The Zebrudia branch of the Explorers' Association of the Imperial Capital is about a fifteen-minute walk from the clan headquarters, sandwiched between a large store and a tavern.
It's a smaller building than its neighbors, but it's no less busy than them. A small flag with the symbolic treasure box on a red background was fluttering in the air.

I looked around and dove through the entrance, feeling like I was going to vomit.
I scowled as I was hit with a blast of heat.

Inside the building was a stronghold of monsters.

There is a clear difference between treasure hunters and ordinary people. Not in age, gender, or equipment, but just by looking at them, you can tell the difference. If I had to put it another way, I would say that there is a difference in rank as a creature.

The Imperial Capital is a sacred place for treasure hunters, but even so, the absolute number is not that large. The cave of the hunters, which is hard to find by walking outside, can be called one of the most magical places in the Imperial Capital.

I straightened my back and walked through the spacious lobby.

The atrium was filled with shouting, ridicule, and cheerful singing, making it look like a war.
Some people call the faint smell of blood, alcohol, sweat, and metal in the air the smell of adventure.

A hunter man two sizes larger than me stared down at me as I passed him, and walked away without saying a word.
Some of the hunters I doubt are really the same person.

The Explorers Association is an organization that supports hunters.

It is a huge organization with as much history as the treasure hunter profession itself. It handles everything a treasure hunter needs, from buying and selling treasure and demon materials to replenishing items, providing information, and arranging party members.

It is also the organization that assigns levels and ranks to treasure houses, hunters, parties, and clans.
You don't need to be a hunter to break into the treasure hall, but it is common sense to join the council if you want to become a hunter because you will die if you do so.

Of course, joining was not free. Every year, you have to pay a membership fee according to your earnings, and sometimes the Searchers' Guild forces you to do something that is not worth it.
A clan as large as "Footprints" can run the whole thing by itself, and some clans actually do so, but I don't want to be stared at too much, and I can manage the membership fee, so I just accept the guilt of the search committee.

Another point is that the girl at the reception desk is as cute as an idol. It is a useful organization in many ways.

We walked with our shoulders straight and winded through the group of hunters who were spreading the smell of blood and excitement.
I was terrified to pass by the hunters with bandages and old scars on their faces, but I knew well from my past experience that if I kept my head down, I was likely to get entangled.

The weak will be eaten. Why are we eating the weak and the strong in this town?

Suddenly, I glanced at the newspaper that one of the hunters was holding out. It was a picture of a half-destroyed tavern.
It wasn't Zebuldia Days' newspaper, but apparently other newspapers had carried similar articles.

It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. You have other things to do, you trash!

'It's sad that ...... is so famous.'

Feeling like he was about to vomit, he smiled a superficially grim smile and lined up at one of the reception areas.
My desperate prayers that my turn would not come were not answered, and soon my turn came.

'Thank you for visiting the Explorers Society today.

The black-haired girl at the reception desk greeted me with a smile that made me feel refreshed.
The receptionist at the Explorers' Association is not a hunter. The reason why our clan management staff is not a hunter is because I was envious of her.

He puts his hands on the counter and makes his best pretense in a low tone of voice.
After all, hard-boiled is my goal.

'I'm here on an errand for Chief Gark. I've already spoken to him, please show me around.

The receptionist did not shrink from my van, but answered with a big smile.

'Yes, sir. That's for destroying the bar, isn't it? I'll give you a sermon. As I always say, you don't have to wait in line when you're summoned, right, Cry?

It's not total destruction, it's half destruction.


§It's half destroyed.


'I'm sorry for causing you trouble!

'?

Sincerity is the key to an apology.
On the surface, I was acting like a big shot, but that was just for external reasons, and if it was Mr. Gark, I wouldn't have any hesitation in throwing away my pride. After all, he had already seen me in my shameful state many times.

As soon as they were ushered into the reception room and met face to face, he got down on his knees, and even the battle-hardened Branch Commander Gark's eyes widened and his cheeks tightened.

Chief Gark is a human being. He looks like a monster, but he's a human.

He's over two meters tall. He's got old scars running diagonally across his cheeks, veins popping out of his bald head, and a body so well trained that it's hard to believe he's retired, and he's got a bad guy's face, but he's human.
And a great man. He always wears a sword, but he's an ordinary person (for now).

If you put her next to Kaina, the beautiful and talented Assistant Branch Chief, who is frozen in place with a smile on her face, she looks like a beauty and a beast, but she is human. It's a secret that I think the beast is still more docile.

