Chapter 38
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Hungry Slayer 38
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At the sudden declaration, the party members quietly stared at Lucas.
The silence deepened.
Two of them looked bewildered, while one struggled to suppress their anger. Lucas felt the need to explain.
“I’m no longer going hunting. If you don’t hunt, you’re not a hunter. And a non-hunter can’t be captain. That’s just common sense, right?”
River suddenly wore a strange expression. It held a mix of bewilderment, disappointment, sadness, and anger.
“What…… Do you think I’ve been upholding the hunting party’s name all by myself until now just to hear that crap?”
She spoke in a trembling voice, forcing the words out. Her tone wasn’t loud.
“I’m truly sorry about that, over and over. Feel free to hit me. Just stop before you kill me, okay?”
Lucas raised his guard and hunched down tightly, but River simply kept her head bowed in silence.
“Is there really no reason not to disband? We could keep wandering freely like now and just leave Dink to us.”
Lucas, who had been trying to peek under her lowered head to see if she was crying, straightened up at Bankers’ reasonable question. He nodded with a feigned generosity and said, “Good point, but not realistic,” pausing to choose his words.
“In practical terms, the only way for you to reach the delta is with me. And even if you aim farther, it’s impossible with your current ranks. Dane’s the highest at 7th grade. You know it’s hard to jump two grades in a short time, no matter how much you grind quests, right?”
Everyone knew Lucas was right.
Vowing to take on quests diligently to raise ranks was a vague plan. That’s why they saw meeting Lucas as good fortune.
“Yeah. We don’t even know if the dwarves will wait until the elves recognize us as 5th grade. It’s just wishful thinking.”
Dane readily admitted it. Then he asked back.
“I get that you’re not hunting anymore and can’t be captain with us. I get that we can’t head beyond the delta right away. But what does that have to do with disbanding?”
Before Lucas could answer, River spoke first.
“There are two ways to disband a hunting party. Dissolution or succession.”
Tears glistened in her eyes, as expected. The questions continued.
“That’s why you want to disband, right?”
Lucas didn’t look away from River and replied dryly.
“Yeah. Dissolution means the captain and all members revert to civilian status. The group vanishes, but individuals don’t change. Succession means the captain hands over everything they’ve built to someone else and steps down completely. Did I explain it well, River?”
“Crazy bastard…….”
He was definitely the type to earn curses and beatings. Bankers scratched at the scales on his side and asked.
“So someone inherits your rank, Lucas?”
“Seems like she explained it well. Of course, whether you accept or not is up to you, and who takes captain is your call too. Got it?”
“Shut up. I never said I’d accept.”
With that, River shot up from her seat and strode deep into the ruined village. Lucas stopped Bankers from following.
“She seems pretty shocked. How about giving her time to think?”
Dane and Bankers were dumbfounded by his excessively calm attitude, coming from the very source of the turmoil.
* * *
The dry root village held no life, so all around was deathly quiet. Only Dane noticed the faint sound of sobbing from somewhere far off.
While waiting for River to return, Foldtown distilled liquor flowed into their mouths without a toast.
Of the three drinking buddies, only Bankers was at ease inside.
He hadn’t even considered becoming captain, and figured nothing would change either way. He just wanted to hop on the cart pulled by Dink already.
Dane decided to follow River’s lead. She was vice captain anyway, and he had no desire for the top hat. Somehow reaching a new world was certain. He was grateful for the luck.
Lucas’s gaze lingered on Dane for a long time. He’d said he’d follow the members’ wishes, but the real reason for his decision was ultimately Dane. He spoke up again.
“Beyond the dwarf deal, there seems to be another reason you’re rushing to the delta. Not just for monster meat either. Did I hit the nail on the head?”
Dane nodded and took the words.
“It’s on the way anyway. There’s something I want to see. I heard there’s a Subjugation Force record on the Rahasia Hills.”
“Subjugation Force record?”
“Lately, I’ve been hearing about it a lot. It’s nagging at me. Since it came up…… Do you know anything about the Subjugation Force? Old Dirk from Leighton said he joined it.”
The info from Tuparak was just fragments. Dane wondered if Lucas knew more.
Lucas adjusted his glasses slightly and rummaged through his memories.
“Subjugation Force. That’s decades-old history. If someone joined, it’d be from their youth, right?”
“The dwarf king allied against a colossal monster, they say. Before the root cities even existed.”
“The elves would tell it differently. Memories and records shift to suit convenience. Judge for yourself. Want to hear what I know?”
Without waiting for a reply, Lucas began from his own perspective.
