Altaïr found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
The Guild had many factors to consider. Its decision to halt the investigation was not wrong, nor was its decision to withhold the full truth.
Otherwise, word that the legendary Ghost Dragon had appeared would have sent far more than one or two people racing off to the Ruins Labyrinth to throw their lives away for one reason or another.
From the perspective of those directly involved, however, the way the matter had been handled felt deeply unfair and bitter. No amount of compensation from the Guild in other areas could ever make up for it.
"Haaah..." Ithra let out a long sigh. "Sorry, I got a little worked up.
"So, what's the situation now? Has the Guild finally decided to resume its investigation into the Ruins Labyrinth and the Ghost Dragon?
"Are you the one carrying out this quest? Just one 6★ Hunter? Heh... I suppose the Guild doesn't care all that much after all. Be careful you don't get yourself killed..."
"That's not the case." Altaïr suddenly interrupted her, his tone deadly serious. "On the contrary, the Guild is taking this extremely seriously, far more seriously than you might imagine.
"The team assigned to this quest is an entire squad of High Rank Hunters. My partner Isis and I are both 6★ Hunters, but we are only support personnel.
"The real main force consists of the 9★ Hunter Gordon the Hero and the 8★ Hunter Hayata the Red Blade.
"I trust that gives you some sense of our resolve. This time, we will eliminate every lingering threat and settle the Ruins Labyrinth problem once and for all."
"'The Hero' and 'the Red Blade'?!" Ithra's eyes widened at Altaïr's words. "Are you joking?"
A hint of displeasure crossed Altaïr's face at being doubted. "If you don't believe me, you can come to the Guild Hall with me right now and meet Mr. Gordon and Ms. Hayata in person.
"If they weren't so busy preparing for the Hunt, I wouldn't be the only one here to confirm the intelligence with you."
"I... I didn't mean it like that. It's just... it's just hard to believe. Can that Monster really be defeated? Of course, I don't mean to doubt those two..." Ithra's words came out in a jumble.
"Rest assured. I believe it won't be long before you hear that the Gilgamesh Ancient Ruins have reopened." On this point, Altaïr seemed entirely confident.
"But as you know, a Hunt is full of unforeseen complications. To ensure the operation goes smoothly, we need the most detailed intelligence possible."
"Of course, I understand perfectly!" Ithra unconsciously twisted her fingers together to hide her excitement. Altaïr noticed that both her hands and legs were trembling.
Pressing her hands firmly against her knees, Ithra took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
"Please wait a moment." Ithra gave Altaïr an awkward smile. She moved from the bedside to the desk, hurriedly rummaged through a small drawer, and pulled out a notebook.
She handed the notebook to Altaïr. "This contains... everything we went through back then, along with some... thoughts I've had over the past few years.
"I don't know how much of the later material will be useful. Just consider it the wild speculation and fanciful thinking of a failure like me."
Altaïr accepted the notebook solemnly. "May I read it now? That way, if I have any questions, I can ask you on the spot."
"Of course."
Altaïr opened the notebook and began reading intently.
Ithra was a Hunter through and through. Her information focused entirely on the battle itself, with rough sketches supplementing her plain prose.
The notebook's account of the encounter with the Ghost Dragon and the battle that followed was brief, totaling fewer than a thousand words. At Altaïr's reading speed, it took him only moments to finish.
Yet that account filled only a tenth... no, less than a twentieth of the notebook.
He continued flipping through it.
The later sections had clearly not been written at the same time as the initial account of the Ghost Dragon encounter. They were a dense collection of informal notes, built up through countless additions over time.
Every question that arose in Altaïr's mind as he read the original account found an answer in those notes.
For instance, the opening placed the Ghost Dragon's body length at "twenty to thirty meters," a staggeringly wide range that could not be explained by an error in visual estimation alone.
The notes explained why.
Its joints are exceptionally flexible and can freely dislocate like those of a snake, allowing its limbs and even its spine to lengthen without warning. This is vital to remember in battle. Ridari was sent flying by its suddenly extending tail and suffered severe injuries in an instant.
The notebook also contained the kind of speculative thinking more typical of a Scholar than a Hunter.
One entry, for example, read:
Its skeletal structure is unusual. It walks on four legs, with exceptionally well-developed forelimbs and wing membranes connecting them to its ribs. Its body plan closely resembles that of Monsters such as Tigrex. After consulting the records, I found its morphology remarkably similar to Wyvern Rex, the progenitor of all Flying Wyverns. Could this mean it is an extremely primitive species?
Even all those sections combined filled less than a quarter of the notebook.
The rest was devoted entirely to reviewing and reconstructing every movement and behavior the Ghost Dragon had displayed during their battle.
As noted earlier, the Ghost Dragon could dislocate its bones to lengthen its body and extend its attack range. Ithra therefore believed that close-quarters combat was the best counter, while skirmishing at medium range was actually far more dangerous.
The notebook also covered the most effective team compositions, plans for suppressing the Monster in stages, and much more.
Clearly, she had often considered returning to avenge her two fallen comrades.
But unlike Sid, she lacked the strength to face the "Demon King" alone and escape unscathed. Her injuries would never fully heal, reducing her hopes of revenge to an empty dream.
All she could do was revisit the battle again and again, devising countermeasures and hoping that her intelligence would one day prove useful.
Now, that opportunity had arrived!
Her old dejection vanished. She watched eagerly as Altaïr turned page after page and read through well over half the notebook. The moment he finished, she launched into an enthusiastic discussion of tactics with him.
Altaïr did not dismiss her views simply because her Hunter rank was lower than his.
It was hard to imagine how many ingenious ideas a veteran Hunter might produce after spending years obsessively devising ways to fight a single Monster.
Altaïr even believed that if Ithra could lead her old squad against the Ghost Dragon again with everything she now knew, they might not lose a second time and would have an excellent chance of all escaping unscathed.
Their exchange of intelligence and discussion of tactics continued from early morning into the afternoon.
By the time Altaïr said farewell and left Ithra's home, the lingering gloom on her face had vanished completely, replaced by fervent anticipation.
The weight of the titles "the Hero" and "the Red Blade" was beyond question. The intelligence Ithra had provided should reduce the already slim chance of anything going wrong to an absolute minimum.
She looked forward to hearing good news.
"Hey! Wait up!" Altaïr had not gone far from the retired Hunter's home when someone called out behind him.
Altaïr turned and saw Layla jogging after him.
She stopped in front of him and bowed deeply. "Whatever your reasons were, thank you so much! Ithra was my father's disciple. She never complained to us, but we all knew how much she was hurting. Guildmarm Sophia and my father invited her to become an Instructor at the training camp many, many times, but she always refused..."
At this, Layla raised her head, a bright smile spreading across her face. "Today, she finally said yes!"
* * *
This chapter was translated with YourTL.app. The site can also translate novels for readers when no English version is available.
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Did the story hit 400 pages before the reset, or not?