SSS-Rank Hunter Reborn: Private Tutor to the Count's Bastard Son

Three days after leaving the castle.

Ferda's group returned their horses in the small city of 'Cotton' at the southernmost tip of the Count's territory. From now on, they had to travel forest paths where people rarely went.

"Come here, Silvan."

Irona pulled something from her backpack. A glass bottle containing yellowish liquid. She poured out a little of the liquid and applied it to the back of Silvan's neck. Sniffing, Silvan identified what the liquid was.

"Ah, Nirgen sap. It's been a while since I've seen this."

"Right. We used to apply it often when living in the forest."

Irona nodded.

Then she glanced at Ferda. She silently handed him the glass bottle. What was he supposed to do with it? Apply it like she had done with Silvan? As Ferda stood there looking confused, Silvan grabbed his sleeve.

"It's medicine to repel monsters. Just apply it to your neck, wrists, and ankles."

At that explanation, Ferda nodded in understanding.

The forest they were heading to was an area where monsters frequently appeared. Of course, with Irona's skills, dealing with most monsters would be possible. But the best thing was to avoid unnecessary battles.

Once all preparations were finished, the three resumed walking.

It was quite an arduous forced march. Except for lunchtime, they hadn't rested even once. Time passed, and when the sun was setting in the evening, Silvan finally reached his limit.

"Huff, huff!"

His face turned pale blue like when he'd ridden a horse for a long time. Beads of sweat on his forehead kept flowing down. Whether she knew this or not, Irona just kept striding forward.

Meanwhile, Silvan's pace gradually slowed. Then Ferda, who had been at the rear, spoke up.

"Serne."

Stop—

At that call, Irona stopped in place. Receiving her emotionless gaze pouring through her mask, Ferda continued.

"It would be good to rest for a bit."

Irona's gaze went to where Ferda was pointing. There was Silvan looking like he might collapse at any moment. She sighed briefly, then nodded.

"Understood. We'll only travel this far today."

The surrounding terrain was also flat, so it looked good for spending the night. Just then, Silvan suddenly lifted his head.

"N-no, I can walk a bit more."

"Silvan..."

"Originally, the goal for today was to reach the edge of the forest."

At his continued answer, Irona smiled as if impressed.

She picked up the backpack she had put down again.

"Alright. Shall we try moving a bit more then?"

"Yeah, I'll do my best."

His legs were shaking, but he tried hard to endure it. Silvan gritted his teeth and tried to move forward. But then, Ferda grabbed his arm.

"...Ferda?"

"Don't push yourself if it's hard."

"But the goal..."

"A goal is just a goal. You don't have to keep it."

Didn't she like that irresponsible answer?

Irona narrowed her brows with displeasure. Meanwhile, Ferda didn't care one bit. What's the big deal about being a day or two late? He patted Silvan's back encouragingly.

"If it's hard, you can honestly say it's hard. At your age, that's perfectly fine."

Actually, it was admirable that he'd walked this far.

After hesitating for a moment, Silvan soon smiled broadly.

"Okay, then I'll rest just a little."

With those words, Silvan sat down. When he massaged his shaking legs, his complexion improved a bit. Meanwhile, Irona and Ferda began preparing to camp. Watching this, Silvan felt one question.

"Huh? Are we just sleeping without a fire today?"

"Hmm, that's probably what we should do."

The answer came from Irona. Why? As Silvan tilted his head and was about to ask the reason, she spoke first.

"You saw those big footprints during the day, right? The ones about as big as that guy's head."

"...My head isn't that big."

Ferda protested as if wronged, but Irona didn't listen. She cleared her throat briefly, then spoke again.

"The creature that left those footprints is a monster called Zurich. But this thing has bad eyesight. Plus, it's nocturnal, so if there's a bright place in the middle of the night, they all swarm toward it."

"Is it a dangerous monster?"

"Not dangerous enough to call it that, but it's pretty annoying. On average, they travel in packs of ten."

If the footprints were big, that meant their bodies were pretty large too. And things like that traveled in packs of ten? Unfortunately, it seemed best to give up on the campfire.

"Then there's no choice. The duck meat is a bit disappointing though..."

