Instantly, without saying anything, Gourry ran inside. I couldn’t hear anything, but I continued after him. The interior was exactly the same as the two temple branches we visited earlier. The only difference– this one had several corpses strewn about the passageway.
Some of them were priests, but probably double that amount were thugs. The assassins probably chose to raid the place when the security was weak. We eventually turned a corner and ran down a long hallway. Directly in front of us there was a door. If the building’s structure was the same, then this should be the high priest’s private room.
“Hah!” Gourry stopped and with a yell, he drew his sword and sliced through the air.
There was a small sound, like something rupturing. I didn’t see whatever happened behind me, but it was probably…
An outstretched hallway lined with pillars. And then the sporadically scattered bodies. From the shadow of a pillar, a black figure appeared. An assassin?! He was still in the building?! And not just one. From the shadows of the pillars, a total of four appeared. Sensing us drawing near, they concealed their presences and their bodies. They were probably planning on attacking us suddenly but– With their bloodlust rising, and sensing Gourry’s wild instincts, the enemy intercepted us by launching projectile weapons. If we could somehow manage to capture one alive, we could find out who hired them. All right. In that case–
Gourry readied his sword and slowly closed the distance between them. Standing behind him, I grabbed the edge of his clothes and pulled him back.
“Who are you people?!” Catching onto my signal, he stopped and yelled at the assassins. “Did you defeat everyone here?! What about the high priest?!” Of course, if these were pro assassins they wouldn’t have answered his questions. They only snorted at his nonsense. But, his nonsense questions did buy us some time! I released the spell I had been casting.
“Sleeping!”
“Wh–?!” gasps of astonishment leaked from the assassins mouths.
From its name, this is a spell that puts everyone within a fixed range to sleep. By stopping Gourry from closing in on them, I was able to cast a sleeping spell on the enemy alone. This way we could capture them.
“…gh…”
“…mm…”
Two of the fallen assassins groaned. The other two… weren’t effected at all?! Now that I think about it, I’ve heard that the maximum number of minds this spell can effect is pretty low but…
One of the remaining assassins was lunging toward Gourry with a large dagger, and the other was headed for his fallen comrades. He was planning on waking them up so they could all attack. But with this spell, you fall asleep temporarily, and you can’t just wake right up again. With one of them charging at Gourry, he unleashed an attack with his sword. As they were approaching each other, the assassin drew an arc with his dagger. And then, just before the blades were about to meet, the assassin pulled out another dagger with his left hand. His strategy was to catch the blow with the dagger in his right hand, and in the moment when he stopped Gourry’s attack, he would strike with he dagger in his left.
However! With one attack, Gourry sliced through the dagger and the assassin! Setting aside the contents of his brain, when it came to swordsmanship, Gourry was a genius. And on top of that, he has this sword now. It’s proudly the sharpest sword of all time, with its name passed down through legends, the Blast Sword. With Gourry’s skill and the Blast Sword together, it’s no surprise that this was possible. The assassin fell without making a sound. And now there were only three left. Or so I thought.
Boom!
There was the sound of an intense explosion. One of the assassins had placed his hand against the wall of the corridor and that’s where the explosion came from. The spell he used was probably Blast Wave. That way he was able to open a whole in the wall, which he used to flee outside. What a strange occurence. The one just now left behind his sleeping comrades. It can’t be–!
I panicked and ran over toward them. The two assassins that should have been sleeping had had their throats slit. Bastard!
The one that got away, ran over to these two, and when he couldn’t wake them, he sent them into eternal slumber. All that just to seal their mouths. Using this method, he must have been a pro, otherwise he’d just be a homicidal maniac.
“Lina!” As Gourry ran toward me, I just shook my head.
“It’s no use. They were killed by the one that just ran away.”
“Are we gonna follow him?!”
“No… It’s probably useless. More than that, right now we need to check inside the room. I already have a general idea… of the results…” And it was just as I had imagined. Inside the room, mixed in among several mercenaries, was a man clad in priests robes.
The western High Priest, Brahn Concnielle.
***
The town was in an uproar. But that was natural. Someone had hired assassins to kill one of the high priests. And the worst part was that this was clearly a murder. Now all the rumors that the head priest had been murdered, were even more tinged with the truth. In the end, we couldn’t find out the assassins’ identities, which meant we couldn’t find out who hired them. Of course, after this incident the officials had a mountain of questions for us. Luckily, the Sorcerer’s Guild was able to verify my identity and we were allowed to leave. However. It was only on the condition that until this case is solved, we aren’t allowed to leave the city. The next day the two of us went to visit the high priest of the south, Ryan Seinfort.
