"Hey! Everyone! Long time no see!"
Standing at the entrance to the base, the burly man at the front, with his short black hair sticking straight up, waved casually at the people inside.
"Leader?!"
"It's the Leader!"
"Hey! Go tell the Sword Master and the Technical Class Captain—the Leader and the others are back!"
The hunters in the base grew excited the moment they noticed the returning group. They were a simple, warmhearted bunch, and it didn't take long for them to crowd around, checking that the members of the expedition were well and asking what they'd discovered.
"Hahaha, everyone's certainly enthusiastic," the man called the Leader said, cheerfully answering the hunters' questions. Meanwhile, the man known as the Commander asked about everything that had happened at the base while they'd been away.
This was one of the First Expedition Team's peculiarities. Although he was called the Leader, the burly man didn't handle any of the team's day-to-day affairs.
Planning supplies, managing personnel, organizing hunts—every one of those responsibilities fell to the man known as the Commander.
As for the Leader... all he had to do was fight powerful monsters.
"Did you run into any danger?" the Commander asked the Sword Master and Technical Class Captain, who had stayed behind at the base. "Everyone looks to be in good spirits."
"Of course there was danger. This is an entirely unknown continent, after all," the Sword Master replied gravely from inside his helmet. "But nothing that threatened the camp's safety."
"And compared with the dangers, what really gave the lads trouble was mining. Hahahaha!" The Technical Class Captain burst into hearty laughter.
"Oh? What are you talking about?" After catching up with his team for a while, the Leader came over and called out from a distance.
"We're talking about mining. You've seen how much the base has changed, right? Those lads worked themselves to the bone hauling back all that stone." The Technical Class Captain proudly patted the stone wall beside him. "It took a lot of effort to get them to stick with such tedious work."
"Yeah, I can tell." Yano teased her companion. "With that mining lamp on your head, you haven't been slacking off either, have you?"
"Ha! I'm not old yet. How could I let the lads leave me behind?" the Technical Class Captain said nonchalantly. He sported a thick moustache and wore a mining lamp on his head.
He wasn't actually human. He was a Dragonewt, so despite looking rather old, he still had a long life ahead of him. He might even outlive some of the younger humans.
(This guy would've been younger—and taller—forty years ago. Use your imagination, old-timers.)
Compared to when the hunters had first landed on this continent more than half a year ago, the empty cliffside, once nothing but barren rock and the sound of waves, had been transformed into a proper base.
The great ship that had brought them here had been completely dismantled. Its largest section had been set up below the cliff, and another section had been placed at the eastern end. They'd also remodeled the cabins to store supplies or serve as activity areas and living quarters for the hunters.
Using the ship as their center, the hunters had built a perimeter wall from the great quantity of stone they'd hauled back. At least now, kleptomaniacs wouldn't be able to sneak in through a blind spot and steal food.
They'd also built stone houses and other structures. Overall, the base was full of fresh energy. Even as they spoke, they could see hunters busily working on its construction.
"This is wonderful," the Leader said, unable to hide his admiration. "You've all worked hard."
"Heh, not bad, right?" the Technical Class Captain said proudly, wiping his nose. "So hurry up and give the base a name, Leader."
"What?" The Leader's eyes widened in surprise. "You haven't named it yet?"
"Who do you think the Leader is here?" the Technical Class Captain grumbled. "Of course an important decision like that is up to you."
"Oh, right." The Leader looked as though he'd just realized. "Sorry I took so long to get back. As for the name... let's call it Astera."
He looked around at the base, now taking shape, and spoke solemnly. "We've confirmed that this isn't just a large island. It's an entirely new continent."
"The Star Ship brought us to this new continent, and the base made from it is our star. So, all in all, let's call it Starry Base!"
"Astera? That's a good name," the Commander said with a nod. He looked up at the flag hanging high above the base—the flag of their Research Commission.
It had a red-and-yellow background, with the Guild emblem at the top and a star beneath it. That star represented the Azure Star, shining down to guide their way forward.
"Good! Then Astera it is!" The Technical Class Captain had no objections. "We'll tell the lads and lasses later. For now, let's hear about your trip. I'm very curious."
"Speaking of that, we've decided to name that volcano-like dragon the Lava Dragon. We'll report it when we have a chance to return to the Guild," said the representative sent by the scholars of the First Expedition Team. "So, did you uncover the secret of the Elder Dragons crossing the sea? The Kushala Daora's, or the Lava Dragon's?"
The expedition members fell silent for a moment.
"No?" The Technical Class Captain tilted his head.
"The Lava Dragon? All we saw was a huge shadow like a mountain," the Leader finally said with a deep sigh. "But it disappeared into the ocean in the blink of an eye, heading away from land. We couldn't even get close."
"Also, the trail left by the Kushala Daora we followed from the Guild led to a valley full of miasma," Yano added. "But without equipment to deal with it, we didn't dare go in, so we had no choice but to turn back."
"The Lava Dragon went back into the sea?" the Sword Master said, puzzled. "Was it going somewhere different from the Kushala Daora? I remember that out at sea, the Kushala Daora sometimes landed on the Lava Dragon's back to rest when it surfaced."
"Maybe it was just passing through," the Leader said, rubbing his chin. "Either way, that's what happened: the Kushala Daora went into that miasma-filled valley, and the Lava Dragon went back into the water. Strange."
The Leader was the only one who seemed relaxed. The mood was actually rather somber.
Well, except for the scholars.
