She sent the stone back at the monster at the same speed it had flown at me. Not expecting such a counterattack, the blazing stone hit the roving ogre dead-on. It flew backwards, not stopping even after crashing through a few trees. Once again, Liz had displayed absurd strength for a Thief.
Silence returned. Killiam looked about the vicinity and Drink growled. There seemed to be no sign of retaliation. Liz clapped her hands together, knocking off any dust or dirt.
“Tsk, that barely damaged it,” she grumbled. “It must be resilient to physical attacks. Explain this, Siddy.”
“I don’t have much to go off of, but I hear it’s a cautious and tenacious monster. It’s safe to assume it hasn’t given up yet. It’s most likely retreating into the darkness so it can plan an ambush.”
I couldn’t tell from where, but I heard the eerie sound of leaves rustling. I couldn’t tell if it was just the wind or a creepy monster stalking us. If it was a monster capable of fooling me, I figured it safe to assume it was reasonably intelligent. And if it was capable of striking so swiftly we would have to keep an eye out.
“Even Killiam’s attacks were almost entirely without effect,” Sitri said while examining its bruises. “It’s probably a revenant-type monster seeing as physical attacks don’t do much to them.”
“Ah, and we don’t have Anssy or Lucia. Dammit.”
Hunters all had their own strengths and weaknesses. Working as a party usually solved this issue but among us, we had no Magus who might be able to dispatch a foe resilient to physical attacks. I had Shooting Rings, but they wouldn’t do much.
Liz, Sitri, and Tino all looked at me. They were expecting me to make a decision.
“We’ve repelled it for now, let’s take this opportunity to run for it,” I said without hesitating.
“I wish we didn’t have to, but it is a troublesome monster. I suppose you’re right, Krai,” Sitri said.
“Mmm, I guess it’s for the best?” Liz said. “We can probably take it, but who knows what might happen to T? It’s so stealthy and I promised Krai Baby that we’d turn her into a proper hunter.”
“Lizzy, I...”
We weren’t being paid to come out here, there was no reason for us to take on a monster we weren’t suited to handle. On top of that, we weren’t surrounded for once.
Tino seemed taken aback, but this wasn’t a monster we should have been fighting. There was no way she could have overcome the roving ogre and I needn’t say that the heaviest dead weight was me. I was surprised Liz was so willing to fall back but maybe she was still thinking about our conversation from earlier.
A quick retreat was ideal in these situations. Even if traversing mountains at night was a bad idea, we didn’t have any better options available to us.
***
They were strong. Sitting atop the verdant branch of a massive tree, the roving ogre contemplated its unexpected intruders. Its body was wracked with the scorching pain from the impact of the rock. The injury wasn’t going to be fatal, but pain was something it hadn’t felt in a long time.
No human or other monster in the Galest mountains had ever proved a challenge for the roving ogre. It was resistant to physical attacks and it could deftly move its long limbs at speeds nobody had yet been able to keep up with. Even that belligerent troll stayed away from its territory.
But that pack of humans, they were different. They would require caution. Even if they were strong foes, the ogre couldn’t just let them get away. This wasn’t because they had entered its territory, it was because they had caught its eye. Its instincts compelled it to capture and slaughter any prey that it took an interest in.
It took pleasure in using its wits to accomplish this. Attacking head-on was no way to go about a hunt. It still believed in its ability to win a direct confrontation, but that simply wasn’t its way.
Of course, it started by going after the weak ones but that pack had plenty of strong members. When it hurled a rock at one of them it wasn’t just caught, it was thrown back at a speed that matched the roving ogre’s.
Its best option would be to look for an opening. The Galest mountains were vast; a chance to strike was bound to present itself. The whole mountain range was like its own backyard. It knew all the routes across and it could safely trail its prey by moving from tree to tree.
The roving ogre had been one with the shadows atop a tree, but at last, its prey began to move. So did the ogre, leaving only the faintest rustling in its wake.
***
The carriage was shaking violently. Tino hugged her knees.
She felt pathetic. She knew she was still inexperienced. She knew what a wide gap lay between her strength and Lizzy’s. Even still, she couldn’t accept that it was her faults that caused the party to flee in the face of a monster.
Nobody in the carriage spoke to her. Krai was keeping a watchful eye on the window. Knowing that he was probably trying to be considerate of her only made her feel worse. Some obstacles could be overcome with encouragement, others you had to overcome all by yourself. This Trial was most likely the latter.
That monster was strong. If it was able to prove a match for Killiam, then it was probably too much for Tino to take on solo—she just wasn’t suited for it. But she should have summoned every drop of strength in her and fought it. She realized she had been constantly spoiled during this vacation. She hadn’t been in any fights and the only strenuous thing she had done was run around while being struck by lightning.
She had been too wary, wondering when she might get attacked, and therefore missed the meaning behind the reprieve granted to her. Hunters weren’t permitted the chance to come to a stop. Success required that you constantly moved forward. That was how Grieving Souls had become one of the top parties in the capital.
Her master had chosen to retreat and Lizzy went along with him. Normally, this was unthinkable. It was all Tino’s fault; they had seen her fears and her weak spirit. Subconsciously, Tino had believed that she had no need to fight if she was with the Smart sisters and the all-powerful Thousand Tricks. Most people would know that being the weakest meant she should see such an encounter as a learning opportunity.