Just as Silvan was muttering regretfully.

Rustle—

Ferda pulled something from his backpack. A familiar smell wafted up. The savory smell of meat. The smell of duck meat. Seeing Silvan's eyes grow wider, Ferda grinned.

"In case something like this happened, I bought some duck jerky."

"D-duck jerky?!"

"It's smoked and dried. It's pretty good with that salty flavor."

At those words, Silvan's eyes sparkled. When he handed over the jerky, Silvan ate it eagerly. Then Ferda also offered jerky to Irona across from them.

"..."

No answer came back. There was no sign of her taking the jerky either.

"Forget it if you don't want it."

Since she didn't want to eat it, forcing it on her would be weird. Shrugging, Ferda was about to take the jerky back. But Irona's hand was a bit faster.

Swipe—

Irona snatched the jerky.

Then she muttered in a voice as small as a mosquito's.

"...Thanks for the food."

He hadn't expected a thank you to come back. Ferda chuckled and quickly devoured the remaining piece of jerky.

When dinner ended, Silvan wrapped a blanket around his body. Without a campfire, he planned to maintain his body temperature this way.

"Come to think of it, I remembered something."

Silvan suddenly spoke up.

He made eye contact with Irona, then asked with a puzzled face.

"Before leaving the forest, didn't you say you were going to take some important test?"

Right before Silvan headed to Count Arcdute's territory.

Irona had promised to take some test and then come get Silvan as quickly as possible. That's why he hadn't been able to meet her on the day he left. Meanwhile, at Silvan's question, Irona quietly nodded.

"That's right. It took some time, but I finished it safely."

"Really? What kind of test was it?"

Silvan asked with sparkling eyes.

Was that face particularly cute? Irona smiled gently and answered.

"It was a test to make contracts with these guys."

As soon as her words ended, fire and wind spirits appeared before Silvan's eyes. They were the higher spirits he'd seen three days ago.

[Irona is qualified. That's why we made a contract with her.]

The higher fire spirit, Salaman, answered bluntly.

Then the higher wind spirit chattered teasingly.

[But it wasn't so much that Irona's skills were outstanding as she was just lucky.]

"...Sior."

[Why? It's true. If it wasn't for 'that incident,' you'd still be stuck in that cave right now, wouldn't you? Someone else would have come to get your nephew.]

Irona could only bite her lips without being able to argue back.

Just then, Ferda, who had been quietly listening, suddenly joined the conversation.

"What's this 'incident' you're talking about?"

"You don't need to know. This is my personal business..."

Irona shook her head as if telling him not to be interested. But Salaman and Sior didn't take her side.

[To explain that, we'd have to start with the test Irona took.]

[We might as well tell him. It's not such a big deal that it needs to be hidden anyway, right?]

Their coordination was terrible.

Irona sighed as if giving up.

"...As I said before, it was a test to make contracts with higher spirits."

Her reason for taking the test was simple. If she became stronger by making contracts with higher spirits, she could become a reliable shield for Silvan when he returned to the forest someday.

"I hate to admit it, but if I hadn't passed the test, someone else would have become Serneck's emissary. Harmin Jember would probably have been the most likely candidate."

At those words, Ferda's eyes sparkled.

In every season of the original work, 'Harmin Jember' was Serneck's emissary. This meant that in the original, Irona had failed the test.

Then this 'incident' the spirits mentioned must be the variable that created a different development from the original. Ferda quietly listened to the spirits' conversation.

[To take the test smoothly, several conditions are needed. Irona met most of the conditions, though it was a bit close. Except for just one thing.]

"Can you leave out the 'a bit close' part?"

[Irona. Spirits can't lie.]

At Sior's answer, Irona trembled.

She had made the contract, but it seemed to have been done somewhat half-heartedly. You could tell by how the spirits were playing with their master like this.

Then Silvan asked a question.

"What's that one thing?"

[Hmm, it was a kind of natural disaster.]

[Something that couldn't be solved with Irona's power alone.]

Sior and Salaman answered in turn.

But that alone wasn't very clear. When puzzlement appeared on Silvan's face, Sior spoke again.

