Short Story 8: Pantile Defies All Vices 10 (End)
*
“Oooaah!”
My throat, raw from shouting too much, expelled not a scream but merely a lump of sound.
I dashed through the trees, now able to avoid them without much conscious thought, and maintained my momentum, executing a charge that was little different from a direct collision.
The wound I’d left half-treated for fear of Magicka depletion burst open from the impact.
But the return was well worth it.
The humanoid Monster, struck squarely in the Flank by Shin’s charge, was pierced by the Sword thrust into its side. Groaning from the impact of the tackle—a collision by another name—its body lifted into the air.
“Aaaah!”
With the Sword still embedded in the humanoid Monster, I twisted it and slammed it down onto the ground.
Feeling a sensation in my hands less like cutting a Monster and more like striking the ground with a hammer, I pulled the Sword free, mounted the creature, gripped the Sword in a reverse hold, and repeatedly stabbed at the shadow I presumed was its head.
I was aware of how unsightly it was, but if I didn’t permit myself such crude movements, my Magicka might run dry.
If Master found out, my training would increase by fifty percent, Shin thought, confirming the monster had turned into Magic Stone Fragments before standing up.
“Are you alright?”
Moistening my throat with the blood I’d swallowed, Shin asked as he turned back, performing only basic first aid to stop the bleeding.
“Yes, I am fine, but…”
The one who answered was Chako Candelight.
She had focused solely on splitting the pack and delaying them, but perhaps she’d been forced into unavoidable combat several times in the process; she was wounded, though not as badly as Shin.
She had misjudged the timing for withdrawal due to exhaustion and fallen into a predicament, which Shin had saved her from at the last moment.
“Um… Lord Shin. Is your head alright?”
Was I going to be insulted immediately after saving her?
Even I have enough sensitivity to be hurt by that, I thought, but then I noticed an odd feeling on my head.
Ah, so it’s this thing’s fault.
Shin noticed the four-legged shadow biting his head and dispatched it with crude, repeated stabs from the Dagger drawn from the sheath on his chest.
No wonder my head felt heavy.
“You saved me.”
I thanked Chako, inwardly tilting my head at the somewhat strained smile on her face as she stood up.
“What kind of head do you have?”
“It’s fine, my thoughts are still clear.”
“I meant physically?”
At Chako’s exasperated voice, Shin grumbled that he was never good at physics class.
“Ah, no, forgive me. I committed the folly of expecting normalcy from the adventurers and Knights Order members of Faltar. I humbly apologize.”
Ah, is she praising me?
Shin misunderstood.
The monstrously strong Knights Order and high-Rank adventurers are completely outside the norm, totally.
So, she must be trying to encourage me by praising my battered self as being on the same level as them.
“Those are kind words, but I’m still far from enough.”
“Strangely enough, everyone says the same thing.”
Confirming that Chako, smiling troubledly, had caught her breath, Shin cut the small talk short.
“Alright, shall we get back to work?”
“As expected of a noble lord, you work people hard, don’t you?”
We’ve both been running around the forest at night, though, Shin swallowed his words.
“What about the rest of the pack?”
“About a third remain.”
However.
“I believe splitting them further will be difficult.”
I see.
Shin, conserving even the Magicka for Purification Magic, wiped his bloodstained Sword on his sleeve. For some reason, Monster blood doesn’t immediately turn into Magic Stone.
“If they’re gathered together, isn’t that easier? Less running.”
As Shin spoke while tightening his sword belt, Chako sighed.
“Lord Shin, allow me to make one correction.”
“What is it?”
“Please refrain from boasting about today’s events in the tavern. Far from being popular, you’ll just put people off.”
The subtleties of women are difficult, Shin thought. It seems I’m not destined to be a popular man.
*
Before I knew it, I’d forgotten all about the Epitaph and become lost in conversation.
The pleasant exchange of barbs was simply nostalgic, and the reminiscences I should have known were filled with the discovery of new feelings.
Ah, stop it, my friend.
Don’t recount the mistakes I made with such glee.
Don’t speak so proudly of the times I laughed.
Don’t speak so joyfully of the commotions we caused together.
Stop finding brilliance in the past, as if there is nothing more beyond this point.
Stop laying out your memories so happily, like arranging your best hand of cards on the table.
Every single one tears at my chest.
And yet, it makes me happy.
To see myself in every card my friend lays out as their best hand, it makes me unbearably happy.
With every card placed on the table, strength drains from my friend’s hand as if paying a price.
Even as I grasp my friend’s hand, enveloping it with both of mine as if in prayer, I can feel their time slipping through my own fingers.
My friend’s voice was serene, filled with a tranquility I had never heard before.
