It's Hunting Time
As soon as the next morning arrived, we gathered at the promised spot. It was still the crack of dawn, the sun not yet risen, but my face was bright and energetic. Losing a little sleep wasn't nearly enough to tire me out. While I waited in the mostly empty plaza, familiar faces emerged from the direction of the academy.
"We're here!"
"I brought a few friends along on the way."
Just as the Ruin siblings had said, their group had grown by a few more members compared to yesterday. There was a male student carrying a massive spear, a female student in tight-fitting leather armor, and a gloomy-looking male student. Each of them had a distinctive appearance, and the aura they gave off suggested they were stronger than your average academy cadet.
"I'm Pierre, the eldest son of Viscount Paragma. Your performance in the sparring hall was impressive. I'd like to ask for your guidance someday."
"I'm Isabel, the eldest daughter of Viscount Seraris. Let's fight well together."
"I-I'm Ar, the third son of Count Close. P-please take good care of me."
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Argo, a Bronze-grade adventurer."
I returned their unique greetings with a friendly one of my own. I thought I heard a familiar name in the middle, but it wasn't important right now, so I let it slide.
"Is everyone here?"
"We're all set. We even got the permit from Professor Veronika."
Ruin pulled a document from his pocket. It bore some hastily scribbled handwriting and an official professor's seal.
If you have any complaints, come to the First Sparring Arena.
Short, concise, and all the more effective for it. With Veronika's permission granted, there was nothing left that could stop us. Anyone who complained would likely get beaten so thoroughly they'd cough up dust even on a rainy day.
"Perfect! Shall we start by clearing out the nearest hideout?"
Since we'd already blocked off any potential interference in advance, all that remained was to raid the hideouts. I began gathering mana to summon Ikelos for travel, but Ar, who had been watching me nervously, spoke up cautiously.
"Um... wouldn't it be better to just ask the professors to handle this?"
"Ask the professors? Why?"
"B-because it's dangerous...?"
At first glance, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable suggestion. We weren't strong enough to beat the professors yet, and with their greater experience, they could probably clear out the hideouts with ease. But that was nothing more than textbook thinking. To us, it made no sense at all.
"You're saying we should hand over the prey we've already claimed?"
"Hmm. It's not exactly wrong, but it's a hard pill to swallow."
"It's not even that difficult an opponent. Giving up our hunt feels a bit..."
Arash, Goro, and Anel all reacted with clear incomprehension. In the North, an adventurer yielding their prey was an incredibly rare occurrence. When risking your life was an everyday affair, ordinary danger barely made you flinch. Most cases of yielding prey came from failed requests or unavoidable circumstances created by multiple variables. Veronika knew this, which was why she hadn't offered to help and simply written up the permit instead.
"Ah... I misspoke, didn't I?"
Seeing our reactions, Ar seemed to catch on and gave an awkward smile. Still, thanks to my past-life memories, I could understand where he was coming from.
"If you're scared, you can say so. You don't have to participate."
"N-no, that's not it. I came here intending to fight too. Our paths in magic may differ, but I can't just stand by and watch people walk a corrupted road."
"You're a mage?"
"Yes. I'm not a conventional Circle mage, but I've studied Eastern shamanism and talisman arts."
Magic wasn't limited to a single discipline. There was Circle magic, hierarchical magic, shamanism, Taoism, primitive magic, and more. Even the commonly known schools numbered in the dozens. Circle magic was the most widespread, but that didn't mean it was the best.
"That's interesting. Mages of that type are usually concentrated in the East."
"Hehe. I've been interested in the East since I was young, so I learned it. I studied Circle magic too, of course."
Shamanism, talisman arts, and Circle magic. By my past-life standards, it was like getting into one of the world's top universities and then choosing three different majors. In other words, the guy was completely insane.
"Impressive, right? Even I think it's impressive."
"I don't think I could pull that off either."
The Ruin siblings, reading my expression, nodded in sympathy. If it had been magic from similar categories it might have been different, but Eastern and Western magic were completely different fields of study. For the first time in my life, I felt complete defeat while living with the madness of studying literature, science, and engineering all at once. In the realm of academics, there was no way I could beat Ar no matter what tricks I used.
I stared at Ar, who was carefully clutching his talismans, with eyes full of awe before snapping back to reality. I summoned Ikelos from the summoning circle.
"I've never seen this summon before. I've seen a few Summoner-type mages, but this is the first time I've encountered one with such a unique appearance. If I may ask, where did you learn—"
"A-anyway, we're all ready, so let's get moving!"
The moment magic became the topic, Ar shed his timid demeanor and started speaking passionately. I cut him off and had the party climb onto Ikelos's back. Once everyone was seated, the shards realigned to create the optimal riding comfort. The mages' faces lit up, but I deliberately ignored it and set off.
The sun was just beginning to rise. Nightfall was still a long way off, and the hideouts were all close by.
"Alright, let's go!"
