Vol 8 Ch 1-2

Complete summary: https://gensakuchuu.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/hai-to-gensou-no-grimgar-8/

Incomplete summaries/translations

Chapter 1

They're trying to advance. Haru thinks how he wants someone else to take over his place as the leader, then starts hearing Manato and Moguzo encouraging him in his head. After some time of discussing it with himself and being really close to giving up, he decides that dead people won't save him and that he isn't going to run anymore. He tells everyone that it's not going to be easy but they should be able to overcome this as they are now. He's aware that his speech isn't as reassuring as Manato's but Ranta approved, saying that he's there if something goes wrong and it will work out somehow, to which Shihoru says that it's exactly because of him being there she's anxious, making Ranta threat to grope her, antics ensue. Ranta (to Haru) comments on "saving it" and Yume asks "What's to be saved and to where? Why does it have to be saved and not let out instead?" prompting Ranta to laugh like a mad man and be close to touching her, making Shihoru almost cast a spell on him, forcing Ranta to become the Prostration King for his own good.

It starts getting foggy and they get to a slope. At the end of it a round light that resembled a white full-moon, they walk towards it. They manage to get out of the place they've been walking through for no one knows how long, everyone unharmed. The place they're at now is really bright but Haru can't see the sun, he isn't sure if those are clouds or just fog in the sky. There's plenty of vegetation and trees. Shihoru thinks it's hard to walk, Ranta doesn't care how heavy her tits are, she shouldn't be complaining because it's not that bad. Expressionless Merry grabs her staff and asks him if his prostration early wasn't enough, Ranta panics. The usual.

Haru ignores whatever mess Ranta got himself into and looks around near the exit they are right now. It looks like no one has been around here because the trees still stand tall. Haru thinks it might be a good idea to chop some down to clear the path but it sounds like a difficult task to accomplish for Ranta, Kuzaku or Yume, so he hesitates about it. "Can't you even use your magic to cut down some trees? Looks like tits is all you've got..." Ranta whispers to himself, clearly not learning his lesson but Shihoru apparently didn't hear him this time.

Haru estimates they should be around 700km far away from Alterna, maybe even more. If they walk 20kms a day it should take them around 35 days to get there. They would need food supplies. The fog would make it difficult for them to find some but it could also be an advantage if they run into enemies because it goes both ways. However, there's the problem of not knowing where they're going because they can't see anything at all. It won't do them any good if they walk in circles so he thinks they should go to a place where it's more thin and wait until it's gone. Since the trees have grown so much around this area, it's likely the fog has to clear up sooner or later.

Haru volunteers to scout on his own while they rest and wait for the fog to clear up, he thinks it's safer if he goes on his own. Yume interrupts raising her hand, asking if she can go along, Ranta says she should drop the idea because it could be dangerous, Yume says Ranta doesn't have to worry about her, Ranta stutters "I-It's not like I'm w-worried or anything", the girls end up messing with Ranta again, he cries about how they're bullying him and threatens to grope Shihoru. Haru wonders just how badly he wants to touch her since he's always saying that, but chooses to ignore it, he knows Ranta wouldn't actually go through with it. He considers Yume's offer to go with him. She's a hunter, he knowledge might prove to be useful so Haru takes her along. The others are left behind on standby.

Haru marks trees with his knife as they move so that they can find their way back if needed. As they walk, Haru realizes that even if or when the fog clears up, they might still not see anything because, as it turns out, the ground is really uneven. It's full of ups, downs and trees. Sometimes they get to areas that have no fog, but they can't see much because there's a slope right in front of them. Haru starts thinking this might not be as easy as he thought but then he looks at Yume, she doesn't seem bothered at all.

