CH 9

‘An iron stake……!’

A Japanese feng shui attack to cut off the life force of the Korean Peninsula! (note: it was believed that during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, the Japanese army drove iron stakes into the ground at spots that geomancy experts determined were springs of life energy.)

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A wicked plot to suppress the spirit of the nation!

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……is at least what I learnt when I was younger. Of course, those rumours died out when it was determined that most of those iron stakes had been nailed into the ground for land surveying and barrack construction.

But, even so, why were there iron stakes in a place like this?

Deep in the gloomy, dense mountain, so deep that most people wouldn’t even think about coming here. However you looked at it, it wasn’t a place worth surveying or building anything on.

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Then, what was the reason they had buried these iron stakes neatly in line in such a place……?

Song Byung-oh approached as he muttered.

『Hmm, it seems we’ve arrived at the edge. Why don’t we go explore somewhere else?』

Hearing him say this, I asked him.

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『The edge?』

『Yes. That’s a barrier, isn’t it?』

『A barrier?』

『Gah…… You seemed to have a lot of experience, but seeing you today, there’s so much you don’t know.』

Song Byung-oh explained, raising his glasses.

『How can you not know what a mana barrier is? They have set up a barrier so that the monsters that they have released here, in the Bukhansan training grounds, won’t escape. You might not know because you’ve lived only in the city, but there are plenty of barriers like this one in the countryside hills and mountains.』

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……A ’barrier’, huh? After hearing this, I looked at the iron stakes again and focused on mana’s response. Indeed, a thin wave of mana connected the iron stakes some ten meters apart.

In the 21st century, if you wanted to set up a barrier somewhere, all you needed to do was place an artifact in the centre. However in this era, a time when magic engineering was still not very developed, they needed a physical medium like these stakes to create the barrier.

On top of that, the magic barrier that was built up from the iron stakes wasn’t very elaborate. It seemed more makeshift than anything else and looked more like a “mosquito net” than a solid barrier.

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I was expecting something more akin to a secret conspiracy, but it just ended up being a fence that was set up around the practice area so that monsters couldn’t get out…….

‘Tsk, so just a barrier…….’

I felt rather deflated and, in a way, a bit disappointed (?) for a while, but then,

『Huh? Shirabayashi-san?』

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I turned around at the sound of someone calling me, and there stood a black-haired girl.

It was Renka.

……You again? We meet too often to just call this a coincidence……

But Renka paid no attention to my vigilant gaze. Instead, she looked at the cages that my squad members behind me and Iwere holding and spoke in admiration.

Behind Renka were the students that were in her squad. They were holding a couple of iron cages as if they were porters, and inside the cages were monsters that were utterly burnt black, a bit charred, or cut up to pieces.

……However you looked at it, they had all been captured through Renka’s abilities alone. I was dumbfounded and said.

『You caught quite a lot yourself. Even though it doesn’t count up to our grades.』

『Regardless of grades, you have to do your best in the tasks that have been handed to you.』

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She said and smiled.

……I was just trying to get as many as possible to accelerate the restoration of my status window, but what about her? Was she just a slayer that was having fun killing demons……?

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As I was shaking inside, she started talking to me again.

『We’ll start going back down. Shirabayashi-san, would you like to come with us as well?』

Certainly, Renka had even filled up the additional cages she seemed to have brought, so even if she enjoyed the hunt, she probably felt no need to continue with the practice. But I still wanted to get more mana stones, so I shook my head.

『No. We’re gonna hunt a bit more.』

『Is that so?…… Even if you say that we’ve been proceeding, running along the barrier—』

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Renka continued, this time with an expression of confusion on her face.

『I don’t know if it’s just the place we just passed, but we haven’t seen any monsters around this area. Also, we’ve encountered fewer and fewer fellow cadets. Probably, most have already gone back down, I think at least.』

What Renka said was exactly what I had observed coming all the way here. Then, did it mean that most of the monsters that were released into the mountain had already been captured? Would it, therefore, be better to just get back down and get some rest? My squad members seem tired, as well…….

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As I was thinking like that,

『More than that, Shirabayashi-san.』

Renka came closer to me as she spoke. She then glanced over my shoulder at my squad members and spoke to me in a small, quiet voice so that only I could hear her.

『That man is in your squad as well? You know, the cadet that was insulting you in the morning, that Murayama, or Murakami, whatever his name was.』

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I slightly looked behind me. Murasaki was standing far away, gritting his teeth and glaring this way……Of course, he would; he probably still held a grudge from getting slapped by Renka in the morning. I told her.

『Yeah, it just happened.』

『Aha, it must be troublesome—. Looking at his face now, I thought there would already have been a rift between you and him.』

『Well, it did happen, but……』

It did, but……

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‘Wait a second, why is she so interested in me?’

On top of that, she was sharp. It was terrifying. I couldn’t understand why she was paying me so much attention. It was clear that there was something she wanted to say, so I got frustrated and just asked her directly.

『What are you trying to say?』

What?

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『The current squads will last the year. The upcoming exams will also be taken with the squads as they are.』

So, these squads weren’t just set up for this pre-field practice? If that were so, this would probably end up being a real pain in the ass. I have to be with this dysfunctional party for a whole year……?

Renka, having read the anxiety in my expression, grinned and continued with a confident tone.

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『However, if I ask the academic affairs office, it would be a different story. If Shirabayashi-san wishes, I can even transfer you to my class and my squad.』

You can even do that?! Even if you’re royalty, class president, and the freshman rep, you can even tinker with school affairs? You’re scary!

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『How about it? I do think this could be a good chance for Shirabayashi-san. Will you take my hand?』

I wavered for a second at Renka’s proposal.

Of course, it doesn’t matter for a bit but working with this squad for a whole year. It would definitely be annoying. Far from being able to expect an ounce of teamwork, this squad was more like a ticking bomb……!

