The night passed without a word.
The next day, the two who had returned to the Astral Outpost had already sorted out their emotions, so that what had happened before would no longer affect how they got along.
Everything seemed to have returned to how it was before, as if nothing at all had changed—but if you looked carefully, you would notice something.
Compared to before, when Hoshimi Miyabi's following and contact with Andrew had been the instinctive, passive habit formed during their travels, now—without either of them realizing it—there was an extra trace of initiative to it.
As for the three of them spending their last day at the Astral Outpost, Andrew had in fact already made plans for it well in advance.
"Anyway, I'll go submit this Guild commission first, and then you can use the reward from your very first commission in this world to buy some things you want, how about it?"
Andrew looked at the earnest faces of Hoshimi Miyabi and Kailu, then continued:
"Counting the days, the equipment we asked the workshop to make should be finished this morning, and the afternoon is when the Third Squad's captain said the vaccine would be done."
"Once I get back from submitting the commission, let's all go pick up the new equipment together first, and then head to the research institute to get the vaccine."
"New equipment, meow?"
Hearing Andrew's plan, Kailu was suddenly a little puzzled.
Hadn't Andrew and Hoshimi Miyabi only completed that single commission issued by Granny Meow this time at the outpost?
As far as she could remember, aside from novelty getups like the Shock Eel headgear that leaned more toward entertainment, the workshop didn't seem to have any equipment or weapons made from Mosswine materials, right?
And even if it did, it would be hard to completely finish such a thing in a single night, wouldn't it?
What's more, given the number of orders the workshop had, it was the norm for new hunters to have to wait in line just to get their equipment made.
Getting it done in just a few short days…
Did the workshop not have any other commissions these past couple of days?
So, the so-called equipment was probably just the standard-issue Defense Force set that every hunter had, right?
Noticing Kailu's puzzled gaze and assuming she wanted new equipment too, the practiced Andrew immediately reached out and gently rubbed her head.
Then he said earnestly: "Sorry, Kailu."
"Even though you've been looking forward to it, because we hadn't anticipated a new companion joining us, there isn't a share for you among the new custom equipment this time."
After instinctively narrowing her eyes and enjoying it for a few seconds, Kailu came to her senses and instantly shook Andrew's hand off the top of her head, shouting loudly: "Who would be looking forward to something like that, meow!"
But the very moment she shook Andrew's hand off, Hoshimi Miyabi seamlessly placed her own hand back on, imitating Andrew's motion and gently petting the cat.
At the same time, she immediately said in earnest:
"It's all right, Kailu."
"Don't be sad—once you come back to Section 6 together with me, I'll have Yanagi help you apply to have a new suit of armor designed and made for you!"
"I already told you, I'm not sad, and I'm not envious of any new equipment either, meow!"
That said.
Kailu, whose tail had begun swaying unconsciously the instant she heard Hoshimi Miyabi's offer, didn't actually end up refusing it in the end.
Leaving Hoshimi Miyabi to wander the trade district with Kailu, Andrew took the elevator up to the Guild area to settle the earlier commission.
What followed went without any surprises whatsoever, and the commission was settled quite smoothly.
Andrew even received an extra portion of matsutake that the Guild had freshly harvested from Puffy Old-Six, as a bonus reward for completing the commission perfectly without causing any losses.
As for things like hide or carapace, or even Mosswine meat as an ingredient…
For the scholars who cherished this Mosswine population beyond measure—a population that could basically be confirmed to be the last of its kind—the notion of materials that would harm them was probably something that existed only in their dreams.
The very moment Andrew dared to bring it up, those old gentlemen would dare to hiss at him with a vengeance.
Andrew wasn't about to pay such a heavy price just to taste a bit of meat.
For hunters who could be trusted, the Guild's procedures were always fast.
In just a few short minutes, the full reward for the Felyne Village commission had already been handed over into Andrew's hands.
Looking at the commission fee he'd received, Andrew was just about to head back to find Hoshimi Miyabi and Kailu when he suddenly felt an intensely expectant, powerful gaze land squarely on him.
"Oh, my dear disciple~"
Accompanied by a gust of wind as fierce as a heavy freight truck barreling past.
In an instant, Sapphire Star had—relying on his miraculous stealth (charge) technique—secretly sidled up to Andrew's side, and not even the Shock Eel headgear could conceal the anticipation in his expression as he spoke:
"You've been back for such a long time this time, and before long you'll even be leaving. Did you forget something~?"
"Forget what?"
Andrew pretended to think it over, then shook his head without the slightest hesitation and said:
"Nope, I didn't forget anything."
There was still plenty of time before they had to leave, and looking at Sapphire Star before him—who had obviously just gotten reliable confirmation out of Granny Meow—Andrew decisively chose to play dumb.