“What’s the matter, Tino? Did you get hit back there?”
It was her master, looking at her with concern.
How could she have gotten hit? She had just stood at the ready, only intending to attack. His question was like salt rubbed in a wound. She wanted to say something but kept her lips sealed and just shook her head. Perhaps he had also been sarcastic earlier when he told her she’s got “a long road ahead.” She wished he would scold her in clearer terms.
“It couldn’t be helped, that was a tricky monster,” he said.
“Intelligent monsters are capable of detecting mana material and therefore often go for the weaker ones first,” Sitri added.
Their words of comfort dug into Tino’s heart, though that probably wasn’t their intention. Especially Siddy, she just tended to speak frankly. Not that it made Tino feel any better.
She had to fight. At the beginning of the vacation, Lizzy had mentioned her getting a shot at redemption. Next time, she had to step forward. She had to show she was worthy of joining Grieving Souls, even if it cost her an arm or two. She had to do it while they still had expectations of her.
She heard Lizzy’s wild voice atop the carriage.
“It looks like we’re still being followed! But I don’t know where it is!”
“That’s no good, perhaps I’ll throw an explosive potion.”
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
The roving ogre was terribly persistent. It was hard to believe it hadn’t given up after fighting Lizzy. The blast from Siddy’s explosive took down nearby trees, but they were still being chased by a pursuer they couldn’t even see.
“This would be much more manageable if Lucia were here,” Sitri said. “That would make such a difference—”
“Can we outrun it?” Krai asked.
“Hmm, I can think of a proper solution and a risky one,” she said, then clapped her hands together. “We can use a scapegoat. Roving ogres are both persistent and ruthless but they apparently have a habit of playing with their catches. If we offer it a scapegoat, we should be able to escape with ease. In fact, I hear that without exception, villages located near roving ogre domains all have a folktale involving a fairy demanding sacrifices...”
Sitri wanted to throw someone under the bus. This was far beyond anything Tino had expected. She couldn’t imagine herself winning against a monster that so greatly surpassed her, even if she fought until her last breath. She had summoned the will to fight, but that meant little in the face of reality.
Master, it’s too much for me. I’ll die, she thought.
“So what’s the proper solution?” Krai asked.
“Hm? Oh, Krai,” Sitri said with a giggle. “That was the proper solution.”
Krai laughed with her. It must have been the sort of joke only high-level hunters could see the humor in. Tino wasn’t laughing at all.
“Thinning the herd would be two birds with one stone, wouldn’t you say so, T?”
Sitri looked at Tino with a knowing gaze. Her eyes sparkled with a light that wanted Tino dead. Maybe Sitri was still holding a grudge for Tino’s date with Krai back in Gula.
“So what’s the risky solution?” Krai asked, sending Tino a lifeline.
“Um, instead of a person, we lure in monsters to act as a scapegoat. I don’t think it would be as effective as a human lure and luck will factor in so I’d advise against such a plan...”
“Yup, let’s go with that plan. Sitri, human life is something to be treasured.”
“In other words, there’s more we can get out of Black, White, and Gray. I see.”
Looking immensely disappointed, Sitri once again looked at Tino and carefully pulled out another vial of Danger Effect, the monster-luring potion.
***
The sun began to rise. The mayor and townsfolk of Gula saw Arnold’s company off as they departed. Their bodies were still tired but their mental fatigue was even worse. Their new carriage was much larger than their previous ones, so even someone as big as Arnold could comfortably fit in. The horses were also much stronger. It was a notable upgrade but it was still uncertain whether or not they would be able to catch up to their quarry.
“You sure get better treatment when you hit Level 7,” Gilbert said, impressed. Perhaps due to his youth, his exhaustion didn’t show on his face.
“We saved a town in crisis, this much is only natural. If we had more time we could’ve received further thanks,” Eigh said. He sounded wistful but he knew what the life of a hunter could entail.
Hunters didn’t use fancy carriages. A higher-priced one might be more comfortable, but hunters’ carriages were always being damaged and buying a new one could drive up expenses. As hunters were already spending large sums on potions and weapons, expenses from carriages were a constant source of headaches.
With only a day’s notice, the town had only been able to procure one carriage. Though it was a large one, it wasn’t spacious enough to fit all of them. As Chloe was their client, they couldn’t make her walk so the members of the vanguard took turns walking and riding in the carriage.
The members of Scorching Whirlwind were especially tired. Aside from Gilbert, none of their members were yet able to move and were instead piled up in the carriage.
Technically, these groups were separate parties; Falling Fog wasn’t obligated to let Scorching Whirlwind ride in the carriage while they walked. However, surviving fierce encounters together had created a bond between them. Nobody complained about the arrangement.
Eigh didn’t mind, he was used to walking. The bigger issue was whether they would catch the Thousand Tricks. With everything that had happened so far, he was on the lookout for trouble but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It seemed a safe assumption that the Thousand Tricks had taken this road; a carriage had left obvious ruts.
They were moving at a brisk pace. Gilbert, who had grown used to being with Falling Fog, had a question.
