Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 8 - Chapter 13

13. Don’t Decide to do Something, Resolve

Yourself to

When dawn came, the village was enveloped in morning mist. The thickness of this mist seriously just wasn’t normal. It was bad enough that you couldn’t see your own outstretched hand. 

Haruhiro had thought that maybe when the morning came, he’d get a view of the whole village. Not a chance. He couldn’t even make out Katsuharu’s retreat, which was right next to him, and he didn’t notice Rock until the guy kicked him in the back. 

“We’re going, Haruhiro. Tag along.” 

“...Huh? Where to?” 

“You guys want to save your comrade that was taken by Forgan, don’t you? We want to crush Arnold. I can’t say our interests are perfectly aligned, but it’d be impossible for you guys to rescue her on your own. We want all the help we can get. So, cooperate with us. You do that, and we’ll help you, too.” 

Haruhiro had no objection. It was just what he wanted to hear, but Arara hadn’t come back, and he hadn’t heard anything about them having decided what to do with her, so what were they going to do? 

They said Haruhiro was the only one who needed to come along for now, so along with Rock, who had Gettsu on his shoulder, Moyugi, the strongest dread knight in active service, Tsuga, the priest with a buzz-cut, and Katsuharu, for a group of five people and one animal, they pushed through fog so dense you couldn’t see more than an inch ahead. 

There were a lot of elevation differences inside the village. The ground was well-trod like a game trail, but they could hardly see the buildings through the fog, and there was no sign of any people. 

However, Haruhiro soon began to sense some sort of presence. Probably nyaas. Those cat-like, monkey-like creatures were surveilling them from beyond the fog. It wasn’t just one or two of them, either. There were far more. 

The reason for that became clear shortly. Haruhiro’s instincts had been on the mark. The building was twice as tall as Katsuharu’s retreat, with probably more than three times the frontage and depth. 

There were furs plastered to the walls and roof. Also, nyaas. Nyaas at the windows, outside, and on the roof, too. Nyaas everywhere. An incredible number of them. All the nyaas were scrutinizing them closely. It was pretty scary. 

“I-Is this the nyaas’ house... or something like that?” Haruhiro stuttered. 

“This is the abode of one called Setora, of the House of Shuro,” Katsuharu answered. “You people wait here. If you intrude any further without permission, there’s no telling what might happen. Let me go explain your business here.” 

“We’ll have to wait and see how it goes, huh?” Rock was grinning. 

Moyugi pressed the middle finger of his right hand against the bridge of his glasses without a word. Actually, he’d hardly spoken all morning. He seemed to be in a bad mood somehow, and was being pretty blatant about it. 

“He’s always like this when he gets up,” Tsuga whispered in Haruhiro’s ear. “For all the self-important things he says, he’s pretty childish, huh.” 

“Tsuga,” Moyugi said in a frightening voice. “I can hear you perfectly.” 

“I’ll bet,” Tsuga said, as if it were nothing. “I said it so you could hear. If I hadn’t, that’d be talking behind your back.” 

Moyugi clicked his tongue, and Rock guffawed. 

Katsuharu approached Shuro Setora’s house, which was not actually the nyaas’ house. Immediately, the nyaas’ eyes all focused on Katsuharu. 

If Haruhiro ended up at the center of attention like that, he’d probably stop moving despite himself. Katsuharu kept going like it didn’t matter. 

However, he didn’t make it to the door. Before he could, the door opened from inside, and someone came out. 

It’s... a human?  Haruhiro realized. That’s Shuro Setora? 

None of the man’s skin was exposed, face included. His face was all covered with scarlet-and-indigo-colored fabric, or leather, or some other material. 

He was about the same height as Haruhiro, maybe. But he looked big. The fact of the matter was, he was big. As for what was big about him, it was his arms. His arms weren’t just long; they were thick. Then, on top of that, they were wrapped in what looked like metal armor. 

Just what was Shuro Setora? 

“Oh,” Katsuharu said, taking a step back. “Enba, huh.” 

Apparently this wasn’t Shuro Setora. Enba remained silent, turning his head right twice, then left three times. 

That’s kind of scary, you know?  thought Haruhiro. 

“Enba.” Katsuharu took another half-step backward. “The truth is, I have something important to discuss with Setora.” 

“Something to discuss with me, you say?” said another person, sticking her head out of a window on the second floor. 

This person also had her skin covered with scarlet and indigo cloth and other materials. But in her clothing, there was a large gap for her eyes, from behind which two eyeballs peered out. 

“What is it, wanderer?” Setora asked. Judging by the voice, she was a woman. “Nothing useful, I’m sure.” 

“That’s some way to greet me, Setora,” Katsuharu shot back. “This, after I spent all that time playing with you when you were just a little girl.” 

“That just means you were a good-for-nothing with too much time on your hands even back then. No respectable person wastes their time playing with little brats.” 

