[675] The Secret of Radum (3)
* * *
Ancient armament: a living weapon.
A strategic defensive device that mimicked a biological mechanism—gathering photons to grow its own body.
Its roots in the ground generated enough power to supply all of Radum, and it was currently being used as a fortress where the leaders of Spectrum, the largest coalition of Ain races, were staying.
After Venezia left Radum, the round table that once held four wills was occupied by only three ministers: the ministers of Combat, Defense, and Internal Affairs.
Yet they all clearly felt the presence of Ra Enemi in the empty seat.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Spectrum, the pureblood vampire Raika, spoke first.
He was a handsome man with black hair neatly swept back, his face so pale it looked as if it had been powdered, and his full, vividly red lips.
"The kingdom has made its decision. I expected as much. It's surprising the head of the Magic Association came in person, though."
"Rupist is a strong human," said the Minister of Defense of Spectrum, the Flowerkin Flarino.
Her lashes were unusually long and her red lips glossy; instead of an artificial perfume she gave off a living floral scent.
The Flowerkin's ancestor was said to be the avatar of a lotus that reached enlightenment over forty thousand years. They were a race skilled in flower-incarnation techniques, but today there are fewer than thirty of them worldwide.
The cause of such a drastic population collapse was their race's innate "extreme passivity."
They had no instinct to choose mates; on a genetic level they were tuned to conform to the desires of other races. To them, random couplings were a beautiful possibility, and they cherished any seed with a lofty tenderness.
But humans would not leave them be—human possessiveness and jealousy gradually withered the Flowerkin to their present state.
"He's a dangerous human, too. Worse than Gaold."
When Micaea Gaold was head of the Association, the pressure on Radum had not been so severe.
"That's why I said Rupist is unacceptable. Trying to negotiate with such a conservative human is foolish."
Spectrum had pressured the Kingdom of Tormia through its channels, but Gaold's incident had been too great.
"It doesn't matter. Now an opportunity has come to us as well. A chance to retake Vashka."
Said the man whose half-face was covered in reptilian scales.
Drakker, Minister of Combat of Spectrum.
The Dragonkin were humans created through dragon biological experiments. Their creators, the dragons, considered them failures, but with martial strength incomparable to other Ain races they conquered many regions and at last established themselves as a people.
"Venezia was foolish. If you can't avoid it, use it."
Flarino nodded at Raika's words.
"We will overthrow the humans."
Drakker glanced at the empty seat as he said it.
"You want that too, don't you?"
In the three of their minds a new memory formed: Ra Enemi smiling and nodding.
* * *
"Joshua! Snap out of it, Joshua!"
Shaken awake by a shoulder, Joshua slowly opened her eyes, sat up instantly, and aimed her bow.
It was a learned reaction—she'd forgotten to nock an arrow, so the bow was empty—but Kargin wasn't in any state to think about that.
"W-wait, wait! Calm down! It's me, it's me!"
Joshua held her hands up, face pale, and after staring for a moment at the trembling Kargin, the other person regained her senses and lowered the bow.
"What happened?"
"Must've been blown here by the explosion. I don't even know where we are."
Kargin's appearance was a mess.
Expecting the same, Joshua braced a hand on the ground.
"I'll check around. Oof!"
She made a pained face and landed hard on her backside. Kargin checked her ankle.
It was swollen and twisted.
"Damn, you're hurt. I'm out of it, too."
When Kargin cast a recovery spell, a burning pain flooded through.
"It hurts!"
"Hold on. I can fix it soon."
Recovery magic is divided between rapid-activation types that boost self-healing and regenerative types that quickly repair cells; Kargin specialized in the latter.
"Be grateful I specialize in regeneration. Back in the day they called me the Hand of God—"
"Shut up and heal me. I'm already on edge."
Joshua's blunt remark stung, but there was warmth beneath it, so it didn't feel too bad.
"Even if I rush, it'll take at least ten minutes."
Even regenerative spells need time to set bones.
"It's too late. We don't even know where we fell—"
As they scanned their surroundings, a harsh voice came from the path.
"Kikikiki! Found you, found you!"
Joshua stayed seated but aimed her bow—this time she remembered to nock an arrow.
Goblins swarmed from all sides, brandishing savage weapons suited to their nimbleness.
"Damn! There're too many of them."
The arrowheads were loaded with incendiary magical rounds, but felling over sixty enemies was beyond them.
"Grruk grruk! Wait! The women are ours!"
At the voice from behind, Kargin lifted his head mid-spell and saw Pidu folk with piglike faces and huge axes approaching.
"Ugh… damn it!"
Both races were carnivorous—horrifying to humans.
The goblin coalition Speedkiller resented the Pidu horde for trying to steal their prey.
As if to match the goblins' cruel faces, their leader Marta mimed slicing a throat and said, "No. Both humans are ours. Back off nicely and we'll give you one leg."
"Grrrk grrrk! One leg fill your belly? We're starving!"
Pugo, the Pidu leader, protested fiercely, but Marta only enjoyed the other's desperation.
"Kikikiki! That's your problem. We found them first, didn't we? If you've got a grievance, run."
The two holding out on a single arrow swallowed hard, watching the standoff.