“You two?! You were the ones who witnessed yesterday’s incident from the very beginning!” When we met him he didn’t even introduce himself. He just impulsively got on his high horse.
He was around forty years old. He had brown hair with occasional streaks of gray, a strong physique and a low, refined voice. I felt like if he preached in a calmer voice, he might be a dignified clergyman. But, surrounded by maybe ten mercenaries, leaning back in his chair and yelling to the point where it was no use trying to talk to him– he was nothing but a short-tempered old man.
“Don’t tell me… Is being a mediator for the Sorcerer’s Guild just a front and you’re actually assassins from someone else?! Eh?!”
I honestly wasn’t sure if he was this neurotic because someone in his line of work was killed or because he was the one behind all of this. It goes unsaid, but once you suspect someone, everything will seem suspicious. But even knowing that, this guy is really mad. I kept nodding at him.
“Well, certainly given your disposition, it wouldn’t be mysterious if you invoked someone’s malice to the point where they would send assassins but…”
“What?!”
“Well, for now you can rest at ease. We aren’t like that. We have no intention of following someone like you around.”
“…Hey now, Lina…” Gourry spoke out against my provocations, but for now I ignored him. High Priest Ryan was turning red with anger.
“Wh–! Someone like me–?! What a rude–!”
“Ah. Please don’t worry about it. Compared to someone who rudely sends assassins for their first meeting, insulting someone on the first meeting isn’t so rude.” I said with a big grin.
“Gh–!”
“Anyway.” I distinctly interrupted him in the middle of whatever he was about to say. I understand that you’re anxious, but please don’t make any rash decisions after nightfall. There’s a chance that someone may believe that you’re the one behind all of this. Don’t forget that. Well then, we’ll be off.”
“Ngh–! Grr–!” After making a one-sided statement and leaving Ryan in the middle of what he was saying, we turned our backs on the mercenaries with their rising bloodlust, and left the room.
“Hey, hey! Was that really okay, Lina? What you said in there?” As we headed for the branch exit, Gourry spoke to me in a low voice.
“It’s fine. If he isn’t behind this, then I just made it so his anger would be directed at us instead of the other high priests. On the other hand, if he is behind this, he would aim for us before the other high priests. And then the tables would turn and this case would be solved quickly and efficiently.”
“I see… So you weren’t just back-talking.”
Ack.
“Uhh, naturally. I thought you’d say something like that.”
“For some reason that ‘uhh’ just now was a little suspicious…”
“A-All in your imagination!” As we left the building we were talking about things like that when–
“Yo.”
Waiting for us were two familiar faces.
“Luke! Milina!” I looked all around but I couldn’t see High Priest Kereth anywhere. We walked toward the two of them.
“What’s wrong? It seems like High Priest Kereth isn’t around… Don’t tell me, he was ogling over Milina so Luke knocked him out and you lost your jobs?”
“That’s likely, but it didn’t happen.” Milina quietly answered my question. “We’re out on dispatch from High Priest Kereth.”
“Dispatch?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow. This time Luke answered.
“Yeah. Because of what happened yesterday. He heard that the head priest had been murdered and now he can’t help wanting to have this case solved. He said since the officials couldn’t see that it was a murder, he can’t depend on them. But the two of you aren’t enough on your own, so he sent some trusted friends to help you out.”
“Well… that’s fine but… Aren’t you his guards?”
“Even with us, he’s still worried.. But because of what happened yesterday, he hired legitimate soldiers and now he has plenty of guards. If the one concerned about it says it’s fine, then it’s fine, isn’t it?”
“Hmm…” I only vaguely agreed to everything Luke said. The problem was High Priest Kereth’s true intentions. Luke said this was because of yesterday, but normally you wouldn’t strengthen your forces just because of that. You can certainly use legitimate soldiers as guards. Even looking around the south temple, I could see soldiers. There were probably around five or six of them. But if they were sent out to other temples, without changing the amount, and they had to face assassins, then this wasn’t an amount you could rest easy with.