“Hey, old man, you killed a dragon, right? How crazy is it to fight a dragon?”
“Hey, Gilbert!” Rhuda cut in. “S-Sorry, he doesn’t mean anything by it.”
Arnold was no stranger to lively youths who didn’t know fear. Gilbert’s words were endearing compared to some of the incendiary remarks from the Thousand Tricks. He wasn’t so petty or idle as to get angry over some impolite word choices.
“Ah, even a normal dragon is pretty bad but what we fought was no normal dragon,” Eigh cut while still keeping a watch of their surroundings. “The Thunder Dragon back in Nebulanubes once routed an army of more than a thousand soldiers. The lighting elemental back in Elan and that orc pack weren’t much compared to the Thunder Dragon.”
Such a young party had probably never taken on anything comparable to the elemental or the pack of orcs. Gilbert’s expression changed when he heard that a thunder dragon was even worse.
“Dragons really are something else,” he said. “One day, I’ll become a Dragon Slayer. Just watch me! I swear on my blade!”
“You need more than a good blade to slay a dragon. You might get away with it if the dragon can’t fly, like an earth dragon or something, but otherwise, you need to bring it down to the ground first.”
“That so? Wait, if my blade can’t reach it then what if I was able to jump high enough to reach it?”
“Sure, that sounds possible, but how are you gonna dodge its breath while in the air?”
Their defeat of the Thunder Dragon was both the pride and source of confidence of Falling Fog. The dragon’s roar, its rage, the blinding flashes of lightning, its burning enmity, Eigh could remember every moment of the battle until the dragon fell.
The lightning elemental and the orc pack had been tough but no foe was tough enough to scare off a party that slew a dragon capable of destroying entire countries. Even if that foe was a higher-ranked hunter, sometimes pride came before anything else.
They weren’t bad people. They were excellent hunters who were full of confidence and had survived many battles. That was Chloe’s evaluation of Falling Fog. At first, she had thought them to be a rowdy bunch but they had proved to be reliable and had been courteous to the townsfolk. They might have been behaving only because she was present, however, she had seen how Falling Fog treated Scorching Whirlwind—like senior look after junior hunters. You really couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
This, however, made it all the more disheartening that they were at odds with Grieving Souls. If the two parties worked together then some of those difficult quests collecting dust at the Explorers’ Association might finally get done.
But the die was cast. Falling Fog would continue their pursuit in spite of their ordeals and wouldn’t stop until they got their closure. When the time came, Chloe would have to stop them even if it meant putting herself in harm’s way.
After traveling for a few hours the carriage came to a stop in the middle of a field dotted by the occasional tree. Chloe stuck her head out the window and saw Arnold and a few others examining tracks left in the road.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Has something happened?”
“These marks,” Arnold said. “They’re diverging from the road. Eigh.”
“No two ways about it, this is their work.”
With a tense expression, Eigh looked off in the direction indicated by the marks. Chloe exited the carriage and took a look for herself. Next to the wheel tracks were markings, arrows drawn into the ground. The very deliberately placed arrow and heart symbols pointed away from the highway. Next to them were wheel ruts that were very recent.
If they were heading for the Gladis Earldom then they could have just kept to the highway. That was what common sense dictated and it was what Chloe had planned to do. It was what made the tracks so conspicuous, the arrow was hardly necessary. The tracks were faint, being mere depressions in the soft grass, but not faint enough to escape a hunter’s notice.
Chloe looked at the tracks and referenced the map in her head.
“The Galest Mountain Range,” she said. “It’s teeming with dangerous monsters and is one of the most dangerous places in the empire. Even high-level hunters avoid it. Some of the monsters out there have bounties on their heads.”
Arnold’s body shook and he stamped out the mocking heart mark in the ground.
“They’re inviting us to follow?!” he said.
“If they’re crossing the mountains does that mean they’re in a hurry?” Chloe wondered aloud. “No...”
If their destination was the Gladis Earldom then crossing the mountains wouldn’t save them a significant amount of time. When you accounted for the amount of time spent fighting off monsters, it wasn’t even a realistic option for anyone without complete confidence in their strength.
Considering the Stifled Shadow’s parting words, there was only one possible explanation: these marks were a challenge for Arnold and his companions. If they took the time to draw an arrow then they were no doubt taunting them.
Arnold clenched his teeth and glared off in the direction of the tracks.
“‘If you’re not a coward then come on! Come after us!’ Is that it, Thousand Tricks?”
“What do we do?” Eigh asked. “We can’t entirely write off the possibility that it’s a trap...”
He had a point. Considering everything that had happened so far, this could possibly be a trap. But even Eigh didn’t seem to believe what he was saying.
“Gilbert. Tell me this, would that man fear a pack of monsters?” Arnold asked in a strained voice.
Gilbert seemed to briefly consider the sudden question before answering in a loud voice.
“He wouldn’t. No way, not when he wouldn’t even draw a weapon before a phantom! Would you fear one, old man?”
Arnold didn’t plan to stop now and nothing was going to get in his way. It wouldn’t have made any difference no matter how Gilbert answered. He had made his decision.
“We’re going. We’re crossing the mountains.”
Daring and audacious. That was what Chloe expected from hunters.
