My Glasses

Chapter 179 – Glasses boy and the hunting festival – part one

(Beckenberg’s PoV)

“What kind of idiot did that!?” I exclaimed. I really was quite angry right now.

After hearing the news, I did look out the window and saw that blue smoke had indeed risen.

The smoke itself sparkles, as a magician imbued it so that it could be easily visible at night.

It was a flashy and beautiful smoke, but right now that just made it even more irritating.

It was still done according to the rules though, so I sent the recovery team after it, but I honestly wanted to ignore that smoke.

I mean, the event had just started. No matter how I look at it, this could have only been done by an idiot who didn’t understand the rules and killed either a Destroyer Horse or a Demon Pig.

Tatsunami laughed out loud, “Seems like you were wrong on when the first hunt would be completed!”

He is at ease only because he is not the main organizer of the event…

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I made it so simple that even complete idiots should be able to understand it!

“Idiots would be confused if there were multiple events, so I narrowed it down to just one, and this still happened!?” I shouted.

This was definitely a troublesome occurrence.

The crowd was meant to become very excited each time a Demon Beast was brought back to Krozheit, but… If the first Demon Beast that returns is something useless like a Demon Pig or a Destroyer Horse, it might completely destroy people’s expectations.

“Well, just calm down for now. There is nothing you can do about it anyways.” Adyll commented.

She is not the event’s main organizer either, so she is naturally at ease as she drank her glass of wine.

“Besides, I wonder if the signal was really risen by someone who didn’t understand the rules.

“After all, like you’ve just said, this event is extremely simple on purpose, so that even the dumbest of idiots should be able to understand it.

“In that case, don’t you think it’s quite unlikely that somebody who had no idea what they were doing was the one who raised the signal?” Adyll commented.

Her words were reasonable, but… “It’s still too early!” I exclaimed.

It was hard to find Demon Beasts in the first place, and things naturally became even harder if you had to carefully choose specific Demon Beasts to hunt.

Finding the target you wish to hunt is highly dependent on luck, in fact. And with the deadline of only a single day to search for it… It’s only natural that it will create competition between the hunters.

There will surely be conflicts between the teams over the ownership of the hunted Demon Beasts. People will definitely try to steal the prey of others at the very minimum.

It’s just unnatural to imagine a team would have already been able to overcome all these hurdles.

Unless… “How likely is it that the team was forced to raise the blue smoke?” I asked.

As in, if they were attacked by a different hunting team to reduce the competition.

“They would raise a red signal in that case.” Adyll commented.

She is right on that… There is no point in using the blue smoke as a way to give up.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep some of their pride, so they decided to hunt some small prey and use the blue smoke.” Tatsunami suggested while crossing his arms, “After all, I’m certain that some people are working together behind the scenes… But still, this is not the kind of situation where they could afford to look pathetic as early drop outs.”

That is certainly true. Some teams are surely working together.

Or well, maybe they were already a bigger team from the start, but registered themselves as two separate teams.

There are great benefits to doing this kind of thing. The score is based on team size, after all, so if one team of 10 people decided to register as two teams of 5 people, they could still work together on the field, but have only a single 5-person team win.

Then, they could just distribute the money between all 10 participants later.

It’s certainly possible that the blue smoke was raised because of that.

Also, while I sent some patrols to keep an eye on conspicuous areas, it’s impossible to scout the entirety of the hunting grounds, so… It’s possible that some hunters have gone to the forest before the event started and are only going to meet up with their team during the hunt.

As in, they are going to hunt with a larger group without actually increasing their team size and decreasing their score in the process.

This is just one of the many methods available for cheating, and I know for a fact that some teams are doing it.

Those are holes in the rules that I made on purpose.

If a cheating team wins, then I can use them breaking the rules as an excuse to not pay them any money, after all.

I am willing to pay the reward though.

But at the same time, I would rather avoid unnecessary expenses if I can help it.

“Anyways, why don’t you go already, fatty?” Tatsunami said.

“Go? Where?” I asked.

“From what I can see, the smoke wasn’t raised that far from here.

“You said you’d be there to greet the first team that returned with their prey, and I think you would rather not do it while panting and sweating from running all the way there.” Tatsunami elaborated.

He has a point.

This hunting team should come back soon, and if they somehow hunted a big game, then it would be extremely important for me to be there to greet them as soon as they’re visible.

