Soon after Altaïr and the others arrived, Nymera, Theo, and Morgan followed. Even the Village Chief and Ms. Meow-It-All came, escorted by Dawn.
The Lolo Gougarf had not met a peaceful end... The Village Chief studied its corpse with a grave expression, then turned to Nymera. "Nymera, use the logging camp as your starting point and scout ten kilometers into the Mangrove Forest. Confirm whether there are any other Lolo Gougarfs or Large Monsters in the nearby woods."
"Understood."
Nymera swung onto her Palamute. Hibiki gave a low growl and raced away, vanishing into the shadowy depths of the forest.
Ms. Meow-It-All stepped forward and began examining the Lolo Gougarf's corpse. "This one wasn't carrying young, and it was in fairly good physical condition. A food shortage shouldn't have driven it into this area, meow."
"Then what could have brought it here?" the Village Chief asked urgently. "Our Hunters had repeatedly confirmed that there were no Large Monsters in the nearby woods. The only Royal Ludroth was Hunted down early on.
"In other words, this Lolo Gougarf probably arrived within the last few days. If it was alone, we could handle it. Its appearance might simply have been an accident.
"But if there are more..."
"Then we're facing serious trouble, meow," Ms. Meow-It-All continued. "As for the cause, a territorial shift is the most likely explanation, meow."
Altaïr frowned. "A territorial shift?"
Earlier surveys had indeed shown that large numbers of Lolo Gougarfs inhabited the Mangrove Forest. Calling them its overlords would not have been an exaggeration, but they were far from the forest's only Large Monsters.
During previous exploration missions, the team had found traces of several others, including Yian Kut-Ku, Rathalos, Royal Ludroth, and Plesioth.
Many of those Monsters could cross the sea, so their presence on such a vast island was hardly surprising.
The Yian Kut-Ku in particular were no surprise.
The Mangrove Forest's soft soil and abundance of small crustaceans, earthworms, and grubs made it an ideal feeding ground for them.
Moreover, Yian Kut-Ku were social creatures. Individually, they were reasonably strong, they could fly, and their numbers were not much lower than those of the Lolo Gougarfs.
The unusual competition between the two populations fascinated the scholars. Had the advance team not still been focused on construction, Ms. Meow-It-All and the other scholars would undoubtedly have devoted considerable effort to studying their relationship.
From that perspective, the Lolo Gougarfs were not the absolute rulers of the Mangrove Forest. External pressures could indeed have forced some of them out of their territory and driven them to migrate.
"Let's head back and wait for Nymera's reconnaissance report," the Village Chief said with a heavy sigh.
All he could do was pray that this Lolo Gougarf had been the only one to venture so close and that its appearance truly was just an accident.
His instincts told him it would not be that simple...
The Village Chief, Ms. Meow-It-All, and the others returned to the outpost ahead of them. They had plenty to attend to and could not make their next decision until Nymera completed her reconnaissance and reported back.
Lambert walked over and stopped beside Altaïr and Isis.
A rare pleading look crept across her face. "Senior Altaïr, may I carve this Lolo Gougarf?"
She asked Altaïr rather than Isis because she knew Isis would only reply, "I don't know. Go ask Altaïr."
Altaïr glanced at her. "You encountered this Monster by chance while carrying out your mission, and plenty of people can testify to that, so it doesn't count as poaching.
"As for your claim to its materials, do you think you played a key role in the Hunt?"
"Um... I suppose I helped?" Lambert ventured.
Altaïr could not help laughing. He pointed at Lambert and asked Isis, "Don't you think she's gotten shrewder? Before, she would have answered with a crisp, 'Yes! Of course!'"
Isis smiled too. "All right, stop teasing her."
Then she turned to Lambert. "Go ahead and carve it. This is your prey. I don't think the Village Chief or Senior Dawn will object."
Altaïr added, "You protected the logging camp's smiths, and no one was hurt. That deserves recognition.
"Take the materials to Hubert. He leads the smithing team, and given what happened, he'll make sure you get something good from them."
Lambert happily set about carving her materials while Altaïr and Isis returned to the outpost.
Along the way, they resumed the conversation that the SOS flare had interrupted.
"You were saying something about fusing will with sword intent?"