“Indeed. There’s nothing I can say to that.” 

“Setora,” Rock called out to her. What, he was dropping the honorific already? “I’ve got a favor to ask you.” 

“I refuse.” Setora pulled her head back inside. 

“You’re always so rude, Rock,” Moyugi said spitefully with a sigh, brushing his bangs back with his fingers as he looked up to the window. 

“You, the lovely young lady up there. Might I ask you to grace us once more with a glimpse of your beauteous form? Even for just a moment. Please, allow me to offer a poem extolling your greatness.” 

Whoa, what was that? He’s being kind of creepy,  thought Haruhiro. But, in the surprise to end all surprises, after a short while, Setora stuck her head back out the window. 

“What is with that outsider?” she demanded. “Is his brain full of maggots?” 

Moyugi said, “See, I’ve got her now,” under his breath, then turned to Setora with a smile. “Shuro Setora, I am Moyugi, the strongest dread knight in active service, here just to see you.” 

“What a bizarre fellow,” she murmured. 

“Do you prefer the ordinary?” Moyugi asked. “You don’t look like it.” 

“Enba, dispose of him.” 

Before Haruhiro even had time to be surprised, Enba attacked Moyugi. If those arms hit him, there was no way he wouldn’t die instantly. However, Moyugi seemed to have anticipated this, evading Enba’s right arm in one smooth motion. 

As Enba followed up with a swing of his left arm, Rock closed in. He slipped past Enba’s left arm, getting in close, and just as Haruhiro was wondering what he was going to do—incredibly, Rock wrapped his arms around Enba’s torso. Then he braced himself and lifted Enba up. 

“Hoooorah...!” Rock shouted. 

He threw him. Enba might not have been that massive, but he was still a lot taller than the diminutive Rock. Based on his overall thickness, he had to weigh more than twice what Rock did. Yet Rock was easily able to throw Enba. What sheer idiot strength he had. 

Enba braced himself for the landing and got back up again quickly. 

When Enba went to lunge at Rock again, Setora called out, “Stop! Enba, the way you are now, he’ll just break you. Forgive me for lacking the ability to have made you stronger.” 

“Nah, I had no intention of breaking him, anyway.” As Rock flashed her a grin, Gettsu climbed up onto his shoulder. “This is one of those golems, huh? 

Just like Pingo’s Zenmai.” 

“...Pingo,” Setora said. “You’re acquaintances of Soma’s, are you?” 

“We’re in his clan. You know what a clan is?” 

“I don’t. But I can guess. Enba, catch me.” 

As soon as Setora said that, Enba ran over underneath the window. Setora made a nimble jump down from the window, landing on Enba’s left shoulder. 

“I’ll deign to hear whatever it is you have to say. But first, let me check one thing. Does it have something to do with Arara?” 

It turned out, Setora and Arara were around the same age, and they had been childhood friends. Because she was the third daughter of one of the six houses, the House of Shuro which carried on a tradition of necromancy, she’d associated with Arara, the eldest daughter of the House of Nigi, the foremost of the four samurai houses. 

Despite that, while Arara was the heir of her house, Setora had two elder sisters and was not. On top of that, despite being born into a house that practiced necromancy, she’d come to devote herself to the skills of the onmitsu. As was apparent from looking around here, it was the nyaas. She had gotten completely hooked on nyaas, which were primarily raised by the village’s onmitsu spies. 

Though she still made flesh golems as a necromancer, most of her passion went into raising and breeding nyaas, so Setora was seen as a nuisance, and a stain on the good name of the House of Shuro. 

Haruhiro might have thought, Well, what’s the big deal?  but they probably had their own traditions, their common sense, their standards, and all sorts of other things to consider. 

One was the heir to the House of Nigi, the other was an embarrassment to the House of Shuro. That had made Arara and Setora a contrasting pair, once upon a time. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean the two of them had grown distant. 

“What a fool Arara was, falling for a weakling like Tatsuru,” commented Setora. “Still, I always had a feeling she’d go astray somewhere. If she were the sort of woman who could keep quiet and inherit the House of Nigi, she’d never have paid me any mind.” 

“I was wrong, too.” Katsuharu slumped his shoulders. “I should have stayed a wanderer, and not gotten involved with Arara. I may have been a bad influence on her.” 

“You can say that again, wanderer,” Setora said scornfully. “You’re the root of every kind of evil.” 

“That’s awfully harsh. I’ve been trying to reflect on my actions, you know.” 

“It’s too late. If she picks a personal fight with Forgan, and that leads to sparks falling on the village, they won’t let her off with being sealed in a cave. They may well cut her hair and expel her.” 

“Cut her hair...” Rock’s eyes went wide. “Wait, how short are we talking here?! They wouldn’t shave her bald, would they?!” 

