‘Hmm, why is this taking so long?’ Lucius clicked his tongue, already growing impatient with the delay.

  He was currently in the office of the Guild Master of Durham’s Hunters Guild. After that muscular bald man attacked him and he retaliated in self-defense, Lucius had been brought here to speak with the Guild Master. But it had already been over half an hour, and there was still no sign of the man.

  ‘What kind of person is the Guild Master here, anyway?’Lucius couldn’t help but wonder.

  The office wasn’t very big, and the decoration was simple. Besides a few generic landscape paintings and bookshelves, there was a table in the center of the room surrounded by comfortable armchairs—one of which Lucius was sitting in. Further back, an organized desk held some documents, with a chair positioned behind it, and a large wooden bookcase filled the wall behind. It looked like the lifeless office of a bureaucrat, but Lucius wasn’t ready to jump to conclusions just yet.

  The main purpose of the guild was to deal with monster extermination, so strength was an essential requirement to join. And to manage such an organization, its staff couldn’t just be weaklings. Sure, many of the guild employees—those handling the paperwork—were mostly non-combatants, but Lucius figured that to become the master of a branch, someone had to be at least somewhat strong. Otherwise, there’d be no one to keep the local Hunters in check.

  ‘Yeah, he’s probably a strong guy.’ Lucius nodded to himself as he finished the tea he’d been served earlier. It was good tea, though it could’ve used a bit more sugar.

  “I apologize for the delay. Some urgent matters required my attention, so I had to step out. But I’m free now, Mr… What was your name again?”

  The office door opened, and an elderly man stepped in.

  He looked to be in his sixties, judging by the wrinkles on his face. It was hard to say for sure based on his hair—since he didn’t have any, not even a beard. Still, he was clearly not just some frail old man. Lucius could tell at a glance. For starters, his build was massive, nearly two meters tall, and the blue cloak he wore barely concealed the mountain of muscle underneath.

  “Oh, you must be the Guild Master. My name is Luci... Luciem. I’m here to register as a Hunter.”

  Lucius stood up and introduced himself. He nearly slipped and said his real name, but thankfully managed to correct himself before the man noticed.

  “Hmm, Luciem... I see,” the Guild Master nodded while scratching his chin. “Come, come, take a seat. Standing around like that isn’t good for the legs—my old bones can attest to that—so don’t mind if I get comfortable too.”

  The Guild Master sat in the armchair across from him and reached for the teapot to pour himself a drink. Lucius thought about saying something but decided it was too late and stayed quiet.

  “It’s empty… How strange, I thought I asked Irina to prepare some tea earlier. Well, never mind.”

  With no tea, it seemed he’d have to eat the cookies without anything to drink. That must’ve been what he was thinking when he reached toward the tray beside the pot.

  ‘Hmm, what are those books about?’

  Lucius turned his gaze toward the bookshelf near the door. It was better to distract his mind with something else at times like this.

  “Ahem, looks like the cookies are gone too. How unfortunate. It’s a bit embarrassing not being able to offer you anything, Luciem,” the Guild Master said with a helpless tone.

  “… No, don’t worry about it. I’m not hungry; I ate before coming here.”

  “… Right, right, you already ate before coming.”

  The two stared at each other for a moment.

  “Well…” the Guild Master was the first to break the silence. “I heard from the other staff members and a few Hunters who witnessed it, but let me ask you directly—why did you attack Marco?”

  “Well, I came here to register as a Hunter, but honestly, I’m mostly interested in hunting monsters. Thing is, I’m broke, so I thought, well, if I register, I can make money killing monsters, which would be really helpful, since I have none right now. Sure, you don’t have to be a Hunter to sell monster parts, but I heard that being registered with the guild makes the process easier. So I decided to sign up. But when I went to talk to the receptionist, she said that after registering, I’d start at Rank F and wouldn’t even be allowed to take monster extermination quests. I asked if there was a way to take those quests right away, and she said if I could prove my skills, I could start at a higher rank. That’s why I went to that guy.”

  “I see…” The Guild Master’s expression turned troubled upon hearing Lucius’s explanation. “And the receptionist didn’t tell you that, in situations like this, a guild staff member is responsible for evaluating your abilities?”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oh, really?” Lucius hadn’t heard anything about that.

  “… Yes, that’s the standard procedure.”

  “I see. That actually makes sense.”

  “Well, now that we’ve cleared that up, we can return to the matter that interests you—your Hunter registration.”

  “That’s it?”

  Given how things had escalated, Lucius thought he’d be in trouble. He didn’t expect the Guild Master to just sweep it under the rug.

