Life Hunter

Arima reached his destination shortly. He slowed down and stopped in front of the south gate of the capital. There was no one at the gate, whether it was to leave or enter. Only a few soldiers were guarding it. He dismounted his horse and approached the nearest soldier.

The soldier glanced at the imposing black horse and talked to Arima. "Um, are you a traveler or a mercenary?" He asked awkwardly.

Arima thought that this soldier was fairly young. "Yeah, can I pass?" He said while handing his card. The young soldier took it and was a bit surprised.

"You're an A-class? I've never heard of someone like you, even though those who are A-rank are pretty famous…" He wasn't sarcastic, he was just admiring. "Are you here to help?"

"Well, yeah, something like that… you seem to be fairly inexperienced in this job. I think it's the same for the others around here. They are few in number too. Why is that?" Arima looked around and questioned.

"Yes, is that so obvious?" The guard said with a wry smile. "All the seasoned and strong soldiers are already at the frontier of the Empire or at the castle," saying so, he handed back the card.

"I see," Arima nodded, and walked past the gate.

"Wait, what about your horse?" The young soldier exclaimed.

Arima snapped his fingers and the horse separated into a bunch of black sparks before disappearing. "See you, kid."

When Arima was out of sight, the soldier was still gawking at where the horse was standing, dumbfounded. "…It was a summoned beast?" He muttered.

Arima was casually walking in the streets of the capital. There weren't many people, but it wasn't like there was no one around. He strolled for a few minutes then asked a passerby for the location of the Wing's Nest, the Inn of Airi's sister. Of course, he didn't find someone who knew directly and asked a few more people until finding the location. In his search, he learned something. He was told about a tournament held in the capital.

'Interesting… First of all, when a country is in war, there's no sane ruler who would organize a tournament for fun. So, it must have a purpose. From what I've heard, the tournament was decided before the King became sick. But if it wasn't canceled, there is one explanation. War potential. The country wants to attract strong warriors,' Arima concluded.

In fact, his guess was pretty much correct. The truth is that in this world, the strongest force wasn't the army and the soldiers, but the guild. There are strong people among the soldiers, but the strongest fighters are, without a doubt, the mercs who live freely and dangerously. For example, normal S-rank mercs are as strong as a level seven upper-class beast. That means they are stronger than at least a thousand normal soldiers with just their physical strength.

This tournament is a way to gather strong people and to sort them. In fact, the winner will meet the royal family, be rewarded, and most likely scouted. Surely, the other participants will also be offered a reward to join the war. And the true goal of this tournament was also to find a competent leader who will lead the mercenaries.

The mercs are proud, and because they're hired, they're difficult to control. But with a strong commander to keep them in check, they will be easier to fight along with. As to why a tournament is needed, it's because this continent is small so a way to attract strong proud people would be a tournament to compare people's strength. Although there won't be any S-ranks, unfortunately. The only ones strong enough to hold a title equal to that are the King, the Emperor and most likely the rulers of the alliance and the elves. And maybe some hidden talents.

"Interesting," Arima said and smirked. He decided to participate, not for the prize but just for meeting the royal family. "That's a good opportunity," he added and finally reached the Inn he was looking for. He entered and looked around. He realized that there were not a lot of people sitting at the tables. He walked to the reception and ringed a bell which was on it.

"Yes?" An energetic voice came from behind. And a woman appeared from the back. She seemed to be around twenty years old with long black hair. She was not a fatal beauty, but she was extremely pleasant to look at, and her figure was particularly attractive.

"Are you Aria?" Arima asked.

"Eh? Yes, do I know you?" She asked back, slightly confused.

"No, but your sister, Airi, told me to come to you."

"Oh, I see," she smiled and nodded in comprehension. "Then do you want to rent a room?"

"Yes, but before that, can I ask you if you know when the tournament held in this city will take place?" He wanted to know to determine the time he would be staying in the capital.

"Oh, you'll participate? The tournament is in five days if you want to register, it's at the Coliseum."

After hearing that Arima wanted to participate, Aria stealthily observed him. He obviously caught on that but didn't say anything.

"Thanks, I'll pay for a five-day-stay then. That should be enough."

"Sure, it will be one gold and thirty silvers."

"Kinda expensive," Arima commented while handing the money over.

"What can I say? Tough times," Aria smiled and gave him the key.

But after that, Arima oddly stayed there, looking at her. It was almost creepy, but nobody needs to comment on that. Actually, he was looking at her with his usual expression.

"What is it?" She tilted her head. She noticed that he was not staring at her for any lecherous or malicious reason. So, she was quite confused.

"Well… are you a merc?"

She visibly trembled at his words. "…What makes you say that?"

"Your posture. Although you're trying to hide it, I can see some habits in your footwork. Also, your hands, you can't hide their calluses, and you probably use the spear. Next is your body, I can see that it is forged for the fight. When someone is accustomed to combat, his body becomes stronger in particular regions. That becomes even more noticeable when you focus on only one fighting-style. And finally, your aura and mana, even if you conceal it, you cannot hide it from me," Arima said and his eyes flashed with a blue light.

In a world with magic circuits, there are three main spiritual forces. One is the aura, it's the spiritual manifestation of one's overall strength and mind. Someone strong enough can make kneel his opponent just with the pressure of his aura.

The second force is mana, more precisely, the mana pool. By looking at one's mana pool, they can determinate its size and quality. The people who have the best mana pools are mages but there are exceptions. When you meet a close combat warrior with a great mana pool, then you can be sure that he is strong. The mana pool can be innate, but it can also be trained.

