"You don't... know anything, is that what you're saying?"
"Yeah. Tough break, but hey—glad you made it out safe."
After hearing the situation out and offering my blunt assessment, Sven buried his face in his hands.
The noisy night had dawned, and the main members involved in the White Wolf's Den investigation had gathered in the Clan Master's room of the Clan House.
Sven and the dependable Black Gold Cross members who had taken charge on-site, a handful of Hunters from other Parties, Gaark, and his right-hand woman Kaina. And a man I recognized—an investigator from the Empire's Relic Investigation Institute.
The Clan Master's room doubled as a reception area and had decent space, but with this many people packed in, it was getting cramped.
The looks on Sven and his crew were plastered with deep exhaustion. Whatever they'd been through, it had been rough.
While we'd been dealing with that strange Golem and getting bombarded by magic from the things crawling out of the den, it seemed they'd been caught up in their own mess.
Investigating trouble had been their original assignment, so I supposed that came with the job—but I could at least feel a little sympathy for them.
In their account, they'd been going on about how I'd been withholding information, which put me in a tough spot. I mean, what was I supposed to do with that?
If I really had been hiding something, then sure, I'd have no right to complain. But I genuinely didn't know a thing.
As the investigator stamped his foot in irritation, I settled onto the sofa and let out a deliberate sigh.
Having a Level of 8 apparently meant I got overestimated on a regular basis. I was pretty used to getting an earful about it.
I was, by most measures, fairly useless. I hadn't trained my body much, my memory wasn't great, and on top of that, I was pretty unlucky.
The only thing I had going for me as a Hunter was that I wasn't quick to pick fights (and even that wasn't exactly a strength among Hunters).
Being told some weird Arcane Society had been conducting experiments in the area was well beyond anything I could handle.
Fortunately, it didn't seem like anyone had died, so the only thing I was actually concerned about was one thing.
"That slime-like Phantom—Citry's potion didn't dissolve it, right?"
"...Yeah. Not a shred of effect. Give me a break!"
Sven spat the words out.
Nobody understood the effects of Citry's potions better than I did. If the potion she'd billed as her trump card hadn't worked, then it wasn't a Citri Slime.
The terrifying Phantom that had attacked Sven and his group just happened to look a bit like a slime. That was pure coincidence.
But where had the Citri Slime run off to...?
Gaark, who had been silently listening across the table, spoke up with veins bulging on his temples.
His voice was calm, a stark contrast to that demon-like grimace. But I could see through it. Gaark was furious.
"Klye. Sure, you're—someone who gets things done. I don't know how you get your intel, and it's only natural for a Hunter to keep their trump card hidden. So I won't say a word about that. But what was found this time is a case Zeburdia should be handling."
"Yeah, yeah, that's true..."
That's probably the right call. I wanted to say that, but something told me it would only make him angrier.
I was happy to cooperate as long as it didn't put anyone in danger, but there was nothing I could actually do.
Next, the investigator—the same older man I'd seen a few times before—crossed his arms and glared at me as though I were his parents' murderer.
"Experiments using Mana Materials are a capital offense. Experiments involving Phantoms in particular are strictly prohibited in every nation due to their danger. Imperial citizens have a duty to cooperate with investigations. Klye Andrich. Concealing information is a crime. That doesn't change just because you're Level 8."
"...I'm not concealing anything, though..."
"...Perjury carries the same penalty. We possess a Treasure Weapon that sees through lies. As you well know, its verdict is absolute. No swindler, no matter how cunning, can deceive it."
"...Be my guest. Go ahead."
Having been dragged into all sorts of things, I'd actually gone through the Treasure Weapon verification process a few times already.
I had nothing to hide and nothing that would come up, so having my innards read didn't bother me in the slightest.
Seeing me completely unfazed, the investigator didn't even pull out the Treasure Weapon. Instead, he raked his thinning hair with his fingers, his eyelid twitching.
"...Damn it. Cut this out! How are you slipping past the Treasure Weapon's judgment every single time?!"
What was I supposed to do about that...
Every single time the Treasure Weapon proved me right, he made a face like he'd just had the worst nightmare of his life. I wasn't even lying...
I glanced around the room. It seemed I had no allies this time. Sven, Gaark—everyone wore grim expressions.
I looked back at Eva, who was standing behind me, but she didn't seem inclined to take my side either. She gave a troubled little shake of her head.
What was I supposed to do here... I was just saying I didn't know what I didn't know...
It was clearly an emergency, and I couldn't exactly go around lying.
As I stood there at a loss, Gaark let out a deep sigh.
"The secret society conducting the experiments—we believe it to be the Tower of Akasha. I've heard that the Mourning Specter is the one hunting them."
The Tower of Akasha? I'd only just recently heard that name. And the Mourning Specter was chasing them?
I tried to keep tabs on Party-related news, but this was the first I'd heard of it. I racked my brain for a while, but no—I had no memory of hearing about this.
"Where'd that information come from?"
"Talia apparently heard it from Citry. That they're enemies of the Mourning Specter. Among them, two Mages named Not Koclea and Sofia are said to be particularly dangerous."
The petite girl standing in the back shuddered at those words.
