Chapter 249 - Because I Can

Rem stared at the human and the horse. What exactly was he looking at? Petting a beast that was practically a demonic beast?

'Won't it bite?'

Not that he was particularly worried. Even if it did, Encrid wouldn't simply stand there and take it.

Encrid's hand touched the horse's head and stroked it. The horse stood still, feeling his touch. Watching the whole exchange left Rem dumbfounded.

There was unmistakably demonic beast blood in that horse. It wasn't hard to tell, even without any magical means. The protruding fangs, the faint murderousness emanating from its entire body—everything said as much.

Yet Encrid stroked its head and said, "You've been through a lot."

He was comforting it? Rem studied the scene. Surely they weren't actually becoming friends? Would talking to a horse turning into a demonic beast make it listen? Without even biting him?

More to the point, why was he doing that instead of cutting it down? Its transformation had stopped halfway, but could it stay like that forever? Rem didn't know. He had never seen anything like it. What animal could withstand a monster's blood and resist becoming a demonic beast?

It was only a single demonic beast, hardly enough to worry him. His Captain had always been an eccentric, and this beast was something new as well. So Rem watched.

While Rem stared blankly at the human communing with the half-transformed beast, Audin sought his god.

'Father, I ask You: is this demonic beast overcoming its fate as well?'

Audin marveled more than anyone else present. Was fate a predetermined path? Something immutable, impossible to change? There had been times when it felt that way.

When he had walked the path of an Inquisitor. When he had looked into the eyes of those killed by his hands. When he had heard a high priest finally proclaim people heretics who were no such thing.

["That is their fate! The fate ordained by our Father!"]

Even then, he hadn't believed the man was right. But neither could he break that yoke of fate and shatter its shackles.

'Father, what am I to do?'

He had prayed beneath the blazing sun. Recited the scriptures. And so, Audin had come to harbor doubt.

Later, he had seen someone who shattered the very reason for that doubt. That person's name was Encrid. Watching him and coming to know him had troubled Audin, but it had also given him insight and the strength to move forward.

And now, he saw a human and a beast rejecting, defying, refusing what was called an immutable truth.

"In the Father's name, by the Father's will, I offer up my life."

A chant flowed from his lips. Holy power stirred of its own accord, bringing a headache that tore through his skull, but Audin smiled and bore the pain as he sang his hymn.

Beside him, Teresa found herself listening. His voice was like gentle sunlight, something she had never felt in the embrace of the evil cult.

'A song.'

The deep voice entered her body and tapped against her heart. Watching Encrid and the horse while listening to Audin's hymn, Teresa felt a tingling tremor in her chest.

Naturally, she looked back on her life. That life had begun and ended in the evil cult. What should she live for, now that she had been born anew? She had meant to live again for struggle. She had thought that was everything.

It wasn't. Teresa felt an emptiness within herself, as though a hole had opened near her heart. Yet she felt neither depressed nor distressed.

"The Father said: fullness and emptiness alike reside within you."

Finishing his brief song, Audin recited a passage from the scriptures. The words touched Teresa's heart.

Jaxon merely watched. What was that horse? What was the Captain doing? Amid those questions, an incongruous thought slipped in.

'Is he taming animals now too?'

Living up to his nickname, the Irresistible Company Commander? Jaxon did nothing but watch.

A human had merely placed a hand on a horse's head. Yet the sight left its mark on many hearts and minds.

Encrid, meanwhile, felt something akin to a strange kinship. It was an odd situation.

'Why can't I stop thinking about it?'

This demonic beast held his gaze and his heart far more than it should. Why? Because it was resisting its transformation? Perhaps. He saw his own past in its struggle.

Suddenly, Esther came to mind. Hadn't she said she wasn't coming, that they could have their fun on the battlefield without her? A mage who ran wild, changing between panther and human. At first, he had thought her nothing more than an animal.

Their first semblance of a bond had formed because they had saved each other's lives and built a shared history. But now? He had shared no such experiences with the wild horse before him. Even so, he felt something like affection.

His hand still rested on its head. The horse merely lowered its head; it didn't seem to enjoy his touch. It simply stared at him. Its blue eye was clear and steady, its red eye like a wavering flame.

Encrid spoke from his heart rather than his head.

"Want to come with me?"

SNORT.

The horse snorted as if it had understood him. It looked like a yes.

