“Here you go. It’s been so long since I last made stew. I had a limited range of spices and potions available to me, so I don’t think it’ll be up to par.”
“Ooh, thanks.” I took a bite. “Mm, it’s really good.”
“Thank goodness. Lizzy only brought me strange meat. Blending the flavors was quite troublesome.”
What in the world caused that flash of light in the mountains? I wondered as I savored Sitri’s delicious stew. Next to the campfire, Liz sat with her legs folded and ate some unidentified meat straight off the bone. Next to her was Tino, contrasting starkly with her mentor as she ate with impeccable manners.
The light had faded after only a second. Nothing came after it, which made me think I might be paying it too much mind, but it still bothered me. Could it have been a natural phenomenon? The Smart sisters didn’t seem to be worried about it.
Sitri was smart, she would be able to offer an educated guess. I sat down next to her, which seemed to catch her off guard. Looking strangely pleased, she moved over so our shoulders brushed against each other. A sweet and soothing scent drifted from her well-maintained hair.
“Sitri, about that light...”
“Huh? Oh, indeed, the usual light.”
Hm?! The usual light. The usual, huh?
The outdoors sure is dangerous. We were supposed to be on vacation but our stops at Elan, Gula, and the Galest mountains all had us narrowly avoiding danger. How did traveling merchants and road-bound people get by? If only I knew their secrets.
They’re being awfully quiet. If that light is normal then do we really need to run?
“Are we gonna run?” I asked.
“Uuummm. I’d say it’s still a bit too early to be moving. And we’re still eating.”
Unlike me, Sitri wasn’t afraid. She was accustomed to traveling.
There were multiple chunks of meat skewered over the fire and there was also stew and fish. It was way too much for us to load into the carriage. My plan was to spend a night at the lake. If we got up and left, that would mean another trek in the darkness. And I had just told Black, White, and Gray that I wasn’t going to work them too hard.
As I wondered what to do, I grimaced and ate my stew. Then Sitri had an idea. She sure seemed to be having fun, considering the circumstances.
“Judging by the position of the light, I think their arrival shouldn’t be too much longer. Oh, I know! It’s only a bit, but I do have some liquor. Shall I bring it out?”
I see. So it won’t be much longer. Wait, why’s she so certain it’s headed our way? It might just be a natural phenomenon. And what even was that light?
I swallowed my pride and checked with the all-knowing Sitri.
“By the way, Sitri, what do you think is out there?”
She pulled out a fine-looking bottle and glass, then smiled while she poured a drink.
“It’s Arnold and company,” she said.
I smiled. I found myself accepting the drink she was offering me. It must have been something strong because I felt a burning heat on my palate. Sitri grinned and looked up at the night sky with flushed cheeks.
What? Whaaat? Why’s Arnold out here? I don’t understand.
I didn’t understand why Arnold was in the mountains. I didn’t understand how Sitri discerned that from just a flash of light. Even if I did somehow understand either of those things, I still couldn’t possibly fathom how Sitri could sit there and laugh about it. I grinned back at her, my head filled with question marks.
“I imagine that light was from that sword made from a thunder dragon,” she said. “Materials recovered from dragons truly are first-class. According to one theory, even after dragons and similar mythical beings die, their flesh remains unaware and continues to retain its power. Don’t you find that incredibly romantic?”
Sitri’s voice was rosy and enraptured, but I couldn’t say I shared her sentiments. I guess we had different sensibilities. All I knew about thunder dragons was that they were immensely powerful, even by dragon standards, and that they were delicious when Sitri roasted them with teriyaki.
Hold on a minute. Did she just say Arnold’s coming our way? And with a super powerful weapon in hand? Can this get any worse?
Liz looked up from the meat she was digging into and shouted at us while waving a skewer of crocodile.
“Siddy! Get away from Krai Baby, you’re too close! Scoot, scoot. I’ve got eyes in the back of my head, y’know!”
“Forgive me, Krai. We’ll have to continue at a later date.”
“Ah?! Like hell you’re gonna continue! Were you born without common sense? You too, Krai Baby! Why are you getting cozy with her, didn’t we just promise we’d be together forever?!”
What does she mean by “getting cozy”? How can I do that when Arnold’s approach has me shivering?
Oblivious to my state of panic, Liz shoved Sitri aside. Because she had just been in the lake, she was a bit chilly, causing me to shiver even more.
“Liz, your clothes are cold. Go dry them off or you’ll get sick,” I told her.
“Huh? How could they be cold if I took them off before getting into the lake? Are they in the way? I see, should I take them off then?”
