When their drinking party had ended and the dispersed party members were on their respective ways home, Gareth called out to Leisha all of a sudden and asked.
「What do you mean?」
When Leisha tilted her head, Gareth pushed his glasses up with his finger.
「I’m thinking that Lightning Bite needs a talented person like him. That’s why I want to headhunt him if possible」
「……Are you serious about that?」
Leisha was surprised, but Gareth nodded and continued matter-of-factly.
「Even though he is a Talker, he is strong enough to make Wolf see a vision of his own defeat. In other words, he is able to compensate for the problem that Buffers, which includes Talkers, have--the weakness of their individual fighting abilities. That’s an incredibly rare talent. If he becomes our ally, even becoming one of the Regalia may not be impossible--」
「N, now just hold on a minute!」
Leisha waved her hands in a fluster to stop Gareth.
「Regalia!? Are you saying that in earnest!?」
Regalia--a title given only to a small portion of clans that had accomplished a great deal of achievements. The power held by that title was enormous and was even comparable to that of high nobility. For that reason, it was ridiculously reckless for a common Seeker to aim at becoming one.
「For the sake of argument, I can understand you wanting to make Noel an ally. Headhunting is not uncommon in our profession, and he is certainly extraordinary. But aiming for Regalia just because of him is unreasonable! We haven't even become a clan yet, you know!?」
Leisha’s words poured out at high speed, but Gareth remained calm.
「Of course, the matter about the Regalia is just a hypothetical scenario. But if our strength improves dramatically, even things that have been impossible thus far will become possible for us」
「Th, that's true, but even if……」
「To a Healer like me, improving the survival rate of my allies by increasing our fighting strength is a matter of great importance…… Even my healing has its limits」
「Ur, urm……」
When Leisha hesitated over her answer, Gareth revealed a smile.
「As I thought, Leisha, you’re opposed to the idea of headhunting him, aren’t you?」
「……If I’m being honest, I suppose」
She acknowledged that Noel was outstanding, but it was also a fact that he wasn’t the type that she wanted to be in a party with. Apart from how relentless his personality was, she couldn't accept the ominous air he had about him.
「Can you headhunt him in the first place? He is flourishing in Blue Beyond, isn’t he?」
「In my estimation, that party won't last long」
「Why?」
「Lloyd lacks the ability to be a leader. He is an excellent Seeker, but his ability to lead people is average. That’ll definitely cause problems someday」
「So you mean to headhunt him when their party breaks up, huh……」
「I want to get the consensus of the party members while we have time so that we can move quickly when that happens. Other parties might beat us to the punch if we’re slow, you know?」
Leisha crossed her arms and turned the matter over in her mind.
Judging from Gareth's words, it didn’t seem like he was saying that he wanted to headhunt Noel at all costs. Like he had stated, it was only to the extent of “if possible”.
What about her other allies?
She guessed that Wolf would definitely approve. If anything, she was certain that he would actively try to make him an ally. She had understood that very clearly from what had happened tonight. If Wolf approved, the others would probably also follow suit. She couldn’t think of anyone who would have a negative opinion.
In other words, that meant that Leisha was the only one who opposed. That was probably the reason why Gareth had talked to her first. It would be awkward being the only person who opposed when everyone else had already approved. That meant that he was concerned that, in the worst case, she might leave the party because she felt alienated.
She was glad for his concern, but she felt uncomfortable as it seemed like she was dragging the party down.
「……Okay, I understand. For the time being, I’ll also approve」
However, she added.
「Wait until Blue Beyond breaks up before talking to Wolf and the rest of the party. I’m probably the only one who would have opposed it anyways」
「Understood. If that’s what you want」
Leisha was thinking of investigating Noel herself in the meantime. If it appeared that there was a serious problem with him, then the matter of headhunting him would have to be dropped. Gareth would probably understand as well.
Aiming for the top wasn’t bad. But more than that, Leisha didn't want her present comfortable environment to change.
†
†
「Ohh, he’s here. He’s right on time again today」
Leisha was standing on top of the city walls that surrounded the vast imperial capital.
The top of the city walls, which overlooked the imperial capital, was open to the public and any citizen could go there. In case of emergencies, the devices installed inside the city walls would activate and deploy a strong barrier enveloping the entirety of the imperial capital, but fortunately, it had never been used ever since the current imperial capital was completed.
The time was 5 am. It was around the time when the eastern sky would begin fading into blue.
The city gates of the imperial capital opened at 5 am and closed at 8 pm. Even though it was still dark, people and carriages left the imperial capital sporadically from every city gate.
The black-haired young man who was Leisha’s objective was among them.
Noel Stollen.
He was a member of Blue Beyond, a party that was in the midst of gaining popularity recently.
Noel, who had emerged from the gate, wore light clothing that looked easy to move in, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The vest that he was wearing had a lot of weights sewn on it, and the wristbands on his hands and ankle bands on his feet also had weights inside them. Judging from how he moved his body, Leisha estimated that the total weight should be nearly 200 kg.
