Chapter 220: The Meeting
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Under the car’s brilliant headlights, something red and white in the dark. [1] Since this was the first time we saw anything aside from the road and dark nothingness, I slowed the car to a stop.
For a moment, we watched as the red and white thing continued towards us, swaying slowly from side to side.
“A monster? I thought there weren’t any here. But if one really turns up, I guess we’ll have no choice but to fight it.
“Yup, no choice-su.”
“We’ll… take it down…”
“I shall take the lead. Please stand by and observe, Master Hakkon.”
“Let’s do it.”
Aside from Hyurumi, everyone eagerly stood up, their weapons at the ready. Was it just me, or were they just a little too eager for a fight?
Well, I can’t blame them if that’s the case.
“Wait a minute,” said Hyurumi suddenly. “Something’s not right. It’s possible that it’s another hunter. We should make sure first.”
Everyone froze in place, [1] their eagerness tempered a little as they squinted into the darkness.
Slowly, the red and white shapes drew nearer, and it was clear that whatever they were, they were at least humanoid in shape. Not long after that, the gaunt, emaciated faces of those poor souls could be seen.
“Wait a minute, aren’t those…”
“The Red and White Twins-su!!” Shui exclaimed.
“To think we would meet them here…” Hevoy murmured.
As if in response to their former party members’ voice, something sparked within those hollow eyes. The twins turned their emaciated faces towards us and lurched forward, only to collapse to the floor.
Everyone lowered their weapons and immediately rushed forward to help.
“What happened? Red? White?”
“You’re both so thin…”
“W-water… f-food…” Red gasped.
I immediately dispensed two bottles of sports drink, which were said to be like a drinkable intravenous drip, and floated them towards my companions. Then, I transformed into the [Convenience Store Vending Machine] and produced a few packets of jelly-type nutrition packs. These would be easier for them to digest than solid food.
The twins grabbed the offered bottles and gulped down the liquid so fast that they started to choke.
“Gah! Cough, cough!”
Still, they powered on and did not stop until all the bottles and packets were empty. Finally, Red let out a deep exhale and said, “You guys really saved us. Thought we were dead for sure, but, heh- the gamble paid off…”
“What happened? Where’s Leader Keyroil and the Vice Leader?” Hevoy asked.
Red’s eyes widened, and he tried to roll to his feet, but only managed to twitch in place for a moment before collapsing to the ground. He reached out to clench at Hevoy’s collar, “Th-they’re just ahead. I know we’re in no position to ask, but please—help them!”
“I- I plead with you too…” White gasped from his position on the floor.
“Calm down,” said Hyurumi. “You say they’re just ahead? Then there’s no need to hurry. Unless you were attacked?”
White blinked, unfocused eyes clearing slightly.
“S-sorry… It’s food. We ran out. So we took a gamble. Thought we might run into other hunters, maybe even you guys. We… had been travelling for a week, living on scraps. The Leader and the others are still alive. I’m- I’m sure of it. We’re done with the Ruler of the Netherworld. Please… help them. We’ll… we’ll do anything…”
“Welcome”
How could I ignore their desperate plea for help? Especially since I still owe them a favour for helping me to escape back then.
Moreover, if they had truly left the service of the Ruler, that meant that we were no longer enemies. Still, it would be best not to trust them blindly. This family have a way of behaving irrationally when it comes to their brother.
“You can give us the details on the way,” said Hyurumi. “Hakkon, can you speed things up a bit?”
“Ye-es.”
The twins were laid out on the cart on top of some towels I had dispensed to make their travel a little more comfortable. According to them, there was nothing ahead aside from the perfectly straight flat road.
No traps, no monsters, nothing.
So, let’s floor it!
I brought our speed up to 100km per hour. While I was driving, the twins told us the rest of their tale.
[3] “After Hakkon escaped, we were suspected of helping him.”
[3] “The Ruler turned on us.”
[3] “Tried to get rid of us”
[3] “Along with the snow woman.”
So, in the end, Sulrim was not the one in trouble?
Even though the conquering of the final floor would be stalled without Keyroil’s party, the Ruler had decided to discard them regardless.
“Anyway, Sulrim was accused of a serious crime as well and was about to be executed as an example to the others. My brother would have suffered too, which was probably why she turned her back on the Ruler and teleported all of us here. That’s why she’s completely out of mana.”
