"How do you know my name...?"
Saya's appearance was admittedly a little unusual, but among the crowd here, she wasn't particularly eye-catching, nor did she radiate the presence of a powerful fighter. In the distant lands of the Zebuldia Empire, she would have almost no fame whatsoever.
Cautious by nature, Saya eyed the woman warily. The female hunter simply grinned and spoke brightly.
"I knew it! Our little Krai told me he owes you for the Level 9 trial! What, did you come to visit?"
"!! So that means... you're a member of the Mourning Specter...?"
"Liliz Smart, of the Peerless Shadow. Nice to meet you! So what? Was that sarasara just now? How did you do it?"
Her overflowing confidence and the strong will hidden in her gaze momentarily overwhelmed Saya.
This was unexpected. She never imagined a member of the Mourning Specter would be such a friendly person. And despite apparently having heard about Saya from Krai, there was virtually no hint of wariness in her.
At a loss for words, Saya faltered in confusion. Liliz glanced around and spoke.
"By yourself? Kaiser didn't come? I actually wanted to meet Kaiser too... Krai wouldn't stop raving about him. Oh, hey! I happen to be free—want me to show you around town?"
Having someone offer to show her around was a first. Most of Saya's power came from her supernatural ability, but she had also absorbed a vast quantity of Mana Materials. Anyone with even a basic eye for such things could tell she wasn't ordinary, and back at the Terras branch, Saya's name had been infamous.
The peerless warrior of the "Night Banquet Hall." The only people who didn't fear Saya were those who came through Sarasara.
Involuntarily, she widened her eyes and asked Liliz.
"What are you... to him?"
Even if Krai was the Party leader, the idea that someone who had merely heard a few stories would be this familiar with a person they'd just met was inconceivable from Saya's perspective.
The difference between how she was treated at Terras and this was so stark that Saya wondered if she were dreaming. Liliz looked momentarily blank, then said: "Huh? What am I? ...A friend? And a friend of a friend is a friend, right? That's just how it works!"
"!! That... may be true. Indeed."
Friends. The deep trust conveyed in Liliz's tone made Saya nod involuntarily.
A friend of a friend is a friend. What a wonderful saying. By that logic, you could make friends infinitely.
Saya wasn't naive enough to believe the world actually operated by such rules, but if all of Krai's companions shared the same philosophy, then her stay in Zebuldia would be truly wonderful.
Could it be that Zebuldia was full of hunters like this?
Saya wasn't particularly good with cheerful people, but Krai's friends seemed like they'd be good friends to have.
Still, Krai had said he'd introduce his Party members when they came to Zebuldia... Saya's arrival had been sudden, so how had he had time to prepare them in advance? Perhaps this was another reason he was called the "Thousand Transformations."
Her expectations rose against her will. Various thoughts spun through her mind.
Whether out of curiosity about a character type she had never encountered before, a humanoid visitor covered in viscous mucus appeared. A black figure with no eyes, no nose, no mouth.
Visitors came in many forms. This bipedal, shape-shifting one was the most common—the type Saya called a "Shadow Person."
It slipped between Saya and Liliz, and at the tip of its long, tentacle-like neck, it morphed into a massive eye, fixing Liliz with an unblinking stare.
The bloodshot eyeball, peering down from above, pressed closer and closer to Liliz.
Then, Liliz's brow twitched for an instant. An arm encased in unusual gauntlets shot out toward Saya.
Saya's eyes widened. But the outstretched fingers didn't reach for Saya—they touched the slender neck of the Shadow Person.
"!? Huh?"
Liliz's hand clamped down on the Shadow Person's neck with crushing force. The eye at its tip turned bright red, and a piercing shriek overwrote the noise of the busy street.
But not a single person on that crowded street noticed.
Visitors from Sarasara were invisible, inaudible, and untouchable to anyone but Saya.
"??? Huh?"
But this person right in front of her—Krai's friend—was clearly interfering with a Sarasara visitor. In principle, Liliz's hand should have passed right through the Shadow Person without touching it.
The Shadow Person writhed in Liliz's iron grip. It was the first time Saya had ever seen a visitor experience pain.
The other Shadow People that had been surrounding them, for the first time, all simultaneously sprouted eyeballs—staring at the one person who could actually touch them.
Liliz looked straight into Saya's eyes and said with a faintly savage grin: "Whoa, so this is what Sarasara really is? Invisible, no presence at all, yet it's right there—and it's not magic either. Interesting! Was it these guys that did the thing earlier?"
Impossible. She couldn't see them, couldn't sense them. She didn't even seem to hear that shriek.
And yet, why could she touch them?
No one had ever been able to stand against Sarasara before.
Passersby were casting curious glances at Liliz.
