Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~-Chapter 13: Disciple

Disciple

The memories of the hunter called Tino Shade. Engraved upon the deepest reaches of memory.

After the end of several months of foundational training. The scene of the first training in hand to hand combat from her Teacher.

“You ok? Tee-“

The teacher sweetly smiles.

Different to the totally exhausted Tino, who breathes roughly on the bare earth. Her Teacher’s face has not even a drop of sweat.

Glittery pink blonde hair tied behind her, pale pink iris’s and long eyelashes. Her skin is tanned by the sun but is smooth without a scar or blemish.

Looking at her appearance, any one would say she was pretty.

Next to Tino who already had a small bust, her chest is even more modest in comparison.

Red heart shaped metal earrings on her ears. Thin limbs with no excessive fat. Height that’s shorter than Tino who’s still growing. When they stood next to one another Tino was mistaken as the older one time and time again.

At the moment – they wouldn’t.

“If Cry-chan says that a crow is white – it’s white. Do you get what I’m saying?” A sugary voice that explains child like logic echoes out at Tino.

An index finger points out. From that short figure is a feeling of power greater than any other Tino has encountered.

It’s unbelievable that their ages are only a few years apart.

Earlier than anyone else, they had quickly rushed up the stairway to glory.

A group of monsters that easily captured Shrines that had defeated many other Hunters before them.

Others that were praised as excellent like Tino, were simply referred to as the second generation only trying to follow on.

Consequently, Tino had not boasted of her talent even once.

It was decided that Tino would study under one of them, a girl.

Extreme speed that didn’t leave even a shadow behind. Therefore the given alias was 『Severed Shadow』.

The 『Severed Shadow』 Liz Smart.

Like the wind, as if a shadow, running ahead more overwhelmingly than anyone else. Simultaneously a figure of admiration, and a subject of awe.

A smile is set on her face, but her eyes gleam as if the energy in her body is leaking out.

“Things like loyalty or admiration and the like, it’s not that stuff. What I want from Tee, it’s – 『absolute obedience』.”

If a quick tempered hunter heard that it would probably send them into a fit of rage.

But, Liz’s voice was extremely serious. “You know Cry-chan see-“

After a short breath, words shoot from her lips. Her staring pupils nailing in place peering in.

“Whatever trivial thing it is, your opinion isn’t needed.”

“No matter if it’s a silly joke, if you receive an unreasonable order that you don’t understand, even if your life will be endangered – I want you to faithfully follow his will without thinking about anything.”

“If any enemies oppose Cry-chan, I want you to crush everyone down to the last. Even if the other is an important noble, or if it’s a Hunter with amazing ability. In this Zebrudia, no matter how great their power is boasted of, it’s irrelevant.”

“For me, if there’s a person that holds a rebellious spirit against us for even a second it’s something intolerable. That’s why – I made you my disciple. If I’m here I can slaughter everyone, but when I’m not there’ll be trouble don’t you think?”

“Tee is clever so, you get it right?” “Haah, haah -...Y-Yes. Onee-sama.”

Sometimes talented hunters are called monsters.

Tino didn’t think that every Hunter called them that way.

But her Teacher was without a doubt, a monster those hunters would fear.

Her words were said in a joking manner, but there was a passion that wouldn’t permit any resistance.

It was serious. There were no gaps to take advantage of, because she was hostile to any and everything in her vicinity.

If in this moment Tino showed animosity towards Cry, in the same manner as breaking apart a nearby flower, her Teacher would kill her.

Her height is less than Tino’s, limbs more delicate. At a glimpse it’s like seeing an ordinary person.

But it’s only on the outside they are human.

It was something only noticed after the skill of the hunter Tino Shade had risen a little.

§

The abnormality was evident without even needing to search for it.

Within the densely grown forest. Cautiously walking on the road that narrowly joined up with the 『White Wolves Den』.

The formation was led by Tino, after her was Gilbert, then Greg, and finally Ruda cautiously acting in the role of rearguard.

For this impromptu party, there was no magi proficient in wide area destruction, or an effective healer in the event someone was seriously injured.

Greg and Gilbert took the vanguard. Greg was a warrior proficient in various weapons, while Gilbert wielded a large sword and was best at one on one battles.

The party balance was poor, but the other side was that there were two thieves that excelled in detecting enemies.

Ruda had a sense of crisis that had the cautious characteristics peculiar to solo

hunters. Even if there was poor visibility, an approaching hostile Phantom wouldn’t be missed.

Even before being able to finally find their way to the Shrine, the forest had a strange atmosphere to it.

It was a peculiar air that was only recognisable because they were hunters that continually fought against monsters and Phantoms.