Of course, High Priest Kereth remembers the incident with rage and has a strong desire for it to be solved. That’s the most favorable explanation. But thinking about it another way, since we’re mediators for the Sorcerer’s Guild, it may be more advantageous for him in the eventual head priest decision meeting if he creates an obligation of gratitude to himself. In the worst case, he’s the mastermind in all this and he’ll feel that it’s actually more of a burden to have us so close to Luke and Milina, so he’ll come up with some vague reasoning and impose some decision on us.
–But I can’t help thinking otherwise. At any rate, if we increase the number of help, it will definitely be more convenient.
“Understood. I could use your help.”
“Sure. So, first off, where do we go from here?”
“First we should gather information. In this area, there’s a row of cheap hotels. It’s a pretty shady place.”
The place was in the southern tip of the city. All of the filthy houses and suspicious shops and suspicious taverns were all lined up and down a gloomy street. Naturally it’s a place where hoodlums gather, at least that’s the kind of picture it paints. Heading further south from the southern temple branch you would reach downtown. This is called the city of temples, and in any city that’s more than just a place for people to live in, there will always be a place like this. Our enemy is a pro assassin. If he was hiding himself it would probably be around here. If they were coming from the wire-puller, the assassins would have an innocent look to them and they’d be mixed in among the guarding mercenaries. At least, that would be the most convenient method. That way, by simple contact, they could become temporary guards.
Conversely, if the assassin ended up being hired by his target, he wouldn’t have exposed his own face. He probably conceals himself elsewhere, and then at certain scheduled times, he’ll visit the wire-puller and receive his orders. If that’s the case that’s where we need to visit first. Well, they could do something unexpected and stay at a luxury hotel at the heart of the city, but that’s not likely since it would be easy to trace.
“So then… I think… we should split up. Me and Gourry, and then Luke and Milina, then we can gather information. It’s not necessary but…”
“Oh well. I think it’d be fine if we divided the work.” said Luke.
“In that case… If you expose your urge to kill, you won’t surprise anyone. Now, are you going to come out quietly?” At my announcement, it was silent for a moment and then–
“I can’t really help if it leaks out.” Alongside the voice, a man’s figure appeared from the shadows.
One… two… From the shadows here on this street. From shadows over there. They appeared in succession, but they weren’t assassins. From the way they looked, they must have been thugs, about ten of them.
“The sight of you guys loitering around here is really an eyesore. It’s almost painful to look at.” said a man with a scar on his cheek. He looked like he was their boss. Hmm… I thought a bit, then started casting a small spell in my mouth.
“Heh. You seem like a nice guy.” Luke snorted. “I think you might be about as promising an opponent as a pile of fish.”
“The hell you say?!” Anger colored the boss’ face. “You makin’ fun of us?! We’ll show you!”
“Yeah!” The little fishes cried out, and came rushing at us all at once. At that moment–
“Diem Wing!” I released the spell I had been casting. My spell produced a strong gust of wind that was capable of blowing away a child with an umbrella, but not enough to kill or wound anyone. But I wasn’t aiming for the thugs. I released my spell directly above. Instantly–
BOOM!
There was an explosion with a bright light just above our heads.
“Wha–!?” The thugs cried out in shock. Of course, it wasn’t my spell that had exploded. My spell had collided with a fireball that had been released from a rooftop, causing it to scatter in midair. There’s no mistake that the spell came from some assassins hiding up on the roof. They were probably sent by the wire-puller to kill us.
But of course they knew with all of these thugs around, they couldn’t compete. In spite of all that, they were hired to attack weaklings like this. In that case, we were just a lure. The likely winner would probably be the assassins. Hidden on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings and suppressing their bloodlust, while these street thugs gave off an intense desire to kill, they were able to attack. Reading that, I cast a spell to intercept theirs. And it seems I got a bulls-eye.
“..H-Hey! You didn’t even flinch! You’re just showing off your fancy spells!” The boss man shouted.
“Y-Yeah!” blindly following him, the other thugs started rushing toward us again!
Hey! Could these guys use their brains a little bit?! If they don’t pay attention, these thugs will get caught in an attack from the real assassins. In fact, if I hadn’t intercepted that fireball just now, they would have gotten caught in it. But without realizing that, the thugs just continued to underestimate us and plunge forward without thinking about anything. Just then–
“Freeze Arrow.” Milina’s ice spell crashed into a number of thugs and quickly incapacitated them. Next, Gourry drew his sword.
