A Promise to Return
For the first time in a long while, I slept without tossing and turning. That alone told me how thoroughly exhausted my body had been.
My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright. Once I was up, I was the kind of person who got up with a vengeance.
Maybe I'd slept too long—my throat was dry. I scratched at my neck in a daze and closed my eyes again.
My eyelids refused to stay shut.
I let out a long sigh, yawned wide, and shoved myself forward.
"Nnngh…"
I stretched out my stiff body until it loosened, then rose from the bed.
I slipped into my slippers and shuffled straight into the bathroom.
Shhhh—.
I washed my face once under the cold running water, then smoothed on moisturizer so it wouldn't dry out. Part of it was basic skin care; the rest was that cracked lips were just plain annoying.
Even after the cold rinse, my head still felt foggy.
I stared blankly into the mirror. I'd always been thin, but my face had gone half its usual size.
I blinked several times, then hung my head.
Probably because I'd pulled an all-nighter before finally crashing. My body felt like it was floating.
Still, my overall condition was fine.
I lifted my head again, stretched hard in the mirror, twisted my torso left and right, scratched my scalp once more, and left the bathroom.
Pina was still dead to the world.
The way she slept with her mouth slightly open was genuinely cute. I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my hands together.
My body had gone a little cold. The Thermal Powder was wearing off.
I rummaged for more powder and sprinkled it gently around us.
Then I just sat there on the bed again, staring into space.
I'd slept too much to go back to sleep, yet I didn't have the energy to move either.
Grrrroowl—.
Ah… an earthquake had just hit my stomach.
Come to think of it, I hadn't had a proper meal since we'd come outside.
Time to eat.
I licked my lips once and stood up again.
I couldn't leave Pina behind alone, so I rested a hand on the bed and gave her a gentle shake.
"Pina. Pina."
"Auuung…"
No sign of her waking.
I leaned in and murmured quietly by her ear.
"Time to get up~. We've got to eat~."
"Auaaah!"
Pina shot upright mid-sleep-talk.
I jerked back in surprise and just stared at her.
She gazed blankly ahead with bleary eyes, then turned to me and grinned sheepishly.
"If I jump up all at once, the sleepiness goes away completely."
The shock had jolted me wide awake too.
"I'll get ready. I'm starving."
Pina calmly swung her feet off the bed, slipped into her slippers, and headed for the bathroom.
I nodded and changed clothes.
Once she finished getting ready just as quickly, we stepped outside together.
Eat first, then go find Neveumano. That was the plan.
We cut across the central brazier toward the mess hall.
"Alice! Pina!"
Someone called out to us along the way.
Adelaide and her attendants.
"Princess. Hello…"
"Yes, good to see you both. Just waking up, are you?"
I answered briefly.
"Yeah. Can we eat now?"
"You can. Fortunately, it's lunchtime."
"Ah… good."
I'd collapsed right after lunch yesterday, so it seemed I'd been out for roughly a full day.
That was how tired my body had been. No matter how tough you were, pulling an all-nighter and then continuously working your muscles was pure insanity.
"…So why'd you call us?"
"Alice. I'm sorry, but you'll need to prepare to leave at once."
"Something urgent?"
I tilted my head and asked.
Adelaide nodded with uncharacteristic gravity, free of her usual theatrics, and handed me a map.
"Enormous footprints…. The location of the yeti, Neveumano. General Gero asked that it be delivered to you."
Gero? That guy?
I blinked and scanned the map.
On it, the creature was marked precisely in the snowfield beyond the tundra.
"Neveumano… a yeti?"
"Yes. The name for the monster that left those massive tracks we've been chasing."
"Oh…. What a coincidence."
Pina fell into thought at the word "yeti."
"We saw a monster too, actually. Ah—Alice-nim, is it all right to say?"
"It's fine."
"Mm… Alice-nim roughly named that one a snow woman—Neveterde."
"…A snow woman?"
"That monster was friendly toward humans."
There was no longer any reason to hide what we knew about Neveterde.
Once Neveumano's location was known, everything would come out eventually anyway.
"So we didn't kill it…. Its body was covered in white fur. From the legs down it was black, though."
"A yeti and a snow woman……. Our thoughts happened to align."
It wasn't coincidence.
Neveumano and Neveterde were a paired boss.
"In that case, it must have walked on two legs."
"Yes, exactly! And it knew how to use its hands, I guess? The kid was smart and super cute."
Pina chattered on.
You're even cuter.
I didn't have the guts to say it out loud. I only thought it.
Adelaide listened to Pina's description and stroked her chin.
"So it may not be coincidence after all. Do you know where that monster is now?"
"It was originally in the conifer forest, but it followed us all the way into the tundra. And then…"
I hesitated a moment before speaking.
"It caught the scent of the survivors we'd rescued and vanished in a flash."
In other words, Neveterde had smelled the lingering scent of Neveumano on the survivors and left.
I tossed Adelaide and Pina just enough evidence.
"If the two monsters are connected, that could be dangerous…"
"…It's fine. I'm enough."
