The Hunter System (1)
A golden Saturday morning.
I was running the vacuum cleaner in the living room.
Whiiir!
Prosecutors normally have no such thing as a day off thanks to their crushing workload, but I wasn't a prosecutor; I was a Special Investigator.
Which meant I could rack up some husband points doing housework like this.
While Yeriel tried to stop me.
Alice, sprawled on the sofa, merely lifted her legs a little when the vacuum came near.
She'd always looked like a doll, but today especially so.
Her slouching around since morning wasn't exactly a great look, but the girl had earned the right to rest.
"Alice has definitely been pulling her weight lately. She even helped with an interrogation the other day."
"Has she?"
"Our workload is insane... Can't you hire more team members?"
"I can't just hire anyone."
Grumbling quietly, I finished cleaning and sat on the sofa, flipping through the news channels... A little later, Han Ye-jin rang the doorbell and dropped in as naturally as could be.
It was about time to resupply on Green Dust.
The moment Alice, who'd been sprawled next to me, scrambled to put some distance between us, I got to work.
Meanwhile, the news brought something entirely unexpected.
[With the announcement that this year's Hunter Festival will proceed as scheduled...]
"Hunter Festival? Oh, is it that time of year?"
It was an event famous enough that even I knew about it, despite having zero official hunter experience.
Think of it as the hunter version of that university festival I got tangled up in before.
Except the scale was incomparable.
Since I'd never participated directly, my curiosity was piqued.
"What do you actually do at the Hunter Festival?"
"Hm? You've never been to the Hunter Festival?"
"As you know, I've been a bit busy..."
Feeling a little sheepish, I answered Yeriel, and Alice casually went for the throat from the side.
"Bet you just stayed home coloring weird figurines or whatever."
"They're not figurines, they're miniature models!"
"I-I'm sorry..."
Han Ye-jin apologized yet again, remembering how she'd burned the whole collection to ashes.
Tia, who'd come upstairs with Ker in tow, made a fuss from a distance.
"A festival? Are we going back to that festival-like place from before?"
"The Hunter Festival is a perfectly fine festival."
Unusually, Yeriel laughed off Tia's words and explained it to me.
"Not only can regular people experience hunter abilities, but each guild also sets up things like pop-up stores."
"Oh, sounds fun. Not that I can go."
"... Why not?"
Yeriel's face stiffened slightly as she asked.
I flinched instinctively and explained.
"Just looking at it, the environment seems ripe for hunter crime... Shouldn't I be on standby?"
"Even so, surely you can rest for one day?"
"... Should I?"
"Yes."
Ding!
Just as I nodded under a strangely coercive atmosphere, a message came from the Company.
Blanche pulled up a fairly long list on the screen.
"Ah, this again."
"What is it this time?"
"The Company's requests... basically a wanted list."
[Golden Lion's Fur]
[Mask of the Thunderbird]
[...]
Most of the list sent by the Company consisted of loot obtainable from rare monsters.
Materials that could be used for Blanche's upgrades, specifically.
Not for adding core functionality, though, just minor performance enhancements.
If any of these were tied to Oracle's core functions, a procurement order would have been issued long ago.
I clicked on the list and the details for the materials scrolled down.
Data that included everything from the material's properties and intended use to the most recent sighting location.
I skimmed through it quickly and muttered.
"It'd be nice if there were something that could increase our quota... Blanche has gotten pretty decent at handling the Special Unit's work lately."
[Is that so? I'm glad to hear it.]
Blanche popped in without so much as a flicker.
I started to say something, then stopped.
She had already re-sorted the list on her own, showing only the relevant materials.
[There are two materials that could increase the quota immediately. The Mask of the Thunderbird and Fang of the Silver Wolf.]
"And which one's been sighted in Korea?"
[The Mask of the Thunderbird was acquired by the Korea-based Red Dragon Guild approximately one month ago.]
Red Dragon was a large guild with a fairly well-known name.
If Winter Kingdom Guild had gotten their hands on it, one word from Yeriel would've settled things, but...
Nothing's ever that easy.
Still, at least it was obtainable in Korea.
Thinking that, I pressed Blanche further.
"Any plans for sale?"
[No. The Mask of the Thunderbird is both rare and powerful, so it was originally intended for internal guild consumption... but at the Association's strong urging, it's been put up as the prize for the Hunter Festival competition.]
"The Hunter Festival... competition prize?"
With a prize like that, the material had to be worth at least ten billion won.
What kind of competition had a prize worth ten billion?
While I stood there dumbfounded, Alice flinched beside me.
"Uh, wait, could that be..."
[You're correct. It's for the Hunter Popularity Vote, the main event of the Hunter Festival.]
"The Hunter Popularity Vote, huh."
I'd suspected as much, and I was right.
If they were putting up high-value hunter material like that as a prize, the competition logically had to be aimed at hunters.
