Chapter 5 — What Have We Been Doing This Whole Time?!

After saving Mokomoko, they set out for their original destination. On the horse were Enju, Yogiri, and Tomochika, sitting in that order, with Tomochika holding the reins from the back. Mokomoko had given up on controlling the robot and was now accompanying them in her usual spirit form. Maybe she was still regretting being caught unaware while her attention had been focused on the android.

“These people are really in the way, aren’t they?” Tomochika commented idly.

The horse was weaving around the many fallen bodies. There were so many of them that the entire field looked flesh-colored.

Tomochika suddenly realized that she didn’t consider the corpses to be anything more than obstacles. She had witnessed so many deaths that even seeing this many bodies just seemed to be a matter of course at this point.

“Wow, I really am the worst...”

Well, it’s hard to say whether these people even had free will.

“I’m the one who killed them anyway,” Yogiri noted. “I don’t think it’s something that should bother you.”

“That’s kind of the problem. I was just thinking it’s concerning that I find you casually getting rid of all these people to be natural now.”

“They were trying to kill us. Should I not have stopped them even in self-defense?”

Tomochika had no argument against that. Without Yogiri, she would have died long ago. She was well aware of that and had resolved herself to dealing with the consequences of it, but as late as the sentiment was, she was beginning to wonder if it really was acceptable to write the carnage off so easily.

“You’re right, but...especially considering what happened just now, don’t you feel like you’re eliminating too many people?”

“I do have criteria for who I kill...”

“I don’t understand those criteria very well. There are people you wouldn’t kill, right?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve explained it before, but the first rule is that if I’m going to be killed if I don’t do anything, I kill them right away.”

Tomochika figured she was much the same in that regard. Even if she was just a student, as a practitioner of an ancient martial art, she’d had a reflexive, mechanical reaction to danger bred into her. The point that made her hesitate was when that reflex connected directly to ending a life.

“What if they don’t intend to kill you?”

“If they’re being violent or trying to rob us, or otherwise threatening us, I’ll kill them anyway. Those aren’t the kinds of things normal people try to do. Going out of my way to spare someone who’s willing to commit those types of crimes without a second thought could cause trouble in the future. Letting them go will just make them hold a grudge.”

“Uhh, okay, then what about Hanakawa? He was our enemy, but you let him go.”

“I guess you’re right. Maybe because we talked to him so much.”

“Well, that explanation suddenly went off the rails!”

Maybe Yogiri had just started to feel sympathy for Hanakawa. Normally, he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill someone who had appeared and attacked them out of the blue. It wasn’t all that different from dealing with a wild animal. But by talking with him, he couldn’t help but see the guy as more human. It wasn’t surprising that such a viewpoint made it difficult to take extreme measures.

“What about Mireiyu?” she asked next.

Mireiyu was a cat girl they had met in Quenza when they’d first come to this world. After showing them around town, she had led them into the hands of a group of criminals who had intended to kidnap them. Naturally, Yogiri had killed them all, but there had been a significant gap of time between when he’d used his power and when Mireiyu had actually died.

He said at the time that it was an experiment, Mokomoko whispered to her, but it seemed like a meaningless one to me. Do you not think he was just being considerate of you? If you’d seen her die right in front of you, it might have been a shock.

Now that the spirit mentioned it, that did sound reasonable. They had gotten awfully close to Mireiyu that day. Seeing her die in spite of her betrayal might not have been an easy sight to watch.

“I think I see it,” Yogiri announced. At some point, the plateau had begun to slope gently downwards. In the distance, they could make out a walled port city and the sea beyond it.

“Finally. It took us long enough.”

“Are we just going to go straight in? Judging from our previous experiences, things tend to happen on our first visit to every city.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure. We could send Mokomoko to look around...but she might just end up getting caught again.”

Have you lost your faith in me? Just who do you think I am?

“Well, if we don’t go, we’ll never know, will we?”

They headed into the city.

