After somehow managing to wrap up a month-long Level 9 Trial at the High Mobility Fortress City Cord, I had returned to the Imperial Capital Zebuldia.
I was overflowing with a sense of liberation. Even though I'd practically done nothing in the end, I had still passed through the Level 9 Trial—a trial that was supposed to be a matter of life and death. I'd ended up declining the Level 9 designation (well, I probably wouldn't have qualified even without declining), but I'd never intended to pursue it in the first place. Having failed the trial once, it would be quite a while before they made me retake it.
On top of that, Your Highness had somehow even gone and made me a smartphone.
Liliz and the others had returned too, so it was only natural that my steps felt lighter.
"Aaaaaaaahn, I wanted to go to the Cord tooooo!"
"D—... It wasn't the World Tree?! The place with the strongest swordsman wasn't the World Tree?!!"
"...There's no way there'd be a swordsman at the World Tree."
Elisa dropped a deadpan retort into Liliz and Luke's usual clamor.
I'd only heard bits and pieces, but apparently Luke and the others had also been causing quite a ruckus in Yggdrasil. One glance at Elisa's even-more-exhausted-than-usual expression told me everything I needed to know. If even Elisa—who could run faster than anyone—was worn out, then Liliz and the others must have been energetic beyond all reason.
Citry, who had received a souvenir from the Cord—a product of its advanced civilization—and was in relatively high spirits, tried to console the frustrated Luke.
"Come on, come on, Luke-san. There's no way there'd be a swordsman in the Cord. It's a city from a highly advanced civilization... If anything, they'd probably favor long-range weapons."
"Mm, mm."
I really had been in the Cord, after all. I hadn't touched the criminals at all, so I didn't know the details of what happened to that skilled female swordswoman—Kenbi—but Kaiser and the others had probably made short work of it. As expected of Level 8 Hunters; they were reliable.
As I nodded in agreement, Lucia, who had been silent until then, let out a sigh and spoke.
"...Still, I have to say, leaving your Party behind to go take the Level 9 Trial wasn't the best decision, Leader."
Lucia gave me her signature deadpan look—just as dependable as a Level 8 Hunter, albeit in a completely different way.
It was true—until now, I had never taken a Level-Up Trial on my own. I was so weak that even a random rookie Hunter might have beaten me, so it was only natural. And this time too, I never would have gone to the Cord without Kaiser and Saya.
But the real reason I had left Lucia and the others behind was simple: if I'd stayed in Yggdrasil, I would have inevitably gotten swept up in their grand adventure. Even I wasn't foolish enough to linger somewhere when I could clearly feel the adventure dragging me along.
Things had ended up getting weird anyway, but all I'd really wanted was a little vacation.
"Well, you know... I just wanted to take a little break..."
"A break..."
"A... a break, and you dropped the floating city of Cord... Master. As expected of you, Master... That's so like you..."
Tinno, who had been trailing behind everyone, froze up in an instant.
"Bottomless"... For the record, the system had rated it a four. I'd love to compare that with everyone else's evaluations.
Well, regardless, it was good to see everyone in high spirits.
I had just managed a faint smile when Liliz rapped Tinno on the head and declared proudly: "Oh right, Klye-chan! Listen, listen! We... climbed the World Tree all the way to the top!! Tee climbed it too, you know? Isn't that amazing?! All that daily training really paid off!"
"Wow... Nice going..."
"That's nothing compared to... compared to Master, who dropped an entire floating city during a break... I'm nothing but dust..."
Tinno said this with tears welling up in her eyes. I really didn't think that was the case... The World Tree had been so impossibly massive that I couldn't even guess its height, and I couldn't fathom how anyone could climb it. I was truly glad I hadn't stayed behind.
Also, the reason the Cord had fallen was supposed to have been left unresolved, so why was everyone so insistent on blaming me? That was something I couldn't figure out at all.
Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't have been any way to bring down such a massive island.
"...Maybe I should just relax for a while... Well, I hadn't really done much in the Cord either. Haha... L-look, I want to hear about everyone's stories too..."
