Chapter 76: Glare

Guided by Hames, I was able to reach the front of Glare’s house without much difficulty.

“Looks like she’s home…”

Hames pointed with his finger toward a room with the lights on.

“…Let’s go.”

Hames headed for the front door, while I circled around to the terrace in the back, keeping in mind the possibility she might try to flee.

We shared an Artifact so we could call each other immediately if something happened on the way. Honestly, the thought of receiving a contact from Hames was off-putting, but I had no choice.

Glare was probably among the top ranks of A-Rank. She might even be skilled enough to fight on par with an S-Rank Hunter. Sorry to say it to Hames, but from what I could see, Glare looked far stronger than him.

‘She summoned something like a scythe before.’

I hadn’t actually seen her fight during the B-Rank Gate raid, but I had seen her weapon. A scythe she could summon at will. Even if her hands were empty, I reminded myself not to let my guard down. If I got careless just because she had no weapon, I might end up getting taken down instead.

Of course, this was a residential area with plenty of eyes around, so from Glare’s perspective, she’d likely choose to run rather than fight back, but you never know.

I kept my tension high and carefully surveyed the terrace of the house.

The first thing that caught my eye through the window was—

‘Kids?’

They were children. How many were there, anyway? Just from what I could see, there were three… no, there was another one over there.

[ See anythin’? ]

A message came from Hames.

“Kids.”

[ Kids? ]

“Hold on, I don’t see Glare herself.”

I even activated detection magic, but Glare herself wasn’t visible.

What I did find out was that there were a total of seven children in the house. Why on earth was she keeping so many kids?

‘Is she not home?’

Maybe she’d pulled off the attack last night and gone into hiding.

‘What should I do? Should I keep watching?’

That was when I was thinking that.

“…What are you doing here?”

A woman’s voice, dripping with irritation, sounded right by my ear.

“Whoa!”

Startled, I quickly spun around. What came into view was the woman we’d encountered before, the one we were now looking for.

Glare. She was looking down at me with a displeased expression. In her hand, she was holding something like a shopping basket…

“Uncle, she’s here…!”

I urgently whispered into the Artifact. Then I fixed my gaze on Glare.

Nothing about her had changed from before. Her hands were empty now, but she could summon that scythe and attack at any moment.

There was also the possibility she might run.

‘…No, wait.’

What was the relationship between those kids and Glare? If Hames hadn’t pointed out the wrong house, there had to be a connection…

‘They don’t seem to be her daughters.’

From the looks of it, Glare was at most in her early 20s. There was no way she could be the mother of that many children.

“I asked what you’re doing… Hm? You’re that Porter who came as a mercenary last time.”

Glare, who had been staring at me, seemed to finally recognize my face and relaxed her expression slightly as she spoke.

“Glare…ssi.”

I slowly called her name.

“I have something I want to ask you.”

“Something you want to ask?”

Glare tilted her head at my words. For now, she didn’t seem hostile toward me. If worst came to worst, I could launch a surprise attack, but I only had circumstantial evidence against her, no hard proof. I couldn’t just attack her out of nowhere.

“Was it you who attacked the lodging last night?”

So I asked her outright.

“Attack? What are you talking about?”

Glare said that with a perfectly composed face. Hmm, so that’s how she was going to play it.

“You know there was an A-Rank Gate raid by the Crescent guild yesterday, right?”

“Yes, I know. I didn’t participate, though.”

“An A-Rank Gate is a big deal even for a guild like the Five Great Guilds, isn’t it? You’re a key member of the Crescent guild’s subjugation team, so why didn’t you take part in something that important?”

“…Do I have a reason to tell you that?”

I could see even more irritation creeping into Glare’s expression.

“I’m just wondering what the reason is. For instance, maybe you had something important enough to require you to be away last night.”

So I deliberately put on a smile that I knew would look annoying, just to provoke her.

“A Hunter of your caliber wouldn’t miss a guild’s A-Rank Gate raid for no reason. I’m just curious about that.”

“You’re not even a fellow guild member, just an outsider. And a mere Porter at that. I don’t see why you’d meddle in my personal affairs. If you keep intruding on my privacy, I’ll report you to the Association. If you leave now, I’ll overlook this for the sake of our past ties.”

As if to warn me, Glare glanced at the Artifact on her hand. With that, she could summon the Association before we could even lay a hand on her.

‘This isn’t going to be easy.’

Glare maintained a calm and composed demeanor as she parried my words. If she reported us to the Association before we could act, with no solid evidence, I’d have no choice but to be dragged off by them.

‘Where the hell is Hames and what’s he doing?’

I called him with the Artifact, and he still hasn’t shown up?