◇ ◇ ◇

The pair had to pass through an inspection station to get in, but they managed to do so without incident. It seemed the locals weren’t too concerned about anyone who wasn’t blatantly suspicious.

Perhaps because it was a port town, the city was overflowing with energy and bustling crowds.

“All right, we’re here, which is good, but now what?”

“We need to get a boat, but we should probably find a place to stay first,” Yogiri suggested.

After asking around town for directions, they headed for the most luxurious hotel in the city.

“We should be able to ask some questions in there.” Yogiri seemed to have absolute trust in hotel concierges.

As they headed for the entrance, they were brought to a stop by someone abruptly stepping into their way.

“At long last! At long last, I’ve found you! You two! Do you have any idea how much work you’ve made for me?!”

It was a woman with the dress and equipment of a soldier and a man who seemed to be her attendant. For a moment, Tomochika thought they were talking to someone else, but the woman was looking directly at them.

“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere...” Yogiri said thoughtfully.

“Oh, yeah!” Tomochika clued in first. “Back in Quenza. You thought we were criminals!”

It was the captain of the city guard, Edelgart, and her aide, Jorge. They had led the group of guards that had apprehended them after Yogiri had killed Mireiyu and her thugs.

“But how did you get ahead of us?” Yogiri asked.

Their journey had been full of all sorts of trouble. The places they’d visited always seemed to take devastating amounts of damage, especially in regards to the transportation networks. If Edelgart had been following them, it was hard to imagine she could have gotten ahead at any point.

“Umm, Captain, I don’t think we actually need to show ourselves to them. Lady Lain’s orders were merely to follow them and to contact her once we found out where they were.”

“What?! What are you suggesting we do?!”

“Like I said, we should contact Lady Lain...”

“And while we’re doing that, what’s to stop them from running away?!”

“If you hadn’t approached them, I don’t expect they would have run away in the first place.”

“Well, it’s too late for that now! I won’t allow you to run!” Edelgart declared, pointing at Yogiri.

“Another irritating person in our way,” Tomochika sighed.

“We’re not planning on running anywhere. How did you get here before us?” Yogiri asked again.

“Ha! We flew here, of course!” the captain declared proudly.

“Wait, if flying is an option, what have we been doing this whole time?!” Tomochika wailed.

Of course, now that she thought about it, there were many ways to fly in this world. Hanakawa’s group had flown back to the bus after they’d first arrived, so there must have been some sort of magic that allowed it. There were large creatures like dragons which could fly on their own, and the airships used by the Sages as well.

“Oh, don’t feel too bad about it. The sky is the domain of the Sages. Normal people aren’t capable of traveling that way.”

A young man had appeared from behind Edelgart. He spoke casually, like he was good friends with them, but Yogiri had no memory of him. Tomochika didn’t appear to recognize him either.

“Who are you?” Yogiri asked.

“Does the name ‘Kouryu’ ring any bells?”

“You say that like everyone should know who you are, but I honestly have no idea.” Tomochika answered.

“Kouryu, huh? I feel like I’ve heard the name before, but...” The memory was so vague, Yogiri couldn’t place it.

“I see. In that case, just think of me as that mysterious young boy who always shows up when it’s profoundly significant.”

“We’ve never met someone like that. What made you think that sort of explanation would be useful?!” In spite of her confusion, Tomochika was as full of energy as ever.

Chapter 6 — Let’s Start About a Hundred Million Years Ago

Not interested in continuing their conversation in the middle of the street, they moved their gathering to the hotel lobby. Tomochika sat beside Yogiri on one sofa, with Edelgart, Jorge, and the boy calling himself Kouryu sitting across from them.

“You’re not going to suddenly betray us, right?” Tomochika asked, making no effort to hide her suspicion. Kouryu carried himself with a very aloof air, so it was hard to trust him.

“Who knows? Am I an enemy? A friend? I’d say that mystery is my selling point.”