"It's been a while since I've had a proper fight."
"I always welcome a good incident!"
The Northerners' eyes gleamed. Their fighting instincts, which had been dormant while wandering the Central region, were awakening once more. It was time to hunt.
In a remote forest. At the entrance of a cave cleverly hidden between cliffs so that people couldn't find it, two men stood guard. They were armed with weapons and armor, but their faces were filled with boredom.
"Sigh. Why the sudden guard duty?"
"No idea. Even if someone tried to come here, they'd just pass right by because of the illusion magic."
The organization the men belonged to knew this fact well. That's why they normally only stationed skeletons around to make it look like they were guarding the place. But recently the executives had grown restless and replaced the skeletons with actual people. The men, now stuck with guard duty, chatted to relieve their boredom.
"Boss. What do you think is going on?"
"How should I know? The rumor is that contact with the nearby branches has been cut off."
"You think they were attacked?"
"Who knows. If it was an attack, they would've responded already."
The force these men belonged to was extremely meticulous and dangerous. As nothing more than low-ranking grunts, they didn't know much, but they had never seen illusion magic this sophisticated and clever in their lives. The man who seemed to be the senior guard chuckled.
"Even if a branch is discovered, there'll be plenty of time to respond. Breaking through illusion magic this intricate will definitely leave traces."
Knights and mages wouldn't notice it unless they were consciously looking for it, so how could some random fools possibly find them? If the academy instructors got involved it would be a different story, but then their internal informant would have sent word. The senior was proudly explaining all this to his junior when he suddenly felt something was off.
"Hey. Why haven't you said anything for a whi—"
THUD!
"...Huh?"
The man's vision shook as he turned to look beside him. The last thing he saw before he could process the situation was his junior's body impaled by a massive steel arrow and pinned to the wall.
'Why didn't I hear any sound?'
With that unanswerable question in mind, the man's consciousness faded. He too had been pierced through the head by a steel arrow.
After confirming that the guards at the entrance had fallen, I carefully rose from my position. As I slid down the steep slope, I gave Goro a thumbs-up.
"Excellent work."
"Hitting stationary targets at this distance is the only thing that would be strange."
Goro casually inspected his steel bow before retrieving the arrow from the corpse's head.
"I thought the tip might be damaged, but it's completely fine."
"They're not monsters."
"I know, but I figured they'd at least raise some mana to block it."
"The Central region isn't the North."
At Goro's mutter, Pierre looked at him with an incredulous expression. After working with them for the past few days, he had come to realize that Northerners were absurd existences. He had been shocked enough when he learned that even Anel and Coco—who appeared to be non-combatants—were stronger than lower-ranking cadets. He thought he had a decent understanding of the North after spending time with the Ruin siblings, but facing it in person revealed an entirely different dimension of skill.
Arash's domineering greatsword techniques and Goro's godlike archery had broadened his horizons. But the most incredible one was undoubtedly Argo. In Pierre's eyes, Argo had reached the same realm as the Ruin siblings—who he had once considered peerless—and was another transcendent being altogether.
"Alright. The guards are taken care of, so shall we begin?"
"I'll deploy a talisman barrier to block communication magic."
While Ar threw his talismans to disrupt communication spells, a summoning circle appeared in the air and Ikelos units materialized. Maintaining their wolf forms, they seemed to understand their purpose without needing orders and charged into the cave without hesitation. Soon after, faint screams echoed from deeper within the cave. I shook my head.
"This really is ridiculous."
"Hm? What is?"
"Your summons. That Rune Golem you brought out before, Umbra too—every single one of them is beyond what the word 'amazing' can describe."
I nodded at Pierre's words.
"They certainly are powerful."
They were designed purely for combat, so it would be strange if they were weak. The unique dimension that brought forth summons so similar to those from Argo Saga was truly remarkable. I couldn't even count how much help they'd given me in battle. I expressed my gratitude to the Mystery that had come to me and to my unique dimension as I wrapped aura around my sword.
"We'll talk later. Let's head in quickly. We can't let the others take all the prey, can we?"
"True enough. I'll go in first then."
The rest of the party had already entered long ago. Pierre and I, the last ones to enter, swung our weapons at the organization members who were desperately trying to flee the cave. Thirty minutes later...
"Ugh...! So you bastards were the attackers...!"
After dealing with the middle-aged man who appeared to be in charge, we thoroughly searched the interior and collected our spoils.
"Oh! Found the operating funds!"
"These are... rare magic materials."
"Is this an artifact?"
"There's mana stones too!"
Three days after we began the hunt, we had cleared out all five hideouts near the academy. Even after dividing the loot equally, each of us had earned dozens of gold.
Crunch. Crunch.
"Adela? What are you eating?"
"Mana stone."
"Chew it properly! Wash it clean first!"
A few mana stones were nothing to Adela's stomach. As expected, a dark mage really did make for an excellent piggy bank.