GILF Hunter

’Pull!’

’Send the ones that are processed over here!’

The walls of Labyrinth after the monster invasion had passed.

As always, workers swarmed out to clear the monster corpses, but this year, the work being carried out was slightly different from usual.

Normally, the preliminary sorting process would have taken a considerable amount of time.

Sorting through countless monster corpses by type and condition to ship them to their designated processing plants was the longest part of the post-invasion cleanup.

However, this time, there was only one type of monster corpse.

Thanks to that, there was no need to spend a long time sorting them.

Watching the workers separate the entangled corpses of Legion Insects one by one, Kael, the vice-guild leader of the Mercenary Guild, muttered.

’They don’t even bring in money, yet their numbers are sickeningly high.’

’The cost to clear them will probably be higher than their value.’

As is the case with most insect-type monsters, there were no materials particularly worth money to be seen on the corpses of the Legion Insects.

’Their carapaces are weak... and since they don’t use mana, there aren’t even any mana crystals.’

’Stop saying such horrific things. If they had been like that, we wouldn’t have been able to block them so smoothly.’

Hearing a staff member grumble, Kael shook his head as if telling them not to say such scary things.

Monsters were stronger the more expensive they were. If these monsters had been even slightly stronger, some part of the wall would have been smashed to pieces.

It was much cheaper to settle things with just a deficit in disposal costs.

Workers moved the unusable corpses to one side to burn them, while loading those that were somewhat intact onto carts to be brought inside.

’At least it’s a relief that there are parts usable as alchemy materials. They could have been completely useless.’

’No matter how much comes out, how much could it be? Anyway, the Market is going to be a mess this year.’

The Monster Market is the continent’s largest exchange specializing in monster materials, where materials from monsters swarming during invasions are sold in bulk.

Labyrinth’s Monster Market was scheduled to fail completely this year.

Merchants from all over the continent must have swarmed here aiming to buy rare monster materials cheaply during this period, but it seemed they would all leave empty-handed.

Instead of monsters with expensive materials as usual, only a bunch of useless insect corpses came out.

By now, the merchants must have heard the news and all gone into a state of emergency.

Kael thought for a moment about how the visiting merchants might act.

They would surely run to the mayor and beg for him to do something, saying their business this year would be a total bust at this rate.

The mayor was said to be from a famous merchant association, so he would have many merchant acquaintances and would likely have to listen to them somehow.

’Check how much monster material we have in the warehouse. The mayor will probably ask to release the guild’s stock in the warehouse.’

’How much will he demand?’

’We’ll probably have to release about half.’

’What? That much?’

’We can’t really send the merchants back empty-handed, can we?’

Even if business risks were their own responsibility, if they were sent back truly empty-handed, rumors would spread that the risk of trading in Labyrinth had become too high.

If the merchants stopped coming, the residents of Labyrinth who did business with external merchants would inevitably suffer losses as well.

’Half must be released if everyone is to at least make back their costs. Prepare for an auction in advance.’

’Yes, sir.’

This year, a large-scale auction held by the guild was set to take place instead of the Monster Market.

* * *

Lucia looked down from atop the wall.

Outside the wall, where cleanup had just begun, the traces of the fierce battle still remained as they were.

Workers hired by the guild were clearing the area near the gate, but it seemed a long way off before everything could be restored to normal at this pace.

While Lucia was watching the scene, someone approached from behind.

’L... Director. So you were here.’

Leona, who had come up to the wall, paused as she was about to call Lucia out of habit. Several soldiers were still standing guard on the wall.

Seeing Leona being mindful of the soldiers’ gazes, Lucia chuckled.

’Why? Just speak comfortably. You used to call me without caring about others in the past.’

’How long ago was that...’

’You’re losing your cuteness as time goes on.’

Leona turned her face slightly red and shut her mouth. If she kept talking back and Lucia started bringing up stories from their childhood, she could never win against her older sister.

Lucia and Leona walked along the wall together, looking over the site where the battle had occurred.

The smoke still rising here and there and the mountain-like piles of monster corpses showed the past intensity of the battle as it was.

’How was it when you saw it directly yesterday?’

’It was more serious than I thought. If we hadn’t prepared in advance, one side would have collapsed.’

If the A-ranks at the central barrier inside the city had come out, they could have blocked it, but half the city would have been devastated.

’It’s now certain to anyone that something major has gone wrong with the Labyrinth.’

The continuous appearance of new monster species. There was no longer any room for doubt that the Labyrinth was not the same as before.

Probably no one could raise an objection to that opinion anymore.

’Has it been... 20 years since it was last like this, perhaps?’

’Probably about that long.’

Furthermore, all the residents in the city witnessed that something unusual happened this time.

That massive scale of magic would have been clearly visible no matter where one was in the city.

Everyone would have naturally understood that the fact such magic was used several times meant that enemies that dangerous had swarmed in.

It was now only a matter of time before rumors spread about what kind of problems had arisen.

