"She said she wanted me to do a live capture, but the fox in question belongs to the organization, and—"
Ugh, what do I do? I can't think of anything.
The box I was carrying felt light as empty, but there was a rustling sound from inside. The younger fox sister — I didn't know her name, but that's what I called her for convenience — seemed completely absorbed in satisfying her hunger. Even Citry, who usually wore a fairly serene expression, looked grim this time.
Phantoms grow more powerful in proportion to the mana they accumulate. A Treasure Hall on the level of The Lost Dwelling meant that even a lowly grunt's phantom would rival the boss of a high-level Treasure Hall.
For a phantom, Mana Material was like air. Normally, phantoms couldn't survive long outside a Treasure Hall and wouldn't leave one in the first place. But apparently none of those common rules applied to this fox girl.
"If I were in that phantom's shoes, I could topple a country. A phantom from a Treasure Hall like The Lost Dwelling — only high-level hunters could stand against it. And given its body size, if it managed to escape, catching up would be next to impossible."
Citry was laying out a terrifying hypothesis. The one saving grace was that The Lost Dwelling's phantom probably didn't have the goal of eradicating humanity.
"What do you think we should do?"
"If we fought with everything we had in a full party… it wouldn't be impossible to take down. Just one, that is."
Citry answered after a brief pause.
The sun beat down mercilessly. The heat warped the air. Here we were discussing whether I'd live or die, and the thing inside the box was perfectly well-behaved.
There was no doubt a phantom was inside this box. But — belated as it was — killing a humanoid creature that hadn't attacked felt ethically wrong.
And if we fought it and it escaped, this phantom would go on a rampage across the country. That would be a disaster.
"I don't think that's a great option."
"No… Even if we tried to put it through a Mixer, it would probably break the machine."
"Huh? What's a Mixer?"
"It's an experiment where phantoms are crushed down to produce liquid Mana Material. Normally the mana dissipates into the air—"
"Oh, ah… sorry, sorry, that's enough."
Something told me I was better off not hearing any more, so I cut Citry off. She looked a little disappointed, but there didn't seem to be a single useful thing left to hear, so I figured it was the right call.
I wandered aimlessly through the streets of Toizant's capital. My thoughts wouldn't come together.
One way or another, I had to figure out what to do with this phantom. A phantom this powerful would take an enormous amount of time to dissolve and fade into the air. And being so powerful meant it also had a high capacity for absorbing Mana Material. If it drew even the faint traces of mana in the atmosphere, it could easily survive for several years.
The quickest solution was to hand it off to The Lost Dwelling. I set the box down in an inconspicuous alley, steeled myself, and slowly lifted the lid.
I was praying the contents had vanished, but there inside the box sat the phantom, hugging her knees and fitting snugly within.
Visually, she was a child wearing a fox mask. This could easily be mistaken for kidnapping. It had been a while since I'd crossed a dangerous bridge. But this time, I wasn't in the wrong.
The younger fox sister showed no sign of attacking. No — there was a promise between the two of us. So long as that held, neither I nor my companions would be harmed, even if the entire city fell.
I took a deep breath and checked.
"Hey, you… Can you contact The Lost Dwelling or something?"
Wait, why is she still here?! That's not normal! Just take the box and go home!
The fox girl sat still for a while, then reached into her robe and pulled out a thin slab about the size of a green notebook, holding it out to me.
It was sleek and smooth. When I touched it, the black surface lit up and numbers appeared — what looked like the current time. My eyes went wide.
This was — I knew it. I knew what this was!
I explained to Citry, who was watching with wide, curious eyes.
"It's a smartphone… a Treasure Weapon for making phone calls."
"Phone calls — like the telephone? But there aren't any wires connected… Doesn't that require communication lines?"
The telephone was a communication system developed in certain technical nations. It was still in the experimental stage, and apparently had all sorts of hurdles, so it hadn't spread to the Empire yet. But it was roughly similar to a Resonance Stone in that it connected distant points.
And this smartphone possessed essentially the same functions, as a relic of the advanced physical civilization!
"Well, it's a Treasure Weapon, so… See, each terminal is assigned a number, and when you dial someone's number, you can talk to them even if they're far away."
My little display of knowledge made Citry's eyes go round.
"But… isn't it useless if you don't know the other person's number?"
"Exactly. That's why it's less convenient than a Resonance Stone. But it has its collectors, and it fetches an incredibly high price."
Also, for some reason, you couldn't get a signal unless you were near a city, and if you dropped it or got it wet, it broke — all sorts of weaknesses in this strange Treasure Weapon.
But the important point was that the ancient civilization had technology advanced enough for wireless long-distance communication.
Among scholars, there were heated debates between the camp that said they used summoned spirits to relay voices and the camp that said it probably worked on the same principle as a Resonance Stone. But since nobody really understood how Resonance Stones connected in the first place, the whole argument was pointless.
I wanted one myself, but I didn't have one, and none of my friends did either, so even if I got my hands on one, it wouldn't be much use.
I didn't know why the younger fox sister had one, but maybe The Lost Dwelling was a Treasure Hall from the era of the advanced physical civilization?
"As expected of Klye-san… You're truly knowledgeable."