What did those eyes see, gazing into the distance from time to time?
My friend’s demeanor clearly changed after she cried.
What burden had she, who had accepted death long ago, finally set down at the very end?
I didn’t know, but the fact that the burden had been lifted was both joyous and sorrowful.
Ah, ah, stop it, friend.
Stop looking at me like that.
Stop looking at me with eyes that behold a most precious thing, eyes that take pride in a brilliant final step.
I looked down, trying to escape my friend’s gaze.
My friend’s hand rested on my forehead as I struggled with the heat tightening my throat.
Ignoring me, my friend continued to speak slowly, stroking my head with a gentle hand.
“What’s wrong, Pantile? Are you crying?”
Ignoring the throat that refused to form words, I forced them out to answer my friend.
I couldn’t lift my face.
“Didn’t you know? Pantile doesn’t cry.”
“That’s a Pantile quirk I’m hearing for the first time.”
Gentle exasperation caressed my ears.
“If someone comforts me when I’m crying, don’t I have to pay them a price commensurate with that?”
“Only a Pantile would try to put a price on their own tears.”
Aware of the hot breath escaping my throat, I confessed my clan’s secret to my friend.
“It’s a lie. We’re simply a clan of shy people, top to bottom. An ancestor made it up as an excuse because they didn’t want that known, and it just stuck.”
What a troublesome clan.
My friend said something like a certain Longdagger would, while slowly shifting.
She lowered her raised upper body back onto the bed.
Worry made me lift my face involuntarily.
“What a face.”
“What kind of face is it?”
I asked, genuinely not knowing.
My friend’s gentle, wry smile pierced my chest.
“It’s a good face. You have a very good face.”
What kind of answer is that? Though dissatisfied, I accepted it since my friend said so.
“Ah, but still, I told a useless lie.”
My friend spoke as if regretting a small mistake.
It must be about telling me she would die in three days.
No matter how you look at it, I don’t think it’s something to be spoken of like a small mistake.
There’s no need to lie to a friend about the day you’ll die. In fact, you shouldn’t do that, my friend.
“What kind of face is that?”
“That’s the face of someone wondering why I told such a lie.”
My protest must have shown on my face.
My friend gave a resigned, wry smile.
“It was just meddling. Because I could never cry.”
A voice too resigned to be regret, the voice of a victim too wounded for confession.
I trembled at that voice.
My friend, how many had my friend seen off?
Just who, and how many, had she seen off?
“I couldn’t cry. When you know, you see, you can’t even cling to miracles. With a heart that had completely given up, I couldn’t cry.”
Hard, gnarled hands enveloped mine as I held my friend’s hand.
“Not being able to cry is harder than you think.”
Hey, friend.
Hey, my friend.
I really was too late, wasn’t I?
For a Pantile who boasts of specializing in hasty, unplanned, jump-the-gun actions, I was truly too late.
If I had been there, I wouldn’t have let you weep silently like that, all alone.
I would have wailed loudly right beside you.
Look, let’s cry together, I would have made you cry until it was unsightly.
Ah, so…
“Oh? Didn’t you say Pantile doesn’t cry?”
Stop smiling like that.
“I’m not crying. I’m crying for you, my friend.”
Stop smiling as if it’s all over, as if you’re completely satisfied.
“The price for making a Pantile cry… seems like it will be steep.”
My friend smiled faintly, let out a deep sigh, and murmured, “Ah,” her eyes still narrowed.
A momentary silence gouged my chest.
“Birds are singing, morning is coming… I have to make breakfast for that child… and then wake up my husband…”
My friend, Cokes Candelight, murmured as if half-dreaming.
Slipping away, slipping through my hands.
“And then… and then I’ll take that child to see her, my Pantile. Then surely—surely that girl too…”
I tried to call my friend’s name, but my throat tightened, only letting out something like a short, soundless scream.
“Surely that girl will smile too.”
Ah, yes.
My friend, that’s right.
That girl (Pantile) will surely smile. I guarantee it.
After all, since meeting you, I’ve never had trouble smiling.
The birds heralding the dawn cannot yet be heard.
Isn’t it still too early to call it morning, my friend?
What a vice it is to lie to a friend.
＊
Almost completely drained.
Shin, carrying Chako who had run out of Magicka on his shoulder, reached the front of the hut. He roughly rolled the dizzy-eyed Chako onto the ground, staggered a few steps forward, and collapsed onto the ground as if reaching his limit.
The edge of the sky was beginning to lighten, but the surroundings were still dark.
The air was filled with the night chill.
Shin struggled to steady his ragged breathing, leaning his weight on his Sword for support.
He really thought he was going to die; at the very end, even maintaining Physical Enhancement had become precarious.
