Chapter 42
The place Oscar-san took me was somewhere Dantes-san would never have brought me—in other words, the red-light district. Raikira-san had taken me there once, but this place was even seedier.
It was morning, though.
The gaudy pink signs looked miserable beneath the morning sun, with their paint peeling off here and there. Drunks were sleeping in the shadows of buildings—They weren't dead, were they? They were okay, right?
"This way."
"Eek!"
"Don't make that pathetic noise."
Once we entered the back alley, even the stone paving disappeared. The dim passage was filled with a nose-wrinkling stench, and puddles of indistinguishable color spread across the ground. I stared at the ground as I walked, careful not to step in any of them.
"Can you see it? The domain capital's outer wall is right there. This area is close to the wall, and it doesn't have running water, so it's the cheapest land in the domain capital."
"Right..."
"And because it's a place like this, people show up who run businesses while evading the authorities' eyes. One of them is called 'Wall-Crawling.'"
"'Wall-Crawling.'"
"They break through part of the wall and let people pass through it."
I see... So it was something like helping people sneak across the border.
"...You don't look surprised at all."
"N-no, wow, that's surprising. I can't believe there are people doing something so dangerous."
"Don't make that shitty little show after making a face that says, 'I see.' Come here."
When we reached the wall, there was a single wooden shack, with about five men loitering in front of it.
Every one of them was a man, and every one of them was smoking a pipe. They were such obvious thugs that it was almost comical.
"Well, if it isn't Oscar-san. Heading out again?"
"Yeah. But I'm not the one going through today. Put this kid through."
He gave me a firm shove between the shoulder blades, sending me forward. The men tilted their heads and looked me over.
"This kid?"
"That's what I just said. How much?"
"Well... We don't make it cheap just because he's a kid. Three Federation gold coins, same as always."
Three Federation gold coins!? That's 300,000 yen!?
"Tch. You greedy bastards. Here."
"Wait, Oscar-san! You're even paying!?"
"A kid shouldn't worry about money. When you consider it payment for saving a companion's life, it's dirt cheap... More importantly, worry about what you'll do after you leave this place."
"Urk, you're right."
"Crossing the border into the Light-Sky Knight Kingdom from here will be difficult. There's only one road, and the checkpoint is heavily guarded. On the other hand, travel within the Keithgran Federation is pretty lax, so you'd be better off going that way. The domain soldiers will probably search the domain capital for a while."
"...I understand. Thank you, truly, for everything."
"Go on."
Oscar-san waved his hand dismissively and walked away.
I thought about how Dantes-san had helped me right up to the very end. I'd felt as though I'd repaid my debt by curing him of the petrifying poison, but now I had incurred yet another debt.
In other words, I had one more reason to return to 'Silver Balance.'
"Well then, kid, go through here. Hey, Zellie, show our guest the way."
When he opened a hastily attached door, there was no light at all inside. After the door closed behind us, dust floated in the narrow beam of light slipping through.
"Yeah, yeah, honestly. He really works people hard... Oh, guest. This way."
"..."
"What is it, guest?"
The person called Zellie—a beastman—asked in a puzzled voice.
"Can't see where you're stepping? Then let's turn on the lamp for a bit... There we go."
With a pop, the magic lamp lit up, illuminating the person's figure.
"..."
"..."
Zellie-san and I stared blankly at each other.
I'd seen this person before. Raikira-san had given them money one night.
And this person must have known me, too. When they'd seen Raikira-san around town, I had been beside him.
"Well, this is a surprise. Aren't you the young master who was with Raikira?"
I was surprised, too.
I'd assumed this person was a man, but she was a woman.
She was shorter than Raikira-san, but she had a lithe build with solid, well-balanced muscle.
Two cat ears poked up from her short, reddish-brown hair. Her shirt sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, revealing arms covered in fur.
She wore tight cloth pants and long boots.
She looked lightly equipped, but her stance left no openings.
"You were in the same mercenary corps as Raikira-san, weren't you?"
"Oh, did the young master tell you that much? The young master must have trusted you a great deal, then."
"Yes. He did... trust me."
Perhaps she noticed my wording, because Zellie-san gave me a suspicious look.
"...Young master, did you get yourself into some kind of trouble?"
I silently shook my head.
"Raikira-san died."
Silence fell between us. After a while, the magic lamp slipped from Zellie-san's hand and clattered against the ground. Since it wasn't lit by a flame, it continued shining. From outside came a shout: "Zellie! You didn't break the lamp, did you!?" The door opened, and someone said, "Oh, we still have a guest? Hey, Zellie, hurry up and show the guest through." Then the door closed again.
After that, I told Zellie-san about Raikira-san's final moments, though I remained vague about why I was fleeing and about my own circumstances.
As Zellie-san guided me through the cramped, narrow passageway, she wore a troubled expression. We were already inside the wall. When we reached the opening to the outside, she listened carefully and checked the area before cautiously removing a stone from the wall. It had been shaved thin and had a handle only on the inner side. Once we'd passed through, Zellie-san deftly put it back in place. To anyone looking from outside, there was no way to tell it apart from the rest of the wall.