Against Saya's will, the nearby visitors began to move. From alleyways, from cracks in the pavement, from building windows—countless visitors of all shapes and forms began crawling out. Numbers rivaling the horde that had appeared when she once faced a swarm of Monsters.
The sky darkened slightly. Behind Liliz, a large black stain spread across the ground.
It was darker than shadow, and since it wasn't a hole, there was no bottom to be seen. The people on the street walked right over it without noticing.
It was a boundary—the border between the world the visitors inhabited and this world. A gateway of a size she had never seen before.
Visitors always emerged from darkness. The size of the boundary corresponded to the size of the visitor.
Whatever was coming through was surely a type of visitor Saya had never encountered.
Her eyes burned with heat. A reversal of her ability was occurring. It wasn't that her ability was activating and therefore they were appearing—it was that they were appearing, and therefore her ability was activating even more strongly.
This was the exact opposite of the growth Saya had hoped for.
She held her breath at the sheer size of the boundary. Just then, Liliz released her grip.
"Aaah, just kidding, just kidding! I've never seen anything like it, so I got curious... Sorry about that?"
The freed Shadow Person staggered backward. The grip had been so forceful that a handprint was clearly visible on its neck.
The other visitors, who had been on the verge of attacking, were quickly deterred by Saya's sharp glare.
Liliz was certainly strong, but the number of things Sarasara could summon was enormous. More importantly, if a fight broke out in this crowd, it would become a bloodbath.
An intense emotion Saya had never felt from the visitors before was radiating from them now—fear or rage, perhaps. They were humanoid, but not human, and Saya couldn't read their expressions.
But when she met their gaze with clear intent, the visitors reluctantly backed away from Liliz.
The black stain spreading across the ground also halted its expansion when she glared at it, and shrank back until it vanished.
For the first time since her ability had evolved, she heard that familiar sound—sarasara—for just an instant.
The sky brightened. The immediate danger seemed to have passed.
It had chilled her far more than when she was captured by Code.
Liliz's beautiful pink eyes stared intently at Saya.
She never imagined there was someone who could touch Sarasara... Krai's machinations were one thing, but the strength of his Party members seemed to be on par with his own.
She wanted to know how Liliz had managed to interfere with the visitors, but Hunters never revealed their hand.
After hesitating for a dozen seconds over whether to ask, Saya ended up asking something entirely different.
"...Liliz, what's your Level?"
"Huh? 6, but— Hey, Anthem! Look, look! I found the Saya Krai told us about! She came to visit!"
"!! ...Mm."
Liliz called out without hesitation even in the middle of the crowd, and the giant who had been suspending a pickpocket in midair—the one Saya had completely forgotten about—turned to look at Liliz and Saya.
!? Anthem? Brother?? He's her brother?? Is that thing really human??
...Zebuldia... what kind of place is this?
Saya could only stand there, shoulders trembling in blank astonishment, as the massive man shouldered his way through the waves of people toward her—forgetting everything that had just happened.
§ Guided around the Imperial Capital by the astonishing Smart siblings (in every sense of the word).
It seemed the Smart siblings (especially Anthem) had quite a reputation—they monopolized the attention of every passerby, and simply walking caused the crowd to part. Saya was certainly feared back in Terras, but even she couldn't match the impact of Anthem Smart.
"This is the Relic Investigation Institute! If you find anything related to the Treasure Hall or Treasure Weapons, report it here. Just drop Krai's name and they'll come running!"
"That over there is the Knights' Station. If someone attacks you, capture them and bring them here—you might get a reward! They've got a wanted list too... Ah, if anything happens, just use Krai's name. I guess I'd work too, though."
"If you go straight down this road, you'll hit the Decadent District—bad part of town. You'll get attacked just walking through, so you could make easy money, Saya! Well, do it enough and your face and name get around, and they'll stop attacking you... But if you actually want to get attacked, probably don't mention Krai's name."
"Anyway, in Zebuldia, if anything troublesome comes up, just drop Krai's name and things will work out!"
"...I see."
"Mm..."
Impressive for a Level 8. She seemed to enjoy quite a bit of trust from the Empire, too.
But this really was a massive city. Even the visitors seemed intrigued by this new land, each for their own reasons.
The Mana Material presence here was much denser than in the city of Terras. Saya had heard rumors that Imperial Capital Zebuldia existed atop a major Ley Line, and those rumors appeared to be true.
Any resident of this city would gradually absorb Mana Materials simply by existing. It was no wonder this place was considered a holy land for Treasure Hunters.
Of course, merely absorbing Mana Materials didn't make everyone capable of fighting—but building a city right on top of such a powerful Ley Line and nurturing it to this extent spoke volumes about the competence of every generation of Zebuldia's emperors.
