Katahane no Riku

Chapter 29.The army at the back?street

Many lively sounds decorated Derufoi city.

Even with the day of the festival coming, the turmoil of the eve of the festival didn′t calm down. In fact, because it was the festival day itself, all the liveliness had increased. Even the children not sleeping was overlooked at that day. Ignoring the previous demon invasion and putting off their work, all of them wanted to have fun in the festival that was at the front of their eyes. It was certainly a big event that would only happen once in the year.

That′s why the townspeople of the city didn′t notice.

There were some of them that were a bit uncomfortable and suspicious about the tremor that happened before, but it was all there was to it. Nobody did notice that at the shadows of the city, the battle between the demons and spiritualists was becoming even fiercer.

———————–

After Riku and Vrusto got out of the forest of the shrine, they went straight back to the inn.

Maybe it would have been fine for them to go back to the entrance of the underground passage, but if one were to think on how the spiritualists immediately got to the passage right after Kurumi self-exploded, then it is possible to conclude that most likely the sound of the underground passageway crumbling down was also heard at the surface. Roppu must have thought about coming back to the inn momentarily and entering in contact with Keity. That′s why Riku and Vrusto were now running through a back street, heading towards the inn.

“It looks like we will get to the inn faster than we thought.”

Vrusto let out a bold smile.

At this festival day, there would be nobody eccentric enough to be walking at the back streets. Even if there was someone there, it would be only people that had circumstances they couldn′t tell to anybody. Therefore, even if there were a red haired girl carrying a halberd and a guy wearing a very well made wolf mask running around, nobody would batch a glance. Rather, they would all think that if they were to intervene, they would get troubles for that.

But there was no way everything would proceed that easily.

“Stop, you two there!”

Riku and Vrusto put up a face of someone that had nothing to do with it, but even so, they were called.

It was a searching party that was looking for Charlotte, who ran away. However, neither Riku or Vrusto cared about that. Doing a sign with her hand to tell Vrusto to step away, Riku gave one step forward.

“What?”

“We are spiritualists of Buryuuser. Right now, there is a demon that has escaped from our grasp. Just so we can confirm, could you remove your costumes?”

“Oh? You are suspecting us?”

Riku made a very displeased expression. The spiritualist that was the closest to Riku slowly took distance from her while having his hand on the handle of his sword. There were no signs of them loosening their guard. With both her hands not holding the sword or the halberd, she 手を広げて1* and approached him.

“That′s rude. I′m not a demon; I′m a human, you know?”

“…If that′s the case, why are you at a place like this at this time?”

“It′s just that all the turmoil became a bit too annoying. I only wanted to go to a quiet place.

Riku was playing dumb. The eyes of the spiritualists moved from Riku to Vrusto.

“This mask there is really very detailed.”

The spiritualists were glaring at Vrusto from head to toe. They were giving words of praise, but even so, the signs of caution on their eyes weren′t fading away at all. Rather, it looked like it became even stronger. Riku clicked her tongue inside her mind. Keity Fostar′s arms and ears were those of a tiger, but her face was just like the one of a human′s. Therefore, back then, they left them without paying much mind. But Vrusto′s face was different from a human′s and was exactly like one of a wolf.

“Could you show it to me for a bit?”

While saying that, the spiritualist approached Vrusto. Vrusto didn′t answer to his question. When his hand got close enough that it would be possible to easily touch Vrusto, something in his sleeve shone. There was no way Vrusto would overlook that. In order to get some distance from the spiritualist, he was about to give one step back. But at that exact moment, with a knife that went out of his sleeve, the spiritualist attacked Vrusto.

“What are you doing!!”

Because the spiritualist got so close to him, there was no time for Vrusto to draw his sword or to avoid the attack. In that instant, Vrusto attacked with his claws. The sharp claws lightly deflected the knife. Having his knife sent flying, the spiritualist jumped back, taking distance from Vrusto. And then, while showing a smirk, he drew his sword.

“Hmph, you showed your true colors, you demons!!”

“There is no way fake claws would send a knife flying!”

The mood of the back street that didn′t have anything was now rising in tension. It was as if the air was getting denser, feeling like it was weighting down on the body. All the spiritualists got into a fighting posture.

“It can′t be helped. I would want to avoid doing some unnecessary exercise though.”

“Really, spiritualists should also go get a break at festivals!”

Riku took the halberd in her hands and Vrusto drew his sword. Her headache and her feeling of nausea lessened, but she still didn′t want to move too much. This was the same for Vrusto, who was covered in bandages. None of them were at vital spots, but his body was covered by wounds. Vrusto also wanted to avoid any pointless conflict. That′s why he let the spiritualists do whatever they wanted, but it seems that the plan had completely failed. They were not able to avoid the battle.

“Let′s start by you, little demon!”

The spiritualist that was the first to draw his sword went forward, aiming his sword at Riku. Sending the sword of the attacking spiritualist flying with a small movement, she cut his torso off, putting her strength onto the blow. His organs fell off from him and fell down at the paved street. Riku stepped on the organs that fell down on the ground.

“Without any greetings, you attacked us with a knife and even drew your swords… Do spiritualists know no manners?”

“Tch, somebody! Call reinforcements quickly!”

They were probably scared of how their comrade had died so easily. A spiritualist of high stature raised his voice as he was trembling. The person that took heed to his call quickly nodded. Turning his back, he ran to the depths of the street. But there was no way Riku would let they go call reinforcements.

