“Miles, it almost has us!” A pale man in his mid-thirties and red-blonde hair runs alongside his trusted companion. He wears robes and a staff and looks around, trying to find that which cannot be seen. Yet there is something in the shadows of the trees and rocks in the dusk.

“Shut up, Sven!” His companion is in his forties, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a proud beard. Clad in armor and wielding a sword, he sure gives the impression of a brazen warrior, though sweat and worry marks his face right now.

“It already got Anton and Keith! We’re next!”

“Don’t be stupid! We’re heroes, after all! We will get away!”

“No, you won’t.” An invisible, third voice says this in a cold, calm tone. While it sounds female, it’s like a facade to hide the terrifying nature of this… this monster!

Miles, the [Warrior], looks to the origin of the voice and sees a rather small human-like creature, but there are several things that seem wrong about it. Its face shows no emotions, it has long pointy ears in constant movement, its skin seems off-color, its hair is white, but not old people white. It wears a green dress and it uses a strange branch as a staff, as if the thing is trying to mimic people with clothes and tools.

A true atrocity.

“Heroes,” it says dryly, as if Miles’ and Sven’s resistance is just delaying the inevitable. “I’m here for you.”

“[Quicksword]!” Unable to endure the chase anymore, Miles decides to attack, even if he should know it’s futile.

The monster jumps in the direction of the attacking Miles, evading the sword, and thrusts her staff into his face. The [Warrior] groans in pain, as he sees stars and hits the ground mercilessly. “Stay here,” the monster says to him. “Sven, wasn’t it? Surrender.”

Sven, the [Wizard], is about to shit his pants. Why? One moment they were having a drink at their camp, then suddenly this abomination appeared, asked them to show their status, and the moment Miles tried to shove her away, it screamed “Rape!” and punched him. Then one thing led to another and they had to face the overwhelming power of this monster!

“HELP!” Sven screams. “HEEEEEEEELP!”

“There is no one who can- correction, there is someone on his way to help you. Would you mind testifying that we had a good laugh and then a monster appeared and we fought together?”

“What!?” What is this creature saying!?

“Too late, Ara-san.”

“Hello Kenta-kun, what a coincidence.” Sven looks around and sees a man in red armor and a hood over his face. He seems rather small, but the presence he has is overwhelming.

His words, however, are harsh and his voice… young!? “Coincidence the fuck! What made you disappear during a break without a word!?”

“If I had asked for permission, there would have been a chance that you would have said no.”

“Why did you even think that you could escape me!?”

“I could prove that I can fool you. Not sensing distance has caught you off guard.”

“Ara-san, just come with me.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll take away your toy.”

“Make me!”

Sven has no idea what exactly is going on between the two, but the cold monstrosity now sounds more like a rebellious teen, though her face is as unnaturally calm as ever.

The mood between the two of them is heavy and Sven is sure that both of them are going to fight any minute. The youth begins to rotate his shoulders and starts slowly walking towards the white-haired monster, each step fills the air with menace. Then his hand goes over his shoulder into his backpack and retrieves a spear… this backpack! Is it an [Inventory]? Does that mean that he’s a hero? “[Speedthrust]!”

One, two, three exchanges of weapons, Sven could hardly follow the movements. Then the monster is pushed to the ground, physically overwhelmed by the power of the hooded youngster. How can it be, four adult heroes failed to do anything against this creature and now someone who sounds like a kid is easily dealing with it. Could it be that Sven and his party are still too green?

“Seriously, Ara-san. That’s when you try!?” The red one talks down to her in a literal and figurative sense. “Give up and comply.”

“It’s mine! I won’t share it, I won’t lend it, I won’t give it away!” The monster, which seems more and more like a bullied elf-girl, dramatically stands up while declaring her determination. “Until my last breath, I will defend it and even you won’t be able to make me falter.”

“Ah, I see.” Instead of answering with equal seriousness, the hero replies flippantly. “Then I will have Rine handle it.”

The ears of the girl start to move quickly into all directions, moving in repulsive ways. “Even for her, I won’t falter. The words you have to remember me by would be ‘She died as she lived: Lazy and irresponsible.’”

“You heard her, Rine.”

“Moh, Ara!” Sven looks at the origin of the chime-like voice that sounds like music. He sees a young, but stunningly beautiful girl. Blonde hair, eyes like fire, a model-like body. Seeing her, makes him feel aroused but also guilty, as she’s clearly underage. “I won’t kill you, but I would really like it if you could give up, before I hurt you.”

“Never.”

“Kenta!” The beauty says to the hooded person, with a bit of sadness in her voice. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“Just cleanly knock her out with one hit. She has to understand that she can’t do stunts like that.”

