Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~ - Volume 5 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter Four: A Fun Vacation

“Just what were you thinking?”

Lucia used to always say that to me. She was competent and had a quick mind so I’m sure she struggled to understand the behavior of her older brother. Unlike the rest of Grieving Souls, she was family and I’m sure that made it hard for her to just sit by and watch me bumble around.

Even though that line would discourage most people, I didn’t mind because I really wasn’t thinking anything. To give a frank description of my involvement in this incident, I’d say: I got wrapped up in some weird stuff that I couldn’t figure out and it all got resolved before I could figure anything out. I wasn’t lying or worried that it would be hard to explain, I just simply didn’t understand what had happened.

Maybe it was just inevitable for high-level hunters, but this was hardly the first time I got dragged into some sort of mess. I also had experience with conspiracies and being stranded in the wilderness. Of course, all I ever did was run around without a clue what was happening while my reliable comrades took care of things.

This was undeniably another one of those instances, but this time all I did was say ryu-ryu. Even I was exasperated by my incompetence this time around. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but, to my shame, that seemed to only make things worse.

We were walking through Suls. The town was quiet but the damage wasn’t as extensive as I had imagined it would be. The townsfolk who milled about the streets just the other day were nowhere to be seen.

I had seen an enormous number of Cave People beneath Suls. I was certain they outnumbered the town’s population. I had ryu-ryued my desire to go home, but they instead initiated a military expedition. They hadn’t seemed too fond of humans and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had leveled the whole town, but the damage was actually pretty minor.

“There were so many of those guys, but there’s like no damage. Isn’t that weird?” Liz said, apparently thinking the same thing as me.

“That’s because, in a civilization built underground, the destruction of buildings is taboo,” Sitri explained. “Imagine, destroying a building could lead to the whole civilization being wiped out. Right, Krai?”

“Uh, yeah, uh-huh.”

I get it now.

But I still didn’t understand why there weren’t any people. There weren’t even corpses on the streets. I couldn’t recall seeing the Troglodytes carrying off any human bodies.

“Before getting in the baths, I’d like to know how many people have been hurt,” I said.

“The townsfolk were gathered in one spot and Arnold had led the rescue attempt. They should be fine, provided he made it in time.”

“Hmm, I see.”

I still had a number of questions, but it sounded like they were fine. If Sitri said so, then it must be true. I wanted to ask why the townsfolk had all been gathered in one spot and how they had all been evacuated in time when the Troglodytes had attacked so quickly. But I decided to let it go.

“Way to go, Arnold,” I said. “I thought he was just some violent guy, but I guess it takes more than that to get to Level 7.”

From the capital to the forest, he had been the instigator, but I guess I was in the wrong this time. I repented and offered a silent apology for all the trouble I had caused him. But then I felt Liz tapping my shoulder.

“Y’know, Krai Baby, I didn’t attack when I learned there were hostages! Isn’t that great? Tell me I’m great!” she boasted.

“I saved Arnold when he was on the brink of death from a poison developed by Akashic Tower!” Sitri chimed in. “Another hour and he certainly would have perished. He owes me his life!”

“I-I, um, I undid everybody’s handcuffs,” Tino added.

“Oh. Yeah. You’re all great.”

Holy crap, Troglodytes are something else. They look like monsters, but they took hostages, used poison from Akashic Tower, and handcuffed the hostages? Didn’t expect that.

It was then that we came upon a man collapsed on the road.

Uh-oh. First casualty.

We sprinted up to him. He was in a kimono and of average height and build. His legs were bent in ways they shouldn’t and his body was covered in bruises. But as luck would have it, he was still alive.

We got closer, but then the man looked at us vaguely and his body twitched. He groaned and his hand went for a black short blade that was nearby. He must have been confused.

“Are you all right?! Sitri, get a potion!” I cried.

He was going to be fine, Sitri’s potions were very effective. As long as he stayed conscious, he probably wouldn’t die. But for some reason, Liz knitted her brow.

“That’s an enemy!” she said.

“Huh?”

Flabbergasted, I took another look at the man. He was in a kimono. Average height and build. He didn’t have the rough face of a hunter. As far as I could tell he looked like a local. Sitri seemed confused as well. Liz might have been a questionable human being, but she was a first-rate Thief. What could this mean?

