In the midst of the calm atmosphere, we received a report from the driver's seat that the next town had come into view.
I'd been a little worried about the potion Citry had thrown, but it seemed I'd been overthinking it. After all, my hunches rarely panned out. Part of that was due to the string of bad luck I'd endured, but honestly, I'm just a cautious person by nature.
I detached myself from Liliz, who had been pressed right up against me, and stuck my head out the window to get a look at the town.
The town of Gra was fairly well-developed overall. Our destination this time was also a town enclosed by thick walls with a decent level of defensive capability. It was incomparably smaller than the Imperial Capital, but I wasn't especially fond of big cities anyway.
What came into my eager, childlike eyes as I peered out—was a town with an atmosphere even more imposing than I'd expected.
Outside the splendid cocoa-colored outer walls, an abnormally large number of soldiers could be seen on patrol from a distance, and several mages in robes were also visible. Along the top of the wall, numerous sentries stood in a line, and flags bearing vertical lines on a red field—the symbol of caution—were fluttering in the wind.
They weren't restricting entry or exit from the city, so it didn't seem like anything truly catastrophic was going on, but the number of carriages leaving the town was clearly greater than those entering.
From behind me in silence, Citry poked her head out, eyes wide.
"Oh my. It looks like something has happened… Red flags with vertical lines—that would be a Monster-related issue."
"Eh? What, what? Is it bad?"
Hearing Citry's voice, Liliz—who'd been cheerfully draped across my back—poked her head out too. She looked at the flags and said in a bored tone: "What, just regular red flags? Doesn't look like a full lockdown or anything. Boring."
She'd gotten too accustomed to incidents. To be fair, during our adventures, the red flags had come up so often I'd lost count.
The flag standardization was fairly uniform both within and outside the cities. You'd see them throughout the Empire, of course, and even in foreign countries, and occasionally in smaller patterns in tiny villages. Towns near Monster habitats saw them go up fairly regularly, and in this case, with a forest nearby, it wasn't strange at all.
Based on my experience, when the Monster-related red flag was up, the odds of running into trouble were roughly fifty-fifty, and the chance of things getting truly dangerous was about twenty percent of that. I hadn't left the Imperial Capital much recently, so my instincts might have dulled, but it was better to avoid any involvement.
"We… passed through on the way there. We couldn't predict how long the assault on the City of Ten Thousand Demons would take, so…"
"It was an awkward spot to stop for a break anyway. We weren't tired."
"Mastaa…"
Maybe she sensed my hesitation, because the carriage came to a halt with a creak.
Tinno was the only one who'd spoken up with a worried voice. This was the strongest possible lineup: I felt reassured by Citry and Liliz, yet I could also sympathize with Tinno's anxiety.
I crossed my arms and, for the first time in a while, thought seriously.
This situation was different from the previous town with Elan. I couldn't have predicted a Thunder Spirit attack, but this time, I knew something was going on (details aside).
If we didn't need resupply right away, there was no obligation to stick to the schedule. The usual me would choose avoidance without a second thought. Charging into danger was more than enough to leave to Liliz and Luke.
"…"
But—however— Avoidance was the only logical choice, yet… Gra was a town famous for chocolate. For a secret sweet tooth like me, it was simply too wasteful to pass up.
Chocolate itself was well-known and available even in the Imperial Capital, but the owner of the patisserie I frequented had told me: in Gra, there's a restaurant that serves a special chocolate parfait. You couldn't eat that without entering the town.
I was torn. Safety, or sweets?
Based on my experience, a security posture of that level probably wasn't anything serious. At the very least, if a Thunder Spirit had appeared, there'd be a far bigger commotion.
…I really want to eat something sweet.
"…D-did something happen, Mastaa?"
I looked at Tinno, who had been behaving as quietly as a small animal throughout this trip with the two big sisters.
It wasn't just my own curiosity. I was a secret sweet tooth, but more than anything, I wanted to let this hardworking junior of ours have a blissful chocolate parfait. Liliz and Citry weren't great with sweets, but an occasional treat like that couldn't hurt.
I rested my cheek on my hand and murmured softly: "…I'd really like to treat Tinno to something delicious."
"Wha!? Wha-wha!? Me!? Mastaa!"
"You're being mean, Klye! But it's pissing me off, so Tinno, do two thousand push-ups later."
The problem was that upon entering the town, there was a high chance we'd be asked to help deal with the situation.
Entering the town required presenting identification. For Hunters, the ID card listed your certified Level—and while that Level certainly played a role in establishing trust, in emergencies like this declaration, you'd almost certainly get approached nine times out of ten.
A high Level was proof of competence, and the Empire treated high-Level Hunters favorably, so I couldn't really complain. But internally, I was thoroughly tired of that fact.
I could always just refuse the cooperation request, but carrying the weight of "First Steps" and "Mourning Specter" on my back, combined with my own susceptibility to being swayed, meant I always ended up making some kind of concession. And dumping it on Tinno, at that.
"Hmm. But it's supposed to be vacation…"
Was there any way around this? Maybe Citry could help me out.
Without looking at her, I let out a conspicuously dramatic sigh, and the reliable Citry gave a snap of her fingers.
She lowered her voice and whispered into my ear: "Klye-san, this may be a presumptuous suggestion—but you'd like to enter the town without revealing your identity, yes? I have two options. Changing other people, or changing yourself—which would you prefer?"
"Ah, just climb over the wall and sneak in! I've got a warm feeling about it!"
Changing other people, or changing myself, huh… What did she have in mind?
Citry was smiling cheerfully as she waited for my answer. The final decision was always my job.
I ruffled my own overthinking head, stopped Liliz from lunging forward, and gave a firm nod.
