Disastro
Melchior stood before the outpost entrance, gazing out across the wasteland.
It was a land that stole the breath from your lungs just to look at it.
He bent his knee and ran a hand across the ground.
Coarse sand, cracked and split between his fingers.
Could anything living even survive here?
Would reclaiming this land mean anything at all?
He was exploring this place for the sake of the kingdom, but the unease was real. Too many inexplicable things had happened; his mind could not keep pace with the flow of events.
The prince rubbed his throbbing forehead, then lifted his head at the approach of the scribe beside him.
Scribe Biopia opened her mouth.
"Your Highness."
"Yes, Scribe. What is it?"
"Three hunters are returning, over there."
At her words, Melchior turned his gaze beyond the wasteland.
Just as Biopia said, three hunters were trudging laboriously in their direction.
Noah's party.
Melchior rose and called for soldiers.
"You there—three of you."
"Yes, sir!"
"Go help them with their loads. These are people who have worked hard for this kingdom."
At Melchior's words, the soldiers moved. Watching this, Biopia let out a small sound of admiration.
"Oh~."
"What are you about to say now, Scribe."
Melchior looked at Biopia with an unpleasant glare. Biopia replied while taking notes.
"I didn't know Your Highness was capable of considering hunters. Aren't hunters, to us, nothing more than blades for dealing with monsters?"
Biopia's words were a little cold. They were not her true feelings, but they reflected the thinking of the royal family.
Melchior nodded as he spoke.
"Indeed, one could think of it that way. No matter how much the royal family calls hunters butchers, they are still citizens of Cartadia all the same. And right now, we are moving toward the same purpose."
At Melchior's words, Biopia's eyes went wide. She had not expected such words to come from the prince's mouth. She looked at him with a subtle smile.
"You've changed a great deal."
"The royal family is sensitive to trends, after all."
So even a spoiled prince can grow in this barren land.
Biopia chuckled.
"It feels like looking at Her Highness the Princess."
That remark struck Melchior's reverse scale. His eyes flashed as he glared at Biopia.
"Scribe. Apologize."
His crimson eyes blazed intensely. Biopia, flustered by that look, asked:
"Pardon?"
"Did you not just say I was like my younger sibling. Apologize at once."
That was the problem?
Biopia stammered, then bowed her head once.
"Ah… I'm sorry."
"I can let every other slip of the tongue pass, but that one I cannot tolerate."
Melchior was picking a fight over the strangest thing. Was this worse than being told to go to hell?
Biopia bowed her head again.
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind."
"There won't be a second time."
"Yessir."
Biopia answered short and firm, then raised her head. Melchior regarded her quietly, then something occurred to him and he spoke.
"Scribe, you have a younger brother, don't you?"
The sudden mention of her brother made Biopia tilt her head.
"Ah, my younger brother? Yes, that's right."
"How would you feel if I said you reminded me of your brother?"
Biopia fell into thought for a while without a word. But she did not have the angry atmosphere Melchior did. Having finished thinking, she carefully opened her mouth.
"Well, we get along so well that it wouldn't really… hit me that hard—"
"Gah!"
Biopia's words provoked Melchior. Listening quietly, he bulged his eyes. Biopia stopped mid-sentence and stared at him, dumbfounded.
"…Pardon?"
Melchior explained it like this.
"That's a fake family. By nature, siblings are beings born to torment each other. You simply hadn't realized it when you were young. For example, until I came to this outpost, I deliberately slacked off on the duties given to me and dumped everything on my younger sibling."
What kind of bullshit is this.
Biopia nodded along half-listening while thinking something else entirely.
"Ah, yes…"
"That's how you grow closer. You measure each other's capacity. Who is fit to be king. I want to test my sibling's capacity."
Yes, I understand.
"What is he even saying, seriously…"
Biopia's inner thoughts and spoken words came out reversed. Realizing too late, she blinked and pressed her lips shut with her pen. Then she carefully gauged Melchior's mood.
