2. An Odd Couple
“So slow!” Ranta snapped and shouted out loud, his eyes wide open.
“When are they getting back?! They said they were going scouting, damn it, scouting! They’re taking too damn long! It’s weird! Something must’ve happened! Hold on, could they be... Were they all alone together in the mist, and they felt a spark and just sort of... s-started going at it...?!”
“...Nah.” Kuzaku waved his hand dismissively. “That’d never happen. Not with Haruhiro. He’s not you, Ranta-kun.”
“Come on, don’t go slogging me like it’s an afterthought!”
“You mean slagging, not slogging.” Merry sighed. “How can you go around imagining things like that about your comrades? Unbelievable.”
“You never know, right?!” Ranta yelled back. “They’re a guy and a girl, after all! Besides, it was weird that Yume suggested she go with him! She coulda let Haruhiro go scouting on his own, like always! Y-Yeah... I’ll bet Yume secretly has a thing for—”
“Yume doesn’t seem interested in that sort of stuff...” Shihoru was as cold as ever. “But, even if she were, how would that be a problem?”
“I-It’s a problem. You know! Of course it is. It affects the party’s sense, of, uh, what was it again... Well, you know? It’s not like it’s against any rules, but they could be more open about it. If not, I mean, it’s an affront to common decency, right? Hey, why are you all looking like you don’t care?
I’m talking about some important stuff here, you know?”
“Setting aside the question of whether or not it’s actually important, do we really need to talk about it now?” Merry asked, with absolute cold.
“Fine, I get it!” Ranta crossed his arms and puffed up his chest. “In that case, let’s talk about something really important. Haruhiro and Yume left to scout, but they haven’t come back. It’s taking way too long. I think something happened to them, so do we just sit here? Until sundown? For a night? Two nights? Three nights? Are you all okay with that?”
“...What do you think we should do, Ranta-kun?” Shihoru asked.
“I’m glad you asked, Shihoru!” he hollered.
“The way you said that pisses me off...”
“Even if you do get pissy, I don’t care one bit! So, anyway, in my opinion, we should go looking for them!”
“What if we miss each other?” Merry demanded.
“That’s an excellent question, Merry-saaaan.”
“...I want to kill you.”
“Now, now, don’t get so mad over such a little thing! It’s a waste of that pretty face of yours, you know? You’re beautiful, all right? Smile. Okay?”
“Could you stop? I’m not sure I can put up with you any longer.”
“Righto, righto. I think it’s a bit much that you snap at me over a compliment, but I’ll stop, I’ll totally stop, I’ve done enough. So, about if we miss each other. The missing each other problem. I’m worried about that, too, but, well, can’t we just leave half of the group here? Perfect solution.”
“Hmm...” Kuzaku groaned. “Well, I am a little worried...”
“That’s—” Merry couldn’t say she was unconcerned, and that she thought they should just leave the two of them to handle themselves. “...I feel the same way.”
Shihoru hung her head and touched her lips. “But half of the group...”
“So, for a start, I’d be going, right?” Ranta gestured to himself with his thumb. “I mean, that’s a given. Which means Kuzaku would be staying. He’d have to.”
Merry glanced to Kuzaku. Kuzaku just so happened to be looking at Merry at the same time, so they ended up looking into each other’s eyes.
However, they both immediately looked away.
“I’ll go,” Merry sighed, shaking her head. “Left to your own devices, you’ll cause trouble, and I don’t want to put Shihoru in danger.”
“The way you said that, isn’t it like you’re assuming that being with me guarantees she’ll be in danger?” Ranta asked.
“Isn’t it dangerous just being alone with you? Think back a little about how you behave, why don’t you?”
“Okay, sure, I said I’d like to squeeze her tits, and I asked her to let me, but I’m not seriously going to try to squeeze them at a time like this, okay?!
Use some common sense, would you?”
“Common sense...?” Shihoru looked at him with utter disbelief. “This, coming from the guy with the least common sense in the world?”
“Anyway, I’ll protect Shihoru-san,” Kuzaku said with a sideways glance, not to Shihoru, but to Merry. “But still, Ranta-kun, don’t go too far. It’d be pointless if you got lost.”
“Be careful,” Shihoru added, but it was clear that Merry was the only one she was actually concerned about.
“Yeah.” Merry smiled just at Shihoru. “You, too, Shihoru. ...Oh, and Kuzaku.”
