Chapter 146

I felt my motivation to judge disappear in an instant and continued questioning Yuri purely out of duty.

“So? How long have you been in the field?”

“…10 years! I’m a veteran hunter with 10 years of experience!”

…Looks like she’s planning to keep lying.

She looks like she’s in her mid-to-late teens, yet she claims to have 10 years of hunting experience? If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.

I’ll make this next question the last before I kick her out.

I don’t know what she’s thinking by coming to the Adventurer Guild, but becoming an adventurer isn’t something you can start with such a light heart.

“Ah, I see. Then, how skilled are you?”

“Well… I almost caught a Basilisk… Not that I actually caught one, but I came close…”

A Basilisk? Her lies are getting more ridiculous.

At least she seems to have some shame, as she didn’t outright claim to have caught one.

It seems there’s no point in continuing this test.

Seeing how she lies so easily to simple questions, it’s clear she’s not fit to be an adventurer.

It’s best to refund her test fee and send her home.

I don’t know what made her run away from home and decide to become an adventurer, but allowing her to become one would only bring trouble for both her and the Adventurer Guild.

Having made up my mind, I delivered my verdict.

“I see. Understood.”

“So, are we doing the practical test now?”

“No, there’s no need for a practical test. You’ve failed.”

“Wha—why?!”

Honestly, I’m the one who’s curious why she’s asking.

Anyone can see she’s barely in her mid-teens, yet she’s claiming to be a 10-year veteran hunter who almost caught a Basilisk. Of course, she’s failed.

Does she think just because I’m a Lizardman, I can’t tell a human’s age?

Wait a second.

This situation feels oddly familiar.

“You can’t do this! I paid the test fee, and you’re not even giving me a proper evaluation! This is negligence!”

“…I’ll refund the test fee.”

…Even this exchange feels familiar.

What is this complicated feeling…?

“You can’t just fail me without a proper evaluation! This is outrageous!”

“Outrageous or not, it’s my decision to judge you.”

“Ugh! If it were you, would you accept this if it happened to you?”

…Ah.

I remember now.

This is exactly what happened when I first joined the Adventurer Guild.

Realizing this, I looked at Yuri with a complicated expression.

So this is how Karina felt.

“What… what’s with that look…?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing.”

I felt a slight dizziness and held my forehead as I spoke.

No, sure, I went through the same thing…

But…

My situation and hers are different.

I was a real veteran hunter, and she’s clearly a runaway teenager spouting nonsense about becoming an adventurer!

…

Damn, even that part is the same as my situation.

Clearly, this girl and I are in different situations… so why is it the same?!

“S-so, why are you looking at me like that?!”

The overlapping images of Yuri and myself from a few months ago.

In the end, I had no choice but to relent.

“…Fine. I’ll give you a practical test.”

Seriously, to me, she’s just a runaway teenager…!

But there’s no helping it.

If I argued about the unfairness when it happened to me, then I should also hear out this girl’s unfairness to be fair.

No, I was a real veteran hunter…!

Feeling inexplicably wronged, I let out a deep sigh and said, “However, the practical test will be replaced with a real mission.”

…

…

…

“Wh-where is this?”

Yuri, who had obediently followed Kurt after he said he’d give her a practical test.

‘As expected, just as humans can’t easily guess a Lizardman’s age, the girl thought a Lizardman wouldn’t be able to guess her age either!’

Until then, Yuri had inwardly smiled, thinking her lies had somehow worked on Kurt.

In truth, her nonsensical answers to Kurt’s questions were just lines she’d copied from her favorite adventurer story, “The Hunter of the Ruined Village,” whose hardboiled protagonist she admired.

Of course, the character in that adventurer novel was a 40-something man covered in scars with a cool beard.

There was no way her poorly imitated lines from a 40-year-old man would work, but she didn’t think of that and only believed her bluff had succeeded.

“This is where the monsters listed in the request appear. Like I said, the practical test will be replaced with a real mission.”

But perhaps her lies worked too well.