“This short, I’d say.” Katsuharu pointed to his shoulders. “When the 

women of the village turn six, they grow their hair long. That means a short-haired woman is no member of the village.” 

“...Like a bob cut, huh?” Rock nodded. “That’d look pretty good on her. 

Well, anything looks good on Arara.” 

That aside, what were they doing, visiting Setora the nyaa-wrangling necromancer in a situation where that might happen to Arara? Haruhiro more or less had it figured out. It was just like he’d thought. 

“I didn’t expect the hair cutting thing, though,” Rock said. “Her being disowned and expelled was more or less assumed. Either way, we’re still going to avenge Tatsuru. I want your help with that, Setora. Forgan has this goblin beastmaster called Onsa, and he’s keeping a lot of nyaas, you see. 

You’ve got to fight nyaas with nyaas. I can’t turn anywhere else for help with that.” 

It was true, these nyaa critters were trouble. It still wasn’t clear how effective they were in combat, but they seemed excessively nimble, and could hide themselves and move around silently. They’d no doubt been trained to alert their trainer if they detected enemies. That meant they could be laid out in a network. If their opponent was operating a nyaa security network, they had no choice but to try to break through with force. 

That meant that even if they could find where Forgan was, searching for Arnold’s specific whereabouts would still be difficult. The same went for finding where Merry was being held captive. Obviously, it would be practically impossible to rescue Merry quietly. 

“How many nyaas does Forgan have?” Setora’s expression was completely unreadable, and her brusque tone hardly changed at all. 

“Maybe ten, maybe twenty...” Rock held up both hands, tilting his head to the side. “No clue.” 

“I keep a total of one hundred and twenty-four nyaas. Of those, eighty-two are usable.” 

“I’d say the enemy has maybe thirty, at most,” Katsuharu said, stroking his chin. “That’s only my intuition, though, so it may not be reliable.” 

“Indeed, I can’t rely on it.” Setora snorted. “Still, I doubt they’ll have more than double that. If that’s all, my nyaas can keep them under control.” 

“You’d do that for us?!” Rock said, his glee showing clearly. 

“I refuse.” 

“Seriously? It sounded like things were leading up to you agreeing to do it, just now.” 

“That was your imagination. For a start, would there be some merit for me in doing it? I could ask the same of you people. The wanderer aside, what do you outsiders have to gain from helping Arara with her worthless revenge?” 

“I fell for her, so there’s that,” said Rock. 

“...Say what?” 

“I fell for Arara. If the woman I fell for is putting her life on the line to accomplish something, I’ve gotta be willing to take a risk or two for her.” 

“Do you think that if you do all that for her, the woman in question will fall for you, too? You’re wasting your time.” 

“Huh? Why would that make Arara fall for me? Hardly any time’s passed since Tatsuru died. It’d never happen.” 

“This is making less and less sense,” Setora fumed. “What are you doing it for, then?” 

“I already told you, it’s because I fell for her. I’ll make the woman I love’s wish come true. What happens after that doesn’t matter.” 

“I understand,” Setora snapped. “You’re a complete fool. No, you all must be fools.” 

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t lump me in with him,” Moyugi said, pointing at Rock. “This man might be a fool, but by no means am I one.” 

“That’s right.” Rock stretched a bit, then threw his arm around Moyugi’s shoulder. “I might be a fool, but my comrades are just having fun tagging along. Right, Moyugi?” 

“...Would you let go of me? I hate being touched by other men.” 

“In a way, we may be even worse than Rock.” Tsuga’s smile was so peaceful it was kind of scary. 

“Regardless.” Setora sighed a little. “Even if you people have a reason, I have none. If Arara is expelled from the village, she can live freely. Revenge is pointless. Tell that fool she should forget Tatsuru already, and—” 

“A-A deal!” Haruhiro burst out. 

Uh oh... 

He hadn’t been able to help but go and open his mouth. 

Haruhiro glanced to Rock, Moyugi, Tsuga, and Katsuharu. None of them were going to try and stop him. Well, it looked like he was stuck. He’d have to finish what he’d started saying. 

“...Can we make a deal?” Haruhiro asked. “We could give you something in exchange for your help. If we do that, there’s something in it for you.” 

“Do you believe you’re able to offer me what I want?” Setora demanded. 

“That... I’m not sure of. It’d depend what it is...” 

“If I had to choose a word for it, it would be material.” 

“Material... Wait? For what?” 

“Golems,” Setora began, patting Enba on the head, “are made by stitching together parts from corpses. The more freshly dead, the better, they say. But, the truth is, they apparently don’t even have to come from the dead. I’ve yet to try it myself, but I hear there are methods for using parts from the living.” 

“...So, basically, what you’re saying is, ‘Give me a part of your body’?” Haruhiro asked. 

