Chapter 49 : Tag

The silent lakeshore.

Two figures tore through the stillness, stumbling as they fled.

“Senior Brother, where are you going? You think there’s a way out that way? Doesn’t look like it. Or does it? Maybe? Nah, pretty sure it’s not.”

“Huff…! Haaah…!”

James staggered forward, dripping blood with every step.

Nothing too serious. We were just playing another game.

Earlier it had been hide-and-seek. Now it was tag.

I was “it,” chasing them down. They were the runners, trailing bright red behind them.

Jack had fainted after taking a few good hits.

I’d slapped his face a few times to wake him, but he wouldn’t budge, so I had no choice but to drag him along while I chased James.

The blood loss slowed James down enough to make this possible.

As the Heavenly Demon’s faint laughter brushed my ears, we sprinted merrily along the lakeside.

“Haaah! Huff!”

James’s ragged breathing reached me.

“Getting tired? Already? That all it takes to wear you out? Come now, brave assassins shouldn’t collapse over something so small.”

I rattled on as I chased him.

“Back in my day—listen here—I ran tag with a beast for days on end, bleeding much worse than you are now. My heart is pounding, not a moment’s rest! My blood painted the ground like a feast, and still I ran. Tch. These modern assassins, no stamina.”

“Hhhuff! Huff!”

“Are you even listening? Who am I talking to?”

Looking back, maybe all that blood was why the beast never gave up the chase. But that wasn’t important.

My mouth didn’t stop moving.

The roles were reversed now—before, they had been the loudmouths. Now it was me.

I couldn’t tell if I was angry or exhilarated.

“Are you awake yet? Done dreaming? Did you think you could kill my sister, betray the guild, snatch up Ophosis’s legacy and live soft and fat? No. Welcome to reality, filthy, stinking, rotten reality. There’s no paradise for traitors. If there is, it’s in the afterlife.”

From time to time, I flicked little sparks of starlight from my fingertips—the Heavenly Demon’s techniques put to amusing use.

“Pew!”

“Gahhh!”

Each time the light zapped his backside, James leapt like a startled rabbit.

“Stop moving and you’re dead. I’ll grind you up and feed you to an apple tree for fertilizer. Run, Senior Brother, run! Run, Disciple! …Ah, right. The disciple’s still unconscious.”

I dragged Jack’s limp body as I chased James, laughing.

Then, all of a sudden, the disciple muttered,

“…Ketel, goddess of night…”

“Oh? Awake, are you?”

Delighted, I slapped him across the head.

Crack!

That brought him around. He instantly whipped out a dagger and lunged to stab me.

“The nerve of you.”

Before the blade could reach me, I flung him forward with all my strength.

He tumbled straight into his senior brother. The two rolled together in a graceless heap.

“Now that’s a sight. Brothers ought to stick close, after all.”

I strolled toward them as they groaned.

“Ketel!”

Jack suddenly sprang up, eyes wild, dagger raised like a beast gone rabid.

But I wasn’t a forgiving man.

He’d tried to kill me. The reward was swift.

I slipped the sheath off my belt and swung it like a club.

A dagger is short because it’s shorter than a longsword, and a longsword is long because it’s longer than a dagger.

Which is to say—my sheath reached first.

Thunk!

Jack collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Ketel… have you truly abandoned me…?”

His words were pitiful for a final breath.

“Idiot.”

I brought the aura-filled sheath down on his skull.

Crack!

His head burst.

I muttered flatly,

“Still unrepentant.”

But I remembered how he had once spat that Sushruta was a thief.

Whack!

I remembered how he had mocked me to my face.

Whack!

I remembered how he blamed our goddess Ketel for his own cowardice.

Whack!

I remembered Sushruta staring into the fire at night, silent and forlorn.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

“…”

Blood splattered everywhere.

I turned my head.

James stood frozen, staring at me with vacant eyes.

I grinned.

“Senior Brother, you’re next.”

“Uwaaaaah!”

So strange. The man who had once faced me with such boldness now fled, shrieking like a frightened girl.

“Ha ha ha! Again we begin! Run until your soul is strung on the stars!”

I chased him, shouting advice as I went.

His cries rose and fell like replies.

“An Aura grade, you said? Grade Bing? Wrong. You’re Grade ‘Idiot.’ Got it?”

“Uwaaaah!”

“You laughed at Sherwood? I don’t find it funny. Bastards. Laughing was easy, wasn’t it? Now pay the price.”

“Please! Please, no!”

“What’s with the whining? You dared make my sister grieve. Those who tear people’s hearts apart deserve to have their own bodies torn apart. Don’t you agree?”

“Please! Stop…!”

“There are things you must never do in this world. One—never break the hearts of those close to you. Two—never wear underwear on your head. Understand?”

“Spare me! I’ll do anything!”

“Oh? You still beg for life? The opposite words should be coming out right now.”

“Cough! Cough!”

“And another thing—why wear underwear on your head, huh? Save that for your lover, in bed. Don’t parade your fetishes around outside. Is that something to brag about?”

“I never wore it!”

“Oh ho? So now you claim innocence? As his senior, you should’ve scolded him properly.”

“I—I was foolish!”

“Commit a sin, and pay the price. The price is death.”

“Uwaaaaah!”

We ran and ran.

