三十六話
脳裏に浮かんだのは————かつての情景。
『————お前のソレは、最早病気だ。来る日も来る日も〝星斬り〟、〝星斬り〟ってよ。白痴にでもなったか? あん?』
果てし無く広がる荒野。
数刻前まで轟音が忙しなく轟いていた戦場の空は、暗雲に閉ざされ、不気味な斜陽に染められていた。
すぐ側で、挑発でもするように言葉を突きつけられながらも、もう一人の剣士の男は『そうだな』と言って笑うだけであった。
『これは最早理屈じゃないんだ。......そして、この行為をどこまでも貫こうとする私の正気を証明する手段なんてものも何処にもありはしない』
別に理解なんてものを求めた覚えはなく。それはこれまでも。これからも一切変わらない不変であると剣士の男は言う。
『言ってしまえば、それこそ当人たる私にだってソレは分からん。お前の目に、狂気と映る程〝
ただ、やはり理屈ではないのだと。
他でもない己が正しいと判断している。ならば、その道に殉ずる理由はそれだけで十分。
共感はいらないし、理解もいらない。
同情も、ましてや協力も、全てを必要としていない。だから、私以外の人間にどう思われようが関係ないと剣士の男は締めくくった。
『......へっ、完全に手遅れだよお前は』
『そんなに、約束ってもんは大事かねえ?』
『無論』
刹那の逡巡すらなくそう言い切ってしまう。
他者の意見にこれっぽっちも耳を傾ける気がないと言わんばかりの頑迷具合に思わず、話し相手の男は空を仰いでいた。
『......幼少の、それこそ、物の道理すら十全に理解してるか怪しかった頃の大口だ。私も馬鹿げてるとは思うが、それでも果たす他ないだろうが? それが、既に死んだヤツとの唯一の約束とあっては、な』
『幾ら何でも律儀過ぎんだろ』
『お前もきっと、いつか分かる』
—————たとえこのまま死ぬとしても、あたしは怖くないよ。......だって、私には****がついてるから。だから、怖くない。怖くはないよ。たとえ死んだとしても、あたしは星になって、特等席で****の勇姿を見届けるだけだから。
『あんな真っ直ぐな目で、ああ言われては、私は断れんよ。無様は晒せんよ。だから、一生涯を懸けてでも、私は星を斬ろうと試みるのだ。......いいや、一生涯どころじゃない。この生がダメなら次の生。それでもダメならその次の生。当然のように間違いなく私であるならば、費やす』
幼少の頃の戯言だったというのに、彼女はそれを馬鹿正直に信じ切っていて。
に迫る中、そんな姿を見せられては、たとえそれが法螺話だろうが、真実にしなくちゃいけないだろうが。
それが、どこまでも理解されない剣士の男の根幹。戯言でしかない〝星斬り〟を成すと口にして止まない理由。
『......やっぱ、お前は正気じゃねえわ。んな真っ直ぐな目で、狂い切った言葉を当然のように宣える人間が正気であってたまるものか』
————お前のソレは、病気を超えて最早呪いだ。
相手の男から見て、剣士の男の瞳はどこまでも真っ直ぐだった。瞳の奥に湛えられる決意と覚悟は紛れもなく本物だった。
けれど、そこに宿る煌めきはどうしようもなく危うく、とてもじゃないが正気であるとは口が裂けても言えなかったのだ。
『ま、ぁ、お前の言葉は分からないでもない。確かに、星を斬るなんて戯言をほざくには、正気じゃ到底無理な話だ』
しかし、既に成すと決めた。
何を犠牲にしようとも、星を斬り、証明すると決めた。
誓ったのだ。あの時、あの場所で。
剣士の男は肯定したのだ。
彼女の、あの言葉を。否定をして今まで通りの生活をするという選択肢もあった。平凡な剣士として、生き続けるという選択肢は確かにあったのだ。
平凡に、という選択肢を他でもない彼が握り潰したのだ。
だから、どうあっても背は向けられない。
『けれど、私は斬るしかない。それが全てだ』
『だから、己を追い込む為に吹聴してるってか? 馬鹿の一つ覚えのように、私は〝星斬り〟だから、〝星斬り〟だからってよ』
『......はっ、俺とお前。一体何年の付き合いだと思ってんだか』
彼らは親友だった。
幼馴染みとも呼べる間柄であった。
だから、大抵の事は言葉を尽くすまでもなくお互いがお互いに理解出来てしまう。
『〝星斬り〟と名乗れば必然、笑われる。夢見がちな男と大半の人間は嘲笑うだろうな。馬鹿にするだろうな。なにせ、それだけその行為は途方もない偉業なのだから。しかしだからこそ、私は〝星斬り〟と名乗らなくてはいけない』