“Um. So what you’re saying is, he looks human, but he’s actually a Troglodyte.”

I couldn’t quite believe that, but I trusted Liz’s judgment more than my own. We were dealing with largely unknown underground life-forms. It wasn’t that hard to believe that they had advanced camouflage powers. Right?

“Ah, now that you mention it, his hair looks sort of like those tentacles upon closer examination?” I said, pretending like this all made sense as I pointed a timid finger at the man. “And he does indeed look like he might live underground? Honestly, if they’re gonna head back, they should’ve done a proper job and taken every one of them.”

Confusion ensued.

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t realize you meant it like that,” I continued. “Yeah, so then, maybe he’s not an enemy?”

More confusion. I was doing serious mental gymnastics, only to suddenly have the mat pulled away.

Sitri crouched next to me and looked at the man.

“Well, a normal human isn’t much compared to a horde of Troglodytes or a dragon. By the way, Krai, would you rather I heal or torture him?” she asked.

What sort of choice was that? Did she mean it like, torture that felt like treatment or treatment that felt like torture? Was this alchemic humor?

“Either one,” I answered. “For now, take care of his injuries. I want to hurry up and make sure everyone’s all right so I can relax in a hot spring.”

From a quick glance around, it seemed like the damage was surprisingly light. I didn’t know whether we were lucky or unlucky.

Liz, Sitri, and Tino followed me around town with looks of dissatisfaction. I was worn out physically and mentally, but I didn’t want to leave matters to Liz, and neglecting to do this would make me a bad person.

The damage to the town was sparse, but it was there. They weren’t critically injured, but we did find wounded people lying on the ground. We still hadn’t found any corpses, which was a blessing. However, some people were knocked out and in need of immediate care.

This would have been a perfect time to have Ansem around, but Sitri wasn’t a bad substitute. She pulled out her water gun, the Relic I’d given to her so long ago, and applied potions to each and every injured person.

“It’s a potion that can even resurrect the dead,” she explained. “It’s still in development, however.”

“Why do you carry an incomplete potion on you?” Tino asked fearfully.

Walking around with incomplete potions was an old habit of Sitri’s. Healing magic was difficult and a field in of itself, separate from standard magic. Ansem developed skills lauded throughout the imperial capital, but even he couldn’t heal much when we were first starting out.

That was why Sitri began to assist with healing through homemade potions. However, the publicly available recipes didn’t make medicine that could keep up with the pace at which Grieving Souls went on adventures—and got injured.

But the powerful medicines sold in stores were all expensive. We couldn’t get by if we constantly used those so Sitri at some point started using her cheaper test-potions during battles. That continued until Ansem was capable of fully regenerating body parts. I had heard that recently she had very few opportunities to use her potions, but she still kept up that useful habit of hers.

“I would have brought a wider range of potions if I had known I was going to find such wonderful test fodder,” she jovially whispered. I pretended not to hear anything. Sitri just took things too seriously. Deep down, she was a good girl. Her mad scientist tendencies were part of her charm.

“How are these guys not completely dead? How did you do it, Krai Baby?” Liz said, managing to look both impressed and disinterested.

For starters, could you stop pinning everything on me?

“Sure, there’s more glory in capturing ’em alive, but I think it’s fine if one or two die.”

Glory among who? Barbarians?

Sitri finished with her potions and stood up.

“You may not know this, Lizzy, but what Krai did was only natural, considering the disposition of Troglodytes. Among their kind, might is everything and they like to go for the strongest foes first!”

Sitri spoke with passion. Did she have a particular fascination with Troglodytes?

“And this time, they were working under their king’s orders, which means these results were no coincidence!” she said gleefully. “Do you follow, T?”

“I-I think so?” Tino spluttered.

I see. I don’t get it either.

“Even an idiot can use their strength to cut down foes!” Sitri continued. “But to concoct a plan, anticipate the motives of another culture, and manipulate them, do you have any idea how incredible that is? Anything but perfect timing could result in a catastrophe! Right, Krai?”

“Ryuu-ryuu,” I answered.

So where did that leave me if I was an idiot and also incapable of cutting down my enemies?

Liz folded her arms. “But that doesn’t explain why they were left alive?” she said, her sympathy likely sprouting from her own bloodthirst. And didn’t they find it strange that the Troglodytes considered normal townsfolk to be strong?

