Two Weeks Until the Hunt
Melchior called an assembly at Angolo.
"Attention."
Having gathered every hunter and soldier before the outpost gates, Melchior began to speak in a calm, measured voice.
"In two weeks, we will pool our strength and hunt Disastro."
He opened with something that big.
A restless murmur swept through the hunters and the private soldiers alike.
"Team up with the hunters…?"
"What are soldiers who just sit here on guard duty even supposed to do…?"
I stood still and watched Melchior.
Whether he had expected this reaction or not, not a single muscle on his face moved.
Beside me, Pina was fretting herself into a panic.
"A-are we really going to hunt it? Really?"
I stroked her hair as I answered.
"…Don't worry."
I won't let you die.
I took my hand from her head.
Of course everyone was uneasy.
Talk of taking down a legendary supreme-class monster — surviving it at all would already be a miracle.
And though they had been forced to work together here in Angolo, the image each side held of the other had barely changed. To the soldiers, hunters were butchers. To the hunters, soldiers were hothouse flowers.
…Of course, the soldiers near me said nothing at all.
If anything, they seemed afraid of me.
Why is everyone like this? Someone say something, please.
As if on cue, Melchior clapped his hands sharply, trying to seize the restless mood.
"Listen carefully to what I have to say."
He swallowed once, as though his throat had gone dry.
Beside him, Biopia was scribbling furiously with her pen, recording the prince's words.
"Our Cartadia began as nothing more than a small, fragile village. Then our ancestors joined their strength and founded the first nation on this continent. Once they found stability, those who had been one split into two. One side tilled the fields and protected the people from monsters… the other pressed outward, surveying the lands beyond. Long years have passed since then. We have spent far too long in separate places. It would not be strange if, even now, the idea of joining forces still leaves a bitter taste. But we have gathered on this battlefield. That fact does not change."
This was the story of a heart that had changed — Melchior's heart, reshaped by watching the hunters out in the wasteland.
He let out a short breath.
"What does it mean that we have come to this land? Did we not gather in this place to protect our country? And it is not only us. At every other outpost, soldiers and hunters stand together. There are also those who have already given their lives to defend this ground. Without the efforts and sacrifices of so many, Cartadia could never have endured until now. What remains for us is to devote ourselves still more fully to the cause of the dead who sought to protect this land. All of us. Together."
The sound of someone swallowing hard cut through the quiet.
Before anyone quite realized it, the crowd had been drawn completely into Melchior's words.
"We face a great threat. A threat so vast that we cannot even say with certainty that we will survive it. Disastro — that monster destroyed itself in ages past, yet even our ancestors feared it so deeply that they left it only the name of calamity. But we stand in better circumstances than they did. The long years have given us weapons now — and they have given us you."
Melchior's speech pressed on.
"Across time, Disastro has returned. If we allow that creature free rein, the land we have protected until now will crumble. We are being tested on whether Cartadia will continue to exist. Whether this place becomes a barren wasteland of nothing at all, or a country where our families laugh and talk… that outcome rests in our hands. The time has come to shatter the name of calamity our ancestors gave it."
Melchior steadied his breath.
What followed was his plan.
Expected preparation time: two weeks.
Once every preparation was complete two weeks from now, we would strike Disastro first.
Because each outpost might have its own circumstances, he would summon every Master Hunter within reach and put their strength toward the assault on Disastro.
During those two weeks, we would have to hone ourselves. Empty our hearts. Ready ourselves for battle.
He closed with words meant to lift our spirits.
"I swear to you — that creature is no calamity. It is nothing more than a monster, the same kind you have slain and held back countless times. And if it is a monster, it can be killed. So that our land does not vanish — let us all fight together."
Then silence fell.
There was no burst of applause. Melchior might have been embarrassed by that, but he paid it no mind and simply nodded.
The fierce resolve burning in the eyes of everyone gathered there was answer enough.
"Then make the two weeks remaining count. Dismissed."
Only then did the audience's applause finally rise.
Melchior left without lingering.
He, too, had a mountain of preparations waiting.
But Melchior was not the only one with work to do.
It was time for all of us to move.
After Melchior's long speech ended, I met with Noah separately to talk.
Resting at the lodging must have done her a world of good — Noah no longer looked hollow-eyed or worn down by exhaustion. She had her old self back.
We spoke while gazing out across the wasteland beyond.
"So we're really going to take down a supreme-class monster…"
"Scared?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I saw it with my own eyes."
Noah rubbed her own arm.