The elves, who managed the World Tree and styled themselves its guardians, began building outpost cities around the Thick Root Path to expand and solidify their influence.
Under the World Tree’s sway, the elves were indifferent to monsters. No need to risk danger fighting them.
The roots guaranteed safety from monsters and, paradoxically, became the elves’ exclusive weapon to dominate the world.
The belief that elf cities were safe from monsters dominated people’s thinking.
“But there were those who didn’t think so. Probably similar to you now, Dane.”
“Similar to me?”
“Yeah. Colossal threats are real, but those things were no different from other monsters. They never breached the World Tree’s influence. The real issue isn’t the colossals. It’s how people accept them, right?”
Those stifled by a world limited to the Root Path.
Those who wanted to venture into the wider world.
Those who wished to carve their own lives in a world split between elves and monsters.
Those who lost homes or families to monsters, shedding bloody tears.
Those seeking coin from monster parts.
Even those eager to flaunt their strength and skills……
Reasons varied, but thoughts converged as one.
Not live safe from monsters, but slay monsters to make the whole world safe.
Those who gathered under that banner formed the Subjugation Force. Humans, barbarian villagers, and subraces from everywhere united under one name to wage total war on monsters.
“So the one who led that Subjugation Force was the Slayer.”
Dane felt interest in the man who, like himself, wore a cloak and stood at the vanguard with overwhelming might.
“Slayer?”
Lucas asked back.
“The Leighton villagers call Dane the young Slayer. Dwarves call you the king of hunters. You got…… no, had quite the impressive member, huh? Hahaha.”
Bankers laughed loudly. Lucas stared fixedly at Dane.
“Yeah…… There’s that legend. Uniting strong personalities from everywhere to hunt monsters isn’t easy. Leading them earns the name, no surprise.”
Just raw strength wouldn’t cut it. Rallying hot-blooded folk from all over under one banner took exceptional talent.
“Maybe Leighton folk see a similar vibe in Dane. Not just superhuman slaughter of monsters. Probably recalling the past Slayer who united hearts through the changes Dane wrought in people.”
Dane knew his gut-driven actions had shocked people and shifted perceptions. But he harbored no grand dream of a monster-free safe world.
Without monsters, he’d be in deep trouble himself.
“But in the end, the Subjugation Force failed. The Slayer became legend partly because it fizzled out. You haven’t heard that part?”
Dane nodded.
“The elves didn’t like diverse races flocking in. Feared it’d topple what they built. ‘Power fears change’—get it?”
Some elves saw the other races resisting their solid power base. Too headache-inducing to ignore, no justification to crush by force.
So sly politics stepped in.
The elves steered opinion to frame the Subjugation Force as their own sponsored and organized effort. Proclaimed it natural for the world’s guardians.
Elves positioned themselves at the center, and so they became.
Money flowed, envy arose. Sycophants infiltrated to latch onto elves.
“Intended or not, elf meddling caused rifts. Other factors too, but…… Can’t deny it crumbled from within.”
Lucas stated it definitively for once, as if he truly believed it.
Dane thought.
‘Plenty of voices rose inside the Force. In life-or-death stakes, noise is fatal.’
Memories of leaving Mekel Mountain resurfaced.
‘Beware those you can reason with.’
His father had said something similar. Dane nodded and replied.
“So the elves forming the Thick Root Hunting Party means they’re desperate. If they let it be and monsters stir, it’d hit their position hard.”
The World Tree was their dominating power itself. Weakened roots meant that power gone.
“Thick Root Hunting Party?”
Lucas asked as if hearing it first. Bankers explained, and he nodded in quick understanding.
“They’re planning that, huh. Can’t know when another Subjugation Force-like group might form, so striking first, right?”
“Handling the thorn before it grows on their turf.”
As Dane followed up, Bankers suddenly burst out laughing.
“Hahaha. Come to think of it, you two match there too. Like the past Slayer falling out of elf favor, you’re obviously next for Foldtown’s elves. Word of the monster meat’ll spread soon. You really are the Slayer. So alike, alike! Hahaha!”
Bankers scratched his scales busily, as if hunting a nonexistent bellybutton, whatever amused him so.
“Alike, huh…….”
Dane shivered faintly with an inexplicable chill. Bankers, glancing at him, tossed more firewood onto the flames.
As the embers flared anew, the three stared blankly at one spot, as if in agreement.
No one knew how much time passed.
Even when River returned and sat beside them, no one turned their head.
Staring into fire sometimes had that side effect.
Three became four, and four became one.
In the silence, River spoke.
“The new captain is Dane. The party name’ll be Dane Butchery Squad.”
Only then did all eyes free themselves from the flames.