“The way you people play at being friends makes me sick. Bleh...” Ranta muttered and then stepped out into the fog.
Merry followed after him without a word.
Huh? he thought.
Wasn’t she closer to him than usual? Maybe, for all her complaining, she actually didn’t hate Ranta all that much? No, no, maybe she even kind of liked him?
Yeah, no. Not a chance. She was probably just sticking close because the fog was thick and she didn’t want to get split up.
“She’s not even subtle about it, seriously,” Ranta muttered.
“Did you say something?”
“Not a word. —Oh, yeah. This is the time for... O darkness, O lord of vice, Demon Call.”
When summoned, a dark purple cloud formed a vortex, and... out it came.
It was here.
It looked like a person with a purple sheet over its head, with two evil, hole-like eyes, and a vicious gash-like mouth underneath them. In its right hand it held a knife that could only be called an assassin’s dagger, and in its left hand it held a fearsome club. It had two proper legs, but it floated in the air. It was pretty close to a human in size.
“Zodiac-kun! You were so tiny in Darunggar!” Ranta, full of emotion, tried to hug the demon, but it dodged him. “—Wait, what?!”
“Ehe... Ehehehe... Ranta... Honestly, you’re annoying... Kehehehehe...”
“Hey, buddy, you’re like an extension of me!”
“What a bother... Ehehehehe...”
“Poor Zodiac-kun,” Merry sighed.
“Don’t go pitying him, Merry! Z-Zodiac-kun’s just, you know, awkward!
Basically... he can’t be honest with himself, with his feelings, but the truth is, he loves me...”
“Ranta...” Zodiac-kun hissed.
“Wh-What, Zodiac-kun? Did you have something to say?”
“When it comes to you...”
Not a chance.
“Y-Yeah?” Ranta asked.
“From the bottom of my heart, I...”
“Uh huh?”
“...feel nothing but disdain... and hate for you... Ehe...”
“Ouch!” Ranta complained.
Well, even though Zodiac-kun said that, the demon still came when summoned, and would stay at his side. Ranta knew there was no questioning it. Zodiac-kun loved Ranta. He could tell, even if Zodiac-kun was the only one who did.
“...I mean, that’s all a dread knight really needs, am I right?”
“Ehe... Talking to yourself, Ranta? How pitiful... Kehehehe...”
“Shut up,” Ranta snapped. “Just shut up! I’m your master, got it?! If you aren’t more servile, I’ll never use you again!”
“...Kehe... Fine by me...”
Leaving those words behind, poof... Zodiac-kun disappeared.
“Huh? Wait... Zodiac-kun? F-Fine, then. I can just summon you again. O
Darkness, O Lord of Vice, Demon Call. ...Huh? No response? Why...?”
“Even Zodiac-kun’s finally given up on you now, don’t you think?”
Merry asked.
Merry’s words stabbed into Ranta’s chest. What did she mean, “finally”?
What did she mean “even Zodiac-kun”?
Damn it...
Ranta hung his head.
The next moment, he puffed his chest out and held his head high.
“Gahaha! Fine! Who needs Zodiac-kun?! I’m glad to be rid of him!”
“...It looks to me like you’re crying, though.”
“You’re imagining it,” Ranta blustered. “Like I’d ever cry. I’d never cry.
Not me.”
“I’m sure Zodiac-kun will appear again eventually.”
“Merryyyyy! Don’t be so quick to console me! I’ll fall for youuuu!”
“I won’t console you again,” Merry said. “Never again, no matter what happens.”
“If something happens, I don’t mind if you do, okay?! I won’t fall for you! I swear! Please!”
But Merry was stubborn, and wouldn’t give in to begging. Well, a dread knight didn’t need anyone to console him, anyway, so it was fine. Now then, how would they search for Haruhiro and Yume?
There was a mark in one of the trees, carved with a knife or something similar. That caught his attention. When he found a second mark, it clicked for him.
“These weird marks,” Ranta said. “I’m sure that moron Haruhiro left them. Seems like the sort of thing he’d come up with.”
“You didn’t need to call them weird, or call him a moron,” Merry reproached. “But, yeah, I think so, too.”
“He set it up so that he could find his way back, so why isn’t he back yet?” Ranta complained.
Merry said nothing, but she seemed to agree with him. There must’ve been an accident or incident of some sort. That was all Ranta could think. He was getting mad.
