Chapter 5: Becoming A Hunter pt.1

Dawn arrived on the three people. Matthew and Rose helped Yuki pack up and soon, they were on their way.

The sunlight only slightly pierced through the leaves of the forest canopy, granting the three protection. Tweets of birds, buzzing of insects and the rustle of leaves as wind blew by accompanied them.

Matthew seemed to have been more aware of his surroundings since now he knew he was in a different world and so, he was lagging a bit behind the group.

Rose took this chance and got closer to Yuki.

“Hey, Yuki.” She started.

“Hm?” Yuki glanced at Rose.

“I have a few questions to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“What are you planning?”

That question made Yuki flinch a bit. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you suggest Matt to be an adventurer?”

“Hunter.”

“Whatever, why? He’s just a normal guy. He can’t just go out and do dangerous things!” Rose said almost shouting, but she controlled it so that Matthew wouldn’t hear.

“Hmm…? I didn’t suggest anything. He asked, I answered. And are you really sure that he’s just a normal guy? After what you’ve seen?” Yuki narrowed her eyes to a slit.

Rose flinched while she recalled what happened the night before.

“See? I simply believe that with a little bit of training, he could even solo those nighthowl back there. He’s also really into it and I ain’t stopping him.”

“...” Rose did not reply to that.

“And by the way, you sure are worried about him, aren’t you?”

Rose’s face boiled up in an instant as if steam could blow out of her head.

Yuki chuckled as if satisfied with Rose’s reaction. “Well, to be honest, anyone would be worried, but after witnessing his level of power, I believe he’ll even be one of the strongest out there.”

“...” Rose did not say anything back. She stayed quiet.

‘One of the strongest…’

“There I don’t really see any magical beasts around. Are they hiding?” Matthew suddenly came up from behind and asked.

“It works the same as in your world. Animals tend to hide from any trouble aside from when hunting or threatened.” Yuki answered.

“Aww I was hoping to see some of them.” Matthew drooped down.

“Oh~ You’ll see soon enough.”

“Really? Where?”

“Soon you’ll see.”

“I can’t wait!” Matthew was really energized and excited now.

Rose watched Matthew’s behaviour in silence and was in deep thought.

…..

A few hours later.

“Whoa…” Matthew was amazed indeed.

“It’s pretty lively.” Rose muttered.

“This here is the Brouson Village in the western part of the Omni Kingdom.” Yuki explained.

“Whoa~Ah! Is that a dwarf?” Matthew pointed at a short human not too far from them.

“Yes, the Omni Kingdom is a neighboring nation to the Dwarven Kingdom.”

“This is really awesome! There’re so many people of different species here.”

“Races. We use the term races. It’s rude to call them as species.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” Matthew apologised.

“Don’t sweat it. Now let us go to a clinic nearby.” Yuki walked ahead while Matthew and Rose followed closely behind.

As they walked, Matthew kept throwing questions and Yuki ended having to answer all of them. Until finally they arrived at the clinic Yuki was talking about.

“Here we are.” Yuki turned around to face them for a brief moment.

“Mand’s Treatment and Medication.” Matthew read aloud what was written on the medium sized board above the entrance.

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“Hm?”

Both Rose and Yuki snapped their necks towards Matthew in shock while Matthew glanced back at them in confusion.

“Matt… How… How could you read that?” Rose asked.

That’s right, the thing she was shocked about was that Matthew was able to read what was written as for Rose, she only saw the writings as unknown symbols.

“Matthew, did you study about our writing?” Yuki asked.

“Eh n-no! I haven’t seen these before.” Matthew said in denial.

“Really? Cause it seems like you fully understand the meaning.” Rose said.

“I… I don’t know… For some reason, even if I don’t know it, it seems that I recognise it.”

Yuki fell in deep thought. In her mind, she thought to herself, ‘who exactly could this person be? Having such a powerful astra as well as being able to understand this world’s writing?’ She was very curious to find out, she knew her priorities.

“Well, whatever, let’s just head in.”

“Oh, okay.” Matthew replied in short.

All three of them entered the building.

“Ah welcome. How may I help you?” Asked the young man waiting behind the counter.

“I got an injured citizen here. He got bit on the arm. Could you heal him?” Yuki briefly explained to the young man.

“Ah I see. Not a problem at all. Please just move to room number 3, our healer is waiting for you there. May I have your Hunter ID?”

“Sure.” Yuki grabbed something out of her scarf that looked like a necklace with a tag and gave it to the young man.

“Thank you very much.” The young did something behind his desk for a while before giving the tag back to Yuki. “Here you go. 1000 Bytes has been deducted from your account.”

Yuki accepted back the tag and wore around her neck again while saying, “thank you.”

As they walked towards the designated room, Matthew had to ask.

“What is that thing around your neck Yuki?”

“It’s my Hunter ID tag. Much like identification cards, but specifically for Hunters.”

“Oh… Like military dog tags. That’s pretty cool. So all Hunters wear one those?”

“Yes, or at least registered ones.”

“I see. I wonder if it’ll look good on me?”

“Let’s back up there kiddo, there’re still a few more steps before you get to wear one.” Yuki smirked at him.

“What is it?”

“You’ll find out soon enough if you really want to become one.” Yuki said.

Without them noticing, they were already in front of the designated room. Matthew had a very strong sense of curiosity, but he will have to hold it back for now.

…..

They exited the building along with a friendly farewell from the young man.

“That was really cool!” Matthew almost jumped in excitement. This was more or less expected from Yuki. “Her hand glowed green and then my arm too and then the bite just fwiish and now it’s back to normal! It’s amazing!”

“That was healing magic.”

“So cool... I wanna learn how to do that someday.” Matthew stared at his hands and imagined himself summoning magic from them.

“Okay, okay, I’ll show you where you do just that. Follow me.” Yuki said before leading the way again.

This time, they went into a saloon-like building with the design from the 19th century. A board above it said, “PRIM’S BEER & BROUSON HUNTER STATION”.

Matthew was still confused himself for being able to read that even though he had never seen such writings.

The inside of the structure was very much like an old bar. It was quite spacious as well. Many races were present, beastmen, elves, humans, fishmen and even a few dwarves sat together, chatting, drinking and laughing. Some sat alone and minded their own business.

Yuki kept walking and Matthew and Rose followed until their arrived at the counter where a receptionist was stationed.

“Oh, welcome Hunte- Ah! Dead-Eye Archer!” The female receptionist said as she looked up.

“Hello.” Yuki gave a simple greet.

“It’s quite an honour to meet you!”

“Are you like a hotshot around here Yuki?” Matthew asked.

“Yes indeed she is! She is one the best marksman out there.” The receptionist said.

“Oh~ that’s really cool.”

“It’s nothing much. Anyway, can I pick up my reward for a quest?” Yuki proceeded with her business.

“Yes of course. What quest is that?”

“Here you go.” Yuki handed over a piece of paper to the receptionist.

“Please wait a moment, I will confirm this quest and then I will let the reward manager hand over the reward money.”

“Okay, ah and also, I’d like to book a ride to the Hunter Association Headquarters.”

“That will be done.” The receptionist said before she got to work.

“Eh, what are you gonna do at the Hunter Association Headquarters?” She looked back at Yuki.

“Huh?” Matthew was slapped in the back by Yuki.

Yuki, after slapping Matthew, said, “this guy wants to become a Hunter.”

“Ah~ Is that so? Well, then I wish you the best of luck.” The receptionist smiled at Matthew.

“Eh ah uh?” Matthew was confused by what just happened.

Instead of giving an answer, Yuki just smiled at him.