"Not fusing. It's about resonance and synchronization." Altaïr struggled to put the idea more plainly. "Think of two tuning forks. Strike one at the right frequency, and the other begins to hum. It's something like that."
Isis's expression grew complicated. She had once been a Long Sword user herself and had poured endless effort into following in her mother's footsteps.
When it came to the fundamentals of swordsmanship, even Altaïr, whom Master Amos had praised as "astonishingly talented," could not compare with her. In fact, Isis had been the one who first taught him how to wield a Long Sword.
Although she had switched to a Gunlance two years earlier and no longer had time to study the Long Sword in depth, she had never let her fundamentals rust. She still practiced them regularly to stay sharp.
Even now, she could pick up a Long Sword and take it into battle without issue.
Deep down, she also knew that Altaïr had long since surpassed her in swordsmanship. But she had never expected him to reach what Amos called "another level" so quickly.
She understood the words he had used, but without firsthand experience, she found it difficult to grasp their true essence.
Had she already become unqualified to discuss swordsmanship with him...?
Altaïr was still chattering excitedly. Once they crossed the rope bridge and stepped onto the opposite bank, Isis suddenly stopped.
She turned and stared at him. "Talking about it in the abstract is too vague. Let's go to the Training Area and spar with wooden swords. Show me what this 'ultimate' state of yours really is."
Caught off guard by Isis's sudden seriousness, Altaïr froze for a moment before replying instinctively, "All right."
They returned to the Training Area. Isis picked up a practice sword and tossed it to Altaïr, then took one for herself.
The weapons they held were less like "swords" than sturdy wooden clubs, each about as thick as a wrist and two meters long.
With more construction work piling up than anyone could handle, the fact that the smiths had managed to prepare a functional set of training weapons was already quite an achievement.
"Come on." Isis gripped the sword in both hands and settled into a stance.
Unlike her Gunlance style, her swordsmanship was rather conservative and focused primarily on defense. As Master Amos would put it, she was steady and solid almost to a fault.
Altaïr, by contrast, held his sword in a reverse grip, its point aimed directly at his opponent's eyes.
The moment Altaïr settled into his stance, Isis felt as though an oppressive force had locked her firmly in place.
She struggled to steady her breathing, repeatedly reminding herself not to focus on his sword but to watch the movements of his entire body.
Yet she could not do it. Her attention and her gaze seemed irresistibly drawn to the tip of his sword.
For an instant, she felt as though she were facing Master Amos. Her opponent's presence had completely overwhelmed her.
She could not let this continue. If she simply stood there, she would eventually leave an opening.
Isis gritted her teeth and charged with a low shout.
Gripping the base of the wooden club tightly, she opened with a Fade Slash and swept the weapon forward in a broad arc.
The sweeping strike made the best possible use of her height, reach, and strength. The diagonal path of the wooden sword sealed off most of her opponent's avenues of escape.
Even a highly skilled opponent might be forced to expose an opening in the face of such a broad sweep. Even if they dodged in haste, the strike would still give her the advantage in the exchange that followed.
Its only drawback was how difficult it was to stop. If the blow landed cleanly, her strength could genuinely kill someone.
Even so, she put her full power into it and held nothing back.
It was not because she was fiercely competitive or ruthless, but because somewhere deep down, she was certain that the strike would not hit him.
The moment she recognized that certainty, Altaïr vanished from sight.
Halfway through her swing, she felt her wooden sword knocked aside. Almost simultaneously, the wooden sword that had deflected her attack appeared behind her and struck the back of her knee with a blow that seemed casual but was far from gentle.
Her knee buckled instantly, and she barely kept herself from dropping to one knee.
Defeated.
As though he had teleported behind her, Altaïr stood upright and gave his wooden sword the flourish of someone who had just cut down an enemy.
"Something like that. I call this move 'Instant Slash.' I suppose it isn't especially novel. Master Amos and your mother definitely know similar sword techniques," Altaïr said, unable to keep a note of pride from his voice.
Isis rose, puffed out her cheeks, and stared at him for several seconds.
"Go get a shield. You're helping me practice shield charges for a while."
Altaïr blinked. "Huh?"
(Translated by yourtl.app)