Journal from Another World

真魔王の誕生・ハンターの成長

It has been a month since I had trained under the Gold Rank Hunter, Antonio Geired. The usually 120 Bells[hours] had long passed but he is still mentoring me. There had been rumors about my preferential treatment. The guild however was able to mask it as seeing potential in me as a strong Hunter Material and wishes me to grow strong. But in reality, it is probably due to my unknown and questionable past. Although, it was unpleasant to be talked at from my back, it was harmless, so I let it slide.

On another note, with my training in full bloom I have finally gone eight levels up. I have also ranked up to BRONZE-5 after gotten my Quest Requirements.

.STATS {

• LIFE FORCE : 1,271
• MANA : 594

• Phys STR : 205
• Phys DEF : 205
• Mag POW : 322
• Mag RES : 322

Most of my skills have also gone up and I have added a few Active Skills in my repertoire.

.SKILLS {

.PASSIVE {

.COMBAT {

• SCYTHE ARTS : LVL 4
• WHIP ARTS : LVL 3
• BLESSING of MANA : LVL 5

.INSIGHT & MOBILITY {

• COOKING : LVL 6
• INGREDIENT ANALYSIS : LVL 2
• NIMBLE FINGERS : LVL 4
• TRAINING : LVL 7

.RESISTANCE {

• DARKNESS : LVL 3
• BLIND : LVL 3
• PSYCHE ATTACK : LVL 3

}

. ACTIVE {

.COMBAT {

• HARVEST : LVL 4 [3~5 Hit Attack]
• FULL SWING SLASH : LVL 4 [Fan AOE Attack]

.MAGIC {

• AURA : LVL 2 [MANA Use: 75%, Buff: 20%

}

.MANEUVER {

• HALF-STEP : LVL 4

}

}

Only my resistance skill did not rise up, this is probably due to the fact that I could not get any chance of using it. Although I am fighting in the sewers, I was not allowed at places with higher threat rank monsters and so I could not encounter ailment inducing monsters, all I have been doing is hunt for [ROCHES], [SOLDIER ROCHES], [TEEN RATS] and [ADULT RATS] in the entrance sewers.

I was quite shocked however to find out that I had level-up faster than average, there were Hunters who had joined the Guild the same day as me, yet they are still at level 2. I don’t know why but I was rising too fast, and truthfully it was quite unnerving, while it is good that I am leveling up faster, this kind of thing are sometimes ill omen to jealousy.

Well, this is the reason why I have not joined any Parties. I am not hiding anything but, with my amnesiac condition who knows what will happen and there might be many would suspect me of cheating. Thankfully, they could not say anything while Mr. Antonio is there with me, and the slums has somehow acknowledged me as one of them so anyone trying to do anything funny was also out of the question so I can relax a bit.

Still, what is going on with my growth spurt? Why do I feel a little anxious about it?

*****

Since my growth is steady, I decided to work slowly. The job is in fact pretty fun to do and reveal to be give me more excitement, however, my guardian is a bit worrywart and simply did not want me to take on jobs that are too dangerous. Because of that, I have decided to slowly grind my levels and skills to their upper limits, and when I am proficient enough that would not worry Aisha, I will take on Monster Hunts Quests relevant to my current base Rank –BRONZE Rank Hunter.

If my supervisors were normal Silver and Ruby Rank Hunters, I would have already paid the Silver Rank Hunter and would be endlessly hunting for more Threat Rank E Monsters to pay off the Ruby Rank Hunter. However, the Guild is taking care of that for me, all money I have accumulated are used to augment my and Aisha’s finances and daily needs.

At first Aisha was like: ‘It is your money so you should use it for yourself.’ But I won her over by saying that it was rent money for letting me stay in her house. And so, she had to give up and make use of the finances to fix the house and buy other tools necessary as an apothecarist.

For my training, my daily routine included training my physical body by carrying heavy loads (fetching water, carrying the shopping bag), and speed runs to increase stamina (doing errands to nearby stores and stalls) also I have made sure to do my usual Sewer Cleaning by defeating insect type and pest type monsters and then purifying the waters there with the purifying solutions the guild provides us.

