Chapter 57 - Volume 6 (2/2)

Having thought of a possibility, they moved upstream along the riverbank. Hajime moved the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes upstream while he looked at Yue, pasha pasha, playing with the river water with her bare feet. Although Shia was also barefooted, she only put them in the water. The feeling of the river flowing seemed to tickle her.

Aiko and her students, who finally regained their breaths, arrived. They stayed in place as they stared at Hajime and his party. However, the three male students shouted “Is this Heaven?”, with sparkling eyes as they saw the barefooted Yue and Shia, while the female students returned to look at them with cold eyes. It made the male students shudder. When they noticed the gazes from Tamai and the others, Yue and Shia got out of the river.

Aiko and her students were diligently replenishing their moisture in the riverbank. Because of the displeasing gazes from Tamai and the male students a while ago, Yue and Shia returned slight glares, and the male students trembled as they averted their gazes. Having seen such a spectacle, Aiko and the female students looked at Hajime with warm eyes. Especially Sonobe and the female students. Since they had heard various things from Shia, they wore very annoying expressions.

“Fufu, Nagumo-kun truly treasures Yue-san and Shia-san.”

Aiko said such things while smiling. Hajime wanted to say something, but stopped and just shrugged his shoulders when he saw the depressed Sonobe and the other male students. Yue was the one who took action in his stead. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, she suddenly sat on Hajime’s lap.

“… Nn.”

She was so pleased that she entrusted all of her weight to Hajime. It could also be called her proof of trust. Seeing that, Shia, who looked lonely, embraced Hajime from behind. Aiko’s cheeks immediately blushed because a pink-colored space was generated. Sonobe and the female students were shouting, “Kya— kya—”, in excitement. Tamai and the male students ground their teeth.

Hajime being Hajime, without shaking the two off, just averted his gaze. He seemed to be slightly embarrassed. However, Hajime’s expression suddenly sharpened in the next moment.

“… … That is.”

“Nn… … did you find something?”

Having heard Hajime’s muttering while he was looking far into the distance, Yue asked him. Because of his appearance, Aiko and the others blinked their eyes wondering what happened.

“On the river’s upstream… … is that a shield? Also, there are bags… … it looks like they’re still new. It might be a hit. Yue, Shia, let’s go.”

“Nn….”

“Yes!”

Hajime and his party harmoniously stood up and began to prepare for departure. Aiko and the students actually still wanted to rest, and although they knew they were overdoing it, they couldn’t just stand still once they saw that Hajime had found some clues. They laborously raised their still exhausted waists and once again desperately tried to follow Hajime and his party, who were advancing upstream with blistering speed.

At the location Hajime and his party arrived at, just as he confirmed with the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes, small round shields made of metal and bags were scattered around. However, there were dents on the round shields, and the bags were torn up in the middle with their strings pulled out.

Hajime and his party carefully examined their surroundings. Then they found some nearby trees with their barks peeled off of them They were roughly at the two meters of height. It was apparent that the bark was in such state because something had scratched it off, and at that height, it clearly wasn’t the work of humans. Hajime instructed Shia to use her search ability to the fullest, while also using his own perception skill as they approached the barkless trees.

Advancing ahead, they found signs of combat one after another. There were trees and branches that were broken in half. There were also plants that had been trampled, and furthermore, there were fragments of blades and blood scattered around. Everytime they found such traces, the expressions on Aiko and the students’ faces stiffened. For a while, they chased after the signs of combat, and Shia suddenly found something shining.

“Hajime-san, this, isn’t this a pendant?”

“Nn? Aa… … it’s probably something they left behind. Let me confirm it.”

After he washed off the dirt from the pendant he had received from Shia, he noticed it was not just a pendant but also a locket. He removed the clasp and saw what was inside, it was a woman’s photograph. Perhaps, she was someone’s lover or wife. Even though it was not a significant clue, it was not an old one but a recent one… … it could belong to someone from the adventurers’ party. That’s why it’d be kept for now.