Melchior nodded more calmly than expected.
"Is that so. My heart is torn asunder."
"I-I'm sorry."
"Very well, I'll let it pass. I am merciful, after all. A subordinate's mistake is soon my own mistake, I suppose."
"As expected of Your Highness!"
"In exchange, your promotion is rejected. Work that much harder to make up for how torn my heart is."
"Oh, have mercy upon me!"
"Bah, I don't want to hear any more."
Melchior spun on his heel and walked off. Biopia followed behind him, cold sweat beading on her brow.
Am I actually not going to get promoted at this rate?
Biopia wanted a promotion. Like anyone else, she was a royal scribe who wanted to live large and loud. Of course, a scribe's job that was easy to slack off on wasn't bad either—but wanting higher places was human nature.
Just then, the three soldiers who had helped carry the hunters' loads earlier approached.
"Your Highness!"
"Ah, yes. Did you carry the loads well?"
"We did, sir."
"Good. Well done. So, what is it?"
At Melchior's question, one of the soldiers stepped forward.
"Well… the hunters say they have a report they need to deliver."
Melchior nodded. They still had zero information about this land, so even minor reports were important.
"Understood. I'll go see them myself. Where do I need to go?"
Biopia thought this was her chance and raised her hand.
"Your Highness, I'll come along too!"
"Of course a scribe should come along. Follow me."
"…Yes!"
Melchior and Biopia followed the soldiers and entered the temporary lodging building for hunters. The soldiers escorted the two to the door, then left again for their posts.
Knock, knock—.
Melchior carefully rapped on the door. A moment later, the door creaked open slowly.
"Who… ah, Your Highness!"
The face that poked out was a male hunter's.
"I've come to hear your report."
"Ah, we were about to go to you…"
"Don't worry about it. It's more convenient for me this way."
So saying, Melchior went inside. Biopia also carefully nodded in greeting and stepped into the lodging.
Inside, the remaining two female hunters were frantically organizing their gear. The male hunter approached the short-haired one of the two—Noah—and clapped his hands to draw her attention.
"Hey hey, His Highness is here."
"…Ah, His Highness?"
Only then did Noah stand and look at the prince. Melchior gestured at the hunters.
"Don't fuss too much. Finish what you were doing. I have no intention of interrupting your rest. I'll just hear the report and leave."
"Ah, understood! Thank you…"
Melchior sat in a chair and leaned back. Biopia sat beside him and set her notebook on the table. Melchior toyed with an empty cup as he slowly began.
"Names?"
It was Noah who answered the prince. The male hunter's name was Marco. And the long-haired one was Chiara. The leader was Noah, and Noah was a hunter who had now been at it for six years.
"Right. What did you want to report?"
"First… there's one dangerous monster."
Noah calmly described the monster she had seen. As Melchior pieced together the creature's appearance in his mind from Noah's words, he slowly opened his half-lidded eyes and looked at Noah with a thoroughly stiffened face.
"That… isn't that Disastro."
"Disastro… you say?"
"Yes. That is the creature's name. The Starving Earth Dragon…. Our ancestors who beheld its calamitous form gave it the name Disastro."
This is troublesome.
Melchior clutched his forehead and let out a sigh. If three people had all seen the same thing, there was no chance of a misidentification.
"So even something like that has appeared in this world."
Melchior broke out in a cold sweat. If it was in the wasteland, they would have to kill it quickly before relocating their base. But the situation did not allow for that. Angolo already had no equipment, and the Master Hunters were elsewhere—they were completely exposed. They could handle mid-grade or high-grade threats, but they had no capacity whatsoever to face a supreme-grade one.
Biopia, who had been taking notes, also realized this was a serious situation and looked at Melchior.
"…Shall we request support from the kingdom?"
"That would be the right call. If we leave it alone, it will devour everything."
