Published at 22nd of January 2020 4:17 pm

Volume 3, Chapter 2: The Encounter With the Girl Part 2

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Three days later.

An unusually bright night was leading the way to tomorrow.

Milk was holding her breath from where she was crouched in a forest thicket.

(Taboo breakers were here… they were really here…)

She found them quickly. Just like the information had stated, there were two of them. One was a tall and lanky black haired man whose slouched back made him look awfully lazy. The other was a delicate swordswoman with unbelievably beautiful long blonde hair.

“…They’re taboo breakers,” she whispered to herself. Her pulse quickened.

U, uwah, she was nervous…

She put a hand on her chest and groaned. It had been a long time since she last felt like this. It was the same feeling she’d had when she was on the verge of death during her training and during exams. There were taboo breakers before her very eyes. She was more nervous than she’d ever imagined she’d be.

Because they’d soon have to enter a life-or-death battle with the taboo breakers…

And when that happened… Luke, Lach, Moe, and Lear… would all be in danger.

She wasn’t this nervous when her life was the only one on the line. But they’d all entrusted their lives to her.

N-no… what should she do…?

She shook her head real big at her weakness.

(C-calm down, Milk. You can do this! Yeah! It’ll be okay. I’ll beat ‘em in seconds flat!)

She gave herself instructions from within her thicket. It’d go well. It’d go well as long as she followed her training to the letter and no one would get hurt!

Luke spoke to her quietly from behind. “Chief. I can’t see it perfectly from here, but their armor certainly bears Roland’s crest.”

“Then they really are taboo breakers?” Milk asked and turned back to study them one more time. They were digging at the ground with a shovel exactly as their information suggested. With that, Luke’s smuggling theory disappeared. Perhaps they’d hidden stolen goods here?

Whatever they were doing, it smelled fishy. And she could sense that despite the man’s lazy, listless movements he was someone who could hurl another person in desperation.

Getting them to straightforwardly obey would be… “tough, huh,” Milk whispered to herself.

What was going to happen? They still hadn’t noticed them, so they’d stage a surprise attack and apprehend them. Wouldn’t that be the most efficient way? Then how should they divide their power? She could think of two plans.

Option one: since they didn’t know their opponent’s strength, they could come at them all together rather than splitting up. They’d have a higher survival rate that way.

Option two: believe in the abilities of Luke and the others and surround them from all sides. This plan would make it harder for their targets to escape, but Luke and the others would be in more danger since they might have to fight one-on-one…

So which plan should she choose?

“What should we do, Chief?” Luke asked.

“Huh? Oh, um… what should I do, Luke?” Milk asked, flustered by his sudden question.

“Please decide, Chief. Should we attack? Or should we continue watching for a while longer?”

She thought about it again at his prompting. She’d already decided on that front. It’d be bad if they kept watching and their targets noticed them so they had no option but to attack now. It’d be bad if dawn broke, too. Surprise attacks were most effective under the cover of night. They had to attack soon. The only question was if they should do it as one or split up…

Milk glanced at Luke then back to their targets.

Did she value her mission more or the safety of her friends…?

Milk’s expression became determined. “All troops advance. We’re ambushing them.”

“Understood,” Luke said and disappeared back into the thickets. Some time later he came back with Lach, Lear, and Moe. Everyone was combat ready. Luke made sure of that and then faced Milk. “Your orders, Chief.”

“Oh, um, uhh, riiiight~,” Milk said and looked up at the sky. The clouds had slightly obscured the moon, leaving the world in a deeper darkness than before. “First we’ll restrain them with magic. Then Luke, Lach, and Lear will attack with swords. I’ll take care of the magic, so Moe, you’re on cover duty.”

Luke and the others nodded, satisfied, and soon set her tactics into motion.

Milk raised her hand before her to draw a complicated design in the air. It was a magic circle typical of the Roland Empire’s magic and she was faster than most at drawing it. “I wish for thunder - Lightning Flash!”

In an instant, a harsh light was born in her magic circle. It crashed like a thunder strike as it fired towards their targets!

Or at least it was supposed to…

But the lazy man had turned towards them at the last second and drew a magic circle of his own that swallowed Milk’s spell up.

“What!?” Milk and her subordinates shouted at once.

“D-did they notice us?”

“No… even if they did, they shouldn’t have had the time for that… I think,” Luke said.

Then what had just happened?

Milk’s magic was pretty amazing, to put it bluntly, and this had greatly overwhelmed her ability.

Someone who could not only notice that she was casting magic at the speed she moved but also react quickly enough to counter with antimagic while they were hidden and sneak attacking… wasn’t human.

Everyone understood that fact in an instant. So it was a great attack to Milk and her subordinates.

In the first place, antimagic was so difficult that it wasn’t practical. It required knowing what spell one was being attacked with by looking at it, then understanding what effect would counter it, then knowing which spell would have the desired cancellation effect in response… there was no such thing as a human who could do that.

If there were such a human… they’d be such a talented magician that they were impossible to control. A monster…

This was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad!?

What could she do? She had to protect everyone…

The blond women slowly unsheathed her sword in response to Milk’s attack.

