GILF Hunter

A strong wind brushed past Airi’s face.

Airi looked out quietly from the top of the Labyrinth’s castle walls.

On the wall above the North Gate, which was closest to the Labyrinth. Since there were no obstacles blocking the view in between, the entrance to the Labyrinth in the distance was visible to Airi’s eyes.

When the invasion begins, monsters will swarm out from there.

Airi wore a tense expression at the thought.

Because during the upcoming invasion, she would have to face the swarming monsters from this very spot.

’Wow... it’s really high.’

’If you shoot from here, won’t you hit anything without even needing to aim?’

The members who had climbed the wall together stood behind Airi and looked around.

Everyone had only looked up at the wall from below; this was the first time they had actually climbed up here.

Usually, it was a restricted area where the guards stayed, so they couldn’t come up, and during invasions, high-ranking mercenary groups selected in advance were given priority to climb up.

’Airi, you’ve been on the wall before, right? You’re an archer.’

’Huh? I have, maybe once...’

’How was it? It must have been fun.’

’I’m not really sure... I just shot arrows wherever every time I received a signal.’

Of course, where Airi had stood wasn’t the North Gate, which was the main focus, but toward the East Gate where the offensive was lighter.

It was Airi’s first time standing in a so-called prime spot like this.

’It would be incredible to use magic from a place like this.’

Mika, looking out over the exterior of the Labyrinth, muttered so.

Once the invasion started, the outside would be entirely filled with monsters. Magic would undoubtedly display immense power.

’Anyway, didn’t you say all the high-rank mages wait in the rear?’

’Exactly. Why do they do that? Isn’t it more beneficial to use magic all over the place?’

’Still, you never know.’

Ian, listening to the conversation from behind, agreed in his heart. If Ian were in charge of the wall, he would have poured out magic while constantly rotating the mages.

However, that doesn’t mean the Labyrinth’s strategy is incomprehensible.

A mage’s mana is finite.

Once they use a large spell, they have to step out for a while to recover, and it would be a disaster if they couldn’t step up when a truly dangerous situation arose.

A mage capable of area-of-effect destruction magic is like a ’bomb’ commonly found in shooting games or defense games.

Mages are a life-saving means that allow a crisis to be overcome by deleting swarming enemies all at once. Usually, rather than trying to extract efficiency with them, the standard practice was to save them until the very, very end.

...No, I should be practicing instead of this.

Airi, who had been eavesdropping on the other members’ chatter for a moment, snapped back to her senses.

Airi aimed her bow toward the outside of the wall. A temporary target set up very far from the wall was visible.

A target placed quite far away. Airi nocked a practice arrow on her bowstring.

It was a practice arrow matched as closely as possible in weight and shape. It was something Elena had made for Airi’s practice.

Airi carefully aimed at the target and released the string.

The arrow she shot flew vigorously toward the outside of the wall, then fell slightly short of the target.

’A bit close.’

’I’m sorry... it’s my first time trying to shoot this far...’

It was a distance so great that the power of the arrow barely registered.

Sending an arrow to this distance in real combat was almost meaningless. Even if it hit a monster, the arrow wouldn’t lodge properly.

However, since she was planning to use magical arrows this time, the situation was different. With such arrows, she would be able to inflict sufficient damage even at this distance.

As per Ian’s request, sending an arrow to that distance seemed plenty possible, but since it was a distance she was shooting at for the first time, she still hadn’t grasped how to control her strength.

Thanks to that, Airi was in the middle of belated archery practice atop the wall.

’During the invasion, it’ll be packed with monsters, so it doesn’t need to be that accurate. You just need to match the distance.’

’Yes...’

Well, honestly, she’d probably get the hang of it after practicing for a day or so.

What felt burdensome were the gazes of the soldiers on the wall.

Since she had come up to borrow a spot on the wall for practical practice. Naturally, soldiers working as usual were standing nearby.

The fact that everyone said it was their first time on the wall meant, conversely, that from the soldiers’ perspective, it was also the first time they saw mercenaries up there during peace time.

The gazes of the soldiers on the wall were all focused on Airi’s archery practice.

Every time she hit or missed an arrow, she felt a small reaction occur among the soldiers. On one side, it seemed they were even betting on it.

