The next day, the Hunters returned to the Hunter station to turn in their quest. It was very early in the morning when they got on a carriage. Perhaps still tired from yesterday's hunt, Bran and Cecilia were sound asleep next to each other, leaning each sides' door. Yuki and Matthew were sitting across from them, they did not fall asleep."You just wanna push them into each other, right?" Yuki spoke to Matthew in a soft voice to not wake the other two up."Yeah. They make me feel like saying, 'just get married already!', you know?" Matthew replied in the same manner."Haha. Great minds think alike." Yuki had a chuckle.The carriage rattled as the horses ran at a steady pace. Occasionally, the carriage would rock a bit when it hit a bump, not that it affected the people sleeping.“By the way, Matthew.” Yuki spoke again.“Hm?”“I’ve been wondering if you’re preparing for something. Something big.”“What do you mean?”“Well, you’ve been training nonstop. Going from quest to quest. Seeing
I was a dwarf that loved smithing and creating new equipment of high quality. I never found much joy in anything other than metal work. I dedicated myself to crafting. I loaned a bit of money from the bank to start up my shop with a colleague. Her name was Aoi. She would take care of the store in the front while I crafted in the back. A few years passed, our business grew and we hired more people to work. It all went well thanks to my crafts and her excellent business skills.Then, 24 years ago, 5 years after we opened our shop, I finally proposed to her. I was a dwarf and she was a human. Normally that would be very weird and I was ready to be shot down. However, to my surprise, she accepted my proposal. She said that she had been waiting. I never thought that she would.We went on honeymoons when we closed our shop and enjoyed life as a married couple. I will always remember how happy she looked when we went out together. We would sometimes get into fights, but they never lasted lon
4 weeks until the World Champion Tournament Begins. Matthew had already informed Yuki, Cecilia, and Bran regarding his participation. Matthew thought Yuki would be overjoyed, but perhaps because of what happened, she wasn’t like Matthew expected. Cecilia and Bran did not decide to join, thinking themselves as far inferior to the other participants.Matthew returned to the Alpen Peak to continue preparing himself for the tournament. The others did not participate either for certain reasons. Matthew was training to control his use of astra while wielding the Dragoknight weapons since they use different sources of energy. He had to get used to using both mana and astra at the same time. He had the chimaeras spar him to help achieve that goal, doubling as their training session as well.Matthew still did several quests just to add some weight in his pockets after spending so much the other day. At some point, the Association President was there to take care of things. They had a quick gre
Four weeks have passed and the day finally arrived. The seats inside the stadium were crowded with audiences of all races. They were actively chatting amongst themselves as they waited for the event to start. On the four screens above the arena was a timer which showed the tournament’s banner.The fighters listed on today’s battles were preparing themselves by stretching and checking their equipment. They examined the sharpness of their blades, the condition of their armours, and steeled their minds.Some others were just chatting with the other fighters and friends, trying to create good sportsmanship. They knew who and when they were fighting, so they met their opponents beforehand either to simply strike conversation or to analyse who they were going to fight. The rest of them simply stayed quiet and minded their own business.Yuki wasn’t listed in today’s schedule of fighters, so she sat in the audience seat with Cecilia. Bran was unreachable and he had left to work a long time ag
For the next week of the tournament, everything was smooth sailing for both Matthew and Yuki. They were able to defeat their opponents with little effort. The crowd was excited for Yuki’s matches but were not as enthusiastic for Matthew’s because of how dull and quickly he finishes. Most of the fights Matthew would not even make him move from his spot and some of his opponents even forfeited.Matthew was not really a fan favourite because of how boring his fights were. There were also a minority of people who could actually see, or feel, Matthew’s battle prowess and were a fan of such strength. Matthew tried to not care about this and enjoyed the tournament in his own way.Yuki, on the other hand, was quite famous especially among the men. Her fights were more exhilarating and action packed. Yuki even has her own fan club that she was not aware of.Another notable fighter was an old man who dresses in rags. Despite his appearance, he was a master martial artist who could stop Gus’s ha
It was the ninth day of the tournament. It was one of the many days of the tournament that many people were waiting for. The day where the higher tier fighters were finally listed in the matches. There had been several matches before, but now was the time when the event really went up a notch.Fighters from the veteran ranks of the army, the high class dangerous convicts, and Hunters of Champion and above finally join the fray. Out of the 140 of the lower tier fighters, only 8 were qualified to this round.Their names were; Kim Yu-Jun, Ragged Old Man, Midnight, Kay Lim, Rajesh Kumar, Maple B. Marry, Osman Mehmed, and Matthew Dragunov. They had proven to be the top fighters of the lower ranks and had a fanbase (except for Matthew) of their own. They had earned this opportunity to stand on equal footing as the other 62 fighters.“The first eight matches will be between the lower rank fighter and a higher rank fighter. One for each of the fighters that made it this far. We will see wheth
After his match, Matthew went to speak with Lawrence who was injured by Matthew’s attack. He went to the other side of the stadium and looked around for a bit before he found Lawrence, who was surrounded by his servants. He seemed fine though. Maybe he was already healed.“Hey! Lawrence!” Matthew wasn’t sure how to address him so he just called by his first name.His two servants that were by him immediately took defensive positions. They didn’t have weapons but they were definitely ready to fight, until Lawrence recognised Matthew and gestured for them to stand down.“Lord Dragunov, were you looking for me?” Lawrence asked.“Yeah. I just wanted to see if you were doing fine after that, but I can see that you’ve recovered already.”“Ah, I have my attendants after all. They are quite skilled in many aspects.”“That’s amazing. I too have reliable helpers. They’re not here though.”“Is that so? I would love to meet them. However, you are even more amazing, milord. There are few that can
It was the tenth day of the tournament already and it was also the last day before the semi finals took place. Two fighters from each of the original arenas were to be relocated to the Cyss International Colosseum. On this day as well, the assistant president of the Hunter’s Association, Kaito Mato, was present.Kaito actually came to investigate something. He came to meet Sara Whitegate, one of the Coloured Hunters, who had a fight scheduled today against a certain person who was the talk of the tournament, Midnight.Kaito arrived at a special room in a nearby inn reserved by Sara, away from the stadium. There were two guards by the door clad in silver armour. After identifying him, the guards opened the door for Kaito. Sara was already visible from the door. The door closed once he was inside.“I thought I asked for Mr. Frost?” Sara questioned Kaito.The man with neatly combed black hair put one hand on his belly and bowed. “Sorry, but the president is quite busy with something else