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But,

『I’m good.』

『Hehe. I knew you would…… Pardon me?』

Renka was taken aback by my firm answer. What, she thought I would be willing to go work under her?

‘Not a chance.’

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It was just this morning that I made up my mind not to get involved with this girl. Even if this squad was dysfunctional right now, it was still better than going under this girl’s wing.

Not only just this cocky guy, Murasaki, but there was no guarantee that Lee Yu-ha and Yang Bok-ja wouldn’t bump heads if they continued in the same team, but it was still a well-balanced squad that I had built up, taking into consideration all their individual abilities.

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『You don’t need to do that. I’m happy with my current squad.』

『……?』

Plus, I didn’t know what was up with her, but surely there was nothing good that could come from doing as she asked.

‘I mean, look at that; she’s just asking me to be her underling.’

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She was probably trying to get me on her side because I was relatively skilled. On top of that, looking at the squad members standing behind Renka right now, they’re just porters.

If I do well, I’d be her underling, and if I didn’t, I would end up a porter.

Moreover, considering how unpredictable this girl’s personality was if I accidentally offended her, I would most probably end up meeting a terrible fate…….

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Listening to my resolute response, Renka thought something over, then looked into my eyes again and said, with a smile.

『……Is that so? However, if you ever change your mind, please come talk to me whenever you want. Then, I bid you farewell.』

And she bowed her head slightly and, as always, quickly turned around and walked away with her long black hair fluttering behind her.

‘…….’

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***

『Shirabayashi-kun, you’re amazing! How do you know Lady Shimazu? And on top of that, you were calling her by her first name……!』

Said Yang Bok-ja, making a fuss as we walked down the mountain. Aikawa, who was following a couple steps behind us, put her hands together and said,

『It’s-It’s the first time I’ve ever seen royalty from so close……!』

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As if she had just been in the presence of some majestic being. Anyway, close, huh……. But Renka was only talking to me, so she was about 10 meters from you, wasn’t she?

Murasaki didn’t care whether Yang Bok-ja and Aikawa were making a fuss.

『Tsk! That cocky royal girl……』

He muttered and spat on the floor. Exactly, that’s exactly how I felt as well.

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We were going back down the mountain as we had no other choice, even though the number of mana stones we gathered was hardly enough to restore my status window …… If it was indeed as Renka had said and all the other students had gone back down, there was nothing more that we could do.

Maybe about an hour had passed since we’d started walking like that.

『……Halt.』

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I stopped my squad members.

It was because I suddenly felt some magic coming from somewhere.

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I had almost missed it as we were walking along the barrier set up through the iron stakes that were emanating magic themselves, but this magic was different felt like the distinctive mana that monsters have.

And it was rather close as well.

Thinking that if I got lucky, we could hunt down another one, I pushed my way through the woods, walking towards the direction I felt the magic coming from. And that is when I saw a narrow valley and……

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『That’s……! I’ve seen it in a book. It’s definitely the monster called “Onikumo” ……!』

Song Byung-oh said, holding his breath. What came into view was a medium-level monster lurking on the huge spider web that spanned the whole width of the valley—

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If I was not mistaken, it was the monster called “Devil Spider” or “Onikumo” in this era. In the 21st century, this monster was considered a medium-level B-class monster, definitely not the kind of monster that they would release for freshmen to hunt down.

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No matter how much they focused on-field practice at this Hunter Academy, there was no way that they would create a situation that students wouldn’t be able to handle, let alone one where their lives might even be put in danger.

That meant that this was an unforeseen situation. A monster had breach through the barrier into this practice area.

‘No wonder the barrier looked so weak.’

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That monster had probably pushed its way through that sloppy barrier, realized there were a bunch of small monsters to feast on, and took advantage of the situation and stayed there.

But Aikawa, who was frowning and looking at the monster, shouted in a small voice in surprise.

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『Look-Look up there! What’s hanging there…… Aren’t those cadets?!』

What?

I looked at the spider web the Onikumo had set up at her web was not only small monsters wrapped in the spider web that was hung around it, but also much larger, long figures……. There were things that definitely seemed to be about as big as humans hung up as well, wrapped in webs.

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The quantity seemed to be about 20. Under that, at the bottom of the valley, were student hats, pieces of clothes, and weapons, so those were definitely students.

‘Was the reason we couldn’t see any other students because of that……!’

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『Sh-Should I call the professor……? Even if it’s now……』

Aikawa asked me, but I just shook my head.

That monster called Devil Spider, or rather, Onikumo didn’t kill its prey immediately. Instead, it had the tendency of winding its prey in a web and absorbing the life energy through it.

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Therefore, the students had already been held in that state and had their energy sucked out of them for hours. It was clearly going to be more dangerous the more time was delayed.

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『That would be too late. In the time it takes for us to go call a professor and then for the professor to come all the way here, we don’t know what could happen to those guys.』

Song Byung-oh said.

『But then…… What are we going to do? It’s not the kind of monster students like ourselves can deal with!』

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He was right. Even in the 21st century, a Devil Spider was the kind of monster that would be hard to deal with for students at the level of freshmen in the Hunter Academy, and with the standards of this era, this was a medium-sized high-level monster. Facing a monster at that level would be impossible for an average student. The students that had been captured were the proof.

However, it wasn’t completely impossible.

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I wasn’t an average student but a veteran Hunter from the 21st century. I said firmly.

『That monster, we can defeat it.』

『How-How are you planning to do that……?』

『Everyone come together.』

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My squad members were looking at me with bewildered expressions. Among them, Lee Yu-ha and Yang Bok-ja were still standing at a distance. I put on a serious expression, directed my words to them and opened my mouth.

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『First things first…… You two. Hold hands.』