Trade City Heizen is an island unto itself, unreachable by land.
Beyond Heizen lies the Heizen Plains.
The plains are dotted with the remains of fortresses and defensive walls, and subjugator villages have sprung up around those ruins.
Stretching beyond the plains is the Heizen Great Forest.
It's about a four-day walk straight from the trade city. A day trip is out of the question.
"Best to stay at a subjugator village before heading into the Great Forest. And when I say village, it's not like there are actual villagers living there. More like a camp for subjugators — just a handful of general stores, inns, and taverns, with guild staff, merchants affiliated with the Three Great Families, and a guard garrison permanently stationed there. Also, during a Forest Wave, that place becomes the front line."
"A Forest Wave...?"
I'd heard of it before.
Every year when summer arrives, dungeon monsters pour out of the Great Forest in massive swarms.
And they head straight for Heizen. That's a Forest Wave.
From my past life memories, it's basically a stampede.
But the Forest Wave happens in three stages.
The first time is the First Wave. The second is the Second Wave.
And the third is the Last Wave.
Not only does the number of monsters increase with each wave, but their quality rises too, making it an absolute nightmare.
What's more, the interval between the first and third waves is irregular — sometimes it wraps up in three days, sometimes it drags on for a week.
The cause of this Forest Wave is unknown.
As a matter of fact, this phenomenon only occurs in Heizen.
It doesn't happen at any other dungeon.
Heizen wasn't sitting idle, either. They'd tried all sorts of countermeasures. But none of them worked.
For instance, hunting every last monster in the area a week before the predicted onset? Useless.
Building defensive walls across the entire plain, end to end, over the course of years? All that remained now were ruins.
Those ruins were repurposed into scattered subjugation villages, but in the current state of affairs, all they could do was guard against the onslaught after it began.
Still, on one level, it had taken on the feel of an annual event—or maybe more like a famous local festival.
That's because the Forest Wave was profitable.
So come summer, delvers from across the continent and overseas flooded into Heizen to become "Wave subjugators."
"Heard it's the best chance at a big payday, even if you might die."
"I heard some guy actually built a house off a single Forest Wave, too."
"There's this one crazy-good delver who apparently earns his keep during the Forest Wave, lives off it for the rest of the year, then does the whole thing over again when the next one rolls around."
"That's enviable in its own way."
Wait, isn't that the ideal life?
The moment I thought that, Mineha flicked me on the forehead. "You lazybones."
Ow, ow.
Yes, the Forest Wave could kill you, but it paid well.
First, there was the participation reward. On top of that, you received bonus rewards based on the quality and quantity of monsters you subjugated.
The materials from the defeated monsters were also purchased at a marked-up price.
Those purchased materials were then traded across the continent and overseas through merchant guilds.
With the sheer volume and quality involved, they sold through even at double the price or more.
In the end, Heizen came out ahead of what it had paid out.
If the "Forest Wave" Swallows Heizen, It's Done For
However, it was also an important event that bore a significant part of Heizen's economy.
"Sure, you make money off it. But the 'Forest Wave' doesn't count toward delvers' promotion points."
"It doesn't?"
"It's because you're not actually exploring, y'know."
"But don't the promotion trials include monster subjugation?"
"Yeah, weird, right?"
Strange, but I could more or less see why.
"So the Delvers' Guild doesn't recognize Heizen's 'subjugators'?"
"Well, that's about the size of it."
"The Heizen Grand Forest is definitely a dungeon, right?"
The same type as that forest — dungeon phenomena manifesting on the surface.
And the relics were being sent to the Junkyard, their hideout.
"They probably can't stand the whole 'subjugator' label. And Heizen's 'Subjugators' Guild hates the Delvers' Guild too. They're at each other's throats, basically."
"But they're the same thing, aren't they? You can transfer your registration even if the names are different."
Just as Mineha had pointed out, registration could be transferred even if the names differed.
Which meant the account I'd set up at Hydrangea would still work.
Besides, the 'Forest Wave' was the only exception — normally, exploring there counted toward promotion just fine.
"That's right."
"It really is a weird setup, isn't it?"
"That's a strange story, isn't it?"
But it's also a pretty common one. Just a stubborn standoff, really.
"Come to think of it, I heard that the current Grand Guild's Guild Master used to join the 'Forest Wave' every year back when he was young, and the monster horns from those days are displayed right in his office. Heard that somewhere, I have."
"Oh my, he was a wild one back then. That does track with his personality, though."
"I know about that. They call stuff like that a 'dark history.'"
That's not... well, actually, maybe it is.
The stone tablet at the watchtower of Hydrangea's hideout was definitely dark history, though.
It felt like traces of Alhazard-Abramilin's younger days could be found all over the place.