They had no shared history. They had spent no time together. They had only just met and become aware of each other. Encrid had seen a horse caught halfway through becoming a demonic beast. The horse had merely encountered a strange human who had appeared out of nowhere.

"... You're taking that with us?" Rem asked from behind him.

"Yes."

Encrid stroked the horse's mane once, then turned fully around as he answered. He was leaving his back to a wild horse that was nearly a demonic beast, yet his movements betrayed absolute confidence that it wouldn't attack.

"Well, uh, fuck. Even I find that amazing."

If even Rem was surprised enough to say that, what must the others be thinking?

"As the scriptures say, how could even a lowly creature have nothing in its heart? Love life. Love as much as you slaughter."

So spoke Audin, apostle of the god of war. Jaxon merely watched impassively. For some reason, Teresa's eyes seemed moist behind her mask.

What was wrong with her now? Encrid gave the horse's head a few light pats.

"I'd like to take you along now, but I need to find a body at least if I'm going to hold anything resembling a funeral."

He meant Dunbachel. Taking in the wild horse was a separate matter. Encrid hadn't forgotten her.

"You're talking like she's already dead."

Rem snorted as he said it. Then he drew his axe and added, "If this was enough to kill her, I'll kill her again myself."

Was that certainty in Rem's words, or hope? Encrid couldn't tell. No matter how sharp his senses or his perception became, the barbarian was good at hiding his true feelings.

"It's a big forest."

Even if she was alive, she wouldn't be easy to find.

"If she's alive, finding her is easy."

Rem sucked in a breath. His chest swelled to nearly twice its size. As Encrid watched, Jaxon raised his hands to cover his ears.

Encrid tried to cover the horse's ears, but it stepped back, as though telling him it would be fine. He quickly covered his own ears.

Then Rem expelled all the air gathered in his swollen chest in a shout.

"YOU—STU—PID—BEAST—MAN!"

The cry seemed to tear the air apart. An incredible bellow, and an incredible feat. It was like a thunderclap. Part of the forest trembled with a rumble.

NEIGH!

Though the clever horse had anticipated it, it still staggered. Winter birds startled by the thunder took to the sky.

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!

CAAAW!

Far away, a crow seemed to answer Rem's call. Or perhaps it was telling him to shut up and stop making such a racket.

Even with his ears covered, Encrid felt his head ringing painfully.

"Uncouth barbarian."

Jaxon, whose senses were the keenest among them, spoke with a rare furrow in his brow.

"You could have warned us," Encrid said curtly.

"You should've figured it out just by looking," Rem replied.

"So?"

"We walk around the forest shouting, and she'll turn up."

Encrid didn't think it was a bad approach. Above all...

"Ragna will find his way to us too."

They also had to find their lost member, who could do nothing but swing a sword.

"Let's go find that stupid Beastman."

Encrid nodded at Rem's words. They had killed the monsters' leader. Now it was time for that.

Having made up his mind, Encrid turned away from the wild horse, but instead of following, it simply stared at him.

"Aren't you coming?"

He spoke to it as though it were a person. Strange as it was, the moment he had placed his hand on the horse's head, he had felt something like a connection. He believed it would understand him. Not his language, but his meaning.

SNORT.

The wild horse shook its head and pawed the ground a few times. Then it turned and gestured behind itself with its head.

Pawing the ground seemed to mean it would wait here. But why was it pointing behind itself?

Grateful Forest was vast. The path the monster had burst out of was near the boundary between the forest and the plains. Here, patches of grass browned by the approaching winter spread over broad, level ground.

Beyond it, he could see a herd of wild horses. Not just one or two. There were clearly more than several dozen.

Well, it was obvious when he thought about it. Monsters and demonic beasts were common on this continent. Naturally, surviving their attacks meant banding together.

Wasn't that why humans formed territories, villages, and communities? Even a small village generally had more than fifty households at minimum. Defensive walls were essential too. A population that size would normally provide at least ten to twenty people capable of fighting.

Even those villages were possible only in relatively safe regions. Where monsters appeared frequently, people generally had to live within a territory. That was why, across the continent, people gathered in groups large enough to form territories. It was also why independent territories unaffiliated with any nation came into being and endured.

Such was their world. A world where only a handful could travel the continent alone.

Naturally, the wild horses must have banded together to survive on these plains too. Then what had this half-transformed horse been to that herd?

"Were you their leader?"

