Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~ - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Abyssal Spaghetti and the Sheetwraith Swarm

After meeting with Franz, I dragged my body back to my room. When I opened the door, I was ambushed by the Carpet. He had been charged and rapidly patted me as I passed under him like he was a curtain. Kris had been charging my Relics for me while I was gone. She wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but, apparently, Lucia had entrusted her with Relic-duty before we left. Whatever the reason, I was extremely grateful.

She asked me what Franz had wanted to tell me, so I explained it to her.

“Huh?” Her eyes were wide and she sounded utterly confused. “How the hell did this come about? Sir?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

“What did you do, you human weakling?”

“If I had to say, I don’t think I did anything.”

“When are you going to take this seriously?! Sir?!”

I had briefly pulled away from the caravan to rescue the Carpet, and this resulted in my team being placed at the emperor’s side. I know how it sounds coming from me, but I was one hundred percent mystified. In fact, when Franz gave me the news, I accidentally said “Huh? What are you talking about?” He got really angry.

But I had done things that would cause any normal person to lose faith and fire me. I think it was okay for me to question their sanity. Maybe this was so any mistakes I made would be done in clear view of the emperor. That way Franz could easily justify beheading me. But that would be using the emperor’s position for one’s own benefit. And that was no good. No good at all. Disrespectful. I sure hoped Franz wasn’t doing that.

I just wanna go home already.

I could barely believe that only two days had passed so far. I had agreed to this job on the condition that the emperor’s defense would primarily be handled by the knights. This wasn’t what we had agreed on, but I also wasn’t in any position to argue. So I was at my wit’s end. Who knows what might happen if you stuck someone as unlucky as me with that cursed emperor?

“Right, your Relics are all charged. Sir. Got any more?” Kris said.

“Oh, this too, if you would,” I said and handed her three expended Safety Rings.

Kris made a face when she saw them. “Ugh. Sir. M-More of those mana guzzlers? When did you even use those?!”

I just let out a hollow laugh. After Franz was done talking to me, I accidentally bumped into my head as I left his room. I hit it three times, so I used three Safety Rings! Sir!

“Now, it’s time for us to get serious,” I told her. “We need to bring our best to this. I’ll be counting on you out there, Kris.”

“Hmph! Of goddamn course you will! Sir! But let me be clear, that I won’t be working for your sake! I’m here because I can’t disobey an order from Lapis! Sir!”

“Yeah, uh-huh.”

When I thought about it, Telm was here on the orders of the Abyssal Inferno and Sitri had entrusted me with Sir Killigan. I realized that the only person really here of their own will was Kechachakka. Now I felt bad for picking him because he had a weird name. He seemed fairly powerful and struck me as someone I could rely on.

That’s right. I need to inform Telm and the others that we’re being relegated to the emperor’s side.

I was sure the compounding effects of my bad luck and the emperor’s curse would make the next day a terrible one. But my hands were tied. Resigned to my fate, I let out a yawn even though I wasn’t sleepy. The hellish escort job had begun for real.

***

The man had accepted a number of jobs in his life, but none had ever played out like this one had. Whatever was happening, it felt far beyond his comprehension. There had been the monster horde. There had been the corpses of the dragons, most likely dragons that had been summoned by the man’s Relic. Normally, either of those occurrences would have been far enough off course to warrant the operation being canceled.

However, these developments were working in the man’s favor, far more than he ever could have hoped for. Up until now, the imperial guard had formed a tight ring around the emperor. Under no circumstances had the man believed that such an important job would be entrusted to anyone else. And yet, somehow, they would be trading places with the imperial guard.

The man had just been informed that he would be helping guard the emperor. Even he couldn’t stay calm under such bewildering circumstances. When he first heard the news, he struggled to believe his own ears. The Thousand Tricks’s behavior was puzzling. He had abandoned his duty, gone off somewhere, and didn’t even try to offer an excuse for himself. These were all things no hunter should do.

The man had been certain they would be relieved of their duties. After all, they were outsiders, and now their leader had done something that would normally destroy their credibility. It wasn’t like him, but the man had been just a bit relieved when that happened. He thought he’d be able to withdraw from this job. But the results had been the exact opposite of what he expected.

Beneath his hood, the man furrowed his brow. Was the Thousand Tricks some sort of idiot? After watching him, the man never would’ve considered him a threat if not for the rumors of supposed preterhuman artifices.

If they were going to be at the emperor’s side, then the man wouldn’t even need any Relics to assassinate the emperor. Even if the ring around him was solid as stone, they couldn’t defend against an attack from inside their ranks. Taking the emperor’s life and then fleeing wasn’t beyond the man’s capabilities. He was, after all, an expert with spells made for assassinations.

The Thousand Tricks hadn’t figured out the man’s identity. As long as it stayed that way, he had a chance at killing the emperor and making his escape before anyone realized what had happened. There was just one problem: Sir Killigan. That fellow was the only member of the team that was capable of melee combat and was shrouded in mystery.

The man knew the names of just about every famous hunter, but he had never heard of a “Sir Killigan Version Alpha.” But that name was most likely just a pseudonym. The bigger problem was that they were strong enough to mow down frigid dragons with ease.

After casting, there was a moment’s delay before another spell could be cast. Even in that small gap, a skilled warrior could strike multiple times. The man knew the emperor was wearing a Safety Ring, which meant it would take two strikes to kill him. One attack was doable, but getting off a second attack would be next to impossible so long as Sir Killigan was nearby.

As the man considered the situation, there came a small knock at the door. It opened before the man could say anything. In came an old Magus with perfect posture. His gray hair was slicked back and in place of a magic staff he wore magic bracelets on each wrist. It was Telm Apoclys, the Counter Cascade.

Water magic was often derided as being mundane, but he had mastered it to the highest degree. His skills with water magic were unmatched, even in the imperial capital. Some said he was even as powerful as the Abyssal Inferno. But he looked different than usual. He looked grave.

Telm checked their environs before speaking in a low voice. “Kecha, this is urgent. There’s a possibility that the Thousand Tricks is a member of Fox.”

The man, Kechachakka Munk, was entirely caught off guard by this statement. His eyes bulged, he felt like he had been struck by lightning.

“Hee hee?” he said in a small voice.

“You find it surprising? I’m aware that what I’m saying sounds ridiculous. But I can find no other explanation for his odd behavior and the current circumstances.”

The look in Telm’s eyes made it clear that he was completely serious.

“That fellow he brought, Sir Killigan, is most likely a Fox as well,” the water mage continued. “We should have noticed it earlier. It was so obvious we let it slip under our noses. There’s nothing natural about someone who can charge into a horde of monsters while saying ‘Kill, kill!’”

Kechachakka didn’t know what to say.

“Remember, Grieving Souls decimated Serpent, the archrival of Fox. You understand what this means?”

That we need to change plans.

***

There were a number of dangers that had become something like urban legends.

There was the elusive feline phantom that managed to seem like it was everywhere and nowhere; the Tyrant of the Stars, who attacked from beyond the edges of the sky, a realm where no creature could be ferried by wings; the secret society that struck at unsuspecting walkers; the man who spread bad luck just by existing.

Another one of those legends was a roving treasure vault. It had no designated level because it was always on the move, rarely encountered, and those who did find it rarely came back alive. It was called Peregrine Lodge. Not only did it have powers akin to a god, it defied all common logic.

If I seemed unfamiliar with the concept of vigilance, then it was because of my encounter with this treasure vault. Clearing this vault had been beyond our powers. Its master boasted tremendous might and we were still new to hunting at the time. No, that doesn’t matter. Even if we faced that vault with our current power, it would still be hopeless.

That phantom—that amalgamation of mana material that manifested the roving vault—took the shape of a fox.

Just as the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, we reached our stopping point for the day. Our first day at the emperor’s side had gone smoothly. There were no monsters, bandits, or dragons. Even Franz seemed relieved.

“We were graced with a day of nothingness. Sir.”

“Did we get a positive after adding two negatives?” I wondered, perfectly at ease.

“N-No, it’s just that we had two abnormal days!” Kris said in a trembling voice. “Yesterday we had ten times more monsters than guards! Sir!”

“Are Starlight allowed to accept escort quests?”

“I’m going to hit you.”

On the one hand, they’re always belittling humans. On the other, they’re all beautiful. Maybe there are people who hire them.

Franz dispatched a gopher on some minor duty, then turned towards us.

“Hmm. Nothing happened today,” he said, glaring at me. “And nothing was incited.”

“We’re not even halfway done,” I said with a hard-boiled look. “Complacency kills. It’s when you feel safest that you’re the most vulnerable.”

“I already knew that,” he grumbled.

I sighed and looked around the town. It was small but developed. Even in Zebrudia, not every locale was necessarily a prosperous one. I wondered if someone deliberately chose a route that passed through the better-off areas. Then I began to wonder if someone could have used that pattern to deduce our route. Someone could figure out the caravan’s path without even needing to use a spy. It was unusual for me, but I thought hard about this.

But then I noticed something. I saw a sign with the town’s name on it. The name seemed familiar, and eventually I realized where I knew it from. It belonged to a town famous among connoisseurs for its production of amiuz nuts.

Amiuz were a unique variety of nuts. A certain trait of theirs made them unpopular with hunters, but I absolutely loved amiuz cake. They were hard to find in the imperial capital, so I hadn’t had any amiuz nuts in a while. Now that I was in a town famous for them, I wanted to take the opportunity to indulge a bit.

We had already reached the town and the Counter Cascade and Sir Killigan could protect the emperor. So could Kechachakka. Kris...well, I decided to take her with me as my protection.

“Franz, is it okay if I step out for a bit?” I asked in a cheerful voice.

“Hm? Is there something you need to do?”

“Call it a little errand. I won’t be gone long. Besides, Telm and Kechachakka are here, and you can rely on them.”

I had plenty of spending money. Eva and Sitri had made sure of that. Franz grimaced at me, but eventually he let out a sigh.

“Oh, fine. But be quick about it.”

“I will. And thanks.”

“And do something about that flippant outfit!”

There’s nothing I can do. Forgive me.

Perfectly comfortable, I took Kris and stepped out into town.

***

Kechachakka watched him closely. With that very dour Noble Spirit, Kris was her name, at his side, the Thousand Tricks headed off somewhere, still wearing that flippant outfit of his. Kechachakka wanted to follow him, but tailing a Level 8 hunter was beyond the abilities of most Magi.

Today, Kechachakka had elected to not arrange any attacks. He felt it necessary to stop and observe the situation. The notion that the Thousand Tricks was a Fox seemed absurd at first, but this was no laughing matter. In fact, if he was a Fox, then it would help explain his otherwise baffling behavior.

“Hee hee,” he laughed in a quiet voice, a grin on his face.

Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox, also known as “Fox,” was an organization built upon absolute secrecy. Kechachakka was a hunter, but he also butchered the adversaries of Fox. However, even a member like him knew very little about the organization he served. He didn’t know where they were based, how big they were, what the other members got up to, and he certainly didn’t know the faces of his superiors.

