Chapter 6: F-Rank Hunter, Yoschua Verdi

I came out of the room and went down to the first floor, where I saw Mr. Luca reading a newspaper.

“Hey.”

“Huh? What is it? You were running up the stairs like crazy earlier.”

A wave of embarrassment surged up, and I almost let it show on my face, but I barely managed to hold it in.

“Forget about that. Here’s today’s earnings.”

I pulled a money pouch from the backpack slung at my waist and held it out to Mr. Luca.

It was the money I’d gotten from exchanging the Magic Stones I’d collected in the E-Rank Gate.

“Oh, you’ve got a pretty cocky look on your face. Did you make a lot?”

Seeing Mr. Luca’s expectant expression made me feel good.

But his face didn’t stay that way for long. It twisted.

“What the hell, this is all?”

“…I just became a Hunter, you know.”

I pouted my lips as I answered, seeing Mr. Luca’s disappointed look.

“Could you at least pretend to be happy? It’s the first profit I’ve brought in in a while.”

“Hey, you little shit. At this rate, even if you went into dungeons every single day for fifty years without a break, you still wouldn’t pay it off.”

Ugh.

He wasn’t wrong. How was I supposed to pay it all off just by killing goblins?

The debt I had to repay was an amount that would make even a well-off High-Rank Hunter’s blood run cold just hearing it.

Even excluding the interest, it was a hefty sum, and the interest had made it pile up like a mountain…

“Well, still, good work. If you keep earning like this little by little, you’ll pay it all off eventually, right? Future S-Rank Hunter.”

Mr. Luca’s twisted expression relaxed, and he chuckled.

Right. Like Mr. Luca said, I’d just raise my rank little by little and earn my way out.

I had plenty of time. Right now, I was much younger than I’d been as Verdiol.

But my magic and my special ability, Incantationless Casting, were still there.

Maybe if I honed this power… I might become an Awakened One even stronger than I was in my prime.

‘Alright.’

Tomorrow, I’d get up and head to a dungeon again.

‘Ah, but first, maybe I’ll use today’s earnings to grab a drink.’

Just thinking about drinking made the corners of my mouth curl up to my ears.

“You’re not thinking of going to a bar, are you?”

“How did you know?”

“It’s written all over your face, you idiot.”

Heh heh, I was way too excited. I always let my guard down around Mr. Luca without meaning to.

“You think they’ll let you in looking like that?”

“Huh?”

The moment I heard Mr. Luca’s words, I felt dazed and turned my gaze to the glass window in front of me.

Reflected in it was my own figure. A girl with silver hair and red eyes. No matter how I looked at it, she seemed about middle school age.

“Fuck…”

The curse slipped out naturally. The person inside was an adult! And I couldn’t even drink!

“Are you stupid?”

“Mr. Luca, please buy me a drink.”

“That’s ridiculous. This is a good chance for you to quit drinking.”

“No way! You know me, Mr. Luca! I can’t live without alcohol!”

“You idiot, you can live without alcohol. You just started over, so take care of your health.”

How could this be!

This was just as bad as the bathroom situation!

*

Feeling depressed, I went back to my room and took a shower first. After that, I threw myself onto the bed.

‘…Even with a different body, some things never change.’

I’d been out and gone to a dungeon for the first time in a while, and I’d done all sorts of things, and I was a little tired, but I still couldn’t sleep.

‘It’s not like I drank because I liked it.’

After that incident, I couldn’t fall asleep no matter what, so I started drinking, which I’d avoided before, and it turned out I didn’t have nightmares and slept well.

Come to think of it, having that nightmare the other day was probably because I hadn’t drunk.

A restless feeling settled over me. I felt like tonight was going to be a long one.

If I just lay there without thinking about anything, a gloomy mood would naturally creep in.

It was all because of the memories from back then. That incident would probably remain etched in my memory forever, never fading.

Maybe it was because I’d become a girl and my emotions were more sensitive.

“Hngh…”

Suddenly, a lump rose in my throat, and I felt like I was about to cry.

That was when it happened.

Creak—

The door, which I was sure I’d locked, opened, and I wiped away my tears faster than I could think about who it was.

I didn’t want to show my feelings to anyone.

‘Who is it?’

An intruder? I thought, but the moment the figure appeared, it was a familiar face.

“…Mr. Luca?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Mr. Luca let out a big sigh and walked into my room.

“If you were coming, you could’ve at least knocked…”

“I did, but you didn’t open.”

“You did?”

I really hadn’t heard it. Had I missed it while I was spacing out for a second?

“Why are you here?”

“Tch, how long do you think I’ve known you?”

Saying that, Mr. Luca held something out to me…

It was a cola.

What’s he playing at?

“What’s this?”

“A drink that suits you.”

“Ah, fuck off!”

Did this old man come here just to mess with me?

“I’ll keep you company until you fall asleep. If you talk enough, you’ll eventually nod off, right?”

“No, I’m not a kid, why’d you bring cola? You should’ve brought booze at a time like this!”

“Hey, look at how you look right now. If I fed you something like alcohol, I’d get reported immediately. Talk sense.”

“I’m an adult.”

Even if I look like this, I’m a proper adult. Why’s the person who knows me best treating me like a kid?

This is why adults who judge by appearances are the worst!

*Fizz—*

*Gulp.*

At the sound of the carbonation rising, I swallowed without thinking.

If that were even beer…

“Here, take it.”

“Haah…”

“Stop sighing like that. I bought it for you, you know. Want me to bill you for it too?”

