We then began running toward the entrance.
†
Shuichi Tadokoro
In a dark tunnel.
The smell of blood and flesh filled the area.
“Maybe we should have gone with Iijima after all.”
“Yeah...”
I let out a sigh full of regret at Murashima’s exhausted, single-word sentence. Of the three of us that escaped to this tunnel, one was already dead. Murashima himself had been hit with a cursed weapon that couldn’t be cleansed, so he couldn’t be healed and was on his last breaths. I tried for the umpteenth time to heal him, to no avail.
I checked again that the voice- and presence-blocking magic was still in effect, sighing again when I saw that it was. We couldn’t hear outside of the barrier either, but we had to do this lest we be detected and killed immediately.
The only thing I could do was stare blankly at the rock-faced walls of the tunnel.
Why did it end up like this?
Just one hour ago, we were all filled with joy at the dungeon brightening up.
But our fate had already been sealed. The safety zone disappeared at the same time the Goblin Skeletons showed up.
We ran off in all directions in a blind panic. I ran as fast as I could, struggling to breathe as my comrades’ screams filled the background. There were just so many Goblin Skeletons. In a situation where we could only run without fighting back, I could only assume my comrades all lost their lives, unable to do anything.
“So many of them appeared out of nowhere... It’s possible that Iijima and all of them were killed too.”
“Yeah...”
“I wonder what we should’ve done?” I whispered.
“Yeah...” Murashima really didn’t have any strength left in his voice.
“Murashima?”
“Yeah...”
Silence.
“...Murashima?”
No answer.
My hand shook as I checked his unmoving pulse. I gazed at his face in disbelief. His pupils were wide, with his eyes all the way open. He’d passed away.
“...I’m the last one left.”
After using my hand to close his eyes, I crossed myself. Murashima was Shingon Buddhist, but I was Christian.
Buddha and God. Though I prayed to a different deity, I was sure that his would not do something as horrible as sending him to the underworld.
For the short remainder of my time, I thought.
Where did I go wrong? Just half a day ago, when I let Iijima go?
Suddenly, my body stiffened up.
Pitter, patter... Pitter.
Footsteps from something outside the hole.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Pitter, patter... Pitter.
The god of death...is approaching. Footsteps inviting fear...are approaching.
My gut told me to look to the entrance of the hole. A single Goblin Skeleton stood there, holding a rusted blade.
“I’ve lived for over four hundred years, but... I see. You’re my last.”
Thinking back on it, the definitive moment I went wrong was when I didn’t take Ms. Shinozuka’s side. That day, four hundred years ago, when I decided to be opportunistic despite agreeing with her, while merely watching her attempt to stop the other guildmasters’ rampages.
Self-interested, opportunist, fence-sitter.
I played to the favor of everyone around me while they called me those things. The people of this world gradually lost their humanity, ending up as groups that would parade as gods and treat the natives like ants.
I knew it was bad. Yet I just watched, adding myself to the list of people pushing the boundaries of atrocities with Mr. Imabayashi at the helm. That violence wouldn’t only be enacted upon the natives, but would one day come back around to us. I knew this, yet I didn’t volunteer my opinions, didn’t aid anyone—I just let the mood of the room take over as I did nothing.
No, that’s not right. Perhaps, at some point, I myself had become just as insane as everyone else.
“Ha ha... Ha ha ha...”
It was laughable. I supposed me getting murdered by the undead from hell was fitting. In the end, I really should have gone with Iijima. Had we cooperated with them, Murashima could have served as their shield, or I could have worked as an extra source of MP for their recovery spells. We could have been useful.
No matter how I looked back on it, it was now too late. This would be the conclusion of my life. A reap of my own sowing. Thinking of it that way, it really was laughable.
“Please. End me...”
I spoke softly to the Goblin Skeleton. I had no way of knowing if it understood or not, but it proceeded to approach me, sword in hand.
When it swung it above its head, that same head flew off.
“Grade 5: Kagutsuchi of Fire!”
The trail of flame shot all the way to the back wall. It was the same scene I’d seen earlier that day. The magic scattered along the wall.
I strained my eyes to try and figure out what was happening. From the entrance, I could see a ragged boy.
“...Iijima?”
I ran outside. Iijima, his summons, and Ms. Shinozuka were there, all beat up. The passage I assumed they’d come from had the remains of innumerable Goblin Skeletons all the way down it. From what I could see, Iijima’s party had not been able to heal themselves. They probably didn’t have enough MP.
“We made it!” Iijima cried.
I hurried over to his side and cast a high-level healing spell throughout the area, making sure afterward that everyone received the effects.
“You came back to save me? Putting yourself in this much danger?” I couldn’t hide my shock.
“This is completely normal,” he asserted.
“But...we refused to form an alliance with you! I’m sure there was a place for you to return on the way here. Why would you risk everything just to save me?!”
Iijima looked at me with a straight face. “Do I have to have a reason to save someone?”
His confused tone made me feel like my head took a physical impact. Ah, I see... This is the emotion I’d long forgotten. As everyone slowly went insane, everyone slowly forgot about this, and it disappeared from their hearts.
This was it. This was being human. Standing up to hardships even in the face of impossibility, running to save people even in the face of danger. This was how humans should be.
What in the world had I been doing up until then? I was a fully grown adult, but I ran away as soon as things got dangerous, and ended up having my life saved by a kid at the very end.
My body shook as my vision clouded over. Tears flowed pathetically down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry, Iijima...”
“Come on, let’s go to the return point. You’re the last one, Mr. Tadokoro. Four people died, but...everyone else is alive.”
And so, we—Dragon’s Roar—and Iijima’s Crimson Moon Brigade formed an official alliance, choosing to face off against the Lions of Patriotism together.
Making Mr. Imabayashi my enemy was a terrifying thought. But I wasn’t going to run.
I pledged in my heart that I would never show Iijima such a pathetic adult anymore.