Vol 1 Chapter 22 (1/2)

VOLUME 1-2

Chapter 22

The cold fog pervading the forest brushed against Homura’s cheeks, flush with tension, and stole the warmth from them.

It felt like it was even surrept.i.tiously stealing away the courage she had managed to muster.

—They were just about to reach the witch’s valley.

Though they weren’t yet close enough to hear the echoes of the waterfall, their surroundings had already become familiar terrain for Homura.

Three days had pa.s.sed on Nutella time since Homura and Misasagi’s escape from this land.

Homura and the others had once more plunged into the witch’s valley on a forced march, not even giving themselves time to sleep.

Just in case Touya had managed to successfully escape capture, they had briefly stopped by the destroyed Seiran High base camp and the encampment Homura and Touya had set up in the rocky area, leaving behind messages and a minimal amount of necessities such as food at each location while they were at it. Unfortunately, they had found no traces that Touya had been at any of those locations, and so they had continued on to the witch’s valley.

“…It feels like rain could fall at any moment…”

Homura peeked at the sky through the s.p.a.ces between the broadleaf branches above her.

The current time should have been just past noon, but it was already as dark as evening. The fog, which had been cleared away when she last visited here, was now blocking her entire field of vision.

Though that fog did make Homura and the others uneasy, it was also convenient since it helped hide their presence as they moved.

Walking at the head of their group, Kamikoma spoke up in a low voice.

“From here on, we’ll do exactly as we discussed last night. If we end up in battle, don’t get close to Taichi. Listen, make sure you don’t no matter what. This is an order.”

“You’ve told me that several times already… By the way, what are you capable of doing in a fight, Koma-senpai?”

Kamikoma smiled smugly.

“A bard’s abilities are basically all-purpose, capable of adapting to any situation.”

“Haah.”

“My only weak point is—doing things quietly, I guess.”

“Isn’t that no good in this situation? You’re completely unsuited to covert activities, aren’t you?”

“Muh, you have a point. Also, I have a hard time running away from pursuers as a bard.”

“Can you really call yourself all-purpose like that…?” Homura asked doubtfully.

“No prob, we’ll be leaving all the direct fighting to Taichi anyway.”

Puffing up her chest proudly as if she were lauding herself, Kamikoma looked back over her shoulder, and Taga firmly nodded and pulled out his personal equipment from the sack on his back.

He equipped on his arms a giant pair of overwhelmingly thick and heavy bear claws1—a form of close-quarters weapons also known gauntlet claws—which extended from their folded-up state with a clang.

Combined with the attached metal arm guards which extended up to his elbows, it made for a pair of specialized weapons that combined offense and defense in one.

These were dynamic weapons that, with Taga’s giant build, made it seem as if he could blow away Homura’s body with a single swing, making the harsh warning not to get near him understandable.

Homura gulped at the sight of those dully s.h.i.+ning claw tips.

“…I know full well that close-quarters combat is dangerous… but still, I have magic. I was even able to make a barrier against one of the witch’s fireb.a.l.l.s!”

“Seriously? But it really is dangerous, you know? Stick close to me as much as possible, and if you can’t, go hide in the rear behind the frontlines.”

“But then there’s no point in having me here!”

“Just guiding us was more than enough. Thanks to you, we managed to get here without getting lost. And you worked hard on cooking our rice too.”

Coming to a stop, Kamikoma turned back to face Homura.

“Listen well, Homura. I’m saying this seriously; avoid any fighting. Our top priority is to rescue Touya Tak.u.mi.”

“O-Of course—but please, don’t forget that little girl either.”

“……”

Homura recalled what she had heard just before they had departed for Nutella:

The detailed report provided from the authorities which Ameno had recounted to them.

The missing baby was a year and one month old at the time. An investigation was started under the a.s.sumption of a kidnapping.

Three months after the baby’s disappearance, a pair of criminals who were arrested in a drunk-driving accident in a separate incident emerged as the kidnapper suspects.

The suspects were an elderly married couple, and they confessed to kidnapping out of a desire for a child.

However, long before their confession, when long term restrictions of news on the incident was being imposed, information on the police’s investigation unexpectedly managed to get on the internet through the people that the detectives had interviewed. As a result, the leaked information reached the suspects themselves and, out of fear of public attention, the couple abandoned the child deep in the mountains during winter.