As they walked through the streets, Liliz spoke in a disappointed tone.
"I really wanted to meet Kaiser, though. Krai said he hadn't actually seen him fight in person, but apparently he fights while dancing?"
"Yes. His fighting was spectacular."
When she first heard "dancer," she had wondered what kind of technique that entailed. But what she had ultimately witnessed was indeed a dance.
Even now, having seen it with her own eyes, she still couldn't quite figure out how dance-like movements could mow down an entire Gene army.
It wasn't just Thousand Transformations—all Level 8s seemed to be completely off the charts.
"Come to think of it, Krai once said he wanted to become a dancer too. This was before he became a Hunter, though."
"!? ...Mm..."
What on earth is Level 8...? Should I maybe learn to dance a little too...?
...No, no. It was surely just a coincidence.
Saya felt vaguely uncomfortable when Liliz spoke up.
"Oh, and I have a favor to ask, Saya—could you teach me Kaiser's dance?"
"What?"
Liliz clasped her hands behind her head and smiled.
"Well, I climbed the World Tree, so I figured this might be a good chance to level up big-time. Krai might keep raising his Level from here on out, so I want to get stronger too. I'm confident in my movement, and if I could master a Level 8 technique, I could aim even higher, don't you think?"
"Mm, mm!"
Anthem nodded enthusiastically. Climbing the World Tree was already an extraordinary feat, yet they aimed for even more—their ambition was staggering.
In any case, if Kaiser had actually come to the Imperial Capital, would he hand over his secret technique to someone? ...Actually, he probably would. That was just the kind of person he was.
The dance that mowed down surrounding enemies was impressive, but that power to forcibly draw the attention of everyone around him would also be invaluable for exploring the Treasure Hall.
Whether anyone else could learn it was uncertain, but it hadn't even occurred to Saya to try.
It seemed there was much to gain in this city beyond just making friends.
Her position as a provisional Level 9 was, after all, merely a stepping stone toward elevating the status of those with supernatural abilities.
As Saya pulled herself together once more, Liliz pressed her palms together and said: "So, if it's okay... Saya, would you mind doing a practice battle with me later? There's hardly anyone around here to spar with anymore, and I'm sure the others would love to fight a Level 8 from another country. Anthem wants to see Sarasara too, right?"
"Mm, mm, mm!"
"That's... fine with me, but..."
Normally, she would have refused. A practice battle against Saya would be pointless for either side.
But Liliz had shown that she could damage visitors that were normally invisible and untouchable. Observing her fight closely might reveal how she countered Sarasara. That could potentially help alleviate the Explorer's Guild's anxieties about the Sarasara phenomenon.
Were they listening in on the conversation? The visitors began to close in around Saya and the others. No one had issued any instruction, but they seemed to understand the language to some degree.
They appeared eager as well. They had been gathering from who-knows-where, and their numbers already exceeded several dozen.
At this concentration, the visitors blocked Saya's view so completely that the normal scenery was barely visible. They weren't about to start a practice battle right this second, but still...
If ordinary people could see the visitors, there would be an enormous uproar. Saya sighed and looked to the side.
That was when she noticed a visitor unlike any she had seen before among those surrounding her.
Until now, the visitors that came through Sarasara had generally been black—monsters that looked as if darkness had been melted and given shape.
But this one was not black.
No—on the contrary, it closely resembled a human form. The only reasons Saya identified it as a visitor at a glance were the different atmosphere it exuded and its changed face.
Black hair, white skin. Its appearance suggested a girl younger than Saya, but where its eyes should have been, there were two empty sockets.
It wore what looked like a uniform of some kind, but the skeletal arms extending from its sleeves were drained of all color.
Blood tears streamed from its eye sockets. Terrifying at first glance, but compared to the others, it was almost cute.
Perhaps because it was rare, the Shadow People were observing their new companion with their huge eyeballs.
Receiving their stares, the new species of visitor was visibly bewildered. It glanced around uncertainly, clearly standing out among the other visitors.
"!?"
When Saya stared at it intently, the visitor noticed her and, as if startled, spun around and bolted. For some reason, the Shadow People pursued it with fluid, gliding movements.
What on earth were they doing...? Maybe they were also excited about arriving in a new city? Well, as long as they didn't run wild on their own, it didn't matter much.
"Alright, it's settled—let's head to our Clan House! Krai should be there, and I'll introduce you to the other members. The Clan members would definitely want to fight a Level 8 too!"
"...Leave it to me."
I mean, back home, I was feared to the point that no one ever wanted to practice battle with me...
Should she be exasperated, or impressed? At Liliz's words, Saya set aside thoughts of the new visitor species and turned her mind to figuring out how to get through the practice battle.