It was a story of long before Red’s fated encounter with the mysterious

girl.
The Hunter profession created 11 years ago was in a rough state and had
not yet matured as an organization. It was filled with greed and corruption.

It was heavily raining in a night unfit for Shepherd.

The thick rain clouds and heavy weather of the dark sky was lowering the
visibility of a small transport ship, causing it to drift and be hit gusts of wind.
“Why do we have to fly on a night like this?”
In the cockpit of a transport ship, a young Caninu man was struggling with
the control stick while speaking to another, older Caninu.
“I don’t know, we just need to deliver the package at the date and time we
were told.”
The veteran pilot rebuked his younger co-pilot, while firmly grasping the
control stick.
“If you have time to complain, then how about you pray we arrive at our
destination safely, or check on the machinery”
 “Roger that…”
With a sigh, the co-pilot began inspecting the ship’s instruments.
At that time, an abnormal sound reached his ears. It was different from the
rain and wind hitting the ship.
“Captain, can you hear anything else? Is this… an engine noise?”
“There’s some fools flying beside us. In this weather? …No, no way!”
At the same time the captain drew his breath, the roar and violent shake of
an explosion hit.
“Sky pirates!?”
With desperate eyes, the two looked at each other.

After a while―

A report that a transport ship was attacked by pirates hastily arrived at one
of the luxurious residences in the former aristocracy of the capital of Shepherd,
‘Pharaoh’.
“Mr. Marasca… we’ve received an urgent report that the contact flight was
attacked a little while ago.”
The owner of the mansion, Marasca, had been sleeping soundly in the
middle of his fluffy bed, until he woke up at once when the report was suddenly
brought in.
“Impossible… you don’t mean that my package was stolen!?”
The nervous man’s sagging stomach bounced as he went closer to the
messenger, who shook his head and calmly replied,
“Unfortunately, I am unable to confirm that”
Marasca quietly backed away, and repeatedly murmured to himself,
“This is bad… If I’ve been robbed, this is very, very bad...”

