Chapter 21

〖Aracia POV〗

Today is the day of the hunt.

Like last time, we're heading out to hunt a monster.

Except, this time, not only do we have to deal with a monster that is at least 1,000 times stronger than what we hunted last time―the Steelhorn Boar, a D-tier monster―we also have to deal with the environment.

The dreaded volcano, Charred Mountain.

Quite frankly, I'm anxious.

I don't want to go to the Charred Mountain.

I don't want to fight a wyvern.

But, I've resolved myself.

Even if I die, I won't regret anything.

Although, I highly doubt anyone will actually die, since our professor is a former S-rank adventurer.

I'm also a registered adventurer.

Recent C-rank.

Despite the fact I'm only 16.

I was admitted to the Royal Academy because of my skill and talent, apparently.

Personally invited by the headmaster and promised various benefits, I decided to accept.

Formerly belonging to a poor commoner family, I wished to become an adventurer to make money for my family back home, because I initially heard that the high-ranking ones get paid unimaginable sums of gold.

So I became an adventurer at the young age of 10.

Turns out, I had talent, and so by the time I turned 15, I was already D-rank and close to ranking up to C.

It was rather fortunate timing too, since one of the requirements for C-rank is to be at least 15 years old.

At that time, however, I was thinking about how my progress was stagnating, so I couldn't quite get to C.

And, even though I am now C-rank, I'm not allowed to take C-rank quests.

I thought that, if only I were a little older, I'd have more muscle.

I thought that, if only I were a little stronger, they wouldn't look down on me so harshly.

Even that'd be the tiny push I needed to rank up.

But with the headmaster's invitation, I realised.

I was self-taught this entire time, and for all the things I didn't know, I simply learnt from personal experience.

So, when my growth began to stagnate, I was getting more and more anxious.

Even simply levelling up and growing my skill levels was becoming increasingly difficult, because I was a solo-adventurer.

You see, due to my age, no one wanted to party with me.

I was always seen as the irregular in the guild, and attracted pity from everyone else.

There was one time...

A kind person asked to party with me―perhaps I reminded them of their little brother.

At first, I refused, but since they were so adamant about it, I had no choice but to accept.

―She died in front of my eyes when I was 12.

Nevertheless, I didn't give up.

Even when I was teased and picked on by the other, much older and stronger adventurers, and was told to give up and quit.

Even when I was beaten black and blue by both monsters and adventurers alike.

Even when stung by poisonous plants in my early days, thinking it was a healing herb, and I desperately needed an antidote, and was in immense pain.

Even when confronted with the legal barrier that prevented people under 17 from taking on missions of C-rank or higher.

I still kept moving forward.

For my family.

.....Even now, I still hadn't become the kind of adventurer that makes the kind of money I dreamt of.

Since I can only take D-rank missions.

I am still only a weak kid, despite being a registered C-rank adventurer...

But then, it was like a fire was lit beneath me.

When the headmaster of the Royal Academy personally recommended me to become a student.

I was originally thinking things like, "What the hell is the point?" and "I might as well just use all the time I have to focus on my job.", but when I was told that I'd be put in a class where the teacher was a registered S-rank, I immediately reconsidered.

And so, here we are today.

I've been at the Royal Academy for half a year now, and in my free time I obviously just continue as an adventurer.

Thanks to the teacher, I can finally break through my boundaries, and my limits.

By the way, Royal Academy graduates automatically receive an adventurer card of D-rank, though in my case I won't get one, obviously.

In any case, I have over 6 years experience as an adventurer.

Over a third of my life.

It's only a few months until I turn 17, and then I can take on C-rank missions.

That brings us to the present.

*RUMBLE!*

"Woah!?"

"What's going on!?"

"IS THE MOUNTAIN ERUPTING!?!?!?"

My brows furrowed as I glared at the guy who seemingly just screamed his fucking head off.

Does he not know that shouting carelessly in the wilderness is akin to suicide?

It's basic knowledge.

Especially while we're on this god forsaken mountain.

Who knows what kinds of monsters will appear after being attracted to the sound of frightened prey?

Ugh, seriously.

It was one of the so-called "Transfer Students".

In my class, they make up over half the total amount of students.

But that's not even all of them.

Apparrently more of them were transferred into the other class as well.

Supposedly, they are young warriors from a far-away country, but my instincts tell me otherwise.

As all good adventurers should know, it's the easiest thing in the world to tell if someone has experienced real combat before, from but a single glance.

*RUMBLE!*

"EEEEEK?!"

...............You're telling me these guys are warriors?

Fucking absurd.

From what I can tell, it seems they do indeed have fighting experience, but it doesn't appear to be actual combat.

At most, they probably thought of themselves as hot shit after they killed a goblin or two with their daddy's stolen sword.

