“Mere mortals can only hope to reach the level of Goddess Nanthos. As a consolation, the Goddess has bestowed upon you power,” the messenger of the Goddess announced to the most devouts.
And so mankind finally has a chance against its tormentors.
To make management easier, all Divisions and Churches have banded together to decide on one coherent system to define power.
Starting from the lowest—Normal. People with this ranking typically have strength comparable to humans before the Great Awakening.
The scale then goes to Abnormal, Pandemonium, Destructive, Disaster, and finally Supreme.
Yet, blasphemers are not satisfied. They want more power. Their delusion to reach the level of Nanthos crystallized into what they called “Transcendent” rank.
Us mortals can never hope to be compared with the Goddess. As the one chosen by Goddess Nanthos herself, I command every child of Nanthos to report back to the nearest Inquisitor should you find any blasphemers spreading the word of “Transcendent rank” around.
May the blasphemers burn forever in the afterlife,
And may you stay safe.
-Hiro Goodlooking, in one of his official speeches at the Truthful Basilica.
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Myr woke up with a groan. The weather was chilly, so she wanted to sleep in. It was pure, unadulterated agony that she had to wake up at this time.
Even with her eyes closed, she could tell that it was bright. Too bright, in fact. Don’t tell me—! She quickly looked at the drawer beside her bed. Good, it’s off. She didn’t forget to shut off the gas light last night.
She then looked out the window. A pair of bright lights gazed back at her. As Myr was processing what was going on, the lights ducked down, revealing a man in a priest’s habit sitting on top of them. “Vicar Dicoigne?”
The Vicar waved at Myr. His graying hair fluttered in the wind as he scanned Myr’s room. After a few moments, he knocked on the window.
Myr quickly got out of bed and opened it. “What are you doing, Vicar?”
“Simply a survey, my child. Did you see anything suspicious last night?”
Other than a literal Shard? “No. I didn’t. Is something wrong?”
The Vicar leaned in closer and whispered, “You’re going to know in a few hours anyways, but the last Shard found its owner last night. The Bells of the Truthful Basicilla have rung. And I’m looking for the owner of the last Shard.”
“W-What?” Myr didn’t even need to fake her surprise. She simply couldn’t believe that the news traveled this fast. “B-But why are you looking for it in this town?”
“I think you’re getting something wrong here, child. It is the duty of every of my Brothers and Sisters to find the One Chosen by the Moonlight. I’m sure that the others are also searching for it across the continent.”
Myr heaved a mental sigh of relief. She didn’t know what anyone would do if they found out that the owner of the last Shard was a weak little girl like her. “You’re doing Nanthos’ work, Vicar. Please don’t tire yourself too much.”
He smiled. “I thank you for your concern, but you needn’t worry. My apologies for waking you up this early.”
Then, the Vicar went away.
Myr poked her head out of the window to look at the departing Vicar. He was a tall man, but nowhere as tall as her bedroom, which was on the second floor. The only reason why he could converse with her like that was the machine he was riding.
Four legs, each made out of clockwork, metal, and steam. Situated on top of those legs was a compartment where the Vicar sat, and just below it were the annoying lights that woke Myr up.
She rubbed her eyes. If you aren’t even gonna check inside my house, why did you even bother to wake me up? Closing her window and blinds with a grumble, Myr made her way toward her bed and reached under her blanket to take out the sword.
“You hear that, Luna? They’re looking for you.”
[How…interesting. It seems that I am the last one to be found. I cannot believe her ploy actually worked.]
Myr could tell that Luna was a bit down. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
[No. But, my servant, fulfill my request.]
Myr swallowed the urge to say “it depends” and instead sighed. “Sure. What is it.”
[Go to a library. I want to be informed of the current state of the world.]
“Ah, lucky you.” Myr took the sword to her mother’s old room, which was basically a library with a bed. “Mother has always liked to read. I’m sure she won’t mind someone else making use of her books.”
She then picked out some books. “History of Radecas Continent,” “History of our world,” and “Rise of Hunter as a Profession.” These should occupy her for a few hours.
As soon as the books hit the table, Luna’s body projected out of the sword, just like last night. I thought she can’t do it for a while?