“Hah!” With a yell, he sliced through the air.
“Gyaahhwaaaaagh!”
After a strange sound, a number of the thugs cried out and went flying. But he hadn’t hit them with part of the blade. He had struck them with the belly of the sword. Well… doing something like that is kind of ridiculous. It would have broken… if it were a normal sword. Going against this many enemies with Gourry’s seriousness and the Blast Sword, I feel like that was kind of immature.
Luke went running at the thugs with his sword. I began casting my next spell while fighting back with my short sword. Clearly, the thugs’ skills were on par with low level soldiers so this would be an easy victory. That is– there wasn’t even a contest. But these guys weren’t our real enemies. The moment we made contact with them…
Pssh. There was a small sound overhead, like something bursting. I knew they’d come! I separated myself from the thug I was matched with and jumped far back, opening the space between us. I took my sword in hand, raised it at a slight angle– and threw it into the sky.
Instantly.
An awful noise echoed above us, as if the sky was being torn apart. A countless number of lights converged on the short sword I had cast away, and made a direct hit with the thug right beneath it.
When the hidden assassins threw a fireball, I was able to sense it and defend against it. Because of that, this time they used a lightning spell with a wide scope that couldn’t be deflected with a wind spell. But I sensed it again, and throwing my sword into the air, it became a lightning rod.
…which was unfortunate for the thug directly underneath it.
“Wench! Using such strange tricks–!” And once again, the boss shouted after mistaking it for my spell.
Daaahh! You’re so slow! Don’t you realize anything?!
From the roofs and windows of nearby buildings, a number of black figures swooped down to the battlefield. The assassins came out! Since I kept defending against their spells, they appeared to stop the numbing.
“Wh-What the–?! Fine! It doesn’t matter! We’ll take both of you on!” Without comprehending the situation at all, the thugs’ boss handed down another stupid order.
Hold on! Are you serious?! Are you thinking at all?! Hey!
And that’s when the free-for-all started. I easily evaded one of the thugs charging at me, then wrapped around to the back of his flailing body and chopped him in the back of his head.
“Gegh!” He made a weird cry and grabbed his neck for support, while I kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to make a half-turn. I grabbed the short-sword that slipped out of his hands and used it as a replacement for the sword I had just thrown away. The moment I got the sword into my hands, a black shadow appeared in my field of vision. An assassin! His hand moved in my direction. Was that a throwing knife?! But right at that moment–
“You bitch!” Another thug, a friend of the opponent I just defeated, jumped at me.
Waagh! Moron!
With a thick, dull sound, the thug’s body quivered a little and he collapsed where he was. From the assassin’s perspective, he would have seen him jump in front of the knife and catch it in his back. He couldn’t have been expected an interruption like that. The assassin’s movement stopped momentarily.
“Freeze arrow!” I released the spell I was casting! But the one I was aiming for was a pro. He promptly jumped back and avoided a direct hit from my spell, taking shelter among the thugs. In exchange, some of the thugs around him took a direct hit and were frozen.
“Ahh!”
“Bitch!”
All of them cried out at once and rushed toward me.
Hey! If you’re gonna keep picking a fight with us, don’t complain! If things continue like this, you’re all gonna get blasted away! With a hard decision to make, I began chanting a spell in my mouth.
***
At that moment the other three had their own fights developing. With his sword, Gourry slashed through the swords of the thugs and repelled throwing knives from the assassins. The moment that he stopped their attacks, one or two people went crawling away. Luke was catching blows from thugs one right after another. As one of the opponents was flailing, Luke kicked into his flank and struck another enemy as he drew near.
“Gwah!”
And then to finish both of them off– “Dug Wave!”
BOOM!
–he used an attack spell. One of the assassins came running at him.
“Die, Bastard!” At the same time, one of the thugs came charging at the assassin. The assassin hurriedly countered.
Both men were probably hired by the same person, but the thugs were never informed that the assassins were allies. Well, that makes sense. If you have a pile of men working on your side, you shouldn’t just tell them ‘Hey, you guys are just decoys. The assassins are gonna attack from above, so you guys will just have to die with the enemy, okay? ♥’ But this situation happened all because I went melee in order to defend against the assassin’s attack spells.