The rank of a Fox was symbolized by their tails. Kechachakka was of the fifth tail. The rules of the organization stated that Foxes could know of those of a lower rank, but not of those of a higher rank. For instance, Kechachakka knew about members of the first through fifth tails, but knew nothing of those of the sixth through ninth tails.

During this job, Kechachakka had been contacted by a higher-ranked member. Naturally, Kechachakka reported to them, but that member would pass those reports on to an even higher-ranked Fox.

The Thousand Tricks had evaded every trap laid by Kechachakka so far. At the beginning, the mercenaries he hired hadn’t even shown up. But if the Thousand Tricks knew about the mercs, then stopping them would have been easy for him. Perhaps that farce at the capital gates had been in order to buy time so he could call them off.

This would also explain why everything was defying Kechachakka’s expectations yet still working in his favor. It was all being directed by the Thousand Tricks. The horde of monsters and dragons had all been killed (most likely by the man himself). It was possible that it was all part of a preterhuman artifice to earn the emperor’s trust. And it was much easier to believe that it had been a plot by the Thousand Tricks, not mere coincidence, that resulted in Kechachakka being part of this job.

But if this was the case, then what a horrifyingly clever man he was. The idea had never even occurred to Kechachakka until Telm brought it up. After all, the behavior of the Thousand Tricks was nothing short of clownish.

He dressed in that ridiculous getup that did nothing to suggest he was an escort of the emperor. He had crashed his Flying Carpet and caused their departure to be delayed. He had disappeared without notifying anyone. That man showed no regard for his own mortality. His methods were unthinkable for a cautious assassin like Kechachakka. He wondered, were all the members of Fox’s higher ranks like this?

But Kechachakka was still wracked with uncertainty. The Thousand Tricks was just so natural, so irreverent. There was a good chance he was a Fox, and if that were true then the emperor was as good as dead. Their job would be over soon enough.

What if Telm’s supposition was wrong? Who was really a friend and who was a foe? Telm suspected Sir Killigan was one of their own, but what about Kris? And the Thousand Tricks was an esteemed hunter; that was a valuable asset for a Fox, if he really was one. Was throwing that reputation away by assassinating the emperor really a smart idea? Kechachakka stopped in his tracks, drawing the attention of the knights.

Whatever the case, Telm said he would confirm the matter with the Thousand Tricks. They could wait until after that before they made their move.

“Heh. He he,” Kechachakka laughed as he entered the inn.

***

“So you just wanted to go shopping?!” Kris cried, arms folded. “No words can match my disappointment! Sir!”

I, however, was pretty happy; I had what I wanted. “C’mon, Kris, you’ll just tire yourself out if you don’t relax a bit.”

“I regret my wariness! Sir! Take this job seriously!”

Even after returning to the inn, Kris’s anger remained in full force. Something about that put me at ease. I was older than her, but her Lucia-esque scolding made me feel like I was the younger one.

“Really, you shouldn’t be on edge so much,” I told her. “The best hunters know when to relax, so they can fight with all their energy when they need to.”

“And this is from someone who only relaxes!”

I bet she was so angry because she never ate anything sweet. I pulled out the large bag of amiuz nuts that I had just bought and tossed a few in my mouth. They were addictive. They had a faint but distinct sweetness, and even though they weren’t roasted, they still had a strong aroma. They even had a nice crunchy texture.

Enjoying the nuts, I was about to offer some to Kris, but then I stopped myself. Amiuz nuts had a side effect: they hindered control of mana. Eating them would temporarily prevent someone from casting spells and charging Relics. They didn’t quite make it impossible; they just made it painful. It’s why hunters never ate amiuz nuts.

But that didn’t matter to me, so I munched away.

Irritated, Kris reached into the bag. “At least share them. Sir.” Before I could stop her, she stuffed her cheeks. Her eyes went wide. “Mmm. You humans make decent snacks. Sir.”

Well, maybe it’s fine. I don’t have any Relics that need to be charged tonight.

I gave in and handed the nuts to Kris. I was just worried she wouldn’t leave any room for dinner.

“Not bad at all. Sir,” she said. “I think I recognize this taste. But where— URK?!”

Kris clutched her chest and bent down. Sweat flowed from her forehead and tears from her eyes.

“Urgh. Wh-What did you feed me? My mana circulation, it’s...”

“Th-Those were amiuz nuts.”

“What?! Ack!”

Kris squeezed her eyes shut and trembled. I guess she didn’t even have the strength to argue. Her left arm limply whacked my knees. But I didn’t think she’d die or anything. If those were poisonous to her kind, then she probably would’ve made a bigger deal of it.

Looks like these aren’t good for Noble Spirits. Come to think of it, Lucia had a similar reaction when she ate amiuz long ago. Also, I didn’t feed them to you. You snatched them from my bag.

Then I heard a knock and Telm’s voice.

“Thousand Tricks, I’d like to talk.”

In some ways, this was bad timing, but I thought maybe he would use his magic to produce some water that Kris could drink. I opened the door, and in came Telm and our dubious ally, Kechachakka. Both of them looked very serious.

Telm and Kechachakka made a strange duo. They were both Magi, but an orthodox Magus like Telm seemed like the polar opposite of someone like Kechachakka. But even though I had picked them for the team without any deep consideration, they had turned out to be excellent allies.

But I still needed to curry favor with them. After all, there could yet be more dragons on the horizon.

Telm’s eyes bulged when he saw Kris. “What happened to her?”

“Hm? Oh, her? Just a little accident. Nothing to worry about.”

She was a proud Noble Spirit. She would never allow it to be known that she ate amiuz nuts of her own volition and gave herself a stomachache.

“It’s as the human weakling says,” she groaned while giving me a nasty look. “Don’t worry about it.”

She was still able to act tough, which I took as a sign that she’d probably be fine. But what sad lives Magi must have led if they couldn’t eat amiuz nuts.

I put on a hard-boiled smile. “Is this about the escort shifts?” I asked before they could ask more about Kris. “I was hoping we could continue as planned, with you two teamed up. The imperial guard are doing good work, but I’m not so sure we can leave it all in their hands.”

Pairing Telm and Kechachakka was the result of my very levelheaded judgment. First, I didn’t think I’d be able to learn to communicate with Kechachakka during this job. I also didn’t want to pair him with Sir Killigan, who I still didn’t trust. And Kris was even worse at communication than me. By process of elimination, Kechachakka was put with Telm. An unfortunate side effect of the wall spaghetti method.

“Right, do you want some?”

Telm grimaced when he read the letters printed on the bag I held before him.

“Amiuz nuts hinder the manipulation of mana,” he said in a dour voice. “They’re not something a Magus on an escort job should be eating.”

“Yeah, uh-huh.”

Still clutching her chest, Kris gave me a spiteful glare. But I wasn’t a Magus, so I helped myself to some more amiuz nuts. A Relic-user had no need for mana.

Something Sitri once said was that, “If you really try, you can overcome the mana hindrance inflicted by amiuz nuts. In that regard, you can use amiuz nuts for training your mettle.” Lucia supported this idea. I just liked amiuz nuts because I enjoyed gorging on them.

“So if this isn’t about the shifts, then what is it?” I asked.

Had they come to say they refused to obey a leader like me? If so, I was totally willing to hand the hat off to one of them.

Telm made a grave expression, then whispered to me, almost like he was discussing some secret matter. “Thousand Tricks? You have a tail, don’t you?”

I looked at him with shock. “Huh?” I sputtered.

Telm, however, was dead serious.

Ridiculous. Impossible. Nobody should know about that. Where did they hear about it?

The only people who knew about my tail were the other members of Grieving Souls, and I didn’t think they would leak that. But Telm seemed certain of himself. He probably hadn’t misspoken.

Normally, a human would never have a tail, and there was no way I could convince them they were mistaken. The proverbial cat couldn’t stay in the bag forever. It was possible I had gotten plastered and then blabbed about it at some point or another. But whatever the case, this was troubling. I had wanted to keep the tail a secret.

“Sorry, Kris, but could you step out for a bit? We need to discuss something important.”

Kris seemed confused. I felt bad kicking her out when she was in so much pain, but I didn’t want her to know about this. In a perfect world, Telm or Kechachakka wouldn’t have known about it either.

“Huh?” she said. “What is—urgh.”

“Sorry, but this is a very delicate matter. Remember, I’m in charge for the time being. And I won’t be long.”

“Ugh. I’ll be sure to tell Lucia about this.”

Kris crawled out like a caterpillar.

I’ll have to treat her to something besides amiuz nuts.

I took a deep breath and looked at the two Magi before me.

The tail. To be precise, it wasn’t actually a tail, it was a lunk of living mana material. My encounter with the Peregrine Lodge had ended with my total surrender, but that didn’t mean I left empty-handed. I took one thing away with me. Actually, I didn’t take it, it was shoved off on me.

It was a tail. The thirteenth and final of the aberrant fox’s tails. It was proof that I had entered and survived the Peregrine Lodge. Even though it had been years since it had been severed from that beast, it was no closer to dissipating than when I first obtained it.

We referred to that tail as the “Fox God’s Final Tail.”

***

Kechachakka had no doubts—the Thousand Tricks was a Fox. They had asked him about the presence of his tail, the sign used to recognize fellow members. It was rarely utilized, but if a Fox believed they had met a higher-ranking member, they could use the sign to confirm their suspicions. Foxes, of course, already knew who was beneath them.

After chasing Kris out, the Thousand Tricks held his hands up in surrender.

“I don’t know where you learned that, but, for my sake, I hope you won’t go telling everyone about it,” he said with a smile.

“Did you think it would escape our notice?” Telm asked. “You were far too conspicuous.”

Telm Apoclys was a fearsome man. Through might and prudence, he had earned his level without a doubt. His magic was easily among some of the most impressive spell-casting Kechachakka had ever witnessed. Even a first-rate Shaman like him couldn’t hope to match the Counter Cascade.

Telm focused the mana circulating through his body. He was preparing to strike. On the surface, he looked casual, but as a fellow Magus, Kechachakka could sense his shifting mana and growing wrath.

However, even though he was in danger, the Thousand Tricks appeared even more relaxed than Telm. He almost looked like he didn’t even understand what was happening.

“Aah. Darn. Did I do something conspicuous?” he asked.

“You admit to being a fox?” Telm said.

“Huh? Fox? No, as you can see, I’m human.”

The Thousand Tricks had given the correct response to the signal. What a feat of theatrics it was. Even with all the proof laid out before him, Kechachakka still struggled to see this man as anything more than a benign civilian. He watched as a troubled smile formed on the man’s lips.

In a low voice, Telm continued his questioning. “Which tail is yours?”

“Huh? Oh, the thirteenth, I guess.”

Kechachakka’s eyes threatened to bulge from their sockets. At last, Telm failed to keep his expression neutral. The highest rank in Fox was the ninth tail. There was no thirteenth. Kechachakka was stricken with confusion, but Telm pressed on.

