-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Suguro’s Request-

Later that day, Kenshin prepared himself for the mission against the sea monsters. Since he had time, he opened the internet and read a few articles by some of the famous hunters about how to deal with these monsters. Their weakness, behavioral patterns, and their strengths. He even got to chat with a foreign hunter named [James K.] on how to look out for oneself while dealing with a sea monster. There were also a few clips on a hunter’s fight against sea monsters, Kenshin watched them all and took note of the various patterns the hunter shown during the battle.

After that, he repaired the [Blood Armour set] in the system store, spending a few hundred gold coins in the process. He also bought a [Speed Boosting Gloves] that increased his speed by 5%. It’s ranked equipment and cost him more than 7000 gold coins, although expensive, he knew if he bought this thing from the market, he wouldn't even have gotten this thing even for 10,000 golds. He got a nicer deal from buying it from the system store. He didn’t bother with potions, he already had a huge stock of it stacked in one of the inventory spaces. The skills in the store did tempt him a bit, but he gave up on them for the time being. In this hurry, he didn’t have enough time to analyze them all and buy. They weren’t cheap either. Costing him more than a few hundred thousand gold coins for a skill suitable for someone of his stats value.

He knew he could level up those low leveled skills, but right now he didn’t have enough time and patience to do that. Besides, there might be a chance to replicate a few skills while dealing with sea monsters, he knew how powerful these monster’s skills were. There might be a chance for him to gain an extraordinary skill like [Passive Regeneration], so he was quite excited about it. Although usage of his [Replication] skill costs him stamina and depending on the level of skill, the stamina consumption increases, his rate of stamina regeneration was also high. In most cases, the consumption and rejuvenation were the same, making him spam the skill for a long period. That’s why, for varying reasons, he was pretty excited for the mission against the sea monsters.

Yuki asked him to report her before it turned dark. The sea monsters were active mostly during the night, so they have to go out during the night. Although it would be dangerous, there was no other way around. Its also many times safer than seeking them inside the water where they had their home ground advantage. The clock was about to hit 4 PM, they must reach the Orai district port by seven. Considering the traffic, if they don’t leave here from now, they can’t reach their location before sundown.

Wearing a pair of black jogger pant and a white t-shirt, which were produced from dungeon materials and were very resilient, Kenshin modeled the [Blood Armour] into a hooded jersey and wore it above the t-shirt. He also wore a pair of boats he bought from system store, that provide him with 50 points of agility. Since it’s a fixed increase, the value of the boats was lower than that of the gloves he wore, but he didn’t complain.

Checking himself one last time in from of the mirror, he informed Mrs. Yui and left the premise, heading for the DCB main office. While he was sitting on the taxi, his phone rang. The caller was Suguro, he hadn't called him for a long time.

“Hello! Kenshin, how are you?” a deep voice came from the other side.

“I am alright. You haven't called me for a long time…is everything okay with you?” Kenshin asked.

“yes! What can happen to me? Unless another dungeon break happens, my life is good. By the way, I heard you are going for the sea monster subjugation right now! Is that true?”

“Yes! I am just in my way to the main office. They told me to report there before 4:30.”

“So it’s true…say Kenshin, can I request something from you?” suddenly Suguro sounded subdued.

“Tell me!” narrowing his eyes, Kenshin asked. He wondered what it was that weighed heavily in this man’s psyche.

“The fact is…there will be a girl among you in this mission. She is an independent hunter, she had applied for this mission from Orai branch. If possible can you keep an eye on her? I am requesting you as a friend. I don’t care what you do, just keep her safe until the missions end. Can you do that?”

“Suguro…! Not that I want to be nosey, but what's your relationship with this girl? I am just curious…” since he was feeling bored, Kenshin tried to get in some details to pass the time. Besides if he wanted to protect her until the end, he must first know who she was.

“You! Don’t misunderstand. She is the daughter of one of my distant cousins. Last year her boyfriend, who she loved dearly died at the hands of a sea monster during one of his fishing trips. He was a well-known fish market tycoon. I don’t know how she got the news, but she came here yesterday to apply for it. I rejected for obvious reasons. Now she somehow applied from that branch.”

“so, she is in for revenge! That’s deep! Did she have hunter training or something?”

“No! She only has awakened a skill, but I don’t know what it is. Last month she made her hunter’s license so her strength would be pretty weak. I am pretty sure she would die if she encounters even the weakest of the sea monsters. Her mother called him just now and pleaded me to save her, but currently, she was beyond my jurisdiction, and since she is an independent hunter, I can’t do much about her decision.”

“I see…so that’s what happened. Okay, it will be done. Since it's about to keep her alive, it will be achieved easily. But I warn you, if she behaves unruly, I will knock her out and lock her in a room.” Kenshin warned. He knew exactly how troublesome these revenge driven people can be. He was once like that after all. If not for Mrs. Yui’s slap that day, he would have still been a revenge-driven young man, who cares nothing else except for trying to kill every monster in his sight.

“That’s okay. As long as she is in one piece, I care not what you do. though don’t do lewd things with her.”

“You…what do you think I am? Some weird old man? I won't do that.” Roaring angrily he cut off the connection. After fuming a few seconds, he calmed down and also smiled. Talking to friends was really the best remedy to pass the time and calm one’s mind, even though that friend asks for something troublesome.

With a beeping noise, his phone vibrated again. Looking down, it’s a message from Suguro, who sent him a picture of the girl he should be looking out for. The girl in the picture had short cropped hair and thin eyebrows. She had a small forehead, and her eyes were not that big but also not small either. Her face was heart-shaped, with the snowy white skin, she looked above average in appearance. But what caught Kenshin’s interest was the anger that hidden deep inside those black eyes.

He recognized those eyes, he used to have them too many years ago. The eyes of a person who cares nothing but revenge. These are the eyes of a person who could use even their family for the sake of their revenge.

“This is going to be interesting…and troublesome too!” muttering lowly, Kenshin looked out of the taxi window as a long-buried memory surfaced in his eyes.