"No… Mastaa! Please, anything but that! Anything but that—please, just spare me that…"
"..."
Tinno was bawling his eyes out, no joke whatsoever, pleading desperately in response to my brilliant idea. Arnold had stopped what he was doing and was staring at me and Tinno with a strained expression.
That was completely unexpected. I never thought he'd resist it that much.
Wait… huh? He hates it that much? I mean, if you hate it that much, you don't have to cry about it—just say so and I won't force you. But…
I just kind of wanted to see what would happen.
The "Evolving Ogre Mask" was one of the few Treasure Weapons I was absolutely useless with. As a Treasure Weapon enthusiast, I'd been hoping to find an opportunity to try it out.
But apparently, Tinno's trauma ran deeper than I'd imagined. When he'd worn the mask before, the changes I saw from my perspective didn't look all that bad—certainly not something worth crying over. But maybe it felt completely different from the wearer's side.
"I'll do my best. I'll try harder, I swear!"
"Uh… right, yeah, sure……… Fine, let's just do it some other time then."
Well, if that's what he wants—Liliz would probably smooth things over for him.
I let out a small sigh, and since I'd already pulled it out, I decided to put the mask on myself. The tentacles wrapped around the back of my head, and a voice echoed through my brain.
『Useless... Muscles: E-, Agility: E-, Stamina: E-, Mana: E-, Growth Potential: E-, Motivation: Zero. Overall Score: Three Points. "Evolving Ogre Mask." Activation criteria not met. Forcibly releasing.』
The tentacles drooped as if giving up on locking in, and I retied them behind my head. What a useless Treasure Weapon… Were the points lower than before?
Arnold's eyes were wide as they could possibly go. Tinno was staring at me with the same stunned look.
"…Are you insane!? You—"
"Mastaa!? A-Are you okay?!"
Too okay for my own good, honestly.
But even if it wasn't the mask's effect, wearing it paid off. The moment everyone's eyes converged on me, Liliz lunged at Arnold. Arnold spun around, but it was already too late.
Liliz closed the distance in an instant, driving her foot into Arnold's abdomen. Unlike the earlier flying kick, this was a heavy blow—the sharp sound of metal clashing rang out.
"Guh!?"
His massive body went flying through the air. What lay in the direction he was headed—the lake. Arnold bounced off the water's surface several times, kicked up a colossal splash, and sank somewhere near the middle.
Nice. Very nice. Ambushes are dirty, but I'll allow it just this once. Tinno didn't take any damage either, so it worked out perfectly.
He probably wasn't dead. In fact, he might not even be unconscious. Nobody knew better than I did how monstrous the durability of a high-level front-line Hunter could be.
Sure enough, Liliz hadn't dropped her combat stance either. She cracked her knuckles and licked her lips as she approached the lake.
"Did you get him?"
"Not even close. But don't worry—I'm going to make him regret getting in our way and ensure he never crosses us again."
"Was he strong?"
"Hmm, average? Like a regular swordsman with above-average endurance and strength. That sword of his is a bit annoying, but no real problem. It might take a little time—but I'll win."
Sorry to burst her bubble, but that wasn't what I had in mind at all.
There might be a slight misunderstanding at the root of all this, but Arnold clearly wasn't going to go down easily. Now that we had distance, we should just run.
The lake's surface was rippling and scattering light. No matter how monstrous Arnold was, he couldn't move normally underwater.
I grabbed Liliz's shoulder while keeping my eyes on the lake.
"Citry, Liliz. We're running. You can have your fun next time."
"Huh!? We're still running? ………… That's so unsatisfying…"
"I'll make it up to you later… For now, let's regroup with Luke and the others."
Even if a fight was unavoidable, there was no need to face them when we were short on members.
Maybe if we gave it some time, Arnold's anger would die down. It was all a misunderstanding—just a misunderstanding.
But he wasn't going to cool off after a quick dip in the lake. I knew that because Liliz was about equally short-tempered. There was no way we'd see eye to eye right now.
"The luggage is mostly loaded, but… what about the fire?"
"Just leave it. We're out of time, and Arnold probably needs to dry off anyway. ……Let's just get moving. Our destination is—the City of Ten Thousand Demons."
The water's surface was churning. I pushed Tinno's trembling back and walked briskly toward the carriage. On the way, a sharp voice rang out.
"Hah, hah… Thousand Transformations…!?"
I recognized Arnold's companions, all glaring at us. They looked like they'd had a rough time crossing the mountain—every last one of them was gasping for breath, completely spent.