-
 Next Morning―

The previous night’s rain ceased completely, leaving large puddles of

water here and there in the city of Pharaoh. A puddle was splashed as a man
carelessly stepped in it. He was wearing white clothes with a large physique, and
behind him was another man wrapped in a foreign kimono, staring at him with an
annoyed face― Was he from the country of Nipon in the far east? They were
both about 30 years old.
“Hey, Québec. I won’t forgive you if you get water on my clothes”
The man with the Nipon-styled Kimono voiced his complaints. His speech
was purely of Shepherd, without that of a Nipon accent.
The man called Québec replied confidently,
“Don’t worry about it shrinking. Those strange clothes’ll be fine if get a little
wet, Bruno.”
The kimono-wearing man, Bruno quietly yelled,
“I’ve told you not to disrespect Nipon culture before! You have no eye to
good taste.”
“I don’t get it, but fine. You sure are crazy about everything from Nipon…
Look, we’re here.”
The two stopped and gazed at the mansion in front of their eyes. It was
the mansion of Marasca.
“You took your time, I’ve been waiting.”
While directing the two onto the sofa in his office, Marasca addressed
them,
“We thank you for your patience, Councilman―”
While he sat on the sofa, Bruno glanced at Québec. Québec did not sit on
the sofa, instead he stood with his back against the wall, arms crossed, and eyes
closed, with the unspoken agreement of ‘I’ll leave the talking to you’.
“What’s the mission for today? It seems to be urgent.”
Bruno removed his focus from Québec and spoke to Marasca.
“Well actually, a transport ship was raided by sky pirates last night… I was
robbed of the package I had on it.”
 “Oh, how terrible. And what of the transport ship?”
Bruno inquired with a subtle face.
“I don’t care about the ship, what I’m asking you to do is to reclaim my
package.”
Marasca responded to Bruno in a tone with no margin for anything else.
“I see. Well, did the sky pirates leave any clues?”
“It’s your job as ‘Hunters’ to investigate that yourselves!”
Marasca, whose voice became agitated, cleared his throat with a cough,
lowered his voice, and continued talking.
“It’s a difficult request, but I think your reward will be more than worth the
trouble. Anyway, hurry up.”
In front of the restless Marasca, Bruno gently and confidently responded,
“We’ll take our leave, Councilman Marasca. Let us ‘Kurvaz’ meet your
expectations.”
When the two came out of the mansion in a hurry, Bruno told Québec,
“So, that’s it. I’m counting on you.”
“Either way, I’ll leave the decision-making to you.”
It seemed like everything could be reasonably done.
“It seems this is our job as ‘Hunters’.”
“Obviously! Sheesh…”
The two were lightly bantering, when a Caninu man came out from the
mansion.
“Excuse me, my name is Nuga, and I’m to accompany you on your
mission.”
He politely bowed to them. The man’s atmosphere gave the Felineko the
impression that he was no ordinary man. Was he a little younger than Québec?
“Please go away, you’d just get in the way.”
Québec attempted to dismiss the man.
“I can help in terms of information. Besides, I’m also a Hunter, I know how
to handle these kinds of things.”
 Nuga stared at them without wavering. It seemed that his atmosphere was
due to him being a Hunter.
“…I see. Then, I will ask Québec.”
“Tch, this is gonna be a pain.”
Québec scratched his head while he complained.
The 3 people, including Québec, came to one of Pharaoh’s harbors. There
were various heavy arms, such as missile launchers and protective armor. It was
an official Hunter port.
Nuga, who was mostly quiet until they reached the port, opened his
mouth.
“Is your ship here, too?”
“Hm? Ah… over there.”
Québec nonchalantly pointed over the edge of the port. When Nuga
narrowed his eyes and gazed in the direction Québec was pointing towards, he
saw what looked to be an airship smaller than every other one in the harbor. The
ship seemed decent at first glance but looked to have too little equipment for a
Hunter to use.
The simple, somewhat old-fashioned metallic-blue airframe stuck out like
a sore thumb and gave it a feeling of isolation.
“That?”
Even if it wasn’t blatant, the sound of disappointment could still be heard
in his voice.
“Well, its outward appearance may look a bit questionable, but it’s small
size allows it to make tight turns, making it a rather nice ship. In addition―”
“Ah, you’re finally back!”
A loud voice from the airship drowned out Québec.
From a small bridge window of the ship, a young Caninu man dressed in a
pilot suit leaned out and waved his hand.
“Hey, we need to get going right away. You ready, Bowes?”
As Québec approached the ship and heard his voice, the young man
smiled.
“‘The Beelzeub’ll be ready in an instant. Which way are we going?”
Before Québec could answer, Nuga stepped ahead and briefly bowed.
 “I am going to accompany you for this current mission, I am called Nuga…
Are you a pilot?”
“Yeah, I’m Cacao. Forgive me if you’re not good with heights, heheheh.”
While Cacao greeted Nuga with a friendly face, Bruno, who was behind
Québec, approached Nuga. Cacao hurriedly retracted his body from the window,
appearing as if he found Bruno difficult to deal with.
“Nuga-dono, can you use a Robo?”
“I can operate one, but I don’t have one here―”
Unprepared, Nuga shrugged his shoulders.
“In addition to Québec’s ‘Tiger’, we have another spare Robo, don’t we?”
Cacao’s head popped out from the window.
“I can use it, if necessary.”
He glanced at Québec,
“As long as you don’t get in the way.”
Québec added.
“Ah, then I’ll get it. Well then, I’ll get going, Québec.”
Bruno headed to the Beelzeub’s hatch and directly told Québec,
“Québec, failure is not an option.”
After saying that, he quickly went back into the city.
-
“Please head North first.”
In the small bridge, Nuga spoke to the other two.
“Do we have an idea of where to go?”
“First we should aim for the direction the transport ship may have headed.
If the crew’s drifting, then there might be a distress signal.”
“I get it. Bowes, full speed North.”
Québec said, as he slapped Cacao’s head from the cockpit seat while he
started the departing sequence operation.
“Please stop always calling me Bowes and hitting my head!”
“Hey, hurry up and get us moving!”
 “Alright, I’ll head North already! Get properly seated everyone―”