Afterwards, they found more articles of the deceased or so they called them, but they only collected items that would allow one to identify their owners. Having searched around for a while, eventually day turned into night, and the time for them to set up camp was approaching.

Even now, there were no signs of life aside from the wild animals. Although they were cautious because of how Will and his party encountered and were attacked by demonic beasts, there were no sign of demonic beasts in their immediate surroundings. Their current location was between the eighth and ninth mountain. From what was said about crossing the mountains, usually, they would encounter one or two demonic beasts, so Hajime and the others could feel the eeriness of this situation.

After a while, the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes once again found a location with abnormalities. There were leftovers of great destruction 300 meters to the east. Hajime urged everyone to rush to that location.

There was a big river. A small waterfall could be seen upstream, and the volume of water was immense, with a violent current. Originally, it was likely to flow straight towards the foot of the mountain, but currently, there was a large and small river branching along the way. It was as though it was gouged by a laser or something, from the flank.

The reason they had such impressions was because the gouged part was a straight line, while the surrounding trees and ground were scorched. Furthermore, as if they had received a big impact, a lot of trees were partly broken and thrown tens of meters to the side. On the riverside, there were big footprints measuring more than 30 centimeters.

“It seems the real combat happened here… … These footprints were of large bipedal demonic beasts… … Surely, there were demonic beast called Brutal beyond the second mountain after this. But, the way the ground was gouged….”

What Hajime described as Brutals were something similar to the Orcs and Ogres in RPG. Although they didn’t have high intelligence, they took action as group. Because they had a weaker version of the peculiar magic; “Vajra”, called “Strong Wall,” they were recognized as quite powerful enemies. They usually descend into the second mountain of the mountain range, but these demonic beasts never came into towns. In addition, they didn’t have any attacks that could make such river tributaries.

Hajime thought of the Brutal as he observed the footprints, he hesitated whether to go upstream or downstream. Although Will’s party had likely to escaped upstream, he thought it would be hard for them to run upstream after such combat. He doubted that they would physically and mentally run further from town.

Hajime decided to direct the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes upstream while they head downstream. Even though the Brutals’ footprints were on the riverside, the possibility of Will and his party jumping into the river was high. If so, he thought they’d likely be swept away because of physical exhaustion.

The others also agreed with Hajime’s speculations, and descended towards downstream on the riverside.

Afterwards, they encountered a much more splendid waterfall compared to the one from before. Hajime and the others nimbly descended from the cliff on the side of the waterfall and landed on the vicinity of the basin. The refreshing wind peculiar to a waterfall healed their minds and bodies which were exhausted from a day of searching. Then, Hajime felt a reaction from his “Sign Perception.”

” ! This is….”

“… … Hajime?”

Yue immediately reacted and asked him. For a while, Hajime concentrated while closing his eyes. Following that, while slowly opening his eyes, he let out a surprised voice.

“Oi oi, seriously. The Sign Perception picked up something. From the feeling, I can say it’s a human. The location is… … in the interior of waterfall’s basin.”

“You mean there are survivors!”

Hajime nodded towards Shia’s words of confirmation. He answered, “Only one person”, when Yue asked for the number of people. Aiko and her students were also surprised. It was something natural. Although the odds of survival were not zero, they actually didn’t expect any at all. It was the fifth day since Will’s party had gone missing. It was a miracle for even one of them to remain alive.

“Yue, please.”

“… … Nn”

While watching the waterfall basin, Hajime called Yue. Yue was able to guess Hajime’s intentions from just those few words, and she shook her right hand as the magic’s trigger.

“”Wave Castle,” “Wind Wall”.”

Then, the water in the waterfall and its basin began to split in two just like the Red Sea in Moses’ legend. Moreover, the scattered water was perfectly brushed off by the wall of wind. It was the result of water magic making a high-pressure wall of water called “Wave Castle,” and wind magic called “Wind Wall.”

