"Damn it, what the hell is going on in this country…?"
It was, without question, the worst night of Arnold Hale's career as a Hunter.
The battle against the Thunder Dragon at Nebulnes had been fierce too, but that fight came after meticulous preparation and a resolve forged beforehand. This was nothing like that — this had erupted without any prior intelligence whatsoever.
The top-tier inn they'd received as thanks for their cooperation felt like a terrible bargain when weighed against the life-or-death battle against a Senior Spirit.
The spacious living room was full of party members sitting around like corpses. Those who couldn't sleep had bloodshot eyes; others were clearly drained of all vitality. In short, every last one of them had lost the fighting spirit a Hunter was supposed to carry.
The major burns and wounds from the fierce battle with the Thunder Spirit had largely healed through potions and recovery magic, but mental exhaustion wasn't so easily dispelled.
Arnold himself, though not as bad as the others, still felt a bone-deep fatigue that a single night's sleep couldn't wash away. He could move, but he was far from being in top condition.
The problem wasn't just physical. They'd burned through a significant portion of their supplies — standard kit for a Hunter party — and their equipment needed maintenance. The armor had taken the worst of it; some pieces would need to be replaced entirely.
"From what I've heard, even in Zebuldia it's extremely rare for Spirits to appear near populated areas… God, there's a limit to how unlucky we can get."
Ei responded to Arnold's words with an expression of pure exhaustion.
The Thunder Spirit that had attacked Eran was a formidable opponent — powerful enough that even Arnold, a Level 7 Hunter, couldn't handle it easily.
Countless bolts of lightning had fallen from the sky, effortlessly scorching the city gates and incapacitating half the defending knights in a single strike. Its high-speed flight made arrows useless and rendered most magic spells ineffective. By the time they'd finally driven it off, the area around the gate had been reduced to something barely distinguishable from ruins.
No — the damage had been kept to only this much precisely because Arnold and his party had gained significant lightning resistance from their battle with the Thunder Dragon. Without them, the Thunder Spirit would have penetrated deep into the town and brought catastrophic destruction to all of Eran.
Ever since arriving in this country, everything had been going wrong.
Arnold swallowed the complaint that had almost left his lips with a sharp click of his tongue.
He didn't need to say it out loud. Every member of the party was thinking the same thing.
Spirits were something close to natural phenomena. Compared to dragons, their raw destructive power was lesser, but they were no less troublesome — perhaps even more so.
At the same time, Spirits were beings that, like dragons, rarely showed themselves before humanity.
And a Senior Spirit — one of the most powerful among Spirits — was the kind of creature that an elite Hunter might encounter only after thorough preparation and a prolonged expedition into a secret realm.
Arnold's objective was the Thousand Transformations. That was why he had pressed on through a sudden storm and come all the way to Eran.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have accepted a request for assistance. But when the threat was as powerful as a Senior Spirit, he had no choice but to agree.
His reputation in this land was already poor. Choosing to flee here would severely hamper his future activities in the imperial capital.
But more than that, what gnawed at him was the whereabouts of the Thousand Transformations.
"Why didn't the Thousand Transformations show up?! Isn't that guy Level 8 in this country?!"
A Senior Spirit was immensely powerful. A knight order was one thing, but ordinary Hunters couldn't hope to stand against one.
The only ones who could defeat such a foe were top-tier Mages, or elite Hunters who had absorbed ample Mana Material. There was no way a mid-sized town like Eran could have someone like that on permanent standby.
If Arnold had accepted the request for help and failed to appear, there would have been nothing anyone could do.
And that was exactly why he couldn't understand why Klye Andrich hadn't shown his face amid all that chaos.
"He was scared of the Thunder Spirit. The only reason we could handle it was our experience fighting the Thunder Dragon."
"They didn't even seem to visit the Explorer's Guild. Maybe they didn't notice?"
"But could anyone really have missed that alarm?"
"If his reputation is anything to go by, you'd think he'd have jumped into action immediately…"
As his companions aired their various theories, Ei tilted his head.
A Hunter's general accomplishments were easy enough to research. Arnold's party had looked into both the Thousand Transformations and the Mourning Specter.
The image their records conjured was one of boldness and sometimes ruthlessness — a figure who had toppled powerful Monsters and Phantoms, conquered the Treasure Hall, and solved countless difficult requests. A paragon of Hunters.
Their résumé was enough to make even Arnold, who had once saved an entire country, grudgingly acknowledge their prowess.
Even if the full party hadn't been present, it was hard to imagine someone like that hesitating over a Spirit or two.
Above all, Arnold couldn't picture that man — the one who always wore that lighthearted, effortless smile — panicking at the appearance of a Thunder Spirit.
Ei listened to his companions' speculation, then nodded broadly and delivered his conclusion.
"I don't know where they are — but their names were on the entry registry. They're definitely in this town. We'll just have to ask when we catch them. It's a small town compared to the imperial capital. We'll find them quickly enough."
"………"
Arnold narrowed his eyes at those words.
He had to admit, it was true. This chase was fundamentally in their favor.
The Thunder Dragon of the Mist was not specifically specialized for anti-personnel combat, but their target — wasn't running.
He didn't know where their destination was, but catching up was only a matter of time.
He steeled his exhausted body and looked over his party members.
"Buy up whatever supplies we've burned through. Find out where the Thousand Transformations is and track their movements."
"I've already asked the gate guards to keep an eye out in case the Thousand Transformations and their group try to leave. We'll know once they do. …The mayor of Eran has contacted us about hosting a victory celebration?"
