Chapter 24: Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunterâs Hero Dream Chapter 24 \n24 çŸćźééż Escape From Reality\n
The ăImperial Capital Zebrudiaă was always bustling.
Well maintained streets. The main roads were broad and interwoven, there were always countless carriages and people busily coming and going. It was to the extent that people hailing from other districts would say that there was always a festival in Zebrudia.
When people gathered, things gathered, and thatâs what grew the city. The ăImperial Capital Zebrudiaă was currently said to be a large world leading city, and that there was nothing you couldnât find there. Powerful weapons and armour, a delicacy originally only found in particular towns facing the ocean, rare books with only a few existing volumes in the world, expensive potions that could cure any illness, and ââ profound and mysterious Relics produced from the surrounding Shrines.
Wealth to prestige. And also, power. The Imperial Capital Zebrudia that took pride in itâs splendour could be said to be a representative of cities with active hunters in the modern age.
And, it was still unknown whether itâs growth would stop.
For us, the members of ăStrange Griefă, that the first city we chose to visit was the Imperial Capital was our most extreme case of good fortune.
Of course I wouldnât ever say anything against the amount of effort my childhood friends put in, but the abundant resources and superior teachers gave us a big leap forward. And so, we took that momentum and ăStrange Griefă ran up what regular people saw as the glorious path of Treasure Hunters. Actually, in the five years since we had come to the Capital, our party (except me) had already finished overcoming most of the Shrines in the vicinity.
But still the capital was our hometown, it was convenient and there was also the pretext of making new friends. And it wasnât like I didnât have any thoughts of contributing to the development of the city a little if possible.
But at the moment â this Imperial Capital that we owed a great debt to was facing an unprecedented crisis because of me.
The Clan House top floor. After spending an hour searching my private room, I was clutching my head in my hands.
Sytryâs slime was â nowhere to be found. No matter how many times I searched. Searching every nook and cranny it didnât appear.
From the gaps between the countless Relics that decorated my room, to underneath my bed. I searched everywhere, but there were no traces of it.
I sat on my bed with a flump, and muttered alone. My throat was parched.
It was a pleasantly warm afternoon. Usually I would take a stroll outside with a suitable escort, or sit in my chair in the Clan Masterâs room and take a nap, but I absolutely couldnât feel that way right now.
âCrap⊠what do I do. Itâs not anywhereâŠ.â
The thing that should have been inside the metal capsule, I had noticed it wasnât there before throwing it in the White Wolves Den. Fortunately we were able to manage the Hunt itself with the help of our adorable Genocidal Monster, but there was still a big question that remained.
That was, where was Sytryâs Slime?
I swear, I had never opened the capsule before even once. After it was entrusted into my care, I put it in the safe and always left it there. It was treated as a half-way toxic substance. I had made it a rule to run away from dangerous things to the best of my ability.
Sytryâs Slime was created by a member of ăStrange Griefă, Sytry Smart.
The Slime was known as the weakest monster of them all.
Against heat, cold, magic, physical attacks, and also shocks, it was weak. If you were a child in the countryside, at one time or another you probably played around by stepping on field slimes.
It was also famous for being able to be created through special techniques, and was often used in experiments because itâs nature changed according to the mana in itâs surroundings.
Just one slime going missing by all rights shouldnât give off a sense of impending doom. But it wasnât surprising to feel when one went missing on this occasion.
Sytry had said it was a good thing to create, but to be careful with it since there was a little danger that the Imperial Capital would be destroyed if it was released, so take care of it.
And her âlittleâ doesnât mean just a âlittleâ. (Saying âa littleâ when the Capital could be destroyed is a little bit littleâŠ.)\n
Sytry is a genius. Her body wasnât very strong, but she more than made up for that in intelligence.
And she was the most matured among the collected monsters ofăStrange Griefă. But at the beginning she was a child just like me, that was worried about her own weakness. (Although I should mention at that point she was much stronger than I was.)
From the start, she must have been a late-bloomer type. All the members of Strange Grief showed outstanding talent from the outset, so I was the only one that understood that kind of suffering.
Now she had become strong. With knowledge and experience, her position had rapidly grown, but the sympathy she held towards me didnât disappear.
