Chapter 43 - Battle Record and Real Ability (1/2)

Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Akira and Katsuya’s group were standing on guard inside the hall while Mimata’s group left to search around the area and return back for a few times.

Reina tried to call the HQ in order to stop Mimata’s group, but the HQ did not take her seriously, thinking that it was not a crucial thing. The defensive point number 14 was not an important position, that was why the HQ did not even bother giving them specific orders.

It did not take long for Katsuya’s group to realize that Mimata’s group did not leave the hall only to take a break.

Reina was getting more irritated each pa.s.sing second. They had to watch the hall and shut their mouth while the other group was not taking their job seriously and going around the area looking for relics.

“Katsuya. Why don’t we go around looking for relics too?”

“No.”

Katsuya answered back swiftly and without any hesitation, but it only worsened Reina’s mood. Since it was an order from Katsuya, who was the leader of the group, so as a member of his group, she had the duty to obey him. She understood that well, but her piled-up irritation gnawed at her.

“But why? Why should we stand guard while they don’t?”

“I know how you feel, but hold yourself back. We’ve decided from the start that we’ll always move in a group to ensure our safety, remember? Moreover, if 5 out of 8 people in this place, 7 if you count them too, leave their station, I’m sure the HQ will not be happy about it. They’ll send their complaint to Drankam and we’ll be penalized because of that. That’s why we have to stay here.”

Reina stayed shut, she could not deny Katsuya’s logic. But even so, it was not like it could clear her displeasure, she obviously was still annoyed. Katsuya who noticed that looked at Reina’s eyes, his stare was filled with seriousness and with a hint of affection.

“But more than that, I don’t want you to do the same thing as those sc.u.m.”

As Katsuya kept staring at Reina, she looked a bit intimidated but then she relaxed, her expression turned from being irritated to slightly embarra.s.sed.

At first, Reina did not acknowledge Katsuya’s ability. But after hearing that Katsuya and his friends took out a greedy crocodile with their own power, Reina offered to join their team herself to confirm their ability. Around the time she joined Katsuya’s team, she still did not recognize their ability, but it did not take long before she recognized their real ability. And since then, she somehow got interested in Katsuya.

Even for this request too, it was originally taken by Katsuya, Yumina and Airi. But Reina went out of her way to bring s.h.i.+ori with her and joined Katsuya’s team, and Katsuya gladly welcomed them.

s.h.i.+ori then gently scolded Reina.

“Milady. Please don’t bother Katsuya-sama too much. I don’t agree with that idea too. Please keep in mind that I’m here to make sure of Katsuya-sama’s and Milady’s safety.”

“O-Okay…”

Reina was weak against s.h.i.+ori. s.h.i.+ori was Reina’s servant. She served Reina for quite a long time and Reina trusted her. As a requirement, when Reina left her house to work as a Hunter, s.h.i.+ori was to act as Reina’s bodyguard. So she decided to give up and stop being persistent.

s.h.i.+ori then continued.

“And as I’ve said to you before, please refrain from making unnecessary contact with other people. There are many other things that you have to be careful of other than the monsters. Since I’m the only person here a.s.signed as your bodyguard, I know it’s rather pathetic but I cannot guarantee your safety. So please refrain from making contact with other Hunters outside Drankam. Your fiery nature is p.r.o.ne to cause unnecessary fighting, as such…”

Reina felt that it was going to be a long lecture, so she interjected trying to stop s.h.i.+ori.

“I know, I know. But like, aren’t you being too overprotective?”

“Milady, I believe I don’t need to remind you but we are in the wasteland. It’s an extremely dangerous place compared to the area inside the city walls. The moment you think that I’m overprotective shows that you are still too naive, please understand this, Milady.”

The people of the eastern district had different opinions about where the wasteland started, but most of the people thought that the area outside the city wall was already the wasteland. The barren plain, the desert, the ocean, the skies, the ruins, all of them were described as the wasteland and they were all dangerous places. For some of the people who spent their lives inside the city wall, everything outside the city wall, including the lower district, was all considered as a part of the wasteland.

Despite all the differences in opinions, one thing in common was that the wasteland was the opposite extreme of the inner wall where people could live their lives peacefully. The wasteland was a very dangerous place where a person’s worth was judged by his or her ability to kill both monsters and other people.

Reina understood that she was in the dangerous wasteland, but her resolve was still too naive.

With s.h.i.+ori around to protect her and being in the same group as Katsuya and his friends who were level-headed and had relatively good judgement, made Reina feel safer while also made her less competent in recognizing the real dangers of the wasteland.

s.h.i.+ori understood that very well, but it was not like she could leave Reina open to danger either. That was why she did not have any other choice but to teach Reina through long lectures.

