Short Story 7: Longdagger Hunting Diary (Sam) Part 2
*
“So, what do you think?”
Jenniferlin posed the question to Shin, who walked beside her.
About Try Flohs, naturally.
Two hours had passed since they left the City of Sudvaldo.
They had traversed the fields and pastures surrounding the city, leaving any sign of people behind. The road now ran alongside a small forest, offering plenty of places to hide.
It was in such a location that she asked her question.
One reason was to show Shin, walking next to her, that she wasn’t worried in the slightest.
The other half was simply because she was bored.
That man is really something else, Jenniferlin thought. If he intended to deceive them, surely there were better ways to go about it.
Perhaps he didn’t intend to deceive them at all, but his attitude made it painfully obvious he had some unspoken objective.
Initially, she had pondered it, but the limited information yielded only uninteresting conclusions.
Moreover, whether his intentions were harmful or not, Jenniferlin could only envision a future where he was swiftly dealt with by Shin.
It might be possible to gather enough forces to overwhelm Shin, but assembling the strength needed to finish off an escaping Shin would be exceedingly difficult.
That was true even for her, a Pantile; she couldn’t imagine others could readily prepare such a force.
Come on, answer already.
Jenniferlin mentally prodded Shin, who was searching for words, his gaze fixed on the empty air beside her.
“Let’s see. He said he was Rank 2, but maybe that’s just because he hasn’t been an adventurer long and lacks experience? The way he walks, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was Rank 3.”
Jenniferlin was slightly surprised by Shin’s assessment.
It was almost identical to the conclusion drawn by her own Appraisal Skill.
“So, well, when we fight together, I probably don’t need to worry about him accidentally getting killed by my Physical Enhancement, right?”
“When we fight together… does that mean you don’t think he’ll attack us?”
Shin’s gaze turned towards her.
Jenniferlin felt a little hurt by the look on his face, which clearly said, You were thinking about that?
“I don’t think so. Well, I’m not certain, but…”
At Shin’s unexpected words, Jenniferlin prompted him to continue with a thoughtful “Hmm.”
Tell me your reasons, my friend.
“When he approached us, his gaze never once fell on our weapons.”
If you plan to attack someone, you’d at least look at their weapons, right?
Jenniferlin inwardly conceded the point as Shin explained.
Right, my friend is unusually good at following people’s lines of sight.
If Shin said so, then it was likely true.
But still.
“That’s weak evidence for certainty.”
Shin shrugged, acknowledging her point. “I know.”
“Also, I didn’t get a bad feeling talking to him.”
“I see. That answer is more to my liking.”
Shin’s intuition was more trustworthy than convoluted reasoning.
She was about to voice a sarcastic remark, born from her inability to admit this straightforwardly, but her words dissipated before a voice calling out from ahead.
“Talking about me, perhaps, kiddos?”
Try, wearing a flippant expression matching his flippant voice, uttered the shady words. Jenniferlin shot him a look that didn’t hide her displeasure.
Being robbed of the chance to be sarcastic towards Shin was irritating.
“That’s right, Adventurer-dono. We were just confirming how many seconds it would take to lop off your head when you attack us.”
Try’s eyes widened in surprise at the difference from her attitude back at the Barrier exit.
Beside her, Shin muttered, “Scary…” Quiet, my friend.
“Got a scary partner there, junior.”
It wasn’t likely he heard Shin, but Try rolled his eyes before addressing him.
“Be careful, Senpai-dono. This one could probably take down a small country with just her words.”
Jenniferlin elbowed Shin in the flank as he replied with a shrug.
You praise me too much, my friend. With words alone, I’ve only ever ‘taken down’ a city’s crime syndicate at most.
Try chuckled at the exchange.
“You two get along well. Been together long?”
“Long… not really. We only started talking recently.”
Try looked surprised again at Shin’s answer.
No… not surprised, more like nostalgic?
Jenniferlin tilted her head inwardly at Try’s strange shift in expression.
He looks like he just remembered an old wound that suddenly started aching.
“Is that so, junior. Then cherish her. Cherish a friend who speaks sarcasm to you.”
Try turned to face forward again. Shin called out to his back.
“I don’t have many friends. I’ll cherish her, Senpai-dono.”
Try merely responded by raising one hand and giving a dismissive wave with frills.
Jenniferlin didn’t see it, as she was covering her face with one hand.
My friend… saying things like that… really, my friend…
Jenniferlin couldn’t bring herself to look at Shin’s face for a while.
*
“So, just how far are you planning on following us?”
Jenniferlin asked Try once they had passed the village closest to Sudvaldo.
Eighty percent of her motivation was sheer annoyance, but she was also genuinely curious.
There had been several suitable places and timings for him to attack them.
He had let all of them pass, and even now, he maintained that irritatingly flippant expression while diligently scouting ahead, leading the way. Try was truly baffling.
They were currently walking along a path through a small forest.
There could hardly be a more suitable place for an ambush.
Yet Try showed no sign of any such intention.
Unable to fathom Try’s objective, Jenniferlin frowned, her displeasure evident.
“I told you I had business in a nearby village, didn’t I?” Try replied, still scanning the surroundings seriously.
“We passed that nearby village, you know.”
Try shrugged, ignoring her.
Though his expression remained flippant, his eyes were serious, constantly vigilant of their surroundings.
Jenniferlin found that expression unpleasant as well.
Because beneath the flippant mask, she sensed a serious resolve.
A readiness that suggested he might even throw his life away.
It was utterly unpleasant.
For Jenniferlin, who revered every step taken out of Greed, such resolve was distasteful beyond measure.
Risking one’s life was perfectly fine—may fortune favor the commensurate return!