The old road leading to the Galest mountains was just large enough to accommodate their new carriage. The dense trees flanking the road limited their vision and they occasionally heard the cries of monsters in the distance. But what took Chloe by surprise was the sheer number of dead monsters.
The fresh corpses of a wide range of monsters were scattered about. It was an extraordinary number and that was before considering that some of the carcasses had likely already been eaten. It wasn’t just Chloe, veterans like Eigh and Arnold also grimaced at the sight.
“Did they do all this?” Arnold wondered.
“Mountains are dense with monsters but this is still way too many. What even happened?” Eigh said.
Monster carcasses could be sold and this much would earn a tidy profit, but there was no sign that they had taken a single corpse with them. Had they simply considered it not worth the effort?
To make things stranger, not a single monster attacked Chloe and her entourage. So much scattered carrion would normally attract monsters looking for food, but it was almost as if they had all fled somewhere. This was the polar opposite of their experiences thus far.
There were supposed to be plenty of dull monsters in the mountains. Had they run from the Thousand Tricks? Had they sensed his power? The situation defied understanding, but it didn’t bode well. It was like they were sending some sort of message. Of course, the Crashing Lightning was also capable of creating such a mess but that would first require him to be attacked by so many monsters.
Arnold had flashbacks to the encounter with the orc pack. This was enough to take even him by surprise.
“What did you do,” he whispered. “What are you after, Thousand Tricks?”
“Arnold, should we turn around?” Eigh asked in a small voice.
Arnold’s gaze followed the bloodied path. He silently shook his head.
The road was safe as could be, its lack of monsters unsettling. They moved along far quicker than they had expected to.
“By the way, what sort of monsters have bounties out here?” a member of Falling Fog asked out of the blue.
Bounties came in two varieties. There were ones governments placed on what they deemed dangerous and ones placed by individuals. The management of bounties was entrusted to the Explorers’ Association as they had many powerful hunters among their members.
The orc king back in Gula, for instance, very likely had a bounty on its head (however, Chloe didn’t have time to confirm this). Any bounties in the Galest mountains would be monsters. It wasn’t uncommon for powerful monsters from other countries to flee to mountains to evade hunters.
“There’s multiple,” Chloe said, recalling documents she had seen earlier. “For instance, there’s a general-class troll who fled after destroying an entire village. Of course, there’s no guarantee it’s still in these mountains. After all, any hunters that can handle the Galest mountains normally prefer treasure vaults.”
“Just like in Nebulanubes, huh?”
“Bounties on monsters, well, their pay doesn’t match their difficulty.”
It couldn’t be helped a lot of the time. Monsters that ended up with bounties on their heads were almost always fairly intelligent. Even if they were weak, an intelligent monster might bolster itself with mana material and become something most hunters couldn’t handle.
Though Bandit Squad Barrel weren’t monsters, similar circumstances likely drove the earl to issue a named quest. Also, Arnold slaying that powerful orc was a stroke of good luck for the Explorers’ Association, but Chloe wasn’t going to tell him that.
Nothing stood in their way. It seemed safe to assume that nobody ever had traveled through the Galest Mountain Range as quickly as they were. Along the way they ran into an unfamiliar fork in the road, but that was an obvious trap. There was most likely an intelligent monster in the vicinity.
They reached a clearing with obvious signs of recent use. Eigh investigated a fallen tree and an extinguished campfire.
“Signs of battle and a campfire,” he said. “They were here not too long ago. I’d say a couple hours or so.”
“Hmm, have we finally caught up to them?” Arnold said.
They had made it. The sun was almost entirely beneath the horizon but their easy day on the road had left them with plenty of stamina. They wouldn’t be stopping their advance. Just as Chloe expected, Arnold wore a vicious smile.
“We’ll rest. One hour only. Then we move again, they’re within our grasp.”
They had never intended to enter the Galest Mountain Range. Just why had it come to this? For the first time in recent memory, Chloe had a headache induced by fatigue and stress. She let out a sigh.
***
When the carriage stopped shaking and the ground beneath us became level, I finally let myself relax. It had been the worst night of my life. Sitri’s Danger Effect had kicked all the monsters in the area into a frenzy. The resulting bloodbath swallowed up our carriage as we desperately tried to descend a mountain.
We had been unable to account for the breeze. Shortly after Sitri threw the potion, the wind changed directions and spread the potion over a wide radius. Unfortunately, it proved much more effective than she had anticipated. Monsters had surrounded us on all sides. If it weren’t for the valiant efforts of everyone (except me) then we would’ve died in the Galest mountains and nobody would have known it.
But we made it. I’m alive.
During my days as a hunter I had survived dozens of perilous situations like this one, so I was able to stay calm. Tino, however, wasn’t so used to it and was trembling in the corner of the carriage, her face a deathly complexion. A strange mucus had drenched her head and her clothes were covered in green blood splatters. Liz had grabbed a hold of her and tossed her into the melee.
At first, I thought she’d be fine considering how she fought with such intensity but her close brush with death really left her out of breath. I was worried she might have lasting trauma.
The roving ogre’s presence disappeared during the kerfuffle. And hey, wasn’t that brawl better than fighting the roving ogre?
“Monsters. Scary. Shadows. Scary. Save me, Master. Master...” Tino mumbled.
