Chapter 111 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

As they continued talking to each other, the subject slowly shifted to Katsuya’s group’s work as Hunters. It was because Yumina and Sheryl intentionally pushed the conversation in that direction.

Katsuya’s story started from when he was having a hard time just after joining Drankam. He already showed a glimpse of his talent right after he joined. The veteran skilled Hunters of the gang noticed that rare talent, so they sent Katsuya with the other Hunters to explore ruins and fight monsters. Then eventually, he grew strong enough to be recognized as one of the Drankam officers.

Katsuya and his friends had also formed a rather influential faction inside Drankam. Recently, he had even gotten to command a Hunter team to hunt for the bounty monsters. Katsuya took the command and his team was able to successfully hunt a bounty monster. It was a rather amazing track record that showed his talent as a Hunter.

Sheryl exaggerated her surprise before asking more questions to Katsuya. In the middle of their conversation, she praised, complimented, and applauded him frequently. She applauded Katsuya’s ability to make decisions in a hard situation, or how he fought bravely in the dangerous battlefield, or how he tried to save his friends without caring for his own safety.

Sheryl listened closely with full interest, she showed a worried face when he talked about how he faced a dangerous situation, and she showed a happy face and praised him when he talked about how he and his friends made a big achievement.

Sheryl realized that Yumina kept bringing up subjects that would make it easier to praise Katsuya. Although she did not know the reason, she decided to jump wagon that subject and kept praising him.

Although Sheryl’s compliments were all intentional, they neither felt out of place nor weird at all. They did not feel forced either. Sheryl’s speech skills was so high that there was no flaw in it. But the response from Katsuya was rather dull.

At first, Katsuya started talking with full vigour as if he was boasting about his story, and when Sheryl praised him, he would blush and smile. But as his story went on, his expression started getting cloudy and he started to sound less and less excited. And when he talked about his hunt for the bounty monster, even when Sheryl complimented him, he just awkwardly laughed.

Sheryl thought that she might have complimented him too much and annoyed him instead, but when she looked at Airi and Yumina’s expression, she noticed that it was not the case. Both of them looked worriedly at Katsuya, basically, both of them knew why Katsuya looked so down and Sheryl thought that must be the case.

Sheryl showed a puzzled face, she looked a bit at loss and worried at Katsuya’s reaction as she was considering her options. She might have to wait for some time before her business there was finished, but she could say that it was about time for her to leave and withdraw from Katsuya’s group. Although that would mean she would leave in the middle of a bad mood, it was still a choice that she could pick to leave before the mood got even worse.

But it seemed that Katsuya was starting to climb the ranks in Drankam, so she decided that it might be a good idea to stay there longer and use that chance to deepen their relationship and gather more information from him.

Sheryl sounded apologetic as she asked Katsuya.

“…Katsuya-san, I’m really sorry but did I say something that offended you? If that’s the case, my apologies.”

Katsuya became fl.u.s.tered when Sheryl suddenly apologized to him.

“Eh?! Ah, that’s not it!”

“Is that so…? It seemed that your mood got worse every time I said something…”

Sheryl replied while lowering her voice. She hung her head as if she was down.

Katsuya looked at Yumina, asking for help.

Since Yumina was worried about Katsuya, she made a serious face and changed the subject.

“Katsuya, if that’s not the case, I think it’s better if you properly explain it to Sheryl”

“Eh? Ah… You’re right.”

Katsuya was stumbling over his words while Yumina just kept staring at him.

Katsuya also reacted in a similar way the last time Yumina asked him what’s wrong when she saw him looked so down. But when that happened, he always apologized for making her worry and said he was alright without telling her anything.

Yumina herself actually had a guess as to why Katsuya was feeling down. But she could not say that herself.

After Sheryl checked with them, she was relieved that it was not her fault that Katsuya seemed depressed. She then smiled awkwardly and both intentionally and naturally looked worried for Katsuya and said.

“I won’t force you to tell me. It’s enough for me to know that it’s not because of me. But if there’s anything that bothers you, I’m all ears. I will listen if you want to share it with me. I heard that it might help you feel at ease if you share your problem with someone else. Although I might not be able to support you like Yumina-san and Airi-san, I can at least listen to your worries and complaints. So, if you’re okay with it, I’m willing to listen.”

Katsuya glanced timidly at Sheryl. Sheryl locked her gaze at Katsuya while smiling at him.

Katsuya was not sure what to do. It was obvious that he was hesitating from telling about his worry to anyone else, he looked conflicted as his gaze wandered around. Then eventually, his gaze returned back to Sheryl. The moment he looked at her gentle smile one more time, Katsuya opened his mouth.

“…Sheryl, do you think that I’m a great Hunter?”

“Yes.”