Most Hunters detest cleaning the sewers, but as a resident of the slums, water was essential for us, so I had earned the trust and recognition from the residents. This kind of feeling is not so bad, and it felt nostalgic for me somehow. Maybe in the future, even if I become a higher Rank hunter, I should continue cleaning the sewers to help alleviate the worries of the residents.

Anyway, back to my daily routines, while being a hunter, I am still a patient under the care of the Apothecary Aisha Farmont Lowell, so I have to make sure to be by her side whenever I have free time so she can fix me some herbs and solutions that would alleviate my nightmares and somehow the pain that lingers when some vague images in my past surfaces.

And as such today was also another of my daily routine to ensure her safety in collecting her needed herbs.

“It’s perfectly safe in this area this place is no Grazing Grounds after all.” The petite girl with blue hair –Aisha had a ‘I-am-not-a-child’ look on her and pouted. “I don’t need a chaperone.”

“I know, but I just want to be with you when you might need a helping hand.” If her haul is large, then she might need some help in carrying her basket. “Hmmm… is something wrong Asiha?”

“No…” sometimes she just stops like that, I wonder if she thinks I am unreliable or something.

Anyway, we usually go and gather herb early in the morning until the 8^th Bell and after that I would go and do Hunter Quests until evening, but today was a bit different. The forest just south of the castle town was somewhat strange.

“Aisha, don’t you think the forest looks a bit dark?” I called for her and pointed at the forest.

“The Forest of Fae has always been dark.” Aisha just said it as a matter of fact. And sure enough if you just look at it physically the darkness was really just the same the day before today and the day before yesterday and yet I somehow felt an eerie feeling coming from it today. That was when I noticed something moved in the dark forest, at first, I thought it would be the Hunters who had the skills necessary to go in and out of the forest but…

“Aisha…” I called for her again, this time alarm in my voice. “Run to the gates and alert Sir Gerald and Sir Arnus.”

“Hmmm?” at first Aisha could not tell what I was talking about, but as soon as she looked at the direction of the forest her face soon looked ghastly.

“Aisha, run for the gates and alert Sir Gerald and Sir Arnus.” repeating the words to make Aisha get back to reality.

“Why can’t we just go together, you are just a trainee right…” her words had mixed with salt and worry, she wanted me to go back together with her and be safe inside the gates.

“No!” while fixing my eyes on the forest I stopped her from saying anything else. “There are still other people in the highway and has no knowledge of the attack that would soon happen.”

Soon Aisha realized the other apothecaries, farmers, merchants, and other people still outside the gates that would soon become the target for the monster attack. She too understood that I as Hunter, have the obligation to protect them and at the least slow the progress of the monsters’ march, and yet she weighed my safety over theirs.

“Do not forget, I am the rising star of the Hunter Guild Southern Outpost. Apprentice to the Gold Rank Hunter –Antonio Geired. I will be fine until reinforcement gets here.” A lot of Death Flags keeps sprouting in my mouth, but to ease Aisha’s worries they were necessary.

“Please be safe!” and with those words and tears on her lovely face, she sprinted towards the gate leaving her basket on the grounds.

While the words that left my mouth meant to ease Aisha’s mind, the monsters attacking were in a grand scale that one lone Hunter, a Bronze Hunter at that would not be able to stop by himself. But, if no one distracts enemies here, the gate and other areas will get routed in no time.

That is why right here right now, their attack needs to be slowed down, ‘till reinforcement comes. Now, I just hope that these STATS which the guild had deemed good will prove useful against these hordes.

*****

The attack soon started after three young men, wearing school uniforms went out of the forest. The monster horde were hideous creatures the size of children –GOBLINS. They are among the monsters categorized as DEMI-HUMANS, they are said to have been born from the Origin/Demons known as ABOMINATIONs that violated humans, although their intellects are not on par to us humans, their malice and lust are on the scale that exceeds ours.