“This is bad!” Luke yelled. “Protect the Chief—”

Luke couldn’t finish the rest of his sentence. The swordswomen flew towards them unbelievably fast and struck his back with the blunt side of her sword. He fainted.

Then the swordswoman did the same to her three remaining subordinates until Milk was the only one left…

Milk could only stare in shock.

Unbelievable. Her sword was too fast to even see, and now Luke and the others were collapsed on the ground…

She couldn’t protect them. But she wasn’t dead yet. So…

She watched the blonde swordswoman as she approached her. She’d be killed!

She was resigned to that fact after only a moment of watching her. But… she took another look at her subordinates where they lay on the ground.

And then those words echoed in her head. Those words that boy had told her at the orphanage. “You can’t die either.”

She’d been able to live because those words supported her.

There was no way she could die here, having failed to protect her friends. There was no way she could die…

The woman raised her sword above her head.

“I hate this!” Milk yelled. “No! I can’t be killed! There are still things I have to do…”

That was as far as her words made it. She frantically tried to draw a magic circle, but the swordswoman thrust her sword at her.

“Whether you’ll be killed and whether you have unfinished business or not are entirely different matters,” the unbelievably beautiful woman said, strangely lacking any expression…

She had the face of an assassin. Someone who had killed off all of her emotions and now lived only to kill…

Milk didn’t think she could win. Not against the next level strength of both this beauty and the motivationless man from before…

But…

“But, but even so, I can’t be killed!!”

“Mm. Is that so. Then run.”

“Huh?” Milk hadn’t expected her to say that at all.

The beauty continued disinterestedly, her expression urging Milk to move, pointing back with a single finger. “The dumb looking guy back there is a sex maniac. If you don’t run now, he’ll catch you and do horrible things beyond what you can imagine…”

“Hey, don’t go calling me a sex maniac.”

That voice… and that way of speaking made her jump. She’d heard it before.

It was a voice tired of living, one devoid of motivation. But it was actually very kind…

What was she saying! That couldn’t be right! Because these were taboo breakers! They’d easily deflected her magic! They were dangerous!

Oh, but… it was possible that he could deflect her magic like that. But there was no way he was a sex maniac or an enemy of women! There was no way he’d leave her to have an affair abroad with this beauty!

And then it finally dawned on her. She was hearing that boy’s voice… Ryner’s voice now because she was on the verge of death. After all… it was possible that Ryner had already died. He must have come to get her.

She prepared herself for death. She would die here. But… but if that was the case… it looked like she had one final duty. There was no way she could let a sex maniac do as he pleased! And she needed to make things a little easier on her team when they woke up so they could escape alright. She had to wound these two somehow…

The sex maniac had come up to her. He was surely checking her out.

“What’re you doing, you lecher!? If you think I’ll let you do whatever you want without a fight, you’re wrong… huh…”

However—

“…What?”

Milk looked deeply into his face. She was petrified. She looked at his black hair, his lazy expression… She really did recall his face. And the means by which he was able to react to Milk’s magic had even floated to the forefront of his eyes: a red pentagram…

That power… that everyone feared and loathed…

Her body trembled. This was… crazy…

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That pentagram, that black hair… Are you really Ryner?”

“Nngh? How do you know my name?” He asked and looked at her, puzzled.

No way… it was really him. It was Ryner in the flesh. Milk suddenly felt dizzy. They gazed at each other for some time… and then the expressionless girl interrupted.

“Mm. So you know each other. They did attack us a minute ago though, Ryner.”

“That’s wrong!” Milk and Ryner yelled in unison.

Milk scrunched up her face and stared at the beauty. What was up with this woman? There was no way Ryner would do those things. Geez, they didn’t have the time for that dumb stuff…

After all, Ryner was right before her eyes. She’d always, always been searching for him. Always, always wanted to meet him. Always wanted to thank him. And now that he was here… what should she do? What should she say? Should she talk about how things have been for her up until now? About what happened after she left the orphanage? Or even… about their promise to get married…?

Uwah… s-she couldn’t just say that all of a sudden. That was a promise between kids. More importantly, what should she try and look like now for him? If she’d known this was going to happen, she would’ve done her makeup better.

W-what should she talk about, what should she say…?

Milk’s head was spinning. “S-so that means you’re really the real Ryner? Ryner Lute? From Roland’s Special Institute #307…?”

Ryner was surprised. “Huh, so you know about that place. So who are you?”

Milk felt like she’d collapse from dizziness. “Huh? You mean… you don’t remember me? It’s Milk! I’m Milk!”

Ryner’s eyes widened briefly like he’d realized something, but… “Ah, aaah, umm… so who was that again?”

“Y-you can’t be serious, right? T-then that means you forgot that, too, right? See, when I was sold to the nobility, we made a p-p-promise to get married…”

As soon as Milk stuttered that out, the beauty from Ryner’s side spoke with the same expressionless face as before. “What, so you’ve been luring girls with promises of marriage from that young age—”

“I haven’t!” Ryner said, tired as always. “But anyway, well, guess that’s how it is. Let’s do it. You know, Ferris, that.”

He exchanged a look with the blonde named Ferris. “Mm. Right.”