I am always indebted to you.

'Oh, hey, Cry......?'

'I didn't do it on purpose. I never meant to offend you! I was just trying not to bother the general public, and I talked to the store owner beforehand and got permission to destroy it.

It's true. I've been thinking about what to do in case something like this happens, and I've been taking great care not to cause trouble.

What I have grown in since becoming a leader is my apologetic skills, my laying the groundwork skills, and my bravado skills. What a jerk!

I shouted under my breath.

'In general, I'm really troubled by those guys too, you know? You can't stop them even if you try, and the only way to stop them is to make them do it in a big way! Hey, how am I supposed to stop them? I want to stop them too! I really want to stop them! I really want to stop them! If you can, do it, you son of a b*tc*!

I can't stop them, so I'm letting them vent in a place where they won't bother the public.

Normally, it would be better not to make excuses, but I will make them. It's to elicit sympathy. I don't think Mr. Gark is really angry.

He hasn't harmed the public, he hasn't harmed the public, and most importantly, he hasn't harmed the public.

I quickly got up, apologized and approached him, but he stepped back as if he was pressured.

'Hey, ......, don't try to use your momentum to push me over the edge.

'You just destroyed a building, after all! It's not like you're going to get any complaints. It's okay to destroy buildings! It's much better than destroying people! And we'll pay for it! I've known the owner for a long time and he's a super nice guy, so don't worry! He'll forgive you with a smile! I want some ice cream.

The half-destroyed store is a bar, but the ice cream is super delicious. It's one of the top three places for ice cream in the Imperial City that I've made.

As I tried to persuade her with a feeling of vomiting, Kaina, who had been silent until now, finally said with a tight smile.



'Well, well, well, calm down, Mr. Cry. You don't have to scold the branch manager so much--the damage hasn't been reported.

Every time, Mr. Gark's anger is stopped by Ms. Chyna's calmness. Maybe they're sharing roles.
It is the role of Mr. Gark to blow out his anger and blow up, and the role of Ms. Caina to search for a compromise.

As expected, Mr. Gark sighed at those words.

'I haven't scolded you yet. ...... Oh well. Sit down.'

Okay, I'm forgiven. I haven't been apologizing all over the place.

I'm going to sit down on the couch. My vomit-inducing mood eases a little.
Just as I was loosening up, Mr. Gark thumped the table. You shudder at the suddenness of it.

He bared his teeth and looked at me with glazed eyes.

'Me too, Cry. I'm not calling you out because I want to.'

If you don't want to call me, don't call me.
Leaving me like that, Mr. Gark continues in a voice that sounds like he's telling me off.

'But you know, even if there was no complaint, it became an incident that made it to the newspapers. You can't just let them off scot-free.

'......'

？？？？

You'll be forgiven. According to the standards of the CSJ that I know, it should be allowed.

After all, there are no victims. The destruction of the house is judged by the imperial law, but it is settled by settlement. If the victim does not report the incident, the Reich will not act.

It's been in the papers, but a short-tempered hunter is always up to something. A half-broken tavern is not a big deal. There's no way Chief Gark, who is a professional at cleaning up messes, wouldn't understand that.

I looked at Kaina and she gave me a wry smile. That rings a bell.

I can't help it. Let's dump it on Ark.

'Is this some kind of punishment game?

'......'

Mr. Gark looked as if he was biting down on a bitter bug.

The main role of the searchers is to assist in the capture of the treasure hall, but at the same time, as a side job, they also mediate jobs requested by outside parties.
Hunters are so strong that it is hard to believe they are human, and merchants and countries want to borrow their skills.

These jobs, which vary in difficulty and type, such as guarding, defeating demons, and obtaining certain treasures, are used by novice hunters who cannot properly conquer the treasure halls to earn some money, and by hunters who want to make connections with the outside world.

However, there are some requests that there are no hunters who will accept because the rewards are too low, the detention period is too long, the difficulty level is too high, or the client is too unreasonable.
From my point of view, such requests are self-inflicted and I don't care about them, but it seems that the searchers' association has various troublesome circumstances and rejects hunters who show weakness or have misconduct.

We hunters avoided such requests, calling them "punishment games" out of respect.

Mr. Gark's eyelids twitched and trembled at my words.

'Hey, don't talk like that in front of me.

'You're an ex-hunter, Gark-san. I don't like it when you do that. I'm also carrying the lives of my clan members on my shoulders.