Otherwise the winner couldn't even claim it.
Handling hunter materials requires its own special permits.
I nodded, feeling like all problems had already been solved.
"Hunter Popularity Vote... Well, if Yeriel enters, it's over."
"Ah, sorry, but I can't enter that competition."
"Huh? Why not?"
I didn't exactly want to send my wife into a competition like that, but...
The prize at stake this time was too big.
Yeriel smiled ruefully and explained the situation.
"The Hunter Popularity Vote is only open to active hunters."
"Th-Then what if you just temporarily un-retire?"
"That won't work either. I won five years in a row, so starting last year I was banned from entering."
"Well, that's an impossible-to-argue-with reason..."
Honestly, the moment Yeriel entered, there'd be no competition to speak of anyway.
Alice recalled the previous contest with a bitter smile.
"Last year her vote share was over 95%. For reference, second place got 1.6%."
No wonder they'd put up such an overpowered prize... It seemed like they were trying to properly revive the competition this time around.
I urgently searched for the next best option.
If we could increase Oracle's quota, the Special Unit's operations would become dramatically smoother.
"If Yeriel can't enter... Alice, what about you?"
"Me? There's no guarantee I'd win just because I enter."
Alice's face flushed slightly as she reacted with skepticism, but I thought it was at least worth a shot.
"No, you're incredibly popular, aren't you? You're practically the mascot of Winter Kingdom Guild. And... with that outfit, you could definitely win."
"That outfit?"
"If you go out in that 'Dark Magical Girl Alice' costume you showed me last time... Aaargh!"
Enraged, Alice swung her fists wildly and delivered summary punishment.
"You think I'd wear that in front of other people? Are you insane?"
Unfortunate, but if she wasn't willing, that was that.
Moreover, Blanche had also judged that Alice alone wouldn't be enough.
[My projections indicate that won't be sufficient.]
"What?"
[I just confirmed the competition registration of A-rank Hunter Shin So-yi. As things stand, she's the strongest candidate to win.]
"Ah... Second place last year was Shin So-yi, wasn't it."
Alice swallowed a groan and nodded.
Shin So-yi, as a hunter and as an actress, she was on a whole different level.
With Yeriel barred from entering this time, she'd be coming in with the mindset of securing an absolute victory.
I lamented with heartfelt sincerity.
"Why is an actress of Shin So-yi's caliber entering something like this..."
"Winning the Hunter Popularity Vote is free publicity. Plus, whoever wins this time effectively becomes Yeriel's successor."
"Put that way, I can definitely see the appeal."
Regardless, we couldn't simply hand the prize over to Shin So-yi.
We brainstormed hard for a way to win.
"Seo Ji-yu... at best she could help with makeup. Only hunters can enter the competition. Any hunters we know?"
"There's no showbiz hunter as big as Shin So-yi..."
"What about looking for competitors? Alice, you can definitely appeal to a certain niche of voters. The goal would be to split Shin So-yi's vote share as much as possible."
"Wait, what do you mean by a 'certain niche'? What's that supposed to mean?"
Just as we were having a suitably chaotic meeting...
Abruptly, Tia raised her hand high.
Without even looking at her properly, I responded.
"We're busy, so help yourself to cola."
"Ah, no. I'm not asking for cola... Master, can hunter pets enter that competition?"
"Hunter pets?"
I, Alice, even Yeriel, were all thrown off by the unexpected suggestion.
Blanche immediately found precedents.
[There are quite a few instances of contestants taking the stage with hunter pets. Just looking at the last competition, there were over three such cases.]
"Really?"
It was true. Based on looks alone, Tia was more than decent.
If she and Alice went out hand in hand, it would genuinely be something to see.
But Alice shook her head vigorously, citing the competition rules.
"Wait, that's only allowed for personally owned hunter pets, isn't it?"
"That's not a problem either. On paper, Tia is actually your hunter pet."
"... What?"
When you thought about it, it was obvious.
Yeriel was a retired hunter, so there was no way she'd get approval to raise a hunter pet, and I was a total civilian, so same for me.
Alice, the Special Unit's sole registered hunter, had no choice but to be Tia's owner.
At least on paper.
Alice, belatedly realizing, clutched the back of her neck.
"It was handled like that, of all things..."
"But would bringing her along actually help?"
Truthfully, Tia's appearance would appeal to the same niche as Alice.
And on top of that, the kid was a fragment of Tiamat.
Korea was a country that had been invaded by Tiamat... If things went wrong, it could actually cost us votes.
Tia raised her voice, sounding wronged by my opinion.
"M-Master. Among the six heads, I'm the one in charge of charm..."
"How long are you planning to push that concept?"
"It's not a concept!"
"Woof!"
Amid the suitably lively atmosphere, I spent the rest of a pleasant weekend.