I set a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll be fine."
There was nothing more I could really say.
I had made all kinds of preparations, but none of that guaranteed we could finish this without people dying.
The fight against the ancient Alberoelva came back to me.
Watching people die right in front of you was a truly sorrowful thing.
But we had already steeled ourselves for it. We would have to step over corpses and rise to kill the monster.
As I stared out at the wind-scoured wasteland in the distance, Noah asked me,
"What are you going to do for the two weeks?"
"…I'm heading to Antico first."
Two weeks was short if you called it short, long if you called it long.
Some of the soldiers would write letters or go see their families.
The hunters would do the same.
I planned to go see Matillo.
There was the matter of weapons and gear, of course — but more than that, before walking into something this dangerous, I simply wanted to see his face once.
Noah smiled softly.
"I see. Me… I'm staying here to keep exploring."
"Yeah?"
"Alice… I already told you, so you know by now, but this place might be our Cartadia."
Noah spoke with bright resolve.
"His Highness gave me a private commission! Since our party figured out the constellations, he wants us to take the drawing, check the sky carefully, confirm the ruins, and uncover the truth of this place."
"…Ah. That drawing?"
"Yeah. You saw it too? It was drawn so badly! Still, it looks like they tried to make it similar to Sperita's sky."
"The princess drew that."
"No wonder — I thought I could feel some artistic sensibility in it!"
Noah redirected the conversation with perfect smoothness.
I couldn't hold it in and let out a short laugh.
Noah beamed at me, smiling and smiling.
"Hehe— now I've gotten a named commission just like you, Alice. From the prince instead of the princess, though."
"Be careful out there."
"Of course. Safety first, safety second."
Saying that, Noah pulled me into a hug.
"See you in two weeks."
"Yeah."
I carefully hugged her back, then sent her on her way.
Noah headed out into the wasteland beyond. Pina and I boarded a cart bound for Antico.
The cart rattled and creaked as it slowly left the Angolo Outpost behind.
It was not only Pina and me on board — the cart was packed with other people as well.
All of them, no doubt, were going to see their families before the decisive battle.
There was no laughter on the road. Nothing of the sort.
Pina's face, too, was full of nothing but worry and unease.
I asked her quietly,
"Pina, how long are you planning to stay in Antico?"
"Me? I… well. I'm not really sure."
She said it with a strained little smile.
I asked her again.
"Do you want to stay a long time?"
"Yes. If it were up to me, I wouldn't want to go back to Angolo at all. We can finally live happily together as a family now…"
Pina clenched her fists tight, then went on.
"But if I run away like this, I'll stay a coward forever. And… I don't think I'd ever be able to hold my head up in front of my family again."
She seemed to have settled her heart.
"Just three days. We'll stay three days, then leave for Angolo again the next morning."
"All right. Three days it is."
I nodded and repeated her words back to her.
Three days. So three of the two weeks would be spent in Antico.
I sorted through the plan in my head.
Three days from now, once we returned to the wasteland, we would start scouting immediately.
I needed to confirm a good place to fight that thing.
Probably… in my mind, it was the ruined fortress.
In the game, that had been the place you fought it from the start.
The ruined fortress still had usable cannons, catapults, and ballistae.
They were in-game devices practically laid out and saying, use these while you fight it.
But there was no law that said we had to use only what we were given.
This was reality. The fastest way to a clean hunt was to bolster our combat strength even further.
Drowsiness spread through the people packed into the cart.
After sitting so long, everyone began to nod off.
"Mmngh…"
Pina was drooping too, so I offered her my shoulder and gently pulled her head over so she could lean on me and sleep.
"Ah— A-Alice-nim?"
"Lean on me and sleep."
Startled, Pina thanked me and closed her eyes.
Once she was asleep, I stared blankly out the window — and Noah came to mind again.
Would Noah be able to get close to the truth of the anomalies?
On one hand, I felt a flicker of unease — that somewhere in the ruins she was searching, even the true identity of this body might be written down.
Because the original owner of this body had been Cartadia's greatest hunter.
But I was not. The greatest hunter was not me — it was the owner of this body.
If the truth came out, what was I supposed to do?
Pretending to be her was something I hated.
She was she, and I was me. We were different beings.
Deceiving people by posing as the greatest hunter felt like staining the honor of a great hunter who had been willing to entrust even her own body to protect this land to the very end.
…Had I become a real hunter without noticing?
The version of myself fretting over honor like this — I found I did not dislike her at all.