Ran of Shadow Moon

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Ran.

A simple name. Just a single syllable. I didn't know much about monster hunter ranks, but I'd heard that name before — one of the hunter names that carried all the way to Laoren, that northern backwater.

Vice-leader of one of the teams that defined this era. Ran of Shadow Moon — and he was standing right in front of me.

The examiner stood at rigid attention, his face drawn tight. Apparently he hadn't expected Ran to show up either.

"I heard some interesting folks had been coming in from Laoren lately, so I followed along out of curiosity. Didn't think I'd find someone even you couldn't handle, Rollen."

"Ran, sir, you can't just walk in during an examination."

"Don't be so stiff. I used to be an examiner myself, you know."

Rollen the examiner looked far older, but from the way they talked, Ran was clearly the senior of the two.

Never thought I'd actually meet one of the people hunters used to gossip about over drinks.

Talking shop over drinks is just what hunters do. And Oble — the only colleague I'd ever really gotten along with — had always loved that kind of talk. I'd heard plenty from him.

Present-day Grandheim is ruled by five teams.

Calling them "teams" is a stretch. They're massive organizations on the scale of guilds, not ordinary hunting parties — each one fielding at least a hundred members, and together they run Grandheim.

And Ran, vice-leader of Shadow Moon, turned toward me with a broad, delighted grin. His eyes were full of interest.

"So as a former examiner, I figured I'd test this new friend myself. How about it?"

Former examiner. That explained how he'd walked in here so freely.

"I'm Gold rank, see. I can test all the way up to Gold."

Sixth-tier. Gold rank. A position above the Silver-rank examiner.

"Well?"

Ran grinned as he made the offer, and I nodded.

"I'll do it."

I had no reason to refuse.

"Before that, may I ask you something?"

"If you want an autograph, I'll sign one later."

"No. Are you by any chance from the country that a mage wiped off the map?"

Ran paused at the question. Then he slowly stroked his chin and smiled.

"So you know about my country."

Just as I thought. He was from the same country as Ban, one of the Three Troublemakers. A single-syllable name, and something about his appearance had felt different from the start.

"I know someone from there."

"A countryman, huh. Somehow I get the feeling I'd know the face."

I understood the moment I saw that reaction.

"His name is Ban."

"Ahaha, that's the one! The kid I failed to scout!"

So the Three Troublemakers were in Grandheim after all. The news brought a small measure of relief. They'd come here to find Maria as well — they'd have information of some kind.

"So, you planning to join their team?"

"I don't know yet."

I had no particular intention of joining any team. If I wanted to use instant-death magic freely, traveling alone was simply more convenient. If I had a team at all, it would be Wolfgar — the only one who knew I was a mage.

"Well then, I suppose I ought to show this new hunter just how good a place Shadow Moon really is."

With that, Ran drew the blade at his hip. Ban had used a long two-edged sword. This one was a single-edged long blade, and the edge looked extraordinary — forged from high-grade monster materials, no doubt.

"I won't swing the edge at you."

He reversed his grip, showing me the unsharpened spine of the blade.

"It'll still hurt if it connects, though, so watch yourself."

"Ran. If I beat you, does that make me a Gold-rank hunter?"

"Bold, aren't you. But the benefits won't stop there. Every team in the city will be falling over themselves to scout you."

That sounded like a hassle. Still, a higher rank would make it easier to take on missions.

I answered by clenching a fist and taking my stance. Ran grinned.

"Better to save that talk for after I've won."

He slammed his foot into the floor.

Kiiiiing—

Something rang in my ears at the same instant. From beneath him — the sound had come from his boots. A sound I'd never heard before. Unexpected. But my instincts moved.

That was— no way.

KWAANG!

Ran's body launched forward in an instant, surging up in front of me. Faster than I'd expected — but not so fast that my eyes couldn't track it. The moment I moved to counter—

Kiiiiiiiing!

The sound came from beneath his feet again. Ran's body bent in a direction no human should have been able to move, and the blade that had been thrusting straight at me changed course, angling toward the left side of my neck.

KWANG!

I barely got my arm up in time, taking Ran's blade on my shoulder. The impact was light — I had a mana barrier wrapped around my body. But even seeing his movement with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it. What Ran had just done was clearly beyond the bounds of a human body. It was movement that ignored inertia itself.

"...A magic tool?"

Ran's mouth curved up at the question.

"Correct. Any capital hunter who's reached a certain level uses them."

Capital hunters wielded magic tools. I'd seen it firsthand in the Jefran barony — the bizarre sight of hunters flying through the sky. At a glance, it was enough to remind you of mages. I could see the precise magic circles engraved on Ran's boots. Those had been what assisted his movement just now.

"A friend from Laoren might not know this, but the age of the monster hunter is changing. Raw skill still matters, but the level of monster you can take down depends on how well you handle magic tools."

I wouldn't deny that. The power of magic tools is formidable. There's a ceiling to what a hunter can produce on their own, and a human who knows how to use tools has no reason to ignore them. More than that, Ran's movement just now had been his own will. The magic tool was only an aid. In the end, it came down to the user's ability.

"Hunters are strong even without magic tools. But with them, they can be stronger."

Ran stamped his boot against the floor as he said it. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could feel the unshakable confidence he had in his own skill.

