Chapter 28

I was certain we were going to die.

Swallowed up by fate once again, without managing to protect anyone.

“We made it in time.”

The voice I heard then was strangely familiar.

“Wh—ah!?”

Then came cries that sounded more like confusion than pain, followed by the sound of wooden sticks snapping and muffled, heavy thuds.

What reached my ears as I stayed pressed to the ground were the sounds of fur brushing and something like metal scraping across the earth.

“Kengo, can we kill these ones?”

Then came a distinctive voice that seemed to crawl along the ground.

“No. Tie them up.”

“Hmph.”

A great snort sounded, followed by several sets of footsteps that could only be described as lumbering.

Only then was my cheek slapped.

“You alive?”

That voice was not Kengo’s, but Kururu’s.

“Ugh… somehow…”

Even with my eyes still squeezed tightly shut, I was finally able to notice the tears streaming out one after another.

I wanted to believe it was not because of fear, but simply from the pain of my eyes being blasted by light.

“I thought they would go with the usual fire attack, but I never expected them to steal our sight with light. When magical power is low, I suppose it is more rational to rob the enemy of vision and then rely on swords for the rest.”

Kururu was making that analysis, but she was speaking a little too quickly. She was probably trying to hide how shaken she was by forcing herself to stay calm.

After helping me sit up, she suddenly touched around my eyes, and I realized Kururu was wiping them with her fingers.

But that hand was trembling in tiny shakes.

“Are you really alright?”

When she asked in such an anxious voice, then as the older man, I had no choice but to force my eyes open somehow.

“Well… more or less…”

Beyond my blurred vision, I could just barely make out Kururu.

“This time… it looks like I didn’t die, at least.”

“This time? Have you gone through something like this over and over again?”

She sounded exasperated.

“Kururu-chan, you alright too?”

The one who called out like that was, of course, Kengo.

My vision had still not properly returned, but I could make out about three large beastfolk under the light of torches, tying up the attackers.

“Don’t call me Kururu-chan. I’m fine.”

“I’m just glad that thing didn’t get used.”

It was only at Kengo’s words that I finally noticed Kururu seemed to have a magic stone in her hand.

“If she had used it, it would’ve been a disaster. She even blew up the mine.”

“Didn’t you say you adjusted the size so it wouldn’t turn everything into a sea of fire?”

“I did, but the power might go up because of that thing where you want to protect someone important.”

At Kengo’s casual tone, Kururu clicked her tongue, then kicked him in the leg.

“Kururu.”

The low voice that cut in then came from one of the beastfolk.

Kururu looked over, narrowing her green eyes. They were not the sharp eyes she had shown in the mansion dining hall when she told me I was one of them.

“You, huh… You helped us.”

She was surely grateful, but that was not the look one turned toward a trusted comrade.

“I came because Kengo asked.”

It seemed the beastfolk felt the same way, because there was contempt in his gaze toward Kururu.

Kururu and Iiria carried beastfolk blood, yet they stood on the side of humans. And yet, rather than wielding power in town, they were mocked and looked down upon by the people there.

To the beastfolk, who in a world ruled by humans had accepted being second-class citizens while still forming their own separate society, Iiria and Kururu probably could not be called allies at all. Rather, they may have looked like pitiful traitors.

“A debt received will be repaid upon my fur.”

“Don’t let a half-breed mouth our oath.”

The beastman, who could only be described as a lion in human form, wore an expression and used a tone that could not be called friendly in the slightest.

“Dodol. This is a transaction that benefits both sides.”

When Kengo cut in, the beastman called Dodol finally looked away from Kururu.

“That is what I expect.”

And behind Dodol, the other beastfolk each snuffed out the torches in their hands by grasping the flames directly with their huge hands, as though such fire did not bother them at all.

Darkness returned once more, and only the groans of the attackers echoed strangely.

“Dodol, I’ll contact you later.”

Whether Kengo’s words had reached them or not, I could not tell.

The beastfolk vanished with footsteps so light that they were hard to believe from bodies of that size.

“…I have a lot of things I want to ask.”

At that muttered complaint of mine, Kengo sighed, while Kururu snorted through her nose.

“We had our own complicated problem on this side too. Anyway, I’m just glad you’re alright, Yorinobu.”

“I almost got sent to another world again.”

