Chapter 95: Hermes

“Pfft, puhahahahaha!”

The moment he heard my words, Neveres burst into loud laughter.

‘…Fuck.’

My tongue had tripped from being a little nervous.

I’m the type who swells up endlessly in front of people beneath me, but feels a bit of tension around those I acknowledge or see as equals.

That’s right. I’m a textbook bully-coward type.

Neveres is one of the strong ones I acknowledge, like Moonlight… and he was a pretty famous bastard, after all.

“You’re asking me to sell you the stake in End Cave?”

Just as I felt like I’d been rambling, Neveres asked me.

“…Yes.”

“Let’s hear the reason first.”

He hadn’t wiped the amusement off his face, but surprisingly, I could sense a hint of seriousness in that expression.

“We’re going to clear it.”

“Hoo. What gives you that confidence? I’m not dismissing Black Yacha’s skills, but that place is one that even a large number of S-Rank Hunters failed to clear.”

“We can do it.”

As I declared confidently, Neveres’s gaze, which had been on Jihyeok, turned back to me.

“Black Mage, I’ve been keeping an eye on you for a while now. Thinking that maybe a rather useful talent had appeared.”

I wasn’t particularly surprised. That bastard Wilhelm was stalking me too, so there was no reason this bastard wouldn’t.

‘…Maybe I’ve been catching more eyes around me than I thought.’

Until I revealed my identity to the people who knew me, I thought I’d been hiding it well. But Wilhelm, and now Neveres saying this, they’re all talking like they’ve been watching me for a long time…

I felt a bit of disgust at the unwanted attention, but I’m the one asking for a favor right now. I can’t show that I dislike it.

“But no matter how outstanding a Hunter you are, clearing that place is impossible. I can say that for certain.”

“It won’t be easy, but I don’t think it’s impossible.”

“You’ve never even been there, have you? I have. What I saw there was death.”

Neveres wiped the smile off his face and spoke with a serious expression.

“Yes, living death.”

After those words, a brief silence fell.

“Will you still challenge it?”

It was Neveres who broke that silence.

“…Yes.”

I still spoke with a strong voice. I thought that if I showed any sign of being intimidated here, Neveres wouldn’t sell me the stake.

“Hmm… Well, just from seeing Black Yacha follow you, I can tell you’re a special egg.”

Neveres glanced at Jihyeok once, then turned his gaze back to me as he spoke.

“But you know, I’ve already seen quite a few special people like that. And I challenged End Cave with them, and we failed.”

Saying that, Neveres suddenly stood up from his seat. He stood in front of me. He was quite tall, so I had no choice but to straighten my neck to look up at him.

“Can you claim that you’re far stronger than people like us? You, who are still just an A-Rank Hunter, stronger than all of us S-Rank Hunters… the Guild Masters of the Five Great Guilds? Come to think of it, I heard you founded a guild not long ago. Do you really think your guild is stronger than the combined forces of the Five Great Guilds?”

“…….”

His voice was starting to become more and more oppressive.

“End Cave! It’s a Gate we want to clear too. The desire to clear it still remains in me as well. How about this? It feels a bit odd to say this to a newly formed guild, but it should be a tempting offer.”

“What is it?”

Somehow, I had a feeling I knew what Neveres was going to say. So I already thought it over without even listening to his next words.

“Merge with our Hermes. Don’t worry. I’ll give you and Black Yacha, and the other outstanding guild members, treatment befitting your worth. What do you think? I think it’s a good offer. You’d be joining the Five Great Guilds.”

As expected. I knew it was going too smoothly.

Neveres had come to greet us in person from the start with the intention of winning us over.

“I ref— No.”

I was about to say, “I refuse.” But at that very moment, an absolutely brilliant idea popped into my head.

Neveres won’t easily sell the stake in End Cave. Maybe he’s planning to use us to form the main force of Hermes and attempt a re-clear.

If that’s the case.

There’s no reason for me not to accept the idea I just came up with.

Because this bastard is a tyrant who’s confident in his own skills and thinks he’s the king and the rule of this world.

“Let me make a proposal, Lord Neveres.”

“A proposal? Let’s hear it.”

At Neveres’s words, I put a smile on my lips and spoke.

“A duel.”

I recalled saying the exact same thing to Marcel before.

“What, a duel?”

“Yes.”

“What are you suddenly talking about…”

“If I lose the duel, my guild will merge with Hermes.”

“…Senior.”

At my words, Jihyeok’s eyebrow twitched. But I sent him a gesture that it was fine and continued.

“Instead, if I win, please ‘nicely’ transfer Hermes’s stake in End Cave. Of course, even if I win the duel, I’ll still pay you.”