Each party member had a stiff facial expression.

Suddenly the sound of howling echoed out from nowhere. Greg checked the surroundings alertly, and spoke with a moan.

“Strange. ...There’s a pungent odor of danger. We still haven’t even made it to the Shrine yet-“

“That’s why you wrote a will.”

Tino answered narrowing her eyes at the various trees lined up. “What you said is true, it’s written, but...”

Hunters were often struck by bad premonitions. Because of the supply of Mana Material which the brain couldn’t process, the Hunters senses were strengthened and their perception formed into intuition that rang alarm bells.

If they counted their lives as precious, when they felt a bad hunch they would immediately turn back. This was the most well known rule of Treasure Hunters.

But, in this case, that rule wouldn’t apply.

Because they knew it would be like this long before, and they were here because they had already accepted it.

And, even though it was a temporary party, they had talked through it in advance. It was all talked about, except for whether it should be trusted or not.

Following cautiously from the back, Ruda blinked her eyes. “So... Cry knew about this situation, and yet he still sent us?”

“If we’re talking about additional things... this party formation probably isn’t a coincidence.”

“Ha? H-hey come on, something like that’s-“

Two people specialised in detection and two in physical ability.

Certainly, when Master allocated the two members to Tino, he acted like it was coincidence. But to the eyes of Tino, who was all ‘Master Master’, it was clearly a bluff.

Tino was a senior member of Footprints. Even before that, she had many interactions with『Strange Grief』which her Master was apart of.

Tino’s life as a Hunter, was being given training similar to hell, saying that it was all a test.

It wasn’t her first time receiving a request as a challenge from Cry. At first Tino thought it was unbelievable, but now she understood.

“Master has read into the Shrines abnormalities and the events that occurred here, he collected the necessary people and assembled them as the members here.

Gilbert, the ability test given to you was no exception.”

After the ability test, Gilbert had become much more submissive. He opened his eyes widely.

Ruda interrupted in a panic.

“W-Wait!? The necessary people? No matter how you put it, me joining the Footprints member recruitment was just a coincidence. T-The main thing, if he was going to send the right people then there were many superior hunters to send in our place.”

“Y-Yeah. In the first place, that was the first time I ever met Infinite Variety. Not believable, and it can’t be believed.

Seeing the expressions on the faces of her party members, Tino let out a small sigh.

Still not even to the Shrine yet, but making enough noise that the likelihood of a monster or Phantom attacking was high.

Maybe that was something predictable, but Tino wanted to quickly finish up and return home.

Of course not as a corpse, but alive.

For that reason she needed to know this wasn’t an accident.

“Master is, – in the Imperial Capital whether it’s Hunters or Shrines, he has all encompassing knowledge. Even if it’s someone he’s never met, reading through their actions is simple for Master.”

Such things, not just Tino, everyone in Footprints knows it.

Mainly, Level 8 ranked Hunters don’t come late to a member recruitment for no reason, then in that place fan the flames into an uproar, let it carry on until a pub is partially destroyed, or change the target of Gilbert’s anger on to Tino without reason.

That would just be moronic.

That’s all just acting. Even though it really doesn’t look like acting, it was just because Tino’s eyes weren’t at the level of being able to see through the lies.

To Tino’s few, irritated words, Gilbert held his tongue on anything further.

Managing that much was easy to accomplish. That’s because the Infinite Variety seen at the Training grounds certainly was strange.

The weight of the purgatory sword on his back was making him quite uneasy.

Among the magic used by Magi there were techniques that clad the user in water or fire, increasing power and range.

Weapon type Relics often held 『Element Bestowal』 abilities, that had no need to

use a magic technique but demonstrated the same effect.

One of the abilities of the Purgatory sword was flame bestowal. The sword blade is decorated in a sweltering blaze, it is possible to cut and burn simultaneously, rapidly boosting offensive power.

In the Shrines so far, there had been no opponents that were a challenge. But what about this time?

Infinite Variety succeeded in operating the purgatory sword in a way that was outside of Gilbert’s belief. If that was the power of the purgatory sword, then he had only used a fraction of it before.

Gilbert had captured various Shrines up until now, but this time the vibe of the Shrine had a bad feeling that exceeded all of them.

Looking at the three uneasy people, Tino spoke in a light tone.

“Don’t mind it. Master understands everything. He doesn’t hand over hopeless requests. If we don’t worry about dying, a capture is possible. No matter what happens we can’t turn back. We have written our wills.”

“R-Right... thats true.”

The hunters theory was to escape in one shot, to what extent would they be willing to bet their lives on a body retrieval request?

His inner thoughts were that he had been dragged into something dangerous, but with his pride as a senior Greg gave a cramped smile.