Sitri did her usual clap of the hands and smiled like she was waiting for Liz’s question.

“Lizzy, weren’t you looking? They were all unconscious or had broken legs or were immobilized in some other manner. By taking prisoners, they could demoralize their foes and ambush anyone who attempted a rescue. Two birds with one stone. After all, Troglodytes have intellects almost identical to those of humans.”

Holy shit.

And I was being worshiped by those guys? By those bloodthirsty maniacs?

“They aren’t afraid to die in combat,” Sitri continued. “If Krai hadn’t chased them off with a dragon, they wouldn’t have stopped until they were all dead. They could have even harmed other towns in the vicinity. Right, Krai?”

“W-Well, I guess that was a possibility.”

I didn’t like this. I didn’t like the nature of the Troglodytes. I didn’t like the assumption that I summoned the dragon. But what I disliked most of all was the fact that Sitri generally didn’t tell lies. Tino gave me a look she usually reserved for Liz.

Don’t worry. Don’t worry.

Putting aside the course we took to get here, the result was that the Troglodytes were gone. All we had left was to do something about that hole, like filling it in or something. Anything after that should be handled by the empire.

Guided by Liz, we came to the town square in the center of Suls. It was a wide-open space surrounded by canals carrying spring water. When we first visited during our sightseeing outing, the square was empty, but now it was jostling with locals. Despite the modest size of Suls, seeing so many gathered in one place made for an impressive sight.

Had the townsfolk really all assembled? They must have been really on top of things if they had managed to respond so well to the sudden appearance of the Troglodytes. But it seemed like they were still shaken from the whole thing because they were grouped together defensively.

Then I noticed a familiar hunter standing outside the group.

“Oh, it’s Rhuda. Good, I’m glad to see you’re all right,” I said to her.

“Krai?!” she yelped when she noticed me.

Hearing her voice, Li’l Gilbert and his party members came over. It seemed they had all made it out alive.

“You do this, Thousand Tricks?! What was that dragon?” Gilbert asked. He was propping himself up on a sword coated in green blood.

“If I had to say one way or another...well, it’s fine. The Troglodytes have gone back underground,” I answered.

“Huh?!”

Yeah, that’s a fair reaction. It’s how I would’ve reacted if I could. 

Then Arnold began to head our way. His complexion was bad, but his eyes glowed with unwavering power. He gave some brief orders to his party members and then looked at me.

“Did you stop the cause?” he asked me.

The cause is right in front of you.

“Did you have any deaths over here?” Sitri jutted in.

“None. They managed to hold out with their golems until we arrived. I hear you lent those out, Ignoble.”

“I did. It pleases me to hear they were useful. They wouldn’t have been captured at all if they had used them from the start, but I suppose there’s no use grumbling about it.”

No one had died. I let out a sigh of relief. The Troglodyte attack was a major blow to the town and its effects would certainly be felt for a while, but at least no one had been killed. The dead were the one thing that couldn’t be brought back.

Ansem’s magic could heal wounds of any sort, but even he couldn’t bring someone back from the dead. Potions and medical technology were no better in this regard. If there was anything in our world that could resurrect someone, it would be a Relic, but even on that front, I had heard nothing more than dubious rumors.

The lack of deaths was my only hope. I got a headache just thinking about what lay in my future. All I could say for myself was that I had said ryu-ryu and then the Troglodytes suddenly started their attack.

Now that we had ensured everyone was all right, a wave of exhaustion washed over me.

“Is this all according to plan?” Sitri whispered in my ear.

What about this looked planned?

“Well, I’m just glad everybody’s fine. The danger’s passed, let’s disperse for now,” I said.

I looked around and saw the unsettled townsfolk, Li’l Gilbert and his companions, Falling Fog, who were still on alert, and, finally, my own companions. All that was left to do was take a dip in the baths (provided I even had enough energy to do so) and then get some rest. That seemed like enough time to come up with a good excuse for everything that had happened.

But just as I was ready to throw in the towel, Arnold had a question for me.

“Just one minute. What happened to Barrel?”

Barrel? What’s he talking about?

I remembered Tino mentioning something about that earlier, but I hadn’t had the mental space for it so I had just let it slide.