Perhaps that was why Sytry often handed me âdeliverablesâ. To her perfectly well intentions, I couldnât turn them down. (Or should I say, they would become litter if I didnât accept them, so I had to even if I didnât want to. For some reason Sytry wasnât interested in the âdeliverablesâ I didnât accept.)
And for all that, Sytry-chan had some small bits missing in her, so she often left out important information that lead to me making mistakes time and again.
a
Yeah. Exactly like â this time it seems.
a
ââŠâŠâŠNo no no no no. This time will be different. Itâs been in the safe this whole time, and I never opened it.â
Calmly think. I definitely paid meticulous attention to that Slime.
Sytryâs Slime was inside the metal capsule. Even as stupid as I was to drop a Relic without noticing while moving, I wasnât skilful enough to only lose the contents of something. I wasnât, I think. Just to say so would be going too far.
The metal capsule had already been destroyed unfortunately, so I couldnât examine it in detail, but the capsule hadnât had a single scratch on it. There were no holes in it, and it was difficult to imagine that only the contents would be stolen from the safe.
The safe was on the top floor of the Clan House â it was guarded perfectly, and in the first place the safe that it was kept in â was a Relic. I wouldnât say for sure that it would never be able to opened by a third party, but if it was opened I would surely be aware of it.
That is to say there is only one conclusion.
-Originally, the contents had been empty. Itâs that!
I convinced myself, and got on my bed and laid out flat on my back.
âGood grief, so Sytry can be mischievous too. AhahahahaâŠâ
Sytry wasnât a foolish person like me, or someone that would pull a practical joke like that, but it wasnât unimaginable.
âŠAnyway, that was enough. It was becoming troublesome to think about, and when I did I felt like throwing up.
The Capital was at peace today. Everything was fine. Lets just pretend the Slime never existed.
In the first place, even though it was something specially made by Sytry, it was a slime after all. It was the weakest monster. It shouldnât be that big of a deal.
Thatâs right. Saying the Capital would be destroyed was obviously an exaggeration, âŠ.since there are plenty of amazing Hunters living here.
Iâll think about something more enjoyable.
§\nA desk and chair that were pointlessly grand and elegant. The large window in the Clan Masterâs room let in a lot of sunlight. It made you sleepy, particularly in this season approaching the end of winter.
I didnât have any work to do, so I was sitting in my chair absentmindedly polishing my Relics when the Deputy Clan Master Eva entered the room.
Iâm a decorative Master, so Eva acted in my place taking charge of all Clan administration. She looked busy today as well.
Dressed in a uniform crisp from top to bottom, and sharp eyes that peeked through red framed glasses. If you lined us up as a pair next to each other Iâm sure weâd be the dim-witted Master and competent secretary. As a matter of fact, thatâs exactly how it is in reality.
âThe Explorers have contacted us to hear in more detail of the matter concerning the White Wolves Den.â
Eva looked at me, and without scolding she went straight into the main topic.
She truly is the Deputy Master. Even though when she first entered the clan she would often give her frank opinion, before I knew she had started not saying anything. Maybe she had given up.
I let out a big yawn while I rubbed my eyes and listened. I hadnât slept much since losing the Slime, so it was unavoidable that Iâd be sleepy.
âHas Ark come back yet?â
ââŠAs would be expected, it would be difficult to entrust this to Ark-san who hasnât even been there.â
Ark was⊠Ark wasnât enough.
Eva shrugged in exasperation.
He is strong. Strong enough to be above the others. Heâs popular too. A companion from the same clan, it truly couldnât be helped that I would end up relying on him.
The main thing, was that the number of Hunters with screws loose became even more frequent among the strong. From the experience of making a clan, I knew that if something came up, if you threw Ark at it then it would work out some way or another.
Well, an outcome of that was having to go through a bitter experience at the White Wolves Den.
Surely if it was Ark he would be able to do something about the Slime.
âTino was the Leader so Tino should do the report. I just chased after them from behind.â
I went to help, but I didnât defeat any Phantoms or rescue Tino and the others.
Liz-chan had come running after me so I was of some help indirectly, but looking back on it calmly it didnât appear that great.
