Be True to Your Desires
In times like these, be true to your desires.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Gunshots rang out at precise, measured intervals. Every round struck the target dead center. Watching those scenes unfold, I carefully assessed the hunters’ skill.
The people I was observing belonged to Dreamouth—Black Hunters under the company’s banner. More specifically, I was gauging the combat power of those who had once been B-class hunters.
Even accounting for the fact that they were former B-class hunters, this level of ability is anything but ordinary. By basic standards alone, they’re only a shade short of the average unit’s A-class. They may not have broken through their ceiling yet, but they’re a solid fighting force.
There was a clear set of benchmarks for ranking hunters.
Those who had undergone basic hunter procedures started as D-class. After that, they went through adaptation and foundational training to grow accustomed to their enhanced bodies, and only once they completed that process were they classified as C-class—the true starting point of a formal hunter.
C-class hunters had more or less finished their physical adaptation, but their real combat experience was still thin. From that point on they were assigned to units to accumulate field experience, and after a certain number of battles and a stretch of time, they became B-class—the rank that made up the bulk of all hunters.
That was where the real fork in the road began. Whether a B-class hunter remained stuck at that level or climbed higher depended entirely on individual talent.
Judged by that standard, Dreamouth’s B-class hunters were clearly top-tier within the B-class category. By my own measure, though, they still fell a little short of A-class—the rank at which a hunter could, at least to some degree, fight Abysses alone.
Of course, I can’t be fully certain until I deploy them in actual combat, but even during evaluation I’m already spotting one or two shortcomings here and there. Accuracy drops off, reflexes lag, raw strength comes up short… If I dropped any one of them into the middle of an Abyss swarm, maybe one or two at most would last longer than a minute.
Drawing on everything I had learned and experienced, I coldly evaluated the people in front of me and, at the same time, singled out a few who still had a realistic chance of growing into A-class.
All of that, of course, was according to my own strict yardstick. In the real world, the bar for A-class was far looser than the one for S-class. Have the right parents, or a face pretty enough to turn heads, and you could quietly slide up into the so-called A-class ranks.
By that measure, putting these hunters against the actual A-class of a hunter guild would make for a fight worth watching. Depending on the unit, of course—but anywhere other than the 28th Guild, where I had only ever authorized promotions on pure ability, it would have made for a thoroughly entertaining news story.
Anyway, this level of force is better than I expected. Factor in the strength of Are, Gwon-sun, and Glass that I’ve already seen, and we can handle A-class missions without much strain. S-class isn’t completely out of the question either—but considering the casualties that would pile up along the way, better to avoid it if we can.
For a commander preparing for battle, nothing mattered more than knowing your own side’s capabilities.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. That saying did not mean you could throw yourself into any fight a hundred times without consequence. Once a commander truly understood their own forces, they knew exactly what those forces could accomplish—and how far they could go. Then, once they understood the enemy—more precisely, the enemy’s strength—they could calculate whether they could win, and at what cost.
From there, reckless engagements fell away on their own. A commander fought only the battles they could win, or, if defeat was unavoidable, minimized the damage so that no one died for nothing.
With that in mind, I had spent the past several days pouring everything into understanding myself first—into mapping Dreamouth’s exact strategic capacity. Today, at last, I had a clear baseline.
Honestly… back in the hunter guild, just assessing our own forces used to take nearly a few weeks. Here I finished it in a matter of days.
All of that was thanks to the fact that, unlike those damned women, I could focus solely on my work without having to babysit every petty detail. Back then I hadn’t even had the luxury of observing live training. I’d been so short on time that I stayed up night after night, replaying combat footage over and over just to piece together our capabilities.
Because the footage was old, parts of it were unreliable, and hunting down information on a single person often meant digging through several recordings. Looking back now, it was the kind of grind I never wanted to do again. Still, that same grind had saved A- and B-class hunters’ lives more than once in crisis situations, so I had no real regrets about it.
The process this time had been far easier—but the reason I still put assessing our own strength first was the same conviction born from that experience.
All right. With our own forces mapped out, maybe it’s time to start picking a proper commission.
I had finished assessing “us.” Now it was time to learn, in finer detail, about the “enemy” I would have to face.
“Is that so…? He’s still personally overseeing the hunters’ training…”
“Yeah. And that’s not all—once training wraps up, he stays up all night going through the mission charts. Honestly, just watching from the sidelines was starting to feel a little scary.”
“Haa…”
At Gwon-sun’s words, Are let out a heavy sigh.
She had more or less expected the current situation. The adjutant she had brought in was none other than Lee Jinhyun, and she already knew exactly what kind of man he was.
A man with a fierce sense of responsibility for his work, and a personality that insisted on finishing everything perfectly. Even while being worked half to death by those women who weren’t worth the spit it would take to curse them, he had still carried out his duties with iron precision.
Considering that history, the way Jinhyun had spent the past few days as adjutant cutting into his sleep and throwing himself into the work with total intensity was only natural.
But still… pushing himself this hard can’t be good. What if he wrecks his health like this…
Open concern settled plainly across Are’s face. Watching her, Gwon-sun’s lips curved into an amused little smile.
“Heh. Looks like you’re really worried. Well, he is the prince you went through so much trouble to bring here—of course you would be.”
“Yes. Honestly, I am. Just thinking about how hard he’s working for us right now hurts. If I could, I’d stay by his side and at least pour him a cup of coffee.”
“…Look. Even so, agreeing that openly is a little much.”
Gwon-sun had meant it as light teasing, but Are answered without the slightest hesitation. Faced with that, Gwon-sun was the one who ended up flustered, a faint flush rising to her cheeks.
“W-well… if you’re that worried, just go see him yourself. Like you said—take him a cup of coffee.”
“W-what?”
Are looked mildly startled. Seeing that, Gwon-sun pressed on in a coaxing tone.
“Why not? It’s a perfect chance. For once, drop the refined act and be a little more honest about what you want.”
“!… That’s… mm… N-no. Even so, I can’t let my own selfishness interrupt his work…”
Are was clearly tempted by Gwon-sun’s words, yet still couldn’t bring herself to act on them. Watching her hesitate, Gwon-sun decided this hopeless older sister needed a push.
“Hello? Are?”
“…Y-yes?”
“Stop wasting time overthinking and just do something. If you don’t, I might go myself—got it?”
“Kh…”
There was real intent behind Gwon-sun’s words. In the end, Are went straight to the kitchen and started brewing coffee.
“Honestly… that sister of mine. She’s bold most of the time, but the second it comes to this, she turns painfully shy. Three years of just watching should be more than enough, right?”