“Goblins are cowards by nature. If we take out their leader, they’ll rout.”
Using his superhuman hearing, Leon picked out a likely prospect.
“I’ll head west from here and eliminate the commander. You see if you can help anyone on the way. Get them away from here, but leave the fighting to me. Understood?”
“Y-yes!” replied Alice.
Her face was pallid with fright, but in her heart a fire burned. She would stick by Leon’s side no matter what, and she would save the people that needed saving.
“…Where do you get that courage from, I wonder?”
Leon sighed. He didn’t know whether to be impressed or shocked. He simply took his pistol in hand and fired in the direction of an old man who had fallen on his backside. The bullet whizzed through the air…and pierced the skull of the goblin about to swing his axe, turning him into a puddle of flesh juice.
“Over here, sir!”
Alice pulled the man to his feet and helped him evacuate. These days, every village like this had a large shed to use as an emergency shelter. Its sturdy construction would keep the villagers safe.
Of course, there were fiends for which even the shelter would prove no greater impediment than a sheet of paper, but for the current crisis, it would suffice, if only because Leon’s target was no longer present.
“Did he sense I was here and leave? Or…?”
Leon could never predict his moves. Still, his absence meant Leon could focus on his main task.
Kill the leader. Save the villagers. Head west.
Soon, Leon and Alice came across the body of a fallen villager. It was the farmer from before, the one who had accused outsiders like Leon and Alice of harboring the disease and who tried to warn the village children away from them. His back was unmarred, and even face down in death, he gripped his machete. He must have stood bravely in defense of his village until the very end.
Like how I should have died… Giving your life so that others may live, to become the cornerstone of a brighter future… I won’t let it be in vain, my friend.
Leon looked ahead, from where he felt an immense pressure bearing down on him.
“Help…us…”
They were there; the four children who were curious about Leon and Alice earlier in the day and came over to talk to them. The thing standing over them was huge with black skin the color of deepest night.
As soon as Leon saw it, another memory began to play.
I wanted to grow up big and strong, like the hero from my storybooks, so I could protect my little sister.
“What’s going to happen to us now, big brother…?”
“It’s okay. I’ll take care of you.”
Father lay still in a growing puddle of red. I took my sister’s hand and fled the village. There was nothing for us there now.
“We’ll head to the next town. There must be people there who can…”
Surely someone, somewhere in this big, wide world, knew a cure for my sister’s disease, I thought.
…However.
“Wh-what? But you said if I paid you, you’d cure her!”
“I was lyin’, obviously. There ain’t no cure for Blue-Eye. Once you catch it, it’s over.”
The town was not as warm and welcoming as I’d imagined. It brought no hope; only despair.
So we fled into the mountains. And there, we grew weak.
“Big brother…I’m hungry…”
“Wait here. I’ll go find us something to eat.”
All I could do was watch as my sister became less and less by the day. I became thinner too and started forgetting things.
“Ah…ahhh…”
The longer I went on living, the hungrier I got. Almost everything edible I found, I gave to her.
“Ugh…gh…ah…”
But one day, everything changed. All I can remember is eating until my stomach was fit to burst. It tasted sweeter than anything I ever thought possible.
“Big…brother…”
I remember hearing my sister’s weakening voice.
…and when I next awoke, she was gone.
My mouth dripped with a nectar of unparalleled sweetness.
“Where are you?!”
I screamed. I shouted her name across the mountains.
But I never heard her reply.
I left the cave and stepped in a puddle of red. My eyes in the reflection were blue, just like hers.
I was happy. But it made me miss her all the more.
“I need…to find her.”
As the memory ended, it coincided with reality.
“Leon!”
Alice’s warning rang in his ears. The corpse moved like a whip. A reflexive gunshot. The bullet found its mark in the creature threatening the children…but failed to get through its jet-black skin.
“Ugh…Aaaaah…”
Emitting a dull groan, the monster slowly turned toward Leon.
An ogre. That was the name for him now. That was what he had become. The boy who wanted to grow big and strong to protect his sister. His wish was granted and denied in the same foul moment.
And yet he still didn’t realize it.
“Nooo…! You’re…not her…”
Even now, he searched. For something he would never find.
“I pity you,” Leon said with a crimson glint in his eye, aiming his handgun. “But that is why I must destroy you.”
“I…I’ll help!” said Alice.
“No. Stay out of the way. You won’t land one scratch on him with your weapon. You’ll only get yourself killed.”
Sit back and watch, he was saying. Don’t even help the children get to safety. With that, he dashed into battle, firing a silver bullet at his invulnerable foe. Once again, the bullet failed to pierce its mark and bounced off the creature’s boulder-like skin.
The ogre’s sorrowful expression slowly turned to irritation, as though he had just been bitten by a fly.
“Roooaaaaaaaghhh!”
In an instant, the beast closed the distance, his thick arm whistling in the wind. Leon sprang back to avoid it. The attack failed to even graze, but Leon felt its power nonetheless.
“…One slip and I’m done for.”
Realizing this, Leon’s hand went to his belt, to the holy sword, Calit Gelius. His master’s sword, with power enough to slay any fiend, no matter what protections it boasted.
However, as Leon gripped the handle, lightning flew from the jet-black scabbard, defying his touch.
Calit Gelius had a will of its own. It chose its wielder, and rejected those it deemed wanting. Leon was allowed to touch the sword, but Calit Gelius had never once let him draw it.
It was as if it was saying, “Do not presume upon my aid.”
“…All right, then. Just watch. I’ll win this on my own.”
His fingers trembled, but Leon Crossheart did not back down.
“Come, my brethren,” he said, his eyes burning with conviction. A moment later…
“Groooaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
…the ogre attacked.
Leon leaped aside to dodge its fist, like a slung hammer, before closing his eyes.
His world went dark. He surrendered his sight, honing his inhuman hearing.
“Grooh… Roooooaaaaagh!”
Leon carved each one of those sounds upon himself. Their wild volume. Their terrifying rhythm. He leaped, evading a whirlwind of blows, each one deepening his understanding. Then, at last, he heard the truth concealed within them.