The engine’s crystal drive started sending power, and the sound of wind being
cut by the propeller became clear. The rock that had been at the harbor was unleashed,
the Beelzeub, quietly turned its nose out of the harbor. Cacao made various movements
with the control stick and pedal, so that that the wings, rudder, and flaps of the Beelzeub
responded smoothly in conjunction with each other…
“Controls, all green. Well, here we go, hehe ♪”
Cacao turned around and grinned at the others.
“Hey, are you guys still going to do it!?”
 Québec forcefully held the safety grip as he said it, and Nuga did likewise.
“On y vaaa! (Let’s go!)”
Cacao released gas from the float tank, while pushing the control stick forward
with all his strength.
Suddenly the Beelzeub began to shake and descend. Furthermore, Cacao
started facing downwards while accelerating the throttle all at once. The plasma light of
the Sea of Clouds shined in front of them.
“Hn!”
Cacao smirked and pulled back the control stick, causing the Beelzeub to rise
vertically, filling the tank with steam again.
As they gradually went up to a safe altitude while keeping the speed gained from
the sudden drop, Pharaoh had already been out of sight.
“Hehe, you two okay?”
When Cacao looked back and asked with a carefree voice, his face was tightly
grabbed by a man’s hand. It was Québec’s hand of course.
“This’ll be my first time crushing someone’s head, Bowes.”
“Owowowowowow― Really, I’m sorry!”
The aircraft shook.
“Our course is North! Pay close attention while I check for a distress signal.”
“Ah, Aye-Aye, sir!”
After releasing Cacao’s face, Québec put on earphones connected to the
communications machine, and focused on it.
Nuga finally opened his mouth, having been stunned for a while.
“How is a ship this small able to make such maneuvers…”
Québec looked at Nuga and answered in a quiet voice that only they could hear,
“That guy’s an idiot, but his flying-arm is top-notch. Still an idiot, though.”
Nuga forced himself to smile.
It was a few hours after leaving Pharaoh―
The Beelzeub was considerably north of Shepherd in a neutral airspace, where
Abyssina’s breathtaking air was close to them. While listening to the communications
machine, Québec’s ear suddenly began to twitch, and he hastily got up.
 “It came in! It’s a distress signal.”
“Bravo! I’ll circle around here.”
Nuga had been inspecting the spare Robo in the hangar when he heard
Québec’s voice, and came up to the bridge.
“Looks like you found it.”
“Yeah, we’ll try and rescue them right away.”
Upon hearing Québec’s reply, Nuga frowned.
“We should check just in case, however―”
“What!?”
“We’re not on a rescue mission.”
Cacao heard him and said in an exasperated voice,
“You sound like Bruno right now.”
“As a Hunter, upholding the mission is naturally top priority, but I did not say that
we shouldn’t rescue them… They should be a valuable source of information, after all.”
Nuga coldly smiled.
“Well, I guess what our guest is saying isn't wrong. If you’ve time to waste
chatting, use it to find someone who needs rescuing, Bowes.”
The Beelzeub began to gently turn.

“I found it! Emergency light ahead!”

