Entry 001—A New Beginning


Another lively afternoon at the marketplace in this new village approximately southeast of the Pokke Village from the harsh, cold mountain range. The cat granny decided to pay a visit to the village and offer hunters our felyne services. Large number of travelers, peddlers and hunters gathered here for varying reasons of their own which I didn't bother to think about. Commotion is somewhat normal in here, each of the store owners yelling their sales pitch at the passing crowd, hoping to get a customer or two and selling their finest products in their inventory and hunters looking for a place to stay for the day and restocking necessary items for their next job to be done. Like I said, this village was just recently built near a lake full of abundant resources but it looked like it's already known throughout the region with the mass of people here now. Then again, making a permanent human settlement in a monster-filled land is harder than could anyone imagine, let alone those who wished to build something close to a nest of a ferocious monster. They would just end up as meat supply for the monsters.

Different kinds of people arrived in a place like this for new opportunities which was quite the same for us felynes hoping to get employed. Not for me of course. I'm a hopeless felyne comrade, getting fired in a ridiculously short period of time after being hired by hunters who were dissatisfied in my sloppy performance, whether it would be hunting in the fields or plain cooking in the kitchen. Experienced felynes had more advantage since they were more coveted by hunters but still, getting a new client was no easy task for us cats.

I would also like to say that felynes aren't that picky in their jobs too due of today's increasing demand and competition between ourselves. Well, aside from the certain number of conditions stated in the contract, we tend to do almost everything, just like any human hunter would do. From simple bring-me this and that to small hunting missions. Yes, we could also do office work in the guild. Some felynes are contented with just that. Maybe I only have terrible luck to begin with while doing any of those mentioned. Definitely not a good boost for my morale...

Then, you will probably ask why am I still hanging around the cat granny or keeping in touch with village's guild hall, hoping for someone to hire me again?

I wanted to give myself another chance for no particular reason; it was not yet the time to give up this career although a month already passed without much visible success that could motivate me further. Even though I didn't want to, it looked like I wasn't given any other choices. Many of my fellow felynes already found their own human hunting buddy. Most felyne's dream was to make a name of their own, to become fully-fledged hunters. This was very tough to do alone and to be precise; there are only a select few in the felyne race who hunted solo. It will take you years of getting trampled by larger monsters, losing all of your whiskers or... your very existence. Since the collaboration of felynes and hunters under the form of contracts started, it made things a bit lighter and possible for us. Then again, relying too much on your partner will end up much worse than getting injuries from monsters. A felyne still need to carry its own weight during the quest.

I didn't care much about it, I just wanted to do something in my dull life, at least, achieving something that I can be proud of.

Anyways, observing the market's busy scene was enough to make me entertained, helping me to kill time in the process. A heavily-armored hunter passed by with an unusually large sword in his back, probably weighed almost a quarter of his own, not to mention his very tough armor significantly adding more weight. I imagined how he could swing a sword as large as him and also considering the unbearable retribution the blade could give on an unfortunate monster. From what I could tell, he's a seasoned hunter, already did countless of quests involving perilous dangers in this world full of fearsome monsters. Not long after, another hunter quickly caught my eye—a girl with chocolate-colored hair munching on a barbecue stick with a generous variety of vegetables in between the meat. I won't bother knowing what kind of meat she's eating, but I could tell that she really liked it. She was wearing a cute pink-colored armor, a lightweight bowgun slung on her shoulders and a helmet in her free hand. She was surprisingly young to be a hunter, probably just starting out. She stared in our direction for a few seconds in a somewhat curious manner. This sparked my hopes of being employed again.

This could be it!

The girl scampered towards us and sat down in front of me afterwards. I admit, she was very cute up close with her brilliant yet silly smile. She ruffled my cream-colored fur with her free hand as she contentedly giggled. I happily purred to get some positive response from her. I think she's not that bad as a hunter after all.

The other felynes patiently stared at us, waiting what would happen next.

"Aw... you're so cute!" The girl massaged my head gently with the tips of her fingers. "I think I should have a cat like you!"

She looked at me once more then she gave off a smile I've never seen before in my entire felyne life, handing over her half-eaten barbecue stick. Such cuteness! "Do you want some?"

Keeping myself from taking a bite to the taunting smell of good meat, I shook my head in response. Her smile faltered slightly but still remained with her giddy self.

