Vol 1 Chapter 17 (1/2)
LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening
Chapter 17: To Hold Dear
It didn’tas he was alive, ti caain
They caught two goblin unawares and, with a surprise attack, immediately wounded one Ranta and Yuzo and Haruhiro took on the one reoblin was equipped with a dented helm, a crude chainmail shi+rt, and a worn-doord Still, it zo and his size clearly had the advantage
Mogzo could have thrown hi brute force alone, but he didn’t He was hesitating But why? Was Mogzo a coward? Of course it wasn’t necessary to fight like Ranta, recklessly buzo so cautious all the time?
Haruhiro watched as Mogzo and the goblin faced off It was rare for goblins to have hel one It was then that Haruhiro realized: if protected by a hel Without one, even a graze froht be a serious wound, and anyone would think twice about fighting aggressively
Mogzo had said last night that he wanted a hel like a neith a sharper edge—what he wanted uessed that if he had full body arht more assertively and with less hesitation
As for Haruhiro, he always positioned hiht about He wore no ar One stroke of a blade could end it all for hi head-on
But Mogzo couldn’t avoid it It was his job to take on eneht like Haruhiro by always putting his would fall apart for the team pretty quickly
Haruhiro had never realized this because all he thought about was his own position and role in fights He had never considered anyone else’s roles The act of thinking about the roles of everyone else on the team never even occurred to him
“Mogzo!” Haruhiro called as he slashed at the goblin with his dagger
When the goblin turned towards hioblin hesitated between its two targets for a fraction of a second, then turned to face Mogzo oncehis bastard sword at the goblin with a shout The sword iut
Living beings, however, do not die so easily The goblinits sword back around to bear on Mogzo Haruhiro didn’t intend to let that happen Positioned directly behind it, he closed the distance and aioblin’s sword hand; [HIT]
It wasn’t enough to cut off the goblin’s wrist, but the dagger bit deep to the bone The goblin dropped its sword Mogzo gave his bastard sword a twist and the goblin let out a horrible screaoblin’s helth as if to pry it off, and then raer into its exposed throat
Even after that, it still took a good while before the goblin stopped struggling Manato had said once that their opponents wanted to live just as hts were to the death, so opponents fought just so There was nothing more somber and it was neither simple nor easy Haruhiro and the others killed to take their opponent’s valuables, and they did that in order to pay for food; they did it for their own survival
Yuoblin with shi+horu’s support After shi+horu weakened it with a spell, Ranta delivered the killing blow
As Haruhiro collected the goblin pouches after the fight was over, Mary placed the fingers of her right hand against her forehead so that her ht between her eyebrows It was a quick motion, so fast that Haruhiro almost didn’t catch it
It was the sa their opponents, but Haruhiro didn’t expect to see it from Mary She didn’t seem like a person ould do any sort of ritual for the sake of a dead enemy, but then, Haruhiro realized, he didn’t really know He didn’t know anything about Priests He hadn’t even thought to get to know anything about them
During their lunch break, Haruhiro tried approaching Mogzo
“I’ll help pay for it, so let’s get you a helm,” Haruhiro said “Even if it’s a cheap one Plate armor too; let’s try to find you a used set that fits If we can’t find one your size, let’s find out how et it adjusted”
“…But that’s… But… It’s not like you’ve got zo said, uneasily
“Don’t worry about it As long as I have this, I’ his dagger “But if you don’t have the proper gear it affects the entire team, so it’s for my sake too Metal ar tons offor all of it by yourself isn’t really feasible”
“Now that Haru htly “Yuzo buys his ar for an adorable helmet!”
shi+horu timidly raised her hand “Me too I don’t have that much to spare, but I’ll help too”
“I’le capa!” Ranta declared
“Fine No one expected you to contribute anyway,” Haruhiro said, briefly shooting a glance in Mary’s direction
She was gazing at so to do with her For so that she seeination
Next tiht, he decided he would observe Mary Everyone’s general impression was that all she did was stay back and lean on her staff She didn’t properly do her job and heal the it That’s what everyone believed, but was that really true?