Although Reina had enough of s.h.i.+ori’s long lecture, she did not try to resist at all. Reina was actually happy that they were thinking of her safety, but at the same time, she worried that this request would end without anything worth noting at this rate; that was why she was a bit anxious.

Reina was always accompanied by s.h.i.+ori when she was out for her Hunter’s job. Not only did she have to face the other Hunters who looked down on young Hunters, but she also had to bring someone to watch over her no matter where she went. Because of that, her evaluation in Drankam was pretty low. Although her Hunter Rank went up smoothly, more than anyone else, she was the person who doubted her own ability the most.

Katsuya and his friends were able to prove their strength after killing a greedy crocodile, the other Hunters in Drankam also stopped looking down at them just because they were only small children. Although Yarata Scorpions were not as strong as greedy crocodiles, Reina thought that if she joined Katsuya’s group and contributed in wiping out Yarata Scorpion’s nest, other Hunters would stop looking down at her.

Since Katsuya’s group was able to kill a greedy crocodile, they were sent from Drankam to join this operation. The HQ originally accepted their team and was planning to send them to the extermination team. But after knowing that they were a group of children, the HQ decided to a.s.sign them to the defense team instead. Reina found it vexing, she was annoyed that people were still looking down at them.

Being in a defense team did not mean that there was zero possibility for them to encounter monsters, that was why the HQ sent Hunters to do that job. Reina tried to suppress her irritation thinking that her chance would eventually come. But unfortunately, the defensive point number 14 was a very safe position.

[…We’ve been here for quite a long time now. The reason why those people would leave this place is because they don’t think anything will happen even if they are not here. I bet that’s also the reason why the HQ won’t tell them to stay here either… Will this request really end up without anything interesting happening?]

Reina started hoping that something would happen soon. She completely forgot that safety was the first priority in the wasteland as she was getting impatient.

Suddenly, a voice came out from the communication relay device installed in that place.

“This is the HQ, defensive point number 14, answer me.”

Everyone there quickly gathered around the communication device, Mimata who was the closest one answered back.

“This is defensive point number 14.”

“Do you notice anything out of ordinary over there?”

“Nothing, everything is normal like usual.”

“…You’re… Number 147, right? It seems that you’ve been leaving and returning to your station a few times, are you sure that nothing is out of ordinary?”

“We were just going to the toilet. After all, it’s dangerous to go alone and it’s normal that we don’t go to urinate at the same time, you know. So don’t be that uptight.”

Everyone there thought that Mimata and his friends had been unnecessarily leaving their station, so he a.s.sumed that was why the HQ complained. After making that excuse, Mimata thought that it was the time for them to stop leaving their station, but the next answer from HQ refuted their a.s.sumptions.

“I don’t care about that, did you encounter any Yarata Scorpion when you left the hall? Or at least, did you notice any Yarata scorpions in the area?”

“No, nothing. Is there anything wrong?”

“Defensive point number 15 was overrun by a swarm of Yarata Scorpion. They were able to repel the swarm back with no injury, but the real problem is the direction where the swarm came from. It seems that they came from somewhere inside the area that we had secured. The exploration team might have missed blockading some tunnels or the swarm might have opened a new tunnel. They might have dug through the crumbling wall or tunnelled a small opening into a hole big enough for them to pa.s.s through.”

“Are you saying that we have to be careful since we might also get attacked?”

“No. We want you to explore the area one more time. Bring some people with you to explore the area and check if there’s any change in the area compared to the map made from the previous exploration. If you find any new tunnels, immediately inform the exploration and the extermination team.”

There might be a lot of untouched expensive relics waiting to be found in an undiscovered area connected to that new tunnel.

Mimata and his friends looked at each other, smiled, and then answered back a.s.sertively.

“Roger that. We’ll immediately send some people to explore the area.”

“No, you guys stay there! Just shut up and guard the area! I bet you guys are planning to look for relics rather than exploring the area.”

“…Of course, we won’t.”

“You guys just stay there!!”

Mimata clicked his tongue and obviously looked annoyed. Looking at that, Reina snickered and said.

“Serves you right.”

Mimata turned to Katsuya’s group and looked at them, he then answered the HQ back in a fas.h.i.+on as if he was mocking Katsuya’s group.

“Humph. Who should we send then? Other than us, there are only children and a Hunter a.s.signed to watch over those children, you know?”

Katsuya, Airi and Reina glared at Mimata, Yumina seemed annoyed by Mimata’s remark too. s.h.i.+ori stood quietly beside Reina and Akira looked like he did not give two s.h.i.+ts at all.

The HQ staff then answered back.

