Iriya the Berserker Read Online Free PDF Page A

themselves, they often became legends of the Frontier.
    “There are exceptions. But I wouldn’t call the exceptions all that exceptional.”
    The hoarse voice’s remark made Iriya lean closer.
    “Like who?”
    “You.”
    “Huh?”
    “You look to be a far cry from a Hunter. It’s not just that you don’t seem suited to it, but I’m surprised the last three years didn’t see you dead a couple thousand times over. And yet, I’ll give you credit for having more skill than the average Hunter. And your resolve—”
    The hoarse voice drew a breath. Its next words seemed to probe. “You destroy your own brother, and the very next day you’re going about your business as cool as a cucumber, ready to kill the next member of your—gaaaah!”
    D took his balled fist away from the reins and gave it a few shakes. A cry of pain echoed from it each time.
    “Don’t let it bother you,” D said. Coming from him, those words were practically a miracle.
    Stretching her back in the saddle, Iriya let out a deep breath. Though her eyes were shut, there was no sign of tears. Her pained expression quickly left her, becoming a smile. There was still sadness in it, but it was a great improvement.
    The pair of cyborg horses hit the main road and headed southwest.
    It was quite some time before the girl could wring the next words from her lips. “How long has it been—that you’ve been on the road, I mean?”
    “I don’t recall,” D replied.
    “So you’ve been out here ever since you became a Hunter?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And Nobles—how many of them have you killed?”
    “I don’t recall.”
    His icy reply silenced Iriya. Then, she said, “Yeah. That sounds like it’d be for the best. Just forget everything.”
    It seemed as if she were giving that advice to herself.
    Sunlight bleached the road. It was nearly noon, and there was not a single gap or crevice in which to shelter from the light—it was the human race’s time. Travelers going the opposite way passed them from time to time, and while each and every one of them became enraptured, there was no denying that some also showed astonishment. While the gorgeous young man with an unearthly air about him and the young woman in the crimson cape seemed to be in the same line of work, the different moods surrounding each made it seem unlikely that they were even the same species.
    Iriya only opened her mouth again when D put his hand to the brim of his traveler’s hat and angled it down.
    “Is the light of the sun a problem for dhampirs?”
    That was hardly the sort of basic question one would expect from a Hunter, but Iriya didn’t miss the way it made D’s cheeks go slightly slack.
    “Yeah, I thought as much. In that case, why are you traveling by day? It’d be much easier to ride by night, wouldn’t it?”
    Iriya caught D’s eyes shooting in her direction for a second. In that instant, she was frozen to the marrow of her bones. That was how the young man had succeeded in slaying Nobles for so long.
    Immediately shifting his eyes forward again, D said, “People who’ve lost something become Hunters—only those who’ve lost something that can never be replaced. People like me, or you.” His low voice carried no emotion. It rang like iron.
    Iriya zinged her reply right back at him. She was overjoyed that D recognized her as a colleague.
    “What’s lost might not be coming back, but we can get new things. That’s what I think. You might not deal with the daylight so well, but I’ve heard that by night you’re invincible, and any wounds you get heal right away. That’s something new right there! I think it’s great.”
    After allowing some silence, D, miraculously, spoke again to the naive girl staring at him. “What did you lose, and what did you gain?”
    That question drew an odd reaction. Iriya’s eyes fixed on a point in thin air. She didn’t appear to have the least intention of replying to D’s question. It looked as though she’d