Citry's pale blue potion was stuffed into Arnold's limp mouth.
His half-open eyes twitched, and the color drained from his ashen face returned in an instant. The change was so sudden that even Ei, who had been wearing a grim expression beside him, could only stare in blank amazement.
He'd apparently been hit with a potent poison that resisted purification magic, but poisons came in all manner of varieties. Without administering the optimal antidote, there'd be no reversing the effects like this.
Arnold, who moments ago had clearly been on the verge of death, sat up with a stiff expression.
Level 7 — are you some kind of monster?
"!?! Wh-what… my body feels… light…"
"It's a very expensive recovery potion. Naturally, I'll be billing you for it later. It beats dying, I'd say."
Come to think of it, Citry had always been fond of Arnold.
Citry looked delighted as she spoke, and Ei offered a nod of thanks with an indescribable expression.
"Ah, yeah… thanks. Damn it, I owe you one now. ……What kind of poison was it?"
"……A poison not in general circulation — one designed to kill Hunters. Its refinement requires the hands of a skilled Alchemist, and it most likely leaked out from Akasha. The name is… Sophian."
"……Never heard of it."
"Tee-chan and I both have resistance, but — carrying the antidote was the right call."
As expected, Citry was reliable when things got rough. Arnold had chased her around relentlessly, but that didn't mean I actually wished death upon him.
With his life no longer in immediate danger, I started listening to what he had to say. And I immediately felt like I was going to throw up a little.
Apparently, for some reason, this town was currently under attack by a band of Thieves.
And according to Arnold's testimony, it was the very Barrel Thieves' Guild — a name I had only just heard the other day — whom Count Gradius had posted a bounty on. A band of outlaws so dangerous they could run circles around正规 knight orders.
Thursul Town wasn't far from Gradius territory, but there were mountains between the two. How had something like this come about?
As I groaned at this nightmarish situation, Citry addressed me with a beaming smile.
"I never imagined even the cautious Barrel Thieves would launch an attack like this… Even I couldn't have predicted it. Their stealth really is something!"
……Why does Citry look so happy about this……
Of all times for Rids to be absent.
Well, according to Citry, a considerable number of hostiles were closing in from outside, so maybe it was actually a blessing in disguise that Rids — who loved charging headfirst into groups like these — wasn't here. (Though really, he'd just gone off to search for a dragon in the mountains without giving up, so it wasn't a total loss.)
Arnold rose to his feet, let out a deep, hot breath, and spoke in a low voice. For someone who'd been dying moments ago, the pressure he radiated was immense.
"Damn it — I let my guard down once, but I won't make the same mistake twice."
"Calm down, Arnold. You owe Klye-san a debt, don't you? Shouldn't you be following his lead right now? Or do Hunters from the Land of Mist not even repay the debts they owe?"
"………! Damn it!"
Citry…… how could she say something like that?
Arnold shot me a murderous glare, clicked his tongue hard, then crossed his arms and sat down with a heavy thud.
I had no brilliant solution. No strength either. While Tino was out there fighting her heart out, I'd been soaking in a hot spring.
I immediately snapped my fingers.
"All right, it's decided. Let's have Arnold and the others handle everything. I'll go back to the hot spring."
"Hah!?"
My half-serious remark made Arnold's eyes bulge. Ei and the rest of the Thunder Dragon of the Mist members were equally dumbstruck.
The defensive instinct kicked in at their reaction, and I immediately walked back my words.
"J-just kidding. Just kidding…… ha ha…… but this is supposed to be a vacation, after all…"
I'd completely let the situation roll over me. Ei addressed my sorry state with a serious tone.
"……We don't even know how many enemies we're dealing with. We've got a Level 8 and a Level 7 on our side, but from what I can tell, they're a well-coordinated group. Our recommendation is to play it safe. Apparently, there are hostages too."
I see…… I really wanted to run. Had the heavens smitten me for skipping the White Sword Gathering and lounging around in a hot spring?
If there was something I could do, I wanted to do it. It would be a waste to hand over this town's hot springs to a bunch of Thieves.