After all, he really didn't want to see the old geezer getting all carried away with smugness right in front of him.
Not to mention.
In the foreseeable future, the very source of that smug self-satisfaction would, of all things, turn out to be Andrew himself.
That made Andrew even less inclined to hand it over right now.
And when Sapphire Star realized Andrew actually intended to keep playing dumb, he immediately got a little anxious.
"You brat! No—wait—my dear disciple."
He threw an arm around Andrew's shoulders, the grievance in his words practically overflowing as he said:
"You have to understand—these past few days that aibo girl has been deliberately eating that huge pile of snacks you gave her right in front of me every single day, and that Second-Phase Squad captain—every time I pass by, he's busy forging my materials for you while constantly bragging about the whisker-care oil you gave him!"
"And the materials he's using to forge your Kushala Daora set are mine! Mine!"
"And as for that Commander-in-Chief, he straight-up grabbed the thermos you gave him and won't let go of it!"
That miserable feeling of being the only one without something everyone else had—while the others went out of their way to flaunt it right in front of him—left Sapphire Star utterly aggrieved.
Yet back when Andrew was still in the New World, or when he himself had caught a big fish out in the wild, it had always been him flaunting things in front of them!
No, wait. That wasn't flaunting—he'd just gotten lost!
And most importantly of all.
Granny Meow, who had previously been the only one not to receive a gift because she didn't live at the Astral Outpost, had now gotten hers too.
Which meant he really was the only one left now!
"For the sake of the deep bond we two—master and disciple—have shared over all these many years, you definitely wouldn't forget my share when it comes to gifts, right?"
"..."
Calling me 'brat' when there's nothing going on, but 'dear disciple' the moment you want something?
Could this old geezer possibly have any less shame?
Feeling the hand pressed firmly on his shoulder to keep him from forcibly bolting, Andrew couldn't help but silently grumble to himself. For this guy to put such a powerful stealth technique to use on a matter like this was truly a waste.
With that ability to approach without a single sound, if he hadn't deliberately charged in at the end and kicked up such a huge commotion, hardly anyone in the entire outpost would have noticed him.
Why, just now he'd even given a Felyne hauling cargo off to the side a real fright.
Stare— ∑(—)_(—)∑
Watching the contemplating Andrew, the eyes of the Shock Eel headgear gave off a sharp, menacing glint.
Feeling the Shock Eel's stare, rather than any so-called sense of pressure, Andrew couldn't help but feel a bit like laughing for a moment.
Although he really wanted to see whether pretending he hadn't prepared anything and just leaving the old geezer hanging there would drive him into a complete fit of embarrassed rage, in the end Andrew's conscience wouldn't let him do something so shameless to his own master.
As for the possibility that Andrew genuinely hadn't prepared anything—that had never once crossed either of their minds.
Just as Sapphire Star was truly on the verge of losing his composure, Andrew—who knew his temper well—timed it precisely to the point right before he'd erupt, drawing a long, narrow object out from beneath the Icebrink on his back and tossing it straight into Sapphire Star's hands.
"A Tachi?!"
Gift in hand, his first reaction was delight.
Then, looking at the form of the object in his hands—a form already carved into his very soul—Sapphire Star instinctively said it aloud.
Andrew nodded, then gestured:
"Why don't you draw it out and take a look?"
Hearing this, Sapphire Star—an even more veteran super Tachi-swordsman than Andrew—couldn't suppress his curiosity and immediately drew it from its scabbard.
And then he was utterly captivated by the Tachi's sheer good looks.
Unlike the rugged design of most weapons in the world of Monster Hunter, this Tachi's style was instead more akin to modern science fiction.
At the same time, the ferocity and sharpness that belonged to the monster had been preserved through the assembly of its materials.
The steely dark gray was divided by a glowing, fluorescent green—clearly the material that had been fused into the blade during later reinforcement—glinting with a biting, frigid light beneath the sun.
The patterns along the blade were simple yet never monotonous, forming a beauty unique to steel under their strictly partitioned layout.
Sapphire Star looked at the Tachi in his hands and instinctively exclaimed:
"So cool!"
And this Tachi was none other than—
the very first Ethereal Tachi that Andrew had crafted from Dullahan materials back when he'd first arrived in New Eridu, to serve as his main weapon in place of the not-yet-restored Blazing Light Tachi, Icebrink.
To keep Sapphire Star from noticing it, he'd carried it on his back together with Icebrink the entire way.
To be fair, when it came to looking cool, it was truly beyond reproach.
Everything was perfect—it was just that…
Sapphire Star flicked the blade with his finger, then asked somewhat puzzled:
"But then again, the material strength of this Tachi of yours… isn't it a little low?"
