새벽녘의 사수 슌란/12권

Chapter 12: Toward a New Journey
The day had come when one of the longtime threats disturbing the order of Mount Whitecrown was no more. Raiju, the false monarch none wished for, was finally felled by none other than a young man with whom it shared a cursed history.
'You did it, Chunlan!' piped Dau.
'Nice work,' followed Sayu. 'That's our first objective cleared.'
The companions who helped him achieve this event, knowing what it meant to him, raised their voices in congratulations as they approached. Chunlan listened, confirming the beast was indeed dead before collapsing and leaning back against its chest to catch his breath, a chill running through him as tension of a life-or-death struggle released itself all at once.
His bleeding was heavy.
But it was dead. It really was dead.
As he looked up to the sky, the clouds once conjured to divine an endless source of thunder cleared, revealing the sun at last.
'Yeah,' Chunlan croaked. 'I feel like I can finally move on now—even if it wasn't just my win. Without you, I'd have never beaten it.'
Though this battle was a deeply personal one to help him overcome his past, he could never pretend to believe the result would have been the same had he come alone. It was not a fight with Chunlan, but Chunlan and the Woodland Wanderers. It was a distinct, valuable level of camaraderie he had not felt in a long, long time.
'Then we scratched each other's backs,' Sayu responded, 'because without you, we'd have never been able to get that last shard of the artifact.'
'Oh, yeah. Wait a second—I'll get it for you.'
Chunlan's body was heavy, but he lifted himself and turned toward the body, nagasa in hand. He cut into the beast, forcing some thrust into his movements despite discomfort from his wounds accompanying it. The hide was thick and tough to puncture.
'Need some help there?'
'No. I can handle it, Dau. You keep on the lookout for our next fight.'
He wanted to do this for them. Just as they had helped him take down Raiju, completing a goal that had gone neglected for years, he wanted his strength to contribute toward the completion of their goal. As they watched and waited with anticipation, he almost felt embarrassed getting so worked up at the thought of helping them. He was grateful the blood splattered across his face hid his flushed cheeks.
Dau continued on as Chunlan worked. 'Well, that's checkin' one big thing off your list. You finally got revenge for your old man.'
'I don't think I'd call it revenge. I don't think my dad would have wanted me to treat it as something so simple, either.'
'Sounds like something Sayu would say. But if it wasn't revenge, then what was it?'
'I'm not sure. You could say my next journey will be figuring that out...I guess.' Chunlan felt himself taking one more step toward understanding what his father said as he pulled a piece of metal out of the corpse. 'But let's put that aside for your journey now.'
The metal, which had been lodged in Raiju's stomach and had caused unnatural organs to bloom around it, turned out to be the blade of a knife. Chunlan felt it was heavier than his own nagasa, however, and its length and width reminded him more of the West's gladius.
'So this was the part that transformed a normal bear into the king of thunder, right?' he asked.
'That's right,' answered Sayu. 'It was on one of the scrolls in the shrine we were at before. There's no doubt about it—this is the last part of the Thunderflash Blade.'
'So it really is part of a sword, then?' After wiping the blade clean of Raiju's innards, he handed it to Sayu, and she slot it into the Cylinder of the Frozen Sky. The two pieces indeed fit as though made for one another, further confirming his suspicions. 'I thought the cylinder was some kind of flute at first, but it was a hilt all along.'
'That's right. This is the artifact we've been searching for: the Blade of the Thundering Skies.'
As the two pieces became one, the blade emitted a dazzling flash of light and a cloud of fog. Once it cleared, what Sayu held in her hand was far from the rusted cylindrical trinket and blade covered in gore. It was now a clean, golden weapon of esteemed power—a creature of such delicate beauty that all three of them could feel the wisdom of ages past distilled within its form.
'Still...we could've had control over better elements than lightning and water for when we face the Oni. Do you know much about what this artifact was used for?'
'The scroll didn't say, but it at least had a basic overview of what the artifact does.'
'And now it's back at full power, right? Then does it do anything that could actually give us a leg up over him?'
Mere minutes apart, two goals had been completed. The lightning that had tormented Mount Whitecrown through Raiju had now continued in its true form as the Blade of the Thundering Skies. Yet there was no time to bask in the warmth of victories won, for they had one last foe to face before all was done.
One last foe powerful enough to sap them of their building hope and shatter bonds they had forged.
'Hate to interrupt, guys, but it looks like we're already out of time,' Dau warned. 'He climbs a lot faster than I thought.'
'Yeah. Guess so,' Chunlan responded.
'If we don't take him down,' Sayu spoke, mind focused and ready for what was to come, 'this fight will never end.'
There was a commotion down the mountain—one that, even at a distance, they could feel was laced with the intent to kill. Soon their eyes were fixed on the Oni. The strength of the murderous rage and willpower in the gaze he returned overshadowed anything the three of them could muster.
