Once the important business had been settled, Kitty, who had been holding herself back for some time, suddenly raised her hand.
"Reporting! I want to join too!"
Isis was momentarily taken aback. "Join what?"
"This operation, of course!"
Sheila frowned and refused without hesitation. "No. Handlers may not have to face Monsters head-on, but fieldwork is inherently dangerous.
"You're first-year students who haven't received any field training yet. Even a passing Jaggi could bite you to death. How could we possibly let you go out there?"
Beside Kitty, Quinna frantically shook her little head.
She had only tagged along to see what all the fuss was about. She had no intention of risking her life in the field!
She had already planned out her future: muddle through the Royal Academy until graduation, then find a stable desk job as a researcher or scribe. Working as a Guild receptionist would be fine too!
As for dangerous professions such as Handler or field scholar, which required traveling through the wilderness, she had no interest whatsoever!
"Of course I wouldn't overestimate myself and go cause trouble in the field!" Kitty planted her hands on her hips and puffed out her pitifully flat chest.
"But I still want to help my cousin! Surely I can handle some grunt work, like looking up and organizing records?"
If the door is locked and the window barred, I'll just peek through a crack in the wall!
Sheila paused.
If Kitty stayed at the Academy and only helped with the preliminary work of organizing research material, there really was no problem.
Kuarusepu was rare, but it was not an Elder Dragon, so the records on it were not classified.
Since Kitty was Isis's cousin and merely wanted to help with odd jobs, Sheila had no reason to refuse. "In that case, Alma, take these two first-years with you and teach them how to organize research material."
"Of course, Professor," Alma replied obediently.
Quinna gave Kitty a puzzled look.
Now that she knew they would not have to go into the field, Quinna no longer minded helping. But why was Kitty volunteering them for all this grunt work?
Kitty pulled her aside and whispered, "This is an important research project led by a professor, with High Rank Hunters taking part!
"Even if all we do is look up a few records, we can make ourselves known and earn some extra credits, right?"
Quinna's glasses gleamed.
The Royal Academy was no ordinary school. It was part educational institution and part research institute. Getting accepted was difficult, and graduating was harder still. Naturally, they had to seize any opportunity to earn extra credits.
That was what Kitty said aloud, but she harbored a far greater ambition.
Unlike her friend, who was content with a peaceful life, Kitty longed for excitement! For glory! For adventure!
If her frail little body had not held her back, she never would have entered the Royal Academy.
She wanted to become a Hunter!
Her lack of talent meant she would never become one, but as the next best thing, she wanted to become a field scholar who roamed the wilderness, or perhaps a Handler. If she could serve as Isis's Handler, she would leap at the chance.
The first-year curriculum mostly covered the foundations of various disciplines, but the field-survival training required of every Handler was reserved for upper-year students.
The same was true of subjects such as cartography, which were only available as electives.
Thanks to what her father had taught her as a child, Kitty already had some grounding in those areas. It was nowhere near enough, however. She wanted to learn everything sooner and faster.
Alma had already completed the relevant courses and could be considered an apprentice Handler, making her an ideal person to learn from.
I'll drain her dry... of knowledge!
A sinister grin crept across Kitty's face, but paired with her petite frame and cute features, it did not look menacing in the slightest.
She merely resembled a squirrel that had stolen a nut.
"Heh heh heh."
There was a world of difference between a Hunter asking a scholar to gather intelligence and a scholar proactively gathering data for a Hunter as part of their own research, both in efficiency and dedication.
It was not only Alma and the two first-years. Nearly the entire research group joined the search, since looking up existing material was itself a necessary part of expanding their research.
—--
The following night, Alma arrived at Isis's house carrying a large basket of documents. Kitty eagerly hurried ahead and knocked on the door.
The heavy shadows beneath their eyes made it clear that they had stayed up all night gathering the material...
Quinna, who was usually glued to Kitty's side, was nowhere to be seen. She had finally reached her limit and returned to the dormitory to catch up on sleep.
The door opened, and Kitty immediately raised a hand in greeting. "Isis! We brought... Who are you?!"
