Chapter 28: Acceleration

「Our life-span is roughly one year. The individ-ual you call Al died four Dragon Months ago—about twenty days after he first conversed with you.」

Al—or rather, the white rat I had thought was Al—replied smoothly.

「Then... the white rat I spoke with after that was you the whole time?」
「Ne-gative. That individ-ual also died just now. This is the first time I have spoken with you.」

And that answer shocked me.
The look, the voice, the manner of speaking—everything was absolutely indistinguishable.

No—strictly speaking, the speech is different. The first white rat, Al, had far stranger intonation. I’d chalked that up to practice.

「Do you intend to kill us?」
「Yes.」

I nodded at Al’s words. Even I’m not such a softhearted fool as to forgive after all this. Above all, I feel no chance of understanding them.

「That would be trou-ble.」

The white rat spoke the exact same line Al once had.

「Therefore, we pro-pose a deal.」

But what followed leaned a little more toward our side than Al had.

「We have a stock-pile of food. We pro-pose an exchange.」
「By 'stockpile,' you mean what you stole from us to begin with.」
「Affirma-tive.」

He nodded without a trace of shame, and I sighed.
No, I can’t let them go. We have to wipe them out here.

「This is the stock-pile.」

But when the swarm of rats carried it over, my eyes flew open.

「Dad!」
「Father!」

Amata and Yuuki screamed and rushed over.
The body, chewed to pieces and left in a wretched state, was their father—Amaga.

「There are still plenty more. Do you accept the pro-posal?」

I ground my teeth at the white rat’s words. The icehouse was far too small.
No matter how many ice walls we raised to expand it, there was no way everyone could get inside.

The sick, children, the elderly—there must have been plenty who couldn’t make it in time.
With rats swarming like a cloud, I can’t blame Nina and Amata—they managed to evacuate this many.

「It’s okay. He’s still breathing.」

Nina, checking Amaga-san, whispered to me on the sly.

「...All right. You will not harm a single villager any further. Release everyone you’re holding.」
「We have not yet pre-sented our demands.」

The white rat answered me that as I made the bitter decision.

「...What? I said I’d let you go, didn’t I?」
「Affirma-tive. However—our bargaining chips have in-creased.」

By the time I realized it, it was already too late.
The rats had encircled us and even slipped into the icehouse.
They must have moved while we were distracted by Amaga-san.

「Return to human form.」

In this state, I can’t take the rats out in one sweep—I’d drag the villagers into it.
If taking out the white rat alone would break their coordination, that would be quick—but Al had said he only spoke; he didn’t command the rats. That’s probably true.
If so, killing the white rat would only remove any room to negotiate and increase casualties.
I did as told and changed into a human.

「So, what are your demands? The same as before—food deliveries?」
「That as well. Fur-ther, we demand the removal of any possibil-ity that we be exter-minated.」
「Removal of the possibility?」
「The killing of any mighty individ-ual who could become an enemy.」

Ah, so that’s it. For some reason, I suddenly felt like laughing.
In other words, these rats intend to make humans their livestock.

「You’re telling me to die?」
「Ne-gative.」

I figured I’d be in the way, but the white rat answered unexpectedly.

「We recog-nize you as useful for the efficient provi-sion of food. You are a mighty individ-ual, but we cannot elim-inate you.」

...No way.

「The extermination of the Sword Clan. That is our demand.」
「Don’t be ridiculous!」

My bad feeling hit the mark, and before I knew it I was shouting.

「There’s no way we could accept that!」
「In that case, we will kill the stock-piled food.」

The white rat said it evenly, without the slightest haste.

「Onii-chan.」

At my loss for words, Yuuki spoke to me gently, as if to soothe me.

「The Sword Clan exists to protect the village. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t protect it all... but we won’t cling to our lives.」
「Yuuki, but—」
「...I feel the same.」

Amata continued in a grave tone.

「If it’s the three of us against every villager, there’s nothing to think about. ...Please, take care of what comes after.」

Folding his large body in half, Amata bowed deeply to me.
Perhaps taking that as acceptance, the swarm of rats rustled and writhed, closing in around them.
Starting with the smaller, weaker-looking one, perhaps—the black mass rose like a tsunami and rushed at Yuuki.

「If it was going to come to this... I should’ve leaned on you more instead of holding back.」

Yuuki’s face, caught somewhere between tears and a smile, was swallowed under the writhing swarm of rats.
The instant I heard those words, I was already running.