“Barrel?” Liz jeered. A vicious smile was on her face. “You think just some normal people are enough for him? He dealt with those guys long ago. The Thousand Tricks isn’t like you rustics, right, Krai Baby?”

Liz, you’re not helping me at all here.

Even with my empty head, I could still remember Chloe mentioning that name earlier. I was pretty certain it was the name of the group Lord Gladis wanted me to take out. I had heard they were a powerful bandit squad, but I didn’t see what they had to do with our current situation.

I’m not planning on accepting the named quest and if I recall correctly then according to Sitri—

“Aren’t they merely a band of cowards? Didn’t they already turn tail and run off?”

Couldn’t she have found a nicer way to put it? Even if she was right.

Arnold was at a loss for words. Gilbert and his companions made strained expressions. Had she said something strange?

“Sorry, sorry, I guess that was a strange thing to say,” I said. “It’s just, y’know, I was preoccupied by the Troglodytes. I didn’t really have the time to worry about a bunch of bandits.”

Besides, we had already exterminated tons of bandits (and by “we,” I meant the rest of Grieving Souls did). A bunch of just-above-average guys probably weren’t enough for Liz and the others. It sounded like Gladis hadn’t been able to exterminate them simply because they ran away.

“How big was their group? One hundred? Two? I guess it’s a trivial difference.”

Just how many Troglodytes were there? Let me just say, it’s not that I didn’t want to work. It’s not that I didn’t want to work.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Barrel isn’t scary. I, too, would have my hands full if attacked by them. But I don’t see any reason to chase after a fleeing opponent. That’d be like, I dunno, bullying the weak.”

If anything, I was the one being bullied! How’s that for hard-boiled?

I felt a plethora of eyes on me.

“Are you saying you know how powerful Barrel is?” Arnold asked in a tense voice.

“I don’t. I’m not interested and I don’t see any need to know. I became a hunter so I could explore treasure vaults, not take down bandits.”

Not that I ever got to do much vault clearing...

I wasn’t going to ask for their understanding. I just wanted to make it clear that I didn’t plan on doing anything more, no matter what anyone said.

“If you’re dead set on fighting them, then I’m not gonna stop you. I’ll even hand over the named quest, but you probably need to hurry.”

I didn’t have a clue where these bandits might be. Troglodytes and that dragon had already created a mess. Even with my luck, it was safe to say bandits wouldn’t be appearing on top of everything else.

A number of eyes were all staring at me. But I had said my piece, so I turned to Sitri.

“That’s all I have to say,” I told her. “I hate to do this, but can I leave the rest to you?”

“Of course! I still have business to discuss here anyway,” she replied.

That was some impressive dedication to commerce. I wished her the best.

All right, it’s done! I don’t care what anyone says, we’re done here! Finished! Time to bathe and then get some sleep.

I let out a big yawn and only managed to take a single step forward before someone called out to me.

“Hold it, Thousand Tricks!”

“Mmm?”

I turned around and was startled by what I saw.

“Hold still. Move even a finger and we’ll kill these guys.”

Some of the townsfolk were pressing black short blades against the throats of some of the other townsfolk. Five men and women of varying ages all had blades pointed at their necks. It was so strange it hardly felt real.

Huh? What are these bunch up to?

I couldn’t follow it at all. The ones holding the black short blades were unambiguously normal townsfolk. The hostages themselves looked briefly shocked before the blood drained from their faces. I decided it was safe to assume this wasn’t some practical joke.

“You let your guard down. At this distance, we’ve got the advantage,” said a plain-faced man gripping a shortblade.

Arnold glared at the man like a demon straight out of hell. “You hid among them?!”

I didn’t have a single clue what was going on. But at least it seemed like I wasn’t alone in that. Had some of the townsfolk been driven insane by the Troglodytes and turned against their own neighbors?

I glanced at Liz, but it seemed she couldn’t find an opening. Even being fast as lightning wasn’t enough to resolve this situation. Not to mention there were five hostages.

“W-Wait a minute. Calm down,” I said. “Those blades aren’t something you should use without proper training!”

The man’s face contorted with anger, as did the other hostage takers. “Don’t mock us!”

I’m not mocking you. It’s just, did I do something to cause a hostage situation?

“What are you trying to do?” I asked.

“Sh-Shut up!”