I scratched my cheek under everyone's expectant stares. Give me a break—doing nothing was the best I could manage.
...Actually, now that I thought about it, I had done something unnecessary that caused the Cord to fall. But that was supposed to have been wiped from the record.
I'd made Your Highness promise to keep quiet about it, so it would be fine.
I nodded to myself, convinced everything was okay, when I heard a strained, barely controlled voice.
"...Klye! Good... you've made it back. I hate to do this right as you've returned, but we need to talk. Come to the branch chief's office."
"G-Gaark... -san?"
Standing there was the branch chief of the Explorer's Guild in the Imperial Capital—the very Gaark Velter who had set the Level 9 Trial in motion.
But this wasn't the usual Gaark. For starters, his complexion was terrible. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and deep fatigue was clearly etched into his expression.
I had never seen him like this. He was retired, but he was still a former Level 7 Hunter. He would have maintained a fair amount of Mana Material, and even if his combat ability wasn't what it had been at its peak, it should still have been well within the realm of the elite.
He hadn't gone off to war or anything—there was no reason a former Level 7 Hunter like Gaark should be this haggard. It was highly unusual.
Even Liliz and the others had gone completely silent.
Gaark started walking while holding his head. Something about his demeanor told me this was serious, so I steeled myself and followed behind him.
§ § § "Haaah?! Klye-chan is getting suspended?! What's going on?!"
Liliz's shrill voice echoed through the branch chief's office.
As I blinked in disbelief at the unexpected news, Gaark crossed his arms and spoke with a troubled expression.
"...This is a decision from headquarters. In short, Klye—you went too far."
A Treasure Hunter being suspended by the Explorer's Guild. I had never heard of such a thing.
Hunters were, by nature, independent contractors. The Explorer's Guild merely acted as intermediaries for requests and provided various forms of support—they weren't employers.
If a Hunter committed a serious crime, the punishment wasn't suspension but outright expulsion. The tier below that would have been something like the Level Down Citry had received, or being saddled with requests that no one else would take—essentially a penalty assignment.
So what exactly did a suspension entail?
"Ugh. We're completely over capacity. The Explorer's Guild's job is supposed to be simply supporting Hunters, right? But lately, so many things have been happening that we're short-handed across the board. The Cord incident pushed us past the breaking point. This is completely—without precedent!"
"O-oh...?"
The capital had indeed been chaotic lately. The Explorer's Guild had been helping with the Cursed Artifact incidents too, and calling it busy was an understatement.
But the Cursed Artifact turmoil was only half my fault, and as for the Yggdrasil business, I hadn't done all that much either.
And yet I was the one getting suspended? Just what was going on?
"The fallout from the Cursed Artifact incidents hasn't even settled down yet, and between the Yggdrasil operations and the cleanup from the Cord's crash, both the Explorer's Guild and the Zebuldia Empire are completely out of resources. The Cursed Artifact resolution, everything related to Yggdrasil, the Cord raid—when it comes down to it, all of that was at our own request—but we can't afford to have anything else dumped on us! Normally, the Explorer's Guild would never say something like this. Treasure Hunters are supposed to be free agents. But this is a joint request from both the Explorer's Guild's headquarters and the Zebuldia Empire! Got it?!"
I didn't get it. Why was it like all the blame was being laid at my feet? I had absolutely no idea.
I let out a world-weary sigh, looked Gaark straight in the eye, and said clearly: "That's exactly what I want!"
"?!?"
A suspension? That was the best news I'd heard all day.
Not just Gaark—even Liliz and the others were staring at me wide-eyed. But despite appearances, I was the kind of guy who would never willingly work if given the choice. Of course, by "didn't want to work" I meant I didn't want to do dangerous jobs—but everything I did somehow ended up being dangerous, so retreating into seclusion was really my only option.
Normally, if I stayed indoors, someone would inevitably show up with work for me. But a suspension meant I was officially sanctioned to laze about. I might still have to handle some duties as the Clan Master of Beginning Footprint, but Eva was there, so it would probably work out.