Cacao raised his voice in excitement.
An emergency light was flashing in front of the Beelzeub. There was only one
light that was attached to a balloon that automatically opened whenever it went too low,
as to keep constant altitude.
“Ok, it’s secure, move it closer carefully.”
“Aye-aye, sir!”
 The man who was rescued looked to be a crewman from the transport ship.
According to the man, the pirates had immediately taken control of the transport ship
and hijacked it.
“So, you were hit by gusts of wind after being thrown out?”
“Yeah… And then you came, and truly saved me.”
The man moaned, and thanked them. It seemed he had gotten injured when he
was thrown out of the ship.
While wrapped in a blanket on the floor of the warehouse, the resting man
continued to talk.
“It seemed like the sky pirates were specialized in stalking ships… It was really
terrifying.”
“So, are the package and transport ship safe?”
Nuga questioned the crewman.
“I was thrown out, and the balloon began to float… A little while after that, the sky
pirates flew away in the same direction we came from… I’m not really sure after that.”
The exhausted man took several large breaths.
“Which way did you go? What did the airship look like?”
Nuga gave no time for the man to rest, giving him questions one after another.
Unable to watch, Québec interrupted him,
“Hey, wait. His energy’s all exhausted.”
“We could get attacked any minute―”
Nuga scowled at Québec, but when he saw how agitated Québec looked, he
lightly shook his head and went out to the bridge.
“That guy’s a real pain.”
With Québec frowning his face, the crewman restfully spoke to him,
“I’m sorry, but… I want to help the others as soon as possible… The sky pirates
are―”
Québec talked with the crewman about what he could remember, before
returning to the bridge and delivering their next destination to Cacao.
“There’s no doubt that it’s in the North reef airspace. The sky-pirates should be
hidden near the battleship graveyard.”
Nuga nodded as well,
 “If you wanted the best place to conceal a ship, you would be limited to the
battleship graveyard.”
“Well, turning course North!”
When Cacao tried to raise the speed by gripping the control stick, Québec
stopped him.
“No, it would be better if we stopped by somewhere safe on the way to drop the
injured guy off since we might face opposition in the future… If it’s close… Bassett?”
“I suppose it cannot be helped. Please hurry.”
Nuga reluctantly agreed and got up to exit the bridge.
“What happened?”
“I’m going to see to the injured man… And moreover, this bridge seems too
narrow for three people to be in it at the same time.”
As Nuga left, Cacao stuck his tongue out at him and said in a hushed voice,
“It’s too narrow, huh…”
“Hey Bowes, if you keep doing that, you might piss him off.”
“I’m just not very good at dealing with those sorts of people”
Québec snorted, speaking with an admonishing tone,
“Even if it’s sometimes necessary for Hunters to rely on their own intuition, you
shouldn’t be so judgmental. You don’t even like Bruno.”
“Something’s scary about him, y’know? I get that he’s an amazing Hunter, but―”
Québec laughed with a wry smile.
“The guy’s got a bad personality. His ambition is powerful though… It’s
admirable, really. His goal is to own a large territory, just for Hunters. It’s pretty
interesting to think about.”
“Huh, I’ve gotta work hard to catch up to you two, don’t I?”
Cacao was usually a little bashful, and yet, his face seemed desolate.
“There’s this girl I want to get together with someday. We promised to get
married, but… her parents were against it. They said something like, ‘A Hunter’s
lifestyle is too dangerous for our precious daughter to be dragged into,’. They’re
unapproachable, really. Hahaha…”
He laughed dryly but could not hide his loneliness.
“Bowes, you do respectable work, in addition to your flying arm.”
 Québec curtly replied, looking a little awkward.
However, Cacao did not respond to Québec’s praise.
“Please don’t talk down to me like that, Québec. Hunters may be a troubled
bunch, but this is an ‘honest’ profession. I can say that with my chest held high”.
Cacao calmly rebuked him.
“You’re right… Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s fine. But, I wonder if we look like a shady bunch to other people,
especially now...”
The bridge was quiet for a while, before Québec broke the spell.
“That guy’s gonna make Shepherd into a ‘Kingdom of Hunters’.”
‘That guy’, would be Bruno.
“That’s right Bowes, you’d be able to marry that girl openly.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely be with you someday. I swear by my tail.”
As he declared that, Nuga saw to the injured man’s condition.
“...Are you awake? If it hurts too much to talk, just nodding your head is fine.”
Nuga spoke to the crewman laying on the futon, who slowly nodded his head.
“I have only one question. Did you see the contents of the package loaded onto
the transport ship?”
This time he shook his head.
“Alright then. I hear we’ll arrive in Bassett soon, so take a good night’s rest.”
Unlike the contents of his words, Nuga’s eyes held no such kindness in them.

