After running out of the Guildmarm's office, Altaïr and the others ran into Nymera, who was waiting for them in the Guild Hall.
Nymera narrowed her eyes in a smile. "I thought you'd be getting scolded for much longer."
"By the way, where's Jara?" Altaïr changed the subject to hide his embarrassment. "Did he leave already?"
"Jara headed back first. He said he had to hurry and tend to his family's caravan."
"No loyalty at all..." Isis muttered.
"All right then. Since we've still got business to take care of..." Altaïr tipped his gaze toward the bundle on Isis's back.
Isis hefted the huge bundle on her back, her face breaking into a delighted smile. "Yeah, we've still gotta deliver these Lagiacrus materials to Uncle Smithy!"
Altaïr felt a bit helpless. When they had been dragged off to the Guildmarm's office for a scolding, Isis hadn't put down that huge bundle full of Lagiacrus materials first; she'd been carrying it on her back the whole time.
No wonder Ms. Sophia had been so furious. If anything, being able to keep those materials from being confiscated was already proof that the Guildmarm had let them off easy.
All three had new equipment on their minds, so they didn't dawdle and went straight to the wyverian artisan's forge.
Seeing the large pile of Lagiacrus materials they brought back, even the usually taciturn wyverian artisan looked exasperated.
He had stressed more than once that telling them about the Lagiacrus Armor Set and the Gravios Armor Set had only been meant to give Isis a direction for future Armor choices, not to tell them to hunt those monsters right now.
Yet here they were, not even half a month later, already bringing back the materials... He was tempted to refuse the order, just to teach the lot of them a small lesson.
But seeing Isis's look of anticipation, and thinking that he had already accepted Altaïr and Nymera's orders, if he rejected only Isis's order, just how sad would she be?
After a long silence, he pointed at the workbench in the back and said in a gruff voice, "Put them there. Come pick it up in two weeks."
"Thank you, Uncle Smithy!"
Unaware that her new Armor order had nearly been refused, Isis cheerfully set down the materials and loudly gave her thanks.
The wyverian artisan let out a soft "Mm," then looked at Altaïr and Nymera. "Your Doom Estrellian Long Sword and Doom Armor Set are both brand-new pieces of equipment that need to be designed from scratch. The crafting cycle will be fairly long. Come pick them up together with Isis when the time comes. They should be about done by then."
The wyverian artisan's words disappointed Altaïr and Nymera, who had come full of anticipation, but what he said was the truth.
The father-and-son smithing duo from Metapetatto had designed a new type of Duramboros Hammer. They went and found Hunters to hunt Duramboros for inspiration, then revised the design over and over and found people to test it. The crafting process was measured in months, and even now, no one knew if it had truly reached its final form.
For the wyverian artisan to need just under a month in total could already be called astonishingly efficient.
Having confirmed the status of their new equipment orders, the group returned to the Guild Hall, ordered some food and drinks, and discussed what to do next.
To wait for the new equipment to be delivered, they'd have to stay in Val Habar for at least half a month, and they certainly weren't planning to waste that time.
Right now, both Altaïr and Isis had reached the standard expected of 5★ hunters.
Special monsters like Monoblos and Lagiacrus generally wouldn't appear in Rank-Up Quests. As for other 5★ Monsters, with adequate preparation they were fairly confident they could complete those hunts smoothly, even solo.
The main issue currently preventing their promotion to 5★ was that they hadn't completed enough 4★ quests. To the vast majority of hunters, such a problem would seem utterly unbelievable; having more completed 5★ quests than 4★ quests was just absurd.
So Altaïr and Isis planned to use this half-month to aggressively grind their 4★ quest tally.
It was actually something they'd wanted to do right after Isis first got her Glavenus Gunlance, but then they got caught up in the Estrellian Incident and all sorts of other messy distractions that kept pushing it back.
Being scolded by Guildmarm Sophia for "neglecting their duties" was, to be frank, entirely deserved.
After a brief discussion, the three decided that Nymera would not join this "4★ Quest Speedrun Operation."
For ordinary 4★ threat level monsters, Altaïr and Isis, whose rank was 4★ but whose strength was firmly 5★, already brought excessive firepower. Adding Nymera, a genuine 5★ Gunner, wouldn't make the Hunt any more efficient; it would only make the monster's corpse more thoroughly wrecked. Considering that splitting a 4★ quest reward three ways would be pitiful, plus practical concerns like Nymera's ammo consumption as a Gunner, there was really no need to drag her along.
Whether they could complete enough 4★ quests within half a month to qualify for promotion was also hard to say, since getting the right quests partly depended on luck.
With good luck and a hunting ground close by, they could finish the Hunt and be back the same day. With bad luck, spending several days traveling was perfectly normal.
Altaïr intended to send Isis to make her best pleading face at Guildmarm Sophia and see if she could snag a few nearby 4★ quests.
