CH 43

CHAPTER 43: THE PAST OF A CERTAIN FREE FOLK

A/N: 7/24 – Tweaked Abe Shuu’s age, years in the story, etc.

Let’s go home.

Having won the deadly fight with Yokozuna, I am filled with a sense of extreme satisfaction. Today’s dinner is going to be delicious.

“Abeshuu, you forgot the interview, squeak.” (Tamiko)

I come to my senses when the idiot squirrel gives me a perfectly reasonable tsukkomi. The aura of an absolute winner that had been emanating from me suddenly vanishes.

We all return the interview room to its original look. Aomoto, who was being lectured outside the room by the branch’s top official, returns, and the interview resumes in earnest at last.

“Well, uh… Well then, Abe-san,” said ‘Nokota’ Kaike. “Let me resume the interview. I’m very sorry for trying to test you earlier. Even though this was intended to test your ability, I cannot deny that there were some deviations from the regular test. As a member of our staff, I would like to apologize.”

“I’m sorry too,” Aomoto said. “You were so strong that I forgot my main task and got absorbed in the competition. I’ll even apologize for this multiple times, and so, once again, I apologize again.”

“No, it’s my fault, too. …I got very excited and I felt like I was being rude…” (Shuu)

“That’s all right. I’d like to say this, though. I was clearly superior in terms of skill and experience. But it was purely your strength, your level of effort, that overturned the odds. You were the real deal, Abe-san.” (Aomoto)

“No, Aomoto-Seki was really strong. Next time… if you become a hunter of Sugamo, let’s meet in the finals of the chapter tournament.” (Shuu)

“Oh! Stay undefeated until then. Don’t lose to anyone other than me, Abe-Seki!” (Aomoto)

Despite the lukewarm glances from Tamiko and Kaike, the rivals shake each other’s hands in praise of their fierce battle. As for Kaike, she has an ulterior motive. This should help Aomoto get a better decision.

“Abe-seki, no Abe-san. I’m convinced that you are an influential person commensurate with that level and fungal occupation. According to the application form, you are from a village in the northeastern part of the Ikebukuro Tribe territory. Can you tell us?” (Aomoto)

Here we go. I got a little heated, but I didn’t care about sumo. This is where my real fight begins.

“Yes, it’s going to be a long story…” (Shuu)

This is where the real test of my eloquence comes in.

Anxious? Since I have come this far, I’ll just have to use my momentum to get through it.

~3rd Person Perspective~

Abe Shuu was born and raised in a small village of around ten families near the Ikebukuro Tribe territory in the year 79 of the Tokyo calendar (twenty-eight years ago).

Most of the people in the village were registered citizens of Ikebukuro, but Shuu and his father were the only Free Folk without a family register.

His father was a hunter. He did not belong to any guild because he was an eccentric person who was not good at socializing, and despite his superior strength and skills, he disliked crowds. Shuu does not know about his mother, because his father never spoke about her.

Shuu, a Free Folk’s child, could not attend school, only learning letters and knowledge directly from his father. His Father learned from his grandfather in the same way. While his father was hunting, Shuu’s good teachers were the children of his age who attended the city’s elementary schools and the many books they borrowed from him.

Realizing early on that his son had the qualities to become a hunter, his father waited until he was five years old to allow him to accompany him on hunting trips into the forest. They shared their prey with their neighbors who lived on their farms and livestock, and their slow and stable life continued until Shuu was twelve years old.

One day, when Shuu and his father returned to the village with their catch, they found collapsed houses and the corpses of their neighbors lying on the ground. According to the survivors, a large, powerful Metro Beast had appeared from somewhere and, despite the resistance of the adults, had laid waste to them as it pleased.

His father left Shuu behind and went after the Metro Beast. When night fell and his father did not return, Shu spent a sleepless night in prayer. The next morning, his father returned with the head of the beast, though severely wounded.

It was not to remove the threat of another attack on the village. The survivors, including his father, had already realized the limits of life in this village. His father wanted to pay his respects to his kind neighbors with whom he had shared his hardships for the past ten years or so.