’It’s actually better for us.’

’...When you put it like that, it sounds like you’re happy because the city is in danger.’

Lucia turned to look at Leona with a small smile along with a sigh.

Since all the citizens would have felt the changes in the Labyrinth through this event, they would realize that a strategy different from before was needed to protect the city’s safety.

And also, who exactly could provide that.

* * *

’Ugh...’

Airi opened her eyes with a soft groan.

It felt like she had been in a very deep sleep. Her whole body felt heavy as if it were soaked in water.

Is it morning...?

Airi, who was trying to get up with that thought, remembered what had happened before she fell asleep.

Surely... I remember being on top of the wall. I had no memory at all after firing the last arrow.

She couldn’t tell if she had walked back herself or if someone had moved her while she was asleep.

The bed in the mercenary group’s dormitory where she usually slept.

Looking around, the other members were also deeply asleep, making soft breathing sounds in their beds.

She thought it was morning, but looking out the window, it seemed the sun hadn’t even risen yet. It seemed she had woken up at dawn.

Airi quietly tried to recall yesterday’s memories.

...Wait, was it even yesterday? I don’t even know how long I slept.

Anyway, she had heard that the monster wave was almost over, but she didn’t know how things were finalized after she fired the last arrow.

Seeing that everyone was sleeping well in their beds, it seemed to have ended well...

Airi, pondering, quietly rose from her bed.

It didn’t seem like she would be able to fall back asleep even if she stayed lying down.

Walking out of the room without a sound so as not to wake the other members, Airi went down to the common room on the floor below.

’I’m hungry...’

Was it because she had used so much mana and hadn’t eaten anything while sleeping? She was incredibly hungry.

Perhaps because she was tired after the invasion was over, Tanya, who usually woke up with her at this time, was also asleep now.

If she went to the main building, there would be a maid on duty, but... asking a stranger for something to eat from early dawn was a task too difficult for Airi.

’...Ah! The bakery must be open, right?’

Airi remembered the bakery near the guild house.

It was a shop that opened early as it did business with mercenaries heading out early in the morning. It might be open now.

Should I go for a bit?

Unable to overcome her hunger, Airi decided to go out for a moment.

Fortunately, the lights of the shop were on.

Arriving at the bakery after a short walk, Airi carefully opened the shop door.

’Welcome!’

There were about two customers in the shop—mercenaries who had come to buy breakfast early.

Airi also tried to pick out bread quietly, but the shop owner who discovered her spoke to her with a curious face.

’Hm? Wait...’

’Hiek!’

The bakery owner recognized Airi’s mercenary group mark and asked.

’Are you by any chance from Ian’s mercenary group?’

’Hi-hi, y-yes!’

Hearing the name of Ian’s mercenary group, the other mercenaries in the shop also glanced back at Airi.

This was originally a shop that didn’t strike up conversations like this.

Airi had also frequently stopped by this shop for that reason. It seemed that might not be the case from now on.

The bakery owner continued to ask Airi with an interested expression.

’Then by any chance... have you seen that person’s face too?’

’Whose?’

’Gosh. There’s someone famous these days. During the invasion...’

’During the invasion...?’

Is he talking about the leader? If it’s someone famous who was active during the invasion, it would probably be the leader.

Airi tilted her head and replied.

’We don’t have many members... so I know all their faces...’

’Is that so! I won’t charge for the bread, so tell me a bit about that person.’

I just want to pay for the bread and leave...

However, hearing that, even the other customers in the shop gathered around, making it impossible for her to back away.

But it seemed they had only briefly heard a rumor that had just started to circulate, so they couldn’t remember the exact name.

’The... what was it? [Thunder...] something.’

’What I heard was [Thunderclap].’

’What? No. It’s [Phoenix].’

’Gosh, look at everyone’s sense in naming.... I think this is the third time I’ve heard of a mercenary called [Phoenix] this year.’

Since a mercenary’s nickname wasn’t something officially decided by an authority, it was often attached as the person telling the story in a bar saw fit. Thanks to that, the nickname was different for everyone who heard it.

It was common for rumors to circulate like this and eventually settle on the name used most frequently. Of course, most mercenaries were forgotten before the rumors cooled down.

’Anyway. How is that person normally?’

’Uh... well.’

If I listen to the nicknames roughly, is it someone related to lightning...?

Thinking that way, one face came to mind. She probably meant Lia. Since the person who used lightning-attribute skills in the mercenary group was Lia.

Airi thought that Lia must have been so active while she was unconscious that rumors were spreading.

I guess I can just say a few words about it being nothing special...?

Airi wanted to say something appropriate and leave this place quickly.

’Normally... she’s a bit blunt and doesn’t talk much...’

’Rumor has it she kept getting up and fighting while vomiting blood?’

’T-to that extent? But it seems like she could have done that...’

’As I thought...!’

Thanks to the specialty of being a story from a fellow member of the same mercenary group, wings were immediately added to the circulating rumors from that day on.