Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 122

The walk to Scale Bay took a full three days.

When I went with Hilde before, it took less than a day, but the current trainees are closer to ordinary people who haven’t even awakened their magical power yet.

Taking such a large group of twenty people there and back meant we had to bring plenty of food and camping equipment.

“We’re here. Everyone put down your bags.”

“Whoa…”

“My toes…”

At my command, twenty trainees groaned as they dropped their backpacks to the ground.

The backpacks they each carried weighed about 15kg.

They had walked from Order headquarters all the way to Scale Bay with sleeping bags, food, various survival tools, spare clothes, and weapons strapped to their backs.

“You there! Senior hasn’t said you can rest yet!”

Hilde, who was accompanying us as an escort, pointed at a trainee who had sat down on the ground.

“Ah, sorry!”

The trainee hurriedly stood up and bowed his head.

Though he was bigger and older than her, no one here dared to disrespect Hilde.

For good reason – Hilde had walked for three days carrying the largest and heaviest backpack among us without breaking a sweat or even changing color in her face.

After witnessing such monstrous strength and stamina up close for days, everyone understood the hierarchy.

“As she said, it’s not time to rest yet.”

Last time we came here it was dark night, but now a bright sun hung in the blue sky.

The sea breeze feels fresh rather than damp.

“We’ll sleep here for one night, so we need to set up tents first.”

I finally took the backpack off my shoulders too.

Though not as large and heavy as Hilde’s, mine was still more than twice the size of the trainees’.

It contained the large canopy, assembly poles, and huge iron stakes needed to build the tents.

I unpacked everything and had the trainees start setting up the tents.

It might seem a bit strange to take three days to get here just to set up tents and sleep one night, but the journey to Scale Bay itself was quite intensive training.

“Sightseeing comes later!”

Some of the trainees must have never seen the ocean before, as they kept losing focus during work to stare at Scale Bay’s beautiful scenery.

Though I understand the feeling, being this sentimental won’t do for becoming a hunter.

“Y-yes!”

“…Any Beasts visible nearby?”

I asked Hilde, who was keeping watch of the surroundings as our escort.

“No. Not even regular Beasts, let alone Deep Sea Folk.”

“Good. Keep watching.”

“Yes!”

Hilde nodded with a bright smile on her face.

Her beautiful face against the backdrop of the lovely beach created a truly picturesque scene.

You should really do something about that emotional side too…

No, maybe for a genius like Hilde, having that side is better.

Even Sephira seems cold and indifferent on the surface, but looking at Blue Paper Moon’s background settings, she has quite an emotional side too.

Even without that, I’ve seen that side of her a few times when we went around together.

“Ah, wait. Don’t set up the tent there…”

After the trainees finished setting up all the tents, we finally got a brief rest period.

“Ughh~ So tired…”

“Hey, I told you to take off your shoes when resting.”

“Ah right…”

Most of the trainees were completely exhausted.

The three-day march must have been quite harsh for ordinary people.

Of course we took breaks in between and got some sleep, but it probably wasn’t enough.

Well, everything in this world tends to be unsatisfactory by default anyway.

Whether it’s food, sleep, or rest – even in my past life on modern Earth quite a lot of people couldn’t properly take care of those needs, let alone here.

“The smell is strange.”

“So the sea really exists…”

But not everyone was like that.

Some trainees gazed at the sea with its endless small waves with curious or moved eyes.

Most commoners who aren’t nobles live and die in the village they were born in.

Going outside the village usually means going to a big city to sell goods if you’re well off, but most only leave because they were driven out or have to collect inheritance from a distant relative who died.

In a world where even the concept of travel is vague, there are still people like them everywhere who want to see something new beyond their immediate lives.

“Something new…”

During the 30-minute break, everyone rested in their own way.

But my thoughts were complicated.

Scale Bay that we’ve returned to today.

They say some Beast scales found here long ago have the power to drive collectors mad with their beautiful and mysterious luster.

The original owner of those scales was a powerful behemoth named Leviathan, who was hunted by Little Mermaid Rusalka’s army.

Rusalka wanted to ‘collect’ Leviathan, who was called the most beautiful behemoth thanks to those scales.

Of course Leviathan fiercely resisted and in the end tore its own body to pieces to prevent Rusalka from having her way.

The Beast corpse said to have drifted into Scale Bay was naturally one of Leviathan’s body fragments.

When Blue Paper Moon’s middle section was in full swing, a quest appears to investigate the disappearance of a ship called ‘Harpoon Queen’ that was transporting five of Leviathan’s scales found in Scale Bay.

Since Leviathan’s scales are deeply connected to Rusalka’s story, Little Mermaid’s forces properly emerge from this quest onward.

