Chapter 251 - A Windfall

To the wild horse, the burning skeleton was a threat it could do nothing about. That was why it had asked for help, leading to this moment. And, as it happened, the burning skeleton was out of luck. FWOOSH! A blazing halberd, with skeletal hounds and soldiers lined up behind it. A glance around revealed thirteen in all. Twelve, not counting the flaming bonehead. "Wicked and perverse." That was one reason they were out of luck. There was a religious soldier here who went berserk at the sight of undead. WHOOSH! The flaming halberd descended. Audin shoved it aside with his palm. Fire instantly spread to his hand, and he swung his arm through the air. WHUMP! The mere swing of his arm produced a burst of wind. The fire on his hand went out, dissipating in midair. There was nothing magical about it. It was a feat of physical strength and speed. Having deflected the flaming halberd, Audin began smashing the skeletons charging from behind it. One punch scattered a skeleton's head into fragments. Its skull flew apart in roughly sixteen pieces. "... That brute of a bastard." Even Rem was impressed by his fire-extinguishing trick. Audin continued cracking skulls and splitting ribs on sight. He grabbed one skeletal soldier by the spine and tore it out, then wielded the backbone as a club to smash a skeletal hound's head. The burning skeleton raised its halberd high, seemingly aiming for Audin's back. For whatever reason, Ragna abruptly stepped out from where he had been watching. He advanced one step, drew his sword, and swung as he twisted at the waist. A drawing cut of the Heavy Sword Technique. Ragna's blade sliced straight through the skeleton's neck. With its neck bones severed, the head dropped to the ground, its flames vanishing as it fell. All that remained was a blackened skull, rolling through vines and short grass. It stopped against a protruding rock. Even without its head, the burning skeleton kept flailing its hands and feet. "Oh, quit fucking around." Rem stepped in and hacked at the burning skeleton's remaining limbs with his axe, cutting and kicking them apart. In defiance, the skeleton swept its halberd from side to side. For something made entirely of bones, it was strong. Rem ducked easily beneath it and swung his axe upward. The axe blade flashed through the skeleton's elbow, sending the halberd flying. It whirled through the air, scattering sparks. Encrid shielded his eyes from the sparks with the back of his hand, then reached out reflexively. The halberd was falling right in front of him. He had two choices: dodge or catch it. It seemed to fly toward him with a will of its own. Relying purely on his Sixth Sense, Encrid caught it rather than dodge. If it was hot, he could simply let go and fling it away. He was confident he could do all that in an instant. Seeing that its flames did not burn its surroundings, he had also judged that this fire would not spread. Of course, all those calculations fell under the workings of his Sixth Sense. And so he instinctively grasped the halberd instead of avoiding it. FWOOSH!

THWAP! It was not as hot as he had expected. Certainly not hot enough to make him drop it the moment he gripped the shaft. Instead of heat, he heard voices. -Burn!

-Burn to death, all of you!

-Turn to ash!

-Burn and die! In an instant, the life of a man who had died bound to a cross-shaped stake flashed through his mind. A man had burned to death, executed at the stake for practicing magic. Ignorant villagers had betrayed him, and a lord had led them. Was it a kind of curse? No, it was a little different. 'It's like Pell's sword.' It was rancor, imbued into a weapon. Rancor that persisted unto death became human willpower. It seemed similar to what they called Will. Encrid looked back through a man's life, received his determination, and then refused it. He refused to burn to death. The rancor within the enchanted halberd scattered and vanished. It had been purified by a stronger determination. The flames on the halberd abruptly went out, as though it had been plunged into cold water. Though, for that, there was no steam. Quite literally, the fire had simply vanished in a flash. What on earth had just happened? Audin was the only one who understood the full circumstances. He had known from the outset that the weapon had been created from rancor and resentment. He also knew the flames originated from the weapon, making the skeleton appear to be burning. He had intended to punish and purify it. That would require releasing divine power, and he had been prepared to endure the pain. Though his bindings made using divine power excruciating, the object was too dangerous to leave alone. 'I might pass out.' Purifying rancor of that magnitude might well do it. Enduring pain was not something he could simply choose to do. In truth, those who had placed the bindings on Audin had intended to prevent him from using divine power at all. He used it in defiance of them. That was the situation. He had been prepared even to lose consciousness, and had deliberately begun dealing with the other wicked creatures first. But then Encrid had caught the halberd, and its flames had gone out. All the skeletons had already been dealt with. Teresa stepped on the skull lying on the ground and crushed it with a crunch. In the silence, only the sound of breaking bones rang out. Even the wild horse kept its mouth shut and watched. Then Rem's voice broke the silence.

