3.6 To Save the World From Destruction

"Cérise?"

"...what?"

"Why don't you join the others?"

"Why don't you?"

"I will. Soon. Just recovering."

Silence.

"Cérise?"

No answer.

"I did not give them the letters. Almost did, but you mentioned fighting against them, so I surmised it wouldn't be wise. I must admit, however, that I kind of regret it. They seemed very strong."

No answer.

Akiha went on, anyway. "I lied earlier. This wasn't my first combat."

No answer.

"It was my second. The first was against Haku, but I lost."

No answer.

"I still can't believe we actually did it."

"If you want to talk so much," said Cérise, "Why don't you go with the others?"

"Soon."

"When?"

Akiha admitted, "I just need some alone time."

"What. Then stop talking?"

"It's complicated."

No answer.

Akiha went on, anyway. "Neither I nor the mercenaries won. Luck did. Due to... the anomaly, my spell came out deformed. It was a lot bigger than it should've been. A lot. Kaz could not escape in time, and that's what happened. That's what happened. How can I claim victory when it was more of an accident?"

"A lot of victories are accidents."

"Oh. You're still there."

"Yes," Cérise said.

"I thought you'd left."

"Where to?"

While it was true that such a setting did not allow for spatial freedom, Cérise still could've covered his ears or something if he'd found Akiha that annoying. So there was that. Instead of giving him ideas, Akiha continued: "I realize I'm overthinking. Of course luck plays a part in every encounter, but ideally, one would rely on it as little as possible. It's not the same as simulated fights, where everything is so carefully controlled, every outcome planned..."

No answer.

"Enemies are also, well. I was about to say 'enemies' again but that'd be redundant. What I mean is that they're bad? Kaz was also bad, of course, but he almost feels like someone I could've befriended. Someone I could've met on the street. A slave trader. It's strange to imagine. 'Oh, he just realized bandits are also people'. Of course they are. Nothing screams sentience like choosing to be do evil when you could be good. Enemies are enemies. Enemies can be friends. My friend right now is my enemy. That's how things are. Have you ever been in such a situation?"

"No."

"Because you've never had any friends?"

No answer.

Akiha covered his face again. This happened whenever he spoke without thinking for too long. "I didn't mean... sorry..."

"What? Oh, no. I was just thinking about something. I've had friends before."

"Had?"

"Had. I killed all of them."

What was it Two-Rabbit had said? 'Different cultures'. Akiha could not even begin to comprehend how the locals found this funny. "S-so the thing is, I don't believe in destiny or any such tomfoolery, but sometimes I almost think 'it happened for a reason'. For example, if I hadn't lost control on my spell, Kaz would've won, and now we'd be... we'd... you know. You understand. But that scenario didn't come true. We're here, free and alone, with an entire campsite at our disposal."

"Yes."

"What will happen tomorrow? Where will we rest? So many variables I hadn't considered, and they keep piling up and up and..."

No ans—

Cérise said, "They'll pay us a bounty soon."

"Pardon me?"

"I think the price for Kaz's head was a million."

No answer, this time from Akiha.

Cérise peeked at him from the edge of the door. His smile looked like anything but. "That should cover the expenses."

Akiha's mind already raced with calculations. A million zuli... probably distributed among all nine of them, plus a cut for the guards. Converted to his local currency... would he be able to pay off student debt? Wait, no, that wasn't important now. It'd fund their travels. "It'll fund our travels."

No answer.

Akiha stood up, a bit too quickly, so his head swam and he had to sit again. "One MILLION. Are we supposed to pick it up? Wait, no. I enabled international transactions. They'll deposit the amount in my account with my citizen ID. Oh, Cérise, you have no idea how easier this makes things."

"Money does that."

"I was using my college's emergency funds—with permission, of course. All this while, I kept wondering how to justify—"

"Half a ton of falafels?"

"—among other things. You mock me, but it's true. Cérise, would you do me a favor?"

"No."

"Would you help me convince the rest to travel by train?"

"They don't need convincing."

"They do. I don't understand the aversion to trains. To indulge them any further is to delay our journey. Traveling by carriage is interesting, I'll admit, but I fear we might run into the next bout of misfortune that way. I don't know. They'll listen to you more than me."