“That’s absurd. There are only nine tails,” he said in a rumbling voice.

“Huh? Oh. More were grown, you see. They’re a product of culminated power and all. Ah, I hadn’t realized you didn’t know that.”

If he was telling the truth, then they were astronomically outranked by this twenty-year-old young man before them. He didn’t seem to be lying, and they hadn’t heard any news of the signal being leaked.

Kechachakka had had his suspicions, but having them confirmed left him terrified. What sort of talent and genius was necessary to reach the top of Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox at such a young age? Climbing so high in the ranks of such a secretive organization must have been far more difficult than reaching Level 8.

“Is Kris involved in this?”

“No, it’s got nothing to do with her.”

“Hmm. Well then, would you care to show us your tail?” Telm asked. The Counter Cascade was of the seventh tail, lower than the Thousand Tricks, but he said this without even flinching.

The Thousand Tricks blinked, then gave a dopey laugh. “Sorry, I can’t show you right now.” This was the correct answer. “My little sister’s holding on to it for me.”

His little sister?

***

What a strange and incomprehensible exchange this has been.

“Tell us of your plan,” Telm demanded.

I guess he was ready to move on from the tail. I was wondering if it had something to do with the “Fox” Telm had attacked the other day. Whatever his reasons, I had learned that Telm also owned a tail. The seventh, apparently. I decided not to pursue it though. If I had been given a tail, then there was nothing strange about someone else having one. And supposedly these tails were pretty useful for Magi like him.

But if Telm said there were only nine tails, then he must have gotten his before we did. But that raised the question: just how old was this guy? I was pretty sure that that aberrant fox said they had grown their thirteenth tail around one hundred years ago.

“It hasn’t changed from earlier,” I said. “The divisions will stay the same, and we’ll follow Franz’s orders.”

“Can Sir Killigan be trusted?”

Telm looked serious. He hadn’t been letting it show, but I guess Sir Killigan had been bothering him.

“That one? Sir Killigan’s a suspicious one all right, but it’s fine. I’m in control.”

Now where did that controller go?

Well, I didn’t need it. I figured Killigan would be fine on Autonomous Action Mode if Sitri trusted me with it.

“There’s no need to worry,” I continued. “I don’t think anything will be happening soon.”

I heard Kechachakka chuckling.

“If we have any problems, it’ll be after we take to the sky.”

“Hm.” Telm nodded. “Very well.”

Now that I knew that a tail had been thrust onto him as well, I think I felt a bit closer to the old Magus. I began to think that maybe if I became friends with him, he might quell the grudge that pyromaniac lady had with me. But maybe that was wishful thinking.

“You showed me some extraordinary magic back there. I’ll leave the fighting to you,” I said to Telm. “You’re probably even stronger than the Abyssal Inferno.”

“Rose lacks subtlety, but we simply excel in different respects.”

“And you’re not half bad either, Kechachakka,” I said while trying to be as hard-boiled as I could. “I’ll be counting on you out there. Those are hexes, right? Really let loose with those.”

Kechachakka nodded vigorously. It seemed he was a better fellow than his appearance suggested. I wished Liz and some of my other friends could be as cooperative as him.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re the best there is. A job like this should be no problem for us. Let’s give ’em hell.”

I nodded then, getting carried away, threw my arms in the air.

It had been nearly five years since I had taken up the perilous trade of treasure hunting. Overcoming a wide range of ordeals taught me that what a hunter needed the most were comrades, ones that you could rely on and put your faith in.

After developing a deeper bond with Telm and Kechachakka, the next few days went so smoothly I had to wonder if someone somewhere was making a mistake. Maybe my negative luck really had added with the negative luck of the emperor and resulted in a positive.

Following our bonding, Abyssal Spaghetti (as I called us) operated flawlessly. If any monsters approached us, they were taken care of in an instant. From my perspective, our team was beyond reproach. I stuck near the carriage and pretended to be the last line of defense, and Abyssal Spaghetti was so efficient that we actually got away with it.

Most deserving of praise was the magic of Kechacha—no, it was Telm, the Counter Cascade. Perhaps it was only normal for someone of his stature, but watching him up close made it clear to me just how exceptional he was. I could tell after having watched Lucia’s varied and diverse spellcasting.

It wasn’t his strength that floored me, it was that—compared to Lucia—he was quiet. Telm could cast spells almost instantly. I got the impression his bracelets helped with this, but it was still astounding. This was undeniably a useful talent and something to be lauded but the more I witnessed it, the more it scared me.

Not that he struck me as the sort to do such a thing, but he could’ve easily murdered the emperor if he wanted to. Was there no sane person in all of Hidden Curse?! He was overpowered, but, unlike the pyromaniac lady, he wasn’t overwrought.

We hadn’t had any trouble keeping our schedule, and tomorrow we would reach the town where we would transfer to an airship. I headed to my inn room. The day had passed without me doing anything in particular, but I was still worn out. With nice accommodations and delicious food, I halfway felt like I was on vacation. But no matter how comfortable I was, I couldn’t avoid fatigue, which was a basic fact of life.

The worst was that because I didn’t have the ever-reliable Sitri with me, I had to personally answer any summons. I wanted to put Telm in charge of everything, but if I overworked him, then there was no telling what the Abyssal Inferno might have to say about it.

I sighed, unlocked the door, and entered my room. I was one of those people who liked to give their inn room an inspection before doing anything else. I didn’t do it for security reasons or anything, it was just a habit of mine. I casually opened the closet and Liz grinned and waved at me from inside it. Compelled by instinct, I closed the door. Then I took a deep breath.

Inns these days sometimes come with really tasteless decor.

The next moment, the door burst open and a girl with pink hair and tan skin flew out. Laughing all the while, Liz knocked me onto the bed while I unsuccessfully tried to grasp the situation. I felt my body sinking into the soft mattress.

“Wh-Why are you here?” I managed to ask her.

“I thought you might be lonely! So here I am!” she said while rubbing her head against my chest.

In other words, she had no reason. Still, I wasn’t going to complain.

“I’m glad to see you, but you shouldn’t be here,” I said as I gently ran a hand through her hair.

I hadn’t made up for all my other failures so far, and Franz still didn’t trust me. That situation probably would only get worse if someone found me with a friend that I had supposedly left behind. Don’t get me wrong, I really was glad to see her. If she had come later in the night, I could’ve been available to her, but I still had things to do and having Liz would only make things worse.

Liz, however, didn’t listen to me and just snuggled against me like a wolf who hadn’t played with her master in a long time. Her hair smelled nice, making me think she had showered before I had arrived.

Then, with the worst timing possible, there was a knock at the door.

“Human weakling! Come on out. I’d like to get your charging out of the way! Sir! And then if I could have some of those amiuz nuts. Sir.”

The Carpet twirled around, almost like he was exasperated. At that moment, I became very grateful he couldn’t talk. But that didn’t change the fact that Kris might see us. She wasn’t the type to try, or want to try, reading between the lines. I pushed Liz off me and got up, then grabbed a bedsheet and threw it over her.

At almost the exact same moment, the door flung open before I could say anything. Looking displeased, Kris took a step in, then saw me and the writhing bundle of bedsheets next to me. Her eyes bulged and she sputtered with confusion.

“G-Got it. I’ll leave it to you,” I said to Bedsheet Liz. “Now, return to where you belong.”

Luckily, it seemed our brief contact had been enough to satisfy her to a degree. She nodded, and while still writhing in a manner, she headed to the window and unlocked it with her sheet-covered hands. Without saying anything to Kris, she jumped out the window and floated down. We were on the inn’s third floor, but that wasn’t enough to hurt Liz.

I closed the window and made sure to lock it tight. Taking a deep breath, I faced Kris again and saw her standing still as a statue.

“Sorry, sorry. You mentioned charging?” I said, smiling like absolutely nothing had happened.

“Wh-What was that? Sir.”

“Today was an easy day, so it’s just the Carpet and my shirt that need charging. Oh, and you mentioned the amiuz nuts, right? But are you sure about those? They seem to hit you real hard.”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have told her about how they could be used for training. All hunters had a competitive streak somewhere in them. I grabbed the bag and helped myself to a few handfuls. Perhaps because I was panicking internally, I couldn’t taste a thing.

Kris strode right up to me and grabbed my collar. She furrowed her brow and shook me back and forth. “Excuse me? Is this a joke at my expense? Do you really expect me to be fooled?! Sir?! I’m asking you what that was, so out with it! Sir!”

“Aah. Ha ha ha. It was one of those. You don’t know them? That was a, uh, a sheetwraith.”

“D-Damn you! Would you try that excuse on the emperor?! Sir?!”

You’re not wrong. You’re perfectly—urk—right. I’m not trying to fool you, honestly. It’s just that there’s nothing I can say.

As I let myself be rattled about, Telm and Kechachakka dashed into the room.

“Has something happened?!” he yelled. When he saw Kris, his expression instantly darkened and he raised an arm.

“Telm, this human weakling was talking with some stranger! Sir!” Kris cried in a shrill voice. “He’s definitely up to some shenanigans that he’s not telling us about!”

Telm didn’t respond.

“We’re his party members for the time being, so he owes us an explanation! Sir!” Kris continued. “If nothing else, he shouldn’t be acting on his own during an escort job!”

Her words stung, because she was completely right. If it was just her, I might’ve considered offering an explanation, but I didn’t want Telm and Kechachakka knowing about Liz.

Oh, what do I do?

Red with anger, Kris let me go and told Telm and Kechachakka what she had seen. All the while, the Counter Cascade looked at me dubiously. It could’ve been my imagination, but Kechachakka seemed exasperated. There really wasn’t anything I could say in my defense. But, hey, Kris was a fellow clan member. Why didn’t she back me up?

“Hm. I understand now,” Telm said once Kris had finished. “That was indeed a, erm, sheetwraith.”

I hadn’t expected covering fire from Telm. The look on his face was one I had never seen from him. If I had to describe it, “uncomfortable” is the word I’d use.

Kris looked briefly taken aback before going at Telm. “What?! Are you out of your waterlogged mind?! Sir?! How do you even end up at a conclusion like that?!”

“C-Calm yourself, Kris. They are truly rare, but there are tales of such specters. I will not deny the plausibility. I take it you are in agreement, Kecha? Kecha?”

“Hee. Hee hee hee. Hee hee.”

Kechachakka slowly nodded his head up and down, going along with Telm’s nonsense. He was definitely my favorite of all the suspicious yet cooperative people I knew.

“What’s up with you three?!” Kris stomped on the ground and tears formed at the edges of her finely shaped eyes. “Am I being mocked?! Do you really think a rare sheetwraith would appear in a luxury inn?! If you do, then try telling Franz about it! Sir!”

“W-We’re not lying to you. Isn’t that so, Thousand Tricks?”

“Er, not quite.”

“Huh?!”