Out of the blue, she stood up to reach something from her leather bag on her back.

Yes! Finally! Just pay the fee, sign the contract and we're good to go!

She nervously stared back at me for a few seconds before putting down her bag, rummaging the things inside it. After a minute, she embarrassedly revealed what made her feel agitated. "...I think I left my money pouch somewhere."

My jaw nearly fell to the ground hearing those words. What a way to burst my bubble! She was equally useless and clumsy like me. If the two of us happened to be partners, I wonder what we could accomplish... maybe ending up as dinner by a wyvern or something similar.

Our generous granny insisted. It seems she was determined to get me the job this day. I'm thankful for that! "Oh... you could pay the fee in some other time."

Suddenly, two more female hunters arrived. Both of them wore lightweight armour that is typical for girls of their age. The one with the shoulder-length brown hair sports dual blades seemed to be made from claws of a wyvern or something. I couldn't really tell without closer inspection of it. The other hunter has lustrous black hair. She was carrying a long-barreled bowgun on her back, wearing a quite serious face compared to the others.

"Where have you been? Don't tell me you're going to hire another cat!" the girl with the twin blades furiously asked, smacking the head of my supposed employer with her hand equipped with a steel gauntlet. I must say, that hurts a lot!

"Hey, easy there!" The brown-haired girl crossed her arms. "We should find a place to stay for tonight."

"Sorry for the trouble. We'll be going ahead now," the black-haired girl said as she bowed to us. She seemed to be a nice hunter.

She let out a sigh of disappointment before walking away after being dragged on her collar by the other brunette. Again, she stopped midway, looking at a refreshment stand not far from here. She sprinted towards the stand as I scratched my furry head figuring out how she could buy something without any money to pay with. I guess that was not my problem anymore.

Did I have to mention that she tripped face first while running?

The day was almost ending, two of the felynes with me together earlier were lucky being hired by their new masters. I sighed in disappointment as another unlucky day will soon end. I felt like wasting another day for that moment. Well, I did get extra points for being here in the first place though. There was not much to see at this time since most of the people who just got inside the village returned to their respective lodgings while the locals went back to their homes. The merchants who planned to stay up until the evening sorted out their stuff.

But from all of the people who passed by, this particular hunter changed my fate. We were about to pack up for the day when I saw him walking in the distance. He was wearing a mix of blue and gray armor with a peculiar bowgun on his back. He wasn't wearing any protective gear in the head unlike others who always wear their gear completely and I guessed he was just out for a walk around the place, taking a break from the hunt or he just plainly like his head exposed. He suddenly stopped and looked to our spot. I almost skipped a beat, realizing that he was actually staring directly at me. I reluctantly returned his cold gaze. To be honest, I'm used to that kind of look, especially when I screwed up something really, really bad.

After a few seconds of what seemed to be a staring contest, I ignored him and began to plan what to do the following day. To my surprise, the same hunter was already in front of me!

"Do you like to hire one of these little felynes?" The cat granny kindly asked.

The young hunter didn't reply and still, his eyes was glued at me. Seriously? What did I do wrong to him and stare at me like that? Not long after a brief silence, he pointed at me then spoke in a soft voice as if muffled on purpose.

"That one."

"Okay then. Kindly sign this contract, turning over all of my responsibility to you as this felyne's new partner." The cat granny gave him a paper and a quill for him to write on the contract paper as she displayed a smile.

I froze there for a minute as if reality turned on me. I couldn't believe someone would hire me...again. Although, it might be rough to be working with another hunter, I would certainly do the best I could this time. I joined him as we walk back to the inn where he stayed for the night without saying another word.

It felt like the rest of the day played out like it was an every day routine. You know, the whole process of a hunter getting a felyne by signing a contract from the local guild branch? It was easy, but who am I to complain anyway?

"Er, what's your name, nya?" I asked out of nowhere, trying to ease the unnerving silence. I'd figure that he wasn't much of a talker. He stopped from walking which made me quite nervous. Maybe one of the first things I should learn first was when to shut up or ended being kicked out just after being hired. I'll be the newest record holder in that category if it happened or even existed.

"...Yusumi," he replied then paused for some seconds, remembering something just now that made him quite surprised. He turned around slightly then pointed at a building a few feet away from us. It must be the inn he mentioned earlier and we already passed the place without noticing.

I'm quite nervous about this but I hope this new adventure would end up in my favor...