Just a Monster Hunter
Weakling Haren had taken down a medium-class monster.
The rumor spread through the monster hunters' guild like wildfire.
Had I ever made a name for myself in my life? For the first time, my name was on people's lips for a good reason. A slightly foolish smile tugged at my mouth before I could stop it.
Was I always this hungry for praise? I had no idea I was such an easy man.
But this was no time to bask in it. My body was still burning through its life force, and I needed to replenish it. Monster hunting wasn't optional. So I pushed open the guild doors again today, looking for another job.
I was heading for the counter when a voice called out.
"Excuse me."
I turned. A tall man stood there — striking blond hair, a pair of goggles perched oddly on top of his head. He had the air of someone who genuinely believed the world revolved around him.
His name was Egoi. They called him Golden Coral — more precisely, that was his team's name, and the nickname had stuck to him. Coral was some kind of sea creature, apparently. I wouldn't know. I'd never seen the ocean.
In the Laoren branch, he was the one who could take down medium-class monsters alone. Word was he would be heading up to the capital soon. I never expected him to speak to me. Then again, Egoi and I had never exchanged a single word in our lives.
"What is it?"
"Is it true you took down a medium-class monster by yourself?"
Doubt sat plain in Egoi's eyes. I understood why. The standard approach was to bring at least ten hunters. And here I was, claiming I'd done it alone. Any active medium-class hunter would find that hard to swallow.
"I'll say this up front — I have no intention of proving it. And you're free not to believe me."
I didn't hunt medium-class monsters to put on a show. I hunted so I could stay alive. Belief and proof meant nothing to me.
"I'll keep hunting monsters, and the same situation will keep repeating itself."
Egoi studied me for a moment, then scratched the back of his head.
"Hmm. I see. Sorry if I came on sharp. I just wanted to warn you to be careful, in case it was a fluke."
Medium-class monsters didn't go down by accident. I knew that. But the world was full of things you couldn't predict — like waking up one day with instant-death magic. So Egoi had only come to offer a simple piece of advice.
"Medium-class monsters vary wildly in strength from one individual to the next. You can't gauge them by eye the way you can with large-class or small-class ones."
The way he spoke to me — like I was some fresh recruit — left a bitter taste. I'd been grinding away at this same guild for five years, and I still wasn't memorable enough to be treated as anything else. It was just another reminder of where I stood.
"Egoi, quit sticking your nose in other people's business."
"That guy, I swear…"
From farther off, people who looked like his teammates called him back.
"Ah — but if you really did take one down alone, I'd like to make a scouting offer."
He pressed a business card into my hand. Printed on it: Monster Hunter Team Golden Coral.
"If you're interested, get in touch!"
Egoi left with a casual goodbye. A straightforward guy. His fellow hunters gathered around him as if it were the most natural thing in the world — easy with each other, openly showing the bond of a team.
I watched them for a moment.
The instant-death magic I carried didn't have much use for companions. That kind of scene would always be a long way from me. Nothing to envy, really. Right now I just needed to do what I could.
So I went straight for a request slip marked for the outer regions — medium-class monsters — and brought it to the counter.
Meryl was there as always. She smiled the way she always did.
"Haren, another medium-class hunt?"
"Yes. If you would."
"I'll register it. Going alone again?"
"That's right."
I'd already brought one medium-class monster back. This time Meryl registered me without hesitation.
"Honestly, I don't like the way the guild has treated you," she said quietly as she filled out the paperwork. As guild staff, she'd heard plenty. "So I'll be rooting for you, Haren."
"Thank you."
There was real warmth in her kindness. No wonder she was the face of the counter. It made sense she had so many fans.
"Also — there's been word of a bandit group operating in the outer regions lately."
"Bandits, with monsters out there?"
"Yes. I'm not sure of the details, but supposedly it's a group that used to operate near the western city of Jefran. The Laoren barony is planning a suppression soon."
"Doesn't hurt to be careful."
Sometimes people were more dangerous than monsters. I took her warning to heart.
"Well then — good luck out there today."
With Meryl's send-off, I left the guild. Eyes followed me from every corner of the hall. I ignored them.
I had one job.
Today, like every other day: hunt medium-class monsters.
Thud—
A medium-class monster collapsed in front of me. Its life force had gone out under the instant-death magic — a lion-shaped beast with six eyes. Once it was down, I caught my breath, and vitality flooded back into my body. The power granted by its life force coursed through me again.
"Have I put on muscle?"
I tugged at my sleeve. Clear definition showed along my arm. Even my abs, always flat and unremarkable, felt solid now.
Three medium-class monsters today. Absorbing all three had pushed my physical ability up another sharp notch. I cut free the lion beast's mane and a foreleg and packed them carefully into my bag. The bag that used to weigh me down felt almost light. My body had finally found its stride.
