“Big brother! Are you all right!? I’ve been worried ever since I heard a monster appeared over there!”
“Yes, I’m fine. There was a monster, but as you can see, I’m doing well.”
“What happened? People are talking about it over here too, but I don’t know what about it is true…”
“Tell us what actually happened if you can, since you were actually there.”
That night, Yuugo used the communications magic item handed to him by Angel, and looked at three people cramped in the small screen hovering in the air, as he spoke with an awkward smile on his face.
It seemed the news about that monster was already making the rounds, and the trio was dying to know more about it.
And so, Yuugo explained what he saw, as the others nodded and listened.
“A skeleton horse… So it’s like the peaceful plain turned into an image of hell in an instant.”
“Yes. The plain is on lockdown until the situation is solved, and the farm where I was working is also temporarily closed. But since the farmer can’t leave this place, he’s leaving everything else to the guards and just doing his job.”
“But it sounds like the guards knew the monster was coming. Why is that?”
“…I just remembered, but a few days ago, a lot of dead horses were found near where you are, big brother. There were no signs that they were attacked and eaten by carnivorous beasts, so people said it was unnatural…”
“Are you saying the skeleton horse did it? And that’s why the guards were on alert?”
Phi nodded, and Angel put her hand on her chin like she was thinking, before adding to Phi’s explanation.
“I see. So that skeleton horse killed beings similar to it that originally lived in that place to assert dominance over that territory. And it wasn’t satisfied with that, and moved further to expand it… I can see that.”
“Sorry big brother. If I remembered this sooner, you wouldn’t have gone without Blaster…”
“It’s fine, more importantly…”
“What?”
Melt tilted her head with a curious expression, and Yuugo told them about how the skeleton horse protected him.
All three were surprised, and reacted their own ways.
“A monster protected you? Wasn’t that just a coincidence?”
“But it’s hard to imagine such a thing just happening by chance…”
“I agree with An, but I wasn’t there to actually see… If you think it protected you, that must be it, big brother.”
“In any case, I’m curious about that. I can’t imagine that horse doing something that bad. I think something else is going on.”
Now that he had some information, the idea of that skeleton horse killing beings similar to it and moving to expand its territory seemed convincing.
But Yuugo could not get it out of his head that the skeleton horse moved to protect him and the boy in the end.
“…Big brother, don’t get any weird ideas. You don’t have Blaster, so don’t overdo it.”
Phi saw his brother talk about a monster, a skeleton horse that threatened people, not being a bad guy, and attempted to stop him because he felt he was going to do something more dangerous than he could imagine, but… Yuugo faced the hovering image directly, and spoke.
“Phi, remember. What’s important for heroes isn’t being able to transform, it’s sticking to their wishes. Do what you can to protect what you want to protect, and really do what you want to do. Even though I know it’s dangerous, there’s something I think I have to do. And I have to stick to my wishes.”
“Big brother…”
“Give it up, Phi. Yuugo won’t listen when he gets like this. But don’t do anything crazy, Yuugo. Both Phi and I are worried.”
“Yes, I know. Sorry Phi.”
He thanked Melt for backing him up, and apologized to Phi.
But as the conversation was approaching its end, Angel spoke.
“Yuugo, I’m going to work as hard as I can tuning Blaster. If it goes well, it should be ready tomorrow morning, and I’ll head there right away. You need its power, right?”
“Yes, thanks. And sorry for the trouble, An. I’ll head there too so we can meet a little sooner.”
If everything worked out as An planned, they should meet around noon the next day.
But before that could happen, Yuugo said goodbye to the others while thinking about what he was going to do, and took a deep breath as he moved out.
“All right, let’s go!”
He got up, stretched, and went outside, wandering the plains at night looking for the horse he saw during the day.
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