Chapter 79 First Mission Commences (1)

Chapter 79 First Mission Commences (1)

Chapter 79: First Mission Commences (1)

The Region Fritz.

It was under a baroness named Susan Valkoch, a noble woman whose word was absolute in this region. Of course, adequate to her status, the region fritz was quite small.

Still, any hunter going there had to adhere to her rules and work according to them, including the First Hunter Union guild leaders.

Which was because Susana Valkoch and her household were a part of a big pyramid called The Royal Community. All lands that weren't under the world powers, such as Hunter Unions, Magic Associations, and so on, were typically under nobles, except for some lands littered with demons' domains, such as most of the skies.

In a nutshell, their influence stretched far and wide.

"She has a few rules we must keep an eye on," Aimee said as she tapped her tablet with the rules of the region fritz written on it.

After skimming through them, she summarized them for her team, "We can't go against knights' orders, can't sacrifice people or be responsible for bringing monsters to the civilized parts of the region, and can't leave behind any corpse. All corpses must be brought to the Valkoch Storage Room, which should be found in every village and three cities of her land."

"Sounds like a common sense, doesn't it?" Hunter commented first, "Like it's normal of us to not endanger the lives of commoners. It's already hard to live in this dangerous world. I don't want to sacrifice anyone... but that storage room is definitely what I want to argue against!"

Seraphina nodded, "If they want to preserve corpses, they should bring them themselves. It's more work for free."

"It's not for free," Aimee corrected her friend, "We'll get decent income for each corpse, depending on their state. It's said that Susan Valkoch often spreads free resources off monsters to the poorest villagers, which is why she wants corpses with the most parts intact."

"That's nice of her," Seraphina replied.

Aimee didn't comment on that.

At last, Hunter and his team entered the region and proceeded to the first village where the representative of the First Union would confirm their identification and mission before giving them a green light to hunt monsters.

It was like that when it came to popular missions in lands which The First Union had their connections with. If a hunter hunted some dangerous species without taking a mission, the corpse and picture off the tablet were recommended to be brought to get fame and income.

Hunter chuckled, "It sounds like we must hunt as many monsters as possible to sell them in the Valkoch Storage Room! We must pay for our apartment in advance!"

-

"How come you three look like you had just battled some monsters?" The representative of the First Union, Helen, oddly stared at Hunter and his team, whose equipment was clawed and tattered.

Hunter grinned, "A little misfortune event occurred on our way here. We're fine and good to go!"

It was weird for Hunter to say that, as his armor suffered the most losses. He had such gaping holes on the back and front that it would have been better if he had removed his armor.

Yet, he didn't do that because Hunter believed his equipment from his inheritance possessed a unique attribute or skill dwelling within that he had to somehow activate.

Having lost interest in talking as Hunter was the only one conversing, and he was just a man, Helen confirmed the identities of his team and their mission's content.

She then warned them, "Be careful as you tread... before you notice, you might get pulled into a monster's domain and the entire forest's background will change. Your targets, particularly, have the most troublesome domains, as it's hard to discern them from the casual forest. Just know that when you see more vines hanging off the tree, you're in their domain."

"Got it! Thanks, Miss Helen!"

"No problem... don't die."

And with that, Hunter and his team left the representative's house.

When she saw them off, Helen closed the doors and instantly pulled out a small piece of a snagged paper, bringing it to her mouth.

She whispered to it, "A new hunter party is here. Just newbies, with a man as a team leader at that. He's that Hunter whose fame rose in the yearly exam."

A lofty voice echoed from the card, "Good."

-

As the village was similar to the one Hunter was born in, he was like a fish in the water, happily weaving between roads and taking in the beautiful smiles of the villager ladies and aunts. There was always a different charm in them, as women from poor backgrounds were always really plump.

It was always awesome to imagine those wide bottoms slapping-

"What are you thinking about?" Aimee coldly pierced through Hunter, whose mind drifted to the debauchery little room in his heart that probably would never ever disappear.

Hunter chuckled, "I got hit by fond memories of my previous self! A man who could only dream of leaving the village, you see."

"Ah, I see, indeed. Back then, you were matching your status, imagining yourself with just a few of the villager women, weren't you? So limited, you must have despaired at the thought of choosing a few, leaving the rest behind. It must have hurt your harem heart so much you cried every night." Aimee snarled.

Hunter harrumphed, "I was worrying about my unusual state more than that! Hehe, but now that I have you, I don't have to worry about that!"

"Treasure how lucky you are."

Soon, Seraphina returned with a few bags in which water and food were reserved for her.

Which was because Hunter and Aimee no longer had to eat at all!

As for Hunter, he checked cheap traps the villagers were making bank on, scooping a few up to enrich their first mission experience. It was always fun to live in the wilderness, plot against monsters, and have them dance on top of your palm!

Seraphina had even tasted a little of that experience with him, faintly smiling.

"Aimee got healing medicines and antidotes from the union's shop... well, we used a little of healing stuff already! But it should be fine. We're ready to sail off and become rich."

Antidotes were particularly important against monsters Hunter and his team were aiming for.

In this dangerous forest, blue anacondas were enemies to be wary of.

Their domains had tons of eggs laid, waiting to hatch, and their greed was seemingly bottomless, threatening to expand across the safe zone. Their high numbers and constant expansion of their domains also endangered the environment, so it was important to keep fighting them.

Walking down the road to the forest, Hunter noticed another team returning from the forest. It was just two of them, with a woman lending her shoulder to her friend.

That friend was fighting to catch a breath, spitting small blue clouds off her mouth. There were blue spots on her face, and Hunter could see that her entire arm was also blue through the gaps in her leather equipment.

She was poisoned... severely at that.

"Aimee..."

"What? You want to give them an antidote?"

"If I get stung on my crotch-"

"You'll become impotent. Don't worry, I won't leave you over that. I'll beat heavens and hell to find an antidote for my stupid boyfriend who exposes his crotch to snakes. I'll tell tales to the world of how you protected us by exposing the hidden girth in your pants to get the attention of all snakes. Yes, for my Harem God, I'll lie and tell everyone that you're above twelve inches."

"Haha!" Seraphina grinned as she heard that.

At this point, it was already a daily occurrence to hear them two biting at each other like that... well, it was often Aimee having the upper hand as she had a more experienced tongue... which Hunter often teased by saying it was all because of her long surname, and that she is saved by digital signings.

Seraphina felt like she could listen to them like that for a long, long time.

Perhaps because of how she used to be a lone hunter, it was easy to sink into the background and rear an ear to their conversations.

"Twelve inches?! J-Just make sure to tell the world that it's in an awakened state!"

"Oh, right... thanks. I'll lie farther and say it's the dormant beast."

"Haha! You'll make them jealous of you!"

"No, they will pity me."

Soon, the forest's entrance stalled the team and their ambiguous conversation, keeping them standing still before its mouth.

The forest didn't seem any special, just like Helen had said. It was a common forest where one would be able to find common monsters that even villagers should be able to deal with.

Yet, the numbers here were so high that being a hunter of the village was already a forgotten occupation!

An odd air wafted over to Hunter's side, raising his suspicions. He couldn't really tell what kind of a feeling it was, but he was once again assured that things weren't as simple as they appeared to be.

World Order... and now this odd forest.

It seemed like Hunter was learning more and more about the Hunter World with every step.

And that the step into this forest was of another important lesson.

"Let's go," Hunter said to his teammates, who also seemed to perceive something odd.

Soon, the entire party disappeared in the forest.

And their first enemy had been waiting for them just around the corner.

A blue anaconda extended its head toward them!