Chapter 50: Ch 50: Cornered - Part 1
When I entered the lunch room, everyone else was already seated and the table was full of food. I took the only empty seat and Joshua addressed
imdiately.
"Welco, Mante. Now that you are here, we can begin our eting. As I told you before, we don’t need to worry about the first few rounds since we can handle them ourselves. You already know , Amy and Sasha, right? Sam is our non-hunter civilian, but don’t be mistaken by his physique. He is much stronger than he looks."
Joshua told
and I felt a little surprised by this.
I had already forgotten that a team needed a civilian to participate in the championship.
Sam looked confident as he flexed his muscles toward
to show off that he was strong and I had to admit that he did look strong.
But I had been around hunters and trainers my whole life and so of those people were inhumanely jacked. So my standards were a little high when it ca to these things.
"Tsk, not even a complint about my body? That’s a letdown for sure. Don’t worry. I will surely impress you during the competition. Just you wait and see."
Sam assured
and I nodded.
Joshua clapped his hands to draw attention toward him once more.
"As I told you, you don’t need to worry about tomorrow. You can fail all you want and we will still qualify the first round. So make sure not to burden yourself too much."
Joshua stressed this out once more and I nodded.
Truthfully, being told not to stress or worry like this was both a relief and an annoyance. My pride felt hurt by this, but I reminded myself that this was for the sake of my mission.
After lunch, I decided to take a look around the hotel because I felt too irritated to be inside all the ti. I needed so peace and quiet and so room to think.
I grabbed my mask from my inventory and decided to look around the hotel.
The garden was absolutely breathtaking and I almost felt like I had walked into a dungeon. None of the flora around
looked like it belonged to Earth.
’Am I supposed to be here? Is this sothing being constructed for a movie set or sothing?’
I had never seen a place like this before outside of the dungeon, but instead of helping
feel relaxed, it made
feel even more on alert. I felt like soone would jump out and attack
any second.
Thankfully, that did not happen and I sat down on the bench to look around the place.
I pulled my mask down a little to let my face soak in fresh air. My pheromones were packed tightly around
and I relaxed them a little as well.
’This feels so peaceful. When was the last ti I relaxed like this...? Was it during that S-class dungeon final boss? I recall Eric coming to
because he had sothing to tell . But I asked him to tell
his secret after we were done with the final boss.’
I suddenly realized that I had a lot of regrets from my past.
There were people whom I wanted to talk to and there were people I felt sorry toward. But even then, the past was past and I needed to move forward to the future.
"Let’s head back now. I think I am done here."
I stood up and picked my mask back up. The pheromones in the air slled sowhat like , but due to my ability to mask my presence, there were slight but noticeable differences as well.
There was no way for anyone to track
down using my scent.
As soon as I started heading toward the exit I entered from, I heard footsteps heading my way. They were loud and not trying to hide themselves, which told
that the other person wanted
to know they were there.
And the second Lynn walked into focus, I realized why those footsteps sounded so confident.
"Huh? Ace... no, you are not Ace. You look like him and your body build is similar to his as well, but that mask... and you are too young?... Who are you?"
Lynn’s first words made my heart skip a beat. I was afraid that I had sohow been recognized by Lynn.
But thankfully, with the use of common sense and the hunter association’s manipulation, Lynn was able to rule out that I was Ace.
’Wow-! I never expected that soone’s common sense would lead them down the wrong path like this.’
Then again, since no one knew what happened to
in the dungeon and how ti passed there, it was clear that they wouldn’t know that I had not aged much.
"Now that I take a closer look, your hair is a different color as well. My apologies for mistaking you for soone great. Looks like you are just an ordinary everyday hunter."
The forr no.1 spoke with an almost jab in his words.
I could clearly tell that he was annoyed, but I did not like the fact that he was taking it out on .
’Calm down. This is just a kid talking to you about sothing he does not understand. There is no need to get triggered.’
I cald myself down and watched as Lynn also realized that he was out of line.
Lynn flinched before he quickly apologized.
"I’m sorry. I did not an to say all that about you. I guess the stress of the past few days is getting to ."
The alpha admitted and I could see that he had not slept for the past few days... or so the dark circles under his eyes told . I felt sorry for him, but I did not want to get involved with him either.
"I accept your apology. I should leave now. I hope you resolve whatever is causing you trouble."
I told Lynn before I tried to leave but the alpha wouldn’t get out of my way. The only thing I could do was sohow slip past him.
Not that it was difficult for
to do.
But for a no-na hunter not even in the rankings? It would raise too many questions.
I raised my eyebrow as I looked behind the alpha in front of , but he did not budge. He seed to not want to get out of my way.
"Hey, are you not going to allow
to leave?"
I asked and the alpha hunter frowned. His eyes narrowed and he sniffed the air.
"There is sothing so familiar about you. You did not ask to help
when you saw that I looked troubled and the way you look at
is familiar as well. And your scent is..."
The alpha sniffed the air again before he stiffened.
"...very familiar to
as well. Are you sure we have not t before? I am sure I know you. Can I take off your mask—"
The alpha reached toward my mask and I took a step back out of panic.
Lynn looked even more convinced and reached for my mask again.
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