Preparation

It was now the end of September, about half a year since Viscount Carnel's visit.

Today was Allen's day off. He would normally be busy chasing monsters outside the city at this time, but today was different. Today, he was going to use the money he had saved up over ten months to buy something.

At the end of April, Sebas had called Allen to his room and told him that Mash had been pronounced a Spear User at his Appraisal Ceremony.

Whereas the Viscount had been glad that his daughter had been Talentless, Allen was over the moon hearing that his younger brother had a Talent.

Apparently, the butler had asked the envoy from Krena Village to convey the message that Allen was doing well in Granvelle City when he returned home. When Allen heard this, he had thanked Sebas.

Now, just as Allen was heading to the square in the middle of the city, he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey there! Fancy bumping into you!"

"Ah, good morning, mister."

It turned out to be a merchant that Allen had saved outside of town before.

Nowadays, whenever Allen walked around the city, he would get recognized every now and then.

"Thank you again for saving my life back then."

"I'm simply relieved to see you healthy and well, mister."

The man lowered his head deeply. Naturally, a full-grown adult bowing to a child in the middle of the street drew attention.

After becoming a huntsman, Allen had saved quite a few merchants and travelers. The monsters grew active in spring; as a result, adventurers also grew more active. Allen had ended up saving a fair number of those adventurers too.

About once a month, Hawkins found someone needing help. Protecting the citizens from monsters was also a part of Allen's duties as huntsman. Because of this, he became quite proactive in saving whomever he could. He even used Leaves of Life on anyone who needed it—hiding the appearance behind his hand, of course. Each leaf cost five Rank E magic stones, but he never thought using them was a waste.

"Hey, there you are, Allen."

After Allen parted ways with the merchant, he got hailed once again.

When he turned around, he saw a male adventurer with a sword on his waist, flanked on both sides by female adventurers. These were the people Allen had actually made plans to meet up with.

"Good morning, Mr. Raven, Ms. Rita, Ms. Milci."

"All right, first order of business: food!"

"Lead the way, Mr. Raven."

Allen promptly accepted Raven's offer for lunch, and the group walked into a restaurant located along a major avenue.

'Thinking about it, this is my very first time eating in a restaurant in town.'

So far, Allen had done almost nothing else other than work or hunt during his waking moments. Naturally, that included strolling around town. Even though it had been almost a full year since he came to this city, there were plenty of stores that he did not know and places that he had never been to.

"Here ya go. You still collecting these, right?"

While waiting for the food, Raven handed Allen a jute pouch.

"Again? Are you sure about this?"

"'Course."

It was filled with Rank E magic stones. Every time the two met, Raven gave Allen another pouch of exactly a hundred, so it was most likely the same number again this time. With this, Allen had now received five hundred in total. Thanks to Raven, he now had a rather sizable stock.

It was a little while ago that Raven had found out about Allen being someone from the Granvelle family after another adventurer that Allen had saved told him. Even so, Raven and Allen still met up casually whenever they had something to do together.

"So, why'd you call me?"

Allen had actually not yet told Raven why they were meeting up today.

Several days ago, Allen had visited Raven's inn but was told that he was out, and so asked reception to pass on the request to meet at the city's central plaza today.

"I'm thinking of moving my hunting grounds a bit farther in. So I want to ask you about the characteristics of Rank C monsters in the area, including things like whether they roam in groups or not."

"What?!"

As all three in Raven's group widened their eyes in shock, a delicious-looking meat dish arrived on their table. It probably cost several silver.

"You...understand what you're saying, right? Even Rank C adventurers like us would die if we get unlucky."

"That's why I'm asking you to tell me what you can about the monsters."

The last time they had met, Raven had told Allen that adventurers had ranks. Just like monsters, the ranking started at "E" and reached all the way to "S." However, that did not mean an adventurer would be able to fight on equal footing with a monster of the same rank—in general, the adventurer would struggle in such a fight. Allen had asked for this information just in case, even though he was in no hurry for it, as he was considering eventually quitting his job as manservant and switching to being an adventurer.