Maybe it was time to start thinking seriously about real training. At this level, I might actually put up a decent fight.
Clink—
Iron caught against iron at my heels. Special boots I'd had made after the last medium-class hunt — built to lock onto a monster's body with iron spikes. They'd earned their keep today.
"That old man really can knock this stuff out like it's nothing."
A blacksmith I'd known for years. He charged a little steep, but his work was good, so I kept going back. If skill wasn't enough, at least the gear had to be. I'd scraped together every coin I had for equipment on that principle. I ought to buy the old man a meal soon. Fair thanks for gear that had done right by me.
The light was starting to fail. Monsters tended to get nastier after dark. Time to leave the forest and head back.
I had a good sense of direction, so I turned to go — and then I heard it.
Rustle, rustle—
Many things moving. I froze, dropped low on instinct, and turned my ear toward the sound.
Maybe it was the life force I'd been absorbing. Lately even small noises had started coming through sharp. My hearing itself seemed to have improved. Human footsteps reached me with perfect clarity.
Human footsteps, this far out. I knew what they were at once.
The bandits from the west.
West of Laoren sat the city of Jefran, held by Baron Jefran. Law and order there had been falling apart. Word was the baron had taken to his sickbed and his young son had become the next baron. The household retainers had used that as an excuse to run the territory however they pleased, and the city's finances had gone to ruin. On top of that, dimensional rifts had been opening more often. Monsters pouring in, taxes a mess, public safety shattered — the city couldn't function. Criminals had multiplied. People turning to crime just to survive.
A bandit group out of a place like that, pushing all the way into the harsh north. Jefran really must have been in bad shape.
What do I do?
They weren't far. If I tried to slip past them, they were already drifting closer to the village outskirts. Not many people lived out there — but people did live there. That was what the bandits were after. Fugitives from a western city. Their real goal wouldn't be gold. It would be food and supplies. And people got far more vicious when they wanted food more than coin.
The old me would have run without looking back.
Back then I'd believed justice belonged to the strong. That belief hadn't changed much. You needed power to claim justice — more precisely, you needed power for anyone to recognize it. Without power, you died the way my father had.
So did I have power now?
My fist clenched tight.
I did. Power that could kill anything instantly.
The hesitation didn't last long.
I pulled off the clinking boots and set bare feet on the forest floor. Years of running every day just to stay alive had left my soles thick with callus. Brush wouldn't cut them. I moved through the trees without a sound, ears stretched as far as they would go.
The noise drew closer. And then, far ahead in the dark, I saw them — a group moving quietly. Masked faces. Weapons in hand. Their clothes were ragged, their bodies starved. Behind the cloth, their eyes boiled with killing intent. The eyes of people ready to take other lives to keep their own.
For a brief moment I felt something like pity. This was just what hunger drove people to when it pushed them past the edge. But there were people who hit that edge and still refused to do this. In the end, abandoning decency was a choice.
"Village's close."
"Soon as we get there, set fire to the biggest house first. The whole place'll come running to put it out."
"Strip everything we can. My stomach's stuck to my spine."
Fragments of conversation drifted over. Their heads were already full of raiding the village. That made it easy not to hesitate.
I slipped out of the dark and took the rear of the group. My hand reached toward the back of the man at the very end.
The flame of life force nested in his body. I closed my hand around it and snuffed it out.
Far easier than with a monster. The flame went out without resistance. The bandit died on the spot. His body pitched forward.
Thud—
He collided with the man walking ahead of him.
"Hey, what the hell—"
The man turned, irritated — and my hand closed over his face. Another flame went out.
The two in front finally looked back. They saw the falling bodies and raised their weapons a beat too late.
"Hey— ambush!"
He never finished the shout. I was already running. My body, so much faster than before, moved through the dark like a beast. Muscle swelled with a sharp, electric tension. Every sense stood on end. My pure physical tier was in a completely different league now.
A bandit swung his weapon in a panic. In my eyes, the motion crawled. Grown reflexes read every inch of it. One step, a twist of the waist — the blade slid past. Dodging something I could see that clearly was nothing.
The gap closed again in an instant. My hands shot through the openings in their swings and locked onto both men's arms.
Grab—
The flames went out. Two more bandits dropped.
Thud— thud—
Seven bandits in total. Four of them dead with a single gesture each.
My eyes lifted slowly through the dark. Three remaining members stood there, only now realizing what I was. All kinds of feeling crossed their faces. The strongest by far was terror.
Watching their comrades die at a touch. Even seeing it, they couldn't believe it.
"A-are you a mage, sir?"
One of them asked it with desperate hope — as if, if I were a mage, he could drop to his knees and beg.
Unfortunately for him.
"No."
I sank slowly into a lower stance, facing them.
"Just a monster hunter."
I had none of a mage's arrogance, and none of a mage's mercy. Only the will to force through my own crude idea of justice.