What exactly was that...?
In the corridor illuminated by faint blue light, it was bewildered by the unexpected situation.
The cause was the strange presence it had discovered in the outside world moments ago—an ink-black humanoid that looked as if it had been sculpted from darkness itself.
Its identity and origins were unknown, but this aberration had most certainly perceived it.
The Star Temple that had once stood where the Imperial Capital now lay. A phantom of the Star God's Miniature Garden that had manifested at its ruins—the sobbing Lady.
Under normal circumstances, Lady should have been invisible outside the Treasure Hall unless certain conditions were met. That was because the Star God's Miniature Garden existed as a special Treasure Hall that overlapped with the real world—something inherent to its nature.
But that aberration had definitely perceived her.
Moreover, there wasn't just one. There were countless of them, lurking among the crowd.
And not a single passerby had noticed their existence. In all the long years Lady had manifested in this Imperial Capital, this was a sight she had never seen before.
For an instant, she had wondered whether those monsters were also phantoms manifested within the Star God's Miniature Garden, like herself. But no. The presence was different. They were not phantoms.
In the deserted corridor filled with cool air, she steadied her breathing—something that should never have been disrupted.
Lady was the embodiment of fear. She had been born to drag countless humans into a swamp of terror, to probe the weaknesses of humanity.
There was no way she could be frightened. There was no way that should ever happen.
There was one more thing that troubled her: there had been a human who could see Lady. A woman with black hair and red eyes, harboring Mana Material as dark and deep as an abyss. That, too, was something that should have been impossible.
And that woman had also been aware of the black aberrations.
It was unbelievable, but since it had actually been witnessed, there was no choice but to accept it.
She didn't know why the woman could see Lady. Perhaps they were compatible? Among the humans she had snatched before, there had been those with sharper senses than most, though none as keen as that woman.
Humans were terrifying. Now she understood why the former master of the Star Temple—who had once boasted incomparable power—had abandoned their base and retreated.
There was the knight who had faced head-on the monsters that the world had feared in an age so ancient that records of them no longer even existed, and who had even judged the neck that Lady extended to frighten him as an opening and tried to cut it off.
There was the ink-black aberration—an inexplicably massive figure in full plate armor, even larger than those monsters—that had recognized her and, for some reason, chased her everywhere. And there was that woman who could see Lady, who should have been invisible.
It was only a rumor, but apparently there existed in the outer cities a man who attacked sword-wielders without hesitation, like some kind of yokai.
There was no way she could deal with them. Lady's role was to find the weaknesses of humans. How could she fight those kinds of people?
It was all because the Mana Material flowing through the Ley Lines had suddenly decreased.
As long as the Mana Material was abundant, the concealment had been ironclad. The rules of the Star God's Experiment Ground had made the spirit abductions complete.
If the decrease in Mana Material hadn't disrupted the rules, no one should have noticed people going missing— She didn't know why the Ley Line's energy had decreased. It didn't matter.
The problem was that people who couldn't be frightened even by Lady's full effort had started probing the spirit abductions.
She had always avoided targets who might threaten her and selected those who wouldn't, but she would need to be even more careful now.
"Grrr... boss..."
Before she knew it, one of her own had appeared beside her. Monster Diggie—the monster who had once dyed the nights of an entire city in terror by killing eighty people—had shrunk his massive body and was looking at Lady with gleaming eyes.
The poor thing. The once-legendary murder monster had completely lost his confidence after the incident with the knight last time. The atrocious meat cleaver he used to carry, drenched in blood, had been replaced with a shiny new one, and the number of heads hanging from his left hand had decreased.
For this monster, fear was power itself. Once he was no longer feared, he lost his strength. The same was true for Lady.
Lady spoke, as if convincing herself.
"It's okay, it's okay. I just pushed too hard last time. I just need to find weaker prey. There are so many people outside, I'll find some right away."
"Uuugh... I... I'll try harder..."
Monster Diggie let out a sorrowful groan and lumbered away.
But this was no one else's problem. Monster Diggie had lost his confidence because there were now many monsters in the modern age that surpassed him, but for Lady—who looked like nothing more than a human—to gather fear was even harder. If stretching her neck and crying tears of blood couldn't even draw a single scream, then what on earth was she supposed to do...?
Lady watched his retreating back, then decided to go find new prey of her own.
§ § § The clan house of Beginning Footprint—the clan that Klye Andrich had supposedly founded—was the kind of refined building you'd almost never see at the Terrace branch, which was Saya's home ground.
Perhaps because it was located in a conspicuous spot along the main street, at first glance it didn't look anything like a clan house where hunters gathered. At the Terrace branch, clan houses were built with the consideration of being used as fortresses when monsters invaded the city, so they prioritized a rugged appearance above all else.
