It's Not My Fault
I frowned at the jacket design that all the hunters ahead of us were wearing. Even from a distance, the emblem stitched onto their backs was obnoxiously large. Big enough that even a casual glance would catch it, and the overall aesthetic was an absolute eyesore. It looked like someone had tried to project raw masculinity and cool factor but failed spectacularly. A giant circle on the back with a single shield crammed inside it? There was no worse industrial design on the planet.
KANKON GUILD AFFILIATED
The script below the circle looked like someone had scrawled it by hand, proudly declaring their affiliation. Unlike the Cottonmouth Guild, this was one I’d gotten to know after arriving here. And honestly, neither the way I’d learned about them nor our subsequent meeting had been pleasant. That blond, tanned bastard… wait, was he even a proper thug? He just seemed like a pathetic punk. I still wasn’t sure. Anyway, it was the guild that guy belonged to.
They seemed confident enough to brag about their parents’ connections, so I guess it was a decent organization. When our guild had flipped Southern California upside down, I’d thought it was just empty talk. Tsk.
“Those hunters over there belong to…”
“Yeah. Just… that.”
“Just that…?”
“Shannon, are you worried?”
“Of course— I mean, not right this second. But I’m worried they might trip us up later.”
Our first meeting had been terrible, so it was reasonable to assume they might try to sabotage us in the future. Given that blond tanned guy’s apparent intelligence level, it wasn’t an irrational concern. This campus was in Shareltea, after all, and crimes committed here were notoriously difficult to prosecute.
But that also meant they could mess with us, or we could mess with them. This place was basically a lawless zone. What would they do if they lost? Besides, judging by their current skills, they didn’t look like they had the capacity to pick a fight with students. That’s why I decided we should avoid them entirely, even if it meant taking a long detour.
It felt a little cowardly, but shit is shit—you avoid it when you can. There was no need to stir up trouble and take it head-on. I had zero interest in getting splattered if things went wrong.
I reached for Shannon’s hand so we could move on. Unfortunately, Cheon Mari—who had gone strangely quiet—simply stared at them with unblinking intensity. Like she wanted something. Like she hated something.
“Mari, is something wrong?”
“A little. Just a tiny bit.”
She cracked her knuckles softly, as if preparing for a fight. But after a moment’s thought she lowered her hands again. She let out a sigh and muttered to herself that it wasn’t worth catching flies.
Apparently she’d run into them before our previous encounter. Though that run-in seemed to have happened quite some time ago.
“Let’s just head back the way we came.”
Everyone agreed, so we turned toward the alley right beside us.
That was when we heard it again—a heavy thud.
“Hey! Please help! No—please save us!”
The people who had been on the receiving end of what looked like a beatdown disguised as a fight were now screaming for their lives. I glanced over and saw an ogre using a human as a bat instead of a club.
Whoosh!Crack!
“Kiiiieeeeek!!!”
“That’s one hell of a batting average.”
Eight whole people couldn’t handle three ogres. They were dropping like flies, getting pummeled left and right. Even considering how despicable the higher-ups in that guild were, the scene was genuinely pitiful.
“Somebody help!”
“Please save us!!!”
“Gack! Gack! Gack!”
If we left them like this, they’d all die. Still, a human life was a human life. Maybe we should save them. Taking the long way around would waste a lot of time anyway. It would probably be faster to rescue them, clean up the ogres quickly, and continue on our way.
“What should we do about those people? They look like they’ll die the second we step in.”
“Honestly, when someone’s getting beaten that badly, we should probably help, right?”
It was a surprisingly mild suggestion coming from a woman who considered tearing enemies apart a virtue.
“If we ignore them and they die early, we’ll get dragged into investigations—cause of death, witnesses, all that annoying stuff.”
So it was purely out of annoyance. She clearly didn’t want to stand as a witness, go to court, or deal with any of the paperwork.
“I feel the same way. And honestly, that guy from before was the one with the problem. I don’t think we should hold it against the entire guild’s members.”
A very proper opinion. The idea of separating personal and professional matters sounded reasonable. After all, what fault did the guild members have? The problem was the higher-up—and that higher-up’s idiot son.
I agreed with both of them. I pulled a high-performance mask from the bag at my waist. It was originally equipment for entering dungeons with poor air quality, but its large size made it perfect for hiding one’s identity. Of course it wasn’t as effective as a full-face mask, but since recording was almost nonexistent in Shareltea, covering half the face was enough for plausible deniability.
Since we’d bought them together, Cheon Mari put on an identical mask. And Shannon—
“?”
“Shannon, what is that?”
She pulled a druid mask from her bag. The design was intensely striking—almost too intense. It demanded attention whether you wanted it or not.
“This? I bought it after someone told me my identity got revealed during the duel a few weeks ago. What do you think? Pretty cool, right?”
“The appearance is… um… quite unique… How much did you pay for it?”
“Hehe, I got it cheap on discount, so don’t worry!”
“Discount?”
“Yeah! The shop owner said it was a popular item but gave me eighty percent off just for today. So I bought it immediately!”
It didn’t look like a popular item at all. And giving a discount only to her seemed suspicious. Just looking at the mask, I could guess exactly why it had been marked down eighty percent. Who would buy a horror-style deer skull mask? The shopkeeper who managed to offload that thing on Shannon at such a steep discount deserved praise. At the same time, the fact that she had willingly bought it at eighty percent off made her pretty impressive too.