Without chanting, magic of two different attributes were activated at the same time. Having seen how they were used, Aiko and her students, although they didn’t remember how many times they had done it, dropped their jaws in astonishment. Surely, the Hebrew people also displayed such expressions.

Because her magic power was not infinite, Hajime urged Aiko and the others on, as he led them into the interior of the waterfall basin’s cave. The cave they entered immediately curved upward, and they arrived at quite a large cavity. Water and light poured down from the ceiling, and the fallen water flowed into the water pool below. The reason it didn’t overflow was surely because they continued flowing inside.

They discovered a man lying down in the innermost part of the cave. When they arrived at the man’s side, they confirmed that he was a young man, around 20 years of age. Although he looked like a noble, he currently looked pale and displayed the complexion of a dead person. However, there was no large injury, and because there was food remaining inside his bag, he was simply sleeping. His bad complexion was surely related to how he was the only one here.

Having seen the anxious Aiko, and because Hajime wanted to immediately identify the young man’s identity, he used his artificial arm, while restraining his power to the limit, to flick the sleeping young man’s forehead.

BACHIKONh!!

“Guwah!!”

He screamed as he woke up, the young man writhed while covering his forehead with both hands. Aiko and her students shuddered because of the powerful and merciless forehead flick. Hajime ignored Aiko and the students, and approached the young man with teary eyes to ask his name.

“You, are you Will Kudeta? The third son of Count Kudeta.”

“Ah, eh, you are, just how on earth did you guys get here…”

Because the young man only blinked as he couldn’t grasp the situation, Hajime once again made a stance to flick his forehead and slowly aimed at it.

“Answer my question. I’ll increase the power by 20 percent every time you say something other than the answer.”

“Eh, eh!?”

“You, are you Will Kudeta?”

“Umm, uwah, yes! That’s right! I am Will Kudeta! Yes!”

For a moment, when the young man hesitated in answering, Hajime’s eyes gave off a dangerous light, and he immediately thrust out his left hand. The panicked young man immediately announced his name. Apparently, he was truly the person in question. He seemed to have miraculously survived.

“I see. I am Hajime. Nagumo Hajime. I have come here on the request of the head of Fhuren’s branch guild, Ilwa Chang. (For my convenience) It’s good that you’re alive.”

“Ilwa-san!? Is that so. Once again… … I am indebted to that person… …Umm, I am thankful to you. You must be a remarkable person to receive a request directly from Ilwa-san.”

Will voiced gratitude with respectful eyes. It seemed he didn’t mind the forehead flick with unbelievable power from a little while ago. If so, he might be an unexpectedly good person. A great difference than a pig from somewhere. After that, having introduced everyone, they heard the story of what happened to Will.

This was the summary.

Five days ago, Will’s party came to the vicinity of the upper part of fifth mountain using the mountain path just like Hajime and the others. Suddenly, they encountered ten Brutals. As expected, they couldn’t win against the number of Brutals they encountered, so Will’s party tried to withdraw. But, the number of attacking Brutals kept increasing, and they were by the river of the sixth mountain when they noticed it. Then, the Brutals encircled them, so for the sake of escaping from the encirclement. Two people; trifling and unimportant soldiers, were sacrificed After that, when they arrived at a big river, despair appeared.

It appeared to be a jet-black Dragon. As soon as Will’s party came along the river bank, the Black Dragon let out breath, and Will was blown off into the river by the attack. From what he saw while being swept away, one person vanished because of the breath, while the other two were attacked from both sides, by Brutals from the back and the Dragon from the front.

Will fell into the basin of the waterfall after he was swept away as is, he went into the cave he had found by chance, and he seemed to have been hiding here ever since.

Somehow, it sort of resembled what may or may not have happened to a certain someone.