They both held Milk still and then tied her up with a rope Ryner brought. “Huh? Wait, is this… this is a joke, right, Ryner? Um… I…”

They tied Luke, Lach, Lear, and Moe up once they were done with Milk. She just stared in shock. What was happening? Why would Ryner do this?

“So do you know this teenager or not?” Ferris asked.

Ryner groaned as he looked at her in deep concentration. “Umm…”

“You still haven’t remembered!?”

“No… it’s no use. I don’t remember. Anyway, we must’ve gone to the same orphanage, made a promise to get married, and then you were sold to the nobility, right? And then you really wanted to marry me no matter what so you came after me, right?”

“N-no! That’s wrong! I-it’s true that we promised to get married, but… t-that was just something between kids… we were just childhood friends…”

S-she really just said that. Even though she’d been living up until now just so she could meet him again…

Had those days in the orphanage been meaningless for Ryner…? How could that be…

Then Ferris opened her mouth. “So why would the childhood friend of a horrible man who threw her away come and attack us?”

“Thrown awa… I wasn’t thrown away! We were just kids… uu…”

A sword came flying towards her, stopping only just before her neck. This woman was unbelievably dangerous. She was certainly beautiful, but her strength was no joke. She moved in a way that was fatal to mages: no matter how strong of a spell she could cast, if this woman got to her before she could finish casting it, it was over. Milk was unable to win against her.

And even Ryner…

The dangerous beauty cut her off. “Enough of that. Just answer me.”

Milk looked to where Luke and the others were passed out. If she didn’t answer now, her allies might be in danger. That was how dangerous this woman was.

She could betray her country or betray her friends. Those were Milk’s two choices.

She chose without hesitation.

“I’m chief of a Taboo Hunter team, and as you’re presently taboo breakers, we followed you out of Roland. T-that’s all there is too it! Killing me or my subordinates would be meaningless! All that’d happen is that they’d lose contact with us back home, and since we already sent the information about your location back, another Taboo Hunter team would come for you in our place!”

That was a lie. They hadn’t told their country that Ryner was here yet so the chase against them would end if Milk’s team was killed here. But there was no other way if she wanted to save her friends…

Ryner was astonished. “H-hah!? W, what’s up with this, Ferris!? Roland’s after us? But we’re only here because of Sion’s orders in the first place—”

The dangerous beauty’s sword flashed. Though Milk could hardly see it, her swordsmanship was brilliant. Her sword stopped the width of a piece of paper away from Ryner’s neck. “You sure are in trouble~ so you better start talking now or else…”

Ryner was tired. Filled with despair. “No, I—”

His words only made it halfway out. In that moment, Milk understood the situation. So that’s what was going on!

Ryner was captured by this ferocious, ill-natured beauty and silenced then threatened and used. She had to be using some weakness of his against him…

If she thought of it like that then all the mysterious pieces fit together. He pretended to not know or remember Milk to keep her from getting on this dangerous woman’s bad side…

W-what should she do? She had to save Ryner. Nobody else could save him anymore! Only she could do it!

Think, Milk! Ryner had to be trying to send her some kind of message in their conversation. After all, he’d always been so smart. He was a hero who always had the best grades at the end of the day no matter what kind of situation they’d just been through.

What was it that Ryner said earlier? “But we’re only here because of Sion’s orders in the first place…” and then Ferris cut him off.

‘Sion’ had to be the keyword there. He was probably the boss of the criminal organization that was using Ryner. Then how was that criminal organization using him…?

Milk’s worrying thoughts swirled around in her head as Ryner and Ferris continued their conversation.

Ferris withdrew her sword and returned it to its scabbard with a fluid motion. “Save what’s not necessary for later. We’re being chased by Roland, so Nelpha’s army may attack us as well. But we can’t kill without orders. If we kill people from our own country, it will be tried as homicide. If we kill people from another country, there’s a chance it could ignite a war. It’s a dangerous situation. If you understand, then hurry up and get back to your job. Get to digging.”

“W-wait, okay? Why’re you t—”

Wham!

“Ohh alright alright. I’ll do it. You want me to do it, right!? So put your sword away!”

“H-hey, wait you guys! Undo this rope!” Milk yelled. But Ryner and Ferris easily ignored her.

---

“Ugh, I’m tired. My arms are sore. Enough. How many holes have I dug since yesterday?”

“Seven.”

“And they were all misses? Well, obviously, right?”

“You did say it’d be here, didn’t you?”

“But like… it’s a two hundred year old legend, right~? There definitely was a heroic relic here, buuut,” Ryner complained to the beautiful swordswoman as they dug holes - he did so sluggish and she did so bored and expressionlessly, “I’m just saying that this is a heroic relic. It’s not like we’ll find it quickly just by digging all these holes. I mean I know I’m the one who suggested we dig for it, but like… whatever, I guess talking about this is pretty pointless. I mean, Roland’s chasing us over some kinda misunderstanding and all…”

He stole a glance to where they’d thrown Milk and heaved a small sigh.

“Let’s give up and go home, okay? I’m telling you, this is a bust. It’s a bust it’s a bust it’s a bust—”

At that moment, Ryner’s words were cut off but the sound of his shovel hitting metal. Ferris raised her face to look at him. They were silent for a moment.