“Glare!”

That was when it happened. A voice I usually found grating, but for the first time, it felt welcome.

Hames. I could see him running toward us, panting heavily. Why the hell is that bastard, an A-Rank Hunter, just sprinting instead of using High-Speed Movement?

“…Hames?”

At the sight of Hames, Glare’s expression softened a little.

“Ha, hahaha! Good mornin’, Glare!”

“…It’s not exactly morning, is it?”

But it was short-lived. Glare’s face twisted with displeasure again at Hames’s awkward greeting. At that reaction, I glared at Hames. You’re terrible at acting.

“What are you two doing here?”

Glare asked, her gaze alternating between Hames and me standing side by side. I immediately shot Hames a look. I remembered what he’d said earlier about asking Glare directly.

But Hames kept hesitating, as if something was holding him back. Frustrated, I was about to speak up.

“Well, y’see… Glare.”

Finally, as if he’d made up his mind, Hames spoke just before I could.

“What were you doin’ yesterday? Seems like it’s almost the first time you took annual leave from the guild.”

“…Haah, now even Hames. What exactly are you two plotting?”

Glare let out a low sigh as she spoke.

“Plotting? There’s nothin’ like that! I’m just curious, that’s all. This mornin’, Mr. Luca’s inn was attacked.”

“…Mr. Luca?”

At Hames’s words, Glare’s eyes narrowed. Huh? Did Glare know Mr. Luca too?

I mean, Mr. Luca was pretty famous back when he was active, but I didn’t think she’d know him directly like Hames did.

“Yeah. Mr. Luca’s missin’ now, and they can’t figure out where the culprit ran off to. So I asked just in case. You owe Mr. Luca a favor from before too, don’t you?”

For some reason, I felt like Hames’s attitude had shifted slightly. Before we left for Glare’s house, he’d been sharp and aggressive, but now he seemed a bit more subdued. Had he found some kind of proof?

“…Could you wait a moment?”

Glare suddenly glanced around and asked that.

“…”

I stared at Glare with suspicion. If she said that and ran, how would we catch her? I hadn’t spent enough time with Glare to use the Navigator Magic I’d used before, and even if I used detection magic, if she vanished using High-Speed Movement—a basic skill for a High-Rank Hunter—I’d have no way to chase her.

“Alright. Go on, quick.”

But Hames agreed easily. As I stared at him in disbelief, he just shot me a disgusting wink, as if to say it was fine. Ugh.

“Then.”

With that, Glare headed into her house and disappeared from our sight.

“What were you thinking?!”

I confronted Hames the moment Glare was gone. If she ran off like this, what would we do? I couldn’t understand his intentions for saying that.

“It’s fine.”

Hames let out a small laugh and spoke.

“All the kids livin’ in that house are Glare’s younger siblings.”

“…Younger siblings?”

Hames pointed at Glare’s house—more precisely, at the kids inside—with his finger. Right as he finished speaking, Glare reappeared, and the kids from the house rushed out in a crowd, running toward her.

Glare crouched down and said something to the kids. At her words, they all nodded in unison.

“I’ve been around her long enough to know — that Glare girl treasures her siblings more than anything. She wouldn’t run, not even for their sake.”

Listening to Hames, I slowly observed Glare. She was smiling at the kids with a look she’d never once shown us. Given the age gap between Glare and her siblings, it felt less like an older sister looking after them and more like a mother caring for her children.

A little later, Glare seemed to have said everything she needed to the kids, because she stepped outside and, before long, appeared before us again.

“…Would it be alright if we moved somewhere else?”

Glare spoke in a whisper, her face serious. Hames shrugged as if to say, “See?”

“…Fine.”

The fact that she hadn’t run was at least worth trusting. More than anything, she’d shown she had a sense of responsibility — so even if the worst came, taking those kids hostage wouldn’t be a problem.

* * *

And so we moved to a nearby café that was empty.

We each ordered a drink. When the two of them ordered coffee, I picked the most expensive smoothie. Why? Just… it looked good. For the record, Hames paid.

I sipped my smoothie, still keeping my guard up, staring at Glare.

Whether she felt my gaze or not, Glare turned her eyes toward me.

For a while, we said nothing, just drank our beverages.

That was when our cups were about half empty.

“Hoo.”

Glare let out a low sigh and slowly began to speak.

“…Alright. I’ll be honest. It seems like you already know everything anyway.”

Honest? About what?

I was still puzzling over her words when —

“Karelin. I’m her colleague.”

“Gack — cough!”

The smoothie I’d been drinking went down the wrong pipe.

Damn it — I hadn’t even mentally prepared myself, and she just gave it up that easily?!