Day-23
...
We launched our first attack shortly after that.
"Yume, Shihoru, move up front," Haruhiro said.
The two of them nodded without a word and did as they were told.
Watching them, I couldn't help but feel that the bonds within our party had somehow grown distant.
Even though I knew why, accepting it felt incredibly difficult.
Most of what I did was stay silent without helping anyone.
How stupid of me...
Shihoru began chanting her spell in a listless voice while drawing elemental letters with her staff. Yume placed an arrow on her bow and pulled the string back. Then Shihoru released a dark purple spell that flew straight ahead and struck the spear-wielding goblin squarely in the chest. Its entire body trembled uncontrollably, causing it to drop its spear.
But the arrow Yume fired missed its target completely.
"Way off," Mary muttered. Not loudly, but enough for me to hear.
Yume must have heard it too.
"It's okay!" Haruhiro called out to Yume as he drew his dagger.
This was the time for the follow-up attack.
I drew my sword. And yes, today it was just the sword.
I had left my broken shield back in the inn room. The thought of buying a new one felt bothersome after everything that had happened.
Ranta and Mogzo had already rushed ahead, followed by Haruhiro.
But they were intercepted by the axe-wielding goblin and the sword-wielding goblin.
Just as Haruhiro had said, if we managed to take down the spear goblin, everything else would become easier.
So I started moving after them.
The effect of Shihoru's spell probably wouldn't last much longer, so I intended to do something that would let them attack the spear goblin.
Before that, Haruhiro had already reached the enemy and made his move. He tried to stab the sword goblin from behind, but the goblin turned around at the last second, and the dagger only grazed its ribs. The sword goblin lunged at Haruhiro with its blade.
And by pure coincidence, I had arrived just in time.
Watching Haruhiro continuously dodge the goblin's attacks—
"Haruhiro!" I shouted while running toward him.
Since the sword goblin's attention was completely focused on Haruhiro, this was essentially the perfect moment for a surprise attack.
I gripped my short sword with both hands and aligned it so the pointed tip could pierce more easily.
Then, from the side, I drove the blade into the sword goblin.
The impact knocked it to the ground.
Using my body weight, I pinned the goblin down while twisting the sword embedded inside it.
"Haruhiro, help the others!" I called out.
He immediately turned toward Mogzo, who was struggling against the spear goblin that had already recovered from Shihoru's spell.
"Yeah. Thanks, Sirus," he said before rushing off.
Still holding down the goblin that somehow refused to die,
the creature stubbornly clung to life. It continuously scratched at me with its sharp claws.
I grabbed the goblin's own sword and drove it into its chest.
"Phew..."
I stood up and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
Holding it down had been surprisingly exhausting.
I pulled both swords free from the goblin's body.
Then my gaze shifted toward the battlefield.
Mogzo and Haruhiro were fighting the spear goblin, while Ranta and Yume were dealing with the axe goblin.
Then my eyes drifted down toward my hand.
There were quite a few claw marks on it.
A slight irritation welled up inside me.
"Damn, that hurts."
How careless of me.
I thought I'd gotten better lately.
"Haah..."
A sigh escaped my lips.
Then I immediately headed toward Mogzo and Haruhiro to help them.
...
"Haa... Haa... Haa... That was exhausting."
My breath came out ragged.
I stood in the aftermath of the battle.
The corpses of the three goblins lay scattered around us.
All I knew was that we had won.
It had been much harder than when Manato was with us.
But we managed.
After that, Haruhiro walked over to me.
"Hey, Sirus, are you okay? I mean, your arm?" he asked while staring at the numerous wounds there.
"I'm fine. Look."
I waved my arm around.
Yeah.
It stung quite a bit.
"How about asking Mary to heal you?"
Then—
"Those are just minor wounds. Leave them alone and they'll heal on their own," Mary said.
"But—"
Before Haruhiro could finish speaking, I cut him off.
"I told you I'm fine. Really. Just like Mary said, they're only small wounds. They'll heal on their own."
I didn't really know why I said that.
Maybe...
I just didn't want another argument to start.
Today, we only hunted three goblins before returning to Ortana.
As soon as I arrived at the inn, I hurried over to the well and used water to clean my wounds.
Then I wrapped them with some old cloth I had.
At the very least, it would do for now.
Hopefully they wouldn't get infected.
Since we had returned early, there was still plenty of time before nightfall.
I decided to take a walk around the city for a while.
At the very least,
it might help calm me down.
The streets that afternoon felt lively.
People were everywhere.
Rows of market stalls added to the familiar scenery of a fantasy city, accompanied by buildings that resembled those of the medieval era.
It reminded me of the first time I arrived in this world.
Back then, I had been a complete idiot.
Without any information whatsoever, I had walked straight into the forest carrying nothing but a sword and a shield.
"Ah... what a wonderful memory."
Those difficult days had passed.
Only for difficult days to come again.
If I had never met Manato,
what would have happened to me?
Maybe I would still be hunting alone like I used to.
Or maybe I would simply be dead.
And once again, I found myself wondering:
What would happen if I died?
Would there be anyone who cried for me, like they did for Manato?
Would there be anyone who cared enough to bury me?
The questions never seemed to end.
Maybe all this time, I—
"—was jealous of him... yeah."
As a human being,
I really am awful.
Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, evening had arrived.
I was already on my way back to the inn.
While crossing a bridge, my footsteps came to a halt.
Resting my arms against the railing, I looked up at the vast orange sky stretching above me.
The sun shone faintly overhead.
I lowered my head.
"Hey, Manato..."
"It's really hard without you."
...
-
I don't know if this is any good, since I wrote it while my emotions were unstable. I'm also aware that I'm not very skilled at writing fight scenes, so please bear with that if you can. Well, I think that's all for now.