March Toward Despair 1[Side: Hook]

A certain inn in Barse…

「F*CK THIS SH*T WINE!」

D-rank hunter Raiga Easter slammed his wooden wine mug on the table.

「So you thoroughly got chewed out by Mia-chan. And had to see your

idol, Ilsa-san, give such high praise to Kai Heineman.」

My name is Hook. I'm Raiga's best friend, the brain, and the rear guard of

the party. I said those words as I looked at Raiga, who angrily downed the

wine in his wooden mug.

Raiga was born and raised in Lamour, a city where a human's value was

decided by their gift, a blessing given to them by God. From Raiga's

perspective and considering his upbringing, Kai Heineman, whose gift was

[The Most Incompetent in This World], wasn't even worth

remembering.

（If not for this trait of him, he's actually a really nice guy.）

I kept those words unsaid since the only thing I hate about Raiga is his view

about gifts being absolute.

Gift is indeed everything. But, just because someone's abilities are low, it

doesn't mean that their personality is the worst too.

「Mia-chan, get away from the incompetent!」

「From a woman's perspective, it's not like she's on Kai Heineman's side.

Rather, she has the right to give a sermon to you as the guild's receptionist.

Anyhow, this case is entirely your fault. Your stock in her has taken a

nosedive toward minus.」

「S'UT UP! WHAT DA YA KNOW ABOUT ME!」

「Do you seriously want me to answer that?」

「Of course.」

Raiga always loses the sight around him whenever it comes to the matter of

gifts.

「Good grief! You better not mess up with Kai Heineman again in the

future. Even that Ilsa-san wants to scout Kai Heineman to join her

exploration team for exploring some ancient ruin.」

「Ya know what she said when I asked her whether I could join her team or

not? That woman said that I lack the qualifications to be a B-rank hunter!」

「That just tells you how difficult the quest for B-rank is, right? Did you

forget that we're still D-rank hunters?」

「About to become C-rank! With my gift, climbing to A-rank in a flash

isn't a pipe dream. And yet, that woman dared to say that I'm weaker than

that incompetent!」

I don't think that everything is decided by the gift we're born with. In fact,

there have been numerous masters who have left their names in history

outside of their gifts' expertise.

Since Ilsa Harnisch, a popular treasure hunter specializing in exploring

ruins, has recognized Kai Heineman, she might've judged that he has

something that she needs for her exploration.

However, Raiga had already blown his top at that time and couldn't bring

himself to accept her explanation. Well then, what should I do now to calm

him down?

「Oi, Raiga, Hook! Someone told me to give this to you guys.」

One of our comrades came to us and placed a pendant and a letter on top of

the desk.

「Do you know who that person was?」

「I couldn't confirm their identity since they had covered their head with a

hood. They just left these things and departed before I could ask their

name.」

That's way too suspicious. Maybe, we should just throw these things.

「Raiga―」

I called out to Raiga, but…

「Aah, I see! This seems to be the investigation about the 『Ancient

Temple』. The letter even says that they have placed their hope on Hook

and Raiga out of all people in Barse.」

This letter was obviously a provocation to stir up Raiga's uselessly high

pride.

「W-Wait, Raiga―」

Although it might prove to be useless, I still called out to Raiga to calm him

down.

Later on, I realized that I should've just torn down that letter and quarreled

with Raiga than face the calamity and the regret that came out later.

But, I was a moment too late. Raiga had already read that letter.

「KUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!」

Raiga let out a maniacal laugh.

「Let's investigate the effect of this pendant. If the letter turns out to be

right, we're going to depart for exploring the 『Ancient Temple』 .」

He spun the words that would send us straight into a nightmare later on.