[I know what you are thinking, my servant. Since I was basked in Moonlight last night, I decided to grace you with my presence just a bit more.]
Roundabout way to say “I absorbed some Moonlight and now I have enough strength to do this.” But Myr decided not to pursue it and looked down at the books. “Do you need my help?”
[Merely turning a few pages is not out of my power despite my current incorporeal form. Now leave. Do you not have better things to do?]
In fact, she did. She needed to order a scabbard for Luna and talk to the receptionist again to register as an official Hunter now that she had the potential to get stronger.
So, after bidding goodbye to the sword, Myr made sure that her house was tightly locked before making her way toward the only smithy in this small town.
.
.
.
.
.
Myr was supposed to go to the smithy, but she decided to go to the Association right now since she realized that she should probably go there before it could get too crowded.
Gotta buy Joseph a beer. Almost forgot. She settled on the cheapest beer possible. It wasn’t as if Joseph could afford anything much grander with his meager receptionist salary anyways.
Myr entered the building and got to the second floor. She watched as Joseph’s face practically lit up as soon as he laid eyes on the can of beer.
“You actually bought me something?”
“Am I not supposed to?” Myr raised an eyebrow.
“No. Just surprised that you of all people can actually buy something for someone.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” He smiled. “beer aside, you here today to finally tell me what happened last night?”
“Yeah.” Myr chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone, but I…found an abandoned church in the forest!”
“And?”
“And there’s practically a field of Icean herbs growing right beside it!”
“T-Truly?”
Myr chuckled. “Have I ever lied to you?” But she realized that yes, she has. “Forget that. You can send some Hunters to check it out of you want.”
“Hehaha, this is huge! The merchants are going to love it!” Joseph opened the can of beer and gulped it down.
“Are you even allowed to drink on the job?”
“So long as you don’t tell anyone.”
“But the smell…”
“Bah, I can always blame it on the Hunters. Now.” He clasped his hands together to crush the now-empty can of beer. “you also here to take another herb request?”
Myr smirked. Striking a confident pose, she said with a booming voice, “I’m registering as an official Hunter!”
Joseph rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, Myr, but I strongly advise against that.”
“...I’m not changing my mind.”
He shrugged. “Fine. I can’t stop you anyways. Just know that I’ll miss talking to you.”
“You’re talking as if I’ll die.”
Joseph stared straight at Myr and said with a straight face. “You will.” Not waiting for her to answer, he pulled out a form and handed her a pen. “Fill it. If possible, make a will and let me inherit some of your assets. At least your money will buy me beers instead of going to waste.”
Okay, what is this? Why was he assuming that she’d die? A Normal-ranked girl registering as a Hunter was normal. Probably. Maybe. Myr had absolutely no point of reference, but she digress.
She filled in the form.
==
Name: Myrellion L’adovec
DOB: 11/23/1789
Affiliation: Mainline Merciful, Moonlight Division
Bloodline: Human || Wyvern
Initial rank: Normal
===
Joseph took the form back and inspected it. “You’ve put down Merciful instead of Truthful, that’s about right. But Moonlight? I thought you were in Myser?”
“The Moonlight looks nice.” Myr smiled politely, indicating that she didn’t want to talk any further. Okay, I’m lying. The Moonlight doesn’t just look nice. It’s hot, and amazing, and beautiful, and breathtaking…
“I’m just going to assume that you received an enlightenment or something like that. Anyways, here’s your Hunter license card.” He handed her a small metal card that had a silver gleam.
Myr inspected it. My very own Hunter card. Huh, never thought this day would come, thought Myr as she could’ve done this any time she wanted. “Thanks. Any advice for this newbie?”
Joseph corrected his glasses and looked at Myr grimly. “Keep it on you at all times. We’ll have an easier time identifying your corpse that way.”
“...Stop it with the death jokes already.”
“I’m not joking. You can seriously die out there. Just don’t take dangerous Contracts. If not for you, then for your mother.”
Myr’s smile faltered. Yeah, no one would pay her mother’s hospital fees if she died, but she knew that her mother couldn’t get any better if she continued doing feeble quests like collecting herbs.
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
After waving the receptionist goodbye, Myr left the building and made her way toward the smithy.