And then, I remembered what the Mask had said earlier.
"I know the number. About three hundred. They're coming from the sky too."
"……What!?"
"W-well, there might be a small margin of error, of course…"
Those were the Mask's words. Since it wasn't my own ability, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy, but the Mask was a Treasure Weapon. An item's functions could sometimes be more reliable than a human being.
Knowing the number didn't help me personally, but someone like Citry might come up with a good plan.
Tino was looking at me with a tense expression. I glanced over, and Citry blinked before speaking.
"About three hundred, you say… According to the bounty notice, the Barrel Thieves' Guild was said to number around a hundred…"
"……Well, there could be some margin of error…"
"Two hundred would still fall within a slight margin of error, wouldn't it?"
"Mm-hmm, yeah, right…"
Arnold glowered at me with a sharp stare, but there was nothing I could tell him. Go talk to the Mask.
All eyes were fixed on me. Why were they all looking at me? I kept my composure while racking my brain furiously.
This was an enemy force with enough power to knock out a Level 7, a force large enough to send Citry fleeing back here, and on top of that, there were likely hostages with no favorable factors in sight. The situation was hopeless.
……Yeah, pretty much business as usual, honestly.
I closed my eyes for a moment, and then I realized something.
"Citry, you said the Barrel Thieves' Guild numbers around a hundred, right?"
"Yes, that's correct…… though the information came from Gradius, so it's possible they concealed their true numbers. Their caution is quite remarkable."
"Mm-hmm…"
I crossed my arms and nodded thoughtfully.
This could be… maybe… possibly?
I couldn't help but smile, and Arnold's brow furrowed in suspicion.
The Mask had said three hundred. If you thought about it calmly, the gap between that number and the Barrel Thieves' known numbers was far too enormous. If the intelligence was wrong, then the Gradius Knights who'd investigated it were fools. Impossible.
For starters, even for a large-scale band of Thieves, having a vehicle that could fly through the sky was extremely unlikely. Flying phantom beasts that a person could ride were ultra-high-end items — even more expensive than a Platinum Horse.
The numerical discrepancy with the prior intelligence, and the improbability of attackers descending from the sky.
There was only one conclusion.
Tino, her skin carefully concealed beneath her yukata, looked at me with a reverent gaze and whispered.
"Human… enemies — this is this time's Thousand Trials, isn't it… Mastaa."
"No, it's not. This is supposed to be a vacation, remember? I told you there were no trials this time."
"!?"
I brought my hand to my mouth and flashed a hard-boiled grin. I shifted my gaze in turn from the stunned Arnold to the faintly smiling Citry, and explained.
"It's fine. For now, none of us need to do anything. If the attackers come after this inn, we'll just repel them."
"……What do you mean?"
Simple. Reinforcements were coming.
Today, I was — sharp. Well, even if I wasn't particularly sharp, it didn't take much thought to figure this out.
Arnold and the others probably weren't used to this kind of crisis. That's why it hadn't clicked for them.
My certified Level may not have been backed up by actual ability, but in terms of the number of hellish situations I'd been dragged into, I was second to none. I grinned.
"You don't get it?"
"……You damn…"
Arnold clenched his fist hard, his lips trembling.
The Barrel Thieves numbered a hundred. The Mask had reported three hundred. If both numbers were correct, then what accounted for the difference?
That's right. If my reasoning was correct, the remaining two hundred were — reinforcements.
And they were most likely Gradius Knights.
A knight order as battle-hardened as Gradius could well possess flying phantom beasts, and the Barrel Thieves had originally been rampaging through Gradius territory. It made perfect sense that they'd be in pursuit of the fleeing Barrel Thieves.
The Mask had almost certainly confused the two groups.
This was technically outside Gradius territory, but it was right on the border. Far more realistic than assuming three hundred Thieves were present.
If that was the case, all we had to do was wait for Gradius to liberate the town.
With hostages taken, we couldn't act rashly, and I couldn't imagine us being able to accomplish much against a hundred Thieves. It was best to leave it to Gradius's Knights, who outnumbered them two to one. Besides, wasn't everyone relying on me too much? Had I ever actually been useful before?
