How come things ended up like this?
I was hiding in the shadow of a sort of sunken rock with Ana. She was crying real loud, but I begged her not to, so she was holding back now.
My face was a mess. I was crying without making a sound. I looked like a total wimp.
“N-Ngh...”
“...”
We both held hands.
It was supposed to be pitch black at night, but the light from the fire shining from behind us made the dark sky look a little red.
It’s... it’s because of the Fire magic stone I had.
What... what have I been doing?
I wanted to work hard for something, to be strong and save everyone. That’s what I decided.
But now the mountain was on fire, and I’d made that monster angry, and Ana was so scared...
“Ana, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”
I started blubbing again.
Even though she had tears streaming down her face, Ana just gripped my hand back and shook her head, as if to tell me it’s not my fault.
Even though I had done something wrong...
It was just like Logg said. I’m a fake hero. A real hero wouldn’t lose to a monster. And even if I did lose, I shouldn’t be mixing Ana up in it. Plus I dropped my sword...
I was just a kid.
I may have felt real pathetic, but I had to accept that fact. If I didn’t, then I’d just end up making things even scarier for Ana.
Thud... thud...
The bergbear was walking around. It wasn’t all that close, but it wasn’t too far either...
I may be a fake hero, but I need to at least protect Ana...!
“Ana... Ana, stay quiet and listen to me.”
“Y-yeah...?”
“If we stay here, it’ll probably keep circling around. And then, it’ll come back.”
“O-oh, no...”
Ana teared up again.
“Listen! That’s why we’ve gotta keep going and run away.”
“B-but...”
“Ana, I’m sorry... This is all my fault...”
“Yuuta...”
“I’m a fake hero... But even if I’m a fake... I’ve gotta protect you, even if that’s all I can do.”
“...”
“So let’s make it back. Back to our moms, together. We still have a long way to go, so we’ve gotta keep going.”
“...Mmkay.”
I gripped her hand tight.
The town was downhill from here.
Then, the footsteps got the quietest they’d been.
“Let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
Zoom! We took off running. It was really scary letting our footsteps be so loud, but we couldn’t stop now.
We were definitely gonna make it back!
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
...Thud, thud, thud!
Uh-oh. We were sunk. Even a kid like me knew what was happening.
It had noticed us.
“Rooooooooooooooooar!”
“Yuuta!”
“Run for it!”
We both ran as fast as we could.
I could hear the trees getting knocked over behind us.
Sloosh!
“Ah!”
“Ana!”
Ana’s hand had came loose from mine as she slipped in the mud and fell down.
“Stand up!”
“...Ow!”
Ana was holding her leg. Oh, no...!
The light from the fire disappeared.
I turned around...
It was right there.
Everything went quiet.
I didn’t have my sword... but I couldn’t run away.
“Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooar!!!”
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” I screamed back.
I was scared, but that wasn’t all.
I wanted to protect Ana. I was no hero. I couldn’t do anything but make a big sound by screaming.
And so, I screamed my lungs out.
Its big black arm came swinging down.
I spread my arms out wide like an idiot, not closing my eyes.
.....
.....
...Rrrrrrrrr...
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
...I’m...
...I’m not dead?
Agh, wait, I’m sideways?
Hold on, am I flying? Everything’s going by so fast!
It’s all just flying by...
Ah, Ana’s here, too. She’s crying, and she looks confused, too.
I saw a hand and realized we were being held.
“Bwaha! Bwahaha! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!”
I heard a girl laughing. I knew that voice. And that golden hair, too... She’d just changed up her hairstyle recently.
“I found you!!! I found you, you damn runts...!!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
How many people out there can say they’ve run from a bear while carrying two kids? Seriously, you could totally call this a valuable experience, right?
The scenery flew on by around us.
“Rooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooar!!!”
That thing is huuuuuuuge! Seriously, what even is that?!
I thought bears were all little and cute like in picture books! But that thing was the size of a house!
“Crown! Do you have any info about bear monsters rolling around in there?!”
[—Affirmative.
—Initial dungeon monster library present within analyzer skill foundation.]
From the dungeon Dad cleared...?! That’s right... My textbook did mention that dungeon cores were full of info on monsters, and they can pop them right out!
Hold on a minit... Info from the dungeon core got transferred into the analyzer card, so...
That makes it a super rare item, doesn’t it?!!! And I let this damn gear eat it!!!
“Gah, whatever! I’m sure glad you’re here now, so it’s all good!”