[Long ago, there was a monster that ruled this area. It was a really nasty creature. Because the aura that monster emitted blocked most of the magic power vein and spirit veins flowing through this land.]

Like a grandmother telling old stories to her grandson.

Sior continued the tale again.

[The spirit veins were one thing, but the blocked magic power vein were a real blow. Forests and mountains all withered and died. So the humans who couldn't stand it anymore gathered in groups, fought the monster, and finally succeeded in sealing it.]

While Silvan listened to Sior's story with interested eyes.

Ferda narrowed his eyes.

What? This story, I feel like I've heard it somewhere before.

[But I don't know exactly how they sealed it—the magic power vein opened up, but the spirit veins didn't. But we couldn't unseal it just to open the spirit veins, right? So we had no choice but to leave it alone for hundreds of years, and during that time, the spirit veins remained blocked.]

[But recently, the monster suddenly disappeared. And the spirit veins opened up. Thanks to that, higher spirits could visit this land, and Irona was able to make contracts with us.]

The two spirits' story ended.

Then Ferda asked with a "no way" expression.

"Wait, that monster you're talking about, could it be...?"

[The king of the swamplands, a demon beast called 'Arcane'.]

[It was a vicious creature. A monster that could melt rocks with just its breath.]

From the moment the word "seal" came up, he had some idea, but who would have thought it was really Arcane. Once the monster's identity was revealed, the scattered puzzle pieces finally came together.

'So my actions created this result?'

When Ferda entered the dungeon and defeated Arcane, the spirit veins opened up. Thanks to that, Irona succeeded in contracting with higher spirits and became Serneck's emissary to come get Silvan.

None other than Ferda's actions had created a development that wasn't in the original work. The mystery was solved, but it was a result that made him think quite a lot. While he was lost in thought.

Jump—

Suddenly Irona sprang to her feet. Her gaze went to bushes overgrown with vines. Soon Salaman whispered in a hard voice.

[Irona, enemies.]

"I know. I felt it too."

At the word enemies, Silvan's eyes widened.

"Is it those Zurich creatures you mentioned earlier?"

"No, this ominous aura is..."

Just as Irona was about to shake her head.

Rattle—

Something burst through the bushes.

What was illuminated by moonlight was a white skeleton. But it wasn't an ordinary skeleton. It was approaching them armed with an axe, square shield, and armor, emitting sinister light from its eye sockets.

"Skeleton Warrior..."

Irona's eyes gleamed coldly.

For skilled warriors, creatures like zombies and skeletons were like scarecrows. But higher-grade ones like ghouls and skeleton warriors were quite troublesome enemies.

Because they retained all their combat experience from when they were alive.

"...Are they appearing here now too?"

Just as Irona was muttering quietly.

Sior, who had been floating in the air, gave a sharp warning.

[Be careful! They're approaching!]

Clank—!

At those words, she gripped her spear fiercely. There looked to be over thirty of them. It might be a bit overwhelming, but she didn't think she'd lose. During her time as a mercenary, she'd been in worse situations than this.

Unlike Irona, who was fixing her stance with a determined face, Ferda and Silvan showed no change in expression. Silvan didn't even get up from where he sat.

[I'll take the one in the lead.]

Salaman flicked his flame-wrapped tongue.

Nodding, Irona bent her knees slightly. It was to kick off the ground and charge forward. Just then, a quiet muttering could be heard.

"Lucky. I didn't expect lesson materials to walk right up to us."

"...What did you say?"

At Ferda's words, Irona doubted her ears for a moment. But Silvan went even further, answering in a leisurely voice.

"Right. We didn't have anything like this in the underground waterways."

Silvan's eyes sparkled. Like a child who had discovered a new toy.

Soon he looked at Ferda. Ferda knew what that look meant. So he readily nodded.

"Go ahead. If it looks dangerous, I'll help."

As soon as permission was granted, he quickly got up from his seat.

Then he strode toward the Skeleton Warriors. The three spirits followed behind him. Silvan brushed past the dazed Irona and whispered.

"Back away, Irona."

"Wh-what?"

"I want to experiment with something for a moment."

A smile formed on Silvan's lips.