Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 71

I gave Zepetia hints about the location of Vile’s old laboratory.

Though I already knew the exact location of the laboratory in detail, rather than showing that, it would be less risky for me to let her figure it out herself.

When I returned from the library, Hilde was already in our quarters.

“Ah, Senior. Back from your vacation?”

Hilde greeted me with a bright smile.

“Where did you go? You could have at least told me before leaving.”

“Ah, sorry. It was quite far away. An old ruin near the border.”

“Why did you go to a place like that?”

“Just felt like it. Wanted to go somewhere far. I’ve been feeling tired lately.”

“Ah… that’s true. Sometimes I want to do that too. Especially these days…”

“Your trainer was Sir Runius, right?”

“About that… Sir Runius brought other higher-ranked hunters too…”

Hilde vented her complaints about Runius’s training.

She seemed particularly displeased that introducing her to various people reminded her of what they used to do at noble social gatherings.

“How many people were there?”

“Five.”

“That’s quite a crowd. You must have made quite an impression.”

“I don’t want that kind of attention.”

Hilde crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.

“Whether you want it or not, those things are necessary if they’re necessary. The importance of connections can’t be emphasized enough.”

“You sound just like my mother… How many friends do you have then, Senior?”

“…I have nothing to say to that.”

I recalled the fragile figure of Chris.

“Anyway, isn’t it still training time at this hour? You’re back quite early?”

“Lady Latina came in the middle and fought with Sir Runius, telling me to rest.”

“Well, at least we have one person on our side.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Why? Something bothering you?”

“I just wish you could keep training me, Senior.”

“You need to become independent sometime. Are you a baby?”

I lightly pinched Hilde’s cheek.

“Hey… huh? What’s that ring?”

Hilde noticed the ring on my pinching finger.

“Ah, this.”

I took off the ring and held it out to her.

“Here, take it.”

“What?”

“Here, it’s yours.”

I opened Hilde’s palm and placed the ring on it.

“Eh? …Ehhh?!”

Hilde was flustered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no, I, Senior… even if you’re my Senior… that… but if you really want…”

Hilde stammered badly, unable to form coherent words.

“Try it on quickly. It has excellent properties.”

“…What?”

Hilde’s mood suddenly changed as if cold water had been thrown on her.

“It’s a ring with a blessing that continuously restores life force. Though it doesn’t seem to relieve fatigue. Probably just heals wounds.”

“…Ah. So that’s what it is.”

“Did you think I was proposing?”

“Yes… I mean, no?!”

“Hahaha!”

I laughed heartily for the first time in a while.

“And next…”

“Wait a minute! Even if you’re my Senior, that joke went too far!”

Hilde repeatedly punched my stomach lightly.

She’s gotten quite strong now.

“I didn’t say anything though? Anyway, next is this.”

I took down the Executioner’s Axe from my back.

“It’s strange that you noticed the ring before this in the first place.”

“Hmph… So what’s this one?”

“…Hilde.”

I called her name seriously, all traces of humor gone.

“Yes?”

“Do you trust me?”

“…Yes.”

“This will be your weapon from now on.”

“This…?”

“It’s difficult to explain right now. But trust this weapon as much as you trust me.”

“…I don’t understand the circumstances, but if you say so, Senior.”

Hilde lifted the Executioner’s Axe.

“It’s heavy. And solid.”

She swung it in the middle of the room.

The axe skillfully avoided all objects in the room, but the wind created by the massive blade cutting through the air lightly tickled my face.

“It has a good weight to it. Lately my usual one has been feeling too light.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“It’s only natural.”

Being able to say trusting a colleague is natural.

She already lacks nothing as a hunter of the Order, both inside and out.

She’s changed so much compared to when we first met.

Shortly after, Hilde left to train again with the ring and axe I had given her.

*    *    *

Tyler Gibson, the Intelligence Department’s youngest ever director, read the report brought by agents who had been tailing Eugene.

“Hmm… the Donua ruins near the border…”

Even Tyler hadn’t known about the ruins there, and it was a place no one paid attention to.

But the two agents who followed Eugene there were ambushed by someone whose identity they couldn’t determine and were knocked out for a full day.

They hadn’t even seen the attacker’s face or how they were subdued.

“What should we do?”

Tyler’s secretary asked.

“Should we send an investigation team to the ruins?”

“…No, leave it alone for now. There’s clearly someone quite skilled there, but they’re not causing any trouble and we don’t have the manpower to spare sending people there.”

“I see. But what if they deliberately spared our agents including all that?”

“Then they’re not just strong but smart too. Or else a high-tier Beast, worst case a behemoth. Still, nothing’s happened yet so it’s best we don’t interfere either. More importantly…”

Tyler pointed to a section of the report.

“He brought back an axe from those ruins? And gave it to Hilde?”

“Yes. We couldn’t determine exactly what kind of axe it was or where it was made. Only that it appears to be something an executioner might have used in the past.”

