A Temporary Refuge
Monsters that roamed the same region generally knew one another's faces and forms. When they crossed paths, they rarely fought to the death; more often than not, they simply withdrew. Monsters understood pain, and they prioritized their own survival. Most of them respected one another's territory and preferred to avoid encounters altogether.
Their meals were limited to the weakest of the low-grade monsters. Among themselves, they merely contested territory.
But the land of anomalies—the highlands where snow never melted—was a peculiar case.
This land had sprung into existence without warning, warped by Miteraos's power. The monsters there had lost the territories they once called home and were forced to start over from scratch. Whether they wanted to or not, they had to fight to survive.
Neveterde was no exception.
Under ordinary circumstances, she would have lived safely at Neveumano's side and eventually borne young. But an unintended separation had left her in a difficult position.
The power of a Supreme-grade monster belonged to Neveumano. Neveterde's own strength barely scraped the upper end of High-grade. Facing an Elder Species of Mid-grade was already a problem; meeting another High-grade monster meant she could scarcely escape without a fatal wound. On top of that, she had never been fond of fighting to begin with.
And now that same Neveterde had been dropped into the wilderness without Neveumano.
The snowfields were a harsh place to live. The perpetual cold made daily survival a struggle, and wounds healed slowly in the weather. Monsters died easily here, and those that remained had grown vicious and on edge. For a creature that had spent long years living in symbiosis with Neveumano, it was a trying situation.
So she needed another relationship, if only for a while.
♪ ♬
The ones Neveterde chose were animals she had never seen before in her life.
"…What is she trying to say?"
"We don't seem to be communicating at all. Well, she is a monster, so I suppose that makes sense…"
Humans.
They were a kind of creature Neveterde had never encountered in all her years. To her, they were fascinating animals—smaller than she was, and weak. It was a wonder they managed to survive in such an extreme land at all.
And yet they had reduced a Luga-lac to a near-death state without taking a single wound themselves, and they paid no attention whatsoever to her voice. They also seemed fond of bones—utterly useless bones that weren't even meat. Not that they ate them, either.
Watching them walk the ground on two legs, Neveterde decided they were much like herself, only different in size. Their fur grew only on their heads and came in different colors—one white as snow, the other brown like tree bark.
Of the two, Neveterde found herself feeling an unbidden kinship with the one whose hair was like white threads. Something about her reminded Neveterde of Neveumano, too.
♪ ♬~
"She seems awfully interested in your hair, Alice-nim."
"Does that mean she wants to pull it out?"
"Th-that's far too extreme! A sweet little thing like her would never think that! We should only be showing her good things…"
"…Mommy?"
In this unknown land where she had nowhere to rest her heart, Neveterde finally found a measure of relief. She intended to impose on them a little—until she found Neveumano, at least.
Hunters surveyed the coniferous forests; the Royal Army surveyed the tundra and snowfields.
That was the rule established between them, and the division of labor for finding Neveumano.
What General Gero had kept hidden, however, was Neveumano's actual location.
Until relatively recently, large footprints had been sighted on the tundra side—terrain completely opposite the coniferous forests. Gero had no intention of sharing that with the hunters. Finding those great tracks and bringing the creature down was a feat that belonged to the Royal Army alone.
Gero had never once considered true collaboration with hunters. From the start, his plan had been to leave them elsewhere and make a show of playing along. Things would have been simpler without that particular hunter.
"That hunter…"
Gero muttered under his breath.
A woman with white hair that fluttered in the wind—strikingly unusual. She had appeared out of nowhere claiming to be a Master Hunter, accompanied by a princess, and by her mere presence had become the fulcrum balancing the Royal Army and the hunters at this outpost.
She would be in the coniferous forest by now, but Gero found he disliked that Master Hunter a great deal.
"She certainly seems exceptional at killing monsters, I'll give her that."
Gero picked up a fork. He speared a piece of fruit from the plate beside the status board on the table and put it in his mouth, then pictured the white-haired hunter in his mind.
When she had returned, Gero had been left speechless. She and her partner had accomplished alone what knights and soldiers could not—and they had taken down their own share of monsters on top of it. The title of Master Hunter was no empty honorific.
Hunters were, without question, individuals of considerable strategic value. Unlike knights and soldiers who spent their time inside the walls repeating drills that were not true combat, hunters clashed with monsters on the outer fringes and fought with their lives on the line. The Royal Army did accumulate experience by going out on monster subjugations to prepare for various contingencies, but compared to hunters who faced monsters in small elite units, there were many shortcomings.
And among them, a Master. She might well be on par with a knight—or beyond. It was simply a pity that such a person was not in the Royal Army's hands. In the end, a hunter was merely a member of the Association, an armed organization.
