A group clad in black armor, mounted on horseback, surrounded the town of Surus.
Emblazoned across their billowing banners were three crossed swords — the crest of Count Gradius.
The commander, mounted on the lead horse and distinguished by his particularly magnificent armor, dismounted and gazed up at the wall.
"This wall is... What in the world..."
"You certainly took your sweet time arriving..."
"!?! Who are you!?"
"How rude, demanding 'who are you' first of all... from the one who took care of your mission on your behalf. Well, it was just a little favor I did while on vacation, though."
The commander and the subordinates lined up behind him all drew their swords in unison at the shadow emerging from the gate.
Citry patted down the arm of Kirukilu, whose body was heaving with excitement, and responded with a bright smile.
She pulled a commission slip from her breast pocket and tossed it onto the ground. The commander's eyes went wide at the one bearing the Gradius crest.
"For something like this, there was no need to cooperate at all. You were so slow that we already wiped out the Barrel bandits."
"Cooperate... Could you be... a member of the *Mourning Specter*!?"
"That's right. I'm Citry Smart, the negotiator for the *Mourning Specter*. I've heard tales of the Gradius army's valor for quite some time."
With her gentle demeanor, hardly looking like someone involved in rough business, and her short, neatly trimmed pink-blonde hair swaying in the wind — the commander stared at her composed, radiant smile in admiration. Even the subordinates who had their swords drawn began to murmur among themselves.
He'd heard that a commission had been filed naming Treasure Hunters for the job. It stung to cooperate with people who did nothing to maintain order and simply searched for treasure in the Treasure Hall, but the Gradius army didn't let personal feelings interfere with duty.
None of it made sense. The Hunters weren't supposed to have even arrived in Gradius territory yet.
Information about a group resembling the Barrel bandits attempting to leave Gradius territory had only come in the day before yesterday.
There was no time to wait for Hunters. For these men who had force-marched here because they couldn't stand being laughed at, learning that the Hunters were already present at their destination felt like being duped by a fox spirit.
But the commission slip was genuine. The commander picked it up — carelessly tossed onto the ground like that — and hesitated over what to ask, ultimately furrowing his brow.
"...Why are you here? We've been waiting for you."
"We set up an ambush. Or rather, it was more of a lure than an ambush... But please don't worry. The Barrel bandits have been completely wiped out. Every last one of them, of course."
Impossible. The commander, renowned for his martial prowess throughout Gradius territory, was stunned.
The Barrel bandits' methods were both cautious and audacious. They had repelled Gradius's famed knights time and time again, as if mocking them.
Their extreme wariness, in particular, had burned them many times over.
When attacking a town, they always dispatched scouts first to gauge the fighting strength, and they never challenged an opponent they couldn't defeat. As wandering bandits, they had no base of operations, and not even a temporary stronghold could be found.
Even if a large-scale expedition force was assembled and launched a raid, they would slip away effortlessly. Some kind of device — perhaps a tool that generated walls — they possessed.
A truly despicable bandit group.
They had rampaged through Gradius territory, which even hardened criminals feared, tarnishing the name of the Empire's sword. This was no time to be talking about the pride of knights.
In any case, there was no sign of the town being pillaged. Something had definitely happened here.
His subordinates were exchanging glances after touching the stone wall surrounding the town. The wall bore a striking resemblance to the one that had repeatedly blocked the Gradius army during their pursuit of the Barrel bandits.
"This wall...? There was no such massive wall in this town before."
Surus was a famous hot springs resort. It had virtually no defensive capabilities.
At the commander's question, Citry tilted her head and pressed a finger to her lips as if puzzled.
"Since the town was so poorly defended, I had Barrel put this together while we were at it. Well, it still needs reinforcement, but for a temporary measure, it should suffice. Are you familiar with the *Thousand Transformations*' foresight?"
Of course he was familiar with it. But even seeing it firsthand, he could hardly believe it.
An ambush was one thing. But could a human really manipulate a situation to this degree? And how had the *Thousand Transformations* learned about the Barrel bandits' movements when almost no information had circulated?
His subordinates wore expressions of near disbelief. The commander felt the same, but he quickly composed himself, removed his helm, and offered a bow.
"...I see. I'll confirm the details with you later, but — for now, thank you. And... where is the *Thousand Transformations*?"
"I'm sorry. Krai is on vacation right now, but... he did leave a message with me."
"...Hmm. What is it?"
Straightening his posture, the commander adopted a tense expression, but Citry spoke with her smile still firmly in place.
"The only thing we didn't predict was that the Gradius army wouldn't make it in time. 'They're really useless,' is what he said. Oh, right. About the bandits — contrary to the prior intelligence, there were about three hundred of them. Just a margin of error, really..."
§ The town was in an uproar over the bandit attack and their sudden transformation into frogs.
Citry was in charge of coordinating with the late-arriving knights and handling the aftermath, just as always. With that delegated, I finally gathered up Luke and the others and headed back to the inn.
I felt bad piling everything on Citry, but whenever I tried to handle things myself, I ended up angering everyone, and since I didn't fully understand the situation, there was nothing to be done.
It had been ages since I last saw Luke and Ansem.
The four of us had been childhood friends even before becoming Hunters, and we used to see each other almost every day, so going over a month without meeting up was genuinely rare.
The moment we stepped into the inn room, Luke tore off his creepy mask and immediately blurted out.
Those flame-like crimson eyes that perfectly reflected his personality.
"Krai! This one was too easy! Even the biggest one was no big deal — what's up? You feeling sick or something?"
Luke looked like he always did. No major injuries, and his showy cloak was barely even dirty. It seemed his run through the Level 8 Treasure Hall had gone off without a hitch.