Liz didn’t hesitate to start, but Tino worked up the courage to jump on her from behind.
“Lizzy, stop that, it’s improper!” she cried.
She was immediately thrown off, but just as quickly, she got back up and tackled Liz. It was a shame they had to fight like this even though they had just bathed in the lake. I was watching their siblingesque scuffle, unsure what to do.
Then something burst from the trees.
It had blond hair, a muscular body that stood almost two meters tall, and its eyes glimmered with a yellow hue. Its arms and legs were well-developed but oddly long. But what took me by surprise was its lack of clothes. A simple rag around its waist was the only hint of good sense. Sitri and Liz looked at it with wide eyes. Tino was frozen in place.
Instinctively, I smiled and asked it a question. Smiles were one of my defensive techniques.
“Who might you be?”
The mysterious blond macho narrowed its eyes and looked strangely confident.
“Arnold. Been a while.”
A-A-A-Arnold?! I leaped up from my spot by the fire. He sure has changed. But I guess that long hair does look like his. Same eye color as well. But he still looks different enough that I never would’ve guessed it was him. Something’s off.
I looked him over and then it hit me.
“Did you lose weight?”
“Krai Baby, is that really the first thing you should ask?” Liz interrupted.
“What happened to your sword?”
“Ditched it. It was junk.”
Apparently, he threw away an ultrapowerful sword made out of the parts of a thunder dragon.
“First, we need to get you some clothes,” Sitri interjected.
“Siddy?!” Tino cried.
What to do? I had been keeping an eye out, but I wasn’t expecting him to show up half naked and unarmed.
What in the world had happened to Arnold? I took a close look but I just couldn’t reconcile with the idea that it was him. It occurred to me that, just maybe, I might have been tired.
Calm down, Krai Andrey. If he’s not Arnold, then he wouldn’t be calling himself Arnold. If it was someone pretending to be him then they would probably do a better job. Which means this must be Arnold.
“For starters,” I said. “Why not have some stew? There’s also meat.”
“Krai Baby, I love this part of you!”
“I should take notes.”
“Master is god. Master is god.”
Killiam, a solitary eater, appeared from nowhere.
“Kill, kill.”
“Meow?”
Arnold dashed forward, kicked the roasting meat with his long legs, and knocked over the cauldron of stew. He pointed at me and smiled like a savage beast.
“Tonight, you die.”
Ah, no doubt about it, this is Arnold.
“Die! Die! All of you!”
“Arnold, calm down! If I’ve done something wrong, I’ll apologize!”
He swung his arms with a wild fury that you don’t see very often. He smashed our bottles and knocked our dishes onto the ground. I tried desperately to apologize but he didn’t listen. He shoved his arms into a bonfire we had worked so hard to set up and flung the burning wood into the air.
Is he really human?
“Fight. Fight me,” Arnold said.
“Calm down, Arnold! Nothing I’ve done to you has been on purpose! Why are you so angry? It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I’ll apologize, so forgive me!”
“Quiet. Now die!”
Arnold swung his arms at incredible speed, but he didn’t hit me. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding me. Our camping gear was bashed and battered but I could tell his conscience was holding him back. Still, his strength was incredible, but in a different sense than what I had seen before. I thought this must be what happens when a Level 7 from the Land of Fog gets serious.
As he thrashed around with movements almost inhuman, I desperately tried to placate him.
“Arnold, this won’t solve anything! If something is bothering you, I’ll hear you out! Okay? Aren’t we both men of the imperial capital? Should I grovel? I can grovel. I’ll grovel so just stop that creepy convulsing!”
I’m a pacifist. I want to resolve everything without fighting and I won’t hesitate to put my forehead to the dirt if it’s necessary.
I put my arms forward, bent my knees, and quickly prostrated. I didn’t know what I was apologizing for but I didn’t need a reason. I put as much sincerity in as I could.
“Arnold, I’m so sorry for everything! Please forgive me!”
“Wh-Wh-What are you doing?!”
I heard a familiar voice. An angry voice, like a pot about to boil over. I looked up and there I saw—
“Ar...nold?”
It was Arnold, as I remembered him, and friends. His face was pulled taut and burning red, but he always looked like that so I was certain it was him. In his right hand was a sword as long as he was tall and glowing yellow. It was that super strong sword he’d made out of the parts of the thunder dragon.
Except, I wasn’t afraid. I was surprised. I quickly realigned myself so I was groveling to the other Arnold. The naked Arnold stood boldly, with his arms crossed.
What in the world is going on?