The households of the survivors were scattered. Most of them were moving to the Tribe’s territory with their meager reserves, and my father had given them the head of the beast to take with them as a souvenir. He hoped it would at least add to their lives, which were expected to be more difficult than before.

So began the life of Shuu and his father alone in the village. They continued to hunt in the forests, mountains, and nearby Metros, as well as study. Shuu had already decided that he would become a hunter in the future, but his father still had him hold a pencil because he believed that it would surely be useful one day in Shuu’s life as a human being.

Shuu turned thirteen years old after a hard but fulfilling youth in homeschool learning, training, and practice. His level had reached 15.

—He had reached the age of 15, and he would be able to register with the official hunter’s guild and live as an honest citizen.

“I have given you as much of my knowledge and skills as I could. How you use it in life is up to you. You can choose your own path.” (Shuu’s Father)

With this talk, his father poured sake into Shuu’s cup for the first time. It was the first and last time Shuu and his father drank together, and although it was not a good drink, he only remembered that it made him feel warm and fuzzy as it went down his throat.

The next day, they entered the Outsuka Metro.

His father’s level was 55, and he was one of the best [Knight] in the world. Even Catoblepas and other large Metro Beasts were no match for him, and even after several days of descending to the 30th basement floor, the two of them had not faced a single crisis of any kind. Shuu had improved one level during the hunt along the way, and he was getting a feel for how to protect his father’s back.

“I heard that there is a powerful boss on the 49th floor here. I want to defeat it if possible. But it’s going to be a hard road from here on. The lower we go, the stronger and more cunning the beast becomes. That’s what the Metro is all about. If you’re afraid, we’ll turn back here.” (Shuu’s Father)

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid, Father. But more than that, I believe in you, Father. If there is a path in front of us, if there is something to hunt, then let’s go.” (Young Shuu)

“I see. Then, for your trust, I will protect you even at the cost of my life.” (Shuu’s Father)

As it turned out, the promise was kept. His father protected Shuu with his own body, while Shuu escaped.

The king of the amorphous blobs, eerie watery masses that nested on the 40th floor, was a Slime. At the time, the Slime was not even called Satan Slime, but it was a monster worthy of the name of the Demon King Satan, stronger and more formidable than anything in the world, even his father’s strength was not enough to overcome it.

After a fierce battle to the death, his father’s legs were taken from him, and a trap door cut off his way out. He realized that he could neither escape nor defeat it. With his last ounce of strength, he let his son escape to the stairway to the 50th floor.

The father was devoured, and the son was thrust into an even more dangerous zone.

With grief and despair, Shuu was forced to live alone in the depths of the Metro, where vicious beasts were everywhere.

At the time, Shuu had no idea that it would be fifteen years before he would avenge his father’s death and see the Sun on the surface again.

Well, this was all a lie.

~Shuu’s Perspective~

If you want a believable lie, mix some truths into it.

It is a well-worn technique today, but I am practicing it now.

What he is telling the two interviewers is a biography of “Abe Shuu”, a mixture of his own story of drifting in the Metro for five years with a squirrel and someone’s own personal life story as a young man, which he borrowed from Noa. Everything is forged into a convenient yarn to hide his true background, history, and abilities. It is a joint work of three people and two beasts, and the reality of the story is such that even the most popular online novelists who write only contemporary dungeon stories would be sent packing, tails between their legs.

The two hardly interrupted me, breathlessly listening to the epic adventure tale (a big fat lie) of the tragic boy who lived, Abe Shuu. It is heartbreaking in its own way to be listened to so earnestly. My back and sides are drenched in sweat, and my knees are shaking slightly. I wondered about my complexion.

Aomoto looks at me with some sympathy, probably thinking I was holding back the pain of remembrance.

“—Then I survived on the fiftieth floor for fifteen years. I was lucky enough to get a hideout where the Metro Beasts couldn’t find me, and I slowly and steadily raised my level, hunting only those whom I thought I could hunt. In the beginning, I even had a hard time with Ghost Wolves and Blue Goblins, and I could barely escape with my tail between my legs from Orthruses and Ogres.” (Shuu)

“It’s unimaginably harsh…” Aomoto said. “To be left alone in the depths of the Metro at the age of thirteen. It’s a miracle for you to even survive for a month, instead, you lived for fifteen years…”

“… I was desperate. I couldn’t die so that I wouldn’t make my father a liar when he told me, ‘I will protect you even at the cost of my life’.” (Shuu)

I’ll do my best to put aside the fact that I’m becoming a massive liar.

