Chapter 1.2: The Snake and the Boy Rotten to the Core

To be clear, the self-preservation underlying Shion’s words was for his own sake.

“I can’t find the words to stop them. And I don’t think I could overpower them, either.”

Had Shion truly let his silver tongue fly, the result might have been different, but he didn’t realize it.

From the moment he stepped into this dungeon, he had been completely and utterly rattled.

“You’re a wise person, Harukaze-kun. I don’t dislike people like that.”

“…If you say so, then why didn’t you stop them?”

“I have no intention of dealing with idiots. Simple, isn’t it?”

Despite her words, Kuroda’s eyes looked lonely.

Something may have happened in her past, but as far as Shion was concerned, it was about as interesting as tomorrow’s weather forecast.

“Hey, Harukaze-kun, is this your first time in a place like this in high school?”

“Yeah.”

Whether one possessed exceptional magic or physical abilities was something determined at birth.

But whether that person would actually take up the profession of an adventurer was another story entirely.

When all was said and done, it was a job that put your life on the line.

It was hard to imagine the cowardly Shion having seriously pursued this path from a young age.

“I see. My first time was in middle school. I think it was a neighborhood association event? The idea was to let kids who planned on becoming adventurers get a feel for the field…”

As she spoke of that first time, the shadow she cast seemed to grow darker.

“Is that so. (Why is this chick suddenly telling me her life story? Is she an office lady or something?)

Why he chose an “office lady” as the prime example of someone who overshares their personal history is anyone’s guess.

“Yes. The Hole I dove into with people they called veterans… the dungeon inside was the real deal.”

The spitting image of what was written in the pamphlet, no doubt.

“They were all such kind people—and because of that, because of my own reckless bravery, they all died.”

“…(What does this woman think she’ll accomplish by telling me this?)”

“I decided then and there. There is no shame in retreat. It’s people like my former self who are the real menace.”

And she was right about that.

If all you could do was charge forward, you were no different from a wild boar.

The era of hunting mammoths with stone axes was long past.

“If I try to stop them, I’ll get dragged in with them… just like they were.”

“I see. So, Kuroda, you gained wisdom at the price of decisiveness. If you were taught through pain, you’re unlikely to make the same mistake twice. That’s an asset.”

Sensing the conversation was heading into dangerous territory, Shion quickly interjected.

He was telling her, Don’t do anything stupid, or rather, Don’t you dare leave me alone.

“Yes… you’re, right.”

“Yeah… The pain carved into your heart and body may be hard to erase, but it isn’t meaningless.”

And then a curtain of silence fell.

For Shion, who only spoke when necessary, it was a welcome moment.

“(Kuroda’s necklace… looks valuable.)”

Shion observed her casually. His assessment was accurate; Kuroda’s necklace was a one-of-a-kind piece.

A red gemstone that, over many years, had come to emit an bewitching glow. It was surely worth at least ten million yen.

“(If she dies, I wonder if I could discreetly strip it off her?)”

Such depraved thoughts, even as she was protecting him.

But perhaps that is the very essence of what makes Shion Harukaze who he is.

“…It might be foolish.”

“?”

Suddenly, Kuroda began to mutter to herself. Her face was like someone confessing a sin…

“My past self is over there. This might be a substitute act…”

The golden spear, still stabbed into the ground, began to glow.

“Even if it’s not the right thing to do, if it’s an act I won’t be ashamed of… If I could be as kind as they were…!”

With a cry that was like coughing up blood, Kuroda’s spear pulled free from the ground and floated in the air.

This is bad. This is really bad. Hold on a second. In his mind, Shion was sweating buckets.

“Harukaze-kun.”

Stop. Don’t say another word. Shion’s prayer deepened.

“—I have to go.”

Kuroda flashed a powerful smile, one that betrayed not a hint of tragic resolve, and ran off.

Her figure was just like…

“(Y-You… Are you… ARE YOU THE GODDAMN PROTAGONIST?!)”

…the protagonist of a story.

However, this was an event happening in the undeniable real world.

If this were a story, just when the reckless companions were in a pinch, the cool-headed one would have an awakening and save the day, but…

“There’s no way things would go that smoothly…”

He spat the curse towards Kuroda, who had vanished from sight in an instant.

He ran a hand through his hair, wondering what to do, but the thick clouds in the sky offered no answers.

Now that his guard was gone, what was the best course of action?

Shion’s mind raced desperately.

“Do I stay put, or do I follow…? It’s been almost thirty minutes, what is the school doing?!”

Either this was the designated location after all, or they were having trouble finding these coordinates.

If so, waiting here seemed like the best plan, but…

Right now, to put it bluntly, Shion was performing below his usual specs.

He was entangled in an invisible causality, preventing the power he inherently possessed from properly clicking into place.

