The Fool's War Cry

The Fool's War Cry

The steel giant turned to look back at me when I couldn't make myself take a step forward.

Feeling Takanashi-san's gaze through the machine's camera, I reflexively looked away.

"We're just ordinary people, after all. We don't have to go that far... do we?"

Even I knew I was saying something pathetic. The truth was, I didn't want to say something like that.

But even so, I couldn't summon the courage to step into a battlefield for the sake of complete strangers.

Desperately, I piled up reasons why I should be allowed not to go fight.

"In a situation like this, amateurs barging in will only get in the way. We'll just increase the number of people who need rescuing. We should keep our heads down and simply evacuate."

'…………'

"Besides, we don't know this area well, do we? We might only get in the rescue teams' way. So the right thing to do would be to get out of this city, then go give the police and fire department a detailed account of what happened... I think."

I was terrified by how silently Takanashi-san listened to me.

She must have been disappointed. Compared to the 'Yahiro Kota' in her mind, someone like me, she must have been appalled by what a pathetic man I was.

But this was who I was. I was different from the 'someone' who had risked his life to protect the evacuation ships.

Takanashi-san's cool voice came through Kenning's speaker.

'I think what you say, Yahiro-san, is correct.'

"R-right?"

I raised my head at her words of affirmation.

Smiling beneath my face guard in relief, I finally managed to look at Kenning's main camera.

But her next words made my cheek twitch.

'However, I am a soldier and a warrior.'

"Wh...!?"

Those were the words I'd heard that day.

They were the same words she'd spoken when she declared that she would fight to protect a place in a parallel world, a country and era different from the one where she herself had been born and raised.

'Now that I carry a weapon, I will fight for those who cannot.'

"That..."

'Once... No—in the future, just as you did.'

"......!"

I felt something snap inside my head.

'I have always admired you. And I believed my life had meaning. The life that someone like you risked your own life to protect is connected to mine. The achievements this body has wrought must surely be your...'

In hindsight, I must have been in no state to remain calm. Mental shock and exhaustion had left me unable to control my emotions.

That was why.

"I'm not the Yahiro Kota you're talking about!"

Before I knew it, I was shouting.

I could vaguely tell that Takanashi-san was shaken on the other side of Kenning. But the words kept spilling out of me.

"I'm not a hero...! I'm an ordinary person. I hate being scared, and I hate pain. I don't want to die for someone else."

'Yahiro-sa...'

"I'm not going to play along with your fantasy or your admiration! I'm me!"

Breathing heavily, I moved several steps away from her.

"...I'm sorry. But it's the truth."

'...No. You may be right. I may not have been calm either.'

Before, whenever I put distance between us, she had closed that distance by the same amount.

But now.

'I will go defend the evacuation shelter alone. I will save as many people as I can.'

"...I see."

I said this while reloading the scroll in the sword belt that I had just used.

"...You'll be exposing Kenning in front of the public, though."

'That is certainly dangerous, but I believe it is unavoidable.'

"...Do you still have any 'Float' scrolls?"

'Yes. Ah, no. I will return the scroll and staff you entrusted to me now.'

"Don't. If you're about to die, use them to escape."

'...Understood. If I determine that continuing would mean a pointless death, I will retreat.'

"Then I'm going."

'Yes.'

I turned my back on Takanashi-san and started walking.

'According to the information I researched beforehand, the nearest evacuation shelter with spiritual defenses is two kilometers southwest.'

"......"

'If you fail to escape this city, Yahiro-san, head there. I will be there as well.'

"...Understood."

After saying that, I activated a 'Float' scroll.

My body drifted gently upward, at a remarkably leisurely pace. I moved through the air at about the speed of a balloon floating away.

I watched Kenning through the rain. The gray giant had already started running, heading in the opposite direction from me.

It raced forward at tremendous speed, scraping across the asphalt, without a trace of hesitation. It nimbly avoided cars abandoned by the roadside and rubble scattered by the train accident as it made its way toward the evacuation shelter.

We were different in every way. She was the one worthy of being called a hero.

...I had become an adventurer because I admired the protagonists of manga and anime.

But that was impossible. I gave up, telling myself it was a dream that could never come true.

I could never become the kind of 'do-gooder' who could risk his life in a situation like this.

I turned my face forward and continued flying. I gradually gained altitude, moving where the lycanthropes' fangs could not reach.

I could see several places ahead where black smoke was rising in sparse columns. Since we'd arrived near the station, it seemed we'd made it close to the city center.

There was still quite a distance to cover before I could escape. Unlike other magic, the 'Float' scroll consumed magic continuously while active. I just had to hope it lasted until I reached safety.

Perhaps because I was relieved to have reached a height beyond the monsters' attacks, my mind gradually began to cool.

