In fact, the more Haruhiro told him to cut it out, the more stubborn Ranta would get. In that case, leaving him alone was for the best.
“Well, give it your best shot.”
“I’ll do that without you telling me to! I’m gonna go until I win back the 1 gold I—”
“1 gold...?! Man, you lost 1 gold?!”
“It’s still only 1 gold! I’ve got all the money I need! The guy with the most money wins these things in the end...!”
“You sure he doesn’t get taken for a fool and lose everything instead...?”
“Quiet! Shut your mouth, and go away! Get lost! Just get lost, Parupiro!”
“Sure, I’ll go. —Oh, but before I do. Just to be sure, you haven’t seen Merry, have you?”
“Huh? Yeah, I saw her.”
“Huh?”
“By the bridge, a few hours ago, when I went back to the lodging house. I totally ignored her, though. She was looking down, and completely ignored me, too. What about it?”
“She was there?! Near the lodging house?! Merry?!”
“Yeah, like I already said. But it was a while ago. She’s gone off somewhere else by now. I mean, what was she even doing there?”
Haruhiro just told Ranta, “Know when to pack it in!” and ran off through the crowd. It seemed Moguzo, Yume, and Shihoru had been listening to their conversation. They all nodded to one another and then hurried to the lodging house.
According to Ranta, he’d seen Merry hours ago. That meant it was before noon. It was a little hard to imagine she’d still be on the bridge by the lodging house. She had to be gone by now. There was no way she’d be there. But still, they had no other lead, so even if she almost certainly wasn’t going to be there, there was a non-zero chance she would be.
“Meow! That’s Merry-chan over there, isn’t it?”
Yume, as a hunter, had good eyes, and was the first to spot Merry.
The bridge. She’s there. It’s Merry. There’s no mistaking her. She’s standing on top of the bridge.
“Merry...!”
“Merry-san...!”
“M-Merry...!”
“Merry-chan...!”
The four of them called out to her in unison, and Merry turned their way. Her eyes widened in surprise. Of course they did. Anyone would be startled to have their name yelled so loudly. Besides, it was probably embarrassing for her, too. If Haruhiro were Merry, he might have run away despite himself.
Merry didn’t run. She held her staff tightly, and waited for them.
They all dashed to the bridge, so they were out of breath. On top of his heavy breathing, Haruhiro had no idea what he should say. There had to be things he wanted to say, but his head was a mess now.
Merry furrowed her brow a little, her lips drawing taut as she regarded Haruhiro and the others. She seemed like she was trying to say something, too, but couldn’t find the words.
Eventually, Shihoru just said, “Wh...” before closing her mouth. It was a while before she managed to open her mouth again and finish saying, “Why...?”
“I...” Merry lowered her eyes. “I’m so—” She was likely about to apologize. I’m sorry, she’d say. That was the one thing he didn’t want to let her do. Merry had nothing to apologize for.
“Thank goodness!” Haruhiro said in the cheeriest voice he could. That was kind of out of place, and an awkward air hung between them.
Ouch. I missed that one bad. Why couldn’t I say something more considerate? I want to cry. But if I cry, this is guaranteed to get even worse, so I won’t.
“...Th-Thank goodness. Um, for, uh, what was it again...? Thank goodness we found you. Oh! This isn’t me being, like, weirdly overblown about how great it is we were able to meet you in the first place—”
Aghhhhhh! This is no good. Haruhiro nearly dropped to the ground and started writhing in agony. The more he spoke, the more awkward it got.
Merry was listening to him seriously, but ultimately, she cocked her head to the side, wondering, What is this guy even trying to say?
Fair. That’s absolutely fair.
Haruhiro felt like maybe he knew himself, or maybe he didn’t. No, he didn’t know. What was it again? What had he been trying to talk about?
“B-Basically... In other words... How do I put this...? It’s like...”
Perhaps unable to bear watching him any longer, “Come to think of it,” Yume interjected. “How long’ve you been here, Merry-chan?”
“I’ve probably been here since...” Merry trailed off and then, in a very small voice, “9:00 or so...?” she concluded.
“...9:00,” Shihoru said, looking to Haruhiro.
“...9:00?” Haruhiro said, looking to Moguzo.
“9-9:00...” Moguzo said, looking to Yume.
“9:00... Hold on. Nnngh...” Yume thought about it, blinking. “That’s a long time, yeah? You said 9:00, but it’s past noon now... Whaaaaa! That’s a real long time...!”
“...I wanted to explain.” Merry shrank into herself a little, quivering. “...I thought if I waited here, someone might come by.”
“Um...” Moguzo ducked his head, shrinking no less than Merry had, and hunched his back. “Explain what?”
“...About what happened at Workshop Masukaze. My attitude there, you could say...”
“Mwah. The way you were actin’ in the blacksmith’s, it was so decisive, and cool.”