In the old days I once wished to be a Hunter that could cooly rescue someone in a pinch and be praised. Now I didnât hold such overambitious desires.
Whatever the details were, above all the result was that Tino and the rest were safe.
Sighing with a somewhat philosophical feeling, suddenly struck with an idea I could verify with Eva.
âBy the way, have their been any changes lately in the Capital?â
â? Changes, as in, what do you mean exactly? What are you saying?â
Eva Renfeed was excellent.\n\nâY-Yes. Understood!â
At Evaâs calm yet somewhat intimidating voice, one of her subordinates left the room running.
Eva Renfeed was originally a merchant.
Before becoming the Deputy Clan Master she was a member of a trading company competing for the first and second spot as a major power of the Empire â The Wells Company. Although she was still in a lower position in those days, after she resigned she still continued to keep her connections.
ăFirst Stepă is a huge clan.
Superior Hunters can be identified as an armed force. Especially for a clan the size of ăFootprintsă, to the country, merchants, and to other Hunters, it was seen that way down to the bandits and criminals that specialised in Hunters.
Although it was unfamiliar to Eva, she used her position to construct an intelligence network on the level of the highest in the Capital and developed the Clan.
Merchant networks. Information mediums such as newspapers. To not be caught off guard she used her status among Hunters to collect information from Treasure Hunters. Her reach even extended to the Explorers Association.
Freshness of information was most important. Most of the events occurring in the Capital were brought to Evaâs attention immediately.
That was, why the question asked by the Clan Master this time had been such a shock. If this was the first time she might have firmly proceeded with further questioning. At least, she wouldnât purposely order for an investigation.
But, for Eva the Masters words were worth putting confidence into.
Cry Andoric was a strange man.
When they first met he was still a boy without his recognition as a Level 8 Hunter and still didnât hold an alias. From then several years had passed with their relationship as Clan head and Deputy Master, but she was still yet to get a good grasp of him.
He was always sitting vacantly in his office polishing Relics and yawning. He didnât interfere with the management of the Clan, and there was no feeling that he was working towards anything. He didnât have a strong appearance, and aside from his occasional eccentric behaviour there was nothing special in particular about his character. Like some of the people within the clan, he didnât have the shine of a hunter that would become great in the future. On the contrary, he was frequently saying he wanted to retire as a Hunter and hand over the Clan Master position.
Supposing a person didnât know him, they would unmistakably conclude that he was an idiot. Even Eva, at first held dissatisfaction at that lackluster appearance.
However sometimes he would let leak words that, to Eva that it wouldnât be an exaggeration to say had full knowledge of the Imperial Capital, contained such precision that they couldnât be thought of as jokes.
From natural disasters such as Earthquakes, to the outbreak of abnormalities in a far off Shrine. From quarrels between Empire aristocrats up to the manoeuvres of secret societies behind the scenes, many times over she had seen him meddle in affairs with no prior indications.
The person in question clearly was in no position to know of these things. However, once might be seen as a coincidence, but over and over and it becomes seen as an inevitability.
Inconceivable foresight that could not be expressed with words such as âgeniusâ. Unidentifiable. Infinite Variety was an apt way to call it. When Eva first heard the alias he would be attached with she clapped her hands in agreement.
The person himself said that it was only coincidence and that he was unlucky. However taking the previous conditions into account and then seeing those wilful Hunters submissive to that figure â Occasionally it looked to Eva as more of a Monster than those Hunters with easy to understand monster like ability.
Eva held confidence in her own abilities. But it only persisted under the category of common sense.
If Cry perceived some kind of premonition, no matter how abrupt his words were, Eva took action on that premise alone.
The room of the Deputy Clan Master. Eva finished issuing orders to her many subordinates in the room that was disordered compared to the Clan Masterâs. At the rear window, Eva muttered while looking down at the surface world.
Dismissing all thoughts of her usual duties from her mind, she frantically tried to recall anything she may have overlooked.
âWhat in the world is going to happen, in this Imperial CapitalâŠâ
It was during Evaâs daily routine when this took place.
The start of the second arc. If you have any thoughts about the first part as a whole, consider leaving a review on novelupdates since itâd be interesting for me to read them.