笑われるという事はつまり、己の武が星を斬るまでもなく、未だ誰もが認める〝最強〟から程遠いという事実に他ならないのだから。
『結局、何が言いてえんだよ』
『......ったく。んなこと言われても違い分かんねえよ』
もっと分かりやすく簡潔に言いやがれと、投げやりに男はため息を吐いた。
何故なら、言葉を交わす剣士の男はそういうヤツなのだと彼は理解した上でこうして行動を共にしていたから。だから、お前らしいよと最終的にはいつも笑えてしまう。
男が、こうして己を〝星斬り〟と名乗り続ける阿呆と共に行動する理由はただひとつ。
その為に心血を注いで足掻く姿は何処までも滑稽で、醜くて、哀れで、華奢な腕よりもずっと儚くて————そして、それはどうしようもなく尊かったのだ。
『っ、と。そんなこんなと言ってる間にお迎えが来たみたいだなぁ?』
『どうやら奴等、俺らの事はよぉく知ってるらしい。やけに踏み込んでこねえと思ったら、後ろにヤバそうな魔法使いを潜ませてたとはなあ。近接じゃ勝負にならねえからってか?』
距離は目算数百メートル。
豆粒のようなシルエットと、やや大きめの魔法陣が虚空に描かれている事実を認識出来るくらい。
『どうするよ? なぁ————〝星斬り〟』
悩んでも構わねえが、あんまし時間は残ってねえぞと男は緊張感の感じられない笑みを浮かべながら口にする。
『時に、お前は〝星が降る夜〟を見た事はあるか』
『アレは理不尽の塊でな。星の速度なんてものは人間の足では到底追い付かないと知りながら奴等、唐突に降ってくるのだ』
私はどうにかして斬りたいというのに、あれでは斬るに斬れないと彼は言う。
『空に浮かぶ星を斬る肩慣らしに、降り注ぐ星でも斬ろうかと思ったのだが、これがまた難しくてな。降ってくる場所が分かっているならまだしも、分からないにもかかわらず空から降る星をまともに斬る事は不可能だと悟ったさ』
『ほぉ? お前にしちゃ随分とまともな意見じゃねえか』
『だから、対抗して私も星を降らせる事にした』
『......訂正だ。お前はやっぱりお前だったわ。ぶれる余地っつーもんが微塵も感じられねえ』
『剣が届かないのであれば、どうにかして剣ではない斬るという攻撃手段を届かせるまで』
『......何する気だ?』
「......星が降る、夜?」
「あれは綺麗なものでね。目にも留まらぬ速さで夜闇に紛れて無数の星が降り注ぐんだ」
この目で実際に見た事はないが、それでも記憶が覚えていた。星が降る夜の幻想的光景を。
「......それが一体どうしたってんだ」
「簡単な話だよ。接近出来ないのなら、接近せずに倒すまで。何も、近付かないと斬り裂けないだなんてルールは何処にも存在しないんだから」
故に————俺も星を降らす事で対象を斬り裂いてやる事にした。
「......成る程な。だが、じゃあなんで始めからそうしなかったよ?」
「痛いところを突くね」
「当然だ。オレがあんたの立場なら、一番初めに接近した際に違和感を感じ取った直後、それにシフトする。間違いなくな」
そして挟む一瞬の沈黙。
「本音を言うと、その技に対する自信ってものが絶望的なまでに無くてね」
本音を吐露する。
続け様、どうなるかは分からないけどと前置きをしてから
「まぁ、取り敢えずやってみるよ。なにせ、此処は親だろうが使えるものは何だろうと使う場所————〝ミナウラ〟の街。分不相応の記憶だろうが、そこに例外なんてものはないんだから」
どういう事だ? と、眉間に皺を寄せるシヴァ。しかし、それに対して馬鹿正直に説明する事なく、俺は彼の言葉を遮った。
「で、なんだけど、シヴァにひとつ謝らなくちゃいけない事があるんだ」
これは星が降る夜を模した技。
流れる無数の星を叩き落とし、それを斬り裂かんと願った一人の規格外が編み出した〝星斬り〟の技である。
「もし、万が一に上手くいったとして、シヴァにも少なからず被害が出ちゃうかもしれないから」
だから、ごめんねと予め謝っておく事にした。
「......なんだ、そんな事かよ。なら構わねえ。ちょっとやそっとでくたばる程オレはやわじゃねえよ」
シヴァの強さは既に俺の知るところ。
俺が繰り出す劣化模倣であれば、いらぬ心配であったかと、軽く笑う。
「じゃあ、お言葉に甘えて試してくるよ」
直後に思い浮かべるひとつの解号。
Chapter 36
It was a memory from the past, and so it flashed before my mind.
