A New Light
New Light.
One of the titles bestowed upon hunters.
The designation went to those who, in a short span of time, elevated their own worth despite holding a low rank.
In other words, they were the rising stars among hunters.
According to Noah, people would watch closely to see how far a hunter bearing that title might go.
Most Master Hunters had passed through the stage of being a New Light.
Of course, there were New Lights who never became Master Hunters — but those were the ones who failed to climb any higher, slowly withering until their light faded away.
By killing Kometras, I had become a New Light among the hunters.
For now it was only a faint glow shining within Antico, but someday it would rise high enough to draw the eyes of countless hunters. That much was certain.
From here on, whether I would keep shining without end and stand beside the Master Hunters who had risen to those heights, or whether I would stumble right where I stood and become a shooting star vanishing into the back alleys of history like so many other hunters — that choice was entirely mine.
It was a story I'd never heard even in the game, so it felt absurd.
I had no idea Hunter Land had lore like this.
But it felt good.
My path now must have seemed even more miraculous to people than anything I'd done back in the game.
After killing the mid-grade monster Kometras, my rank sat at 13. Since the contribution had been split four ways, it hadn't climbed all that much. If I had taken the monster down alone, how dramatically would my rank have soared?
At this rate, I felt like I could reach much higher ground in no time.
In a world with no computers and no phones, things like this were the only joys I had left.
I resolved not to let this opportunity slip away — to give it everything I had. I wanted to fight right then and there, to climb higher still.
But my condition wouldn't allow it.
I was desperately miserable. Why wouldn't my body keep up with my heart?
The day after we returned, a sudden wave of muscle soreness tormented me.
Honestly, it had been inevitable. I'd fought Kometras for half a day. At the end I'd pushed my body to its absolute limit and given everything I had, and on the way back a heavy bag had piled on top of it all.
The next day, I had no choice but to rest.
I sprawled out in bed and slept late, not getting up until Noah woke me. My whole body was stiff and sore. A single hunt had left me this completely drained. Normally I would have been up before Noah — the fact that she had to wake me was a little humiliating.
We ate lunch at the lodging.
I was surprised that Noah had cooked.
She usually always went out to eat, but today, for whatever reason, she'd brought out bread and stew made with her own hands.
When I took a bite of the stew it was better than I'd expected, which surprised me even more. She said she'd often cooked for herself in the past — she just hadn't bothered lately because making two portions was a hassle.
Noah puffed out her chest with a thoroughly self-satisfied look. I found that a little annoying, so I kept my reaction as muted as possible. It wasn't because my chest was small. Seeing her look so proud just made me want to be petty.
"Well? It's good, right?"
"Hmm…"
"…I-Is it bad?"
My dry response finally made Noah anxious. Her flustered expression was so funny that I dropped the straight face, smiled, and shook my head. When I told her it was good, laughing as I said it, Noah finally caught on and glared at me with sulky eyes. She even pinched my cheek, but since I'd brought it on myself, I just sat there and took the pain.
Noah prepared dinner the same way she had lunch, and it was excellent again.
Still, it wasn't quite on the level of Cheiler, the god of cooking, and his stew. Cheiler's stew had been perfect — the situation and the flavor all coming together as one.
That wasn't to say Noah's cooking was bad. It was far better than anything I could make.
I had zero talent for cooking, after all.
My muscle soreness only began to ease after two days had passed.
Had fighting the rock-armored beast really been that exhausting?
In the heat of the fight, I hadn't felt particularly tormented.
Still, I was certain it wouldn't hurt this much next time. It was the same as the aftereffects of intense exercise. After a month of taking only simple commissions with Noah and resting, my body had every right to be shocked by a sudden battle. We'd been locked in combat for roughly half a day, after all.
I'd groaned and suffered for two days, but I hadn't spent the whole time just moaning in pain.
I'd been thinking about everything I needed to do.
I was getting closer and closer to the position I wanted. The world's response to my struggles felt almost as if it wanted me to climb even higher.
The name New Light.
A rookie hunter named Alice, drawing the attention of many people, living up to that name.
It was certainly a positive reaction — but that didn't mean my rank or my standing had changed. I was the one who had to change them. I needed to ride this momentum and climb even higher. And then I had to confirm the Anomalies wrapping around this world.
The Anomalies of Hunter Land.
That was the main story running through all of Hunter Land.
Monsters that had quietly kept to their own territories suddenly began leaving their domains and running wild — the Anomalies.
The player hunter would "educate" these monsters one by one for their unusual behavior and eventually uncover the reason. What had thrown the monsters into chaos were other monsters that had crossed over from the past and the future. External shocks had thrown the existing ecosystem into disarray, warping the balance.
Under the Association's orders, the player hunter would work with other hunters to restore the broken ecosystem, following the trail until, at the end, they realized the truth. Their own identity — and the cause of everything.
The cause of everything was the dragon that walked the world: the Crossing Dragon, Miteraos.
