"Uh, partner?" Perhaps sensing the tense atmosphere, the Field Team Leader took a step forward, trying to break the deadlock.
He scratched his head and gestured to the four newcomers. "Don't be nervous. They mean no harm. They saw we needed a hand and took the initiative to help—"
"Um, Leader? Would it be alright if we introduced ourselves?" the orange-haired hunter interrupted with an embarrassed smile. "It feels a bit insincere to have someone else do it for us."
"Of course," the Field Team Leader said with a laugh. "Go right ahead."
"Yes!" The cheerful hunter pumped a fist, though it was unclear exactly what he was celebrating. "Hello there! I'm a hunter from the Fifth Fleet. Just call me the Ace; that's what all my friends call me."
"Karl." The burly hunter standing beside him finally spoke. Just as Mirrorblade had judged, his voice was deep and raspy. His response was extremely brief, devoid of a single wasted word; he seemed to be a man of few words.
"Anyway, don't let our age fool you—we're members of the Recommended Group. Our skills are top-notch!" The Ace laughed, patting his chest. "Only members of the Recommended Group are paired with Handlers. They might not be combat specialists, but they are experts at information synthesis. They know the weaknesses of all sorts of monsters!"
"It's not quite that exaggerated. Hello everyone, I'm Sophia." Wearing the standard Guild-issued sleeveless leather jacket and skirt suited for field work, the woman behind the Ace bowed slightly. "I am the Ace's Handler."
"I'm Eileen! I'm my partner's Handler, and my favorite thing in the world is eating!"
Compared to the more reserved Sophia, the female Handler standing behind the burly Karl was far more hyperactive. she gave a thumbs-up as she introduced herself.
Her outfit was also quite eye-catching. She wore an extremely complex and heavy-looking set of custom goggles on her head, equipped not only with magnifying lenses for observing minute tracks but also an external monocular telescope for long-distance scouting. A peculiar bird-shaped spiral lens hung from her waist, and a quill pen was tucked haphazardly into her breast pocket. Hanging from the leather strap slung across her shoulder—which secured a thick Hunter's Notes binder—was a jangling collection of an ink bottle and two large gathering vials.
What truly caught Mirrorblade's attention, however, wasn't the clutter on this woman's person, but her expression. It was a look of pure, fanatical zeal, much like a Pukei-Pukei spotting fresh poison mushrooms. Her eyes were practically glowing with green light. If the more composed Sophia hadn't been holding her back by the arm, Mirrorblade had no doubt this woman would have lunged at him without a shred of caution—her fingers were already inches away from touching him!
"H-Hello there!!" Pushing her goggles up onto her forehead, Eileen finally couldn't contain her excitement. While struggling to break free from her companion's grip, she raised her right hand high like an elementary student desperate to answer a question. "Is this the legendary first monster to ever form a partnership with humans?! Heavens! You're absolutely beautiful—you're just like a mirror! Question, question, question! Can I touch you? Do you like eating meat too? Do you prefer fatty cuts or lean ones?!"
Mirrorblade: "..."
His massive head couldn't help but recoil slightly. His deep, serious gaze was now filled with sheer exasperation. What kind of nonsensical questions were these?
What did this woman take him for? A Poogie back at the base?
"Graaa-h!"
He didn't need a translator for that. It was a low growl of threat, meaning: Don't come any closer!
"The Little Boss says absolutely not, meow! No approaching allowed!!" Kankan, who had been leaning against Mirrorblade looking quite tipsy, suddenly bounced up as if he had stepped on a spring. Half the alcohol was scared right out of him. He dashed in front of Mirrorblade on his short legs, crossing his paws in a 'no' gesture. "You must not be disrespectful to the Little Boss, meow!"
"Ah! That's such a shame!" Eileen's emotions were like a rollercoaster, peaking one moment and crashing the next. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean any disrespect to Mirrorblade, I was just a tiny, tiny, tiny bit curious."
She pinched her fingers together to show exactly how much—a "fingertip universe" of curiosity.
