Yet, there was meaning in the idea of a purple pointed hat, just as there was meaning here. I stared down at the name written on the paper, and felt a smile creep up on my face.
I brought the pen down, signing right next to it, signifying that that was who I was supposed to be. And with that, it was complete.
Aria.
My mom’s name. Or her fake name. It might have been commonly used, but there was meaning there for me. Something intangible. Something that made me prouder of myself than anything I had done before. Because now, it was my fake name.
I walked out of the Guild Master’s office with a card. It was just a plain card, with a name and a serial code printed on it, along with the words ‘Hunter’ displayed above it all. Although it did not have one of those black and white pictures which the new cards issued by the bigger branches of the Hunters Guild usually did, it had enough identifying information on it for me.
I felt myself beaming as I held the card in my hands, not paying attention to where I was going; not only was I officially a Hunter now— which meant that I was no longer unemployed and jobless— I was also using my mom’s name, and that made me feel like I was doing something meaningful. She might have been dead, but I was going to carry on living in her name... literally.
I went all giddy at the thought, and almost ran into an almost five foot tall brick wall. Well, not a brick wall, but it might as well have been the same thing.
Gennady, the Dwarf from earlier, stood with his arms folded in front of me. I blinked as he tapped a finger impatiently on his forearm.
It took me about a second to realize what he wanted, then another for me to remember something. Deciding that coming off as slightly racist was probably the last of my worries, and that I actually had valid concerns regarding my safety and my future, I decided to ask the question anyways.
"Hey, are you from the Taw Kingdom by any chance?"
"What?" The Dwarf seemed caught off guard by that. "Of course I am, why— wait, don’t change the subject!" he snapped at me.
"Oh, right, you wanted to know what the ‘Rank’ this Chimera is," I said, nodding my head. "Well I think it’s D Rank, since it’s a stupid dumb Monster."
Gennady sighed, exasperated. "That’s not how this works! You can’t just ascribe a danger level based on how intelligent it is. Sure, it does play a part, but the threat level is what’s important." He placed his arms on his hips, then added, "oh, and by the way, Chimeras are generally considered smart. I don’t know why you insist on calling it ‘dumb’."
"Because it is," I replied nonchalantly. "It assesses threats to it based on size alone, which is no different than most wild animals. The only reason why it appears intelligent is because it’s a coward, choosing only weak prey— and that makes it even less dangerous to Hunters who are strong enough to actually kill it, no?"
"I…" the Dwarf hesitated. "That actually makes a lot of sense. I never considered looking at it from that perspective," he said, rubbing his crimson beard.
"What, did you think I was giving you a fake answer on purpose? I just didn’t have time to elaborate because I was busy. Trying to get my Hunter’s license." I indicated the card in my hand. "You were the one being rude to me, grabbing me when I had something to do."
I scowled underneath my mask, unhappy with the rough treatment he gave me; his iron grip around my hand brought up some unpleasant memories from something less than a year ago.
"I do apologize about that, lass. Your answer just sounded so… insincere."
"I was in a rush," I said simply. "But I can see where you’re coming from. So let’s just let bygones be bygones, how about that?"
"Of course! Us Dwarves don’t hold grudges very easily," he said with a booming, but lighthearted voice. "As I said earlier, my name’s Gennady. B Rank Hunter. What about you?"
I smiled slightly, and stuck out a hand; this time, the Dwarf accepted it with a gentle grip, not squeezing my hand too tight, but firm enough that it did not hang loosely with the shake.
"Aria," I said my fake name, "and just a regular Hunter, since Ranks aren’t an actual thing."
"Hah, good one," he laughed, "but it will be in the future, you’ll see!"
With introductions finished, we sat back down on our table to chat a bit. I was getting tired, since I had not slept all night, so I kept the conversation brief and asked him all the things I wanted to ask him about.
First, he explained the basics of being a Hunter. It was pretty much everything I had already known, with a few extra tidbits about what requests I should generally avoid— ones which were vaguely worded, especially escort jobs. Apparently, some people would hire Hunters, citing a need for protection from Monsters when traveling, while casually omitting the fact that there were bandits in the area, or they were being chased after by some enemy they made like loan sharks or a rival business/noble house.
Hunters were required to
