“This way. The smell of the smoke has faded, but there’s no mistaking it.”
Himari pointed toward a mountain road on the outskirts of the capital.
Before I extended the Great Purification Barrier, the area had been a hotbed of monster activity, and it was still a place that few dared to visit.
We hastily made our way through the dark forest, with Himari at our lead. Sir Osvalt, Sir Philip, and several members of the Parnacorta Knights brought up the rear.
“This is incredible. I can’t smell anything at all.”
“We ninjas must be sensitive to any change in our environment, so we train all of our five senses. Our sense of smell is no exception.”
“I see…”
She made it sound simple, but honing her senses to such a degree must have required excruciating discipline. From what I’d heard, however, Haruya was an even better ninja than Himari. We couldn’t afford to underestimate him.
“There! A mountain hut!”
As we emerged from the path, a small, somewhat neglected-looking cabin came into view. It was perched on top of a low hill.
We all tensed up. Even Philip and his fellow knights looked wary.
“I believe my brother—I mean, Haruya—is in there,” mused Himari.
“He was even closer than I thought. I didn’t expect us to catch up with him so easily, even with you following his scent.”
“He probably didn’t think we’d have help from Himari,” said Philip.
Like Sir Osvalt, I hadn’t expected to find Haruya’s hideout so quickly. The best I’d been hoping for was a clue.
“Your work is admirable, Himari…but this feels a little too convenient.”
“You’re not suggesting he’s lured us here for a reason, are you, Philia?”
“Perhaps. If he anticipated that we’d follow his scent…I have a bad feeling about what’s to come.”
Haruya might have lured us here on purpose. That thought gave rise to one particular hypothesis.
“What if Haruya is skilled enough to overwhelm us all?”
“Now there’s a thought. He could be waiting in that cabin to ambush us.”
“Of course, he might have just let his guard down—but considering he’s a former ninja himself, it’s hard to believe he didn’t expect Himari might pursue him.”
Haruya had gone so far as to hide a smoke bomb in his mouth to aid his escape. That wasn’t the behavior of a careless individual. Besides, our previous encounters were enough to show me how skilled he was at manipulating people.
“I don’t fear traps or weapons!” Philip stepped forward, thumping his chest with conviction. “I’ll lead my knights inside and capture this Haruya myself. Just watch!”
The Knights of Parnacorta were reputed to be the strongest military force on the continent. As their commander and our nation’s most skilled spearman, Philip was never content to rest on his laurels.
“I understand where you’re coming from, Philip, but we’re…”
“Well, well. Look who we have here. I didn’t expect you to bring such a crowd with you.”
We were all dumbstruck.
As Philip and Sir Osvalt were speaking to one another, Haruya stepped out of the mountain hut. He was expecting us after all.
“I’m disappointed, Himari. I didn’t think you’d turn against your only blood relative.”
“Haruya…”
“My goodness. Do you know why I left a trail that only you could follow? I believed that, in the end, you’d be on my side.”
How much of what he was saying was true? It was impossible to be sure.
That said, it was a possibility I hadn’t considered at all. Himari could have pretended to be on our side, only to rush to her brother’s rescue. She was certainly capable of pulling off such a feat.
“I have no intention of betraying you, Haruya, but it’s natural for a ninja to serve their master. My actions shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
“Oh? Loyalty is commendable, but it isn’t going to keep you alive. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”
After everything they’d been through, the siblings knew that better than anyone. Their lives of devotion hadn’t spared them from losing the ones they loved—and nearly their own lives, too.
“But brother! Prince Osvalt and Lady Philia—”
“Enough, Himari. I wish you’d learned your lesson, but if you insist on turning against me, who am I to argue? I, for one, will take the path I believe in.”
“What?!”
Haruya pointed a finger at us. A window of the cabin suddenly burst open and a deluge of flaming arrows flew out.
It couldn’t be…
“Haruya!” cried Himari. “This won’t stop me!”
“Ugh. You’d better not underestimate the Knights of Parnacorta!”
Himari deflected the arrows with her kunai and shuriken, while Philip swept through the air with his spear, knocking every last arrow down.
When the air cleared, there was no sign of anyone else in the cabin. That could only mean one thing. “You have magic tools, don’t you?” I said.
“I knew you’d work it out, Lady Philia,” Haruya responded. “It only took you one glance to figure it out. I built this hideout in secret. Thanks to all the magic weaponry I’ve amassed from all over the continent, I’ve turned it into a fortress!”
It hadn’t crossed my mind that he’d attack us with magic. Since his younger sister was with us, I took it for granted that he wouldn’t do anything reckless. It seemed as though my outlook was naïve.
“Magic tools don’t faze me! I’ll smash them into smithereens with my Delon spear skills!” Philip wasn’t daunted by this revelation. He appeared eager to charge into Haruya’s mountain outpost.
True, one of my magic barriers would be enough to shield him from that level of firepower. But Haruya had described the hut as a fortress.
“Please be careful, Philip. I think Haruya is still hiding something.”
“No need to worry about me, Lady Philia! No matter what he has up his sleeve, I’ll—”
“You folks don’t make things simple, do you?” said Haruya, interrupting Philip’s speech. “It would’ve been so much easier if you’d have charged in right away. Saint Philia, Prince Osvalt—of all the couples I’ve had to deal with, you two have been the hardest to form a strategy against. I really didn’t want to use this, but you’ve left me no choice.”
With a snap of his fingers, Haruya summoned a gigantic cannon from inside the cabin. The barrel was the largest I’d ever seen. If it were a magic weapon, it’d be even more powerful than an ordinary cannon of the same size.
“I-I know what that is…”
It was the last thing I was expecting him to have up his sleeve.