Treachery begets Consequences

Can I take it you've given up on treating your sister?

But... Alright.

Kusso...

*Sobbing*...

Mom? Where are you?

Where are you...

Mom... don't leave me here...

(Flurry Rush!)

In the nick of time!

Is the child okay?

Let me see. All four limbs attached, no external wounds... does it hurt anywhere?

Ouch... your armor's spiky...

Oops, sorry.

My child!

Mom!

Thank you... Thank you so much for saving my child!

Stay away from the forest. There are wild beasts in the area, and they're increasing in numbers. It's not safe here.

Yato... I don't think they came out here because they wanted to.

No! There's netting between the village and the forest. I reinforced it myself not long ago. How could there be beasts here?

I need to go take a look.

Calm down. Has the evacuation started?

No... There's no evacuation. The mine exploded, the sky started burning... there's nothing left.

Everyone's running. We all panicked when we heard that beasts were coming, but we don't know where to go.

Why is it so chaotic? What happened?

I tried to pull Naoki away from the crowd, but then a bunch of them ran straight at us. Naoki was gone by the time I caught my breath.

Someone intentionally damaged the netting, letting in the beasts.

Ano yarou... Where is Takii?

The headman is—

Here they come again, Corne!

I'll hold them off with my shield... Argh, whatever, a sword's fine!

Kashiwau, please take these two to a safe place and see if you can help out in the village. Corne and I will stop the beasts.

I don't need you to tell me that. Let's go Mirai... Mirai?

I think she already went in.

How could it have come so quickly? Wasn't it supposed to take more time for the Catastrophe to form?

Noshige, Inoue, get everybody together and take them to the shelter I told you about! It's safer there. We'll evacuate as a group once we have everybody!

Good thing we'd prepared for this day... What you said came true again.

It's burning...

The mountains are covered in smoke... the sky's on fire... the mine's gone...

What are you doing? Grab your things and get out of here!

My livelihood, my life, it's all gone...

Headman... will we have to go back to our old life, now that the mine's all burned up?

Now's not the time for that!

Gone... everything's gone...

Why are you panicking like that? The Catastrophe isn't even here yet.

Beasts! The beasts are coming!

Beasts! And so close! What happened to the protective netting?

Ritou, get over here! What's going on over there?

Headman! The netting on the west side is broken! The beasts are in the village! What do we do?

What in blazes is going on here?

Everybody, calm down! Take the bare minimum of what you need, gather at the shelter in the northeast, and wait for evacuation! The beasts can't get in there.

Headman... why is there a shelter in the village?

What?

Did you already know this was going to happen?

This... happened because you closed the mine, didn't it?

H-Headman?

Headman!

What you on about, Ritou? You know that isn't true!

This is no time to be fooling around! Lives are at stake here!

Don't just stand there, folks! Head to the shelter!

No, this is important! Everything we've worked for is gone! We need justice!

Why did the mine have to be closed? Why did this disaster happen right afterward?

Y-Yeah! You closed it for 5 days out of the blue for a 'maintenance check,' and now the mine's gone, and the whole mountain is burning!

Did you close the mine and keep the truth hidden from the others because of that monster that showed up down there? Is that the cause of this disaster?

We could have worked together to deal with it!

It was your idea to keep it a secret, to prevent a panic.

And don't think I don't know about your little side business. I know how much you've pocketed ever since your family started handling the transactions.

If you have the slightest bit of conscience left, stop delaying the evacuation!

Then how do you explain the shelter? You must have planned this in advance... You're the one who wants to hoard the wealth of the mine all to yourself!

You even blew up the cave... You killed those two doctors who came to investigate the Oripathy!

Headman...

What did you do, Headman?

Not you too... Ritou...

Yes, I'll admit I've wanted to close the mine for a long time. I knew that overexploitation of the mine was bound to bring disaster. The shelter was built in preparation for this day.

Why? Because we're over-reliant on Originium mining. Originium particles have already entered the environment. The danger has been slowly building for a while now!

It was only a matter of time before Catastrophe struck and we'd have to abandon the mine, but I couldn't get everyone to give up on it before. We all benefitted too much from the Originium trade.

That day simply came a little sooner than expected, that's all.

And yes, I closed the mine because of that unknown creature.

You all know that I used to be a hunter. I judged that it wasn't something we could easily handle, and we couldn't afford to fight it in the tunnels.

