The fourth floor of the Beginning Footprint Clan House. The conference room—one large enough to accommodate a sizable crowd—was now filled with members of the Mourning Specter.
It was a rare sight: every last one of them wore a somber expression. It had been several years since they first met, and as far as Eva knew, this was the first time all of them looked this grim at once.
Then again, it was hardly surprising. Their Party Leader had been arrested. Eva herself had been shaken to the core when a company of knights had barged into the Clan House without warning, and when they'd carried away Klye while he lay fast asleep, she'd thought it had to be some kind of joke. The reason she hadn't tried to stop them was that Klye hadn't put up the slightest resistance—but maybe she could have at least made a sarcastic comment or two.
Still, as far as she could tell, Klye's arrest was no joke.
This was a serious irregularity. As far as Eva knew, no Level 8 Hunter had ever been unilaterally arrested in this country, and the fact that the charges hadn't been made public was equally unprecedented.
She'd reached out to the Explorer's Guild, but they showed no signs of protesting, which meant Klye must have done something truly staggering. All Eva had been told was that Klye Andrich had confessed and was taken into custody. What a complete mess.
With no understanding of the situation, there was no way to act. After all, the key to the arrest—and the reason he'd been imprisoned—was his own confession.
If the Empire had been looking for an opportunity to seize Klye all along, there might still have been something they could do.
But the Empire had never wanted to arrest Klye. Absolutely not.
And yet, something had forced their hand—something that drove him to confess.
Charges so serious that even the Vice-Master of the clan he himself led couldn't be informed.
And on top of that, the fact that no major media outlet was covering the arrest of Thousand Transformations as the enormous event it was spoke to powerful information control, while not even a search of the Clan House had been permitted.
All of it pointed to the darkness stirring behind this entire affair. Well, maybe not darkness exactly—but still.
What would the Mourning Specter—a clan built entirely on childhood friends—do in this situation?
Citry, one of those gathered around the table, clasped her hands together and spoke.
"Well then, the Emergency Mourning Specter Meeting is now in session!"
"Yeeaaahhh!"
"Ooohhh! Let's do this!"
"Oooh…"
At the sound of her announcement, Riz shouted, Luke roared, and Elisa weakly raised her right arm.
Why is everyone trying to hype this up… and more importantly, why am I even here!? No, seriously, I want an answer!
"The agenda is Klye's arrest. He actually confessed honestly to a clueless Empire and got himself caught—very on-brand for Klye!"
"……Well, I think getting arrested was the expected outcome, really."
Lucia pressed her fingertips to her temple and let out a small sigh. If even Lucia—the man's own adoptive sister—thought the arrest was inevitable, then whatever he'd done must have been truly catastrophic.
What on earth did he do… He was supposed to be on suspension…
Then again, vanishing into a mirror while on suspension was already a major incident in its own right.
As Eva sat in silence, Citry swept her gaze across the room and spoke.
"The prison is apparently the East Seal Prison Island. Does anyone have any input?"
"I'd like to get in too—how many do I need to cut down?"
Luke said something insane with a perfectly serious expression on his face.
"Luke, you don't even need to cut anyone. You could just sneak in normally, right?"
"……Wait, this meeting isn't about planning how to break Klye out!?"
"Now, now…"
Eva couldn't help but blurt out a retort, and Citry reined her in with a lopsided grin.
As a proper Clan House staff member, Eva had to shoot down both Luke's suggestion and Riz's—yet the terrifying thing was that both of them were dead serious.
"If we're going to move… it would be better to act while he's still in the capital…"
"Elisa, what are you saying too!? We need to visit him first. We have to find out what the Leader is thinking."
"Hmm…"
Each member offered opinions at their own pace, entirely in their own worlds. It seemed not a single one of them believed Klye's innocence. Well, he had confessed, so that made sense.
Still, wasn't everyone taking this situation far too lightly?
As Eva wrestled with her unease, Citry clapped her hands once and spoke.
"It seems nobody here knows anything about East Seal Prison Island. Eva, why don't you explain?"
Why are you putting this on me!!
But there was no time to waste complaining.
Eva cleared her throat and began explaining what she knew about East Seal Prison Island.
"East Seal Prison Island is a prison facility located in the Altar Marquisate of the Zebuldia Empire, built specifically to incarcerate criminals of a dangerous caliber on par with high-level Hunters—a type virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world. The entire island is one massive prison, and construction was accelerated at breakneck speed after the South Isteria Mass Prison Break several years ago."
