Chapter 1: The Beginning
Mages, without exception, are selfish and arrogant beings.
That is the conclusion I reached and have held onto since I was a child.
Mages look down on those who have not learned magic.
It's a sad story, but compared to a mage, a common person is no better than an ape.
No matter how much one trains with a sword, could they possibly cleave through flying flames or lightning?
Their inevitable fate is to be burned to death or electrocuted.
This has been the reality for a long time, and it is the reason mages have extended their influence over the entire world.
Even the renowned emperor of the empire was, in a mage's eyes, nothing but an ape, a mere slave offering tribute.
The world revolves around mages.
I'll say it again: mages are selfish and arrogant.
And here I am, harboring that blasphemous thought once more today.
As I watch a mage hunt a rampaging monster in the far distance.
In the land of dragons and the moon, a border city located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Runheim.
Laurein.
There, a mage surrounded by lightning was mercilessly slaughtering the monster.
"Wow, that's a master mage for you. If it were just us, we'd be dead for sure."
I heard a chattering voice from behind me.
It was the voice of a shifty-looking man with the appearance of a rat.
He'd been a monster hunter for a very long time, just like me.
His name was Opel.
He got married last year, and ever since, he's been grinning from ear to ear.
I wish he'd stop lecturing me about the virtues of marriage.
"We were already dead, actually."
"A little."
A little or a lot, we were dead.
We died knowing it was a dog's death to face a monster we were no match for.
That was our role, and that was our life.
Mages were arrogant, using their power only for their selfish desires.
They had no sense of justice.
But then again, for the weak, even crying out for justice is a sin.
Justice, in the end, was a privilege of the strong.
My reflection appeared in a shard of glass shattered by the rampaging monster.
Pitch-black hair.
And shining amber eyes.
My body, weakened by a disease I'd had since birth, was nothing but skin and bones, with no muscle to speak of.
I didn't look like a monster hunter at all.
"If the mage had acted sooner instead of fooling around, everyone would have lived."
"My goodness, Haren, you really need to watch your mouth in front of a master mage. You'll end up dead before you know it."
He was always a nosy busybody.
"Yeah, that's right. Haren the Weak."
At that moment, another familiar voice cut in.
I narrowed my eyes in that direction and saw a hulking man appear on the horizon.
His hand, the size of a pot lid, came down hard on my shoulder.
A sharp pain shot through it.
He'd done it on purpose to show off his strength.
That rotten bastard.
His name was Trenfa.
Known as Trenfa the Troublemaker.
I had a small and slender build.
For someone like me, Trenfa's touch was like a raging storm.
"Weak things like you could die in a flash, not just to a mage, but to me too."
Scum who never stops making fun of those weaker than him.
Today, as always, Trenfa was scum.
"Isn't it time you quit the monster hunting business? It's not like you're getting any results."
I paid no attention to his words.
There was no point in listening to such drivel anyway.
Instead, I watched the mage who finally pierced the monster's head with a bolt of lightning.
Magic was truly a wondrous power that captivated the eye.
If I were as strong as them, would my life have been different?
I didn't know.
Even if I could go back in time, I'd probably still be a pathetic monster hunter.
A monster hunter who couldn't do anything while his parents were killed.
A monster hunter left with only a faded sense of justice.
"Tsk, what a boring man."
When I ignored him, Trenfa left me alone and walked away.
He probably went to find another weakling to make fun of.
That's all he was good at.
And yet, he was much stronger than me, a real monster hunter.
"Doesn't that bastard Trenfa have anything better to do?"
"It was a monster that required a mage's intervention."
"Right, when a mage shows up, there's nothing left for us to do. I'm really grateful."
"Even though that mage is here thanks to the taxes we pay."
"Haren, you're going to get yourself killed someday."
Opel was genuinely worried about me.
Don't worry.
Would a mage pay any attention to an ape's chatter?
Impossible.
The mage finally finished off the monster.
And yet, he turned and vanished into the sky.
The sight of someone flying away was still something I found hard to get used to.
And I knew all too well that just one of them possessed enough power to destroy a kingdom.
"Anyway, today's work is done. I'm off to drink. Haren, are you coming? The service is better when you're around."
Opel said, spreading his arms wide.
His wife had just scolded him about his drinking the other day, and here he was at it again.
"I have to clean up the carcasses."
"Damn it, shouldn't they have stopped making you the cleanup guy by now? How many years has it been?"
"I do it because I don't get results."
I was pathetically weak.
I often ended up with my sword broken against monsters and collapsing from my injuries every time.
Trenfa was an annoying bastard, but the title he used, "the weak," always stuck to me.
My body was naturally weak, so training didn't do much good.
Of course, that didn't mean I gave up on training.
But I couldn't deny the fact that I had no talent.
"Well, I'm off to clean."
"Alright, be careful."
With Opel's encouragement, I gathered the cleaning tools and returned to the street.
In the distance, I could see the townspeople gathered, waiting for the day's mess to be cleared away.
In their eyes, I wasn't a monster hunter, but a cleaner.
It was nothing new.
"I don't know why we have to go through this every time because of these monsters."
"Hah, I know. If it weren't for the mages-nim, we'd all be dead by now."
Perhaps it was because my hearing was naturally good.
I could hear the townspeople's chatter from far away.
More talk about mages here too?
This mage worship was everywhere.
"Are we really sure it's thanks to the mages?"
At that moment, a young-looking boy spoke up.
The people turned to look at the boy, wondering what he was talking about.
He looked like an orphan, his clothes ragged and ill-fitting.