Milina was also repelling the thugs sword attacks. “Fel Za Rhed!” Without looking back, she suddenly fired her spell in a different direction. There, an assassin had drawn near by hiding in the shadow of one of the thug’s body. He probably didn’t think she’d be able to read his own movements. She blew him away with a direct hit.
“D-Don’t make fun of us!” With his sword drawn and his back bent, a young, blonde thug came plunging at her. Once again Milina swung her sword at face-height.
“Heee!” The thug quickly crouched down, and using that energy he flopped forward, the momentum causing him to graze Milina’s flank with his sword. She responded by–
“Gweh!?”
Stepping on his back and taking on a new opponent. At that point I had completed my spell.
“Dimillua Wing!”
FWOOOSH!
An explosion of wind blew away one of the assassins and a number of thugs. All right. With that we’d greatly reduced their numbers.
“T-These guys are tough!” one of the thugs cried out. …but y’know, it’s a little late to just be noticing that now.
Only a short time had passed since the fight had started but we had already reduced the number of thugs by half, and we had defeated two of the assassins which meant there were only three left. That’s when the thug boss spoke up.
“If you’re gonna go this far then we really can’t forgive you! Time to get serious!”
Get serious?! Usually you’d just run away!
“YEAH!” the thugs let out an energetic cry. Really, you guys just need to stop.
“OH YEAAAHH” The one with the most fired-up cry came charging with his sword ready. While I chanted my spell, I took my short sword and–
That instant, a strange feeling ran down my back. Almost reflexively, I took a great jump to the side. My cape tore as it fluttered. Fwip. With a small sound, the man who had been running toward me shivered, spurted blood, and fell down where he stood.
What the hell?!
Someone had thrown a knife from behind me, and because I dodged it, this thug ate it directly. From the situation it seems that whatever was thrown just now wasn’t a knife. And I feel like it was too sharp to have been a wind spell.
“Careful! There’s something weird going on!” Just in case, I called out a warning to everyone.
“Something weird?!” Luke asked as he finished off a thug with a kick.
“What does that mean?!” And Gourry followed after slashing through an assassin. And then…
“So you finally realized it…” The one who said it, was one of the thugs. Those words were a signal for the fight to stop.
“Huh? What?”
“What the…? What’s going on?” Among the thugs, some made confused faces and whispered to themselves.
“I’ve had enough of this act.” The thug boss said.
“Act…? What are you talking about?! Hey!”
“You don’t need… to know.” As he said it, a number of the thugs moved.
“–gh!”
“Gaugh!”
Sometimes from their throats, sometimes from their chests, and sometimes from their sides. The men who didn’t move spurted blood and collapsed. The ones they thought were their comrades had caught them by surprise. There was a difference in skill from the start, so of course they did this easily. All that was left was three thugs– no, three men that appeared to be thugs, and two assassins.
“What the hell’s going on?! Huh?!”
“There were assassins mixed in with the street thugs.” I answered Gourry.
They did all that talking without running away and continuing to fight a useless fight, all so that we would lower our guard. But to do that, they had to attack their own men, as hard as they could. What were they planning on doing if I hadn’t defended against their spells? Bastards…
“I guess it can’t be helped that you noticed it… And now that we’ve removed all these annoyances… we can all get serious.” The expression vanished from the scarred face of the man who had acted as the boss. His face changed from that of a third rate thug boss to that of one who lived in darkness.
They’re coming!
The assassins all kicked the ground at once. At the same time, Gourry dashed forward. He attacked by passing right by one of them and bisecting him.
“Flare Arrow!” Luke and Milina simultaneously released spells piercing the remaining four.
“Gah?!”
Only one assassin took the hit directly and collapsed with a scream. The other three– took a direct hit, but continued rushing forward. It wasn’t effective?! Luke and Milina appeared slightly disturbed.
“Jah!” One of them– the blond one who Milina had stepped on –swung his left arm. He was outside of sword reach. Milina immediately jumped to the side
“–ck!?” Both of her arms had shallow cuts. It didn’t look like the enemy had thrown anything. No way– a wind shockwave?! That means these guys are…!
“Milina!” Luke panicked and ran toward her, but someone else was standing in his path– The one who appeared to be the boss.
“I won’t let you go.”
“You’re in my way!”
He caught Luke’s sword with his own. Suddenly, a lance of fire appeared between Luke and the man. Luke retreated back and as it was released, he twisted his neck to avoid it.