It was the first time he’d been pushed this far in actual combat, and Shin honestly found it strange that he was still alive.
Shin took deep, slow breaths, trying to recover his Magicka, and thanked his master.
He probably survived thanks to his master.
Thanks to the regular training being several times more dangerously demanding, he was able to remain calm until the very end.
He never thought training to fight with nearly depleted Magicka and half his side blown off would actually be useful.
Her head might be messed up, but she was probably an excellent master. Though her head was messed up.
If he bragged about this story at the tavern, maybe more people would want to become his master’s disciples.
Shin thought this, remembering how Kind Barbara had complained about only having him and Elza as disciples.
“You look terrible.”
I let my guard down.
Shin was surprised that he hadn’t noticed his friend’s voice or presence behind him.
“If I use Purification Magic now, I’ll collapse. Forgive me for showing such an unsightly state before my Employer-dono.”
Shin said this and turned around, but swallowed the lighthearted remark he was about to make.
He pondered for a moment.
Shin, aware that he wasn’t the type to be popular with women, also knew he was somewhat clueless about the subtleties of women.
Still, he wasn’t clueless enough to choose the option of saying nothing in front of a girl with red eyes.
“Uh—”
He searched for words.
He wasn’t that clueless, but whether the right words would come to mind was another matter entirely.
“Want me to lend you my chest?”
So Shin gave up.
Thinking of her as a girl wasn’t working; if he thought of her as a friend with red, swollen eyes, the words came easily.
The words seemed to be the right ones, as a smile appeared on his friend’s face.
“I refuse.”
Guess it was the wrong answer.
Shin turned his face forward again, feeling dejected.
I really don’t understand girls’ feelings.
“Borrowing a chest covered in blood shed for my sake does have a certain appeal, though.”
I really don’t understand girls’ feelings!
“Because if I borrow your chest, I’ll just end up being supported.”
He sensed Jenniferlin sitting down on the ground behind him.
“So I’ll borrow your back instead, Shin.”
Shin felt Jenniferlin’s back press against his and tilted his head.
He didn’t understand the difference between borrowing a chest and borrowing a back.
Perhaps his confusion was transmitted through their backs, as he sensed Jenniferlin give a faint smile.
“Yes, well, I suppose so. You probably wouldn’t understand.”
“Jen’s way of putting things is too difficult for a thirteen-year-old boy.”
He felt Jenniferlin chuckle at his protest.
Well, as long as she’s well enough to laugh, that’s fine.
“Because I can’t stand beside you, Shin. Much less stand before you and show you my back.”
He understood even less what Jenniferlin was trying to say.
Jenniferlin seemed satisfied with his reaction, laughing as if to say, ‘Of course, you wouldn’t understand.’
“But even someone like me can stand at your back. And while I’m standing, I’ll lean on you.”
“Uh, so does that mean Jen is relying on me right now?”
“Exactly, my friend. And even though I’m powerless and untalented, with my back, I can support you alone.”
I see.
Figuring that was the case, Shin used Purification Magic.
He had been bothered by Jenniferlin’s clothes getting stained with blood.
Bloodstains should be removed quickly; they become troublesome if left too long.
“Oops.”
Jenniferlin sounded surprised behind him.
“I wasn’t speaking in a physical sense, you know?”
This time, he was really completely drained.
Having used Purification Magic, Shin gave in to the fatigue of Magicka depletion and leaned back against Jenniferlin.
“But this is what you meant, right?”
“That is what I meant, but really, Shin, you are the enemy of sensitivity. Its natural predator.”
Brushing off the sarcasm he’d grown accustomed to lately, Shin looked up at the lightening sky.
“So… did you talk properly?”
At those words, the weight of his friend against his back increased slightly.
“Ah, yes, I talked properly. I even thought up a fitting Epitaph for her.”
They didn’t fight or anything, right?
He couldn’t help but ponder the appropriateness of thinking up an epitaph for someone facing death.
Well, knowing that old hag, she’d probably be pleased.
Shin dismissed the question, deciding it was something only the two of them would understand.
“It seems I’ve caused quite a bit of trouble for you and Chako.”
During the silence while Shin discarded his question, Jenniferlin continued speaking.
“It’s my job, Employer-dono. Don’t worry about it. Besides, compared to what I expected from a request from Jen, this was well within the bounds of reason.”
“What exactly did you expect I was going to make you do? No, it’s fine, don’t tell me. I’ve heard and dished out several months’ worth of sarcasm today.”
Several months’ worth of Jen’s sarcasm…
Shin imagined the amount and gave a wry smile.
“I see. So it was a fun end, then.”