“…Are you sure?”

“I’m sure different people would have different indicators to decide whether someone is a great Hunter or not. But from my point of view and from what I heard from your story just now, as long as it was not a lie, I do think that you’re a great Hunter.”

“…I see.”

Katsuya paused for a bit, he then looked dispirited as he said with a voice that expressed his distress.

“…I don’t really know anymore if I’m that great of a Hunter.”

He then slowly continued talking.

Katsuya had admired Hunters for a long time. He had heard stories about Hunters and when he imagined that scene, his heart would flutter.

They worked so hard to get stronger and went to explore the dangerous, but more than that, wondrous old-world ruin together with their comrades that they trusted. They then fought against swarms of monsters that were way out of their leagues and explored undiscovered ruin without any guides, they had to go through a lot of ups and downs together with their comrades to be able to return back alive with valuable relics in their hands. Sometimes, they splurged on their reward money to throw a big celebration or when they discussed how to use their reward money to step up their power as Hunters. Those were the common stories of all those successful Hunters in the eastern district.

Katsuya imagined himself going through all of those things, he promised to himself that he would be one of those successful Hunters one day. Fortunately enough, he was blessed with a suitable talent to reach that and he was blessed with friends that he could trust and good luck.

His luck, comrades, and talent pushed him further up. He quickly climbed the ladder into a great Hunter and distinguished himself from all the other common Hunters.

Then finally, Katsuya, who had become one of those successful Hunters stories in the eastern district, had to face the darkness behind all of those glorious stories. It was the reason why people did not even try to accomplish it although they would be able to attain great wealth if they succeeded.

“…At first, wait no, it’s not exactly at first, huh. Basically, the moment when I realized it was when we took that request to face the monster swarm flooding out from the Kuzusuhara ruin heading to Kugamayama city. Some of my friends died back then, I’ve known them well, we’ve eaten together in the same cafeteria in the past, we’ve gone through hard training together, we’ve worked together to explore ruins and hunt monsters. Some of them were blown into small pieces by cannons, some of them eaten alive by monsters, some of them ran out of medicines and died from nonfatal wounds… They died… and I couldn’t save them.”

Hunter’s job was indeed an extremely dangerous job. It was a common thing for them to get killed on duty, so there was nothing strange about it at all. The stories of those successful Hunters were basically the stories of those Hunters who survived. Due to his rare talent, Katsuya and his friends had forgotten that truth. But it was only a matter of time before they had to face it.

“At that time, I thought that it would be alright as long as I can be strong enough, it would be fine as long as I can be powerful enough. So I tried my best and I thought that I’d become the great Hunter that I aspired to be back then. Then, they gave me the responsibility to command a team to hunt for the bounty monster and we successfully hunted the bounty monster. I’m sure a lot of people think that I’m a great Hunter, but… It was no use, I lost a lot of my friends… I couldn’t save them too. I do feel happy when you say that I’m a great Hunter. But, like, you know, when you call me a great Hunter it also makes me feel conflicted… That’s all.”

Yumina looked at Katsuya who was speaking as if he was confessing his sin. Her guess was correct, Katsuya was lamenting the friends that he had lost, he was lamenting the fact that he could not save them. But Yumina could not think of any words to cheer him up.

Getting killed was an occupational hazard for Hunters. Thus, it was better for those Hunters to stop mourning for their dead friends, forget about it, and move on. At least that’s what Yumina thought, but she could not say that to Katsuya. After all, she was also one of his friends and she might be one of his friends that would get killed too.

Yumina could not say those words since it might cause him to just forget about her and move on when she got killed.

Airi also guessed the reason why Katsuya was depressed, but she thought that it was just a common problem, that was why she did not say anything. In the first place, she did not lament the death of her friends as much as Yumina and Katsuya. It was a common thing for people to die, especially in their line of work. So, there was nothing to be surprised about. Even if they were her friends that they just laughed together yesterday, after all, it was a common scene in the world where she was raised.

Airi looked up to Katsuya since he was the one who saved her from such a world. Moreover, she did want him to lament her if she got killed. She did not want Katsuya to just quickly forget about her when she died or think that she might have died just because he did not see her for some time. That was why she could not tell him to get used to losing friends.

From the outside, it looked like Sheryl was sympathizing with Katsuya but she was actually organizing that new information in the back of her head and thinking of how she should react to his story.

Katsuya thought that everything would be fine as long he worked hard enough. After all, he had the rare talent to accomplish that, he had done that in the past, he experienced that first hand, and he was likely to do that again in the future. Although Sheryl had no proof, she was sure that it must be the case.

No matter where and when he was born, it was very likely that Katsuya would work himself hard and reach success and happiness. Then loving him and getting loved by him would mean getting a share of his success and happiness.