Of course the Cranion invasion also had huge impact, but that was just a declaration of war – their real activities start here.

You could call it a new threat.

“Senior, is something wrong?”

Hilde came over and asked.

“If there is, there is. No, there’s an enormous amount.”

“Ah… that’s true.”

Hilde sat down next to me.

“It’s been so long since I came here with you, Senior. No, it hasn’t actually been that long but somehow so much has happened in between.”

“Yeah… You’ve received your first mission now too… But you didn’t request this specifically, did you?”

“Hehe…”

“So you did… Being happy to meet after a long time is nice, but as a mid-ranked hunter you should meet more people. Being noble, you should know this well without me saying it.”

“Meeting with you once is more important than meeting ten other people, Senior.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but… you know…”

“I know. That you don’t see me that way. I understand.”

“Then…”

“But this is important to me. For me to work harder too… won’t you allow it?”

“That’s playing dirty… really unfair.”

“I won’t force anything right away, so don’t worry. For now… after I become stronger, when the world becomes a bit calmer, maybe then Senior will make a different choice?”

A reason to become stronger…

The tutorial where the protagonist awakens as a warrior through desperate struggles to survive was completely ruined because of me.

The next option I thought of was the love interest, but who knew I would become that.

Jarkoff broke down before any events could even happen.

I heard he was charged with heresy following his father…

And Oscar… that poor kid… sigh.

“Well, that’s for then.”

I stood up, dusting the sand off my clothes.

“Let’s start investigating. We only have today.”

I roused the trainees who had recovered a bit from their fatigue.

After gathering equipment, I walked Scale Bay’s beach with them.

Not a single cloud in the blue sky, warm sunlight, sparkling sand, and the sea stretching to the horizon.

It’s an environment that easily relaxes the mind as if we’re out for a walk or trip, and most trainees seemed to feel similar.

Though I keep telling them to stay alert of their surroundings, when you look around you can’t help but see the beautiful natural scenery.

Of course, I didn’t think anything dangerous would appear either.

The ship probably sank in the middle of the sea, and Rusalka’s subordinates must have taken Leviathan’s scales.

Scale Bay only has traces left by people who visited hoping to find scales that might have fallen somewhere from Leviathan’s corpse long ago but returned empty-handed.

It’s already a story from hundreds of years ago, how could anything remain?

Though this is from male protagonist Noah’s perspective rather than Hilde’s, even the starting point of this quest wasn’t here but the port where the ship first departed.

The goal is to catch the informant who told Rusalka about transporting Leviathan’s scales there.

“Hmm? …Senior, there’s someone.”

Hilde spoke less than 30 minutes after we started walking.

“There is?”

“Yes. Doesn’t seem like a Beast but… I’m not sure. A person? They’re behind that rock over there.”

Hilde pointed at a large rock visible ahead.

My senses don’t detect any Beasts either and Hilde says it probably isn’t one, so it shouldn’t be dangerous, but could it be a traveler?

Though I said the concept of travel was vague, it’s not non-existent.

Wealthy enthusiasts or nobles do travel occasionally.

Of course they usually move around quite flashily with an entourage so we’d notice right away if such a group was nearby, but I don’t sense any such noisy presence.

If anything, our group of twenty trainees is probably louder.

“Stop for a moment.”

Still, just in case, I had everyone stop about 20 meters from the rock.

“I’ll go check it out, wait here.”

“If that’s the case, I should…”

“You need to protect the trainees.”

“Yes…”

Hilde’s role isn’t to guard me but to protect this group.

If something appears and takes me down, Hilde needs to escape with the rest.

I walked alone toward the rock.

But no matter how close I got, I couldn’t sense anything.

Not even a Beast, let alone human presence.

Since Hilde’s detection ability is far superior to mine, she must have sensed something.

It could be someone skilled enough in concealment that only someone of Hilde’s level could detect them, but there’s no reason for such a person to be at an empty beach in broad daylight.

Maybe it’s a traveler with circumstances like Sancho, enjoying the beach alone and taking a nap or something.

“Excuse m…”

I peeked around the rock.

“…”

And froze.

“Oh, finally here?”

“…Not very impressive looking.”

“…”

Oh hell.

“Come, come, sit here too. The sunlight feels nice and warm.”

Blanc patted the spot next to her.

“Yes. Enjoy this sun well now. You won’t have many days left to do so.”

Long pink curly hair.

Golden yellow eyes.

Though wearing an ordinary dress, the aura around her was anything but refreshing and instead made people tense.

“But don’t sit next to me. I might accidentally kill you.”

Little Mermaid Rusalka, sitting next to Blanc, said.