The newly appeared Arnold had the aspect of a demon. Steam rose from his tempered body as it shook with rage. His companions behind him looked equally fired up, except for Chloe, who stood a ways away, pale and simply watching.
“J-Just how much of a f-foo—”
“Foo?”
“—fool do you take me for?! Perish!”
Arnold roared with all his might and came at me. I thought his sheer anger might be enough to erase me from existence. Blinding light overwhelmed me and I heard the crackle of lightning as a golden sword closed in on my skull.
The blow was deflected by a Safety Ring. In my confusion, I asked for help from the squishy Arnold.
“Save me, Arnold!”
“Mock me again?!”
That thunderous shout informed me, on an instinctual level, that the one with the sword was the real Arnold. It was a matter of their violent behavior quotient.
Killiam dashed towards me, but some familiar hunters blocked it and Sitri off from me. Arnold’s right-hand man, A (I think that’s what his name was), stood before the gray macho and snickered. The other hunters quickly got in formation.
“Hold it right there, you’re gonna have to get through us first,” Eigh said.
Why are people always so quick to attack us?
“Calm down, real Arnold. We can talk this through!” I pleaded.
“LIKE HELL!”
He was out for blood, a whole ocean of it. Chloe looked at us nervously.
Arnold kicked at my stomach. A Safety Ring prevented me from taking any damage, but any successful blow from a Level 7 would be fatal for me. Experience had taught me that I couldn’t manage an attack from anyone higher than Level 3. In a one-on-one fight, I couldn’t evade, no matter which way I dodged; I couldn’t even think of trying to counterattack.
My only choice was to take the hits head-on. Instead of trying to dodge, I let my Safety Rings activate. The blade and its lightning were deflected by a thin barrier surrounding my body. It seemed Arnold’s fighting style emphasized fewer but more powerful blows, but he still struck multiple times in the span of a second. But that was fine. I was no stranger to the strength of hunters.
No matter how many times he stuck, my knowledge of Safety Rings kept me unharmed. Everyone stood frozen, just watching his flurry of attacks. But he couldn’t keep that pace up forever.
After making one last furious swing, Arnold stepped back. His razor-sharp eyes contained hints of not just anger but caution as well. Finally, I saw a chance to negotiate. Arnold was strong, but I had Liz and Sitri with me, not to mention Drink and Killiam as well, so I could be bolder than usual.
“Do you feel better now?” I asked.
“Why are you still standing? I can’t understand it,” Arnold said between breaths.
Why was I still on my feet? A smile formed on my lips.
Arnold’s speed and power were extraordinary. Some treasure hunters had fame but not the strength to back it up (like me) but that wasn’t Arnold. Even still, it wasn’t enough. He didn’t seem to understand it, but Arnold wasn’t up against me. He was up against the history of Safety Rings! The history of a Relic considered far and wide to be among the best defenses!
Safety Rings were absolute, unopposable. As far as I knew, a Safety Ring’s barrier had never been broken through. Luke’s strongest hits could cut through metal as though it were cheese, but even that wasn’t enough.
I was small and insignificant, but I had seventeen eye-poppingly expensive Safety Rings on. Well, ten had just been used up, leaving me with seven. That meant I could only take another seven hits, but you might also say I was still safe from seven hits of any variety.
I had been attacked many times by scary-looking bad guys and each time I had come out alive while resisting the urge to barf. It wasn’t anything worth bragging about, but I was still a bit proud that an average guy like me had made it through hell and lived to tell about it. So I just accidentally bragged about it.
“Arnold, calm down. This is a, uh, a matter of experience. I’ve been attacked lots of times and nobody’s ever gotten a scratch on me,” I told him.
Arnold looked at me with eyes that could kill. It was super scary. But if I held out a bit longer, someone would come to save me.
Liz, who had just been watching quietly, cleared the dirt and dust from her hands and smiled just as savagely as Arnold. If she wasn’t enough, Tino was nearby. It would be two-on-one.
“Do you get just how far behind you are?” Liz said. “Why do you think I went to the trouble of drawing an arrow to show you the way? Because I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle Krai Baby!”
“It was you who drew that damn arrow?” Arnold responded.
“You might not have found us without it! I’m so nice!”
Wait, what arrow?
Liz clenched her fist. At some point, she had put on her gauntlets.
“But it ends here,” she continued. “Even if your hits aren’t getting through, it still pisses me off to see you swinging at Krai Baby. Even if I’m supposed to be slacking off, I don’t think I can do that right now.”
The blood had gone to her head. Her cheeks were stiff and her eyes twitched. Also, my ban on violence wasn’t an order to “slack off.”