“A-are you serious?” Ryner said, half-laughing.

Ferris shrugged. It was hard to tell because of her absolute expressionlessness, but it looked like that was supposed to be how she showed surprise. They kept digging at it, and…

“S-seriously…?”

They unearthed something like a dagger. The blade portion of it was made of some blue inorganic matter they’d never seen before, and it didn’t appear to have any purpose but to cut, and it did have something like a hilt so it was kinda like a dagger, but…

“Is this the heroic relic you said would be here? The sword?” Ferris asked. “It doesn’t look anything like a sword…”

Ryner ignored her. His expression had been tired and apathetic until now but as he investigated the dagger for the first time, he looked honestly interested. “What is this material…? There’s a faint design engraved here, too…”

“What is it? Does it line up with your thesis?”

“…Don’t be so impatient. I don’t know whether it’s the real deal or not yet. I can’t tell anything with my Alpha Stigma either. There are traces of some sort of power being applied to it, but… hm? Ah, what if I do this…?”

They mumbled at each other like so as they looked it over.

At that time, Milk was frantically trying to wiggle free of the rope Ryner and Ferris had tied her up in. She managed to throw herself at Luke and the others while wiggling like some kind of worm. “Hey, wake up! Luke, Lach, Lear, Moe!” She said loudly.

The first to wake was Luke. “Uu… Chief Milk! You’re safe!”

“Yeah! How about you, Luke? You’re unhurt? You’re okay?”

Luke twisted his neck to check that it was injured after being hit with that sword. “I seem to be fine. But… what in the world—”

“I’ll explain later. Let’s take care of everyone else first.”

They woke the others one after another until everyone was up.

“Uwah!” Moe said. “We’re all wrapped up!”

“Kgh… take that! Ugh, I can’t cut it,” Lach said.

Last was Lear who tried to tug at the ropes with his wrists. They made a strange sound like an animal’s cry, but he shook his head. “It’s no use. I can’t pull free even though I can move my wrists. These taboo breakers aren’t run of the mill guys.”

There was another one of those sounds as he pulled his joints…

Moe grimaced. “Um… Lear, is that the sound of your wrist dislocating?

“Hm? Yes, it is…”

“Uwah… that has to hurt. Are you okay? You don’t look concerned at all…”

“You can’t dislocate your wrists?” Lach asked. “Didn’t you learn that at the start of your military training?”

“What!? I didn’t! And I don’t wanna learn that! Hey, Chief Milk. You never had to do that kind of painful training, right?”

“Huh? I was taught to dislocate pretty much anything except for my neck.”

Their team fell into an uproar at Milk’s easy confession.

“E-everything?” Luke asked.

Lear could only shake his head. “I’m once again struck by how severe the path our Chief has walked until now was…”

“Your whole body?” Lach asked.

“I-I can’t even imagine how painful that must be,” Moe said.

Milk examined their surroundings. They didn’t have the time for this kind of leisurely conversation. They had to figure out how to save Ryner. They had to figure out how to get out of this rope before they could confront that dangerous beauty…

Then she heard a voice approaching.

“This should be the way those Roland spies from this morning went, right?”

“Those guys even went as far as to use magic on the patrol when they attacked our Nelphan fort… it’s like they’re making fun of us!”

“Yeah. We’ll teach them a lesson! We’ll catch them and ask why they were sneaking around in that fort and what they’re doing slinking around this place. We’ll make them confess everything. And we’ll capture that beauty… heh, heheheh. That’s why we came with this brigade of fifty men.”

Soon all of Milk’s team held their breath.

“Hm,” Luke said quietly. “Nelphan soldiers. We’re Taboo Hunters here with Nelphan permission so there shouldn’t be a problem even if they capture us, but we don’t have time to prove all that. If we did the taboo breakers would escape…”

Milk ignored him and faced the direction of the Nelphan troops. They were looking for Ryner. This was bad. Ryner and Ferris were doing something really suspicious here, no doubt about that, and now there were fifty Nelphan soldiers out to catch them… To catch Ryner…

This was absolutely terrible!!

What should she do? The Nelphan army was going to capture him even though he was innocent and…

The word ‘death’ rose to the front of her mind. They’d kill Ryner if they caught him…

Milk shook her head, flustered. There was no way she’d let that happen. She definitely absolutely wouldn’t let that happen!

She could still make it. They should still be able to get away as long as she told them about the Nelphan soldiers now.

If she did it now, then…

Her team would be fine if they were caught. Ryner wouldn’t be.

“In any case, we should roll away from here,” Luke said. “That way the Nelphan soldiers won’t find us…”

She wasn’t listening to him at all. She just… she just had to protect Ryner!

She opened her mouth as wide as possible. “B-bathroom!”

“Huh?” Luke said, surprised.

“What!? Don’t you think a girl would be embarrassed being tied up like this!? Perverts! Hurry up and untie me! I’m begging you to come untie me! A girl has all sorts of business she has to take care of! L-like… going to the bathroom… see what you’re making me say!!”

“C-chief. This is enemy territory, okay? Please… refrain from speaking so loudly!”

