Chapter 260 - The Battle for Migul and the Confronting Dog-Eared Race
“Looks like negotiations have broken down.”
Clovis spoke as if spitting the words out, showing no particular sign of regret. In response, Fam readied her kunai.
“Mizuki, Fam, Maira, and I will take the front. Stay back a little…”
I couldn’t let a depressed Mizuki fight on the front lines. And I didn’t understand the meaning of her tears. I wanted to grab her arm, hold her down, and demand to know everything she was thinking. But even if I did, there was no way she would tell me her true feelings.
I remembered what Fam had said: ‘It’s not just one thing. There are many things to like, and a few things to dislike.’ I knew that within Mizuki, there were feelings for me, and feelings for Yuuki. That was normal. It was natural. I tried to drill it into my own head, but Mizuki’s tears washed it all away.
In the end, I wasn’t seeing Mizuki for who she was. I hated that her feelings weren't directed solely at me. I was disgusted with myself, but that raw emotion sat stubbornly at my core, refusing to leave.
“Mash!”
Maira’s shout echoed through the air.
When I came to my senses, Yuuki was right in front of me, greatsword raised high as he closed in. I instinctively tried to parry with my katana, but I was too late.
CLANG!
A high-pitched metallic sound rang out. Maira had stepped in front of me, blocking Yuuki’s greatsword. She tried to push him back, but instead, Yuuki forced her backward.
Finally snapping back to reality, I lunged at Yuuki. But he must have read my move, for he quickly retreated.
In his place, Clovis stepped forward and slashed at me. I swung my sword in response to his movement, but he dodged it with ease.
Then, he raised his sword and charged me.
“Die!”
“Kuh, I can’t dodge it all…!”
Whether I tried to retreat or block with my katana, his blade would reach me first.
In that desperate moment, Fam leaped between us and took the blow.
She tried to block the strike with one hand but couldn’t stop its momentum. A lock of her severed bangs danced in the air. Only by crossing her kunai did she finally halt the blade’s force. But Clovis didn’t stop his assault; he aimed a kick at her stomach. Fam took the full force of the blow and was sent flying. I caught her instantly, but the impact made me stagger and lose my balance.
“Fam, are you okay?!”
Her face grimaced, but her eyes shot upward, wide with alarm.
“Master, above us!”
Following her gaze, I saw a ball of fire floating in the air, large enough to engulf me, Fam, Maira, and Mizuki.
Behind Clovis and Yuuki, the demon woman swung her staff down. At the same time, the massive fireball rained down upon us.
“...I won’t let you!”
Marmie’s cry echoed from behind us, and a rainbow-colored, lens-like magical barrier appeared in front of us. It collided with the descending fireball and shattered with a violent crash.
Thinking it hadn't blocked the attack completely, I braced myself to shield Fam, but the fireball had vanished along with the barrier.
“Mash! Get a grip!”
“I know!” I yelled back at Cecily.
“I’ll go. Your movements are off. You’re not seeing what’s around you. Fall back with Mizuki.”
This time it was Aira’s voice. She charged forward, mace at the ready.
Cecily launched a fireball to keep the enemy in check, but Oi's magic barrier prevented the attack from landing.
“So long-range attacks are useless…!”
As I scanned our surroundings to assess the situation, I realized Fam was no longer in my arms.
She had taken a wide, sweeping path, moving out of everyone’s line of sight, and was now lunging at Clovis. His reaction was a fraction of a second too late, and for a moment, it seemed her kunai would reach him first.
But someone intervened, deflecting Fam’s strike.
Long, fluffy hair. Peeking out from between the strands were familiar, pure white, rounded, inverted-triangle ears, drooping slightly. It was a dog-eared girl.
“Sam!”
Dagger in hand, Sameim had stopped Fam’s attack.
Fam leaped back, creating distance. Sameim pointed the tip of her dagger at her.
“Sam, why…” Fam whispered weakly at Sameim, who now stood barring her path.
“Fam, there’s something I have to do, no matter what.”
“And this is it?”
“Fam, I don’t understand what you’re doing at all.”
“Sam…”
Fam’s fingers trembled slightly. She bit her lip and seemed about to say something, but instead, she lowered her gaze to the stone pavement and fell silent.
“Hey, Fam!”
“M-Master, please be quiet for a moment!”
“Fam!”
“What is it?”
She shot me a glance, her irritation obvious.
“Sameim is speaking perfectly normally!”
“Huh?”
Fam’s mouth fell open. From her reaction, it was clear she hadn’t known Sameim could speak either.
She cautiously repositioned herself, taking a more guarded stance. But Sameim wouldn’t let her, closing the distance with a smooth, gliding step.
Just as Fam took another step back, Sameim lunged. Fam parried Sameim’s dagger with her kunai.
“Why were you pretending you couldn’t speak?”
Fam pushed Sameim back. The force of it made Sameim stumble and fall. Fam didn’t press her advantage, instead looking down at her.
Sameim slowly got to her feet and raised her dagger again.
“This girl has been crying for a long time. Unnecessary emotions and words were a burden,” Clovis said.
At his words, Fam’s eyes narrowed. She turned and readied her stance against Clovis once more.
“Unforgivable!”
Just as Fam was about to attack Clovis, Sameim once again stood in her way. The sound of clashing metal rang out.
“Sam, why are you siding with people like this?!”