I felt bad throwing Telm and Kechachakka under the bus like that, but I couldn’t keep this story up. If I tried to convince Franz that that was a sheetwraith, then he’d probably wallop me. So I folded my arms and nodded while I thought up a new excuse.

“The truth is,” I said, “that was an elemental at my command. As a precaution, I ordered it to look around the town.”

“An elemental?!” Kris looked at me with partial disbelief. “You can use magic despite your lack of mana, sir?”

My priority was just moving away from the sheetwraith, so I just said whatever came to mind. “Sorry for not being honest about it, but I like to keep it a secret. I’m no Magus, but I do have a few oddball spells at my disposal.”

This should at least be more believable than the sheetwraith. Kris was—according to Sitri—very gullible.

“If that’s true, then what sort of elemental was it?” she asked, her voice much calmer than before.

“Uhh, a bedsheet elemental?”

I could tell this wasn’t going to work. Of course it wouldn’t, there was no such thing as a bedsheet elemental. I knew my status as a Level 8 wouldn’t work on a Noble Spirit, so I just accepted defeat.

“I don’t believe for a se—”

Kris’s shrill voice was cut off by a call from outside the room. That voice belonged to Franz. Kris shut her mouth, showing that she still had the sense to not argue in front of our employer. I was relieved, I felt like I had been saved by divine intervention.

Franz looked to be in a very bad mood when he entered my room. So bad that he might cut me down if I started talking about sheetwraiths or elementals.

“His Imperial Majesty requests your presence,” he brusquely informed me. “It appears he wants to talk to you. I take it you have no problems with that?”

Rodrick Atolm Zebrudia hardly needs any introduction. He stood at the zenith of the Zebrudian empire and was the genius behind its prosperity. Zebrudia was ruled by an absolute monarchy, making any singular hunter nothing more than a leaf in the wind before the might of the emperor.

As a treasure hunter’s level increased, they often found themselves interacting with the nobility. There were even some families, like the Rodins, who had long supported the emperor and were granted audiences with the emperor. I, however, was a coward who tried to avoid dealing with the nobility at all costs.

When Franz called me, I felt a pain deep in my gut. I had experiences interacting with bigwigs, such as at the Gathering of the White Blade, but I was by no means used to it. I tried to humbly and indirectly turn down Franz’s orders, but he glared at me like I was scum.

“Just come already,” he said.

What did I even do? Oh, maybe he’s mad because I haven’t done anything. Man, these amiuz nuts sure are tasty.

“Fine,” I said. “But I’m taking my team with me. Is that okay?”

“No. His Imperial Majesty only summoned you.”

I was supposed to do this alone? Did they want me to die? I didn’t plan on screwing up or anything, but I didn’t like the idea of having nobody to back me up if I made a faux pas.

I stood my ground. “No. I won’t go without my team.”

“You don’t need to protect our feelings or anything,” Kris said. “Now, go. Sir.”

No, that’s not it.

Kris was getting the wrong idea. I wasn’t protecting their feelings, I wanted to make them miserable with me. And if anything related to our job came up, Telm was far more qualified to be making decisions.

“They can be trusted,” I assured Franz. “Check if His Imperial Majesty is okay with this.”

“Demands from a mere hunter?” Franz grumbled as he stomped off.

Any breaches of etiquette that I made would surely be overlooked if I was with Kechachakka and Kris. There was clearly something up with the former, and the latter had no respect for the title of emperor.

“Why can’t you just cooperate?” Kris asked in an exasperated voice. “The only thing Level 8 about you is your audaciousness. Sir.”

She was the last person who should be lecturing me about cooperation. And my audaciousness was entirely average.

I nodded and shrugged. Words were cheap, so I just said, “I believe in saying what I think is right, regardless of who I’m talking to, and that’s all I did back there. A clan master needs to stick to what they believe in.”

Franz’s irritation was clear as day. He was leading me—and my team, of course—to the emperor’s suite.

“Hmm. Even among human nations, it takes someone magnanimous to lead an empire as large as Zebrudia,” Kris said.

“But let me be clear,” Franz warned, “if you say anything untoward, you’ll pay the price.”

“Hmph. Shouldn’t you say that to the weakling, not me?”

“That was directed at both of you!”

I heard Kechachakka chuckling.

I’m the only one who seems at all nervous. Do these guys realize it’s the emperor we’re going to see? Did that somehow slip by them?

I had my whole team, except Sir Killigan, at my side, but I still felt incredibly isolated. Maybe competent people like them weren’t as easily intimidated.

We bowed to the knights outside the door, then entered once we had permission. The emperor was seated, looking solemn and proud, surrounded by stony-faced knights. He looked at us with a piercing gaze. His austere demeanor made him look as much a sovereign as any human could. I was sure that if I were to use my lauded groveling skills before him, it would make for a fine image. Next to the emperor was someone with a strikingly different appearance. It was the imperial princess, who looked incredibly nervous.

The emperor looked at Franz, then at me, before nodding. “Thank you, Franz,” he said in a clear voice. “And welcome, valiant hunters. I thank you for accepting my quest.”

This was a kinder treatment than I had expected. It seemed we hadn’t been called to receive a scolding. I corrected my posture, moving out of my pre-groveling position.

“I would like to take this chance to talk to you all,” the emperor continued. “I wanted to talk on the first day of our trip, but the circumstances never permitted it.”

“We hardly deserve such kindness, Your Imperial Majesty,” I replied.

But it’s not like I particularly wanted to talk to you.

I was trying to keep my words to a minimum, so Franz cleared his throat and spoke up. “The situation may have subsided for the time being, but it’s nonetheless hard to believe the number of monsters we’ve encountered on the highway. Today we encountered as many as five large hordes of monsters. We haven’t spotted any Foxes since the frigid dragon incident, but His Imperial Majesty is concerned that might be a sign of something greater on the horizon.”

Franz, what are you talking about?

Sure, dragons were abnormal, but five attacks in a day was on the small side. And none of those hordes had more than one hundred monsters, so they were medium or small hordes, not large.

None of those monsters had been exceptionally strong, and the hordes had proven no trouble, so it was almost no different than encountering nothing at all. Of course, if I had been alone, I would’ve been dead in an instant. But Franz was a noble, so maybe he didn’t know much of the real world?

I was an adult, so I just smiled and said, “I don’t think this warrants concern. I wouldn’t call this a sign of anything. Everything so far can be attributed to bad luck, and even if we see ten times as many monsters tomorrow, I think we’re equipped to deal with the threat.”

All the knights twitched when I said “ten times as many.” That might have sounded like a lot, but it really wasn’t. For a first-rate Magus like Telm, one hundred monsters was hardly any different than one monster. But I’d die in an instant if I had to fight that many.

“You’re every bit as confident as the rumors suggested,” the emperor said.

“I have my excellent party to thank for that,” I replied.

I glanced at those members. Telm was composed, Kecha was his usual self, and Kris was silent, but just a bit exasperated. Needless to say, my party was the only thing about me that could be described as excellent.

“Surely it’s more than that,” the emperor said as a small smile crept up on his lips. “Not much has reached my ears, but I have heard rumors. I understand your fight against the frigid dragons was hardly your first contribution to the empire.”

“Those really are rumors and nothing more. I haven’t done a thing.”

Even though I was trying to refute his suggestions, there was a dull glimmer in the emperor’s eyes. It seemed he didn’t believe me. To be fair, the truth was that on the official records, a portion of my friends’ accomplishments appeared to be my own.

“For instance, I heard you recently turned all of Bandit Squad Barrel into frogs. Is that true?”

“Er, well, it’s not a lie.”

I was useless during that. I hadn’t even known why they were attacking until the whole affair was settled.

“That’s hardly an enthusiastic response. Do you object to the rumors?”

Oh, how am I supposed to answer that?

“No,” I mumbled after some deliberation. “It’s just that the spell also affected some hunters. That caused us a bit of trouble.”

“What? Even hunters were affected?”

At some point, everyone had become engrossed in our conversation. Even the emperor’s daughter looked amazed.

“Uh, that’s correct.” I shrunk back a bit. “Of course, we made sure they were returned to their original forms. That spell was crafted to be non-lethal.”

I was told Rhuda and whoever else had been taken care of and nobody had been overlooked. If there had been, Earl Gladis probably would have heard about it. If nobody was complaining, then there probably wasn’t anything wrong.

The emperor, meanwhile, roared with laughter like this tale was amusing or something. “Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful, Thousand Tricks. You’re as fascinating as the rumors led me to believe.”

I groaned. What are people saying about me now? What a pain. Once the exaggerations start, they’re hard to stop.

The emperor nodded, then threw me a curveball. “I must admit, I’ve always wanted to witness those famous powers of yours. Show me how you manipulate magic to transform someone into a frog.”

Huh? No, hold on. That was Lucia’s doing. Wait, do people think I did that?

Kris was quite amused by my panicking.

“Hmph, it’s an absurd story and I’ve never heard of a spell like that,” she said. “But I’m sure that if you can command a bedsheet elemental, turning someone into a frog should be no problem. Sir.”

“Fascinating. Please, offer me a glimpse of the powers of a Level 8.”

I heard Kechachakka laughing. The Delinquent Carpet was clapping encouragingly. I was a man without allies. Why were they so certain I could cast that spell? I refused to believe they couldn’t tell how low my mana material was. I had next to nothing. It had been some time since I had picked up anything heavier than a fork. Were they bullying me?

Look at them. It’s too late for me to tell them I can’t do it. But I have to say it. I’m the master of excuses, and it’s time to prove it!

“Turning people into frogs is inhumane,” I said. “The previous situation didn’t leave any alternat—”

“I care not,” the emperor cut in. “Now do it. The spell can be undone, can it not?”

I needed a moment to think up something new. “My control over the spell is still lacking. The fact that those hunters were also affected is proof—”

“I care not. Do it.”

Rodrick looked dead serious. Did he genuinely believe I could turn people into frogs? What a joke. But I felt numerous sets of eyes fixated on me, so I braced myself and did what I could.

“W-Well, if you insist,” I said. “The spell only works under ideal circumstances, and even then its success rate is maybe ten percent. My stomach doesn’t feel so great, so I’m not sure I’ll have any success. Really, I’d say there’s a ninety-nine percent chance of failure—”

“If your stomach hurts, it’s probably because of those amiuz nuts you’ve been inhaling,” Kris interjected. “Now hurry up and do it. Sir.”

I don’t see what else I can do. With this many excuses laid down, nobody can accuse me of being a fraud, so let’s just give it a go.

My lips twisted into a partial smile and I snapped my fingers, just like Lucia would. “Kris, become a frog!”

Not that that’s going to do anything.

I couldn’t use magic. I was generally untalented, but magic was an area in which I was exceptionally untalented. Both my lack of mana and the Magus in my hometown could testify to this.

Nobody said anything. Not Franz, not the emperor, not Kris.

“Preposterous,” Telm whispered. His eyes were opened as wide as they could go. “Thousand Tricks, what have you done?”

