Dark Fantasy’s Extra

“Yesterday, a hunter like you saved my life. To protect me and my servants, he charged alone against countless Beasts.”

Hilde began her story.

From the start, hunters are people who move for money.

Protecting their employer is only natural.

“Of course, that person must work for money. But anyone can see this isn’t something done purely for such desires. He advanced toward certain death simply for everyone’s sake.”

I did it because I was included in that ‘everyone.’

I just didn’t want to die, so I did what I could in that situation.

“I’ve been interested in hunters and Beasts since long ago. So I even pushed myself to study how to use weapons and learn about Beasts. Someone like me…”

She probably would have done fine alone.

That’s how it went in the tutorial I played.

“But yesterday I realized it. That what I’d been doing was nothing more than the games of a sheltered little girl who knew nothing of the world. I hadn’t understood anything about what it really means to hunt Beasts, to truly put your life on the line.”

What is she trying to say?

“I just… wanted to say sorry and thank you if I met a real hunter like you.”

Hilde left after saying just that.

I stood quietly watching her back for a while.

*    *    *

After leaving the cemetery, I went to the administration office to receive my allowance for guarding the Grimm family.

“Ah, you’re here!”

Hera said when she saw me.

“I was about to go find you.”

“For the escort duty allowance?”

“Ah, that too.”

“That too? There’s something else besides that?”

Hera is a woman who works in administration, an ordinary person who isn’t a former hunter.

Not everyone in the Hunting Order is a hunter.

While all the high-ranking officials are former hunters, many of the office workers who function like cogs below them are people like Hera.

Humans with magical power are few in number, and among them, those who can become hunters are even fewer.

The Hunting Order has branches worldwide and needs many people to handle various tasks including administration.

“Mr. Eugene, you’ll be an 8th-rank hunter starting next month, so you need to pack up and move quarters.”

“Huh? 8th-rank hunter? …Me?”

“Yes, from next month.”

“But I’ve only been here for 10 years?”

To become an 8th-rank hunter, you need 12 years of experience as a 9th-rank hunter.

“You saved the Grimm family’s young lady and servants, and fought a behemoth alongside 3rd-rank hunter Lady Sephira, right? I heard they decided your 10 years of experience was sufficient.”

“…”

So that’s how it works.

I thought I might become an 8th-rank hunter someday.

Just two more years and I’d be automatically promoted anyway.

But hearing it now, it didn’t feel real.

Lower-ranked hunters often move in teams with one 8th-rank hunter as leader and six 9th-rank hunters as members.

While 9th-rank hunters typically live together in groups of six, from 8th-rank hunter up you get a private room and various other privileges.

To me, 8th-rank hunter has always meant a veteran among veterans.

By the old standards, I’m somewhat lacking.

But considering recent achievements and circumstances, it’s not incomprehensible.

Beyond the loss of many veteran hunters in the large-scale attack seven years ago, the threat of Beasts has been growing.

As the seals of witches like Red Hood and beings equal to Belle weaken, the Beast’s curse grows stronger accordingly.

“And Sir Crowty also said that Mr. Eugene meets the standards of an excellent 8th-rank hunter even by the old criteria.”

“That can’t be.”

I immediately shook my head.

“Someone like me is still far from that.”

Fifteen years ago, I joined the Hunting Order just to earn a few coins a day as an odd-jobs worker.

Even becoming a hunter was just for money.

I had no memories of losing precious people to Beasts.

I just had the shameful thought that I might manage somehow with knowledge from my previous life.

But many things changed after becoming a hunter.

I hadn’t properly understood what it meant to directly fight Beasts.

My pathetic idea that I could do well with the feeling of a game I played long ago shattered within days.

Training to handle the unknown thing called magical power, and directly facing Beasts were very different from what I’d imagined, and knowledge from my previous life wasn’t helpful at all.

Unlike games, there were no weak Beasts appearing early on that you could hunt to level up.

There were no convenient skill windows or status screens to help you get stronger.

Even after sleeping, injuries still hurt the same, and scars remained.

But with the seniors’ help, I somehow managed not to give up and kept going.

I know they didn’t consider me special, they just wanted to gain one more proper companion.

However, it’s also true that they reached out to help me when I desperately needed it.

Until meeting them, I hadn’t known how to rely on others.

“I think…”

Hera said carefully.

“Mr. Eugene is an excellent hunter. I’m not sure how it was in the past, but there are very few hunters now with Mr. Eugene’s experience and skill. Ah, among lower-ranked hunters, I mean.”