“One arm.” Setora looked Haruhiro’s body up and down with awfully cold eyes. Those were the eyes of someone evaluating a product. “No. It’s only an experiment, so I can let you off with just one eyeball. Why, yes. I think an eyeball will do quite nicely. It will be something to toy with.” 

“Just so you’re aware,” Tsuga explained calmly, “if she takes your arm, or your eyeball, light magic can’t bring it back. Even a shaman shouldn’t be able to do that.” 

“Isn’t that common sense?” Moyugi pressed on the bridge of his glasses with the middle finger of his right hand while letting out a gentle sigh. “It seems we have no choice. Let’s give up on the nyaas. Our optional objective will be more difficult, but the main one is still doable.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Rock frowned. “Too bad, huh.” 

The optional objective. Was that what he thought it was? Haruhiro and his party’s objective, rescuing Merry. 

Well, Moyugi might have been right. If they could confuse the nyaas, it would make having Haruhiro use Stealth to sneak into enemy territory, then rescuing Merry and running, a viable option. If they were going to do something about the enemy’s nyaa security network, they absolutely needed Setora and her nyaas. 

Haruhiro pulled out his dagger with the hand guard. He tried to bring it up to his own eye, but he had no confidence he could do it right. Setora was sitting on Enba’s shoulder. 

“Um, sorry.” Haruhiro approached Enba, offering the dagger hilt first. 

“Could you use this to do it? If I try to do it myself, and screw it up, it’d be a waste. I’ll sit still the best that I can. If possible, I’d prefer you take the left eye. Because I’m right-handed, you see. If you could do it real quick, I’d be much obliged.” 

Setora’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re saying you’ll make the deal?” 

“Yes,” Haruhiro said. “Oh, right. Also, Tsuga-san, when she’s done, heal up the wound, please.” 

“I can do that.” Tsuga was still smiling. The guy had clearly reached enlightenment. 

“...You’re okay with this?” Katsuharu seemed a little flustered. 

“I’m not okay with it, but it’s just one eye, not both, so fine, whatever,” 

Haruhiro said. “My comrade’s life is at stake. I want to raise our odds, even if only a little. If I don’t do everything I can, and then end up regretting it later, I wouldn’t like that, you know?” 

Rock and Moyugi looked at one another. This guy’s an idiot,  was what they must have been thinking. 

Was he an idiot? It was hard to say. Whatever the case, he’d said everything he had to say. There was something he could do to accomplish their goal. So he was going to do it. Haruhiro didn’t exactly have a level head right now. He wasn’t thinking deeply about it. He felt like he’d get scared if he did, so he was deliberately not thinking. 

“Put that thing away.” Setora nimbly hopped down from Enba’s shoulder, drawing the thin short sword at her waist. “I’m more used to using my own blade. You’re absolutely sure about this?” 

“Go ahead.” Haruhiro returned his dagger to its sheath, clearing his throat. 

“...So, should I bend over? To get to the right height. Or should I crouch down?” 

“Sit.” 

“Right. Okay then...” 

Haruhiro sat with his knees in front of him. He wasn’t feeling that tense. 

Or afraid. That only lasted until Setora crouched down and opened his left eye with her left hand. 

Ohhhhhh, crap. Seriously? She’s seriously doing this? Will it hurt? I bet it will. 

The dagger closed in. 

Hurry up. Get it over with already. 

Haruhiro held his breath. Right after he did, she inserted the knife between his eyeball and eye socket. What he felt was not so much pain as an intense feeling that there was a foreign body that didn’t belong there. The pain was sure to come. He winced without meaning to. That must have caused the blade to nick something. He heard something like a small puncturing sound, and then came the pain. 

Hurry, hurry, do it, do it, do it,  he screamed internally. Huh? Why? 

Setora pulled back her blade. “...It can wait.” 

“Huh...?” Haruhiro blinked. There was a pain in his left eye. The tears started to run. 

“You have things to do, don’t you? I can take the material from you once you’re done.” Setora turned her back to him. “I’ll handle Forgan’s nyaas. 

Rest assured. My nyaas would never lose.” 

“Ah...” Haruhiro shut his left eye tight, pressing down on it from above his eyelid. Damn, it hurt. “...Thank you.” 

“I’ll be taking my payment. There’s no need for thanks.” With that, Setora went inside the building along with Enba. 

Tsuga tapped Haruhiro on the shoulder. “You want me to heal that?” 

“Please...” 

“Why, everything went exactly as I expected,” Moyugi whispered gloatingly, but Haruhiro thought that absolutely had to be a lie. 

“Well, whatever the case, it’s all good, huh?” Rock winked to Haruhiro. 

Maybe Haruhiro was supposed to wink back, but his left eye still hadn’t been healed, so he wasn’t quite sure he could do it, and he didn’t want to, either. 

Katsuharu raised his goggles up on top of his head, crossing his arms. 

“Now, that just leaves Arara.”