The Bounty Hunter

June 1st, 2088

My name is Cross Minato, with the family name being Cross and my given name being Minato. I am 15 years old, having just graduated from middle school and now starting my summer break. As one would expect from my name, I am half-Japanese and half-American. This is also reflected in my appearance: I have green eyes, dark brown hair and a perfect blend of facial features that make it impossible to tell my nationality. Sometimes I would catch people staring at me, probably because they were trying to figure out where I came from.

My mother is an elegant beauty from Tokyo while my father is a rugged rancher from Texas. I was born in the USA, although we moved to Tokyo when I was about 7. My mother is a corporate lawyer, while my father started an American steakhouse chain after moving to Japan which became surprisingly successful.

At this point, one would assume that I would say that I am a perfectly normal teenager. I wish I could say that but I won’t, since that would be a lie. It was the first day of summer break and I was alone since my mother was working a big case at the office and my father was on a business trip to Sapporo.

After eating a simple breakfast, I went to my room and started getting dressed in preparation for my shitty part-time job. It was a job I was doing in secret, so I was only able to work hours here and there when my parents weren’t around. But my parents are gone a lot, so I have ended up putting in quite a few hours.

I put on some light brown hiking pants with dark brown steel-toed combat boots and steel greaves. The leather belt threaded through my pants had leather pouches attached. Up top I had a green long sleeved shirt beneath a black chest-piece of a military riot armor along with some steel demi-gauntlets (fingers had flexible cloth with steel on back of hand).

I put a dark brown leather overcoat over all this and covered my face with a dark green bandana and motorcycle goggles. The bandana had a white insignia depicting a single mountain peak piercing through a layer of clouds. Lastly, I put on a tan combat helmet, causing my face and hair to be completely obscured. I fiddled with this chuunibyou outfit for a bit, adjusting the pouches and the additional equipment I had on.

Finally, I was ready to go and started to turn around to head towards the door. As I was turning I felt a brief eldritch sensation and after the turn my view was not what one would expect. Instead of my bedroom door, I was gazing upon a snowy evergreen forest. Apart from the sudden change, the scenery itself was unremarkable.

The pines were green, the falling snow was white, and the cloudy sky was a depressing grey. “What just happened!?! Where am I?!” were things that I did not say. I simply started walking through the forest until I came upon a dirt road. I continued walking on that road, weathering the cold wind that howled through as I headed towards a frozen mountain towering over the forest.

The minutes dragged on into hours until I finally arrived at a ramshackle mining town located at the base of the mountain. “Oi, are you here for that damned troll?” a short man called out to me as soon as I entered the town. He looked to be about 4 feet 2 inches tall and was bulky. He had a barrel chest and bulging muscles that made his width comparable to his height. He was bald, but had a large and impressive orange beard that reached his waist. His ears were not rounded at the ends, but instead they were square.

Ask 10 people what that man was and 10 people would respond: it’s a dwarf. I nodded in response to the dwarf’s query. The dwarf grunted and said “The mine shaft is over there, hurry up and kill that damn thing. It mauled 5 of my workers when it arrived and has shut down operations for five weeks now. I’ve had to throw in a slave every so often to make sure that pain in the ass didn’t come out to hunt.”

I didn’t respond and simply headed in the indicated direction while double checking my weapons. I had a leg holstered 9mm pistol on each side along with a ninjato sword on my back and waist, both of which were hidden by the overcoat. Lastly, I had a polearm slung diagonally on the back of my overcoat with the handle sticking out over my shoulder.

It had a 4-foot long blade with the staff portion being about 3 feet long. The blade had a modest curve with the single cutting edge located on the inside of the curve which ended in a sharp point. This polearm was known as a rhomphaia and was a brutal weapon that could hack and stab with great effectiveness. It stayed on my back due to a nifty clasp that was similar to a bear trap. After drawing the weapon, I could easily holster it again by pressing it to the clasp. Although I admit it took me ages before I was able to do that in one try.

At this point I arrived at the mine entrance where the monstrous troll lurked. I could smell the fetid stench from the worker’s corpses and heard echoes in the mine that indicated the troll was still there. I unclasped my rhomphaia and entered as the dwarf called out after me “I almost forgot, I threw in a slave a little before you came to stall the troll. If it’s still alive and able to work be sure to bring it out, so I can save some cost!” His heartless words echoed in the mine as I vanished into the flickering darkness thinking to myself “I hate this damn other world.”