"Beginning Footprints (First Steps)", top floor of Cranhouse. Among the clan members, I looked down on my desk slightly in the clanmaster's room, where I was only allowed access to the clerk and the clanmaster.
On the desk, there were five small human shapes of about five centimetres, playing a cool.
The human form was exquisite as if it had shrunk the human being intact.
Each is dressed up as a demon conductor, monk, swordsman, bandit and alchemist, deceptive of details with robes and armor, but in the mood to praise him for doing well on his own.
I'll let the people walk around the edge of the desk about time, rubbing the bracelet that's feverishing.
Those were not dolls with entities, but treasures that I had just acquired - using "Dancing Light Shadows," a fantasy I had created. The corner lines and small mountains drawn to the desk are also illusory together.
At first, I couldn't set the shapes and colors well, but in the last few days of practice I have succeeded in producing exquisite person-shaped illusions there.
Originally, the treasure piece itself will have features that complement the image to some extent.
But still, it's a lot of fun for practice to take shape like this. Sometimes it looks busy, whether it's useful or not - if you're going to use it as a hobby, you won't find any more fun treasures.
Stick one of the illusions with your index finger, while at the same time acting like you're pulling your hips out. Make other phantoms act like they're going to protest. I'm manipulating it all myself, but it's like I'm using the dwarf spirits. I can't stop nibbling.
I feel like showing it to someone, but I'm sorry I couldn't do it because if they found out I was playing with a doll like this, the hardboiled image would collapse.
Then I try to put out a dragon that's small enough to get on my hands additionally. That's not one, either, two, three, four and more. Of course, each one has a different color.
When I was still following the party, I have encountered the dragon many times. A bit suspicious in detail, but essential to creating a general illusion.
The dragon is swirling over my head. Concentrate and explore more realistic ways to fly.
The only weakness of this treasure is that its range is one meter and twenty centimeters. A little wider would have further widened the play. I'm just wondering if there is a wide range of superior compatibility.
It's a phantom, so it's not affected by physical barriers. I manipulated the dragon and flew it outside through the window, out of range and melted out in the air.
"You're a weak dragon."
Well, it's not the dragon's fault.
Playing with the dragon as I nibbled, suddenly the door to the Clanmaster's room opened. I shook my body unexpectedly. It's Eva.
I don't have a job to do, but it's awkward to see kids play. Erase the dragon that was flying in a hurry.
Eva's eyes were wide open in her glasses if she didn't make it too far in time.
What, what, now?
"... nothing. I'm just surprised you came in all of a sudden."
I'm used to Liz popping in all of a sudden, but it's rare that Eva doesn't even knock.
Eva blinked her eyes in wonder at my words.
"Huh...? Knock, I did."
... I was too busy flying dragons to notice at all. I still shouldn't be doing this in this room.
I don't even have to ask what business it is. There was a tedious amount of letters in Eva's hands as she approached me.
Originally, The Ghost of Mourning had fewer contacts from nobles than other high-level parties, but the number of letters coming somehow had increased since engaging Sir Gladys at the auction.
Strangely enough, the neighborhood seems to be talking about the way I saved Miss Eclair. It wasn't me who saved him, it was Ark...
If you are a hunter with a growing ambition or a desire for connections, you will also be tempted to receive letters from nobles. But unfortunately, I am a retired hunter. I just politely refuse.
I'm also looking at fleeing Zebuldia when it really sucks.
As I sat back in my chair and calmed my breath, I noticed that Fu and Eva's gaze was pointed at my desk. To be more specific - to the illusion of a forgotten dwarf.
Eva looks up and looks at me. It's like you're doubting your sanity.
Running like a dwarf rushed over his desk, he jumped from the desk to this side. I coughed small, legged on a chair, and swept back.
"... So, what is it?
You think that's a trick? What is it now!?
Eva turns back and peeks under the desk, but the dwarf has already turned it off. There's no way they'll find us.
I decided to go for Mysterious as well as Hard Boiled. Combine your hands and make Nihil laugh.
"Hmm... I have a secret, too."
"It's... I know..."
Even as Eva tilted her neck frequently, she nodded loudly as if she were forced to convince herself.
I coughed once like I had been relieved,
"There seem to be more letters from nobles this time around. If I could, I'd give it to you for once."
On my desk, I saw a miniature like me who wasn't there until earlier, with her hands above her head trying to receive the letter, and Eva's expression was tense and she looked at me slowly.
I nodded at him, trying to put a letter over those two hands that I feared - the weight of the letter made Miniature Cry pepper.
