Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330657219422179/episodes/16817330657230518184
The Sword of Wheat is a party of up-and-coming adventurers.
Although they have not been in existence for long, they have been steadily improving their abilities through numerous requests, and are rumored to be the next generation of heroes in the guild branch.
The members are Anri, the leader and an axe-wielding warrior; Ur, a twin-sword-wielding beastman; Rietta, a mage who is proficient in a variety of magic; and finally, Tale, a magic swordsman. All of them are young and good-looking, so they are often talked about by adventurers as having great potential and being very elegant.
However, these girls have recently had one problem.
Yes, one of the members, Tale, has announced that he is leaving the party.
Tale’s argument goes like this. There is a gap in ability and talent between himself and the other three. Therefore, if they stay together as they are, one day they will be forced to work too hard and a big failure will occur. Before that happens, he wants to leave.
Naturally, the three, all from the same village as Tale, were opposed. It is true that Tale’s ability may be slightly inferior to theirs at the moment, but he has been training hard and will eventually acquire the same level of ability as them. Besides, the four of them had been together since they were small until now, and they did not want to be separated at a place like this.
Also, although they didn’t tell him, all three of them had no hatred for Tails, who was gentle and caring, and it was hard for them to leave each other.
Because of this, Tale, in the eyes of the three of them, always seemed to be thinking about something and having troubles.
However, this was only for a short time, and the three could not help believing that Tale would soon improve his abilities and show his usual smile like the sun shining through the trees.
–Maybe it was because they had underestimated the situation.
The three of them were currently in the mountains defeating demons when they saw Tale scream and fall off a cliff.
Tale, who always manages the load of the battle with ease, seemed somehow more agitated than usual just today. The three of them were fighting at a distance from each other, attracting the gray wolves that were unable to handled.
Nevertheless, I had thought that Tale would be able to hold them off as usual until the three of them could get rid of the demons.
–But they were wrong.
“Tale……!”
The first to move was Ur, the wolf beastman. Her smooth black hair was racked violently, and with agile movements, she ran between the gray wolves to the cliff.
Anri and Rietta quickly tried to follow, but the gray wolf blocked their way. Thinking of Tale, Anri yells, her face turning pale.
“–…… get out of the way!”
Her axe in her hand is covered with purple electricity, and she blasts away several demons at once with her rigidity, without thinking of the consequences.
“Don’t get in my way, ……!”
Rietta’s pretty face was distorted as she gasped for breath from the rapid consumption of magic power. But when she saw Anri starting to run, she quickly followed her.
And when they reached the cliff, there were several dead gray wolves and Ur kneeling stunned at the edge of the cliff. Anri and Rietta hurriedly peered into the valley floor.
“N-no, that’s not true, Tale,…….”
“Tale, kun ……?”
Their bloodless gazes were met with scars that seemed to have been caused by a sword drawn against a precipice, and a hollow that seemed to have collapsed under the load. There were no sword marks beneath them, and the bottom of the cliff was an endlessly deep, dark abyss.
What would happen if a person fell from this height? Even a young child can understand. Only a cruel death awaits at the bottom of the dark valley.
“Ah, no, no. ………………Ah yes! Magic! Rietta, isn’t there any chance that Tale has managed to save himself by using magic! If we go down there right away and help Tale…..!”
Anri dredged up the slightest possibility and spoke the thought that came to her mind. It is the only hope left. And if there is any possibility of its realization, they must move immediately.
But the slightest hope of Anri was denied by Rietta, who was steeped in despair.
“It’s — it’s impossible, ……. If you fall from such a height, you must be going very fast at the bottom of the valley. One magic won’t be enough to prevent the impact. You have to use several kinds of magic together, with a power that is neither too weak nor too strong. ……”
“B-But then, that doesn’t mean there’s no possibility at all. ……”
“It’s impossible ……. In order to use magic – to create a magic circle, you need to be in a state of physical inactivity to some extent. The magic power is outside of the body, the physical force cannot be ignored. It is impossible to control the magic enough to create and maintain a magic circle in the face of strong winds. ……”
“That’s……”
Anri, who rarely loses her composure, is overwhelmed with despair.
Even the best of them would not be able to descend the precipice that seemed to reach the abyss, even without the wind pressure from the fall, in the stormy winds that were peculiar to the canyon’s topography.
Even if one were to descend to the bottom to look for the tail, he or she would need to be prepared with the right tools and equipment. And if they took the time to do so, even if Tale miraculously survived, he would have been seriously injured. ……
When Anri understood the reality, she looked at Ur and Rietta, who were shedding tears with their depressed eyes, and she thought she heard something crumble in her chest.
Tale, who had been with them until now. He was always gentle and calm, smiling as if he couldn’t help it when the three of them pulled him around.
The many memories of their past together came to the surface of her mind one after another, and then she felt as if they were disappearing.
Tears were spilling from her eyes, and she found herself screaming from her open mouth.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa—-!!!”
The mournful cries echoed through the deep mountains where there was nothing to move. The brutally clear air trembled forever unstoppably under Anri’s cries.
—- And so the group of the “Sword of Wheat” eventually descended the mountain.
They hurried to the town, which was a reasonable distance away, and returned to the mountain as prepared as possible in as little time as possible, but the time had already passed more than a full day.
Then, after descending the cliff with a determined heart, they saw a piece of clothing that Tale was wearing, and multiple small bone fragments that looked as if they had been chewed up by something… After searching the valley floor for a while, the group found nothing more, and were forced to return, pursued by a pack of silver wolves that had appeared.
The only thing Anri and her team found out was that there were demons roaming around at the bottom of the valley, much more powerful than their counterparts on the ground, and that there were only a few traces of them left where Tale would have fallen to the ground. Those two facts, and the fact that it was highly unlikely that he would have made it down to the valley floor safely in the first place, forced the three of them to admit it.
They had to admit that Tale’s life had unfortunately been lost.
–The three of them return to the city and spend the rest of their days in a kind of limbo. Everywhere they looked, the world seemed to fade away, as if all happiness had vanished.
Not even the slightest thought crossed their minds that they would ever be able to laugh again.
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