“…yes…” Suddenly, the girl is gone. Sven only blinked for a moment, but now she stands at the side of an unconscious elf-girl, holding her body up. “I feel bad about it.”

“It’s her own fault,” says the youngster, clearly annoyed. He looks at Miles, who still is trying to stand up, and then Sven: “Now we need to figure out what to do with you.”

This spells problems.

―○●○―

Meldorn checks the dirt on a particular location in the Red Rock Canyon. For the common eye, dirt may be dirt, but his eyes are far from common. What he sees is like colorful dust, pale and faint. He would call it the ‘essence of a track’. They are everywhere, but the challenge is to keep detecting and following it. As there are numerous essences everywhere, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. What makes it more difficult is that many essences are similar and hard to differentiate, though this still isn’t the biggest challenge. That would be that the same person will constantly leave behind a different essence, as if the essences change with the changes of the person.

Therefore, being able to see these essences is only the beginning, not the end of a skilled hunter, especially when it comes to hunting people, who have a less stable state of mind than animals.

Due to the changing essence, it also becomes difficult to find the newest one, that’s why common tracking becomes valuable. A footprint stays the same until someone changes their footwear, the essence can change from one hour to another. That’s also why it’s much easier to follow a single essence, noticing every change at every moment and becoming familiar with it, instead of keeping track of multiple ones.

In this canyon, many people moved in different directions and following the essence seems counter-productive. He looks and highlights different tracks in his mind, this is like a puzzle. “There was some fighting,” he finally says to his companions. “Two against two first, then a duel. This was a short-term camp at some point, for a few hours at best and no one slept here. There is still a faint scent of disinfectant on these rocks, maybe one side treated their wounded before they were attacked by another party. Also, there are some strange footprint-remains here, and-”

“Meldorn,” says the leader of Meldorn’s party, Sir Gottfried: “you can tell us the rest on the way. When one party has assaulted the other, we need to know if the idiot won or lost and where she is now.”

“North. The newest tracks of hers give me the impression that she walked on her own. Yet there is a sense of hurry in there. In our tempo, we should catch up within the week, but the weather worries me. It’s Deepdrop, after all.” This month brings heavy rain and storms.. While Meldorn may keep track of the essence, the tracks themselves are already faded and the next downpour may make them vanish completely.

“I wish we could pick up the pace,” Sir Gottfried laments while looking to their companions, Pontiff Reiner Kassus and the soon-to-be archwizard August von Rotfeld. Both of them have their uses, but in terms of traveling speed, they’re just ballast. Currently, the pontiff is busy using magic to make their blisters on their feet disappear, even though it makes their feet numb for ten minutes, causing more unnecessary delays. “We’ll work with what we have,” Sir Gottfried concludes with his own thoughts.

Meldorn knows his role in this search party. He’s here to point Sir Gottfried in the right direction, nothing more. As Meldorn is but a mere hunter—with a title much grander than the person himself—he’s fine with this. Still, he wishes he weren’t here, that’s close, too close. He needs to concentrate on the mission, but whenever he has time to think about something else, his innards become hot and cold.

The role of the pontiff is also apparent. He’s the one who handles incidents that Sir Gottfried may cause, heals the party if necessary, and handles the strange magical item the king gave them. He’s also there for the unlikely case that the princess may be married and pregnant, though it escapes the understanding why this would call for a priest in their party, as if this case would need immediate counter-measures. Meldorn can only think of political reasons, something that has nothing to do with his life.

August von Rotfeld is here to earn the title archwizard, despite his young age. His magic is able to circumvent complicated problems, like quickly crossing a monster-infested river. Though Sir Gottfried claims he’s able to do that as well, he also emphasizes that he shouldn’t thoughtlessly use his power.

Power is exactly what Sir Gottfried provides. Monsters are cut down immediately, the same fate that awaits his challengers.

All four of them are looking for the runaway princess of Feuerberg, who was also tricked and practically kidnapped. Responsible for this is the hero, Katsuragi Kenta, who may have mind-controlling powers that he also used on his fellow hero Momokawa Kyou, and possibly others at this point.

The princess may be disinherited, but still dear to her father, so she is to be brought back alive. Momokawa Kyou and other victims are also to be freed if it doesn’t interfere with their first objective. The fate of Katsuragi Kenta is up to them.

Meldorn knows that there are four of them, one of them has to be an elf. Also, Katsuragi Kenta is a capable survivalist and careful about every step. He knows that he’s followed, but he may not be aware that they are also among his pursuers.

Every intelligence they gather in places they visit, like Goldbrunn, may be wrong. Even in that one city, there were dozens of stories about them that contradict each other, but thinking about it is not Meldorn’s job. This is something for Sir Gottfried to worry about. Meldorn will just do what he’s told.