In that moment, a shadow was cast on his field of vision. A shadow that concealed the sun.

Without delay Tino noticed something falling from the sky and thrust Greg out of the way.

A second after, a dull grey shine passed through where his head was a moment before.

A beat later Ruda and Gilbert distanced themselves, and took on a battle stance. Greg rolled after being thrust away and reflexively took a defensive posture.

His eyes caught onto the target. The shadow that crept up without a sound or smell.

Ruda’s eyes opened wide, the deep crimson beast crouched without moving, and she raised a husky voice.

“...Eh...this phantom, isn’t it a wolf!?”

Facing the shining gold eyes, Gilbert stared back. He pointed the tip of the purgatory sword in its direction.

The crimson beast’s attack was evaded and it stood up in a motion that could be said to be slow.

-On two legs.

Wiry deep crimson fur, pointed canine like ears. At the rear a thick crimson tail grew, and it’s nose moved in small motions as if in understanding of the situation.

However, most of the animal was covered in blood red armour. The hands and wrists had protective guards, and it slowly swung its held weapon as if to keep them in check.

“This guys... wearing armour!? It’s different to what I was told!!”

“It has a sword... Master... Master always goes further than my expectations doesn’t he...”

The phantom appearing at the『White Wolves Den』was supposed to be a huge wolf.

However the opponent that had appeared before their eyes, except for the colour and face, everything else from their assumptions was different.

As though to drown out the somewhat sad words from Tino, the wolf warrior let out a roar. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝗹．𝐨𝗿𝗴

§ § §

“Ah, I want to throw up. I want to quit being a Hunter already.”

A mumbling soliloquy spilled out, while I loitered in the vacant room of the Clan Master.

If Eva was here she would be looking at me with cold eyes.

Truly if Tino had properly told me the reason and refused, even I would have-. All that comes to mind are unproductive complaints.

Rescue targets that are unknown to even be dead or alive are far far less important than Liz’s pupil.

Since she’s level 4 she’ll be aware of the Hunters theory. You should hurry and come back if it’s dangerous.

But every member of footprints is reckless. No matter what strong enemy comes out, they won’t make an easy retreat.

Tino has also been under this influence. Or rather the number one reckless member of 『Strange Grief』 is her Master, so it’s likely her bad influence. Not good.

If Tino died from one of my orders, what would her Master Liz-chan do when she’s quick tempered at the best of times?

“Ah, it’s ok to use that boy Gilbert or Greg-sama as a shield if worst comes to worst...”

They would also be satisfied to be a sacrifice for Tino, surely.

There were so many suitable members to choose from. I should have at least chosen from other members of footprints.

That bastard Gark, properly give some prior caution – no, that’s not it. Without a doubt the number one at fault was me. Excuses are pointless.

I’m sorryyyy!!!

It’ll surely be ok. Tino also knows about the huge wolf around the『White Wolves Den』, and would have taken perfect countermeasures. That’s what I told myself but somehow I couldn’t feel calm.

Outside it was totally dark. Inside the capital there are some streetlights, but outside they are not installed.

Monsters and beasts are active at night, so night marches are avoided by everyone. In the first place even if clan members from the lounge were dispatched they wouldn’t catch up with Tino.

After all, without Ark I’m useless.

In the middle of trying to escape from reality, I resolved myself for the worst and approached the bookcase on the wall of the Clan Masters room.

Books on clan management and the history of the Imperial Capital are lined up on a solid shelf. I placed my hand on the unnaturally affixed handle there and pulled it.

The shelf opened inward without a sound. Beyond, stairs heading downwards continued on.

Behind the concealed door is my private room. I ran down the stairs in a half jog. I fumbled in the darkness searching for a switch.

When the switch was pressed, soft lamp light illuminated a room twice as large as the clan masters room.

A room without windows. A large bed that could fit anyone. Bookshelves. A table. Desk. Couch. On the wall was a not well understood picture received as a gift, and a piece of paper on which three rules of clan policy were written.

But what was most noticeable over everything, was that the room was crowded with organised Relics.

Swords. Spears. Armour. Cloaks. Chains. Rings. Various forms and types.

Some that were purchased, and some that were handed over. And of course also ones gained from infiltrating Shrines.

This was our – the culmination of the work of the treasure hunters of 『Strange Grief』.

If we sold all these Relics at a reasonable price we would probably be able to play around for ten generations.

But we still haven’t achieved our main objective.

While the nauseating feel of my stomach weighed on me, I decided to search for a Relic that could break through the current situation.

Translator Notes:

-Liz’s alias of Severed Shadow was a bit of a gamble from the context. It might be understood by people more familiar with reading Kanji though.