It seemed all right to leave the fire to the others for a while, so after I drank my tea, I closed my eyes and went to sleep. Getting rest when you had the chance was the trick to being a soldier. I’d slept in much worse places before. It was dry here, without any awful stenches, and it was warm close to the campfire.
The issue was that this wasn’t the Earth I knew, but a totally unknown planet…
After about an hour and a half, I opened my eyes. Not even I was able to sleep very deeply in our present predicament. I felt like I’d just had a nightmare that combined The Lord of the Rings and Black Hawk Down.
I shook my head to drive off my drowsiness. Around me, it was quiet; maybe everyone had gotten their soup. People nestled close to the flame, talking in soft voices. Many others were sleeping. The children, in particular, had been put to rest in one big clump inside a mountain of blankets.
Mizuho, bundled up in a blanket next to the campfire, was engaged in a fervent discussion with Potesara. Opposite them was Troach, who was starting to nod off. Her head looked to be in the right position to fall on Savakan’s shoulder.
Walking over and sitting down at the fire ended up making me pretty uncomfortable when everyone started staring at me at once.
“Is everything all right?” I inquired.
“Oh yeah.” Potesara nodded, passing a metal bowl to me. Soup was in it. “Your helping, Taiga.”
“There’s a lot in here…”
“It’s what collected on the bottom of the pot. Nobody here’s complaining.”
“Well then, thank you.”
I sipped at the broth. The flavors of the meat and vegetable scraps had already seeped out, but an empty stomach was the greatest spice of them all. I downed the soup within a few eyeblinks and set the bowl down.
“That was good. Thanks for putting this together for me despite the awful situation.”
“We’re the ones who owe you the debt of gratitude. I was surprised when I first heard, but it seems you’ve been through quite a bit more than we have.”
“What are you referring to?”
“You came here from another world, didn’t you?”
Hearing that from Potesara, I looked at Mizuho. She’d been watching me silently until now; when our eyes met, she nodded.
“I told everyone you’re a Visitor.”
“Not that I mind, but… Do you all really believe that?” I asked.
Potesara answered for Mizuho this time. “Well, we have to. You don’t seem to know a thing about Million Dungeon—and I’ve never seen such a bright lantern before, either.”
That last part was referring to my SureFire.
“Visitors are the stars of all kinds of tales, so many know of them,” Mizuho explained. “Several have probably come from your Earth in the past, too. Million Dungeon continues to grow in every direction—so much so that some theorize it’s connected to a great many other worlds.”
“The ruin of our nation was a disaster, and our current situation is unavoidable, but we all know where we are,” Potesara remarked. “But you, Taiga—you’re facing down two troubles at once. Not only have you wandered into a place you know nothing about, but you’ve also gotten mixed up in this catastrophe. You’ve got it worst of all, and yet you still did your best to help us…”
“Yeah, Taiga, just who the heck are you anyway?” Troach appended, having perked up out of her nap. “No one normal, I know that much. But I’ve never met a man like you. It’s like you can do everything on your own.”
“That’s not true. Nobody can do everything themselves. I just happen to possess training for these sorts of things. And I didn’t do it all myself here, either. You did your jobs, too.”
“Still, we all have you to thank for our safety,” Mizuho stated. “What sort of person are you exactly? What did you do back home?”
The question left me feeling curiously embarrassed. What had I been up to? To be perfectly blunt, I’d fucked up, quit the Regiment, and was drifting along. Explaining as much wasn’t going to help these people comprehend, though.
“I was…in the military. A soldier.”
“Did you fight in wars?” pressed Mizuho.
“You could say that.”
Irregular combat and secret operations could be considered as such. It was likely different from what they knew battle to be. However, just as I thought that, the guardsman Lostobi, having listened from behind Savakan, spoke up.
“Is that right? I’ve been a merc a long time, but I’ve never seen anyone like you. They were all violent and loudmouthed. Not one of them would help anyone if there was no coin in it for them.”
“The unit I was in… Well, it was a bit special. Our creed was to carry out our work as quietly and inconspicuously as possible.”
Lostobi widened his eyes. “Were you an assassin?”
“That depends on how you define assassinate,” I responded, deflecting. Lostobi nodded several times, seeming to have convinced himself.
Potesara rubbed his jaw and said, “I get it. A soldier, eh? A pretty good one, from the looks of it.”
“I’d hope so.”
“No, you’re definitely one hell of a fighter. There aren’t many out there who would jump in and rescue people they don’t even know.”
I shrugged, not answering. My comrades in the Regiment probably all would have done the same. Well, maybe not all of them. A few who’d hesitate came to mind.
“On that note, Taiga the Visitor—we have a special favor to ask of you,” Potesara said, straightening up. The others eyed me with serious expressions as well.
“What is it?”
“We think you should be the King,” the man stated.
“King…?”
I looked to Mizuho. She nodded emphatically. “Our nation has fallen, torn apart by the dungeonstorm. We’ve been cast into the dark labyrinth with naught but the shirts on our backs. I can say one thing for certain: Without you, we all would have starved to death, died of thirst, or been eaten by monsters.”
Troach took over from there; her look a more docile one. “If you hadn’t arrived, I’d have bit it, too. I may be a moneygrubbing burglar, but I don’t let my debts go unpaid.”
“We all watched you run around and put us all to work,” Savakan chimed in. “So while you were sleeping, we had a talk. Everyone’s in agreement.”
The next thing I knew, all the refugees around the campfire were staring. Mizuho, Troach, Potesara, Savakan, Lostobi, the executioner, the green-vine man… Every person still awake, without exception, had their eyes on me.
“We’d like you to be the King of our new nation, Taiga the Visitor,” Mizuho repeated.