Just as Liz began to approach Arnold, something sent her flying back. It was Arnold, or rather, Fake Arnold. But the creature I had assumed to be Arnold now had green skin and its hair had disappeared. What stood there was the roving ogre that had harassed us throughout the mountains.
The ogre practically vanished as it dashed at Liz. It swung its whiplike arms, which Liz blocked and returned with a high-speed kick. The ogre contorted its body and evaded the attack.
I couldn’t believe it. The ogre could change its appearance and we had been fooled by it. Monsters capable of deceiving humans weren’t at all rare, but I had never seen one so intelligent and capable of rapid transformations.
“Arnold, put away your sword!” I said, trying to sound as calm as I could. “It seems that monster’s been tricking us this whole time.”
I got a kick for a response. A Safety Ring blocked it.
“Calm down! There’s no point in continuing to fight!”
“Don’t joke with me! Who the hell would be fooled by that?!”
I would be fooled by that! I’ll grovel, so just forgive me, okay?! Can you even blame me for getting tricked by that fake? And it’s not like I did anything bad to Fake Arnold.
Arnold let out a roar. As though in response, more lightning emanated from his sword with all the calamity of a thunderstorm. Nobody would be coming to help us. I was fine, I had my Safety Rings, but Tino was awestruck by the amount of energy being channeled by Arnold.
She was close enough to get hit by a shock wave. I sprinted towards her. Running in these situations was something I was accustomed to. The moment I grabbed hold of Tino, one of my rings activated. Arnold’s lightning had struck us with a loud rumble, something you don’t get used to no matter how many times you hear it.
It all happened in the span of a moment. The thunder resided. I was unharmed and so was Tino. Arnold looked at us with bulging eyes.
I don’t want to brag, but I was confident nobody was as adept with Safety Rings as I was. Even in an age rife with powerful hunters, I doubt anyone used those Relics as much as I did.
Safety Rings were broadly thought of as Relics which deployed unbreakable barriers to protect against fatal attacks, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. It was a little-known fact, but Safety Rings had multiple functions. One of those functions was “Voluntary Activation,” which let you activate a ring of your own will, instead of letting it deploy automatically. A voluntarily deployed barrier could be adjusted slightly, something impossible with an automatic barrier.
In short, effective use of one of the barriers could let you protect yourself and someone close by. I was a bit proud of myself, protecting someone else for the first time in recent memory.
“Satisfied now? Let’s stop, there’s no point in us fighting like this,” I proposed now that I had regained some composure.
The light faded from Arnold’s blade, but his will to fight was undiminished. I thought it safe to assume he could only channel so much energy in rapid succession through that weapon of his. But if he burned through all my Safety Rings, it wouldn’t take a powerful attack to kill me. I needed to buy myself time, just a few minutes would be enough.
“Draw your blade, Thousand Tricks!” Arnold demanded.
“I don’t have anything of the sort on me.”
I knew that wasn’t what he meant, but I still chose to beat around the bush. There was no such thing as a pacifist hunter, theirs was a profession that talked through the fist. If you couldn’t show your strength, you wouldn’t be given the light of day. If I actually had the powers fitting of a Level 8 and showed that to Arnold, he would have been pacified much earlier. It was one of the reasons I wanted to quit being a hunter.
“With all your strength, you still don’t attack? Why go so far?!”
It wasn’t that I didn’t attack, I couldn’t attack.
“Because I believe,” I said with a smile.
I threw out that phrase haphazardly because it sounded nice, but Arnold still charged at me. He really couldn’t discern mood or atmosphere.
I knew running would be useless, so I let go of Tino and moved forward. Experience had taught me that I would just get hit if I fell back. However, if I advanced, I might put him on his guard and be spared an attack. Such was my survival strategy.
I caught hints of caution in Arnold’s eyes, but he didn’t stop. Having faith in his strength when he needed to was what made him a first-rate hunter. He prepared to thrust, but just before he could, he was sent stumbling forward.
“Not happening!” shouted a quivering voice.
As Arnold stumbled, his blade bumped into me. Another Safety Ring was expended.
Arnold clicked his tongue and quickly fell back while he reoriented himself.
Tino had protected me. Her exposed shoulders. Her worn, beat-up ribbons. Her body was shaking and I couldn’t tell if it was out of anticipation. Her feet, however, were planted firmly on the ground.
“Move. I have no business with you,” Arnold said as he glared at her.
“But...I do, with you,” Tino replied.
“Hmph. You can’t stop me a second time.”
