Part 41:
The Lady Knight Loses
Her Best Friend
✦ ✦ ✦
The Kingdom of Darkness was comprised of twelve mountains beneath which lay twelve underground cities.
Odessa had made her way to one such city, the City of White Mythril. There she was supposed to meet Alan’s ally Catria, who would share critical information about the revolution. After passing through the extra-dimensional hole Alan had dug (Odessa didn’t even bother to interject anymore), she emerged in a relatively large cave.
A battle between the forces of man and Hell unfolded before her. Multiple winged demons were up against about thirty human warriors.
“Comrades, charge! Let us take back our pride as humans!!!”
Once the human leader delivered her orders, the equally human soldiers smashed headfirst into the demons. The clash of swords and claws filled the cave. Odessa watched this fierce battle for independence from the side.
“Ah… Everyone…” Odessa’s eyes widened with hope as tears took shape. The humans were fighting on equal footing with the demons. No, not even equal. They were fighting better.
And…
“They’re using swords, not shovels!”
Odessa found herself most touched by this simple fact. She felt weak in the knees as she cried tears of joy. Even without shovels, we can stand against the demons…!
“Hm? You with the red hair! Are you all right?!” The dignified, also red-haired female soldier who had been delivering orders rushed over to Odessa.
It was Catria; she was in charge of the liberation front at the City of White Mythril.
Odessa introduced herself and her position, then wiped her eyes. “I must apologize! I was so moved I couldn’t help but cry.”
“You were moved?”
“Yes…um… The soldiers were fighting demons without shovels, so…”
Catria immediately understood what Odessa was getting at and felt warmth bubbling up within her. She’s like me. This red-haired girl is absolutely just like me. A fellow human standing against the greatest threat to this world, in other words, the shovel!
Catria grasped Odessa’s hands and the two of them shared a moment gazing into each other’s eyes.
“It must’ve been so hard for you, Odessa. Let’s take back common sense together!”
“Catria…!”
“From here on out, we’re besties!”
Odessa truly felt as though she had found her savior. Her mind, once corrupted by Kuronono and Alan’s dual shovels, was finally clearing.
That’s right… I’m not the weird one… The shovel is what’s weird! Odessa wiped her tears again and stood tall. “Catria! Let me fight with you! Give me a weapon!”
“But of course, Odessa!”
Catria gave an order to one of her underlings and they handed the red-haired revolutionary a weapon. It was a silver spear approximately six feet in length, and its sharp tip filled Odessa with courage.
Yes, that’s right! A spear, not a shovel! Not an excavating tool, but a proper weapon!
As she was inspired by the spear in her hand, she noticed its red handle. Something like that would be extremely useful if one needed to stab the blade into the ground. In fact, it was the sort of handle one might find on a shovel.
Wait…
“What’s wrong, Odessa? Are you better with a sword?”
“No, it’s not that… It’s nothing, Catria!” Odessa shook her head, chasing away her doubts. She then charged the demons with her comrades-in-arms.
I’m just imagining things! I haven’t shaken off the brainwashing is all!
She thrust her silver spear forward as if she were piercing through her worries.
SHIIIIIIING!
The weapon left behind a silver trail of light as it cut through the flesh of the advancing demons like a knife cutting through butter.
“GAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Amazing! It takes them down so beautifully. This is the true power of a holy spear!
“Don’t let your guard down, Odessa! They have potent healing abilities. They’ll get up again soon!”
“All right! How can we stop them from regenerating?!”
“Like this!” Catria raised her Holy Knight Blade and swung it toward the ground.
KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!
Catria opened a six-foot-long rectangular hole in the earth and dropped the demons into it.
“Okay! We’re sealing them up!”
All of the able-bodied and free soldiers rushed over and stabbed their spears into the ground, shoveling up dirt. The demons were soon buried below, and Catria wiped the sweat off of her brow.
A perfect job, I must admit.
“…”
Odessa watched Catria work in silence. Her expression could best be described as “Should I really point out what just happened?”
Had Odessa noticed something off during their battle with the demons? Catria found herself legitimately bemused.
“Um, Catria…?”
“What’s up? Curious about the sealing process?”
“Well, um, I just…this is really hard for me to say…”
“Don’t hold back! We’re friends who’ve promised to stand against the shovel together, after all!” Catria’s smile was radiant.
That only made Odessa’s heart ache further. Should I really say it? Will I hurt her if I do? And what if I’m just overthinking things…?
Odessa was lost as to what to do. The approach of bony footsteps interrupted her dithering. A legion of skeletons marched out of the darkness.
“Looks like there’s a demon necromancer among them. Everyone, stand back!”
A new enemy force had arrived. Catria stood at the front of her soldiers and raised her Holy Knight Blade. Everyone watched from behind with bated breath. Catria’s entire body emanated a holy silver aura.
