Riz stepped in front of me as if to shield me and picked up a boulder from the ground.
Her gaze was locked on the far bank of the river, deep within a stand of trees. I squinted too, but all I could make out was thick darkness—nothing visible at all.
Still, even without knowing what was going on, something was definitely happening.
The ominous presence was so clear that even my dulled Hunter instincts could read it. Based on past experience, the kind of trouble that cropped up in situations like this was limited in variety.
A Monster or a Phantom. And judging from Riz's expression—probably the kind that shrugged off physical attacks, which happened to be her specialty.
Even high-Level Hunters who possessed inhuman strength had their strengths and weaknesses. That was exactly why Parties existed.
"………Ugh! This feeling—it's been so long!"
Riz said, looking thoroughly annoyed. It wasn't my fault, but I still felt a twinge of guilt.
The fact that Riz, who always charged in headfirst, wasn't leaping into action meant the opponent had to be相当 formidable.
We hadn't come here on a job. There was no reason to face a Monster we were ill-suited against while I was already a deadweight.
Moreover, in a rare twist—this time we weren't even surrounded.
Without letting my guard down or taking my eyes off the depths of the forest, I whispered near her ear.
"……Riz, we're running. No need to fight."
I had the Barrier Ring, but Riz didn't.
The Barrier Ring basically only protected its user. In truth, with some effort you could expand the barrier's range, but even then, you needed someone pressed tightly against you to shield them.
"You can run, right?"
"Hmm… if it's a Monster, shouldn't we just use violence?"
……The Monsters showing up wasn't my fault. Riz should have understood that, but emotionally, she wasn't buying it. It seemed like having the mood ruined had really gotten under her skin.
Without directing her fighting will toward the Monsters, I coaxed Riz out of her sulk.
"That depends……on the time and situation. I've said it plenty of times, but this time the plan is to avoid fighting as much as possible."
"………It's way too late for excuses now, aaaargh!!"
Riz drew her arm back and hurled the boulder.
The rock flew. The sound was left behind as a powerful shockwave rippled through my body. Launched from the slender arm of a high-Level Hunter, the stone traced an almost perfectly straight line and slammed into a tree on the opposite bank.
The tree—nothing especially thin—snapped and toppled. Against your average Monster, that would serve as a perfectly viable attack.
Was she actually planning to fight……?
Riz turned back to me as I squinted against the thunderous noise.
"……Well, if Kly-chan says so, then let's run. I'm a little worried since Tii's here, but Citry's here too, so I think it'll work out."
Work out……?
"Come on, let's go! That thing can't even slow us down."
Riz walked past me with a nonchalant air. I grabbed her right hand.
Her steps halted. She'd been in the water just moments ago, but her skin was smooth—and scorching hot. When I squeezed her hand, Riz squeezed back with a little force of her own.
The rustling of the trees didn't stop. There was no wind, yet—no Monster cries could be heard. Only intense pressure, bearing down on us.
"Kly-chan……"
"What?"
"……I need my right hand for running, so hold my left, okay?"
"……Sure."
We switched hands. I could feel her body heat. It's okay—I had Riz with me. And the Barrier Ring.
As always, I began praying to God while keeping my expression perfectly neutral. Riz finally offered a faint smile, took my hand, and broke into a run.
§ "Hah, hah… Ah, I feel like something like this happened once before, too."
"Hm…… What? What's—!"
The sound of trees crashing. The ground shaking. Riz gripped my hand tight, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she grinned.
Nothing remained behind where we'd run. Only cleanly severed trees, stacked atop one another like a makeshift barricade.
The one who cut them down wasn't a Monster—it was Riz. I wasn't sure how much use it would be, but anything beat nothing.
Each time she swung her right arm wide, small objects sliced through the air, and trees on both sides toppled with a crash.
It had been a while since I'd seen her use 'that.' And no matter how many times I witnessed it—even from up close, it looked like actual magic.
The truth was, Riz's 'Origin of the Heavens' wasn't a weapon. Her weapon was her right arm.
"This is actually, surprisingly, thrilling, and fun! Usually, it's just running and escaping—that's all there ever is!"