And the player was a hunter from the future who had once been defeated by Miteraos.
Even in the future, the player had pursued the Crossing Dragon, only to lose in the end and be swept up by its power. They'd barely clung to life, but the aftermath had stripped them of their memories, leaving them with nothing but a hunter card in their arms as they arrived in the past — this era.
The player hunter would rise from that past defeat and challenge the dragon that walked the world once more. And they won — but the Crossing Dragon didn't die. It fled, waiting for the player at the end of time.
What came after that, I didn't know.
That was as far as the story went, as far as I knew it.
I had never finished the long, bitter feud between the player and Miteraos — never seen the end of Hunter Land's story.
The final update. That had been the last battle against the Crossing Dragon.
I'd been thrown into this world right before the end.
If I felt cheated, well — I had every right to. I'd spent so long with that game and never got to see its final moment.
One way or another, I wanted to climb all the way to the top and land at least one solid hit on the Crossing Dragon.
I mean, I never got to play the final content. I'd been so happy when they announced new content for a dead game.
I never imagined the new content would look like this. I'd thought it was a beautiful, tearful closing ceremony — and it turned out to be an opening ceremony blessing my new life. Ridiculous.
And I wanted to kill the Crossing Dragon and see the end of this world for myself.
If the reason I'd fallen into this world was to kill the Crossing Dragon—
What ending would I meet after killing Miteraos? I wanted to watch the finale of the game I'd grown so attached to.
Kill Miteraos. Close the book on Hunter Land.
That was my true purpose.
To do that, I needed to work even harder than I was now.
The Anomalies were already underway. The Master Hunters were moving, but the scope would only keep expanding. Antico would fall within the affected zone soon enough. I had to push myself as hard as I could before the Anomalies arrived.
To prove that no hunter but me could reach the end.
"Using a sword like that — honestly. Amazing. Just amazing. Not a single edge left in proper shape. Did you go around hitting rocks with it? And look at the state of this armor. Did you link arms with a monster or something? The shoulder plate is completely wrecked."
Ugh…
"Well, I was fighting Kometras…"
"What? You went after Kometras with a greatsword? What, were you planning to poke its toes so it couldn't move?"
Uggh…
"But I still killed it by hitting it in the head."
"I can tell without even looking. The ones who smashed the helmet must've had a hell of a time. How much did your teammates sacrifice for that one attack of yours?"
That's so mean!
Matillo's words left me in a foul mood.
But nothing he said was wrong, so I couldn't talk back.
He was speaking pure fact, and there was nothing to refute.
I had used the greatsword roughly against Kometras's rock armor.
Instead of linking arms with a monster, I'd body-checked it with my shoulder.
And Aaron, Leo, and Chloe really had suffered smashing that helmet.
But it wasn't my fault for bringing a greatsword! …I think. I fought well at the end, didn't I?
"Go on, say whatever you were about to say."
"…Nothing. Never mind."
I couldn't actually say it. Matillo's fierce gaze was far sharper than I'd expected.
It was the kind of atmosphere that made whatever you wanted to say just vanish.
"Come on, why are you being so hard on her after she worked so hard?"
Noah stepped in right on cue to cover for me.
I couldn't look Noah straight in the eye. There was nothing there but light.
"Hard work, my foot. One look and it's clear she dug her own grave."
Matillo was still gruff.
But he was saying it because he was worried about me, so I understood.
…He was worried, right?
"This thing's unusable."
Matillo looked the greatsword over this way and that, then flung it aside. I had a moment to marvel at the physical strength it took to toss a greatsword one-handed before he came over and gestured at me.
"Hey, kid."
"Yeah."
"Can you only use a greatsword?"
Matillo stroked his chin.
"For some reason, I get the feeling you could do more…"
"Old man, Kakari wasn't enough for you — now you're after other weapons too?"
"Hunter lady, you talk too much. Master Hunters can handle at least three weapons."
"She's still a rookie."
"That's right, still a green little kid… but I've got this feeling. You know, that gut instinct. When I think she might be able to do something, she actually can."
Matillo stared straight through me.
Matillo's instincts were sharp.
I wasn't limited to just the greatsword. It just happened to be the weapon I'd had with me when I opened my eyes.
When you play casually, everyone eventually gets bored of their usual weapon and starts picking up others one by one. You try everything once, then go back to what you're used to.
"…Yeah. I can."
"F-For real, Alice?"
"Yeah."
Back when I was deep into the game, with nothing else to do for content, I'd tried a lot of weapons.
But just using a weapon wasn't much fun, so I'd match concepts to each one as I played around.
A staff user who ignored the magic they were supposed to cast and just did staff martial arts.
A Hammurabi sword-and-shield combo that never attacked first except on counters.
Dual shields that taught monsters what a tray karaoke night was.
I'd messed around with plenty of other weapons too.
"Give me anything."
"Heh heh. All right, kid. Let's see if my gut was right."
In short — I could use any weapon at all.