In addition to all that added weight, he wore a mask on his face to restrict his breathing. By imposing a load on his cardiopulmonary functions, he would be able to get the same effect as high-altitude training. Although it was much harsher compared to regular training, he would be able to improve his physical capabilities dramatically in exchange.
Noel, who had exited the city, did a few light jumps, and then started running along the city walls.
He set a pretty fast pace. The circumference of the Imperial capital was about 25 kilometers. If it went as it always did, he would probably be back an hour later after he had finished one lap. One more lap after that, and that was Noel’s training routine every morning--running a total of 50 kilometers within two hours.
「Although it’s the same every time, he’s really sticking to it, huh……」
Leisha let out words of admiration as she watched Noel run.
It had been two months since she had started investigating him, and taking days when it rained and windy days as a matter of course, even if it was the morning after he had finished a difficult job, Noel absolutely never missed a day of training.
To Seekers, daily training was important. However, few people could stick to it as thoroughly as Noel did, even in the imperial capital, which was the holy land for Seekers.
This running wasn’t all, after returning home, he would do another two hours of training indoors, and that was one set of his training routine. On top of that, he did a set at night too. Even for Leisha, who was a Seeker just like him, she couldn’t think of this amount of training as anything but crazy.
Looking at it from a different perspective, it was only after going so far that a Talker could finally play an active part on the front line. That was why it was natural for normal Buffers to be treated as small fry.
There was no need for them to go so far as to risk their lives just to become Seekers, so it was no wonder that there was no one talented enough to be able to clear their bad reputation of being the weakest.
「Just because someone has a combat type Job, fighting isn’t the only life they can have, I suppose……」
If anything, it was rarer for someone to choose the path of battle. Even if they didn’t become a Seeker or a soldier, combat type Jobs gave them a robust body and Skills that were useful for life, so there were any number of paths where they could put their abilities to good use.
If so, why had Noel deliberately set out on this harsh path?
Leisha learned the answer to that question in a conversation among Blue Beyond members.
「I’ll become a better Seeker than anyone. ……Because that’s the promise that I made to my departed grandfather……」
It was such a sentimental murmur that it made her feel guilty about eavesdropping. He had returned to his usual stuck-up attitude right away, but that only made what he said sound so much more like the truth.
Noel had chosen this harsh path in order to keep his promise to his departed loved one.
The shock that she had felt when she learned of that fact was tremendous. It was no exaggeration to say that it was the biggest shock she had received in the 34 years since she was born.
Noel was by no means a virtuous man. Instead, Leisha had uncovered during her investigation that he had a relationship with the Bargini Family, which were Yakuza. But mysteriously, she didn’t feel a sense of aversion towards him like she had before.
It was probably because Noel had something that Leisha didn’t. Ablaze like flames inside Noel Stollen’s heart was a『passion』that he could devote his entire being towards.
Leisha read the detective novel that she had brought as she waited for Noel's return.
Right when about an hour had passed, Noel came back. His pace hadn’t faltered, but she could tell that he was intensely fatigued. But he hadn’t reached his goal yet, and there was still one lap remaining.
As long as she was free, Leisha watched Noel's training almost every day. At first, it was purely for the sake of her investigation, but it had become her daily routine. While she had a personality that disdained putting in effort herself, just by watching someone working hard, she felt the energy to live well up inside her.
「Any time now, right?」
She saw Noel returning from his second lap. Today's time was one hour and 52 minutes. He didn't stop immediately after reaching the goal, but lowered his pace slowly to let his body get used to it. After a while, he stopped and took repeated deep breaths with his mask still on.
「Fufu, good job today as well」
When Leisha murmured softly, she saw a figure run up to Noel. It was Tania, who was Noel’s ally, a beautiful girl with blonde hair and big breasts.
When Tania proffered a towel and a drink with a smile, Noel received them after taking off his mask. This was also the usual scene. Tania never trained together with Noel, but always brought refreshments when his run had ended.
It was clear that she had affection for him. However, Tania was already in a romantic relationship with Lloyd. They had started dating about a month ago. Therefore, even though she had affection for him, her feelings for him were probably as an ally. There was also the possibility that her feelings for Noel, who was younger than her, were those similar to an elder sister’s.
Leisha did think that, but at the same time, she also had the thought that maybe the person that Tania truly loved was actually Noel.
It wasn’t as if she had proof. It was just her intuition.
However, people were creatures that sometimes took contrary actions in an attempt to give up on what they couldn’t obtain, but because they were unable to make a clean break, they continued to cling onto their lingering attachments. She didn’t know if Tania had that mentality, but she thought that it was quite possible that she did.
