ch41-ch60 · 051-ch51

Chapter 51: Hunter Exam 3

"U-um, hello. I'm Kido Mizuki. My skill is 'White Flame' — I can heal wounds with flame power. Also, it seems monsters dislike my flames. N-nice to meet you."

After Mizuki-san's self-introduction, silence fell between the three of us. By the way, neither me nor Ponta had introduced ourselves.

"Hagane. I'll do my best."

"Maeda-san, that's so curt..."

"Hey, did you all hear that!? This guy can't even introduce himself properly!"

Urgh, this pisses me off!!

Someone cut off his signal!

Ponta was as hostile toward me as ever, laughing while riling up his audience.

I'm supposed to cooperate with this guy? You've gotta be kidding.

Mizuki-san just kept fidgeting nervously watching us.

"Mizuki-san, I'm sorry but let's just get through this as a duo. We'll be at a numbers disadvantage, but our roles are balanced so we should probably —"

"Oooii, hey hey! What's with the secret conference excluding your teammate!? You really think you can pass while ignoring one member of a three-man cell!?"

Piki piki piki.

The sound of blood vessels popping came from where Lumiel was.

Th-this is bad.

"Alright then, let's have a strategy meeting! Take a break and enjoy the show! If you type the fishing command, you can fish for a caricature of me, so give it a try!"

With that, Ponta wrapped up his stream somehow.

As his broadcast ended, he took off his sunglasses and walked over.

"Haah, being popular is exhausting."

"Are four concurrent viewers really 'popular'?"

"How do you know that!?"

Well, if you exclude the streamer himself, it's really three.

Ponta muttered, "Could it be."

"You're that guy who raided my stream the other day, aren't you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

When I played dumb, Ponta muttered "whatever" with a surprisingly calm expression and turned to face me.

"Alright, let's forget about that and have a strategy meeting."

"As if!!"

A full-force retort slipped out.

Why does this guy still think a three-man cell is going to work?

"Maeda-san..."

I snapped back to attention at Mizuki-san's worried gaze.

I don't want to cooperate with Ponta, but like he said, I'm worried about the evaluation if I ignore a teammate. Worst case, Mizuki-san might get dragged down and fail too. I have to avoid that at all costs.

Swallowing all my complaints, I turned back to Ponta.

"Ponta, fine. I get that there are streamers who work in that genre, and I'm not denying what you do. But until this exam is over, I want you to lend us a hand as a teammate. How about it."

For me, that was the maximum concession.

Ponta thought for a moment, then,

"Awwight."

What the hell is this guy!!

So annoying!!!!!

"Um, Ponta-san, are you, uh, going to be streaming during the exam?"

Mizuki-san spoke up hesitantly.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Well, I... I'd rather not have my wanting to become a Hunter made public... I don't want to be on camera..."

Oh right, she said she didn't want Narashima Hunter finding out.

Though, I feel like hiding it from the top ranker of the Hunting Dogs, whose job is covert ops, is probably impossible anyway (honestly, I feel like he already knows).

"Huh? There's no way I'd stream during the exam."

Ponta answered with a look like "isn't that obvious?"

Mizuki-san blinked at that response too.

"Huh? You're not?"

"Nope. I wanna focus on the exam."

Wait, so you only stream the results report? Do your viewers actually enjoy that...? I think I'm starting to understand why he's a low-viewership streamer.

That changes things.

I decided to try communicating too.

"So you actually want to pass the exam?"

"Obviously!! But you're gonna fail!"

"Alright, I'm seeing a glimmer of hope here."

He's weirdly hostile toward me, but just knowing he'll take the exam seriously is enough.

The question is, what can he do?

I don't think he'll tell me if I ask...

"Can I ask what your skill is?"

"Hardening. About as strong as concrete."

Huh, he actually told me really straightforwardly.

I see, he seriously wants to pass the exam. OK, got it. Let's get through this second test together as a team.

"I mean, what's YOUR skill!?"

Yeah, that's fair, that's a normal reaction.

I'd like to pass without relying on Lumiel's power, but it's not fair for me to keep my skill secret when they've both revealed theirs.

"I've got a summoning skill. But my partner's too strong, so honestly I'm not sure if I should rely on her for the sake of the team's overall evaluation."

"There it is, the good old 'my partner' act!! Show us how strong it is!! And if it's that strong, just have her beat everything and get us all a pass!"

"If I do that, it'd be hard to evaluate anyone other than me, so we'd probably end up with a retest... I wonder how that works."

Oh well, I'll borrow her power just this once.

'My turn?'

"Yeah."

'I was getting bored.'

Lumiel's eager too.

"Alright, forget all the strategies I was planning."

We'll handle rescue and guidance, and leave enemy elimination to Lumiel. That's good enough.

'Ten minutes have passed. We will now transport you to the exam venue——'

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'Transport complete. Second test——Begin!'

The place we were transported to was a rubble-filled town with dust and smoke swirling through it. It seemed to be modeled after Aoba Town, where the irregular World Clock had opened.

Thankfully, a map was displayed at the edge of my vision, but unlike a game, there were no markers for 'enemies' or 'rescue targets.'

"Lumiel, come."

At my call, the white cat on my shoulder leaped up——and in a dazzling light, she spread her enormous silver-white wings, descending gracefully in a majestic angel form.

"What the...!?"

"So beautiful..."

Ponta was speechless, and Mizuki-san was entranced.

"Koh, which ones should I take down?"

"For now, go after the groups I point out. Try not to make it too flashy."

"As you command. My God."

I'll leave the attacks to her.

I'll handle detection.

I spread my right hand as usual and focused.

"Ah, about 300 meters north, five goblins. Under the rubble nearby, three civilians. 510 meters southwest, one civilian. 30 meters past that, two goblins. Closer ones..."

I just learned this, so there might be some error in distance, but the numbers are right.

I waited for my teammates' response, but Ponta was pointing at me and Lumiel alternately with a trembling finger.

"You guys... what the hell are you..."

Heh... The time has finally come to reveal myself.

I put on a deliberately smug smile and answered.

"I'm the Hero of Aoba Town."

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Volume 1 is out now, thanks to all of you! Thank you so much.

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