That was the question on my mind. I felt like I was in a nightmare. There was a frog where the emperor had been sitting. There was a frog where Franz had been standing. There was a chorus of croaking frogs where the imperial guard had been standing. The only one unaffected was a screaming woman who I believed to be the imperial guard’s top Magus. I turned around and saw a silver frog where Kris had been standing. She was quivering, but once our eyes met, the small frog hopped onto my leg.

I was so confused I went full circle and became calm again.

These frogs. They’re not the tree frogs from last time. They’re bullfrogs.

“At least Telm and Kechachakka are fine,” I said.

“Hee hee?! Hee hee?!”

“I thought you had just eaten amiuz nuts! This shouldn’t be possible! And what of your mana?”

My throat was dry. I tried taking a few deep breaths, and doing so helped me grasp the situation.

Huh? Could it be? Did my magic talents bloom overnight?

Kris would often tell me that because Lucia was my sister, I could develop some skills if I just applied myself (Lucia, as a reminder, is not related to me by blood). Had things finally started to change for the better?

I heard the imperial frog princess ribbiting. If my talents had bloomed, it was too early to be celebrating. Frog Franz and the imperial frog guard let out a symphony of protests. Only the frog emperor maintained his solemn dignity. His frog form had golden skin, a remnant of his human visage.

So these are my true powers, I told myself as I wore a nihilistic smile, all in an attempt to avoid the reality before me.

“Looks like I’m the better of the two siblings,” I said. “Mana means nothing to a true Magus.”

(Total bullshit, by the way.)

“Is now the time for that?!” the Magus from the imperial guard stammered. She seemed to be panicking, which was a perfectly normal reaction to seeing all your comrades turned into frogs.

But hadn’t the emperor been wearing a Safety Ring? Had I bypassed it? Many a true word is spoken in jest, as they say.

“Didn’t I tell you?” I said. “My control over the spell is still lacking.”

“Revert them!” the Magus cried. “Revert them this instant!”

What a great idea that was. The only issue was that I had no idea how.

“Uh, reverse!” I screamed, but nothing happened. I must have been really fretting, because then I had an auditory hallucination.

“That’s impossible!”

It sounded like Lucia.

The situation was bleak. At this rate, I was going to be charged with the unprecedented crime of regicide via frog spell. I desperately tried to remember how we undid the spell last time.

“Oh, that’s right,” I said, pressing my fist against my palm. “Now I remember. We just squash them.”

With much ruckus, the frogs were all turned back to humans. Fortunately, it appeared the spell I had cast was the same as Lucia’s. Perhaps one glance had been all my instincts needed to process and learn the spell. If my magic talents had finally awakened, it was happening a bit too fast.

After squashing a number of frogs, Franz pointed an angry finger at me. His face was red with rage. “Your Imperial Majesty, I cannot bear this man’s insolence any longer! He needs to be removed at once! Even without him, the imperial guard and the Counter Cascade are more than enough to protect you!”

“Oh, good idea,” I said.

“B-be quiet! What are you trying to do?!”

“I understand your anger, Franz, but please calm yourself,” the emperor placated.

No, it’s fine. Get rid of me, I don’t want to be here anyways. Look, even Princess Murina is afraid of me.

“This man turned you and the imperial princess into frogs!” Franz protested. “He insisted that it would be disrespectful if he were to crush you two, and forced the task onto me, saying it would be fine if I did it. But I couldn’t disagree more!”

“You did what needed to be done, and it was I who told the Thousand Tricks to cast the spell.”

“I refuse to believe that that was the only way! This man is making a mockery of the empire!”

“N-No, I’m not,” I argued.

“Silence! You’re not even dressed appropriately for this job!”

Franz was losing his mind. But I don’t see why he had to bring up my shirt again. He stood directly in front of me, looking down at my face. I looked up and saw a vein bulging on his forehead.

“Once this is over and we’ve returned to the capital, I’ll make sure you pay for this!” he roared.

“I-I’m really sorry that this happened. And I did warn you that I can’t control the spell very well.”

“Quiet! You shouldn’t have been able to use magic at all after eating something that hinders mana manipulation!”

If they understood that, yet still made me use the spell, then all I could do was shrug. In a mocking gesture, the Carpet did the same. What a cute fellow.

“You’ve also upset Her Imperial Highness!”

“N-No, she was always like—never mind.”

Kris was also completely pissed off. The blood had drained from her face, and she was trembling like she was struggling to contain her anger. I said I was sorry. Even I hadn’t expected I would actually cast a spell.

“Nonetheless,” the emperor said, clearing his throat and glancing at his daughter, “this is no time to be fighting among ourselves. The Tears have already certified the Thousand Tricks’s innocence. I think Murina is much safer with him around.”

“Wow,” I said. “You’ll forgive just about— Ah! Didn’t mean to say that.”

Franz let out a voiceless scream. Murina hung her head. But it looked like I hadn’t been fired just yet. What a lenient fellow the emperor was.

The moment we returned to my room, Kris gave me an earful. I guess not everyone could be as forgiving as the emperor.

“I can’t believe you! Do you have it out for me?! Sir?!”

“Now, now. I’m just glad the spell was undone.”

“Was there a possibility that it wouldn’t be undone?!”

“Oh, maybe a five percent chance,” I said, throwing out a wild guess.

Kris visibly recoiled.

As I thought about it, I realized my blossoming talents meant I might be able to go on adventures with the rest of Grieving Souls. The thought of that made me very happy.

I noticed a pitcher on the desk. “Here, calm down and have a sip of water. Oh, why don’t I turn this water into wine? It shouldn’t be too hard if I can turn people into frogs.”

“That’s impossible!”

The Lucia in my head refuted the idea. I cleared my throat and heeded her warning. I could never go against my sister.

“Just kidding,” I told Kris. “Of course I can’t turn water into wine. Orange juice, however—”

“Impossible!”

“I’m only joking. Magic’s got its limits.”

“After all my help, you just make fun of me,” Kris bristled, tears in her eyes. “That’s it, I’m going to bed! Do as you please! Sir!”

And with that, she stomped out of my room.

“I’m retiring as well!” said the Lucia in my head. “Turning water into wine is impossible. Just do what you like. Good night!”

I wasn’t trying to make them angry or anything. Darn. I’ll apologize to her tomorrow. And what’s with these auditory hallucinations?!

Once Kris was gone, Telm and Kechachakka arrived. My room was a real hot spot. However, I was ready to go to bed after such a hectic evening. Having turned the emperor into a frog and all, I could hardly say it had been an easy day for me. But experience had taught me how to keep my weariness from showing on my face.

“What happened back there?!” Telm said immediately. His face was graver than I had ever seen it.

I guess he wasn’t a fan of seeing the emperor turned into a frog. Okay, I’m not sure anybody would be. Sorry.

“It just sort of happened,” I said. “I didn’t mean to turn him into a frog.”

“What are you trying to do? Please, explain your plan to us.”

“Plan? The plan is to follow the emperor’s orders. We’re just his hired guards.”

Something about this was off. Our job was to secure the emperor’s path; I didn’t plan on having involvement in the planning.

Telm calmed himself. “But that was a perfect opportunity,” he said in a small voice. “You turned the emperor and his retinue into frogs.”

I had no clue what he was getting at. He had said “a perfect opportunity,” so maybe he was trying to say that we could’ve traveled faster if we carried the frogs? He may have seemed sane, but he was still the right hand of the Abyssal Inferno. In my head, I changed his danger rating from a D to an A.

“You have a point,” I told him, “but I didn’t think it good to keep him like that. As I’ve said before, that was a mere coincidence. Besides, one of them remained unaffected by the spell, remember?”

“Yes, but still...” Telm trailed off.

He seemed dissatisfied, but I wasn’t going to budge. You can’t forget that people are still people. If we transported the emperor as a frog, word of it might slip out. Once that happened, it didn’t matter if we had succeeded as escorts, there would be no place left for us in the empire.

“You have to consider what will follow this job,” I explained. “For now, we’ll follow Franz’s plans. I don’t think anything will happen on the ground, but the air might prove to be a problem. Prepare as thoroughly as you can.”

“I see now,” Telm said with a nod. It sounded like he had regained his sanity. “You’re right, it would be unnatural if it was finished here. But what sort of preparations are we to make?”

“Hm? I’ll leave that to you. I trust both of you, and I have my own preparation to make.”

“Understood.”

I heard Kechachakka chuckling. I felt I had gotten through to him. I was sure that “Hee hee hee” was one of agreement.

When those two left, my room was quiet once again. So far the journey had been a smooth one, but this was where things would get tricky. Airborne travel was dangerous. Up there, fleeing wasn’t an option, and you could crash. Even if you survived a crash, there was still a good chance you would be stranded somewhere remote.

But now I had a countermeasure. I looked up at my Flying Carpet; it was hovering nearby, needlessly expending mana. Night Hiker, the Relic I had used in White Wolf’s Den, had the drawback of only working at night. But this fellow was different.

“Let’s get along,” I said with a smile. “We can fly through the sky together!”

The Carpet abruptly shifted from his lazy hovering to an intense charge. He slammed into me, causing me to roll across the floor and hit my head on the wall. There went another Safety Ring. Did the Carpet have a grudge against me? At this point, he had done more damage to me than Arnold had.

I needed time to practice. Three days at least. I rolled over onto the thick, not violent carpet on the floor and thought about it. I was fairly certain we were ahead of schedule, so I considered asking Franz for a brief delay.

The next day, we arrived in one of the largest cities in the empire, Vettant. It was a metropolitan area, comparable to the imperial capital. The ramparts were sturdy, the town was clean, and, unless I was mistaken, even the people were finely outfitted. To top it all off, this city had the only airship port in Zebrudia.

As their name suggested, airships were ships that could fly. I didn’t know how they flew without using Relics, but apparently it was some combination of applied science and magic. I found it incredibly interesting.

But before we could take off, we had to make sure everything was safe and secure. Franz seemed to be relieved that we hadn’t been attacked all day, so I bowed and asked for some extra time. My goal was to be able to at least rescue the emperor, should we begin to crash. My team could take care of themselves; they were Magi, after all. So would Franz; he was of the imperial guard, after all.

I insisted that this delay was for the sake of the journey but didn’t offer any specifics. Franz didn’t seem at all interested in granting my wish, but then the emperor intervened.

“I see no harm in it, Franz. We have time, and Murina’s tired from the long journey.”

“But, You Imperial Majesty, it’s dangerous to stay too long in one place. Fox could strike at any—”

“It’s better than getting attacked in the air,” I interrupted without meaning to.

“Who?! Who would attack us in the sky?! And why aren’t you already prepared?”

Oh, there’s plenty of possibilities. 

I didn’t buy the idea that our enemies could manipulate dragons, but if our enemies really could do that, then an airship would be a floating coffin. It was hard to imagine that that fox phantom could fly, but being what it was, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it proved me wrong. Simply being on the ground made the city the safer of the two options.

