"Hey, hey, 'Black Gold'…!"
A brown-haired Hunter with bulging, shifty eyes glared down at Sven.
He was a member of a Party that had been exploring the White Wolf's Den along a different route from Sven.
The Beginning Footprint was one of the larger Clans in the Imperial Capital, but the majority of Hunters hadn't joined it. Several members from outside the Footprint were participating in this operation as well.
The group surrounding Sven, who had made it back safely, was a Party that had pulled out after hearing the signal for an emergency.
Treasure Hunters were natural rivals.
The resources generated by a Treasure Hall were virtually infinite, but the amount obtainable within a given period was limited.
For that reason, clashes between Hunters inside Treasure Halls were far from uncommon. Outside the city, there was no law to protect you—if you'd earned someone's grudge, being killed was entirely possible.
But this particular request was an official investigation commission from the kingdom. When the nature of an investigation was unpredictable, a certain degree of cooperation was necessary.
The warning signal had been the compromise.
Everyone would do their own thing. If an unmanageable emergency arose, they'd notify the others by sound. That was the arrangement.
Nearly twenty Hunters had gathered at the makeshift formation erected near the White Wolf's Den's entrance. All of them had returned after hearing the whistle Sven had sounded.
The air in the area was bristling with tension.
"So what are you saying? You're telling us that nothing abnormal happened at all, but you heard that signal and decided to sound an emergency alert anyway?"
"That's right."
Hostile eyes. Scrutinizing eyes. Even under the strange looks from fully armed Hunters, Sven's expression didn't waver.
His blunt confirmation sent a murmur through the assembled Hunters. Even the one who had confronted him furrowed his brows.
The Black Gold Cross was a well-known Party.
Some among the Hunters mocked their composition—where every member possessed healing abilities—and their cautious fighting style as cowardly, but their results didn't lie.
More than anything, the fact that they had reached a high Level without losing a single member was worthy of respect.
But that was a separate matter from the current situation.
When multiple Parties of different factions and Levels had jointly taken on an investigation, they should have avoided actions that would throw the situation into confusion as much as possible.
The brown-haired Hunter clicked his tongue and raised his voice, scanning the members of the other Parties.
"…Is there anyone here who's found anything? Even a boss or something."
At those words, Sven furrowed his brows slightly.
Sven had joined this investigation midway. Even though he'd come on an official Explorer's Guild request, from the perspective of those who had received the commission first, it was understandably unwelcome.
Around him, the leaders of the gathered Parties each answered in brief statements.
"Nothing in particular."
"Same here. We encountered a few Phantoms, but we dealt with them without any issues."
"…I heard the boss, the Peerless Shadow, was already killed. It probably won't respawn for a while."
The White Wolf's Den was a mid-sized Treasure Hall.
The paths were complex and there were many blind spots, but with this many people, they could cover the entire map without too much time even while proceeding cautiously.
The boss, which had been a concern due to the strong enemy, had already been eliminated. Apart from the fact that the source of the anomaly remained unidentified, this was an easy-tier request.
And the Hunters' assignment was to investigate the situation on-site, not to determine the cause.
The brown-haired Hunter snorted and glared at Sven.
Sven knew the man in front of him. His conduct wasn't the best, but he was undeniably capable.
Hunters who only caused problems on investigation requests like this one wouldn't be mobilized.
No—if Sven were in the man's position, he'd probably have a complaint or two if someone sounded a whistle at him for that kind of reason.
"…So what you're saying is, you trust the word of some guy who's been lounging around in town without ever setting foot on-site, over our judgment? That's what you're saying, right?"
It was an intimidating stare.
He hadn't drawn his sword, but that was probably because there were other Hunters gathered around.
The rookie Henrik nervously swallowed and looked back and forth between Sven and the brown-haired Hunter.
Sven slowly surveyed his surroundings, then gave a shrug.
"Yeah, that's right."
"…!"
Perhaps the answer was unexpected—the brown-haired Hunter's eyes went wide. His face quickly flushed red, his brows twisting.
He stepped forward as though about to swing at any moment, but Sven let out a deep sigh.
"How pathetic."
"!? What did you say!?"
"Let me say this first… we sounded the whistle out of goodwill."
Looking at their indignant faces, Sven continued in a flat voice.
From deep within the cave, the howling of wolves echoed back. The intruders who had vanished so suddenly—Sven and his group—had perhaps provoked a display of intimidation. The roar seemed almost like a harbinger of something to come.
