Level 8 Hunters were heroes.
The subjugation of powerful Monsters that everyone feared, the conquest of Treasure Halls no one had ever managed to clear — reaching Level 8 was the culmination of achievements that ordinary Treasure Hunters could never accomplish, a pinnacle that only the very finest among talented Hunters could reach through relentless refinement.
For Treasure Hunters driven by insatiable curiosity, the unknown was something to be conquered. Trials were something to be overcome.
For top-class Hunters who had crossed countless death lines, even commissions that seemed impossible were nothing to fear.
It seemed that the Explorer's Guild headquarters had forgotten this fact.
Code — the high-mobility fortress city.
Severed from advanced physical civilization, that city was nothing more than a curiosity-satisfying plaything for two Level 8 Hunters renowned in distant lands: the "Celestial Dance of Shattered Armies" and the "Temple of the Night Banquet."
From the castle towering in the distance, Kaiser strode over with commanding composure. Trailing behind him were several men and women wearing crowns.
The distant castle erupted in a magnificent explosion. Before my stunned, wide-open eyes, Kaiser flashed a gleaming smile.
"I rescued every last member of the royal family. This is our victory."
"Wha — w-wow, as expected of the Celestial Dance of Shattered Armies, you're too fast! There was no need for me to even come!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha, and just who do you think I am, Thousand Transformations? The targets were imprisoned in the castle. I stayed on the nobles' side until the very last moment to earn their trust, then launched a surprise attack. The key is to act swiftly without giving the enemy time to notice — something a counterfeit like you wouldn't understand. As thanks, I also brought back Treasure Weapons! I'll give them to poor little you! Consider it a special gift!"
Kaiser upended the enormous bag he'd somehow been carrying on his back. Before my eyes rose a mountain of Treasure Weapons I'd never seen before.
So this was... Level 8 — the realm of heroes! He'd easily cleared the commission that had been giving me a headache, correctly assessed my abilities, and even given me a massive haul of Treasure Weapons— A pat on my shoulder interrupted my speechlessness. When I turned around, Saya was there.
At her feet, a puddle of dark red water had spread, and floating within it were human-shaped things scattered everywhere.
"I disposed of everyone who resisted, Leader. They were nothing... Even an impregnable fortress city is fragile once you breach it from the inside. This is our complete victory."
"!?! Th-that's... well... as expected of the Temple of the Night Banquet. But can't you only use your ability at ni—"
"See? If I do this, it goes completely dark. Just like nighttime."
Saya closed both eyes right then and there to demonstrate. A born genius, or what?
Wait, if that's all it took, didn't that make the whole nighttime restriction meaningless?
"I also disposed of the people at headquarters who pushed that troublesome commission onto us. No thanks needed."
Saya kicked a white ball-like object that had been floating near her feet. Ripples spread across the puddle.
No... that wasn't a ball.
It was a bone. A human skull, with every last scrap of flesh cleanly stripped away.
Was I... supposed to be grateful for this? As I stood there in confusion, Saya smiled and spoke.
"Let's go home. This place is still dangerous, so I'll send you home with sarasara. While I'm at it, I'll give you the Treasure Weapons these people had stashed away."
"O-okay, thanks. That's a huge help."
Sending me home and giving me Treasure Weapons too — what a wonderful person Saya was... Truly worthy of being Level 8.
Come to think of it, what exactly was sarasara, anyway?
"Come now, let's go home, Thousand Transformations. Our job here is done. This is the beginning of our vacation! Let's do Tempest Dancing together!"
"There's nothing left to worry about. I'll dispose of all the enemies with my sarasara. I'll make sweets with my sarasara, and I'll retire you from Hunter work with my sarasara."
A halo appeared behind my two reliable companions. Radiant smiles. A warm wave of relief spread through my chest.
Thank goodness... I could finally say goodbye to those dangerous days. I could finally retire as a Hunter.
Alright, let's head back to the Imperial Capital, sarasara some Tempest Dancing, and let's vacation!
Even as I shouted that, I woke up.
The orange glow of indirect lighting along the wall. The strong smell of alcohol, and the warmth of a wooden table pressed against my cheek.
Maybe it was because I'd slept in a weird position, but my body ached.
As I sat up, Kaiser — who had returned at some point — spoke to me with an exasperated expression.
"Good morning. You look thoroughly exhausted. But to think you'd fall asleep in a place like this... how bold. This is, in a manner of speaking, enemy territory, you know."
At his words, my brain finally began to reboot.
Right... we were on our way to Code.
This was a horse-drawn carriage station — and I'd apparently dozed off while waiting for Kaiser and Saya to return.
It was a tavern nearby that I'd stumbled into after Saya's power had gotten us out of trouble. I yawned wide and stretched both arms to loosen up.
The tavern was reasonably spacious with several tables, but we were the only ones inside. Even the owner was gone.