Meanwhile, her mentor didn’t seem the least bothered.
“Woo, that was a blast! Let’s do it again sometime!”
Like Tino, Liz was covered in blood (and to think she had just washed out the previous bloodstains) but didn’t seem to mind at all. I couldn’t bring myself to argue with her.
“Yeah, uh-huh,” I said.
“We should stop to bathe and wash our clothes. And, primarily for the sake of Black, White, and Gray, I think we need to rest,” Sitri added, almost like she was a good employer or something.
There was a lot I wanted to say, but for now, I couldn’t deny that we needed to rest. I decided to use that as a chance to talk about Sitri’s treatment of her helpers.
“Good idea, Night Palace is still some distance away,” I said.
Then something occurred to me. I wanted to get off that cursed mountain as quickly as possible but was that really a good idea? Sitri’s potion had been extraordinarily effective, so much so that I wasn’t sure “monster lure” was really the right word for it. Those monsters had completely lost control and continued to blindly charge at Liz even after she had already killed dozens of them. If those frenzied monsters descended the mountain they might attack nearby villages and that would have been very bad.
I knew that the Galest mountains were distant from any settlements and it was unlikely anyone would get hurt if we left the monsters alone. But it still felt irresponsible just to leave them out there. I wanted to at least stay in the vicinity and keep an eye on the monsters until the potion wore off, even if I wasn’t sure what I hoped to accomplish by doing that.
“Sitri, how long does that potion last?”
“It varies per individual, but roughly a day.”
That’s not too bad. Luckily the roving ogre seems to have given up on us.
I checked the map and saw there was a small lake at the base of the mountains. It was connected to the river Liz had bathed in the previous night. We could get water, it would be an ideal spot to set up camp, and it was close by. The sun had only just set, but our horses couldn’t go much farther. Considering both our circumstances and those of our surroundings, this seemed like the perfect plan.
I’m on fire today.
“All right, let’s rest by this lake. From there we can tell what’s going on in the mountains, albeit vaguely.”
“Hmm, so we’ll rest and wait for a bit. Excellent idea,” Sitri said.
Right, you understand. You could tell in an instant. We’ll wait until the potion’s effects have worn off. I wish you could always be so intuitive.
“I knew you’d understand,” I said. “Maybe I’m worrying too much but I think we should sit still for a little bit.”
“Perish the thought. Considering the strength of our valiant foes, I think it’s a sound idea! We are quite tired after all.”
Valiant foes. What a strange choice of words.
“Oh, Krai Baby!” Liz said, breaking her silence. She snapped her fingers and her eyes glittered. “How about we make a bonfire? It’s been so long. We’ll make a roaring one that you can see from the mountaintops. T and I can catch some food that we can roast. How about it? Doesn’t that sound fun?”
Good grief, she’s full of energy. But a campfire? That doesn’t sound half bad.
When I still went on adventures with everyone, bonfires were a regular occurrence. If you’ve always got your guard up then you won’t have your energy when you need it. A first-rate hunter knows to rest when they can. Many monsters and animals are scared of fire, making campfires appropriate resting places. And at the very least, I wanted Liz and Tino to wash themselves off.
“It’s settled. We’ll enjoy ourselves as much as we can while still making sure we’re prepared to move when we need to.”
“Water. There’s water. We made it. We’re alive!” White yelled as he stumbled towards the lake.
He looked like he might collapse at any moment. The other two joined him and plopped down on the lakeshore. They had had it worse than anyone in the group.
Thanks for all your hard work. I’ll try to get through to Sitri so just hang in there a bit longer.
The shore was gorgeous and the chill water of the lake was transparent. It was a perfect spot for camping. I could imagine it being a very popular location if it wasn’t so remote. There wasn’t a hint of human civilization around us and it felt almost sumptuous having it all to ourselves. Drink stared with fascination at its reflection in the water.
In the distance, I could see animals of all sizes drinking from the lake. Neither they nor any monsters fought, creating a small bubble of peace. I couldn’t spot any evidence of yesterday’s tumult; it looked like the monster lure’s effects hadn’t reached all the way out here.
I could look up and see the mountains we had descended just the previous day. At this distance, I couldn’t tell what became of the frenzied monsters or the roving ogre but I would at least be able to spot them instantly if they came our way.
Liz let out a cheer as she dropped her bags and began to disrobe. Her healthy skin glimmering in the sunlight was like something out of a painting.
“Yay! Krai Baby, look, look, it’s beautiful! I’m gonna go for a swim. C’mon, T!”
“L-Lizzy?! Master’s right there!”
Returning to her senses, the young flustered apprentice tried to stop her master but her efforts were in vain. In the blink of an eye, Liz was down to her underwear and splashing into the lake.
You forgot to stretch before getting in...
Tino looked at me and I gave her a small nod. While Liz could have benefited a tad more discretion, it was true that hunters couldn’t let themselves be bothered by something like the sight of a party member in their smallclothes. In my early days as a hunter, I let that sort of thing get to me but I got used to it at some point or another.
Tino momentarily hesitated but then reached for the button at her collar.
“No, Master, I can’t do iiit!”
And then she dived into the lake, still in her clothes. She could have at least removed her belt and shoes.
