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

Chapter?34: Incompetence

Chapter 34

Incompetence

Everyone formed a line going outside. The typical anticipation and exhilaration before a hunter set off on an adventure was nowhere to be seen.

What floated in the air was a sense of tension as if they were heading off to certain death. Even though I had said I’d concede to their demands.

Tino approached the end of the line, and saw them off with an expression of relief. Liz rotated around in front of me and spoke displeasingly.

“Hey. Why did you say no? Why? It’s something Ark-chan has to come out for right? I want to go. Hey! Cry-chan, please. Ok?”

She spoke with a flattering voice.

Liz acknowledges Ark. The all purpose magic swordsman Ark Rodin seemed to be a considerably tricky opponent even for 『Severed Shadow』.

Those blazing pink irises glittered at the hint of a cruel battle. This child was hopeless, she only used a portion of her brain.

What was important was what she mentioned before, the 『high elixer』. That was a transcendently high class product that came from shrines.

Strange Grief had only ever brought back one of them, and while I wouldn’t hesitate to use it when it was important, if it was used it would be a huge loss.

As Liz gripped my arms and started to pull on them like a spoiled child, I breathed out a sigh.

“No, because you, you don’t have the spirit of cooperation.” “Eh- ...it’ll be fine. Since everyone will go along with me.”

That’s not a cooperative spirit.

In the back, Tino’s face was ghastly pale as she peeked over watching Liz. I pinched Liz’s cheek in front of me.

Liz looked up at me in puzzlement. I continued pinching her cheek.

Even though it should be reinforced by Mana Material, her skin was soft without a single flaw.

Mana Material truly is a mysterious substance.

“To start with, you’ve only just returned from the last hunt. It would be better if you have a little rest.”

If you just stay here quietly everyone will be happy. Of course I’ll be happy as well. At my words Liz showed a sparkling smiling face. Can you always show that expression?

“Kya-, Cry-chan’s soo nice! It’s ok though. Right, Tee?” “Y-Yes! It’s ok, Onee-sama. ...Master.”

“There, see?”

Tino nodded desperately while her face clearly turned paler.

No matter how you looked at it, she only seemed as if she was being threatened.

I had known Liz for a long time. Basically, we’ve had a relationship since we first became aware of thought. That’s why, somehow I could tell what she was thinking.

Liz’s eyes looked like she had come up with something mischievous. You, you’re planning to go in secret. That’s no good.

It wasn’t exactly that the high elixer was too precious. It’s just, while the other parties were in the middle of cautiously progressing, the image of her plunging through the shrine like she owned the place and kicking everyone else around came to mind.

Reluctantly I put my arm around Liz’s shoulder. As if I was talking about something secret, I persuaded her.

“Now now, settle down, Liz. For Liz... that’s right, there’s something else you need to do...”

“...Eh? Is that how it is? Well....then it can’t be helped.”

Liz blinked while letting out a disappointed voice. There, now with this she won’t go outside arbitrarily.

Knowing her for so long also meant that I knew somewhat how to handle her. This clan had Ark that was recognised by everyone inside it, but that I was still made the clan master may have something to do with this area.

While giving me a sidelong glance, Liz parted her lips slightly.

“Mmm, then just Tee should go on her own? The Phantoms have all different types of weapons, it’s perfect for training...”

Oi oi, that’s not good.

This time the members of Footprints would also be there, so she probably wouldn’t go through such a bitter experience again. But it looked like Tino’s affinity with the White Wolves Den was bad.

From the start, Tino was solo so she didn’t match up well with these sorts of missions, and the ability of the Phantoms that came out was a bit high.

Liz, you may not know this but... with shrines you make sure there is a sufficient safety margin.

After the previous matter, if I sent her back to the White Wolves Den wouldn’t I just be a brute of a Master?

I... want to look good. Not mentioning that the other person is my junior, it’s even more when she’s a young girl.

“Nope.” “Ehhh”

“With this we’re finished talking about it.” “Ehhh....”