“U-um, Miss Ann? Who are you talking to...?”
“Don’t bug me right now!”
“R-right!”
“I-I’m scared, Miss Ann.”
“Relax, I won’t drop you!”
Yuuta was covering his mouth with both hands as I carried him. Ana said, “That’s not what I meant...” or something, but I didn’t have time to worry about that!
“Crown, what’ve you got on bears’ weak points?”
[—Search complete.
—Weak point: lower jaw. Elemental weakness: Water.
—Will run from larger entities than itself.]
What’re you, an idiot?! It’s as big as a damn house! There’s no way I could ever reach its jaw!
And Water?! You’re a gear, not a pump!
I can’t use aaaaaaaaany of that!!
A-anyway, I’m just barely outrunning it.
It’d be nice to slow it down somehow so I could pull away...
“Crown, match a Stone Stomp to its speed! Can you do that?!”
[—Ready.
—Beginning inertial model calculations. Adjusting coordinates based on predictions.]
“Does that mean you can do it, or no?! Just set it up!”
One of the gears equipped to my hand flew off behind me and expanded. It looked like there was a white membrane in its center, like a soap bubble or something.
“Stone Stomp!”
Wha-bam!!
“Rooooooar?!!”
Whoa, I hit it!! I hit it, but it isn’t stopping!!
Oh, man, all I did was piss it off!
“Crown! I need you to trip it up! Drop two boulders in front of it!”
[—Deploying.]
Another gear flew out and expanded. Looks like I can make two mid-sized ones.
“Stone Stomp Double!” I yelled, getting caught up in the moment. Fortunately, two of them did come out.
The bergbear leapt over the first rock. It then bounded randomly over the second one!
Ah, one of the rocks snagged its right front paw!
“Gwaaaaar?!”
Alright! I threw it off-balance!
I skated through the forest, using the trees like shields.
Yeah, I could do that now!
“Wooow!”
“A-amazing!” the two runts yelled out in admiration. No kidding. This sure beats the slide in the park, doesn’t it?
“Crown! Secure these two to my back!”
[—Ready. Carrying out order.]
“What?”
“Wah!”
Three gears each wrapped around Yuuta and Ana’s hips, making a sort of golden belt. I could feel it attach them firmly behind me.
[—Three-unit restraint complete.]
“That’s a big help! Hold on tight, you two!”
We came to an area with all sorts of slopes, with trees that had rotted and collapsed jutting out here and there. These should be a big help!
I grabbed hold of a tree trunk with the spinning gears on my legs and right hand.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
When I reached the tip of the tree, I hit the trunk with my left hand!
Vrrrrrrrwrrwrr!!
And with that, I took off flying!
“Aaaaaaaaah!” the two runts screamed.
I did a full rotation in the air.
Fwoosh... Thud!!!
Oof! It sure is heavy with three of us, huh? Almost didn’t stick that landing...
“M-Miss Anti...”
“The world... it’s upside down...”
Yeah, it sure is...
Now that I couldn’t see... the bergbear... the forest fire was worrying me...
It was night, but... the clouds... were a dull red...
“That’s... sure spreading out, isn’t it...?”
Yeah... that’s definitely a full-on forest fire. No other name for it... At this rate it’d spread from the mountain to the forest at large... and then... to the town.
“Miss Anti...”
“...Yeah.”
I could see the regret... on Yuuta’s face. That was the look... of someone who fully understood what he’d done.
I... was still just 15... so I was a runt like these two... up until just recently. So honestly... I was kind of impressed.
“Don’t get all mopey!! Now’s the time to run...! I’ll chew you out later, alright?”
“Yeah...”
The scenery started flying by again as I worried about the blaze lighting up the night. Please, please don’t let that reach town!
“Big Sis! Up ahead!”
“Huh...? Ah, damn! Crown, stop!”
[—Regulating stance. Halting motion.]
Screeeech, clack!
That cliff I had jumped over before was right in front of me. The one that was 10 mel to the other side. The overgrown trees down below sure looked eerie in the dark.
I had made it over before because I’d been on my own, but... damn. Flying over that thing with all three of us would be a tall order.
“Back when we hit this thing, we had to go around to the left...”
“So that means that from this side, there should be a path to the right? We’ve got to hurry or...”
I started to take the detour, but just as I went around...
“Roooooar...”
Thump, thump...
“Gah...”
“M-Miss Anti!”
It was still a little far off, but it was definitely coming around from the right side, wasn’t it?