“I suppose that’s quite like her.” Sitri giggled to herself. “Thief gear emphasizes mobility and doesn’t obscure one’s figure, yet she’s still embarrassed over something like this.”
I hadn’t really thought about it until then, but Thief gear was the polar opposite of the bulky robes worn by Alchemists. It was probably to help them narrowly evade attacks. How Tino was able to go around like that would forever remain a mystery. I hoped she would never lose her sense of modesty.
As always, Sitri swiftly set up camp. She let the horses rest and fed them, and then got a fire going. With that done, she came to the shore and used a stick to draw a small image in the sand near me.
“About our bonfire, Krai, what if we shaped it like this? And we’ll face it towards the mountain.”
“What’s this?”
It was a strange shape and not only that, it was divided into three segments.
A dot, a dot, and a curved line?
“It’s a smiley face!” Sitri said with a grin. “It will require a bit of work, but what do you think?”
Making a bonfire was already a fair amount of hard work, this would triple the effort required.
Very playful of you, Sitri. Who would even see the face? I guess I don’t have any reason to say no...
“Yeah, why not? Sounds fun.”
“I believe we’ll hit the apogee tonight so I’d like to prepare a feast to match. Let’s make sure the whole mountain range hears us.”
Apogee? What apogee? I don’t think we’ll be crossing any peaks higher than what we crossed last night.
I was about to ask Sitri what she meant but I heard Liz yelling from the lake.
“Krai Baby! Look, a crocodile! I caught a tasty-looking crocodile! Look, amazing, isn’t it?”
A crocodile? And you plan to eat it? There’s gotta be something better tasting out here!
I turned around and saw Liz riding atop a thrashing five-meter-long crocodile. She was completely feral. Tino tried to stop her. Black, White, and Gray looked bewildered. Overwhelmed with fear and confusion, I said something completely worthless.
“So there are crocodiles in this lake.”
Nature sure is full of dangers. I was glad I hadn’t blindly dived in. A crocodile was just too much for me.
The fires didn’t snap and crackle so much as they roared and billowed. It was late into the night and the moon shone in the sky, but it was bright as day on the lakeshore. Simple bonfires had been built with wood (gathered by Black, White, and Gray) which Sitri enhanced with a potion. Even in the face of a gale, the flames continued to burn bright.
As Sitri suggested, we arranged the fires to make a smiley face. The design wasn’t apparent up close but someone in the mountains would notice it immediately.
At these hours, nocturnal monsters would normally be active but not one of them appeared. It was probably because Liz had killed so many for our dinner. Even in this ecosystem, our feral child came out at the top of the food chain.
Not too far from the bonfires, Liz’s catches were piled up. The pools of their drained blood were a bit off-putting. Sitri deftly carved out the edible portions but it was clearly too much for a group of our size to finish.
It was without a doubt the most bizarre bonfire I had ever experienced. The fires seemed like they could burn forever and felt like overkill for a group of our size. Blood dripped from skewers of meat roasting by the fire, and a cauldron bubbled audibly.
What added most to the eerie mood was Black, White, and Gray sprawled on the ground and Tino’s look of anxiety. An outside observer might think we were conducting some strange ritual or a dubious sabbath. Of course, this was just a fun bonfire, but even I had trouble enjoying myself with those three collapsed and Tino’s clear uncertainty.
Only Liz and Sitri were their normal selves; Sitri was cooking and Liz was playing in the lake.
“What do you think, Krai? I’d say things have gone perfectly!” Sitri said to me as she proudly nodded to the bonfires. “I’m certain someone on the mountainside can look down and see a big smile.”
I didn’t have anything against her playful spirit but I had something else on my mind. I was worried about our three helpers who had been forced to gather a plethora of firewood and now looked on the verge of death. It seemed perfectly reasonable that gathering wood after an expedition through the mountains would be tough on them. It was true one of our members immediately started hunting big game, but she couldn’t be considered within the norm.
While I had been preoccupied watching Tino and Liz play in the lake, Sitri had been dishing out orders. I would have stopped her if I had noticed in time, but I caught on too late.
It was good to take joy in small things. Under the right circumstances, I could see myself arranging bonfires in a smiley face. But I also believed in causing as little trouble for other people as I could. Even if Sitri was within her rights as their employer, I found it abhorrent that she would push Black, White, and Gray so hard in the name of her personal enjoyment.
While roasting a skewer of crocodile meat for me, Sitri grinned; it was an expression of earnest joy and devoid of ill intent. A bit melancholic, I let out a small sigh.
“Sitri, aren’t you working those three a bit too hard?” I whispered to her.
“Huh? You think so?” she said with wide eyes.
I knew from the start that her treatment of Black, White, and Gray wasn’t driven by malice. She probably just didn’t consider their exhaustion to be anything noteworthy. Our adventures were always putting us in mortal danger so gathering firewood after a battle probably didn’t seem like much to her.
Excessive treasure hunting had affected her way of thinking. It was our first trip together in some time and I was determined to use that short period to return her thinking to the realm of common sense.
“But they’re, well, criminals?” she said with a troubled look on her face.
This was unexpected. Criminals? When she mentioned it, I realized they clearly didn’t look like civilians. But there were plenty of hunters who looked like crooks so I never imagined that those three might actually be criminals.
