I sprinted through the darkness without looking back, unable to see a thing.
It hurt. The pounding of my own heart sounded deafeningly close. White puffs of breath floated faintly in the dark.
A curtain of absolute darkness had fallen over everything.
The moon, which had barely been casting its light moments ago, was now buried under thick clouds, plunging the surroundings into something close to true darkness.
Tall grass grew in thickets across ground that was miserable to run on, but I just charged straight through regardless. The only thing that felt real was the sensation of Tino's hand clasped in my right.
From far behind, intermittent high-pitched metallic sounds confirmed that Riz's fight was still ongoing.
Was it that powerful an enemy...? I bit down hard on a helplessness I hadn't felt in ages.
I hadn't abandoned her. I absolutely hadn't. But my combat ability was below garbage. Tino alone was dead weight, and as long as Riz had to protect me too, she couldn't go all out. This was the best choice.
If I could use a Treasure Weapon, I could have at least provided support... but going outside without one really was a mistake after all.
All I had on hand right now were the Barrier Ring and the freshly recharged Dog Chain.
And maybe that Treasure Weapon that could store a single spell—the one I'd ended up never using at the White Wolf's Den... There was no way I could fight that kind of monster.
After running for a while, I finally stopped once the sounds behind us had grown fainter.
I couldn't see a thing, so I had no idea how much distance I'd put between us, but at this range we probably wouldn't be caught off guard by a sudden attack.
Tino, who had deliberately slowed down to follow behind, stopped to match me. Unlike me, who was gasping for air, her breathing remained perfectly steady.
Tino said nothing. She simply looked up at me with those pure, innocent eyes, her shoulders rising and falling with each breath.
That gaze, as if she were reproaching me for abandoning our teacher, made me sigh involuntarily.
I'd always relied completely on my companions. My Level 8 rank was built on their achievements—a castle built on sand.
But it wasn't like I relied on them because I wanted to. Riz and the others were my best friends. I'd always tried to give my very best.
Fully aware that this sounded like an excuse, I said: "It's fine. Riz can handle that on her own. Tino, we should do what we can do."
"Yes. Mastaa!"
This wasn't a pathetic flight. It was a strategic withdrawal.
She seemed to understand, and Tino nodded with a serious expression.
Now, now that I'd caught my breath, there was a new problem.
As I steadied my breathing, I looked all around me.
Where was this place?
The path to the Treasure Hall had been entirely thanks to Tino's guidance to begin with. I had no idea which direction led back, not even a clue.
If I reached the main road I'd be able to figure it out, but with visibility down to mere meters ahead, there was nothing I could do.
My capable junior stood silently, staring at me. Looking more carefully, the emotion in her gaze wasn't reproach—it was anticipation.
Her eyes sparkled as though she'd just encountered someone she looked up to.
Riz must have fed her all sorts of tall tales about me. I'd honestly have preferred being scolded.
Come to think of it, something similar had happened during the White Wolf's Den, hadn't it?
That time we'd stumbled across some stranded hunters by pure luck, but I couldn't imagine that working out again. I felt sick enough to puke.
I threw in the towel. Adopting a patient, instructive tone: "Tino... I'm weak."
"...Yes... Mastaa is weak!"
I'd said it myself, but hearing it confirmed so readily still stung.
"B-But, strength isn't everything, right?"
"Yes. Strength isn't everything!"
Tino's eyes went wide and she nodded vigorously. She seemed to be agreeing with everything I said. Was she a devotee of mine?
I felt foolish and decided to ask plainly.
"Tino, do you know which way the Imperial Capital is?"
"?? Yes. Of course, it's that way."
Did she have some kind of internal compass?
Tino blinked in puzzlement and pointed diagonally ahead to the right as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
This time there was no need to second-guess her. Of course—even someone as directionally hopeless as me couldn't keep running in the exact wrong direction every single time.
"Tino, I'm counting on you for lookout!"
"Yes. Mastaa!"
Thanks for the cheerful reply. But Tino stayed rooted in place and didn't move forward.
I waited for a while, but with no sign of her budging, I gave an additional instruction.
"Right. How about you lead the way too?"
"Eh!? But I'd just be in the way—... Y-Yes. Leave it to me, Mastaa."
Was she someone who couldn't move without being told? On the other hand, there was Riz, who would move in exactly the direction she was told not to. I honestly wasn't sure which was worse.