"We don't have time to be wined and dined."
"Right…"
Arnold's objective was common enough among Hunters, but it went against conventional morality.
He couldn't explain his reasons, but with the Thousand Transformations potentially leaving at any moment, he couldn't afford to sit around leisurely.
"What about equipment maintenance? There's no way we can get our gear properly serviced in a small town like this — it'd take too long. Fortunately, the weapons haven't taken much damage. Shall we just swap out the armor pieces that are completely broken? They'll be lower-grade, though."
"…That'll do. Weapons are enough. No one's so tough that they can shrug off attacks from a powerful Hunter just because they're wearing decent armor."
After all, even sturdy armor couldn't fully block the strikes of a formidable Hunter.
"The Thousand Transformations is within reach. Let's crush him first, then rest at our leisure."
At Arnold's words, Ei nodded with his usual breezy expression.
§ "What? They already left town?"
"Y-yes. About three hours ago, actually—"
One of the gate guards' words made Ei's eyes widen.
This was unexpected. He hadn't thought they'd stay long, but this was far too swift.
From what he'd heard, the Thousand Transformations' purpose here was a vacation. There was no particular urgency.
Hunters were attuned to information about the powerful and sensitive to incidents.
Eran was currently in an uproar over the Thunder Spirit attack — a major event. The idea that a high-level Hunter could show zero interest in it and leave immediately was beyond comprehension.
The young gate guard, flustered by the grim faces staring back at him, hurried to add: "I'm sorry, they were wearing hoods and didn't really look like Level 8 Hunters — ah, but my colleague mentioned something. Apparently, the Thousand Transformations' party heard about Lord Arnold's group intercepting the Thunder Spirit and — was very impressed."
"Impressed… he says!?!"
"Wh—!?"
At Arnold's twisted expression, the young guard let out a small shriek and stumbled backward.
The Thousand Transformations' words were, unmistakably, looking down on them.
He didn't know where they'd been, but being in this town, there was no way they'd missed the alarm.
They had ignored the crisis entirely — and then, on top of that, had the audacity to express admiration for Arnold's party, who had struggled to drive the Spirit off.
If it had been a low-level Hunter, Arnold wouldn't have thought twice. But from a certified Hunter of higher rank, it could only be taken as an insult. Given their track record, it was clear that the Mourning Specter was not the kind of party that would shy away from fighting a Thunder Spirit.
All his doubts from before fell into place like pieces of a puzzle.
The Thousand Transformations — had deliberately chosen not to appear.
They had probably watched the battle from outside. Like a parent watching over a child — ready to step in at any moment.
The fact that they'd shown no interest in the Thunder Spirit attack and left right away made perfect sense if they'd already observed the fight from a distance.
His preparations weren't complete yet, but he couldn't simply let this insult go unanswered. Swallowing his fury, he turned to face his companions.
"…We're chasing them. Three hours — we can still catch up. Switch the horses for faster ones. Spare no expense."
"Right away. We'll get it done."
Ei and several companions moved with sharp, efficient motions, heading off to ready the carriages.
He would absolutely catch up. And he would twist that carefree, thoughtless face of his into one of regret.
Arnold Hale bared his vicious grin, as though channeling the explosive rage boiling inside him.
§ § § Explorer's Guild — Imperial Capital Branch, Branch Director's Office.
Gaark, who had been buried as usual in the mountain of paperwork that flowed in daily, spotted a report brought up from the gate and his eyes went wide.
"Klye left the capital already? He's been quick this time too…"
Klye Andrich was a Hunter worthy of his Level 8 certification, but if he had one weakness, it was the time it took him to get moving.
Everything seemed to follow some grand calculation, but from Gaark's perspective — who had no idea what was going on behind the scenes — it was always nerve-wracking.
This particular designated quest was among the most important requests they'd handled. If it succeeded, Count Gradius's aversion to Hunters might ease, and other Hunters would stand to gain benefits that money alone could never buy.
Surely even Klye wouldn't drag his feet on a quest this important.
Even as these thoughts ran through his mind, Gaark's sour expression didn't soften. Kaina, who had come to deliver more documents, blinked and spoke.
"But didn't Klye take the quest paper with him?"
"………That idiot—!"
Was it carelessness? Or had he calculated even this?
The quest paper was a document issued by the Explorer's Guild containing the full details of a mission. It was supposed to be handed to the Hunter who accepted the quest.
Klye probably hadn't left the capital without knowing the contents of the designated quest — he wasn't that stupid, and he'd left without the quest paper before only to return having completed the job perfectly on multiple occasions (how he'd learned the details without the paper was a mystery).
But this time was different. The designated quest assigned to Klye this time was a joint operation with the knight order under Gradius's command. The quest paper from Lord Gradius wasn't merely a confirmation of details — it also served as a form of identification.
The Thousand Transformations' face was known to those in the know, so contacting him without the quest paper might still be feasible, but it would certainly leave a bad impression.
And that could prove fatal when dealing with a nobility who already despised Hunters.
"Klye can be surprisingly dense sometimes… He did say something about going on vacation…"
"Can someone do something about his provocation habit?! Who the hell accepts a quest from nobility while in vacation mode?!"
Mood aside, the quest paper still needed to be delivered.
Gaark pressed his aching temples and barked his order to Kaina.
"Oi — send someone to track Klye down and deliver the quest paper along with a message. Make it someone who knows what he looks like. Take the payment out of the designated quest's reward."