Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 15 - Chapter 13

13. No One Is Alone

Barbara was standing about ten meters ahead, directly in front of Haruhiro. They were in the forest, but there were no trees obstructing the line of sight between them. The ground was mostly flat, too. Barbara looked like she might be smiling faintly, but she was close to expressionless.

Before a person or animal made a move, there were signs. A tension in the muscles, tendons, and even the skin, phenomena which told you that they’re about to take action.

He couldn’t feel any of that from Barbara.

She was wearing a highly revealing outfit, and her physique and face were awfully sexy, so Barbara stood out like a sore thumb. Despite that, for some reason, she had oddly little sense of presence.

She was just standing there. Like a Barbara-shaped plant. It was hard to imagine she was even alive.

Haruhiro blinked. It was unintentional.

In that instant, there was a sound to the right of him.

Haruhiro was distracted by the noise, and while he was, Barbara disappeared.

A person had vanished in an instant. Was that even possible?

It was. Haruhiro knew the trick.

His eyes were closed only momentarily when he blinked. It was impossible to hide in that time, but it was possible to throw something to make noise. Naturally, if there was a noise, he would reflexively focus on it. At that point, Barbara had gained the time she needed to disappear.

His pulse was elevated, and blood rushed to his head.

Damn. She got me.

He couldn’t help but panic, but if he lost his head, he’d be doing just what Barbara wanted him to.

He took a breath. Straightened out the knees he had bent at some point. Loosened up his tense shoulders and arms.

Of course that would happen, he accepted. Barbara was a level or two above him in ability, so it was entirely to be expected.

Where was she lurking now? It was important to predict that. But he couldn’t let his predictions bind or mislead him.

Haruhiro kept his eyes focused on one point, scanning a wide area around him.

He perked up his ears. Was there another sound, well hidden in the rustling of leaves, the sound of insects, the chirping of birds? His own breathing got in the way. He tried to make his breaths as gentle as possible.

Going all-out, he tried closing his eyes.

Time went by without him being able to pick up on anything.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. Haruhiro was gradually learning to sense the entire forest around him.

He opened his eyes.

He could even feel the places he couldn’t see, now.

Something felt off ahead of him, to the left.

There was a tree about seven meters from Haruhiro, a chinquapin, or something like that.

Oh, he thought. There, that has to be it, he immediately became convinced, as prediction turned to certainty. Feeling a need to confirm it for himself, he stepped forward.

Haruhiro walked.

He walked around to the other side of the tree.

She wasn’t there.

He’d considered that as a possibility. It would be easy for Barbara to work against Haruhiro’s assumptions.

Barbara would be able to leave her presence here somehow, then secretly move elsewhere.

Where was she now?

Very close.

Haruhiro tried to turn.

No. She wasn’t behind him.

He jumped back, and something fell from the tree. She was above him, not behind him.

“You got it.”

The moment Barbara landed, she drew her dagger and came at him. Haruhiro pulled out his own dagger, but Barbara smoothly avoided his attempts to parry her. Haruhiro immediately went on the counterattack, but was that his will, or was he forced into it? No matter what angle he attacked from, Barbara slipped away. He couldn’t catch her.

What is this?

The moment he sensed he had no way to attack her, their roles as attacker and defender were switched as Barbara went on the offensive. The arc of her dagger bent and twisted, making it hard to see, and Barbara frequently closed or opened the gap between them, trying to sweep his leg, or using the hand she wasn’t holding the dagger with to push his arm. It was seriously hard to deal with.

Though he was having difficulty, he tried whatever he could do, or felt like he might be able to do, one after another. However, Barbara could apparently see through everything he tried. She read his every move. Barbara could probably even hear the beating of his heart.

There was so little he could do about it, it was comical.

Haruhiro’s breathing quickened, his movements dulled, and finally his right hand, which he was holding the dagger with, was put in a joint lock. He let go immediately, and was thrown, then instantly pressed to the ground.

“Surrender?” Barbara asked.

She had him in a side control hold.

“...I give. It hurts.”

“You sure it doesn’t actually feel good?”

“No, it just hurts...”

“Even without your memories, you’re the same as ever, huh?”

Barbara released Haruhiro, but didn’t stand. She sat on the ground, with one knee raised.

Following her example, Haruhiro sat up and crossed his legs.

“How am I doing?”