"... Got really sweaty hands?" Had he put the fire out with sweat? Nonsense. "Sometimes, that head of yours truly commands respect," Jaxon said, dumbfounded. His profession meant he, too, knew a great deal about such objects. 'Is that fire supposed to go out?'

It did not seem so. "What are you on about, you crazy wildcat?" Rem said, looking at Encrid. His eyes demanded an explanation. "It said it would burn me to death, so I said no." The fuck? Was that supposed to be an explanation? Huh? Rem's incredulous eyes said as much as he looked around for agreement. Ragna seemed uninterested. Audin, who roughly understood the mechanism, could only marvel. 'It hasn't been long since he awakened Will.'

Yet he already wielded it so deftly. It was simply astounding. "Well, that worked out." Jaxon brushed it off. Had anything Encrid ever did been normal? He himself was the only normal person here. "Fucking hell."

Rem said, "Give it here," and took the halberd. The lingering rancor of that determination attacked Rem as well. It showed him no past, merely attacked with the demand that he burn to death. Of course, it was only a remnant, a feeble act of defiance. Flames seemed about to rise beneath his hand, then flickered out. "Hm?" Audin was surprised again. What was it this time? He had not crushed it with determination. "Someone's been up to something. Can I use this?" Rem muttered. He seemed to know something, but Encrid did not ask. What good would knowing do? "Sure." He had no particular desire for the weapon, either. Rem examined the halberd closely, then cut through the middle of its shaft with his axe. Just like that, the enchanted weapon's handle was half its former length. It was now the size of a hand axe. Aside from the spike jutting from its tip, ideal for stabs, its shape lent itself perfectly well to use as one. The balance, of course, was absolute shit. "You could add a weight to the end of the handle." He could do that while finishing the cut end. At Encrid's advice, Rem nodded. He seemed very pleased. "Looks like I've landed a windfall." Rem put it into words, and Encrid nodded. To reiterate, the skeletons here had been unlucky. Who had gathered here? The Lunatic Company. A band of brutes who could change the course of a battle. Encrid put away the sword he had drawn, sliding it into its sheath with a scrape, and addressed the horse.

"Was that all?" The horse hesitated. What were these humans? The skeletons had been a serious threat. Come to think of it, this human had also put a sword through that dangerous centaur's head. The horse accepted it. NEIGH! It gave voice to its feelings, now transformed into joy. "All right," Encrid said, stepping forward. Whose grave had this been? Not a poor person's, at least. In that case, surely that stupid burning halberd and those skeletons were not all there was? Perhaps because of the wild horses and skeletons, there was no sign of grave robbers having visited. "Shall we do some digging?" More precisely, how about digging around that man-made structure that looked like a wall? Jaxon answered him.

"There are a few chests inside." He had wondered what that bastard Jaxon was doing instead of fighting. Apparently, he had already made a circuit of the interior. "Quick hands as always, you alley-cat bastard." It was Rem's way of giving praise. Jaxon ignored him as usual, and the party headed inside. The terrain was rough. Rain had collapsed the ground, snow had fallen and melted over it, and then it had dried again, baked hard in the sun. The surface was uneven, and sharp fragments of stone jutted up here and there like natural traps. None of it posed any problem, of course. "Here, let me show you something interesting." Beside him, Rem stopped walking and swung the axe through the air. WHOOSH! Downward, then back up. The second swing was different from the first. FWOOSH! Flames sprang up along the blade as he swung the axe a second time. "Rem the Fire Axe. How's that for a nickname?" It seemed he had figured out how to use it after a little fiddling. "Sure."