Anyone who freaks out at something like a mere earthquake has no right to be hunting the same prey as me.

*RUMBLE!*

"Aaaah, are we really going to be okay?! It's rumbling a lot, isn't it!! Holy Shit!!"

"Oi retard!! Shut ya fuckin' trap, bastard!! Unless ya want the「Resurrected」title, huh!?"

"EEEEHH!? N-no! Please! I-I'm fine! Sorry!"

....Though there are some anomalies in this class.

One of them is that guy.

Ryan, I heard his name was.

A right tyrannical fucker, he is.

Resurrection magic is commonly known to only be a myth, and yet he uses it so nonchalantly as a threat.

They are just fucking stupid, aren't they?

But, he's smart.

He puts on that performance of being a hot-headed, intimidating character.

But I can tell his real nature.

He feels strong, too.

Even those fragile fools, falsely dubbed as 'warriors' from the far-away country are frightened by him on a frequent basis.

How long must he have put on that act?

Honestly, it's about equal to the Second Princess.

Anyway, Ryan is only one of the few in this class that I keep my eye on.

There are 4 others.

Namely, there is the Princess who I just mentioned.

To be frank, I really... Really cannot, fucking, stand that bitch.

She uses an inexplicable Charm magic that I've never even seen before to manipulate other people.

And.

Not only does she use it.

She uses it passively on everyone around her.

Without even fucking realising it.

So, naturally, she is incredibly popular, and everyone believes what she says.

They all follow her like sheep and she's a fucking shepard or something.

Though of course, they'd do the same without it anyway, because she's royalty.

Ordinarily, I'd probably be the same too.

But I'm not doing this for me.

I'm doing it for my family.

I'd be fine bowing my head to such a bitch if it were just me, but doing so in my situation would only serve to worsen it.

I know full-well from my plentiful experience of dealing with brat nobles on a regular basis.

Apparently, no one can see the Charm magic being used other than me, since nobody brings it up.

However, some people seem to be a bit immune, or at least resistant to the effect.

Especially some of those transfer students.

She uses the people around her like slaves, completely without regard to their feelings.

An absolutely despicable woman.

It pisses me off, but what can I do against her?

Nothing at all.

I am only a commoner, and although I am definitely stronger than her in almost all aspects....

I could never win.

Because she is the royal princess, after all.

....In any case, the next person is Pesché, the Saintess, who is also in this class.

She's a cheerful girl who apparently used to be an orphan, and was then trained to be a priestess by the church after being discovered to have much talent.

One day, she supposedly heard the voice of 'God' and awoke her powers as the Saintess.

I don't believe in such a thing like God for personal reasons, but pretty much the entire world is religious, so the church has incredible influence in many countries.

She's kind from being brought up by the church, has naturally pretty looks and has a nice personality overall.

I don't have much of an opinion of her, but if I had to say whether she was 'good' or 'bad', I would say the third option.

―She is foolish, and I pity her misfortune.

That's all I really have to say.

The final two people are both transfers.

One is a nice, smart girl called Ashley.

Actually, I know her since a while ago, and she is a friend of mine.

We're actually in a party and do missions at the guild.

Ever since we partnered up, work has been many times more efficient than normal.

Overall, a friend I'm glad to have, and the only one of the five that I truly believe is reliable.

......This brings me to the last person.

He, is also a transfer student.

Called Chris.... and claims to be the legendary Hero...

That guy.....

From his personality, yeah, I can get why he's the Hero, but...

...But I just feel this... thing, from him, you know?

Like, when I look at him..... I just feel disappointed.

My instincts just scream...

'Incompetence.'

Like, you'd look at him, and think, "Oh shit. That guy's the Hero, huh? Amazing! Our country is saved!", because of his 'immeasurable righteousness' and whatever, bla, bla.

.....But has anyone actually seen him in combat?

I have.

In fact, during physical education, I was the one put against him to spar with, and...

...He has talent, yes, I agree.

Of course, I destroyed him in the sparring match, but anyway.

He has the proper, righteous heart a Hero should have, I agree.

And it's not like he's bad at fighting, or is weak, either.

No, none of those are what I'm talking about.

What I mean is just, when I look at the guy, I just feel... doubt.

Doubt whether he can do his job as the Hero properly.

I feel doubt whether he can really defeat the Demons or not.

I mean, it's not of my business either way, and of course, I feel like this is wrong.

I should believe in the Hero, right?

But.

It's really hard to do that, ya know?

I can't put my faith in a guy like him.

I can tell already what will happen the first time he meets a member of the Demon race.

―He just won't be able to do it.

Even I have killed a few Demons.

They are not tough to beat as long as you have decent enough combat experience against mages or know how to deal with magic, since Demons primarily use magic attacks.

But their appearance is similar to us Humans, and so I believe he will hesitate.

