*
When I heard Vergilius's signal to disembark and got ready to get off, Faust, whom I had seen earlier, came toward me.
"Saramago, take this. You'll need it."
She handed me the spear at her side.
It was a weapon. Were we suddenly going into battle?
I had questions about the situation that had unfolded so abruptly, but there was no one who would answer them.
Faust gave me the weapon, then started getting off the bus without even looking back at me.
What a self-centered woman.
Then, just before stepping off the bus, she suddenly stopped and said in a low voice, "Until the 'contract' is over, do not recklessly step forward."
It sounded less like she was speaking to me and more like she was addressing all the prisoners.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but for now, was I just supposed to stay still?
And with that, Faust fully disembarked from the bus.
Still, a contract? Were we going to make a deal with someone?
Contract... no, let's forget that memory from the past. Who would sign an employment contract without even reading it?
Thinking that, I got off the bus with the other prisoners and followed Faust.
What I saw after getting off the bus behind Faust was an armed man and woman, and someone with a clock for a head who seemed to have been attacked by that pair.
...A clock head? It felt familiar. Wasn't that a character from [Limbus Company]...?
While I was distracted by that strange head, Faust, standing ahead of us, began speaking strange words to the clock-headed figure.
"If my eyes are still correct, then you will reach the Harbor of Glory."
And then something incomprehensible happened.
Tick-tock
""
Hearing the ticking from the clock, a voice began sounding in my head as if by telepathy.
Even though I and the prisoners all wore startled expressions, Faust showed no reaction and kept speaking.
"You have lost your way in the dark forest."
""
"But you were not afraid. Why is that?"
Was there some answer she wanted?
"
""
"Yes."
Faust answered as though she had expected that reply, then slowly continued.
"Now, while repeating that image, shout what I say in your heart."
"Follow your star."
""
Clatter-rattle-rattle!
The moment the clock-headed figure repeated Faust's words, chains suddenly shot out from the clock head and pierced the chests of all thirteen of us, myself included.
""
My heart had clearly been pierced, and yet I felt no abnormality at all, which was an absurd sensation. I, or perhaps most of the prisoners, looked at Faust in confusion.
Faust, as if she had known the chains would appear, showed no surprise and said to the prisoners, "Do not worry. Your hearts have not truly become unusable."
"With this, the contract is complete."
"Dante, from now on, we are bound to your time."
Dante. Hearing that name, I remembered.
That was the same name as the protagonist of Limbus Company, the one who would now be managing twelve prisoners—no, thirteen prisoners.
I instinctively knew my guess was right. There couldn't possibly be two clock-headed people with the same name.
By the time I had recalled Dante's name, Dante seemed to have heard something in Faust's words that he did not understand and was about to ask something back, but...
"W-what do you mean by..."
"From now on, whether our hearts stop or beat depends on where your sight is positioned."
"Please take care of us."
He was only cut off by Faust's words.
Seriously, what a self-centered woman.
"
The manager Dante's hollow question, as if he still had not fully grasped the situation, drifted through the air.
Of course, there was no one to answer him.
Unfortunately for Dante, that line became the signal for the prisoners, who had been suppressing their curiosity about these new people all this time, to finally give in and move forward.
"Is this really enough?"
The prisoner with long orange hair asked. I felt like I knew her name. It was definitely... Ishmael?
Separate from my recollection of her name, the prisoner with black eyes and hair, and deep dark circles under them, said, "An apple has fallen."
Hmm... did that mean something?
How could someone see a chest pierced by chains and come away with that kind of impression?
I didn't understand what he was saying, but contrary to my own reaction, his name began to settle clearly in my head.
"Yi Sang." That was definitely his name. Among the twelve prisoners, he was the only one whose original source was Korean, so I remembered him clearly.
Was his nickname "Ancestor" or something?
"...This one is still just saying strange things."
...Judging from Ishmael's words, he seemed to have been saying things like that ever since boarding the bus.
"Ughhh~ I'm all stiff! We can move now, right?"
That was Rodion's voice. From the situation, it seemed like she was asking Faust, but no answer came back.
If no one was stopping us, did that mean we could move?
Gregor seemed to have had the same thought, and while doing some light stretching, he said, "Well, loosening up a bit wouldn't be so bad."
"What is that pitiful thing rolling around over there? Is it the one who will become our final member?"
That's our superior, though?
The brown-haired woman with a short bob, who seemed to carry a hint of age and had no idea who he was, spat out a rude remark at our superior the moment they met.
"Uh... you should watch your mouth... he's supposed to be our superior..."
Had Gregor heard something in advance?
While the prisoners were saying things like that, Faust and Dante continued their conversation in a world separate from the rest of us, not even reacting to the prisoners' chatter.
"The ambush must have been instantaneous, yet you managed to hide your head."
""
"We are righteous messengers who came to help you, and this is a magic bus that can go anywhere you want."
At Faust's words, a sudden curiosity rose in me, and I couldn't help quietly asking Gregor, "Is that true?"
"Does that sound true to you?"
...I see.
Dante seemed to have the same doubts, because the ticking of the clock soon followed.
""
And Faust, ignoring Dante's confusion, continued speaking.
"Wasn't that the answer you wanted? It would be easier on your mind to think that way."
"We don't have time, and this isn't a favorable situation, so I'll explain slowly, but only once."
Then, from Faust's mouth came an explanation of how the manager gives combat orders to the prisoners, along with various other things.
I, as a prisoner, would probably be handling direct combat. From the rough information I had seen about the game, that seemed about right.
...And the combat opponents would probably be that man and woman pair who had been staring this way since earlier.