“Your instincts are coming back, aren’t they? It seemed like your body remembered me.”

Haruhiro put on a strained smile. He wasn’t sure about the way she’d phrased that, but the thief techniques that Barbara had drilled into him were certainly still there. They hadn’t vanished.

Before dawn tomorrow, the Expeditionary Force would launch the operation to retake Alterna.

There were multiple holes connecting Alterna to the outside. Those holes were interconnected in a few places, too.

There were already a little over 80 soldiers, including the 54 in the suicide squad, hiding beneath the dread knights’ guild in West Town, under the warriors’ guild in the southern district, and below the Temple of Lumiaris in the northern district.

There had been forty-eight volunteers for the suicide squad on day two, and when the general began looking for someone to execute for violating military protocol, six more rapidly raised their hands. There were more volunteers than needed, but the general said, “If you’re so eager to die, I’ll let you,” and added all six of them to the squad for a total of 54, but that was just another fond memory now.

To give a rough rundown of the plan, the main Expeditionary Force, led by General Mogis, would attack Alterna’s south gate.

When the goblins began defending, the 54-member suicide squad would move into action. Their mission was to open Alterna’s south gate from the inside. Even if they couldn’t open it, the fact that there were humans inside Alterna to try to open the gate was meaningful in and of itself.

If they were attacked from both outside and inside, the goblins were bound to panic.

Using that confusion, a group composed of people the general trusted, along with Anthony Justeen and his subordinates, as well as Haruhiro’s group, would storm Tenboro Tower, and strike down Viceroy Bogg.

The group had been given a rather important job.

Kuzaku could fight as he was. Setora could manage, too, if she just had a weapon. Plus, she had Kiichi. Shihoru had learned to use her Dark magic. Merry, it went without saying, would have no problems.

Would Haruhiro be alright, in the end? He wasn’t without misgivings, but Barbara had certified his skills while retraining him.

“...Okay, so, I guess we can say I pass?” Haruhiro asked his teacher.

“Old Cat.”

“Yes?”

Barbara wrapped her arm around Haruhiro’s head and mussed his hair.

“Wh-What are you doing?”

“You’ve really grown in the time I didn’t see you, huh?”

“...Do you think? I don’t remember it, so I couldn’t say one way or the other.”

“But you held back because you were facing me, right?”

“That wasn’t my intent. I sure wasn’t doing well enough that I could afford to...”

“It was a bad match-up. You weren’t trying to kill me, right?”

“Huh? But... Isn’t that obvious?”

“It’s not about whether you have the balls to do it or not,” Barbara said, reaching down to try and squeeze the actual balls hanging between his legs.

Haruhiro stopped her at the last second.

“Whoa, you don’t have to grab them, right?!”

“Nah,” Barbara smiled, then hugged Haruhiro’s head. He was surprised, of course, but he couldn’t resist.

“Listen, Old Cat. The important thing is to set an appropriate goal.”

Barbara rubbed Haruhiro all over, kissed him on the forehead, and gave him an intimate lesson.

“Work backwards from that goal to formulate a plan. Obviously, things will happen, so you need to stay flexible. But if you have the wrong goal to begin with, any strategy is going to be meaningless. If you’re facing me, even in practice, you’ve got to kill me. That has to be where you set your goal. Even if you don’t ultimately do it. Do you get it?”

“...Yes, Sensei.”

Haruhiro felt incredibly embarrassed, and he wanted to run away, but for some reason he didn’t push Barbara off of him. He couldn’t defy her. Was that something that his body had learned?

“You’re just running straight ahead, with no idea where you’re going. There’s no way to win like that. In fact, you were never convinced you needed to, I’ll bet. You lost because you were meant to.”

Maybe, even though this was embarrassing, he actually found it comfortable.

“Old Cat. Here’s the thing. You’ve got a wide perspective, and you don’t scare easily. Your thinking’s only average, though. You don’t overestimate yourself, and you’ve got the stubbornness to work through things a little at a time. Those parts of you won’t change, even if you don’t remember them. You’re not the type who can do things if he tries. You’re the type that tries until he can do things. That’s why, right now, it’s good that there are things you can’t do. Because someday you’re going to be able to do them.”

Haruhiro couldn’t help but think, Before I lost my memories, I was a pretty lucky guy.

Haruhiro, who Barbara said didn’t seem likely to live long when she first met him, had survived to this day.

