Chapter 309

Before I knew it, it was midwinter, and the streets of the snow-covered city were bustling.

Even in the cold winter, Astram was always crowded with people.

Astram, a trading city located in the heart of the continent.

The caravans carrying various goods in and out of the city never ceased, regardless of summer or winter.

However, even those merchants were only the second factor in adding vitality to the city of Astram.

Astram was not just a trading city; it had a more famous name known to the outside world.

The city of adventure and adventurers, Astram.

Swish, swish.

“Indeed, this is Astram. It’s a more decent city than I imagined.”

“…You must be tired from the long journey.”

The man walking through the streets of Astram, dusting off his sleeves, seemed to be one of those adventurers who had come to Astram.

A young man with a calm and delicate appearance, who, if not for his adventurer attire, could easily be mistaken for a neat and meticulous merchant.

However, if you knew who was standing beside him, guiding him, your impression of the young man would change significantly.

“No need to be so formal. Aren’t we both captains of the Imperial Knights?”

“…But you were the captain even when I was just a squire. How can I not be formal?”

‘Sending a master-level figure to Astram just to retrieve a relic… What exactly is the Empire planning with the relics from these ruins…?’

Answering the squinting young man with a stiff demeanor was Albert, currently posing as a quiet traveler in Astram but actually one of the eleven Imperial Knight Captains.

And the one walking through the streets of Astram under Albert’s guidance was Delphine, also one of the eleven Knight Captains but, in reality, one of the seven masters of the Empire, far surpassing Albert in status.

“Hmm… There were more delays than expected, so arriving in Astram took quite a while. Time is tight. Let’s move to carry out the mission immediately.”

‘But even putting that aside, to think that this person was sent for the mission… I can’t fathom what he’s thinking, and it’s unsettling…’

Albert, feeling uneasy about the seemingly kind and amiable yet enigmatic squinting man, guided him to the Adventurer Guild.

…

“Mr. Kurt, do you really think so?”

“Honestly, the probability isn’t high. It’s just a possibility. But personally, I think it’s worth investigating.”

I answered Mari’s hopeful question honestly.

Not long ago, the ghost crab we hunted seemed to have been the leader of a group of man-eating crabs. After defeating the ghost crab, the number of man-eating crabs near Leila noticeably decreased, and thus, the reason we came to Leila—to hunt man-eating crabs—was somewhat resolved.

Occasionally, a few man-eating crabs still appeared on the coast, but their numbers had drastically reduced to a level that Leila’s soldiers could handle.

However, we still remained in Leila, wandering around.

The reason was that, having made a significant profit from this request, we decided to stay in another city for a while and leisurely enjoy sightseeing… Well, not exactly.

Leila, with its large port, indeed saw many rare goods passing through, but with the city’s atmosphere being so tense, it wasn’t the right time for proper sightseeing.

Still, we stayed in Leila, not just for sightseeing but because we had some personal business to attend to.

“But it’s hard to imagine. A monster with enough influence to cause anomalies in the city.”

That was investigating the anomalies in Leila.

Specifically, it was due to the suspicion that these anomalies might not be natural but the aftermath of some monster’s appearance.

The anomalies that began to strike Leila from late summer.

If these anomalies were caused by natural environmental changes, there was nothing I could do to resolve them.

But if these phenomena were not natural but the result of a specific monster’s appearance, the story would be different.

Hunting monsters is my specialty.

In fact, I didn’t initially suspect that these anomalies were caused by a monster.

As a mere adventurer from another land, it was natural that I wouldn’t know the details of the incidents in Leila.

I first began to suspect that these anomalies might be caused by a monster after meeting Regina at the Red Shell Inn.

At first, she was quiet due to fatigue and unfamiliarity with us, but after feeding her fish cutlets and beer, she gradually relaxed and started sharing various stories.

Most of it was just the usual complaints of a stressed worker, like distrust towards the Lowdrake Pirate Crew, and even those complaints didn’t last long before she fell asleep. But amidst it all, there were a few things that caught my attention.

These were stories about anomalies in Leila that were overshadowed by more serious anomalies and thus unknown to outsiders like me.

For example, one day, while returning to Leila’s port after a day’s work, a part of the sea looked unusually dark, or a ship caught in a sudden storm narrowly escaped capsizing and returned to Leila, only to find one side of the ship crushed as if something massive had pressed down on it.

At the time, it was dismissed as fishermen frightened by other anomalies in Leila seeing things or making mistakes, and with more pressing incidents affecting Leila’s people directly, such stories quickly faded.

