As Ronnie slipped back into a doze, screams from the forest made her twitch slightly. A small smirk crept onto her face. It appears they've found the pigs. There was only one species of pig that lived in the Biska Forest Park, and they just so happened to be enormous and carnivorous. Well past twice the size of a grown man, they had thick skin and a bad attitude, charging at anything they considered a threat. This thought kept a tiny smile on Ronnie's face as she heard the screams echo through the trees. Sounds like they're having fun. However, the screaming soon stopped, and Ronnie sat up, eyebrows furrowed.
The rumbling of many footsteps reached her ears and she quickly dived back into her hiding spot as the Hunter applicants emerged, each one (somehow) carrying an enormous pig carcass on their shoulders. It also seems that they have found their weak spot. A Biska Forest pig had only a few weak spots. The mouth, the eyes, and perhaps the most easily accessible, the forehead. Usually, their huge snout would protect it from harm, but if one were to strike from above, they would go down in one hit.
Once they arrived back at the manor, each applicant claimed a cooking station and started to set up. Only three minutes in, Ronnie realized something. Why are they all roasting their pigs? Each and every pig that her eyes landed on was being turned carefully on a spit. No one had done anything different than the others. Her eyebrow twitched.
Finally, #255, the first applicant to finish preparing his 'dish' (which happened to be just a giant roasted pig, no seasoning or anything) set it down in front of Menchi and Buhara.
"Now eat the pig and send me to the next phase." He said confidently. Menchi, disinterested, merely sat back.
"Okay, it's evaluation time. Taste testing." Buhara dug in, and shortly thereafter held up a small circular sign with a red circle on it.
"Tastes good!" Menchi on the other hand, held up a sign with a blue X on it without even taking a bite.
"It's overcooked. The tough texture ruins the flavor of the meat."
"What? You haven't even tried it!"
"It's plain as day." The applicant growled.
"Damn it…"
One after the other, each applicant was passed by Buhara, but failed by Menchi without her even taking a single bite. Ronnie's wide eyes kept staring at the steadily growing pile of pig bones behind Buhara.
"Hey!" called Menchi, waving her sign in the air in agitation. "Can't anyone out there satisfy me?" That totally doesn't sound inappropriate. Thought Ronnie. The woman kept failing all of the applicants coming her way when finally, a rather interesting arrangement arrived on the table in front of her. It was a roasted pig, but it was cut into slices and had fruits and lettuce in between them. Menchi raised an eyebrow and took out her fork, pulling away a small chunk of meat. She chewed on it for exactly one second before she flipped the table over in anger.
"Yuck!" the blonde boy who had presented his meal was apparently dumbfounded.
"Appearance is important, but only if it also tastes good. You're no better than #403!" she shouted, gesturing back at one of the other applicants. After that last applicant had walked away with a dejected look on his face, Buhara patted his stomach.
"That was so much food, I'm stuffed!" Menchi still had a grumpy look on her face.
"Yeah, I'm stuffed too. Therefore, no one passes. We're finished here!" Ronnie groaned, thumping her head down on the rooftop. In the two days that I've known her, Menchi doesn't seem like the type that can be pleased by even the best chef in the country… she thought. When she looked up, some of the applicants had started to shout at Menchi.
"Zero people passed?"
"Are you serious?"
"Does she really mean it?"
"The exam is over?"
"This isn't funny!"
A crashing noise made Ronnie focus on #255, the first to fail. He had smashed his cooking station with his fist.
"I won't accept it… I absolutely refuse to accept this!" he shouted. Ronnie shrugged her shoulders. Suck it up and deal with it, you big baby. There's always next year.
"In the end, you've still failed."
"Stop screwing around!" yelled #255. "You asked for pork, so we risked our lives to-" Menchi cut him off before he could finish.
"I said to prepare the pork in a manner we both found delicious. None of you made anything remotely delicious," That's going a bit far, I'm sure some were at least adequate… but perhaps I don't have the right to say that. I'll eat almost anything. Thought Ronnie. "You all did almost the same thing. There was no effort made. Just when I thought someone actually tried, they only changed the appearance. No one attempted to emphasize the flavor. I'm positive that none of you took cooking seriously!" Ronnie then watched as one of the applicants boldly stated that 'Pork dishes are all the same.' and then got clobbered by Menchi, who seemed to have lost her mind, before getting distracted by a butterfly fluttering around nearby.
After her rant, Menchi sat down heavily on the couch she had been lounging on previously.
"In other words, you people don't have the guts to try anything new." #255 started to shout at her again.
"Shut up! I'm not trying to become a cook or a gourmet, I want to be a Hunter!" the applicants behind him cheered at his words as he continued. "My goal is to become a Black List Hunter. I refuse to let a mere Gourmet Hunter decide my fate!"
"Too bad you got stuck with a mere Gourmet Hunter as an examiner… Better luck next year?" needled Menchi, looking away with her nose in the air. #255 turned bright red with rage and lunged at her. Ronnie's eyes crossed as the butterfly landed on her nose, serenely opening and closing its wings. She jumped and the butterfly glided away as #255 was smacked away from Menchi so hard that he flew across the lawn, bounced off of the bit of wall very close to where Ronnie was hiding, and fell to the ground.
"Buhara, don't interfere." Said Menchi, her eyes closed.
"Well, if I hadn't interfered, you'd have killed him, right?" replied Buhara, looking down at Menchi.
