Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~ - Volume 2 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Let This Grieving Soul Retire, Part Two

She had been a kind, knowledgeable, and quick-witted girl.

Not all humans were born equal. Even those born in the same town, raised in the same environment, and had put in the same amount of effort could end up with dramatically unequal prowess. With every member of Grieving Souls being extremely hardworking, the disparity in their skills because of differences in natural talent had become all the more apparent.

The girl who’d aspired to become an Alchemist had worked just as hard as the others, and she’d been troubled because of it. Her friends had been climbing increasingly faster and higher, threatening to widen the gap between them into a devastating, vast divide. She’d never stopped honing her craft, always fighting alone as if she’d been expending her soul to do so.

Better than anybody else, I’d known how hard she’d worked; her dedication had been a shining beacon I couldn’t bear to look at for too long. As a friend, I had had to help her, so I’d taught Sitri how to ask for help.

To me, she’d been a hero, braving the journey that I couldn’t. I’d believed that her hard work, undaunted by her lack of natural talent, would draw people in and make them want to help her, eventually leading her to produce results comparable to the other Grievers someday. Even though she hadn’t been the strongest among us, she’d been the most studious. While I couldn’t help her myself, I could at least trust her and wait for her to succeed.

So I hadn’t been at all surprised when she’d been the first one in our party to make a big splash in the capital, but I’d been relieved by it nonetheless. We’d celebrated together when she’d succeeded, and I’d consoled her when she hadn’t; I’d seen her smile and tears more than anybody else had. There’d been nothing more I could do for her, and I hadn’t expected that to change anytime soon.

The quiet and gentle Sitri would face more tribulations than the rest of us. But she’d been strong enough to admit her mistakes. And since she could turn failures into successes, she’d go further and further.

Sitri’s voice replayed in my head.

“I messed up, Krai...”

“Even if the culprit turns themself in now...they won’t trust me, will they?”

“I’ll accept the moniker; some blame lies with me too.”

“There are plenty of things I can learn from this. Next time...next time, I won’t make such a mistake. I’ll be better.”

“But I did get my hands on some wonderful ingredients. So it all worked out in the end.”

“It’s wonderful! At this rate, it can continue to adapt to higher-level treasure vaults. Organic is the way to go! I did waste a lot of the ingredients though... Anyway, its name is Killiam!”

“I made an Alchemist friend! She has gorgeous hair and eyes that just catch your eyes, and...”

“Now I want some magic-infused ingredients. But with the tightened security...”

“The ingredients from the decaying district are no good... They’re so poor in quality that I can’t even use them for a mass production model...”

***

Now I was back at my usual position in the clan master’s office listening to Eva’s report.

“Huh. They were doing some wacky research then,” I said.

“You sound uninterested,” said Eva.

“That’s because I am uninterested... Leave the past in the past, I’d say.”

Three days had passed since Noctus Cochlear (one of the higher-ups of Akashic Tower) and his team had been arrested. Tense patrols of knights from the Third Order were just getting sparser, signaling the return of tranquility to the capital. A gag order meant that most nonhunters had no idea of what was happening to begin with, but I assumed even they could sense that the storm had passed.

“Breaking down phantoms, chimeras, a golem...and a slime. They were trying their hands at all sorts of things, weren’t they?” I said.

Practically an expo on alchemy, isn’t it?

Not much detail had been included in the report, but the slime they’d confiscated from their headquarters in the capital was apparently the worst of the worst. Sven had seemed rattled by it, at least when he’d rambled as he’d violently shaken me by the shoulders, his expression looking like he’d had a brush with death.

I still had the impression that slimes were the weakest creature there was, but I was tempted to see who’d win in a fight between Akashic Tower’s slime and the Sitri Slime... On second thought, I had no interest in being near either of them.

At the end of the day, the case had been closed when the ringleader, Noctus Cochlear, had been arrested. While he and his men had lost their memory leading up to their arrests, their experimental records had been confiscated by the empire, and they’d been all sent to the great prison of South Isteria to await judgment.

Everyone involved in the investigation, including those from my clan, had been awarded an even bigger bonus than what had been promised in exchange for their confidentiality regarding all details they’d uncovered during their investigation.

Now that the culprits had been arrested, the past few days had definitely been a relief that I no longer had to endure Gark and Kaina’s presence as they’d kept knocking on my door at every turn.

As I sat there enjoying a peaceful day, polishing my Relics, the star of the show walked through the door.

