"What do you mean Nymera's busy, so you came instead?!"
Staring at the girl with dark circles under her eyes, Altaïr felt as though he had ordered a Well-done Steak only for the vendor to hand him a bone.
Lambert pushed up the corners of her mouth with two fingers, forcing a smile. "'The vast, boundless desert stirs my heart with longing. I go now to seek inspiration in its wilds. Worry not for me.' That's what Nymera said before she left."
"...Did she mention when she'd be back from seeking inspiration?"
If she was due back today or tomorrow, he could wait for her, Altaïr thought.
"No." Lambert's answer plunged Altaïr into despair.
Lambert tilted her head and stared at Altaïr as he grimaced and covered his face for several seconds, then abruptly said, "Your voice... it doesn't seem as noisy as before."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Altaïr did not quite follow.
Lambert raised a hand and gestured vaguely. "It's all wind, but before, it was like wind blowing through a haunted, ruined city, all 'whoosh-whoosh.' Now it's more like standing on a dune, all 'whish-whish.'"
Lambert was as cryptic as ever.
Altaïr sighed. Before leaving, Nymera had specifically left a message with Lambert for him, probably hoping he would keep an eye on Lambert as well.
Come to think of it, he had promised Instructor Gael and Lambert's parents that he would look after her, but in truth, he had never done much of that. Thinking about it now made him feel ashamed of himself.
"So you've already finished hunting the Kulu-Ya-Ku and ranked up to 2★?" Knowing Lambert had previously taken a quest to hunt a Kulu-Ya-Ku, Altaïr asked out of genuine concern.
"Mm." Lambert nodded. "I got lucky. I met two Loc Lac Rangers who were heading to the same hunting grounds for a mission. I hitched a ride on their Sandship and got there and back in no time."
"...The transportation isn't the point. How did the hunt go?" Altaïr felt a little exasperated.
"The hunt, huh?" Lambert looked utterly unenthused.
"Really disappointing. That Kulu-Ya-Ku started out pretty fierce. It even dug up rocks and threw them. But once I found an opening, knocked it over, and hit it with one round of Echo Wave, it just kept running. It never even attempted a proper counterattack before it died.
"It had no fight in it at all. What a boring creature. I never want to hunt another one. I might as well have picked a Gendrome or something instead."
Altaïr found Lambert's assessment of the Kulu-Ya-Ku both exasperating and funny.
A Kulu-Ya-Ku lives by stealing eggs. Aptonoth eggs, Wyvern Eggs, it steals them all. Skittishness and a tendency to flee are in its nature, yet Lambert treated it with utter disdain.
"All right, I've delivered Nymera's message. I'm off now." Lambert dipped her head slightly in farewell and turned to leave.
Altaïr grabbed her by the back of the collar and hauled her right back. "Wait a second."
Lambert looked at him in bewilderment, silently asking whether there was something else.
"How far can your Echo Wave reach?" Altaïr asked bluntly.
Tracking down a mysterious Small Monster was not a proper quest, nor was it dangerous, and the reward was expected to be decent. If Nymera was busy, Lambert would do just as well.
Lambert hummed in thought for a few seconds. "Normally, five or six meters. If I have enough time to layer several melodies in advance, I can reach eight or nine, maybe almost ten?
"Any farther and it loses power. There's no point."
Altaïr nodded. That was enough range to strike a small Flying Wyvern passing at low altitude.
"I'm tracking down traces of a certain small Flying Wyvern. Basically, it's a Small Monster about the size of a Remobra. We'd prefer an intact carcass. The Guild Master promised a decent reward."
"Ah, sorry, I'm not–"
"Don't be so quick to say you're not interested." Altaïr waved a hand, cutting off the girl he could never quite classify as diligent or lazy. "You're short on money, aren't you?"
"..." The girl with dark circles under her eyes choked back her reply.
"The pay from 1★ quests is meager. And since you're always chasing efficiency, you often rent a Gargwa cart or a Sandship, which isn't cheap either. Even though you've cleared twenty-odd 1★ quests in under two months, you probably haven't saved much. You spent some of it forging the Bone Set, and since you specifically hunted a Kulu-Ya-Ku, you're clearly planning to forge the Kulu Armor Set. The reward from the Kulu-Ya-Ku quest and what little you've saved probably won't cover a full set of Kulu Armor."
A trace of embarrassment surfaced on Lambert's face, which usually showed nothing but drowsiness and indifference. Still, she put on a brave face and said, "I'm pretty frugal with my daily expenses. If two meals a day are still too expensive, I'll cut back to one meal a day for a while. I should just about manage..."
"Wait, what?!" Altaïr hurriedly raised a hand to stop her.
A Hunter could cut every other daily expense, even sleep on the streets if they did not care about dignity or comfort, but food was absolutely the one thing they could not skimp on. Without enough calories and nutrients, they could not sustain the demands of daily training and combat. Letting the body run down to the point of collapse was no joke.
"Skipping meals just to forge new equipment is absurd. Even if you go to such extremes and somehow scrape together enough for a Kulu Armor Set, what will you do when you need to upgrade your weapon? That Iron Horn of yours is already falling behind now that you're taking 2★ quests. Are you planning to keep starving yourself every time you need new gear?"
"Mm... take more quests?"
"Haven't you already taken enough quests?!" Altaïr was genuinely getting worked up now.
Earlier, when they had asked around at the Guild's reception desk, they had learned that aside from being unsociable, Lambert had never stepped out of line. On the contrary, she was highly regarded for completing quests efficiently. They had taken that to mean she was self-sufficient and needed no special attention. Now, it seemed that was not the whole story.
Lambert was far too slight to look like a Hunter. Since she had already been thin at the training camp, they had assumed she was simply built that way. Had relentless questing and poor nutrition kept her in such a severe calorie deficit that she had wasted away? Her pallor was not merely her natural complexion. Was she actually anemic?
Reaching out to squeeze Lambert's arm, which was thinner than his own wrist, Altaïr felt a stab of alarm.
A terrifying image flashed unbidden through his mind. He pictured himself standing before Lambert's parents, bowing deeply, his face full of grief. "I'm sorry. I accidentally let your daughter starve to death."
God, this'll be the death of me... Altaïr's expression hardened. "Without the necessary nutrition, you've been taking on demanding quests without a break for over a month. Your body hasn't been able to recover at all. Starting now, you're forbidden from accepting any more quests. You'll eat with Isis from now on, and she'll keep an eye on you. No, wait. Isis is busy with her Rank-Up Quest right now. She may already have set out. Forget it. For the next few days, I'll keep an eye on you myself." Altaïr rubbed the corner of his eye.
Admittedly, Isis's own eating habits were far from normal, but if Lambert could manage even one of Isis's breakfasts a day, it would probably be enough.
"Ehhhh..." Lambert dragged out the syllable, looking less than willing, but Altaïr had no intention of asking her opinion.
Earlier, bringing Lambert along had only been a convenient way to keep an eye on her. Now, watching her had become mandatory.
"Don't 'ehhhhh' me. At this rate, you won't even have the strength to lift your Hunting Horn. Do you plan to deliver yourself to the Monsters as live feed? Come with me. First, I'll get a couple of proper meals into you and build your strength back up. Then we'll stock up on supplies and head out!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)