The children sized ones wearing crude equipment are called GOBLIN GRUNTS with Monster Threat Rank F, although weak individually their numbers are considered greatest threat. Next in line are the GOBLIN WARRIORS and the GOBLIN ARCHERS, who are slightly bigger than the former and don armors and specialized weapons, both have Monster Threat Rank E.

These two Ranks are within range for the BRONZE Rank Hunters, but their numbers, clearly out of the question. But the next monsters that come out of the forest just somehow gave me the death sentence: GOBLIN COMMANDER, Monster Threat Rank C, as the name suggests these guys are able to command GOBLINS hordes and are said to have intelligence that might undermine human strategists, if one of these guys comes out, small towns can easily be routed and now I am seeing six to eight of them the siege for the Crystal City might be a foreseeable.

“Aisha…” clearing my doubts by placing Aisha on my head, I then readied my stance against the overwhelming horde.

“Come at me, you horde!”

《Provoke》

Activating the Active Skill Provoke Level 5, potent for 5 meters all enemies that come in contact with the Range of Effectivity will unconsciously direct their attack to me instead of the civilians who have finally noticed and make a run for the gate.

Without waiting for their response, I then proceeded to pick the GRUNTs one-by-one.

Using provoke on the horde, I had managed to ensure that they would not stray away from me who had acted as a decoy so that the remaining civilians who are still out and about get inside gate.

While fighting for some time... about 25 minutes now, my provoke skill’s potency for some reason had increased. While I could just simply associate it as the skill leveling up after much use. However, I have a feeling that something new must have awakened in me, however since I do not possess the self-appraisal skill, I will just have to trust my instinct.

Since my weapon had a longer reach, my battle spans from short to mid-range combat. Switching from the blade of the Scythe and pole itself to effectively do damage to my targets.

Thanks to my higher STATS, I am able to dispose the GOBLIN GRUNTs and GOBLIN WARRIORs by slicing them in one full sweep. By twirling my Scythe around me I can do defense and offense at the same time.

Every 5 minutes I would recast the provoke skill to ensure that the horde will keep their attention on me and so the battle continued with my advantage.

While battling the monster horde, I noticed that the monster horde that would attack me from my left flank had somehow diminished.

Moving my gaze to that side, I believe they were the people in uniforms who launch an attack earlier.

‘Are they maybe Hunters… or maybe Knights?” I said under my breath as I continued to fend of the monster horde on my side.

The battle that should have made me at the edge had somehow alleviated thanks to the people in uniform. I then noticed that there were three main forces in their side.

The first side was led by a guy about my age, with red flocks together with 9 others they are concentrating on defending the civilians.

The second team is headed by two girls one wielding dual swords and the other wielding a battle axe twice her size. They are being supported by 5 others and do cooperative strategies to dwindle the monster horde.

The last is a soloist just like me, he had a shield and a sword as his weapons of choice, he must be using a provocation skill just like me since more monsters are attacking him compared to the others and he is easily decapitating the GOBLINS that gets within his range.

No longer than an hour and the regular soldiers headed by the knights have finally joined the fray and started to route the monster horde. Thanks to them I was able to finally rest, truthfully, my body was already at its limit, had the reinforcement delayed any farther my LIFE FORCE would have been depleted.

“Good work!” turning to the familiar voice, sir Gerald together with sir Arnus approached me. “Sorry it took a while, there was chaos inside the gates and delayed our arrival.”

It would seem that the civilians who had been saved immediately spread the word from the houses near the gates and instilled fear and panic to the populace, the knights and the regular soldiers had a hard time getting out from the chaos. Thankfully, the authority of the knights superseded the civilians and made it in time before a greater catastrophe would occur.

“It’s alright.” I gave a slight bow. “I am only glad that you made it in time.”

“Why don’t you leave the aftercare to us and go home.” Sir Gerald gave me a meaningful smile. “I am sure a certain lovely lady is worried about your safety.”

“Then allow me accept your proposal.” And left the two running towards the slum and in that small house awaiting me was a happy reunion with a tearful beautiful girl.