Citry's eyes went wide as she directed a gaze of admiration at me, but I didn't actually know that much about this particular Treasure Weapon.
Still, her gaze felt pretty good, and I couldn't help showing off.
"This one… wait, this is the latest model. The new ones have what's called a camera. Multi-functional despite being this small."
"I see… What other features does it have?"
Just rumors, but there were apparently several types of smartphones, each with different capabilities. I'd heard they could do just about anything. Like a magic wand.
"It fires a beam from the camera to mow down monsters, and, let's see, you can refrigerate food… The inhabitants of the advanced physical civilization all used smartphones to protect themselves and make their daily lives easier. They were universal tools."
For the record, the only reason I knew this much was that this Treasure Weapon frequently turned up in Treasure Halls of the advanced physical civilization. It must have been incredibly widespread — there were cases where over a hundred were found in a single Treasure Hall.
"But doesn't the other person need to have the same device, and you'd need to know their number? Otherwise it's useless, isn't it?"
"Now, now, calm down, Citry. I know this… You can register numbers in a contacts list. Right?"
That was when the phantom girl moved.
With supreme confidence, she snatched the smartphone from my hands and tapped away at it deftly, then handed it back.
On the screen were the words "Calling." Her operation was so efficient it was almost artistic. Way too cool.
"Amazing… You're a smartphone pro. Total defeat… I should try to get one of these myself sometime."
"Country bumpkin… How embarrassing."
The fox mask opened its small lips for the first time.
The voice was flat, but the base of her neck had flushed red, and her body was trembling slightly.
§ "Well, that's that… It doesn't look like they're coming to pick her up."
After relaying the results of my conversation with the elder fox, the younger fox sister showed not a shred of agitation. She just sat quietly inside the box.
The smartphone's audio quality was every bit as crisp as a Resonance Stone's. It was my first time using one, but compared to the Resonance Stone, which could only relay voices, the smartphone was clearly superior — a daily essential with all sorts of functions.
The elder fox was apparently extremely busy at the moment. The instant I spoke, he went "Gah!" — literally "Gah."
He said he'd been waiting for a proper intruder, sounding overjoyed. That was Term and Kechachachka, presumably. I didn't know what happened to them, but judging by the elder fox's demeanor, they probably hadn't met a pleasant end. All I could do now was pray for their future.
"It's like a hands-off parenting approach… Maybe phantoms and humans just perceive things differently."
He hadn't even told me to take care of his sister.
Come to think of it, he hadn't shown the slightest anger when I killed one of their phantoms. Maybe they weren't actually family.
Citry furrowed her brows.
"What should we do? Leaving a phantom this powerful unattended is also a problem…"
A fair point. The fox girl sitting in front of me looked harmless at first glance, but her power was real. There was no telling what she might do.
On the other hand, I couldn't very well tell the Emperor the truth — I might get arrested. And I couldn't consult Luke and the others, because they'd attack her on sight.
The fox girl opened a bag and began eating fried tofu. Wrapping paper was scattered inside the box.
Why was she so carefree when I was the one tormented by worry? That easygoing pace of hers was nothing short of divine.
"…Come to think of it, does this country even have fried tofu?"
"It doesn't."
"What!?"
Citry's instant answer froze the fox girl solid. A half-eaten piece of fried tofu slipped from her hand and tumbled down.
Right. I'd been able to get some in the Empire, but I'd never seen a country where fried tofu was a dietary staple.
And if she couldn't get fried tofu anymore, what would this phantom do?
Maybe I could dump her on Ark? The thought flashed through my mind for an instant, but that would probably just create a whole new set of problems. Besides, bringing her into the imperial capital could very well be a crime.
Come on, just fly home already. She could probably fly, right?
If she couldn't… wait. What if I attached that new tail that Lucia had rejected? Wouldn't that let her fly? Problem solved, two birds with one stone.
I was getting tired of this… It was ridiculous that I was the one worrying. Maybe I should just leave her somewhere and go home.
The instant that thought crossed my mind, I felt a tug at the hem of my coat.
The younger fox sister had reached out and grabbed my clothes. She wasn't making a sound, but a quiet sorrow hung around her.
Even if she clung to me like this, I could barely take care of myself, let alone a phantom. And besides, for such a powerful phantom, she was way too obsessed with fried tofu. Why not just go to some fried tofu kingdom or wherever.
Her right hand slipped into her robe. When it emerged again, it held a silver slab — a smartphone, different in color from the one before.
My eyes went wide despite myself.
Wh— what!? I knew this… that's called dual-wielding. This phantom was no ordinary being.
The younger fox girl held it out to me and said: "Here."
"!?"
I reflected deeply on my actions.
…Think it through, Klye Andrich. You're a hunter, aren't you? Protecting the weak is part of a hunter's job.
This fox-masked girl was a phantom, but not an evil one. She'd stumbled into human society by accident — wasn't that just pitiful?
Think. Think hard. Find a way to make everyone happy. There had to be one. There had to be. It was time to unleash the power that normally lay dormant within me.
I resisted the urge to fiddle with the smartphone I'd received, tucked it into my pocket, clenched my fist, and spoke in my best hard-boiled manner.
"Well, it would be irresponsible to bail now that I've come this far. …I've got an idea that'll make everyone happy."