However, the more she thought about it, the more incredible Thousand Transformations' achievements seemed. Even if Saya had been in Klye's opposite position, it would have been impossible to build a clan house this large in a prime location of the Imperial Capital Zebuldia in just a few years.
To establish a new clan in the Imperial Capital—a fierce battleground for Treasure Hunters—and moreover raise it to the status of a well-known clan required more than just results. It demanded immense personal charisma.
She didn't know what methods he had used, but the road there must have involved extraordinary effort. And that was a far greater feat than what Saya had accomplished by simply using her abilities and endlessly turning the waves of attacking monsters into piles of corpses to reach Level 8.
If Klye hadn't refused, he would have been the one to reach Level 9. There was no doubt about that.
What was it that she, Saya, was lacking?
Lost in serious thought, she was approached by a tall man who emerged from an entrance so large even Anthem could have walked through it.
He was a rare type of hunter who carried a longbow on his back.
"Hm? Liliz, something going on? You look awfully chipper."
"You can tell? A guest came to see Klye from the Level 9 exam! It's Saya!! She's gonna spar with us! Saya, this guy's... Sven Anger, the archer they call Storm Strike. He's decent, I guess... You've never fought an archer before, right?"
I wasn't particularly that eager to fight, though...
At Liliz's introduction, Sven's eyes went wide as he looked at Saya.
"!?! Seriously...? There's a Level 8 younger than Klye...? The world really is big..."
"Right? I was shocked too. But a hunter on the same level as Klye—doesn't that get you excited?"
"............"
I'd really rather not be considered on par with him—the man who had single-handedly brought down the high-mobility fortress city Code with almost no fighting...
Besides, Saya wasn't particularly young. It was just that the years her body should have marked had been stolen by the Visitors.
"Oh, you want to fight her too, right? Gather everyone who's interested! Saya, this'll be fun! You don't get opportunities like this often!"
"...Even though you're saying all this, is it really okay?"
Sven Anger asked with a slightly apologetic expression.
"It's fine, but..."
Saya swallowed the words "it might not even be a fight."
Many hunters had a lot of fighting spirit. That was part of Saya's social survival skill—she didn't look all that strong at first glance.
If she showed her true strength, she might end up feared. But no matter what, she couldn't hide it forever.
Whether Saya's expression had given something away, Sven grinned.
"Heh heh... Got it. You seem confident, so if that's the case, I won't hold back. It's not often you get the chance to square off against a Level 8 from another country. There are probably a few things I want to test out too."
"There's no point training with the same opponents all the time."
"Mm-hmm..."
Sven, like Liliz, was apparently quite skilled himself. Hunters with epithets weren't a common sight.
And Anthem went without saying.
Could she handle the hunters of Beginning Footprint? Would she be able to become friends with them?
Winning the mock battle wasn't the issue—Saya's abilities lacked fine control. If she displayed overwhelming force, she might end up feared here just as she had been in Terrace.
She had to handle this well. Surrounded by Visitors that only she could see, who stared at her intently—Saya's heart was racing, though for an entirely different reason than battle-lust.
§ Eyes the same color as Liliz's watched Saya's every move.
On the third floor of the clan house, waiting in an unmistakably research-lab-like room, was a woman with the same hair and eye color as Liliz Smart but who gave off a very different impression—Citry Smart.
It seemed the Smart siblings were actually a trio. After scanning Saya from toe to head with a gaze of a color she'd never felt before, Citry nodded thoughtfully.
"Mmm... I see, I see..."
Nodding along, she gave a thumbs-up and said with a smile.
"You pass! Sorry about that—lately, there have been a lot of suspicious people trying to get close to my Klye."
"Your—?! Hey, don't say something weird while we're all distracted!"
"Mm-hmm."
Citry, unperturbed by being smacked on the side of the face, kept nodding. The ease of this exchange suggested it was a common occurrence.
It seemed that Mourning Specter was quite the lively party, despite what its name suggested. How enviable.
But what exactly had she perceived to reach her "pass" verdict?
While shaking a flask filled with a gleaming silver liquid, Citry said with sparkling eyes.
"The mock battle, right? Of course I'll participate! I've been curious about the Sarara that Klye mentioned too!"
"............"
Aren't you...
An Alchemist?
Common sense would dictate that was a support-oriented class. The fighting spirit among the members of Mourning Specter was absurdly high.
It was almost funny—the person with the lowest fighting spirit might actually be their leader, Klye.
Liliz frowned and asked Citry.
"Cit, how exactly are you planning to fight? I tried testing her a bit earlier, and Saya seems like she could be pretty tough."