“After I mastered [Self-Regeneration] and [Great Shield], I was able to push myself to a certain extent. I spent all my time fighting Metro Beasts with the sole intention of not only going above ground but also gaining the power to avenge my father’s death. Ten years later, five years ago, I met Tamiko on the 50th floor.” (Shuu)

“Squeak?” (Tamiko)

Tamiko looked up and wiped her drool off her face. The idiot squirrel was sleeping through the interview. What’s with that mental fortitude?

Aomoto is staring at Tamiko with a confused look. I can almost hear my teeth grinding.

“*Glare*(Why are you squeaking looking at me?).” (Tamiko)

“*Glare* (Do squirrels have weak memories?)” (Shuu)

“What’s wrong?”

“Well… Tamiko’s mother and her partner, a hunter, challenged Satan Slime. Unfortunately, the hunter was killed, and only her mother escaped to the 50th floor. There she gave birth to Tamiko, who was growing in her belly, and the two of them, mother and daughter, lived in the gap between the metro. That was ten years ago, and perhaps because the 50th floor was so large, and because we were in separate areas of the city, neither of us met the other. We met one year after Tamiko’s mother passed away, five years ago. Since then, we worked together and lived our lives cooperating with each other.” (Shuu)

“Is that so.” (Aomoto)

“That’s squeak?” (Tamiko)

“That’s right (Phew).” (Shuu)

“The reason why your level is abnormally high is that you have been crossing swords against powerful beasts of the deep Metro for such a long time… If you’ve been toeing between the line of life and death so often, it’s no wonder you’ve made it to 68 at such a young age. It’s insane, though. If there were a hundred hunters, a hundred would not make it out alive, myself included.” (Kaike)

“But… thanks to those fifteen years, I was able to honor my father’s sacrifice.” (Shuu)

Aomoto then leans forward.

“You beat it! You beat the Satan Slime all by yourself!?” (Shuu)

“I was there too, squeak.” (Tamiko)

“Oh, I’m sorry.” (Aomoto)

“The subjugation of the Satan Slime… If that is the case, it will be necessary to report it to the headquarters.” (Kaike)

“Well, I don’t have any proof or anything… But I think the place where it was standing is empty…” (Shuu)

I am feeling anxious. It may become a beacon to receive unnecessary attention. I might have to prepare another story, well, there is no lie in me defeating it though, so I am quite proud.

“…Anyway, both of you are finally back on the surface.” (Kaike)

“Oh, yes. A young hunter we met along the way was very kind to us, in our Urashima Taro-like life, and brought us to this town. That was just last week.” (Shuu)

“Urashi—Oh, that’s an ancient fairy tale? You know it quite well.” (Kaike)

“Oh well… my father told me that story before I go to sleep…” (Shuu)

I’m not saying bad things. I’m inwardly disappointed.

“The other day, there was a report that a passing hunter and a Free Folk took down a [Udeochi] bandit who was hiding out in the area.” (Kaike)

“Well, I helped a little.” (Shuu)

“Just a little?” (Kaike)

“I was part of it.” (Shuu)

“Of course.” (Kaike)

“You may not believe me, but that is all I am.” (Shuu)

Well, now all the preliminaries are shot. Now it remains to see how the two of them will take this (tall) tale of adventure about the man and squirrel sitting in front of them.

Aomoto leans back against the backrest. She sighs heavily and nods deeply.

“It’s too ridiculous to be a story, though it’s like a heroic tale you read in a picture book… But I guess that’s why we have to believe in it. Abe-san, or rather Abe-Seki’s strength and ability, are real.” (Aomoto)

“Thank you… Aomoto-Seki…” (Shuu)

A bond, formed in the ring.

A/N: Next chapter, the interview will be finalized. Will the two pass or fail?