Sheryl then thought that there must be 2 kinds of people around him. Either those that accepted him and cared for him, or those that rejected him and hated him to death. Either way, it showed that they were interested in him. There must be something in him that caused people around him to not be able to just ignore him. Leaving aside those sociopathic people who did not care about other people, normal people would not be able to just ignore Katsuya’s existence.

Sheryl then smiled bitterly, but she kept it inside her heart and did not let it show on her face.

[I wonder if he’s one of those people who are too talented and have to face hardship because of their talents. Honestly speaking, I can’t sympathize at all, but let’s leave that aside for now and think about how I should react. Well, I can just pretend that I can’t find any words to say and just keep quiet, but…]

After a lot of thinking, she finally decided on what to do. Then she made a rather serious face and said to Katsuya in a strong tone.

“Katsuya-san, I’ll tell you what I think after listening to your story. If it’s wrong or if I say something that I should not, I hope that you can just let it slide or just mock me and laugh it off.”

Katsuya, who was hanging his head low and looking down, raised his head and looked straight to Sheryl with a serious expression. He felt a bit overwhelmed with her staring at him as he was waiting for her to continue.

Sheryl was staring straight at Katsuya with a serious face, but she then smiled and bowed deeply to him.

“Thank you very much for protecting the city. I can only give you and your comrades as well as all of your friends that you lost my deepest gratitude for protecting the city. Thank you very much!”

Katsuya, Airi, and Yumina were extremely surprised when Sheryl suddenly thanked them. Sheryl then raised her head and stared at Katsuya before continuing.

“Had that swarm of monsters from the Kuzusuhara ruin not been stopped, I bet the city would have suffered extensive damage. And if those bounty monsters were left alone, they would have slowly killed the city. I’m sure each Hunter has his or her reason to fight for protecting the city, some of them might have done it for the sake of money, some of them might have done it for the sake of renown, or it might be just because it was one of their jobs, some of them might even have done that because they had no other choice. But it did not change the fact that they had put their lives at stake and some of them even lost their lives in that fight. Thus I feel greatly indebted to them.”

Katsuya realized that he was really moved by Sheryl’s reply, but he did not know the reason why.

“As long as you work as a Hunter, there’s a risk for you to get killed. It could even be said that it’s their own responsibility for taking that occupation. I bet the Hunters need to resolve themselves to take that risk when they decide to be Hunters. But with that being said, not everyone is blessed enough to work as a Hunter. I’m sure there are people who don’t have the skills and get killed in no time. Then, even for those Hunters with proper skill and equipment, they might also get killed simply because of bad luck. And I believe for those Hunters who died because you couldn’t save them, it was simply because they were not lucky enough to get saved by you.”

Katsuya realized that he felt as if a burden was lifted off his shoulder. But he did not know the reason why.

“I don’t know the detail of your relationship with the friends that you have lost. But if you feel proud that you have risked your life together with them, if you feel proud that you were able to fight alongside them, please never forget about them. But if that’s not the case, if their deaths only chain you down, then please forget about them this instant.”

The moment Katsuya heard Sheryl telling him to just forget about his dead friends, he immediately shouted in anger.

“Are you seriously saying that I should just forget about them?”

But it did not faze Sheryl at all, she kept staring at Katsuya’s eyes with a serious face as she continued.

“If you’re proud of them, then it should be fine. I’m sure that it would even help you down the road. It would give you the courage to push through difficult situations. It would help you stand up again in a hopeless situation. But, if it only serves as a burden to you, it would eventually kill you one day. It would one day trip you when you have to step forward and get you killed. It would drag you down when you have to retreat and get you killed. So just forget about them. You can go ahead and scream as much as you want then just forget about them. You can go ahead and curse me as much as you want then just forget about them.”

Katsuya did not say anything back while listening to what Sheryl was saying. He was still feeling sad for the friends that he had lost. But the thing that was born from that sadness was no longer something that was blaming him.

Sheryl relaxed her expression and said.

“…I won’t tell you to keep on living for the sake of dead people. But, I’ll tell you to keep on living for the sake of the other people who are still alive. The other two are really worried about you, you know?”

Katsuya felt a bit at a loss as he looked at Yumina and Airi. It had been such a long time since the last time he saw Airi and Yumina making those faces, indicating that they were truly worried about him.

Katsuya then turned to Sheryl again. He then made a smile filled with resolve and optimism as he said.

“I won’t forget about them, I’ll always remember them.”

Katsuya somehow looked like he was finally able to move on, Sheryl then replied with a smile.

“You’re a nice person. Honestly speaking, I was expecting you to get angry at me and tell me to just shut up since I’m only a stranger to you.”

Katsuya looked surprised as he said.