Chapter 18

Chapter 18. "The Difference Between a Child Who Does Not Cry and a Child Who Does." (2)

"Aaaaaaagh!! Somebody save me!"

"Are you running away?! Are you running away to save your own life after abandoning your comrades?! It is a wise choice, yes, but the life you saved was saved by forsaking your companions!!"

WHIIR! RATATATATATA~~! THUD! BOOOOM!

"Hyaah!"

"Brave one! This is the very least of the respect I can offer a man who fought with all his might!!"

THUD!

"Urk...!"

"Wahahahahaha!! Sing! Humans! Sing! Sing the songs of those who were dragged here by you and cried out their families' names every night, and the songs of the monsters who licked the blood flowing from their wounds and begged the iron bars before their eyes for pity!!"

We had moved our position and were now sitting in a corner somewhat removed from the center of the auction house, where a fierce battle was currently raging.

We had propped up broken tables to make a rough barricade, then set up one of the relatively intact ones and sat there watching Exel knock out terrified guards by hurling broken tables at them, then praise the courage of any soldier brave enough to rush him with a sword and send his respect crashing into them through the power of his fist.

Irisa, sitting beside me, covered her mouth with one hand and kept letting out small gasps as she watched the guards go flying after being struck by Exel's fists and legs.

Had she not said that ordinary elves did not know how to return what they received?

And on my other side, Luna had turned her chair toward the center of the hall and was staring with her mouth slightly open at Exel, whose fighting had gone beyond fighting and reached the level of simply toying with them. Yet her hands were still bound in antimagic shackles.

I turned my head and looked at Irisa, only to notice that she still had antimagic shackles around her neck as well.

Damn. I should deal with that first.

I covered my mouth and spoke to Irisa, who was watching with sorrowful eyes as Exel, holding a table in each hand, smashed the three guards charging at him from the front into a shape like ham caught between two slices of bread.

"Irisa?"

"......"

"Irisa? Would you look at me for a moment? Irisa."

"Ah?! Yes. Were you calling for me?"

"...Yes. That thing around your neck looks wrong. I will remove it for you."

Irisa shook her head at my words.

"It is impossible. You do not seem to have the key. Antimagic shackles are made not only to interfere with the use of magic power, but also to bind their target. Because of that, even if someone has an ordinary key or lockpicking skill, they cannot open them unless they possess the key made specifically with these shackles, the one engraved with the matching passphrase."

I listened to her explanation with a nod, then said,

"Then excuse me."

"Ah?"

I grabbed hold of the somewhat long, rounded antimagic shackle fixed around her neck.

Irisa stared in slight surprise between the restraint fastened to her throat and my face, and I gave her a faint smile before tightening my fingers.

Creeeeeeak...!

Irisa's eyes widened as she stared at the antimagic shackle on her neck, which was slowly warping under my fingers and giving off a strange metallic groan.

Creeak. Creakkk... CRACK!

When I applied more force, the antimagic shackle broke apart completely. In my hand was a chunk of metal from the outer surface of the restraint, twisted up like scrap paper, while several broken parts rolled across Irisa's lap.

Around her neck, however, the remaining section of the shattered restraint still clung there, held in place by the locking mechanism encircling her throat. I tore off the piece of metal that had once been part of the restraint, tossed it behind me, and removed the rest of the shackle still attached to her neck.

Then, as Irisa touched her slender neck with a dazed expression, something suddenly welled up in her eyes.

Still touching her throat, she slowly looked at me, shut her eyes heavy with tears, let the drops gathered at the corners spill down, and bowed her head once more.

"Wahahahahaha!! Do not kneel! Do not beg! Do not weep! And do you still call yourselves men?! Stand proudly with your backs and shoulders straight, pick up the sword I threw onto the floor, and step forward! Yes! If there is something before you that you know you can never defeat, a wise man will turn away and seek another path. But that is not your way! Humans are creatures who, when something blocks their path, destroy it and press onward no matter what it is! Are you not?!"

"Hyaaaaah!! Die, you cursed werewooooolf!!"

"Ohhh!! Yes! That is a million times more human than those pieces of trash over there, kneeling and begging without even knowing what wrong they have done!"

BOOOOOM!!

"Aaaaaaagh!"

".................."

"What is this?! What is all this noise?!"

CRUNCH! BOOM!!

"Uwah?! Impossible! It is a werewolf! Bring spears! Bring spears!!"

"Nets too! And we need more men! Call all of them!"

"Get the shields! Damn it all!!"

I could not make out what she was saying over Exel's booming shouts, the screams of the guards who were experiencing the hell he was creating, the bewildered cries of the capture squad that had just rushed in and discovered Exel, and the endless sounds of destruction. But when she lifted her head, her face was unmistakably that of someone feeling gratitude.

