Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 061. Meeting (2)

In the beginning, the Forest Brotherhood’s 「Bandit Kingdom Establishment Plan」was carried out in a fairly secretive manner.

However, as is usually the case with such plans, it didn’t take long before people began to catch a suspicious scent.

Paia, for one, had gone so far as to raid practitioner families like the Aoi family and brag about it far and wide.

At first, it could be dismissed as nothing more than ordinary bandit plundering, but when similar incidents repeat themselves, someone is bound to sense something suspicious.

Once that scent was detected, an investigation naturally followed, and it wasn’t long before the practitioner families settled in Western Anapik realized that the Forest Brotherhood was moving in an organized manner.

And so, they banded together to survive.

“And they sent word to this side, too. Well, it was only natural, but if anything, they were rather late.”

“Hm, I see. So what do you want me to do about it?”

Anagin maintained an attitude as though he were watching a fire from across the river.

“Haa, I figured it might be like this, but I’ll ask just in case. You haven’t forgotten that the practitioner families here put a bounty on you, right, Mister?”

“Of course I haven’t.... But I can’t quite remember why they put it up. Why was it again?”

Sphinx narrowed her catlike eyes.

Was he really asking because he didn’t remember, or was he just trying to dodge the issue....

Judging by his behavior, it almost seemed like he truly had forgotten, but she couldn’t simply accept that at face value. Even if Anagin looked simple-minded, he had a sharp edge to him.

More than anything....

“Because you wiped out the Dolos Family....”

‘Because of me.’

Sphinx muttered the last words inwardly.

“Ah, right. Now I remember. Because of that, the surrounding families put bounties on me, saying they’d avenge them. But turns out that wasn’t it. If revenge had really been the goal, they would’ve joined forces, but instead they each put up separate bounties. They wanted to take my head and offer it to the temple.”

As expected, saying he didn’t remember was a lie.

Anagin remembered the situation back then perfectly. Every detail was something Sphinx herself had told him.

“Do you really think those bastards, who were already stuffed to the gills and still pulled that crap, would care about me right now? Just looking at how people who don’t even get along are banding together, things seem pretty urgent. In the middle of all that, would they really have the bandwidth to worry about me?”

Sphinx had no ready reply. As Anagin said, the situation really was dire.

The Forest Brotherhood trying to establish a country—or even if that wasn’t the case, the Forest Brotherhood moving as a unified group—was no ordinary matter.

It was possible that the practitioner families settled in Western Anapik might be wiped out entirely.

They knew this themselves, which was why they had contacted the Anti-Forest Brotherhood forces, no different from a rolling stone. That was why, despite the nature of practitioner families to shun outside forces, they had reached out.

Anagin took the scattered pieces of the situation and assembled them at once, arriving at this conclusion, and it sounded quite plausible.

“Even if they fail to grasp the situation, this side will block it.”

Anagin pointed in the direction where the New Argonaut Expedition Team was.

“If they accepted me despite knowing my reputation, won’t they do at least that much?”

“Well.... That’s true, I suppose.”

Sphinx acknowledged it reluctantly.

It wasn’t simply relying on goodwill; there was a rational reason behind it.

For practitioners, one of the most important things was honor, and the New Argonaut Expedition Team, having accepted Anagin despite knowing his ill reputation, had an obligation to protect him. For the sake of their own honor, they had to protect Anagin.

Unless, of course, some utterly insane situation suddenly occurred.

But surely, nothing like that was about to happen.....

* * *

“Put a condition on it.”

Under the New Argonaut Expedition Team’s tent.

The instructor suddenly barged in and added new content to the letter they were going to send to the practitioner family alliance.

The instructor had originally said he wouldn’t intervene, and yet the additional content was.......

“To the Western Alliance? What kind of condition?”

“Tell them to pick a fight over Anagin.”

“Anagin?”

Everyone, including Tramachus, frowned. They didn’t understand.

Why him, all of a sudden?

Tramachus was especially perplexed. Personally, he didn’t like the insolent Anagin much, but that was that, and work was work.

A truly excellent practitioner, by definition, must be able to control personal emotions.

From that perspective, the instructor’s sudden mention of Anagin was incomprehensible. Telling them to provoke him, no less.......

It would have made more sense to put conditions on the command authority or the distribution of spoils.

Above all, regardless of how the process had gone, Anagin was someone they had accepted and fought alongside as a comrade. They had a duty to protect him.

Tramachus, a practitioner of Chiron Tower and a royal of Calydon, carefully voiced his opinion.

It wasn’t that he doubted the instructor’s intellect, but the man was known to act abruptly at times.

“Wouldn’t it be better to discuss who holds the reins instead?”

“There’s no need to even mention that. They’ll puff their necks out in defiance, but in the end, they’ll do as we say. If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have contacted us in the first place.”

“Ah....”

The instructor’s words were simple, yet they pierced straight to the core.

Practitioner families were obsessed with their own territory like rabid dogs.

