Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 72

After returning from Donua, I spent some time focused on self-training.

And before I knew it, the day came for launching the new department that Dominic had mentioned.

It was a department dedicated to tracking Vile, the most recent behemoth among those Beast Kings said to be capable of destroying entire nations single-handedly.

Given the gravity of this mission, higher-ranked hunter Sephira was appointed as department head, with me serving as deputy head.

“…Why exactly?”

I said while looking at my deputy head appointment letter in the conference room.

“Why am I deputy head?”

“It makes perfect sense hierarchy-wise.” 

Crowty said from his seat at the head of the table.

“Among this department’s members, only you and Sephira are formal hunters. Since Sephira is a higher-ranked hunter she’s the head, and with no mid-ranked hunters around, you become deputy head.”

Head was Sephira, deputy head was me.

The other members were Dominic, Zepetia, and Oscar who joined after Ozwald’s earnest request.

Strictly speaking, what Crowty said wasn’t wrong.

“But isn’t Mr. Dominic around mid-ranked hunter level?”

I pointed at Dominic who was quietly sitting to one side.

A judge’s abilities generally fall between mid and higher-ranked.

Dominic is still young and lacks experience, so he should be around mid-ranked level.

“I’m from the Heresy Inquisition Department so Beast hunting isn’t my field.”

Didn’t you say before that the Heresy Inquisition Department stepped in because Vile was once part of the Order?

“And we’ve already investigated Mr. Eugene’s career background. The Heresy Inquisition Department has judged you to be a trustworthy talent.”

I turned my head toward Sephira sitting on the other side.

“…”

Meeting my gaze, she simply nodded without a word.

Hey, why do you look so proud?

“Well, just accept it. There’s no one else but you anyway.” 

Crowty said.

“Um, I may not be an expert but…” 

Oscar spoke up from his corner.

“Isn’t that person a lower-ranked hunter? Has there ever been precedent for an active lower-ranked hunter serving as deputy head?”

Good point from an outsider’s objective perspective.

There have been cases of retired lower-ranked hunters transferring to administrative roles and rising to head departments.

I think Corsis was originally a lower-ranked hunter who retired due to injury and worked his way up from the bottom of the Development Department.

“Never. But this department itself – the ‘Behemoth Tracking Special Unit’ – has no precedent. That’s also why an outsider like you can sit here.”

Crowty said to him.

“Well then I have nothing more to say. The old man said trying new things is important.”

Ozwald had been looking for opportunities to have Oscar learn practical experience at headquarters.

Somehow learning about this department’s creation, he mobilized all his connections and authority to get his disciple Oscar assigned here.

Oscar himself seemed somewhat interested in Beast hunting and readily accepted.

But we’re dealing with an active behemoth here?

No matter how talented he is, putting an inexperienced boy in a place like this…

Or did they think this mess of a department was actually suitable?

They probably won’t be able to accomplish anything major with this level of staffing anyway.

Finally there was Zepetia in the corner, but just being present at such a gathering seemed overwhelming as she stayed curled up without saying a word.

“Well, let’s end the inauguration ceremony here.” 

Said Crowty as he stood up after distributing the appointment letters.

“What?”

“Did you expect some grand banquet?”

“Ah, no. But was that the inauguration ceremony?”

This is a mess in so many ways.

“It’s technically a department after all. Anyway, with Sephira as representative, your department is now officially under my direct command as overall field commander. I don’t know what the Saintess was thinking creating an organization like this, but I’ll provide whatever support I can within budget constraints, so do your best.”

With that, Crowty left the room.

Only five people remained in this large conference room – myself, Sephira, Dominic, Oscar and Zepetia.

Three of them are the taciturn type, and Oscar who actually talks is an outsider who doesn’t know any details.

Rather, we need to teach him, which is what Ozwald wanted.

“Um… Lady Sephira?”

I spoke to the silent Sephira.

“Yes?”

“Should we head to our department office first? Where is it?”

“It’s here. We’ve been assigned this conference room.”

“Ah…”

That ended the conversation.

“…”

“…”

“…Are hunters usually this quiet?”

Oscar asked.

“Not particularly. There are actually a lot of noisy ones.”

I shrugged.

I couldn’t very well tell them directly that they lack social skills, especially in front of a higher-ranked hunter and Heresy Inquisition Department Judge.

“I heard we’re tracking something called a behemoth, but specifically how strong is a behemoth?”

“One could destroy a small nation by itself.”

“Ah… Wait, what? We’re tracking something like that?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I just thought it was… a strong Beast? Hold on, we’re supposed to catch a nation-destroying monster with just the people here?”

“That’s right.”

“Have any of you actually fought a behemoth before?”

“Lady Sephira here has fought one directly.”

I pointed to Sephira.

“Oh, ohh. Well you’re a higher-ranked hunter after all, right? So how did it go?”

“I lost.” 