"You're always helping us out, Yume..."
"Uwa? What's this, all of a sudden?"
"I mean, if it weren't for you, we would be one gloomy party."
"Oh. Maybe Ranta wouldn't be so noisy if it wasn't for me, though."
"But it's thanks to you that I end up not going all out against him as much."
"About Ranta..." Yume stops walking and tilts her head. "Why does he want to touch the girls' boobs so much? Is that something boys do?"
"Well..." If he were to say that they generally do want to do that, it might cause confusion, so instead, "...It depends on the person."
"How about you?"
"Huh? Me? Well, I..."
Haru thinks maybe it would be wise to deny it but at the same time he doesn't want to lie to his friends, even if it's about something as useless as this.
"...M-Maybe, if it's someone I like?"
"Ohh. I see, I see. Like that, huh. I love touching Shihoru's and Merry-chan's boobs too. I like them both after all. ...Ohh??"
"What...?"
"If Ranta wants to touch my boobs, does that mean he likes me? If he hated me he wouldn't want to touch them."
Haru thinks to himself that Yume really is something else. She up and opened the Pandora's Box, just like that.
He did notice that the way Ranta treats Yume is a bit off, but he couldn't say for sure if that was it. He couldn't be sure if Ranta was aware of it or not, either. It was a delicate subject so Haru played dumb about it.
"...I'm sure he doesn't hate you. Pretty sure. I mean, if someone were to hate you, I wouldn't be able to look at them as a person anymore. Not that I see Ranta as a person, though..."
"Why wouldn't you see them as a person anymore?"
"Oh, I mean, there is no reason for someone to hate you."
"Ohh. Then, does that mean you like me, Haru-kun?"
"Yeah. I do like you." he said, but then he felt like that might cause some sort of misunderstanding.
Then he looked at Yume's happy, unworried face as she said "I see." and felt a bit embarrassed at his impure thoughts. He realized there's nothing wrong with liking someone as a person and decided he would go with that.
"Me too." Yume was smiling as she said this and it made Haru's heart skip a beat. "I like you too, Haru-kun."
"...T-Thanks." He scratched his head. "...Saying this is kind of weird, huh...?"
"Maybe. But if you're thinking 'thank you' I think it's better to say it instead. If you do that, the person you say it to will be happy, too. I would be, I mean, I'm super happy right now."
"You're right... If you don't say what you're thinking, nothing will go through. Yeah..."
"That's why I think it would be a lot better if Ranta said he likes me if he really does. But all he does is being mean, saying my boobs are small, always doing idiotic stuff like that."
"He's unexpectedly dishonest when it comes to that..."
Haru finds himself thinking that Yume's "like" and Ranta's "like" might not be the same and if Ranta were to tell her that, the message wouldn't go across at all.

Haru placed his finger on his lips and got next to a tree, Yume quickly gets next to him. There was some sort of noise. Haru tries to focus on the direction Yume pointed at but he couldn't see anything because of the fog, but the noise did become more easier to listen to. It was some sort of quarrel, although he wasn't sure if human or not. Haru felt this could be dangerous and was caught between wanting to run away but also wanting to see this through the end. It felt like the sounds were getting closer and Haru realized they weren't screams, but words. Humans, a male voice? Haru was surprised but not enough to completely make him lose his composure, or so he thought.
He signaled Yume to follow him, but no longer than 30 seconds later, he felt as if there was something on their rear. Yume didn't make any signs of noticng it. If they turned around, they would be attacked, but if they kept on going like this they would also be attacked. They had to do something before that.
"Yume, take cover!"
He switched over the knife he had been carrying to his other hand, and drew the stiletto knife as he passed Yume.
"Wait, wait, hold on...!"
A human with some kind of fur coat, knitted hat, right hand holding a bow, an arrow on the left one. Holding both hands up. A man with a beard. Haru didn't want to believe this guy got as close as 3 meters next to them and they didn't realize. He kept his weapons pointed at him but didn't recover from the shock and sudden motion yet, not the ideal state of mind for a battle.

"Hold on, okay?" The beard guy smiled and threw his bow to the ground. "Look, I won't do anything. Don't worry. I wasn't planning on killing you or anything, it's just that it's weird, you know? Humans like you around here. It doesn't look like you belong here, either. Well, that goes for me too, I guess."
Yume was still on the ground covering her head, she looked up. "You kinda look like a hunter."
"Oh? You're a hunter too, miss? Well, I used to be one, I'm a warrior now. So that means, volunteer soldiers?"
"You too...?" Haru let out that breath he had been keeping in but stood alert, he couldn't let his guard down.
"I've been at it for about ten years. Thanks to that I'm an old man now."
"Then, I suppose you're our senpai."
"All I can teach you is how to get a proper, thorough, hangover." He shrugged and laughed defensively. "I'm Crow."
"Crow...?"
Haru heard that name before but he wasn't sure how possible it was for it to be the same person.
"Could you be Crow-san from the Daybreakers?"
"Hm?" Crow opened his eyes wide and pointed to himself. "I'm famous?"
"Err... Well, it's just that I'm-, no, we are part of the Daybreakers as well."
"That outfit, you're a thief, aren't you? ...Haruhiro?"
"Yes. ...Huh? How do you know...? Oh, wait, you heard it from Souma-san?"
Crow laughed uncontrollably for a bit, then regained his composure, picked up and readied his bow, then commented how it was one hell of a coincidence. He was sort of busy right now, though, so he left. Haru noticed how quick and silent his footsteps were. Then it finally hit him that he was walking away... as in, leaving, so he chased after him asking for directions, which made Crow laugh at them some more, prompting Yume to laugh as well. She was still taking cover, by the way.