“What?! Sulrim betrayed the Ruler too?”
“Yeah, [2] we thought she would try to plead with the Ruler but…”
“She just bailed, [2] with all of us in tow too!”
“Didn’t see that coming…”
“Guess she had gotten real close with our brother, huh?”
“Actually fell for him, which, like, totally crazy…”
Everyone’s faces twitched. They must be remembering the video I showed them before. Of how much Sulrim doted upon the third of the triplets.
An awkward silence followed.
“Anyway, she saved us. However, since she had to use her magic to break through the Ruler of the Netherworld’s binding magic and forcefully teleported all of us, she was completely incapacitated.”
[3] “With her down and us running out of food, the two of us set out to see if we can find any hunters coming this way.”
[3] “We’re betting on seeing Hakkon, haha.”
[3] “We can’t let her die. The Leader and Vice-Leader are looking after her. Our brother can’t leave her side. If she dies, he’ll suffer that pain again…”
In short, they were stuck with her, no matter what.
If Sulrim dies, all their efforts from before would have been for nothing.
“If you two survived the week, the others should still be alive, right?” said Hevoy.
“Yes, but they gave us most of the food.”
“We need to hurry, they have more people and less food…”
“They could maybe last another two or three days…”
“Maybe…”
The [3] twins stared up at the sky, which reflected nothing but darkness. With no stars or moon or light to see by, they could not have guessed just how fast we were going. Even though these two had been on the road for a week, considering how miserable their state was, well, it should not take long for us to reach their original camp.
I estimated that we should get there in a day or so.
“Don’t you two worry, this ka’ar is really fast,” Hyurumi said.
“Yeah, we’ll definitely make it in time!” Ramis exclaimed.
The girls’ confidence must have reassured them, because the tension within the twins broke, and the two of them relaxed. Falling into a deep, immediate sleep.
Don’t worry. We’ll make it in time.
Now then—time to show off the driving skills I honed from my vending machine pilgrimages!
The ka’ar roared down the endless straight road.
Dinner time came and went, but no one complained. Even Shui just gnawed quietly on some rations.
The fuel gauge dipped dangerously low. I was just thinking about refuelling when shapes appeared in the headlights. So, I slammed on the brakes.
“Kyahhhh!”
“Whoa!”
Cute screams and gruff roars of alarm echoed, but I’ll make the apologies to my companions later. Honestly, I nearly hit the figures huddled in the middle of the road.
Fortunately, I managed to hit the brakes in time.
“Wh-what’s this thing…”
That voice, it was Leader Keyroil.
He stood in front of the headlights, weapon in hand, ready to fend off enemies.
I greeted him brightly.
“Welcome”
“Hakkon? Haha… so, you’ve transformed into something strange again.”
Not really, this is just one of my many products, but, explanations could come later.
The others hopped off the cart or stepped out of the car. Ramis hoisted me onto her back and carried me down easily.
“If you’re here, then those idiot sons of mine-”
“Ye-es.”
“I see… hah… thank you…”
His knees buckled; Hevoy caught him before he fell.
Nearby, the Vice-Leader, Sulrim, and a little boy were lying very still on the floor. For a terrifying moment, I thought they were all dead.
“They’re still alive,” Keyroil rasped. “Felmina cast a sleep spell over everyone to save their strength.
Well, that was a relief to know.
Good.
Yes.
Then, I dispensed sports drinks and jelly packs for everyone. The same stuff I had prepared for the twins.
We might get into arguments later, but for now, let’s give everyone a chance to recover first.
[Gumihou: Some minor inconsistencies, but easily fixed.]
[1] Added details for dramatic purpose
[2] Added details for previous information to make sense. Sulrim just went from following the Ruler to rescuing them was a surprise… why? According to the previous information, she ‘was about to be executed’ which could have been enough reason to bail. Don’t know why they skipped over this to ‘Oh, we are so shocked’.
Went with ‘shocked she did not plead her case’, instead of ‘shocked she betrayed the Ruler’
[3] ‘Red’ was looking up at the sky, but considering how interchangeable these two were, there was really no point trying to make any distinction. A lot of the dialogue was spoken by one of the twins, but it was unclear who was speaking, so I broke it up to let them take turns.
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