Except why was she hiring criminals? Had the empire offered them a job as part of their reintegration into society? I didn’t know much about the sort of personal connections Sitri had, but maybe this was a form of penal labor? I still thought she was going too far. But I couldn’t easily interfere if it really was penal labor. I furrowed my brow but Sitri just smiled reassuringly.
“But if you’d like me to, I’ll stop pushing them so hard.”
“Huh? This isn’t a form of punishment for them?”
“It is, of course. In a manner of speaking. However, thanks to you, I’ve determined their capabilities.”
With a smile, she tilted her head and added a bit about something not being worth swapping out parts or holding on to too tightly. I didn’t know what she was on about but I figured their contributions over the past few days were sufficient punishment for them. It was possible they hadn’t even done anything serious and they seemed to have done everything Sitri asked of them.
“Don’t you think it’s time to let them off the hook?” I suggested.
I had wavered when I learned they were criminals but my initial feelings hadn’t changed. I had many experiences of being targeted by criminals, I was of the opinion that they should all be thrown in jail. But the labors of Black, White, and Gray had elicited a bit of sympathy in me. It would be different if they were murderers but if they were petty criminals then I felt they had served their time. Of course, it wasn’t my place to judge if they should be forgiven.
After a moment of contemplation, Sitri removed a key from her pocket and pressed it into my hand.
“They haven’t done anything serious,” she said. “You can release them. I’m sure they’ll be very grateful.”
Sitri gripped my hand for a few seconds before gently letting go. A small golden key was left in my palm.
“That’s the key to their collars. Removing their collars will set them free.”
That warm smile of hers that I had seen so many times didn’t seem to carry any deception.
A key is all it takes? I held it between my fingers. But they’re criminals? Hmm. Considering their exhaustion, I’d like to set them free as soon as I can. But they’re criminals. Well, even if I let them go they might not be able to get to a town in their current state. Setting them free out here would just be cruel. There’s still time to...consider it.
“I’ll have to wait for the right timing,” I said.
Sitri nodded repeatedly with a sparkle in her eyes. Maybe she had already reached the same conclusion as me? Or maybe she had been unable to let them go until I said something? It was possible. Sitri, Liz, just about everyone I knew really, they all paid too much regard to the words of a figurehead clan leader.
“You can leave them to me,” I said. “They look a bit tired, so I’m going to let them rest. Is that fine?”
“Very well. I’ll inform Lizzy, and those three, that I’ve left matters in your care,” Sitri said. Her face was flushed and her breathing was a bit heavy.
Now then, what am I going to say to Black, White, and Gray?
***
It was while the roving ogre was reconsidering its approach to dispatching the first group of humans that it noticed the arrival of a new group of humans. The wind, the noises, every bit of the Galest mountains was an ally and informant to the roving ogre. Even at a distance, it could tell this new party was a capable one. Especially the large man at the front. He seemed on par with the girl who’d hurled the burning rock.
Clearly, one group entering these remote mountains after another was no coincidence. The roving ogre knew it had to destroy both of them, but it couldn’t do that alone. So what would it do? The answer was simple, it didn’t require a moment’s consideration. It would pit the two parties against each other. The roving ogre was intelligent. Intelligent enough to discern its prey’s weaknesses. Intelligent enough to parse human speech.
From a mountain’s peak, the roving ogre narrowed its small eyes as it watched the large carriage move along the path. Its body churned and shifted, its green skin slowly changed color. Its flesh groaned as it expanded and sprouted hair. After a few seconds, its transformation was complete.
Silently, a savage grin formed on the monster’s lips. With its long limbs, it descended the mountain with incredible speed.
***
Being arrested would have been better than this. They had been angry when the shackles were first put on them. When they had been told they would be carriage chauffeurs, they started to consider ways they might remove the collars and resist if given the opportunity. Now all they felt was profound despair and resignation.
Black, White, and Gray all had long histories of fighting knights and hunters. They couldn’t remember how many lives they had taken and had even laughed as they finished off someone begging to be spared.
Yet even they considered the infamous Grieving Souls to be insane. They’d lost all will to resist. Now they understood why they had been so easily caught by those sisters, it was a simple matter of how many crucibles they had overcome.
Those early days of the vacation spent being treated like slaves now seemed heavenly compared to the hell that the previous night had been. After being pitted in a life-or-death battle against an unending horde of monsters, they had reached their limits physically and mentally.
Their swords were coated in blood and fat, and their blades had gone dull. Their coats had been drenched with blood; a good wash probably wouldn’t be enough to remove the stains and scent.
If they found themselves in the same situation again, one of them would surely die. Really, all three of them might die. They were certain that even if they died, that carriage would probably keep moving like nothing had even happened. Something about that idea was absolutely terrifying to them.
They knew the Thousand Tricks was a Level 8 hunter who had resolved a number of incidents. They were reminded of this as their “vacation” turned into a brutal gauntlet of monsters and calamities. There was the lightning elemental, the mass of orcs and their fort. There was the blatantly absurd number of monsters attacking them on the path through the mountains. Then there was the one attacking indiscriminately, the worst of them all—the roving ogre.
