First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 1. A Weird Foreign Hunter

Meanwhile, at Graywood Village, a small village on the North Euphorion's territory.

It was still daytime but the sun was already covered with thick clouds. It only took a few minutes before the sound of thunder came accompanied by heavy rain. Some people rushed into a bar that also functioned as a hunter guild. That village was the closest village to the Death Forest, therefore even though the land around the village was fertile, with the monsters lurking all the time, almost all of the villagers worked as hunters rather than as farmers.

"Ah... Damn rain!" said one of the hunters who just entered the bar as he shook his wet clothes in front of the bar entrance.

"Hey! Don't mess with my floor!" shouted the hunter guild master who was standing behind the bar table. His hands were busy wiping the glass stack beside him.

"Don't blame me for this, blame the rain!" he said as he kept shaking his clothes and approached the bar table before taking a seat in front of the guild master casually.

The guild master glared at him.

"If you don't clean your mess, I'm gonna ban you to enter this bar again!" he said in annoyance.

The hunter gave a sloth sigh.

"Okay, okay, I will clean it." He raised from his seat and took a mop beside the hunter board.

The hunter board was a board where people's requests were placed. Each hunter could take any request by taking the letter directly from the board, after the request was complete, he could report it to the guild master and take the payment from him. The request was divided into four levels A, B, C and D. The higher the request level, the higher the payment and also more dangerous.

The hunter took a glance at the board and noticed an A mission request was missing.

"Master, which group took the A mission request? I still saw it this morning."

"Oh, It's taken by that new foreign hunter," the guild master answered casually.

"That scary guy?! He was already weird enough to come here when everyone wants to escape from here. Now, he took an A mission alone? Isn't the mission difficult? As I remember, the request is from a weapon maker who needs some Fiend Bear's nails as his material, that's why he is willing to pay at a high price. But, who the stupid person would take that crazy mission?"

The guild master shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Dunno, just wait for a few more days we'll get some news."

"Or a corpse," the hunter continued the guild master's words.

Suddenly, a cold-faced man entered the bar. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt covered in a black leather vest with a hood over his head, black trousers, a black sword tucked on his belt and his hand held a bag of big sharp nails. Strangely, though it was still raining outside, his clothes were not wet at all. Everyone's attention turned to him as he approached and put his bag on the bar table.

"I want to take my payment."

The guild master checked the big nails in the bag.

"Yes, this should be enough." Then he placed the bag under his table, took a bag of coins and gave it to the cold faced man.

The hunter quickly dropped the mop and approached that foreign hunter in an over-friendly manner.

"Hey! Hey! Tough guy! How about performing a group with me? We can work together," he said as he hugged that weird hunter's shoulders with one hand and gave several pats on it.

He brushed off the hunter's hand, took the coin bag and put it in his vest.

"I work alone."

"Don't be so distanced, you look better than when the first time you came here, " the hunter said with a forced happy smile.

He only replied to the hunter with a flat stare.

The hunter cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, I mean---when the first time you came here, your white clothes soaked in blood. I even thought you were undead."

"Is that so?" he replied in a nonchalant tone. Then he turned around and left.

But the hunter blocked his way, hugged his shoulders once again and took him to the closest table.

"Hey! How about I buy you some drinks? Besides it's still raining outside." Then the hunter turned his gaze to the guild master.

"Two night alley beer please!"

"I don't drink beer, " he said as he sat on a chair.

The hunter sat beside him.

"You're kidding, right? There's no way a tough guy like you don't drink beer."

He turned his gaze to the hunter.

"I don't drink beer," he repeated once again.

"Ah... Okay, okay. What do you want to drink? I will pay."

"Any kind of tea is fine," he answered in hesitation. 

The hunter frowned at him.

"Tea? You surely have a weird taste." Then he turned his gaze again to the guild master.

"You hear it, master? A dark alley beer and tea."

The guild master raised his thumb, indicating he heard the hunter's order.

The hunter turned his gaze again back to him.

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Armie. What's your name?"

The cold-faced man opened his hood, showing his dark blue hair and sharp eyes.

"Zel. Just call me Zel..."