Sitri had really outdone herself this time. She’d taken charge of the hunters in my stead and uncovered the cause of the abnormalities in the treasure vault. After returning to the capital, she’d single-handedly uncovered the Akashic Tower hideout and captured the band that had escaped the cave outside White Wolf’s Den—a standout performance if I’d ever seen one. She’d even taken care of the Sitri Slime, which I’d accidentally let escape. In fact, most of her accomplishments happened to cover my butt. If I were the emperor, I would’ve awarded her a medal, no question.

The hero of the day, my old friend, approached me with silent footsteps and smiled cheerfully.

“I made it through that meeting,” she said.

“Great job, Sitri. Does it look like they’ll rescind your demotion?” I asked.

More than three years had passed since Sitri had been blamed for a crime she didn’t commit. Her level had been lowered to the negatives, and she’d been stuck with the terrible moniker “Ignoble.” Naturally, I’d tried to protect her from that with everything I’d had, but it’d been no use. There’d been too much pressure from the empire, and I’d been neither strong nor connected enough to do anything about it at the time. To this day, it still didn’t sit right with me that she’d been punished without concrete proof. Sitri had been framed undoubtedly. Otherwise, there wouldn’t even be a set of circumstantial evidence for them to justify blaming her. She’d just smiled and forgiven me for failing so pathetically to protect her. Even now, I regarded this as my greatest failure since moving to the capital.

Her sister, meanwhile, had guffawed to her heart’s content upon hearing the news of Sitri’s demotion.

From what I’d been told, Sitri’s incredible contributions to this recent case could lead to the repeal of her demotion. Gark would be on her side completely too.

My hope was dashed though when she wore a gentle smile and shook her head.

Sigh, so it was no good...

“Since it’s been a few years, they said,” explained Sitri. “But I’m seldom addressed by my moniker now, so it should be taken off in a couple of years anyway.”

“Hmm...bureaucracy at its finest this is.”

“Their loss of recent memory worked against me. They suspected me of foul play.”

“What? That’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “Besides, Talia lost her memory too, didn’t she?”

Talia was a clanmate and friend of Sitri’s. She’d found Talia detained in the Akashic Tower hideout. They’d been investigating why Noctus’s team had abducted her, but since the culprits had lost their memory, I doubted the truth would ever come out. We’d just have to count our blessings that Sitri had been able to rescue Talia unharmed.

“Things would’ve been different if, say, evidence linking Akashic Tower to the prison breakout were to be found... But that’d be too convenient, wouldn’t it?” she said.

“Right... Life doesn’t always work out like that.”

“Since I was the first to set foot in their hideout, it was premature to expect too much this time.”

“Yeah, uh-huh?”

“Am I the only one who feels like you two are not always on the same page?” interjected Eva.

If we weren’t, that was entirely on me. Sitri was so wickedly smart that I often couldn’t keep up with what she was saying. And that was my go-to response, whether or not I could understand or even hear what someone was saying. Once, I’d spoken with Sitri, asking her what she’d meant every time I didn’t understand her. That conversation had been so tedious that I’d decided to let slide any confusion or curiosity about Sitri’s topics of conversation. My method had worked so far, so I saw no need to change it.

Reading the room, Eva excused herself. Apparently she respected the precious little time I could spend hanging out with my party mates nowadays.

Sitri faced me square. “Krai, thank you so much—for everything,” she said.

“I’m the one who owes you thanks,” I said a little guiltily.

Sitri had just gotten back to the capital when I’d roped her into this... And now she was thanking me? What an unfeeling beast I was! I relied too heavily on Sitri and her ever-gentle smile.

“No...this went so much better than last time!” she exclaimed without a hint of stress in her voice. “I can really tell how much I’ve grown.” Her expression seemed brighter than usual too.

“You did a good job then?” I asked.

“Yes! Since I rescued Talia in the process, there’s nothing to complain about.”

Sitri was beaming; her gleaming pink eyes matched Liz’s. Seeing her like this reminded me that she and Liz were actually sisters.

“Except...” she said, “I’d needed to produce a culprit, so I’d decided to hold off on acquiring magical ingredients.”

“Yeah, uh-huh.”

Smiles made the world go round. Being a hunter wasn’t easy: there were plenty of hardships that made you want to just end it all or barf all over the place. Still, I really wanted Sitri to keep smiling through it all. To that end, I’d do anything I could...until I retire from treasure hunting.

“Speaking of it, did you settle whatever history you were talking about?” I asked.

Putting her hands together, Sitri said with a smile, “Yes. Thanks to colored water!”