The boy muttered, his eyes wandering.
"I heard a rumor that the monsters coming from another world are something the mages caused."
"What is this kid saying!"
The people, horrified, tried to cover the boy's mouth.
But the boy shook his head, his eyes filled with tears.
"A monster killed my mom and dad too. If the mages created this situation, it's like they're causing the problem and then selling us the cure. So why should we thank them!"
The boy's desperate cry echoed.
Monsters cross over to our world through a strange medium called a dimensional rift.
The monsters that appear in this way cause countless casualties and kill people.
To monsters, humans were a convenient source of food.
So they hunted people without hesitation.
The phenomenon of dimensional rifts certainly appeared out of nowhere one day.
Because of that, a grim rumor had recently been circulating that it was the result of a mage's failed magic experiment.
Of course, no one dared to mention this in front of a mage.
It was just a complaint that people grumbled about among themselves while drinking.
"What an amusing thing for an ape to say."
Yes, it was truly something that should only be discussed among themselves.
Something that should never be mentioned in front of a mage.
Behind the boy.
A man was standing there.
A man with a very gentle smile.
The mage who had killed the monster moments ago had returned.
"M-Mage!"
The people immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, bowing and lowering their heads.
Except when a monster appeared, daring to look at a mage was an act of blasphemy.
The boy trembled as he looked up at the mage.
He had belatedly realized what he had done.
"Are there any other apes who agree with this ape's words?"
The mage asked.
Naturally, not a single person agreed with him.
"I see. A pitiful creature, not even accepted among its fellow apes."
The mage tapped the boy's head.
And with that, the boy's body was blown to pieces.
The boy died without even letting out a single scream.
The prostrated people trembled but did not utter a word.
They knew all too well that if they opened their mouths, they would be next.
The mage's gaze swept over the people before finally settling on me.
I quickly bowed and lowered my head.
Mages were relatively lenient with monster hunters.
It was because they needed the mana stones that came from monsters.
He looked at me and nodded in satisfaction.
"Hmm, you work hard for an ape."
"...Thank you."
I had to thank the person who had just blown up a child.
I knew how sickening that fact was, but there was nothing I could do.
Mages and common humans were different beings.
And with that, the mage left as if his business was done.
Why had he come back?
I had no idea.
"H-He's gone."
"...We're alive."
The people expressed their relief.
Among them, no one seemed to pity the boy's death.
"Damn it, we were almost all killed because of that damn brat."
"What bad luck."
In fact, most of them were angry.
Not a single one of them had a shred of justice left.
Including me.
And with that, the people turned and left.
And I, too, simply began to clean up the monster's remains.
The shattered corpse of the boy.
For some reason, I felt that his corpse was a reflection of my own state.
At that moment, the boy's blood, which had been splattered into pieces, began to flow through the grooves in the ground, gathering in one direction.
For a moment, I was bewildered by the unexpected situation.
Then I belatedly noticed where the boy's blood was gathering.
A chill ran down my spine.
The hair on my head stood on end.
The monster's corpse.
The place where the blood was gathering was the monster's corpse.
A terrible premonition began to creep up on me.
Could it be that the monster was using the boy's blood as a medium to resurrect itself?
That thought began to form in my mind.
All the other monster hunters had already left.
I was the only monster hunter here.
I drew the sword I always kept at my waist.
This was a situation where greater damage could occur.
This might be the only chance, while the monster's corpse wasn't moving.
Cleave the corpse and extract the mana stone, the monster's heart.
Without hesitation, I swung my sword and cleaved the monster's corpse.
Thanks to the mage blowing it up with lightning, the tough muscle fibers were somewhat severed already.
After hacking my way through the monster's innards for a while, I sensed a blue light.
The moment I wiped the blood off my hand and lifted my head.
My face froze.
Inside the giant mana stone.
There was something in the shape of a human inside.
The form of a person, curled up, without a single strand of hair.
I'd been a monster hunter for five years.
And working as a cleaner during that time, I had seen countless monster carcasses.
But this was something I had never seen before in my life.
"What in the hell is this."
Why was there a person inside a mana stone?
I decided to approach the mana stone at once.
It was to get a better look at what was inside.
Clatter!
At that moment, my foot tripped on something.
My body lurched forward, and my hand touched the mana stone.
Prick!
"Agh!"
My fingertip was cut, and blood seeped out.
The mana stone was sharper than it looked.
When I quickly pulled my hand away from the mana stone, I saw the cut.
As I was fumbling at my waist for a bandage.
I felt that something was not right, so I slowly raised my head.
A dizzying scene entered my field of vision.
Inside the mana stone.
The person's eyes had suddenly opened and were staring straight at me.
Ah, damn it.
I'm done for.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I tried to get up.
"Guhk!"
At that moment, my vision suddenly went black.
All the strength was drained from my body, and my balance was shattered.
Along with a wave of intense nausea, all my senses began to spin.
And as my head hit the ground, my consciousness began to fade.
Could it be that the mana stone was emitting some kind of poison?
'Why did I have to act on a monster hunter's duty for no reason.'
So this was the life where I die like this.
What meaning did the life I'd lived so far have?
As my consciousness faded, I could only lament my life.
I should have tried to live a little better.
And I should have tried to live a little more justly.
Like my righteous father in my childhood.
Like my mother, who sacrificed her life to save the village children.
Of course, their justice was brutally trampled by power.
But at least I wanted to be the kind of person who doesn't bow to power and saves someone with justice...
Filled with regret, my consciousness finally cut off.
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