"Drop the ‘Mr’, little Missus—"
"It’s just Missus— I mean, Miss," I corrected him, then myself.
"Right, whatever you say, Miss. So you killed the Chimera, didn’t you?" he asked.
"Yes," I said, sighing and ignoring all the skeptical side glances that seemed to have elicited from the side. "What about it?"
"Well you see, I’m a Hunter who has been making a special bestiary— a compendium of all known Monsters and where they would rank against each other. It’s my personal project, but I’m hoping to get this officialized by the Hunters Guild eventually."
"And you’ve come to me to get information on Chimeras?"
"Hah, no," he scoffed, slouching back on his chair. "Everyone knows what a Chimera looks like and what it can do."
"Then what do you need me for?" I asked, frowning underneath my mask. "If you already know everything there is to know about it."
"Because my bestiary is special, I mentioned that, didn’t I?" Gennady said, eyes glinting with some sort of excitement. "Regular bestiaries already exist. In fact, most of my references have come from the Official Guidebook to Monsters released by the Hunters Guild, and updated every decade. But all that book does is describe the Monsters— they never rank them."
"Rank them?" I parroted him.
"That’s right. I believe the Hunters Guild system is flawed. Once you’ve gotten your Hunters license, they let you take whatever job you want at your own discretion. Leaving your safety up to yourself."
"What’s wrong with that?"
I did not see an issue with what he was saying; as an adult, you had to carry out your own risk assessment. Taking a job far beyond your capabilities would result in your death, so you had to ascertain whether a reward was worth putting your life in the line. However, the Dwarf seemed to see something I did not, as he snorted.
"The problem is, Miss, that people are idiots."
"That’s… rude," I said, unable to bring myself to disagree with him.
"But it’s also true. And that’s why I believe the Hunters Guild should implement a ranking system for both their Hunters, and the Monsters they are supposed to hunt."
"Like some sort of tier list?"
"Exactly." The Dwarf snapped his fingers, glad that I was finally catching on to his idea. "I propose that Hunters are to be sorted based on the threat of the Monsters they are capable of dealing with. A range that goes starts from the Rank, F, and goes as high up as to A Rank for regular Monsters. And then there’s an S Rank reserved for special Monsters."
A voice piped up from the side.
"That’s a stupid idea, Gennady, and you know it!"
"Oi, shut it John. Nobody was talking to you!" Gennady shouted back. He shook his head, muttering an oath under his breath.
"I… see," I said, nodding my head slightly. "I think I get what you’re saying. But why must we rank things… alphabetically?"
That almost seemed silly to me; it was like getting a grade in a classroom, which almost downplayed how dangerous some of these Monsters were supposed to be.
"Hmph, I could’ve ranked things numerically, but that only makes it worse. And I did think about ranking them in another way, starting from bronze, and going up to platinum— like how coins worked. But the small range becomes an issue. With only four ranks, it would vastly over inflate the middle two. And while stretching it out to seven may not fully solve this problem, it does mitigate it somewhat."
"I think I get what you’re saying here."
"Then you’re as much of an idiot as he is!"
I narrowed my eyes, and looked at the Hunter who yelled that. "What’s wrong with his idea?"
"It’s stupid!" the man said, taking a swig of ale. "If someone is put in a lower rank— like say, E— they’ll be stuck taking lower paying jobs, and can’t even take a higher one to prove themselves! It leaves all the good jobs to only a group of elite snobs."
Gennady reached for his own cup of ale, but stopped when he realized his drink still had not been served. He yelled at a server before yelling at the other Hunter.
"Just because someone’s in Rank E doesn’t mean they can’t go up in rank, ye bloody moron. And it’s not like you even do any of the dangerous jobs, so quit yer yapping!"
The Dwarf’s accent seemed to return as he argued with the other Hunters in the room.
The two argued for another minute until the other man had to be brought away by his buddies before they got into a fight. To be honest, both sides made good points that made sense to me.
A system like what Gennady was suggesting would have maybe saved some lives from being lost unnecessarily, but it would also force some Hunters from getting access to better paying jobs; equipment meant a lot to Hunters, which could have allowed them to face tougher Monsters, and that was reliant on making money in the first place. Yet, Hunters taking jobs too dangerous for them was a problem too, so there were clear issues with both systems.
I had no qualms in the argument (since I literally just got here) so I said nothing. Once the other Hunter was brought out of the guild, Gennady sighed. "Whatever, it’s not like any of this matters since this system isn’t a thing just yet. I came here to ask you about the Chimera, Miss."
"Oh, right. What did you want to know?"
"Alright, so I’ve read up about the abilities of a Chimera, and I’ve heard stories about Hunters who go up to the Incen Mountain Range just to hunt them down and sell them off for gold. I know there are rich nobles willing to buy those for… 15 gold? Depending on how undamaged
