The wind is bitterly cold in the city surrounded by mountains. Moreover, the girl is only wearing a thin one piece. It was inevitable that she would feel a chill in her skin.
Veena uses magic to protect against the cold, raising her body temperature. There’s nothing you can’t do with magic. It’s basically second nature to her now.
(This is troublesome.)
Veena sighed.
Her breath turns into steam the moment it leaves her mouth.
As it did, Sylph crawled down from her shoulder and wrapped itself around her waist.
Maybe he’s trying to warm her up?
As Veena stroked Sylph’s head, she could see several dozen people ahead of her.
(A lot of them have already gathered, it seems.)
Like Veena, they’re all hunters whose profession is to subjugate monsters.
(Seems like I’m a little late.)
Even if she realized it, she didn’t rush and kept walking towards them at a leisurely pace.
“You’re late.”
It was Miss Gremlin who noticed her first, the public relations manager for the hunters of the Takrath region and a person who was the very image of the rustic woman.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Honestly…”
Gremlin crossed her arms in a way that emphasized her chest, and glared. A man walked up to them.
“Yo, you two. Good mornin’.”
It’s Kenkar.
“…Morning.”
“Don’t get close to me, you piece of shit.”
“Wow, that’s really hurtful, Linny.”
Even though both of them seemed to view him with disgust, Kenkar approached the two without a care.
Linny must be his pet name for Gremlin.
These two seem to be quite familiar with eachother.
“We’re working together today, so let’s all get along! Okay?”
Kenkar is a B-Rank Hunter. In this town, he’s easily the most capable person apart from Veena and Yua.
The rank system determines primacy over who gets to accept monster hunting contracts first. It’s only natural. Miscellaneous chores such as clearing up the mess after a monster hunt can be left to low ranking hunters.
Therefore, he usually took the lion’s share of hunting jobs in town.
But this time, even Kenkar is getting involved in the clean up operation. The damage was so extensive that Miss Gremlin, the head of public relations, couldn’t simply ignore it and got a lot of people involved.
Veena looked up at the range, and saw there was a gap where a mountain once lay. It was erased without a trace because of the dragon’s breath. Also, there are various other damages caused by the dragon that the hunters have been tasked with clearing away.
Veena answered Kenkar with a “I really don’t like it.”, and Gremlin also answered with a “That’s right. Who would ever want to get chummy with you?”
“You two are pretty mean, y’know. I don’t have any ulterior motives, honestly.”
That’s not the problem. They simply do not want to be friends, they are incompatible as human beings.
Thinking but not saying that, Veena walked away from Kenkar.
Watching her as she left, Kenkar gave a troubled shrug.
Even on horseback, it was a long journey for the Lafallian Knights in Aria’s troop.
(My butt is sore… I wish I could just use transmission magic to get there faster.)
One of them, Vice-Captain Leena of the Aria Squad, looks at the back of her Captain as she’s getting rocked around on the saddle of her horse.
(It’s useless. That woman isn’t flexible at all, she wouldn’t allow me to leave the unit for any reason.)
Leena sighed.
(I wish I could use a variety of magic just as well as sister can, but that’s beyond me… Ah, my butt really hurts.)
She tried various ways of riding to relieve the pain, but in the end it just made her feel even more uncomfortable on her long distance ride.
(…I hope I can see you again, sister. I miss you.)
As she’s wondering too herself, Aria spoke the words “Pick up the pace” into the magical watch on her wrist.
As the magic took hold, Aria’s horse began to speed up. It spread, speeding up Leena’s horse and all the horses in the rear.
“Ah… I just want to use transmission already. Anything to get me off this horse.”
Even if Leena thinks it, she doesn’t let the expression appear on her face. They are heading to the city of Takrath. Over 2,000 kilometers away. If she was alone, she could make that distance instantly, with a horse it would require multiple stops. Of course, it’s not something she can use to transport an entire squadron of mounted knights.
(And now I’m feeling hungry… Ha…)
It was in that way, and with many internalized complaints, that Leena and the rest of the Aria Squad journeyed on.