Haruhiro must have done his best, in his own way. Or, at the very least, he’d tried to. But, more than anything, it had to be thanks to his comrades, and his teacher. If they weren’t there, Haruhiro would long since have died, wouldn’t he?

He didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, but the outlook wasn’t exactly bright.

Barbara returned to Alterna with Neal, her watcher.

Haruhiro and the Tenboro Tower raid squad would set out when the sun set. He was supposed to take a nap in the evening.

Haruhiro lay down inside the tent, but he couldn’t get to sleep. Kuzaku was snoring next to him. Even though he’d said, “There’s no way I could sleep,” he was out in an instant. Haruhiro seriously envied that part of Kuzaku.

He knew it was going to be like this, but he couldn’t help it. There was no way he could sleep. Haruhiro gave up and left the tent.

Merry and Shihoru were sitting next to each other.

The two of them looked at Haruhiro.

“Haru.”

“...Haruhiro-kun.”

No, they weren’t next to each other. There was about a meter between them.

They weren’t facing each other, but they weren’t parallel, either. They were at a bit of an angle, but not one where their eyes met, and it didn’t seem like they’d been talking.

“Yeah...” Haruhiro nodded vaguely.

He didn’t know what to do.

The distance between them was awkward. It would be weird to sit between them. Not impossible, but a tight fit. Yeah, no, Haruhiro thought. That wasn’t an option.

He agonized over it for a moment, then sat down so that Merry, Shihoru, and him formed an equilateral triangle.

He immediately regretted it.

No matter what he did, he constantly had the two of them looking at him.

It was awkward, but it would be weird to move now, so he’d just have to live with it.

“Erm... Where’s Setora?” he tried asking, then regretted it again.

“Sleeping with Kiichi,” Merry answered.

“...Oh, yeah?” Haruhiro said, adding an, “Of course she is,” under his breath, and rubbed the point between his eyes.

He should have chosen a topic it was easier to build a conversation off of.

“It...” Shihoru opened her mouth.

“Huh?” Haruhiro said.

Shihoru hung her head.

“...It’s tomorrow, huh? It’s finally happening...”

“Ohh, uh. Yeah,” Haruhiro hurriedly replied. Shihoru had gone out of her way to give him an opening, so he wanted to make something of it. “...Well, we’ve just been going with the flow. But I have to wonder if... I dunno, wasn’t there a way to handle things that would have been less dangerous for everyone...?”

“I don’t think it’s your fault, Haru,” said Merry.

“M-Me, too!” Shihoru vigorously agreed. “...I don’t think it is, either. You’ve really, really... been trying hard, for all of us...”

It had felt like Shihoru was avoiding him, but maybe he’d just been imagining it. Haruhiro was relieved.

“...Nah, when you say I’m doing it for everyone, it makes me sound like I’m some great guy, but it’s nothing that impressive. Really. Yeah...”

Merry smiled.

“You were always like that, Haru.”

Shihoru glanced sideways at Merry, then immediately looked down.

Merry looked at Shihoru, lowered her eyes, and bit her lip, but just a little.

After that, the two of them were quiet.

Why?

Huh? Huh? Huh?

Why would they get quiet all of a sudden there?

Haruhiro had no idea.

This sort of thing troubled him, and it was tough, so he wanted to make things better. If there was a problem to fix, he wanted to fix it. He would have liked to talk it over, but he wasn’t sure. Much as he’d have liked to propose listening to their unvarnished opinions, and then having a constructive debate over whatever the issue was, the silence dragged on, without him being able to do anything about it.

In the end, Haruhiro finally managed to open his mouth.

“L-Let’s do our best.”

When he did, the two of them gulped, then looked at him.

They were both expecting something. That was the look on their faces.

I’ve got nothing, though?

They could expect all they wanted, but nothing would be forthcoming.

“Tomorrow, let’s all... work together...”

Adding that was the best he could manage.

“Yes,” Merry nodded. “Of course.”

Shihoru smiled just a little. Or she tried to, at least.

“...Okay.”

Before sundown, Kuzaku, Setora, and Kiichi came out of the tent.

“Whew, I know I said I couldn’t, but I was pretty soundly asleep there, huh?”

“I was just resting my eyes, though.”

“Nyaa.”

“Setora-san, really, is there some reason you need to act tough like that?”

