Cool Saiko could barely keep his composure in the face of salvation suddenly extended from a desperate situation.
No — perhaps he wasn't keeping his composure at all. Despite being freed like this, he felt neither joy nor any sense of reality.
His companions probably felt the same way as Cool.
Guided by a staff member who rarely visited the prison, they exited the building through a different route than the one they'd been brought in on. Blue sky, towering buildings. A large metallic spider-like object parked in front of the gate.
When they were captured and transported, they hadn't been given the freedom to look outside. So this was the interior of that impossibly massive aerial city? It felt like he was having some strange dream.
In truth, help was never supposed to come. What The Mourning Evil Spirit had challenged — what Klahi Andrich had challenged — was a city of a highly advanced physical civilization so vast that every nation and organization had given up on opposing it.
That a Level 8 Hunter belonging to an organization hostile to this city had shown up, and moreover that it was someone they'd crossed paths with before — what were the odds of that?
Klye was thanking the staff member. The easy, entirely non-intimidating smile on his face, devoid of any charisma whatsoever, was almost exactly the same as when they'd met at the Martial Emperor Festival.
"Thanks for everything. I'll come again."
"It's part of my duties. I don't think that's remotely possible, but if you wish to have The Thunder Emperor released, you should come after obtaining the appropriate clearance. Class 6 or above — that's the starting line. ...Come to think of it, your name is similar to The Thunder Emperor's, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, right? We look just alike, don't we? Actually, I even got his autograph once."
"...If The Thunder Emperor's evaluation were as low as yours, his release probably would have been easy."
Overall evaluation. Cool had also been put through the system and scored after being captured in this city, but could it be that Thousand Transformations actually had a low score? How on earth had he fooled an unknown evaluation system?
That this man could stroll around freely in the aerial fortress city created by this Red Hunter — once again, this man was... unfathomable.
There were many things Cool wanted to confirm. But they were, after all, people who had been rescued. How far could they push their luck...
At the very least, they had to extract some cooperation to rescue their leader. The problem was that they had nothing to use as bargaining material.
Before a Level 8 Hunter, Thousand Transformations, and his divine stratagems and ghostly schemes, Cool's Foresight might as well not exist.
Following Klye onto the spider-shaped vehicle, they entered the strange craft. It was unlike anything they'd seen before, and just this one vehicle alone demonstrated the city's extraordinary technological prowess.
How should he broach the subject? He had to account for wiretapping while making sure not to inconvenience Thousand Transformations — And then, at that moment, ignoring Cool's desperate mental gymnastics, Rusha — who had finally stopped crying — looked up at Klye with teary eyes and said: "...Um... thank you for saving me. ...So... you'll save my big brother too, right?"
Treasure Hunters operated at their own risk. He understood her desperation, but this demand — as if rescue were a given — was incredibly brazen.
And yet, ignoring the frozen Cool, Klye glanced down at something like a black tablet and answered casually: "Sure. Well, if I can manage it, anyway..."
"!! Really?! Thank you so much!"
Rusha's voice rang with joy.
A completely unburdened response. His attitude of brushing off an audacious demand as if it were nothing — there was indeed a different kind of regal bearing from Klahi's.
A high-level Hunter's words carried weight. To so readily accept a request that could easily have been refused — Cool was ashamed of himself for having agonized over how to extract concessions.
"Well, she is our leader after all. Heh... you're a lifesaver, boss. I know I'm the worst, but I always pay my debts."
"That's easy to say when there's nothing we can actually do..."
Zurii, who had been playing dead in the room across from Cool's this whole time, muttered under her breath. She still looked a bit worn out.
The vehicle moved without any shaking, at incredible speed. The way it scurried along walls and ceilings in every direction was less like a vehicle and more like some kind of monster.
Thousand Transformations gave a great yawn and said: "In exchange, I'll need you all to work for me. I've been short on hands lately."
"...What did you... come here for?"
At that, Elisée — who had been silent until now — spoke up for the first time.
Elisée Peck was a new member recruited after the Martial Emperor Festival in the theocratic nation where the Holy Spirit Church's headquarters was located.
A Level 4 Guardian Knight and the strongest member of The Mourning Evil Spirit after Klahi. The honest reason she'd been recruited was that her name resembled Elisa of the Mourning Specter, and he'd impulsively offered, but she had integrated into the party in a short time.
Incidentally, the reason she'd become a Guardian Knight was that it didn't require much movement, and she'd been treated as a troublemaker in the theocratic nation.
Even the typically taciturn, indoorsy Elisée had found it hard to endure being confined in that spectacle-like space — but it was good to see she'd recovered her spirits.
In response to Elisée's question, Thousand Transformations answered with a cheerful smile, as if this were the most amusing thing in the world: "Ah. This is just between us, but... I came to protect the royalty of this country. Apparently there are seven of them in total..."
"!?"
Cool couldn't help but widen his eyes.
He still didn't know the details about this city. But he understood that this was an enormously difficult task.
But protecting royalty — at the Level 8 level, the scale of work was apparently something else entirely. It was a far cry from Cool and his companions, who had chased a thief into a city called Code and thrown themselves into a reckless battle.
"Right now, various things have come up, and I'm stuck dealing with one of them. Well, I think the commission itself will work out somehow, but I'll need extra hands until I can rendezvous with my companions."
The commission will work out somehow. As usual, his appearance and his ability were completely mismatched.
But more than that, the very fact that he was discussing such classified information out in the open like this was a sign of supreme confidence.
This was a city of highly advanced physical civilization — there must be countless ways to eavesdrop — yet Klye didn't seem to care at all. Did he have certainty that they weren't being overheard, or was he simply confident that it wouldn't matter even if they were?
In all honesty, Cool and his companions' abilities as Hunters weren't much to speak of. After the events of the Martial Emperor Festival, they had all changed their mindset and thrown themselves into training, but results wouldn't come that quickly.
When they had actually attacked Code, Cool and his group had been of no use. That said, the fact that they hadn't been able to shine was precisely what had led to them being freed now, so it wasn't necessarily all bad...
In any case, Cool and his companions knew nothing about this city.
For now, they would follow Thousand Transformations' instructions completely. No matter how dangerous the orders might be — that this was the best course of action available to them right now was something none of them would need to discuss to agree upon.
Klye spoke to Cool, who was clenching his fist with firm resolve, in a light tone: "Oh, right. For the plan to rescue Klahi, I'll have Cool draw it up."
...Come to think of it, Thousand Transformations was famous for assigning tests to people.
Cool blanched at this sudden unreasonable demand, but Klye, as always, wore a smile that gave no hint of what he was thinking.