“Well, looks like the rumors were garbage. With all the rigmarole, I thought maybe there’d be something to it.” The Great Greg shrugged, unconcerned with the outcome. All parties in the Steps were high level, not just Ark Brave and Grieving Souls. Even the short-tempered Great Greg wasn’t going to complain that one party didn’t show. The same couldn’t be said, however, for the rest of the hunters in the room.
“Hey, what’s going on here?! Where are the Grievers?!”
Numerous eyes shot towards the source of the voice, a boy with scorching red hair and a greatsword on his back, too big for the average human to carry. Despite his short stature, his well-built muscles were evident through his clothes.
Not to repeat myself, but the shortness of a hunter’s fuse correlated with their strength in combat. This kid sure had guts to say what no one (not even the Great Greg) dared to say. I saw in his eyes that he knew he could take on everyone in the room. He’d probably earned that confidence too. The greatsword on his back had a distinctive glow signifying that it hadn’t been made by human hands. No doubt it was something he’d acquired from a treasure vault: a Relic, if I’d ever seen one. While he was clearly younger than me, the aura about him kept me from chocking him up as a reckless idiot.
The boy continued shouting, uncaring of anyone’s approval. “All you flunkies can get bent! I came all this way to see the guys at the top!”
The Great Greg watched him curiously. “Young blood. Don’t tell me he’s lookin’ to make enemies of everyone here,” he muttered. The Great Greg might have looked like a brute, but with his age came some rationality.
Treasure hunters needed allies. News traveled fast of those stirring the pot. No matter how good of a hunter you were, a bad rep would be a real setback. The boy had probably gotten away with it up till this point, but he was now standing in a room full of capable fighters who all felt at least somewhat positively about the Steps, many of whom carrying Relics of their own.
For the time being, the room allowed the boy to continue his tantrum, perhaps because he spoke for a certain fraction of the hunters here. Those who didn’t share his sentiment watched with pitying amusement. The boy was now going from table to table, glaring at the party members with looks that could kill. Ultimately, though, almost no one was taking him seriously. No one handled rabid miscreants better than seasoned hunters.
Close to spitting fire, the boy raged like a beast trying to intimidate its pack. “I’m gonna be the strongest hunter in the world someday! I’m already at Level 4. I was going to give this ‘strongest party in the capital’ a chance to join me, but not anymore!”
He could talk the talk, all right. This kid was going places—or dying young, one or the other. By the looks of him, he had to still be in his teens, which made reaching Level 4 quite the achievement. His sky-high cockiness and brazen arrogance weren’t so admirable of traits, but that didn’t matter one bit if he could keep winning fights. After all, that was what being a hunter was all about.
Rhuda’s cheeks were twitching, showing her apparent devastation that this moron was at a higher level. That wasn’t all bad news though—there was still the possibility that he’d leveled up through working with a party.
As the boy stomped about, a member of the clan finally stepped up. It wasn’t any of the members who were recruiting, but Tino Shade who, until now, had been standing alone in a corner of the room. She casually strolled up next to the boy, shooting him a look that would send shivers down anyone’s spine.
“Huh? What do you want?!”
“All bark. No bite. We don’t want you.”
Uh-oh. Her icy tone told me she was totally pissed. I could hardly blame her when Grieving Souls was her mentor’s party. The other Steps members, who had brushed off the boy’s attitude before, now came rushing in.
“Yo, Tino, we’re here to recruit, remember? Let’s not cause a scene or you’ll ruin this for the rest of us!”
“I’ll take him out in no time. That’s what Lizzy would do. I’m the one who’ll join the Grieving Souls. She promised I could once I’m strong enough.”
Tino was within arm’s reach of the boy with the mighty greatsword. Her temper was just as short as the boy’s.
As she got ready to pounce, more clan members flocked to talk her down. It was getting hard to tell which of the pair was causing more trouble. “Ignore that idiot. He’s a waste of time. We have orders to keep things civil, remember?! You’re gonna get us all in trouble!”
“Huh?! Who’re you calling an idiot?! I’ll kill you!”
“You, you idiot! Drop dead, already. We’re trying to work!”
Now even these clan members were responding in kind. High-level clan or not, hunters were all the same. These freaks drooled for any chance to show their power.
Like adding fuel to the fire, the commotion grew rapidly. Thankfully, there was no furniture close at hand, but I expected them to draw their weapons any second. Once they did, there would be no stopping the scrap until one of them died or felt better. A treasure hunter brawl was nothing short of a calamity.
At least everyone in the building now was a hunter, so I wouldn’t have to worry about civilian casualties—that is, until Relics came into play. Those could easily blow the roof off of a building or two.
“Yeah, show him what for!” the Great Greg jeered, triggering many around him to join in. Some of them, much to my dismay, were members of First Steps. De-escalation was off the table.
I tugged Rhuda’s sleeve as she stood there dumbfounded, before whispering to her, “Rhuda, let’s give up for today and get out of here. Once this lot starts, there’s no stopping them. You’ll die if you get caught in the mix.”
Hunters weren’t ones for turning the other cheek. Once attacked, they hit back harder. It was a terrible cycle that could be triggered with so much as one stray arrow, meaning the brawl wouldn’t die out until only one last man was standing.
Tino shrugged, tapping the toe of her boot on the ground. I recognized that tick—she was about to kick the boy’s head off. A well-trained hunter could kick a crater into the ground or blast through a wall. Phantoms impervious to heavy artillery would be taken down by a single kick.
“What? Wait!”
“Look, the only thing I’ve got going for me is my sense of danger. We’ve gotta leave before the fight breaks out.”
“But I came here to join a party!”
That ship had sailed. Everyone here was a meathead. You couldn’t join a party if you were dead. I’d survived the past five years thinking like this. Rhuda had no idea how high-level hunters fought.
I knew I shouldn’t have come here... As a wave of regret washed over me, I almost let out a sob. “Fine! I’ll help you find a party, but next time, okay?! Now’s the time to be staying alive!”
“Okay, okay. I get it.”