Ishidori and the others have already been infected with Oripathy. People would have died if we'd continued to dig. The responsibility for all of your lives falls on my shoulders.

...Which is the same reason I'm telling you to evacuate now.

Mine or not, the most important thing is that we're alive.

But then things would go back to how they used to be...

Cold nights... howling in the forest... blood, cold, hunger... fear... no! I don't want to go back to that!

So what if we're alive?! Where's the hope? I'd rather die than go back to living like that!

What are you saying... get ahold of yourself!

He's right! We won't go back!

It was you who got us started on mining Originium in the first place! It's all your fault!

You ruined everything!

You've ruined the village! Ruined all our lives!

This man must be made to pay! We all agree, don't we?

Enough of this!

There's a Catastrophe right on your doorstep!

Haven't we already paid enough of a price? Are we going to lose even more lives just for this meaningless venting?

Mirai! Why are you back?

Oh look, another troublemaker. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

The frightened beasts are heading down the mountain, the netting's been sabotaged, and someone's trying to stir up chaos...

All to force us to wait for death in despair, and abandon the hope we could have had.

Oh...

And we still can have, away from the Originium mines, without having to rely on hunting either.

That's why I came back from the city.

Liar! You were the one who wanted to close the mine and ruin our lives!

Yes, because Originium is dangerous and hard to control. I even considered blowing up the mine.

But I also understand that we owe our livelihood to it.

Do you remember back when we were trying to climb out of poverty? Were we in despair then?

Was it really the Originium that got us to where we are today?

We seized our chance to escape poverty because we had the determination to look for a way, and the courage to expose ourselves to Originium.

Y... Yeah.

Since ancient times, hunters have made a living by fighting beasts, back when there was no Originium. Many of them died, but we survived as a people.

Courage and hope come hand-in-hand. And we've never abandoned our courage...

So hope will always appear by our side.

Don't listen to her! She was the one who wanted to close the mine! And now she's destroyed the mine, she practically admitted it!

But Mirai only tried to convince us to close it because overexploitation would cause a Catastrophe. And now that really happened...

We were wrong to doubt her...

You're familiar with the plant in this flask, aren't you? Among the goods that we trade with the outside, the Suzuka herb is second only to Originium in terms of trade volume.

It only grows in certain areas, and in small numbers. We've had to risk life and limb to harvest it.

But I came back to study the possibility of cultivating it, and planting it outside its native habitat. This one I'm holding right here is my greatest breakthrough.

It can survive outside of these mountains. It's the first brick that will lay the foundation of our future as a village.

But first, we need to survive.

Survive...

Yeah, what were we thinking? We fought so hard to get to this point. We can't just die here.

No! We'll lose all our income without the mine—

Aah!

Who... gah...

Open your mouth again, and I'm sticking your head in the mud.

This entire conversation is a waste of time.

This man damaged the netting, tried to lure in beasts to cause chaos, then distracted everyone from what was going on.

While on the other side of the village, he had some people moving his assets out, something he clearly planned ahead of time. I've already taken care of them.

You will now head to the shelter in an orderly line and await evacuation. Reinforcements from Rhodes Island will be arriving soon.

Now, you can walk there yourselves, or I can knock you out and have someone else carry you. Choose.

Er... thank you.

There's a beast outbreak, and they're approaching the village. That's the biggest threat we're facing right now.

We'll handle the beasts. I can't guarantee we'll get all of them, but we'll do what we can to ensure your safety.

No, please stay here and protect the evacuating villagers. You're the only ones who can.

And take care of Mirai for me.

Headman! Where are you going?

I'm the headman of Roka Village, and the leader of its hunters.

The beasts have emerged from their forests, so I'll fight them to my last breath, even if I'm on my own!

Honey, take Tsuyumaru to the shelter.

I think I left my machete in the backyard?

Yes, it's there... come back safely!

The headman's always treated our family well. It's high time we repaid him!

Yes, we're with him, whether it's in the mines or in the forests. We've always been hunters. Take up your spears!

We'll protect our own village and our own families!

Headman! Wait for us!

I'm going too!

Mom, didn't dad said there were no hunters anymore?

No, Sumiko. The hunters have always been here, ready to step forward whenever danger approaches.

Hmph... and now they're putting on a show. They're no hunters.

I'm the only one...