Chapter 5: A Pack of Monsters

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/6/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Morning. I wake at dawn, same as always.
At this hour, it seems no one else is up yet.
Well, of course.
Careful not to wake the girl sleeping beside me, I slip off toward the kitchen.

I check the coach’s stores: still plenty of potatoes and beans.
Hmm. I’ll make morning and midday while I’m at it.
I crush the dried beans, mix them with mashed boiled potato, knead with water, and bake, and it stands in for bread.

The dried sweet potato is… yeah. I’ll chop it fine and mix it into the bean bread.
Better if it has some chew.

The rest of the beans I’ll stew with potato.
Ah, there’s dried meat left. In it goes.
Heh heh. That should give us a nice savor and salt.

Now then. No laundry to do. What now.
Nothing to do. Well, I’ll skim the scum while it stews.

Still, I left on a journey and I’m doing pretty much the same things I do at the church.
Well, I do feel like I’ve been swept along.
When there are hungry people, I can’t help thinking of soup kitchens.

When you have something to spare, be as kind to people as you can.
That’s what Sister Naria taught me.
Once you can take care of yourself, you help the people around you next.
The world turns by repeating that, she said.

It probably isn’t all that pretty in practice, but those words have stayed in the deepest part of me.
Pretty words are fine. If you live them, they become true.
That’s a secondhand line too, though.

Anyway, it should be about done; I should wake everyone… ah, they got up, drawn by the smell.

“Big Sis, good morning.”
“Morning. Food’s ready, so go wash your face. There’s a well over there.”
“Okaaay!”

Mm-hm. Energetic is best.

“Morning, miss. Ooh, looks good today too. Thanks.”

As the girl runs off, I see the adventurer casually pinch up a piece of bread, and I stop his hand.

“Hold on. We eat once everyone’s here. While you wait, would you get ready to leave, please.”
“That so. I’ll go pack the bags, then.”
“Please. Ah, you merchants too! Come over here when you’re done getting ready!”
“Ah, got it. We’ll be right there, wait for us.”
“Thanks!”

Once everyone is gathered, I put my hands together as usual, and they look puzzled.
I tell them about the church custom, and they say that’s nice and put their hands together with me.

All right. Itadakimasu.

∞∞∞∞

Clatter, clatter. The coach runs at a decent clip.
They call it a highway, but it’s just ordinary ground that’s been packed down by use.
It isn’t cobblestone like in town, so if there are stones on it, it shakes pretty badly inside.

I stare off at the distant scenery, careful not to bite my tongue.
Unfamiliar views look fresh to my eyes. Mountains, forests, rivers, sky.
Now and then I spot wild animals and birds.

If I caught that, it’d be meat for a while.

I’m thinking that when—
Suddenly, ahead of the coach, the driver screams.

“Uwah!?”
“Driver, what’s wrong?”
“There’s a pack of orcs ahead! Seven of them! And they might have noticed us!”

The inside of the coach stirs.

Orcs. Monsters like bipedal pigs.
They’re armed, for monsters, and even adventurers apparently can’t afford to be careless.
Especially in a pack: it becomes the kind of story that gets a party subjugation request.
At the very least, they aren’t something ordinary people like us can handle.

“Damn, do we detour?”
“No, if they’ve already noticed, we won’t make it. Better to drop the cargo and run.”
“Oi, don’t be an idiot! We’re hauling goods! Without those we don’t eat!”

One of the merchants grabs the adventurer.
I get what he wants to say, but… this isn’t the time, is it?

“Hey now, which matters more, your life or your money. I can’t take that many alone.”
“…Damn it! Why is there an orc pack here in the first place!”
“I don’t know either… more to the point, what are you doing? Are you staying?”
“That’s… but without the sales from this, we die anyway!”

While the adventurer and the merchants are talking.
The girl’s father stands up, his face dead white.

“Wait. My kid’s still small… if we run, can we get away?”

The girl clings to her father’s legs.
Her eyes are wet; her hands are shaking.
It might be hard for this child to run clear, that’s true.
And the old woman who’s been praying to the Goddess since a while ago, too.

If someone scooped the two of them up and ran, it would be different… but the only one who looks strong is the adventurer.
If his hands are full, we’re genuinely out of options, and carrying both at once is too much.

I stand up to look forward, and—
Clack, the handguns hanging at my hips make a sound.
Yesterday’s conversation crosses my mind.

“Next, then. What are these toy handguns?”
“—They are magic-gun devices exclusive to Ouka.”
“The ‘exclusive to me’ part is also a thing, but… magic-gun devices?”
“—Paraphrase: guns that fire mana instead of bullets.”

Magic-gun devices. Weapons that can fire mana.
A weapon for fighting is right here.

I pick up the red-and-white handguns, gingerly, and understand how to use them as if it were natural.
A strange feeling, like remembering something I’ve known for a long time.
Something wells slowly from deep in my body.
By the time I notice, I’m speaking to the adventurer.

“…Um. Are orcs fast on their feet?”
“Not that fast, but… if you’re carrying cargo, they’ll catch you.”
“…Then a coach would be all right, wouldn’t it?”
“Then we get surrounded while we’re turning the coach around. If it’s coming to that…”
“…Listen. My claim to fame in town is being the fastest on my feet.”
“Ha? And what of it?”
“…If I can buy time to turn the coach, that’s enough, right?”

I’m thinking something stupid.
Even I can tell it’s nonsense, and far too dangerous.
A pack of monsters even an adventurer can’t handle.
I’m scared. Terribly scared. The hands holding the guns are shaking.
…But.

“If it’s just holding them and then running, I think I can do it.”

I’d rather do it and regret it than not do it and regret it.
Buy even a little time, then run like hell.