“You wouldn’t understand, Fam!”
Sameim swung her dagger. Fam went on the defensive, parrying the blows.
“Why?! We were always together, no matter what!”
“No, we’re not together. You’ve changed, Fam…”
“I haven’t changed! I’m still me!”
At Fam's words, Sameim bit her lip.
“...No.”
She forced the word out, her shoulders tense.
“You did change! That day, me, you, everyone in the village… we all changed.”
Sameim took a large step forward and thrust. Fam twisted her body, deflecting the attack. In that same motion, her kunai flashed, clashing with Sameim’s dagger. A sharp metallic sound echoed.
Sameim’s face contorted as she pressed her attack from an awkward position. Fam evaded her with light footwork.
The difference in their skill was obvious. Sameim had been enhanced by Zeno’s magic, but that magic was now gone. Fam, on the other hand, had only been an adventurer for about two months, but the effect of my [Experience Up] special skill had made her strong. Though she didn't have a personality suited for combat, she'd had opportunities to learn from skilled fighters like Aidan and Avea. And she always stubbornly tried to keep up with me. She had already grown to a level far beyond that of a beginner.
“Sam, we haven’t changed. We’ve always been together. We can’t change! We can’t let something like that change us!”
“Shut up! You can only say that because you were lucky, Fam. You can act like that because you were saved! It was just that, and you’re so high and mighty about it. Everyone in the village… Nick… he can’t even speak anymore!”
Sameim stepped forward and thrust again. An especially loud clang echoed as Fam flicked Sameim’s dagger upward. It flew high into the air before embedding itself in the stone pavement.
“Ah…”
Sameim stared blankly at her own empty, weaponless hands. Fam relaxed her stance.
“Sam… I’m not high and mighty. The truth is, I’m ashamed that I was the only one our master saved. But… the reason I can still be me is because everyone from the village is inside me. I have to keep being myself for everyone in the village… I understand that now… That’s why… something like that won’t change who I am!”
Fam’s shoulders trembled as she rubbed at her tear-filled eyes.
“Sam, tell me. Why are you standing there? Why do you have to point your sword at me…?”
Hearing those words, Sameim fell to her knees. She covered her face with both hands and began to sob.
“I… since that day, I haven’t been able to take a single step forward. There’s something I have to do. I have to…”
“Sam… What on earth are you…”
Just as Fam moved closer to put an arm around Sameim’s shoulder, Clovis raised his sword and brought it down on the two of them.
I rushed to their side in an instant and blocked the blow.
“Hey! Sameim is your ally, isn’t she?”
“She’s just a slave.”
“Don’t screw with me! Have you never once held her?”
The warmth Fam had taught me to feel resurfaced in my hands. I put all my strength into it and knocked Clovis’s sword away. Just as I was about to press the attack, a tall man lunged at me, sword ready. If I dodged, Fam and the others might get cut down. As I braced myself for the blow, Maira intervened, slamming her mace into him. The man took a step back and smirked.
“Mash, I’ll handle this one.”
Maira readied her mace.
The fierce battle between Maira and the man began. The man had started with a sword in one hand and a shield, but realizing he couldn't withstand the impact of the mace, he switched to a two-handed grip.
Maira swung her mace relentlessly, as if trying to crush everything in her path.
I shifted my gaze from her fight back to Clovis. Having switched places with the man on the front line, he had fallen back, and now Yuuki stood before me.
“I hate everything about you. It was just a coincidence. You were by Mizuki’s side by pure chance, and she just got swept up in it.”
Yuuki thrust his greatsword forward, its blade glinting in the light. In response, I raised my katana into a ready stance.
“Like I care. Even if that were true, Mizuki isn’t going back to you. In the first place, she was never yours to begin with.”
I glanced over at Mizuki. As I’d instructed, she stood with her weapon drawn, as if to protect Cecily and Marmie. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she seemed to lack her usual energy.
I had no idea what she was thinking. For now, I couldn’t rely on her strength.
The fight between Maira and the man seemed to be an even match. Beyond them, Hyakka and her group were engaged with another party. The clang of their swordfight seemed to be growing more intense. I couldn't expect any support.
Behind me, Fam was holding Sameim, who no longer seemed to have any will to fight. I sent Fam a look, signaling her to take Sameim and fall back.
Standing beside me was Aira.
Numerically, we had the advantage. However, our magic and projectiles were being nullified. On the other hand, the magic from Clovis and the demon woman behind Yuuki could still reach us. Oi was behind them. To win this fight, we had to break through her special skill.
Just then, the sound of countless footsteps echoed, and the area around us suddenly grew noisy.
I frowned, trying to peer through the thick fog, but there was no need. A wind swept through the square, clearing the mist away.
My eyes widened at the sight.
Not the Wandering People, but unfamiliar, armed soldiers were surrounding us.
“When did they…? Where did they come from…?”
This wasn't a small group. It was an army.
Their equipment wasn't uniform, but the spears they held were all of the same length. And on their heads, they wore crimson hoods.
I recognized one of the men. He was one of the men who, along with Ilisarie, had attacked me in the kitchen of the Starunion mansion.
“So you were part of the Crimson Brigade…”
At my murmur, the hooded man offered a cold smile.
Clovis and Yuuki showed no signs of alarm. They had been waiting for this mercenary band to arrive all along.