Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Maybe I Won't Be Needed?
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Maybe I won't be needed?
The assault on Princess Kurumi's mansion, which dragged on for about a month even in the original story, had begun.
Excluding the minor skirmishes, there were four major attacks in total, spaced exactly a week apart.
'It's Friday today, so the next big assault should be next Friday...!'
This was the moment the second main story of Hunters Blood finally kicked off.
'Is it really okay to just stay inside the mansion like this?'
I first turned my attention outward, where faint explosions were rumbling intermittently.
Whenever I'd played the original and guarded Princess Kurumi, the field was always beyond the mansion's outer walls.
In other words, the interior of the mansion was uncharted territory, even for a veteran like me.
If I ran into enemies here, in the worst case, I'd have to monsterize to protect Princess Kurumi.
And if my true nature got exposed like that, what kind of face would the princess, who had just smiled at me moments ago, make when she looked at me?
'Definitely not a good one...'
And this was getting found out by the princess of one of the world's top ten families, no less.
From that instant on, I might be cut off from human society forever.
"It sounds like a fierce battle is raging outside."
"...! You can tell?"
"Yes. My senses have been trained to that level. No matter the direction, I can sense everything within a 100-meter radius—who's doing what and how many there are."
As expected of one of the top ten families in the world!
There was good reason Sophia was called an 'Asia-exclusive genius.'
Princess Kurumi's prowess as a hunter far exceeded my expectations.
'She's the second princess of a top ten family who shows up early in the game, and she's already this strong... The heirs from the top ten Western families, where hunter history actually began, must be even more monstrous.'
I hadn't met them all later, when updates and expansions were released.
But at least the family heads from the top ten families I'd encountered while playing the original were all 'monsters' on par with Branch Chief Lee Jin-ah at minimum.
'For now, future events can wait.'
Back to the present—I knew full well I was useless in human form.
Smooth.
"?!"
Still, I hadn't come here just to be the princess's playmate.
"I'll protect you to the best of my ability!"
"...!"
I stepped forward in front of Princess Kurumi, who had been about to shield me, volunteering instead to play the role of her so-called 'knight escort.'
"Th-thank you..."
"It's nothing."
At that, the princess whipped her head away from me.
Was she amused by my pathetic display?
I could see her covering her mouth with her sleeve to stifle a laugh. But she couldn't hide her ears turning bright red.
'Well, if this lightens the mood a bit, it's not so bad.'
"What should we do first right now?"
"Let's wait for now. We don't even know if the mansion's defenses have been fully breached yet—moving rashly could backfire."
"Got it."
She seemed accustomed to situations like this.
Princess Kurumi issued the perfect orders, clearly grasping the situation already.
'Sophia should be fine, right?'
After all, this was still the first week.
The big shots like B-rank or higher monsters and the assassin leader wouldn't show up until the final week.
Sophia, who had acquired B-rank hunter status in America, should be able to handle the first week safely...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
"Shin-woo!"
That was when I let my guard down, thinking only of the original story.
Something red and ball-like shot fiercely through the sliding door connected to the outer garden, straight into the guest room where we were.
The impact obliterated the sliding door that had been shielding the mansion's interior.
In the room now flooded with sunlight, the red skull began floating upward, soon wreathed in exploding flames around its head.
"A Hell Head?"
"Even by American standards, that's a monster with a danger level of C+."
A monster way too advanced for the early game.
I remembered it as a nasty one—even slight contact would inflict burn status on anyone who'd tried close-range attacks.
'How is something like this showing up here?'
Had someone possessed my game and installed hardcore mode on top of it?
The 'research lab riot' last time, and now this 'princess escort'—both were already hell difficulty, ignoring the main story entirely.
'To take this thing down, I need water-attribute attacks...!'
This was a guest room.
There wasn't a drop of water around—just two neatly placed cushions in an otherwise empty space.
Should I run, then?
Or wait for Sophia's backup?
As I wavered,
"Hell Heads are terrifying monsters that can inflict at least second-degree burns with the slightest touch."
"...?! P-Princess?"
A Beast Hunter herself, Princess Kurumi didn't fall back to fight from range. Instead, she strode boldly past me straight toward the Hell Head.
Stunned, I reached out to grab her right away, but
"I'll be fine."
What was this?
Seeing her back as she walked serene and unruffled across the room, like gliding over a still lake without so much as a ripple, reverence froze my hand in place.
Like a vassal bowing his head to avoid hindering a king's advance.
Princess Kurumi stood right before the Hell Head, which had been bewildered like me at first.
The moment the monster snapped to its senses and gaped its maw to incinerate her,
"Come forth, fox."
She formed a hand sign shaped like a fox.
"G-g-g-g-grrrk?!"
And simultaneously—
Boom!