My body tensed in anticipation of the battle that would soon begin. But unlike my body, my mind felt a little relieved.
There were only a few enemies, and this was probably around the tutorial section of the game, so I wouldn't die already—
Because I had foolishly believed that thought with absolute certainty, at least until then.
*
Some time later...
"So... if I just do what you told me, those people I've never seen before will fight in my place?"
"That's right. If you give the correct orders."
"Fine, then I'll kill all these bastard—"
"And go back to where I was before—"
"Go back—"
"..."
"What was I doing? Where was I before?"
Looks like our manager has amnesia.
...Though if you ask me, my situation is pretty similar.
"I was right on the verge of something very important. Something I must never forget..."
"Calm down. With that head, there's no way your memory is intact."
From the sound of it, Dante's amnesia seemed to be the result of that clock head.
...Why did he do that?
That idle thought did not last long.
"For now, focus on the battle in front of you, Dante."
...Because it was time to fight.
Right before the battle began, Otis spoke to Dante, who still had not fully come to his senses.
"C... cough, what should I call you?"
"Clock commander... sir? Anyway, please give the combat orders!"
"What's there to order? Isn't individual combat the only answer?"
Ignoring Otis's words, Gregor charged out first.
Maybe fighting separately would be better than fighting alongside twelve people who couldn't coordinate at all...
But it seemed there were people who did not agree with Gregor.
"Ah?! H-hey!"
Ishmael, who belonged to that group, tried to stop Gregor, but it had no real effect.
Too late.
If there were people who did not agree with individual combat, then naturally there would also be people who did.
"What are you all whispering about! Just crush them all!"
And the dark-brown-haired prisoner with a steel bat, who belonged to that group, seemed unable to hold back her temper and charged out after Gregor.
Watching that scene, Faust said, "...Please do your best, Dante."
"...I suppose there's no other way."
Things were already looking bad...
*
The battle felt strange. It was like my body was moving according to someone else's orders.
They were clearly motions I had never practiced, but when I followed someone's commands, my body moved naturally.
Thinking of Faust's explanation, that someone was probably Dante.
Clang!
"Ghk!"
Kkak... kka-kak...
"Get a hold of yourself!"
That was close. I barely blocked the first attack, but if Gregor had not provided support from the side starting with the second...
It would have been an ending I didn't want to think about any further.
Anyway, thanks to Gregor, I bought a little time to catch my breath.
During that brief pause, I looked over the battlefield.
...I would have been better off not looking.
The situation was hopeless. Despite the 13-to-2 numbers, the prisoners were being pushed back hard.
If things went wrong here...
Thud
What just happened?
Blood and flesh sprayed in front of me. The one who killed him was a new woman who had suddenly burst out of the forest.
The one who died was a large man with short pomaded hair.
The name was... Meursault, I think.
The woman casually brushed off the gauntlet stained with blood and flesh and said, "So you thought this was a lost bus ■■■■ and came to ■■■■?"
I couldn't make out her words properly.
More precisely, my mental state was so bad that I probably couldn't even hear what she had said before that.
"Did a person really just die?"
It didn't feel real. Was a human body really that easy to burst apart?
That panic did not last long.
If one enemy had appeared and one ally had died, then the already unfavorable battle had become drastically worse.
If I just stood there, I would only die faster.
Thinking that, I forced myself to focus again.
...Maybe it would have been better not to regain my senses. The prisoners were dying at a speed that made the earlier losses look slow by comparison.
After Meursault, a prisoner shorter than you'd expect for a man wielding a halberd fell. Immediately after that, a prisoner with short blond hair and a large spear.
With each death, the situation became even more hopeless, and fear of death spread among the prisoners, making any normal fight impossible.
At this point, "battle" was no longer the right word. "Massacre" would be more appropriate.
Thud
A few more weapon sounds rang out, and the number of prisoners still standing had dropped to six, myself included.
"I do not understand. Did a lion lose to things like this?"
The enemy said that, and then began slowly killing people one by one.
"H-hey, wait a second!"
"It's a bit much for me to say this after just fighting you, but this can still be settled through conversation..."
Thud
Gregor's words did not reach the end. The spear that pierced near his solar plexus must have gone straight through his lungs.
The remaining number was five. And it did not take long for all five to fall.
"This is... not ideal."
Yi Sang, who had spoken nothing but incomprehensible things until the moment he died, and
"Ha... I thought from the start this was a fight that made no sense."
Sshk
Ishmael, who let out a lament only when it was time to die, fell in one blow.
"Are you all kidding me? I haven't even started—"
Whoosh— thud!
Rodion was smashed into pulp by the one who had killed the man with the pomaded hair.
"Ah... aah..."
And I, too, while staring at that scene and panicking...
Thud—
Being stabbed in the abdomen and drawn closer to death did not take long.
It hurts. A lot.
My stomach burned.
The fact that the place where the cold spear had pierced felt as if it had been scorched was also strangely alien.
Slide
At last, the spear was pulled out of my belly.
""
Dante's voice echoed in my head as I bled from the abdomen and died.
"I never said I'd win."
"
Faust's irresponsible words and Dante's bewildered voice also reached me.
"And now I'm the only one left."
""
""
I wish I did. Dying hurts.
The intense pain of having my abdomen pierced, and the sensation of something leaving that wound while my body slowly grew cold, was far too much stimulation for someone who had lived a peaceful life.
"A trump card... rather than that, I simply..."
Thud...
"Follow the star."
And at roughly the same moment I recognized Faust dying, my body, which had been steadily bleeding out life from my abdomen, reached its limit.
...That was the last memory before I lost consciousness: dying while longing for life.