"If it were the Mourning Specter… we wouldn't have sounded it. Krai said it'd be fine. Riz and Luke wouldn't have even shown any interest. And Citry would've—well, she'd have let you lot go ahead of us instead. But we're, at the end of the day, the 'healers' here. Not stopping casualties that we know are going to happen goes against our principles."
Hunters operated on self-responsibility. Helping each other in an emergency was an unspoken understanding, but there was no obligation to issue warnings even if it earned you complaints.
But Sven had done it. In fact, Sven had predicted this outcome. That was why he remained calm even with complaints being thrown at him.
Leaning his back against a tree and trampling the grass-covered ground, Sven went on.
"Before long, a whole bunch of our Clan's members will be arriving. There's no rush—you can wait for them before resuming the investigation. If you want to die, go right ahead. We'll be waiting here."
"…"
"A hefty reward doesn't mean a thing if you're dead. I'll give you the information for free. Consider yourselves lucky."
Investigation requests came with a guaranteed base reward, but those who obtained particularly valuable information received additional compensation.
The deployment of multiple Hunters also had a competitive element to it.
The brown-haired Hunter bit his lip.
The additional reward was far from an insignificant amount. But he'd been investigating before the Black Gold Cross arrived and still hadn't obtained any valuable information. Continuing the investigation as-is was unlikely to yield results.
Even so, if he stayed put here and the Footprint's Parties arrived in force, the competition would only intensify.
He was a Hunter too. He had more greed than the average person. And he didn't sense a significant risk in the current situation.
The other Hunters looked at each other, equally conflicted. They were probably thinking the same thing.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a warning to laugh off. But the fact that the other party was a renowned Party in the Imperial Capital put a damper on that. The Hunter standing before them was indeed living up to the reputation of his "Storm Strike" moniker.
Even so, if they'd been the only ones continuing the exploration, the story would have been different.
But they themselves had chosen to wait.
One of the Hunters finally broke under the tension.
"The things that come out here are wolves… Slimes… There's no way they'd appear! And even if they did, it wouldn't matter! My Party even has a Mage!"
The possibility of Slimes appearing. If asked, everyone would answer zero.
Even if it wasn't literally zero, it was undoubtedly close enough. It was something that didn't even need to be considered in the first place.
"—I'll never forget it. Back in the old days, when the Beginning Footprint Clan had just been founded. Krai… our Clan Master, suggested we go on a picnic outside the city."
Sven suddenly began to narrate. At his grave expression, the surroundings fell silent.
The brown-haired Hunter, who moments ago had been growling through clenched teeth, looked up as well.
Behind Sven, the members of the Black Gold Cross wore bitter, twisted expressions.
Only Henrik, who had just recently joined, looked at his companions with bewildered curiosity.
"He said if we all went together, we wouldn't need to hire escorts, and since it was outside the city, we should make sure to bring our weapons and not forget anything…"
"? …What story is this?"
"That location is now—a Treasure Hall."
"!?"
"Some of the people here might remember, but an earthquake caused the Ley Lines to shift just slightly. They shifted, and the point of impact was exactly where we'd gone for the picnic. Have any of you ever witnessed the moment a Treasure Hall forms? That was—quite a sight. It was as if hell itself had manifested in this world. Well, you probably won't get the chance to see it, though."
No one said anything.
Gathering intelligence on Treasure Halls was second nature to any Hunter. At the time, the appearance of that Treasure Hall had been major news.
Everyone must have remembered.
The brown-haired Hunter's face went blank as he stammered out a question.
Despite being near the Imperial Capital, a high-difficulty Treasure Hall so treacherous in its environment that most Hunters hadn't even attempted it.
"That couldn't be… the Garden?"
A recently discovered Treasure Hall that had earned a Level 7 designation in just three years—the worst of the worst near the Imperial Capital.
Ark had recently cleared it and made headlines, but how many Hunters in the Imperial Capital right now could even challenge it?
Without answering that question, Sven tilted his head toward the sky and spoke.
"The Thousand Transformations… can see the future."
"…No way… that's ridiculous."
It was an absurd claim.
The variety of Treasure Weapons was so vast it was hard to catalog them all, but they were all said to be imitations of civilizations that once existed.
Things that were too far beyond reason didn't exist. Foreseeing the future was beyond human capability.
But then again, most modern civilizations couldn't reproduce the majority of other Treasure Weapons either.