Hostage situations were always stressful, but this time I was just too baffled for words. I desperately wracked my brains and soon enough came to a conclusion.

Could they be...Troglodytes in disguise?

I took a tepid step forward and tried to placate them with another tongue.

“Ryuu-ryuu?”

There was a change on the faces of the hostage takers—their anger dissipated in an instant. No, that wasn’t right. Overwhelmed with emotion, their expressions turned flat. This was proof of their resolve. These were the expressions of soldiers ready to die.

“Glory to Barrel!” they cried in unison.

Those were unexpected words. The blades in their hands began to waver. There wasn’t time to do or even say anything. Liz, Tino, and Arnold all began to move, but they clearly weren’t going to make it in time.

But just as the hostages were about to have their throats slit, the blades fell to the ground.

I swear on my honor, I didn’t look away for even an instant. It had happened abruptly. The five blade-wielders disappeared without a trace just before they could shed any blood.

The freed hostages stumbled and sank to the ground. I felt like I was dreaming, but Arnold was also looking around frantically, Liz’s eyes were opened wide, and Tino...

“Hm? Where’s Tino?” I said.

“Eigh and the others are also gone. What’s going on?!” Arnold yelled.

It wasn’t just the five assailants who had disappeared. Liz, Sitri, Arnold, and Killiam were still with us, but Tino, who had been there just a moment ago, was gone and so were Falling Fog, Rhuda, Li’l Gilbert, and the rest of his party. Yet the hostages and I were fine. It made no sense.

What in the world just happened?

I watched Sitri crouch down and pick up something at her feet. She let out a small sigh and placed it in the palm of her hand.

“Krai, we have a problem,” she lamented. “Lucy’s irate. Look what happened to T...”

“Wha?!”

“Aah, so this was how you planned to take care of Barrel. I thought it was unlike you to just heal the wounded members of Barrel and let ’em go,” Liz said. She sounded astonished and that wasn’t like her.

In the palm of Sitri’s hand was an endearing little black frog that was frantically looking this way and that.

***

Everything had gone according to plan. From their infiltration of the town to their handling of the threat posed by the high-level hunters, they had pulled off a perfect invasion. If Geffroy and his cohorts had made one mistake it was who they chose to take on.

They shouldn’t have challenged a Level 8 hunter. Even if they had spotted a choice opportunity, they should have kept their distance. They should have run. But now it was too late for regrets.

“I’ve never heard of someone manipulating creatures like that,” Geffroy said through ragged breaths as he carefully checked his surroundings.

They had done a good job regrouping. A number of their wounded ended up being left behind, but it was a foe of seemingly endless numbers that they had been up against. Their losses would have been greater had Barrel not boasted such excellent coordination.

The gray fiends from earlier had all disappeared. The moment the dragon appeared in the sky, they beat a quick escape. They hadn’t even left the corpses of their fallen comrades. Geffroy found that incredibly unsettling.

The bandits put on brave faces, but their will to fight had been shattered. For only a moment, they had been able to spot that man atop that roof, giving orders in some bizarre tongue. That had instilled more fear than the immediate threat before their eyes. Even Kardon’s calm and collected demeanor had been broken.

“I haven’t either, but it’s the reality before us.”

“Why did he command those fiends? What was he trying to do?”

Geffroy’s question went unanswered.

Those gray fiends had undoubtedly been the work of the Thousand Tricks. If they had simply attacked, then it was possible to chalk their appearance up to a coincidence. But they had also retreated. A coincidence was too far-fetched.

They had already gathered up most of the bandits left in charge of the hostages. Just in case, a few of their members were hidden among the hostages, but they weren’t enough to accomplish much.

To manipulate those fiends was a terrifying power. But the most horrifying part of it all was that Geffroy and Kardon hadn’t realized they were being manipulated until they began to retreat. If the bandit leaders had realized that earlier, could they have ordered those five bandits to stay with the hostages? Probably not.

Those fiends had a clear animosity for humanity. A hatred that let Geffroy be certain that his options were kill or be killed. To show your back to creatures with bearing hatred required either nerves of steel or exceptional stupidity.

They had gathered the majority of their scattered members, meaning Bandit Squad Barrel was still at roughly eighty percent capacity. That was plenty. Those uncanny fiends were nowhere to be seen.