Chapter 2

"Anyway, I'll protect Shihoru-san." Kuzaku said as he eyed Merry. "But don't wander off too far, Ranta-kun. It's pointless if you get lost."
"Be... careful." Shihoru still showing her concern for Merry, and only for Merry, that much was implied.
"Okay." Merry smiled to her, "You too... Kuzaku, you as well."
"...I'm going to puke if you're going to play buddy-buddy every single time..." Ranta whispered as he entered the fog. Merry followed him, silent.
--- Hm...?
Weren't they more close to each other than what they would be usually? Could it be that she actually fancied him? The type that would say 'no! no! no!' even if she liked something?
Nah, no way. It's more likely it was because of the thick fog. Their field of vision was bad so she was trying to avoid being separated.
"...You're pretty much a closed book."
"Did you say something?"
"It's nothing. ...Wait, that's it. At times like these...O Darkness, O Lord of Vices, Demon Call!"
As he called, a dark-violet cloud-like thing appeared, swirling. He showed up, he actually came for him.
"Zodiakkun...!" Ranta was about to hug him, overcome with emotion, but he was evaded. "...Hey, what was that for?!"
(Hi... Iihhihihi... Ranta... You really are annoying... Iiiihihihi)
"Oh, you. You're pretty much my offspring, you know...!"
(Such a burden... Iiihihihihi....)
"Poor Zodiakkun."
"Don't casually go around feeling sorry for him, Merry! T-this is, you know, not used to being honest! He's one shy little guy, so that means he actually likes me a lot..."
(Ranta...)
"W-What, Zodiakkun? Take two?"
(...I...)
"I-I'm listening."
(From the bottom of my heart...)
"Y-Yes?"
(Despise you... I really hate you... Ihi...)
"Gah!"
Well, even if he says that, he appears when he's summoned and stands beside him. There's no mistaking it, Ranta is loved by Zodiakkun.
Even if he's the only one that loves him, at the very least, he does.
"...That's good enough for a dread knight, right?"
(Ihi... Are you going to talk to yourself, Ranta...? Sounds lonely... Ihihi...)
"Can it. You're noisy! I'm your master, too! If you don't do as I say I won't use you ever again!"
(...Kiih... I'm fine with that...)
With that and a poof, Zodiakkun... is now gone.
"...Eh? Wait... Zodiakkun? Now you've done it, I'll just summon you again. O Darkness, O Lord of Vices, Demon Call!... Huuh? No response? Why...?"
"Even Zodiakkun has forsaken you, at last?"
Merry's words were like daggers stabbing right through his heart. 'At last'? And what is 'even Zodiakkun' supposed to mean? Dammit...

There were marks on the trees nearby, some kind of carvings made by a knife or similar, it caught his attention. As he inspected the second one, it finally hit him.
"These fishy marks... Their the work of Haruhiro the eedeot, no doubt. It's the kind of thing he would do."
"There's no need to insult him or the marks. I agree, though."
"He even used these tricks to make sure he could go back, so why haven't they returned yet...?"
Merry said nothing but it looked like they both had the same opinion about this. Something happened, maybe they got into trouble. It had to be that. He started to feel angry.
"...That shitty, useless, sleepy-eyed bastard. He took Yume with him... Could it be... that? That's why I can't trust that guy. That fucker."
"Are you that interested in Yume?"
"O-Of course I am. W-We're comrades after all. ...That's all there is to it. That washboard..."
Anyway, they had to follow the marked trees for the time being. It looked like Haruhiro and Yume moved straight ahead, more or less. They were able to scout with no problems, it seems. So, what happened? The worst possible feeling crossed Ranta's mind but he shook it off in denial right away. It wouldn't help his case thinking about things he could do nothing about.
"...I'm such an efficient man."

Merry looked over her shoulder, "That's where we came from. The sun is over there..."
"We can't use that to guide ourselves. Man, I'd kill for a sundial or something right now. Shit. This would be piece of cake if Yume was here..." Ranta cocked his head. "Hm?"
"What?"
"Ah, well, just now... I thought I saw something move." he pointed to the left. "That way, but there's nothing there. Maybe I was wrong?"
"Even if you are, it's best if we stand on guard."
"True." Ranta licked his lips. You don't have to tell him to be on his guard, but Ranta isn't a coward chicken like Haruhiro. If they're in danger, he'll be able to put to use even more power. He's a dread knight, strong when faced with adversity. "If we're in a pinch get really close to me, like stuck-close, it'll be easier to move."
"Don't push your luck. If you make a mistake because of your ego, I won't help you."
"I guess. If that happens don't worry about me, just get the hell out of here. I won't blame you."
Merry fell silent. Charming, not charming, so, which is it?

Ranta realizes how much of a difference Haru not being around makes, how he usually only has to worry about what he should do in battle, how he doesn't have to decide every single thing right there, right then. If Haru can do it, Ranta also can, that's what Ranta tells himself, but he takes a while to figure out what they should do and doesn't like it when Merry asks him directly, ultimately letting her decide instead.