At the sight of her, the skeleton army stalled in place.
This is amazing! thought Odessa. Catria had paralyzed the army of undead with her aura alone. She was just like the Holy Knights from all the stories. I knew it. I knew I was just overthinking things.
Just as a wave of relief washed over Odessa, causing her to once again tear up, Catria cried out.
“Unholy beasts! BE GONE! HOOOLLLE-YYYYYY!”
KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!
The silver beam of energy launched from her weapon disintegrated the skeleton army.
Odessa’s tears had stopped. Actually, it felt like time itself had stopped.
“…”
“What’s wrong, Odessa?” Catria returned to her new friend only to find her motionless.
What did she just say? She said “holy,” right? Yeah, totally. For sure. It only kinda sounded like “hole.” I’m overthinking this. Plus, even if she did say “hole,” that doesn’t necessarily mean it has anything to do with shovels. God, I’m losing it. Yup. Catria’s my friend and a Holy Knight. She has nothing to do with shovels.
Odessa repeated this last part to herself over and over again until a smile crossed her face.
“Y-you were amazing, Catria! That was incredible holy magic!”
And that was that. Odessa was a kind girl.
“Thanks!” Catria smiled proudly before high-fiving her new friend.
But soon, her expression went stiff. Catria’s gaze was fixed down a tunnel, from which a low rumbling could be heard. Even Odessa grew serious. The sound was familiar. When it came to caves, this was the kind of thing you never wanted to hear.
In other words, it was a flash flood. Somewhere, the demons had destroyed a water storage tank.
“Catria, we have to run!”
“It’ll be fine, Odessa.” Catria smiled confidently and held up her Holy Knight Blade.
That smile gave Odessa an awful sense of déjà vu. It was all too similar. To whom, one might ask? To Alan the miner, of course.
“…”
Just as the light faded from Odessa’s eyes, Catria cried out.
“JUSTICE SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEM!”
KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!
Catria fired all the Holy Shovel Power gathered in her Holy Knight Blade in a single blast. It made a beam approximately four inches in diameter that smashed head-on into the flash flood with an impact that made the ground itself shake. Its momentum cut straight through the raging waters.
By the time the flow of light had ceased, not a single droplet remained.
Cheers erupted from behind Catria.
“All hail Lady Catria!”
“All hail our Holy Knight!”
Heh. Catria turned around with a triumphant smile on her face. “What’d you think of that, Odessa? Awesome, right? That was my Justice Stream!”
“…”
Odessa breathed heavily and prayed for strength. Finally, she spoke. She could no longer keep the truth to herself. “Look, Catria. This is so, so hard for me to say, but…”
“What is it? We’re already besties. Tell me what’s on your mind!”
Odessa had to tell her. Tell her she didn’t actually scream “Justice Stream.” But the girl before her had called Odessa her best friend. She was dazzling. And more importantly, Catria was thrilled she’d gotten to perform her duties as a Holy Knight.
“Y-your Justice Stream was so strong!” Odessa lost to Catria’s joyful gaze.
“Right?!”
Whatever. We’re best friends. It’s fine. I’m just going to forget she combined “stream” and “shovel” to make Justice Shreem. It’s all going to be okay.
Odessa was a kind girl.
“All right. We’ve got control of this sector! Time to meet up with the princess!” called Catria.
“The princess?”
“My master. She’s leading a separate squad along with Alice. But be careful, Odessa.” Catria’s expression was most serious. “The princess is dangerous right now. Extremely so. Do not approach her alone.”
“Um, what? Catria, you do realize you’re speaking of your master right now, yes?”
“She’s dangerous.” Catria swallowed loudly and continued. “The princess is extremely…shovel.”
Shovel (adjective).
Odessa’s eyes filled with a deep sadness.
“She’s extremely shovel. That’s the only adjective I can think of to describe her. She’s like a shovel that’s taken human form. Her words in particular are very shovel. Do not approach her without an anti-shovel strategy. I’ve prepared special earplugs for use against her. They’re reverse shovel-shaped so they completely fill your earholes.”
“Um, Catria?”
Alas, the knight continued to explain, completely ignoring Odessa’s attempts to cut in.
“But even these special earplugs can’t completely cancel out the princess’s shovel words. And so I came up with the idea of burying myself into the ground; I can use the dirt to cut off any sound, thereby preventing myself from getting brainwashed. If something ever happens, let’s promise to bury each other, okay?”
“Look, Catria, this is really, really hard for me to say, but…” Odessa could hold back no longer.
I’m so sorry, Catria. But I have to tell you now.
She cleared her throat.
“You’ve already been completely corrupted by shovels,” Odessa said matter-of-factly.
✦ ✦ ✦
And just like that, Catria gained and lost a best friend within the same day.