But Geffroy stayed the course.

“We’re leaving,” he said.

“Are you certain? These losses won’t be recouped easily.”

“Let’s hurry. He wouldn’t have expelled those fiends without good reason.”

They hadn’t finished their plundering, they had lost personnel, and they had expended valuable Relics. They were in a bad spot. If word of this got around then the name Bandit Squad Barrel would lose the respect it once had in the underworld.

But they had gotten as big as they were by knowing when to retreat. Kardon’s question had been a rhetorical one. After leading Barrel for so long, he and Geffroy could all but read each other’s minds. They were always on the same page.

“You can come back from any defeat, but that’s only if you’re still breathing,” Geffroy said.

Kardon began issuing orders.

“You heard the man! Get ready to retreat! We don’t have time to make our way to the exit, we’re going over the walls!”

Not breaking formation and staying wary of their surroundings, the bandits began to move swiftly, just as their training had taught them to. Barrel’s invasion had happened quietly and their withdrawal would create even less noise.

Suddenly a bandit called out.

“Boss, there’s one of our own!”

Geffroy looked in the direction his subordinate was pointing. Naturally, he knew the face of every individual under his command. Squinting, he confirmed that the approaching man was indeed a member of Barrel. His limbs had been broken and Geffroy had been forced to abandon him for the sake of the squad as a whole. Geffroy could tell the man was no imposter.

“What happened to your wounds?” he asked.

“One of the comrades of the Thousand Tricks healed them with a potion. He said we weren’t his enemies.”

Geffroy gave no response. He didn’t understand, but the man himself seemed even more confused. This was too absurd to write off as the product of a victor’s complacency. Bandit Squad Barrel weren’t so soft as to be swayed because someone healed their allies and that’s to say nothing of the bounty on their head. What could drive the Thousand Tricks to risk letting them go?

“To leave witnesses?” Kardon said.

“Absurd.”

Kardon probably wasn’t serious about his suggestion. It was too unlikely, too pointless. But this wasn’t the time to sit around thinking about it. Having a comrade come back was good, no matter the reason. If the Thousand Tricks was trying to insult Barrel, they would just have to make sure he would regret that choice one day.

While Geffroy had been contemplating the situation, more comrades returned. They had all been wounded gravely enough that it should have taken more than minor treatment to get them back on their feet. Yet they must have received powerful potions or something to that effect because they were all walking just fine.

It was an unexpected turn of events. Was accepting it the best response? They had routed famous hunters, veteran knights, and many other powerful adversaries. To be granted mercy was nothing short of humiliating. But Geffroy and Kardon weren’t fools; they wouldn’t let their emotions get the better of them. Though they hadn’t tasted humiliation in some time, they were used to being shoved to the dirt.

To aid the other bandits, the shinobi quickly drove stakes into the wall. They were on alert, but there were no signs of attackers. Geffroy gave one last glare towards where he had seen the king of the fiends. He hefted his bloodstained battle-axe and whispered a silent declaration of war.

“Just wait, this isn’t over. We’ll get stronger and then we’ll come for you with every means we can. I swear on the name Barrel.”

Let’s retreat.

He gave his orders and then turned around—but then froze. His subordinates, the elites he had spent so long training, the ones preparing for their escape, they had all vanished. Not even a single weapon or garment remained.

“Impossible,” Kardon said in a hoarse voice. He and Geffroy were the only ones left. The color had drained from his face, something that had never happened during the number of gauntlets he had overcome.

“Kardon, what happened?”

Geffroy had been looking the other way, but Kardon should have been facing their comrades. But Kardon, who always offered a quick response, said nothing.

Geffroy tried again, in a more forceful tone.

“Answer me! Where’d they go?!”

At last, Kardon opened his mouth, but his response was fragmented.

“Frogs. They turned. Into frogs. What. What is this?”

Frogs? Frogs?

Geffroy finally noticed the dozens of little frogs on the ground. He felt a chill run down his back. His hair stood on end. The frogs didn’t croak, they just looked up at Geffroy. There was something oddly human about it.

Suddenly, he felt someone watching him. His instincts turned him towards the source of the staring and he felt his heart skip a beat. He dropped his axe, the heavy blade making a loud noise as it carved a small wound in the ground. But he was too preoccupied to pick it back up.