Fortunately, we should at least be able to hold the inn. We had Tino, who'd held her own against ten opponents single-handedly, as well as Citry and Arnold.
"Just stay calm. If my calculations are correct, reinforcements are coming. They'll probably handle the hostages too. There's no point in panicking. What we should do right now is rest up and conserve our strength for when the time comes."
This one — we'd won.
§ § § What was… happening?
Rooda held her breath, hiding in the shadow of one of the large buildings. Behind her, the members of the Whirlwind of Flame — minus Gilberto — watched their surroundings with expressions caught between unease and tension.
She couldn't make sense of the situation. It had unfolded so rapidly that comprehension was beyond her.
The town's sole point of entry and exit (the wall surrounding the town could technically be leapt over) had been completely sealed off by an unidentified group.
Aside from Rooda and her companions, the town was already empty of people. While tourists had been absent, residents could still be seen walking around as recently as yesterday.
They'd been rounded up and herded into a single location by people posing as tourists. The execution had been far from amateur.
The only reason Rooda's group hadn't been captured was sheer luck.
Even Gilberto, for all his composure, seemed unwilling to cause a commotion under these circumstances — he stood with his eyes wide open, stunned.
"Damn… that's a lot of people. What's going on?"
"Look! They even have flying phantom beasts!"
Including the reinforcements who'd arrived on horseback from outside, they easily numbered over a hundred. The way they spread out in coordinated, disciplined movements — seizing positions near the outer wall, encircling the town — carried an unmistakably military air.
The first to walk through the town had been those dressed as tourists, but every one who came after was fully armed. From their features to their equipment, all of them carried the unmistakable bearing of people accustomed to violence.
Most conspicuous of all was the massive man who entered last.
He was undoubtedly the leader of this group. His sharp eyes gleamed like honed blades, and a scar marked one cheek. His fully trained physique dwarfed even the well-built Arnold, and while his features suggested he was approaching forty, the pressure he exuded was anything but ordinary. He carried an enormous battle axe on his back — far too heavy for someone like Rooda to even lift — and his relaxed demeanor radiated a powerful charisma.
Even as a Treasure Hunter, he would have been a formidable figure. But it was plain to see that this man was something far less clean.
He was — out of our league. Without question, he was above us. There was an overwhelming aura about him, one suggesting he'd absorbed far more Mana Material than Rooda and the others combined.
The man settled onto a massive barrel that had been hauled in, then suddenly slammed the battle axe off his back into the ground.
The blade, which shone with an otherworldly luster that marked it as no ordinary weapon, plunged into the earth with a thunderous boom.
The air crackled with a suffocating tension. It wasn't just the captured hostages — even his own subordinates feared him.
The man looked down at the figure rolled before him and spoke in a low voice.
"Hmm? And where exactly is this guy's Thousand Transformations? There's clearly no spirit in him. Explain. I sent you to capture Thousand Transformations — the real one. Coming back after losing is one thing, but bringing me the wrong person — what's the meaning of this?"
"S-sorry, Boss. But he was the only one in the inn—"
The face that appeared when the bag was ripped from the head of the man sprawled before him was one Rooda recognized.
He was supposed to have been traveling with Klye Andrich. If she recalled correctly…… Haiiro, was it?
Haiiro wore the vacant expression of a man whose soul had been ripped away, and the man called Boss ground his teeth together with a click.
Yet the voice that emerged from his mouth was surprisingly calm.
"Search again. Use people — we've got three hundred. We don't have time to linger. The town's surrounded and Thousand Transformations hasn't come out — it's obvious he's not as strong as his reputation. Kill him and our ranks will only grow. Remember — we're Thieves. Don't fight fair. Use numbers, seize, ravage. We're not warriors — we're cowards. Now—"
The man lifted his battle axe with one arm and bellowed toward the sky.
"Glory to Barrel!"
"Oooooooohhhhh!"
An explosive roar shook the air. Watching the shadows scatter, Rooda hurriedly ducked back down.
This was bad. She had to get word to Klye — immediately.