True—if it were just Riz alone, she could have escaped by running.
I was the one holding her back. There was no sound of pursuit from behind, but the presence hadn't faded.
Was there anything I could do……? That was when my eyes landed on the 'Dancing Light and Shadow' I wore on my right hand, still clasped with Riz's.
The Treasure Weapon I'd only recently acquired—it could freely generate illusions within a one-meter radius. It was useless in combat, but it might serve as a distraction. No—it was definitely better than nothing. At the very least, I could draw their attention.
What should I conjure—— I thought desperately while running.
Monsters were living creatures too. They wouldn't attack something stronger than themselves.
Both Riz and I had rather delicate appearances. That often made us targets. If it had been Anthem out there instead, the attacker might not have bothered.
The size of illusions I could create was limited. On pure instinct, I conjured the most terrifying thing I'd seen recently—a phantom of Arnold.
The phantom of Arnold, raging against the darkness, materialized in the sky.
Riz, who'd been checking behind us as she ran, widened her eyes at the illusion that appeared without any warning.
"!? A…… Ahahahaha…… What is that!? Kly-chan, that's hilarious! Awesome!"
"Hah, hah…… It was totally on impulse, so I could only remember his face."
What was projected against the night sky was Arnold's head. And because his terrifying expression was what stuck in memory the most, only the front half was detailed—the back half had no hair at all.
It seemed I still needed more practice…… Eva and the others could reproduce things perfectly by now.
Arnold's severed head floating in the night sky was pretty horrifying in its own right, but the enemy showed no reaction. No cries, no sign of slowing down.
While running, I rotated the phantom to face our direction. Riz was laughing uproariously as she sprinted.
"……Is it shy? I think it's pretty well-made, honestly."
At least the face was well-made. The body, though……
"Ahahahahahahahahaha. Yep, that's definitely true. That's amazing! Next time you see him, you absolutely have to show him! I bet he'd love it!"
"……No way."
I could already picture his reaction. Why on earth would I voluntarily go out of my way to incur his wrath?
§ Thanks to our desperate sprint, we reached the camp without being caught.
My heart was hammering away with a tremendous noise. It had been ages since I'd run that hard.
Citry greeted us with a gentle smile. The luggage that had been on the ground earlier was gone—only the campfire remained, blazing bright.
The horses tied to the cart, having sensed the Monster's presence, began neighing frantically.
I apologized for bringing trouble upon us when I'd only gone to fetch water.
"Hah, hah… Sorry, Citry. We have to run."
"It's been a while, but preparations are complete. We can leave at any moment. Ah, thank you for the water. I'll take the flask."
She took the water flask from my hand and climbed into the cart.
When I'd wondered where the luggage had gone—she must have sensed the trouble from this far away. As expected of her.
Citry, already aboard, grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.
The first thing I saw was Tino, sitting bolt upright with her eyes going white. The commotion had apparently woken her.
Riz, who hadn't entered the cart but climbed on top of the roof, shouted: "Citry, it's your favorite—the 'Wandering Giant Ogre'! Did you call it here to test whether your prediction was right?!"
"Release it! I didn't summon it! If anyone summoned it, it'd be Kly-san!"
Not me either……
The cart lurched forward with tremendous force.
Citry leaned out the window, her upper body extending outside, and drew a potion from her hip. She uncapped it and hurled it into the campfire.
The potion bottle spun through the air, spraying liquid as it plunged into the flames.
For an instant, all sound vanished. A shockwave shook the entire cart, and my body lifted off the seat for a moment. I caught Citry as she toppled forward from the impact.
The darkness cleared, and hot air rushed in. I helped Citry up and hastily peered out the window.
The forest was on fire. Flames scattered from the campfire had engulfed the sparse trees growing around us, and massive plumes of white smoke rose into the sky.
The fire burned ferociously—there was no way it would die down naturally. It was clearly overkill. If anyone found out, it'd be a crime. But nobody would find out.
Tino looked at me with trembling eyes, her gaze clinging to me for protection.