The South Isteria Mass Prison Break was still fresh in memory. Part of that was because it had been a hot topic in the imperial capital, but more importantly, Citry had been a leading suspect among the perpetrators. The escapees had still not been found, and East Seal Prison Island had been created to make up for that colossal failure, replacing the South Isteria Great Prison.
"East Seal Prison Island is no ordinary prison. It was built to securely contain former high-level Hunters classified as Reds. The concept of a prison island had apparently existed long before, but the plan had been frozen due to the danger involved—it's a facility with a troubled history. Since the island was created, no prisoner has ever escaped. Intrusions from outside have been zero. The South Isteria mass break is believed to have involved outside accomplices, so that angle has been thoroughly covered. An infiltration like the one Riz is describing would be impossible."
"Sito, isn't this all your fault!"
East Seal Prison Island was nothing like the South Isteria Great Prison, which had housed even minor offenders.
The prison island did not hold anyone convicted of petty crimes.
"Criminals from around the world—those deemed too dangerous to handle by conventional means—are transferred to the island. The inmates held there are not afforded any of the rights normally granted to prisoners. No visits. No care packages. Nothing. In order to reduce even the slightest chance of escape—"
At Eva's explanation, Lucia furrowed her brows.
Containing criminals. That was the sole purpose of East Seal Prison Island.
Its location was unusual as well. Situated in the middle of a vast lake, the island's surroundings saw almost no wind, and for dozens of kilometers in every direction, not a single living thing existed.
Before the prison island was built, that area had been known as the Domain of Stillness—a stretch of land even the Empire couldn't figure out what to do with. That was one of the reasons the prison island construction plan had been shelved for so long.
Then Citry spoke with a cheerful expression—though her eyes held no warmth at all.
"East Seal is a dead zone. A hole in the ley lines. An extremely rare type of land attribute, but around East Seal Prison Island, almost no Mana Material exists. Any Mana Material accumulated by living organisms is absorbed directly into the ley lines. That's why even Monsters won't set foot there."
A dead zone. A hole in the ley lines. A Domain of Stillness. The polar opposite of a Treasure Hall where you could grow stronger just by exploring it—a cursed land that drained your power simply by being there.
This planet occasionally harbored places like that—strange and inexplicable.
Just as Citry said, there was supposedly nothing there—so barren it was almost chilling. It was only a rumor, but even storms were said to give the area a wide berth.
"The rate at which Mana Material is drained seems to depend on one's talent, apparently—but the longer you stay, the more your strength will decline. There are also supposed to be effects on magical output and other things."
It was the worst possible place for both Hunters and criminals alike. And that was precisely why the Empire had deliberately exploited its properties.
According to what she'd heard from merchants, the construction had been an enormous undertaking. Nobody would want to develop land that drained your power just by standing on it.
She didn't know the specifics, but beyond the land's natural properties, the Empire had most likely employed every conceivable method to keep its prisoners locked down. The operational and management costs must have been astronomical.
But perhaps, in these turbulent times where something dangerous always seemed to lurk around the corner, the creation of this prison island had been inevitable.
Though, as far as this particular case went, it was the worst possible outcome.
Eva didn't know how long Klye would be held on the prison island. But no matter how powerful a Level 8 Hunter was, prolonged incarceration there would drain his Mana Material to a不可ignoreable degree.
Had they grasped how serious the situation was? As Eva watched the group with bated breath, Luke spoke once more, wearing that same serious expression.
"Got it. So—are there any strong swordsmen in that prison?"
This man understands absolutely nothing…
At Luke's words, Citry nodded.
"That's right. For now, let's think about how to infiltrate or get supplies in. There might be things Klye wants our help with too!"
"He can always stock up on Mana Material again later, right? And if he gets weaker, wouldn't that count as training? Don't you think lower stats could actually improve his Skills?"
"What about an aerial approach? Descending from high above—so high you can't see it from the ground?"
"Hmm…"
"As someone who escapes for a living, let me say this—the easiest move is to intercept before the transfer and grab him back…"
Ah, I get it now.
These people have absolutely no intention of abiding by the laws of the Empire…
Eva had thought something felt different from usual, but apparently that had been her imagination. She averted her gaze and simply prayed.
Klye, please come back soon… Controlling the Mourning Specter is beyond my ability.