I deliberately used the word ‘nicely’ to provoke Neveres.

And as expected, it was effective.

“Puhahaha! The Black Mage, no, the little brat!”

Neveres showed his true colors. Then he continued with a murderous smile.

“No matter how much you’ve climbed to the position of an A-Rank Hunter, the world above that is nothing compared to what you’ve experienced so far. Who do you dare to challenge? Enough. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear this one time. I have no intention of trampling a budding sprout.”

Honestly, if I were just an ordinary A-Rank Hunter, Neveres’s words right now would have been nothing short of mercy.

But I’m not an ordinary A-Rank Hunter. So I didn’t lose my smile as I spoke.

“Ah, you’re scared.”

“…What?”

“Did you hear that? I wasn’t trying to say it loud enough for you to hear. I never imagined that Lord Neveres, the head of the largest guild among the Five Great Guilds and an S-Rank Hunter, would be scared of a mere A-Rank Hunter.”

Right after I spat that out, I prepared myself for Neveres to lose his temper.

“…Haha, seems you’re not just any brat. I’ll acknowledge that guts.”

But surprisingly, Neveres just chuckled and left it at that.

“Fine. If you’re going that far, I’ll have to prove that I’m not scared. Black Mage, your opponent is me.”

“…Senior, let me do it instead.”

“No.”

It seemed like Jihyeok was offering to step in, so I deliberately reached out and stopped him.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

* * *

Inside the Hermes guild office, commonly called the airship, there is an ‘arena.’

It was built to appease the guild members’ competitive spirits, but in reality, it was a place the guild master Neveres created to assert his own authority.

Anyone is free to challenge the guild master of Hermes.

However, the price will never be light.

“Welcome to my arena!”

Neveres shouted in a booming voice.

“Waaaaah!!”

“The Master himself is stepping up!”

“The challenger is the guild master of a newborn guild!”

The guild members’ cheers followed.

I felt a little intimidated by the noise, my stomach churning, but I gritted my teeth and controlled my expression so it wouldn’t show on the outside.

This place was practically their home ground. I had expected this from the moment I proposed the duel.

Still, the heat was overwhelming…

“You little brat! How dare you challenge the Master!”

“It’s too late to regret it now!”

An enormous number of gazes were fixed on me. The only thing protecting me from those stares was Jihyeok.

“What, the Black Night Rider isn’t the challenger?”

“No. I heard that little kid next to him is the challenger.”

“For real? Puhahahaha!”

I heard those voices and glared in their direction, but probably because of my appearance…

“Hey, she’s looking this way.”

“Aang? What are you gonna do if she looks?!”

Instead, I got that kind of reaction. I got so angry I clenched my fist.

“Don’t fall for that kind of provocation, Senior.”

Jihyeok said to me. Hearing that, I let out a sigh and turned my head back to focus on Neveres.

“Kuhaha! Forgive my subordinates’ rudeness. They’re always hot-blooded fellows!”

‘…Hmph.’

Hot-blooded, my ass. If I were Verdiol, they’d be cowering without a word.

“I hate to say it now that you’ve come this far, but don’t you regret it? If you back out even now, I’ll pretend none of this happened.”

Pretend none of this happened? What a joke. With so many eyes watching, if I backed down now, the whole world would laugh at me.

“I don’t plan to.”

“Is that so? Hahaha, I like your spirit. Anyway, it’s been a while. I never thought anyone would dare challenge me directly.”

‘I didn’t say I’d do it directly, but…’

I thought he’d send his underlings first, but surprisingly, Neveres walked out to the center of the arena as if he intended to step up himself.

I slowly walked forward too.

“Weapons? Are we fighting bare-handed? You don’t look the type.”

“You’ll see.”

When I took my stance, Neveres said something like that, so I answered curtly.

He must have heard about my name, but it seemed he hadn’t heard about my fighting style.

For the record, I no longer hide my fighting style from others.

It doesn’t really matter anymore — back when I was in Verdiol’s body, only a handful of people ever saw my fighting style.

During the Dark Moon incident, most Hunters were too busy running for their lives, and aside from that, I almost always moved alone or just with Jihyeok.

Still, up until now, I’d hidden my abilities just in case, but I don’t need to do that anymore.

Now I’m an A-Rank Hunter, and I’ve reached a position where I can easily rise to S-Rank if I put in the time.

Neveres and I faced each other from a distance.

DEEEEEEENG—!

Right after, the bell signaling the start of the arena battle rang loudly.

“I won’t go easy on you.”

“……!”

The duel between Neveres and me began.