The emperor groaned. “We’ve already fended them off once,” he said chidingly. “We can deal with them as long as we put our minds to it. I’m much more concerned about what might happen if we take off without adequate preparations.”

I didn’t quite get why, but it looked like the emperor was on my side. Praise be the power of Level 8. Franz glared at me spitefully. Being a noble must’ve been tough.

“Be grateful for His Imperial Majesty’s magnanimity. I’ll give you three days, nothing more. Now go, don’t waste a single moment!”

***

Everyone was gathered in a luxury inn that catered to hunters.

“It’s been some time since this has happened, but Krai is making a multi-day adjustment,” Sitri said with a serious look on her face. “He plans to make his move soon. Everyone, prepare as thoroughly as you can.”

A roar of excitement reverberated through the room.

***

After I bowed before her, Kris agreed to charge my Relics. She got angry and told me not to dip my head so easily. She was the one who labeled me a “human weakling” but I guess she didn’t want me acting too weak.

I left Telm in charge of the emperor and went off in search of a training ground. I found the largest one I could and rented the entire thing for myself. I didn’t want to share because of the hazards involved when flying the Carpet, more for my weight than my nonexistent strength. If the Carpet sent me flying and I collided with someone, my Safety Rings would keep me unharmed, but the other party could get injured. Hunters had in fact been killed by Night Hiker, which flew at similar speeds.

There was something overwhelming about the empty training ground. Hitting the dirt floor headfirst could easily be fatal. The sturdy metal walls had no cushioning to soften any collisions. Like a hunter preparing for a decisive battle, I glared at the Carpet, who was casually sauntering around.

“Perhaps I should leave?” Kris suggested.

“Hm? What for?”

“Well, er, you can learn a lot by watching someone train. I’m sure even you have some techniques you don’t want anyone else knowing about. Sir.”

What a good girl she was. But she was worrying over nothing. I had no problems being watched! And if Kris left, then who would charge my Carpet, shirt, and Safety Rings?

Kris tilted her head towards a man who was clad entirely in black and laughing suspiciously. “I don’t know why he came along, but maybe I should also take Kecha with me?”

“No, I don’t mind if you two are here,” I told her. “Though I don’t really think there will be anything worth seeing. It’ll be dangerous, so just stand back a bit. Today”—I put emphasis on this part—“I’m going to go all out!”

Kris was taken aback.

Even I could succeed when I put my mind to it. I took deep breaths and stretched my arms and legs. The Delinquent Carpet’s expression was calm (not that he actually had a face), but I was about to change that, for I was a man who had managed to tame the deadly Night Hiker. Of course, if not for my Safety Rings, I would’ve been another one of its victims.

The Delinquent Carpet waved his right hand as though telling me to bring it on. I clenched my fists.

Maybe these violent tendencies make him more valuable than a normal Flying Carpet?

As I rushed at the Carpet, I let out a yell that even I’ll admit was pathetic. My right hand grabbed one of his corners. He rocketed into the air and I hit the ceiling, dying upon impact.

“What’s the point of this, human weakling? That Carpet is clearly defective. Sir.”

“You won’t get anywhere no matter how much time you spend on this. Sir. What do you even plan to use this Carpet for?”

“Remember, I’m the one who has to keep charging your Relics! Just give up! Or at least do your own charging! Sir!”

“J-Just give up! Sir! Why do you look like you’re having fun?!”

“Hah. Please. Put yourself in my shoes. Sir. Haven’t you had enough?! I’m sure everyone nearby is sick of hearing you banging and clanging around!”

“G-Give up. Quit already. Aah. Let’s save it for tomorrow. I’m going to rest. Sir.”

“Hah. Aaah. Aaaugh.”

The Carpet was formidable. He was so formidable, that by the end of the day, Kris was flat on the floor. I was able to get a grip on the Carpet, but most of the time I was thrown off, or instead flung against the floor or a wall. And then I would die.

Kris looked like she was approaching her limit. She was already curled up on the ground like she was about to draw her final breaths. But she was fine, nobody ever died from expending too much mana. And Noble Spirits regenerated mana very quickly. I moved Kris somewhere out of the way, then looked at the Carpet.

“Damn. You think I’m gonna give up that easily?” I said.

As though asking for a hug, the Carpet spread his arms (I guess you can call them that) out wide. I dove at him and was immediately thrown to the ground. He was made of cloth, so his attacks were inevitably weak, but maybe he was even weaker than me.

Lying on the ground, I looked up at his ornate patterns. “I know all about it,” I said. “I know that you want to let people ride you!”

The Carpet didn’t respond and just placed his legs on my forehead. I must’ve been the only Level 8 to have that happen to them. But this reaction wasn’t far from what I had expected. Since he was a Flying Carpet, I wouldn’t have been able to grab his corners or even touch him if he really didn’t want me to. But I was managing to do both those things. The only reasonable conclusion was that deep down, the Carpet desired a passenger.

But now I was in a tough spot. I couldn’t practice if Kris was out of commission. My supposedly awakened magic powers hadn’t resurfaced once since the frog incident. This left me with one option. I turned towards Kechachakka, who was quietly standing silently in the corner. Unlike Kris, he had just been observing and keeping his opinions to himself.

I still found the man just as suspicious as the day I had met him, but now I also knew what an accommodating person he was.

“Excuse me,” I said. I put on a smile as I approached him. “I’ve got a favor to ask of you.”

“Hee hee. Hee?”

“If you don’t mind, could you perhaps charge my Relics for me?”

“Hee hee. Hee hee hee hee.”

So I still can’t get through to him. Didn’t this guy use the occasional word when we first met?

What a funny thing it was that this man who only laughed suspiciously was serving as a guard of the emperor. Was he speaking some special jargon? Or maybe he was from a foreign land?

I wished I had brought my translation staff. As the name suggested, that was a staff that translated words. The Relic’s proper name was Round World. If I had brought that staff on my vacation, I could’ve easily communicated with the Cave People.

It was an extremely convenient Relic, but I hadn’t brought it on this job because it was heavy and the people at our destination spoke the same language as us. If it was a ring, then I would’ve worn it everywhere, but the world isn’t that convenient of a place.

“Ehe hee hee?” Kechachakka said.

“Eheh. Ehee hee,” I said back, not having any idea what I was saying.

“Heh?!” Kechachakka recoiled for some reason.

It had worked with the Cave People, but random words apparently weren’t enough this time around. And yet it seemed this guy had managed to befriend Kris of all people. Maybe she was more open-minded than I thought.

I began to worry about my training prospects as I was all too aware of the time limit I was working with. Then I heard the door opening, even though I was fairly certain there was a sign saying this training ground had been rented out. I looked at the door and was caught off guard by what I saw.

In came a bizarre group of figures covered in white bedsheets. Kechachakka froze in place. Deciding to be friendly only when it suited his convenience, the Carpet hid behind me. Five sheetwraiths ambled up to me and stood in a line. Still lying on the ground, Kris looked like she was having a nightmare.

But I knew who these sheet-clad people were. I couldn’t let Kris and Kechachakka in on the secret, but these were the people I trusted more than anyone in the world.

“Have you come to help me?” I asked. My fists clenched when I realized things might work out now.

The Thief-wraith tried to jump on me, but her skin (the bedsheet, that is) was caught by an Alchemy-wraith with a large backpack. One of the sheetwraiths had struggled to fit through the door even after crouching down and towered above the others.

“Ans—Giant-wraith,” I said to him, “I’m amazed you found such a large bedsheet.”

He grunted in agreement.

***

Watching the exchange before him, Kechachakka was bewildered for the umpteenth time. Fox was an immense organization, so it wasn’t surprising that one of its top members would have far more people at their disposal than the average operative of the underground. Therefore, there was nothing strange about a group appearing abruptly and receiving orders from the Thousand Tricks.

However, when everyone in that gang was clad in white bedsheets, it would be enough to shake even the Counter Cascade, if he had been present. Kechachakka, of all people, had little right to feel this way, but he found the bedsheet elementals extraordinarily suspicious.

The guards might apprehend them just for walking around like that. The most striking member of their ranks was the one tall enough that Kechachakka was forced to crane his neck to see entirely. Sir Killigan was tall, but that one was nothing compared to this fellow the Thousand Tricks had called “Giant-wraith.” He couldn’t tell what was beneath that sheet, but its garbled voice made it clear it was something intelligent.

Kechachakka was already confused by the sight of the Thousand Tricks’s training, but this was a shock magnitudes greater. He had been curious how someone of the thirteenth tail tempered themself, but the results left him wishing he had never come along in the first place. He should have assisted Telm with guard duty or prepared for their airborne journey.

One of the bedsheet elementals was calmly staring at Kechachakka. He could tell by the presence that the elemental was powerful, but he couldn’t figure out anything beyond that. Whatever reason the elemental had for carrying a wooden sword was beyond the Magus. But even more confounding was the joyous manner in which the Thousand Tricks was issuing orders to the elementals. Kechachakka couldn’t even tell whether or not this was some elaborate farce. He wondered how Franz would react if he were here.

The elemental with the backpack large enough to fit a child in set their bag down and pounced on Kris. The Noble Spirit was unable to resist as she was dragged inside. Her state of mana depletion should have prevented her from even raising her voice, but she still managed a mangled scream. That, however, died down immediately as the sheets writhed slightly.

“That should do it,” the Thousand Tricks said with a nod. He noticed Kechachakka’s stare and smiled at him. “The Alchemy-wraith is an expert healer.”

“Hee hee?”

Healing? That was healing? Even the most generous appraisal would still describe that as an attack. Kechachakka was completely baffled, but the man of the thirteenth tail proudly rattled on.

“The Thief-wraith is incredibly fast. She can go from here to the capital and back in less than three days. Now go on, I’m counting on you.”

The smallest of the wraiths became a momentary blur before disappearing. She had run off. Kechachakka had a fair amount of confidence in his visual tracking abilities, but even the Thief-wraith had been too fast for him. The Thousand Tricks hadn’t been kidding about her speed. That sort of instantaneous acceleration was a Magus’s worst nightmare. Even Telm, who could cast spells almost instantly, would likely struggle with such a fast target.

Her getup might have been ridiculous but she clearly surpassed the average lackey. If people like this were on their side, the assassination was going to be very easy. Kechachakka began to wonder if maybe these elementals were also the reason the mercenaries had never appeared.

“The Magic-wraith specializes in magic,” the man of the thirteenth tail continued, “and the Sword-wraith is, uh, very fond of swords. Uh, and there’s the Giant-wraith. He’s very large.”

Kechachakka made no response.

“If I explain that they’re elementals at my command, do you think they’ll let me take them on the airship?”

“He he,” was the only reply Kechachakka could manage.

Kechachakka gave up. He just couldn’t discern the purpose of any of this. He couldn’t even tell if this was a joke or not. But there was no use thinking too deeply about it. There wasn’t a chance in hell that these things would be allowed on the airship. That was simply too absurd.

Kechachakka made a small noise, then darted from the training ground.

***

“Krai! What do you want the sword-loving Sword-wraith to do?”