Though a large-scale search was conducted in the specified region, the child was never found.

From clues such as strands of hair discovered in the suspects’ home, the certainty of their guilt was confirmed. However, the male suspect of the couple, who had been personally responsible for abandoning the child in the wild, was attacked by a nervous disorder soon afterwards, and the defence appealed that the abandonment of the child was a mistaken a.s.sertion by the suspects. Thus, the case was currently being treated as a double missing person’s incident.

The baby’s mother, not trusting the suspects’ confession, believed it to be a lie and had started her own independent search.

If, immediately after the baby was abandoned in the mountains, she was transported to Nutella through some means, it would match Homura’s eyewitness testimony of the girl having grown to the age of twelve or thirteen.

However, neither Kamikoma nor Taga gave an immediate reply to Homura’s words.

It wasn’t like they didn’t understand Homura’s sincere wish to rescue the missing child, but…

“…Rescuing her will be difficult if she takes hostile action towards us. The Transport Ring doesn’t work well if the person doesn’t wish to be transported. It greatly lowers the odds of successful transport.”

“Ugh…”

Recalling her earlier return to Earth, which was no better than a rushed emergency landing, Homura winced and faltered.

Even so, every time she recalled that girl, it brought up the memory of that woman who continued to wait at that station entrance even now.

“I’ll convince her. She treated senpai’s injuries. She may be rough and wild, but she’s not a bad girl. If we could just properly talk with her—”

If they could just get her to listen to their explanation of the events that had befallen her and brought her here.

If they could eventually teach her the common sense and rules of modern j.a.pan.

Even if it would be a mountain of work, Homura wouldn’t budge on this.

“Still, I don’t think you’ll be able to communicate with those wolves. Rather, this guy here would probably be better suited for that.”

Kamikoma gave her lute a few hard taps. Homura wondered if the reason it got out of tune so easily was because she treated it so roughly.

“T-That’s why I’m asking for your help here, Koma-senpai.”

“Hey, hey. And there’s also the witch to consider.”

Kamikoma kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, never lowering her guard.

“Frankly speaking, the witch is an opponent that’s out of our league. The two of us have had experience in magic battles against hostile beasts at most.”

“Yeah, Misasagi-senpai mentioned that there were rare beasts like that.”

“This will be our first time fighting a human. Actually, no investigator has ever fought one before. We have a manual for making peaceful contact, but no one ever imagined a case like this.”

“My club’s advisor is quite laissez-faire, though… What about your advisor Professor Tanakura?”

At that question, Taga was the one to speak up for once.

“—Don’t be impatient. Don’t think of forcing others to change. Wait for the right chance.”

Kamikoma nodded in agreement.

“…Taga-senpai really talks like a missionary, doesn’t he?”

“But he’s right. This will turn into a long mission that requires patience. It might not even end in our generation and take several decades to complete.”

“No way…”

Homura was flabbergasted by the scale of Kamikoma’s prediction.

“We’re lucky just for the fact that we can communicate with the people here. That alone is amazing enough to be considered a miracle.”

“Then—we’ll manage to get through to them somehow! Right?”

As Homura sought agreement, Taga made a troubled expression.

“…Homura, you’re really incredible, you know that?”

The two senpais laughed in disbelief.

In the end, they crept further into the valley without Homura being able to completely rid herself of her ill feelings towards Misasagi-senpai.

Relying on a river that seemed to lead towards the waterfall as a guide within the thick fog, they advanced deeper into the valley.

Their path was in the exact opposite direction of the route she had taken with Touya before, but there were more intact remains of what appeared to have been a stone-paved road. This seemed to be the proper path to reach the castle.

In other words, they were heading straight towards the witch’s castle.

The three of them hid their main equipment further back away from the castle in order to move more easily and quickly.

“I hope we don’t run into another trap…”

“You mean that magic-detecting bomb that hit Mayo? Yeah, I agree with you there…”

“……”

Taga silently bent his back and presented his wide shoulders to Kamikoma.

“Huh, ride on you? No, it’s fine. We’re about to prepare for battle. We should each move on our own two feet.”

As Taga made a worried expression that didn’t suit his large body, Kamikoma smacked his arm to soothe him, looking like the very image of an uppercla.s.sman as she did so.