I'd said something horrible to Takanashi-san. She had never once told me to 'do this,' 'do that,' or 'act like a hero.'

I had simply developed an inferiority complex toward the 'Yahiro Kota' she talked about all on my own.

What else could you call it but a child's tantrum? Perhaps out of self-mockery, my gaze naturally fell downward.

And that was why I could see what was happening in the city.

The various Magic Eye abilities each had their own special powers, but they all shared the enhancement of functions related to the eyes.

Right now, I could easily make out the face of a person two kilometers away. At this height, rain and even a moderate amount of smoke were no problem.

As a city neighboring the prefectural capital, this one had a scattering of office buildings. There were even a few movie theaters left, though they had fallen into decline in recent years. A memory of going to one with my parents as a child flashed through my mind.

Corpses lay scattered all over that city.

People had been bitten and torn apart, body parts ripped away. One old man's neck was missing half of it, one man had his intestines spread across the ground, and one woman had been stabbed through the chest along with the small something she held in her arms.

I felt sick. Even though I'd vomited so much on the train, stomach acid rose into my throat.

I felt dizzy, as though the stench of death were reaching me through my eyes, yet strangely, I couldn't look away.

...Would Takanashi-san end up like this too?

I thought of someone I'd met only recently, someone I couldn't even call a friend, then immediately shook my head.

It had nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with me.

Lycanthropes acted in packs. Individually, they had no remarkable strengths aside from their tenacity, but they still weren't monsters a rookie should be taking on.

Running away was the right thing to do. It was okay to run away.

Repeating that to myself, I made for the outskirts of the city. More than anything, I wanted to sleep in my bed. I wanted to forget the events of this day as a bad dream.

"...Aah!"

I thought I heard someone scream.

Unconsciously, I lowered the gaze I'd just managed to raise again.

There was a man and woman in their thirties. No—the woman was holding two small children in her arms.

The woman crouched there, blood flowing from her leg as she shielded the children. Beside her, the man faced the lycanthropes with an iron pipe in hand.

I couldn't sense any magic. Since he wasn't using 'Spirit Armament,' he probably wasn't Gifted.

And yet he could see the monsters, presumably because the lycanthropes had deliberately chosen to reveal themselves.

My Magic Eye caught their smirking faces. Wolf heads made expressions difficult to read, but there was no mistaking it: they were looking at the man with the iron pipe instead of killing him at once.

He was probably the father. His face was desperate as he fought to protect his wife and children. He swung the iron pipe wildly, doing his best to keep the monsters away.

The woman who appeared to be the mother couldn't move, but still tried to serve as a shield for the children. To keep them from seeing the slaughter about to unfold, she pressed their faces against her chest.

But as if to say that such parental love was meaningless—or perhaps that this was merely 'entertainment'—a lycanthrope's claws tore through the iron pipe.

Then it grappled with the faltering father. Instead of going for his throat first, it deliberately bit into his leg.

A scream rang out.

"......!"

What was I doing?

I only had to avoid looking. If I closed my eyes, that would be enough. I didn't need to block my ears, too. This voice would fade away soon.

So. I squeezed my eyelids shut───.

"Damn it."

I angled my path downward and began to descend. I flew straight down toward a nearby five-story building, then dispelled the magic when the wall loomed before my eyes.

At the same time, I drew my sword from my waist.

A horn seemed to throb deep within me. I could sense adrenaline flooding my brain.

Pulled by gravity, I kicked off the wall. It looked as though I was running, but I was simply falling. I was only adjusting my speed and trajectory enough to make it look like running.

The resounding screams, the children's sobs, and the beasts' mocking growls.

In their midst.

"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I roared, driven by emotion.

When I reached around the second floor, I leaped. Kicking the wall with all my strength while carried by the momentum of my fall sent my body flying farther than expected.

The three lycanthropes all turned toward me in surprise. One of them pulled its mouth away from the man's leg.

I thrust my staff straight into it with all my might.

The golden, beak-like ornament pierced its fur and gouged into its flesh. The momentum still didn't stop, and I rolled across the ground together with the creature.

"Ah, ngh...!"

Writhing in pain, I slowly got back to my feet.

Unlike the monsters, the asphalt could kill me. What an idiot I was.

I really was an idiot.

'Vau! Uu... Vau!'

'Grrrrr...!'

The two remaining lycanthropes glared at me. Deciding that the family posed no threat, they ignored them and charged at me.

I reflexively fired a spell at the one on the left. An invisible hammer struck it squarely in the face.

The other one leaped forward, closing the distance. It brought its right claw down with the force of its fall behind it.

I parried it with my sword and swung my blade back at the clawed attacker that had shattered the ground. But the cut was shallow. It slashed open one eye, yet the beast screamed and leaped away.