“...S-Stop. It was wrong. I shouldn’t be like that.”
“Really...?” It seemed Shihoru was a little angry, thinking back to the way Riyosuke the blacksmith had handled them. “I think you need to be harsh with people like that... Not that I could do it myself. I’m too timid... I lack the confidence, I think...”
“I don’t... have confidence in myself, either.”
“M-Me, either!”
“Yume, she’s not confident in herself either, y’know?”
“...I don’t, either.”
What is this? What is going on here? Is this a lack of confidence confession relay, or something?
Though, as their leader, should Haruhiro really have been declaring his lack of confidence? He didn’t have any, of course, but who wanted a leader like that? If he was a leader, honestly, even if he lacked confidence, he felt like maybe he should pretend he had it.
“Uh, no!”
Haruhiro clapped his hands, and everyone looked at him. They were a bit surprised. He felt bad about that.
“Merry... I-It was just a means to an end. I think that’s why you acted like that. You did it for us. Knowing how it looked. Yeah. That’s it... Right?”
“Yes, but...”
“Huh? But?”
“If I didn’t have a part of me that’s like that... I don’t think I could act that way. That may be how I really am.”
“Really? Yume, she thinks you’re a nice girl, Merry-chan. Because you’re nice. Hmm. Yume’s not sayin’ anything but ‘nice,’ but, y’know, if you weren’t nice—Yume doesn’t think you’d’ve done that if you weren’t nice.”
Yeah. I get it. I get what you’re going for, Yume, but... please, stop!
If you tell most people that to their face, they’ll get embarrassed! Merry looks super embarrassed now, as a matter of fact!
“Erm...” Moguzo probably wanted to smooth that over, but he couldn’t come up with a good way, so he clutched his head and groaned.
Okay!
Time for me to be a leader!
Haruhiro was fired up, but he couldn’t think of a good idea.
“Th-The important thing is...!”
Shihoru. Shihoru’s helping. Thank you, Shihoru.
“Th-That you tried... to talk to us... I think. That you want to talk to us... That, um, it... it makes me happy.”
“I know, right?!” Haruhiro put on a big grin, and shouted. Then was aghast at himself for doing it.
I want to be a more refined person someday. It’s not likely to happen, though.
“...Yeah. That’s right. As your comrade, it makes me happy, too, you know? It’s, uh, what should I say? I don’t think what we talk about matters. No, it does matter, and talking about things is important, it’s that, uh... Well, as a prerequisite? We need an environment where we can talk. Whether we have that or not is the first issue, I guess? Hrm... Is it okay for me to be like this? Yeah, it’s no good...”
“It’s not no good.” Merry shook her head. Then she came out and clearly said, “You’re not ‘no good,’ Haru.”
“...Really?”
Uh, oh. I feel like I’m gonna start grinning.
Haruhiro forced himself to keep a straight face. He was sure there was a crease in his eyelids right now.
“W-Well... Yeah. Yeah, I guess that’s right, huh? Looking down on myself like that, it’s not good. Though, if I had the sort of baseless self-confidence that Ranta has, that would be a problem, too. A-Anyway, about what happened at the blacksmith’s. Nobody thinks anything of it. You don’t have to worry. Besides, look at what we were dealing with. I don’t really get that Riyosuke guy, but, you know, I think we probably needed to threaten him that much.”
“About that.” Merry sighed. The look in her eyes suddenly seemed to get... sharper? “I’ve been thinking about it. —I may not have done enough. People like him never learn. I think we should keep an eye on him. He needs to be controlled.”
Haruhiro shuddered. Maybe that is what Merry is really like, he thought.
But it turned out, Merry was absolutely correct. When they rounded up Ranta and headed to Workshop Masukaze, Riyosuke the blacksmith was messing around with the Trigon’s head.
“Ah! No! This is, um, I’m just blowing off steam! I’m just about to get started in—”
“Hurry it up,” Merry ordered him coldly, not raising her voice. Honestly, Merry was really scary when she was like this. That was probably not something she could imitate, even if she tried. Was it something she was born with?
Her real self, huh?
Even if it was, there was more to Merry than just that.
It wasn’t just Merry. Everyone had a number of different faces. They changed depending on the situation, and people changed over time, too. In the future, maybe Ranta might stop being annoying—Okay, no, not that. That seemed improbable.
Regardless, they decided to take shifts at the blacksmith’s place, watching Riyosuke work. If they didn’t, he’d probably never finish. They couldn’t work until Moguzo’s weapon was done.
“Okay! I get it! I get it already! I just have to do it, right? I’ll do it! You don’t have to tell me! I always planned to...!”
Riyosuke finally got to work. Haruhiro couldn’t help but think, What’re you snapping at us for? But once Riyosuke started, he didn’t get distracted. He had three apprentices. It was satisfying to watch the four of them work in the smithy. The master swung his hammer like a man possessed.