"W-What's happening, Mastaa……?"
"It's an Explosion Potion. It should serve as a distraction."
Those words were too much to ignore, and I couldn't help but grimace.
A distraction? Did she just say distraction? So this was only good enough for a distraction? Why did the most powerful Monsters always show up the moment I was around?!
Citry continued with a perfectly composed expression. I really envied how she could always stay so calm.
"With Lucia-chan not here at a time like this, we're clearly lacking in offensive power. It's just not the same—"
"Can we escape?"
"Yes…… If the Monster is what Big Sister said—a 'Wandering Giant Ogre'—then there are proper methods and high-risk methods."
Two options……? And what kind of Monster was a 'Wandering Giant Ogre'?
The horses were running desperately too, and the cart was surging forward at incredible speed. But the terrain was rough, and we were hauling heavy cargo, so there had to be limits to both our speed and stamina. I truly regretted not coming in the Platinum Horse carriage Eva had prepared.
Of course, the proper method was the right call. There was no reason to take unnecessary risks.
Reading the decision from my expression, Citry clapped her hands once and called up toward the roof.
"Big Sister, drop Haiiro! We'll use them as bait!"
"Roger that. Thanks for everything—if you're still alive, see you later!"
"!? What are you—ghk—"
!?
Before I could react, the sound of something being kicked out and a scream overlapped. The cart grew lighter, and the speed picked up a notch.
Citry calmly explained to Tino, whose face had gone pale as she grasped the situation.
"The 'Wandering Giant Ogre' is tenacious…… but it has a habit of toying with its prey, so as long as there's bait, it's easy to escape. In villages near the 'Wandering Giant Ogre's' habitat, there are always fairy tales about spirits demanding sacrifices. Interesting, right?"
Not even remotely interesting.
My heart pounded harder, and a violent wave of dizziness washed over me.
"Citry!? How could you—"
"Hm……? No, oh, there's no need to worry. Risking their lives is part of their job."
At my confrontation, Citry looked momentarily blank, then quickly broke into a smile.
Well, sure—as bodyguards, risking lives was part of the deal, wasn't it……? But still? What she'd just done wasn't entirely out of the question?
Was this simply something all top-tier Hunters did, something I didn't know about? If so—then top-tier Hunters were inhuman.
I wasn't a saint either. If it came down to it—if I were trapped in a life-or-death crisis and had to choose between my childhood friend's life and that of a mere hired bodyguard, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the former.
But—there was far too little guilt in Citry's expression just now.
Even as we talked, the cart kept racing forward.
I knew Citry wasn't a bad person. She just didn't have any breathing room left. She'd spent her entire life as a Hunter on the battlefield—even with all her talent, that had surely been more than enough to grind anyone's heart to dust.
"Citry, it's fine. I'm not going to lecture you…… I'm hardly one to talk, anyway. But I want you to remember—human lives are precious. More important than almost any risk."
"Yes. I should have understood how hard it is to replace people—but I'm sorry. When there are three of us, I figured one would be fine……"
Were my words actually reaching Citry?
I wasn't talking about replacement difficulty…… What did she even mean by "replacement"?
The cart body lurched heavily, and Riz's voice carried back. She must have recovered Haiiro safely. Thank goodness…… truly, thank goodness.
Citry confirmed this and smiled sheepishly.
"It's been a while since I traveled with Kly-san—and, embarrassingly enough, I may have gotten a little carried away. I'll be more careful."
Was it because…… I was here? Because she was with me, Citry would sacrifice people?
………No good. My thoughts weren't coming together. I'd think more carefully about Citry's moral compass later. Maybe if she ate something good and relaxed in a hot spring, the old Citry would come back.
"For now, what exactly is the high-risk method……?"
"Well…… we use a Monster as bait instead of a person. Monsters are harder to control, so we lose reliability, but…… there are plenty of Monsters in this area, so I think it should be fine."
A Monster as bait……? Would that really be okay? Well, it was infinitely better than discarding a person.
As I swallowed hard from anxiety, Citry carefully produced the white potion I'd seen just the other day—Dangerous Fact.