One of the remaining ones came charging at me, preparing his hands in a strange position. You think I’ll let you do that? I released the spell I had prepared.
“Blast Ash!”
Blackness formed above the enemy and swallowed him. I got lucky in that I happened to cast this spell. If I had cast something like a fireball…
Gourry immediately turned to cover Milina. But when he saw him coming, Milina’s opponent jumped back, widening the distance between him and Gourry.
“Forgive me for not being eager to fight in close quarters with you!” He said to Gourry. He continued as he looked around and noticed the guy who had been turned to dust by my spell. “Ch! That was probably the guy that kept saying not to take him lightly… Then he fails. Get back, Zaikel!” According to the blond man’s voice, the man dueling with Luke jumped back.
“Who the hell are these guys…?”
“You haven’t noticed?” I said to a slightly dumbfounded Luke.
“Now that you mention it, we have fought these guys before.” Gourry said as he remembered his instincts.
“Yeah, it’s just as Gourry says. We previously fought their accomplices.” I said. Just now, when they took Luke and Milina’s Flare arrows head on without a scratch, and when the lance of flame appeared without reciting an incantation. The ones who can do things like that are…
“Mortal demons.”
***
Previously in the city of Solaria, there was a madman burning with the ambition to revive his ruined kingdom. In doing this he called forth demons from the Astral Plane to possess humans– no, to fuse with humans, producing beings of strong magical power. They are unaffected by low-level sorcery and have a good command over simple spells without reciting incantations– The magical power of a Lesser Demon and the knowledge of a man. And while it has the flesh of a human being it is still able to cross through space. For my own convenience, I called them mortal demons. The four of us plus one other, through our efforts, we were able to crush this madman wrapped in his own ambitions. But I can’t believe I’m meeting the refugees of that event in a place like this.
It makes sense. When the Sleeping spell wasn’t effective at the west temple, the problem wasn’t so much that their spirits were too worked up, but that they weren’t even entirely human… Which means they wouldn’t have been hurt by a direct hit from a Fireball or a raging thunder attack. Letting their friends hit them from above wasn’t such an unreasonable tactic after all.
“Mortal demons? Well it doesn’t matter what you call us.” The blond man said with a smile. “At any rate, we have a debt to repay from ‘that one time.”
“That one time?” I said with a scowl. Certainly the time we were in Solaria, we should have defeated all of them.
“You don’t remember? Well then… I’ll remind you!” As he said it he swung his left hand. He didn’t throw anything but… Instantly Gourry pushed his was in front of me, brandishing his sword.
It was the same sound I had heard at the west temple, a sound like something rupturing. This is…! There was no mistaking it. With a wave of his left hand he had produced an invisible shockwave, which transformed into a blade as it was released. The fused human-demons we fought in Solaria had this same kind of power. But…
“There’s… no way…”
“Oh? Your face says you might remember something.”
“But you should be dead!”
“I didn’t die. You cut through my stomach, so all you did was separate my upper body from my lower body. Where have you been until now that you would think I was dead?” He revived from that condition?! And to say such irrational things so easily…
“Now that you say that… Even though this guy’s boss was cut in half, he was still happy and energetic…” Luke said in a dark tone.
Then it’s just as I thought. This guy is–
“Zord… was it? I’m sure…”
“Right, right. Just as you say. Seems you’ve remembered.” Zord answered me with a grin. “Our comrades weren’t in Solaria alone. Because of that time, we were scattered all over the place. More than that… Back then, you took out our boss. Thanks to you, I now have to take on a job like this until that debt is properly repaid. …Well, since our number of allies has been reduced, we’ll have to withdraw for today.
“Hey, Hey. Don’t make us laugh.” Luke snorted. “You think you can say that and we’ll just obediently say ‘sure, go ahead’ and let you go?” At his most ordinary of ordinary comment, Zord snorted right back at him.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey. You really think you could follow us and defeat us? Huh? Is that okay? Well, you’re probably pretty healthy but… what about the girl over there?”
Wh…?
“…What?” Luke murmured in a hoarse voice. Heartbroken. Milina dropped to her knees where she was standing.
?!
“Khahahaha! Well then! If you want to follow us, then you can follow us!” Zord and Zaikel turned away leaving only a sneer.