This was because someone desired the encounter that lay just ahead.

“It’s meaningless if I get killed before the teleportation arrives because I have no guard.”

There were no shadows around, but Shion wasn’t the combat type who could sense presences! or anything like that.

The enemy could be invisible, or it could be one that closed long distances in an instant.

Thinking about it, his heart became increasingly painted over with anxiety.

“M-Maybe I should go—”

After agonizing for a full ten minutes, he made to run, but was immediately rendered unable to.

“!? W-What the hell!?”

The ground had begun to shake violently. On a seismic scale, it was at least a 5.0, for sure.

Caught by surprise, Shion fell ungracefully onto his rear and was unable to move.

He didn’t have the refined sense of balance to stand up during such a massive tremor.

“I-Is it over…?”

The shaking subsided after about five minutes, but there might be aftershocks.

Making that judgment, Shion waited another five minutes before getting to his feet and breaking into a run.

He was anxious, so anxious he couldn’t stand it.

He was the type of person who generally avoided death, but could accept it if the situation became hopeless.

However, even in death, he had his own particular standards.

He was desperate to escape a situation where those standards couldn’t be met. With that single-minded focus, he quickened his pace.

“Hah… hah…!”

He ran at full speed for five minutes in the direction Kuroda had disappeared.

He covered a distance of about fifteen kilometers; even if his aptitude was for the rear guard, his physical abilities were still higher than the average civilian.

In addition, the fact that he could run this far was likely thanks to a surge of adrenaline.

Or perhaps it was because the balance of his very soul continued to waver.

“Ugh… s-see? Reality is harsh, after all…”

At his destination lay the blood-soaked, breathless body of Kuroda, and right next to her, the corpse of a giant white snake.

The snake’s sheer size was greater than that of an airplane, a clear indicator that this place was not for beginners.

Ugh… ahh… damn it, you really did a number on me…!

A voice like the rumbling of the earth echoed out. The source was the snake’s corpse—no, it wasn’t dead.

“!? I-It’s alive?! And it talked!?”

Even so, Shion immediately saw through it—the creature was dying.

His sharp eye for spotting when others were weakened served him well here.

Shion immediately pulled the spear from near Kuroda’s corpse and aimed its tip at the snake.

In that moment, the spear vibrated as if crying out in joy, but Shion didn’t notice.

—

For a moment, the snake looked as though it had seen something unbelievable.

Well, it’s not like a human can read a snake’s facial expression, so the sentiment was lost on Shion.

H-Hey, wait! I don’t wanna die… y’see? H-Help me!

If Shion had not been confronting this snake in this place, he might have seen through it—that something was hidden behind its plea for life.

“No, impossible, absolutely not. Like hell I’m gonna listen to a weakened monster beg for its life, you fool.”

Shion had never handled a long weapon like a spear before; in fact, he’d never handled any weapon at all.

Still, seeing how weak it was now, he figured he could kill it by just randomly stabbing it over and over.

Holding the psychological high ground, Shion dismissed the plea with a sneer.

—If you help me, I’ll give you power. The power you hold will leap to a whole new level, you know?

“Hmph. As if I’d trade my life for that, you idiot.”

Hey, just wait. This is the first time you’ve seen a talking monster like me, right? There shouldn’t even be any records of them in human history.

Gaining the power of such a being wasn’t a bad deal, the snake reasoned.

“That’s true. A talking monster like you is—but it’s scary, so no.”

He gripped the spear so hard it hurt, gathering his strength.

Kill, kill, kill—the slots in Shion’s mind had lined up on a triple kill.

Wait wait wait wait! H-Hey, think about it!

This is bad. I can’t be separated from this man, here, now.

It would only be a temporary death, and I would eventually be reborn, but it would take far, far too long.

The snake had eroded over time, forgetting who it was, even what kind of being it was.

Even so, its heart was screaming that it must not be separated from Shion here.

“Don’t know, don’t care. Just die already.”

The situation of holding the power of life and death was just too sweet.

Shion’s rotten personality oozed out as he smiled and thrust the spear forward.

Gigaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…!

Die, die, die, die, die for me.

The murderous intent that was Shion’s prayer was transmitted through the spear to the snake.

And so, it decided it was no time to worry about appearances.

Shaaaa—!!

As the snake writhed in agony, its jaw opened wide, and a small white snake, no bigger than a normal one, shot out and wrapped itself around Shion’s right arm.

“Trying to bite me!? But—”

He tried to rip it off, dropping the spear to grab the snake with his left hand, but failed effortlessly as the snake melted into his right arm.

Shion immediately rolled up his sleeve to find a snake tattoo had appeared there.

Hahahaha! Too bad for you, human.

“!? You—what did you do! Where are you!?”

I didn’t want to die. So, reluctantly, I’ve linked myself to you.