"There's no rush. No need to run—let's take it easy. I think you'll be fine, Tino, but it's dark around here, so be careful."
"...Yes. Mastaa."
I made one more request. It was pathetic, but I was completely exhausted.
I could run if I had to, but I wanted to save my stamina for an emergency.
Tino began walking at a cautious pace, so deliberate she seemed to be killing even the sound of her footsteps.
Clad entirely in black with dark hair to match, Tino had almost merged with the darkness—if you weren't careful, you could lose sight of her entirely. If I got separated from her here, I was done for. I clung tight to her small back and followed.
The true darkness clung to us like a monster, as though this place alone had been severed from the rest of the world.
I should have at least recharged the Owl's Eye with magic power. But it was too late for regrets.
"Um... Mastaa. That Golem just now... what was it?"
While walking, Tino asked in a strained voice.
That's exactly what I wanted to know.
It might be an incredibly rare boss, but having something like that show up and still classifying that Treasure Hall as Level 1 was outright fraud. It was possible my luck was just terrible—or Tino's luck was—but once we got back to the Imperial Capital, I'd need to update the records.
I didn't recognize it, but Riz apparently did.
Right, what had she said...?
"That was... right, an 'Akasha.' It's a reasonably powerful Golem, so it makes sense your attacks didn't work, Tino."
I made sure to reassure Tino as well. If I said it with confidence, it would ease her worries.
When the moment called for decisiveness, I was decisive. That was what the Thousand Transformations was all about.
"Akasha!? Don't tell me—that's from the infamous Tower of Akasha...?"
Tower of Akasha?
I furrowed my brow at those words.
A completely unfamiliar term. If it was infamous, then I supposed it really was infamous, but unfortunately it didn't exist anywhere in my mental database.
Tino's voice was dead serious. There were plenty of infamous organizations around the Imperial Capital—in fact, Mourning Specter was infamous too—but judging from her tone, this one sounded genuinely well-known.
But it was probably unrelated to the current situation.
That thing was a Phantom. Just a boss. Citry, who had gone through a phase of being obsessed with Golem research, had never managed to create anything that massive.
It was a Golem powerful enough to contend with Riz, who could clear a Level 8 Treasure Hall. Even someone like me, who knew absolutely nothing about alchemy, could tell it wasn't something modern technology could produce.
But I didn't have enough information to declare it completely unrelated. The names were similar, so there had to be at least some connection, right? It wasn't impossible that there was a connection. No—there probably was.
I answered in a vague, offhand manner. I'd check the details with Riz later.
"It's not entirely unrelated, but the 'Akasha' I was talking about was just the name of that Golem. It makes sense you wouldn't know, Tino... I'm not exactly an expert myself—"
"W-Why do you know that name!?"
"...Huh?"
At that moment, a voice that shouldn't have been there suddenly cut in. An old man's voice.
Tino, who had been walking ahead, dropped into a stance and drew the short sword from the sheath at her hip.
The northern plains of Zebuldia were vast. And we were far from any paved road. There was no way another person could be here.
Confused, I rounded my eyes and looked in the direction the voice had come from.
And what I found was unbelievable.
"Im... possible."
"...Pfft."
A hoarse voice. "Impossible" was my line, not theirs.
Why? Before I could even form that question, I burst out laughing.
Out of a hole in the ground—the one Riz had called a Sand Rabbit den—an old man in a grey robe was poking his upper body out.
A man. His wrinkled face was contorted, glaring at me as though he were staring down his parents' murderer. But beyond that, the sheer absurdity of it was just too hilarious.
The situation, taken at face value, was horror material—but I was a sucker for this kind of surreal comedy.
While I was still grinning, the old man scrambled out of the hole with a speed that was unbelievable for his age.
Tino raised her left arm to the side and stepped in front of me as if to shield me.
"What tremendous mana... this one is no ordinary person."
He was saying something, but I had other things on my mind.
"?? What? A rabbit?? Are you here to make me laugh?"
It didn't make a lick of sense. I knew it was rude to greet someone for the first time like this, but I figured they were partly to blame.
I didn't know what to make of it. While I stood there confused and snickering, more robed figures climbed out of the den.
Not just one, either. Old, young, men, women—they all had desperate expressions as they crawled out, and the sight was nothing short of comedy.