"But eating meat really is wonderful, isn't it? It's not just meat—any delicacy is worth enjoying with your whole heart! Just thinking about how we'll officially set out to explore the New World tomorrow makes me so excited I can't sleep!"
She was indeed dejected for about two seconds. But only two seconds.
"I wonder how many exotic creatures we'll encounter, and how many brand-new flavors we'll discover! The entire New World is like one giant gourmet meal! Wow! Just imagining it makes me drool!!"
"You mean it makes you want to start exploring immediately, right?!" The other Handler, Sophia, couldn't help but criticize. She reached out and pinched Eileen's cheek. "Calm down already!"
"Well, it's basically the same thing," Eileen mumbled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly while giving a silly grin to try and play it off. "It's all exploration anyway."
"ROAR!"
Mirrorblade's pupils suddenly dilated. His abrupt, low roar instantly commanded everyone's attention, snapping the relaxed atmosphere taut like a bowstring. Following Mirrorblade's irritated gaze, the group felt their scalps go numb. While they had been distracted by the bickering between Eileen and Sophia, the hunter named Karl had somehow moved past the iron pot and was reaching toward Mirrorblade's short front foreleg.
This ambiguous attempt to sneak closer was viewed by Mirrorblade as a direct provocation. His massive frame shed its lethargic posture instantly; he sat bolt upright, and the sword-tail behind him whipped upward, ready to thrust out at any moment!
"Partner!!" Eileen yelled, her voice full of panic. "Be careful! Get back!!"
"Karl!" the Ace barked. "Don't move!"
In truth, Karl didn't need his companions' warnings. As Mirrorblade lunged upward, the sheer pressure of the monster's presence caused the burly hunter to freeze. His nerves were screaming alarms, and his hand instinctively reached behind his back for his weapon—only for him to remember the weapon rack was empty.
"Don't be nervous, partner! They aren't bad people, they don't mean to hurt you!" the Field Team Leader tried to soothe him, his face full of anxiety. But the tip of Mirrorblade's sword-tail remained leveled directly at Karl's chest.
One second, two seconds, three seconds passed.
Strangely, Karl's face didn't show much panic. His mouth opened, and his lips moved slightly as if he wanted to explain something but didn't know where to start. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. He reached into his thick chest armor, searched around, and pulled out an object about the size of an adult's palm hanging from his neck on a tough leather cord.
He completely ignored how his sudden movement made everyone else even more nervous, their hearts nearly jumping out of their throats.
"Here." Spreading his hand to reveal what he was tightly clutching, he held it up high, as if trying to push it right into Mirrorblade's line of sight. On Karl's rock-hard face, an unexpected trace of tension appeared. He stared fixedly at Mirrorblade, his Adam's apple bobbing as he seemed to wait for a reaction.
Ultimately, Mirrorblade didn't believe a hunter would attack him in this situation, especially with something so small. Curious, he lowered his head. The hot air huffing from his nostrils ruffled Karl's hair as he carefully examined the object. This was... a piece of shell?
It was clearly an aged piece of shell. The edges showed signs of being cut, though the craftsmanship was crude and irregular. It was roughly circular and had clearly been well-cared for by its owner; perhaps it had been rubbed and polished by hand over many years, as its surface was oily and lustrous.
Maybe it had been waxed? Regardless, despite the passage of time, the dark red base color and the black patterns upon it remained clear.
"Eh? What is that, partner?" Eileen broke free of the tension and rushed up, peeking out from behind Karl. She curiously poked the shell with her finger. "This color and texture... hmm, it looks a bit familiar."
"It's a Glavenus shell, isn't it?" Sophia followed close behind, confirming it after a quick glance. "The structure at the break and the type of keratin... if I remember correctly, it's definitely a Glavenus shell. I assume it has a very special meaning to you?"
"Grandfather gave it to me." Karl's answer remained characteristically brief. Whether it had a "special meaning" was left unsaid, but the implication was heavy.
Mirrorblade, however, understood perfectly.