Moreover, as anomalies worsened, the number of fishermen setting out to sea drastically decreased, and such sightings rapidly diminished.

But the moment I heard those stories, my hunter’s intuition flashed, thinking that perhaps those sightings were key to understanding the situation.

In truth, whether Leila’s anomalies were natural or caused by some monster, it didn’t concern me, a mere adventurer.

I wasn’t officially commissioned for the investigation, and even if I uncovered something, it wouldn’t earn me a penny. This was purely meddling.

But unlike my first visit to Leila, during my second visit, I found it hard to dismiss these events as someone else’s problem.

The innkeeper who calls me master and the child, Lito, whom the innkeeper looks after.

My connection with these two made it difficult for me to simply brush off the series of events in Leila as someone else’s business.

“By the way, thanks for humoring me. Even though it’s just a hunch with no solid evidence, and there’s no benefit in it for you.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not just you, Mr. Kurt, who has grown fond of Leila. We also hope to resolve the anomalies in Leila.”

“Right. Besides, your intuition isn’t something to be dismissed as mere mood.”

“And solving mysterious phenomena in a city like this feels like the adventurer life I dreamed of back in the Elf Village. It’s thrilling!”

The three of them, without any reluctance, voluntarily stepped forward to help with my suspicions.

“Such commendable words… Alright. I’ll make crab croquettes when we get back.”

“Yay! Fried food!”

“Crab meat soup! How about crab meat soup?”

“Hmm… I like man-eating crabs, but I feel like having something grilled.”

And so, with them discussing their desired dishes, we continued to investigate the anomalies in Leila.

…

Several days passed.

“…There’s not much information.”

“I couldn’t gather any information from the residents either.”

“Hmm… I didn’t think solving the case would be easy, but still, not a single clue is frustrating.”

We spent several days conducting inquiries, but with no leads or gains, our days became fruitless.

Spending days wandering around Leila, collecting information on anomalies, and searching for any traces of monsters, the lack of progress gradually drained their motivation and made them skeptical.

It was only natural.

After all, we were investigating based solely on my intuition without any concrete evidence, and even I had started to think that my intuition might be wrong.

“Well, if it were an easy problem to solve, the people of Leila would have figured it out long ago.”

“Hoo… That’s true.”

“Can’t be helped. Then, since it doesn’t seem like anything will come out of further investigation, and there was no clear evidence from the start, let’s stop the investigation and head back to Astram.”

“Can’t be helped.”

“Then, since it’s a pity to leave just like that, let’s spend today doing nothing and enjoy sightseeing with peace of mind, and depart tomorrow.”

“That sounds good.”

Finally, we decided to give up on investigating the anomalies in Astram and return to the Red Shell Inn.

Suddenly, my eyes, with a sense of emptiness, caught something on Leila’s coastline.

“What’s that…?”

It was a massive object weakly drifting towards a corner of the sandy beach.

“…A fish?”

Of course, if it were just an ordinary fish, I wouldn’t have been curious enough to stare.

But the reason I was curious was that it didn’t look like an ordinary sea fish.

It was far too large to be a simple sea fish.

Even with my transcendent eyesight, it was too far to see clearly, but roughly estimating, it was about the size of a person.

Moreover, due to the angle, I couldn’t see it entirely, but the front part of the fish had an indescribable peculiarity.

Hmm. Maybe it’s a rare ingredient…

“Ah, really. Something is drifting over there.”

“To spot something several kilometers away… As expected of a master.”

“Right. Since we’ve decided to stop the search, let’s check that object before we leave.”

Given its size, it might be a rare fish not found in nearby waters.

Perhaps it’s a type of tuna.

“Well… It’s so far away, do we really need to?”

“I’m not sure, but if it’s a rare ingredient, I thought I’d put in some effort to make a special dish today. It’s our last day in Leila, after all.”

“What are you doing, Mr. Kurt? Hurry over here!”

“…Food, huh? You’re quick.”

And so, we moved towards the corner of the sandy beach to check the strange object…

As we got closer, our curiosity and anticipation for an unknown ingredient gradually turned into something bizarre.

“This is…”

“Hmm…”

Certainly, it had a lower body the size of a human.

Of course, it was.

Because it was a real humanoid.

The lower body was that of a fish, but from the waist up, at some point, the fish scales turned into human skin.

And not only did it have human skin, but the upper body was also almost entirely human in form, except for a few parts.

“…A person?”

“No, more precisely…”

“Ugh… Kyaaah! A sea serpent with limbs! Please don’t eat meee!!”

That.

No, she was a beastkin of the fish lineage, more commonly known as a mermaid.