No wonder the protagonist in the game always nagged her. Tsk tsk.
“I was worried it might look scary… but since Sian doesn’t seem to mind it, I’m relieved!”
I never said I didn’t mind it. That mask is bad. It looks like something a crazy primitive druid would wear while doing an Aztec-style sweat lodge workout. And combined with her already revealing outfit, it looks even worse. Even Cheon Mari is glaring at her with a slightly displeased expression.
But my desperate gaze never reached her. Shannon happily put on the unsettling mask with a bright smile.
“Hurk! Aack! Krrgh!”
The hunters’ screams had reached their peak thanks to full swings that would make a major leaguer jealous. If we didn’t move soon, they’d all pass out from blood rushing to their heads.
“One ogre each. I’ll take the middle, Shannon takes the left, Mari takes the right.”
“Roger.”
“If you finish early?”
“Help whoever’s still fighting or do whatever you want!”
The moment the words left my mouth, I charged forward. I pushed my senses to the limit and accelerated to maximum speed. The air warped around me as I cut through it. The hunters collapsed on the ground had orange shields glowing around their wrists. Half their protection still remained. I could have taken it easy, but that didn’t feel right.
I drew the longsword at my waist and poured a considerable amount of mana into it. Blue particles swirled around the blade. The ogre’s gaze snapped toward me. It swung its human-bat at me in what felt like slow motion. I dodged lightly and slashed quickly. The blow landed on its massive right arm. For a brief moment I felt something like a barrier tearing.
Crunch!
The collision between its natural shield and my mana ended in mana’s overwhelming victory. The clash between thick hide and mana—another overwhelming victory for mana. The impact against solid bone—yet another overwhelming victory for mana. The mana shaped like a blade sliced clean through one arm. Green blood sprayed out. I severed the other arm the same way.
“Kwaaaaaaaaah—!!!”
The ogre fell to its knees, screaming. Its barbaric movements stopped dead in the face of true cruelty. It was pitiful, but I didn’t hesitate. I kicked off the ground, leaped, and sliced through its thick neck with my sword. The screaming stopped. Its body collapsed as its head rolled across the floor. For something that had been rampaging moments ago, the end was almost anticlimactic.
“Tsk. I thought it was D-rank, but it was only E-rank.”
I clicked my tongue, regretting that I could have conserved more mana. But there was no time to dwell on it. I dashed sideways and shredded the ogre that was panicking over its comrade’s death. I cut so deeply and quickly that it stumbled backward and collapsed on the spot.
“That one’s mine!!!”
“Sorry, Mari!”
It wasn’t dead, but it was neutralized. That was enough. Finally I looked at the ogre that had been Shannon’s target. It was glancing back and forth between us. Unfortunately, Shannon was still in the middle of casting. The ogre’s choice was obvious.
“Kwaaaaaaaaah!!!”
It charged at Shannon. She frantically tried to speed up her casting, but as a first-year the limit was clear. She was definitely going to take a few hits at this rate. I poured every last drop of my remaining mana into my sword, took a javelin-throwing stance, and hurled it.
Since it was a pure physical throw without magic, there was no dramatic sound. It simply flew along its predicted path and pierced straight through the ogre’s back. The creature staggered from the shock and pain. It wasn’t much, but for a mage it was more than enough.
Shannon raised her hand toward the approaching monster.
Water Cannon
The target was the ogre’s puncture wound. A massive sphere of water gathered in her palm and shot forward at a speed barely visible to the eye.
“Krrgh?!”
The water orb struck the wound, forced its way inside, and began tearing the injury wide open. The ogre let out a short cry of agony. That was its last utterance.
Expansion
The water that had forced its way inside suddenly swelled. There was a wet bang—or maybe a crunch. What was certain was that the ogre’s upper body had burst apart without warning. Green blood and chunks of filthy flesh rained down from the sky. Everyone nearby—students and hunters alike—was soaked in it. Not exactly a pleasant experience.
I wiped the area around my eyes once and approached one of the hunters who had been used as a bat. He still looked dazed, eyes unfocused. But now that the fighting was over, his hazy gaze was rapidly clearing.
“Uh… uhhh… c-crazy…”
At least he hadn’t gone full idiot. That was something to be grateful for. I let out a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, the timing was slightly off. Shannon and Cheon Mari had walked up right beside me. The now-conscious hunter rolled his newly sharpened eyes. He looked at me, then Cheon Mari, then Shannon. Of course the last one was Shannon.
“U-uwaaaaah!!!”
His complexion worsened at terrifying speed. In a panic he pulled out a knuckle duster. I told him to calm down, but the effects of being used as a bat must have still lingered—he was babbling incoherently. In the end he gripped the knuckle tight, looked at me, and swung.
The problem was that although he was looking at me, the punch flew toward Cheon Mari instead. And there was nothing in this world that a girl with fiery emotions would forgive.
“Hm?!”
The moment she read the trajectory, she delivered a front kick accompanied by some nonsense about “Mari’s egg-cracking kick.” There was a whoosh of air as her foot buried itself squarely in his groin. The hunter flew backward, smashed through a wall, and embedded himself in the side of a building. He staggered to his feet, legs trembling violently, before collapsing completely.
“Lights out.”
Tragically, he couldn’t even scream. I stared at Cheon Mari.
“Ah…”
“It’s not my fault!”
A shameless answer without a shred of guilt. For some reason, it seemed there were personal grudges between corporations and guilds after all.