Noel was completely stoic. He strived hard for the sake of making his dreams come true, and he pruned off everything that would get in his way. Putting it nicely, he was pure; putting it negatively, he had no interest in other people’s feelings.
On top of that, because he still had to keep fidelity in mind and deliberately act as he should, he was determined to absolutely try to avoid troublesome things like romance.
Therefore, Leisha was able to understand Tania’s feelings of being obsessed with him despite understanding that there was no hope. This was also a mentality that was shared by people universally.
「It’s about time for me to go, isn’t it?」
Leisha stretched lightly, then put the detective novel that she had been reading back into her bag.
The day had already dawned, and it was the time when the day began for most people, so the city was becoming noisy. She had a day off from Seeker work today, but there were many things that she had to do.
She couldn’t watch Noel all the time. Besides, she had already investigated all that she needed to, and she was going to end her daily routine of watching over Noel’s training after today as well.
「I can’t~ keep on worrying about~ other people all the time~, can I~?」
Leisha spoke in a singsong voice, and then she jumped from the top of the city walls to the city below. It was pretty high up, but her tough and flexible body was able to nullify the impact.
However, because it was also a fact that what she did was dangerous......
「Hey--!!! Don’t jump off the city walls!!!」
……she ended up making the nearby military policemen hopping mad.
「I, I’m sorry~~!」
Leisha apologized as she ran away quickly. If she got caught by the military policemen, she might lose her precious day off. In this situation, it was best to run away.
Feeling confident that she had given them the slip by running into a busy street, Leisha breathed a sigh of relief.
「Huh? Isn’t that Ophelia?」
When she looked up, she caught sight of the familiar strawberry blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.
「Ophelia~!」
As she ran up to Ophelia while calling out her name, Ophelia, who had noticed her, looked back.
However, Leisha was surprised and shaken when she saw her face, which was red and swollen from crying.
「Wh, what happened!?」
When Leisha asked her anxiously, Ophelia wiped her still-wet cheeks.
「Oh, it’s you, Leisha…… It’s just, a friend met with misfortune, you see……」
「Ehh, is it someone that I know as well?」
In other words, it meant that someone had died. As she conjured up the faces of the friends that they had in common in her mind, Leisha felt a pain in her heart, almost as if it had been constricted.
「You’ve met her once before. Irene, an elf just like us, who worked as a songstress in a large bar. I received word from the military police via owl mail earlier that she had died in her home……」
「Irene, huh……」
She was a very beautiful elf from a different village from the two of them. Leisha remembered that she didn’t really talk much despite working as a songstress, and that she always had a smile on her face.
If the lively Ophelia was the sun, then Irene was the moon that gently illuminated the night. Leisha could recall her beautiful face right away.
「I got along well with her, and we had become each other’s guarantors, so……」
Ophelia choked in the middle of her sentence and her tears began dropping like rain. Leisha gently patted her on her back.
「Ophelia, please pull yourself together. At the very least, until the time you arrive at the place where Irene is waiting, you must stand tall. I’ll support you as well」
「……Thank you. You’re right, I can't be crying all the time, now can I?」
Ophelia straightened her back and took a deep breath.
「Yup, I’m okay. I can move forward properly」
That was what she said, but she didn’t look the least bit okay to Leisha. This was the first time that she had seen Ophelia in such distress.
As she lightly supported Ophelia, who had started walking, with her hand, a question suddenly popped into Leisha’s head.
「Ophelia, what was Irene’s cause of death?」
「......They said that it was acute heart failure」
Acute heart failure--as its name suggests, is a disease in which the heart's functions deteriorate rapidly. The main causes are heavy stress and unhealthy living.
「……But that’s strange」
「Huh, what's strange, Ophelia?」
「Acute heart failure can occur in elves, but unlike humans, it's limited to the elderly. Irene was the same age as me. It’s a bit hard to believe that she died from heart failure in spite of that……」
「That’s…… that’s true……」
Elves had a tougher body compared to humans. Setting aside those who were near the end of their lives, it was rare for young elves to fall ill. Therefore, like Ophelia said, it was certainly strange for an elf to die of heart failure at a young age.
However, Irene was an elf who lived in a human city. It was quite possible that the cause of the heart failure was the stress that resulted from leading a life that was different from what she was used to.
When Leisha was about to tell her that, Ophelia spoke first with a serious look on her face.
「As I thought, it’s strange……. I think that Irene has been murdered」
I hope everyone still remembers Wolf’s harassment, *cough*, attempts to get Noel to join Lightning Bite in the main story. Wasn’t it cool that there was such a huge backstory to it? I feared for a moment that Leisha would have stalker tendencies too but luckily she didn’t.
Leisha and Noel haven’t had much contact with each other yet and are still pretty much strangers…… How and when will they become as close as they were in the main story? And why has a murder suddenly popped up in the middle of this side story? Can you guess what’s going to happen? Yes, it’s time to get out those magnifying glasses and hunt for a murderer!
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