Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter’s Hero Dream Chapter 12 \n12 節穴 Bad Eyes\n

Ah – that reminds me, I need to have a charge done.

While thinking that it was about the time that Tino and the others would be reaching the Shrine, I was polishing the 『Dogs Chain』 and suddenly remembered that the chains Mana had run dry.

The Relics obtained from Shrines didn’t have powers that could be used unconditionally.

Relics were powered by Magi through the consumption of Mana, and if a Relic was strong, then it was required for a huge amount of mana to be accumulated beforehand.

That was one reason why Treasure Hunters didn’t carry around a lot of Relics with them.

Putting mana into a Relic was simple, and all living things possessed mana itself. The quantity held varied between person to person. Even for the legitimate Magi that had mana reserves in proportion to their strength, if they were to pour their mana into several Relics they would soon run empty.

In my case, sadly my mana quantity was below the average person, so I had to entrust charging to my friends and clan members. It was one of my reasons for wanting to give up on being a Hunter. Give me just one good reason to continue.

The sunset shone through the window that took up the surface of a wall. The entirety of the spacious lounge was illuminated in orange.

On some of the tables, the familiar clan members of Footprints were hanging out. Until now nobody had been around, but perhaps todays work had finished so they returned. They each engaged in relaxed chatting.

I thrust myself into one of the conversations without reading the mood. If you want to get some charges, it’s necessary to choose a party. This time it was only one chain that had run out of mana, so it was okay to choose from anywhere.

The leader was a man with wiry black stubble. He looked at me and smiled cheerfully. He seems to be in a good mood.

“Oh, Master. Yesterday was crazy, hey.”

“Yeah well it’s a common occurrence. Sorry to ask, but would you charge a Relic?”

“Hm. How many people do you need?”

“It’s just one chain, so just one person is fine.”

“Just that much shouldn’t be a problem.”

Understanding in his good humour, he handed the Dogs Chain to one of his Magi companions. The Magi was a woman, but she also didn’t appear to be bothered.

I’m filled with a guilty feeling, but even without using the mana in a Relic it will become empty over time. I asked quite frequently to the point that everybody had grown used to it.

Mana recovered naturally over time, but using it up was a large burden. If it’s right before they were headed to a Shrine, I might be refused. But still the status of Clan Master has an effect.

Due to Eva doing her best, the dissatisfaction of the clan members was dissolved in gratitude for managing well.

Mana streamed into the 『Dogs Chain』 and it shone faintly.

Meanwhile the leader talked in a chatty tone.

“Ah, that reminds me Master. Did you hear? On the northern highway 『strays』 apparently showed up. It was only a small amount but a caravan was wiped out.”

The capital Zebrudia is a big city. The main roads leading to it are catered to incomparably to other towns. The surrounding monster inhabitants were periodically culled, but occasionally there were unlucky people that get attacked.\n

On the main road to the Capital, the protection provided from monsters is thorough. Because monsters rarely approach the main road, the monsters or phantoms that do are referred to as 『strays』 fearfully.

They are difficult to predict in advance. To make things worse, these individuals are often stronger than the usual varieties.

Around here was quite developed, but to travel further outside I’ve heard that having guards is essential to safety.

If it were me I would never go outside without an escort, but for merchants it’s quite troubling.

“So dangerous. Monsters? A Phantom? Since it’s a main road it’ll be a Phantom right?”

To the north of the Imperial Capital is an extensive forest rich in resources. It’s a suitable habitat for monsters, so the potential for them to travel the main road to attack a caravan is low.

The leader raised his eyes to me, and gave a small agreement.

“Ah. The order of knights have given out an alert and seem to be putting out a recruitment for a subjugation party. This time looks to be a fairly big deal. The caravan had three level 3 guards escorting them.

“Those hunters were really wiped out? How unlucky.”

Phantoms can’t be avoided unlike the monsters on the highway.

Phantoms consist of Mana Material so they will appear in Shrines and stay in that area. But there are a lot of Shrines in the vicinity of the capital, so once every couple of months or so something like this can happen.

Well, there’s no need to worry.

The fact that three level 3 Hunters were killed means that it was relatively strong, but a phantom that has no physical body cannot exist in a place with thin Mana Material for long.

It would take time for it to end naturally, but it will weaken in a short time and the empire knights would be able to move in to subjugate it.

Well, it’s not related to me. Even strong Phantoms don’t enter the Imperial Capital.

The leader spoke as I was waiting in a composed manner for the chain to finish charging.

“It’s probably coincidence, but from the talk of a passing Hunter it seemed to be a wolf phantom. To be killed on an open road- it must have been due to the guards negligence.”

“Oh really- …hm?”

Wolf. Wolves? A Wolf?

I’ve just recently heard that word, my brows knitted together.

The Capitals Northern Highway. The 『White Wolves Den』 that Tino was just sent to was in the forest that spread out right next to it.