Seeing Sapphire Star's puzzled expression, Andrew—who had anticipated this all along—shrugged, then said very candidly:
"Yeah—even though I reinforced this Tachi, if you want to use it in actual combat you'll still have to be a bit careful."
At this point Andrew paused for a moment, then continued:
"After all, the strength of the monster that supplied the materials is what it is—it can't hold up to overly high-intensity combat. It's roughly…"
"…about enough to hunt overlords like the Vicious-Claw Wyvern or the Cherry Rathian, I'd say."
Only that.
If word of this got out, then to most hunters—whose ultimate career goal was to hunt a single Rathalos—it would sound like pure, unadulterated humblebragging.
But Sapphire Star understood instantly, then nodded in comprehension.
For the two of them, who had likewise spent many years knocking around the New World as hunters, no one understood the situation of the New World better.
Going by the temperament of this continent beneath their feet.
It was genuinely impossible to say whether tomorrow or disaster would arrive first.
Moreover, ever since Sapphire Star had successfully hunted the Black Dragon, the anomalies that the Guild would specifically place before him and send him out to handle…
not a single one of the monsters that were the source of those anomalies was simple.
At the very least, in the few years since Andrew had left, Elder Dragons—or monsters wielding Elder-Dragon-level combat power—had become a common sight.
The Kushala Daora materials in Sapphire Star's warehouse were exactly how they'd been amassed.
And so this Dullahan Tachi, given as a gift yet capable only of hunting overlord-tier monsters, came across as a bit inadequate.
Add to that the fact that Sapphire Star and Andrew themselves possessed power far, far exceeding that of ordinary hunters.
For the two of them, a weapon of this strength—one that could only support hunts against regional overlords—really did require constant care to go easy with during use.
But how could Andrew possibly fail to realize that point?
So strength had never been the real reason Andrew was giving this Tachi to Sapphire Star as a gift; on the contrary, it could only serve as an added throw-in.
After all, if it really came down to strength…
Andrew figured no Tachi could match Sapphire Star's Black Dragon Tachi when it came to raw strength.
Watching Sapphire Star curiously turn the weapon over and over to examine it, Andrew brought up the core reason this thing could serve as a gift:
"This is a Tachi I made from the materials of a monster from another world—materials that can only be collected through the System. In this world, it's a genuine rarity, the one and only of its kind in the entire world, a true limited edition."
"And even counting that other world, you could say it's still the only one."
?! New materials. Limited edition. Cool. And most importantly—the only one across two whole worlds!!!
When these few keywords were combined together, it could be said that no one would be able to refuse.
Let me correct that.
To be precise—no Tachi-swordsman whatsoever could possibly refuse!
In a single instant.
All the grievance that had originally filled Sapphire Star's mind had now been flung clean behind him by Sapphire Star himself.
So what if he'd had to wait a little longer?
A good gift was well worth waiting this long for!
As for strength—that one tiny flaw—he simply ignored it outright.
If he really wanted to use it in actual combat, he could just ask the workshop to whip up a weapon-appearance transmog afterward, and that would settle it.
After all, how strong something is, is a matter of a single patch; how cool something is, is a matter of a lifetime.
As for this Tachi?
Naturally, it was to be carefully collected and treasured!
Goal achieved—and though his hands tucked the Tachi tightly into his embrace, the expression on his face instantly returned to normal.
"Ahem."
Bringing one fist up before his mouth and giving a light cough, Sapphire Star said with a thoroughly satisfied look:
"Good, good, good—I really didn't misjudge you after all."
"Next, I'm going to go get lost in the outpost for a while—you go do whatever it is you need to do."
?
"Old geezer, do you even want to listen to what you're saying? What do you mean, a veteran hunter of over a decade is going to 'get lost' inside the outpost?"
Watching Sapphire Star—his target crystal clear, already running off toward the Commander-in-Chief and leaving nothing but the back of his figure—Andrew shook his head helplessly.
Had he known, he never should have told the man this method of showing off in the first place.
Things having come to this, Andrew held three seconds of silent mourning in his heart for the Commander-in-Chief, then decisively walked off toward where Hoshimi Miyabi and the others were.
He certainly hadn't forgotten that among the people Sapphire Star had just complained were showing off in front of him, there was also the captain of the Second-Phase Squad.
Going by that old geezer's habits, he was definitely going to 'get lost' all the way into the man's workshop next.
For the sake of his master's image in front of Hoshimi Miyabi, and so that the image of the legendary hunter Sapphire Star in Kailu's heart wouldn't come crashing down…
while Sapphire Star hadn't gotten there yet, Andrew had to take the two of them and quickly head over to the workshop to pick up the finished gear.
____
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