“He brought back quite an interesting item.”

“Should we confiscate it for examination?”

“No, Crowty wouldn’t stand for that. And we don’t need to draw attention by taking such actions either. Let’s put the matter of that lower-ranked hunter on hold for now…. Tch. Just what is his identity?”

Tyler frowned unpleasantly, thinking of the lower-ranked hunter who had been drawing attention at the Order lately for various reasons.

“I think he could be considered an exemplary lower-ranked hunter.”

The secretary said.

“Though his birth may be a bit unsavory, that makes his current clean record shine even brighter. Plus surviving that incident 7 years ago is also noteworthy.”

“That much is fine. I’d like to have a few subordinates like him too. At first I thought he was a bit strange, but the more we investigated, the more ridiculously good he turned out to be…. But that’s as far as it goes.”

He opened another report.

“No matter what, Eugene is just a lower-ranked hunter. He has no room to grow stronger, as proven by his evaluations over the past 10 years. But… why did Blanc choose such an ordinary human?”

Blanc, the behemoth who survived the Great Holy War 500 years ago.

Even by the standards back then, she was a high-tier Beast among behemoths, one of the biggest figures that even the Saintess said she couldn’t let her guard down against.

After the Holy War ended, her movements became impossible to track, and she was only observed occasionally choosing one human at a time to follow before eventually killing them.

They still haven’t figured out her criteria for choosing humans, and Tyler personally felt Eugene was unlucky to have been targeted.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing about Eugene.

“And the new cooperative body to track behemoth Vile… Eugene is included in this too. This makes no sense either. Including a lower-ranked hunter in a behemoth tracking team?”

Looking at the planned scale and budget, this new cooperative body or department wasn’t anything special.

But examining the assigned mission and member composition only raised questions.

“And Sephira as department head? The Grand Conference is already over, there are plenty of other more suitable higher-ranked hunters with free time. There’s no reason to use someone lacking experience who was one-sidedly defeated by Blanc. Plus it’s strange for the Heresy Inquisition Department to be involved.”

“Well, Vile was once part of the Order’s Development Department.”

“But now he’s not human but a Beast. I can somewhat understand the Heresy Inquisition Department getting involved, but there’s no reason for a judge to step in no matter how I think about it.”

“Plus though it’s still undecided, they say Hilde will likely be included too.”

“Right! That’s the strangest part! I get wanting to gather young talent to form a team. But assigning someone who hasn’t even been a member for half a year to behemoth tracking missions? Just what is the Saintess’s intention?”

“Her word is absolute. Surely you’re not thinking of raising objections?”

Tyler’s eyebrow twitched at his secretary’s sensitive remark before he composed himself again.

“Of course not. I just want to understand her intentions as head of the Intelligence Department. Just what she might be planning…”

“You’re head of the Order’s Intelligence Department yet can’t grasp the intentions of the one at its apex.”

“…Damn it.”

The words ‘like you understand any better’ rose to his throat, but he barely swallowed them.

Tyler himself had kept this person by his side specifically because they would challenge his words or present opposing views.

Having them around certainly kept his mind working, but he hadn’t wanted the added work stress.

“We need more information…”

“To get information, first we need someone willing to talk.”

“Sigh, lately I’m starting to understand why Crowty always complains about manpower… Anyway, send someone to the Development Department. Vile’s granddaughter joined recently, right?”

“Yes. Sir Corsis worked quite hard to bring her in.”

“Go ask her about Vile one more time.”

“Didn’t we already ask?”

“Keep asking! We can’t stop just because we failed once or twice!”

“Yes. Understood.”

The secretary bowed to Tyler and left.

“Hah…”

Left alone, Tyler leaned back in his chair.

Though he took pride in being the youngest department head at Order headquarters, there was too much work to do.

It was very different from when he only had to focus on climbing up.

“Beast attacks are increasing rapidly… We’re short on manpower… I should propose lowering the standards for recruiting hunters after all. Plus after the Cranion attack, heretics are even showing signs of defying the Saintess… Just what is happening to the world…”

Tyler’s world had expanded after becoming head of the Intelligence Department.

All sorts of information about the world, various secrets that the public shouldn’t know, even the Order’s dark shadows.

There were far too many things he wished he hadn’t learned.

In the past he had desperately acted nice even to the point of brown-nosing, but after reaching this position he only got irritated with others.

“…Come to think of it, I was a bit sensitive in that position too.”

Tyler realized he had been quite irritable at the hearing a few months ago about the incident when Hilde was first attacked upon joining the Order.

The reason he got especially angry when Eugene said Blanc’s motive seemed to be just for fun was because he thought it might actually be true.

There were too many incomprehensible things in the world.

Things that made no sense yet were reality.

A behemoth saving and killing someone just for fun was the same.

Vile, whom the Order was now trying to track, was like Blanc, no, far worse than her in terms of cruelty and damage caused.

“…Should we really be meddling with him. That madman.”