Melchior nodded. Disastro had exceeded what he could handle. This was a kingdom-level problem. But recklessly moving troops would create other problems. How would they cover the cost of moving that many troops, who would defend the country in the meantime, and what would they do if something dangerous happened in another region while the forces were gone?
His head ached.
Melchior reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy. With rough hands he unwrapped it and tossed the candy into his mouth. His mind raced. His red eyes turned toward the hunters.
"Listen, hunters."
"Ah, yes."
"Do you believe you can face Disastro?"
"……"
No one was certain. The hunters who had witnessed the monster's majesty were devastated. Melchior asked once more.
"Even if we summoned every Master Hunter, would it be possible?"
"…Maybe."
It was Noah who answered into that silence. Noah thought of Alice.
I can kill it.
That was what Alice had said. If it's a monster, it dies in the end. It's a living thing no different from us humans.
"We can kill it."
Chiara looked at Noah with panicked eyes.
"Noah! You saw it too. That—that monster. How are we supposed to kill that. That's just a natural disaster…. We won't be able to stop it."
"It's not a natural disaster. It's a monster. That means we can kill it."
"That's… too reckless…"
Chiara said, cowed. Noah looked at her and smiled softly.
"Chiara, did you forget? Being a hunter is reckless by nature."
Noah herself had forgotten this fact. That was why she'd been reluctant to challenge anything. Because her life was precious. But what was the reason she'd first become a hunter? Money, of course—but more than that, it was admiration. Admiration for those who cut through the fear of the unknown and fought. Alice had restored that original resolve, Noah thought. From the first time she met her until now.
Melchior smirked at Noah's confident expression. In Noah he saw Alice—that bold, fearless woman.
"…Yes. This is what a hunter is."
Their unstoppable freedom. The will contained within it. If they were soldiers, they would simply obey orders. They work because they're paid, and they stake their lives fighting under the banner of serving the country. But these people try to face the worst situations of their own free will.
This was surely what my younger sibling had been looking at.
Melchior nodded.
"Very well. Has the mapping of that area been completed?"
"Yes, Your Highness. We've surveyed the surroundings."
"Good. Leave the map with the Scribe…. Scribe. We will not submit a support request yet."
"…What? Are you serious?"
Biopia looked at the prince in shock.
"I already wrote it."
"Just draw a line through it and write 'cancelled.'"
"Ah, yes…"
Biopia grumbled inwardly as she scribbled lines through it with her pen. Watching this, Melchior turned his gaze back to the hunters.
"Then, any other reports?"
"Ah, Your Highness. This is hardly even a report, but…"
This time it was the male hunter, Marco, who spoke up. Marco gradually recalled what he had seen as he spoke.
"…My words may sound like a joke to you."
"Not funny in the least. I'll listen seriously, so go ahead."
"I saw the sky of Sperita, from this place."
At those words, the scribe's hand stopped.
"…What do you mean by that?"
"I'm a capital man. Though it's been five years since I left the capital as a hunter, I still haven't forgotten the sky I watched for over a decade. The capital's sky was that beautiful. And during this expedition, when I looked at the night sky, it was far too familiar."
Marco covered his mouth.
"Your Highness and the Scribe would know. Around this time of year as winter approaches, until winter ends—don't the constellations of Mesarak, Piccolac, and Achere appear in the sky?"
"You're right."
Melchior pictured the kingdom's night sky as it would look about now. The great dog Mesarak and the little dog Piccolac, and the archer Achere. Constellations resembling those forms hung in the sky.
"And there's a triangle there, isn't there?"
"Yes. Connect Lupo of Mesarak, Prochioni of Piccolac, and Mano of Achere, and a triangle is drawn."
"Yes, exactly."
Biopia drew the figure directly on her paper. Having heard both of their answers, Marco nodded and continued.
"Would you believe me if I said I saw these three constellations and that triangle here? It could be my mistake, but…"
"…What?"
From Melchior's mouth, lost in a daze of thought, the candy dropped with a soft plink.