“Milina?!” In a panic, Luke rushed to her side. Her usually white skin was noticeably paler. Obviously, this was a case where we couldn’t chase after Zord.
“I…was careless…” She said has she clutched her side. Now that I think about it… When Zord was disguised as a thug, he dropped in front of Milina and grazed her side with his sword.
Don’t tell me–?!
“Poison… right…?” Milina said, starting to sweat a little.
I thought so. Zord had been slowly prolonging the battle. By trying to get us to remember him, he was just waiting for the poison to take circulate.
“Wait a minute!” I hurriedly tried to cast a spell, holding my hand out over Milina.
“Decleary.” I was trying an antidote spell. There was no way of knowing what kind of poison I needed to neutralize, but it was worth a try. It would be nice if this was effective but… “In the end, this a medical emergency. This is the exact time where we would need a healer with us!”
“Hey! Hang in there, Milina!” Luke said as he carried her on his back, and began casting a spell. “Ray Wing!” With a wind spell, they took off into the sky.
***
“You don’t have any healers?!”
At the woman’s words, Luke voice spiked with the rage. We were at a healing clinic in the south end of the city.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Th-They’re on dispatch to their own temples!” The woman said, overpowered by Luke’s vigor. “The healers in this city are deployed from the temples! Because of all the fighting between the high priests, for some reason they were all called back to their respective branches! I’m only here to disperse medicinal herbs for minor illnesses so–”
“So they’re at the temples!” Without listening to the end of her explanation, Luke went running off again, Milina breathing lightly on his back. Just as I thought, we weren’t fortunate enough that normal healing spells would be useful against the poison Zord used.
***
“But there should be one here!” Luke’s voice was already practically a scream. We were at the temple of Airlord Rangort in the south side of the city. We told them we had someone who had taken on poison, and we asked to quickly see a healer. The mercenary on watch went inside for a moment. When he returned, his answer was– They didn’t have anyone like that here.
“I came here because I was told someone would be here! There’s no reason someone like that wouldn’t be here!”
“That’s what I was told.” The mercenary smiled as if he was scoffing and continued, “Our high priest said there was no one like that here. You don’t believe me? Oh, that’s right. He also said, since you work for the north temple, couldn’t you just get Kereth to heal you? Well, that’s just his opinion.”
“Bastard!”
“Luke!”
Luke rushed at them, but I stopped him.
“Shouting at them won’t solve anything. You might be able to get them to drag out their healer if you defeat them all, but they’d probably cut corners in their treatment. So what do you want to do?” Luke was silent for a moment.
“Let’s head for the North temple.”
***
From the window, all sorts of green trees rustled as the wind crossed over them. So calm… Such a calm afternoon…
“Is there anything… they can do for us?”
We were at a room in the North temple. Lying on a bed, Milina spoke in a quiet voice.
As if she wasn’t speaking at all.
Gourry and I, along with High Priest Kereth had left the room. Deep anguish was carved into the high priest’s face.
Why couldn’t you get all of the poison out? Why couldn’t you use Recovery?
As Luke criticized him, the High Priest Kereth could only continue with,
I’m sorry.
That was all.
As we left the room, the door closed and I saw Milina lying on the bed, reaching out to touch Luke’s cheek.
***
When the door opened, Luke wasn’t there. The window had been opened and the curtain rustled in the breeze.
I saw Milina lying on the bed quietly, as if she were asleep.
***
Two days had passed since Luke disappeared. Of course that didn’t mean we hadn’t been doing anything. We continued going around gathering information and looking for Zord and the other one– Zaikel, who had run away. I didn’t think their allies would foolishly give up their information, but we’d seen their faces. This would still make the search easy. And so, evening fell. The name of a one-man information shop had come up. –And until it did, I can’t even remember how many thugs I had to beat up, but that doesn’t really matter now. Gourry and I ascended the stairs of the cheap apartment where the informant lived.
“–?!”
Arriving in the dim hallway, we both stopped.
Various smells mingled int the old, dirty hallway. Among all of the foul smells, was a fresh one. Spilled blood. There was one door facing the hallway, left slightly open. That’s where we were headed, the informant’s room.
We started running at the same time, the two of us barging into the room. Inside, there was a single man covered in blood. He was lying there. Our information shop had a problem. His body had been cut up. But he was still breathing.
“H-Hee…” when he saw us the man spoke up.
“St… please… stop… didn’t I say… where they were…?”