But Luke’s words were in vain. Milk’s feelings had reached the Nelphan army.

“Found ‘em! Over there! Round ‘em all up! We’ll make them pay for what they did!”

“You’re kidding!” Lach yelled. “This has got to be a joke!”

“What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!?” Moe yelled.

Lear narrowed his eyes. “Chief, why…?” He turned to Luke for confirmation.

Luke nodded, then looked to Milk. “What’s the meaning of this, Chief?” Luke asked. He did so kindly even in a situation like this.

Milk lowered her head instinctively. She couldn’t say anything. Ryner was being chased by Roland, after all… But she couldn’t lie to Luke and the others either. They were just too kind…

Even now, Luke smiled at her kindly. “I see. It seems like there are extenuating circumstances. That’s fine. We’ll always be on your side, Chief. Now let’s think of what we should do about our situation.”

What a thing to say for her… Milk bit her lip. “Um, Luke…”

“Who’re these guys!” Someone else yelled. “They aren’t the ones from this morning!”

“But they’re wearing Roland’s coat of arms too. They’re probably in cahoots with those brats.”

A huge number of Nelphan troops surrounded them.

Milk, flustered, tried to think of an excuse, but Luke beat her to it with a calm and collected tone. “Please calm down. We aren’t suspicious in the slighte—”

“You lying Rolander son of a bitch! Just because our kings are friends doesn't mean you can go sending spies! I’m not some fucking idiot, I’ll never believe Rolander scum like you!”

“Please wait! We really aren’t suspicious!” Luke said, frantically trying to get their excuse out. “We’re Taboo Hunters with Nelphan permission to pursue taboo breakers—”

Crack! A thunderous noise echoed through the trees as an intense light sparked in the heavens and then the flash of lightning cracked through the sky above them. It was so bright that it was dazzling. Disorienting.

The Nelphan soldiers all looked up at the sky and started talking over each other.

“U-uwaah!?”

“W-what was that!?”

“Wasn’t that… Lightning Flash? One of Roland’s spells—”

His words cut off and disappeared. The same happened to Nelphan soldiers all around them - their words cut off and vanished into nothing…

Milk and Luke exchanged a glance. They understood the situation.

A peculiar silencing spell had been used. It was a Rolander spell called Dark Garden. Their country had used it against Estabul in the war - it was developed to make it so that Estabul couldn’t cast any magic during battles. All that it did was stop vibrations in the air. That made it seem like a relatively simple spell, but… that was all it took to make the Nelphan soldiers fall into disarray.

They’d been shocked with the lightning and then trapped in a soundless world to solidify their fear. And then, sometime later, sound returned…

“W-what’s happening!?”

“This is bad! It’s an enemy! It’s gotta be an enemy!”

The Nelphan soldiers were already in a state of complete panic.

Luke was shocked, too. “That was undeniably Roland’s magic… but what does that mean? It couldn’t have been the taboo breakers, right? They’d have no reason to save Taboo Hunters…

Those words made Milk’s whole body shiver.

That was right. They shouldn’t have come to save her. Ryner said he didn’t remember her… but he actually…

Augh! And after she’d gone though all that trouble to make sure he could escape! She would have been fine even if they captured her…

That’s what she thought, but for some reason, her face relaxed.

And then… one of the Nelphan troops collapsed.

H-he was here!? Ryner had come to save her…

But the one who appeared was the blonde beauty, gracefully swinging her sword around to defeat the soldiers. It was only her - the woman named Ferris.

She’d come to protect Milk from the Nelphan soldiers…

“Huh!?”

What the heck!? Why was she saving Milk!?

She couldn’t understand that. What did it mean?

I-it couldn’t be, but… what if she wasn’t a bad guy using Ryner but instead… his lover…?

Ryner finally came running listlessly towards her. Milk spoke without speaking as soon as she saw him. “Ryner, you idiot! What are you doing? I can’t believe this! You hurried to save me, right!? What would you have done if I wet myself!?”

Even though Ryner worked hard and finally, finally came to save her… Those were her feelings as a maiden…

What were Ryner and that girl even doing in the thickets up until now? Just thinking about it brought Milk to the brink of tears.

“Uu… you’re calling your savior an idiot? I kinda feel like I’m wasting away…”

N-no… “A, anyway, hurry up and untie me! This is an order! I may not look it, but I’m chief here…”

“I-if you understand your situation, then please be a little quieter,” Ryner said. “We finally got them off our asses and you’re still over here making a fuss…”

Then that woman spoke with the same monotone as always. “We’re already too late.”

“Huh?” Ryner said without thinking and turned back to look at the Nelphan troops. They were already reorganizing themselves. They were armed with swords, axes, clubs; all sorts of weapons.

“So you bastards were allies! Die, you damned Rolander spies!”

“T-this is all a misunderstanding,” Luke said. “But why in the world are taboo breakers saving us…?

The Nelphan soldiers leapt for Ryner, weapons at the ready.

“S-s-seriously!? U, uwawaah!” Ryner yelled and just barely managed to dodge. He’d have been dead meat if he were a second later. He pulled something strange out of his pocket as he avoided their attacks. It was made of a strange inorganic blue. It was something like a dagger but it was hard to pinpoint where the blade ended and the hilt began. But it was even harder to imagine it was anything but a weapon.