"Probably," She said, standing up with four very large kitchen knives clutched loosely in her hands. Menchi started to approach the applicants, who looked unnerved. "Let me clarify this. We frequently venture into the dens of ferocious beasts, searching for ingredients. Every Hunter knows some form of martial art," Menchi tossed all four knives into the air and began to juggle them. "You lack focus and the willingness to experiment," the knives stopped spinning in the air and the woman caught them all in her left hand. "That alone disqualifies you from becoming Hunters!" with those words, everyone went quiet. Then a voice boomed from loud speakers high above and Ronnie grimaced at the familiar tone…
"That said, it would be excessive to fail every single applicant." Everyone looked up in unison as an airship came into view from behind the manor house, the symbol of the Hunter Association emblazoned on it's side. Then, quite suddenly, something white descended from the airship, freefalling until it hit the ground with a boom, sending rocks and dust in all directions. When the dust settled, an old man in white robes could be seen walking calmly away from the crater he had created. His head was bald, except for a ponytail located at the back of his head, and his eyebrows and beard were large and bushy. The old man's earlobes had two teal piercings in each. Ronnie recognized the old man. He was the one to drag her into scoring for the exam, after all. A few murmurs could be heard from the crowd.
"Who is that old geezer?" Menchi replied to the question in an official sounding tone.
"The Chairman of the Selection Committee. He's in charge of the Hunter Exam, Chairman Netero."
"Well, I work behind the scenes," Said Netero, breezily. "I only take action when there's an issue, like now. So, Menchi…"
"Yes sir."
"You failed all of the applicants because you disapproved of their reluctance to try new things?" he asked, his eyes briefly drifting down to the Gourmet Hunter's chest before catching himself and looking her in the eye again. Weirdo… thought Ronnie. How did he ever manage to talk me into this?
"No, sir… I lost my cool when one of the candidates insulted Gourmet Hunters, and I made the exam harder than necessary."
"In other words," started Netero, still with a jovial look on his face. "you're aware that this exam was unacceptable."
"Yes, sir. When cooking is involved, I lose control," You don't think? Ronnie mentally commented, rolling her eyes. "I'm unqualified to be an examiner. I will resign as examiner, so please redo the Second Phase!" Ronnie's eyebrows shot into her hairline. We can resign as examiners?! How come no one ever told me?!
Netero hummed in thought. "But it would be difficult to find another examiner on such short notice." Menchi bowed to Netero.
"I apologize…" Netero smiled wider.
"Very well. How about this? I'd like you to continue serving as an examiner. But you must also participate in the new test you propose. Is that acceptable? I'm certain that will help the applicants to accept the results." Menchi began to smile again.
"That's true… then the new challenge will be boiled eggs!" Even Ronnie raised an inquisitive eyebrow at this new proposal. Menchi continued to speak. "Chairman, can you take us to Mt. Split-in-Half in your airship?" she pointed up to the airship that had begun to descend from the sky.
"Mt. Split-in-Half?" he asked, and then smiled again. "I see what you're doing. Certainly, I can." It took Ronnie a few seconds to wrack her brain for the name 'Mt. Split-in-Half, and then it clicked. She had read about it in some random textbook on geography, and it finally dawned on her at what Menchi was getting at. Oh… I see what's going on now.
The Hunter applicants had all filed onto the airship, and now Ronnie sneaked quietly aboard as well, slipping in just as the door shut. Everyone else was up near the front, but Ronnie hung back and sat down against the wall and out of sight, closing her eyes.
Half an hour later, the airship began to descend, and Ronnie could see an enormous hill of rock with a large split down its middle out the window. The airship landed on the very top of Mt. Split-in-Half, and Ronnie whipped her head around in panic to search for a hiding place before squashing herself into a tiny closet. Not ten seconds later did the Hunter applicants walk past, making Ronnie let out an inaudible sigh of relief. The door to the outside opened, and everyone filed out of the airship. When the last set of footsteps disappeared outside, Ronnie kicked the closet door open and inhaled fresh air. The cramped closet had quickly heated up while she had occupied it, therefore making it difficult to breathe properly.
Taking out her booklet and pencil, Ronnie pressed her face to the window to try and see how the applicants were doing. When Menchi had asked Chairman Netero to take them all to Mt. Split-in-Half, it had taken a second for Ronnie to realize why they had come here. Menchi planned on making the applicants steal Spider Eagle eggs. Spider Eagles build their webs in deep ravines and hung their eggs from them to make it difficult for predators to obtain. The applicants had to jump off of the cliff, hang from the upper layers of webs, wait for just the right moment, and then drop, snagging an egg and using a strong updraft to get back up to the top of the ravine.
From inside the ship, Ronnie saw Menchi dive off the edge of the ravine. Thirty seconds passed, and then Menchi reappeared, clutching a large egg in her hands and supported by the strong updraft. The woman gracefully landed on the edge of the ravine and proudly held up the egg she had caught. Focusing on the applicants once again, Ronnie looked over just in time to spot four of them leap off in unison. Most of the rest looked momentarily shocked, then some finally gathered up their guts and jumped as well. They disappeared into the ravine, and long moments ticked by before they reappeared, all clutching eggs.
Hmm. There appear to be a bit fewer coming up that went down… I guess someone didn't have any patience to spare. Ronnie counted the number tags and crossed out those who did not reappear. The applicants who had remained on solid ground looked down in shame. Aww, is someone scared of falling to their death? Thought Ronnie, giggling as she crossed out their numbers.
Meanwhile, the eggs were all placed in a large metal bowl and put over a fire to boil. Once they were finished, all the applicants who had caught an egg feasted upon them in the light of the setting sun, their faces lighting up at the discovery of something so delicious. Ronnie's stomach growled as she watched. She pouted and decided to take points off from some of the applicants who looked to be enjoying their eggs the most. As Ronnie looked down at her booklet, she saw that only forty-two applicants remained.