"Mastaaaaaa! You're awake!"
"You went and did something crazy again..."
Members of the Beginning Footprint had gathered in a building near the Explorer's Guild's Crete branch.
Tinno tried to rush over with enthusiasm, only to be cut off by Citry, who appeared from the side. Sven arched one eyebrow, wearing an exquisite expression caught somewhere between exasperation and disbelief, and let out a deep sigh.
While I had been unconscious, the Treasure Hunters in the audience had apparently put on quite the impressive show of their own.
Led by Gaark and Abyssal Inferno, the mages had managed to suppress the destruction wrought by the Key of the Earth. Even those who hadn't been able to contribute to that effort were busy protecting civilians from the collapsing arena and guiding evacuations — it sounded like they'd had their hands full.
Well-intentioned or not, as the one who had triggered the Treasure Weapon's activation, I could only feel deeply ashamed.
I scratched my head and spoke, trying to convey even a shred of my remorse.
"Seriously, I got dragged into something awful."
"...Dragged into?"
Eva, who had apparently been serving as liaison with the Beginning Footprint and running around everywhere, pushed up her glasses and fixed me with a skeptical stare.
A distrustful gaze that practically radiated pressure — she must have figured out that I'd tripped up just now.
At my words, Tomoshibi gave a shrug.
"Don't worry about it. The Martial Emperor Festival got cancelled, but we got plenty of advertising out of it."
As expected of an adult. They had apparently already come to terms with being unable to participate in the Martial Emperor Festival, which was considered a martial artist's crowning honor.
Well, Tomoshibi was probably more about money than glory, so maybe it really didn't bother them that much...
Were they out on the job? The Lantern Knight Order members were nowhere to be seen. For a mercenary-like organization, the chaos must have been prime time for business.
"...Dance?"
"? What are you talking about, Master? Did you hit your head?"
Tomoshibi from my dream flashed through my mind for an instant, and the real Tomoshibi shot me a cold look for saying something strange.
As I tried to smooth things over with a hard-boiled expression, Tinno — who had crossed Citry's barrier (or rather, carefully inched past without triggering it) — approached with a worried look on her face.
"Mastaa, are you feeling all right now?"
"I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Hah... 'just tired'? You were suppressing that much power, so don't go saying irresponsible things, you hear! Everyone was worried sick, you hear!"
Klyus spoke in their usual forceful, bossy tone. But looking at the clan members gathered around us, none of them actually appeared to have been all that concerned about me.
Aside from my childhood friend, the only ones who seemed genuinely worried about me were Tinno, Klyus, and Eva.
I mean, I had lost consciousness — shouldn't I have gotten at least a little more concern?
That was when I noticed something odd in Klyus's words.
"Suppressing that much power... Wait? Was I suppressing it?"
"Hah? Weakling, what are you even talking about? A Spiritfolk's mana-reading eyes can't be fooled. By my estimate — thirty percent... no, you were suppressing a good thirty-five percent of it."
Thirty percent... thirty percent?
Unfortunately, all I knew was that the Key of the Earth's output was enormous, so I had no idea just how impressive that feat actually was.
Lapis, the leader of the Star's Holy Thunder, who had been sitting alone at a table with arms crossed and an aloof expression, let out a small sigh and stood up.
She walked over and looked down at me with her emotionless, transparent eyes.
"Hmph... truly superhuman power. Where on earth was all that power sleeping inside you? Even from this close, I can't discern the slightest trace of mana. Your sister Lucia had mana so vast it was like a great river — but this is something entirely different."
At Lapis's evaluation, Lucia — who was sitting nearby — pressed her hand to her head as though staving off a headache and let out a long, long sigh.
I see... I had indeed tried to suppress the Key of the Earth's power. I thought I'd failed, but it seemed I simply hadn't noticed — apparently I'd actually succeeded. Maybe I was more capable than I gave myself credit for.
"I see, so I was suppressing it... Actually, I was trying to stop it completely. Couldn't handle it, though. I still have a long way to go."
"...Looks like you're doing fine. Weakling, seriously, what is going on with your body? Going all-out with that much power and still bouncing around like this — it's inconceivable even by Spiritfolk standards!"
Klyus blinked, then reached out with a natural gesture, but Citry slapped the hand away with a smack.
To the bewildered Klyus, Citry said with a smile: "No touching."
"...Come on, just a little is fine, you hear!"
"No. I've approved the Star's Holy Thunder's recruitment negotiations for Lucia, but I haven't given you permission to touch Klye."
"..."