Chattering away like that, we arrived at our destination.
The "Exterminators" Guild, not the delvers' one, was... a truly distinctive three-story building.
"Now this is a building with quite the unique character."
"I've seen something like this in some dungeon."
"This is from the Yamato region, I'd say."
They craned their necks upward and chimed in one after another.
"Yamato — that's Kaede-Akima, right?"
"The 'Single Slash Dojo.' I really respect that place."
A temple...
I couldn't help but murmur. It really was a temple. A distinctive tiled roof crowned with an onion-shaped finial gleaming at the peak.
"Wof?"
"I was just thinking it looked familiar somehow."
"This is the Santou region. They say buildings like this are pretty common there."
Judging from Kaede-san's outfit, I'd figured as much.
But the Eastern-style building really stood out against the Western-style ones.
"Well then, I'm gonna go visit an acquaintance."
"Thanks for showing us around."
"Hoss-san. Thank you very much."
"Anytime!"
"Mineha. Make sure you keep that hood pulled down tight."
"I know."
Mineha-san had her hood pulled down low over her face.
She stood out too much, so this was a precaution against that.
"Bid. Listen to what Wof says. You hear?"
"Isn't that usually the other way around? Well, whatever."
"Wof. I'm counting on you for the rest."
"Y-yes."
We parted ways with Hoss-san.
Inside the guild — come to think of it, this was my first time in a different guild.
The first thing that caught my eye was the request papers plastered across an entire wall.
They were covered from corner to corner, even more striking than at the Hydrangea guild.
The request system was the same as the Delvers' Guild.
The requests plastered across the wall were divided by rank.
Each request paper had a number on it.
You memorized that number and told it to the receptionist at the request counter.
Then the receptionist would check whether you could take the request.
If everything checked out, you could hear the details.
Whether you could take it or not — that was just a check to see if the request had already been claimed.
Requests were basically first-come, first-served. The right went to whoever accepted it first.
Only completed requests were taken down. Then new request papers were posted.
Taking down and reposting every paper just because someone accepted a request would be too much hassle.
So this verification step was essentially mandatory.
That's why if you were after a money-making request or something with a specific goal, coming early in the morning was the way to go.
"Oh, it's a tavern!"
"Huh, so this place doubles as a tavern."
The reception area sat right next to a tavern.
"BWAHAHAHA!"
"Right? Right!"
"Oh stop, come on!"
"AHAHAHA!"
Almost all the table seats were taken, and it was loud despite being daytime.
A party of six, men and women mixed. They looked like they were having fun.
"Hey. Wof. That one."
Mineha tugged at my sleeve and called out.
"What is it?"
"Look. That."
"Hmm? This is..."
The wall Mineha was pointing at was on the left side.
An oversized request form was posted there, surrounded by a mountain of smaller notices.
An illustration of a fearsome monster was drawn on it.
"There's a Mangled Beast, huh?"
It was a beast with a large cross-shaped scar across its torso — a disturbing sight.
Its tail was forked. Just as Bid had said, it was labeled "Mangled Beast."
"Whoa, the reward amount is insane."
15.05 billion oro.
Mineha leaned in and whispered quietly.
"Couldn't you take it down?"
"Huh?"
The sudden question caught me off guard.
Well... if I went all out, I probably could.
But that wasn't the goal. 15.05 billion oro was tempting.
Purely tempting. But if I took the hunt, I'd stand out.
That was going to stand out to an abnormal degree.
Getting noticed by the three great families would be a problem.
The enemy might be the Sword Goddess's daughter.
"Oh, Mineha. This one says 'Full Moon Bazaar.'"
"Let me see?"
A poster was tacked to the wall. It showed a full moon and market tents.
Full Moon Bazaar. Six days from now.
"Guess we can't take the subjugation quest, then."
The round trip to the Heizen Great Forest would take eight days. No way.
Mineha stared at the poster meaningfully and murmured.
"...Will it really be found? Mine alone..."
"I'll find it. I'm sure of it."
"Guh, yeah. I'm counting on you."
She said it sincerely, then turned away in embarrassment.
So she quietly told me to make sure I had everything arranged properly by the day.
Watching us go back and forth like that, Bido let out an exasperated laugh.
Well, anyway. I'd figured out what the Subjugators' Guild was all about.
Hmm. In the corner of the counter, quietly sipping her drink one tiny sip at a time... an elf woman.
"............"
From every angle she was clearly a silver-haired elf woman, but... she didn't look like one at all.
I don't know what that means, but
t
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o
n
e
t
h
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r
e
i
s
n
o
t
an
elf
woman.
Then who could it possibly be — oh, our eyes met the instant she turned around.
"..."
"..."
I could tell from her eyes. I had figured it out.
That was the Thousand Faces.