“That’s not a joke I want to hear.”

Taking Kengo’s hand and standing up, I finally realized the meaning of the oddly thick cloak and the stiff wig I was wearing.

“So this wig and cloak weren’t for disguise. They were in case of an ambush.”

“Doesn’t look like they helped all that much.”

Kururu said that with dissatisfaction.

“But why keep it secret from me?”

I was probably making a face every bit as unhappy as Kururu’s.

For once, Kururu said it while averting her eyes.

“At the very last moment, we found out that things were somehow leaking to Nodon. Marks figured out that the brat there was the traitor.”

“Huh?”

Startled, I looked at the bound attackers, and sure enough, the boy who had guided us here was tied up behind his back among them.

“Only Marks and Kururu-chan knew about the betrayal. The reason we didn’t tell Iiria-chan or you was so that Nodon’s side wouldn’t realize that we knew what Nodon was planning.”

“That was my idea. Don’t blame Kengo.”

Kururu said that, then sighed.

“You seem like a good guy. If you knew the truth, things would’ve gotten awkward.”

It was pathetic, but I could kind of see what she meant.

“If Nodon was planning to attack you and Kururu, then he was definitely going to send a magician. On our side too, it wasn’t exactly comforting having a magician on the enemy’s side forever. So we wanted to crush him in return the moment he came shambling out and cut off that future worry here and now.”

In short, I was not thrilled about having been used as bait, but I had no choice except to admit that the plan itself had been rational.

“But just like I thought, Yorinobu managed to wrap things up at the guild in Kengo’s place. I told you he was useful in his own way.”

When Kururu said that to Kengo, he smiled a little awkwardly.

“You said you weren’t good at sales talk.”

“I’m not. I was fully expecting Kengo to handle that.”

“That just means I can hand work over to you without hesitation from now on.”

Kengo patted me on the shoulder, and I let out a complicated laugh that was half pleased, half feeling like things had been wrapped up a little too neatly.

“Still, Dodol and his group were even more stubborn than I expected.”

Kengo stared into the darkness of the alley where those beastfolk had disappeared and sighed.

“I’m surprised that guy even came to help. You really managed to persuade him without getting killed.”

If Kengo and the others had just been sitting back and watching while I was used as bait, then I could have been angry honestly enough, but apparently Kengo had been dealing with difficult work on his side too.

“There are a lot of beastfolk who have hopes for Iiria-chan and the others. Dodol probably figured that if he didn’t save Kururu-chan here, he’d lose support from the moderates among his people.”

Kengo and the others had learned that tonight’s matter had leaked to Nodon’s side, and they guessed there would be an attack. But if the enemy had a magician, then muscles gained from strength training alone would not be enough to deal with it. On the other hand, if it turned into a magical battle with Kururu, it would become a disaster.

That was probably why they had decided to obtain the cooperation of the beastfolk, but it looked like there was something more complicated mixed into it than just that.

“And that Dodol-san is…?”

At that question, Kengo shrugged.

“He’s kind of like one of the hardliners in beastfolk society, I guess. A minor leader among the younger crowd, but basically the type who thinks humans ought to be wiped out.”

“Ah…”

That let me more or less understand the meaning of the contempt in his eyes toward Kururu.

“And on top of that, he’d been raising a troublesome issue with our plan.”

“Troublesome?”

Just as I repeated the word back, Kururu cut in with a sigh.

“For now, let’s ask Marks to deal with these people. We need to think about how Nodon is going to react once he knows these men aren’t coming back, and if it means Nodon had figured out everything, then we’ll need to change our methods too, won’t we?”

“You’re right. Yorinobu probably ought to cool his eyes too.”

I was about to say I was fine, but the tears still would not stop, and the back of my eyes kept throbbing.

Feeling pathetic as I alone staggered around in such a sorry state, I tried to start walking, only for Kururu to step in front of me.

“Here, take my hand. You can barely see straight, can you?”

Since it was dark and my eyes were still damaged, I could not make out her fine expression.

But I thought I saw the illusion of the beast ears she was supposed to be hiding fluttering busily.

Without saying anything, I took her hand.

And then Kururu’s small hand gripped mine more tightly than I had expected.

It was a very Kururu-like way of holding on, as though confirming that I was safe, but also with a little too much force, enough that it hurt a bit.