Then—above us, a presence stirred.

I looked up.

Sushruta stood there, gazing down with a dazed expression.

I waved cheerfully.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“…”

“Hold on a sec.”

I raised a hand as if to excuse myself, then shot a spell at James’s knee.

He yelped and tumbled, rolling across the ground.

“…”

Sushruta, still staring blankly, dropped lightly from the trees to land at my side.

A wave of blood-scent swept over me.

Now I saw it—she was drenched in crimson, her aura sharp and deadly, like a blade not yet sheathed.

The air around her reeked of slaughter. She had killed, and killed plenty.

I found myself wondering—

Is this really the same Sushruta I know?

The one who had cried over burnt jerky, who had spat out ginseng only to earn a flick to the forehead, who was always teased for reading maps upside down?

I broke the heavy air with a question.

“Sister. You feel… different.”

Sushruta answered in a flat, cold tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Just… something new. Did you kill all the assassins?”

She nodded once.

“Yes.”

I studied her, then asked,

“Any of that your blood?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

“Hm. Surprising. You’re hopeless at fighting—how’d you win? Thought you’d at most shake them off.”

Her speed had always made her slippery, never dangerous. Killing them all was unexpected even for me.

Sushruta bristled.

“I am good at fighting.”

“You still got beaten in one strike by me.”

She averted her gaze.

“That was… daytime. I was careless.”

“Sure, sure.”

“More importantly—what are you doing?”

She flicked her gaze toward James.

He lay sprawled, gasping like a dying man. Somehow, he still forced himself to his feet and staggered on.

“D-devil… must run… run from the devil…”

His mind was gone.

Sushruta watched him with a strange look—then turned the same look on me.

I interpreted it my own way and slapped my forehead.

“Ah, lost track of time. Got carried away with tag. I’ll finish this quick.”

Shhhhk—

I drew my sword.

James screamed, stumbled, twisted his ankle, and fell, rolling pathetically.

I tapped my blade against my shoulder, watching.

“You were supposed to be stronger than ten elite assassins combined. Doesn’t look that way.”

“…”

Sushruta stared at me oddly, like I was some bizarre beast.

I frowned.

“What’s that look supposed to mean?”

“…Nothing. Where’s the younger brother?”

“Head smashed. Gone ahead.”

“…Ah.”

She stared at the broken brothers, then looked into my eyes.

Her gaze was heavy, complicated.

“Ashuban.”

“What.”

“May I… speak with him for a moment?”

I regarded her steadily.

She was still cloaked in that deadly aura, but her face—her face was like a child on the verge of tears.

Like a drenched little kitten, shivering.

“….”

I sheathed my sword and jerked my chin forward.

“…Thank you.”

She whispered barely loud enough to hear, then walked to James.

I stepped back, watching from a distance.

They spoke quietly.

Then she lifted her dagger, and with one clean stroke, slit his throat.

Blood sprayed. She lowered her head and returned to me.

Her body was drenched, her face shadowed.

“All done?”

…Nod.

She nodded faintly, head bowed. Her face was hidden.

I nodded too, though she couldn’t see. So I added aloud,

“Let’s go.”

I walked ahead.

The eastern sky was glowing, swelling like boiling water.

The black night turned blue like a vast lake. Red stretched across the horizon.

Orange horizon, blue sky, and countless hues layered between.

The calm lake mirrored it all, casting the sky into the water.

I tried to count each color… then gave up.

Tug.

Something gripped my back.

A small hand clutched my robe, holding tight.

I stopped and waited.

Sushruta stayed silent, holding on.

Her grip tightened.

Meanwhile, the sun rose slowly, piercing the dark.

The lake turned crimson.

As dawn banished the long night, her small voice reached me, wet with tears.

“Ashuban.”

“What.”

“I just thought of something. Give me the dagger.”

“….”

I bent down. She hopped lightly onto my shoulders.

“Up we go.”

I carried her on my back, handed her the dagger.

She was so light.

I walked on, watching the sun burn away the dark.

There were no clouds. And yet, rain seemed to fall over my head alone.

I turned to the lake.

The world reflected there was upside down.

From the far shore, we must look like we too were walking upside down.

I woke from meditation.

My martial progress had been steep, dizzying.

No one could call it slow.

Even I, knowing little of martial arts, thought, Isn’t this too fast?

That thrill had driven me to train at every chance.

Soon, I thought, I would pass beyond starlight into the realm of moonlight.

What was moonlight? How did it differ from starlight?

Even starlight itself had been near magical. What miracles awaited at moonlight?

My heart raced.

And at last, just before dawn yesterday—no, today—while dueling Sushruta’s brothers, a revelation brushed me.

I poured it into my blade, and my sword shone like it had been forged from pure starlight.

I knew instinctively—that was the completed form of starlight.

Only one step remained: to break through the wall into moonlight.

So this morning’s meditation had been for that. To shatter the barrier and step into the realm of the moon.

But perhaps I had underestimated martial arts.

“Ashuban. Is something wrong?”

Sushruta’s voice.

Before me lay a pile of coarse ginseng she had gathered. She sat on a branch, swinging her legs, happily munching on the fruit.

I stared blankly into space and muttered.

“…I’m screwed.”

The very first day I completed starlight—

I hit the wall.

(End of Chapter)

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