Liz-chan was still displeased as I took away my arm from her shoulders and raised my face up.

Over there was a hunter... a young man named Lyle was approaching.

He wasn’t a member from the early days, but he was a veteran. He was slightly taller than me, and the dull metal armour he was well accustomed to wearing inexplicably gave off a shine.

Since he was close in age, he was a hunter I was on good terms with.

He recently reached level 5, and I recall really letting loose at the tavern at the time. “Cry, this request....is it....really going to be ok?”

At a separate spot a short distance away, other hunters were cautiously looking over this way. Apparently this guy drew the short straw.

But, if you asked me something like that I was going to be troubled. I also didn’t know much information about the mission.

It’s likely I could know even less than Lyle and the others.

But...yeah. I’m the Master. Since I’m the Master I need to conduct myself accordingly.

I should encourage my companions with thumbs up.

“Don’t worry, it may be a difficult mission, but I believe that if it’s 『Footprints』

they will succeed every time without fail!” “....”

....Hm? How strange.

I thought the flow would have been cheers and war cries, but what came back was silence.

The hunters in the back, and Lyle himself were wearing indescribable expressions. And Lyle responded as if shrinking back.

“Oh...is that...so? If you can... as the clan master, and a level 8 hunter, could you tell me the most important things to watch out for?”

“Most important things...?”

He came out with something difficult again. I turned my eyes to Eva, who had been driven away by Liz to a place a little further off, and without saying anything she gave me a nod.

Apparently I couldn’t get anything across through eye contact.

Important things. Important things, huh. The important things involved in exploring shrines went without saying to first rate hunters.

Take care with Phantoms. Don’t have internal discord. The thief should go first to check for traps. Avoid being solo as much as possible. They would be troubled by that kind of advice.

But if there was one other important thing... it was that.

I frowned and let out a groan, but raised my head and sighed.

“I don’t know whether or not it will come out, but if there’s a slime kind of guy you should be careful.”

Well, this should be suitable as an important thing. Really, where had Sytry’s slime gone?

Lyle listened to my words, then looked at me as if I was a madman. How impolite, this guy.

“A Slime!? In the White Wolves Den something like a slime shouldn’t come out though?”

Usually shrines had phantoms. If a monster entered from the outside, in most cases the spontaneously occurring Phantoms would kill it. So there weren’t a lot of occasions to see a monster inside a shrine.

If the one that was said to come out was the weakest monster, the slime, then that’s the reaction you would expect.

“That’s why I said I didn’t know whether or not it would come out right.”

“...No, I’m not saying I doubt you, but, look. I asked you one thing, but how come you started talking about a slime?”

I didn’t answer and smiled at him.

Hearing our conversation, the hunters in the back immediately started talking about countermeasures for slimes. You guys aren’t very upfront...

“Ah, probably, if it comes out it won’t be an ordinary slime so be careful ok?” “Ehh!? Not an ordinary slime? What do you mean?”

I don’t know.

It has the same name as slime, and I think the weak points will be the same as a slime, but since Sytry is meticulous...

As Lyle was thrown into confusion a second time, I gave him a smile while within my mind I knelt down and apologised.

§ § §

The room was spacious and well lit, it wasn’t what you would expect from an underground basement.

The well ordered desks were covered in cluttered documents.

Alongside the wall were bookshelves tightly packed with thick books. The cold air had a pungent odour that assailed the senses.

On racks were countless bottles of chemicals lined up systematically.

On a wide table there were reports crammed with notes written in strange characters different to the language used in the Empire.

At the center of the room was an inverted cone of glass pipes, a strange apparatus that was producing noise.

The ends of the glass ran into the ground, sometimes producing small vibrations. As if it was beating.

At a nearby desk, a man wearing a green robe observed and breathed out a sigh. The mans age was verging on the elderly. He had winkled skin and hair that was over half white.

But his actions proved his liveliness.

Those eyes in particular possessed hidden dark energy.

To the trained eye his green robe and the silver staff placed beside him were items hard to obtain even for Magi treasure hunters.

