Akatsuki Translations

One of the important things for surviving in the Abyss is the selection of resting places. Without accurately assessing the terrain, weather, season, and surrounding conditions, one could lose their life while sleeping for a short while.

Shuou chose a particularly thick tree from among the infinitely lined-up trees and decided to climb up and rest on it. This large tree had hardly any damage to its branches or trunk. This meant that giant Rabidaemons that would rub through the trees were not using this area as a passage. The fact that there was a lot of monkey droppings on the ground was also a reason for choosing it. A tree where many animals stay is proof of its safety.

To get rid of the human scent, he rubbed the collected dead leaves on his clothes. Particularly strong-smelling ones were selected, which were actually soaked with the excrement left by passing Rabidaemons. At first glance, it was difficult to distinguish them from other scattered dead leaves, and selecting ones that could be expected to have a moderate effect required a certain level of knowledge and experience.

As Shuou explained various things about the Abyss, Shara listened intently, impressed.

“Where did you learn all this?” Shara asked, finally feeling at ease as she settled on a wide, thick branch.

“About the Abyss?”

“Yeah.”

After letting his gaze wander for a bit, Shuou roughly talked about his own upbringing. When he explained that there was a person who had picked him up when he was an orphan and taught him how to live, Shara raised her voice in surprise.

“The person who taught you that must have been a recluse or something.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Despite accumulating that much knowledge about the Abyss, they didn’t bring it to the world, right? Even to my knowledge, there are several businesses that are deeply involved with this place. The art of entering this deep into the forest unharmed, if sold, how much would it be worth… Depending on the buyer, it might be enough to build a castle.”

Shuou’s eyes widened at Shara’s words.

“That much?”

Shara chuckled.

“I’m also like a newborn in this world, but you also seem a bit ignorant about the human world.”

Thinking he was being made fun of, Shuou sulked and turned away.

Suddenly, he felt the sensation of a cold palm touching his cheek. Gently lured, he turned his gaze back to see Shara’s well-featured face smiling softly.

“From the moment I first knew you, I had a feeling that you didn’t seem like a stranger. Miserable and ugly, like an impure ghost wandering in search of a place to belong. The more I get to know you, the more I can’t take my eyes off you… But I hate being obsessed.”

The hand that had been gently touching his cheek suddenly gained strength, and Shuou cried out as his cheek was pinched.

“Ow—”

“Aha.”

For a moment, he was captivated by the mischievous smile that mixed childishness and sophistication. However, thanks to the small animals holding a grand chorus just above his head, his composure didn’t waver.

A place to belong, huh.

“I already have a place to belong.”

“Are you talking about Murakumo?”

Rubbing his pinched cheek, Shuou nodded.

“I made acquaintances. I became a soldier and made comrades. I got a place to return to…”

If he counted on his fingers, it was only a short period, but just recalling recent events, many faces of people came to mind, and events that took place flashed through his mind. In that place, which he thought was just a stepping stone for his journey, he had already put down many roots. If that wasn’t called a place to belong, then where did his existence lie? However, Shara’s words poured cold water on Shuou’s thoughts.

“But you don’t have a family.”

Words did not come out of his mouth that had opened instinctively.

“Surely, you can live more lightly than you think. With that much talent and knowledge, you should be able to spread your wings anywhere. Is a country that exposes you to the front lines of war and leaves you behind your place to belong? If you don’t think so, entrusting yourself to me might be one future.”

“Are you telling me to come to Coral?”

“Not the country, I said under me—”

Shara hugged her knees, curled up, and lowered her gaze.

“—This lump of flesh called A Shara is a princess. I can easily support one person without any inconvenience, just by saying a word. If you’re willing, you can become my teacher and teach me what you know. I was just getting bored because I didn’t have anything of interest.”

Shara’s words sounded like a temptation. No matter who the other party was, it didn’t feel bad to be needed. But at the same time, he felt uncomfortable, as if he was being looked down upon.

“Don’t get carried away.”

Shara lifted her stiffened face.

“You don’t like it?”

“What guarantee is there in the words of someone among the enemy? Think a little more about your own position. Right now, I’m the one keeping you alive.”

Shara narrowed her eyes challengingly.

“If you dislike me that much, why don’t you try leaving me behind?”

Accepting the provocation, Shuou glared back strongly.

“You think I can’t?”

After exchanging glances, Shara’s expression softened.

“Ah, you probably can’t—you’re the kind of person who would hold back in a serious match against the foremost swordsman standing at the heights of the Southern Mountains.”

“…He wasn’t an opponent I could—”

“At the end of the match, I clearly saw the blade caressing that old general’s neck, touching his exposed life. At that moment, I was convinced of your victory, but the next moment, I saw that gentleman moving around vigorously and tilted my head.”

“…………”

“At first, I thought it was something you calculated. But seeing your attitude towards Lord Ba Ryouki, I knew it was different. You respected that old man. Even if it was a result, it was that person who saved you from the hands of my father, A Zan. Swayed by that debt, you couldn’t take his life. You held back.”

