Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 150

Alri, a hunter trainee, thought he was fortunate.

Originally, Alri was just an ordinary boy born in a village that supplied potatoes to the Order.

He would wake up early every morning to work in the vast potato fields.

Alri’s most frequent task was weeding.

He would scratch the ground with his fingers like a hoe, pulling out tiny weeds that interfered with the potatoes’ growth.

His fingertips were already covered in thick calluses, and his nails had turned black.

Moreover, his right middle finger’s nail had grown in a strange direction after falling off when he accidentally scratched a stone, which secretly bothered him.

Though it was incredibly painful when the nail fell off, no one offered to look after him or treat it.

“What? Your nail fell off? So what? Stop being a crybaby and just go to sleep!”

His father didn’t understand how painful it was.

He had become rough and insensitive after Alri’s mother was caught and eaten by a Beast while gathering medicinal herbs a bit far away.

“Damn those hunters… taking all our money but doing nothing…”

The potatoes grown in the village were all sold to the Order, except for the bare minimum needed to feed the residents.

Though adults never told him exactly how much they earned, he knew it was ridiculously less than what they could get selling to the city.

He couldn’t help but know, since adults cursed the Order every day, saying they extorted money under the pretext of protection fees against Beasts.

Yet whenever someone from the Order actually visited, they would bow and flatter them as if they had never cursed them before.

Watching this, Alri made a vow.

Someday I’ll become a hunter like them.

Then when I return to this village, those adults will bow their heads to me too!

And several months ago, as soon as he came of age, Alri secretly left home to join the Hunting Order.

Pretending he was delivering potatoes to the Order, he arrived and told the guard at the entrance that he wanted to join.

“Ah… another one? Go inside and turn right immediately.”

The guard let Alri enter with an utterly bored expression.

There were already two other children who had come to become hunters.

After waiting for a while, an adult wearing different clothes from the hunters came.

“You want to become hunters?”

“Yes!”

Alri and the other two children answered simultaneously.

“Hmm… let’s see…”

The examiner grabbed the hand of the child on the far left.

“…What do you feel right now?”

“Huh? Nothing…”

“Hmm, I see.”

The examiner moved on to the child right next to him and did the same thing.

“Do you feel anything?”

“Uh, um… it-it feels hot.”

“Hot, you say?”

“Y-yes…”

“…How about now?”

“Huh? Ah, well, that…”

“Hmm.”

And just as he was about to move on to Alri.

“W-wait please! I must become a hunter! I have to earn money for my mother’s medicine!”

That boy grabbed the examiner’s pants leg.

“Sigh…”

The examiner pushed the boy away firmly, though with a sigh, but without a trace of sympathy.

“You can’t.”

“Why!? I-I’m strong, and I’m fast! And I won’t be lazy…”

“You lack qualification.”

“Quali…fication?”

“Yes.”

The examiner tried to move on to Alri again.

But the boy practically clung to the examiner’s leg.

“Please! I’ll do anything! I don’t even have money to go back! I have to work!”

“Ah, really.”

The examiner raised his hand as if to strike, then lowered it again.

“…You’ll do anything?”

“Y-yes! I’ll do anything!”

“Then become an errand runner.”

“…What?”

“Don’t know what an errand runner is? You said you’d do anything, right? You can’t be a hunter, but you can work here.”

“You’re saying I can’t be a hunter…?”

“Take it or leave it.”

“N-no! I’ll do it! Thank you! Thank you!”

The boy finally let go of the examiner’s leg.

“Geez… anyway, you’re the last one.”

The examiner grabbed Alri’s hand.

“Now then, do you feel anything?”

The examiner asked with a rather unexpecting face.

“…Huh?”

Alri raised his opposite hand instead of the one being held.

Something… some sensation he had never felt before was flowing from his left hand to his right.

“Oh?”

Finally, the examiner’s expression changed from one of utter boredom.

“Wh-what is this? My hand…”

“Oh… you have something there.”

“Really!? Th-then…!”

“I need to look more closely. Come with me.”

“Y-yes…!”

Alri followed the examiner.

Suddenly feeling eyes on him, he turned his head to see the other two children looking at him.

This emotion he had never felt in his life before.

Superiority.

Alri thought he was fortunate.

“…Ah~. What a shame. You won’t do either.”

Until he heard those words.

After several tests that Alri couldn’t understand, the examiner said that.

“I-I won’t do?”

“Right. You have magical power, but it’s a bit lacking.”

“Lacking…? Th-then what should I do? I just need to get more, right?”

“If it were that simple, everyone would be mid-ranked and high-ranked.”

Though Alri didn’t know what mid-ranked and high-ranked meant, he understood that it meant such a thing was impossible.

“Pl-please! I’ll do anything…!”

Alri clung to the examiner’s leg like the boy from before.

“We don’t need any more errand runners… though it is a bit of a shame… I’ll put you on reserve for now.”

The examiner skillfully detached Alri.

His attitude was quite different from how he had treated the other boy earlier.

“Reserve?”

“Yes, reserve. Go back for now, and we’ll call you if we need you later. Which village are you from? What’s your name?”