Immediately afterward, my Magic Eye showed me the future. Following its warning, I leaped backward as well, and the lycanthrope with the twisted face swung its claws through the spot where I'd been.

'Vvvvv...!'

The werewolf that had lost a front tooth opened its eyes wide and came after me. It swung both claws wildly, trying to tear me apart.

But I saw every movement. Following my fighting instinct, I ducked beneath its log-thick arms and slammed my sword into its flank.

I couldn't cut it in two with one blow. Even so, I forced the blade deeper, stepped forward, and swung through.

'Gyaaa...!?'

Without even glancing at the falling lycanthrope, I knocked aside an attack from the one-eyed creature with my staff.

Having had its surprise attack deflected, the werewolf's mouth hung half open. I slipped the tip of my blade into it. The white blade pierced its throat and protruded out the other side.

I twisted the blade with a wet wrenching motion, then kicked its fur-covered belly and pulled it free.

Blood sprayed over me, but I had no time to care. I spin-cocked with my left hand to load the next shot, while keeping watch on my surroundings.

The three creatures we'd fought turned into black mist, leaving only magic stones where they had been.

"Phew..."

I let out a deep breath and tucked the sword beneath my left arm. In that state, I approached the family.

"Y-you're..."

I gave a small nod to the father, who was clutching his wound and sweating profusely, then held out my right hand.

'Blood of Rejuvenation.'

Droplets falling from the pale golden whirlpool that appeared in my palm healed his wound.

His leg, which had been exposed down to the bone, returned not only to flesh and skin but even to the hair on his shin.

"M-my wound!?"

I walked past him, still astonished, and healed the leg of the person who appeared to be the mother as well.

At least they should be all right now.

"Th-thank you! Thank you!"

"I don't know how to thank you..."

I couldn't help giving the two of them a wry smile as they thanked me despite their agitation.

They were good people.

After giving a casual wave, I offered a small smile to the two children staring blankly at me. They probably couldn't see my expression through the face guard, though.

"Run away immediately. The evacuation shelter is far from here, so go that way."

I pointed in the opposite direction from the one Takanashi-san had gone—the road out of the city.

"Y-yeah. But we might be attacked again..."

"...That is possible, but your chances of surviving are still fairly high."

Unfortunately, I couldn't flee together with this family.

I moved several steps away and turned my back on them.

"I hope you make it out safely. Goodbye."

I had spoken surprisingly fluently for me. It was probably because this was someone I would never see again.

At least, I wanted to believe it wouldn't be a parting caused by death.

"E-excuse me! Where are you going...?"

I turned my head back toward the man who appeared to be the father.

"To where someone I know is defending an evacuation shelter."

Someone I know. Yes, someone I know.

We hadn't known each other long enough for me to call her a friend, and if someone asked whether she was someone I liked, all I could do was tilt my head.

So acquaintance was the appropriate word.

"Now, go. It's dangerous here."

"Y-yes!"

"Thank you!"

In a panic, the man and woman who appeared to be the parents each picked up a child and ran. A preschool-aged child in the father's arms waved a small hand at me with a face that suggested they didn't understand what was happening.

I raised my right hand slightly in reply.

Then I gripped my sword with that hand.

Sending them in that direction hadn't been only because of the distance to the evacuation shelter.

A splash rang out as something stomped through a puddle.

'Grrr...!'

'Voh! Voh!'

The monsters that had probably been 'feeding' nearby emerged from buildings and houses.

All their eyes were fixed on me, their fangs glistening wetly.

I seemed to have been an even bigger idiot than I thought. What was I doing, acting on a momentary burst of excitement?

It had been so close. From the sky, I had seen that the damage was concentrated to the southwest—the direction where the evacuation shelter should have been, and where the fires were burning most intensely.

The lycanthropes' dungeon had probably appeared near the evacuation shelter, or a little farther west.

One after another, monsters drawn by their companions' howls appeared. Their eyes focused on me. I couldn't escape with magic anymore. The moment I floated into the air, they would swarm me.

I'd thrown away my chance to escape. Even I was dumbfounded by my own actions, unable to say a word.

But strangely, I felt good. Good enough, at least, to cover up my fear.

With my head giddy, I suddenly thought, 'It would be great if I could deliver a cool one-liner here.' Just like the protagonist of a story.

Unfortunately, no good line came to me on the spur of the moment.

"Hhh..."

After taking a deep breath, what came out was—

"Wooooooooooooooooo!"

Nothing but a hackneyed, beastlike war cry.

I raised my sword in my right hand and readied my staff in my left as I kicked off the ground. The lycanthropes charged at me too, roaring.

This really, truly was a foolish thing to do. But.

Even if I couldn't become a hero,

I thought I could at least run wild as a fool.