Eva's face blues slightly, and she hurries to lift the letter, but naturally there's nothing left underneath. Miniature Cry disappeared as if it were an illusion.
You mean like an illusion... because it's an illusion.
"Huh?? Um? Me -"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about it. So, what is it?
I smiled calmly back at Eva, who was unusually grated. This is a lot of fun...
§ § §
"Zebuldia Southwest Decadent Metropolitan Area". Liz Smart tongued in frustration at the corner of a dim alley that a decent person wouldn't get into first.
"... uh, ha. Because this is the Order of Magic. They don't come from the front..."
"The surviving Illegal Magic Order is largely cautious... I think the Akasha Tower is a particular troublemaker among them..."
The answer was Citrie, who hid his face as deep as he could put a hood on his eyes.
Liz and the others were exploring the traces of Akasha based on competing information at the auction.
We looked at the contenders at the auction, followed by the seller, and finally the hunter who competed off 'Akasha' - putting the exploration in from what would come into contact with Greg.
Liz and the others, The Mourning Ghost are used to dealing with criminal groups. It was a daily tea thing to get tangled up in a red party, and this isn't the first time I've crushed a criminal organization or a sorcery society.
But this time, the opponents were not on the same level as the little things Liz and the others have been dealing with.
Before Liz, three men of good stature were kneeling.
The flesh being forged in practice involves a sense of intimidation emitted only by those who have absorbed large quantities of Mana Materials, whose strength can be seen even from above the armor used. Black painted daggers, knives, and canes rolled on the side of the road are of high quality. If you were going to buy new ones, you would loosely exceed 10 million geels.
The Empire City is a sanctuary for hunters. But if there is light, there is darkness.
The men were hunter-crumbling workmen that Liz found following a slight thread. He is a dark hunter skilled in interpersonal combat, taking on tasks that contravene the law, including violence. Its strength is well above the hunter's average and is often a problem in the Explorers Association of the Empire.
But let me tell you something, Liz, those men are just defectors. He is a loser who has forgotten the true nature of the hunter and chosen to escape from the treasure hall, where demons, phantoms and vicious traps flaunt him and exploit him from the weaker.
I don't deny exploiting it from the weak, but I have no reason to fear defeaters who deal only with such a daily downgrade.
The kneeled men had their arms tied behind them and their heads covered with bags of paper. I don't see the expression, but its flesh is clearly trembling with tension, and the stench of a mixture of sweat and blood puts it into a thin passage with a bad air street.
The opponent was a genuine professional worker who partied with multiple people without ever failing to be vigilant, but it was easy to beat him up. So much harder to find.
However, the information obtained as a result of struggling to find a place to stay, carefully and politely suppressing and capturing them so that they did not die, and interrogation was different from what Liz had expected.
I didn't have any information that could connect me to my client.
The method of the request is a letter and the remuneration is paid in advance. If I could have taken something, my client would have shown up, but it would be too late to switch operations there from now on.
Nor does it look like you're lying.
There are not many who have received Liz's willingness to kill, a high level hunter, and can remain silent, and Citrie has struck a forbidden potion to make her mouth crack. Personal information such as name, family structure, background, etc. was peppered up so I don't even think it was intolerable.
Liz, who has completely lost her tension over the last few days of exploration being wasted, is foolish about Citrie.
"You. Come on, what do you mean you were part of it and you don't know anything?
"Because it was completely divided and I was going to be here a little longer..."
To Liz's words, Citrie made a troubled look under the hood.
The Sorcery Order called "Tower of Akasha" is secrecy.
Each of the good exorcised magicians is pursuing their own research in accordance with their own theory, but each one of them will not come in with any more information without any interaction between the laboratories. The collaboration is assigned dedicated personnel, and the only information the members know is essentially from within the laboratory to which they belong.
Citrie participated in several studies as Noto Coclair's most apprentice, but never went outside the Noto lab. One day I was going to reach outside, but Noto Coclair's research was also highly regarded in The Tower of Akasha, with plenty of equipment and budget, and the need to look for new laboratories was weak. Had it not been for the return order from Klee, I would still be happy to engage in that research.
However, if this were to happen, we should have gathered some information. Noto Coclair, the chief of the department, might still have known something, but his former Great Sage lost his memory and is now housed in a grand prison. I can't help it.
The opponent is a giant organization that has long reigned as an enemy of the world. No matter how strong Liz and Citrie were, it took a different kind of influence than arm power and so on to stand up to it.
I'm sure it's rooted in the upper layers of Zebuldia, but there's nothing I can do where I struggled to investigate and strangle it. When that happens, the law is probably not on Liz's side.
