My Glasses

Chapter 180 – Glasses boy and the hunting festival – part two

(Third person narration)

What used to be a white circle when seen from afar, became clearer and clearer as it got closer, to Beckenberg’s frustration.

The white circle was actually a long slender body rolled up.

The sunlight occasionally flickered when hitting the Demon Beast’s body because its scales reflected the sun rays.

It was definitely a Dragon Fish.

The scales were usually translucent and had a protective function as they reflected and refracted light while underwater.

When the Dragon Fish died though, the scales became pure white.

However, even with the color change, the scales still had a very special luster as they reflected light like a cloudy mirror did.

And if one were to polish them well, they’d be able to clearly see their face in the scales.

As the Demon Beast was brought closer to the plaza, everyone was able to clearly make out the ten men of the dispatched recovery team, as well as the one girl who was wearing a very out-of-place maid outfit.

“That brat did it!” Tatsunami exclaimed.

Someone like Tatsunami, who had seen many Demon Beast materials over the years, could easily understand the value of the Demon Beast in front of him.

Dragon Fish aren’t simply rare. They’re basically a myth as far as Krozheit goes. Nobody has hunted one in this area in over 80 years.

It was well-known that they existed somewhere in the world, but nobody knew for sure if they really lived near Krozheit.

Sometimes there were people who reported that they had seen a silhouette that could be of a Dragon Fish, but nobody could say it with certainty.

In the first place, Dragon Fishes lived underwater, as they’re a type of fish.

Therefore, even if you found a place that they might live on, it would still be incredibly hard to chase it, search for it, or hunt it.

If a human, a being that cannot live underwater, tried challenging an underwater creature… They would be almost guaranteed to perish.

Adyll giggled, “The fastest team. A rare Demon Beast hunt. A group consisting of only a single person… Seems like the winner has already been decided.”

Adyll was a bit surprised at herself when she took this result in as if it was a natural outcome.

She wasn’t much of an optimist usually, but she now realized that she had never doubted that the kid would win.

It must have happened when the kid asked her to reveal her Gift if he won… At that moment she must have already predicted his victory.

But when she thought about it a bit more, Adyll realized this wasn’t quite the case… It wasn’t so much that she predicted his victory, but more like she believed in him.

She wasn’t usually an optimistic person, but this time she simply believed him.

Adyll told him to show her his real potential, and he had now shown her what he was truly capable of when he was serious.

“That bastard… How could I even expect someone to hunt such a big game in the first place…!?” Beckenberg grumbled.

He had been planning on raising the excitement of the crowd, that he thought of as a bunch of idiots, little by little… But he had never expected the first participant to return to also be basically guaranteed to win.

To Beckenberg, the worst-case scenario of a hunting team not understanding the rules and raising the blue smoke after hunting a Destroyer Horse or a Demon Pig was still much better than this.

It was something so outside of his expectations, that it ended up being far worse than the worst-possible scenario he had thought of.

The biggest and most amazing prey had been brought. The maid was surely favored to win now.

If the crowd is shown this kind of thing as the first prey, then everything that comes after will simply pale in comparison and not be nearly as exciting.

Beckenberg had been planning on slowly raising the crowd’s excitement until it reached a peak near the end of the festival, but… With this, the situation changed. This was now the peak of the festival, and everything would most likely go downhill from here onwards.

Beckenberg wanted to scream, ‘that damn maid of Adyll!’

He had vaguely noticed it before, but he and that maid were truly not compatible. He felt like the more he got involved with her, the more he would lose.

******

(Third person narration)

“The first team is back!” One of Krozheit’s guards exclaimed.

In response to that, and when seeing the unfamiliar white monster, the crowd, completely unaware of the organizer’s troubles, cheered loudly.

“What’s that!?” One person said.

“I can’t see it clearly, but it’s definitely a Demon Beast I never saw before!” Another person said.

“Isn’t that a Dragon Fish!?” A third person said.

“That has to be it! I saw its scales before at Tatsunami’s store!” A fourth person said.

“Is that really a dragon fish!?” A fifth person said.

And just like that, as if the organizer’s feelings were completely irrelevant, the crowd got more and more excited.