“Your appearance won’t be for a bit longer. Why not do some practice swings?”

“Oh. Ooh! Practice swings!” Gripping the sword through the bedsheet, the Sword-wraith began to swing with fervor. “It’s tricky! Very tricky! I still have much to learn!”

Nobody was as good at cutting as the sword-loving Sword-wraith, but unfortunately, that was all the flawed wraith could do. That he was content with those circumstances made him a troublesome wraith.

I guess I can’t convince anyone that these are my elementals. Even Kechachakka left due to sheer disillusionment.

The Alchemy-wraith slowly separated from Kris. The Noble Spirit was still on the ground, still as a stone. She had probably fainted after being forced to drink a super bitter mana potion.

“Thanks,” I said to the wraith. “About those sheets. Did Liz mention it?”

The Alchemy-wraith made no response. Instead, she raised her sheet up high and tried to drag me under, but the Magic-wraith tripped her, sending her sprawling across the floor. Then she was flung away. The Magic-wraith had no distinguishing features; I just knew she was the magic one by process of elimination.

“Leader,” she said in a cold voice, not even bothering to confirm the effects of her spellcasting, “please quit screwing around during your escort quest. It’s behavior such as this that earns you so many enemies.”

I had no recollection of screwing around. But now that she was here, I removed my spent Safety Rings and handed them to the Magic-wraith. I noticed her quaking.

We moved from the training grounds to the inn where my friends were staying. Sitri took off her bedsheet, class-changing from Alchemy-wraith to Alchemist.

“We’re at the limits of comstone range,” she said.

“Comstone?”

“It’s a recently developed magic tool that employs communications magic. They’re based on Sounding Stone Relics. They’re not nearly as effective, but they can be mass-produced. There’s one installed in Sir Killigan.”

“Hmm. That’s convenient.”

“Though perhaps, ‘based on’ wasn’t the right word. Sounding Stones are Relics, so the only thing borrowed here is the outer design.”

Sitri pulled out a cubic stone roughly the size of her fist. So this was how they had been keeping tabs on me.

I took a seat and Sitri went off to put on some tea. I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I had been so perfectly comfortable I hadn’t realized how on edge I really was. But having my friends around was a different sort of relief. With the Magic-wraith, I was sure I’d be able to finish practicing with the Flying Carpet in time.

Sitri grinned when she noticed me relaxing. “This job is approaching its climax,” she said. “Once you take to the skies, the options available to us will be limited considerably. So I was wondering if there was anything we should be doing in the meantime.”

“Thanks. Let me think about it.”

Turning it over in my head, I felt a little pathetic relying on them so much, but I figured there was no harm if it resulted in making me look good before Franz and the emperor. Not to mention you could never be too careful when traveling via airship.

“Let me be clear,” Lucia said with a grimace, “I still can’t turn water into wine or orange juice or whatever other liquids you might want.”

***

“Mmm. Where am I?”

“Oh, you’re finally up. Sorry about all that, Kris.”

“Human weakling?! That’s right, I...”

Kris sat up, her eyes darting in every direction. Clutching her head, she looked outside and saw that the sun had set. Next, she examined herself. A few hours had passed since she had collapsed. It seemed that Alchemy-wraith hadn’t just fed her a mana potion, but also something to erase her memories.

I couldn’t deny that erasing her memories made things easier for us, but I also felt that Sitri should be a bit more hesitant about using those potions. What about Kechachakka? All he did was laugh, so we probably didn’t have to worry about him.

“You’re in my room,” I told her. I smiled, suppressing my sense of guilt. “You collapsed due to mana depletion, so I carried you here. Are you all right?”

Perhaps due to the potion, Kris was still a bit out of it. Those purple eyes of hers were briefly fixated on me as she thought things over.

“Just what were those wraiths? Sir?” she asked with a knit brow.

“Are you sure that wasn’t a dream?”

“It’s coming back to me. That one wraith forced me to drink something.”

Her memories haven’t disappeared at all.

Sitri was smart, but she always made little mistakes like this.

The confusion slowly faded from Kris’s face. “I-I remember. Sir. That’s right. I recognized the person under the bedsheet. She’s one of your party members. She was there when we negotiated Starlight’s entry into First Steps. Sir.”

It looks like her memories are fairly clear. And she even got a look at Sitri’s face. 

“That was just a dream,” I assured her.

Kris wobbled as she stood up. I took a step towards her, but an unspoken force told me I should step back. Before I knew it, I had retreated all the way to the wall.

“D-Do you really expect me to believe that?!” Her eyes were narrowed and her voice low. “I want you to tell me everything you’re planning! Sir!”

I tried once more. “It was a dream.”

“Huh? Look me dead in the eye and say that again. Sir. Swear to your teammate!”

“Hey, you’re too close! Get back!”

I could see her pointed ears twitch. I could tell just how clear her eyes were and discern the shape of her lips. Despite what the name “Noble Spirit” might suggest, they didn’t actually look very different from humans.

Wouldn’t our roles usually be reversed in this sort of scenario? I’m still a man, after all. And Kris might look dainty, but she’s still a hunter.

I considered telling her the truth. I would still have to keep Telm and Kechachakka in the dark, but Kris was a fellow clan member. I thought there was a chance she might understand if I explained the situation to her. Sure, maybe it was a small chance. I really didn’t know what to do.

Kris smiled when she noticed me wavering. It was a cocky smile uncharacteristic of her.

“Go ahead. Say it. Sir,” she said in a hushed voice. “I might forgive you if you tell me the truth. Sir.”

Then the door opened suddenly.

“Thousand Tricks, there’s something I’d like to talk abou— Hm?!”

It was Telm. His eyes shot wide open when he saw me against the wall and Kris wearing a confident smile. He froze for a second, before nodding as though it all made sense now.

“So that’s it. I wondered why you brought her, but if this is the sort of relationship you two have, then ah—forgive my sudden intrusion. If you’re inclined to listen to your elders, I’d suggest you lock the door at such times. My apologies for barging in. My conversation can wait, so I’ll return later.”

The door shut with a loud creak. Kris blinked, then looked alternatingly between me and the door. Once she processed what Telm had said, her face turned a deep scarlet.

“Hah?! Haaah?! That human’s clearly mistaken. T-To suggest that you and I would—it’ll be a cold day in hell when that happens! Sir! Where did he hit his head to get that thought in his skull?! A magically and physically superior Noble Spirit would never pair with some brittle human! Sir!”

“I hear we’re not that different, biologically speaking. They’re rare, but there are Half-Noble Spirits.”

“Sh-Shut up! The blame entirely rests— Urgh! Just don’t think this is over! Sir! Teeelm, wait!”

With tears in her eyes, Kris dashed from the room. I guess the misunderstanding was more humiliating than being done in by the Alchemy-wraith.

Wait, hold on.

Could Telm have done that on purpose? It was entirely possible, considering the earlier sheet-wraith discussion. What a good team we made.

“I’ll have to offer my thanks to the Abyssal Inferno,” I muttered to myself.

I had done what I could, so I could rest easy. Tomorrow, I would show them how dependable the Thousand Tricks could be.

***

Just what is His Imperial Majesty thinking? Franz wondered. He suppressed the vague unease taking control of him and prepared the escort arrangements. He knew that Emperor Rodrick was a free spirit. Franz had always assumed this to be natural for those fit for the throne, but now Franz felt that man was taking far too many risks.

Franz could understand why Emperor Rodrick was willing to rely on the Thousand Tricks. His innocence had been verified by one of Zebrudia’s national treasures, and the rank of Level 8 was an extraordinary honor. Though there was no sign of its presence, his absorbed mana material must have vastly exceeded even that of Franz, who never shirked his training. The brief glimpse Franz got of that man’s power defied understanding.

But it was his personality that made him difficult to trust. Franz was confident in his ability to evaluate people, and he had never seen anyone as flippant as the Thousand Tricks. His unwillingness to share information, his unimpressive bearing, his ridiculous outfit, none of it was befitting of someone trusted to protect the emperor.

Compared to him, even the overly suspicious Kechachakka, or that misanthropic Noble Spirit were more fit to protect Emperor Rodrick. Telm, meanwhile, was an exemplary hunter. Why couldn’t their leader be someone who had their act together? Franz decided to write a letter of protest to the Explorers’ Association once this was all over.

Franz wanted to crush that hunter, even if it meant employing the backing of House Argman. But Franz couldn’t possibly get away with that if Emperor Rodrick had been willing to forgive even the frog incident. But he couldn’t ignore the possibility that the Thousand Tricks had acted under the assumption that he would be shown clemency.

Franz felt only fury when he reflected on that incident. What enraged him the most was that he had been forced to stomp on the emperor and imperial princess. Just remembering it made him want to kill the Thousand Tricks.

Something like that would not happen again. If the Thousand Tricks seemed like he might bring the slightest harm to the emperor, Franz would lock him up. If that man was the preterhuman artificer they claimed he was, then he should be able to stop trouble before it happened.

But Franz had more important things to be doing than worrying about the Thousand Tricks. The job of the Zero Order was to protect the emperor. The rest of their journey would be on an airship. Their airship had never crashed before, and it was a much safer means of travel than the roads.

However, if a Fox found their way aboard, there would be nowhere for the emperor to flee. That was something that needed to be avoided at all costs. With that in mind, perhaps taking three days to prepare wasn’t such a bad idea after all. But should some scoundrel use this time to sneak in, it would be the end of Franz’s life.

As Franz issued one order after another without end, a knight dashed into his room. “Sir, the Thousand Tricks has requested permission to bring cargo aboard.”

“Oh? What sort of cargo?”

“Potions, sir.”

“He has permission to bring personal belongings aboard if they’re relevant to the job!” he shouted. His emotions got the better of him. “Don’t come to me with such trivial details!”

“That’s what I told him, sir.” The knight began to look befuddled. “It’s just that he’s brought such an extraordinary amount.”

***

For treasure hunters, preparations were an indispensable part of the hunt. Having the right information, being stocked up on supplies, and many other small adjustments could all determine the success of a quest. For Grieving Souls, preparations were all handled by the Alchemy-wraith. Maybe it was just her personality, but she was absolutely thorough.

I nodded with satisfaction when I saw the neatly arranged boxes. Then Franz ran up to me. He looked momentarily taken aback by the boxes before giving me a vicious look. I struggled to recall a recent memory in which he wasn’t angry.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” he asked. “We’ve already arranged for basic provisions!”

“You know what they say, ‘You can never be too prepared.’”

“You certainly can! Are you planning to set up a shop in Toweyezant!”

I couldn’t deny that the Alchemy-wraith had delivered more than I had expected. I wondered what she was anticipating. There must have been at least one hundred boxes of supplies, easily enough to last a treasure hunter an entire year. I hadn’t asked for this much, and I had no idea where she got it or how much it cost. But it would be wrong to get angry when she had gone out of her way to prepare extra provisions for us.