Given the choice, an encounter with any of those would have prompted Black, White, and Gray to flee immediately. However, the Thousand Tricks and his party members deemed it a “vacation.”
Sometimes they avoided the trouble, other times they shoved it onto other hunters, and sometimes they forced their way through. On the mountain path, they laughed as they rolled down the path Black, White, and Gray had risked their lives to open up. During the escape from the roving ogre, they had nearly been handed over as a sacrifice.
Black had sensed a strong air of normalcy from their behavior. The Stifled Shadow, the other hunter, they were accustomed to near-death encounters. They had probably encountered even worse. So they laughed. So they didn’t stop.
The Stifled Shadow was registered as a Level 6 but that obviously wasn’t an accurate reflection of her strength and experience. It didn’t seem possible. No matter how hard they tried to see it, her appearance didn’t betray a single hint of her strength, experience, determination, or even her malice.
Black hugged her knees and ruminated as a means of avoiding reality. There was no way out of this despair. The only light awaiting them was that of their own demise. But would that woman, that grinning, remorseless woman who collared them, would she permit such succor?
“Um, are you okay?”
Black was instantly pulled from her stupor and she accidentally let out a small shriek. White, who had been still as a corpse, and Gray, whose consciousness had been a matter up for debate, both jumped up as though the reaper had come knocking.
The voice calling to them had been feeble, unintimidating. This voice was the most terrifying of them all. Krai Andrey. The Thousand Tricks. The leader of Grieving Souls and the man who commanded absolute loyalty from both the Stifled Shadow and the Ignoble. He was the only one whose strength Black and the others had been unable to gauge.
As always, he didn’t show even a hint of power. His physique was frail and not all like a hunter’s, nor did he have the distinct aura of someone who had absorbed large quantities of mana material. He didn’t wear armor or carry a weapon and his stance was wide open. If they saw him on the street they would have just taken him for another civilian.
But that was what made him scary. His deep black eyes were mellow. Unlike the Stifled Shadow, he never yelled, and unlike the Ignoble he didn’t grin at every little thing, but he also wasn’t a clear anomaly like Killiam.
On the road, they had constantly watched and observed him. He hadn’t done anything of note. He never showed any particular regard for his comrades or engaged the hordes of monsters. He didn’t do anything exceptional or show any shift in his emotions. He seemed ordinary.
However, he was the one who established the vacation’s objective. The Stifled Shadow and the Ignoble were no doubt his mistresses. They looked at him with expressions tinged with lust, their actions made with the desire to avoid his wrath.
There was no way that man was sane. At their first meeting, he nearly had them liquidated for no reason. If he had those two at his beck and call then Black didn’t want to imagine what might happen to those who opposed him. Whatever it was, it probably wouldn’t be over quickly.
“Wh-What is it, sir?” squeaked Gray as he prostrated before the Thousand Tricks.
This was the man who had been so audacious before their departure. Black knew how he felt. The scariest people were the ones who didn’t blow up immediately. She followed Gray’s example and lowered her head. If only a little bit, she was trying not to acknowledge the situation, to not look at it directly.
“You don’t need to bow down or anything,” the Thousand Tricks said. “But let me get straight to the point. I’ve decided to release you all. I’ve got Sitri’s permission.”
Black looked up in surprise. White and Gray also looked at him with vague expressions.
“Release”? Did he just say “release”?
The Thousand Tricks’s eyebrows twitched and he narrowed his eyes. A small key was in his hand, it was the key to their collars. He was full of openings. From his spot, Gray could snatch the key in the blink of an eye, but he didn’t move a muscle.
“Of course, I won’t let you go this minute,” the Thousand Tricks continued. “It’s dangerous out here and I heard you guys are criminals, apparently. You wouldn’t really be repaying your debt to society if I let you go so easily, right?”
Black almost asked him where he got off saying things like that, but stopped herself. They were indeed criminals and it would be bad news for them if all their crimes were brought to light. But Sitri and Liz already had that covered.
The Thousand Tricks smiled faintly. It was a smile that looked completely natural, genuine. He held up the key and dangled it in front of them.
“But I also know that what you guys did was nothing serious. You’ve done a good job following Sitri’s orders these last few days and I think that’s enough to repay your debt to society. If you behave, I’ll remove the collars and let you all free once we get somewhere safe.”
Taken at face value, those seemed like incredibly kind words. But Black saw White’s cheek twitch with fear. They were criminals. They had scraped by breaking laws of all sorts and even by killing. They knew their offenses were grave. But this man had just written those deeds off as “nothing serious.”
They couldn’t be sure how the Thousand Tricks interpreted their silence but he quickly waved his hands.
“Oh, don’t worry. The road from here on is fairly safe and I don’t think we’ll be fighting anything. I still need you to drive the carriage but you can go slowly, we’re in no rush. This is a vacation after all. Got it?”
Vacation. That despicable word caused Black to shiver. It was a sweet word. A word clearly meant to stoke the flames of hope. But she and her cohorts never had any say in the matter. All they could do was nod along like loyal soldiers. White and Gray nodded wordlessly. She followed suit. The Thousand Tricks saw their expressions and looked relieved. And as though he had been waiting for that specific moment, a light glimmered from the direction of the mountains.
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