There was a thicket of tall grass ten meters away, and she told me to enter it. An animal trail ran through it and apparently led to the main road. There were several branches, though, and she said anyone seeing it for the first time would definitely get lost.
"...So that's what happened, young master... In the end, you killed that Krista..."
Zellie-san was crying as she guided me. She wept and wept without caring that I was watching.
As a survivor of the mercenary corps, she'd apparently always wanted to get some kind of revenge on Krista. But Krista had been a Heavenly Silver-ranked adventurer, while we—even though we'd been caught off guard—had been powerless against her despite numbering dozens. Zellie-san had nearly given up on her desire for revenge.
Indeed, there weren't many ways to defeat someone who could fly freely through the sky while raining down 【Fire Magic】.
Zellie-san rubbed her eyes vigorously with her rolled-up sleeve and turned to look at me. Her reddish-brown cat eyes, the same color as her hair, gazed at me.
"Follow this path straight ahead and you'll reach the main road. Young master, would you let me serve as your escort?"
"An escort...?"
"Yes. The 'Dark Fang Mercenary Corps' was my family. There was nowhere I'd ever felt so at home. After it was gone, I was scraping by for daily wages in the depths of despair when I spotted the young master, who had somehow managed to survive as well. I could tell just by looking into your eyes. The young master had never abandoned his desire to get revenge on that bastard Krista. And you accomplished it magnificently..."
"..."
But if he died, what would be the point?
I wanted to say that. But for the people whose companions had been killed, perhaps revenge really was everything. Thinking that, I couldn't say it.
"Well, dying does make the whole thing pointless."
"What!? I held back from saying that!"
"I'm a cat-type beastman, so I guess I'm pretty blunt about things like that."
The serious mood vanished. Zellie-san smiled cheerfully with her tear-stained eyes.
"But, young master, you know? A fire was lit in my dead heart. Hearing how the young master lived, I couldn't sit still—I felt like I had to do something, too. Meeting Reiji-san here must be fate. Please let me accompany you on your journey."
"...But—"
"I overheard a little of what you were saying earlier, and I can guide you anywhere in the Light-Sky Knight Kingdom or the Kurvaan Holy Kingdom! I may not look it, but I was the scout for the 'Dark Fang Mercenary Corps,' which operated all over the world."
On the way here, Oscar-san had helped me—Dantes-san had helped me—and now Zellie-san—and, through her, Raikira-san—were about to help me here.
"Heh."
"...Reiji-san?"
No matter what happened, I was a member of 'Silver Balance.' If a companion offered me a helping hand, I should accept it without hesitation, shouldn't I?
"I understand. Likewise, I look forward to traveling with you."
"Yay!"
Zellie-san hopped into the air and snapped her fingers.
"Now that it's decided, there's no time to waste! Let's go!"
I set off, following Zellie-san's guidance.
I felt as though Raikira-san were guiding me. No—surely that was exactly what was happening. It wasn't just Raikira-san. Dantes-san, Non-san, and Mimino-san were guiding me along this path, too.
That wasn't all.
Just as a road is formed where many people have walked, the path I was walking had been laid by the guidance of many people.
I wondered whether Mimino-san was talking to Dantes-san by now. Had she noticed that his body had been cured? Had Non-san been happy?
(Raikira-san, you... You really wanted revenge badly enough to throw away everything else.)
I can't comprehend feelings that strong...
I don't even know whether it was right or wrong.
But I'll never forget the look on your face at the end—the look of someone who had seen things through. And I'll keep wondering about the rest of what you were trying to say to me back then... forever.
Please forgive me for leaving without even being able to mourn you.
Though, knowing Raikira-san, he'd probably say something like, "Get going. Mourning won't put food on the table."
"...Young master, what's wrong? You look like you've gotten something off your chest."
"No, it's nothing. Um, more importantly, could you stop calling me 'young master'?"
"But a young master is a young master, right? Can't be helped."
"It can be helped!"
"Can't be helped, can't be helped. Nahahaha."
"Ah, this is one of those times when nothing I say will work... Speaking of which, why do you call Raikira-san 'young master'?"
"Oh, he's the nephew of the captain of the 'Dark Fang Mercenary Corps.'"
"Oh."
"Ooh, are you interested? Then I'll tell you all about the mercenary corps! Even if you say I'm taking too long, I won't listen!"
"Haha, please do. It's going to be a long journey, after all."
I still didn't know where I should go from here.
But there were things I did know.
This journey was going to be a long one.
I had ended up with a completely unexpected companion for the journey, though.
Eventually, the animal trail through the thicket came to an end, and we emerged onto a vast grassland.
A main road stretched in the distance, cutting through the grassland like a path across an ocean. I wouldn't know what awaited me beyond it until I went there.
(Then I'll just go and see. I'm an adventurer in 'Silver Balance,' after all.)
With a gentle tailwind at my back, I set off.