Encrid nodded calmly. If he fought with that, wouldn't he simply go from crazed axeman to crazed fire axeman? He did not say it aloud. People always needed a little reassurance. "Heh heh. Nice. Very nice." As long as he was happy. Everyone blithely ignored him and entered the deepest part of the basin. The ground grew easier to walk on, eventually giving way to firm, level terrain. They were far inside now. Encrid had been wondering where the warm air came from. One chest stood half open, and a gentle heat emanated from within. "A warming stone? The Sun God's Blessing? My Lord," Audin murmured. Encrid had no idea who had built a tomb here, but he knew the bastard had had gold to burn. "Pack it all up," he said. There was no mere silver in the chests. The coins were all gold, and there were other objects worthy of being called relics. Besides the warming stone called the Sun God's Blessing, there was a bandage with an oddly metallic feel. "This is a rare treasure." This came from Jaxon, who reacted sourly to anything other than a dagger an assassin had devoted a lifetime to designing and making. Which meant it really was a rare treasure. Encrid examined the thick black bandage. It was as wide as his palm, and there was not much of it. Perhaps enough to wrap his entire torso if he tried? "Soft demonic-beast hide, specially treated and made to wrap around the body. Think of it as armor worn underneath your clothes." Jaxon explained at length. There were no other remarkable relics. They found luminous stones, but everyone could see well in the dark and paid them little attention. There were also boots and gloves, both ruined, a few jewels, and a journal. The journal's contents were nothing special. It was full of ridiculous adventure stories about things like riding a pegasus. At the end, the writer explained that he had settled here because this was his friend's homeland. Here lies so-and-so, who wandered all his life without a home or a place to call his own. The journal ended with something along those lines. Seeing that the writer had written his name only to cross it out with charcoal, Encrid felt as though the person buried here, the author of this journal, was giving voice to his dream. The journal was full of passages that gave him that impression. It said that adventure was his dream, that he explored every corner of the world and found something new and wondrous each time. Encrid caught a scent of himself in those pages. Here was someone who had pursued a dream. Only, this man had achieved his goal and been satisfied. Perhaps that was why he had come to his friend's homeland, and why he had erased his name: to express that he had departed this world content. 'Romantic, or stupid?' Was there always only a hair's breadth between romanticism and foolishness? One of his swordsmanship teachers had said something like that. Encrid merely considered the parallels with himself. Of course, it was a bold conjecture, and not important either. He kept the journal. For some reason, he liked it. Meanwhile, Jaxon examined the surrounding walls and mechanisms, but found nothing hidden. Encrid had once been trapped in a similar situation and obtained the sword he now carried, but here the sky lay wide open overhead. It was curious terrain. Perhaps the site had been designed to leave the sky visible even before the ground collapsed and exposed it. That might have been what preserved the chests and their contents intact. NICKER. The horse approached, and Encrid rested a hand on its forehead.

"All settled now?" Before he knew it, the sun was sinking. Perhaps thanks to the warming stone, it was not particularly cold. It was not the stone alone; judging by things like the burning skeleton left behind, this place seemed designed to let travelers rest inside. Jaxon mentioned strange writing visible here and there on the walls. 'What a twisted bastard, though.' The journal also explained why he had created the skeletons. -An adventure needs obstacles! I hope whoever finds this place can overcome at least this much! Now, put my legacy to good use! Having read the journal, Encrid found the so-called legacy rather underwhelming. 'They're fine, expensive things, but still.' Going by what the journal said, shouldn't there have been some legendary relic or holy artifact? In any case, the adventurer said he had given away the rest of his belongings here and there while wandering the continent. Oh, and he also mentioned that this was not his only tomb. -If you're an explorer, try finding my other tombs. He was a twisted bastard, but the mere fact that he had chased his dream made Encrid's heart beat faster. It was interesting. "We'll sleep here tonight and head back tomorrow." The tomb served perfectly well as a resting place. Its unseasonable warmth seemed to invite them to rest. He also wanted to give the horse time to part with its herd. "Sounds good." Rem sounded happy either way. He held the flaming axe in his left hand and the warming stone in his right. Warming hide was valuable too, but that single stone could heat an entire barracks. If a high-ranking noble knew of it, they would pay a fortune to acquire it. It was that expensive a stone, but no one here had a keen sense of money. Encrid had simply given it to Rem because he felt the cold so badly. Ragna remained uninterested, Audin began praying, and Jaxon sat down indifferently and closed his eyes. Teresa and Dunbachel were no different when it came to money. Neither was particularly attached to Krona. In fact, neither cared about it at all. Their minds were occupied with their lives, how those lives had changed, and what lay ahead. Night fell. Lying down without even a campfire, Encrid looked up at the sky and saw starlight pouring into the tomb. It was a wondrous night vista unlike anything he had seen before. He lay beneath a blanket of falling starlight, gentle warmth enveloping his body. Then he closed his eyes and met the ferryman, who mocked him as always, adding a sneer. "You really do keep company with your own kind." Encrid wondered if that was a compliment. The dream was brief.