"Ah, sorry about that. We took longer than expected to get back..."
"We got a little caught up in conversation. By the way, this looks like a tavern... what happened to the customers?"
"...When I walked in, everyone left. I ran into a bit of trouble outside. Unluckily, it seemed someone there knew my identity — and they must have been watching."
"!? I had a feeling something noisy was going on out there — so it was you. Someone who knew your identity, you say? And here I thought no one knew my name. I suppose our levels of fame are quite different, then."
Not just the customers — even the staff had vanished at some point. They probably wanted nothing to do with any trouble.
Maybe I should learn from their evasion tactics and avoid danger more proactively. Well, this time it wasn't really my fault, though...
"A-a-anyway, I don't think it'll affect our entry into Code. It was handled properly (by Saya)."
The Don-Tan Family had clearly taken serious injuries. It would take them a while to recover.
Kaiser gave a small nod, said nothing more about it, sat down across from us, and began.
"I've been gathering intelligence. It seems to be true that Code has been recruiting capable people from the outside recently. I couldn't get the details, but the rumor going around is that they're trying to build a human army. Ha ha ha ha ha — Code already possesses formidable weapons, and now they're recruiting people too? The Explorer's Guild's panic is entirely understandable."
"Ha ha ha ha ha, an army, you say? How interesting."
I envied their ability to laugh about this. They were the ones who'd actually be fighting on the front lines — Saya and Kaiser.
For the record, the only reason I was laughing was because laughing was all I could do. I couldn't fight alongside them, but I could laugh alongside them. It was completely meaningless, though.
Just then, Saya returned. She surveyed the empty tavern with her expressionless face, then tilted her head upon seeing us.
"I'm back... What are you laughing about?"
"Ha ha ha ha ha, Saya. Kaiser just said something hilarious — apparently Code has built an army."
"...What's so funny about that?"
Fair point — it wasn't really funny at all... Well, the details didn't matter.
Saya's wet-blanket remark didn't dampen Kaiser's spirits one bit. He interlocked his fingers, flashed a grin, and spoke.
"Well, it means we might actually be of use, Saya. I'll let you in on a secret — my Tempest Dancing is specialized for fodder! I excel at taking down large numbers of soft, weak enemies deployed over a wide area! Everyone who stands before me will be enchanted by my dance and lose even the will to fight!"
"That's... impressive. I'm not very good at dealing with wide-area enemies, so we can divide the roles."
Kaiser, you really needed to make up your mind about whether you were impressive or not. "Specialized for fodder" — did that mean specialized for people like me?
And Saya's response... wasn't that just too perfectly accommodating?
Despite having apparently walked through the city alone, Saya's appearance was completely unchanged from before we parted.
Tall Kaiser was one thing, but Saya walking through a city like this should have made her a target — unlike me, who'd been attacked just for standing still. Well, maybe she had been attacked and defeated them, but...
As Saya sat down beside me, I spoke.
"Oh right, Saya. You used your ability on me earlier, didn't you?"
"...You noticed?"
Saya's eyes widened in surprise.
Well, "noticed" was putting it mildly — her sarasara had gone after the people accosting me and turned them into a bloodbath. Had she not even realized her ability had been activated?
...Just what exactly was sarasara?
At that point, Kaiser cut in with a panicked voice.
"Just a moment, Saya. Don't tell me you used your ability on me as well?"
"...This place is dangerous... My ability can handle surprise attacks too. But normally, no one notices—"
So Kaiser hadn't noticed either. If even a Level 8 Hunter couldn't detect it, there was no shame in me failing to notice.
I was more than happy to have protection. Whatever she was doing with sarasara, I desperately wanted her to keep it up.
If possible, though, could the counterattacks be on the lighter side? I'd been asking her to infuse Treasure Weapons with magic too, but dead bodies would be a problem...
With a sigh, Kaiser looked at me and then at Saya in turn and spoke.
"My, my — just as the rumors say, you have a keen eye. I'm impressed. To notice what even I missed... Well then, let's share information and formulate a strategy. I'll go first. I've been visiting various organizations to gather intelligence on Code."
Kaiser began sharing the information he'd gathered as the Celestial Dance of Shattered Armies.
Pass cards — normally issued only in small number — had been increasing dramatically recently. The rumor on the street was that an army was being assembled, and people believed Code was planning to invade somewhere.
Apparently, it was also quite rare for the station to be this congested. Normally, only a very small number of cards were issued.
"I couldn't get anything on Code's internal structure. It seems no one who's set foot inside Code has ever come back. Even organizations that have repeatedly traded goods with them have apparently never entered the city. The people of Code rarely leave, either. It seems that getting into Code from the outside is easier than getting out from the inside."
To hear that no one returned — even though it wasn't a Treasure Hall — reminded me just how dangerous this world was.
With two Level 8 Hunters on our side this time, we'd probably be fine... but it would be a real problem if we got trapped inside the city.