“Huh?” Milk said. “But even if you fight them, it’s not like you can win…”

Sure enough, soldiers soon crowded around him, swinging their weapons. “Shit,” Ryner said. “What should I do, Ferr—”

Just then, something unbelievable happened.

One of the soldiers’ clubs connected with Ryner’s head and sent him flying. His whole body danced in midair… and when he smashed back into the ground he didn’t move at all. He was like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The club had hit his head hard at a dangerous angle… and there was a real possibility that he’d die.

“Th… this can’t… be real…”

She couldn’t believe it.

Just when they were finally reunited. She hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him anything yet. She couldn’t tell him how thankful she was or how much she really loved him… she couldn’t tell him anything about her true feelings.

Ryner was…

“N-nooooo!! Ryner!?” Milk screamed without thinking.

Next was that beauty. She sounded like she was enjoying this. “Oh, he finally died? Nice.”

Unbelievable. Why would she say that!? She knew that Ryner had been killed, and yet…! There was no way she was his lover! She had to be using him.

Ryner was… Ryner was…

As if in response to the beauty’s voice, Ryner rose his head to face her and got up slowly. “Hey! I could’ve really been killed!”

What a thing to say… All Milk could do was stare dumbfounded.

No way… He shouldn’t be able to stand after that…? No, more importantly, did the beauty know he’d be fine…?

Milk looked to Ferris who clicked her tongue once. “You lived. I’m glad,” Ferris said, a little disappointed.

“…But you don’t sound even a little happy?”

“Don’t worry about that. If you were capable of dying here you would have died from my sword twenty thousand times over by now.”

“Then hold back a little when you hit me,” Ryner said.

“Mm. Leaving the jokes aside… this situation is pretty bad, Ryner. It’s difficult to deal with this many men while protecting the girl you threw away as well. Do something about it.”

“Hah!? Do what?”

“It’s simple. What’s that item you just found? A hero’s sword, no? Then that makes you, who now owns it, a hero, yes? So you can do something about this, can’t you?”

“What kind of reasoning is that? I haven’t even gotten to investigate this thing at all yet. I don’t know how to make it work.”

“Then investigate it now.”

“I don’t have the time for that in this situati—”

“I’ll cover for you,” Ferris said. She stepped forward, putting herself between Ryner and the enemy army as if to protect him.

Milk was at a loss for words. What kind of relationship did those two have…?

Ryner fiddled around with the dagger in his hands in the meantime. “This is absurd,” he muttered. “I don’t even know if anything will come of investigating… whoa!?”

Ferris thrust her sword at Ryner for an instant before turning it back towards the enemy army. “The next time you complain, your head and body are getting a divorce.”

“Uu… Yes, ma’am…”

Ryner panicked and set to investigating the dagger’s pattern. He studied it frantically, exactly as Ferris ordered him to. He really earnestly investigated, investigated, and investigated…

And then, at last!

“I dooooonnn’ttt geeeettt iiiitt!! There’s no way I can analyze it in a tight situation like this!” Ryner yelled, giving up easily. Then he threw the dagger to the ground, his expression clearly labelling it too much of a pain. The dagger’s tip planted in the ground…

Hiiiiiiiiiiiihhh!!!

The dagger emitted a high-pitched noise as it spun around, burying itself within the earth.

“What!?” Milk yelled.

There was a brief moment between when that happened and when the next oddity occured. The earth began to shake with great vigor.

“Eh? Huh, what? What is this, what’s happening!?”

Luke spoke next from behind her. “What is this…?”

Lach, Lear, Moe, and the entire Nelphan brigade all screamed at the catastrophic shaking. Only Ryner remained composed…

What were they doing? What did Ryner get himself into?

Milk wanted to ask, but Ferris looked to Ryner and beat her to it. “What did you do?”

“Who knows?” Ryner said easily.

And then… something happened. A massive pillar of fire rose from the hole the dagger disappeared into. No… not just a pillar. It had a massive jaw with sharp fangs and blood red eyes…

The pillar of fire had taken a dragon’s shape. It opened its huge mouth and screamed. It was a roar that could only belong to a monster.

“Wh-what is thaaaat!” Milk screamed. It wasn’t normal. It was unbelievable. A beast that should have only existed inside picture books had appeared before them.

Death was before their eyes. It had a horrible intimidating air about it.

“Whoa, a monster!”

“We’ll be kiiillled!!!”

The Nelphan soldiers screamed and ran this way and that. But Milk and her squad were tied tightly with rope, fastened in place…

“Ch-chiieeffff, what is thaaaattt!” Moe screamed.

“Y-you think I know!?”

“This is bad! This is super bad! ‘Cause it’s really bad!” Lach yelled. “There’s nothin’ we can do noooowwww!!”

“…Uuumm,” was all Lear had to say.

Last was Luke. “Calm down, everyone! M-move like a caterpillar! Get away as fast as you c—”

The dragon let out another blood curdling roar. It stopped Milk and her team’s thoughts in their tracks.

“Gyaaaahhh!!”