"No, that isn't what I meant."
Huh?
I cocked my head at Adelaide's words.
"Why?"
"General Gero has already departed with the kingdom army."
"…What?"
"Whaaat?!"
Completely unexpected.
Pina and I both rounded our eyes and stared at Adelaide.
Adelaide pressed a hand to her forehead and shook her head.
"They're going to rescue the survivors, but… he also intends to take down Neveumano."
Dangerous.
Neveumano alone would be one thing, but if Neveterde was with it, the two of them would generate synergy and become far stronger.
I rolled my eyes for a second.
"…They're going to rescue the survivors?"
"Yes. Seven still haven't returned. But it won't be a simple rescue—he'll be aiming to subjugate the creature entirely."
"And only the kingdom army went?"
"Yes."
I was somewhat worried about the kingdom troops.
General Gero himself could go hang for all I cared, but the rest of those people were another matter.
Was he planning to hog all the glory for himself?
"…Then why give me this map?"
"He said he couldn't trust the other hunters, but that you—the one who brought down Disastro—would be enough."
Those words made me think more deeply for a moment.
Maybe General Gero really had rushed out for the sake of his own people.
If he was simply a soldier who disliked hunters, that would make sense.
And if, as a general of the kingdom army, he had swallowed his pride and still prepared me as a last bulwark to protect his men…
"…When did they leave?"
"A full day ago already."
If he'd taken the kingdom forces stationed in Lacrima, the numbers would be large and their pace would be slow.
But with a full day's head start, even if I chased hard I probably couldn't stop the engagement itself.
I drew a deep breath.
Filling my lungs with Lacrima's cold air cleared my head.
"I'll eat and leave right after."
"…You don't need any additional support?"
"Nope."
At my blunt answer, Pina looked up at me and asked.
"R-really?"
Right now my mind was clear and my gear was in perfect shape.
I even had the Famine Sword Carestia, which I hadn't possessed during the Disastro fight.
It was the ideal setup for taking down a supreme-grade monster.
"…This time, alone is enough."
Adelaide looked at me with worried eyes.
"Alice. Do you mean that?"
I affirmed without hesitation.
"Of course."
I'd played this game pretty casually, sure—but I was still a veteran who'd enjoyed it for a long time.
Against Disastro I'd prepared so thoroughly because I couldn't break the shell alone. Now that I had a proper weapon, it would be a shame if I couldn't handle a supreme-grade monster.
Pina offered advice in a trembling voice. She sounded almost desperate.
"E-even so, shouldn't we prepare at least a little, like we did with Disastro?"
"Yeah. Eat, get ready, and we're done."
"Hahahaha…. Yes, just eating is enough. Food is enough……"
Pina muttered like someone whose soul had left her body.
I rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry so much."
"I can't feel at ease……"
"I'm here to put an end to this situation."
I had come to this land to kill Miteraos. There was no reason for me to fall to some mid-boss stepping stone.
"The reason I exist in this world is entirely for things like this."
I said it and smiled softly.
Pina looked up at me with moist eyes.
"A-Alice-nim…"
"Just trust me."
Then Adelaide spoke quietly.
"Hunter. My friend. The enemy is surely a formidable monster. Judging by the size of those footprints, it is a creature that rules this region the way Disastro did."
Adelaide clasped her hands before her chest, hesitated a moment, then opened her mouth again.
"…Alice. If you believe that coming from the future is your destiny—to save that future—then never stake your life on destiny. If you die, what good is any of it?"
Huh?
I blinked and looked at Adelaide.
Hey, I'm not planning on dying.
Adelaide seemed to be regarding me as some kind of suicide candidate.
"For the sake of me, who places her trust in you—return safely, together with the kingdom army."
I had no idea what misunderstanding Adelaide was under, but if you only listened to her words, this fight sounded like the final battle.
No, it's not the end yet…! Besides this thing there are still three more regions and the real final boss left!
Save lines like that for later—there's plenty of time!
Still, Adelaide's words were perfect for stirring up nostalgia.
In Hunter Land I had encountered Miteraos once. I failed to subjugate it and couldn't catch the fleeing creature.
That was the fixed story progression, but the price had been the total annihilation of the kingdom army and the hunter corps.
No—more precisely, they hadn't died. All of them had been swept up by Miteraos's power and erased without a trace from the timeline.
The player alone was immune to timeline erasure, because the player was a being who had already been erased from the future and fallen into the past.
A twisted past and a ruined future.
To reverse everything, Miteraos had to be killed and the distorted time restored.
Later, right before the final battle—the last update—Adelaide had said this:
"Return and tell everyone of your heroic deeds. That is a promise, my hunter."
Yes. Exactly those words.
It was funny, but Adelaide's speech stirred a strange feeling in me.
In the game I had never been able to answer the princess.
But now I could.
"Of course."
I nodded and answered.
It wasn't a line meant for this timing… but for us right now, Neveumano was every bit as dangerous as the still-undiscovered Miteraos.
And again—I had no intention of dying.
Even if I did die, I'd see it through to the end. Damn right.