Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~

Chapter?28: Crisis

Chapter 28

Crisis

The secret room connected with the Clan Master’s office.

In the interest of security, the room crammed with Relics was without windows.

Relic. A special tool that manifested extremely rarely in places with thick concentrations of Mana Material.

While checking over the tools collected one by one using both time and money, I let out a helpless sigh.

Not good. Most of the mana had already leaked out.

I had been expecting it, but they only had about half remaining.

Collecting Relics was one of my hobbies along with being one of my few measures of self defence.

There are many skilled Hunters that held Relics as their trump cards, but for me it was different.

For me, Relics that produced the same effects no matter who used them were my lifeline.

Especially when you are powerless, holding onto various abilities that could respond to any situation was amazing.

However these handy Relics had two major weak points.

Firstly, the Relics that could be found in shrines were basically one of a kind items, so the more powerful they were the more expensive it was to buy them.

And secondly, in order to operate them they needed to be charged in advance with Mana as an energy source.

The first could be resolved one way or the other through financial assets, but the second was a heavy problem for me.

Mana resides in the bodies of living things.

The replenishment of Mana must be done manually, and what was worse was that the operation of Relics required a considerable amount of Mana.

Even for Magi that had a high amount of Mana, filling a few up would result in a feeling of strong fatigue.

And on top of that, once they were filled, the Mana would slowly leak out over time. That was why in return for utility, Hunters carried less Relics.

For Hunters, Relics were both a trump card and a tool that came at a high cost.

The Explorers Association recommended that you held enough Mana to fill your own Relics.

If you were a not a Magi type Hunter, then you could only use one or two at most. Making decisions taking into account your own supply of mana was the basics.

Even for a Magi with a large quantity of mana, that kind of thinking didn’t change much.

Meanwhile, just the other day my Relic collection crossed the 500 mark.

It wasn’t that I had to be equipped with all of them, but I didn’t neglect keeping them topped up for a time when they would be needed.

And of course, replenishing them wasn’t my job.

Someone with a mana quantity below the average person couldn’t fill such a large number of relics.

Taking my pathetic place, was the rear guards of Strange Grief that would always replenish the Relics.

This time as well they had refilled them before setting out.

But it had been almost two weeks since, so the Relics had converted into being regular ornaments.

There were still a few that would be useful, but they wouldn’t last long.

The Safe Rings wouldn’t run out of mana since they had a slow speed of release, but it must be remembered that they were only an insurance measure and couldn’t be used to overcome an emergency.

Others might think that it shouldn’t matter since I always stay indoors, but I’m a chicken.

Even though I don’t stand out, my face is fairly well known.

It’d be preposterous to go outside without a way to defend yourself or some escape measures.

The public order of the Capital wasn’t bad, but after all there were Hunters looking to pick fights in order to make a name for themselves.

I threw the 『Dark Wings of the Night Sky』 that had devolved into a stylish mantle out of my way, and breathed out a sigh as I flopped onto the bed.

With things as they were I couldn’t go out and eat ice-cream.

It’s not like I could ask the clan members. One or two would be one thing, but several hundreds was another.

It would probably be difficult to refill all the Relics even if I used every Magi belonging to a party of 『Footprints』.

Also, if I asked something like that they would get angry as you’d expect.

Liz that had come back by herself was also useless at a time like this.

Once before I had asked her to, and by the third one she became unsteady. Even then she didn’t think of stopping, so I had to stop her myself.

Her brakes don’t work.

Lying on my back in the bed, I stared up at the seamless ceiling while breathing slowly.

But, what were Luke and the others doing right now?

If the Shrine was going as planned, they should be coming back soon.

Even if Ark was gone, it would be reassuring if Luke came back... they didn’t seem to have run into any problems, were they loitering on the way back? ...That was incredibly likely.

At that time the sound of footsteps resounded from the passageway.

I got up from the bed hastily and picked up the Dark Wings of the Night Sky from the floor and tidied my disordered clothes.

The number of people that entered this room was limited.

The entrance to the room was inside the Clan Master’s office on the other side of a bookcase, and Hunters were restricted from entering the Clan Master’s office.

Liz and the others completely disregarded those rules and came and went as they pleased, but the members of Strange Grief including Liz, had silent footsteps.

There was only one person that would come here who’s footsteps made noise.

The one that descended as expected, was Eva. To the sound of a knock, I responded by regaining my breath.

