The inn Citry had reserved as our base in Kreet was a building more sturdily built than luxurious.
Kreet had a strange bustle unlike any city we'd visited before. The inn sat right in its center.
The building itself was large and simple in appearance, but the fact that multiple fully armored knights stood guard just in front of the entrance told us this was no ordinary establishment.
The walls had thick window glass with a strange luster. The interior, entered with some trepidation, looked ordinary at first glance, but knights stood guard in inconspicuous spots throughout. The inns Citry usually booked during travels were generally luxurious, but this time seemed different.
I wondered if something had happened, but it didn't seem to be the case as far as I could observe.
Other guests who had entered besides us were merchants dressed in impressively (and expensively) elegant attire, and nobles trailing large entourages. There wasn't a single ordinary Hunter among them.
We were shown to a spacious room on the upper floors that could accommodate a large number of people. Liliz let out a cheer and immediately began dashing around the room, checking under beds and behind paintings. Lucia was surveying the outside through the generously sized windows.
For some reason, even though this was an inn in town, everyone was acting as if we were camping outdoors.
Citry glanced at me with a proud expression and said.
"I reserved the safest inn available this time. Kreet gets pretty dangerous during the Martial Emperor Festival."
Huh? ...Why? We're just here as tourists, aren't we?
I'd actually looked it up in the guidebook, and it was recommended for tourists. Not as much as Zebuldia, but the public safety was supposed to be pretty good.
Lucia let out a deep sigh when she saw me sitting there silent.
"We recently picked a fight with the 'Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox,' so... it never hurts to be cautious."
"Can't wait to see how many show up. I'm itching to fight."
"Mm."
Luke swung his arms eagerly, and Anthem nodded gravely. It seemed I was the only one who didn't understand. If I weren't used to this kind of thing, I'd probably be feeling pretty down about it.
When I put on a hard-boiled grin, Lucia spoke to me in a reproving tone.
"Leader, we have a lot of enemies, so... please be careful, okay?"
"Mm-hm, right?"
"We've made plenty of enemies... Word that we'll be participating has already spread, so remnants from various organizations should be gathering from all over."
This was all news to me. ...Well, not the part about having enemies — I knew that much...
Liliz, who apparently hadn't found anything interesting, sat down at the table with poor posture, crossed her legs, and said with a savage grin.
As always, Liliz was brimming with confidence.
"We just need to crush them all thoroughly, right? Hey, Anthem-nii?"
"...No."
Even Anthem, who was always soft on his little sister, said no this time.
At that, Luke also — rarely in agreement — nodded gravely.
"...Liliz, that's not what's important right now."
That's right, that's not what's important. Wait, why does everyone keep acting like an attack is a given?
It was true that we'd captured numerous bountied criminals, but once captured, they should've been locked away, and the ones we'd killed certainly wouldn't be coming back to life.
Luke had probably come to the same conclusion. He was simple, but not stupid.
Then, with a more serious expression than I'd ever seen from him, Luke said.
"What's important is — we can't divide things fairly unless the number is divisible by six! Right, Klye!"
"Huh!? Ah... yeah, that's right."
"Ehhh, really!?"
Liliz's eyes went wide at how I'd been steamrolled.
I always lose to Luke's momentum. That's why I'm still out here working as a Hunter.
Citry, who had been sorting through the large luggage brought in from the carriage, summed things up.
"Well, if we're going to be attacked, it'll likely be a large group. Whether they'll be swordsmen or not... I can't say."
So why is everyone so certain about this...
"...Did we really do anything that bad?"
"Sacrificing a Martial Emperor Festival participant to a blood rite would make anyone's name notorious."
He wore an expression that said it couldn't be helped, but... sacrificing people for fame — where exactly had their morals gone?
"In other words, if we beat them back, we get training AND reputation — two birds with one stone! Right, Klye!"
"...Luke, you're so smart."
It's fine, though. I'm not a participant, and Luke and the others are strong.
With even one of them being strong, and Anthem on top of that, a few attackers shouldn't be a problem.
§ "Ah, come quickly. Come, a dragon swordsman with eight arms..."
"Luke, are you still saying stuff like that? There's no such creature. Even Klye wouldn't believe that... right?"
"Mm-hm, that's right..."
Liliz let out a deep sigh at Luke, who had started swinging his sword inside the room.
Was it some kind of magic that made even Liliz the Genocider seem tame when placed next to Luke?
I let my gaze fall to my hands and sighed deeply.
What am I going to do about this...
The list of probable attackers that Citry had compiled was enormous.
It might be because she'd included already-annihilated organizations, but it was almost impressive how we'd managed to accumulate so many enemies in just a few years. When even Citry, who possessed an excellent memory, was saying things like "Huh? The numbers don't add up... There should've been about five more..." it was truly the end of days.
I had absolutely no awareness of having personally earned anyone's enmity, which only added to my sense of helplessness. It didn't seem like they were all huge organizations, but with this many, if each group on the list sent even one attacker, that alone would form an army.
Citry said to me, who could do nothing but blink at the sheer unreality of it all.
"Apparently, villains who came targeting other participants have been forming alliances to strike together."
Is this hell?
I hate violence, but I'll say what needs to be said. If it's just words, I'll say them.
"This is what happens when you don't properly wipe them out!"
"Organizations do get targeted by others seeking revenge on their behalf... The knight order protecting Zebuldia is excellent, but this country isn't quite the same..."
I could understand Citry's words, but I couldn't accept them.
It wasn't certain we'd be attacked, but given my luck up to this point, it was impossible to end up in this siege-like situation without being attacked. I was already half-resigned to it.
"I don't want to be attacked... We're here for sightseeing this time..."
"Apparently, participants who lose at the tournament sometimes ambush the winners in the dark, too."
Anything goes, huh? Aren't they supposed to fight fair and square! I hadn't even watched yet and already felt like I'd seen the dark underbelly of this glorious tournament.
Well, the dark attacks on winners had nothing to do with me, but...
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't find a way to avoid this situation. If only I were the master strategist everyone said I was.
I went to the window and looked outside. This window was apparently special-made to resist blades, impacts, and magic.
As expected of an expensive upper-floor room, the large window offered a panoramic view of Kreet's cityscape. My eyes weren't great, but when I looked carefully, I could see smoke rising from various parts of the city.
Some of that smoke might have been from fights... We'd ended up in a terrible town.
"Hmm, is there no way to deal with this..."
I let out a deep sigh and muttered that to myself, and in that instant, I froze.
Right outside the window, a man dressed entirely in black with a fox mask was clinging to the wall. Through the holes where the eyes should have been, a fierce, beast-like gleam shone through.
The man spoke to me with an expression suggesting his being there was perfectly natural, as I stood there frozen into a blank expression from sheer shock.
"Boss. When the need arises, please give your orders to the Fox Mask Appreciation Society."
At this point, it was actually frightening. What kind of organization was the Fox Mask Appreciation Society, exactly?