And that made me happy.

Just then, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. When I turned my head, Luna was looking at me while raising both arms.

The antimagic shackles binding her wrists sat there quietly as though staring at me, and I smiled faintly, took hold of the restraints around her arms, and lightly crushed and tore them off.

"You are strong."

"Not especially."

Luna frowned a little as she rubbed her wrists, then raised one hand and murmured something.

At once, countless tiny particles of light began gathering in her small, slightly dusky palm. Luna grinned as she looked at it, then cast a glance toward the center of the hall where the battle was raging.

Exel had just grabbed a guard by the leg, swung him around in the air, and hurled him toward the capture squad advancing with spears and shields from the opposite side. Luna raised her hand toward him and said,

"Rapid-Fire Magic Missile."

Papapapapapapapapapapap!

The moment Luna finished speaking, her small outstretched arm began shaking violently up and down from the recoil of the spell she had fired.

Countless streaks of light shot from her palm in beautiful arcs toward Exel, then slammed directly into the faces of the soldiers advancing toward him.

Every one of those struck either clutched his face and rolled on the ground or fell backward with blood streaming from his nose.

And on our side, behind the girl who had cast the spell, a fierce gale came crashing over us.

Because of it, Irisa and I ended up ducking and brushing our windblown hair out of our faces. And when I looked ahead after sweeping the hair from my eyes, I saw an amusing sight.

Everyone had gone quiet and turned to stare at us.

Exel, who had turned to look at us along with the others, was the first to break the silence.

"Are you helping us, little one?"

Luna lowered her hand, rubbed her wrist a little, and replied,

"I am not little one, werewolf. I am Luna. And I am not helping you. Let us just say I am joining hands with you for a short while so I can get out of here."

"That is good enough. As it happens, I have run out of bullets for the gun blade, so I had no means of defense. This works out nicely. Then I shall ask for your covering fire... little one."

Exel said it with a smile, and Luna immediately flushed with indignation and raised her other hand.

"I am not little one!"

"Aaagh! Magic! Her antimagic shackles are off!"

"Impossible! Those cannot be removed without the key... Aaaaghk!!"

"Why are you chatting at a time like this?! Even in a life-or-death moment such as this, can humans still keep chattering with those cursed mouths that deceive others and slander them?!"

Exel swung his great arms right and left, batting away the spearpoints rising toward his chin, then surged forward and kicked the shield-bearers so hard they flew back into the wall.

THUD!! CRASH!!

"Aaaaaaaah!!"

"Somebody save me!!"

BOOM! THUD!

At that moment, from between the men Exel had kicked away, a man holding a massive broadsword came charging out and slashed for Exel's neck.

Exel bent his waist backward to evade the blade, then lifted the gun blade in his hand. The man crouched as low as he could in front of Exel and glared at him with sharp eyes.

Exel pulled the gun blade back one-handed and fixed him with a stare before spitting out one of his trademark venomous remarks.

"Humans. Even while committing the vile act of selling off nonhuman races akin to yourselves, you no doubt go home and teach love to your children. Saying, 'My child, that is a wicked thing. Do not do it again.' And if your child were to discover that he was raised with money earned by capturing and selling the elves he admired, what then?"

For an instant, the eyes of the bearded middle-aged man wavered slightly.

Exel did not miss that moment. He stepped forward with his right foot and at the same time twisted his upper body back to the left as he slashed in. The bearded man, his face stricken with dismay, raised his broadsword and blocked Exel's blade with the flat of his own.

Clang!! Kaaang!!

Clink...

The bearded man's broadsword, which had blocked Exel's strike, shattered and fell to the floor in pieces. While he stared at it blankly, Exel's leg came flying into him.

THUD!!

"Guuugh!!"

"When you return home, become a father whose words do not differ from his actions!

Human!"

The man flew backward into the men standing behind him with spears, and all of them tumbled together across the floor.

Exel then spun around and, baring his neat white teeth in a grin, started chasing after the ones who were trying to slink away.

"Fuhahahaha!! Where do you think you are running, you creatures worse than vermin?! If you are human, then face me proudly like human beings! Like that hairy human over there!"

"Gyaaaah!! Do not come any closer! Stay away!"

"It is a monster! A ghost!!"

"You fool! In what way do I resemble a monster or a ghost?!"

To them, he might indeed look like one....

Werewolves are not supposed to be able to speak, yet Exel kept hurling vicious insults while attacking them, and his body, far larger than that of an ordinary werewolf, was more than enough to shatter their morale and strip them of the will to fight.

The soldiers fell into a panic, howling as they tried to flee from Exel, and the more they did, the more some strange delight seemed to take hold of him.

He bared his sharp teeth in a broad grin and tormented those who had already lost the will to resist all the more.