Every time the hand was extended again undeterred, Citry slapped it right back down. What an ironclad defense — hardly befitting an Alchemist. You two are surprisingly close, aren't you...
I averted my eyes from Citry and the others as they continued their little battle, and took in the assembled members.
It seemed the commotion had taken its toll — everyone looked exhausted.
Then again, they'd only intended to watch the Martial Emperor Festival, but had ended up performing rescues in a collapsing arena, so it was hardly surprising. As someone who'd only planned to watch but got roped into competing, I understood that pain all too well.
That was when Tinno's face caught my eye, and something suddenly came to mind.
"Come to think of it, what happened with the bet? You bet your entire fortune, right?"
"That is — no, that doesn't matter right now, Mastaa!"
"Yeah, exactly. Klye, we all talked it over, and we agreed that if we ran into you this time, we needed to have a word with you."
That didn't matter? Well, I wouldn't say it didn't matter, but — At Sven's words, the other members nodded gravely.
I furrowed my brow and almost stepped forward, but I caught myself with the instinctive awareness only a childhood friend could have. That was just how she was — utterly lacking in cooperativeness.
The person Sven was confronting wasn't an enemy but a clan member. Hearing them out was part of my duties as Clan Master.
Sven locked eyes with me and spoke in a serious voice.
"Klye, when you're about to do something big, run it by us first. This time it wasn't just us — civilians almost got caught in the crossfire! You might have been worried about information leaks, but there are plenty of other ways to handle it. Springing something like that on us out of the blue was way too much for the heart."
"..."
My companions nodded along, agreeing with Sven's words. Even Klyus had stopped sparring with Citry and was looking at me.
I crossed my arms, nodded several times in a hard-boiled manner, then tilted my head.
...Huh?
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about... This whole thing was completely unexpected for me too."
"...Haaah..."
Lucia let out an exaggerated sigh. Sven's eyes drooped, and he wore a defeated expression.
But come on — was there anyone who could have predicted this?
I knew my epithet of Thousand Transformations came with the added title of Mastermind Strategist, but there had to be limits. Well, I could barely see what was right in front of me, anyway.
It was embarrassing, but I had to set the record straight this time.
"For the record, until I woke up and heard what happened, I thought that Fox Mask was just some bigwig from the Fox Mask Appreciation Society."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Like I said before, I never intended to compete in the Martial Emperor Festival in the first place. I was looking forward to watching first-rate battles, and having it turn into that was completely unexpected. If I'd known in advance, I would have — used Sven as a decoy."
"Hah!? D-Don't you dare!"
Sven let out a genuinely horrified cry.
It seemed I wasn't even allowed to quietly watch battles from the sidelines. Was this some divine message telling me to stay away from dangerous places?
But even accounting for bad luck, did someone like me really exist — someone who'd end up in this kind of situation? Not a single bit of it was funny.
The reliable members of the Footprint looked at each other awkwardly. Tomoshibi furrowed their brow with a troubled expression, while Lapis wore a look of complete disinterest.
Next to the pale-faced Sven, Marietta — who had been listening with a strained expression — ventured timidly: "So in other words... the Master is saying that originally, that Klye Andrich was supposed to be able to handle it somehow, but because he turned out weaker than expected, the Key of the Earth ended up being used?"
"...Huh?"
...I never said anything like that. You're supposed to be the brain of the Black Gold Cross. What kind of twisted thought process could possibly produce that conclusion?
The other members were alarmed by the conclusion drawn by one of the leading Party members of the Beginning Footprint. Some were directing strained expressions my way.
What a ridiculous theory — don't buy into it! Just because I lack charisma and Marietta is beautiful, that didn't mean you should believe such an absurd story!
"So this time — you intended to pin it on Klye..."
"In other words, we were — backups?"
"S-Sure, the fake declaration before the match did catch me off guard, but —"
"Wait a minute — isn't this the first time Master's been injured!?"
The members were buzzing, throwing out whatever came to mind.
I caught a phrase I couldn't just let slide, and my eyes went wide.
Fake declaration!? What fake declaration?
...It seemed the little fox who'd taken my place had been doing whatever she pleased.
I clapped my hands as hard as I could to change the mood, put on a smile, and said in a deliberately bright voice: "Anyway, good work everyone! The Martial Emperor Festival got ruined, and I put you all through a lot. Oh, I just had a great idea! Since we're all gathered here, why don't we all go on a trip somewhere — really let loose!"
"Give it a rest already!"
At my suggestion, Lyle let out a scream-like cry.