Prologue (1/2)

Prologue「My Name Is Lyle!」

Time flows by and several hundred years later, it was an era where humanity lived within colonies, surrounded by walls[1]

With the developreater power than ever before However, in order to pursue even greater power, humanity confined theo The areas outside of the colonies were referred to as the monster’s territory

There was a time when mankind prospered and ruled over all the lands

However nowadays, their living environment was just within the colonies Many humans spent their entire lives confined within those narrow and confined colonies

Even in that kind of situation, there were a few huainst the monsters Previously they were called adventurers; now they call themselves [Hunters]

Many of their uild showed its power in the battle for supremacy

That was the current state of the world

The world where once upon a tiht to restore peace to the world world and just narrowly eed victorious

The 13th Colony

It was a colony with a population of 2 ular pipe-type colony[2]

The ones that could afford to be in the sunlight were greatly li the 2 million because only the wealthy were allowed to live in upper strata

In the shoe locker room of the school located in the middle strata of that colony, a boy stood in front of his shoe rack

Despite it being graduation day, the boy was alone His shoe rack was vandalized and had trash thrown into it

Even in the graduation atrand celebration The parents that came to pick up their children; could that be considered to be a s that they were going to have dinner with their family

But, for the boy— for the boy with the quirky orange hair, he had no parents to congratulate him

The orange haired boy was a little sad When he wiped his eyes with his sleeve, his pupils regained a bit of their shi+ne He brushed off the trash from his shoe rack and retrieved his shoes

There were the words「Underdog Hunter」 written on his shoe with a ic marker It was the alias of his father

「My father was not an underdog」

That was muttered by the boy called 【Leo Walt】 He’s 12 years old Though his height was a little below average, he was actually a boy as more suited to lovely smiles But, recently, his smile had diminished

Underdog Hunter The 13th Colony, the guild region that was located in a place once called 【Beim】, here his father once worked as a hunter

Leo ade but, in the end, his father was just a 【C-Rank】hunter Moreover, he was called underdog since he couldn’t use ic tools He heard that occasionally, when he received bullying from his classmates

Because of recklessly diving into the labyrinth, many monsters ascended to the 13th Colony Moreover, his father also went to fight them But, what came back was only a bloodstained silver pendant Eem; currently that was Leo’s most important treasure[3]

At the age of 10, his mother, who raised him, passed away It was because of a hunter riot in the colony; she died while protecting Leo fro

Thereupon, he heard his class from inside the classroom

「Oi, underdog!」

「Seriously! Oi, underdog!」

「Stop it already, it will make us seem close and will affect us Moreover, since his parents were also trash, papa and et close to him[4]」

Leo was really annoyed, hearing the jeers of his classmates He turned his head back and spoke to his classmates

「HE WAS NOT AN UNDERDOG! FATHER FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE! HE FOUGHT AS A HUNTER! MOTHER TOO, SHE WHO DIED TO PROTECT ME…… AREN’T TRAsh!+」

Their lives weren’t in vain

Living inside the narrow colony was extremely harsh for a weak person Everyone yearned for the upper layer and sought relief in seeing the ones lower then them

Living in the under layer was gloo in such an environment Thereupon, three boys left the class and walked towards Leo

「Huh? Repeat what you just said, underdog I’」

The one who arrived to beat Leo was the leader of his bullies Leoit at the bully’s face

His fist sank into the face of the bully and blew hi Leo trembled and looked at his fist He had never hit anyone up until then

Even though he had endured up until then, he could no longer restrain himself

「Ow It hurts! Y— You, et e![5]」

C-Ranks were the lowest ranked Hunters, while B-Ranks were platoon leaders and after the at the top of the pyrauild: the S-Ranks

And, speaking of B-Rank hunters, it meant that they were successful as a hunter A-Ranks were made up of a small handful of the Hunters and S-Ranks were exceptionally rare

Hearing that, Leo’s clenched fist faltered

「SO WHAT!? It’s also what I want to do! I’ll also become a hunter! SOMEDAY I WILL CLIMB TO THE TOP, AND BECOME THE STRONGEST HUNTER!」

Thereupon, the classirls took a little distance, looking at that scene while giggling at him[6]

「Can you do that, underdog!?!」

「Let see how you do that! Despite your low suitability level with ic tools![7]」

「――Is he an idiot? Despite being a failure」

Leo had become tattered His classmates soon lost their interest and left Afterwards, Leo spat out the blood from the cuts inside his mouth

Tightly he grasped at the pendant, which was his family heirloom It was just a little, but he felt warm

「Father wasn’t an underdog Father was…」

In his heart, he recalled the words spoken by his father when he was still alive

『Father becah I’ht now, someday I will definitely reach the top and become an S-Rank hunter』

Thereupon, his mother had been surprised when she heard that

『Before saying that, please start by ai for B-Rank first Look, it’s time for a meal』

It was a cheerful family The house was narrow Leo was raised under artificial light and never saw the sun’s light The stories of his father fightingto Leo than any adventure story

Leo swore in his heart that he too would become an adventurer someday

But, reality wasn’t so kind

「…What’s with that suitability level That I can’t use alic tools… that doesn’t , is all That’s why my suitability level is so low」

Suitability level was a compulsory examination for people who lived in the colony It was to check their coh aptitude then they would receive a suuild With a few exceptions, while people could becoenerally they were strengthened by ic tools That hy suitability level had such importance

Working in the colony after graduating from school was not unusual

For the parentless Leo, it was necessary for hi about beco so, he would be driven out fro in

He somehow able to live alone with the money left by his parents, but that money was almost all used up

At that rate, he would ended up being sent to the colony’s lower layer Beco a forced laborer wasn’t that unusual there So to Leo, right after graduation was his chance; his only chance

Leo stood up and headed ho his bruised body

He returned ho on his frustration

「I don’t know Never seen it, either」

「Is that so? That’s regrettable Then, if you’ll excuse me」

An elderlyat her back, Leo let out a sigh

She was a lovely young lady In one hand she held a suitcase Her posture was unle person like her in the vicinity of the old man’s stall

「She really stands out in a place so close to the lower layer」

The public order in the place could not be said to be good A girl like that to walking by herself was literally an invitation for thugs

This was the middle layer Furthermore, the level closest to the lower layer had bad public order It wasn’t a place for a girl who looked like a servant working in the upper layer

Despite being warned, she still wore her red irl with blond twin tails and wearing a white apron, only said “It’s alright” Her red eyes were striking

The old man returned to his stall and sat down

「But, blue ge to do when you find it?」

「――EH?」

Leo saw it, the scene of the worn out, one roo group and several men who seemed to be hunters

They earing silver plate armour and full body black suits It was the 13th colony’s hunter uniform[8]

「T— that’s the guy, big bro!」

Then, a arette in his mouth appeared from the door, which was kicked open In his hand was the crushed photograph of Leo’s dear family