Chapter 124: The Tollbearer (5)

Misha stared at the System window until the words stopped looking like language.

For several seconds, her mind simply refused to process what had appeared in front of her. Then, very carefully, she read the name again.

Shimura Hiiro.

"No." Her voice grew louder. "No, no, no."

A tiny muscle she did not physically possess began throbbing somewhere around her nonexistent temple.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Why would he accept such a quest?

Gerbaut’s gaze moved toward the road ahead of them. Misha followed it and for one second, there was nothing.

Then–

Footsteps were heard, fast and coming close. A blue-white head appeared around the distant intersection.

Misha closed her eyes. ’No...’

Maybe she had imagined it, maybe her [Soul Possession] skill came with hallucination now. Maybe being dead-adjacent for long enough had finally damaged whatever passed for common sense in her spiritual form.

Then she opened her eyes again and Hiiro was still there, running directly toward them with a grin on his face. There was no hint of guilt, and not the expression of someone returning because he had forgotten an item. Only a huge, exhilarated grin.

The oversized moron looked absurdly happy.

Misha stared then slowly turned toward Gerbaut. "He came back."

Gerbaut watched the boy approach without comment.

She pointed toward Hiiro as if Gerbaut might somehow have failed to identify the obvious. "He actually came back!"

Hiiro raised one arm enthusiastically. "Hey!"

Misha’s mouth dropped open. "Don’t ’hey’ us!"

He could not hear her. Probably for the best.

Hiiro skidded to a stop in front of Misha’s possessed body. He bent forward, hands on his knees, sucking in two breaths before he looked up, grinning.

Misha floated directly in front of him. "Turn around!"

Of course the boy didn’t hear her but she continued anyway.

"Hiiro. Turn. Around."

"Turn around." This time, it was Gerbaut who spoke.

Hiiro’s grin faltered. For perhaps the first time since Misha had known him, the boy seemed to gather actual courage before disagreeing with Gerbaut. "No."

Misha stared in disbelief while Gerbaut simply stared blankly. Behind them came the wet, horrible sound of flesh rearranging itself.

Crk–Krrk.

She pointed furiously over Hiiro’s shoulder. "Tell him there is an evolving nightmare behind us eating an entire fucking district!"

Gerbaut’s expression did not change. "You accepted the quest. Why?"

Hiiro blinked. The question genuinely seemed to confuse him. Then he pointed at the evolving monster behind Gerbaut. "At that."

Misha covered her face. "You oversized idiot with protagonist syndrome..."

Gerbaut glanced toward the transforming Primarch then back at him.

Hiiro’s grin returned full force, bright enough to make Misha want to physically reach into the world and slap it off his face.

"Come on! A hidden monster variation, a special quest, and a UR reward?" He cracked one knuckle, then another. "How am I supposed to walk away from that?"

Misha stared at him, her pure disbelief lasted exactly two seconds before something inside her snapped. "BY MOVING YOUR LEGS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION LIKE A PERSON WITH A FUNCTIONING BRAIN, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!"

Her shout did absolutely nothing. Hiiro obviously heard none of it. Gerbaut, however, did. His eyes shifted very slightly toward where he heard her voice come from.

She jabbed a finger toward the boy. "Tell him exactly what I said!"

He said nothing.

Misha’s expression darkened. "Gerbaut."

Movement farther down the road caught her attention. Another figure came around the intersection. Blond and a staff-spear in hand.

Caius was running toward them too. But unlike Hiiro, he did not look thrilled. He looked like a man who had just watched someone throw himself off a cliff and had reluctantly decided that apparently he was now responsible for climbing down after him. His jaw was set, his shoulders were tight, and lightning still crawled faintly along the shaft of his weapon. He was coming back because allowing Hiiro to return alone would qualify as assisted suicide.

The Observation Channel stirred again at the edge of Misha’s awareness. Just like her, all they could see was a boy who had successfully escaped danger... then voluntarily returned.

<First Mourner Beneath Creation> Ah. Youth. It hears the grave call its name and mistakes the summons for applause.

<The Last Survivor of an Unwritten World> Do not mock him too quickly, Mourners. There are worlds that survived because one fool refused the wisdom of retreat.

