WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Generation Zero Hunter ◈
Chapter 16
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Train Journey (1)
Ian thought about Sheol.
Going by everything he'd seen and heard so far, Sheol counted as one of the more peaceful cities of the Age of Constellations.
Sure, the Followers of the Comet sometimes attacked the Hunter Support Agency, and whenever a monster escaped from a Gate, three or four people dying in the city's shadows was just a normal day.
But the Agency's control reached the entire city and the Gate suppressors worked properly, so Sheol could rightly be counted among the top-tier regions for public order in the Age of Constellations.
A rear area like this was a good place to live a peaceful, quiet life. The flip side was that it was no place to stack up the track record needed for a promotion exam.
The contents of the "Track Record Guide for High-Rank Hunter Promotion" he'd seen on BloodWeb surfaced in Ian's mind. It said that for simply looking after yourself and living an ordinary life, hunkering down anywhere in the rear and becoming a C-rank hunter was enough.
But there were people who wanted to go one step further. People who wanted to cross the unspoken limit line and leap up to B-rank or higher.
To get past C-rank, the ordinary person's limit line, and advance to B-rank, it was better to work in dangerous battlefields than in peaceful safe zones.
'And then...'
A few incidents from the Common Era flashed through Ian's mind.
'Usually, the messier things get, the easier it is for a secret to leak.'
The Reptilians' communication security had leaked when the Half-Dragon Girl escaped, and the vampires' human-farming cartel had been exposed when some lunatic hunter blew up a building.
A secret is the kind of thing that gets harder to keep the more chaotic its surroundings become. And Ian already had his doubts about the blessings the beings called "constellations" bestowed.
Then one remark from the Dragonkin settled his resolve.
Hadn't that thing called the blanket monster "the bloodsuckers' lackey"?
That was quite different from the Princess's testimony. Unlike the Bloodkin, the Bloodstream didn't need to eat people. So why was a Bloodstream lackey devouring them?
Questions and possibilities whirled through his head. Could it be that the constellation the Crimson Order served, the 《Lord of Unquenchable Thirst》, had handed down an oracle to cull humans?
He tried to infer the constellation's intent from the behavior of the other constellation contractors in Sheol, but Sheol had few high-rank hunters who had formed deep contracts with a constellation and gained even stronger blessings.
In the end, to resolve these questions, he would have to observe the Order's core personnel, who operated not in the safe rear but in more dangerous and violent regions....
Ian organized his thoughts. First things first. Do what needed doing right now.
The old hunter...
"Yes. Is this Examiner Bronte Cozy of the Hunter Support Agency? Yes, this is Ian. I'm calling because I have something to report."
He had reported a suspicious person to the authorities!
* * *
"Oh my, good work out there. You got tangled up with those crazy lizards last time too, and now you've been caught in the crossfire again."
"Not at all. You're the one working day and night, Examiner."
Seeing the authorities show up the instant he reported, so cooperative, Ian felt satisfaction and deprivation at the same time.
Back in the Common Era, hunters were the sort who tried to take matters into their own hands, physically, with things the authorities couldn't solve. And sometimes ended up being "taken care of" by those same authorities.
But now was an age when a hunter could proudly report to the authorities!
Ian thought of the many cases that could have been resolved faster and more conveniently in the Common Era if only the authorities had cooperated, then finally shook his head.
What was the point of clinging to what was over and done with? Though he was frankly going mad with envy at the environment today's hunters grew up in, he tried to stay calm regardless.
"Anyway, that's an impressive record. The attack on the Agency last time, and now dealing with that Dragonkin sprawled over there. Not only do you more than meet the record required for C-rank promotion, you might even get a commendation like the Brave Hunter Award."
"Ah, Examiner."
Ian lowered his voice.
"Could you possibly leave my name out of this incident?"
"Pardon?"
Ian explained his intent to keep himself hidden. Taking down one Dragonkin was one thing, but he'd now dealt with another in a row, and he was worried about drawing unnecessary attention from them.
Cozy nodded.
"True, those pseudo-constellation followers can be persistent. I'll recommend it to my superiors. However, if we strike your name from this report, it may affect your early promotion somewhat...."
Adding the second Dragonkin kill to the abilities Ian had already shown, promotion up to C-rank was a sure thing even without separate verification. Ian shrugged.
"Promotion can wait. There'll be other chances."
Ian had already made up his mind to move on to a region with a higher risk of Gate outbreaks. He could build his record there just as well.
* * *
Ian waited a few days and tied up the odds and ends of his life in Sheol. Collecting his Registration Card, finally updated to E-rank, and various administrative procedures, including applying to move out of the hunter public rental housing.
When he visited the Agency to handle this paperwork, he met again the fairy receptionist he'd run into once before.