“Homura, you too. Use your magic as spa.r.s.ely and efficiently as possible. The two of us can’t protect you now.”

“Understood.”

Her face tightening with tension, Homura double-checked the tear gas spray hanging from her hip.

When the sound of the waterfall finally neared and they’d gotten close enough to start seeing the castle—Taga grabbed the two girls’ shoulders to stop them.

“…!”

There was a person standing alone ahead of them on the moss-covered, stone-paved road.

It was a barefoot girl.

Kamikoma instinctively bent forward in preparation for a fight.

“Is that the witch—? Guess not. The missing child, right?”

“Yes.”

Homura nodded, and then she tried to step forward, but Kamikoma stopped her.

“H-Hey.”

“We’re in luck. We have a better chance of talking with that girl than the witch.”

Even so, Homura was clearly nervous.

“……”

The young girl wearing a blue kimono, Suzuran, looked over the three of them with a cautious gaze.

She widened her eyes in apparent surprise as she looked up at Taga’s huge body and quickly went on guard.

“So you brought comrades with you…”

“Thank goodness you’re here. I was worried that—”

When Homura tried to approach her, Suzuran suddenly glared at her.

“I won’t reproach any of you. So please leave and go back where you came from.”

“Eh?”

“Hime isn’t normal right now. And I can’t hold back the wolves anymore either.”

“…Hime? Hey, wait, we came to meet you and—”

“Leave!”

Shaking off Homura, Suzuran jumped several steps back, and the fog parted to suddenly reveal the white tip of a nose.

It was the huge white wolf, Yukiwarimaru. It appeared out of nowhere, as if the fog itself had condensed and formed it in an instant.

“—!”

Taga put himself on guard as he stood facing Yukiwarimaru, whose body was just as huge as his own.

Jumping onto the wolf’s back, Suzuran shouted.

“Sekkachimaru says you people smell. It’s that ring of yours. And not just that. You also have stones of power. You d.a.m.n thieves!”

“Wait! What about Touya-kun!? What happened to the boy who remained behind here!?”

“You mean Tak.u.mi? You should give up on him at this point.”

“Ah, hey! Wait! Is Hime the witch!?”

“Step back, Homura.”

Just like their arrival, their departure was also like that of a mirage—

The white wolf and girl suddenly turned around and left and Homura watched their departure unhappily. The howling of wolves reached her ears.

Homura noticed that Kamikoma, standing beside her with her lute ready, was now smiling boldly.

“…Koma-senpai?”

“It’s time to rampage, Taichi.”

“Roger,” Taga replied.

“Senpai. Saving Touya-kun takes priority. We should avoid conflict as much as possible—”

“It can’t be helped now that it’s come to this. Rather, this was within the bounds of our predictions, you know♪”

Kamikoma’s fingers moved to the twelve strings arranged in six courses on her lute and began to play a solemn melody.

Each tune, amplified by magic and resonating with the surrounding s.p.a.ce, pierced Homura’s body like a heavy wedge.

The skin all over her body thrummed and became keen and sensitive, a feeling similar to the instant of transportation.

Grey wolves sluggishly appeared from within the fog while growling.

“Homura, cover me.”

Kamikoma sharply gave Homura directions while concentrating on her magic.

“Y-Yes!”

This is the battle march of a Bard—! Homura murmured to herself mentally.

She was surprised as she felt her fear lessen and her discernment sharpen even with so many enemies facing them. She was filled with a sense of exaltation and enhancement she had never felt before, greatly expanding her field of vision.

Taga stood firmly in front of the two girls like a wall to protect them.

The wolves, which the little girl had said that she could no longer restrain, drooled saliva and approached with vacant gazes as if they were infected with rabies.

“……”

For an instant, Homura absently thought that she was lucky to have already taken her rabies vaccine shot, but she changed her thinking when she saw the wolves’ fangs.

As the wolves began to surround them in a circle, Homura readied the spray can in her hands.

Then, she heard an even more ominous growling than the others. And it was coming not from the wolves, but from Taichi in front of her.

With a clank, the folded claws on his hands extended out.

Not ending his battle preparations there, his hair then seemed to bristle noisily, and a visible change came over Taga’s body.

Taga now looked like the kind of caricature bear that appeared in the nightmares of infants.

He had become a half-human, half-bear monster.