The Hell Head, mid-roar, suddenly writhed in agony midair, then spewed five black foxes from its body before exploding.
"Good job, fox."
"Awoo."
Praised by Princess Kurumi, the five foxes merged back together into one massive black fox tall enough to touch the ceiling.
I just stared at it in a daze.
'Is that Princess Kurumi's familiar monster...?'
Obviously, it was a monster I'd never seen in the original.
"This one's name is Inari. It's one of the four monsters I've tamed, passed down through generations of the Kitsune family."
"I... see."
Monsters belonging to top ten families were at least A-rank danger level, right?
And she'd one-shot a Hell Head, infamous even mid-to-late game for its 'touch-and-burn' status effect.
'That's straight-up overpowered...'
At this level, she could probably solo the main quest without any escorts.
Princess Kurumi was far too powerful for an early-game character—enough to make me think that.
"Grrrrr..."
"Hm?"
But then,
A roughly five-meter-tall pooch suddenly turned toward me, growling fiercely.
'Chills. My spine's gone ice-cold...'
Its vertically slit pupils locked straight on me. I twisted and turned to check if I was seeing things, only to confirm its head followed my every move.
And then—
"Grrrrowl!"
"Wha—hey?!"
The fox monster Inari lunged straight at me.
'What the? Should I transform?!'
No, more importantly—was this mutt too stupid to tell friend from foe?
I was seriously debating slapping it just hard enough to stun without killing, to knock some sense into it, when—
"Grrrrowl~!"
"Hm?"
"Inari? You like Shin-woo too?"
Inari suddenly started affectionately licking my head like candy with a tongue bigger than my face.
Its predatory slits had softened into friendly rounds.
'What? Why the sudden change?'
Tamed or not, a monster was a monster.
Normally, it'd charge any human on sight, ignoring even its master's commands—but Inari was acting like a real dog, clearly taking a shine to me.
Wondering what was up, I glanced at Princess Kurumi.
"W-well... I've been telling Inari a lot about you lately. So it probably doesn't see you as a stranger..."
Princess Kurumi had been doting on this house-sized fox like a pet pooch.
Well, thanks to it, we'd taken down the Hell Head, I hadn't been exposed, and the princess looked set to survive this first week unscathed.
"Yeah, yeah. Lick away."
Resigned to offering my head, I let Inari give me a saliva bath when—
"Ho ho. Not even a humanoid monster, yet it understands human speech to that degree—Japan's princess raises more amusing dogs than expected."
It was right then.
"Grrrrrowl!!"
"...Huh?"
"?!"
Sometime between us—Princess Kurumi, me, and Inari—a dapper-suited gentleman had appeared, seated cross-legged on the tatami floor.
None of us had noticed him approach to this range.
"But for a top ten family's familiar, it's a bit disappointing. At best, A-rank danger level."
His slick black hair and goatee gleamed with oil.
Even as he bellowed a gluttonous 'kahaha,' his golden-flecked eyes overwhelmed you the instant they met yours.
"Russia permitted my 'escape,' so I busted out of prison expecting a real challenge—turns out, as expected from a weak nation not even in the global top ten hunter powers, Korea's hunters are subpar."
I held my breath just looking at the man.
Because back when I'd played this world as a game,
he was one of the precious few characters I loved who'd survived to the late game—killed not by exploits, but sheer skill.
'No way—is this guy showing up here?'
"Grrrr...!"
"Hm?"
"Raaargh!!"
"N-no! Inari, stop!!"
One of Russia's only two national-power-level hunters.
The one who'd gone into prison voluntarily because even he couldn't control his urge to slaughter humans and monsters alike on whims.
His name: Barbarov Lawrence.
Knowing his strength, I yelled to restrain the rampaging Inari.
But—
Crunch.
"Playing cute, are we? Poof?"
"Gurk?!"
Inari's vicious fangs sank into his left neck area.
Yet Lawrence grinned, petting its head as if enjoying a puppy's affection—even as it clenched its jaws with full force.
And then—
Bam!
He detonated Inari's body where it touched him.
"I-Inari!!"
Tamed monsters didn't die outright when they lost form.
They returned to their Beast Hunter master for rest and recovered fully.
Still, realizing an A-rank monster like Inari had been casually petted to death drained the smile from Princess Kurumi's face.
Whatever.
"Princess. Got a moment?"
A hunter who appeared in the story's absolute finale—an optional boss so strong you didn't have to fight him.
Lawrence approached Princess Kurumi with that same beaming grin,
"P-Princess...!"
"Whoops. Kid looks like a civilian—pass out in the corner like a good boy~."
And as I rushed to her, my wrist grabbed—next thing I knew, a kick to my solar plexus sent me crashing through the sliding door to the far end of the mansion.
"Shi-Shin-woo!"