"Awesome!"
"One more!"
"Does sir know how to use the Charge Blade?!"
After a brief silence, the training area packed with trainees grew rowdy again. Barely anyone bothered to dwell on questions like, "Is he really a Rookie Hunter?"
Gael exhaled in relief, thinking to herself, Thank goodness. Thank goodness. I overestimated those little brats' brains.
She shot a look at Francesca, who was watching the show from the crowd, signaling her to get Altaïr out of there fast. Then, at the top of her lungs, she hollered at the boisterous trainees:
"You see that? I'm not asking any of you to reach his level, but is it too much to ask that you at least train with one weapon until it actually looks like something?!
Archi! Yeah, you! You're the one who jumps highest and yells loudest about graduating. I don't care what weapon you use; if you can slice a target clean in two, I'll submit your Rank-Up Quest application right now! Can you do it?!"
Not in the mood to watch how Lady Gael disciplined her trainees, Altaïr walked swiftly, weaving deftly through the crowd.
The Instructor helped by shouting down the trainees who tried to follow and bombard him with questions, enabling him to slip away smoothly. He followed Francesca out of the training area, all the way to Gael's office.
"It's safe here."
Shutting the door, Francesca plopped herself into her mother's chair with practiced ease. "As long as they're not brain-damaged, no trainee would willingly barge into the Chief Instructor's office."
Barely a few seconds after she'd spoken, the office window was shoved open, and a person climbed through.
It was the one called Lambert.
Francesca's mouth gaped. "What the hell, did someone with actual brain damage really show up?"
Dusting herself off after vaulting the windowsill, Lambert fixed her gaze on Altaïr. "I remember now. I knew it. Your 'sound' didn't resemble a Rookie Hunter at all.
A year and a half ago, in the Great Arena. You're the Hunter who did the Challenge Quest against a Khezu with Isis and even won in the end, aren't you?"
"Well, look at that. Using honorifics now?" Francesca teased from the side, but was ignored.
Denying it at this point was meaningless. Altaïr could only nod.
Seeing Altaïr's confirmation, that slightly manic excitement surfaced on Lambert's face again. "I knew it!
You're not like those lifeless stiffs! You and Isis are the kind of people who burn, who explode!"
"Barrel Bombs are the ones that explode, meow," Sajji muttered under his breath.
Altaïr remained silent. Although the girl before him was neurotic and her choice of adjectives was all over the place, he could actually understand what she meant.
This one was similar to those battle maniacs, carrying a wild, frenzied Spirit deep in her bones.
He understood her not because he knew anyone like her, but because he and Isis, in truth, belonged to the same breed.
It was just that reason held the upper hand for them most of the time.
"You and Isis are teammates, aren't you?" Lambert suddenly spoke again. Though phrased as a question, her tone carried absolute certainty. "People of different kinds can't walk the same path.
Take me with you. I know you think I'm neurotic, but I'm not crazy. I'm just sick of those rigid fools.
But if it's you two, I'll follow your orders."
Altaïr frowned, but before he could say anything, the door was knocked on again, and then pushed open immediately.
Standing outside was the trainee named Archi.
Behind her desk, Francesca propped her chin on her hands. "Ah, looks like there's more than one lunatic around here!"
Archi strode quickly over to Altaïr and bowed deeply. "Senior, I don't care whether you're a so-called rookie or not. The fact is, you're young, and you're strong enough!
Please teach me how to grow stronger, and fast. In exchange, I'm willing to pay any price!"
Beside them, Lambert pulled her hands back to her chest like a squirrel, raising both index fingers and pointing at Archi, whose eyes were so bloodshot he looked like he was barely holding back seething rage at all times. "Now this one, this one is insane."
"Dammit, that little brat runs fast!" Lady Gael burst into the office in hot pursuit. When she turned and saw Lambert, her face grew even darker. "Wait, what are you doing here too?"
Lambert spread her hands, the picture of innocence.
Watching Archi, who remained bent in a deep bow, Altaïr slowly exhaled.
The boy clearly didn't recognize him. Out of a desire to avoid the encounter, Altaïr hadn't wanted to meet him face to face either.
But now, it seemed there was no escaping it.
"We meet again, Archi."
The youth looked up in surprise, only now realizing that the other's face and voice were vaguely familiar, though he couldn't immediately place where he'd seen them before.
Gael looked over with curiosity. "You two know each other?"
Altaïr's expression was complicated.
Four months ago, at Guildmarm Noya's request, he had taken on the Urgent Quest to hunt a Nerscylla.
There had been a Hunter who, searching for missing villagers, had been trapped inside the Monster Den.
And his child, the very same youth standing before him now, this boy named Archi, had sneaked out of the village and ventured deep into the Nerscylla nest to rescue his father, only to end up surrounded by Nerscylla Hatchlings, nearly losing his life in the process.
Altaïr had arrived just in time and saved the father and son.
It had been dark then, and his face had been concealed beneath his visor the entire time. They had met face to face only once, after the hunt was finished and daylight had come. It was only natural that the boy had little impression of his face.
After leaving, he had never followed up on any news from that small mountain village.
It wasn't until just now, seeing Archi training in the Training Area like a man possessed and then hearing Gael's explanation, that he realized that small mountain village had likely met with disaster again.
"Y-you... you're him?!" After staring at Altaïr's face for several seconds, Archi finally registered who he was.
