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“Argh! I can’t believe I lost!”
“Will you give it a rest?”
Beneath a dizzyingly blue sky, a donkey loaded down with armor and equipment meandered down the road. A boy held the reins while beside him walked a rhea girl whose body language expressed her feelings even more eloquently than her words. She swung her arms furiously as she walked along, making no effort at all to hide her frustration.
The wizard boy (the rhea girl had practically talked his ear off by this point) heaved a sigh and said, “Yeah, you definitely peaked when you left that paladin flat on his ass.”
“Arrrrgh… I fell! I can’t believe I fell out of my saddle!”
This time, the girl clutched her head in her hands and curled up right there on the road home, so the boy was obliged to stop alongside her. The donkey, unbothered by its masters’ strange behavior, scuffed its hooves.
In truth, the donkey had acquitted itself well. It had held its own against proper warhorses; fine work indeed. Responsibility for the defeat therefore fell squarely on its rider. Her display of ferocity had left her exhausted, and she was easily bested in the next round. To be fair, the knight who’d un-donkeyed her hadn’t gone on to the finals, either, but that was cold comfort.
“…Arrrgh…” The rhea girl threw herself onto the grass by the roadside, spreading her arms.
Wizard Boy looked down at her and stated the obvious: “We’re right by the road.”
“It’s still a square of the Four-Cornered World! I can be here if I want!” The girl flailed her bare feet.
“I haven’t heard a hairsplitting like that since the Academy.” That was all Wizard Boy said by way of reprobation, though. He plopped down beside her. “Guess it just means we’ve still got farther to go.”
“Yeah…”
When she thought back, she saw what a collection of powerful warriors they had been among. What had they even been doing there?
For instance—there had been many memorable matches, but to take just one example—she’d seen a spectacular competition between a knight wearing the vestments of the Trade God and another knight in diamonds.
We shall prescind from speaking of who won…
“That was really something, wasn’t it?” the rhea girl said.
“…Uh-huh.”
Idle chatter passed between them as they sat there with the grass and the breeze around them and the sky over their heads.
There was frustration, yes. There was disappointment. But not a single regret.
There are loftier heights to reach. We can keep moving forward.
That’s all it meant.
Heck, this was their first time in a competition like this one, and look how well they’d done. What was there to be depressed about in that? It would be simple arrogance to be dissatisfied just because you didn’t win your first tournament. They could hold their heads up high with the result they had reached. The result they had earned.
After a moment, Wizard Boy stood up, crying, “Okay!”
“Yikes!” exclaimed the rhea girl, who was still lying on the ground. She sat up (using only her toned abdominal muscles) and looked at him. “You sure sound excited.”
“’Course I am! Time is unlimited and limited. We can’t just sit around here!”
“I dunno. I think it’s important to slow down and enjoy the journey sometimes. Hup!” The girl got to her feet, laughing, and brushed the grass off her behind. “So where do we go next?”
“Dunno yet,” the boy said with a grin. “But you don’t really want to go straight back to the old guy, do you?”
“If you’ve got a good idea for a detour, I’m all ears.” The rhea girl grinned like a kid with a mischievous plan.
They didn’t know where they would go exactly. But they knew where they were headed.
“I’m gonna be the strongest swordfighter in the world! So I’d better go find people who are stronger than me!”
“I think you just did.”
“Quiet, you!”
So they went down the road, leading the donkey, arguing and laughing.
Someday—the strongest. Someday—that dragon. The road would go ever on and on.
They were on that road, moving forward, one step at a time.
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§
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“Great work! You’ve earned a good rest.”
This was the pronouncement of Guild Girl, delivered with a smile as the wagon trundled along. It must have taken some nerves to conclude everything that happened, all their trials, with these few words.
A lot really did happen, huh?
Across from her sat an adventurer in grimy armor. He nodded deliberately. “It was, indeed, rather difficult.”
“Well, you were one person short of your normal party.”
“Perhaps that was it.”
Guild Girl giggled at this diffident response, demurely covering her mouth with her hand. Staring fixedly at the ground beside her was the priestess, her ears as alert as any elf’s.
I think she’s gained a little confidence.
But she still wasn’t used to being openly praised. Maybe it was just as well—if she was overconfident, that would be a problem in its own right. This was adorable.
“So how’d it go with you anyway?” asked the elf, who was poking her head out the back and flicking her ears in the breeze, of that very same priestess.
“It went well!” Priestess said, nodding eagerly.
Cow Girl smirked. “Well? You were the coolest thing at the tournament!”
“O-oh, I’m not sure about that…,” Priestess squeaked, her face flushing. Then, however, with a certain amount of “um, er,” she managed, “But I did try my best!”
“That’s what counts,” said High Elf Archer, her eyes twinkling like stars. “Details! I want details!”
“I-if you don’t mind, then…”
There was a delicate clearing of the throat—and then began the story of the adventure of the cleric who had impersonated the princess.
The unfamiliar outfit. The people she didn’t know. The only ones she could count on were the two friends who had come with her.
Meeting the nobility, speaking to a knight, participating in the ceremony—and then the monsters had appeared.
It was a splendid tale of heroism, as fine an adventure as any there was. The only person who didn’t seem to realize it was the heroine of the story.
On the driver’s bench, Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman were chatting about something; the others could hear the friendly rise and fall of their voices.
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