“This guy is definitely annoying...” It was nice that he wasn’t acting like their enemy, but that didn’t make dealing with him any less irritating.

Edelgart seemed thoroughly unhappy. “And why do we have to be so friendly with these criminals?! We should just arrest them and get it over with!”

“I thought you let us go back then,” Yogiri said nonchalantly. “I don’t even know why you’re following us now.” Although he had, in fact, been the one to kill the group of thugs back in Quenza, he had never admitted it to her.

“Please! Then why did Lady Lain instruct us to follow you? No doubt because you are indeed criminals!”

“Umm, Captain, we don’t truly have proof of any wrongdoing on their part.”

“We have sent a pigeon to Lady Lain, but we will keep them here in the meantime! We couldn’t say that we found them and just let them go! In that case, we couldn’t even say that we’d found them to begin with!”

“Being stuck here would be a problem.” Yogiri frowned, not hiding his frustration. “We’re heading for Ent, an island country in the east.”

“Captain Edelgart, this is a foreign land,” Jorge cautioned. “We don’t have the authority to detain them here.”

“What?! Then what are we supposed to do?!”

The conversation continued to go in circles. Even though she felt that he was suspicious, Tomochika turned to Kouryu. She figured they had a better chance of getting through to him.

“Umm, I’d be grateful if you could give us a rough explanation of what this is all about.”

“Okay. It’s not that complicated, but I’m not sure where to start. Hmm, let’s start about a hundred million years ago.”

“You have to go back that far?!”

“Aren’t you interested in the story of my first love?”

“Why would you think we’d want to hear such a private story after just meeting you?!”

“How about you answer our questions with what’s relevant instead?” Yogiri offered.

“Okay, but whether you get a clear picture will depend on the questions you ask.”

“I’m guessing you’re just going to dodge the point anyway,” Tomochika grumbled.

“Why were you looking for us?”

Kouryu considered the question for a moment. “It’s a secret.”

“Oh, come on!” Tomochika couldn’t help but shout. That wasn’t the answer she had been expecting after he had acted like he was giving it serious thought.

“Okay, then can we go?” Yogiri asked, rising from his seat. “We don’t really have time to waste like this.”

There didn’t seem to be a reason to stay and speak with them. If these people weren’t going to explain themselves, there was little purpose in wasting more time.

“I guess having the mysterious boy’s objective remain a mystery is no good,” Kouryu remarked, his expression serious.

“Why does that surprise you?”

“Well, it’s not such a big deal. I just want you two to keep doing what you’re already doing, and I want to offer my help.”

“What do you mean?”

“I love it when Sages die. I’d really like to see it happen from close by. I want to offer you my help so I can see it with my own eyes.”

“Am I the only one bothered by the way he’s rhyming?” Tomochika commented.

“How do you want to help us?”

“I know a lot about this world. I’m sure I can be useful.”

“You know a lot, huh? So who are you, exactly?”

“You said ‘Kouryu,’ right? That’s your name?”

“It’s more like my race. When the new gods showed up and deposed the dragons that had been ruling the world, they branded us with that name as an insult. Hence, ‘Kouryu,’ meaning ‘fallen dragons.’”

“This is suddenly sounding like a pretty big deal! That’s crazy!”

“Yep. We’re stuck with that shame nowadays,” the boy replied with an exaggerated shrug.

“If Kouryu is the name of your race, what’s your personal name?” Yogiri asked.

“I’m the last one, the only Kouryu left. So you can just call me that; it won’t be an issue.”

Yogiri motioned to the soldier and her companion. “They said earlier that they flew here. Was that because of you?”

“Yeah. If I change into my dragon form, I can fly. I did that and brought them with me.”

“So could you take us to Ent, then?” If that were possible, they wouldn’t have to wait for a boat or waste their time with a slow sea voyage.

“I can fly you around, but not to there.”

“Why not?”