"You're the leader," Cérise replied. "Just tell them to take the train, or else."

"Or else?"

"Kick them off."

"I can't—"

"Yes you can." Cérise added, "Do you think that, at this point, they'd rather leave than take the train?"

"...no..."

"Good. There you go."

Easy for him to say. "Why are you there, anyway?" Akiha Asked. "At the..."

As if on cue, Cérise stepped away from the entrance. "Standing guard," he replied. "I don't know."

"Huh?"

"Habit. I don't know. I'll do this somewhere more useful."

When Cérise began to leave, so did Akiha, though he stumbled a bit, half because magic anomaly, half because hunger. At least he could remedy the latter. "Wait! But why? I don't think anyone will show up."

"More than one person has died after saying that."

"Perhaps, but—hey!" Cérise was walking away now. Akiha sped to him, then stumbled. Cérise didn't stop. "Isn't it cold? Won't you eat anything?"

No answer.

Akiha dragged himself to the bonfire. Perhaps he'd misjudged their earlier interactions.

He shuddered. Of course a desert would be cold at night, with little humidity to trap heat. Of course. Why hadn't he thought about it before? And so—dark. So silent. It almost felt like being buried alive. If this was how it felt as the sun set, how would it be at dead hours of the night, when a whisper felt like a scream? The only source of light came from the bonfire at the distance, pale orange, mild. The only source of sound came from the bonfire, too, the cracking of wood under fire, the uneasy, yet eager cadence of conversation between strangers who would not be strangers for long.

As Akiha slid on his cape, he let out a breath. In his hometown, this would've led to a wisp floating into the air, but the same didn't happen here—couldn't happen.

He looked at the stars. For some reason, he couldn't admire them. Beyond the sky and the anomaly turning them technicolor to the observer's eye, they were nothing but giant nuclear reactors floating in the void, or, well, not really, more like gas balls lying in a black blanket, but the sentiment was there nonetheless. They were far. Akiha was far. Everything was far.

From?

So then he walked. Aside from the bonfire, the only sound came from sand under his feet. Like snow, but orange-brown.

"Akiha!" Mish called out. She stood next to the bonfire instead of sitting down like the rest. "Guess what! Guess what! We're rich!"

Had Cérise told them, too?

"No," said Two-Rabbit.

"Or—okay, fine, not that rich, but we still have like ten thousand zuli each. Isn't that great?"

Akiha sat, and Two-Rabbit offered him a skewer full of plums, falafel and some kind of meat (Akiha didn't know what he expected, but he should've expected nothing), which he took. "Ten thousand? Wasn't it a million?"

They all turned to look at him.

"No? Wait..." Had Cérise lied? Why? To embarrass Akiha in front of everyone else? He covered his face with the skewer. "My bad. I must've misheard."

"To be precise," Pluie said, "Six thousand six hundred and sixty six. The guards keep the rest as, uh, tax fees. The original bounty was sixty thousand, and there were nine of us, so..."

Sixty thousand... six percent of what Cérise had told him. Close enough. Akiha's face burned, for multiple reasons.

Mish jumped. "WOO! I've never been so rich. Ever ever. Ever ever ever."

"Bounty hunting must not be that profittable," Two-Rabbit noted. "I would've thought it'd be more, since those bandits were so strong. The pink one especially."

"Yeah," mumbled Pluie.

The driver was also there. At the distance, his man-eating lizard feasted on what Akiha hoped wasn't a man. "That's what I make in a year," he said. "Base salary, I mean."

Two-Rabbit swallowed an entire skewer before responding, "Me too," then took out the stick from his maw. Come to think of it, where had he even gotten those fr... never mind.

The skewer was way too tasty for what it included. The plums gave the mystery meat a rich, tangy flavor. Besides, they tasted pretty nice when roasted. Akiha could've done without the falafels, however. "What're you guys gonna get with that money?" Asked Mish.

Snail said, "I—"

"Me, I'll upgrade me weapons. Get some magic scrolls. One of those satchels where you can fit in a hundred times their size' worth of stuff. Like the one Two-Rabbit has. It's gonna be great. WOO!"