The person at the door was neither Isis, as she had expected, nor Amos, but an unfamiliar young man.
He was very tall, almost as tall as Isis. The "condescending" way he looked down at her irritated Kitty, and the "arrogance" with which he glanced at her before immediately looking away irritated her even more.
"Mr. Altaïr, we've brought some documents for Miss Isis." Alma clearly knew him and inclined her head slightly.
"Please, come in." Altaïr withdrew his assessing gaze and stepped aside.
He could not understand why the short girl was glaring at him. Granted, looking down at her like that had been a little rude, but he had only done it instinctively and had looked away as soon as he realized it might be improper.
Besides, with such a difference in height, how else was he supposed to look at her? Was he meant to crouch down?
In the living room, Isis was following Sajji's instructions as she completely disassembled the Glavenus Gunlance and meticulously inspected every mechanical component.
No one would be available to maintain her weapon during this mission. If it malfunctioned in the middle of a fight, she would have to deal with it herself.
"Isis! We brought the information!" Kitty called.
Isis carefully wiped the oil from her hands with the rough cloth Sajji handed her, then stood. "Already? You must have worked hard. Come and sit down.
"Oh, right. This is Altaïr, the person I mentioned before. Altaïr, this is my cousin Kitty."
Altaïr gave her a polite smile and nodded. "Hello."
Kitty puffed out her cheeks. Altaïr had not made the best first impression, but she had no intention of being rude. As usual, she planted her hands on her hips, lifted her chin, and declared with great authority, "Hello! The name's Kitty!"
"Ha ha ha... Such energy."
Altaïr turned his attention to Alma, or more precisely, to the basket in her arms. "You found this much? I thought Kuarusepu sightings were rare and there were barely any records."
Alma set the basket on the table. "They are rare. We pulled every paper that mentioned Kuarusepu, but there isn't much useful information in them."
Isis sat down at the table, picked up a scroll, and began untying its cord. "I spent the whole day visiting every experienced High Rank Hunter I could find in Dundorma. None of them had ever hunted one..."
Alma was not surprised. "Kuarusepu was only discovered within the last decade, after all, and it lives in remote highlands that people rarely visit. It's only natural that few Hunters have encountered one."
Isis unrolled the parchment, skimmed it, then rolled it back up. She looked at Alma expectantly. "Do you have any summaries? Weak spots, elemental weaknesses, combat behavior, that sort of thing?"
Alma looked uncomfortable. She handed Isis a palm-sized slip of paper. "We tried to summarize the combat intelligence, but this is all we can confirm for now."
"Let's see." Isis took the note. "Elemental weaknesses: fire and thunder. So it can't withstand high temperatures or electric shocks? It can grow over thirty meters long?! Good grief, that's huge.
"Its back is covered in extremely hard ore crystals, while its abdomen is comparatively soft? Hmm, that's important.
"It's also skilled at burrowing. That's important too." She flipped the note over. "That's it?"
"Yes... Oh! There's also this. It's a sketch based on eyewitness descriptions." Alma hurriedly handed her another sheet of paper.
"It certainly looks like a tough customer. I guess I'm in for a drawn-out fight," Isis muttered. "There isn't much here, but at least we know its elemental weaknesses and weak spots. That's good enough."
Alma looked as though she wanted to say something, but Altaïr reached over and tapped her on the head. "What do you mean, 'good enough'? If that were all they contained, why would she have brought an entire basket of documents?
"The finer details are obviously in those papers! Scholars avoid summarizing anything they cannot confirm because they do not want to mislead people. That's simply how they work.
"If you want to find the information you need among all those theories and analyses, you'll have to learn to read through them yourself!"
"Ah..."
"Don't worry, Isis!" Kitty produced a booklet as proudly as though she were presenting treasure. "It's full of 'speculation,' 'uncertainty,' 'perhaps,' and 'maybe,' but we've already extracted the key points from every paper!
"You can just read this!"
Isis accepted the booklet with delight. "Kitty, you're amazing!"
Altaïr stared at the petite girl in astonishment. Was that even allowed?