“...That loser,” Ranta muttered. “Him and his sleepy eyes. He takes Yume along, and then lets this happen. This is why I can’t trust him. He’s trash.”
“You’re that worried about Yume?” Merry asked.
“O-Of course I am. W-We’re comrades, after all. ...No other feelings involved. Not for her and her tiny tits.”
Anyway, they had no choice but to follow the marks left in the trees. It looked like Haruhiro and Yume had gone in a more or less straight direction, so it wasn’t that hard.
It seemed the two of them had been doing a good job scouting. But then something happened.
Thoughts of the worst sort crossed Ranta’s mind. He immediately dismissed them. It wasn’t helpful to think things he couldn’t do anything about.
“I’m an efficient guy,” Ranta said.
“The fog...” Merry suddenly put in.
Ranta noticed it, too. The fog had suddenly begun to clear. He’d only
been able to see five or six meters ahead before, but the area was getting noticeably brighter.
He could see. Ten meters ahead. No, not just that. He could see much farther.
There were large swells in the ground, and the area was thick with trees, so he couldn’t tell what was going on too far away, but that bright white round thing floating in the milky white air... Could that be the sun?
“My eyes hurt.” Ranta smiled wryly as he squinted. He’d been staring at the sun without meaning to.
Merry turned and looked back. “That’s the direction we came. If the sun is there, then...”
“You can’t tell what direction it is just from that. I think we’d have to make a sundial, or something like that. Damn it. If Yume were here, she’d know...” Ranta cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”
“What?”
“No, just now, it seemed like... something moved.” Ranta pointed over to his left. “Over that way. But it doesn’t seem like anything’s there. Am I seeing things?”
“Even if you are, we’d better be on our guards.”
“Yeah.” Ranta licked his lips. She didn’t have to tell him; he already was.
However, Ranta wasn’t a chicken like Haruhiro. In a crisis, he showed even greater power than usual. He was a dread knight who thrived in adversity. “If we get into a bit of a pinch, I can get us out easy as pie.”
“Don’t get carried away. If you screw up because you took things too easy, I can’t save you.”
“Fair enough,” Ranta said. “If that happens, forget me and run for it. I won’t hold it against you.”
Merry didn’t say a word. It was hard to decide whether that was endearing or not.
Whatever. For now, they just had to follow the trail. The fog was starting to clear, so it was suddenly a lot easier to walk. Thanks to that, they picked up their pace. They were covering a lot of ground.
“Don’t you think we’re rushing too much?” Merry asked.
“Whaaaat? Can’t keep up with my strong legs, Merry-san?”
“Whoever said that...?”
“Ha ha ha,” Ranta cackled as he looked back.
Merry was breathing a little heavily. Ranta’s breathing was a bit uneven, too. Was he being hasty? He couldn’t deny it. Ranta came to a halt.
“...Hold on. Is that a cat?”
“Huh?” Merry asked.
“That.” Ranta pointed up and to the right. “Over there.”
There was a swell in the ground, and there were trees growing out of it on an angle. A creature was sitting on one of the branches. It was... a cat? It had brownish, striped fur, and its face, or more like its head, was clearly that of a cat. It had a tail, too. The way it sat with its front paws together and its ears at attention was catty, as well, but something was different about it.
“...It’s cute.” When Merry let that slip out, the cat’s ears perked up.
The cat quickly turned and was gone.
“Ah...!” Merry reached out in the direction the cat had disappeared off in, but stopped when she noticed Ranta looking at her. “I-It was cute, right? That animal just now. Like a cat.”
“I don’t care if it was cute or not. It was like a cat, but it wasn’t a cat, right?”
“I think so, now that you mention it. ...But that’s not that strange, is it? It just means there’re cute, cat-like creatures living in this area.”
“Is it that important that it’s cute?” Ranta asked.
“I-It’s not about it being important, it’s just a matter of fact that it was cute, so I was—” Merry’s face went stiff. Had she found a monster instead of a not-cat this time? No, apparently that wasn’t it. “...It’s not just the one we saw a moment ago. There’re others, too. Four of them. ...There’re lots.”
“Huh?” Ranta looked around, then gulped. “Seriously... yeah, there are.
Lots.”
Over in the shade was a gray tabby. Up in a tree was a bicolor one with a black and white mask-and-mantle pattern.
There was a pure black one.
And a grayish one.
And a dirty white one, too.
