“I want to join the Dragon Hunters! I want to Slay Dragons!”

A young boy, about twelve years old, suddenly showed up at the doorsteps of the Dragon Hunter’s guild.

His eyes were burning with anger and fury, but his small frame and malnourished build made him appear far less threatening. In some ways, he reminded the Dragon Hunters of a shaggy cat.

Just by looking at him, it was obvious he was a human, his black hair was long enough to reach his shoulders, and his clothing was practically reduced to rags.

But his expression was as serious as it gets.

“Look, kid, as much as we would need recruits, you are not fit to join us. You are young, tiny, and fragile. You will get killed in no time” one of the dragon hunters, a beast-man who resembled a bipedal wolf stood in the boy’s way.

“I want to join the Dragon Hunters” Arma repeated.

“Shitty brat, what do you know about dragons?” the beast man grabbed Arma by the collar, his yellow eyes looking into Arma’s brown, but Arma’s gaze did not falter. “A child like you will never become a dragon hunter”

Without a moment of hesitation, Arma struck the beast-man under the chin with his knee, hard.

Using that moment, Arma brandished his dagger, now pointing it to the throat of the beast man who was now on the ground. Wolf man was now at Arma’s mercy.

“Wanna bet?” Arma said in a monotonous voice.

‘Those are not the eyes of a child…there is no fear or innocence in them. What is he?’ Even though Arma was just a kid, Beast man couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

As the two of them stared angrily in each other’s eyes, a voice sounded out.

“Getting beaten by a kid, Wiley, aren’t you losing your touch? As far as letting him try to become one of us…Well, isn’t that fine?”

“But captain, he is just a…” Beast man, whose apparently was named Wiley began before being cut short.

“I did not say I will let him join, but I have nothing against letting him try”

A woman of average height, about a head taller than Arma, wearing light but durable armor, walked towards them.

Arma soon noticed the two horns that adorned her head and hair that was as crimson as freshly spilt blood.

“Kid, could you let that buffoon go? I really don’t like cleaning up messes”

Slowly, Arma got off of the beast man.

“As for what you desire…How about having a little sparring match with me?”

To that, Arma nodded in agreement.

* * *

Arma and the red lady were now outside the Dragon Hunter’s guild, on the open plane.

The red lady tossed a wooden sword to Arma.

Arma quickly picked up the sword.

Just by looking at his fighting stance, she could tell that the kid was not trained to wield a sword.

In fact, he was not trained to fight at all.

Holding the wooden sword, he rushed to attack her, only for the red lady to knock the sword out of his hands, and smack him in the face.

‘He has no style’

But instead of stopping right after he got hurt, Arma picked up the sword and attacked again.

Each time he would get hit and knocked away, but he would keep standing up, even if it was obvious that he was no match for her.

‘But he seems to have the guts to get up after being beaten. That’s good.’

To the other Dragon Hunters, it was obvious that their leader, Akara Velen, was not fighting the kid seriously. She was essentially toying with him.

It kept going on for another three hours, with Arma just not knowing when to give up.

‘Hmm, his stamina is not half bad’

This time, Akara put her right foot down on Arma’s small body, holding him down, preventing him from picking up the sword again.

Arma now noticed that Akara’s right foot was made out of metal, a replacement for a lost body part.

“Kid, you got all your life ahead of you. Why don’t you just forget about becoming a Dragon Hunter and just find a suitable life for yourself? Find a job, have a family, live until you are old, the whole package. Isn’t that better than wasting your life in pointless endeavor that will never end and might get you killed the very next day? Or you might end up like many of us, missing bits and pieces”

“It doesn’t matter; I will become a dragon hunter!”

“Same words again. How many times can you keep repeating it? Is that now your catchphrase? Kid, just go back to your home, where you came from. Your family must be worried sick about you”

“I no longer have a home”

Using all the strength in his arms, Arma managed to push Akara’s metal foot off of him.

“I no longer have a family” he uttered before picking up the wooden sword once again.

“I did not come here to turn back on my resolve. If you guys wouldn’t accept me, I will hunt dragons down on my own!”

In that moment, Akara disappeared from sight, before reappearing right before Arma.

Arma felt intense feeling of pain in his stomach; Akara just delivered a very swift punch.

As Arma fell down, clutching his stomach, Akara spoke.

“I see. So you are just like us, huh. You have the guts and unshakable resolve, but that will not be enough to face against the dragons.”

Arma’s eyes were fading to black, even with so much anger fueling him, he was still a kid.

“Which is why I am going to train you till you have what it takes to face them”

“Captain! But he lost!” an elven man, Creolis exclaimed.

“Now now, did I ever say he had to beat me to join us? I simply asked him to have a little sparring match with me. That was all”

“But he is a human! He has no magic or powers!”

“If I let this kid go like this, he will without a doubt be going to his grave. You saw the look in his eyes; he can never find solace until he confronts the dragons that have taken away his loved ones. In that sense, he is just like all of us. Besides, after the losses we suffered, we are lucky we have someone crazy enough to want to join our ranks”

“That is true!” Everyone ended up laughing out loud. Just like that, Arma became the newest member of Dragon Hunters.