A cloud of dirt had been sent into the air, but apparently, she had gone for a leg sweep. I had still been hit by Arnold’s sword anyway, but I was impressed by her good timing.
“I won’t let you attack Master any further. He’s always protected me, but that changes here. If Lizzy’s not here, then I’ll have to be his blade.”
I felt bad for thinking it during her moment in the spotlight, but we already knew that Tino alone was no match for Arnold. She just wasn’t equipped to deal with him; even buying time would be a struggle for her.
“You’ve got guts, but you can’t win against me. Besides, is there anything about that man worth protecting?”
“Of course there is. But I won’t say what.”
There was no uncertainty in her. I was taken aback by the determination I could detect. Except determination wasn’t enough to make up for their difference in strength, and Tino knew that.
“You’re right. I can’t win like this. That’s why—”
Tino raised a hand in the air—in it she held Evolve Greed. I couldn’t see her face from where I was, but I could see her hand trembling. Still, she held the mask with resolve.
“Master, lend me your strength.”
And then Tino thrust the mask onto her face.
***
“O valiant warrior, does your soul yearn for my power?”
Tino heard a voice. She felt a creepy, sticky sensation both covering her entire face and permeating her flesh. An unknown strength welled up within. Previously she had resisted, but now she accepted every bit of power, her beloved master at the center of her thoughts.
She was no longer afraid. Her master’s training was spartan, but it was all for her sake. This meant Tino’s only choice was to reciprocate his efforts. Her inexperience had prevented her from noticing something so simple up until now. Now, she understood everything. It had all started at the beginning of the vacation, no, it had started when the mask was first brought to the capital.
She had been struck by lightning in preparation for her battle with Arnold. The training bind was meant to temper her spirit and give her the resolve to wear the mask. And luring Arnold to them was done in the name of her own growth. Arnold had been brought to their camp and Krai’s farcical behavior had been done to draw out his full strength.
It sounded so simple when put into words, but, truly, how many people were capable of such a feat? Lizzy and Siddy were most likely being kept at a distance, a considerable distance at that, in order to prevent Tino from trying to rely on them. It wasn’t until after her master used his own body to protect her that she finally made her decision.
Seeing her master protect her gave a bigger shock than the lightning that struck her earlier in the trip. Her master believed in her and so he chose not to fight. Tino couldn’t let herself depend on him any more than she already had.
“Cast aside your trepidations, do not fight it. Surrender yourself to chaos.”
It was a disturbing voice. It brought Tino back to the last time she wore the mask.
“Master, that wasn’t the real me,” she had said back then. “The mask made me do it!”
Seeing her strain her voice and make a disgrace of herself, her master had simply smiled and said: “You’re fine, calm down. I understand that wasn’t the real you. Uh, right. That was Mad Tino.”
After that, Lizzy took the mask and casually slipped it on, only to immediately take it back off.
“I can’t use it,” she had said. “It said something about an unanticipated excess of strength and how it won’t activate for security purposes.”
The mask was nothing more than a Relic. It was a dangerous and aberrant one, but it was still just a Relic. It was her lack of experience that previously stopped her from suppressing the impulses of the mask. She had been unable to resist those novel sensations and was driven mad by it. But this time would be different.
All she needed was unbending resolve, the resolve to use the Relic of her own accord.
“I won’t surrender myself. You’re nothing but a Relic that I’m going to use,” she told the mask.
“Oh, quite right you are. Nonetheless, for safety purposes, auto-mode is recommended for new users.”
“No. I’ll stay in control.”
“Very well. Switching to manual mode. Please be aware, physical side effects may occur as a result of usage on an unaccustomed body.”
A burning strength coursed through her body, her soul rocked by a sudden sense of omnipotence. But she kept calm. Her perspective was higher than usual. The tight sensations around her body suggested that she had grown.
Arnold was dumbfounded. Looking behind her, she saw that by the power of the mask, her short hair had grown, its tips white as snow. Bringing her hands to her face, it almost felt like she was touching her own skin. The only thing that felt different was that a horn now sprouted from above her right eye.
Last time she put on the mask, it only covered her face. This time was different. Her mind was clear, she had full control of her body and its strength was there for her to use. This was how Evolve Greed was meant to be used. The Relic was a device that drew out one’s latent powers, which meant more than just pure strength.
Now, I can win, Tino thought. No, I will win.
Her beloved master saw her, and as though looking upon proof of preestablished harmony, muttered: “Super Tino.”
As usual, she failed to understand him. Feeling a strong but ambiguous sense of satisfaction, she flew towards the Trial that awaited her.
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