Nothing. Shuou couldn’t say a single word in response.

Shara laughed as if triumphant.

“Do you think I followed a man I don’t know well without thinking anything? You are weak to emotion. You become reserved with those you owe. You can’t abandon me, who protected you from the hands of the avenger until the match and gave you food. If strongly desired, you feel guilty for refusing. It’s because I thought you were that kind of person that I wanted to accompany you on this peculiar act of walking in the Abyssal Forest. I won’t be frightened by cheap threats at this point.”

Seeing Shara speaking with eyes like burning flames, he realized one thing. This girl hates losing terribly.

Shuou looked up at the dark sky.

“I understand, enough. Let’s sleep a little.”

It was a word to encourage going to bed, and at the same time, a word to indicate surrender.

Waking up at a time that could hardly be called morning, he shook Shara, who was snoring, and forcibly woke her up. The sight of her hurriedly wiping the drool spilling from her mouth was rare for her, who was usually aloof, and somehow made him feel like he had gained something.

After quenching his thirst with dew from leaves that had accumulated the humidity of the night, he urged the sleepy Shara, who was still half-closing her eyes, and started walking again.

Finding and avoiding marks asserting the territory of Rabidaemons, running through paths that could only be walked while holding one’s breath. On the steep path of the Abyss, they proceeded at a pace close to a light jog, but Shara, who was following behind in tension on the unfamiliar path, called out for a break as if she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can’t we rest a little…”

“We won’t rest.”

Without lending an ear, Shuou slipped through the trees without stopping.

“Why do you need to hurry so much?”

Shara raised her voice in protest with her breath almost running out.

Shuou honestly told her what he was thinking.

“Your father might do something to the comrades I left behind. That’s why I’m in a hurry.”

“My father—yes, that’s the kind of thing he would do.”

“…You’re not defending him.”

“Whoever the other party is, I don’t want to be blind. My father, A Zan, is a weak person. He desires a promotion that doesn’t match his stature, and because he obtained it, he’s suffering.”

“It’s not a pleasant experience for those who are used as an outlet for that.”

Shara laughed self-deprecatingly.

“That’s true. There are probably people in the world who take pleasure in acts of cruelty. But I believe my father was not originally that kind of person. He has a weak heart and is abnormally sensitive to the subtleties of others’ minds. As an outlet for the accumulated fatigue, irritation, and mental burden of being in the position of commanding general, he chose the shameful act of tormenting the weak—but even though you may think he’s an incompetent person, he’s good at counting money. He has enough brains to manage the base without inconvenience. If he had lived a life as a merchant, who knows how much money he would have saved.”

Behind the accusing words, he felt a small, smoldering warmth. Whether consciously or not, Shara was defending her father in her own way. She was seeking understanding from him, whom she hated as an enemy. That’s what he felt.

“No matter what I hear, I dislike him.”

Shara replied with a single “hmm.”

“Hearing honest words makes me feel much better.”

As they proceeded without stopping, Shara spoke as if talking to herself.

“Even I, as his daughter, can’t truly think of him as a father. He dislikes moving his body, likes overeating, and always seems to be aiming higher, but behind that, he barely maintains his mental balance by using beastly hobbies as an outlet for his weakness. I usually call my father ‘Commander Father.’ It’s because I feel like I can’t respect that person unless I verbally state that he is my father and has the status of being the commander of a country…”

Shuou said nothing. In the first place, he had no memory of his birth parents, so even when he heard Shara’s story of her feelings toward her father, he only felt like he was following a story written in a book with his eyes. For him, the existence of parents was tantamount to a fantasy tale.

As he listened to Shara’s complaints and exposed thoughts, Shuou’s eyes, amidst his idle thoughts, suddenly noticed a certain discomfort. He quickly crouched down and restrained Shara.

“There it is—”

Finding a huge trace on the ground, as if something had been dragged, Shuou’s voice bounced.

“I see… I’m starting to get a faint idea of your purpose.”

Ignoring Shara’s words, Shuou quietly stuck his face into the thicket ahead and saw a plaza where reddish-black mushrooms were growing in clusters, and there was a giant Rabidaemon shaped like a pillbug. This Rabidaemon had the characteristic of relentlessly chasing its prey once it was determined, until it swallowed them into its belly. Shuou called this Rabidaemon “round bug” from the way it curled up into its hard and highly flexible carapace.

“I don’t even need to ask, but you’re planning to take that with you, right?”

Shuou nodded.

“Despite its rushing power, its legs are slow. It’s also weak to sudden changes in terrain, so even if chased, human legs that can make quick turns can escape without much difficulty.”

He had no interest in revenge. This was just one of the methods he had been considering to rescue his captured comrades. When he unexpectedly became free, he first thought of returning to Murakumo and seeking help for the rescue, but judging from the fact that they hadn’t made any proper counterattack since the defeat, he predicted that it would be reckless to expect a large country to rescue a small number of civilians mixed with mercenaries. There was also the option of relying on Duchess Adulelia, with whom he had connections, but that would take too much time.