  “Of course. Based on your and others’ accounts, I believe it’s best to leave things as they are. But if you still want to dig deeper into the matter…”

  “No, no, let’s focus on my registration.”

  There was no one in the world who liked avoiding trouble more than Lucius. He had no desire to continue discussing that.

  “Great. So, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

  “Is that really necessary?” Lucius hadn’t expected registering as a Hunter to be such a hassle. Should he give up?

  “Come on, don’t make that face. This is just standard procedure. Just tell me things like where you were born, why you want to become a Hunter, and so on.”

  “… Alright.” Lucius thought for a moment before beginning: “I was born in the… north—no, I mean south of the Empire, in… in Loheim. As for why I want to be a Hunter, I think I already mentioned that. And, well, that’s it.”

  “Right, right. You said you want to become a Hunter to exterminate monsters. But why is that?”

  “Hmm…” Lucius closed his eyes and thought hard. “Because monsters are bad? I mean, they eat people, don’t they? So killing them is a good thing, right? That way, fewer people will fall victim to them.”

  “… That’s your motivation?”

  “… Yes, that’s it.”

  “I see…” The Guild Master nodded thoughtfully.

  Lucius wanted to know what he was thinking, but it was useless—the old man was good at hiding his emotions. Still, Lucius felt like he had convinced him.

  “Speaking of skills, you’re really strong, aren’t you? I mean, Marco—the man you took down earlier—has his flaws, sure, but he is denifitily not a weakling. It’s honestly surprising that someone as young as you could defeat him. How old are you again?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Oh, only seventeen and already that strong. Truly impressive. Calling you a genius wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Yes, yes.”

  “… Well, I guess so.”

  From an objective point of view, Lucius really was a genius—there was no use pretending otherwise.

  “But how did you get so strong? Were you taught by someone? Surely you must’ve had a very skilled mentor.”

  “… Actually, well, I trained on my own.”

  Lucius didn’t like lying like this; it made him sound better than he really was. But he couldn’t tell the truth, and he couldn’t think of a better excuse, so he went with it.

  “Oh, that’s even more impressive. Truly the greatest genius in the entire Empire.”

  “No, you’re exaggerating.”

  Even though he had been trained by someone, he was still the greatest genius in the Empire.

  “Well, after this conversation, I don’t think there’s anything else to say.”

  The Guild Master stood from his chair, walked over to his desk, pulled out a document, and placed it on the table. “You just need to fill out these forms with the required information to complete your registration. Normally, a receptionist would handle this, but since we’re here, why complicate things?”

  “So once I fill this out, I’ll be a Hunter?” Lucius asked, already starting to write with the pen the Guild Master had handed him.

  “Yes. Well, technically no—but the rest is just guild-side bureaucracy. Nothing for you to worry about. It’s a quick process, and you can come pick up your guild registration card tomorrow.”

  “What about my rank and the quests...?”

  “That’s taken care of too. You’ve already demonstrated your skills—even if the method was a little unorthodox—so you’ll start as a Rank E Hunter, which means you’re eligible for extermination missions.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, I’ve got no complaints.”

  Lucius thought that assigning him to Rank E was clearly underestimating his abilities, but it didn’t really matter, so he didn’t protest. “Here you go.”

  “Yes, yes, everything’s filled out properly,” the Guild Master nodded, impressed. “And your handwriting is surprisingly neat.”

  “Don’t even get me started. You should’ve seen how much the head maid used to nag me about that.”

  “Hohoho. I can imagine.”

  “So, is there anything else I need to do, or…?”

  “No, no, I won’t take up any more of your time. You’re free to go.”

  “Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

  Finally having finished with all that mess, Lucius didn’t want to linger any longer and quickly left.

  After Lucius was gone, Andreas, the master of the Durham Hunters' Guild, couldn’t help but laugh. He had already heard the rumors, but this kid was even more eccentric than he expected. To think he would show up out of nowhere and start a fight with a B-rank Hunter. It was a serious lack of common sense—and a talent that defied it.

  ‘But… they’re nothing alike.’

  When the image of that man popped into Andreas’s mind, he clicked his tongue at how different the two were, whether in terms of appearance or personality. Not that that person’s personality was anything to write home about.

  ‘Well… what to do…’

  Andreas looked at the form Lucius had filled out. For him to be officially registered as a Hunter, Andreas only had to sign it. But… was it really okay to approve that boy’s registration? It’s true that Hunters, in general, were already a pretty problematic bunch, with some behaving no better than bandits or mercenaries. But that kid… he seemed problematic in a different kind of way. So…

  “Whatever.”

  Andreas signed the form. Things had been too quiet lately; a little excitement never hurt.