But what did it mean to simply throw it away?
Falling forward in glory was nonsense.
The step that plants one’s foot firmly on the ground before collapsing—that was true honor.
Profit savored while alive was paramount.
Loss swallowed while alive was the next chance.
Therefore, Jenniferlin detested Try’s barely concealed readiness to disregard his own life in his calculations.
Just as Jenniferlin sighed, making no effort to hide her displeasure, a sound unlike anything she had ever heard—something like a scream—pierced her ears.
Instantly, a chill ran down Jenniferlin’s spine.
Even an ogre’s roar at point-blank range wouldn’t do this; she was astonished at herself, frozen by pure terror.
A nauseating feeling, a mixture of anxiety welling up from the pit of her stomach and revulsion, made her gaze instinctively seek out Shin.
And then Jenniferlin was speechless.
Because that Shin Longdagger’s face was clearly contorted in fear and disgust, his body frozen stiff.
Unbelievable, but Jenniferlin could only think that for an instant.
Even more unbelievably, Try suddenly dashed off in the direction of the scream.
Jenniferlin was stunned that the man she had deemed the weakest among them according to her Appraisal Skill was the first to move—that he could move.
“Hey.”
Shin’s voice reached the frozen Jenniferlin.
“This is beyond unreliable.”
Jenniferlin quietly cursed her Appraisal Skill.
“We’re going after him, Jen.”
Jenniferlin could only nod in response to his words.
She suspected her voice would crack if she tried to speak.
Without even realizing she had forgotten to breathe until Shin spoke, Jenniferlin broke into a run, chasing after Try.
*
The source of the scream was closer than expected.
Thus, by the time Shin and Jen caught up to Try, he had already drawn his Sword and was in the process of attacking “it.”
Shin stared at the “thing” before him, clenching his back teeth against the revulsion and disgust that surged up, overriding his reason. So this is it.
It resembled an ape in appearance.
About the size of a human adult, its body was covered in dark, purplish fur. Its appearance could easily pass for a new type of Monster, but his instincts screamed otherwise.
Majin. So this is a Majin.
Shin dredged the word up from his knowledge as he increased the intensity of his Physical Enhancement.
From the moment he saw the Apemajin, Shin had discarded the option to flee.
I don’t want to get close if I can help it, don’t even want it in my sight—alongside that intense revulsion, I felt the exact opposite emotion.
A contradictory feeling that I couldn’t rest easy unless I killed this thing right here, right now.
If I don’t kill it here, even if it disappears from view, it might still be nearby.
Just thinking about it filled me with a sense of urgency.
Shin tossed the rucksack he carried on his back to the side of the road, drew his Sword, and surged forward, putting power into his legs.
But just as Shin entered his accelerating stance, Try’s body—sent flying by the Apemajin’s blow—loomed right before him.
I couldn’t even spare the effort to curse.
If he’s alive, Jen will figure something out.
I casually grabbed Try’s flying arm, killing his momentum while pivoting half a turn on my right leg, and threw Try towards Jen.
“That’s asking too much, my friend!” Ignoring Jenniferlin’s protesting voice, Shin accelerated again.
I have to kill it. This thing must be killed here.
Shin drove a full-power Kick, carrying all his momentum, into the Apemajin’s stomach, which was wide open after it had struck Try.
For now, I have to get it away from Jen. I’ll definitely kill this thing, but I have to separate it from the person I’m guarding (Jen).
I’m being seriously swayed by this unfamiliar killing intent, but I haven’t forgotten an adventurer’s duty.
Shin Longdagger felt satisfied with himself for that, then roared.
“Die!”
*
Jenniferlin Pantile felt ashamed of herself for freezing up the moment “that thing” entered her sight, but she suppressed the feeling and activated her Appraisal Skill.
What she felt was relief.
At the very least, it wasn’t an opponent Shin would lose to.
His physical growth and techniques hadn’t caught up yet, and because of the fear of loneliness deep within his heart, Shin hadn’t reached the point where he could fully exert his abilities.
But even so, “that thing” was an opponent that the current Shin could defeat well enough.
Jenniferlin, possessing the Appraisal Skill, understood this well.
Confirming from the Appraisal Skill’s results that it was a Majin, Jenniferlin cross-referenced it with her own knowledge and felt bewildered.
Race: Majin, Name: Sam Boardian.
A name? It has a name? A Majin has a personal name?
And its age is eighteen?
Has my Appraisal Skill gone haywire?
Jenniferlin’s questions were forcibly interrupted when Shin threw Try—who had been blown away by the Apemajin—at her.
“Don’t mess with me, my friend!”
Catching Try’s body, which was heavier than her own even though Shin had killed some of his momentum, Jenniferlin voiced her protest to Shin.
The Try she caught was alive.
His leather chest plate was caved in, and his right arm, the one Shin had grabbed, seemed to have its shoulder dislocated, but he was alive.
For a moment, she considered abandoning him.
The Appraisal Skill reveals abilities, but it doesn’t predict the outcome of a battle.
Shouldn’t she be supporting Shin then? Even while thinking this, the reason Jenniferlin didn’t chase after Shin, who was kicking the Apemajin away, was the word Try groaned out.
“…Sam.”
Hearing him mutter a name that no one else should know, Jenniferlin made the decision to help Try.
Jenniferlin Pantile called business opportunities ‘the moment lightning flashes.’
They cannot be intentionally created, and seizing them requires acting in an instant, allowing no hesitation.
And she felt that this time, this was one of those moments.
It’d be a huge loss if he just happened to blurt out ‘Sam’ by chance, though.
Thinking such thoughts, Jenniferlin used Healing Magic.