Arcane Innovator

Seeing the chaos in the Guild's lobby made me a bit apprehensive, yet then a subtle smile played on my lips as I noticed that in the far corner, there was a sizeable piece of paper hung on the wall. 'They have a map!'

I immediately decided to ignore the commotion, as it probably had something to do with the monster-infested roads along the border, and instead went to explore the map to find the best way south.

But as I began eagerly striding across the hall, a grizzled warrior with a stern look on his scars-laden face barred my path.

I came to an abrupt stop, looking tentatively at the man, who was apparently doing the same, sizing me up before barking out. "You're late!"

I blinked a few times, taken by surprise. "I believe you must have mistaken me for someone else," I said, meeting the man's strict gaze with calm confidence as I quickly tried to explain myself so there would be no misunderstandings.

The warrior stared at me disapprovingly for a brief moment before his brows furrowed in confusion, apparently not expecting such a response. "Nobody told you about the hunt?"

"What hunt? I arrived in the town just yesterday evening after a long journey from Ostengard and have no idea what you might be referring to."

I tried to feign ignorance, hoping he would stop bothering me and let me see the map.

"My bad..." He sighed before waving his hand toward the frantically preparing hunters. "I hope you forgive my lack of manners, given everything that's happening."

"No problem!" I flashed him a bright smile as I tried to go past him, but to my dismay, he extended his arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Let's start on a fresh note... First, let me introduce myself - I'm Malaric, Neufeld's branch leader."

'He's the branch leader?' I couldn't help but widen my eyes a little as I looked at him once again.

From my personal observations, branch leaders were usually fairly old, emanating the aura of experience and wisdom they imparted to the Recruits.

So, I was having trouble imagining someone who was the picture-perfect image of a musclehead to be leading others.

'Well, I guess he must have some other qualities hidden within...' I thought as I hurriedly straightened my posture.

Since he was the branch leader, this completely changed the situation, and I couldn't act rudely.

"So, what's your name, kid?" He barked impatiently, breaking my current train of thought.

"Ehm, it's Jorn, sir." I hurriedly replied, to which Malaric showed me a vicious smile.

"Well, Jorn, it looks like you came into town at just the right moment! We need every hunter we can get for this particular job."

"I'm no Hunter, sir! I was made into a Fledling only recently and don't have much fighting experience... I also came here only to give a report before I resume my journey, as I have urgent business elsewhere!"

I quickly interjected, raising both my hands dismissively as this smelled like trouble, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

Besides, as a wandering beast hunter not registered with the local branch, I didn't have to respond to any sudden job requests.

Yet it seemed that the branch leader completely ignored my protests as he began explaining this "job" of his.

"As you must have noticed, there is an increased presence of monsters and beasts on the roads around the town..." He began before pausing and narrowing his eyes at me.

"That reminds me... you said you came from Ostengard? That means you must have crossed the border with Ereneth! How did you make it here alone and in one piece? Last I heard, the border was teeming with more monsters than we could count."

"Well, I guess we were just lucky..."

"We? You came here with a party?" He interjected with a raised eyebrow.

'Oh, crap!' Realizing my blunder, I quickly tried to come up with a suitable explanation.

"No, I came over the border alone. It was only when I was about a half-day walk from the town that I stumbled upon a certain village chief with a broken wagon. I don't know his name, but he was kind enough to let me ride with him after I helped him with the repairs."

"Ah! So you were the one who saved Folmar from the wolves?" A sudden realization flickered in Malaric's eyes as he looked at me with a broad grin.

"Chasing off a whole wolf pack alone is no small feat; I could really use someone like you!"

'Oh, no!' I really didn't like where this was going. However, I also couldn't turn down a direct request from a branch leader outright, as that would be quite rude.

In this status-based society, getting on bad terms with someone important like Malaric could make my life quite difficult.

Of course, I could always just make a run for it. I doubt that in this backwater town, there was anyone who would be able to stop me if I became serious.

Yet, that would also spell the end of Jorn, the beast hunter, so I was reluctant to do anything that would expose my real identity.

Being able to carry the beast hunter's mark was a wonderfully convenient disguise. Not to mention, after all the painstaking effort it took me to become a Fledgling, I wasn't planning to do anything like that.

But that brought out the obvious question - what now? I couldn't turn him down and couldn't run away, so the only remaining option seemed to go along with this stupid hunt.

'Ugh...' Having to trudge through the wilderness while being covered with mud and grime for only gods knows how long and doing all of this in the company of a bunch of rowdy, smelly hunters - just the idea of it was making me want to vomit.

I wasn't that worried about the monsters themselves; from what I saw at the border, they seemed fairly weak.

And even if some powerful one decided to grace us with its presence, I was pretty confident with how my powers were growing that I could dispatch anything short of a dragon if I put my all into it.

'Still, I feel like I'm getting too distracted by the various side quests and losing sight of the main objective,' I thought dejectedly, as with every new distraction, my glorious future as a mage was slipping further and further away.

Noticing my obvious reluctance, the branch leader leaned in closer and whispered. "Tell you what... If you help us out and prove your worth, I'll write you a recommendation."

Hearing this, I blinked a few times, staring at him incredulously. 'Did he truly offer me a recommendation just like that?'

Receiving a recommendation was one of the quickest ways to earn yourself a promotion, but they were usually only awarded for significant achievements.

To advance to the next rank, you needed merit points, which you could earn mainly by doing jobs. The exact amount varied greatly, as not all jobs were equal.

However, recommendations were generally worth at least ten regular jobs, awarding you a massive amount of merit points.

I personally wasn't that interested in climbing the ranks. Yet, looking at this from Jorn's perspective, it would be a golden opportunity.

Still, for him to so casually offer me one meant they were truly desperate to get more men, making me wonder what this was all about.

Thus, I wanted to gain more information before I gave him my word.

"This is a very tempting offer, but can you first tell me some more about the job?"

The branch leader chuckled. "To be frank with you, we don't know much... All the scouts we sent there never returned."

I raised an eyebrow as this didn't sound ominous at all, to which the branch leader gave me a reassuring smile.

"Still, what we know is that some powerful monster has settled in the hills upstream of the river that runs along the border with Ereneth and has been pushing all the weaker monsters toward Neufeld for the past month."

I looked at him incredulously as that much I was able to discern myself yesterday, and yet their plan is to simply venture into the beast's maw without any concrete info on what they are getting into. 'What could possibly go wrong?'

"And our job is to go there and slay the monster in question, easy, right?" Malaric said as if to confirm my suspicions.

'Huh? So are we just going to entirely ignore the issue of the missing scouts?' I thought, completely baffled as I could already imagine how this would play out.

Well, in the worst case, I was at least confident in my ability to run away.

So, with that, I sighed and reluctantly agreed to the branch leader's proposal, joining the others, who were busily preparing for the upcoming hunt.

'The village chief will be quite upset I didn't show up for our meeting, but oh well...'