…!
At that moment I started to understand just what the hell had happened there.
“Could you tell me where Zord and Zaikel are? One more time?”
“Th-They went west… toward Sea Flower Pavilion… didn’t I tell you…?” He said almost crying. He hadn’t realized that his opponent had changed.
“Understood. We’ll call someone for you.” Gourry and I descended the stairs and bribed the manager with a gold coin and asked him to call for a healer, then headed for the place we heard from the information shop.
“What’s going on, Lina?”
“Luke was here.” I answered Gourry with my face stiff. There’s no doubt the reason he disappeared was for revenge. These past two days he’s been gathering news, and he arrived at this place one step ahead of us. For now we’ll find this Sea Flower Pavilion and–
Searching was unnecessary.
KABOOM!
Suddenly, light and sound scattered as a building in our path exploded.
There! We dashed hurriedly in that direction. Astonished neighbors peeked around. The building was a fountain of flames, flaring up. Lying in the street before it, mixed in with the burning splinters, there was a cheap copper signboard with some sort of flower engraved on it.
I knew this was it… that means…
“Over there!” Gourry said and started running. The people in the area were surprised and afraid. Impatient and screaming. The heat from the fire and the sound of it popping. Among all sorts of sounds and emotions mixed in with all the chaos, only one stood out. I didn’t really understand but it came flowing from one direction. It was… Hatred.
What was probably over there, was the source of it, where Luke was. We headed toward the flames. It seemed the fight was going on behind this inn. Gourry turned a corner and entered an alleyway. We went running through the narrow street and suddenly emerged in a spacious area. Among a jumbled row of buildings, there was a wide open space. We could see the burning inn nearby. There, something was lying on the ground. Long things. Short things. A large mass. Something round.
“…!”
Gourry and I were at a loss for words. Without a doubt.
They were body parts.
There was a scar on the round one. Zaikel.
At that time I noticed someone there.
“Gah– Gyaaaahh!” Accompanied by a shriek, something dropped from the edge of the clearing.
A leg.
…?!
Gourry and I looked up. On the roof of a building facing the clearing, the flames roaring behind him, he was there, transformed into a black silhouette. He was crouching down and it looked like he was holding something in his hand. His other arm moved. The blade he held glared orange.
“G-Gyaaaaghbaaahh!” Whatever he was holding writhed and shrieked.
Plop.
Something dropped into the clearing. But I didn’t even feel like checking what it was.
“Who was it?” The one holding the other asked quietly as his hands moved. It was Luke’s voice. “Who hired you?”
“B-But… I told you… didn’t I…?! In the east… Francis…”
“I can’t hear you very well.” Luke said calmly as his arm moved again. And then Zord screamed.
“Who was it? Who hired you?”
“P… Please stob…”
“Hey. Answer my question.”
And once again, a sword flash and Zord’s shriek. And then very slightly, Zord’s body started wriggling as he cried, “It was Francis! FrancisFrancisBranshissStobStobStob!!!!
“Hey. You’re getting kinda noisy.” Luke said as his hand–
“Luuuuuuuuuke!” I finally cried out. It took a long time before I could snap out of my petrification. Slowly… He turned toward us. A quiet light lurked in his eyes.
“Oh. It’s you guys. Don’t worry. I’ll end this soon.” He spoke as if he was just chatting with us. His right hand moved.
“Sht– STOPSTOP!” There was a small wet sound. With that, Zord couldn’t say anything else.
“This is what you’ve been doing til now? How many are dead because of you? Huh?”
Slowly.
He stood up on the roof, flinging a splintered piece of debris into the flames.
“I’m going to settle things in a little while. In order to do that… I want you two to leave the city. I say that because… I don’t really want to show you the rest.” As he said it, he turned and vanished from the roof.
I didn’t follow him.
No. I couldn’t even move.
All this time, Luke’s despair must have been so deep. Hatred like this must be sleeping within everyone. Grief, dread, these are things I really haven’t known.
I feel… sick.
“Lina…” Gourry said quietly. “Lina… Are you okay…?”
I’m okay.
But instead of an answer, all that came out was sobbing. I nodded my head up and down a little.
“Luke… We have to stop him…”
“I know.”
Eventually I was able to reply to Gourry. And so the two of us turned and ran. Toward the East temple. To stop Luke.
Chaos Words 