But as if to ridicule the fact that everyone was trying to rush closer to the gates to properly see the Demon Beast, both the recovery team and the participating hunter took their time as they slowly returned.

Nonetheless, they eventually arrived, and amidst very loud cheers, the maid did not hesitate to step in front of the hosts, Beckenberg, Adyll and Tatsunami.

“Is this good enough?” The maid calmly asked.

Beckenberg could hardly believe what he was seeing… This girl was acting as if this was nothing special.

And for some reason, she wasn’t wearing glasses today.

But regardless of Beckenberg’s feelings, the two other organizers instantly nodded to the maid’s question.

Tatsunami was now certain that he would win the bet that started this whole festival.

And Adyll now had evidence that proved her beliefs true, and also sated her curiosity.

“… Do you have a grudge against me?” Beckenberg couldn’t help asking.

“I’m sorry? I don’t understand what you mean.” The maid replied.

Beckenberg’s accusation was actually quite far from the truth.                                                 

******

(Third person narration)

“Lord Beckenberg.” A member of the recovery team called his attention while the crowd gathered around the Dragon Fish, “Some people tried to steal the Dragon Fish that this girl hunted, but they were all knocked out by her.

“I put them at a free space we had at the end of the cart, but what should I do with them?”

Unsurprisingly, at least one team tried to steal the prize.

“Keep them restrained. They’ll be imprisoned until the festival is over.” Beckenberg replied.

“Very well.” The leader of the recovery team nodded, then ordered his subordinates to quickly retrieve and imprison the unconscious hunters.

“You expected that, didn’t you?” The maid asked Beckenberg.

Beckenberg nodded with a bitter expression, “Did you expect it too?”

“I did. The rules were far too lax, so I could only assume that they were done like that on purpose.” The maid replied.

That was exactly it.

“If you understood that much, then you should have been more careful with your actions. I’m sure you can imagine what will happen now that you brought this kind of prey at the very beginning of the competition.” Beckenberg grumbled.

“Oh, I apologize. I am from the countryside, so I’m afraid I don’t understand much about these big city events.” The maid replied.

Beckenberg had a hard time repressing his anger and stopping himself from yelling.

He wondered what did she even mean with being from the countryside. They were at the lawless country, Krozheit. A place that didn’t even appear on maps. What could be more of a countryside location than this?

“So… What are you planning on doing with this?” He asked.

He decided to change his focus.

For the time being, he could put aside the fact that the festival was probably going downhill from this point onwards. The important part was figuring out the ownership of this magnificent Demon Beast.

Beckenberg definitely wanted it. He didn’t know which parts were useful and what they could be used for. He didn’t even know if it was safe to eat this thing.

In fact, he didn’t even know if this thing was a dragon or a fish.

However, he did know that such a huge Demon Beast would surely have a correspondingly large Magic Core. Not to mention it was also quite likely that it would have some very rare and desirable qualities to it.

Even if he needed to spend a lot of money on it, he was sure that he could make that back later by selling this Demon Beast’s parts.

“Oh, this is his.” The maid pointed forward.

“Huh?” The two older men said in unison.

Beckenberg was quite surprised to hear that the Demon Beast had already been sold.

And Tatsunami was quite surprised that the maid had pointed at him for some reason.

“I joined the festival because I made a deal with Mr. Tatsunami. That’s all there is to it. I wouldn’t have hunted a Dragon Fish otherwise.” After saying this much, the maid looked directly at Tatsunami’s eyes, “I have finished my part of the deal, and already got my knife.

“The bet is now over, so neither of us owes anything to the other.”

“Don’t say such nonsense! Are you seriously giving this fish away for free!?” Beckenberg exclaimed.

“This is just the result of our bet. Mr. Tatsunami also had ownership of the Queen of the Destroyer Horses after his bet with Chace, right?

“My participation in this naturally follows the same rules, as this is just an extension of that original bet.” The maid stated.

Adyll understood what he was doing. At first glance, one might think that the kid is simply trying to come up with anything that sounds somewhat plausible in order to not make a profit from this prey. An utterly absurd course of action.

But after a while of being with this kid and getting to know him to some extent, Adyll understood what was going on in his mind… He simply thought that it would be too much of a hassle to try selling this.