"Um.... You haven't even completed a month yet. Is there a reason you want to move out already?"
"The changed world fascinates me. I'm thinking of looking around a number of cities."
The fairy receptionist shook her head. If that was the reason, there was no need to file for move-out at all. She explained that having a firm place of residence was better for a hunter's promotion exam.
Ian nodded. It was a relief that he didn't have to give up the room.
He'd left no personal traces behind just in case, so nothing would go wrong even if the place sat empty for a few months.
"A trip, then. Have you got somewhere in mind?"
Ian considered his destination for a moment, then spoke in an easy tone.
"Well, there aren't many big constellation orders in Sheol, are there?"
"Ah, right. There aren't many orders that have a proper altar and sacred relics, with a priest presiding. Are you thinking of joining an order?"
Ian smiled and shook his head. He had no plans to join anywhere yet; he was just curious about this thing called a constellation's blessing and wanted to see several orders with his own eyes.
"You could say it's a kind of field trip."
"Sheol is the rear, so if you're heading somewhere the orders are thriving, you'll be going quite far."
The hunter common sense he'd read on BloodWeb surfaced in Ian's mind. Order sacred relics and powerful priests suppressed the influence of Gates just by existing, so they were mostly stationed near the front lines rather than in the rear.
Ian answered with a nod.
"Yes. It took a while to qualify for the front-line regions as an F-rank, so I'm glad my E-rank card came through before I set out."
"With your ability, Hunter Ian, you'll climb all the way to C-rank in one go. Front-line regions are still places where people live, mostly, so try not to be too nervous."
The fairy receptionist wished the remarkably kind and sociable Generation Zero hunter good luck.
"Farewell, and stay well on your journey!"
* * *
Ian looked at the train station, which was quite different from the "station" he'd pictured.
Rather than an ordinary platform, it was better described as a fortress, with walls built so high they filled his view.
The trains running on the tracks were the same. At a glance, the metal plates covering the cars looked incredibly tough.
'Right, I was told they can't even travel outside the city zones without that much protection.'
In the Age of Constellations, anywhere beyond the reach of a Gate suppressor was a danger zone where a Gate could open at any moment and monsters could burst out.
For that reason, long-distance travel on an individual level was extremely hard.
Even so, some means of exchanging goods and people between cities was essential.
The intercity railway had been built for that purpose. A long-distance mode of transport that secured a minimum of safety with special tracks made by pouring in Gate suppression elements and armored locomotives.
Ian had already decided on his destination in his own mind.
It wasn't London. Ian sensed that the current Bloodstream had a secret, and that it was the kind of secret not shared with the Princess.
If he was going to make contact with that thing, it would be best to do so after gathering more detailed information on the Bloodstream.
The city he had in mind was Moonbai.
As the word "Moon" suggested, a place where the constellations tied to the moon held thriving influence.
Of the many Moon Orders in Moonbai, the one that caught Ian's eye was the 《Fickle Shadow Moon Halo》 Order.
He'd heard it was a constellation that mainly took werewolves as followers, a sect that had absorbed a great many shapeshifting demihumans descended from Generation Zero.
Vampires and werewolves had always been mortal enemies. If that relationship from the Common Era still carried on, then of course it would be the werewolves who had collected the most of the Bloodstream's dirty secrets.
And so, around the time Ian left Sheol.
The stone the hunter had thrown into Sheol set off new ripples.
* * *
"Damn those lizard bastards!"
Wecoop was flustered by the news that the useful hounds he'd brought from the Order's holy ground had died, and when the Hunter Support Agency announced the detailed cause of death, he was enraged.
The savage lizards had lunged at the hounds to rip out their hearts, and the result was mutual destruction.
The Hunter Support Agency was gilding its own face, claiming that both kinds of monsters that had been disturbing Sheol's nighttime order for the past few days had been caught.
To think the hounds had vanished so pointlessly, because of the idiotic blunder of those brainless reptile bastards.
The Order's headquarters was stingy about giving resources to a rear region like this. Even if they sped up their support unusually fast because this matter involved the Princess, by that time the Princess's lingering fragrance would have faded too.
Wecoop seethed and chewed over the lizards' conduct in a towering rage, then began preparing an excuse report to send to headquarters.
In truth, the Dragonkin felt the same ill will toward the other side.
Because a precious kinsman had been caught and killed by the Hunter Support Agency on account of a bloodsucker's lackey.
And so, an unseasonable reenactment of the Common Era was about to unfold in Sheol. The war between the Bloodkin and the Reptilians was being reprised as a war between the Bloodstream and the Dragonkin.
But thanks to that, Sheol's nights had become a little safer, which was truly a win for hunters.
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