Will, as he told them that, was feeling proud of it, and then suddenly started to sob. It was not something unreasonable, the senior adventurers taught him the know-how for adventurers and took care of him even though one of them wore a displeased face. Without confirming their safety, the pathetic him was only able to tremble in fear and wait for help to come, the him who felt relieved because his rescue came while his companions were dead, various feelings continuously emerged and his tears overflowed.

“I-I am d wost. Wuu, aljo evyone ish ded, I din’t ju anyching. Hikk, fer me chu be d cole curvibor… oso, sniff… chu fil relif… I—!”

(I am the worst. Wuu, although everyone is dead, I didn’t do anything. Hikk, for me to be the sole survivor… Also, sniff… to feel relieved… I—!)

Will’s wails echoed inside the cave. No one could say anything to him. Toward the Will who blamed himself with tears flowing down his face, they didn’t know which words would be good for him. The students looked at Will with sorrowful expressions, while Aiko gently patted Will’s back. Yue was expressionless as usual, while Shia looked troubled.

But, at the moment Will found himself at a loss for words, an unexpected person moved. It was Hajime. Hajime, approached Will and gripped Will’s collar. He used his inhuman strength to hang him mid-air. Following that, towards the Will who was in pain because he couldn’t breathe, Hajime spoke with an unexpectedly permeating voice.

“What is wrong with wanting to live? What is wrong with being glad because you’re alive? That wish and feeling are something natural and inevitable. Even more so because you’re a human.”

“B-but… … I was….”

“Even so, if you’re worried about those who died… … then continue to live. From now on keep living as you struggle, and struggle as if you’re going to die. If you do that, someday… … there might come a day when you understand the reason why you survived today.”

“… … Keep living.”

Even while crying, Will repeated Hajime’s words in blank surprise. Hajime violently threw Will down, he tsukkomi’ed himself with, “What have I done,” his words just now, more than half of them were directed towards himself. Will’s situation was a little similar to his, and for him to belittle his own life was like saying, “It’s wrong for you to survive,” towards Hajime, so he was inadvertently angered.

Of course it was just his persecution complex. More than half of it was said on an outburst of anger, so it wasn’t different from a child’s tantrum. Even though he had seen through various things, Hajime was still a 17 year old boy, and there was still more for him to learn. Hajime knew he had fallen into slight self-loathing. Having seen such a Hajime, Yue came to his side and grasped Hajime’s hand tightly.

“… … It’s okay, Hajime isn’t wrong.”

“… … Yue.”

“… … Live to your best. Keep living on. Together with me, right?”

“… … Haha, ah of course. I’ll keep on living no matter what might happen… … so, don’t leave me alone.”

“… … Nn.”

They left Will who was still talking to himself, then Hajime and Yue created a world with just the two of them. He couldn’t match Yue, and Hajime gently stroked Yue’s cheek, while Yue was also being spoiled and let his hand stroke her cheek. Not understanding what happened to cause such a development, Aiko and her students could only blink, while Shia watched Hajime and Yue with half-opened eyes.

The chaotic situation continued for a while (thanks to Hajime’s recklessness), and somehow everyone managed to regain their senses. The party then decided to immediately descend the mountain. There was still more than an hour before sunset, so if they hurried, they would likely reach the foot of the mountain by the time the sun set.

Although they were concerned about the Brutals and the jet-black Dragon, those were outside Hajime and his party’s mission. It was unthinkable to continue the investigation while having to protect those with low combat potential. Will also understood that he would just be a hindrance, so he understood that they must withdraw. Although the students insisted on continuing the investigation because of their slight sense of justice that came from the troubled townspeople, Aiko stubbornly refused to investigate because of the great danger the Black Dragon and Brutals posed. In the end, they descended the mountain.

However, nothing proceeds smoothly. Once again, they were passionately welcomed when the party got out of the waterfall basin with Yue’s magic.

“GUuRURURURU.”

Letting out a low groan, with its whole body covered in jet-black scales, its golden eyes glared at them in mid-air while fluttering its wings… … it was the “Dragon.”