Kurt had brought her to a monster-infested area to test her skills in a real battle.

“So, do you know which monster’s territory this is?”

“O-of course not…!”

Yuri naturally answered that she had no idea to Kurt’s sudden question.

“This is the territory of the Rubber-Tailed Monkey, an Iron-rank monster. You can tell by the high trees and vines that make good habitats and movement tools for them. Also, the strange marks on the trees and the short orange fur stuck to them are clues. As a hunter, you should know this much, right?”

“O-of course! I knew that from the start!”

“Hmph. Good. Then let’s begin the practical test. Hunt one Rubber-Tailed Monkey.”

“O-okay…?”

Yuri froze mid-boast, her eyes wide.

“Normally, we wouldn’t assign an Iron-rank monster to an adventurer candidate… but for a 10-year veteran hunter, it’s different.”

“That’s… well…”

“What? Can’t do it?”

“N-no! Of course, I can handle this!”

‘It’s fine! In the adventurer story I read, “The Stone-Rank Villager Who Became a Gold-Rank Adventurer!”, the novice protagonist used his wits to hunt a Silver-rank monster. And this is just an Iron-rank! I can definitely do this!’

Of course, while some of the adventurer stories she’d read were based on reality, most were exaggerated or boastful novels meant to glorify the author or sell more books.

But Yuri, who had never experienced the life of an adventurer, couldn’t tell what was fiction and what was nonfiction.

She knew not all adventurer stories were true, but she didn’t have the discernment to separate fact from fiction.

Moreover, the adventurer stories she read were all about successful adventurers.

She didn’t realize that for every success story, there were 99 failures hidden beneath.

She wasn’t interested in those 99 failures; the stories she read were all about the top 1% of successes, filled with exaggeration and bravado.

Thus, her sense of reality was as naive as a sheltered noble girl’s.

“Hehe. Just watch. I’ll definitely succeed and surprise you!”

And so began her confident hunt.

Even though she had received various advanced educations at the academy, she was still just a teenage girl.

“Huff… huff… How is an Iron-rank monster… so fast…?”

An hour later, she was drenched in sweat, muttering to herself.

Of course, the hunt ended in failure.

“Naturally. The Rubber-Tailed Monkey has almost no combat ability, but its agility and stretchy tail make it excellent at escaping. It’s only ranked Iron because of its lack of combat power, but its speed is on par with Bronze-rank monsters.”

“Th-that’s ridiculous…!”

“So, does this mean you’ve failed the test?”

“Th-that’s unfair! That monster is only Iron-rank in name, but it’s practically Bronze-rank! This is too harsh for an adventurer test!”

Yuri protested, feeling wronged.

“…I knew you’d say that.”

Kurt, who had expected her reaction, didn’t look pleased even though he was right.

And so, she was given a second chance.

“This is the territory of the Black Mist Lynx. You can tell by the blackened marks everywhere. The Black Mist Lynx is a lower-tier Iron-rank monster. You can handle this, right?”

“O-of course I can!”

An hour later, Yuri was covered in the black mist sprayed by the lynx, completely filthy.

“F-first of all, it’s weird to have an Iron-rank monster in the test!”

Kurt said nothing to her complaints and moved to the next location.

“Alright, no more talking. Hunt one One-Horned Rabbit.”

The One-Horned Rabbit is practically at the bottom of the monster hierarchy, barely above regular animals.

So insignificant that it’s not even mentioned in adventurer success stories.

‘A One-Horned Rabbit… I can definitely catch that!’

Yuri accepted Kurt’s challenge, and an hour later, she lay on the ground, having failed to catch even a single rabbit.

In the end, she was defeated by a One-Horned Rabbit.

Finally, after failing to hunt even the easiest monster, her excitement about becoming an adventurer faded, and her rationality returned.

“…Did you know from the start? That I wasn’t a hunter?”

With her rationality back, Yuri asked Kurt.

Her tone was as if she was asking how he saw through her perfect act.