A large forest area spreading northwest of the imperial capital Zebrudia.
At the end of a narrow, half-beast-like path that led into a forest inhabited by many wild demons, there was the treasure house.

The White Wolf's Den.

Originally, it was a unique demon that existed in the Great Forest, a wolf with fur that resembled a shining silver moon. It is said to have been the territory of a large pack of Silver Moons.

It has strong limbs that allow it to move at high speed through the gaps between trees in the forest with poor footing, and fur that repels all offensive magic.
It has fangs that can bite through the bodies of trained hunters, the wisdom to master magic despite its small effect, and the Grim Reaper of the forest who hunts even demons of a higher rank than himself by acting in large groups.

Silvermoon was known as a fearsome demon that could not be easily defeated, but it had two major weaknesses.

Even as an adult, Silvermoon is only about a meter tall, with a small frame.
And its moon-colored fur, from which it takes its name, which no one can help but admire.

The bones, fangs, and fur of the Silvermoon were among the most valuable of all the demons.
That's why he risked so much to capture the Treasure Hall.

Therefore, Silvermoon became the prey of hunters who came to visit.
Demons that possessed wisdom, power, numbers, and everything in between were, however, easy prey for hunters who possessed greater numbers, power, and wisdom.

Demons are living things. No matter how powerful they are, they don't spawn naturally like the phantoms that roam the treasure house.

Soon, the wolves were hunted to the ground.
The Silver Moon's numbers dwindled in inverse proportion to the development of the Imperial City, and this fact also increased the scarcity value of its fur.
The existence of the Silvermoon, which was considered to be something to be on the lookout for when entering the forest, was reduced to the status of being 'lucky' if encountered.

And by the time the Imperial Capital became known as a sacred place for hunters, Silvermoon had completely disappeared, leaving behind the remnants of the many large packs that had existed in its wide-spread den.

The White Wolf's Den.

It was only in the last ten years that rumors began to circulate that blood-soaked wolves had begun to appear in the supposedly empty dens.


§


'Oh my god! This is definitely a grudge. ...... Ah, I'm not good with that kind of thing.

I threw away the hand-me-down document and shuddered. I feel like I'm going to vomit just thinking about it.

I was a small fish, but in the haunted treasure house, I was even more famous among the party as a small fish.

I am a person who can never do a test of courage. First of all, I don't have the guts to try it.

Eva looks at me with a half-smile on her face.

'Don't be so frightened, ......'.

'Of all people, you're the type that reflects history. It's so deep.

It is known that there are several types of treasure halls that appear in places that are full of mana and materials.

There are some that appear completely independent of the location.
The ones that leave the environment and characteristics of the place where they appear.
And the ones that reflect the history of the place .......

The law of the manifestation of the treasure hall is still being actively studied in many countries. Although the correct answer is not yet known, the present case is a combination of the second and third.

A crimson giant wolf that appeared out of nowhere, strutting around a den that was once eradicated by humans.
It's not that I feel sorry for Silvermoon and the others, but it was a horrible story.

'According to the testimony of hunters who have fought with Silvermoon in the past,......, it seems to be much stronger than the real thing.

'Hahaha ...... If there's no fur left, I can't do it.'

I'll at least give you an empty laugh.

The Phantom is a living phantom that appears in the land that has become the Treasure House, manifested by mana material using the same principles as the Treasure House.
Whether or not they are stronger or weaker than demons is beside the point, but there are some clear differences between phantoms and demons.

One of them is that they leave no corpse behind.

When a phantom is destroyed, it is reduced to mana material and quickly vanishes into thin air.

So. It's as if it really was an illusion.

In rare cases, the strongest manifestation of the Phantom may remain as an object, but at least its fur cannot be ripped off.

It seems to me that the hunters have only themselves to blame if they go all the way into a place that is overrun by such monsters and are unable to come out.

She looks thoughtful as she flips through the materials on the treasure house that Eva ordered.

She doesn't seem to be afraid. Perhaps because she thinks it is a story from another world.

'However, according to this information, it seems that level 3 is not due to the terrain or the mechanism (gimmick), but due to the strength of the Phantom.

'Hmm... Well, I think it's okay. Tino is pretty good at it too. ......'

The level of the treasure hall is determined by the difficulty of all the levels and the number of hunters who have come back alive.

If the gimmicks and environment are easy, the illusions and demons that appear tend to be stronger.
It's up to the hunters to decide which one they're best at, but in this case, Gilbert and Tino are the brains, so they should be able to handle the more powerful illusions that appear.

It's been a while since I've seen Tino fight, but he looks half human.
I kind of expected it, but it's no good now.

'I'm surprised Gilberto agreed to this so quietly.

'Come on. I think he was thinking about it after being beaten up by Tino. Maybe it was a good idea to use the information Eva gave him to bait him. ......'

Eva Renfrew is an amazing person.

She's not an experienced hunter, but she's already been involved in clan management for several years, and most importantly, she's been involved in commerce in the Imperial Capital for a long time.
It seems that he is still in close contact with his original business association, and is able to handle all sorts of tasks, from purchasing supplies for the clan, to using his extensive connections to gather information, to the occasional inspections from the Imperial High Command.