Not all of them, but some of the cats had a glint in their eyes, and that was really creepy. The cats—No, they probably weren’t cats. He finally figured it out.
Their heads were a little too big. They had fairly large bodies, but the heads were closer in relative size to what you’d expect on a kitten than what you’d expect on a full-grown cat. That was probably what made Merry think they were cute.
But their front legs... oh, and their hind ones, too... the toes on their paws weren’t cat toes. They were long, like they could probably grip things with them. Actually, some were doing exactly that and hanging from branches right now.
It wasn’t just two or three. They were all over the place. There were more than fourteen. No, there had been.
They were gone now.
All at once, bam... they were gone. He got goosebumps.
“Did that seem natural to you?” Ranta asked.
“I can’t say it did. ...Maybe not.”
“I figured...”
Ranta was struck by a strange feeling. Or rather, he couldn’t do things the way he wanted to. He was strangely stiff. This had happened before. In Darunggar.
When Haruhiro had been out searching in Waluandin alone, two young orcs had ambushed them. Ranta had been caught by surprise, and he hadn’t been able to move like he wanted to. No, in fact, it’d been worse than that.
He’d been struck by sudden indecision, and in the end, everything he’d done was awkward. The result was that Kuzaku had been wounded, and even Yume had gotten hurt.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew the reason now. It was because Haruhiro hadn’t been there.
If Ranta was alone, he could handle things and take care of himself somehow. The others were just nice to have around. He wasn’t counting on them. Well, he did more or less have an idea of what each of them would do in certain situations. He did take them into consideration before acting, but he was the main focus, and everyone else was secondary. If that guy was around, things worked best that way. However, if he wasn’t, things were a little different.
For example, right this moment, Ranta was alone with Merry, and Haruhiro wasn’t around. Merry was a priest. Even if she could defend herself, combat wasn’t her specialty. Besides, she was a woman. He had to protect her, and it was hard to fight while doing that. He wouldn’t be able to fight to his full potential, and that might mean he couldn’t defeat an enemy, and they’d lose.
He might have been better off not thinking about these things, but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like him, but Ranta was at a loss for what to do. It was that guy’s fault for not being here.
Damn it, Haruhiro.
“Can’t live with him, can’t live without him...” Ranta drew RIPer.
“Merry, get ready for combat. You know, just in case. Be on your guard.”
“You think they’re enemies?” Merry readied her head staff. “The cat-like creatures?”
“Who knows. Here’s hoping they’re...” Ranta shook his head. Why say something so timid? “It’s called not taking chances. I’ll bet you don’t want to be embraced by Skullhell just yet, you blind worshiper of Lumiaris.”
“Don’t let Skullhell trick you into rushing to your death either, okay?”
“Nice comeback.” Ranta smirked.
Time to get back on his game. He could just handle it like usual.
“Do we continue? Or go back?” Merry asked in a whisper.
Don’t ask me, Ranta nearly said, but he held it in. What? Why am I so irritated?
Would they continue or go back?
He just had to decide already. That was all. Besides, Haruhiro was always making decisions. If Haruhiro could do it, there was no way Ranta couldn’t, too.
Yeah.
Make a decision.
Quickly.
Hurry it up.
Decide right now.
While he was struggling to come to an answer, Merry rushed him.
“Hey,” she said. “What are we going to do?”
“Don’t ask me! Use your own head! It’s not like I’m the one who has to make the decision!”
“Don’t shout at me all of a sudden. Okay, I’ll decide, then. Let’s turn back.”
“We’re going back empty handed?! My pride won’t let me—”
He let out a hiccup.
He broke into a cold sweat.
He’d heard a voice. Some sort of cry. It wasn’t human or feline, it was like—a dog’s barking? Or maybe a wolf?
Without either signaling the other, Ranta and Merry stood back to back.
The fog was getting thicker again.
Where? he thought. Where did it come from?
He heard footsteps.
Inside the mist, this way and that, from every direction, there were blackish forms approaching them.
Yeah, wolves. Black wolves, huh.
Though it was hard to imagine the thing that appeared upwards and to the right of them, where they had first seen the cat-like creature, was a wolf. It looked like a wolf, but it was too large. It was more like a bear. On top of that, there was something riding on its back.
Yellowy green skin. A hideous face. Ranta doubted his eyes. But there was no mistaking it.
“What, a gobliiiinnnnn?” he said.
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