Though Alri begged several more times to be let in, he had no choice but to give his village and name after receiving the firm answer that he could quit if he didn’t like being on reserve.

When he returned to the earlier room, he wanted to do something about his slumped shoulders and contorted face, but his heart shrank even more at the other children’s gazes that had changed from jealousy to mockery.

And when he returned home late that night, his father beat him until he passed out.

The verbal abuse and beatings continued until several months later when Alri received additional acceptance and went to the Order.

*    *    *

“You’ve all worked hard.”

Said Eugene, the instructor who had trained Alri and his fellow trainees over the past few months.

“The moment you receive this identification tag, you will be proper hunters.”

Eugene pulled out the identification tag hanging around his neck to show everyone.

“Without a single dropout, you all followed my training well. Those above are also evaluating your skills positively.”

Just as he said, Alri could feel that he had grown stronger through Eugene’s training.

Eugene would set what needed to be done, and they would follow it.

If they couldn’t do it well enough, he would explain in detail what the problem was and have them try again.

Though it was simple, Alri had never experienced someone teaching him properly like this before.

In the village, he had to learn by watching and copying, and if he didn’t do well, he would get beaten.

But Eugene never once hit them or cursed at them for failing.

Rather, when they did something right, he would even praise them, though quite rarely.

“I won’t be teaching you like this anymore. But your learning doesn’t end here. Remember what you’ve done until now, practice on your own, and learn on your own. If you don’t know something, don’t be embarrassed to ask even your fellow hunters. A moment of embarrassment is better than not being able to do something.”

Alri glanced to the side.

The 21 trainees including Alri were lined up in age order in front of Eugene.

The person standing next to him was a girl even younger than Alri.

Though she joined late, she was more skilled than anyone else.

Eugene would call her separately to teach her multiple times, but no one said anything strange about their relationship.

That’s because the girl, Gerda, was Eugene’s cousin sister.

At first, he wondered if they were really relatives, but seeing how well Gerda followed Eugene, it must be true.

And personally, Alri wanted to believe that too.

Because… Gerda was too pretty.

Just standing next to her made his heart pound, and thinking about her having another man turned that pounding into pain.

“…?”

Perhaps noticing Alri’s gaze, Gerda turned her head toward him.

Seeing Gerda’s face directly, Alri quickly averted his eyes.

His heart pounded again at the soft laugh that came from beside him.

“Now then, let’s begin the graduation ceremony. Come forward one by one to receive your identification tags.”

With Eugene’s words, people from the front row walked forward one by one to receive their identification tags from Eugene.

Eugene called each person’s name, looked them straight in the face, shook their hand, and placed the identification tag in their hand.

Some even shed tears, and Alri could vaguely guess their feelings.

Over the past few months, he had learned that everyone had their own circumstances.

He used to think he was the most unfortunate, but he learned there were many forms of misfortune.

And by becoming a hunter, they could escape from that misfortune a little bit.

Or perhaps even eliminate it completely.

Because hunters earned a lot of money.

That boy who came saying he needed to earn money for his mother’s medicine must have cried his eyes out too.

And as his turn approached, Alri’s chest tightened more and more.

“Next, Alri.”

His turn had finally come.

Though his chest felt tight and his throat dry, he awkwardly stepped forward.

Eugene shook hands with Alri and placed the identification tag in his hand.

“…!”

Suddenly, a feeling of his chest opening up.

Something he had never felt before.

His vision grew hot and blurry.

Alri preciously gripped the identification tag in his hand.

“Y-yes! Thank… huh?”

He tried to respond to Eugene with overwhelming emotions, but suddenly his words caught in his throat.

It wasn’t just from being moved.

He saw something unexpected.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Um… your neck…?”

“…!?”

Eugene flinched.

“Wh-what about my neck?”

“…No, did I see wrong?”

There seemed to be some kind of mark on Eugene’s neck… or maybe not…

“Focus. This is just the beginning.”

“Ah, yes!”

Small laughs could be heard from around them.

Alri, his face burning hot, hurriedly returned to his original position.

“With this, the graduation ceremony is concluded. Everyone… you really worked hard.”

Though Gerda was still left, it seemed she wouldn’t be participating together, which felt disappointing.

After the ceremony, the trainees except Gerda – no, now the 20 new 9th-rank hunters – followed a new guide to receive their equipment.

“Hold on.”

Suddenly another hunter appeared in front of the guide.

After whispering something, the guide looked at Alri with a very perplexed expression.

“You come with me.”

That hunter called only Alri separately.

“B-but right now…”

“Don’t worry. There’s just a small issue with the numbers, so you’re being assigned somewhere else.”

“Ah… yes.”

Alri turned his head to look at his fellow hunters.

They all wore very regretful expressions.

He probably have the same face.

And finally, he looked toward where Eugene and Gerda who hadn’t followed remained.

Eugene was touching his neck with a troubled expression while Gerda was staring straight at Eugene.

They didn’t seem to pay any attention to the departing fellow hunters.

With complex feelings, Alri followed the hunter who had called him.

And 9th-rank hunter Alri was assigned to a distant Order branch in a foreign land, and without being able to return to his hometown or see Eugene, Gerda, and his old comrades again, he ended his life at a young age in a foreign land.