Leaving the crewman at Bassett and receiving his thanks, the three men,
including Québec, headed for the northern battleship graveyard.
The battleship graveyards were formed from the North during the ‘2nd
Incantation War’ between Shepherd and Abyssina several decades ago.
Bassett was originally one such battleship graveyard, but people still occasionally
reached the area. There were many airspaces where wreckage was gathered by the air
current and magnetic field and converted into graveyards.
 “Well, I hope you find it successfully.”
Small debris had already scattered around them. The ship was unaffected as it
was struck by the debris, but the airframe being hit made an unending noise.
“The exterior is gonna need serious maintenance when we get back, this is…”
While cursing the damage, Cacao steered without losing concentration so as to
not hit the larger debris. He seemed to be steering easily enough, but if he had been
just an average pilot, he would have soon become a part of the graveyard.
“It’s impressive how much damage this ship can take.”
Nuga complimented the ship,
“Even so, it makes it easy to be attacked from behind… Haha…”
Before a source of malevolence came from his mouth.

A large explosion was heard.

In an instant, the ship wreckage that was drifting in the immediate vicinity of the
Beelzeub was surrounded by flames and explosions.
“The hell’d that come from!”
Québec sprung to his feet and opened a small hatch to let his head outside and
search for whatever hit them. The radar would be useless in a place with this much
debris. Another engine noise different from the Beelzeub’s came from behind them, and
Québec saw a Black combat airship with a thick exterior.
Lights shot out from the battleship.
Québec quickly withdrew his head and closed the hatch, before another
explosion occurred in the vicinity of the Beelzeub, causing shockwaves to shake the
airframe.
Québec slid into the hangar and raised his voice,
“Bowes, get on top of this guy!”
“Aye, Sir!”
Moving the aircraft in all directions while taking dodging maneuvers, Cacao
placed his beloved machine under the sky pirate's battleship.
“We’ll win no matter what danger we face!”
He called out to Nuga on the shaking bridge.
 “Protect the ‘Tiger’ ‘till we unload!”
Cacao released the ballast tank, and the water inside it discharged and
scattered. As the aircraft became lighter, the pitch was quickly raised and thrust at full
throttle from below the battleship.
“3, 2, 1, GO!”
With great speed, the Beelzeub flew above the battleship. At the same time, the
Beelzeub’s rear hatch opened, and a silver Robo jumped out. The Robo calculated the
relative speed that it needed to land and floated on top of the battleship.
“Go, ‘Tiger’!”
Québec shouted from the cockpit of the silver Robo, the ‘Mephisto Tiger’. As he
raised his voice, the Tiger pulled out a small spear in its right hand and thrust it down on
top of the battleship, piercing through its thick armor.
With the spear at the Tiger’s feet, it tore a cross shape through the armored top,
effortlessly breaking under the Tiger’s weight, causing it to fall through and invade the
ship’s interior.
“That guy… I can’t believe he broke into here by himself!”
Québec broke into a passage near the bridge of the battleship. From the bridge,
a man looking like the pirate’s boss exited into the passage and scowled at Québec with
malintent. Several other pirates surrounded Québec from a distance.
“Are you the guys who raided and hijacked the transport ship last night? I’m
afraid you’re gonna have to return it.”
Québec asked their boss, disregarding the others surrounding him.
“Do you know what you’ve done, you bastard?”
The boss clenched his fist and signaled his men to raise their guns.
“You sure you’re brave enough to try that? Do you know what'll happen if you
make me angry?”
Québec threateningly bared his fangs while grinning, and laughed.
Caught in the grin of Québec, the boss froze for a moment.
In that split-second, the match was already over.
Tch… That bastard glared at me.”
The boss held his breath as his shoulders lost their strength.
“Let me show you. Try to hold still while I do this.”
 -

