kscans

Chapter 835 - Because I Think of You, I Am. Because I Wish It, the World Continues - Part 9

"────Heeey! Har-kun, how ya doin'? You good?"

"As you can see."

"Seriously, you're always either rampaging or collapsed, you damn Acrobat."

"What's that, Tiger Lucky? You wanna go?"

"You can't, can you? You can't even move a finger, senpai."

"I happen to have an emergency technique called the Self-Puppeteering Jutsu."

"Don't. If you try something crazy with zero concentration, you'll just end up blowing yourself to pieces."

"Could you not say such scary things? ────Ah, stop, please stop! Don't wrap me up, don't tie me up, no, I'm kidding, I won't do it, I can't do it...!"

".................."

"...Um, something wrong?"

"Sh-shut up. Don't look at me with that face, don't, look at me...!"

"Huh...?"

With the situation now moving forward on its own, the ranked players remained unperturbed.

This was right after Ashe herself had pulled the trigger on her proposed 'plan'—which, well, could loosely be called a 'plan'—by heading to the front lines first.

"What. What is this. Why have you all gathered here...?"

As I was still being subjected to the public humiliation of a lap pillow, they all came shuffling over to me and unleashed a volley of teasing.

Including the [Cloud-Hidden] who seemed to have just gone with the flow, I really wish they'd stop bothering a fallen comrade on the verge of death and prepare themselves for what's to come.

And that goes for the one non-ranked player in the circle, too.

Shifting the only part of my body I could move, my gaze, upwards, I saw a pair of bright hazel eyes looking down at my head resting on her lap. In other words...

"...Kanata, you can just leave me on the ground, you know?"

Junior #2. Her reply was immediate.

"I'd rather not."

"............I-I see. 'You'd rather not,' huh."

Seriously, what's with me? Am I really that popular?

I mean, this really isn't the time to be creating our own little carefree space...

"C'mon, c'mon, Har-kun, don't you worry now."

...said Lux, who was taking advantage of my immobility to poke my cheek as she pleased, smiling cheerfully────while flashing the ring on her right index finger.

"It's okaaay, it's okay! If I say so, then it must be okay, right!"

"Is that so. And by the way, what exactly is okay?"

"I have absolutely no idea!!"

"This girl, honestly..."

Even now, as Ashe's plan has been set in motion, the 'path' is still visible in her eyes.

While the [Traveler]'s words are backed by countless achievements, her authority, Treasure Hunter, is not an all-powerful future-predicting machine.

Since we can't predict how things will turn out, it's only natural to feel some tension.

Even if────

"...Well, I get how you feel. But if this doesn't work, then that's that. We just have to stay calm and accept it. We've done more than enough."

...as Natsume-senpai, who has literally been with us from start to finish on this raid, says. Even if it's pointless to worry at this stage.

At the very least, I alone...

"────...My s..."

"S?"

"My... my stomach hurts."

"What's with that perspective? Are you her guardian or something?"

...the first phase of the 'plan'—if I had to name it, it would be 'Operation: If We Can't Predict What's Going to Happen, Let's Just Go All Out and Brute-Force Our Way to the Finish Line.'

And since my own partner is at the core of it, I alone...

"You can do it, Sora...!!!"

"...I can't tell if he trusts her or what."

"What's with this guy?"

"That's a little creepy, senpai."

"What's wrong, Ri-kun? Not feeling well?"

"The sheer intensity of their youthful passion is a bit much for the part of my heart that's supposed to be hollow..."

"Ah, haha..."

She was the final line of defense, or rather, the last resort in case the worst happened.

From the center of the circular formation formed by nearly the entire raid force—including several key players who had stayed behind to guard the ten artisans from the Western Faction tasked with sprinting for the finish line.

Whether she felt my prayer-like gaze or not...

At one end of the battlefront, where [Peerless] danced amidst a storm of ice and fire, stood a small back next to [Wolf Pack], who commanded thousands upon thousands of spirit wolves and surveyed hundreds of prey────

The scales tipped, and light filled her.

◇◆◇◆◇

"Don't be too nervous, okay? There are a hundred reliable allies right behind you."

"Y-Yes...!"

Taking his words of encouragement to heart, I activate [Scareless]. First, as always, I borrow 'power' from my partner, who has collapsed after yet another series of incredible feats.

Thirty levels' worth of stats are transferred. As the numbers, unhesitatingly poured into MID, stacked up... a mana storm, more violent than usual, began to brew, as if reflecting the girl's own tension.

"..., ............!"

I am resolved. My heart has long been prepared. But I can't help the raggedness of my breath.

As if to show that no one would laugh at a girl whose heart was pounding before a great task, the reliable ally beside me spoke calmly. Just in a casual tone.

"If tellin' ya not to be nervous ain't workin', then just go for it with all that tension and give 'em hell. With that thing of yours, you'll get great results anyway. Go get 'em, go get 'em."

As if doting on a fresh-faced junior, as if showing her his back while standing beside her.

"C'mon, I'll do my best to back you up, too. ────Ah, but don't expect me to be as insanely, ridiculously, outrageously active as your partner, okay?"

As he spoke freely, as if irresponsibly taking on the responsibility.

As he casually tossed out carefree words that made one forget this was a battlefield.

"............Haaaaaaah────────────, cough, cough...!"

"Wh-Whoa, what's wrong? You okay, you okay!?"

Taking a deep breath... and choking on it spectacularly, Sora blew out a huge gust of magical pressure, and then────a small smile, not self-deprecating or anything of the sort, bloomed on her face.

"...Haaah──────────────... I'll do... my best............!!"

What she managed to get out was, to put it mildly, a forced, desperate-sounding voice. Hearing this cry of resolve, the second-ranked player of the Northern Faction narrowed his sharp, yellow eyes even further────

"Yeah. Go on, do your best."

...and just as casually and cheerfully as ever, he gave the signal with a playful voice.

"[Erde Kreis, Ice Sword Ring]."

Her reply was a lovely voice, strained and cracking under the weight of tension and pressure.

"Area Designation...──Restrictions, lifted...────[Construct Territory]...!"

And so, before the watchful eyes of her reliable allies, the shouting girl manifested in the world...

"H-Here I go...! ────[Abendsturm Glanzsicht (Embrace of the Budding Frost that Freezes and Sleeps in the Nights)]!!!"

...drawn by countless attendant magic swords, a world that was unmistakably, unequivocally, hers and hers alone.