Because he is too righteous.

Hell, the guy even hesitated to attack me in the sparring match.

He's the type of guy who would, when in a battle, just stand back, petrified and unable to move, as all he can do is watch his allies get slaughtered one by one.

In any case, he is terribly naïve, and his kindess would be his undoing.

I guess you could call him weak-willed or spineless?

Not that anyone would assume that from his outwardly appearance though.

Even now, he is marching along with the rest of his party, full of confidence, as if this wyvern hunt is a day trip to the fucking marketplace.

"Chriiiiis~"

........Oh yeah.

I forgot to mention the other thing about him.

Hahah.

He's constantly courted by women.

That's right.

I didn't forget on purpose or anything.

As expected of the Mighty Hero, I guess, hahahah.

Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah.

I mean, it's not like I care or anything.

If any of those women came after me I might kill them, after all.

I'm not into unskilled, mindless girls like that.

But still, because I'm a man, I feel....

"How the fuck does such an irritating bastard like that have so many women fawning over him all the time?"

―is a question I am not asking.

Because I already know that the answer is because he's the Hero.

That is "reason enough".

End of story.

So anyway......

Wyvern hunting.

Yes.

An adventurer's, or really, any man's dream, is to hunt one of the infamous Dragons.

Hunting Wyverns is but a stepping stone towards that goal.

Hunting a mere Wyvern is of no trouble at all to a veteran adventurer like me.

――is what I would say if I was batshit insane.

Now, of course I don't really think that.

Come on now, think straight.

I just want to go home right now.

Wyverns are, at minimum, C-tier monsters.

The one we are going to fight should also be a C-tier, since otherwise there'd be no chance.

Not only that, but there is the battle against the environment and terrain to deal with.

The wyverns in this area live at the top-half of this massive volcano, where the ground is rocky, uneven, hard, and hot.

The air is also hot, making it difficult to breathe and severely increasing stamina consumption, which is one of the reasons why the Endurance stat is absolutely vital to staying in combat.

We would lose in a battle of attrition against any monster that lives on this mountain.

Not to mention the rather obvious fact that, aside from Ash, Ryan and maybe Chris, I'm pretty sure everyone in this class ranges from low E-rank to mid D-rank.

Keep in mind that, for the average monster to be beaten, 10 adventurers of the corresponding rank are recommended.

You might be able to get away with down to 5 or 4 adventurers instead, depending on their skill, experience, et cetera, and the state of the monster in question, but the general rule of thumb is 10 of that rank.

Then, consider that this is the guide system for E-rank adventurers:

E - 10+ E-ranks

D - 100+ E-ranks

C - 1,000+ E-ranks.

B+ - Unbeatable.

This is a simple guidance system anyone can view for free simply by visiting an Adventurer's Guild.

They have them for every rank, too.

Since we are talking Es and Ds, I'll go ahead and give us the benefit of the doubt by assuming that everyone in the class is about D-rank.

This is how it goes:

E - 1-3+ D-ranks.

D - 10+ D-ranks.

C - 20-100+ D-ranks.

B - 1,000+ D-ranks.

A+ - Unbeatable.

In other words, there is a chance to win, but that is only if everyone in the class was a skilled and experienced D-rank, which, obviously, none of them are.

And besides, it would be highly unlikely to win even with that.

Because it ranges from 20 all the way to 100+ D-ranks depending on things like the battle environment, the monster's condition, age, mood, etc.

For example, a baby wyvern is about C-, whereas an adult is C+ at minimum, and at worst, B.

By the way, the lowest tier of monster is E, because no known F-tier monster exists in this world.

Anything below E-tier is counted as an 'animal' instead of 'monster' or 'magical beast'.

Well, the main way to discern the difference between 'animal' and 'monster' is to see if they drop a mana crystal.

Because animals don't drop mana crystals.

By the way, the names 'monster' and 'magical beast' are basically interchangeable.

Originally it was supposed to be that magical beasts were monsters that use magic, magical attacks or elemental attributes, but nowadays people just ignore that and call them whatever they want.

We, as E to D-ranks, have to fight against a C-B-tier monster that can fly and use a signature 'breath attack', all the while enduring in these conditions and in this environment.

From the standpoint of a relatively experienced adventurer like me, it's absolutely fucking impossible.

The only exception would be if our teacher joined the fight, since he's a former S-rank, but obviously he won't interfere unless there is a serious risk of dying.

I highly doubt the Royal Academy would have our hunt be something so suicidal, after all, even if it was supposed to be difficult.

Since we have been placed in these conditions and given this particular target to hunt, I suppose there should be a fair chance of us being able to do it, but I am of course still anxious.

.....Ah, would you look at that.

{--RAAAAOOOOOWWWWWHHHHH!!!}

It's the wyvern.