"--You've already gone sick in the head, you know? Day after day, you always spout 'Star-Slaying' this, 'Star-Slaying' that. Have you become a complete idiot? Huh?"
There laid an endless wilderness.
Scarcely a few hours before, the sky above the battlefield, which had been roaring unceasingly, was now engulfed with darkness and tinted with the eerie sunset.
The other swordsman right beside him could only let out a little laugh, saying so.
"No matter how you look at it, nothing about your dream is within reason... There is just no way you could prove something that insane, let alone actually being able to achieve it."
The swordsman never sought to be understood, which had never changed, nor would it ever be.
"Even I myself wouldn't know that unless I try and do it. Whether or not I'm truly deranged for my dream, I'm just another obsessed person in your eyes."
Though, he wouldn't deny that it was indeed still beyond reason.
He made his own decision about what he thought was right, and so that was enough reason to devote himself to that path.
He neither seeks sympathy, nor understanding.
It didn't matter what anyone else thought of him, the swordsman concluded.
"...Heh. It's completely late for you, you know?"
"Are promises really that important to you?"
"Of course they are."
He said so without even a moment's hesitation.
The man looked up at the sky, without the slightest intention of heeding the opinions of others, and then grumbled about how helpless he really was.
"...Even at a young age when I couldn't even fully understand the reason for things, I sure had a really big mouth. When it's the only promise I can make to people who are already gone in this world, how can I not try and fulfill it?"
"You're too disciplined for your own good."
"You'll understand someday."
--Even if I were to die like this, I wouldn't be afraid. And it's because... I have ####* with me. I'm not afraid, and I'm not going to be afraid. Even if I die, I'll become a star and watch #### afar, from a very special seat.
"Having someone look me straight in the eye like that, I wouldn't be able to refuse. It's unsightly, and I cannot show such disgrace like that. So even if it takes me a lifetime, I will try to slay the stars... No. If this life didn't suffice, the next one would. And if that still didn't work, then I will make it so the next one definitely will."
Even though it was a mere jest from childhood, he believed in it wholeheartedly.
...Even if it could cost it his life, be it a boastful, impossible feat, he had to make it come true.
Hence the reason why he never ceased to declare his dream of slaying the stars, and the reason why it became the root of a swordsman who was never understood.
"...You're a nutjob, after all. How could a sane person declare something like that with such honest, straightforward eyes?"
--A curse rather than an illness, to be more exact.
From the other man's perspective, the resolve and determination found in the swordsman's eyes were unmistakably genuine.
But the gleam in his eyes was so dangerous that he could not be said to be in his right mind.
"Well, it's not like I don't understand your point. Because indeed, it's more than crazy to even consider the idea of slaying the stars."
But he had already decided to do it.
No matter at what cost, he had already decided to prove that he could indeed slay the stars.
He swore an oath. At that very time, in that very place.
The swordsman himself affirmed it.
As an ordinary swordsman who had the option to simply deny that dream and continue living as he had before, he chose to be pretentious and put on airs.
He, of all people, had to crush the option of being just an ordinary person.
So no matter what, he couldn't turn his back on that decision.
"But I just have to slay the stars, and that's all there to it."
"And so you're proclaiming the same, single crap to drive yourself like an idiot who only has one thing in his mind?"
"...Hah. How long do you think we've known each other already?"
They were very close friends.
Childhood friends.
Most things could be fully comprehended by one another without any need for words, and so, the swordsman came up with a notion.
"I am laughed at, scoffed upon, and made fun of for attempting to achieve such a tremendous feat. But, that's precisely why I must take it upon myself and still call myself one."