I'd heard the name Talia before. I'd never met her, but she was a friend of Citry's and one of the rare Alchemists in our Clan. Citry could be a bit exclusive, so I'd been a little worried about her social life, but I remembered being relieved when I heard she'd made a friend.
I gave a little wave in that direction, thought for a moment, and then spoke to Gaark, who was waiting with a serious expression.
"Sorry, but it's really not ringing any bells... If I don't know about them, they can't be all that terrifying, right...? It's not like Citry tells me everything..."
"...Damn it. Are you trying to make us suffer on purpose?!"
Gaark slammed his hand on the table.
I felt bad about it. Sorry for being useless.
I knew some of our Clan members sarcastically called the suffering they endured because of me a "trial."
It wasn't on purpose... It wasn't on purpose! Maybe that didn't sound convincing, but it was just bad luck. All there was to it.
There was nothing more I could do when my Treasure Weapon's mana was completely drained.
I had a vague memory of someone from Rabi-ken introducing themselves as "Not," but at this point I wasn't sure anymore, and the premise that those people were Sand Rabbit researchers could collapse at any moment, so I decided not to bring it up.
A certain degree of sleuthing skill was an essential tool for a Master. Whether it was Rabi-ken or an Arcane Society, they could do whatever they wanted.
Honestly, what kind of Arcane Society burrowed into a Sand Rabbit den? But cracking down on them wasn't a Hunter's job.
"Okay, that's enough of that."
At that moment, a bookshelf mounted against the wall opened with a soft click.
Out stepped Rize. She stretched her long limbs as she emerged—the lean muscle on her slender arms and legs spoke to a kind of functional beauty.
Despite having stumbled into such a grave situation, she showed not a hint of nervousness.
Rize looked around at the gathered company, then beamed.
"Klye-chan looks tired, so I'll take it from here, okay? Things were pretty wild on our end too... That's fine, right?"
"...Sure, I'm leaving it all to Rize. Fill me in later if anything comes up."
The usual Rize never listened to anyone, but it wasn't as if she lacked the ability.
Rize surpassed me in every respect as a Hunter. She was ahead of me in knowledge, too. I could leave things to her without worry.
Since there was nothing I could do, letting her handle it would likely produce better results.
"All righty. I'll be in your way here, so I'll hear the rest downstairs."
"Wait just a moment, Rize—"
"What? Gaark-chan, I said I'd be the one listening. You got a problem with that?"
She crossed her arms and shut Gaark down with her gaze alone.
The two investigators said nothing. They knew how short-tempered she could be.
But Sven looked utterly dumbfounded by Rize's demeanor.
Yeah, I got it. The usual Rize would have lost her temper long ago...
Today, Rize was in the best mood I'd seen her in for a while.
With her sole flaw—her short fuse—temporarily neutralized, Rize was flawless on both offense and defense.
"...Did something happen?"
"Hmm...? Hehehe... You could tell?"
That was a question anyone who knew the old Rize would ask.
At Sven's question, Rize flashed a radiant smile.
She glanced coyly in my direction, then pressed her palms together.
"You know what? Klye-chan saved me. Isn't that amazing?"
"Come again?"
"Well, it wasn't exactly a crisis, but he was worried about me struggling, so... He's so sweet, isn't he? I'm falling for him all over again. Right?"
She wasn't really asking for agreement. Everyone was just at a loss for how to react.
It turned out the Golem had operators, and the Gravity Magic I'd unleashed through Lucia had swept them all up and taken them down.
Truly terrifying was the effective range of Lucia's offensive magic. And even more terrifying was the fact that Rize—who had apparently been caught in the Gravity Magic herself and sent face-first into the ground—didn't seem to care one bit.
She'd been able to dodge the Golem's attacks, but Lucia's area-of-effect magic had been out of her league.
Watching her gush on with a dopey, self-satisfied grin, I could only find her insufferable.
...Sorry. Sorry for getting in the way.
I never thought it would reach that far. Next time I'll ask her to narrow the range a bit—please forgive me.
"Okay, Klye-chan, see you later~"
"Sure, see ya."
Rize threw an ostentatious wink, rounded everyone up, and led them out.
Good mood or not, nobody was going to try stopping a genocide monster. That much was clear.
Eva was the only one left, having listened to the entire report in silence. The Clan Master's room, which had felt so cramped just moments ago, suddenly seemed spacious.
"...Was that all right?"
"Hmm, well, it'll work out somehow... It always has before."
Everyone in our Clan except me was competent, which made things pretty easy on my soul.
With everyone gone, I promptly propped my feet on the table, settled into a comfortable position, and let out a sigh.
My track record was overwhelming. Even if that Rabi-ken (alleged) turned out to be a formidable Arcane Society that came at us in force, we could handle it.
I'd figured out the cause of this whole ordeal, and as long as I didn't do anything dangerous until Lucia came back to recharge my Treasure Weapon, the worst was behind me.
I didn't want to think about Treasure Hall exploration for a while yet.
I kneaded my stiff shoulders—the ones that had locked up after just a single expedition—and suddenly remembered something I'd asked before. I turned back to Eva.
"Oh, that reminds me—did you ever find that ice cream shop in the imperial capital I asked about?"
Thanks as always, everyone!