When arriving at the pirate’s hideout that was made out of gathered ship
wreckage, the transport ship was in almost perfect condition.
All of the crew members were found safe, thinking that if it had been just a little
while longer, they would have been tossed out into the sky.
“Let’s check for the package.”
Nuga got onto the spare Robo that was in the Beelzeub’s hangar and
approached Québec’s Tiger.
The pirate’s boss was next to Québec, making a sullen face.
“Ah, that’s right, our goal was to reclaim it.”
Québec replied as if he had just remembered that.
“Did you forget? Well that’s alright.”
When they entered the cargo hold, there were no packages.
“What’s this? Did you bring the package somewhere else?”
Québec looked at the boss.
“I never had anything to do with the packages. If it was a small item, one of the
other guys might’ve taken it.”
The boss shrugged his shoulders to appear unknowing.
“I won’t be satisfied until we search further.”
Nuga made no attempt to hide his frustration.
“The package should be in a document case and require a key to unlock it.
Please hold on to it as soon as you find it.”
“A document case? What’s inside it?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
He stared at Québec with sharp eyes that was unlike anything he had seen
before.
“Right… Well, we’ll go look somewhere else. Bowes, you come down and help
out, too.”
Québec put in communications through to the Beelzeub.
 “Huh? You want me to go in the pirate’s… hideout?”
“Don’t be such a coward. You’ll be fine.”
Québec looked at the boss, who shrugged his shoulders and tried to appear
innocent.
“I’ll examine the transport ship… Please bring it to me if you find it. I’ll repeat
myself, there’s no need to check inside it.”
That’s all Nuga said before he went into the transport ship.
After several hours, Cacao had found the document case. It was locked, so one
of the pirates thought it contained objects of value, and had quietly tried to pilfer its
contents. The lock had already been broken, but because there were only documents
inside of it, it was left unlooted.
A nervous Cacao returned from the sky pirate’s hideout and immediately got
back to Québec with the case.
“This… What could this mean?”
Cacao felt a heavy and unpleasant sensation creep into his stomach.
Québec was holding the document case while waiting for Nuga to return from the
transport ship. Cacao was next to Québec as he fidgeted in place.
“Well, you’re finally back. You late or something?”
After Québec reported to Nuga that they had found the document case, Nuga
took a considerable amount of time returning from the transport ship.
“I apologize. I had little work to do… Anyway, please give me the case”
“If you think about it, it’s not really necessary to give you the case, is it? You’re
not the client.”
Québec held the case securely as he responded to Nuga.
“You saw inside it?”
“Sorry about that. Bowes didn’t mean to look.”
Nuga shook his head and deeply sighed,
“You’re unfit to be a Hunter.”
His right hand suddenly extended to Cacao.
*BANG*

A dry sound echoed.

 For a moment, Cacao hadn’t understood what just happened, but the heat and
shock rapidly spreading from his stomach stole his confusion away.
“GAAAAH!”
He collapsed, falling to his knees.
“Bowes!”
Québec focused his attention on the fallen Cacao, an action he would soon
curse.

*BANG*

There was another dry rupturing sound.