She also gathered the information on the three people I presented to Tino in a short period of time.
I really can't thank her enough. I'm as indebted to her as I am to Ark.

If it hadn't been for the requirement of being a Hunter of level 5 or above, I would have given up the position of Clan Master as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Gilbert's expression when I spoke to him came back to me, and I couldn't help but smile.

'Well, you had a good expression. You can never have too much talent, can you?

We conquered the Treasure Hall at breakneck speed. But his friends couldn't keep up with him.

This is a story that can be found anywhere in this industry. It happens all the time because the difference in talent is so obvious.

The difference is that Gilbert was the only genius at the party. And Gilberto chose to leave the party alone, not wanting to unwind with the other members.

I mean, it's almost the exact opposite.

He must have been half-hearted about it. There was an air of desperation in his words and actions.

It is very common for young geniuses to become conceited and to have conflicts because of it. In fact, the pattern like mine is more rare.

Well, the biggest victim is the other members of the party who got kicked out of the party for fighting after being taken around the treasure house by the reckless Gilbert.

'Did you rehabilitate them?

'No.' I just said what I wanted to say and did what I wanted to do. I think I showed my nose a little, but honestly, I can't say I rehabilitated them either.

There are too many bad people to talk about, such as Tino, who seems to have some kind of strange worship of us, and Liz, who may have brought it to our attention, and Gilbert boy.

And most of all - who am I to give a good lecture when I'm running a random clan?

Sometimes clan members ask me for advice on human relations, but please don't do this to me. I can't be responsible for them, so do what you want.

Eva nodded her head, keeping her posture straight and clean as usual.

'All right. Let's just leave it at that.



'…………'

エヴァって優秀だけど,たまに変な理解の仕方してそうなんだよなぁ.
仕事してくれるからいいけど. お世話になってるからあえて文句言うつもりはないけど.

都合が悪くなりそうだったので話を変える.

'そう言えば,ギルベルト少年の持っていた宝具――結構いい宝具だったよ'

'煉獄剣,ですか'

黒い鞘に収められた大剣を思い出すと,頬が緩んだ.

僕は宝具が好きだ. 唯一の癒やしである.

宝具はいい. 素晴らしい. 古今東西,ハンターが命をかけてその探索に明け暮れているのもわかる.

何が素晴らしいって,誰でも使えるのが素晴らしい. 奇跡と見紛うばかりの能力を誰でも発揮できる. 特別な才能が無くても使える. なんと素晴らしいことか.

まぁ僕が持っていてもあまり使わないんだけど,それでも良い物は良い.

'いいなぁ……煉獄剣. 売ってくれないかな……炎の属性付与と範囲拡張,もしかしたらちゃんと調べたら他にも効果があるかもしれないけど――'

だが多分売ってくれないだろう.
宝具と言うのは使い慣れるまでかなり時間がかかるものであり,一度慣れたら早々手放そうとしないものだ.

ちょっと触れてみて感じた煉獄剣の素晴らしさについて語っていると,エヴァが呆れたような表情で見ていることに気づいた.

いつの間にか言葉に熱が入ってしまったらしい. 緩みかけていた表情を引き締める. エヴァが釘を差してきた.

'無駄遣いはよろしくないかと'

'いやいや,無駄じゃないって……'

'属性付与と範囲拡張？ クライさん,そんな宝具何本も持ってるでしょ'

そんな宝具？ 一緒くたにしないで頂きたい. 宝具はそれぞれが異なる奇跡の産物,大なり小なり違いというもの,癖というものがあるのだ.

そう反論しようとして,エヴァの視線が険しいことに気づく.

僕は立場が弱かったので,小さな声で答えた.

'……まぁ,属性付与と範囲拡張は,武器型の宝具としてはありふれたものだからね……'

帝都には幾つも宝具を売買している店があるが,威力や扱いやすさを度外視すれば何本も売られているだろう. だが,両方を高レベルに備えている宝具となるとなかなかない.

ましてや,『煉獄剣』はこれまで僕が触れたことのある似たような七つの宝具と比べてとても素直で扱いやすかった. あれならギルベルト少年が短期間で使えるようになったのも納得だ.

だが,そんな理由を述べたところでエヴァは納得してくれないだろう.

もしかしたらたまにクラン運用費をちょろまかして宝具を買い漁ってるのがバレているのかもしれない. （もちろん,後で穴埋めはしてる）

エヴァの顔をじっと見つめる. しかし,その何もかもを見通しているかのような透明感のある薄紫の目からはその思考は窺えない.

仕方なく,僕は半端な笑みを浮かべて媚を売った.

'……そ,それはともかく,もしよかったら……そうだな,今度甘いものでも食べにいかない？'

糖分を取れば人間優しくなれる. 僕の提案に,エヴァがぴくりと瞼を震わせた.

'……それ,クライさんが食べたいだけですよね？'

'…………いや,そんなことないよ'

エヴァの奴,いつの間に僕が甘党なことに気づいたんだ.
イメージ悪いから隠してるはずなのに……これだから油断ならない.



§ § §



クランのラウンジ.
ティノは真剣な表情で臨時パーティの面々を見て,最初の指示を出した.

'まずは……遺書を書く'

'ちょ,ちょっと待って！？'

ルーダが慌てて机に手をついて立ち上がった.