It’s my job to make use of the environment and my words to manipulate and enliven the idiots that are intoxicated by the alcohol and the music.

I can’t waste an opportunity like this that might move a lot of money.

Even if this still ends up being a small deal, if you keep on making good use of the small opportunities you get, you’ll surely arrive at a big opportunity eventually.

It was just a short while ago that I almost crashed due to an unexpected loss of money, but this event should be almost enough to make up for it.

“Alright, I’m going!” I stated.

Like this, I walked out of the room at a brisk pace that my fat body didn’t like much.

******

(Adyll’s PoV)

After Beckenberg left, me and Tatsunami continued to eat, drink and relax in the private room.

“So, old lady, who do you think raised the blue smoke?” Tatsunami asked with a happy grin.

I put down the wine glass I had just picked up in response to his words, “Well, there aren’t many options available.”

It’s way too early. Even if someone raised the blue signal after hunting the first Demon Beast that they encountered, it would still be too soon.

It feels as if the hunter knew exactly where they needed to go and what they wanted to hunt.

Being strong is certainly important in this kind of thing, but whoever did this is surely someone who is also very good at searching.

When one takes that into account, only a few candidates come to mind.

So maybe… “I think it might have been my maid.” I told him.

That boy usually didn’t have much motivation or presence, but this time he seemed to be quite enthusiastic about it.

Even I, who have seen all kinds of people and warriors, struggled to judge him.

However, I could see that that boy was incredibly skilled.

I was certain that he was strong, but it’s been a long time since I last saw someone that I couldn’t judge how strong they actually were.

Even when he fought Zett, he still wasn’t serious. He was not planning on fighting to the death.

That boy doesn’t stand out much, doesn’t talk much, doesn’t probe, doesn’t try to force his principles on others, doesn’t show off his power unnecessarily, and doesn’t let his judgement be biased by his ideals of what is right and wrong, which is very rare for people his age.

He simply respects confidentiality and does his job properly. Moreover, he is also quite courageous. It was particularly funny when he threw salt at Beckenberg’s eyes.

He may still be a teenager, but he gives off the feeling of an expert old man.

I personally liked him quite a bit, but I also felt like I wanted to know what he was truly capable of, even if it meant giving up my own secrets.

Because if I ever establish a connection with that boy again in the future, I would definitely want him to be my pawn… And most importantly, I definitely don’t want to make him my enemy.

That’s why I want to know the full extent of his abilities.

That’s why I’m waiting for his return.

Either today or tomorrow, I will be surely shown the true extent of that boy’s abilities.

“That brat, huh? Well, it’s possible. They’re a real hunter, after all.” Tatsunami replied.

“Is that so?” I said.

A real hunter… I know that they’re different from the hunters that we have in this city, but I don’t know what’s the exact difference between them.

“I haven’t confirmed it myself, but it’s probably true.

“That brat seemed to have a good eye for bows, and those were the only weapons they were paying attention to in my store.

“I’m pretty sure that their main weapon is the bow at the very least.” Tatsunami commented.

If someone who is as well-versed in weapons as Tatsunami is saying so, then it must be true.

“So, what do you think? Are you interested in finding out if the smoke was the work of the brat or of some idiot?

“I’m personally starting to get curious myself.” Tatsunami suggested.

It was an appealing suggestion. The two of us have quite a bit of free time right now, as we just need to be here to give instructions in case a problem came up.

So, I think it would be nice to enjoy the festival a bit.

“Let’s go after that fat guy, then.” I decided.

******

(Tatsunami’s PoV)

After we caught up with Beckenberg, who had left earlier, we saw something white in the distance.

A white thing… That was the hunted Demon Beast.

… But nobody has ever seen anything like it.

Maybe it could be a Demon Pig or Destroyer Horse with white fur, but… It’s too big for that, and the silhouette doesn’t match.

The thing is round… A huge white circle was slowly coming towards us on top of a cart.

Who in the world hunted what?

Together with the city’s residents, me, Adyll and Beckenberg waited with bated breath while waiting for the arrival of the Demon Beast that we couldn’t properly see when it was so far away.

I couldn’t wait any longer, so I stole Beckenberg’s telescope to see what was coming.

“I can’t believe it…” My voice was trembling, “A Dragon Fish?”