“The sky is the domain of the Sages. Just like on the ground, it’s divided up under the control of different ones. And the Sages don’t allow people to fly.”

“We’ve seen plenty of people flying around,” Tomochika commented.

“That was just for short distances, though. If you try to fly long-distance, you’ll definitely catch their attention.”

“But Edelgart and Jorge flew here, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. But there’s no Sage currently controlling this area. You killed them already.”

“I see. So basically, you’re weaker than they are,” Yogiri concluded.

“I don’t really like to admit it, but since I’m a fallen god, you’ve already guessed as much.”

“If you were stronger than the Sages, I’d have been grateful if you could have beaten them for us,” Yogiri muttered. If he used his own ability to kill them, the Philosopher’s Stones in their bodies would lose their power. For that reason, he had to slowly chip away at them instead—a process that was more trouble than he cared to go through.

“Wha—?! The pigeon is back! But there’s no sign of the message having been read. What’s going on?”

While Tomochika and Yogiri had been talking with Kouryu, Edelgart and Jorge had continued arguing with each other. At some point, they had been interrupted by the arrival of a bird.

“Uh, it’s just a pigeon, right? How can you tell if the note was read?”

“With these magical carrier pigeons, we can send messages across long distances. When it gets to the designated location and plays the message, it’s marked as having been read, obviously.”

“Okay, that’s just bizarre.”

Tomochika had known that in this world, magical carrier pigeons were used for long-distance communication, but she had figured that meant people tied written letters to birds that flew quickly from place to place. She didn’t realize the animals were capable of replaying a voice recording or keeping track of whether the message had been read.

“That is strange... Barring extreme circumstances, there is no reason the message would fail to reach her.”

“Well, that’s obvious. Lain is dead, after all,” Kouryu bluntly informed the confused Edelgart.

“What?! Lady Lain can’t be dead! I’ve seen her power for myself! Even when her entire body was incinerated, she instantly regenerated!”

“On that note, the city where you guys live was also destroyed,” the mysterious boy added.

“Impossible!” the captain cried, jumping to her feet in anger.

“Don’t take my word for it. Send a message to someone you trust, and get them to tell you what happened.”

Edelgart and Jorge stepped away for a moment, no doubt to confirm Kouryu’s words.

“Hold on a second!” Tomochika spoke up next. “In that case, the other cities...”

Now that it had been brought up, it was a disheartening thought. The cities were kept safe by the protection of the Sages. Even the trains running between the inhabited areas needed a barrier to shield them. That was just how dangerous this world was. When the Sages disappeared, the people living in their protected regions were left in danger.

“Are you telling me you killed the Sages without even knowing that?” Kouryu asked.

Tomochika looked at Yogiri, but he was totally calm. She hadn’t realized it herself until then, but it must have been something he had already taken into account.

“If it makes you feel any better, Hanabusa is still okay. The Sage Alice has taken up the role of defending it. The capital of Manii was destroyed, but the Divine King and the Swordmaster are still alive, so I’m sure they’ll manage. And the City of the War God has plenty of fighting strength, so they’ll probably last for a while.”

Even hearing that didn’t offer her much consolation.

“That’s no reason to give up on collecting Philosopher’s Stones,” Yogiri said. “Or can you suggest another way for us to get home?” His primary objective was to return to Earth. He wouldn’t be deterred from that goal, regardless of the harm it might cause this world.

“Oh, I only wanted to ask if you were okay with all of that, but maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up. I do want you to keep killing Sages, after all,” the boy admitted.

“You think out loud too much,” answered Yogiri.

“He’s trying too hard to be mysterious.”

“Anyway. I know all sorts of things, including other ways you can get home, so will you let me come with you?”

“I assume you’re not willing to tell us now?”

“Of course I’ll give you something, but if I tell you everything up front, you won’t need me, will you?”

“Fine,” Yogiri agreed. “I have no plans to be friends, but if you want to follow us, you can do what you like.”

Tomochika had no objections either.