I never even asked him to buy it, and now he’s threatening me with money!

“…I’ll drink it gratefully.”

In the end, I accepted it with a resigned heart.

*Gulp, gulp.*

*Khaa,* it is refreshing, I’ll give it that.

“Honestly, I’m not a kid…”

“You are a kid right now.”

“Shuddup!”

“?”

How long is this old man going to keep treating me like a kid?

It was always like this. Even when I was Verdiol, this old man treated me like a kid.

“…Hey, are you drunk?”

“I’m nod drunk.”

“No, you bastard, you drank cola, how could you be drunk? What a joke.”

“That’s whad I’m sayin’!”

What’s with this headache? Why do I see two Mr. Lucas? Ugh, my head’s spinnin’.

“Hey, hey? Hey! Verdi!”

Mr. Luca’s voice sounds like multiple people are talking now.

Huh, when did Mr. Luca get so young? He looks just like when we first met…?

*Thump.*

* * *

It had been less than three minutes since Verdi touched the cola to her lips when she collapsed.

“No, you crazy bastard.”

Luca Modred looked at the fallen Verdi and let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded.

The guy said he couldn’t live without alcohol, but he just keeled over from something like cola.

Good thing no one was watching, or he could’ve been mistaken for a criminal.

“What the hell is wrong with him…”

“Mmm…”

Luca picked up Verdi, who was lying in a ridiculous pose, snoring softly.

She was light enough to make him worry if something was wrong with her health.

Luca laid Verdi on the bed nearby and covered her with a blanket.

Her appearance had changed, but her behavior and the fact that she bragged about loving alcohol while being pathetically weak to it were exactly the same as the guy he knew.

“Tch.”

Letting out a sigh, Luca left the room and headed to the terrace. Then he put a cigar in his mouth.

“Back then, he was one hell of a cool bastard…”

Exhaling, Luca recalled the Verdiol of the past.

Dungeons A-Rank and above, which others could barely clear in days with a large-scale subjugation party, Yoschuko Verdiol cleared alone in just a single day.

Later, when an S-Rank Gate appeared, he took down the boss with just one companion.

That S-Rank Gate, which even the five largest guilds in the country couldn’t guarantee clearing even with a massive subjugation force!

They were a duo that truly deserved the title of legend.

But their legend didn’t last long, and its ending wasn’t good.

Luca wasn’t a creditor who lent money to just anyone. He only lent when he was certain the person had the ability to pay back. And those debtors he lent to always repaid.

Verdiol was one of them.

That is, until that incident happened.

The incident where a civilian, not a Hunter, died in an S-Rank dungeon.

I never heard the full details, but that incident brought Yoschuko Verdiol’s legend to ruin.

With no income coming in, of course he couldn’t pay back the debt. But Luca didn’t hound Verdiol to repay.

Deep down, he was hoping that one day Verdiol would recover from the wounds in his heart and return as a Hunter.

After all, even Luca, who harbored a hatred for Hunters, had looked upon Yoschuko Verdiol in his heyday with admiration.

“I’m still counting on you, Verdiol. To overcome that nightmare. I’ll wait until then.”

Though he’d still calculate the interest thoroughly!

* * *

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

The sudden alarm drilled into my ears, and the moment I opened my eyes, the sunlight streaming through the window made me instinctively wince.

Morning had come. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up early two days in a row.

“Ugh…”

Feeling a faint headache, I sat up, and the blanket that had been covering me slid down.

‘Did I even lie down on the bed yesterday?’

My memories from yesterday were a bit hazy, but I did remember Mr. Luca coming over.

Hmm… I don’t recall lying down on the bed after that, so did Mr. Luca move me onto it while I was briefly unconscious?

Just as I was thinking that, a reaction came from below.

“Bathroom, bathroom…”

After taking care of business and washing my face, I got ready to head out.

Before going into a dungeon, there was somewhere I needed to stop by today.

A clothing store, to buy new clothes.

‘I need to buy some comfortable clothes to wear when I go into dungeons.’

This outfit with ribbons and frills was cumbersome and uncomfortable.

I’d handed over more than half to Mr. Luca yesterday, but I still had a bit of money left on hand.

This was why the Hunter profession was so popular, even though it risked your life.

Because even at a Low-Rank, the income was solid.

‘First, I’ll buy clothes… and since I took down a D-Rank boss yesterday, I should be able to advance rank today.’

Normally, I could have applied right away yesterday, but it was a bit late for that.

I could just visit the office today and apply.

The conditions to become an E-Rank Hunter were very simple.

All you had to do was subjugate Demon Beasts equivalent to E-Rank over a certain period.

Unlike D-Rank, there was no separate rank advancement exam.

In my case, since I’d subjugated a boss-rank Demon Beast, I should be able to advance immediately regardless of the period.

But before going to the office, I wanted to do something about these flouncy, frilly clothes.

However…

‘…Can I go alone?’

Maybe because I’d never bought women’s clothes before, I was a little nervous.

Even if I was just buying activewear to wear in dungeons.

There’s no way I, a former man, would be interested in women’s clothing.

At most, all I’d ever done was dress up female characters in games.

‘Let’s just think of it as dressing up a game character.’

I had no idea if it would help, but that was all I had to go on…

‘Hmm…’

I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

I’d been seeing it for days now, but no matter how many times I looked, I was fucking pretty.

If there was a weak point, it was this flat chest, that was about it.

Still, considering the Hunter work, this was probably better.

It wouldn’t get in the way when I moved.