A blue vein popped on Shion’s forehead at the tone that sounded utterly and completely reluctant.

Right now, I’m like a parasite. I’ll die without you. We’re bound by a single fate now.

“You’d go that far to live, you filthy reptile!”

Yes, that’s right. I had to live.

Or rather, I had to meet you.

The snake didn’t know why it thought so, but it was certain that it had just grasped a very thin thread.

Of course I would.

This wasn’t a metaphor or anything of the sort; this encounter was fate.

Later, when the snake recovered its memories, that is what it would say.

A tiny, tiny encounter.

And yet, that encounter would one day change the very fate of the world.

“(…I’ll ask someone if there’s a way to remove this when I get back.)”

By the way, if you try to forcibly remove me, you’ll die too. I told you, didn’t I? We’re bound by a single fate.

“! You’re the worst!”

Whatever. Besides, now that it’s come to this, I won’t do you any harm… or rather, I can’t. After all, if something happened to you, it might be disadvantageous for me too.

Even as it spoke, Shion had already come to terms with it.

It was dangerous to take the snake’s words at face value, but he had no way of confirming if they were true, and besides, he didn’t think the snake was lying—well, it was just a hunch.

Therefore, he immediately gave up on the current situation and began to do what he had to do.

Yes—to swipe the necklace he had his eye on from Kuroda’s corpse.

There were things that could only be done now, with no one watching.

Hey, humans other than the one I ate and the one who died here are coming.

The moment he reached for the body, the snake warned him.

Shion immediately wrapped his arm around the corpse’s neck, pulling it toward him as if in an embrace.

What are you doing?

“I don’t know where they’re watching from, so I’ll pretend to hug her while I snag the goods.”

As he spoke, he ripped the necklace off while still in the embrace and immediately stuffed it into his pocket.

“This is my compensation for getting dragged into an idiot’s mess. No hard feelings.”

He then activated his specialty, manipulating his tear ducts to well up with tears.

It seemed that by merging with the snake, Shion was now able to perform at his full, original potential.

…Why are you crying?

Lips pressed tight as if holding something back, tears streaming down—if you were to give it a title, it would be ‘Grief.’

“It’s an act, an act. I’m setting the scene, dumbass. And don’t talk to me from now on.”

To an outside observer, Shion now looked like nothing more than a boy, weeping helplessly at the loss of his companion.

Who, upon seeing this, would think he was looting a corpse like a vulture? That was his aim.

Oh… right. And in my current state, only you can hear my voice, so you don’t need to say anything out loud.

“(Is that so?)”

Yup.

He had confirmed that they could communicate, but from Shion’s perspective, it was just a useless task whose utility was still unknown.

“Are you alright?! Ugh… The only one who’s safe is you, Harukaze.”

The one who had arrived was the supervisor in the tracksuit and glasses.

Panic was on her face, but it quickly shifted to a blank expression as she grasped the situation.

“…I’m… sorry.”

He hugged Kuroda even tighter, pressing the upper half of his face into her shoulder.

Only his mouth was visible, but the way tears still spilled from the gaps… it was like a scene from a movie.

“No, you have nothing to apologize for. This was an accident. It was our failure.”

The supervisor said, as if to comfort him—but Shion’s turn wasn’t over yet.

“You’re wrong! I was in a position to stop them, and I didn’t!! I realized it was an accident first, and I told everyone, but they wouldn’t listen… so I just thought, fine, do whatever you want! Because of that, Akagi, Aono, and Midorikawa are gone!!”

His voice trembled. The supervisor received from Shion a regret so sharp it could cut one to the bone.

“I should have stopped them more forcefully… M-Maybe there was something I could have done…”

“—Don’t get ahead of yourself, Harukaze. Humans are not gods.”

A warm weight settled on the shoulder of the confessing Shion, still holding Kuroda’s body.

But even so, his tongue did not stop.

He had to make it absolutely clear that this result was because they had acted foolishly.

“But still! Kuroda was the only one who stayed… I might have been able to save at least her… She said she had lost her friends to her own foolishness in the past… she ran off, saying she didn’t want to create another person like herself! If only I had followed her right away…! Then she wouldn’t have ended up taking that damn snake down with her! She might have been seriously injured… but still, still, she might have been alive!!”

Any decent person who saw him, tormented by the thorns of remorse, would surely feel their heart ache.

Of course, that was precisely Shion’s goal.

“Ugh, uuh… hic… fuuu…”

Who could possibly see through this act, seeing him choke back sobs like this?

“—Let’s go home, Harukaze. You survived. For now, let that be enough.”

“…!! Y-Yes…!”

The snake, which had been watching this entire farce, muttered to itself.

“M-Man… you’re one filthy bastard, aren’t you…?”

There was not a single shred of evidence to refute that.