"And the reward offered to those who accept the recruitment — is Code citizenship. Depending on your performance, you can even be granted a noble title. Ha ha ha... Being the world's strongest city, with quite a few bountied individuals among their ranks, I imagine this sounds like a pretty sweet deal to them."
The more I heard about Code, the worse it sounded... They were enjoying the benefits of advanced physical civilization — wouldn't it be better if they contributed to the world instead?
Citizenship and noble titles. If those were handed out to the worthless scum who'd broken the law and been cast out of society, the city was going to become a real mess.
While I was mulling this over, Saya began to speak next.
"I focused my investigation on Code's military capabilities. The main weapons currently known to exist in Code are semi-automatic ultra-long-range cannons and mechanical soldiers that obey the commands of Code's residents. The long-range cannons have a confirmed kill on a dragon that entered their attack range."
Cannons that could shoot down dragons... That was completely beyond what modern civilization could replicate. And hadn't they said Code's attack range was absurdly wide?
What on earth had advanced physical civilization been fighting that required them to create such superweapons?
As I furrowed my brow, Saya continued.
"The detailed specifications of the mechanical soldiers are unknown — but recently, someone attacked the city, and the deployed mechanical soldiers subdued them. The attacker apparently had power on the level of a high-level Hunter, but couldn't even set foot inside the city. There also seem to be a fair number of them, so they're definitely formidable. As expected, taking the city head-on would be difficult."
Well, I already knew a frontal assault was impossible... But Saya was still exploring that possibility even after everything we'd heard — that was the truly scary part.
So Code could actually be attacked, though... A thief with high-level Hunter-class power — who on earth could that be?
"On top of that, over a dozen organizations have already entered Code in response to the recruitment call. In terms of numbers, we're talking several hundred people, including quite a few with high bounties on their heads. I think they're individually below us, but if Code is building an army, they might be equipped with advanced physical civilization weapons, so we can't afford to be careless."
Advanced physical civilization weapons in the hands of criminals — that was something I absolutely did not want to face.
Wait a minute, though. Advanced physical civilization weapons were rare in the outside world (especially those from the later eras), but were they just... sold normally inside Code?
I wasn't planning to continue as a Hunter or anything, but I'd barely ever used advanced physical civilization weapons. Maybe there was something in there even I could handle.
"Additionally, it seems Code has been taking in people from various organizations for some time now. Violent traitors that even the organizations couldn't control, magical creatures born from experiments — be careful. Leader, that concludes my intelligence report."
"Be careful" — how exactly was I supposed to be careful? And Saya had only talked about military capabilities, pretty much nothing else. She was clearly raring for a fight.
"I see. It seems causing a disturbance inside would not be the wisest approach."
Kaiser nodded and looked at me.
"So then, do you have anything for us, our esteemed Leader?"
...Nothing at all. Unlike you two, I'd just been napping. Sorry.
Even if there was nothing someone of my caliber could have done, I'd been slacking off way too much.
Saya was directing those crystalline eyes of hers at me. Kaiser also seemed to be waiting for my words.
Apparently, I needed to say something.
"Um... this time around, I left the investigation to you two, so I don't have anything in particular."
"That means... you were testing me?"
Saya furrowed her brow and leaned in close, staring at me.
...I was sorry about that. I wasn't testing her, so please stop looking at me like that.
"Did I pass?"
"J-just calm down a little..."
She wanted a passing grade?! I couldn't read Saya's personality at all.
I had no intelligence to share, but they seemed to think of me as their leader, so I should say something leader-like.
"But... right. I left the investigation to you two, but I did have a dream. A dream about this commission going well. Kaiser rescued the royal family, and Saya handled the combat."
"A dream about the commission going well, you say? That's an auspicious start."
Mm-hmm, yeah. If I had to point out one problem — it was that my dreams almost never came true.
It was just a dream, so there was nothing to be done about it, but thinking about it now — "sarasara some Tempest Dancing and let's vacation" — wasn't that a bit much?
"In the dream, Kaiser said he'd sided with the nobles and launched a surprise attack. The royal family had apparently been imprisoned in the castle. But it was just a dream."
"Hmm... an interesting plan. Not my preferred approach if I can avoid it—"
Kaiser was too conspicuous for that... He'd been quietly gathering intelligence, so it wasn't impossible, but switching sides wouldn't be easy either. Well, it was just a dream.
"...What did I say in the dream?"
"...You didn't say anything in particular. But you were apparently very active on the combat front."
I mean, she'd even disposed of the headquarters people who'd pushed that troublesome commission onto us. Well, it was just a dream.
That concluded our discussion. I flashed a hardboiled smile and stayed quiet, and Kaiser seemed to sense that I had nothing more to offer — he shrugged and wrapped things up.
"The next carriage to Code departs tomorrow morning. After that, we'll head to Code ourselves, observe the situation firsthand, and confirm everything."