—--
Back at the Guild Hall, Altaïr filled Mr. Gordon and the others, as well as Guildmarm Sophia, in on the story he'd used to mislead Ithra.
He wanted to make sure no one accidentally let the truth slip later. Ithra had finally managed to release the resentment she'd carried for years, and learning the truth would be a terrible blow.
Guildmarm Sophia was silent for a long while before sighing. "Thank you for going to all that trouble. At least this will help her move on."
Gordon laughed and clapped Altaïr twice on the shoulder. "Good work. That settles it. If anyone asks, the 'Guild higher-ups' made the decision. Hell, I count as one of those higher-ups now anyway."
He had seen far too many similar situations. He could not say he had grown numb to them, but he was certainly accustomed to them.
In recent years, the Guild had stepped up its Hunter training efforts and increased the number of Hunters somewhat, but on a global scale, there were still far too few.
Between a Monster actively wreaking havoc and one entrenched somewhere in the wilderness, so well hidden that no one would even know it existed without deliberately searching for it, which should the Guild prioritize for subjugation?
It was not a difficult choice.
Diablon, the "Demon King," was one such case, and so was the Ghost Dragon... Wait, why did situations like this keep cropping up lately?
Gordon seemed to read Altaïr's thoughts. He gave a quiet "Heh" and said, "Now that you two have reached High Rank, you'll encounter incidents like this more and more often.
"There are very few top-tier Hunters capable of facing Monsters with high Danger Ratings. A single error in judgment by the Guild could lead to catastrophic losses.
"The higher a Monster's Danger Rating, the more cautious the Guild tends to be, especially when it has not yet threatened human survival. That is the conclusion drawn from countless bloody lessons."
Gordon let out a heavy breath. "Ultimately, it still comes down to a lack of capable Hunters. If the Guild had a hundred thousand High Rank Hunters, we wouldn't have to weigh so many considerations."
"..." Altaïr's smile was a little strained.
A hundred thousand High Rank Hunters... As far as Altaïr knew, the Guild had roughly ten thousand active Hunters in total. More than sixty percent of them were ordinary 1★ or 2★ Hunters. The number of High Rank Hunters was said to have nearly doubled compared with twenty or thirty years ago, but even now, it had yet to surpass two hundred.
Against the Monsters roaming throughout the wilderness, humanity's current strength was barely enough for self-preservation, with no hope of breaking the deadlock anytime soon.
There was another school of thought: invest heavily in technological development.
Bowguns, for example, imposed less stringent physical demands on their users than melee weapons. Naturally, some had proposed developing Bowguns that ordinary soldiers or even civilians could use, then relying on sheer numbers and concentrated firepower to suppress Monsters.
But even setting aside the difficulty of training people to use them, the idea of arming the population through technology had always risked crossing an invisible red line in the eyes of the Guild and the leaders of various nations.
Countless Ancient Scrolls, documents, and archaeological discoveries had proven that multiple civilizations far more advanced than present-day human society had once existed. Without exception, each had been destroyed at the height of its prosperity.
No one knew exactly where that line lay, but through continuous archaeological research and comparison, scholars had concluded that the answer lay in ecological balance.
Once human technological development upset the ecological balance, calamity followed.
That was the primary reason the Guild handled matters so conservatively and placed the preservation of ecological balance above all else.
Seeing Altaïr's grave expression and realizing his thoughts had wandered, Gordon clapped his hands. "All right, we'll keep an eye on Ms. Ithra. How is your intelligence gathering coming along?"
Altaïr snapped out of his reverie and hurriedly produced Ithra's notebook and his own notes. "It's all here.
"Based on her description, I believe this Monster has both pronounced strengths and glaring weaknesses.
"It is extremely fast and agile, and it possesses several unusual means of attack.
"Its weakness is that it has almost no shell or scales. Its hide and layer of muscle are both very thin, so a Monster like that should have comparatively poor defenses and little physical strength."
Gordon took the notebook, skimmed it, and grunted. "Hm. So what tactics do you plan to use?"
"First, we'll try using a Pitfall Trap to see if we can restrain it. Then I'll use my superior mobility to serve as the main frontliner and keep its attention focused on me, while Isis acts as our primary attacker and maintains the offensive.
"If the trap proves ineffective, the rest of the strategy remains the same. In short, the aim is to keep it suppressed and end the fight as quickly as possible."
"More or less," Gordon said noncommittally as he handed back both Ithra's notebook and Altaïr's notes.
Altaïr had prepared himself to answer many more questions, so the response left him somewhat at a loss.
Gordon's thinking was actually much simpler than Altaïr's.
The answer "focus on suppression" was enough. Everything else was secondary. If they could suppress a Monster so completely that it could not even raise its head, why worry about how it might attack?
Whether the two youngsters were capable of that, and how they would recover if their suppression faltered and something went wrong, were pointless questions for now. Gordon would simply see how they performed when the time came.
After finishing this "work report" with Mr. Gordon, Altaïr sought out Isis, both to share the intelligence and to see how her preparations were coming along.
He usually handled their supplies. Since the trip had originally been intended as "sightseeing," he worried Isis might have focused exclusively on ingredients and neglected their real work.
Reality proved Isis was far more reliable than he had expected. Far from focusing on ingredients and forgetting the mission, she had not considered ingredients at all and had prepared for a proper Hunt.
In fact, her preparations were more serious than usual. Normally, she would at least bring ingredients so Altaïr could cook a Canteen meal before the Hunt began.
This time, aside from the rations they had to carry, she had packed nothing that could be called "food."
Instead, she had prepared a huge pile of potions and hunting items, both useful and otherwise. Altaïr even spotted two unfinished trap mechanisms.
What was this? Was she afraid the traps they were carrying would not be enough, so she planned to craft a few more on the spot?
Wasn't she always the type to rely on brute force? When had she switched to an item-heavy approach?
"It's rare to see you this dedicated," Altaïr teased, somewhat amused.
Isis's expression was utterly serious. "Because this is a test, a test Dad set for me... for us! I don't want him looking down on me!"
So her competitive spirit had conquered her appetite.
"Well, you don't need this many hunting items. Neither Sajji nor Clawdia will be joining us for this Hunt. If we focus on suppression, the two of us might not have time to use all these tools."
"Huh? Where are Clawdia and Sajji going?"
"Mr. Gordon said Mr. Purrcival plans to put them through some rigorous training." Altaïr shrugged. "Apparently, Mr. Purrcival is also very interested in Sajji's Rathalos Series and Rathian Series gear, so neither of them will be coming this time.
"We only need to focus on coordinating with each other."
"All right." Isis regretfully set aside the obviously excessive hunting items, but she left all the costly potions in place. Clearly, she intended to drink her fill before the battle.
"By the way, have you finished gathering intelligence on your end?"
"Yes." Altaïr nodded with a smile. "I found a survivor from back then and obtained very detailed combat intelligence."
Altaïr told Isis about Ithra and relayed everything he had learned from her.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm..."
Seeing Isis nod over and over without saying anything, Altaïr could not help asking, "Any other ideas?"
Isis did, in fact, have one. "I was thinking, aside from finding people who experienced it firsthand, couldn't we look for more rumors and legends?
"If the legendary Ghost Dragon turned out to be real, then perhaps those other legends aren't all false either, right?"
"!"
Altaïr had assumed the rest of his afternoon would be free. He gave Isis a mixed look. Her brain really was like water in a sponge. Give it a squeeze, and there was always more.