"The one you should be worried about is you, sis. You can only do physical attacks... But I've got—y'know, the gas. A new formula synthesized from Yggdrasil materials."
!? Gas? Did she just say gas?
As Saya froze, Liliz spoke in a dismissive tone.
"Uh, hello?! Gas isn't going to work on a Level 8 hunter! I don't care, but please don't embarrass yourself in front of Klye's friend."
"It'll be fine! This is a high-potency new formula. Besides, if it works on Saya, it'll work on any human, right? The problem is that it spreads over a wide area, but..."
"............Hmm..."
...She was definitely aiming to use it directly on Saya.
Had she heard about Saya's embarrassing incident in Code? No, from the way she was talking, that didn't seem to be the case.
Was using a gas that affected a wide area even legally permitted in this city? In Terrace, which had lax combat rules, it still wasn't allowed...
Well, gas wouldn't affect Saya anyway. Most poisons didn't work on her to begin with, and her resistance had only increased further after the battle in Code.
Most importantly, the Visitors would never allow Saya to lose consciousness again.
"I've been wanting some new weapons to try! Having a test partner—is a huge help!"
"R-right..."
A test subject...
Citry's eyes were gleaming as she clasped her hands together. These people really... had too much fighting spirit. It might even exceed that of the hunters at the Terrace branch.
Saya wanted friends more than sparring partners... Come to think of it, the person who had told Saya she could become friends with Klye had been his sister.
Her name was... right, Lucia.
"So that leaves Luke, Lucia, and Elisa..."
"Luke said he's at the dojo trying out a new technique. Elisa said she was called over by Selen, so she should be at Selen's place. Something about wanting her input on establishing an Exploration Association branch in Yggdrasil..."
As expected of a Level 8 hunter's Party members—they were each quite busy.
Even though Kaiser was covering for her, Saya couldn't stay here long. She had her own objective.
But she did want to meet Lucia, the one Klye had said could become her friend.
"Well, Luke will probably fly over here on his own. As for Lucia, it's that request, right...? That thing sounds like a real pain. I looked into it a bit."
"!! ............A request?"
At Liliz's grimace, Citry answered with a wry smile.
"Apparently, there have been a string of spirit abductions in the Imperial Capital recently, and Lucia received a designated request to investigate them. The Knights are looking into it too, but lately in the Imperial Capital, even conducting interviews has been difficult... This sort of thing would normally be Klye's strong suit, but—"
Spirit abductions, huh. With that many people flooding the area, investigating would indeed be quite difficult.
Normally, hunters rarely received investigation-focused requests, but this was Klye's sister. She must be quite capable.
"If that's the case... couldn't Klye handle it? He's her friend, after all."
The scheming Thousand Transformations. The strategy that had conquered Code with almost no information was still, now that everything was over, something that felt like nothing short of magic.
Or rather, she'd heard the story but couldn't make heads or tails of it. He insisted he hadn't done anything, and there was no sign he was lying—so perhaps for him, even the Level 9 exam had been a trivial matter.
At Saya's words, Liliz scratched her head and said.
"Well, actually, Klye can't move around right now. Besides, if you can't handle a tough request yourself, you'll never grow, right? That's what being friends is about, isn't it? Unless Klye's the one doing the asking, that is. If you're looking for something in return, you can't really call it friendship, can you? Who needs friends like that?"
"!! I-I see..."
So this was what it meant to be friends.
Come to think of it, during the Level 9 exam, even after seeing Saya's power, Klye had never once asked for help. Maybe that, too, had been part of it?
In Terrace, Saya was both feared and relied upon. People had come to her for help, but she had never had friends.
And in Liliz's words, she could also feel the fierce pride of Liliz Smart as a hunter.
Somehow, she felt like she'd been awakened to something. Compared to this Liliz, she—someone who feared even winning against others—was so weak... no, had been so weak.
And she was certain. She was certain that with this woman, she could become good friends.
Citry clapped her hands together and said with a smile.
"Well, since we're at it, why don't we do the mock battle first? I'd also like to test my new creation before telling Klye about it."
"Cit, Saya's Klye's friend, so keep the performance testing to a minimum, got it?"
How interesting. For the first time, Saya felt genuinely motivated for a mock battle.
The mock battles she'd done up until now had honestly been boring. It was no wonder—she hadn't even been motivated to win.
"Sorry, but... I won't be holding back."
"Duh! Were you planning to go easy on us? If you do something that lame, we're cutting ties! Even a mock battle is meaningless unless you fight to kill!"
The words that Saya had always struggled to say slipped out, and Liliz's eyes went wide as she shouted. Saya couldn't help but smile.
This time would be fine. Even if Saya showed her true power, this new friend of hers wouldn't be afraid.