Maybe this would work in their favor—if they could rile up goblins and Pidu, a chance to slip away might open. But scoffing at that hope, the Pidu made a gruesome proposal.
"Grruk grruk! Then we'll do it your way! You won't complain then, right?"
"Oh? The goblin way, is it? You little—"
Marta, blades fixed to a pair of nunchaku slung over her shoulder, glinted.
"Fine. Winner eats."
"Meat! Meat!"
At Marta's signal, goblins and Pidu charged from all directions.
At the same time Joshua fired an arrow and its magical round detonated.
"Yahoo!"
Scattered, the goblins—true to their belligerent natures—took pleasure even in the prey's resistance.
"The guts are mine! The eyeballs are mine!"
"I'm—khehehehe!"
Kargin grabbed Joshua and tried to teleport them, but with nowhere to burrow there was no safe refuge.
"Kikiki, humans just before the slaughter are grosser than pigs."
"Don't call us pigs! Grruk grruk!"
Even while teleporting, Joshua's shots were accurate, but the goblins' innate physicality rivaled that of four-legged predators.
"Gwaaaaar!"
More Pidu kept pouring in; as they leaped from buildings the teleportation flashes bent and streaked between them.
They couldn't dodge every attack, and eventually their compulsive cycle broke and both tumbled to the ground.
"Ughhh!"
Joshua's ankle—Kargin had recovered it to nearly thirty percent—worsened, and the color drained from Kargin's face.
"Got them."
Turning, they saw Speedkiller and the Pidu forming a crescent to encircle them.
"One promise. We won't kill. We'll just eat."
Marta laughed, clutching her belly as she read the two's faces.
"Puhahaha! Look at those faces. They're totally terrified."
Kargin trembled, holding Joshua.
'How can I die?'
She'd thought about dying as often as having a meal, but when the moment came, no method came to mind.
"Run."
Joshua nocked a smoke-bomb arrow. "Time it and teleport out."
"Hah, but—"
Kargin squeezed out his last courage and asked, "What about you?"
Right—what about me? The thought terrified him.
"This life's over anyway. Ever since Leo died."
He couldn't bring himself to say he loved the child, but Leo had been a sweet little kid. When he laughed, calling for his mother, for a moment Kargin could forget his miserable life.
"Dinner time, folks!"
As goblins and Pidu charged like rivals, Joshua detonated the smoke bomb.
"Waaaaaah!"
Kargin teleported, and with the fiercest focus of her life Joshua dodged blades and slipped out of the enemies' radius.
"Grruk grruk! Shall we chase?"
"Enough! Take the woman first! She'll taste better!"
In a final desperate act, Joshua ignored the possibility of broken legs and threw herself, expending the last of her magical rounds without saving any.
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
As the explosions faded, Joshua's running speed slowed.
'What have I done?'
Her legs gave out and she collapsed.
She had lost Mariang and lived the rest of her life in despair before—why would she do it again?
'Let's go back. At my age, how much longer am I going to live?'
She turned toward where Kargin had been, but her heart didn't move.
"Ughhhh!"
She didn't want to die. Even if only a little life remained, even if she had to wear the coward's shame, she wanted to live.
Joshua pounded her thighs with her fists.
"Move! Move, I said!"
Her legs burned as if about to snap, but she knew the truth—abusing herself and feeling pain felt better than dying.
"Uaaah! Please move! Move!"
'Did they get out safely?'
Her quiver was empty and her ankle badly twisted.
She'd killed over thirty enemies on her own and even taken out Pugo, the Pidu leader, with a clever tactic—a personal record—but all that earned was retribution.
"Don't think we'll be merciful."
Marta's eyes were full of bloodlust, and the Pidu, leaderless now, were already drooling at the thought of tearing her apart.
'I should've saved one arrow.'
At least an arrowhead would be better than their teeth.
"Cut off the legs first."
As a goblin raised a poleaxe as tall as himself to chop Kargin's leg, someone shouted.
"You monsters!"
Everyone turned. Running at them with a club was Kargin—looking ten years older.
"Uaaah! Just kill me instead, you bastards!"
His white hair flew wildly; he was clearly unhinged.
Marta hooked his foot and his body went tumbling, landing against Joshua.
"What are you doing, you old fool? What do you think you're going to do!"
"Ugh! I can't live like this—"
Kargin sobbed, snot and tears spilling. "I can't live like this."
"..."
Faced with that ridiculous claim that he'd come looking for a place to die, Joshua realized she felt the same.
"Kukuku! What's this? You survive and come walking right into our hands? Want to be eaten that badly?"
'What have I done?'
Kargin snapped back to himself again.
How many times would he have to come to his senses before he could at least pretend to be a person and keep living?
"Lucky for us. One woman wasn't enough."
"Meat feast!"
A fat Pidu leapt past Speedkiller to be first.
"Gueee! The arm is m—!"
Then a flash streaked through and the creature's face exploded with a pop.
"What—!"
They looked around but no one was there.
"Found you, Rian! This way!"
A voice from above made them look up; Shirone was standing on the roof of a two-story building, calling to Rian.
"Snif! Ugh!"
Tears finally welled in Joshua's eyes, and without thinking an honorific slipped out.
"Captain!"