Who could completely deny their existence?
For the Hunters who couldn't hide their confusion, Sven formed a deep grin and spoke.
"Apparently, they possess a Treasure Weapon like that. It's just a rumor, though. The owner denies it… but that's why I decided to retreat. Well, I've given you my reason. If any of you still want to push forward, be my guest."
§ § § Peaceful time flowed in the Clan Master's room.
Perhaps because everyone had headed to the Treasure Hall, the Clan House—which was usually relatively lively—had an air of quiet about it.
Sitting at the large, elevated desk reserved for the Clan Master, I flipped through the pages Eva had prepared detailing the finances of this request while sipping the coffee she'd brewed.
Coming from a former merchant, the data was remarkably easy to read. If even a layman like me could understand it, the presentation was truly impressive.
The number of Footprint Parties dispatched for this request and the headcount. The lump sum reward from the Explorer's Guild, minus the Clan's administrative fee.
Members whose certified Level was expected to rise from this request were marked.
While many other Clans had lax Party management systems, the Beginning Footprint charged high membership fees, so its administration was thorough down to the smallest detail.
As for the movements of affiliated Hunters, checking the Clan's records would tell me immediately.
Which meant the fact that I didn't know my own Hunters' movements… well, that was what it was.
Incidentally, Eva seemed to have everything on hand—I'd get an answer the moment I asked.
First, I needed to memorize the names and faces of affiliated Hunters…
Honestly, the most I could muster upon seeing them was "huh," but not wanting to be rude to Eva, I nodded along convincingly while flipping through the documents. There were parts I didn't understand, but I refrained from asking.
Then, a certain Party name caught my eye.
"Hm? Wait—does that mean the Black Gold Cross is there too?"
"?? Yes. Didn't Krai send them?"
At Eva's puzzled response, I finally remembered that I'd been using Sven and the others as errand runners.
He'd probably been asked by Gaark when delivering my message.
The Black Gold Cross was an exceptional Party. They lacked explosive power but had outstanding stability, and their Leader's strength was beyond reproach. They certainly had far more common sense than Riz.
They were one of the Footprint's representative Parties. With them on-site, the chain of command over there would be no problem.
I relaxed my entire body and sank back into the chair, as though at ease.
When I put my feet up on the desk, Eva furrowed her brows reproachfully. Eh, well, nobody was here right now anyway.
"I guess it was overkill after all…"
"…Wouldn't it be nice to have some margin for once in a while?"
"No, I always have margin…"
"…………"
Eva was giving me a cold look.
I did have margin. I intended to have it. But things never quite worked out.
I had no talent and no luck. The timing was always off. No matter what I did, it didn't go well.
I was barely keeping the Clan running, but maybe I was cursed.
I felt like throwing up.
I took a sip of black coffee and grimaced at the sheer bitterness.
I should have asked for a café au lait instead of trying to look cool. Too late now.
"Maybe I should quit being a Hunter…"
"Saying that again…"
Well, I supposed it would be fine this time.
It was impossible for things to go wrong with even the Black Gold Cross joining the effort. They couldn't match Ark, but even if it wasn't the best solution, it was better than nothing.
The only remaining problem was… keeping Riz in check.
I gazed down toward the underground training grounds where Riz was supposedly blowing off steam and let out a sigh.
For now, she was behaving herself, trusting my words that "there'll be something for you to do later," but if I didn't give her something to occupy herself with, there was a real danger she'd charge into the White Wolf's Den alone.
That would put not only the Footprint members but also the other Parties at risk. That was the one thing I had to avoid.
This was work only I could do. I didn't feel like it, but I had to do it. I couldn't impose on anyone else.
Still, she was raring to go. That momentum of hers wouldn't stop easily.
I crossed my arms and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Hmm… Riz was a bit of a berserker.
Maybe I should send her to some random Treasure Hall… Tino would probably get dragged along too, so I'd pick somewhere easy. As far from the White Wolf's Den as possible… and somewhere with few visitors, so she wouldn't cause trouble for anyone.
Riz wouldn't refuse if I asked.
She was a person of "action," so while it was difficult to keep her still, redirecting her was simple.
Today I was—sharp.
"Yeah, that's it."
As I nodded to myself, Eva—who had been silently watching me the whole time—asked with a curious expression.
"…What did you see?"
"Hm? No… nothing?"
"…Is that so."
I stood up and got to work selecting a Treasure Hall.
My arms were going to be sore.