“…”

This time I couldn’t immediately deny it.

Even I could see the clear decline in standards among lower-ranked hunters.

But it’s a problem that’s realistically difficult to solve.

Strong Beasts are increasing, but the number of hunters can’t keep up.

People with insufficient skill quickly suffer major injuries, become disabled and retire, or sometimes die.

This trend has become especially pronounced since that large-scale attack seven years ago.

It’s a vicious cycle where insufficient people teach even more insufficient people, as the experienced hunters who should guide the next generation were wiped out at once.

Emotionally it’s hard to accept, but looking at the situation objectively, there were sufficient reasons for me to become an 8th-rank hunter.

“And about the allowance. There’s 600 Order Silver coins for the behemoth incident, and 500 Order Silver coins for saving the Grimm family’s young lady.”

“Ah, so together… Huh? How many did you say?”

“So together…”

“No, I know it’s 1,100, but did you say 600 and 500?”

That much?

That’s almost a year’s salary!

“Yes. The behemoth reward was 300, but it seems Lady Sephira gave up her share and sent it all to Mr. Eugene. She said it was all thanks to Mr. Eugene that they survived against the behemoth.”

“Really…”

I knew Sephira was a good person, but to give up even the behemoth allowance.

No, maybe for higher-ranked hunters that much money isn’t such a big deal.

From what I remember, a 3rd-rank hunter’s basic monthly salary is 500 Order Silver coins.

But considering allowances for hunting high-tier Beasts and such, it would be much more.

As expected, rich people are generous with their spending because they can afford to be.

Where I used to live, there were plenty of people who would kill innocent children or women for 100 Order Silver coins.

Having my month’s hard-earned living expenses stolen by bandits on the way home, I thought I was going to die.

Those humans were too cruel, swinging real blades at a mere 7-year-old.

Of course, they were probably that desperate being poor and worried about tomorrow’s meals.

“I don’t have anywhere to spend it right now… might as well save it.”

But those are stories of the past now.

At least while working as a hunter, I’ve rarely had trouble from lack of money.

“Ah, and Sir Crowty has assigned Mr. Eugene a special mission.”

“What? Again?”

“It’s not anything difficult. Just going to a nearby village to check the situation and report back. The previous mission was meant to let you rest, but since that happened…”

“Ah.”

He really pays attention to every detail.

I received the mission plan from Hera and returned to my room to check its contents.

It said to go to Lasso Village, check the newly built factory, and get the business plan from the factory owner who’s also the village chief.

There are many such villages near the Order.

Some villages only grow potatoes or onions to supply to the Order, while others only make silver bullets, with the whole village being practically a factory.

Most of what’s made there is bought cheaply by the Order, and in exchange, the village gains a customer and protector they’ll never lose.

I remember Lasso Village from Blue Paper Moon too.

In the game it had a glass factory, which seems to be just being built now.

“Lasso Village…”

Lasso Village is where Snow White, one of the sealed witches, first appears.

Of course, since the seal hasn’t been broken yet, only her avatar appears, not her true form.

But even though it’s quite early in the game, since it’s a boss fight, even an avatar is treated as a boss.

After the seal breaks, they appear in swarms like trash mobs though.

“Ah, wait.”

Why did I go to Lasso Village again?

I think… there was a quest to check on a hunter who didn’t return after going to verify the factory’s completion.

Of course, that hunter was found dead in a corner, and the village and factory had just been destroyed by Snow White.

“…”

The hunter who went to check on the completed factory was found dead.

“Damn it!”

I’ve already gotten too entangled with the behemoth Blanc, what will the Order think if I encounter a witch again?

“And I can’t even tell them about this.”

To begin with, except for Red Hood, all witches have been erased from history.

Not just forgotten, but Belle personally controls the information and literally buries anyone who gets even slightly close to the truth.

I’ll have no choice but to report it as just encountering a Beast again.

Of course it would be best not to go to such a place, but I can’t just let dozens of lives I could save die.

The senior who saved my life believed in the Order’s law of hunting Beasts and saving people.

At least I need to try as much as I can to face that senior with dignity.

“Stay calm. I just need to handle it without revealing my identity.”

Fortunately, what I have to deal with is just Snow White’s avatar, not the real thing.

I’ve killed countless avatars of Snow White in Blue Paper Moon.

An avatar’s power is weaker than a mid-tier Beast, and if you avoid their tricky techniques, they’re not that threatening.

I can hunt them sufficiently with the weapons I have.

“Beast hunting… no, witch hunting, huh.”