Gathering intelligence takes both skill and luck, and sometimes luck matters even more.
Early the next morning, Altaïr approached Guildmarm Sophia again on behalf of Mr. Gordon and Ms. Hayata. He asked about the two Hunters who had ventured deep into the Ruins Labyrinth to investigate, only to retreat with severe injuries.
That was the skill part.
Sophia asked one of the staff to check the records and confirmed that one of the Hunters involved had since retired and was now living in Val Habar.
That was the luck part!
Altaïr obtained the retired Hunter's address, carefully chose a few gifts from the street vendors, and went to visit her alone.
Of course, bringing Mr. Gordon, a 9★ Hunter, would have made gathering information much easier. But this was supposed to be a "test" for them, and dragging the "examiner" along would hardly be reasonable.
To first-time visitors, Val Habar's jumble of caravans, tents, and streets seemed utterly chaotic. Anyone who had lived there for a while, however, knew that the mobile city followed a surprisingly orderly layout.
Its districts, streets, and alleys were arranged systematically and almost never changed. Otherwise, avoiding chaos during the quarterly migration would have been nearly impossible.
Altaïr walked alone through Val Habar's bustling streets, surrounded by the ceaseless cries of hawkers. Colorful cloth fluttered from ropes overhead. Those were not banners, but the residents' laundry drying in the wind.
A Melynx crept past him with a shifty look, clearly up to no good. Altaïr shot it a glare, and it sheepishly ducked into an alley.
Val Habar was no small city. It took him nearly half an hour on foot to reach the vicinity of the address.
The Guild staff had identified the correct alley, but Altaïr still had to determine which tent or shack belonged to Ithra. Fortunately, that was not difficult.
He found an elderly woman nearby and bent down to ask her.
When he mentioned the name "Ithra" and explained that she was a former Hunter, the woman nodded knowingly and pointed her cane toward the far end of the alley.
Altaïr thanked her politely, then headed toward the unremarkable shack.
He knocked on the door, stepped back, and waited quietly.
Voices came from inside, which surprised him. He remembered the Guild staff saying that Ithra, the retired Hunter, lived alone.
Still, there was nothing particularly strange about it. Everyone had friends or relatives who might visit.
The door soon opened, and a woman in her twenties peered out. She looked vaguely familiar.
Altaïr could not recall her name, but if he remembered correctly, she was one of Val Habar's local Hunters.
When he had first met Isis, the two of them had spent several months in Val Habar. He had probably seen this woman quite a few times at the Guild Hall.
She clearly did not recognize him. Three or four years had passed, he had grown nearly twenty centimeters taller, and his frame had filled out considerably. His old Genprey Armor had also been replaced by his current Brute Tigrex Armor Set. He looked completely different.
"You are...?" The woman regarded the unfamiliar but clearly capable Hunter with uncertainty.
His armor resembled a Tigrex Armor Set, but it was not quite the same, and she had never seen his weapon before. That alone told her plenty.
"Hello, I'm Altaïr. I'm here to visit Ms. Ithra. Is she home?" Altaïr gave her a polite nod.
"She is." The woman glanced back inside as though checking with the homeowner, then pulled the door open and let Altaïr in.
The interior was unexpectedly neat and tidy. It was not exactly spotless, but it looked nothing like the filthy, bottle-strewn mess he had imagined.
A tall, slender woman who appeared to be around thirty stood inside. She looked somewhat worn down but not unkempt. This was likely the retired Hunter he had come to see.
"I'm Ithra. I don't believe we've... met?" She looked at Altaïr in puzzlement.
Altaïr set the gifts he had brought on the table and was about to introduce himself in more detail when the younger Hunter suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!"
"Altaïr... I think I remember that name! You stayed in Val Habar for a while, didn't you?
"And you were with a girl named... what was it? Iris? Isis? Anyway, she was tall, right?"
Altaïr looked at her in surprise, then nodded with a smile. "That's right. My partner Isis and I stayed in Val Habar for several months. That was more than three years ago. You have an excellent memory."
The woman clicked her tongue. "I'm Layla. I don't remember you because I have a good memory. My old man mentioned you two quite a few times.
"Something about you and that Isis girl letting that fat Jara trick you into taking on a Tigrex?
"You were only 2★ or 3★ back then, weren't you? Did that really happen?"
"Uh... it did, but that was an accident..." Altaïr gave a dry laugh. He had never expected someone to dig up that embarrassing episode after so many years.
He could not help asking, "And your father is...?"
"My dad's Musa, Val Habar's famously unlucky wretch. Ever heard of him?" Layla was lively and blunt, without the slightest hesitation about mocking her own father.
"So you're Instructor Musa's daughter." Altaïr understood at once.
Of course he knew Musa. He was one of Val Habar's local elites, a High Rank Hunter who used a Bow, and an Instructor at the Val Habar Hunter Training Camp. Known as "Crow Musa," he was a Hunter of considerable renown throughout the Great Desert.
Back when Altaïr, Jara, and the others had "hunted" that Tigrex, Instructor Musa had been the one who rushed over to rescue them. They had received quite the scolding afterward...
By the time Layla finished, she had more or less introduced Altaïr for him.
Ithra's gaze lingered on Altaïr's armor for several seconds before she spoke. "You must be a High Rank Hunter?
"What business could a formidable young Hunter like you have with someone retired like me?"
Hearing the trace of self-mockery in her voice, Altaïr smiled. "You're both my seniors, so there's no need for formalities. Please, just call me Altaïr.
"I came to ask you for some information. I'm the one imposing on you."
"Information from me? I was only a 4★ Hunter before I retired. What could I possibly..." Ithra trailed off as something occurred to her, and her expression darkened.
"You're here to ask about Gilkuza?"
"That's right."
"I never expected anyone would still believe us." Ithra shook her head with a bitter laugh and sat on the edge of the bed. "Didn't most people dismiss the whole thing?
"They said the effluvium beneath the ruins made us hallucinate, that we had seen it wrong. Even the Guild abandoned the investigation..."
Altaïr could sense her resentment and frustration, and he understood exactly where they came from.
She had endured one blow after another. Her comrades had died, she had been severely injured and forced to retire, most people dismissed the intelligence they had risked their lives to recover, and even the Guild had offered no apparent follow-up.
The fact that Ithra had merely grown dejected and resentful, without resorting to anything drastic, already showed remarkable reason and restraint.
"The Guild never abandoned the investigation, nor did it ever doubt the intelligence you risked your lives to bring back." Altaïr met her eyes with a serious expression. "The Guild designated the ancient city of Gilgamesh a high-danger restricted zone and barred the general public from entering. That decision was based on its trust in your report.
"The investigation went no further because the Guild didn't want to put anyone in danger without good reason..."
"I know all that." Ithra waved a hand irritably. "My master has tried to comfort me with those words more times than I can count. I understand the Guild's reasons.
"That's why I haven't done anything or gone around telling everyone that we encountered the Ghost Dragon.
"I'd rather people think we were a bunch of fools who stumbled into some effluvium, refused to admit it, and made up a story to deceive everyone."