Shin smiled, imagining Cokes’s final moments.
“Ah, yes, it was.”
As Jenniferlin said that, her weight increased.
Shin increased the weight he leaned back in response; the balanced weight wasn’t a burden, becoming a counterweight supporting each other.
“Jen?”
Hearing the moist sigh his friend let out behind him, Shin asked.
“What is it, Shin?”
Hearing the strained voice that replied, Shin spoke in a serious tone.
“Should I crush my ears?”
After a brief silence.
“Idiot.”
Along with Jenniferlin’s word, the weight against his back increased significantly.
Shin hurriedly used his Sword for support to maintain his posture; he couldn’t show the disgrace of collapsing while being relied upon by his friend.
Behind him, his friend laughed amusingly at Shin’s reaction.
Shin Longdagger was happy about that.
＊
“Well then, I leave the rest to you.”
Jenniferlin said this to Chako, whose eyes were red and swollen.
“Yes, please leave all the arrangements to me.”
Jenniferlin still felt a slight sense of guilt towards Chako Candelight, who bowed respectfully as she spoke.
Thinking that Chako might have also wanted to be present for Cokes’s final moments, the guilt couldn’t be wiped away, even though Chako herself had said she had no intention of being there.
Chako, perhaps noticing her master’s lingering guilt but choosing not to address it, didn’t even give her a chance to apologize.
No, is this a vice?
Jenniferlin judged her own desire to apologize as such.
From Chako’s perspective, she would have no choice but to accept the apology.
She thought there were probably many things to say and discuss, but well, that could wait until they returned.
With that thought, Jenniferlin wished Chako a safe journey back and used that as her parting words.
“Can we head back first?”
Shin, who was already waiting in front of the gate fence, asked this.
Jenniferlin nodded back at Shin, waved to Chako, and started walking.
“To be honest, I wanted to escort my friend back to the Royal Capital myself, but the academy break is ending.”
Shin replied with a truly flippant “Now that you mention it, yeah.”
This guy forgot, didn’t he?
“What’s the big deal about missing a day or two?”
“Who are you to talk? You might have forgotten, but there’s still one more exam that determines our Advancement, you know?”
Shin shot her a resentful look in response to her well-intentioned warning.
Hey now, my friend, it’s not like I decided on this system, you know? Jenniferlin was exasperated by Shin’s unreasonable protest.
The sarcasm she had intended to hold back today almost slipped out.
“Ah, but…”
But that sarcasm lost its target with Shin’s words.
“It’s kinda sad when a journey comes to an end, isn’t it?”
Hahaha, this guy, honestly.
“What, there’s no need to worry, my friend.”
Jenniferlin said, aware of the lightness in her step.
“A journey isn’t over until you reach home, you know. You won’t be bored on the way, I guarantee it.”
As she said this, Jenniferlin thought about how each step taken is precious and beautiful.
And she wondered what kind of steps this friend of hers would take from now on.
Knowing Shin, he’d probably take some outrageous path.
In fact, it was doubtful whether the places he stepped would even qualify as paths.
Like traversing an uninhabited wasteland, this friend would nonchalantly stride forward in whatever direction he pleased, as if he owned the place.
On that point, Jenniferlin had no doubts.
He’d probably take a step in a direction that would leave everyone dumbfounded, and for reasons hard to comprehend.
And yet, he’d get lonely and look around.
When that happens, I’ll make sure I’m at least somewhere within his line of sight.
I’ll tell him I’m watching, so he can go wherever he damn well pleases.
Thinking about it calmly, it’s quite an unreasonable sentiment, but such is the Iniquity of friendship.
“Right then, what shall I talk about first to relieve your boredom? How about the story of the one person the kingdom’s greatest Assassin failed to kill just once? Don’t you want to know how, through a strange twist of fate, she became family as that Assassin’s granddaughter?”
“Whoa, I’m super curious about that.”
“I thought so, I thought so indeed.”
And so, Jenniferlin thought.
At least for this moment, while he was still right here before her, she would be thoroughly grateful for this Iniquity called friendship.
Her friend’s back was still close, and the Royal Capital was still far away.
＊＊＊＊＊＊ Afterword ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Oh dear, I’m truly sorry.
This wasn’t how the story was supposed to turn out, and once I wrote it, I felt like I couldn’t write anything else, so after struggling through repeated rewrites, this is how it ended up.
I started writing this with a pants-style approach, so the truth is, even I, the author, didn’t expect this kind of landing spot.
My personal life has been unexpectedly hectic, and despite the significant delay in posting, I am incredibly grateful to all the readers who have read it and even left comments.
I’ll do my best with the main story as well, so I’d be overjoyed if you didn’t give up on me.