I'm Ilsa Harnisch, a B-class hunter whose activity is based around Barse! I
was in the middle of enjoying my cold ale like usual after finishing my
daily monster subjugation quests when I heard the shrill voice of the guild's
receptionist, Mia, resound in the entire guild.
It seems Mia accidentally made a huge blunder by blurting out the gift of
the young man who had come here today to become a hunter.
If my ears aren't wrong, that youth's gift is [The Most Incompetent in this
World]. He is truly an unfortunate one.
He had my sympathy, but that didn't change the fact that hunter is a meritbased profession. Aside from certain exceptions, success in this profession
was entirely dependent on your gift. That's why a hunter with a useless gift
would have a hard time raising their class.
Soon, another turmoil exploded inside the guild when the youth revealed
that he had an item that could boost his abilities. To be honest, I had never
heard of such an unconventional item. By my lowest estimations, that item
should be, at the very least, a national class treasure.
Naturally, the hunters who happened to be present in the guild at that time
had started discussing the youth amongst themselves.
Sixty percent of their conversation was talking about the effects of the item
or obtaining it later; the remaining forty percent was extreme jealousy
toward the newcomer who had such a powerful item.
Some of the hunters discussing the latter didn't even try to hide the greed in
their eyes.
「I guess I have to deal with those greedy ba*tards.」
I muttered to myself.
Just as I expected, the moment that youth left the hunter guild, Mia rushed
toward me, asking for my help; she couldn't help but worry about that
youth.
Mia is a girl with a strong sense of responsibility. If the youth got ambushed
after he left the hunter guild, she might blame herself for accidentally
disclosing the youth's gift in public. Since she took care of me every day, I
agreed to her request without a second thought. After that, I immediately
left the guild.
And it happened exactly as Mia had expected. A while after I started tailing
the youth from afar while erasing my presence, I discovered some
scumbags after that youth. Maybe because the situation in this kingdom has
become unstable in recent years, the number of scumbags who choose to
become hunters is on the rise.
Maybe because he wanted to take a shortcut, the youth entered a deserted
alley.
Like I had expected, those scumbags surrounded the youth as soon as he
entered the deserted alley. I was about to jump to save him when suddenly,
a fantastical sight unfolded in front of me. That youth beat those scumbags
in an extremely overwhelming way.
「W-What the…」
I barely managed to squeeze those words out of my throat.
「Is that… martial arts?」
I mean it looks like a martial arts movement. But, it's way too different
from the martial arts that I have seen so far. It's a completely unpredictable
move. The youth itself isn't that fast, yet before I noticed, those scumbags
were either flying in the air or down on their knees. Rather than calling the
move martial arts, calling it magic is more appropriate due to how
mysterious the youth's movement was.
I also noticed another fact: I can never hope to beat that youth in my entire
life.
Moreover―
「He must've discovered my presence too, right?」
My gift is [Agent]. It's a gift geared for information gathering. It's a
special, advanced gift with many useful skills such as canceling dungeon
traps or opening locks.
The main characteristic of my gift is a special ability called concealment; as
the name suggests, it hides my presence. Yet, that youth seemingly glanced
right at my hiding place randomly as if he were telling me, "Don't think
that you can hide from me.".
I had already invoked my concealment skill. The youth most likely has
something akin to sixth sense to be able to see through my skill. It's the
kind of sense that is awakened by someone who has gone through a hellish
battlefield beyond my imagination. Such a skill is something only those
top-class warriors who have survived numerous battlefields possess.
No matter how you looked at him, the youth didn't seem like a powerless
rookie hunter or an incompetent who has never wandered between life and
death in a battle.
Maybe, that youth never had an item that boosted his abilities from the very
beginning. Rather, it was the opposite. With such god-like martial arts, the
fact that his strength value was still "1" is rather unnatural. His first
appraisal result that indicated his average strength value as "12," equivalent
to that of a D-class hunter, was more credible seeing the way he fights. Yet,
in the second appraisal, that value changed to "1".
In short, the youth can adjust his strength value at will. I have no idea
whether it's because of the effect of an item or an ability, but I have no
doubts that this youth's gift isn't something as simple as 『Incompetent』.
It's something more aberrant.
「A monster has slipped into a boring, everyday life, huh.」
Interesting! This is way too interesting to be ignored! If I manage to recruit
that youth, finding the 『Ancient Temple』 deep in the Sea Forest of Silke
might not be a pipe dream.
Investigating the ancient temple is the biggest wish of (treasure) hunters
such as me and many others. I've already fulfilled the requirement to raise
my hunter class to A-class. The only thing left is to complete the special
condition, but I have already cleared that by reporting the information I
found about this ancient temple. With that achievement, my path of
becoming an A-class hunter is already guaranteed.
Considering that this youth doesn't seem to have any intention to hide his
capabilities, it's only a matter of time before the people around him notice
his capabilities. When that time comes, I'm sure that everyone with enough
sanity would arrive at the same conclusion as me.
Hunter is a profession where one gains fame and wealth in proportion to
their capabilities; it's a completely merit-based profession. Anyone can
climb to a greater height as long as they have the capabilities, regardless of
their gift. Only idiotic hunters born in this Amelia kingdom believe that the
gift you're born with is everything. I have to make my move immediately
since I know it would be too late if I wait for later.
But since everyone is still under the impression that he's an incompetent,
recruiting him into my party should be easier.
「Well then, let's start with gathering the information about him first.」
Only a greenhorn hunter would try to recruit someone into their party
without knowing anything about him. Let's ask Mia about his basic
information first.
「Yup, I'm so lucky today!」
Unable to hold the anticipation in my chest anymore, I ran toward the guild
as fast as I could.