“It’s not that our master is slow,” one of the younger apprentices quietly explained, “It just takes him a while to get started. I guess you could say it’s because he’s an artist. His hands won’t move until he finds his inspiration. But—and I know it’s weird for me, his apprentice, to be the one saying this—he does solid work.”
Haruhiro didn’t know what the world of the craftsmen was like, but there were a lot of different types of volunteer soldiers. Maybe craftsmen were the same.
Ultimately, they didn’t have to wait until the 6:00 pm bell chimed. Moguzo’s weapon was done almost an hour in advance. Surprisingly, it didn’t look much different from when Death Spots had been using it. And yet, it had been downsized properly.
“There!” Riyosuke said with the smuggest look as he offered the blade to Moguzo, “It’s quality work! Try holding it!”
“...Okay.” Moguzo grabbed the handle of his new weapon. In that moment, “Whuh?!” his expression changed. “Wh-What is this...?! It’s heavy, but light?! Is this possible...?!”
“What’d you say?! Moguzo, hand it here!” Ranta snatched the greatsword from Moguzo—but, “Gwuh?!” he immediately dropped it.
“Th-This is beyond heavy! There’s no way you can lug this thing around, right...?!”
Ranta didn’t have Moguzo’s size or strength. It seemed like that was why, but as Riyosuke smugly explained, there was more to it than just that.
“How easy a weapon is to use is almost entirely dependent on the center of gravity being in the appropriate place. That center of gravity is a property of the weapon, but we each feel it differently! Basically, for this greatsword, I’ve made it so the center of gravity will be just right when he uses it! Anyone else will have a hell of a time with it! Meanwhile, it will feel light to him, despite its weight! How’s that...?!”
Haruhiro was sincerely impressed, and Moguzo was thrilled with it, too. Shihoru nodded at the explanation, while, “Fweh...” Yume didn’t really seem to get it, but Ranta wanted Riyosuke to make him a weapon, too.
“Ha ha ha! Now, now, before that, I’ll be taking my payment. This is a business, after all.”
When Riyosuke gave him a mischievous wink, Moguzo went, “Oh, right!” and was about to give him the money when—Merry stopped him.
“Hold on. About that.”
“...Y-Yes?” Riyosuke seemed to deflate at once. He was pretty scared of Merry.
“After you plainly broke the deadline, you wouldn’t dare ask for the 40 silver you originally quoted us, would you?”
“...C-Can’t I?”
“Think for yourself.”
“...I can’t... right? Of course not. That makes sense... No. I thought that might be the case myself. Ha ha ha... Okay, 38...”
“Huuuh?”
“37—”
“Really think about this.”
“30... silver.”
“Maybe that’s okay? If that’s what you really think it should be.”
“...Make it 25 silver, please.”
And so, Moguzo got Death Spots’ sword, with a discount thanks to Merry. Obviously, that slightly threatening exchange was an act Merry was putting on for Moguzo’s benefit. Haruhiro knew that. It was still a bit scary, but if she hadn’t taken it that far, it wouldn’t have had any effect. She must have done her best to sound legitimately threatening.
Moguzo said he’d treat everyone to an expensive dinner, so they all gathered in the village of stalls near the craftsmen’s town.
“Whew! Man, I’ve gotta hand it to you, Merry! I’ve never seen someone that scared before. It was hilarious!”
“Ranta, man...”
Haruhiro was going to tell him off, but Merry laughed a little.
“That was a smarter negotiation than you could have pulled off, right?”
“Heh. I’m the type to push, and push, and push. I’m not aiming for ‘smart’ to begin with. It’s the results that matter in the end.”
Merry didn’t seem all that bothered about it anymore. Did that mean she’d gotten over it? Maybe opening up about her feelings to them had made it easier on her. If so, that made him happy, as her comrade.
“Yume, I was thinking...” Shihoru whispered to Yume, “About the lodging house. Maybe it’s fine. For now...”
“Hmm. Yeah. Well, there’s no need to go rushin’ things.”
She’s not saying that because Merry was scary—right...?
They were whispering pretty quietly, but it seemed Ranta overheard them. He smirked, mumbling something to himself. I haven’t gotten a good look yet, or something like that.
“...Haven’t gotten a good look yet?”
“Huh?”
His eyes met with Ranta’s.
I haven’t gotten a good look. Yet. At what?
“Oh...” As Haruhiro realized, Ranta looked away. “...Man. It’s not about memories, or being lonely—it’s about that...?”
Ranta suddenly threw his arms around Haruhiro and Moguzo’s shoulders, and let out a degenerate laugh.
“It means the fun’s gonna keep on going. Don’t make me say it. It’s embarrassing.”
“...You’re embarrassing.”
“Y-Yeah...”
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