Québec felt a shock in his right leg. Losing strength in his right leg, Québec fell to
his knees.
“Bastard…!”
Nuga spoke detached while he turned the gun in his right hand towards Québec.
“It was not my intention to do this here, but I suppose it can’t be helped now.
Anchored behind Nuga, the transport ship’s left wing propeller rotated and turned
its nose towards the hideout. The transport ship dived into the hideout, and into the
nearby battleship.
“W-What’s happening!?”
The pirate’s boss was astounded by the runaway transport ship, but with the
sound of a bang, he would never be able to solve this mystery.
Immediately after, explosions occurred all throughout the ship.
While the ship was wrapped in flames, the hideout was caught and destroyed as
well. The pirate’s screams burned up; the whole scene looked like a painting straight
from Hell.
“Anyone who knows of the existence of these documents must disappear. My
apologies.”
Nuga spoke softly in a cold-hearted manner.
 “What’s wrong with the transport ship’s crew…!?”
Québec stood upright while staring at Nuga.
“You did something in the inside of that transport ship, didn’t you?”
He watched the transport ship burn up.
“Now, hand over the document case.”
“If you want it so badly… Go get it yourself!”
Québec threw the case behind Nuga.
“Tch!”
Nuga fired the remaining bullets towards Québec, one of which grazed his face,
sending him backwards.
With a twisted smile, Nuga ran for the case. He reached for it and checked
inside.
The documents were missing.
“Québec!”
Nuga searched for Québec.
 Québec was on the Tiger, staring at Nuga with a bloodied face. He would likely
lose the ability to see out of his right eye.
“Let’s end this now…”
Nuga was also in his Robo, remembering the weapon in the Beelzeub’s hangar.
That was when Nuga suddenly noticed it.
The Beelzeub, which had been anchored until recently, had disappeared. He
looked around further.
“Hey… Cacao, where is he?”
Cacao, who collapsed after having a bullet shot into his stomach, had vanished.
Québec was also stunned and unable to move.
“Bowes, is he safe…?”
Blood continued to stain the ground.
The Beelzeub was supposed to be anchored, but where did it disappear to just
now?
It was right then―

A faint voice came from the Tiger’s radio.

“Québec, sir… you have to survive… no… “
“Cacao! What are you saying!?”
However, Cacao’s response sounded like he was talking to himself.
“...sorry, Croix… I broke… my promise…”
Nuga gave up on looking for Cacao.
“I don’t care about someone who's so close to death… I have to stop Québec
now…!”
Nuga stepped on the accelerator to run his Robo, but for some reason, right
then― Cacao’s words suddenly rose to his mind.
“We’ll win no matter what danger we face!”
As Nuga was about to meet his fiery end, he smiled out of respect before the
Beelzeub dove from the sky, crushing Nuga and his Robo.
 A flash, an explosion, and a blast.
Those were the last images burned into Québec’s right eye.

Two men came out side by side from Marasca’s mansion.

One was Bruno, and the other was Québec, whose right eye was covered with
an eyepatch, and was pulling along his leg with a cane for support.
“Well, I endured it.”
Bruno observed Québec walking while speaking to him.
“...oh”
Québec replied in an emotionless voice.

A few hours ago―

Bruno had handed over the item of request, the documents Québec hid in the
Tiger, to Councilman Marasca.
“Oh, certainly… If this evidence of private affairs with Abyssina had been made
public, I would have certainly been convicted of treason and sent to the guillotine.”
Having said that, Marasca threw the documents into the fireplace to burn.
Something to be reclaimed at the risk of one’s life should not exist.
Québec just continued to watch as the documents burned out and became ash.
“However difficult our requests might be, achieving them will always be our sole
purpose.”
Bruno respectfully spoke to Marasca.
“As one would expect from the Kurvaz… Particularly this time, as there were
accidents I couldn’t anticipate. It seems that it caused some inconvenience.”
Québec slightly twitched.
Bruno continued, ignoring him.
“No, it’s fine. If you ever need any help in the future, we would be pleased to hear
from you.”
 Marasca nodded, satisfied.
“Oh, I will advance on the establishment of your proposed Hunter’s Guild… Let’s
hope it doesn’t go poorly, fufufu.”
“Thank you, Councilman Marasca… Or should I say, Senior Director Marasca.”
Québec endured their bile.

The pair who left the mansion stood for a while, in view of skyscrapers. While
admiring the skyscrapers of Pharaoh, Bruno spoke meaningfully to Québec.
“The Kurvaz will be stronger than ever. We Hunters are going support and move
this country, and we need your strength to do that. I ask of you.”
While leaning on his crane, Québec responded.
“Ah… So I’m to be burdened by your desires. I swear by my tail.”
It seemed that Bruno’s sights were set on a specific path.

A few years later―

Québec had parted ways with the Kurvaz over differences, and was on his way
to meet, by chance, a girl with a natural gift for piloting, who had inherited the blood of
Cacao Gelato, however that―

Was another story.