I'm not afraid of a place to die, but I'm not that interested.
Liz did a big stretch like a cat and ran out of rhetoric.
"I'm tired of it. Do you want to give up? It's a waste of time, and Greg's safe now, maybe. I don't have time for chicken, do I? Thanks to Klee, I got the golem, so I don't care about the rest."
"Sister...... also, I'm always tired of you!
"If you want new ingredients, I caught three of them, so why don't you just use this?
Three prisoners that Liz has already lost her temper of resistance are shown in her jaw. I argued as if Citrie was annoyed.
"How do you carry it!? You'd stand out if you carried it from here to the lab, wouldn't you? Mostly, the next specimen is the Magic Master type."
"I don't. What if we catch him around there?
"No - even your sister knows the rules of the party!?
There are three rules for "Mourning Ghost".
Everybody, get along.
No letting the average person in.
Democracy. If your opinion is wrong, you decide by majority (by the way, the leader has five votes)
It's a little too prudent, but I think it's a reasonable rule.
And as long as there's a second rule, Citrie can't get his hands on the average person. Even when he took part in the Akasha Tower, Citrie never got his hands on the ordinary people in the depressed city that had been grabbed for human experiments. Because of that, my former master's noto once rated me 'still sweet', but that's something Citrie can't help.
The cloudy eyes of the inhabitants of the depressed city area observe the end of the noise caused by Liz and the others from outside the alley, through the windows of the building.
Liz smiled and slapped her hands properly, as if she had come up with a good idea.
"... Ok, I've made up my mind! I'm a little sorry, but can you ask Klee?
…………
"It's okay, Klee, because you're sweet and no, I'm sure you're anticipating this one. If you're afraid of Sito, I'll apologize and ask you! That way you don't have to waste your time, you can make it time to date Cry properly, you can make it time to train tees, no, isn't that a good idea? It's settled!"
While Citrine didn't say anything, Liz just concluded by herself and put her arms together confidently.
Think as you look at that smile.
In all seriousness - I wanted to avoid bothering the leader as much as possible. However, taking the time can lead to annoyance as a result, and I have already caused annoyance over and over again since I became a hunter. We've been consulting each other for a long time, and now we're not afraid to bring in any trouble.
I've been worried about it for a while, but I don't have a name for it. The same conclusion came to Citrie in the end.
When the two opinions are eaten differently, it is also largely the result to follow.
Reading the conclusion from his sister's expression, Liz extended her spine greatly, referring to the three prisoners.
"So, what do these guys do?
"Hmm, I can't even bring it back..."
To Liz's inquiry, Citrie once again looked down at the three prisoners.
Arm tied, confessional struck, full of creativity, but whatever your mind is after a while, your body will be resurrected.
I don't care if you mean it. The lab is far away, and it's too risky to take it home. I bought a grudge, but it is also now for The Mourning Ghost.
Put your finger on your lips and Citrie blinks.
"If we kill him and leave him alone, the residents here want to come by and get together, and I don't think we'll have any bone shards left tomorrow either..."
"Hmm. So, you want to do that?
A casual tone, as if I were going to decide even for dinner tonight.
I start to hear rattles and noises from nowhere.
It's in a paper bag. The sound of teeth meshing.
I guess the reason I don't raise my voice is because I don't have the energy to do that. But did you hear the conversation, and his body was trembling helplessly?
I felt serious about the casual tone of the conversation.
These two don't care about their lives. He said he was a man who could get his hands dirty without killing him.
The three bodies on their knees shake in every way. At that time, Citrine came up with something good and gave a bright voice.
"Oh, but wait, sister. Perhaps we should use it as a subordinate rather than kill it! I just wanted a subordinate who was used to getting his hands dirty, and Kilkill, too crude to do it to you, but don't you think I should reuse it rather than throw it away?
"Uh? A subordinate? Me, I don't need a weak man?
"Then I'll take all three! Oh, but... if I can't, I'll have to dispose of him... but Mr. Klee doesn't seem to like killing him very much..."
Around before the three of whom Citrie knelt, he gently touches his stripped neck muscles. There was a sound of breath jamming from inside the paper bag. Unlike the paper bag you wore, Kilkill, you can't read anything from a thin, dirty paper bag with no holes in your eyes.
Calm down and Citrie asked gently. From behind it Liz makes tea.
"Hey, guys. I don't mind while I keep working... will you be one of my men? Of course I won't say I can't. If you're willing."
"Uh, no, hey? I can't believe Sito's men. It's dark ahead of me in my life - I don't know if it's better to die... hey? Hey, do something. You useless bastards!