〔FAVOR +100 → Grandmaster〕

<First Mourner Beneath Creation> And I have buried worlds that ended for precisely the same reason.

<Endless Dominion> The loud one possesses appetite. Caution preserves flesh but ambition decides whether flesh is worth preserving. Let us see which devours him first.

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> I knew I liked him.

〔FAVOR +150 → Grandmaster〕

<Observer from the Grandmaster’s Channel> Naturally. He has the decision-making process of a moth discovering fire for the first time.

Misha would have laughed, if she were not currently considering murdering the boy.

Hiiro’s expression sharpened as he dropped his hands from his hips.

She knew that look. That was the look of a teenager who had already committed to a terrible idea and was now only searching for the most dramatic way to announce it.

"You cannot overpower it," Gerbaut said before Hiiro could even get a word out.

Hiiro’s expression changed, no wounded ego and no instant protest. For once, the boy actually looked at the transforming creature and acknowledged what stood in front of him. "I know."

Misha paused, caught off guard by the answer.

The boy rolled his shoulder, then flexed his hands. He knew the monster was stronger, and knew charging straight into it and winning through raw strength was no longer realistic. "But I don’t have to overpower it alone."

In other words, he wanted to drag the rest of them along while he went courting death.

Caius reached them before Misha could decide whether that answer made Hiiro more intelligent or somehow more dangerous.

"Would it kill you to listen for once?" His voice remained controlled.

Hiiro looked at him and pouted. "Why are you both acting like I just volunteered to eat poison?"

Misha floated directly beside his ear. "Because you effectively did!"

Hiiro rubbed the side of his neck as though he had somehow sensed irritation nearby.

Caius exhaled through his nose. "He accepted before I could stop him."

A low groan rolled through the avenue, drawing their attention back to the Primarch. The creature convulsed, and the fourth arm locked fully into place. The limb jerked once, fingers spread then curled. The bronze gong fused into its torso pulsed crimson.

Hiiro’s grin slowly returned as he lifted his fists. "Come on, Misha. We’re already here. If we run now, that thing finishes evolving, eats every Vestige around it, and then what?"

That... was more reasonable than Misha wanted it to be. Anyone entering Exodus would eventually have to deal with what waited there.

"Besides, the quest didn’t appear for no reason."

She frowned. That was exactly the kind of logic people used immediately before making terrible life decisions.

Hiiro spread one hand as he continued, "If the Tower, or whoever sent it, thinks someone on this Floor can kill that thing, then it’s possible."

"Or they want entertainment," Caius said.

Hiiro paused. "...Also possible."

Gerbaut’s hand caught his shoulder making the boy stop and turn his way. "If you fight, you obey."

Misha snapped toward him. "What?"

"We don’t leave him to face it alone."

"I wasn’t planning to. It’s just..." A heavy sigh left her.

Hiiro immediately looked toward Caius, his grin returning. "You in?"

"No." Then he repositioned his grip on the weapon. "I am only staying long enough to stop you from dying immediately."

Misha stared at the three idiots standing between the street and a monster currently rebuilding itself from corpses. Then she closed her eyes.

’Fine...’

It was not acceptance, definitely not acceptance. It was more like temporary surrender to the fact that apparently she was surrounded by protagonists who considered survival a negotiable condition.

"Misha." Gerbaut, using her voice, cut through the noise with the same blunt steadiness he used for everything.

She turned toward her own body.

His gaze flicked once toward the possession timer hovering close by.

「Possession Time Remaining: 00:00:08」

Misha’s attention snapped from the timer to Hiiro then Caius.

Gerbaut did not need to explain. "I’m returning your body so... protect them."

"Wait, just–"

「Taurus Constellation Soul has relinquished control.」

Misha’s soul snapped back into flesh like a cord pulled taut. Her boots touched the street then immediately failed to hold her as her left knee folded.

"Shit–" She stumbled forward. Stormpiercer nearly slipped from her grip before she caught herself against the shaft.

The transition always felt wrong. It was like waking up while falling.

Her lungs dragged in the air too quickly. Every bruise Gerbaut’s possession had temporarily made irrelevant announced itself once. Her arms felt heavy, her thighs burned, and her heart hammered from the strain her body had endured while somebody else pushed it harder than she normally would.

Hiiro turned. "Misha!"