Gero believed that the more chaotic the situation became, the more the military needed to remain unshaken and strong. That would be secured once they brought down the Supreme-grade monster.
As he sat reviewing the operations board, someone entered the tent. It was a knight with a splint on his arm—Evan, a 10-captain of the outpost.
"…General."
"Ah. It's you."
Time had passed since that day. Evan's condition had improved considerably, and the time was approaching when he could rise from his sickbed.
"Feeling well enough to move around now?"
"Yes…"
"I see."
Gero nodded.
"Then… what do you want to do?"
"It may be presumptuous of me, but I would like to go out as soon as the splint comes off tomorrow."
Evan spoke calmly.
Stubbornness?
Gero glanced at Evan's eyes. But he saw no such sign.
"Very well. Do that."
"…Are you certain that's all right?"
"If I refuse, you'll just grumble about it under your breath."
At Gero's words, Evan let out a strained sound.
"I won't ask about what happened before. The operation isn't finished yet. There will be plenty of chances to make up for it."
Gero looked at the status board—a map of the Lacrima Outpost region, covered with information gathered so far by the 10-captains, the soldiers, and the hunters.
"Go to the snowfields."
Gero spoke quietly, so his voice would not carry outside the tent.
"It's clearly not in the coniferous forest. While you were resting, Evan, the other 10-captains went through the snowfields and found nothing but footprints. I don't know how something that size managed to hide itself in snowfields with so few places to take cover."
"…I'll try searching myself."
"Of course you will. You've rested long enough—it's your turn to work."
Finding a monster was no easy task. This land held more than one, and footprints vanished with time. Fail to move at the right moment, and you lost the trail.
Evan nodded and answered.
"Then I'll begin first thing tomorrow."
"Good. I'll be waiting for favorable news."
Gero set down his fork with a small smile. Evan bowed his head once toward Gero and stepped outside.
"She listens better than I expected."
I held my palm out in front of Neveterde and waved it. Sitting with her legs folded before me, Neveterde waved her own hand in time with mine.
"Isn't she adorable?"
"I wouldn't know about adorable."
If anything, you're the cuter one.
I glanced at Pina and thought it to myself. No matter how cute Neveterde might seem, she was still a predator—a monster. Keep calling her adorable and get blindsided, and then what?
I waved a stick at her. Neveterde swiped at it with her sharp hands, flailing after the branch. Not a chance. The stick traced a perfect arc and slipped past her fingers every time.
"…Alice-nim, for someone who talks like that, you're awfully good at playing with her, aren't you?"
"I'm just resting."
"You actually like her, don't you?"
Like her?
I looked at Neveterde. To my eyes she looked exactly like a cat—more precisely, a dog-like cat. In appearance alone she resembled a long-haired breed. Bird feet, and yet she acted like this.
I offered my considered opinion in a low voice.
"These kinds shed. Not a fan."
In the brief moment I looked away, Neveterde shot her hand out and seized the stick.
♩!
"Ah. She got it."
I handed the stick over. Neveterde passed it right back to me, and we repeated the same game.
"You seem to like her even more than I do."
"No."
Looking at Neveterde brought back old memories. Before I turned ten, my family had kept a pet—a dog, clever and a little haughty, and thoroughly endearing. We all doted on her. Then I became a university student, and we had no choice but to part ways. She grew old while I was still in school, suffered through one minor illness after another, and died.
Keeping a pet came with its share of hard things. I don't mean the years of raising her—those were full of more joy than anything else. What I mean is the ending. Watching a dog grow frail and weary, all those years suddenly counting for nothing, felt like something tearing inside me. The day she died was worse. For a long time afterward I couldn't master the grief, and I remember being depressed.
The dog we said goodbye to had been pure white, too. Neveterde was a mix of white and black, but when I looked at her pale upper body, I found myself projecting that old image onto her without meaning to.
"What am I supposed to do with you."
I furrowed my brow.
To find Miteraos hidden within the anomalies, the only thing I had to do was kill Supreme-grade monsters. Even that wasn't a certainty—I was simply following the game. In the game, Miteraos had appeared only after the Supreme-grade monsters of each region had been slain. Was there no other way?
Sitting here like this was starting to feel foolish. What was the point of building a bond with a creature that would soon have to die?
I set the stick down and stood. Our eyes met. Sitting as she was, Neveterde's height matched mine exactly. She tilted her head. Her blinking blue eyes held not a trace of hostility.
I spoke quietly to Pina.
"…If you're done resting, let's go."
"Huh? Already? We just got here."
"We need to find the Supreme-grade monster. Quickly."
How will Lacrima end, I wonder.
I glanced back at Neveterde. She had risen after me and was lingering awkwardly behind my back, as if she somehow understood we were leaving.
I pressed a hand to my forehead and sighed. My head was already starting to hurt.