That stone wall jutted over three meters into the air. From far above it, a gray helmet silently looked down on Geffroy.

***

Magic was admired by those who couldn’t use it. Before becoming disheartened by my complete lack of talent, I, too, once aspired to be a Magus. After the local Magus in our hometown told me I wasn’t suited for the craft, I began to follow Lucia around. She both had the aptitude and was willing to make the effort to become a spellcaster.

Back then, before I knew anything about it, I thought of spells as miracles that could make any reality possible. I would later learn that was preposterous, but at the time I was just a kid. I made a list of ultimate spells and, much to her inconvenience, gleefully shoved it onto my younger sister. I made a magic staff, gave it to her as a present, then sulked when she didn’t use it. I just did whatever I wanted.

Lucia was diligent and never neglected her studies, so even though she wasn’t thrilled about it, she did her damnedest to patch together existing spells and recreate the spells from “My Ultimate Spellbook.” I would clap with joy and tell her how amazing she was, then get punched when I pointed out her minor errors. Looking back, I felt really bad about what I’d done.

I don’t think our childish games were directly related, but Lucia went on to become a powerful and knowledgeable Magus. She mastered a number of original spells and became one of the foremost Magi in Zebrudia.

Meanwhile, I gave up on magic and became absorbed in what I could use—Relics.

Sitri gingerly lifted Tino up and placed her in an empty potion vial. From inside the transparent chamber, the black frog looked at me with teary eyes.

“Now she should be fine,” Sitri said.

I’m not sure anything about this can be considered fine.

I lifted the vial up and wrinkled my brow as I looked at one very small and unsettled Tino.

“So she completed it? Witch’s Miracle, Frog Variant.”

A long time ago, I saw a spell in a fairy tale and yearned to see it in real life, but Lucia said it was impossible. Yet as far as I could tell, this was said spell. It was from volume three or four of the spellbook I had written up. It had earned me all sorts of objections like “That sort of spell doesn’t exist,” “Be logical. What about the change in mass?” and “Even if I can make the transformation, what about changing people back?”

To actually see the spell after so many years...well, I wasn’t sure how to react.

“Do you think the change can be undone?” I asked.

“RIBBIT?!”

“This is fine for the time being, isn’t it?” Sitri responded. “I think she’s quite adorable in this state.”

Sitri was saying some alarming things. Frogs were a common ingredient used by Alchemists. Frog Tino was desperately beating against the glass.

“Ribbit?! Ribbit, ribbit!”

“G-Give me a break! What happened?!” Arnold yelled.

“Be careful, if they get mixed up, we won’t be able to tell who’s a friend and who’s a foe,” I advised him.

“Are you joking?!”

In spite of my warning, Arnold stomped the ground. Near his feet were the frogs that had once been Rhuda, Li’l Gilbert, and some of the townsfolk.

Hell, I already can’t tell who’s who. 

I took another look at the tree frog that was the same color as Tino’s hair.

“Mmm. Do you think a high elixir could turn her back into a human?”

I didn’t even know why Lucia was irate and why that resulted in Tino becoming a frog. Lucia and Tino got along really well, almost like they were sisters. She wasn’t as bullish as the Smart sisters were, which made it easy for her to get along with Tino.

Liz offered an answer.

“They probably returned to the capital and heard about our vacation. Anyone would be pissed if they suddenly found themselves involved in this mess.”

It made sense that she and the other grievers would try and catch up if they heard we left on a trip. And then who could blame them if their mood soured when they saw something bad was happening in Suls?

“They’re too late. If only they had arrived a bit earlier,” I grumbled.

“Now I can brag to Luke about the cool stuff I saw,” Liz said. As usual, she had her unique priorities.

Lucia was powerful. She was Level 6 Magus and close to Level 7, placing her just below Ansem. She excelled at targeting multiple foes at once (but that was almost a given for Magi) and had the highest kill count of anyone in our party.

It didn’t really matter since the problem was resolved anyway, but if she had been with us then we might have been able to fight the Troglodyte army. She could have done something about the dragon. But again, it didn’t really matter, did it?!

Sitri then clapped her hands and smiled.

“Oh, I’ve got it! Let’s go give Lucy a warm welcome. That might cheer her up!”

Frog Tino slapped the glass, imploring me to let her out.