Chapter 12: Learning to be a Monster Hunter

Those words stopped Luke in his tracks.

It hadn’t crossed his mind that it was a possibility even though he knew such monsters existed. He and his ex-comrades have fought them countless times before, and it was a grueling experience.

In that case, he should definitely avoid showing himself in front of them. At least until after he settled his business with his ex-comrades.

After taking the notice off the wall, he walked towards the counter and presented it to the same man from before. He accepted the paper from Luke and proceeded to enter the information into the computer. Luke waited patiently at the counter until the man returned the notice to him.

“Okay, I’ve input your information into the system. You should be good to go,” the man said.

“Thank you, but how do I claim the reward? Do I have to return here to claim it, and how do I show proof that I hunted the monsters?” Luke asked, folding the paper and putting it into his clothes.

The man shook his head as he said, “You don’t have to come back here to claim your reward. You can go to any monster hunter base. As for proving you killed the monsters, you can either record the hunt, take photos, or bring body parts as evidence.”

Luke grimaced.

As if reading his thoughts, the man continued, “Most prefer to do the first two options, but it’s easier to verify with the latter so payments can get delayed.”

That made sense. It would be near impossible to fake a monster’s body part, unlike with video and photos.

“What is done about the monster remains? Are we expected to do the cleanup?” Luke asked.

He and his ex-comrades never had to do the cleanup, leaving it to others so they could focus on hunting down more monsters.

“You can leave it to the staff to do it for a fee. Plenty of monster hunters leave it to us to clean up so they can focus on hunting more monsters. Of course there are others that prefer to do it themselves. Typically, those that bring in body parts are the ones that clean up the monster remains,” the man explained.

Luke nodded thoughtfully and said, “Thank you. I think I got everything now.”

“Good luck. I hope to see you again,” the man said before turning to the next monster hunter.

As Luke walked away, he considered how he should handle the mission.

He didn’t have a phone or camera on him, so the first two options were a no-go. Even if he did have a phone, he wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.

Ten years would have been enough time for him to no longer be on a plan, making the phone unusable. In the weird event he was still covered, it would be a blaring sign he was alive. He would lose the element of surprise.

However, he wasn’t sure if he could pull off the third option.

Since he never had to clean up a monster corpse before, he wasn’t sure of the proper procedure. It couldn’t be as simple as setting it on fire or burying it.

Perhaps he should have asked for the exact details before he left.

Luke scratched at his head and sighed, debating whether to line up again or not when someone said, “Hey, can you move? You’re blocking the way.”

He blinked and scanned his surroundings for the source of the voice, but he couldn’t spot anyone nearby.

As he was about to wave it off as a figment of his imagination, he heard the voice say, “Down here.”

Following the voice, he stared down at the short woman who had her arms crossed.

“Buddy, can you move? You’re in the way,” the woman said dryly.

Luke snapped out of it and moved out of the way as he said, “Sorry.”

She passed him by, muttering, “Newbies. It’s always the newbies.”

His gaze followed her as she walked up to one of the counters.

Suddenly, someone clapped their hands against his shoulder and said, “If you’re thinking she doesn’t look like a monster hunter, you better think again. She can make you cry for your mommy if you make her angry.”

He didn’t expect the sudden advice, but he decided to roll with it.

“Is she really that great?” Luke asked, curious about the short woman.

“They say she could have easily become one of the heroes if not for circumstances,” the person said as they removed their hand from his shoulder.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up at the praise.

That was no small compliment. The Walandic Theocracy had been very selective about who would be the heroes sent to defeat the evil god. After all, they couldn’t just send anybody. They only wanted the best to face him.

“What’s her name?” Luke asked, his mind racing to put a name to her face.

Another person answered, “She’s Deena Harrison. It’s best you stay away from her unless you want to get on her bad side. She doesn’t work with others if you’re thinking about teaming up with her.”

It hadn’t crossed Luke’s mind in the slightest. Hanging around with someone like he would only draw unwanted attention. He couldn’t afford that.

“Thanks for the warning. By the way, how are monsters supposed to be disposed of?” Luke asked while he still had the chance.

“Huh? Oh, there’s a pamphlet you can grab. It tells you exactly how it’s done,” one of them said, pointing to a spot where a bunch of pamphlets were set out.

“Okay, thanks,” Luke said with a wave and walked to the pamphlets.

He scanned the selection and grabbed the one that boldly proclaimed how to dispose of monster remains. Before reading it, he continued to study the other pamphlets provided and found them interesting.

There was an advertisement about joining the monster hunter base as staff rather than hunting monsters. Another was about forming groups with other hunters.

After looking around for a bit, he decided to grab a couple pamphlets to take with him and look over when he had more time. He walked out without another incident and considered his next course of action.