Is a quieter practice impossible...

Since the soldiers on patrol and guard duty couldn’t be kicked off the wall, it was naturally impossible.

In the first place, how could they borrow a spot on the wall for practice? Airi was truly curious.

’Ah... I hit it.’

As her sense of distance settled, she hit the target accurately this time.

Small applause from a few soldiers could be heard from behind. Thanks to that, Airi’s face turned beet red.

...Is this such an important role to receive this much expectation?

Airi recalled the dark magic she had practiced and her new equipment.

She had heard an explanation from Ian about how the spells she had practiced combined, but she couldn’t easily guess what kind of result would come out.

It was a structure too complex for a novice dark mage who had just learned magic to conceive.

More than that, how does Ian come up with such ideas when he’s not even a mage...

Airi shot her arrows with such questions in mind.

It would be one thing to fail a difficult spell, but failing because of a poorly shot arrow would be truly unthinkable.

＊　＊　＊

When the sun set and Ian and the members returned to the base, a guest was waiting for Ian there.

’If you had contacted me in advance, I would have returned earlier.’

’It’s fine. I haven’t waited long.’

The guest waiting for Ian was Leona.

She said she came in person to deliver the items he had requested last time.

Several small, high-quality wooden boxes were placed on the table.

Leona held a glass and laughed, saying she had a lot of trouble obtaining these.

’Since they’re expensive, I brought them myself. I even raided the Mayor’s private warehouse and the council members.’

What Ian had requested this time was something that couldn’t be easily obtained and handed out like before. Equipment usable by mages during these times was practically close to strategic supplies.

At Leona’s gesture, one of the closed boxes opened.

Contained inside were various different accessories.

The accessories that increase maximum MP, which Ian had requested to find. And in as many diverse types as possible so that one person could use them.

Since most equipment with magical effects uses gemstones as a medium, it looked at first glance like it was full of jewels.

Airi, catching a glimpse from behind, was filled with admiration.

Wow... a famous mercenary leader receives gifts like this too.

Just looking at the precious metals filling the box made her feel intimidated.

In Airi’s eyes, they looked like gifts exchanged between wealthy, powerful people asking for favors.

Ian suddenly called Airi, who was behind him.

Since she had seen Leona’s face before, she ended up sitting in, but Airi was startled when her name was unexpectedly called.

’Airi, come and take these.’

’Ah, yes. Shall I put them in your room, Leader?’

’No. You’re going to use all of these.’

’Pardon...?’

Standing beside Ian, Airi stared blankly at the accessory box.

The inside of the box was filled with flashy accessories the likes of which Airi had never even touched before.

’A-all of these?’

’Yes. You need to use them during the invasion.’

Only after hearing that did Airi realize these weren’t simple accessories but magic items.

She was flustered by suddenly receiving a massive amount of jewelry, but it seemed they were just combat equipment to be used during the invasion.

’Phew... I see. I was borrowing them, then?’

’Ah, that’s right.’

Leona added an explanation for Airi.

’You can keep the rest, but please return the ones in this box later. I borrowed them from somewhere else too, you see.’

’K-keep them?’

To think it’s okay to keep the rest except for these...

The box Leona pointed to was only one, while the remaining boxes were full of accessories.

Airi received the accessory boxes Ian handed over with an expression as if her soul had departed.

After Airi took the pile of accessories and went up to her room first to organize them.

Leona asked Ian, who was sitting opposite.

’Is preparation going well?’

’There are no problems so far.’

Well, it would be troublesome if any answer other than ’going well’ came out at this point.

Leona, who had come to deliver the goods and share the news from her side, informed Ian of the progress of the work.

’Final approval has come out. Your mercenary group will take command of Sector 1 of the Northern Wall.’

Well, since they can’t entrust full command to a mercenary, I’ll be climbing up with you too.

Leona explained so.

Sector 1 of the North was the location on the wall closest to the Labyrinth. In other words, the area where the offensive would arrive first and the quantity of monsters would be greatest.

’I’m counting on you. If things go as expected, it won’t just end as a problem with our approval rating, but the future of the city will be at stake.’

It wasn’t a favor she wanted to entrust to someone else. Leona muttered so and stood up from her seat.

The time to fight was approaching.