Chapter 7: Beginning
When Alexandre exited the forest, he found the huge crowd of prospective students had formed into neat military rows on one edge of the training grounds, which were surely over a kilometer long from end to end. He quickly followed suit and got into line. A podium had been erected nearby, facing the lines of candidates.
Before long, the two candidates he'd left on the ground in the forest also emerged and got staggered into place next to him. Both of them shot uneasy glances in his direction. Interestingly, seeing Alexandre's incredible combat skills—and, likely, the fact that he'd taken all the money which both of them had carried—almost seemed to have been a traumatic bonding experience for them!
But Alexandre was more concerned with something else: since he'd left, several hundred drones had appeared in the clearing and were hovering overhead. Before Alexandre could examine them more carefully, though, a man's rough voice came over the training grounds' loudspeaker.
"Everybody shut your traps! General Pantherson will now speak!"
A podium had been erected nearby, and all the Hunter Academy staff were arranged in a dignified way on either side of it. As he was announced, an old man in what was clearly a general's uniform stepped up to the podium.
He had an air of dignity about him, like an aged wolf or lion, and his appearance was indeed that of a seasoned predator: he was missing his left arm completely and had very little hair left. Underneath his military cap, most of his scalp seemed to be knobby scar tissue. This scarring extended down across his face, and he'd lost an eye in the middle of it.
The old man spoke up in a gravelly voice that suggested he'd sustained internal damage during his service. "Hello. I am General Pantherson. That is who I am, officially speaking, to the government. To my enemies, I am something more: the Rank A Hunter with the callsign White Wolf. To some of you, I will be even more significant: the director of Hunter Academy."
He took a long moment to leer at several candidates, staring them directly in the face with his single eye. "I am here today to explain exactly what the profession of Hunter consists of. I don't want to waste anybody's time, including my own!"
All the prospective students glanced at one another in surprise. After all, Hunter was the most prestigious profession in the world! Who would want to be anything different if they had the chance to become one?