"This place is really fancy…" She muttered while looking around at the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and waiters dressed like butlers. "I almost feel underdressed."
"You're not," Jason said confidently. "In fact, you look better than everyone here."
"Flirting already, huh?" His date whispered with a smile.
The dinner date had only started a few minutes ago, yet her hand was already resting lightly on his. Flirting is a given when things are going well.
"You're still not going to tell me what you do for work?" She asked after eyeing the menu for a bit.
"Like I said earlier, it's more fun if you guess."
The date was going well, save for the fact that Jason hadn't told her he was an F-Rank Hunter.
While he had no idea how she would react, it was still a gamble that he preferred not to take, at least for now. Many had rejected him after hearing that, after all.
"Hm… I need some clues." She muttered after taking a sip from her wine glass.
The fact that Jason was inviting her to an expensive restaurant was already a clue, in a way. A false one.
He had a pretty minimalist lifestyle and wasn't very interested in material possessions. Additionally, his hobbies were mostly free, so Jason could splurge when going out on a date.
He didn't save money to expressly use it when going out with a woman, but it did feel like one of the better ways to use his money.
"You said you're taking some time off work, right?"
"Yes." Jason answered. "A bit of a sabbatical, you could say."
"Hm… In that case, you must have your own business, or the kind of job where you don't really report to anyone."
"Now that I think about it, I guess freelancing fits quite well," Jason muttered.
He was on paid leave.
Most F Rank Hunters would be happy to get paid for sitting on their butts, but Jason didn't feel that way.
First of all, because of his ambition, and second, because of the reason for that sabbatical.
"Oh, it's that guy." She said as her gaze found the large TV hanging above the open bar on the other side of the room. "They're really milking that story for all its worth."
"Yeah…" Jason muttered. "They really are."
"It's too bad they never found that Hunter, huh? He managed to rally a dozen civilians and convinced them to fight by his side to contain the Dungeon Break's Monster Wave… Must be quite charismatic."
The words both soothed and pricked Jason's heart.
"Well, he was a D Rank Hunter."
"Hehe, I'm not sure about that."
"Why do you say that?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I can't answer that. Otherwise, it would put me at a disadvantage-"
"You're a journalist, aren't you?"
"H-How did you tell?" She stuttered before coughing. "Hm. To answer your question, there are rumors that the alleged D Rank Hunter might not have been a D Rank at all!"
"And where do these rumors come from?"
"Me!" She said proudly. "It makes sense, doesn't it? First of all, the Dungeon Gate appeared smack at the center of a construction site. The civilians working there must have alerted the closest Hunter-looking person! However, reinforcements didn't make it in time… So the Hunter that was alerted convinced them to contain the Dungeon Break rather than evacuate! Well, most did evacuate the scene before the Break, but he managed to convince a couple to stay!"
"Aha." Jason nodded, following her theory.
"If the Hunter alerted was a D Rank… It would explain their success somehow, but that D Rank is nowhere to be found, despite the fact that his leadership managed to contain a Dungeon Break! That's huge! Doing so would surely lead to a bunch of offers from different Hunter Guilds! It makes no sense for a D Rank to do that, so the only answer is that he must have lied!"
"Hm…" Jason pursed his lips for a moment. "You're really passionate about this story, huh?"
"I am!" She nodded enthusiastically. "At first, all the talk was about that D Rank Hunter. But with time, it became all about the civilians."
"Because they couldn't find him, no?"
"Maybe. Or maybe, it's a conscious effort to make us forget about him! The civilians who fought under his orders are turned into real heroes, especially that one, the son of the construction company's owner. He was probably just spending his days lazing around on his father's construction site, then the next day, he's a hero!"
It was infuriating, but Jason did his best not to let it show.
Things had gone exactly as his date had theorized.
The F Rank Hunter, refusing to simply follow protocol and evacuate, leaving the Dungeon Break to wreak havoc, rallied a couple of the toughest construction workers, ordered them to rearrange and break multiple wooden planks and iron bars to create traps, and fought alongside them to contain the Monster Wave until help could arrive.
Trouble was, Jason lacked the confidence to do this as an F Rank Hunter.
Because of how he and his fellow F Ranks were treated by civilians, he knew that no one would obey his orders.
Once they learned that he was a D Rank Hunter, Jason's leadership skills shone brighter than ever.
The couple of minutes that followed the arrival of backup were heavenly, and Jason was treated as an absolute hero.
That is, until it was time to properly report the incident.
"Are you insane? We could have died, goddamit!" One of the civilians had shouted right away.
Just learning that fact made his achievement go from heroic to lapse of judgement and a fatal error that led to the Hunter Association taking his Hunter License and putting him under review.
The look in those civilians' eyes changing so quickly after learning that he had been an F Rank all along, hurt immensely, and Jason's moment of glory ended.
The Hunter Association and the media immediately spun the incident differently to avoid bad publicity. The D Rank Hunter was slowly forgotten, and the civilians praised by journalists, other civilians, and even High-Ranked Hunters alike.
Jason was forced, for the weeks that followed, to watch as people were praised and rewarded while he was punished and lectured.
The fact that he had saved lives did not matter. All that mattered was that it could have gone wrong, and that it's better for things to go wrong naturally rather than under a Hunter's orders or guidance, under a representative of the Hunter Association.
'Still… It still led to people being saved.' Jason thought to himself hours later.
He was lying on his bed while staring at the ceiling while his date slept with her cheek against his chest.
'Despite everything… I still saved people.' He repeated to himself. 'That's what matters the most, right? Even if…' Jason's gaze momentarily went to the woman sleeping against him. 'Even if I'm the only one who knows that, even if the civilians that helped me now hate me, I still… Saved people.'
The F Rank Hunter held that thought dear and near to his heart, convincing himself that it was the only thing that mattered.
He had saved people, and Jason needed to keep repeating it to himself so as not to change, not to turn… Into something else.
'Even if I'm the only one who knows it, I…'
But for how much longer?
For how much longer will it be enough, being the only one who knows?
'If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the same way, because that's what a real Hunter must do.'
Even if it meant being insulted and punished, even if it meant being forced to watch others being celebrated in your stead.
'If, again, reinforcements are late, then… Surely…'
At the time, Jason wanted to be a hero so desperately that he was fine with no one knowing about it.
***
The Ogre's eyes narrowed.
'But what has that gotten me?'
For some reason, seeing the Ogres around him cheering his name, Jason was reminded of every time his actions were ignored, if not twisted negatively by other people.
'Even dead Hunters that sacrificed their lives are forgotten within the hour. The victors are always…'
The Ogres had acknowledged his leadership and accepted him, yet something felt wrong.
'This is…' Jason thought as his gaze darkened.
[You have selected "The Path Of Unstable Peace".]
'What the old me would have done.'
Vel's eyes momentarily widened, and…