There are many kinds of clans, but ours is a democracy.
Even the masters are decided by majority vote. I don't have a lot of power.

Mr. Gark looked at me as I crossed my legs and slumped down.
I sighed once, and this time I said to him as if I were telling him off.

'No, no, I'm not saying that I won't take it. I've been working with Mr. Gark for many years, and I understand his position. I'll do it. But you can't do more than one. Just one. Besides, we haven't done anything that bad this time.

'...... Cry, isn't your agitation skill getting better every time we meet?

When you have to bow and scrape, you bow and scrape, and when you have to come on strong, you come on strong. If you are frightened all the time, you will die. It's my way of life.

Mr. Gark clenched his teeth and said one word in a low, threatening voice to my overzealous attitude.

'Bring me ......'.

Ms. Kaina brought a leather-bound file and placed it in front of me.

The request from the search association is almost compulsory, but rumor has it that there are many people who refuse it without hesitation.
This is probably because hunters have strong egos and do not like to be constrained. This is especially true for veteran hunters who can handle troublesome requests.

As expected, there seems to be a lot of "punishment games" accumulated. I sympathize with you that you have accumulated so many troublesome requests, but we are in business, so we can't give you more than one.

Mr. Gark looks at me with a swarthy look that even makes me want to kill him.

'Choose .......'

'Yes, sir.

I flick through the files.
There are different punishments. Duration. Requests. Reward. In many cases, the background of the request is troublesome.

Pick the one that looks easiest and throw it to Ark.

We'll go through them one after another, but as you would expect from a punishment game, there are many troublesome requests that we don't even want to think about.
I'm sure Ark and the others can handle all of them but the hunters are good at the ones related to the strategy of the Treasure Hall.

We will focus on those and only look at the level of the treasure hall for now.

Level 5, Level 6, Level 5, Level 5, Level 4, Level 6, Level 3, Level 7, Level 6--.
Oh, I just found level 3!

Back to the page. Check the contents of ...... and you'll be fine.

It's lucky that there's a level 3, because most of the punishments are very difficult.

In the event that you're not sure what to do, you can always ask for help.

The level of a hunter's certification is an indication of the level of the treasure hall he can conquer.
A level 3 treasure house is a piece of cake. The rewards are low and the time commitment is rather long - it's really a volunteer request, but it won't hinder you from completing it.



He pulled out a filed request form and waved it in front of Mr. Gark, fluttering.

'Okay, I've decided. Mr. Gark, I'll take this simple-looking 'bone picker'.'

'............ Cry! Don't say that for luck! It's not a bone picker, it's a 'distress rescue'.

...... What? It's not like he's alive anyway.



§ § § §



It was like a storm.
With Krai gone, Deputy Chief Caina breathed a sigh of relief.

Holding a file of urgent requests under her arm, she smiled at Gark.

'...... You're still the same stormy kid. ...... Was it good?'

'......It's fine. He's just fine when he's on a roll.''

Holding his forehead, Chief Gark replied bluntly.

The Footprints are one of the most powerful clans in the Imperial Capital right now.

Although there are a number of older clans that are larger in size, Footprints is still growing in comparison to those clans that are halfway stagnant.

The fact that it appeared in the newspapers was a sign that it was attracting that much attention.

From Gurk's point of view, it was very gratifying to see that Krai's attitude remained almost the same as when he first became a hunter, even though he had created such a large clan.

Normally, he should have been left out of the search committee. There is little merit for a clan that has acquired a certain amount of contacts and power to stay in the cooperative.

In fact, there are many promising clans and hunters who have left the cooperative.

It was obvious that Krai was concerned about the Explorers' Association, despite his frivolous tone and lickety-split attitude.

In the event you're not sure what you're looking for, there are a number of things you can do.

'...... Well, that's still the same ......, isn't it?

In the event that you have any questions regarding where and how to use the internet, you can call us at the web site.

It was true that the Treasure Hall had the lowest level of difficulty, but that was not the same as the difficulty of the request.

What a leader needs is an eye for danger. The request is also written in detail.
As the master of a large clan and the leader of Strange Grief, it is unlikely that Krai would misjudge the difficulty of a request.

In fact, Krai has often chosen the most difficult request to bring to such occasions. Perhaps he was trying to repay the favor to the Exploration Association.

'Will the demon or the snake come out? ...... Well, if Krai took it, then it's no problem. I'm sure he's got a good eye, despite his attitude.