The last force, is, of course, killing intent. Killing intent, bloodthirst, fighting will… it's not innate. It's something you nurture during your entire life. Simply said, the more you kill, the stronger is your killing intent. And the more ruthless you are, then the faster your killing intent's density will rise.

When Arima saw Aria, he immediately realized that she was strong, he felt her spiritual strength and used his magic to pry into it.

Aria opened her mouth wide and exclaimed after a moment.

"…It seems that I underestimated you. I'm sorry. In fact, when you told me you'll participate I tried to judge your strength."

"Yeah, I noticed."

She bitterly smiled. "And the conclusion that I ended up with is that you only had the strength of a B-rank. As you did, I looked at your posture and spirit but couldn't find anything unusual in it," her smile became even more awkward. "Well, it looks like you are a few levels above me."

Arima shrugged. "So? Why is someone like you owning an Inn? If I'm not wrong, you have more or less the strength of an A rank."

"Well, you could say it's family heritage. Airi set up her own Inn while I just inherited it from our parents. But I'm still a mercenary at the same time. In fact, I don't really work here usually. I just hire people to take care of it," she smiled. "If you want to know, I'm also participating in the tournament. And for your information, yes, you're right, I'm an A-rank."

"I see, maybe we'll go against each other at that time," Arima faintly smiled.

Aria laughed. "Yeah, I'll try to meet up to your expectations, but I'm not sure I can match you."

"Well, once again, I am Arimane Blade, pleased to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm Aria Carta," she bowed slightly.

"Well, it'll be five days before the competition, so I have a lot of free time. Can you tell me where the Coliseum is?" Arima asked.

"Of course," Aria told Arima the directions cheerfully. He then left the Inn and headed to the Coliseum. On the way, he wondered about what he would do during these five days.

'Now that I think about it, there's 'that'… Maybe I should do a bit of enchantment and alchemy too. I don't think it will be that difficult. I'm a craftsman already after all. I have my own deal of experience.'

He reached the Coliseum after thirty minutes because he was wandering in the market to find alchemy tools and ingredients. He already had the recipes and the plants' names saved in his head.

Arima looked at the circular shaped building in front of him and whistled.

"It's big," he muttered. The Coliseum had an outer wall which was at least forty meters high. From the outside, Arima could say that the building took at least 250 thousand square meters of space. It's not like he hadn't seen this Coliseum when he arrived in the city, but being right below it gave a different impression altogether.

"Did they build this only with manpower, or was magic used?" He wondered. "Well, it was used, most likely. Why would they only use manpower to build this when there is something like magic. I mean, it's magic."

Arima retorted to himself while approaching the entrance, which looked like a big tunnel. Near the entrance, there was a gathering of people who looked like mercenaries for the most part. He didn't know the reason why they were staying in front of the entrance. But he soon got it when he tried to walk in. He felt resistance, as if he had bumped into a wall.

From where he touched the 'wall', Arima saw white ripples spread in mid-air. A bit like how waves were created when you throw a rock in the water. He immediately understood that it was a magic array, but he was unsure, so he asked a merc nearby.

"Hey, what's that barrier?"

"Hm? It's one of the qualifications to participate in the tournament. If you want to apply, you have to force your way through that barrier. I tried several times, but I couldn't make it," a big man explained helplessly.

"Oh, so it's like that. Thanks," Arima approached the tunnel once again, he placed his hand on the barrier and the white ripples formed again. He brusquely grasped the barrier, deforming it. It was fully white now. It was like a huge veil being folded.

Arima clenched his hand and the barrier broke like glass, leaving a big hole in the white wall. He just walked in without any other comment, ignoring the voices filled with shock behind him. Right after he entered, the barrier started recovering.

What he had done to break it was simple. He merely infused mana in his hand and broke the barrier with it. His mana is, after all, purer than most and the quantity is not something the average guy can even imagine. After a minute in, he was welcomed by a slim man in a black suit.

"Hello, it seems that you're the next candidate. Follow me," he turned around and headed to a huge door at the end of the tunnel which was already open. Arima followed him without a word. Behind the door was a big room that looked like the hall of some kind of hotel.

"Here," the man pointed at a door on the side and both he and Arima went through it. On the other side was a little room with two sofas and a table between.

The man sat on one of the sofas an Arima sat on the opposite one.

"Well, it might be a bit sudden, but first…" When the slim man finished talking, a powerful aura instantly filled the room. A slight wind blew and the furniture trembled. But still, the sharp and cold eyes of Arima didn't waver a bit.

The examiner was a bit surprised. Although he was only an A-rank himself, he was quite a high class. His aura should be enough to make any A-rank to be at least cautious. He was curious, so he tried to mix killing intent. But still, the man in front of him remained impassive, still looking directly at him with the same eyes. It was like being in front of an ice wall from which we could feel the cold. He was so calm that is was almost frightening.

The man in suit closed his eyes and the aura and killing intent disappeared.

"It seems you're more than qualified to participate in this game," he said smiling. "Do you have a guild card? That would be easier for me to register you."

Arima handed the card over wordlessly. The examiner took it and looked through the content.

"…'A'… I see," he mumbled and took note of the information on it and gave it back. "Thank you, the competition begins in five days."

Arima nodded and stood up. He approached the door but when he had his hand on the knob, he turned around. "Is killing prohibited?"

Hearing the question, the man in suit felt a shiver going down his spine. Arima had not said a word since the beginning, and the first thing he hears from him was this question.

"…Yes, it is. But there are exceptions of course," he answered slowly.

"I see, then I will be careful about that, thank you." Arima then left the room and the man sighed in relief.