Groggy (2)
The man in charge of the nameless shelter was a mage called Beterus.
He gave nothing else away, but the way he commanded the shelter smelled of a soldier.
'Beterus.'
If he'd been a famous mage, Rian might have heard the name before, but he hadn't. Shirone, who knew the magical world better than Rian, showed no particular reaction either — and even if he had known, it likely wouldn't have changed anything.
"Come on, come on! Finish the tent work quickly. It'll rain tonight." The woman actually running the survivors was Marin, the shelter's second-in-command.
She was a soldier too, but judging from how she interacted with Beterus, they didn't seem to have known each other long.
'A deserter, perhaps.'
The army of Hell was so strong that desertion wasn't something just anyone could manage. It was reasonable to think she'd left her unit before the fighting began.
"Hey, newbie! You lot, come help! If you don't want to sleep outside!"
Maybe because of the typhoon that had hit the Gustav Empire, heavy rains had been falling across the central continent. Since their warhorses had already been requisitioned, Rian decided to stay in the shelter until the rain stopped.
"Move aside. I'll do it."
With about a hundred survivors, just clearing bodies and scavenging local food was more than enough to keep them busy.
The shelter was still a wreck, and the heaviest obstacle was the fallen rubble. When Rian easily hoisted a rock the size of a torso, people's expressions changed.
"Whoa."
Rian slung the rock over his shoulder and tossed it; it flew several meters and crashed with a thud.
Sensing the force of the Skima, Marin asked, "You're pretty strong. No wonder you carry such a huge sword. Who taught you?"
He'd been influenced by countless swordsmen, but there wasn't anyone he could honestly call a teacher.
"Hmm. If I had to say—everything, I guess."
Rian snorted at his own answer, thinking it sounded too grandiose. Marin, finding him arrogant, narrowed her eyes and asked, "What's your name?"
Rian glanced at Shirone.
Shirone sat quietly, unfazed by the glares, lost in thought.
'He needs time.'
Leaving quietly was the kindest thing for Shirone.
"Just—"
Rian cut himself off, and that only annoyed Marin more.
"Fine. Keep your airs, then."
Since whoever was going to leave would do so once the rain stopped, she didn't press further.
"Hey! Kid over there!"
A man in his mid-forties clearing debris couldn't hold it in and jabbed his finger at Shirone.
"Can't you see everyone's working? You still think you're some kind of noble? Come help!"
Shirone didn't respond.
'Noble.'
Memories flashed by: born the son of a woodsman, then rising to become one of the Ivory Tower's Five Greats.
'Who am I to—'
A self-mocking smile crossed his face, and the man took it as an insult.
"You little—"
Thud.
A massive rock fell and the ground trembled.
The man turned, startled. Rian, who'd thrown a boulder twice as big as before, said, "Leave him. I'll work twice as hard and cover his share, okay?"
"Eeek!"
The man clenched his fists but quieted when he saw the size of the rock Rian had thrown.
"Tch! Unlucky bastard!"
Even after being cursed at, Rian kept working without a word. Marin approached.
"Why is your friend like that? Did the shock of the war break his mind?"
It wasn't entirely wrong.
"Something like that."
The woman clicked her tongue. "Lucky to be alive. Acting so weak—how can someone like that survive?"
Rian worried over the same thing.
'He's exhausted.'
The world had beaten him down. Not kneeling and holding out to the end didn't mean the places that were hit didn't hurt.
Could Shirone learn to love the world again?
"How pathetic."
From afar, Beterus, who had been overseeing the work, strode past Rian and hurried toward Shirone.
Rian said in a low voice, "Hey."
Beterus paid him no mind and flared a tongue of flame in front of Shirone. The murderous aura that had risen from Rian moments ago froze Marin in place.
"Ugh."
A scream welled up in her chest and choked off in her throat. When Beterus cast a fireball just outside the shelter rather than at Shirone, Rian's murderous intent vanished as if it had never been.
"Haah."
The relief felt like an orgasm; a moan escaped without her meaning to make a sound.
What had that earlier feeling been…? It was beyond the range of sensations one could imagine from experience.
Rian's gaze was fixed on Beterus.
"See that? This is magic." Beterus said. Shirone didn't even turn his head.
"Do you know what I had to go through to gain this? I trained my mind every day and never stopped practicing."
Disgust flickered in Beterus's eyes.
"You couldn't even imagine the pain someone like me endured. Still, I gritted my teeth and endured. Even in this world, I clawed at life with everything I had."
For the first time, Shirone looked at Beterus.
"Do you know why I hate you? Because you're selfish. If I were you, no matter how hard it was, I would have gotten up! I'd have done anything!"
"I suppose so. But—"
Shirone answered weakly, "You are not me."
Beterus, burning with anger, grabbed Shirone by the collar and hauled him up.
