After Sylvie left the training grounds running with tears in her eyes, naturally, everyone’s attention was drawn to me.
It was nothing unexpected, a simple response that humans tend to do.
But if there was one thing that made me surprised, then that would be the trauma of Sylvie being a lot deeper and stronger than I thought.
‘I see. So, this is how it is.’ I thought, looking at the running girl’s back. As she was escaping, she was running at a speed that even I would have a hard time following.
“Student Astron.” At that moment, Eleanor White’s voice echoed. “Care to explain what happened?” As she asked, she came closer looking at me with a demanding expression.
“Yes. I was trying to correct Student Sylvie’s form, but she said she didn’t wish to fight.”
“Is that all?”
“She had a fear of combat, and I did not adapt my methods to her level of comfort.” As I explained what happened here, Eleanor White’s gaze seemed to harden upon hearing my words.
Even though she didn’t like me probably, she was still someone with a sense of duty and justice. She was a bit picky and irritating woman, but that didn’t mean her values were not there.
“You didn’t adopt your methods? You lacked empathy and pushed her too far, didn’t you?”
“Empathy won’t save a hunter inside a dungeon. This is what we always learn in this academy. Unless one doesn’t have the courage to fight, then they shouldn’t be here.”
“Then, you should be? You have quiet words coming from the last ranked student of this academy.”
“It doesn’t matter what rank I am or what others feel about my words. The truth won’t change.”
I didn’t know why I got slightly irritated when I noticed Sylvie escaping like that or why was I arguing with this woman before me, but after noticing what I was doing was pointless I closed my mouth.
“Sigh….” Eleanor White let out a sigh and shook her head. She made a pained expression as she looked at me, but I didn’t understand what the problem was.
Considering the treatment I always got from the academy, isn’t this how things worked?
“Go find Student Sylvie, and don’t come until you solve her problems with her. You are dismissed from today’s class, and I will ask you about this later.”
Her words were firm, and I could sense the underlying disappointment in her voice. But I didn’t care. In the first place, disappointment came from one’s own expectations; it didn’t concern me.
I could see the main cast of the game looking at me from the corner of my eyes.
Especially Ethan since he was pretty close to me, with him also being ranked one of the last ranks. He was looking at me with furious eyes, obviously coming from his heroic nature.
But I simply ignored him. He was the protagonist of the game with the good talent of whatever. In the first place, I was not looking for future connections that would help me in my life.
I was here to kill demons, and his heroic nature would certainly make things hard for me.
Julia had a stiff expression, Lilia was simply serious as always, and Julia was looking at me with a slight smirk, seemingly loving that everyone’s opinions about me were bad. Well, humans were creatures with pride and petty nature, after all.
Then there were those that were friends with Sylvie, and they seemed furious. But again, it was not my business how I felt.
“Understood.”
With a brief nod, I turned and left the training grounds, my steps purposeful. It didn’t take long for me to find the traces Sylvie had left behind. Thanks to my trait [Perceptive Insight], I could see the faint signs of her hurried steps and the path she had taken.
Since she ran quite fast, the traces she had left was also quite deep, and her faint smell was also lingering since the weather was not that windy.
As I was walking on the grounds of the academy, I pondered about Sylvie. In the first year of the game, Sylvie was not a character that was helpful to the player.
Be it her healing magic, her personality, or her strengths, she was someone that was almost lacking in all types of aspects for a hunter.
Therefore her grades would drop naturally as time progressed. It was all thanks to her fear of combat, where she would face the monsters inside the gates. That would go like that until one day, she and the player would be left alone inside the dungeon thanks to a demon targeting her.
After all, there was a reason she was named as future Saintess in the game, and it was not because she had a simple healing skill….
It was something more, so she targeted my demons quite frequently, and this would get worse at the finals of the first year second them.
There, we, as a player, would save Sylvie, but she would still be a burden inside the gate, constantly being pessimistic and shaky. It was an annoying part of the game from the player’s perspective, but it was also necessary. You also wouldn’t leave Sylvie alone, since, if you did the game would be over.
That was because she was an essential character for completing the game.
In any case, in the dungeon, if the player had chosen to be harsh on Sylvie and speak some sense into her, she would later get a hold of herself and would start her path as a Saintess.
That was the reason why I spoke this harshly against her since she was someone that needed to be talked like that.
In a way, she was someone that escaped from her past, and it would be better if someone made some sense to her. And this was the way of my repaying debts.
Just like that, my steps took me to the forest of the academy, where everything had started for me.
SOB
“She is here,” I mumbled, hearing a small sob coming from the trees. Looking at her from far away with my skill, I could see she was not in a condition to talk with me.
