31

"Onii-chan…"

Hout wandered alone through the dark forest, calling her older brother's name. He'd always been kind, and she loved him. She never imagined they'd be torn apart.

But then monsters attacked the town. Her brother went off to fight, defending everyone, and never came back. People said he was dead, but Hout refused to believe it. She was sure he was alive somewhere.

Everyone in town looked at her sadly, thinking she just couldn't face reality.

But Hout truly believed her brother was alive. She could even hear his voice sometimes—not just his, but the voices of others who were supposedly gone. Then the princess came and offered condolences, but Hout didn't understand why. After all—

—Hout.

She heard her brother's voice so clearly. It had to be him. She followed it into the forest, going deeper and deeper without pause.

Until—

"Re…d…do…"

She found him.

"Onii-cha…"

He sounded just like her brother. The same presence.

But—

"...?!"

"You…are…my… sister…"

His body was round, bulging out, with a huge swollen belly. His face and limbs were strangely small. It was a monster, and a giant mouth gaped open across his abdomen.

"Eek…"

Hout snapped out of it. This wasn't her brother at all—it was just some monster imitating his voice.

The creature drew closer.

"N-no way…"

She tried to back away, but her foot caught on a tree root and she fell.

It loomed right in front of her.

"Let's…be…together…"

Its gigantic mouth opened to swallow her.

"Kyahhhhhh!"

Hout screamed at the top of her lungs.

Then, in that moment—

"Bind—Slave Chain."

A woman's voice rang out.

Chains wound around the monster.

◇　◇　◇

Camilla arrived just in time to rescue the girl.

"Grr…ghh…"

The monster groaned in pain.

"Oooh…oooh…"

It even seemed to cry.

Camilla stared at it calmly, eyes cold.

Suddenly—

"Raaaaaah!"

Surtr rushed in from behind Camilla, bringing his sword down hard on the monster.

"Gahhhhhh! Aaaargh!"

It roared, thrashing around violently.

Camilla pulled the chains tighter, and it howled even louder.

"Just smashing its head isn't enough to kill it," she said.

"Then I'll burn it to ashes."

Surtr's sword erupted in flames—he wielded the Sun Sword, Laevatein, said to have enough power to burn the entire world. The hilt had three slots for magic stones, and the middle one glowed red. It was the stone Arc gave him.

He still wasn't skilled enough to use the sword at full strength, but even a fraction of its power was incredible.

He lifted Laevatein.

"Muspelheim—!"

He brought the sword down, unleashing flames that swallowed the monster.

"Guaaaaaah!"

The monster howled, its voice echoing through the dark, lit only by Surtr's fire. It burned away. And just before it vanished—

—"Be happy."

Its quiet murmur reverberated strangely in the silent forest. Then it disappeared with a gentle smile on its face.

"Onii-chan…?"

Hout just stared, stunned, at the empty space where the monster had been.

◇　◇　◇

Camilla lowered her gaze.

She thought of Arc.

He said there was something more important than this, then told her to bring the princess out here, almost like an evacuation.

Why was he staying behind in town? Why did he want the princess away from it?

It was probably dangerous. And now, seeing the monster Surtr just destroyed, Camilla understood what was going on.

People say monsters appear where the magic level is high. But what are these monsters, exactly?

Camilla reached one conclusion: monsters are what humans become after they die. She's not sure how it happens, but apparently the dead can turn into monsters. That's what happened to Hout's brother.

So in places where many have died, you risk a huge surge of monsters. That's probably why Arc stayed behind to defend the town and sent the princess out here to keep her safe.

Camilla's chest tightened. Why didn't he tell her? This wasn't the first time he'd kept everything to himself. Taking on so many monsters alone is just too big a burden. She wished he'd trust her more.

"Wh-what was that…? What's going on…?"

Magisa arrived, her face pale, and asked Camilla. Camilla hesitated, but decided to explain plainly. Surtr and Hout already understood, anyway.

"Monsters are what humans become after they die."

Someone let out a sharp gasp in the stillness of the forest.

◇　◇　◇

In the original story, there's a completely hopeless event during the princess's condolence tour. It's a bad ending of sorts. Surtr, Magisa, and Ruine go to rescue a girl, but they fail in time. She's eaten by a giant-mouthed monster, and they can only recover her body from its belly. That alone is devastating. But then the girl returns as a Red Hood monster and attacks them, revealing the truth: monsters are made from dead humans. They're horrified, but they destroy her anyway.

Then the real tragedy happens. In the morning, they return to town and find it overrun by monsters. Everyone is gone—citizens and knights alike. That's the true despair of the "condolence event" in the original storyline.

But Arc's interference has already started changing things.