"It's the new direction for monster hunters."

Monster hunters exist to hunt monsters. If magic tools let them take down higher-level beasts, there was no reason not to use them.

And yet. Some part of me couldn't welcome this.

There were people like Dreygan. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Legendary hunters who trained their bodies to the absolute limit and brought down even massive monsters with nothing but themselves. Standing on their level by using magic tools was surely a good thing — it would mean more monsters slain, more citizens saved. Raising the average was good. But the fact that it all ultimately served a mage's design left a bitter taste in my mouth.

A world where you could do nothing without a mage. I was a mage myself, and I still couldn't stomach that reality. Even Dreygan, that legendary hunter, had chosen to become a mage himself just to rescue the granddaughter a mage had stolen from him.

This world was split between those who were mages and those who were not.

"You don't seem too fond of using magic tools."

"No. You should use everything you can."

Even if it meant dancing in a mage's palm. You had to give everything you were capable of. I believed that too.

"It's just that if that's all there is to it—"

A magic tool was a magic tool. In the end, nothing more than a device a mage produced as a side project.

Sorry to say it, but I was a mage.

"I like the confidence."

The instant those words left his mouth, Ran's form blurred.

Kiiiing!

Even faster than before — and his image split in two. Illusion-type magic? Fighting a capital hunter really didn't feel like fighting a hunter at all. It felt like facing a mage.

But that meant nothing to me. The eye that had surfaced on my wrist — the Third Eye — could see straight through illusions. I caught a glimpse of Ran's pure white flame. The moment I saw it, I twisted my body and threw a punch.

"Oh?"

A sound of surprise slipped from Ran. He hadn't expected me to see through it immediately. The reversed blade snapped into a guard — he meant to take my power head-on.

He was underestimating me.

Mana seeped into my elbow and concentrated there. Mana is a universal force that can be shaped into any form, and the form I gave my elbow was explosion. The instant a soundless blast shoved my elbow forward—

KRAAAAAANG!

My fist shot out at a completely different speed and punched through Ran's blade. Naturally, he couldn't absorb that force either. He was driven back a long way.

Ran's sword-hand trembled once. I could feel just how hard the impact through the blade had hit him. Beyond the sword, he stared at me with wide eyes. He hadn't expected this kind of destructive power.

"...Friend, that's a strange power I didn't see coming."

It wasn't particularly strange. Just a transformation of mana's form. But Seranea was the same — ordinary mages didn't seem to fight this way. So I was on my own path. Fine by me. It was useful in a real fight, and that was all that mattered. I was still an apprentice mage who couldn't even cast proper spells yet. Using everything I had was the right call.

"If that's all you've got."

I condensed mana at the tip of my toes again. Once more, the form I gave it was explosion. Mana soaked into the muscle, and I slammed my foot into the floor.

THUD!

The floor caved in, and my body shot forward like a cannonball.

Ran hastily reset his grip on the sword. Had he decided a head-on clash with me was a losing proposition? I could sense he meant to deflect the force. But he seemed to have forgotten what hands were for. Instead of a fist, I thrust out an open hand and clamped down on the blade.

"Wait—?!"

Ran looked at me like I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lost my mind — like my fingers were about to be sliced off on the edge. But a hand coated in mana doesn't get cut. Instead, I slid along the blade and yanked hard toward the hilt.

BANG!

The shock traveled through the blade into Ran's gripping hand. He bit down hard on his lip and forced himself to hold on.

I'd take the sword from him like this. That was the plan, and I was swinging a kick at his knee to break his balance when a powerful current of mana surged from the blade.

This was a magic tool too? And a high-performance one at that.

I'd have to cut it off.

The moment I revealed the Third Eye, I saw mana erupting explosively from inside the sword. It looked as if the blade itself had flinched in fear of me.

"Ah— damn it, get back!"

Ran shouted, and at the same time a blue-tinged darkness bloomed from the sword. I'd been about to activate instant-death magic, so I let go and stepped back. Ran twisted, his body swallowed in that blue darkness.

"Th-this thing, why is it suddenly—"

Confusion spread across Ran's face. This clearly wasn't something he'd done on purpose.

Leksan's voice reached me then.

Gone berserk?

After spending time with Leksan, I'd learned we could speak mind-to-mind as long as mana was moving.

Was Leksan more impressive than I'd given him credit for? More pressingly, Ran's body was being devoured further and further by the blue darkness.

"You lot, get outside and call a Gold-rank hunter or higher!"

Ran's face said he'd already guessed the magic tool had gone berserk. The examiner bolted for the exit in a panic. Judging by how they handled it, this wasn't the first time a magic tool had run out of control.

"Friend — you too!"

Ran told me, Wolfgar, and even Seranea to run. No — Seranea had already slipped outside the moment things started looking ugly. What a finely tuned survival instinct that one had.

"Wolfgar, go after Seranea."

"Got it."

Wolfgar took off after her. That left only Ran and me in the training hall.

Ran was clearly trying to hold it down, but his opponent was a magic tool. In the end, there was nothing a non-mage could do about it. If I left it like this, the damage would spread outside.

I'd created this situation, so I'd resolve it.

Please don't send me a bill for damages.