But, at the same time, her head was buried in her legs, which meant her sight was limited.
“I should clear the bet.” With that mumble, I blended into the shadows using my trait, but I made sure nobody was around before I used it.
“Sylvie.” And inside the shadows, I whispered to her. Just like that, my talk with her started, and until I got a reaffirmation from her that she would look into her past self.
The exclamation that she would move forward. Even though it was not a confirmation that would guarantee, at least I did push some sense into her head, and that was all I was going to do.
“I know I am weak….Sob….I know I am scared….But I am trying my best, okay….Sob….”
As I heard those words from her own mouth, it was time for me to leave this place.
“The debt has been paid. Now it is up to you how to change yourself.”
Just like that, I left the place and made my way toward Eleanor’s office in order to give a report about what I had observed there.
******
The Capital of the Human Federation, Arcadia City, was filled with high-rising buildings that towered to the skies.
These buildings were mainly the buildings for those that occupied quite a strength in the industry where everyone’s eyes were on.
The guilds.
Aside from Renowned Families that produced Hunters, there were also Guilds that recruited the Cadets that graduated from the Academies around the Human Federation.
Every City had its branches, but to have one inside the capital, the guild needed to hold considerable amounts of power inside the industry.
Especially inside the Golden District was customized for the sake of higher-tiered guilds that was known all around the world. Here, the most powerful organizations in the world held their headquarters, their presence a constant reminder of their control over various industries. The district itself was a world of luxury and opulence, a place where only the elite could tread.
However, that was not the only place where the guilds had a place on them. After all, inside such a big world, there were countless guilds that were not that big enough to enter the Golden District.
And one of them was having a heated discussion right now.
Around a circular table in a dimly illuminated room, two individuals engaged in a heated exchange. Their faces bore a mixture of anger, frustration, and sorrow, masked by shadows.
“This situation is an utter disgrace,” the man declared, his fingers forming tight fists on the table’s surface. “Our child’s fate was sealed due to that academy’s negligence.”
Across from him, the woman’s eyes gleamed with fierce resolve as she leaned forward, her voice laced with determination. “They expect us to believe he was taken by some monster? I find that impossible to accept. We invested too much in his future for it to end like this.”
A holographic projection in the room’s center displayed the official report regarding their child’s demise. The official version stated that their child had fallen victim to a creature whose name was unknown—a tragedy that occurred within the confines of the academy.
They said to them that their child was killed by a random monster that had never been seen and detected inside the academy, and now they wanted them to believe such nonsense. 𝑂𝚟xt.𝒞𝓞𝐦
It had been only a week, and they had both seen their child’s corpses. It was obvious that it was the mark of a monster’s attack since the wounds of claws were pretty deep. But still, in the midst of their anguish, they refused to believe that their son was simply a victim of a monster. They wanted to blame something, blame someone.
“Monsters don’t infiltrate academies without reason,” the woman hissed, her suspicion evident. “There are hidden truths we’re not being told. There is no way a normal monster can pass through the wards of the academy.”
Grimly, the man’s eyes followed the details of the report. “This Astron Natusalune… the sole survivor of that incident. He is the last-ranked student inside the academy.”
A holographic image of Astron appeared before them, stirring a wave of uncertainty. And then, following that, a bunch of information.
“An orphan that lost his home when he was thirteen years old, then later awakened as a Hunter.” the woman added, her tone skeptical.
The man’s features hardened. “Our sources indicate Astron was involved in a conflict with our child earlier. That connection can’t be a coincidence. It doesn’t make sense that the one that was ranked last in the academy was the one that survived. We both know Dylan; he is not a kid that would put himself in danger when something unexpected happened.” The man spoke. “After all, this is what we taught him.”
“You are correct.” The woman responded. “There is something hidden in the midst of these documents provided by the academy. It doesn’t make sense that that bastard was the one that lived from that situation alone.”
A dark fire flickered in the woman’s eyes as she leaned in, her voice a low murmur. “If the academy doesn’t reveal the truth, we’ll unearth it ourselves. For the sake of our child.”
Agreement shone in the man’s gaze as he met his partner’s resolute stare. “We’ll mobilize every resource to uncover the reality. If Astron Natusalune had a hand in our child’s fate…. Then I will pluck his nails one by one until he shares the same pain my son felt.”
As the two people that were sitting on top of the round table talked to themselves, a flickering feeling of anger was present.
This was the world of hunters, a cruel world where one could do whatever they had wanted…..
————————————
You can check my discord if you want. You can see the illustrations of characters there.
The link to the discord server is in the description of the book.