“I am not acting tough. I am merely stating the facts.”

“You can be like this sometimes, huh, Setora-san?”

“Be like what?”

The Tenboro Tower raid team had Dylan Stone, a close associate of General Mogis, as their commanding officer, and Anthony Justeen as their second-in-command. Together with five warriors from the Frontier Army Warrior Regiment who were Anthony’s subordinates, eight soldiers from the Expeditionary Force, and Haruhiro’s group of five, plus Kiichi, they had a total of twenty people and one nyaa.

Commander Dylan was a gloomy forty-something with a big nose and bushy beard. As you could tell from the black fur cloak he wore — the same as the general’s — he was from the Black Hounds, too.

He was always calling people and things pieces of shit. He told them to “go die” a lot, too.

Incidentally, all of the soldiers from the Expeditionary Force were also wearing black fur cloaks. The general had filled the Tenboro Tower raid team with people he trusted. It seemed safe to assume that from this selection.

The raid team set out as soon as the sun went down, entered Alterna through a secret tunnel in the middle of the night, and joined up with Neal the scout in the dread knights’ guild. Barbara-sensei, who he had been watching all this time, was supposed to be staking out Tenboro Tower around now.

The dread knight’s guild was also where twenty members of the suicide squad were standing by. When the main body of the Expeditionary Force led by General Mogis attacked, the suicide squad would have to to immediately charge towards Alterna’s south gate.

Commander Dylan of the raid team offered the suicide squad some words of encouragement.

“If you think of it like you’re going to die anyway, then dying’s no big deal. In the unlikely event you survive, you got lucky. We only die once, and everyone’s got to eventually. So go die, you pieces of shit.”

Commander Dylan knew who every one of the members of the suicide squad was, so in his own way, he was probably trying to motivate them. It was hard to imagine any of them felt encouraged by his words, though. If anything, they looked like they had less life in them than before.

Commander Dylan was a man of few words, but when he did speak, it always demotivated those around him. Even when he didn’t, he had this air about him that was exhausting on its own, so nobody wanted to be too close to him.

Haruhiro and Neal went aboveground to check on the situation. When the main body of the Expeditionary Force attacked the south gate, they had to inform the suicide squad. It was quiet, with nobody, or rather, no goblin in sight in pre-dawn Alterna. The two of them left West Town, then climbed up the walls of what used to be the volunteer soldier lodging house onto the roof. Haruhiro had apparently lived in that lodging house once upon a time, but he didn’t remember it at all.

“This is a disaster,” Neal whispered to Haruhiro with a low laugh. “That bastard Dylan is the reaper himself. Lots of people get killed in any squad he leads. He’s the only one guaranteed to survive.”

“Won’t you be part of the raid, too?”

“As if. I’m a scout. I have to watch your exploits from afar, then report back to the general.”

“Oh, is that right...?”

“Let me tell you something. Dylan Stone is an inhuman monster who’s good at using others as his shields. He doesn’t care if the rest of you survive or not. The general likes guys like him.”

“It looks like the general trusts you, too, though.”

“Trusts me?”

Neal tried to put an overly friendly arm around Haruhiro’s shoulder.

When Haruhiro dodged, Neal gave him an exaggerated frown.

“The general doesn’t trust anybody. He’s only looking to see who’s willing to wag their tail and do as he says. I won’t betray the general. I follow orders. Because it works to my benefit.”

To turn that around, if it wasn’t to Neal’s benefit, he wouldn’t follow orders, and wouldn’t hesitate to betray him.

The leader was bad, and so were his followers. But the group had to risk their lives on a big mission with these people. Worse, they’d been integrated into the larger group. They were all in the same boat now. He hated it, but he had no choice.

It was still a while before sunrise, but the eastern sky was brightening.

“It’ll be any moment now,” Neal said with a sniff. “This is the day when we meet our destiny.”

It was an ostentatious expression, but might not have been an exaggeration.

They heard muddled cries from the south.

Clang, clang, clang, the sound of gongs followed.

“Go.” Neal slapped Haruhiro on the back. “And don’t you dare die.”

He hadn’t expected him to say that. Haruhiro was a little surprised, but when he looked, Neal was smirking. None of General Mogis’s subordinates were good people.

“You too, Neal,” Haruhiro said, though he didn’t mean it, then hurried down from the roof of the lodging house.