The reason was simple: he had seen a shell of this exact color, processed in this exact way, with the same texture and patterns, on the person of the Sword Master. That "stinky old man" had even gloated about it to him, but when Mirrorblade had tried to ask for it, the old man had vanished in a flash, refusing to part with it.
Tch. Annoying dragon.
"Roar?" Mirrorblade growled toward Karl.
"The Little Boss is asking, was your grandfather a hunter too, meow?" As the bridge between the two sides, Kankan was still annoyed by Karl's reckless move, but he translated faithfully. "I recognize it too, meow! This is a scale from the Big Boss, meow! Very few humans have ever managed to get a scale from the Boss, meow. Even the elders in our tribe don't have many left, meow!"
The mystery was solved. The Field Team Leader and Allen suddenly looked enlightened. They finally understood why this Fifth Fleet newcomer had suddenly acted so dangerously.
Back in the early days when the Grimalkynes were still struggling to survive, they didn't understand the concept of "collector's value." Pot had set a precedent for them, teaching them that if they were lucky enough to find the old scales or shells shed by the Big Boss, Asterion, they could grind them into powder and mix them into food. This would make a Grimalkyne's body significantly healthier. Lucky individuals, like Pot, could even grow taller and stronger, becoming "Dragon-Chosen Warriors" respected by all cats.
It was during that era that the Glavenus Tribe established its development model centered entirely around Asterion. They had indeed used the crude method of consuming scale powder to produce a batch of strong Grimalkynes, allowing the tribe to explore further, gather more food, and even hunt small monsters.
Since then, the Glavenus Tribe had possessed the power to protect itself, but the cost was that the old scales and shells Asterion had shed years ago were mostly consumed.
Because Asterion followed a phase-based evolution where he would periodically disappear and return in an entirely different form with extraordinary speed, once those old scales were gone, they were gone for good. There was no way to replenish them—especially now, as it was very difficult for Grimalkynes to obtain Asterion's shed scales because they weren't permitted to enter his new underground nest.
"Incredible," Allen said, walking over with a face full of envy. "That's a truly precious treasure. It's said that a single piece of shell like that could be traded to the Glavenus Tribe for a mountain of supplies. They'd do almost anything to get it back."
"The Glavenus Tribe?" Sophia asked.
"Ah, that's my tribe, meow!" Kankan patted his belly. "Don't say such silly things, Allen-meow! This isn't just a treasure to be traded away, meow. It should be cherished, meow!"
Though his eyes were also full of envy, Kankan didn't say anything disrespectful; he just couldn't stop staring at it.
To this day, every fragment of Asterion's old scales and shells remaining in the world was an irreplaceable, "out-of-print" masterpiece. While they weren't very famous in the Old World due to a lack of knowledge about Asterion, they were treasures of immeasurable value within Astera and the Glavenus Tribe.
"Yes, I will keep it safe," Karl nodded. "My grandfather was a member of the First Fleet."
No matter how stoic he was, Karl couldn't help but puff his chest out with pride when Kankan spoke of his grandfather. He solemnly tied the cord back around his neck and tucked the shell away against his skin.
"Oh! You too?" Eileen said with a look of pleasant surprise. "What a coincidence, partner! My grandfather was also a member of the First Fleet. Even after he returned to the Old World, he never stopped talking about things over here. He never got tired of it."
"He too," Karl nodded, the corners of his hard mouth curling slightly. "Grandfather always said he once studied swordsmanship alongside a Glavenus... was that you?"
"Obviously not, meow!" Before Mirrorblade could respond, Kankan barked out a critique. "The Little Boss has beautiful mirror scales, meow! The colors don't even match, meow!"
"Eh? But you recognize it, right?" Sophia asked curiously. "Is it the 'Boss' you mentioned earlier?"
"Exactly! This is a shell that fell off the Little Boss's father, meow!" Kankan said with a proud look. "The Big Boss is the guardian deity of our tribe, meow! You're incredibly lucky to have one of his scales, meow!"
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