Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

12. Which Way?

"If you quit..." Haruhiro ground his teeth. "...If you quit, what're you going to do?"

"I'm not going to do anything. Who cares, really? Is there some rule saying I've gotta do stuff? Who decided that? Even if there is a rule, I'm not gonna follow it, okay?!"

"This isn't about following a rule or not. We've struggled to come this far as a group because we didn't have any other choice!"

"That's not my problem!"

"Yes, it is your problem! Think for a second!"

"I can't think about this stuff. It's all stupid!

"U-Um," Moguzo interjected. "S-Stop it, both of you, don't fight, okay?"

"Shove it!" Ranta violently pushed Moguzo aside. "Besides, even if I did keep going, how the hell are we supposed to do anything?! What do we do from here out?! He's gone, don't you get it?!"

"I know that! Even without you telling me, I know that much at least!"

"Oh, you do? Well, then tell me this! How are you, the guy who kept getting injured and needing him to help you, going to keep going?! Huh?! How about it?!"

"That's—"

"For starters, you were constantly getting injured and that made him use too much magic! That's how things ended up like they did, isn't it?!

"...Ranta, is that how you felt about it?"

"Am I wrong?! Have I said anything wrong here?!"

"You're not wrong... no, but..."

"You were never any real use in battle, anyway! Always getting hurt so easily and getting in the way! Because of you...!"

"Stop!" an angry voice roared out and the tavern fell silent for a moment.

Did someone just shout? Looks like it was Moguzo, apparently.

Haruhiro was taken aback. He couldn't believe it. Moguzo's eyebrows were raised in exasperation. "Don't fight at a time like this! We don't have time to be fighting amongst ourselves! Cool your heads!"

Haruhiro sat back down in his chair. "...Sorry."

"No, hold on..." Ranta shook his head. "Aren't you the one who needs to cool his head...? You're way too mad..."

Moguzo glared at Ranta, who shrunk back.

"...S-Sorry. It won't happen again. Seriously, seriously. This guy's scary when you piss him off, huh...?"

"—But," said Moguzo, taking a sip of his beer and then slumping his shoulders, "...When it comes to what we do from here, honestly... I feel the same way, I guess."

Haruhiro scratched the back of his neck. "...Yeah, same here, when it comes down to it. For the moment, I don't want to think about it, or rather, I can't think about it..."

"Let me just say," Ranta said, tapping the bottom of his mug on the table. "I didn't say what I did out of desperation. I'm saying that, after thinking it through, there's no way we can go on without him. If you count up the number of times he helped you, you've got to see the same."

"And?" Haruhiro looked sidelong at Ranta. "You're going to do nothing? That's not possible, and you know it. What will you do for money? It costs money just to eat and sleep. Are you going to search for another job?"

Ranta rested his cheeks on his palms, frowning. "...Well, it's an option, I guess."

"Maybe it would be for me, but you're a dread knight, aren't you? Even if you want to change jobs, you can't quit your guild, can you?"