To Be Continued

第12回　新たな道へ
その日、白笠嶽(しらかさだけ)の秩序を乱す脅威が一つ潰えた。
《雷獣》――招かれざる偽りの王。彼の存在はその呪われた出自にも関わらず、奇妙な縁に導かれた一人の青年が相対し、そして引導を渡す事となった。
　　「やったな……シュンラン」
　　　「……おめでとう。一つの目的を、無事に終えたんだね」
共に《雷獣》を狩った新たなる仲間からの、祝福の言葉。それを耳にして、シュンランは自分の姿に気が付いた。
《雷獣》の絶命を確信したシュンランは、その躯に背を委ね休息していたのだ。気づくや長年の宿敵にして目標たる存在に身を寄せ、現実感を回復させていた。山頂の雲も晴れ日が両者を照らしている。血を流したからか、激戦で熱くなった身体が急速に冷えるのを感じたシュンランは、ただ《雷獣》を背に座って空を見ていた。
「ああ……ようやく止まった時間を少し動かせた気分だよ。　
だが、決して俺だけの勝利じゃない。
君達がいなければ、俺はただ……」
たとえこれが、自分の過去を断ち切るための戦いであったとしても。仲間を得る事、力を合わせる事も無駄とはならなかったのだ。
「なら、わたし達もお礼を言うよ。
わたし達だけでは……その古代遺物を手に入れられなかった」「そうだったな……よし、待っててくれ。今取り出すよ」
シュンランは山刀(ナガサ)を手に立ち、動かぬ宿敵に再び向き合う。
　――シュンランと《森の遊人》。どちらが欠けても、成し遂げられなかった。互いの目標のために、互いを補う事。それはシュンランが、長らく忘れていた価値であった。
　　「やはり硬いな……」
シュンランは《雷獣》の腹をナガサで裂く。今、自分の成した一つの目標が、時計の針を動かすための戦いの成果が、力を貸してくれた者達の未来に変わろうとしている。
……これが価値か。獣の腹を捌くという行為とは裏腹に感じる気恥ずかしさ。赤面しているなら、返り血は好都合だ。
　　「手間かかりそうなら手伝うぜ？」
　　「いや、大丈夫だダウ。コツは掴めてきた。
君は周囲を警戒してくれ……次の戦いも近い」
「……判った。ともかく、親父さんの仇だったんだろ？
これであんたもケリをつけられたって事だな」
　　「仇、とは少し違うと思うな……。
そんな簡単に済ませるのは、親父も望まないだろう」
「へぇ、お前もサユみてぇな事言うんだな。
仇じゃないなら何だってんだい？」
「今はまだわからないが……
だからこそ、それを探す事が意味を持つのかもな……っと」
自ら至った命題への一歩を噛み締めつつ、シュンランは《雷獣》の体内から、一片の金属塊を引き抜く。
「次は、俺が君達に力を貸す番だ」
《雷獣》の胃袋の周辺に融合し、独自の生体器官の形成を促していたそれは、一振りの短剣の刃であった。いや、刃渡りこそ短いが短剣と呼ぶにはナガサと比しても重厚だ。丁度、西方由来の“グラディウス”系統の剣が近いかもしれない。
　　　「こいつが羆魔獣を《雷獣》に変えた古代遺物の断片……
という事で良いのか？」
「うん、前の《ホコラ》にあった巻物に書いてた通り。
それが《閃電の刃》で間違いないはずだよ」
「刃……なるほど、そういう事だったんだな」
付着した《雷獣》の体液を拭い、《閃電の刃》をサユに渡すシュンラン。その刃は、サユの手にした《凝空(ぎょうくう)の筒》に寸分違わず嵌った。《凝空の筒》は、《閃電の刃》を咥え込むための柄だったのだ。
「最初は笛の類かと思ってたな。なるほど、古代の剣か……」「そう、これこそがわたし達が探し求めていた古代遺物――　
《震天の雷剣》……」
二つの古代遺物が一つに組み合わさった時、《震天の雷剣》はまばゆい閃光と蒸気を噴出させた。そして、それが晴れた時、サユの手元にあったのは先ほどまでさび付いていた筒と、獣の血肉に汚れていた刃から成るとは思えぬものであった。金色に輝き力強く、しかしどこか叡智(えいち)の風を感じさせるほどの美麗さ。「それにしても、雷と水を司る古代遺物か……
《鬼》を倒せるというが……妙な組み合わせだ。
君達はこれの意味するところは聞いているのか？」
　　「巻物にはそこまで書いてなかったけど……
　でも、今なら大方察しはつく」
　　　「古代遺物の秘められた本来の力……
あの《鬼》を相手に逆転できるとは、一体どんな……」
《雷獣》、そして《震天の雷剣》。
この地に存在した二つの特異な存在は、シュンランと《森の遊人》の両者が手を取り合い、求められた形となった。
――だが、そんな希望すらも、絆すらも打ち砕く存在。それは、たとえ彼の者に先んじて《雷獣》を狩ろうとも健在で。　「サユ、シュンラン……言いづらい事だが……
どうやら思ってた以上に余韻に浸る暇も無さそうだぜ？」　「ああ……忘れてはいない」
「あれを倒さないと、わたし達の戦いは終わらない……」
　三人は一方向に視線を向ける。
山の騒めき……この距離でも判る明晰(めいせき)な殺意と欲望の存在。「思った以上に登頂が早かったな……さて、どうするか……」
《鬼》もまた、三人の視界の中央で、彼らに眼光を向けていた。殺意と闘志に限るなら、一人で三人の総量をも上回る熱量をその双眸(そうぼう)に秘めて。
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