§ "Hey, do they sell this kind of thing somewhere…?"
"With money and connections…"
In response to my question, Citry replied, looking very pleased.
Citry's plan was to use a different set of identification. It seemed she'd prepared these in advance for exactly such situations. The new IDs even had photos on them and gave off an obvious whiff of illegality. She had them not only for me, Liliz, and Citry, but for Tinno as well—that was almost too well-prepared.
The names and birth dates were fabricated, and no certified Level was listed. I flipped them over a few times and stared hard, but they looked completely authentic.
Being a Hunter sometimes meant you had to bend the law while tracking down criminals.
For better or worse, our line of work involved rough business. I certainly didn't believe that everything would go smoothly through only righteous actions.
Murder was one thing, but a different identity was probably within acceptable limits. Even if we were caught, these fakes had the kind of vibe where a little silver tongue would smooth things over.
It appeared she didn't have fake IDs for the three hired hands, so they split off to take a separate approach. We disembarked from the carriage and headed toward the gate on foot.
Outside Gra's gate, the scene was as chaotic as if they were expecting a Monster assault. Mages were reinforcing the outer walls and drawing installation-type magic circles on the ground—the kind Lucia occasionally used.
Our turn for inspection came. I was slightly anxious about whether we'd get through, but Citry's fake ID looked convincingly real (or rather, it was more authentic than the real thing), and the soldier barely batted an eye before swiftly checking our papers and letting us through.
He didn't seem to have any idea I was Level 8. All that effort to keep my face hidden had paid off.
"That flag… has something happened?"
Right after me, Citry—looking not particularly Hunter-like—asked the male soldier in a natural, casual manner.
I loved that about her. So seamless.
The soldier answered without even bothering to hide his annoyed expression: "…Yeah. A horde of Orcs has taken up residence in an abandoned village nearby—according to Hunters who were in the area recently, they've built a fortress. Apparently there's definitely a higher-spec leader in charge, and we've been preparing interceptive defenses for the past few days, just to be safe."
Orcs were a type of demi-human race—simply put, pig-like Monsters with humanoid forms. They possessed roughly the same intelligence as Goblins, physical strength far exceeding that of ordinary humans, and thick hide that made them troublesome. On top of that, they had a tendency to form large-scale hordes, and in the worst cases, could even generate enormous kingdoms.
This town's state of alert was likely due to that very pattern.
Of course, among Monsters, their strength wasn't particularly impressive—Hunters at roughly Level 2 to 3 could take them down without much effort. The rare standout individuals—the higher-spec ones—weren't all that powerful either. Not that I could defeat them, mind you.
"Is… is that really okay?"
Citry asked with a hint of fear visible on her face. The soldier, reassured by the question (which had a touch of performance in it), gave a comforting smile.
"We've called in reinforcements from nearby towns for the cull. Some heartless folks have left the city, but while you're here, there shouldn't be any problems. Safe travels."
Seeing us off, we entered the town of Gra without incident. With the flags still up, a distinctly wartime tension—tight and prickly—hung over the city.
The presence of armed Hunters who'd apparently been mustered, visible here and there, only amplified that tension.
On the other hand, now that I knew the cause, I felt somewhat relieved.
An Orc fortress… It really wasn't anything major. A horde with a large number of individuals and multiple higher-spec ones mixed in was certainly a threat, but compared to the upper-tier spirits at Elan, it felt like a step down.
Well, for ordinary citizens, Orcs that attacked on pure instinct might be more frightening than Thunder Spirits that went about their business willfully. And from my perspective, both were equally hopeless opponents. But I'd long since passed the point of fearing such things.
How many times had I fought Orc hordes? I'd lost count. They always showed up in hordes, those things. And they had the nerve to attack only when we were completely exhausted—which was incredibly irritating.
Hearing the name "Orc," Liliz also seemed to grow a bit disgruntled.
"Ugh, how boring. I was looking forward to this… Orcs? We're so far past that already… I'm not a butcher, you know."
"If Lucia were here, we could burn them all at once."
After all, wide-scale annihilation was a Mage's specialty. Against Monsters like Orcs, no matter how many there were, it was nothing.
Tinno, the only one who apparently had no experience fighting Orc hordes, looked around nervously and asked timidly: "How many… how large a horde have you big sisters defeated before?"
"No clue. Luke and I were competing to see how many we could take down, but counting got tedious partway through."
I wasn't sure which battle she was referring to, but those things appeared in numbers that defied counting. The very first time—before Lucia had learned large-scale offensive magic and we got swarmed by a wave of Orcs—I'd thought we were going to die.
That was the battle where I learned the terror of sheer numbers. They had the second-highest reproductive rate after Goblins. It was the reason Lucia had jumped multiple stages to learn area-of-effect magic.
Tinno shrank slightly at Liliz's blunt—yet utterly truthful—words.
"That sounds… terrifying…"
"Well, we're not fighting this time, though."
"Huh…? We're not?"
Tinno's eyes went wide. I'd thought I'd made my stance clear back in the first town—did she still not trust me? What did she think we went to all the trouble of using fake IDs to enter the town for?
In case she thought I was some Hunter who simply refused to work, I lowered my voice so no one nearby could hear.
"It's fine. Other strong Hunters will take care of them for us. If it really comes down to it, I might ask Liliz or Citry for help, but it should be okay."
They were setting up defensive formations, so an Orc horde should be nothing to worry about. This was supposed to be a vacation—let's focus on sweets.
I comforted Tinno, who still looked uneasy, straightened my back, and drew in a breath of the town's air, tinged with a faint sweetness.
Now then, let's go get that chocolate parfait.