I'd been going out constantly lately, so a little office work would be a nice change of pace (though Eva handled most of the paperwork anyway, so it rarely came to me).
Even if someone came to me with a job, I now had a perfectly legitimate reason to refuse.
When the Explorer's Guild—the organization I owed so much to—told me to take a suspension, I had no choice but to comply. Man, I really wanted to work, though.
"By the way, just how strictly do I have to behave during the suspension? Walking around the Imperial Capital from the Clan House should be fine, right?"
Leaving the Imperial Capital probably wouldn't be permitted, so a vacation was out of the question.
Now then, what should I do during the suspension? First, I'd polish the Treasure Weapons I hadn't maintained in a while—oh, right, I also needed to put the brand-new smartphone to good use! It had been ages since I'd last done a sweets tour. I had a duty to find the finest sweets in preparation for when I reunited with Your Highness.
I was grinning to myself about my plans when Gaark, who had been silent up until then, spoke in a trembling voice.
"...Don't you dare... try to push your luck! Klye, don't you leave your damn room! Just a little—wait until things calm down even a bit! Got it?"
"Aww... Well, if you're going to put it that way, fine. I won't leave my room. Okay!"
I loved being home, after all.
A ban on going out meant I couldn't go shopping, but I could always ask someone to do it for me. I really wanted to go myself, but I was under suspension, after all.
"..."
Gaark was looking at me with an utterly skeptical gaze. No, really, it was fine. I wasn't trying to brag, but when it came to staying in my room, I was better than anyone. Of course, if I were attacked, that would be a different story, but there was no risk of that in the Clan Master's quarters.
Still, when Gaark had called out to me, I'd wondered what he was going to say—but telling me not to work was a first.
Gaark could be sensible every once in a while.
I was fully on board with the suspension. That was when Citry, who had been quiet until then, spoke up.
"Wait just a moment, Gaark-san!"
"...What is it?"
"If Klye-san is fine with it, then I won't say anything about the unprecedented suspension—but haven't you forgotten something?"
"..."
???
As I stared blankly, Citry smiled sweetly before the silent Gaark and raised her right hand, making a gesture for money.
At that gesture, Gaark's already haggard expression grew even darker.
"You're suspending a Level 8 Hunter for no proper reason. I understand the circumstances, but we're going to need proper compensation."
"Tch... I know. We'll calculate an amount from Mourning Specter's earnings over the past month and pay that out. That good enough?"
Gaark's intense gaze left no room for argument.
Huh? I could get paid even without working? I was starting to think I wanted to be suspended forever.
At those words, Liliz narrowed her eyes and said: "Wow, Gaark-chan, you really have no idea what our spoils of war are, do you? In the past month, we explored Yggdrasil's great tree sea AND climbed the World Tree. And on top of that, Klye-chan conquered the Cord. You're going to go bankrupt!"
"Sis, don't say unnecessary things! I won't go bankrupt. There's no point squeezing out so much that you end up in the negative—I'll find a fair compromise point! ...If it's not enough, we can do installments."
"Hmph..."
"Y-you people..."
Gaark's face turned beet red as he clenched his fists at the Smart sisters' words. Citry would seize any opportunity to squeeze money out of people.
Lucia, who was relatively sensible, showed no signs of stopping them despite her troubled expression. Luke was busy admiring the swords hanging on the wall. And Elisa, who was unusually present, looked half-asleep. Everyone was far too free-spirited.
I was getting the vacation I wanted most, so I'd be perfectly happy even without a large sum of money.
So I let out a sigh and tried to lighten the mood by addressing Gaark.
"By the way, Kaina-san isn't here today. That's unusual."
"...Kaina is still at headquarters. The amount of paperwork piling up is insane!"
He really did have it rough. I kind of felt bad for getting a vacation while he was drowning in work. Maybe I'd have Eva send over some care packages next time.
Gaark stood up on the spot, glared at me fiercely, and said: "The compensation for the suspension will be determined after consultation with the government. Listen, Klye. You are absolutely not to go outside! Don't do anything. Understand?"