All they could do was scream…

About ten minutes passed like that.

The only people left were the massive dragon, Milk and her team who were all tired from screaming, and Ryner and Ferris.

Ignoring Milk and her team who were collapsed on their sides, Ferris spoke to Ryner as he stared up at the dragon with astonishment. “Amazing,” she said. “So that’s the hero of legend?”

“No, no matter how you look at it that’s a dragon… it is pretty legendary though.”

“Hm. Well, it did save us. It did well. But that enough. It’s pointlessly dangerous, so put it away.”

“…How?”

“……”

What a horribly irresponsible conversation.

Milk took one last look at the unbelievable scene before her. Ryner and Ferris were completely ignoring the strange fact that a literal dragon had risen from the ground before them… and then they started to walk away, even turning a blind eye to what they’d done to Milk and her team…

“But it really seems like that dagger’s a heroic relic, huh?” Ryner said.

“Of course it is. We had information that said it would be.”

“W-wait, Ryner!” Milk screamed. “I told you to untie this rope!”

But he somehow managed to ignore her. He didn’t even turn back to look at her or make any move to show that he’d heard.

“Y-you’re kidding, right? Why…?”

Ryner and Ferris just kept walking. “But it’s like, kinda a pain that they actually exist, you know~? That means we gotta go look for the next heroic relic too. I don’t wannaaa.”

“You’re right. It’s horribly dangerous for me to have to go with a lazy sex maniac like you for the whole journey.”

“No, I’m more worried about the danger my neck’s in.”

This wasn’t the time to joke around!! Didn’t they see that there was a dragon right beside them!? Come to think of it, “What are you going to do about the dragon!? Are you just going to abandon it!?”

But they didn’t turn around at all… and in the end, they disappeared from sight. It was all she could do to gaze after them in astonishment.

“Just… what happened to Ryner?” Milk whispered. He hadn’t even turned to look at her.

She understood that Ryner must be in an awful situation right now. Because it was just too strange. Why would he go out of his way to save her and then just leave her here without even turning around to look at her?

Milk’s eyes narrowed. She couldn’t just leave it at this. He’d saved her life once. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have been able to make it this far. She didn’t understand what kind of relationship that blonde beauty had with Ryner. But that didn’t really matter. The fact that Ryner had gotten wrapped up in something horrible was undeniable.

So… this time it was Milk’s turn to save him! Even if she had to throw away everything to do it…

“Augh, my teeth hurt!” Lach said. “But I managed to chew through the rope!”

“Great work,” Luke said. “Now could you untie everyone else?”

They were getting loud back there but Milk didn’t turn to look at them.

“Yess!” Moe said. “Now do Chief Milk’s!”

Even so…

“Um… Chief Milk?” Luke said.

“……”

Milk didn’t turn back. Because she already said she’d throw everything away, even if that meant betraying them. She’d already lost the qualification to be their chief…

Luke was silent for a while before trying again. “Um… Chief Milk, do you remember what I said before?”

What Luke said before? What did he say? Milk’s head was already full of what Ryner had said. She couldn’t remember what Luke said at all…

“Um, do you know what I said about being in Major Miller’s team?”

“What in the world… do you—”

Luke cut her off and continued in a kind voice. “In any case, I was Major Miller’s subordinate. This is a story about when I was a new Taboo Hunter…”

Milk turned around to study Luke’s face, puzzled. What was he trying to say?

Luke just continued, smiling the same sincerely kind smile as always. “Me and Miller’s team followed a taboo breaker trail into the Runa Empire. I’ll spare you the details, but the taboo breakers we were pursuing were a family of four… two adults and two children they’d adopted from an orphanage. Roland ordered us to eliminate them rather than apprehend them. And not just the parents, either. We were to kill the children too…”

Milk grimaced.

Right. That was the line of work they were in. They had to obey orders regardless of the situation the taboo breakers were in. They mustn’t judge the taboo breakers themselves. There was no such thing as a taboo breaker without extenuating circumstances.

She recalled what Miller had said on the matter: “What would knowing who the taboo breakers really are change? What if you’re sympathetic? Would you be able to kill them? That’s the kind of duty we have. It’s dirty work that people don’t like doing. But it’s also work that someone needs to do…”

Naturally, that applied to the family Luke was talking about too…

“Our aim was to capture them as soon as possible,” Luke said. “But the parents resisted and it turned into an all-out battle… but we managed to apprehend them. The parents cried and frantically pleaded for their lives. They didn’t care what happened to themselves but their kids… yes, that’s all they asked for. As you know, Chief Milk, Major Miller…”

Milk averted her eyes. She didn’t want to hear the ending.

Miller was probably correct. The way he did things would save the largest number of lives. They were bestowed with a mission and he had the resolve to accomplish it. But Milk didn’t want to have to listen to such an explicit story.

Even so, Luke continued, detached. Like it had happened to someone else. “I thought about it all sorts of ways at the time. There was no way to save them. They understood that, too. But when they heard the kids would be killed too, they reluctantly escaped… that had been the reason they left Roland in the first place.”