She twirled around the bonfire. Hopefully its strength wouldn't increase. That was around the time Akiha noted there was alcohol involved, but hopefully if he looked away from the floor, his brain would forget this to protect itself, and himself. No. No drinking tonight.

As he took another skewer from the bonfire, Snail said, "I'll get some magic books."

Akiha glanced at her. Between blows to the skewer, he told her, "Are you interested in magic on a more advanced level?"

She nodded. "I can't afford college, but..."

"Your parents can get a loan. That's what most people... oh. My bad. I apologize."

"Cérise wanted to, but I said no, cuz. you know. It is expensive."

"Is Cérise your dad?" Asked Pluie. "Isn't that kinda..." Anatomically impossible? "Isn't he kind of young?"

"You silly SILLY goose," said a very VERY drunk Mish. "She's adopted. You don't SAY that to adopted kids."

Snail bit her lip, though she replied, "I don't mind."

"Sweetie, you say that, but your eyes say otherwise."

"No, really, I-I don't mind. I guess... that's right. I'm adopted. But I'm also not. it's complicated. I don't want to bother him any more than I have, so. Besides, I have a bounty hunter badge. I got it last year. Wanna see?"

Snail showed them her bounty hunter badge. It wasn't too dissimilar to a mage's badge, although theirs had dark brown borders, plus a bow and arrow crossed over each other. A mage's badge had dark blue borders and a ring at the center. A ring, of all things. Pluie was next, showing his... guard...? Badge, which had a shield. Two-Rabbit had none of that, but he said he had twenty diplomas and counting. Well, it made sense, with beastmen having nine lives and all. Mysteriously, Mish showed nothing. Akiha couldn't be the only one to notice, right? Yet no one brought this up.

Oh well. "Six thousand zuli will help," Snail mumbled. "O-of course, part of it will go for the journey, too."

Akiha shrugged. "Do as you wish. This wasn't money I counted on, anyway."

"You must be rich if you're going around funding this shtuff," Mish said. "Stuff. Richer. Than me. Hey, where'd the wine go?"

"No," said Two-Rabbit. "No more."

"Whhyyyy...."

Oh, if only they knew.

Two-Rabbit continued: "This is a good time to explain." The rest stared at him, puzzled, until he elaborated: "Akiha, I mean you. And I don't just mean teleportation. I mean everything. You've been too vague."

Yes.

"Hello," said Two-Rabbit, "My name is Two-Rabbit," said Two-Rabbit. "I'm in my eighth life right now. I used to work as a bartender. I was also an engineer, but it got boring. I'm joining this because... well, I suppose bartendering also got boring. I can't fight. I can cook, though. I'm also good at math. Oh, and I was also a doctor once."

Amazing. "I'm Pluiegris," said Pluie. "My name is—wait, sorry. I'm in my... first? Life now. I work as a guard, but I have a permit right now, so that's okay. I'm joining this because I, uh. Because. I think I can fight, and cook, but I'm not good at math. I have never been a doctor. I wanted to join because I think what you're doing is great."

Doing what, exactly? It was Snail's turn. "I'm Snail, and I'm a bounty hunter... kinda? I'm joining because I also think what everyone is doing is great." Doing what? "I was good at math in school, but I dunno. It's been a while since I went to one. Um. Oh, and it's not because Cér didn't want me to or anything. He did, but I also said no. But it's okay. My favorite color is purple. I like musicals."

Mish's turn. She didn't stop dancing as she spoke. "I am Mish, Princess of the Sands Wandering! I'm joining to save the world from destruction! My favorite color is, uhh... I'm good at fighting and cooking and math and was almost a doctor! WOO!"

And so, at last, Akiha had to speak. "I—"

"I'm also good at musicals because I'm a bounty hunter and a bard, so I'm good at everything, basically. Wanna see? Or hear."

"No," said Two-Rabbit. "Akiha. Speak."

Mish twirled so much that she lost her balance. It would've been great for her to keep blabbering, but no. She, too waited. Even in this state, she waited, or perhaps she waited because of this state.

"All right," he said. "I will. I'm Akiha, going on this journey because... it'll be a long tale."

Two-Rabbit told him, "There's time."

And there was. Too much, too little.

Akiha sighed. "Well. Here I go."