“Naive.”

With her eyes shining, she kicked the ground with. As if to prevent Riku from attacking that spiritualist, the spiritualists stood on her way. Bending her body, she passed through them. In the perspective of the spiritualists, maybe that spiritualist was running fast, but in Riku′s perspective, it was so slow that filled her with boredom. In an instant, she caught up with him, and then, she whispered at the ear of the spiritualist that was desperately running.

“I won′t let you escape.”

“Hiii!”( ひぃっ!)

The spiritualist raised a groan similar to that of a cornered monkey. Although he looked back with his eyes wide-open out of fear, he still kept going forward. It wasn′t because calling for reinforcements was his duty that he was running, but because of Riku herself. Without any hesitations, Riku swung down her halberd. The sharp axe-shaped blade of the halberd lodged at the spiritualist′s spinal cord. Stepping at the spiritualist that fell forward to the ground, she pressed her halberd onto the ground.

“Well then, who is next?”

As Riku muttered that, the expression of the spiritualists changed. There were already only three spiritualists left. Previously, they should have been thinking that if they were to surround Riku and attack her all at once, it would somehow work out. But in practice, Riku had already killed two people. Not only that, there was still Vrusto, who clearly had the appearance of a demon, remaining. Saying that their chances of victory were hopeless wasn′t exaggeration.

“…Sh-shit! Don′t fear! In honor of the Buryuuser, we shall slay the enemy!”

But even then, the spiritualists got inspired. With that voice that was trembling to the point of being disgraceful being raised, their morale seemed to be rising up. Two of the spiritualists ran to Riku and the remaining one went to attack Vruto.

“I shall fulfill the resentment of our companions!”

“You damned red haired demon!”

While raising a battle cry, the two spiritualists charged at Riku. Riku′s expression didn′t change. She rotated her halberd at her hand as if all that was a bother. With the sound of the air being cut, as if he got scared because of that, the speed of one of the spiritualist dropped. But the other one didn′t stop. With his eyes bloodshot, he rushed forward to Riku.

“Take this! The resentment of our dead comrades!”

“Ok. Then, goodbye.”

With a simple movement, she cut his head off. The body that had lost its head was spraying blood as if it was a fountain. While her cheeks were being soaked with the spilling blood, she got closer to the spiritualist that was frozen from fear.

“I-I′m sorry. Ple-please, sp-spare me!”

His sword dropped from his hand. While unsteadily stepping back, he started to beg for his life.

“I, I have a child! It′s, it′s only a baby that can′t even stand up!”

Sweat was flowing down on the spiritualist′s forehead. Differently from the case of the spiritualist that attacked Riku with bloodshot eyes, perhaps this spiritualist was thinking about the face of his child that was at home right now. His expression, which showed he didn′t want to die and wanted to run away, was filled with fear.

“If, if I don′t come back, my family… My family will!!”

“Yes, very troublesome, right? That′s why you want me to spare you?”

Riku′s face became loose. Raising the corners of her mouth slightly, she was getting close to him. It was almost as if it was a smirk. The spiritualist thought there might still be hope for him to be saved. As if grasping hope that was like a single ray of light shining at the darkness, he extended his hands.

“I beg you… Spare me. I won′t tell about you to anyone. So…”

“Don′t wanna.”

Riku sent the hand that was extended to her flying. The street was filled with a shriek full of pain and despair. Giving a glance to the face soaked in tears of the spiritualist, without a fragment of emotion, she swung down one more blow. The head that was sent flying fell inside the sea of blood. Looking at his eyes, which were wide-open in fear, she muttered to herself.

“Even though you took your sword, you weren′t prepared to die? If you hold your life so preciously, then it would had been better if you ran away to begin with.”

“…Ojou-chan, so you are really worrying about what Shibira said.”

Vrusto, who had already skewered the spiritualists, said to Riku in a worried tone. Riku cut him off.

“Don′t make me tell you again. I don′t have interest in something like prophecies.”

Saying that, she wiped off the blood on her cheek. Having blood sticking to her was nasty. Riku began wanting to go to have a bath. Since their plan of saving Charlotte had been initiated, she didn′t have the time to go have a bath. Thinking about that, she decided she should get to the inn as soon as possible. Lightly swinging her halberd and spilling blood from it, she started to walk.

“Let′s go, second lieutenant Vrusto.”

“…Understood… Wait, ojou-chan!”

It was right after the instant she stopped her feet from Vrusto′s warning.

At the other side of the street, there were a huge amount of people pressing through. It was as like an army of housewifes at a discount festival. If one were to look closely, it would be possible to see there was a little shadow at the front of that army that ran as if she was running away from them. It seems that the crowd of humans that were all holding swords were going after the small shadow running in front of them.

With the blonde hair that stood out even at night disheveled and holding a broken sword in her right hand, the shadow was running straight to Riku′s direction. That figure was just like…

“Mu, captain! It′s captain!! I want you to help me a little!”

As if saying “I finally found you”, the eyes of that small shadow were sparkling. She was running straight towards Riku. Following behind her, there was that army full of killing intent. As expected, facing such unexpected situation, even Riku had her face twitching.

“Ch-charlotte!?”

She wouldn′t be forgiven for running away.

Charlotte had an army of fifty spiritualists following after her.