The very fact that such practitioner families had formed an alliance and even reached out first was proof of how desperate they were. They would try to preserve their pride, but in the end, they would hand over the initiative. As the instructor said, it wasn’t even worth bringing up.

Even so, it still didn’t make sense. Why tell them to pick a fight with Anagin?

“Didn’t you say you liked him?”

“It would be more accurate to say there was something I needed to confirm.”

“Confirm? ...Even so, we have an obligation to protect that guy. We accepted him knowing he’s a Practitioner Killer. If we don’t, the world will laugh at us. Just as you taught us.”

“If there’s another reason, then it would make sense.”

“And what would that be?”

“A monster.”

“Huh?”

“That woman in Anagin’s group, the one wearing robes. She’s a monster.”

“...!”

“Tell them that, and have them pick a fight once.”

* * *

As Sphinx had said, the ‘Anti-Forest Brotherhood (written as such, but read as the New Argonaut Expedition Team)’ and the western practitioner family alliance, the ‘Western Alliance,’ agreed to meet.

‘None of these names has any sincerity to them.’

That said, the process of arranging the meeting was sluggish and troublesome to no end.

Practitioners were a prideful lot to begin with, and when such practitioners gathered into groups, that pride turned into sheer stubbornness. As a result, even in the process of arranging a meeting, the Anti-Forest Brotherhood and the Western Alliance engaged in a battle of nerves.

‘You come to us.’

‘No, you’re the ones who should come to us.’

‘We are the owners of this place.’

‘Who is it that needs help?’

They exchanged letters like this several times.

If Anagin had been directly involved, he would have shouted, ‘Screw this, you idiots!’ and walked away, but fortunately, he wasn’t, and instead watched with the leisurely attitude of someone observing a marketplace brawl.

With Sphinx providing commentary on the situation from time to time, it was surprisingly entertaining to watch.

“They look like they’re playing a game of chicken, but in the end, they’ll reach a reasonable compromise. The practitioner families are in the more urgent position, and this side can’t afford to waste energy with bandits right in front of us either, so they’ll settle on a way for both sides to save face.”

And she was right.

At first, each side insisted that the other come to them, but before long, they began explaining their respective situations, and eventually, they started talking about the greater cause.

That they needed to protect the people from the Forest Brotherhood and its wicked schemes.

In the end, the Anti-Forest Brotherhood and the practitioner family alliance agreed to meet at a midpoint.

The problem was that this midpoint happened to be the Forest Brotherhood’s main area of activity. A place thick with trees, ideal for bandits to hide their bodies, and with a large river nearby, making it easy to secure drinking water.

What was interesting was that this place hadn’t been chosen by coincidence, but deliberately.

“Why?”

“To see who’s braver and stronger.”

“How stupid.”

“.......”

"What? Why that look?"

Sphinx, her eyes filled with contempt, did not answer to the end.

Anagin wasn’t the only one who thought it was stupid.

For practitioners seeking to make a name for themselves, this sort of thing might not be bad, but for vigilantes who had come to pick up scraps, or bounty hunters, it looked like a pointless endeavor.

“Why are we deliberately heading into a wolf’s den?”

“They’ll already be driven into a frenzy, so the resistance will be fierce!”

But the decision was not changed. The New Argonaut Expedition Team had made it.

And no real problems arose, either. People grumbled a bit, but they followed the New Argonaut Expedition Team’s decision well enough.

There were two main reasons for this. The first was.......

“Don’t worry so much! According to what we’ve already investigated, it looks like most of the Forest Brothers panicked and fled! What’s left now is nothing but remnants!”

Thanks to Tramachus calming his subordinates and managing their complaints. He told them it looked dangerous, but in reality, it wasn’t all that dangerous.

And the second reason was.......

—Shiiik!

Irida nocked five arrows to her bowstring and released them all at once.

No matter how skilled an archer might be, firing five arrows at once inevitably reduces accuracy.

However, the arrows Irida shot began to swim freely through the air, like living creatures.

It was the blessing of wind that Irida possessed, now dwelling within the arrows.

Blessed arrows flew freely through the sky like birds, and like eagles hunting prey, they precisely pierced bandits hiding behind trees.

“Ghk...!”

The bandits who had been lying in ambush, taking advantage of the forest as their own front yard, were struck by dagger-like arrows and died without even managing to scream.

With five such arrows being fired at once, the bandits attempting an ambush couldn’t hold out.

“Fuuuck!”

A moment of forced choice—either run, or engage in a dogfight.

The bandits, who had continued to take losses while fleeing, ultimately chose to stand and fight. It was closer to a desperate thrashing, with nowhere left to run.

“They’re coming in.”

From a high vantage point, Lynceus announced the bandits’ approach.

At that moment, heavily armored bands of bandits emerged. Gigants were mixed in among them.

Fwaaat!

Tramachus spread his palm, forming flames.

The blessing of flame he had received.