After lunch, the first goblins they ran into were a group of three, and Haruhiro didn’t get a chance to worry about Mary all through the fight After that, they didn’t run into any lone goblins, let alone two
But just as they were about to leave Damro’s Old Town, they unexpectedly collided with a pair
Caught by surprise, the fight immediately turned chaotic; shi+horu and Mary didn’t have a chance to oblin went straight for Mary
“Useless girl!” Ranta yelled at Mary, as he full-body tackled the goblin that attacked her “Quit spacing out!”
“Are you talking to me?” Mary retorted
As the reoblin leapt at shi+horu, Mary swiftly spun her staff and struck it with a massive amount of force It was the Priest’s self-defense skill, [SMASH] Haruhiro knehen he saw it; Manato had learned the sa attention after all
There were only two goblins, so the fight ell froet hilances at Mary We rong, he realized That staff wasn’t just for decoration, after all; she had learned the [SMASH] skill so she could use the weapon And she ht at the front, but when it came down to it, she protected shi+horu
On top of that, her eyes never left Mogzo until the goblin he fought was dead When Mogzo took a head-butt frooblin to the chin, in that rave as she watched Shortly afterwards, she shook her head ever so slightly She had deter immediately
Mary just “stood around doing nothing”? She had “no intention of doing her job”? No, they rong about that Froht, and every tiht with that staff when needed
When the fight was over, shi+horu went up to Mary and said, “Thank you For earlier”
Mary turned away “I don’t knohat you’re talking about”
Did she really have to reply like that? Haruhiro thought If she just responded with a s that Mary would be well-liked, by girls and guys alike It wasn’t like it was that hard or anything And it would ease things up for Mary too Why did she go to such lengths to antagonize people?
After they returned to Altana and sold their day’s loot, Mary wordlessly began to take her leave Haruhiro stopped her
“Mary, hold on a second”
Mary, running a hand through her hair, turned around, clearly annoyed “What business do you have with me now?”
The forle time, it terrified Haruhiro to talk to her Soht Mary had to like being hated But she was their companion, wasn’t she? Wasn’t it better to be liked? If it were souts to point out to her, he would have
But there was no way he could say so like that Not at thethat it was Mary, she would just leave She would say, ‘Enough’s enough Goodbye’, and leave
“It’s not really business,” Haruhiro said, “but do you want to eat dinner with us? Then go to Sherry’s afterwards?”
“I respectfully decline”
“Why so formal?”
Mary’s gaze dropped to the ground and her eyebrows narrowed a tiny bit She seery, but Haruhiro sensed a little embarrassment as well
“No reason in particular,” she replied
“Ah, I see Sorry, weird question”
“It’s fine” Mary’s scowl faded, but she didn’t look up She shook her head and began to say, “I will…”
Haruhiro guessed that she meant to say “I will see you tomorrow” He never possibly expected to hear that from Mary, who usually left theh, she never finished her sentence
Leaving it at “I will”, she turned her back to hi off with her stride; it was al in a panic
Ranta scoffed “Horrible girl Seriously”
“Really?” Mogzo stroked a stubbly chin His facial hair was quite dark “I get the feeling that there was so different about her today”
Yuree that she was an eensy bit adorable”
Ranta glanced sidelong at her “Quit using adorable for anything and everything Your definition of adorable is so broad, I have no idea what you’re trying to say”
“It’s okay if Ranta doesn’t get it-yan Yume doesn’t particularly care if Ranta understands anyway”
“How’s that an adorable thing to say?!”
As they pacified Yuzo’s helm They found a variety of used ht an inexpensive “barbute”-type Barbute helle sheet ofprocess relatively simple
They were shaped sort of like the big toe on a person’s foot, with a “T” shaped opening for the eyes, nose, and lance, it looked like it would slide off pretty easily, but an inspection of the leather-padded inside told them otherwise
The hel head perfectly, but it was scratched and dented so Ranta haggled tenaciously until he brought it frohteen Haruhiro paid four silvers, Yuht
As they ate dinner at a food stall, Ranta puffed out his chest and pointed out, “It’s like I prettyme!”
Yume and shi+horu both narrowed their eyes at hi, but had to adht be true If Ranta hadn’t been such a sha the price so far doenty-four silvers was an exaggeration, but thanks to Ranta, they probably saved about ten silvers more than what one would expect