Was it saying those behind it were its followers and family, and it couldn't leave them like this? That didn't seem quite right. Then what?

The horse pawed the ground again, twice. Encrid couldn't tell what it meant. He decided that after finding Dunbachel, he would have to come back here rather than return to Martai.

"Wait here. My subordinate comes first."

At his words, the half-transformed horse stayed where it was. It seemed to mean it would wait.

'Ragna first.'

They could find him, then find Dunbachel.

"Rem. Shout."

They entered the forest, and Rem bellowed again.

"YOU—DI—REC—TION—LESS—IDIOT!"

He was definitely doing it on purpose.

"Wouldn't it be better to just call his name?"

"Don't want to."

His choice. Encrid let him be. Finding Ragna wasn't difficult.

A few stupid human-faced hounds charged at the shouting, but they melted beneath Teresa's sword before they could get close. Cut apart, killed, and scattered, they suited the expression "melting away" remarkably well. They looked like winter snow melting in sunlight.

KRAAACK!

As one charged with an ugly screech, Teresa blocked its teeth with her shield and brought the flat of her sword down on it. Its body burst, leaving a filthy stain on the ground.

The next was sent flying by her shield and hung dangling, its torso impaled on a sharp protrusion. Still alive, it shrieked until Teresa split it vertically with her sword.

Giant blood ran in her veins. The flat of her sword, its edge, or her shield—any of them was enough to turn a human-faced hound into a bloody pulp.

At first there had been one, then several more appeared. But however stupid they were, why would they keep charging this way? It was obvious they would die. Even monsters made of hostility, killing intent, and malice must know fear. It wasn't as though a colony leader still held their minds in its grip.

The reason soon became clear.

"It was a shortcut."

Ragna. Blood spattered his armor, as though he had encountered a fleeing pack of human-faced hounds elsewhere. Perhaps his helmet had felt stifling; he had taken it off and carried it in one hand. Black blood dripped from the sword in his right.

He didn't have a scratch on him. So the hounds fleeing his blade had happened to run this way.

"You idiot. You goat turd. You dog's ballsack. You'll spend your whole life getting lost and then die that way."

Rem expressed his delight at seeing Ragna, who promptly returned the greeting with his sword. It was a casual swing. Rem already had his axe out to block it.

CLANG!

Sword edge and axe blade met to exchange pleasantries.

"Since you've lost your way, want me to dig you a grave too?"

Rem spoke with a twist of his lips. He radiated a decidedly fierce presence. Ragna wasn't one to back down either, and the flames between them burned more savagely than usual.

Why was Rem being so vicious? Encrid could think of only one reason.

"Aren't we looking for Dunbachel?"

It was because the Beastman he had trained was missing. Rem was surprisingly fond of those he had taken under his wing. Part of the reason he had raced around the battlefield was to save those he thought showed promise.

'Though he beats those promising people so badly.'

Most of those who owed their lives to Rem had no idea. Even Encrid had noticed only after developing an eye for such things.

"Crazy barbarian," Jaxon muttered.

Just then, the voice they had been searching for reached them.

"My ears are bleeding."

There she was, up in a tree: the Beastman they had sought. A gash on her forehead had scabbed over, and a similar wound pierced her thigh.

"Stupid Beastman."

However large the forest was, anyone could have heard Rem carrying on like that. In the end, his racket had worked.

Dunbachel dropped to the ground. Judging by her light landing, she didn't seem seriously injured.

"Why did you come? I was going to kill that leader myself and head back."

Encrid nodded at her words. Perhaps Rem's teaching meant she was starting to sound like him too.

"Sure you were."

That was Jaxon's response. Audin merely smiled.

After calling her a stupid Beastman, Rem gave her a gentle smile and said, "When we get back, you're starting over from the beginning."

Dunbachel's face crumpled. Why? She really had meant to kill the leader here. She was a Beastman. She was confident in her ability to fight in a forest. Moving the fight to terrain that favored her had been part of the point.

Her other purpose had come from watching and imitating Encrid. Saving her allies, that was.

Encrid looked at Dunbachel and spoke. Seeing no reason to ask indirectly or to wait, he asked her outright.

"Why did you do it?"

He meant saving her allies and making herself the bait. Dunbachel blinked, then understood and answered.

"Because I can."

It wasn't a declaration of some grand conviction or determination, but Encrid liked it all the more for that.

Then Dunbachel added something else—something Encrid hadn't expected.