"I understand," the scholar sent as their representative said, putting away his notebook and pen. "In short, the mysteries remain unsolved, and the Research Commission still needs to continue its investigation, right?"
"More or less," the Commander said with a nod. "Where the Kushala Daora went, where the Lava Dragon went, and that Water Dragon that attacked our ship near the New World—we didn't even see what it looked like."
The hunters of the First Expedition Team hadn't dismantled the ship that had carried them to the New World because they wanted to. The scarcity of supplies in the Great Sand Sea was only part of the reason. More importantly, even if they hadn't taken it apart, the ship could never have sailed again.
More than half a year ago, while they were tracking the Kushala Daora across the sea, they first spotted the Lava Dragon surfacing midway through the journey. Then, as they approached the New World, another unknown dragon suddenly rose from the water and flung the Star Ship straight onto the shore.
The enormous hole in the underside of the hull that Xingyan had seen from a distance back then had only been the visible damage. In reality, the ship's keel had already snapped near the bow. The only reason it still looked somewhat intact was that parts of the deck and other pieces remained connected.
"Oh, speaking of that," the Leader said, suddenly growing excited. "On the way back from that miasma-filled valley, we saw a marvelous dragon shining with light right here in the wasteland! It was golden all over, practically glowing—hey, Yano, that was real gold, wasn't it?!"
"I think so, but it could've been brass. Who knows?" Yano shrugged. "If the royal family saw it, they'd go crazy. Maybe they'd worship it as a guardian deity—or, hmm... a god of wealth."
"A dragon covered in gold?" The scholar immediately grew excited. He quickly pulled out his notebook and pen again and urged them on. "Tell me more! In more detail!"
"That's all I know," the Leader said, scratching his head in embarrassment. "It was enormous. It must've been an Elder Dragon, given its size, right?"
"Let me show you." With a sigh, Yano took out her notebook and opened it to a realistic portrait of a dragon. "It looked more or less like this. Its head, its horns, and its body were covered in..."
"Oh!"
The scholar hurried over.
"I'm going to call it the golden earth mother goddess!" the Leader said proudly, planting his hands on his hips. "Let's name it the Radiant Gold Dragon!"
Nobody paid him any attention.
The people who'd stayed at the base crowded around to see what the new Elder Dragon looked like, while the Commander laughed.
"I understand completely."
After an impassioned exchange of theories and discussion, the First Expedition Team's scholar straightened up and said, "Whether it's an unknown continent or several unknown monsters, the mysteries of the Elder Dragons' crossing are still unsolved. They're all valuable subjects for research, and there are far too few of us to handle it all."
"That means Starry Base still has a reason to exist," the Commander replied. "And we need to make it safer, too. We can use it as a center to explore this new continent. We don't know whether anyone lives here already."
"Perhaps," the scholar said with a nod. "In any case, it seems the investigation has become a long-term assignment. Once we've built a new ship and can contact the Guild, we can submit an official report and request support. We'll need a lot of manpower here."
"That's true," the Leader said in agreement. "A lot of people thought this would be a quick mission when they set out. I'm afraid plenty of them will choose to go home."
Unlike the others, the Leader had keenly noticed the homesickness among the team members while talking with them earlier.
"That's perfectly understandable," Yano said. "But we'll need more technical personnel to overcome the dangerous natural obstacles, and more scholars to study the ecosystem here and make sure our activities don't disrupt the New World's ecological balance."
"Of course, we'll also need fighters to keep the base safe." The Leader flexed his arms and grinned. "The dragons in the New World are full of energy."
Their expedition inland hadn't been peaceful. They'd been attacked by plenty of local monsters. If the members of the advance team hadn't been skilled, some of them might not have made it back alive.
"I understand now, too." The Technical Class Captain suddenly burst out laughing. "Does this mean we'll have to keep mining?"
"Yeah, the lads will probably have to keep pulling long faces for a while," the Commander said with a laugh, picturing the scene. "Our next priority is to finish building the base."
"Oh! I'll leave that to you, Commander!" The Leader straightened up.
"What do you mean?" The Commander's eyes widened. "Where are you going?"
"You know me. I could never sit still and do this sort of thing," the Leader said, chuckling. "So I'm going to keep exploring deeper into the New World. I'll leave the base to you!"
"Not a chance!" The Commander flatly rejected his friend's request. At that moment, he seemed even more like a leader than the Leader himself. "At least make sure the area around the base is safe first! Where do you think you're going when we're short on fighters?"
"Hmm, explore the surroundings?" The Leader considered it. "That might work. By the way, old man, what's behind that cliff next to the base? Have you sent anyone to explore it?"
"No," the Technical Class Captain said, shaking his head. "See that smooth rock face? You can't even get a Wedge Bug to latch onto it—oh, you don't know what Wedge Bugs are yet, do you? They're a strange kind of insect we discovered while exploring the Great Sand Sea."
"You just throw a rope around them, and you can swing to all sorts of places you couldn't otherwise reach. Thanks to them, everyone's found quite a few good things."
"The Great Sand Sea?" the Commander asked curiously. "Is that what you named this wasteland?"
"Right." The Technical Class Captain adjusted the mining lamp on his head. "You've seen all the anthills scattered around, haven't you?"
"Indeed. It's a fitting name." The Commander nodded. "Then let's start by sharing information. During your exploration, did you discover any dangerous creatures active in the Great Sand Sea?"
"Monsters that might threaten the base and need to be hunted immediately, or any other dangerous creatures we should watch out for?"
Before you continue