The mana in his body was dramatically high, and defensive ability was his strong point.

Outside of shrines, his equipment was of the highest grade.

From the ceiling above muffled footsteps could be heard. The sound of hunters passing by.

Originally the sound of footsteps should have been almost inaudible, but the surveillance magic set up when the room was constructed communicated the unusual state of the shrine.

“They’re here now as well, huh...”

While looking up at the ceiling, the man muttered, not seeming overly disappointed.

He knew this had been coming.

The great work the man had been trying to accomplish over several years wouldn’t be concealed forever.

No matter how unpopular of a shrine the White Wolves Den was, hunters would eventually come.

Things would have to proceed slightly faster.

With Rodolph’s invasion, signs of success were at last within sight and the sponsors were excited with the results.

With a little more time, the makeshift rescuers wouldn’t have survived.

It was upsetting to throw away the 『laboratory』 that had been set up with great pains, but it wasn’t as if this was the only 『laboratory』. There were others in reserve.

Anger disturbed the thought process. Composure must always be retained.

He recalled the report that came from the Capital, and talked to himself while stroking his moustache.

“『Infinite Variety』, huh... a bothersome man. Why do these hunters always stand in my way?”

The man was once a Magi that could boast of having high reputation, treasure hunters were simply a target of scorn.

Putting their own lives at risk, sneaking into shrines and stealing the produce, they were an existence close to grave robbers.

Coarse and uncivilised, with no respect for knowledge or history. Scoundrels that acted as if the mysterious force of Mana Material was their own power.

But – the present situation was slightly different.

While grasping his staff, the Magi’s lips curved into a sneer.

A laboratory built beneath a shrine. After being immersed in research for several years, the mysterious force could be used to greatly increase the power of a Magi. And, that force had greatly altered the Magi’s understanding.

Mana Material. An unknown force that no one knew how to control yet.

It could be understood as a powerful force from seeing the hunters that received the highest benefits swaggering around as if they were important.

After just a few years of basking in it, the man gained several times the power he had gained previously over decades.

If that was the case, how powerful was a 『Level 8』 of which there were only a

handful of hunters?

There was no scorn. But there was also no excess valuation.

“...there should be no problems in withdrawing from this place but...hmmm...”

The Magi looked up at a place in the ceiling – where a specific passage of the White Wolves Den should be.

Currently there were about twenty people that had arrived to investigate the White Wolves Den.

At this time they should be looking into what the cause was that raised the shrines level, and to examine the 『origin』 that they shouldn’t be able to find.

Unless a particular accident occurred, the likelihood of more personnel arriving was low.

If the man just left like this, over time the White Wolves Den would return to normal.

If it was like that ― it would be too boring.

“If I’m evacuating anyway, I may as well do a final experiment...”

Pulling out a desk drawer, he took out a single phial.

Within it was an ink black liquid that differed to any existing potion.

What the man was looking at – was a taboo article created by chance by his disciple.

An experiment in manipulating Mana Material.

A by product of several years of research, a potion to make Mana Material run wild.

Up until now it had been too dangerous to use, but there was no hesitation now that he was evacuating.

The phial was set with a specially made syringe to pierce into the thick fur of the Phantoms that appeared in the White Wolves Den.

If this was revealed to the surface, even if though it was created by chance – his disciple would probably gain fame comparable to the man’s own.

Of course, manipulating Mana Material was taboo in any country, so it would only be within the worlds underbelly.

“Ku ku ku...Sofia, you won’t be able to see the results, you’re going to regret it...” Murmuring the name of his top disciple, the Magi stood up holding his staff.

Even under normal circumstances, the level of the shrine had sprung up. With a further enhancement, twenty hunters of slightly higher level would be nothing special.

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Translator Notes

An interesting tidbit – phial and vial are words for the same thing, but phial hasn’t been used for a century for whatever reason. The original said ampoule, which I can’t recall seeing before so I was hesitant to use it, though it seems used in cosmetics. Serum may be another translation.