“Calm down, Franz,” I said. “These are in case your potions get used up. Besides, look, there’s not just potions. There’s also food.”

“We’ve already prepared food supplies! We don’t need your help with that!”

“And we’ll have these supplies if yours run out. The desert is a big place. If the airship crashes, your supplies won’t be enough. Oh, we also prepared water.”

Danger came hand in hand with traveling the desert. I was fine, perfectly comfortable in fact, but the emperor’s Safety Ring wouldn’t protect him from the sun’s rays.

I was pretty confident in my explanation, but Franz gave no response. I looked up at him and when I saw his face, I gulped and froze in fear. His complexion was no longer red, in fact his face was devoid of any emotion. He just stared at me like a statue. Had I said something strange?

“What’s going to happen?” he asked in a voice that sounded like a rumble from the depths of hell.

“Huh?”

My eyes bulged. What was he on about?

“I’m asking you what’s going to happen! Are you playing around?! If you know something, then tell us! Report it!”

“Wha?!”

Franz grabbed me by the collar and violently shook me. Grappling attacks were one of the few attacks that Safety Rings didn’t protect against.

“I-I don’t know! I don’t know anything!” I weakly protested.

Demon-eyed Franz didn’t believe me at all.

“Quit lying! I’ll end you right here!”

I’m no god. How could he expect me to know the future? What I had done was only natural for a hunter.

“C-Calm down! They’re just emergency supplies! They’re for emergencies!”

“Who in the world would possibly consider these just emergency supplies?! It’s enough to open a shop! Do you really expect me to permit this? Do you think I’m a fool?”

“I think it’s fair to call them emergency supplies!”

Eventually, Franz calmed down a bit. He stopped shaking me and let go of me. Nobles sure could be brutish. Sure, there might’ve been some excess, but preparing for emergencies was our job as guards. What a letdown it was to be treated this way after finally helping out.

“The airship. It won’t fall,” Franz said between heavy breaths. “It’s never happened before.”

“Y-Yeah, uh-huh. You’re right. I’d give it a ninety percent chance that it won’t fall. These really are just emergency supplies. Ha ha ha, I’m such a scaredy-cat.”

I hoped he might forgive me if I made this something to laugh about, but Franz was as tense as ever.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” he said, “but you’re telling me that Zebrudia’s cutting-edge airship, one that has withstood monster attacks and every variety of weather, has a ten percent chance of crashing?”

It appeared there had been a misunderstanding. Why did people have to pick at every little thing I said? I spoke pretty haphazardly, so much so that Sitri sometimes made cue cards for me.

“Don’t worry, Franz,” I said reassuringly. I truly didn’t believe the airship would crash. “Even if we start to fall, I’ll grab His Imperial Majesty.”

“Check the airship one more time!” he barked at some of his subordinates. “And reevaluate everyone who’ll be onboard. Make sure there’s no possibility of a crash! You’ve got two days.” Franz turned back to me with a spiteful look in his eyes. “It won’t crash. I guarantee it. Damn it, I won’t let you have your way!”

It’s not like I want it to crash. Well, no point in arguing. If this job is a success, we can reconcile when it’s all over.

Now that this was over, I had one last preparation to make. I had to practice riding on the Flying Carpet. He had killed me a number of times, but I had thought up a way to get on his good side. I didn’t know if it would work, but I was going to give it a try.

The next couple of days flew by and the day of destiny was upon us. We had been getting clear skies lately, but now nothing but dense clouds hung over us. It didn’t look like ideal flying weather.

We were just about ready to go. Telm, Kechachakka, Kris, everyone was ready as they could possibly be. Franz stood before me imposingly. A vein on his forehead throbbed and his eyebrow twitched.

“Did I hear that correctly?” he asked.

“I’m terribly sorry.”

The only issue was that the Thief-wraith hadn’t returned from her errand. I had asked her to run back to the imperial capital and fetch something for me. I figured she could make it in time, but now I was starting to think I had miscalculated. Or rather, I hadn’t anticipated the airship departing so early in the morning.

The emperor was getting ready for takeoff and nobody was helping me argue my case. After all the trouble I had caused her, Kris was fairly upset with me. When I looked her way, she simply turned her head. Sir Killigan Version Alpha just stood still, as per usual.

“We’ve done more than enough to satisfy your requests,” Franz said. “We’ve delayed our departure three days. We inspected the entire airship once more. We loaded all of your cargo! And on top of all that, you want us to delay our takeoff even further?!”

I thought he might cut me down at any moment. I didn’t want to make this request and I knew it would upset him, but I’d feel bad if Liz did all that running for me and I wasn’t there when she got back.

“I hadn’t expected this either,” I said. “Here, how about you take off, and I’ll catch up later?”

My Delinquent Carpet was in a very good mood, proof that my plan had worked. He really hit it off with the blue carpet I had purchased for him. I had always assumed he was a male Carpet, but now I was starting to think I had been wrong about that. I was sure that in her current state, she would take me as a passenger and let me catch up to the airship.

“No! As much as I hate to acknowledge it, His Imperial Majesty picked you to stay at his side. You can’t simply do as you please. We leave in one hour. If three days weren’t enough to complete your preparations, that’s nobody’s fault but your own!”

No arguing with that logic. Franz got up to clear me out of the room and put an end to our conversation, but just as he was about to open the door, it burst open from the other side.

“Wha?!”

“Oh.”

In came a Thief-wraith in a tattered bedsheet. I could tell it was the Thief because she was carrying the item I’d requested.

“Wh-What?” Franz stammered. Overtaken with bewilderment, he stood frozen in place. The Thief-wraith passed him by, ignoring my baffled teammates as well, then stopped right in front of me. She handed the item to me, and I accepted it.

The item in question was a staff that was about as long as I was tall. Whereas Kris’s staff was wooden, this one was metal. At the top, the staff twisted into a spiral that coiled around a large, round gem. The staff’s glimmer might suggest that it was made of gold, but it was made of something very different. This staff was a Relic.

Even for the Thief-wraith, the imperial capital was a long run. But she had made it just in time. I wrapped my arms around the wobbling wraith and gratefully patted her back. For a moment, she leaned into me, then silently departed, just as a wraith should. I could count on her when I needed it.

The door closed. I had everything I needed. The Carpet applauded me.

“That’s everything,” I said in my hard-boiled voice. “Shall we go?”

“Do you expect me not to say anything?!” Franz looked like he was ready to explode. “What was that?!”

“A bedsheet elemental that I command.”

“You think I’ll believe that?!”

Kris looked at me smugly.

But I wasn’t going to budge on my story. I wasn’t going to budge an inch. That was a bedsheet elemental. Nothing more, nothing less. And she wasn’t getting in the way of the job, so what was the problem?! I gripped the hefty staff my friend had gone to lengths to retrieve for me. I smiled at Franz, making it clear I had no further objections.

At last. I can finally talk to Kechachakka!

As its name “Black Star” suggested, Zebrudia’s state-of-the-art airship was an immense vessel black as the night sky. The first thing that caught my eye was its large balloon-like upper hull, but the passenger section was also enormous.

Lucia had taken me for rides on her broom, and I once held on to a dragon as it tore through the air, but I had never ridden a vehicle like this. The Black Star was larger than any dragon and was surely meant to be a testament to the empire’s might.

“What terrible weather,” I said.

“This isn’t enough to hinder the Black Star. It’s endured worse,” Franz told me. “Our ship won’t crash. I guarantee it.”

The emperor knit his brow and boarded the airship.

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Once the emperor was aboard, Franz came up to me.

“This ship has a weight limit,” he said, glaring at me. “Because of your cargo, we had to reduce our personnel. For your own sake, you better hope those supplies prove useful.”

“What? They’re just emergency supplies. What a brittle-looking ship this is. It’s like a balloon.”

“Your concern is unnecessary. Even if the hull is damaged, we have Magi whose sole job is to repair the ship. The design is based on a Relic. Supposedly, the genuine article could fly without the aid of a Magus, but that’s nothing more than a rumor.”

Interesting. You often heard of items made by trial and error efforts to replicate a Relic. But I still wasn’t fully reassured. And was reducing personnel really a good idea? Maybe I should’ve been more precise when I gave Sitri her orders.

“I don’t think we’d last a second if a dragon came for us,” I mumbled.

“Keep your worries to yourself. Dealing with attackers will be your job. With three Magi, that should be no problem.”

“Yeah, uh-huh.”

My immediate response caused Franz to look at me dubiously.

Selecting three Magi turned out to be the right choice after all. Except I hadn’t really selected them, I had just ended up with them. But that didn’t change the fact that I was fairly sure Telm could kill a dragon without even leaving the interior.

***

So this is it. A fine vessel indeed.

Looking up at the Black Star, Telm Apoclys grunted with appreciation. A cutting-edge vessel like this normally didn’t accept commoners and hunters as passengers. This was a ship exclusively for the nobility.

Flight was just one of the many things Magi were capable of bringing about. Telm had flown before, but never in anything remotely like this airship. He wasn’t a specialist, so he wasn’t familiar with the underlying principles, but he could tell the magical engravings carved into the hull had been made by a master. Some expert had taken a long time and pushed their skills to their limits making these arcane mechanisms.

There were complex enchantments to strengthen the hull, reduce its weight, even repair the hull as the situation required. Steps had been taken to prevent damage from natural disasters, including protection against fire, ice, and lightning.

If Relics were manifestations of ancient technology, then this was the exact opposite; this was a ship made with the best of modern technology. Telm had no trouble believing that this ship had never crashed once during its numerous voyages.

Even for a Level 7 hunter like Telm, taking this down from the outside would be a considerable challenge. A brood of dragons might have a fifty percent chance of success, but he could only make rough estimates because Kechachakka couldn’t summon specific varieties of dragons. But that was if they were attacking from the outside. There were strong barriers protecting against external blows, but working from the inside was a different matter altogether.

At long last, Telm understood the strange behavior of the Thousand Tricks. The empire considered this vessel to be infallible, and that had proven true thus far. In that sense, the Black Star could be considered a symbol of the empire. And that made it worth destroying.

There could be no better way to demonstrate the power of Fox. And if this airship crashed and the emperor died with it, the blame wouldn’t be placed on the guards. The reputation of the Thousand Tricks might be damaged slightly, but with the capabilities of Fox, they could ensure that the prevailing theories didn’t hold him accountable.

So this was how someone of the thirteenth tail saw things. Even now Telm believed his plan had been flawless, and it would have been much quicker. But there was much more to gain from this plot composed by the man of the thirteenth tail.

The Thousand Tricks was looking much further down the road than Telm had been. The Magus couldn’t even find it in himself to be jealous of someone so vastly superior. There were still some points that mystified Telm, but he was sure they had their significance.

But this was no time to sit around and watch. Preparations for the attack had been left in Telm’s hands. He assumed this was done as a favor, a chance for him to prove his worth. While Telm was far stronger than any knight in the imperial guard, the knights outnumbered him. Caution would be essential.

Telm took a deep breath and boarded the Black Star.