As they continued eating, Raven revealed that he and his two companions were all Rank C adventurers. Then he told a story of how they had gotten attacked by armored ants, Rank C monsters that were dangerous due to their proclivity to travel in swarms.

However, Allen had already made up his mind about hunting where Rank C monsters roamed. Over lunch, he asked Raven all the questions about Rank C monsters that came to mind, taking detailed notes in his grimoire. There were plenty of reasons for his decision.

He had wiped out almost all of the goblins.

His level was now so high that it was difficult to level up on goblins alone.

When he will turned nine years old next month, the multiplier on his stats would go up again (from 0.8 to 0.9).

He now had a large enough stock of Rank E magic stones that he would not have to worry about actively collecting more for a while.

Strengthening had reached Lvl. 5.

Not long ago, Zenof had, over dinner, reported that the number of assault cases by goblins had more than halved over the past six months.

In the vicinity between Granvelle City and the White Dragon Mountains, Allen had killed more than ten thousand of them over the span of roughly nine months. Due to this, their population had plummeted, and it was now taking longer to find them.

Allen now had more Rank D magic stones than he knew what to do with, so it was about time to move on and challenge the next rank up.

After lunch, Allen went to do some shopping. For the first time after becoming a huntsman, he was finally going to buy equipment for himself.

He asked Raven's group to accompany him and give their opinion, so the four of them walked into a store together.

"Welcome," the storekeeper said. He gave the group a funny look for bringing a child to an armorer's, but they ignored it and went straight to check out what was on offer.

"So, what're you looking for?" Raven asked.

"Hmm... Something that won't obstruct my movement."

Raven recalled how, the first time they met, Allen had taken off so quickly he seemed to have disappeared. "Then you probably shouldn't get armor. Look for something that's light and tough."

Rita suddenly interrupted Raven and Allen's conversation, holding out a pair of shorts that she had picked up. "I think these would look great on you, Allen! Right, Milci?"

"Um...yeah."

Rita held the pants against Allen, checking the size. She was acting like an aunt choosing clothes for her nephew.

'Hm, reminds me of a uniform from kindergarten or elementary school, the ones where the students have to wear shorts even in winter.'

Many of the online computer games Allen had played had options for characters to wear special costumes, but he had never even given them a single glance. All he needed for his armor was defense value and resistance against magic and debuffs. If the most powerful set of equipment ever was a onesie, he would have put it on without hesitation.

In this life, however, things were different. If Allen was to continue his style of hunting while staying on the move, he had to prioritize speed and ease of movement rather than defensibility in order to truly min-max his grinding. The only thing that remained the same was that he valued performance over appearance. This was a motto that had not changed.

"How much is it?" Allen asked, checking out the price of the shorts and the effects it came with.

"Uh, two gold."

The reason for the slightly higher price tag was because this pair of shorts was made with materials and fur from a monster.

"I want something that would be easy to move in, like these shorts, but I'm willing to go up to around five gold. Is there anything better?"

Allen was prepared to spend more than half of his savings today.

Rita whistled. "Someone's rolling in cash!"

"Then you'd probably want either of these," Raven said, picking out two options.

___

Death Spider mantle: 5 gold

Breath Damage Resistance (Minor), Increased Elemental Damage Resistance (Medium), Light brown in color

White Bat hood: 6 gold

Breath Damage Resistance (Medium), White in color

___

'Hm, so these are the only ones in my price range.'

"Rank C monsters don't use breath attacks, right?" Allen asked, recalling what Raven had said in the restaurant just now.

"At the very least, none of the monster species you'll encounter on the way to the White Dragon Mountains use it. I would recommend going for the mantle, partly because it'd be handy both when you feel cold and when you camp out."

'That's really specific and useful advice. As expected of a veteran adventurer. So, there are things I need to consider aside from the resistances alone. I should take his suggestion.'

"I'll go with the mantle, then."

With this, Allen was done with his preparations for taking on Rank C monsters.