"...It looks like we lost them... The coast is clear as far as the horizon — no sign of pursuers. Well, we're still running along the highway, so there's a chance they could catch up from behind, but..."
A report drifted down from the watchtower in a hushed murmur.
They clearly weren't accustomed to speaking formally, and it sounded like quite the struggle for them, but setting that aside, the words brought me a measure of relief.
Beside me, Liliz had her legs crossed and was laughing heartily, as if she found the whole thing genuinely hilarious.
"Hehehe, did you see that, Klye? He was beet-red and furious! Like, how dare a backwater Level 7 not know his place!"
Give me a break. They were the ones who picked the fight, but somehow the blame always ended up on us.
The opponent was Level 7. Level 7! A Level 7 above Liliz's own level! With my actual combat ability sitting at sub-Level 1 — Hunters don't have a Level 0, but you get the idea — there was no way I could hold my own against them, no matter how hard I tried.
"Quit stirring the pot. Even if you give me a hundred concessions, the only way this would be my fault is if I was the one who got them into a fight with that pack of Orcs — which I wasn't."
"Thanks to Klye, right!"
"..."
Citry chimed in with a beaming smile, offering the most off-the-mark support imaginable.
It was neither my fault nor my doing. Their bad luck was their own responsibility — just as my bad luck was mine alone.
None of my real companions were here. If I had to pick someone, it would be Tinno — forced to run on no sleep and looking like he might collapse at any moment — the closest thing I had to an ally.
I opened the box of chocolates we'd picked up as souvenirs in the town of Grest, then turned to Citry.
"Do you think they'll come after us?"
"They probably will. If they didn't, it would mean they're missing something critical as Hunters."
That's what I figured. A skilled Hunter was like a skilled tracking hound. Once they locked onto their quarry, they'd chase it to the ends of the earth — and even if they lost sight of it once, they'd never give up.
We'd gotten on the wrong people's bad side. How had Ark settled things with them...?
In the worst case — even if Liliz and Citry fought their hardest and beat them to a pulp — there was still a chance they wouldn't give up the chase.
Once it got that far, killing them would be the most straightforward solution, but that was one option I absolutely could not resort to. Not as a Hunter — as a human being, I'd be finished.
Even though she clearly understood the situation, Citry showed no sign of dropping her smile. In a voice so gentle it almost made you want to stop worrying, she said: "Well, for what it's worth, they were pretty worn out too. I don't think they'll give chase right away."
I see... that was true enough. A Hunter always had to be fully prepared before making any move.
Their companions had been injured as well. They'd hardly want to take on Liliz in that condition.
And beyond that — Arnold and his group shouldn't know our destination. The only ones who'd heard anything resembling our target were the people right here, and with our fake (but genuine) identification documents, our identities were hidden.
We were traveling by carriage, so we'd leave tracks — but this was the highway. Tracks could be found anywhere. The chances of them successfully following us were as close to zero as it got.
Liliz stretched out her legs, kicking them back and forth as she pouted.
"This is booooring. I wanna play tag."
That "tag" would be with a real demon... Back then, Arnold had looked like he wanted to crush my head like an apple. I was certain of it.
Tinno was swaying his head back and forth, looking at me with swollen, bloodshot eyes. He'd reached his limit.
I steeled myself.
The chances of them catching up to us were virtually nil, but better safe than sorry. I savored the cloying sweetness of chocolate spreading across my mouth as I unfolded the map.
Originally, I'd planned to reach the City of Ten Thousand Demons by way of several towns, sticking to the safe highways. We weren't in any particular rush, and in my book, safety came first.
But now that we had pursuers — I had to change plans. Even if tracking us would be difficult, plodding honestly along the highway might still let them catch up.
We'd veer off the road and take a shortcut. Leaving the highway meant a higher chance of encountering Monsters, but we had Liliz, Citry, and the three guards Citry had hired. That gave us a reasonable measure of safety.
It was still better than being chased by an angry Level 7 Hunter.
"Dammit... I should have brought Ark along. That pretty boy is never around when you need him. Maybe he hates me?"
What was the point of being the Imperial Capital's strongest if not for moments like this? At words that would surely earn a wry smile if the man himself heard them, Liliz — who insisted she was Ark's rival — puffed out her cheeks with an indignant huff. Liliz when she was being petulant was even more childlike than usual.
"What was that? Klye, are you maybe unhappy with me? If so, just tell me! I really love Klye, you know."
"No, it's not that... Actually, yeah, that's enough. You're more than strong enough, Liliz. All right, time to change our route. No more highway for us!"
A glint appeared in Liliz's eyes, and she leaned toward me with a grin that split her face from ear to ear.
Now then, Arnold. Let me show you what makes me a Level 8 — well, maybe.
§ § § You've got to be kidding...
Kuro and the man known only by his codename, who'd been sitting on the driver's seat, went blank for a moment, unable to process the order they'd just been given.
Until now, the journey had been uneventful, if dull. No particularly powerful Monsters had appeared, and aside from the storm on the first day, the weather had been pleasant.
Being bossed around and forced to sit on the carriage driver's seat the entire time was frustrating, but compared to the collar they'd been forced to wear, it was practically luxury.
The highway was flat and Monster encounters were sparse, making it fundamentally safe. But the moment you stepped even one pace off it, the danger level skyrocketed.
"B-But the Garest Mountain Range has powerful Monsters — entering there with so few people is far too dangerous."
"And your point is?"
A girl opened the small window and stuck her face out, smiling. Her unblemished white skin and refined features were so beautiful that under different circumstances, Kuro and his kind might have considered her prey — but right now, to Kuro and Shiro sitting beside him, that smile looked nothing short of demonic.
The Garest Mountain Range stretched across the northern reaches of the Empire. While the terrain itself wasn't particularly treacherous, the dense forests blanketing its foothills made it home to a wide variety of Monsters.
But the biggest problem was the enormous range in the strength of its inhabitants — among them were some that even seasoned Hunters could only handle if they banded together in a party.
"There is a route through it, and compared to the Treasure Hall we've already conquered, the Garest Mountain Range is hardly a major obstacle. If we mow down the Monsters in our path, it becomes a shortcut. ...We cut through it on the way here, after all."
"Short...cut?"
Impossible. He opened the map he'd been given and stared at it.
It was, admittedly, a shortcut. If the destination lay beyond the mountains, then leaving the highway and pushing through the forests sprawling across the range and its foothills could shave roughly one to two days off compared to circling the Garest Mountain Range.
But even at best, it only saved two days. While old paths did exist within the forests, travelers almost never chose the route through the Garest Mountain Range. Even Hunters with the strength to make it through avoided it — it was far too dangerous and far too pointless.
The three of them — Kuro included — were former Hunters who still possessed a decent measure of fighting ability. Crossing the Garest Mountain Range wasn't impossible by any means, but it was dangerous enough that under normal circumstances, they'd never choose it.
No matter how valid a reason "fleeing from Hunters" was, this was an absurdly reckless approach.
"In the first place... where exactly is the final destination?"
Kuro and his group didn't even know the destination. They'd simply been told to follow the highway straight ahead, with the occasional town name tossed in.
As Kuro pressed on, still stunned, Citry Smart flashed him a smile full of hidden meaning.
"Is there any need for you to know? Just go. This is Klye's decision."