To protect the lives of their kids…

That was their reasoning. Milk found it just. Anyone would escape in their situation, and no one would blame them for it…

No one should blame them for it, but…

“They told us they loved their sons,” Luke said. “That they hadn’t been blessed with children of their own but that they’d spent over five years with their adopted sons and loved them as their own. That they couldn’t bear the idea of their sons being killed because of their sins. So they had to protect them at all costs. They had to save them, even if only the kids lived… but…”

Luke stopped for a moment before continuing.

“But Major Miller… killed the children first.”

Milk was left wordless.

“The parents were wounded and brought back to their country,” Luke continued. “They were given the death penalty… and our job was done. Then we left on our next job. That’s the line of work we’re in. People who can’t do that aren’t needed as Taboo Hunters.”

“…Yeah,” Milk said and nodded honestly.

She understood what Luke was saying: that he’d already realized that Milk had wanted to save Ryner. He realized that she wasn’t needed on their team anymore…

“I,” Milk whispered. “I… resig—”

“Ah, by the way, Chief Milk,” Luke suddenly interrupted. “Those two kids that Major Miller killed were, coincidentally, named Moe and Lach. What do you think of that?”

“Hueh?” Milk said without thinking. Why did she make such a dumb noise?

But when she looked up and at her team, they were all smiling…

“Huh? What? But that means…”

“That’s how it happened,” Luke said. “In the end, Major Miller did not kill the children. He couldn’t kill them. Even though he says all those self-important things, he himself was unable to do it.” He grimaced a bit. “Well, despite their circumstances, he didn’t save their parents… but even so, he didn’t kill the children. There was a possibility he’d be killed for treason in turn, seems as it was during the previous king’s era… but he didn’t kill them and stealthily returned them to Roland where he employed them as his subordinates.”

“Th, then, then that means…”

Milk started but was unable to come up with anything to say. So Luke continued to speak. “There was a chance that I’d be tried for treason as well, but I obeyed Major Miller’s orders. The others on our team did, too. No, we didn’t simply obey. We really thought that Major Miller’s judgement was always correct. We all had complete faith in Major Miller’s character and reasoning so we obeyed him without judgement. I think that’s what it means to be a team. So…”

Luke exchanged a look with Lear. Though Lear’s cool expression never crumbled, right now he was smiling sincerely. “I have faith in Chief Milk.”

“Me too!” Moe said.

“Yeah, me too,” Lach agreed.

Last was Luke. His expression was uncharacteristically serious. “Chief Milk, to tell you the truth, we all declined when Major Miller first asked us to be your subordinates. We told him that we were his subordinates first and foremost. Not anyone else’s.”

“Really?”

Luke nodded kindly. “But that changed after we met you and talked to you. We decided to follow you. Since then, we’ve been your family. That’s what a team is to us. We love you so we follow you. We love you so we want to spend time with you. So if you want to get back something that you’ve lost, then we want you to be happy. We don’t fight for our country. We fight for our people. If someone is important in your eyes, if you want to save them even a little, then…”

He stared at Milk, unwavering. She didn’t know what to say.

So Luke continued. “So do what you think is right, Chief. We’ll follow you and trust you just like we did with Major Miller. You don’t have to worry. If you do something wrong, we’ll make it right. We’re your allies no matter what happens. So you don’t need to worry no matter what you decide to do. You’re our Chief no matter what happens.”

Luke smiled brightly for a moment before continuing.

“So let’s eat another lively meal together. We are family, after all.”

“Family…”

Milk couldn’t move.

It was the first time anyone had told her that.

Family… family…

She didn’t think… she wanted that. She’d never had a family in the first place, and… she didn’t even really know what having one meant…

But the people here in front of her now… were her family…?

“Fami…”

For some reason, she couldn’t even say it.

She didn’t know what a family was. She didn’t even think she wanted one. So why did that word resound so strongly in her heart…?

Her field of vision dampened and faded.

Luke, flustered and surprised by her tears, hurried over to her and pet her head to try to calm her…

Lach and Moe started to frantically tell jokes to try and make her laugh…

And Lear smiled and watched over her.

Milk had really, truly never known that this side of the world existed.

She didn’t know that people didn’t have to be alone.

When had this happened? When had the world become a warmer place…?

She… wasn’t alone.

And so they went to save Ryner.

She didn’t say that they were going to do it happily. Even though tears were falling down her face and she looked awfully sad… she smiled. Smiled lots and lots.

“Now then,” Luke said to Milk as she smiled. “We’re only getting to this quitelate, but now that we’ve settled our problems, what should our next action be?”

“Our next action?” Milk repeated, not understanding.

Luke… no, everyone raised their fingers at once and pointed to the side.

Then Milk understood. Her head was all full of Ryner so she’d forgotten about it, but… when she looked to the side, there was really still a massive, unmoving dragon there.

“Ah,” Milk said, lowering her voice. “Understood. All troops, withdraw at once!”

“Yes, ma’am!” They all said, lowering their voices along with her.

Lach and Moe gathered up Milk, still tied up with rope, to carry her. “Then we’ll escape at once!”

“Understood!”

Leaving aside what Milk’s team thought of it all, they left quietly, far different from the fuss they were making up until a minute ago.

The dragon didn’t respond. It was like it wasn’t even alive…

Share