Sephira said calmly.

“But it was at least an even fight, right?”

“I was utterly defeated without landing a single blow. I was lucky just to survive.”

“But you’re one of the Order’s strongest hunters!”

“Yes. If Mr. Eugene hadn’t been there, I would have died.”

“How did you possibly… Huh?”

Oscar looked at me again.

“I just got lucky and bought time with a surprise attack. That’s all. Besides, that one wasn’t even trying to kill us.”

I waved it off.

That first meeting with Blanc still makes my heart pound in a bad way.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Blanc around lately – what is she up to?

I thought we’d definitely run into each other at least once when I went to Donua.

“Anyway, orders are orders so we should handle this diligently… Zepetia.”

I called out to her as she sat silently in the corner.

“Y-yes?”

“You know Vile best out of all of us. Are there any places that might be good to investigate?”

“W-well…”

“…Even something minor would help.”

I gave you hints before.

The Blood Moon poetry collection tells the story of a wolf devouring a great serpent.

The wolf refers to the mountain range in the Drang Basin where the poet lived, and the great serpent represents the river system that begins in that basin.

The setting was that the poem was written because from above it looked like a massive jaw eating a serpent.

The Drang Basin was originally one huge mountain, but long ago a meteor impact turned the center into flatland.

The old laboratory of Vile that we need to visit is where he researched moonstones from that meteor and bloodstones that can only be harvested from certain Beasts.

The method for enhancing equipment using moonstones and bloodstones is right there in that laboratory.

It would be good to bring Hilde too, but she’s not officially a hunter yet so she can’t be deployed on missions like this.

Even Oscar the outsider only got inserted as a guest member because Great Mage Ozwald really pushed for it.

“Um, well…”

“As Mr. Eugene said, even something minor would help. Places or objects Vile was interested in, small notes or memos he wrote, anything would be fine.” 

Dominic said.

“T-then there’s this…”

Zepetia took out the poetry collection she had borrowed from the library yesterday.

“I-it’s the same as the book that was in grandfather’s study. I’m not sure about any locations… there’s nothing like that written in it…”

Indeed, the story of the wolf eating the great serpent doesn’t directly mention the Drang Basin.

Perhaps it was too much to expect her to make the connection to the poet’s hometown.

In the end, maybe this was a puzzle that only I could solve since I already knew the answer.

I failed to consider it from her perspective.

But this is good enough.

Since Zepetia brought up the hint first, if I could notice from here…

“…Actually, there is one location mentioned in this poetry collection.”

Dominic took the book and opened it.

“Here, the part about the wolf eating the great serpent.”

I looked at him in surprise.

Did he figure it out right away?

“Do you know about this too, Mr. Eugene?”

Noticing my surprise, he looked at me as well.

“…It’s about the poet’s hometown.”

I tested the waters slightly.

Still, it would be better for Dominic to reveal the answer rather than me.

“You know it then. It’s the Drang Basin. A place where they say a mountain suddenly became a basin due to a massive explosion long ago.”

It was a meteor rather than an explosion, but that’s an excellent answer.

“Of course, it’s a stretch to say Vile is there, but it’s worth investigating.”

He’s quite articulate during work despite seeming so taciturn.

When I met him as an NPC his dialogue was so brief I thought that was just how he was.

We concluded to head to the Drang Basin first, then dispersed to coordinate our schedules.

Though called a department, it felt more like a team, and with no specific work procedures it felt less like belonging to a department and more like team members gathered for a single project.

That seems to be the real nature of this organization too.

When I returned to our quarters, Hilde greeted me.

“You’re back already?”

“Yeah. Not much happens on the first day anyway.”

“They said you’re tracking a real behemoth right? That’s amazing.”

“You’ve met several former behemoths yourself.”

“Huh? I have?”

Ah right, that’s something only I knew.

Iron Hans is the only one she directly heard was a behemoth.

The settings about Beast of Bone Fragments, Jack, and Kenken were all facts that only I knew.

“I got confused for a moment. Sorry.”

“…Senior, do you remember?”

“What?”

“In that cave… when you tricked that Beast that controlled corpses.”

“Hm? Ah yes, that did happen.”

“That ‘Blanc’ you mentioned then… that was a Beast too right?”

“…Yes. A behemoth. Who told you about that?”

“I heard about it while training with the other higher-ranked hunters. That Senior is being pursued by a behemoth called Blanc…”

I was deliberately keeping quiet about it.

“I was too caught up in things at the time, and completely forgot about it afterwards. But I’ve been doing some thinking and research on my own lately.”

“By yourself? Ah, sorry. I’m not dismissing you, it was just sudden…”

“Senior… won’t you quit that mission after all?”

“What?”

“You’re already being hunted by a behemoth. By that dangerous one called Blanc.”

“It’s fine. She’s not even showing up anymore anyway.”

“…Senior, I have something to confess.”