“Number 27 should go. You can pick anyone else but you can only take two other people, max. It’s fine if you want to go alone too.”

Mimata’s group and Katsuya’s group only knew the number of people in their own group. So they did not know who was the number 27 as they looked at each other, puzzled.

“This is number 27, roger that.”

Everyone turned their gaze at the source of that voice. It was number 27, it was Akira.

“Akira. They said that you can take 2 other people if you want, so, who do you want to take?”

“Nah, Alpha, I’ll go alone. I don’t want to cause any needless fighting, after all.”

“That’s true, but it’s dangerous to go alone, you see. Although you got permission to go alone, it’s meaningless in this situation, isn’t it?”

“You can say that again. If I get another request like this, I’ll need to rethink about my demands.”

Akira grabbed his rucksack and left the hall. The other Hunters there were shocked and stared at Akira’s back as he was leaving that place. Some of them were simply surprised, some of them were displeased, but Akira did not bat an eyelash as he kept walking away from that place, disappearing into the tunnels.

Mimata snapped back to his senses and immediately asked the HQ. He sounded puzzled.

“Why that boy? Is this some kind of mistake or something? You’re not mistaking number 27 for someone else, aren’t you?”

“There’s no mistake, it is number 27.”

After the HQ denied Mimata’s suspicion, this time Katsuya was the one asking a question.

“Any particular reason why you picked number 27? If you picked it at random, I want you to let us choose instead.”

If the HQ randomly chose the people to send, it might cause a problem afterwards. That was Katsuya’s thoughts, so as the team leader, he asked HQ to rethink its decision.

But HQ denied that too.

“It’s no problem, we picked number 27 because of his record. But you can go ahead and pick the other two.”

Katsuya was shocked. He remembered the time when he was looked down upon and got a.s.signed to the defense team instead of the extermination team by someone from the HQ, that person might be the same person who he was talking with right now. But that man sounded as if he recognized Akira who was also a young Hunter like him, it was just like the time he first met Akira.

This time s.h.i.+ori joined the conversation.

“What do you mean by his record? Katsuya-sama and his 2 other friends took out a greedy crocodile on their own. If it’s picked based on the record, shouldn’t you pick them instead?”

“Katsuya? Ohh, the leader of the Drankam team, huh. Fighting Yarata Scorpions is not like fighting Greedy Crocodiles. The situation that you are in is also different, so based on the record, number 27 is more suitable in this situation. Stop complaining about every single little thing, or is it Drankam’s way of working to question the decision of your superiors?”

Drankam used its powerful influence to send some young Hunters for this request. But because there were numerous cases where the Hunters that Drankam sent did not have the ability or skill to handle the request, this staff had a bad impression about Drankam.

And even after that, he was questioned 2 times in a row by Hunters affiliated with Drankam about the decision that the HQ made, that was why he sounded annoyed and snappy when he gave his answer.

The staff’s answer made the Hunters in that place wonder just how strong this Akira actually was. But Mimata was not fully convinced as he asked.

“What exactly is his record like?”

“He was able to evacuate and rescue a group of Hunters from a building filled with monsters and was able to fend off a swarm of Yarata Scorpions that attacked them while evacuating those Hunters. Moreover, including the Yarata Scorpions killed in that building when he saved those Hunters and the Yarata Scorpions from the swarm that chased them, number 27 took out at least 60 Yarata Scorpions. He did all of these alone. The underground city is similar to an abandoned building filled with monsters and he had once fought against a swarm of Yarata Scorpions in such a situation. I think these are good enough reasons to pick him. Compared to that, shooting and killing a big greedy crocodile from afar with some help from an external party is nowhere nearly as good as his record. Or is it?”

Mimata mumbled out his amazement showing what the other Hunters were thinking after hearing that explanation.

“…Y-You gotta be kidding me, right?”

“It’s the information from the Hunter Office. At least you understand that it’s not some kind of joke. I don’t care if you believe it or not, just stand guard in that place, that’s all.”

The call from HQ ended soon after. Mimata, Katsuya and the other Hunters were dumbfounded as they looked at each other.

Although the shock had subsided from Reina’s head, she still could not get Akira off from her mind.

But she was better compared to Katsuya who felt some level of rivalry towards Akira. And after hearing about Akira’s record, he felt that his a.s.sumption about Akira was actually correct.

Katsuya was seeking for Akira’s strength, and Akira was the one who fuelled his compet.i.tive spirit. So Reina thought that if she followed Akira, she might be able to gain something. Something that would make her proud of her own strength, a trigger, an opportunity, a chance, anything.

As Reina thought of that, she ignored the fact that safety was the number one priority in the wasteland and there was a high chance that she might bring danger to herself.