Even so, what a terrible thing to say. For Luke, was a town being occupied by bandits a welcome event or something?
"No, this time it's vacation, so..."
"I see... So it's not a trial. Then this is about right for that... Good warm-up material, I guess."
Luke nodded with apparent understanding, and Rize — who had come back after finding companions instead of a hot springs dragon — pouted her lips.
"What a thing to say... Luke, you know Lucia was the one who took down most of them, right?"
"Huh? I took down the biggest one, so that makes me the MVP, right? Besides, Rize, you didn't do anything."
"Wow, Luke — are you seriously trying to steal Lucia's credit? That's so lame!"
Rize and Luke had a habit of competing over how many kills they racked up in large-scale battles like this. They seemed genuinely proud of the body count they generated.
And Lucia — who was usually off on the sidelines — ending up the winner was the usual outcome. Attack magic's area of effect was just on a completely different scale...
After hearing Rize's words, Luke paused in thought for a moment, then shouted with a frustrated expression.
"...I mean, compared to the others, it wasn't especially strong, was it. Damn it — fine! Lucia, you're the MVP this time! Not bad at all! I won't lose next time!"
At his sudden shout, Lucia — who had been lying on the tatami — raised her face with labored breathing.
"...Luke, you're loud. Get me some water, Leader."
"You okay?"
"...I just used a little too much energy, that's all..."
She answered softly, letting out a small breath. Her voice sounded strained, and her complexion was pale, but she was probably fine. There were no visible injuries.
Her jet-black hair was far deeper and glossier than mine, with matching black eyes. Her delicate, fine-featured face made her look far too fragile for a Hunter.
In truth, Lucia was prone to feeling unwell from time to time. It wasn't an illness or a lack of stamina — the cause was apparently her enormous reserves of mana — but it was standard practice for her to lie low after a hunt or any extended use of magic.
Lucia sat up, poured water from the canteen I handed her into a cup, quenched her throat, then fixed me with a cold stare.
"If you're going to worry, then stop randomly having towns occupied, would you?"
"A lot happened. Anyway, since we're here, let's find a hot spring and inn that Ansem can use and soak for a while."
Even if we were used to roughing it, camping outdoors for this long was just cruel.
Fortunately, this was a hot springs town. There had to be a bathhouse Ansem could enter. ... Worst case, we could have Lucia dig one.
"Leader, you've been resting the whole time."
"...Yeah, that's right... Tino got turned into a frog, but there's a spell to turn him back, right?"
"...There's no such thing as a reversal spell. Even the transformation was barely possible as it was... Was there a reversal spell in that book you gave me, Leader?"
From inside the bottle, Tino Frog heard those words, blinked, and began leaping around frantically, crying out in panic.
Poor thing... No, wait — there really hadn't been a reversal spell in the book I wrote, but this was no laughing matter.
Rize was giggling as she held up the bottle, but did she have no mercy at all?
I thought Lucia and Tino were close...
Smiling while I froze in place, Lucia cleared her throat softly and said: "But don't worry. There's no reversal spell, but... killing him will bring him back."
That was the opposite of reassuring. Tino's anguished cries echoed through the room.
What was I supposed to do? Was I going to have to tell Tino's parents that my little sister turned their daughter into a frog?
I couldn't face them.
"It'll — it'll be okay, Tino. I'll take responsibility and raise you..."
"...Stop saying stupid things and — *snap*!"
Lucia raised her slender arm and snapped her fingers. The bottle holding Tino, which Rize was holding, suddenly burst into flames.
That was exactly what I imagined a proper magic user should look like.
The finger-snap incineration was from *Cool Magic, Volume One* — a book I'd written. It was a spell that Lucia had painstakingly created over about a month during her training. I'd burst out laughing when she told me it took a month, and she punched me for it. Not a pleasant memory.
I was speechless at the sudden execution.
The instant Tino's cries were swallowed by the flames, human Tino appeared as if dispelling them. Rize caught the suddenly materialized Tino with both hands.
Exactly as he'd looked before the frog transformation. A light-blue yukata with a neatly tied obi. Tear tracks still visible beneath his eyes.
... So "killing him will bring him back" meant *that* kind of killing.
Come to think of it, when Tino had been transformed into a frog, his clothes had vanished too... How did that logic even work?
Tino looked at me, looked at Lucia, looked at Luke, and then — finally understanding what had happened — threw his arms around Rize's neck and latched on.
"Big sisssssster! It was so scary! I thought I'd be a frog forever!"
Rize pulled Tino into a tight embrace as he sobbed, tears streaming down his face.
"There, there, Ti. You — you're going through frog-transformation training until you stop turning into a frog!"
"Mastaaaaa! Please help me! Big sis Lucia!"
"T hasn't changed a bit. ...Alright, Krai! Let's go to the hot spring! Look, I even brought an inner tube!"
... Well, whatever.
With everyone making a racket, nothing else seemed to matter anymore. I let out a breath of relief as our daily life finally returned to normal.
All things considered, vacations really were the best. I was glad we'd come all this way. Everyone was safe and back together — let's just call it a resounding success.
I was wearing a gentle smile, completely relaxed, when Lucia, as if suddenly remembering something, gave me a flat look and said something outrageous.
"Oh, by the way, Leader. You might already know this, but — there was a huge uproar in the capital over the conflict between the *Magic Wand* and the *Tower of Akasha*. We hightailed it out of there since we're on vacation, but... everyone was calling for you, Leader. Is it true you were the one who stirred it up?"
"...That's a lie. Come on, Lucia, you're tired too — let's go soak in the hot spring and relax!"