They weren't afraid of tough quests or poor rewards; even those "trash quests" that no one picked up for ages were fine, as long as the location was close enough.
Val Habar was a major city, after all, and with Rekusara close by, there should be plenty of such quests.
With their action plan for the next half-month settled, Altaïr was just about to exhale in relief when he suddenly felt that something was off. "Wait a sec, aren't we forgetting something?"
He flipped through his memo as he spoke.
Isis was frowning in deep thought as well. "Yeah... is it because we skipped the celebratory feast? No, it shouldn't be that. Speaking of which, where did Sajji go?"
"Sajji had some new inspiration and rushed off to Teacher Naziya's place. That's not who I mean."
Looking at the bewildered Isis and the mostly reliable but occasionally scatterbrained Altaïr, Nymera let out a soft sigh. "When our party came to the Great Desert, there were four of us."
"Ah!"
"Ah."
Both their faces flushed with embarrassment and shame. While they had asked Guildmarm Sophia and Teacher Naziya to look after her before heading to the South Sea, completely forgetting about her the moment they got back was a bit much.
After several expressions flickered across his face, Altaïr pushed back from the table and stood. "I'll go ask the guild receptionist what she's been up to lately. Hopefully, she hasn't caused any trouble?"
"I'm coming too!"
Nymera raised a hand and gestured for them to sit. "While you two were being scolded by Ms. Sophia, I already checked with Miss Hannah."
At this, Nymera's expression turned a little strange. "Lambert has actually been well-behaved?"
"Well-behaved?" Altaïr looked skeptical.
That word didn't match his impression of her at all.
"During the time we were away at the South Sea, she completed over ten 1★ quests at a pace of almost one per day.
"According to Miss Hannah's description, if she maintains this efficiency, it won't be long before she can consider ranking up to 2★."
At this, Nymera shot them a sidelong glance, the meaning in her eyes perfectly clear: when were these two going to follow her example and honestly do more quests at their own rank?
"That fast?" Altaïr was a bit surprised, but then he recalled everything that had happened during Lambert's graduation exam, and it no longer seemed so strange.
An ordinary 1★ Hunter couldn't take on four or five Prey at once like she could. Her combat ability, among her peers, or rather, among Hunters of her rank, was truly outstanding.
"The girl's unusually high quest efficiency, combined with her age and her status as a Hunting Horn user, has reportedly attracted considerable attention.
"But whether it's requests from other 1★ Hunters to cooperate, or invitations from Hunter teams eyeing her potential, she has rejected every single one.
"Even casual dinner invitations meant simply to get acquainted and show goodwill have all been politely declined. To borrow Miss Hannah's assessment, she is 'notoriously unsociable.'"
Altaïr and Isis exchanged glances.
That part wasn't surprising. It wasn't just strangers; even when the few of them tried to call her along for meals, she often made excuses not to come.
"Should we go check on her?" Isis's face held a hint of concern. "She's only seventeen. Suddenly moving from Dundorma to a completely unfamiliar Great Desert, the climate, language, customs, everything must be hard to adjust to.
"Even if something's bothering her, her rebellious teenage pride would keep her from opening up to anyone about it, leaving her all alone."
Altaïr couldn't help but glance at Isis, knowing she was projecting her own experience of running away from home back then.
But honestly, your personalities aren't quite the same.
"Hey." Nymera suddenly raised her chin, gesturing toward the entrance of the Guild Hall.
Altaïr and Isis turned to look, and saw a figure, rather slender by Hunter standards, walk in from outside.
She looked straight ahead, didn't greet anyone, and went directly to the Quest Counter, placing several bloodstained Jaggi Ear Crests on the counter to complete her quest.
Once the guild receptionist finished processing Lambert's quest completion, Lambert was just about to head alone toward the lodging area on the second floor of the Guild Hall when Altaïr suddenly raised his voice and waved her over. "Lambert, over here!"
Hearing her name called, Lambert turned and only then noticed the three of them.
Under the curious gazes of the surrounding Hunters, she trotted over to their table and dipped her head. "Senior Altaïr, Senior Isis, Senior Nymera."
"How have you been lately? Need any help with anything?" Knowing she disliked beating around the bush, Altaïr asked directly.
Lambert paused, then shook her head. "Nothing I need help with."
Beside him, Isis couldn't help but press further. "Are you getting used to life in the Great Desert? If you have any difficulties, don't be shy about asking us."
As if suddenly remembering something, Lambert's eyes lit up with excitement. "Yesterday, while I was gathering cacti, I got caught in a sandstorm, got lost, and wandered deep into a dangerous part of the hunting grounds. I ran into a Nibelsnarf and nearly didn't make it out.
"Let me tell you, the Great Desert is absolutely amazing!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)