“You intend to lure that into the vortex and take advantage of the confusion to save your comrades? Is that what you call your ‘comrades’—something you want to get back so badly?”

There was a thorn in Shara’s words. Depending on how one took it, it could also be felt as if she was making fun of him.

“They’re comrades because we’re together. What’s wrong with trying to get back those who have been separated?”

Shara still pressed on.

“Don’t you have plenty of those so-called comrades if you return to Murakumo? Is it worth exposing yourself to danger as a decoy and returning alone to the heart of the enemy’s camp?”

“…It is.”

“What’s the basis for that?”

“…They’re my comrades. I’ll get them back myself.”

Shara let out an exasperated sigh.

“Haven’t you ever been told that you’re an idiot?”

Shuou lowered all the parts of his face and glared at Shara out of the corner of his eye.

“What do you want to say?”

“I’m saying you’re an idiot. Someone who can calculate wouldn’t take such risks for the sake of the masses. Is this what you’re doing, leaving the safe path back to Murakumo and rejecting the invitation of a young and beautiful princess?”

Receiving a moist gaze, Shuou pursed his lips like a child making excuses.

“Even I don’t always think about such things. It’s just that when I saw them there… locked up like animals in a cage among the enemy, I couldn’t stand it. What’s wrong with thinking of getting them back? Do I always have to live with answers in my own heart?”

In the low-voiced exchange, they both realized they were getting heated up. Seeing Shara about to open her mouth again, Shuou grabbed her arm tightly.

“Are you lining up words because you want to stop what I’m trying to do?”

Depending on the answer.

When he met her gaze with a certain resolve, Shara showed a dignified smile and shook her head.

“No. To be honest, my feeling is that if you can do such a thing, then go ahead and try. If you can really do something about a huge fortress teeming with fierce warriors all by yourself, then show me. Regardless of the result, I want to see it.”

Shuou believed there was no lie in those words. He tightened his mouth.

He picked up a well-built stone rolling at his feet and confidently leaned out of the thicket.

“Hey, aren’t you hungry?!”

He shouted, knowing it wouldn’t understand, and threw the rock he was holding at the curled up, hard-looking back. A dull sound like rock hitting rock was heard, and the Rabidaemon shook its body. As it turned around and stretched out its curled back, Shuou looked up at its figure and gaped. From somewhere inside its body, long legs and arms extended. Ten slender legs on each side and a sickle-shaped foreleg extending from its chest were raised high as if to reach the top of a giant gray tree.

A cold sweat trickled down his spine.

Adult.

The round bug that he had thought to be dull-witted and easy to feed up until now was a newborn. Amane, who had given him knowledge about the Abyss, had always encouraged practical experience, but if she had deliberately not told him about this, he wanted to resent her for it now.

While making an eerie threatening sound from inside its shell, a fly-like head rose up. The compound eyes, which are organs unique to insects that emit a reddish-black light, were staring intently at them. Its giant guillotine-like teeth were being raised and lowered, making a pleasant sound. It seemed to be doing preparatory exercises for the predatory behavior it was about to perform. With a roaring sound, the Rabidaemon thrust its huge body forward.

This is bad.

Shuou ran. As he plunged into the thicket, he shouted at Shara, who was waiting.

“We’re running away!”

“Ah!?”

The sound of the Rabidaemon’s footsteps coming from behind, resembling a heavy rain, warned that there was not a shred of leisure to hold hands. If they couldn’t keep up, they would just die. Shuou burst through the thicket as if exploding. Shara, who should have been left behind, however, leaped out one step ahead, taking advantage of her extraordinary leg strength.

The Rabidaemon, breaking through the thicket with tremendous force, came charging forward, making a roaring sound as it crashed its body against the lined-up trees.

Shara, who was running ahead, turned around and raised her voice in protest.

“If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead!”

“I know. You were bragging about being confident in your legs, weren’t you?!”

“In my explosive power! These legs aren’t suited for long-distance running!”

“Who cares, either way, if we stop, it’s over. If you don’t want to die, just run!”

The Rabidaemon still came charging, deftly avoiding huge rock shelters and complexly lined-up trees. With human legs that could crawl through narrow spaces, they were barely able to keep running and maintain a small distance by running at full speed, which was a dire situation. If they took one wrong step, it wouldn’t be surprising if their torso was torn in half inside the Rabidaemon’s mouth the next moment.

“This isn’t what we talked about—it’s incredibly agile, isn’t it?”

Shuou thought of several excuses and swallowed them all. Considering the fear of having to sprint through the danger-filled Abyss with legs that were already about to scream, it wouldn’t be a wise move to further disturb his breathing unnecessarily. To Shara, who was running alongside him, expecting some kind of words, Shuou spat out just one phrase, as if throwing it away.

“That’s why I told you you’d regret it—”