"Get up! Nothing is impossible! You're wrapped in a defeatist mindset, so you do nothing! Don't wait for someone to do it for you—clench your teeth and move!"
"I don't want to do anything."
Shirone's body seemed glued to the ground. Beterus shoved him roughly by the collar.
"Tch! You think the world's easy? Who here isn't struggling? At least pretend you're trying."
Shirone tugged at his leg and slipped back into thought.
'I see.'
No matter how much he tried or how much excruciating pain he bore, no one acknowledged Shirone's life.
What would Beterus say if he knew Shirone was one of the Ivory Tower's Five Greats?
'Words, words, words. Sick of them.'
Shirone was human; he couldn't help hating the demons that massacred people. But at the same time, defining a whole person by a single facet felt presumptuous.
'If you're not going to live for them, people should be quieter about others.'
"You pathetic thing. I'll tolerate you only until today. At dawn tomorrow, be gone." Beterus hadn't cooled down, but Marin finally grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Rian's murderous aura had lasted only an instant, but that moment was enough to change the thinking of someone who'd survived by watching others in the army.
"Beterus, wait—come here a second."
"What is it?"
As Marin spoke, a sound of flying things came from outside the shelter.
"Ha ha ha! Found them! Humans, humans!"
When the survivors looked up with pale faces, red shapes were flying outside the unfinished tents.
"D-demonkind."
It was surprising that demonkind had come to a place where barely a hundred humans lived.
"Damn it! Take defensive positions—"
Before Beterus could give orders, dozens of fireballs rained down, turning the area to ash.
"Argh! Someone help!"
The shelter became pandemonium. Only Shirone and Rian remained unmoving.
"Don't burn them! We need to eat!" Seeing how many demons had landed, Beterus trembled.
'Too many…'
There were at least thirty.
But that was Beterus's benchmark; to Shirone and Rian, they were negligible.
'They're deserters too, not an army.'
Having faced foes in the tens of thousands to millions, neither was shaken.
The demons—over two meters tall with spear-like tails—rubbed their bellies and spoke in human tongue.
"I thought this place would be empty, but humans, huh. I was starving—perfect."
"Oh? A woman over there! Kiki ki!"
Beterus realized the fireball blast had happened at the worst possible moment.
'Damn it! Because of that guy…!'
When he turned with a fierce look, Shirone's impassive face only made him angrier.
"There are quite a few people here. Give us a choice."
As if savoring the evening's entertainment, the demons leisurely pointed at the humans.
"First option: we eat half of you. Second: each of you cuts off one arm and one leg and gives them to us."
Either way, thirty demons would have more than enough.
"Take time. Discuss and decide—"
"What's there to discuss? You seem to be the leader—decide."
Beterus swallowed.
If they chose to spare half, he'd certainly live.
'I just have to swallow a moment of shame.'
Marin's eyes said the same thing.
"We'll spare half."
"Puhehehe! Fine, that's fun too. Then quickly pick who's to be eaten. We're starving."
Choosing would be hard in principle, but picking the first victims proved trivially simple.
Beterus pointed at Shirone. "That one."
"Whoa, that one's cold-blooded—no hesitation. Alright then. Hey, you're the lucky one!"
Shirone didn't move.
"Hey! Come over here! The leader sold you!"
"Puhehehe! Completely terrified. If you're trying to escape reality, I'll force reality on you."
A demon from behind stamped its reptilian claws and advanced on Shirone.
"Hey, kid! Snap out of it."
The demon with puffy laugh lines shook its shoulder, but Shirone didn't even look up.
"Kekeke, totally zoned out—"
The demon bent at a ninety-degree angle to peer at Shirone's face and abruptly stopped.
A long silence followed.
"What're you doing? Bring him here. We're hungry."
The demon's lips opened slightly.
"Umm…"
It seemed to be choosing words, but nothing formed in its mind.
"Uh, uuh—"
The terrified demon slowly backed up, then fell hard on its backside.
"Wah… wahhh…"
Even the survivors, including Beterus and Marin who had served in armies, had never seen demons act terrified.
'Why are they like this?'
The demon's legs kept making the backing-up motion as if unaware it had fallen.
"Run, run away."
"Run? Why would we—"
Before anyone could finish, the demon in front of Shirone dropped to its hands and knees and cried out.
"Yahweeeeeeeeeh!"
Shirone turned his head.
The moment they saw his face, the demons remembered the shower of light that had rained down on the Gustav Empire.
"Kieeeeeeee!"
With hollowed faces they let out a howl and, all at once, spread their wings.
"Stop."
"Ki e??????!"
Their screams cut off and their movements froze.
"You lot, come here for a moment."
In front of Yahweh — the one who had obliterated an empire — fleeing didn't even occur to them.
The thirty demons edged forward on shaky steps as Beterus's face went blank.
'Yahweh?'
A myth he'd heard endless times in the army.
"The Infinite Mage?"