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

the reasons for 『Footprints』 growth.

’

Hunters in the clan were acquainted with Tino who had been with the clan since it was founded.
She questioned a nearby swordsman hunter.

“What’s going on?”

“Hm…Ah-, Tino.
You didn’t hear? Yesterday there was a summons.
It seems like there’ll be a joint operation with the Explorers to the 『White Wolves Den』.”

“…With this amount of people?”

Her eyes widened at the name of the shrine she had heard before, and looked around the lobby once again.
The lobby was full of prominent members.
Just counting the numbers, half of Footprints had gathered.
There were many members out on expeditions, so the amount collected here must be nearly all the remaining members in the Capital.

There should have been no authority to issue commands yet this many had gathered, as expected of Master… Even while having such a thought, her questions didn’t disappear.

Certainly the White Wolves Den was troublesome, but these were Footprints elite.
These members outranked Tino not just a little.
She had heard an investigation would be carried out, but this wasn’t on the scale of an investigation.
With so many hunters mobilised, just how difficult was the outbreak exactly?

The boss had been disposed of.
When Mana Material accumulated it would be revived, but such a powerful phantom wouldn’t occur so frequently.

At Tino’s quizzical expression, the male hunter spoke candidly while lowering his voice.

“Just between you and me… the Master said that he was going to send out Ark-san at first.”

“…Eh?”

What was he saying, this guy…? As if Tino had forgotten how to blink she stared at his face, but there was no sign he was joking.

The man saw her expression and his lips curved into a smile as if to say ‘that’s exactly what I had thought’.

“Ku ku ku, seems like a joke doesn’t it? Something like asking the top hunter in the clan to capture a shrine that’s only level 3.”

“…”

“But, at the moment Ark’s away.
The ones gathered here… are his substitute.”

At his words, Tino realised why the assembled hunters seemed to be on edge.

Since they belonged to the same clan there wouldn’t be any disputes, but their expressions despite being safe inside the Capital gave the same sense of tension as if they were exploring a shrine.

’

Ark Rodin.
That was the most famous hunter in the Capital.
A man that had received the blessings of all the gods in heaven, born with the status of a promised hero.

An all rounded hunter that had knowledge of all magic and was a master of techniques.
When he brandished his sword it was like the flash of ten thousand lightning strikes as if to tear the world asunder.
The most perfected hunter, the man said to be the star of the next generation.
There were extreme devotees in the upper stratum of the Empire, along with inside Footprints itself.
He was also the rival of her teacher and her companions.

Originally, if it was for the investigation for a level 3 shrine, he wasn’t a man that would move for that.

There was an appropriate order to things.
The Explorers Association recommended that hunters explored shrines that matched up adequately.
If high level hunters laid waste to low level shrines, killing all the Phantoms and snatching all the Relics, low level hunters would go into poverty.

There was also the potential for high level hunters to become unable to act in a time of emergency.

Naturally though, there was no way that the Master didn’t already know all this.

In other words, it meant that in that Shrine there were abnormalities that required Ark Rodin to move.

Tino who wasn’t a god, couldn’t imagine what would occur.
But had Tino been in the same position as those hunters, she would have written her will with the same stern expression that they were wearing.

At least, the Phantoms wouldn’t be any less than the ones Tino had encountered.

No, if she met Onee-sama right now, there was a possibility that she might throw her into this.

“…With the small amount of people here, will you be able to manage?”

“Oioi, don’t look down on us.
At least, that’s what I’d like to say…”

Shaking off his uneasiness, the swordsman scratched his jaw at Tino’s question.

Ark Rodin was without a shred of doubt, one of the strongest hunters in the Capital.

Sword and sorcery.
You can become a top-notch hunter by mastering one or the other, but the man called the hero had combined the two to an extremely high level.
That power was to the degree that it was recognised by Tino’s teacher with the strongest pride in her own ability.
If the other members of his party – 『ArchBrave』 held about 70% of his power, they might hold the seat of the strongest party in the young generation.

There were a lot of individual differences between treasure hunters.
Even with a large amount of people, there was a limit to their ability to substitute.
But, the hunter showed a smile while his cheek was twitching.
He showed strong fighting spirit, with just a little fear.

“Well, we’ll work it out somehow.
There are other parties coming outside of 『Footprints』.”

At that point, it became noisy.

’

All eyes focused on the young man coming down the stairs.
『Infinite Variety』.
The man at the top of Footprints, with the power to see through all things.
to him the opposite was occuring, the right hand to the focal point standing up straight, the deputy Master checked over each person assembled with sharp eyes.

In an instant the noise stopped.
Everyone waited for the Masters words.

Unlike the time he came to assist at the shrine, the casual appearance of the Master was at odds with the hunters full of tension and armed to the teeth.

“Hmm? Huh? What’s this? What’s wrong, gathering like this? Was there a festival going on?”

“Cry-san, this is concerning the matter you talked about with Gark-san.”

“Ah-, that huh.
But there’s so many.”

“Cry-san wanted to make the request to Ark-san, but since Ark-san is away… they were summoned as his substitute.
By my calculations this should be enough gathered strength.”

Cry’s eyes opened wide at Eva’s words.

Among ordinary people, many made huge misunderstandings about the ability of hunters.
‘Since they were both people it would be fine if they were cautious’, in this way there was a fixed rate of ordinary people that didn’t return from shrines every year.
Their sweetened perception invited disaster.

Eva wasn’t a hunter, but outside of the master she held the most amount of knowledge about the hunters in the clan.
The fact that no one had made a complaint, was an indication that her calculations were accurate.

Everyone was satisfied with the amount of people, but the Master made an indescribable expression.

“Eh!? ……Ah, yep.
Uh-huh yep, that’s right.
Is that so, like this huh…”

“!? …If there’s something, a place I’ve made an error, please let me know.”

The place became quiet.
Ark was the clans strongest solo unit of force.
There was no person in the clan unaware of that power.
The only people that argued over who was the strongest were the members of 『Strange Grief』.

To the gathering that raised no objections, the Master tilted his head to the side as he gazed out at them and then made a smile that stabbed at their self confidence.

“Hmm…with just the elite, can’t we go with half this amount?”

a

Translator notes

Some of you may have noticed the use of ‘tank’ as a comparison.
It’s not an anachronism (like if Naruto mentioned his new yeezies).
That tanks exist in the world either tells you about their level of technological progress, or that they exist as part of the worlds memory.