"What happened after that?" Altaïr asked softly.
He wasn't trying to rub salt in the wound. In truth, he had gone through this stage himself.
Rage, fear, blood-soaked hatred, the seething fury and confusion that mingled together and bottled up inside could drive a person mad.
Back then, he had teachers to talk him through it. They had met the people of his nomadic tribe, and when he poured out his longing and vented his hatred, they could respond with understanding.
But what about Archi? Even if he wanted to talk to someone, who could he speak to? Apart from himself, who else even knew the names of the people who had died so tragically?
Not just anyone was fit to be a listener. A casual, dismissive "I understand you" from some uninvolved person would only add more fuel to the fire in his heart.
Archi sank weakly to the floor, sitting there in silence for a long time before finally opening his mouth to speak of what had happened that day. After those two Nerscylla were dealt with and their nest was burned, the mountain village enjoyed nearly a month of peace.
Until that day, when a frenzied Glavenus broke through the barricade wall and stormed the village, slaughtering indiscriminately. Over half the villagers died on the spot.
Even hiding in the basement refuge was useless. A Glavenus is no Nerscylla; digging open a basement would be nothing for a large Brute Wyvern of that size.
As the village's sole Hunter, Archi's father fought desperately to hold it back, covering the villagers' retreat, and ultimately perished in the monster's jaws.
Fewer than ten people escaped the village that night, among them Archi and his younger sister, Adie.
Having undergone several years of Hunter training, Archi escorted everyone toward the nearest town for refuge, but along the way, they were attacked first by a Jaggi pack and then by a Congalala.
Some were scattered and went missing, others died on the spot. After days of flight, the only ones who made it alive to the nearby town were Archi himself and his little sister Adie, whom he had carried on his back the entire time.
After receiving word, the town's Guild Hall sent a Hunt request to the nearest city, Metapetatto.
At the time, aside from caring for his young sister, Archi spent nearly all his time in the town's Guild Hall, waiting for news.
He heard that the Glavenus was no ordinary specimen, that one Hunter squad had been wiped out because of it, and that later, the Hunter's Guild headquarters directly dispatched high-rank Hunters to finally deal with it.
But the matter did not end there.
He overheard in the Guild Hall that the reason the Glavenus had become exceptionally violent and moved into an area near the village, outside its usual habitat, was due to the influence of some other Monster.
This reignited the vengeful fire in his heart, which had been dying down, and it burned ever more fiercely.
He applied to the local Guild to become an official hunter, but without a mentor to vouch for him or the endorsement of a training camp Instructor, the Guild could not simply grant him permission to take the assessment quest.
To become an official hunter, there were only two paths: find a Hunter willing to vouch for you, or join a Hunter Training Camp somewhere and graduate through the training camp route.
Aside from his father, he did not know any Hunters at all, and the nearest city, Metapetatto, had yet to establish a Hunter Training Camp.
So, he entrusted his sister to a distant relative and came alone to Dundorma, where his strength already matched any seasoned trainee's, allowing him to smoothly join the training camp.
To him, the Dundorma Training Camp was not a place to train; it was simply a route that would allow him to become an official hunter.
"So that's why you, who've been here less than two months, are in such a damn hurry to apply for graduation. No wonder," Lambert muttered from the side.
After getting the general picture, though she had never heard him speak in such detail before, Gael, her face dark, slapped Archi.
The slap landed right across his face.
"I thought your family was all dead and you had no ties left. Don't you still have a sister? Abandoning your little sister to run off on your own, are you even human?"
Archi's face showed guilt at these words, but immediately after, he tightened his expression and said in a low voice, "Father, the village chief granny, the cart-pulling uncle, the older brother and sister who lived at the village entrance...
Everyone is dead. All of this is for revenge. Adie will understand me."
"Revenge my ass!" Gael exploded in a tirade. "A Monster that can influence a creature of Glavenus's caliber is most likely some ancient, bizarre, mysterious Monster.
Even if you one day qualify to stand before such a Monster, that'll be at least ten or twenty years from now.
You think the Guild will wait that long for something that should have been resolved long ago? Odds are it's already been dealt with by now. Would it even be your turn to take revenge?"
Archi, clearly sunk in obsession, could not listen to any of these words. His eyes were webbed with blood-red veins as he growled, "Impossible! I will kill that thing with my own hands!"
Altaïr crouched down before Archi, stared into his reddened eyes, and said quietly, "I'm very sorry about your father, and everyone in the village.
Let me tell you the truth. There is a Monster called the Arbiter Estrellian, whose movements caused the frenzied aggression and migration of the Jungle Monsters, indirectly resulting in your village's tragedy."
Hearing Altaïr say this, Archi's eyes suddenly widened. He had no mind to question how this person knew about it; he simply etched the name deep into the depths of his memory. "The Arbiter Estrellian, right? I will definitely..."
"Here's some more good news. Just last week, the Arbiter Estrellian was already hunted down by a hunting party organized by the Guild.
I was a member of that hunting party myself, so I know this beyond any doubt.
If revenge was your sole goal in life, then that goal no longer exists. You should consider finding a new goal.
For instance, how about going back first and apologizing to your sister?"
After months of being tormented by hatred and fury, he had gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, and cast aside his only remaining family, all to seek an opportunity for revenge. Now, hearing these words, Archi stood frozen in place.
(Translated by yourtl.app)