In other words, the fact that he was laughed at meant that he was far from the "strongest" that anyone could recognize, not to mention the fact that he was still far from slaying the stars.
"What's your point?"
"...Jeez. I still don't know the difference even if you tell me that."
Explain it in simpler terms, or so the man demanded as he soon lost composure.
He knew that the swordsman with whom he exchanged words was a difficult person to deal with, and so he decided to just give up and laugh at his friend's very trait.
There was only one reason why the man chose to stick with the foolish swordsman, and it was simply because he couldn't leave him alone.
The way he poured his heart and soul into his efforts to achieve his dream was ridiculous, unsightly, pathetic, far more fragile than his slim, delicate arms... and yet, inexplicably precious.
"While we're busy chit-chattering like this, it seems like we had some visitors around."
"They seem to have researched us very well. I was wondering why they didn't step in, then I realized that they had a magician lurking in the rear. They want to avoid close-quarter combat at all cost, huh?"
The distance was several hundred meters.
Just enough to barely recognize a pea-sized silhouette and a slightly large magic circle painted in the sky.
"Say, what should we do-- 'Star Slayer?'"
You can worry about it all you want, but we do not have the time nor the luxury to do so. The man said with a nervous smile.
"Have you ever seen a night filled with shooting stars?"
"Those things are absurd, you know? They know that human legs can't keep up with them, yet they just fall from the sky as fast as they like."
Knowing that it couldn't be done, I wanted to slay them in one way or another somehow, he said.
"I thought I would attempt to slay the falling stars in the sky, but it proved much more difficult than it seemed. Unless you know the exact location where they would fall, slaying them would be completely impossible."
"Now, now, now. That's a pretty logical opinion coming from you."
"That's why I decided to just make the stars fall myself in response."
"...I take it back. I forgot we were talking about you here, I can't expect the slightest room of you wavering from your principles."
"If my sword can't reach them, I have to somehow find a means of attacking that doesn't necessarily need one, let alone me directly slashing through it."
"...What do you plan to do?"
"...A night filled with shooting stars?"
"It's something of a spectacle to see. Countless stars falling down in the darkness of the night at blinding speeds, which us humans can't even fathom to react to."
I had never actually seen a sight of a night filled with shooting stars with my own eyes, but my memory had a recollection of it nonetheless.
"...What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"If you can't get close to them, just beat them to the distance they're headed to. There's no rule that says a swordsman has to get close in order to slay their enemy."
Therefore-- I, too, decided to slay through my target by raining stars.
"...I see what you mean. But if that's the case, why didn't you do just that in the first place?"
"You sure know how to hit a sore spot."
"Of course. If I were in your shoes, I would've done it as soon as I sensed something wrong the first time I approached the Jabberwock."
A moment of silence passed through.
"To tell you the truth, I'm hopelessly lacking in confidence in that very technique."
I exposed my genuine feelings.
And after prefacing my response with how I didn't know what the end result would be...
"Well, I'll give it a try anyway. At any rate, we're in a town where one must use whatever is available in order to survive-- Minaura. I know it's an inadequate memory to use right now, but there's no such thing as an exception anymore."
Siva furrowed his brow, but I cut him off without giving the slightest bit of explanation.
"Also, I have something to apologize about in advance."
The technique that I was about to perform imitates a night filled with shooting stars.
A 'Star Slaying' technique developed by a lone swordsman who once wished to slice through and slay the countless stars that endlessly flowed past the sky.
"If by any chance that my technique worked out, you could also suffer a little bit of damage yourself."
I decided to apologize in advance, being aware of what was going to happen.
"...Oh, is that it? If that's the case, you don't need to worry about me. I'm not so weak to fall down after one attack."
I already knew Siva's capabilities.
And so I let out a light laugh, thinking that I was worrying for nothing, given that the technique I was about to do was no more than an inferior imitation of the original one.
"I'll take your word for it and give it a try, then."
One solution immediately came to mind.
Star-Slaying Swordsman
星斬りの剣士
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/star-slaying-swordsman/
Action Fantasy Martial Arts Mature Psychological Shounen
Adapted to Manga Dark Fantasy World Male Protagonist Mature Protagonist Medieval Philosophical Romantic Subplot Sudden Strength Gain Sword And Magic Sword Wielder Transplanted Memories
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7336gg/
アルト／遥月