“Oi, don’t be reckless. It’s too dangerous.”
“…I’m sorry. The rest, please!”

I jump down from the coach and sprint with everything I have.

“Big Sis!?”
“Stop! Come back!”
“Turn the coach! Hurry!”

I answer the shouts behind me by running straight toward the orc pack.

∞∞∞∞

After a while of running, I see the monsters.
Monsters like bipedal pigs. Orcs.
Seven, as the driver said.
They’re looking this way, coming at a run.

I look again at the guns in both hands.
A red handgun and a white handgun.
The names of the two guns surface in my mind.
How to use them, and what I should do next.

I’m scared. My knees shake. I want to turn around at full speed and go back.
But. If I don’t buy time, everyone is in danger.
They’re all good people. So I have to do it. I have the weapons.

The ring hanging at my chest glints.
Right now I have no choice but to trust this thing.

“Ring, I trust you… I’m counting on you!”
“—Yes, my master.”

The ring—Ring—speaks in an androgynous voice.

“—Sakura-Drive Ready.”

Words I’ve never heard, and I understand what they mean.
And I answer, quietly.

“Ignition”

 

The moment I murmur it.
The mana circulating inside me passes a critical point and sprays into the surroundings.
The way the pale-crimson mana-light bursts is like sakura scattering.

The fear of the monster pack vanishes.
The terror of fighting comes apart into mist.
Fighting spirit rises, little by little.
My heart is hot. But my head is ice-clear.
As if I’m about to go play.
A smile slips out, unbidden.

All right. Shall we try dancing.

I drop until I’m nearly on the ground and run.
The mana rounds I can fire have a range of a meter at best. The first one enters that short interval.
I sink in place and spin sideways, put a knee to the ground, and smash the gun butt into the back of its knee with the centrifugal force on it.
I jam a handgun into the broken stance. Aim at that astonished face, and fire.
The orc’s head bursts on a pale-crimson round.

Whoa, pretty gory.
But I can’t stop. Next.

I kick the earth and leap.
Another spin, a roundhouse into the head. The body reels; I shoot for the chest.

An orc goes down slowly, spouting blood. From behind it, two clubs come down.
I slip one club with the right gun butt and turn. The second club I miss by a paper’s width with that same motion.
The two enemies overcommit forward; I stretch both hands, aim at their heads, and crush them at once.

My vision starts to go red with spray; I duck deep and dodge.
A spear thrust for that opening. Before the point arrives, I spin again.
This time I roll on the ground, go onto my back, reach, and fire.
I keep rolling, swing my legs for momentum, and come up.

I let a long breath out and drop my hips deep.
Left hand forward, right hand reverse-grip with the elbow up, beside my head.

That’s four. Three left.

An orc, face full of rage, brings a rusted sword down.
I set the right gun butt, turn, and slip it.
As we pass, I shoot through both thighs.

I kick it before it falls and somersault. I slip a dagger slashing sideways from behind, hang upside down in the air, and break two at once.

Sakura-pink colors the world.
Black hair streaming. Beyond it, the enemy.

Landing. Without killing the momentum, I close on the orcs who’d been watching from a distance, still low.
I shoot through their hurried, sloppy clubs and shatter them.
I slip into their space and fire both hands at once.
I kick the huge bodies as they lose their strength and use them as a step to leap again.

Two enemies below. I rain rounds on one from low in the air.
I punch through them in several places; rust-smelling spray goes up.
In that same momentum I spin, kick a head flying, and fire a follow-up.

Last. An orc that seems frightened in front of its comrades’ corpses, trying to flee.
I won’t let it go. If I don’t finish it here, there will be more victims.

As that adventurer said, they don’t seem that fast.
I catch up at once and kick through the legs holding up that bulk from behind. I straddle the enemy as it falls on its back, and it turns eyes colored with fear toward me.

I pay it no mind and put both handguns to it.
Clack. A small sound.

That’s it. Over.

After a twitch, the last orc doesn’t move.
Seven in total. Subjugation complete.
I return the handguns behind my hips, and the pale-crimson mana-light I’d been wearing thins, then goes into the sky.

I try to walk a little and put distance between us, and halfway my knees give out and I sit down.

…What was that. A strange feeling, like I wasn’t myself.
Sister Naria did give me combat training, but those were clearly not ordinary movements.

The trigger word for Sakura-Drive, to switch into a combat state.
The moment I spoke the words that surfaced in my head, the fear of monsters was gone.
And I’m not supposed to be able to use magic, but sakura-pink mana-light was welling out of my body.

I look back over my shoulder: the wreckage of the orc pack.
Fear wells up after the fact, and I can’t help shivering.

…Anyway, it worked out? I guess?

“Miss! You all right!?”

I look forward at the call, and the adventurer is running toward me in a fury.
I try to wave and notice my fingertips are still shaking.

“I turned the coach around! We’re pulling out, now!”
“…Ah, thanks. I, um. It kind of worked out.”
“What are you— oi. What is this.”

Looking at the scene spread in front of him, the adventurer’s face twitches.
Yeah. Well. I would. I’m freaked out myself.

“Uh. I think I did that, yeah.”
“‘Think’… miss, what are you?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know either… more importantly, a small favor.”
“What?”
“Ahaha. My legs have gone. Could you give me a hand.”

∞∞∞∞

I get hauled to my feet somehow and look back once more.
…That was me, right?
There’s still feeling in my hands and feet.

Anyway, the danger seems to be gone, so I’ll ask the men to carry the orcs.

These are edible monsters, after all.

I mean, it’d be a waste to just leave them.
…Well, I don’t know if I can eat in my current state.
My fingertips are still trembling.

“…Hey, Ring. Explain later, okay.”
“—Understood, Master.”

The ring hanging at my chest glints again.