He jumped into an alley and ran. The noise was nothing like before, when Haruhiro and his group were chased off after approaching Alterna. There were gongs and bells ringing everywhere, and goblins were hollering wildly. The goblins that had been sleeping inside the buildings must have jumped up, and been rushing outside. No, the street was already full of them.

Haruhiro nearly ran into goblins a number of times, but maybe because he had Barbara’s map committed to memory, he managed to use the back streets to reach the dread knights’ guild. When he heard Haruhiro’s report, Commander Dylan ordered everyone up into the ruined house that was the aboveground portion of the guild. Within the house, there were narrow corridors and also a number of rooms, but all of them were small.

“Okay, it’s a good day to die. So go die, you pieces of shit.”

Commander Dylan practically chased the suicide squad out of the building, then entered a room that could hold five people at most, and sat down on a poorly-made chair that looked like a footstool.

“...What about us?” Haruhiro asked from outside the small room.

“Stand by,” Commander Dylan ordered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Haruhiro gathered his comrades in another room, near the exit to the ruined house, next to the room where Anthony and his men were. But this room was cramped, too.

“Ahh...” When Kuzaku stretched, his hand nearly touched Setora.

“Hey,” Setora glared at him. Kiichi hissed a warning, too.

Kuzaku chuckled and said, “Sorry. I’m feeling tense,” then yawned.

“...What is with this guy?” Setora asked in exasperation.

“It seems when he gets tense, he starts feeling sleepy, or yawns,” Merry tried to explain.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Kuzaku said, acting a bit cocky. “That’s so it. That has to be what it is.”

Shihoru looked up, taking large breaths, in and out, repeatedly.

“You okay?” Haruhiro asked.

Shihoru turned to Haruhiro and gave him a slightly sheepish smile.

“...Because everyone’s here.”

“Yeah,” was all he could respond with. It made Haruhiro ask himself, Couldn’t you say more than that?

Do I respond with “yeah” a bit too often? Wouldn’t “Yeah, that’s right,” be better? I guess they’re the same, huh? Yeah, they’re the same.

He felt a little fuzzy. He wasn’t like Kuzaku, but he might have been feeling tense.

No, of course he was tense. If he thought he was calm, that was nothing but an illusion.

“Um... Merry,” Shihoru said.

Merry seemed caught by surprise, and her eyes widened.

“...Huh?”

The two of them looked at each other.

That’s when it hit Haruhiro, that he really was feeling tense. Or rather, it hit him what this weird feeling of tension was. Like he was in a powder keg?

Shihoru bowed her head.

“...Please.”

Merry couldn’t seem to figure out what her intentions were, and was unable to say whatever it was she started to, because her mouth bobbed open and shut.

Shihoru raised her head, then tried to put on a smile. That effort was visible, but she still ended up with a face that looked like she was about to cry.

Merry burst out laughing, covered her mouth, burst out laughing again, then looked down.

“...Sorry.”

Shihoru shook her head.

“...No, I’m the one who should be sorry...”

There seemed to be a peaceful vibe between Merry and Shihoru, but what was even going on here? Haruhiro looked to Setora, hoping she’d save him.

Setora hugged Kiichi, and committed herself to acting like she didn’t know what was up.

“Right on!” Kuzaku said to Haruhiro with a beaming smile, and gave him a thumbs up.

What’s supposed to be “right on”?

If there hadn’t been a sound like someone was trying to open the door to the ruined house just then, Haruhiro might have asked him.

“There’s been movement at Tenboro Tower! Viceroy Bogg’s...!”

It was Barbara’s voice. Haruhiro was about to rush out of the room.

“Wait!” Merry stopped him. She pressed her fingers to her forehead and made the sign of the hexagram. “O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you... Protection.”

A shining hexagram appeared on the group’s left wrists.

Merry continued chanting another prayer.

“Assist.”

Two more hexagrams of different colors lit up on their wrists.

Kuzaku bounced up and laughed. “I feel so light.”

Protection was a light magic spell that boosted their athletic abilities and natural healing, even if it wasn’t massively. Assist boosted all of their resistances.

“Thanks,” Haruhiro said to Merry.

Merry shook her head.

“If the effect runs out, I’ll recast it. I’ll do my best to notice ahead of time, but if the hexagram disappears, tell me.”

Haruhiro nodded, then looked at his comrades.

“Let’s go.”