The door opened slowly. Eva saw me spreading out the Dark Wings of the Night Sky and her eyes widened.

“...What are you doing? In this kind of place.” Crap, crap.

Even though she usually saw me skipping out, I’m not sure what she would say if

she caught me lying down during the day time.

I had also rejected the summons from Gark-san.

As the point of contact for the clan, I’m sure Eva had some complaints to say. “No, see I was just doing a little investigating....”

“???”

Eva’s expression distorted weirdly.

Certainly this was my private room. Besides the Relics it was minimally furnished. I guess if I was in her position I would think there was nothing to be investigated down here.

But Eva was one of the people who knew about my true character. Because she could also read the air, she should know what was going on.

“What kind of investigating? If you like I could assist you?”

She didn’t make any presumptions. It couldn’t be that she was taking my words at face value...

I looked away from her gaze.

“No, that’s ok. It’s something only I can do, I was just finishing up.”

I spread out the 『Dark Wings of the Night Sky』 that had the texture of velvet, and put it on a hanger.

In this place, what were you investigating? How were you investigating? What is it that only you can do exactly?

Weren’t you just doing that to refuse the summons from the higher ups of the Explorers?

The quips that could be aimed at me were never ending. Incidentally, the answer to all of them is NO.

I started strangely perspiring.

While I couldn’t stop my face from twitching, Eva’s sigh entered my ear.

She’s found out... She knows I was laying down here.

But in the first place, the reason at fault was that I had no way to go outside. Should I hire a guard at this kind of time... as I was seriously considering it, Eva said something unexpected.

“...Is there anything I can do?”

!? “No.”

I answered by reflex unconsciously, Eva-san’s eyebrows curved sullenly.

Maybe she believed me? Was there something believable about what I said earlier? It was completely wrong on my part to tell a lie, but it should have been obvious to someone that witnessed the way I went about my daily life.

Was it sarcasm? I felt like that was still highly likely.

Eva’s light purple eyes seemed as if they were trying to read what I was thinking as she scrutinised my expression.

Did she really believe me, or was she trying to indirectly place blame on me by looking at me in that way. I couldn’t tell from her facial expression.

In confusion I cleared my throat.

“I’m not saying that Eva is useless. This is a – exceedingly delicate and... dangerous problem. It’s something only I can do. It’d be impossible for Ark and Liz as well.”

“!?”

Eva’s face stiffened. That added to my confusion.

“Ah, no. I’m not saying it’s that big of a deal, don’t look that surprised... I’m grateful for your offer, but I alone am enough for this.”

In 『Footprints』 the administration staff basically held more power than the hunters.

At the time the clan was founded, it was decided that there would be trouble if Hunters didn’t listen to the office staff when it was important, so some rules were established.

If I mislead Eva here, some strange rumours could start up.

Now that it had reached this point, I felt like I needed to say I was only looking over the Relics. There had been no reason to refuse Gark’s summons.

“That’s-“

“Let’s leave the matter here. I won’t accept any questions, and I’ll ask you not to tell anyone about this.”

I sealed the words Eva was about to say. Before she found any flaws, lets just pretend this never happened.

If I said that much, no matter what position Eva really had, she couldn’t say anything further.

“...Understood.”

For an instant, Eva made an expression of regret but she soon changed to an emotionless look.

I don’t deserve to say this, but if you have the time to deal with me, you should be doing your own work.

The mood was tense. I spoke in a joking manner.

“That’s right... if you really want to do something no matter what, you should search for a popular ice-cream shop...”

“.......Understood.”

To my joke, without a chuckle or smile, Eva nodded her head with a dissatisfied expression.

§ § §

“There’s been no changes in the nearby Earth Veins, huh...”

Upon seeing the written report, the Explorers Association Zebrudia Brach Chief Gark Welter growled in a low voice.

The other was intimidated by his rough look and well trained body, hearing the growl as if from a bear.

The member of the Third Order of the Zebrudian Empire Knights responsible for public order, straightened up seeing the unsatisfied expression in response to the report.

Earth Veins were similar to blood vessels in the human body.

They were paths for power that spread out underground, and things that were in their vicinity were heavily influenced by them.

The effects varied. There could be strong monsters that found the constantly flowing strong power to their liking, or alternatively large-scale magic rituals could be performed without the sufficient catalysts by making use of the flowing power. And above all – it was easy for Shrines to manifest in the vicinity of Earth Veins.

The Imperial Capital was also built taking into consideration the location of the nearby Earth Veins.