The form and variety of 『Phantom』 that appears in a Shrine is somewhat fixed. It was only natural to hear of the wolf type and put the two together.

Noticing my expression, the leader continued good naturedly.

“Most likely it’s a Shrine that wasn’t getting culled enough and underwent an evolution. There are a lot of Shrines like that. If you ask Hunters, they’d probably say it’s a good thing.”\n“………W-Well, if it’s North of the Capital there are a lot of Shrines aren’t there? Within the forest there are bound to be a few, and if it’s a wolf type Phantom then-“

“It’s definitely the 『White Wolves Den』 for sure.”

Following my words the Leader gave out a name. Just like a member of Footprints, seems like he had information on the nearby Shrines in his head.

He spoke with conviction, but without breaking his smile. My stomach started to feel nauseous.

“Y-yeah that 『White Wolves Den』 and the other ones-“

“Hm? Where else in that area does a 『Phantom』 in the form of a wolf appear? It’s a Shrine that has a low rate of Relics and it’s unpopular, I think it meets the conditions.”

……Seriously?

I feel my facial expression tighten up.

The Magi in the middle of charging the 『Dogs Chain』 sees my change in expression and gives me an odd look.

“The fact that one came out means the 『White Wolves Den』 is probably overflowing with Phantoms. The Explorers should have put out an alert. Most likely the country will put out an extermination request. It’ll be time to profit.”

Phantoms don’t leave a corpse behind so there was no money to be made from them. However when they overflowed from a Shrine, it was a different matter. Depending on the scale, it wasn’t uncommon for the country to give out extermination requests through the Explorers at a non negligible price.

…But well, there’s a chance something could go wrong, and even if those assumptions were correct, Tino’s four person group was heading out.

Gilbert has a Relic, they’ll manage it somehow.

“Leader, those wolves, they’re fairly strong so please don’t get careless and die.”

One of the party members teased the Leader with a solemn air. It all resonated within me.

Strong? They’re strong? I’ve never been there, but are they really that strong? No but, it’s just a fair amount right? Like for a level 3, around that strong. A bit strong then. It’s alright, since Tino is also strong.

…but just to make sure, I’ll show them the request form. Not with any other intentions though.

While smiling, I take out the written request that was folded in two from my pocket, and spread it out on the table.

The Leader read it and his eyes widened in surprise.

He read the request from top to bottom and gave a big nod in comprehension, smiling as if he was impressed.

“What’s this Master, so mischievous. Acting like you don’t know anything when you’ve already made some moves.”

“Yeah, right… you’re right. …I handed it over to Tino.”

“!? To Tino, the Level 4 – is …is that so. Spartan as ever…”

The broad minded Leader that was full of composure up until now, in an instant his expression froze up. The other members withdrew slightly while smiling.\n\n“…For missions that were difficult at the best of times… to add on further shackles…”

“This is – 『Strangry』 what makes them famous as a top party huh-“

Superior Hunter – a gaze of awe not unlike when looking at a monster.

Famous!? What do you mean famous…

My expression that was unable to endure collapsing became flat.

The leader that had been cheerfully smiling moments ago stood up with a start. His expression was serious as if facing a monster.

I took the charged 『Dogs Chain』 from the table and attached it to the usual place on my belt with a clink.

I gave out a cough and then feigned being hardboiled.

“Sorry, but I have some minor business. I’m going to go spend some time around here. Thanks for the charge.”

“N-No no. I should apologise for making you hear something so boring.”

His jovial tone of voice had become polite and professional.

Before I knew it, other tables of parties were glancing over at us.

Crap. If it remains like this I’ll known as a piece of garbage that pushed an impossible request onto Tino.

It’s different. It wasn’t on purpose.

I turned around. Anyway, I’m not sure what to aim at for now, so I’ll hurry to the Clan Master’s room.

At a time like this, Ark wasn’t around to fall back on. And no members of Strange Grief.

Generally, requests were given particularly careful preparation. This time was a retrieval request, so I was hasty with it. Tino and the others had probably already made it to the Shrine.

There was no time. In my state of chaos I tried to persuade myself.

“I-It’s ok. It’s ok. There’s the Purgatory Sword… since they have that Purgatory Sword!”

Speaking of, that purgatory sword.

During the Ability Test I had exhausted all of it’s Mana. That boy Gilbert would have charged it before heading to the Shrine right?

Translator Notes

-The chapter title ‘Bad Eyes’ is from an idiom that says something like ‘you have such bad judgement you must have holes where your eyes should be’ -A Caravan meaning this, incase you were wondering (most likely a peddler or merchant):

-The Empire Knights are referred to as a chivalric order. From what I can tell in English this has religious associations connected with the crusades. The couple sentences I read on Japanese Wikipedia on chivalric orders gave samurai on horseback as an example so I just ended calling them Knights for now.