But she was far too far away, and my legs far too slow.
Just a few meters—that was a hopeless distance.

I could make out each and every rat baring its teeth, even each sticky thread of saliva flinging away.
The world crawled by as if time itself had stopped...

I won’t make it.
I can’t reach her.

Anyone.

Lend me your strength.

「I—」

By the time I wished it, the words were already spilling out, so natural it shocked me.
A pared-down spell that didn’t even spare the single mora for “I.”
More than that, it was the reliable ring lingering in my ears that made me blurt it out.

「Swift!」

In that instant—
My body left sound behind.
The world smeared into radiant streaming lines, and the skin on my body twisted and pinched under the slamming walls of gravity and air. My outstretched fingertips felt heavy and dull as if in water, utterly at odds with the scenery whipping by—yet I forced every last ounce of strength into them.

Her—of all people—I will never, ever let her slip away!

In the next moment everything snapped back, and a bursting crack rang out.
The sluggish world flowed at its normal speed again; the black rats were blown apart and tumbled away, and my body went tumbling to the ground in an undignified heap—

And a small girl, curled up in my arms, was staring straight at me.

「Thank goodness... You’re not hurt, are you, Yuuki?」
「Y-yeah...」

The moment she nodded, bewildered, a searing pain crashed over me. I looked—and my right leg was snapped clean through halfway down.

If I move at full tilt under enhancement magic, this is what happens.
My enhancement magic likely unleashes the strength of my dragon form—that’s the strongest state in my mind’s eye. Which is why using it while a dragon is meaningless.

A dragon’s body weighs at least five or six tons. That force gets loaded into a human body of about sixty kilos. It’s like strapping a rocket engine onto a bicycle—of course this would happen.

「So, that means you refuse our demands?」
「...I’m sorry.」

I apologized—but not to the rats. It was to the villagers.

「It seems this girl matters to me far more than I’d thought.」

That was foolish. My leg was broken; I could hardly resist.
Most of the villagers would be killed. Depending on their numbers, I might not get out unscathed either.
Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to loosen my hold around Yuuki.

「If Sensei says so, then it can’t be helped.」

Even as he spoke, Amata’s expression as he raised his sword was somehow refreshed—at peace.

「Let’s fight until this body gives out. ...Honestly, that suits me better, too.」

He wasn’t the only one. The villagers holed up in the icehouse also took up anything that could serve as a weapon and glared at the rats. Not a single voice of complaint or blame was raised.

「Hahahahahahaha!」

It was then.
An out-of-place laugh rang out, bright and loud.

「To think you’re struggling with creatures this tiny—how disgraceful, lizard!」

A husky voice, arrogant words, and a needlessly high tension.
Among my acquaintances, only one person talks like that.

「I’ve come to save you, dropout!」
「...This village is done for.」

At the sight of the elf Ultramarine proclaiming loudly, Nina covered her face and let out a hopeless groan.

「Ultramarine, why are you here...?」
「Why, you ask? Hmph.」

Why was she in our village? Why show up at this timing? Why so high and mighty? Burdened with all those questions, I asked—and Ultramarine answered in her usual tone.

「...Why was it again?」

No—she couldn’t answer.

「What... is this? Just what is going on?」

For the first time, the white rat’s voice carried emotion.
It was confusion—bewilderment at something it couldn’t grasp from the bottom of its heart.

To beings who are lumps of pure rationality, someone like Ultramarine—who lives by mood and momentum with no rhyme or reason—must be utterly incomprehensible.
I can’t make sense of what she’s trying to do either.

I can tell she came to help... probably.
But with only her added, it didn’t seem the situation would change.

「Nina, is Ultramarine strong?」

When I asked Nina just in case, she looked up at the sky and answered,

「...Useless.」

Yeah, I figured as much.

「Who are you calling useless! I was the first one here!」

Ultramarine’s keen ears picked that up, and she shouted.
...First one?
The moment I wondered at her words, several things happened at once.

The rats encircling the villagers in front of the icehouse were suddenly skewered by bramble thorns sprouting from the ground.
A massive blaze came hurtling in and scorched the rats away.
Rocks thrust up from the ground around Amata, who was holding Amaga, wrapping them in a protective ring.

「W-why...?」

At the sight before my eyes, I doubted what I was seeing.

「Looks like we made it in time, somehow.」

His voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while, had grown a little deeper.

Sig... and Violet-san, Luka, even Rin.
The special-class students were all assembled there.