If they had large enough changes, in the worst case the Capital would need to move location.

In fact among past magic civilisations, it was known that some cities had been destroyed overnight when the cores had run wild under the influence of Earth Vein fluctuations.

Of course, the locations of Earth Veins rarely changed.

The primary cause was large scale seismic shifts such as those caused by earthquakes.

Naturally in that situation, the Capital would suffer some damage. “But, if the Earth Veins haven’t had any changes, what is the cause...?”

Another investigation was being done into the abnormalities in the 『White

Wolves Den』.

The White Wolves Den was a level 3 ranked Shrine. The Phantoms that appeared were in line with that.

Phantoms existed, but they weren’t ‘living things’ strictly speaking. They were a pseudo-lifeform springing from Mana Material.

The quality was proportional to the concentration of Mana Material. If they had a sudden change in power it could quickly be attributed to a change in the surrounding Mana Material – an Earth Vein fluctuation.

It didn’t need to be a huge variation. Just a slight change in orientation could greatly increase or decrease the power of the White Wolves Den.

But this time, the results of the investigation of the specialised unit of knights had turned up nothing.

The level of the Shrine had certainly increased. The power of the Phantoms had gone up.

They were still investigating the fine details, but had they risen by two or three levels?

There were many Hunters in the Capital. Even if the certification of the White Wolves Den rose there wouldn’t be any fuss. But for veteran hunters like Gark, the cause going unknown gave an ominous feeling.

While looking down at the data, his thoughts went in another direction. “Was it artificial... but, no-“

A Shrine was a place of danger while at the same time being the greatest mystery created by nature.

Since the dawn of history, countless researches had grappled with examining them. But, too little was understood.

There were people that, through forcibly distorting Earth Veins, were able to artificially create Shrines.

Some people captured a Phantom from one Shrine and placed it inside another. And there was also a person that tried to change multiple Shrines in the same area into one large Shrine.

Someone had also attempted to fix the location a Relic would manifest so that it could be frequently and safely obtained.

But none of what Gark could recall was true for this case.

For a while he closed his eyes while he thought, then slowly opened them. He looked at the knight with a scowl.

“...People will also be behind this. Let me know when you find something.” At Gark’s words, the man gave a salute and exited the room.

Right now the level of the White Wolves Den hadn’t risen very high, but there was no guarantee that the unknown cause would stop.

If the level didn’t stop rising, there would be few people in the Capital that would be able to deal with it.

There was even potential that the Northern Highway would become unusable.

Gark’s brain couldn’t come up with any ideas. There weren’t any other similar occurrences.

But, there was a person that might know.

Taking a deep breath, he continuously issued instructions to the assistant branch chief Kaina behind him.

“I’ll speak to Cry. Send over a message.” “He will refuse since he said he was busy.”

“If he refuses, then I’ll be the one to meet him.”

At the harsh voice, Kaina lowered her eyes as if troubled.

Hunters registered under the Explorers Association were obligated to heed instructions in a crisis.

But the scope of that wasn’t clearly defined.

Often making refusals, 『Footprints』 held influence among Hunters in the Imperial Capital.

Seeing Kaina’s reluctant expression, Gark added on.

“Don’t worry, even if it’s Cry he wouldn’t run from this situation. Generally that guy... will know something. I’m sure of it.”

He handed over the data that had gotten crumpled over to Kaina. He continued on to Kaina who’s expression remained unconvinced.

“A guy who recently hadn’t entered any Shrines, expressly went over to one. With that alone you know something’s up.”

Spoken with strong conviction.

If it was just an ordinary hunter, it would end with just being called unlucky.

However, Infinite Variety was different. There was no luck involved in his actions. In the years since coming to the Capital, Cry’s stacked up footprints were enough to believe in.

To Gark’s words, Kaina nodded in agreement without any further objections. Translator notes

So I first translated Luke’s name as Luke, but it sounds more like Rook in Japanese. Luke sounded more appropriate at the time since Rook is so rare as a name.

The thing is, it’s anime logic, so now I think the intended name would be Rook. I mean one of the girls names is Sitri... so rarity isn’t exactly an issue is it?

I’m going to keep it as Luke so everyone can laugh at me as the guy that would have named Naruto - Nathan.

-I have a feeling there was something else that I wanted to say but it slipped my mind. Well anyway, I liked the scientific experiments done on Shrines mentioned in this chapter. Sounds very much like what scientists would want to do if they were real.