The fire flared up fiercely in Tramachus’s hand, then condensed, and Irida placed her arrows into it, creating flaming arrows.

She then loosed five flaming arrows toward the charging heavily armored bandits.

A sharp sound rang out as the flaming arrows spread wide, and then...

—Kwaaang!

With an explosive roar, crimson flames burst forth and swept through the surroundings.

This was the true power of Tramachus’s blessing.

Not merely igniting fire, but controlling it to maximize its destructive force.

The ground shook from the violent explosion, and flames scorched the area.

Fragments of shattered earth and sparks flew everywhere as the fire spread.

Though Tramachus controlled the flames to prevent them from turning into a massive wildfire, to the bandits, it was already nothing short of a catastrophe.

The sight of bandits who had charged in full of bluster now floundering about in confusion was proof enough.

Then, Thyreos, wielding a massive shield and hammer, led the others in a charge against the bandits.

“Wraaaah—!”

When Thyreos swung his shield while charging forward at a speed that belied his huge frame, the Gigants at the front were sent flying all at once. As if even among Gigants, there were levels, the difference in strength was overwhelming.

Already having suffered heavy losses, the bandits’ spirit was broken, and they could no longer hold out, turning tail and fleeing.

This was the second reason everyone complied so readily.

The New Argonaut Expedition Team was simply too strong for anyone to dare defy their decisions.

They were the ones playing the biggest role in the fight against the bandits, and they were also so powerful that no one else could possibly stand against them.

“They’re really running. We can pursue them as is.”

From his high vantage point overlooking the battlefield, Lynceus confirmed that the bandits were truly fleeing, then ordered the mounted vigilantes and bounty hunters to give chase.

Having already seen their prowess, they pursued the bandits without a shred of doubt, and just like before, hunted them down without much trouble.

With seamless coordination that flowed like water and overwhelming firepower, the fight ended in an instant.

Thanks to that, Anagin was able to finish his work for the day after throwing stones a few times.

“What? You’re not going to chase them?”

A practitioner who joined later.... What was his name again?

Anyway, that what's-his-name questioned Anagin as if pressing him.

Why wasn’t he going to catch the fleeing bandits like everyone else?

“I don’t really like running.”

The man frowned. It went beyond distrust of Anagin’s words; emotions like hostility and contempt were visible.

His passive attitude during the fight and his refusal to mingle with the others. And yet, he was being treated preferentially—it clearly rubbed him the wrong way.

In short, it got under his skin. But there was nothing he could say.

“Hey, you brats, follow me. We’ve got revenge to take!”

The what’s-his-name practitioner called out to the siblings Kori and Pais, who had been throwing stones beside Anagin. Leaving the unmotivated Anagin behind, he told them to chase the bandits together.

“Hey, brats. I’ve got something for you to do.”

Anagin grabbed the backs of the two kids’ necks and yanked them upright.

The what's-his-name practitioner’s frown deepened, but once again, he couldn’t say anything.

For now, Anagin was the children’s guardian.

In the end, the man ran off to chase the fleeing bandits with a face full of dissatisfaction.

Once he had disappeared into the distance, Anagin turned his gaze to the two kids.

Their eyes were trembling slightly. Both Kori’s and Pais’s.

“Um....”

“What? You want to go kill the guys who’re running away?”

At Anagin’s question, Kori and Pais couldn’t answer.

Killing bandits who came charging at you was one thing; chasing down bandits who were fleeing and killing them was another.

Especially right after witnessing bandits blown apart or burned alive, it felt even more different.

In their hearts, they wanted to shout, Grandfather’s enemies! Die, all of you!—but when it came down to it, the human heart didn’t work that easily. And for children, even more so.

As proof, even when Kori and Pais hurled stones, they aimed more for the torso or legs than the head.

It might have been because their skills were lacking and they aimed for easier targets, but, well.......

The children seemed confused by their own feelings, their faces showing distress.

They wanted to take satisfying revenge for their grandfather, but couldn’t bring themselves to be as ruthless as they had imagined. No—Pais even wondered whether it could truly be called revenge when Grandfather was already dead.

As the two kids wrestled with their confusion, Anagin pressed their heads down firmly and roughly ruffled their hair.

With their heads shaken about, Kori and Pais lost their bearings, and the churning stray thoughts inside them were swept away.

Soon, those who had finished the pursuit returned, and Tramachus extinguished the flames.

Chikchik—the sound of embers burning down formed the backdrop as they wrapped up the aftermath and cleared the battlefield, then resumed their march toward the meeting place.

It felt somewhat like a forced march, but thanks to that, just as planned, the Anti-Forest Brotherhood arrived three days earlier than the Western Alliance.

It was a result that indirectly showed which side was stronger.

Naturally taking the upper hand, the New Argonaut Expedition Team continued negotiations when the practitioner's family side started spouting bullshit.

“...How could you possibly bring in someone who helped a monster?!”