The man at the front who'd called my name took one look at my face and stumbled back a step in shock. Come to think of it… I was still wearing the mask.
"Arnold… what happened to Arnold!?"
"Oh, he's fine. He's alive. Very much alive. There's no point in fighting here. Hunters have their own battlefields—right?"
So we should just stop fighting and go with love and peace. Both Arnold and Liliz, preferably.
Arnold's companions didn't seem interested in picking a fight with us. Wait… if he had companions and still charged at us alone, did that mean he'd broken away from the group to force the attack? Just how furious had he been?
"We're in a hurry—leaving now—you can use the campsite freely. I'd recommend getting some rest. You'll need to dry off…"
Kuro and the others were already in the carriage. I was about to climb in when I heard a familiar voice.
"Klye! Wait—we finally caught up! Hold on, don't go!"
I turned around. The voice belonged to Luda. Little Gilbert was with her. Their unexpected appearance made my eyes widen, but I wasn't the type to stop just because someone called out.
I had no idea why they were here or whether they were traveling with Arnold's group. There was no rule saying you couldn't tag along with another Party temporarily.
Though, being with Arnold's group practically made them my enemies. I wanted nothing to do with it.
"Oh, Luda and little Gilbert. What a coincidence. Well, see you!"
"Wait! Klye, help us! We came to deliver a commission ticket on Gaark's orders—"
"…Sorry, but I'm busy. Hit me up some other time."
I chose escapism, dumping all my problems onto my future self.
I had no idea what commission ticket from Gaark meant, but it was guaranteed to be something terrible.
Gaark, a commission ticket, Arnold—any single one of those was enough to ruin my day. I needed saving more than they did.
The moment I climbed into the carriage, something climbed out of the lake. Faster than expected.
Drenched from head to toe, yet not a trace of diminished fury. I could understand the feeling, but honestly, Liliz and Arnold were cut from the same cloth. Take your calcium supplements.
"Hah, hah… Damn it, Thousand Transformations… I'll kill you! You're not getting aw—!"
Arnold spotted us in an instant and came charging at full speed. The carriage lurched forward at the same time, but the opponent was wielding a greatsword, clad in armor, and to make matters worse, his waterlogged clothes didn't slow him down in the slightest. There was absolutely no outrunning him.
In desperation, I activated multiple Finger Shots. Colorful pellets spawned in my palm (with essentially zero destructive power) and were fired at Arnold.
Arnold casually deflected the incoming high-speed projectiles with his greatsword—while running. That kind of skill was exactly why Hunters made me sick.
Arnold bellowed with veins bulging on his forehead. The horses panicked, and the carriage lurched violently.
"You think this is enough to slow me down!? Don't underestimate me! Thousand Transform—!?!"
Just then, something burst from the treeline and slammed into Arnold. The ambush sent him flying a considerable distance.
What had leaped out was a monster I'd never seen before—a moss-green creature with a long, gangly body and unsettlingly elongated limbs. Its body was shrouded in black mist, with rough scraps of cloth covering its private parts. It might have been some subspecies of troll, but I'd never encountered one.
It apparently wasn't an opponent you could easily cut down, because Arnold had been brought to a complete halt. His figure was rapidly shrinking in the distance.
…Lucky. In situations like this, it was usually me—the unlucky one—who got attacked. Arnold might actually be less lucky than me. I almost felt a kinship.
Arnold's scream carried across the water.
"…Damn it! Damn it! Why are you attacking me!? Attack them instead!"
Why would it do that? That was just taking your frustration out on others. Shifting a monster onto someone else was a crime if you got caught.
I didn't know how things worked in the Kingdom of Mist, but since he'd come to Zebuldia, he should follow Zebuldia's rules.
I opened the rear window of the carriage, cleared my throat with a loud cough, and bellowed at the top of my lungs: "Arnold! Shifting a monster onto someone else! In this country! Is a criiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!"
"…You motherfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!"
What had I possibly done…
Liliz and Citry poked their heads out on either side of me.
"Oh, that's a 'Wandering Giant Ogre.' It seems pretty fixated on him…"
"Ahhahahaha! Too funny! That's what you get for going against Miss Klye!"
In any case, there was no sign of pursuit. That monster had inadvertently bought us the time we needed.
I took a deep breath and forcibly removed the Evolving Ogre Mask I'd been keeping on.
I'd planned to stop by towns along the way, but if that thing was going to chase us, there was no time to waste.
Let's head straight for the City of Ten Thousand Demons and regroup with Luke and the others.