"Mastaa."
Tino called to me. Her expression, unlike mine which couldn't stop grinning, was deadly serious.
A bead of cold sweat traced down her cool, refined profile. The air was electric. They looked ready to lunge at us any second.
Wait—had I... made a huge mistake?
By the time I realized it, the group that had emerged from the den had already taken up positions.
Looking more carefully, these people—were Mages. Robes and staves. Six of them.
It was too dark to see clearly, but each one held a staff, and they had positioned themselves a few meters ahead of us, blocking our path.
Huh???? What in the world was this situation?
"Thousand Transformations, why are you here— No, more importantly, where did you learn that name! It's a weapon that has never been deployed in the field once— Impossible!"
Everyone except me was on edge.
The old Mage who had been the first to emerge—presumably the leader of this group—shouted in fury. How did he know my title?
...Okay, laughing in their face had been rude, but I didn't think it warranted this level of anger.
I patted Tino's shoulder—she was brandishing her short sword in a threatening posture—and stepped forward. The old men backed away as if pushed.
I didn't know what was going on, but times like these called for a sincere apology. Even if the fault wasn't ours.
I've always thought Hunters were lacking in the skill of avoiding conflict.
"Ah, my bad. We were entirely in the wrong. We were thoughtless. I never expected people to come climbing out of a Sand Rabbit den, so I was a bit startled, that's all."
See? Apologize like this and they'd surely understand— "?! Wh-What... what brazen nerve!"
"...Well, I mean, nobody would normally expect to find a bunch of people inside a tiny den like this. I'm sorry. It's not like I stepped on it or anything—"
Strange... I was apologizing, yet the old man's face (probably some kind of Sand Rabbit researcher or other) kept getting more twisted and redder by the second. The fact that I could tell even in this darkness meant he was seething.
"No, really, I wasn't making fun of you. There's no law against entering a den, right? Yeah, I think that's a perfectly respectable line of work."
"I'm asking you—where did you hear that name?!"
He just wasn't getting it. Well, that was typical of arrogant nobles.
I might be small fry, but I was technically Level 8, so I'd had my share of run-ins with stuck-up nobles. Riz and the others had gone on a rampage and gotten us banned from a few places. This old man probably wasn't a noble, but from his attire he looked upper class.
But what was he talking about with the name?
I crossed my arms and studied the old man. Had he overheard the conversation I'd just had with Tino?
I put on a gentle smile so as not to make him more cautious and said: "You mean the 'Akasha'? That... a friend of mine told me about it. A very talented person."
"...Wh... at... did you say..."
The old Mage's eyes went wide and he clenched his teeth. Was that really such a strange reaction?
Hmm... the age gap was too vast—I couldn't figure out what he was thinking at all.
I glanced back, but Tino was still on guard. Well, anyone would be wary if a group of shady men suddenly popped out of a hole.
Could it be that these people feared and were wary of that Golem?
Judging by their expressions it seemed unlikely, but I couldn't think of anything else. I jerked my thumb toward where the sounds could still be heard behind us and spoke in as calm a voice as I could manage.
"Ah, don't worry. My friend will take care of that Golem in no time, so you don't have to worry. If you want, you could head back to town until she's done..."
"...!"
Despite my best efforts to calm him, the old man's expression didn't soften one bit. He was trembling with rage. His blood pressure was going through the roof.
Was it time to deploy the prostration skill?
But prostrating myself when I didn't even know what I was apologizing for—that went against my pride as a prostration master. And my cute junior was watching too.
As I stood there wondering what to do, something cold suddenly shot down my spine, and I couldn't help but shudder.
This was—the sensation I felt when confronted with Phantoms or Monsters. It could only be described as killing intent.
...I didn't think I'd angered him enough to warrant actual killing intent, though.
"You... dare mock us—?! What do you think we are—"
Here it comes. Don't provoke their pride. Don't provoke their pride...
Smiling to convey I meant no harm, I answered: "I get it, I get it. The fact that you're in a Sand Rabbit den at this hour—you must be those renowned Sand Rabbit researchers from the Imperial Capital. ............ Actually, I'm a big fan. Could I get your autograph?"
"...Ki—Kill them!"
"Wh—What!?"
The old Mage raised his staff and screamed like a madman.
Too on the nose?!