"I must say, I'm rather surprised you took so long. I assumed you'd start working at least after a week after your graduation," Remarked Charlotte, as I took a seat in her office.
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on waiting this long, but I've been preoccupied with my training," I replied with a wry smile.
Today's the 20th of February, 2169, over a month and a half since my graduation, and yeah, I still haven't gone on a Quest as a Hunter yet.
I got really focused on my training after I began to make progress with my shooting, between working on that and my regular training with my blade, I decided to wait a bit longer before taking on my first official Quest.
About three days ago, Ai let me know that I had more or less mastered my shooting. At the very least, I'd come as far as I could with shooting at a non-living target, any further improvements will have to mostly come through real experience.
I practiced shooting moving targets by firing at training bots, and also shooting while I'm on the move, but actual living targets move with more complexity and unpredictability than robots do, so yeah.
The Union had been sending me selections of available raids almost every single day since my graduation, and finally, two days ago, I accepted one.
A Mid Level Dungeon with thirty-nine floors that had appeared four days ago, and I'll be joining a party to conquer it today.
Charlotte contacted me this morning and asked me to come to the Hunters Union a bit early to meet with her before the raid, so here I am.
"You've got about an hour before your party is scheduled to depart for the raid, and I'd like to discuss a few details about it before you set out. I actually intended on contacting you yesterday, but I had a lot of my plate with my work," She sighed apologetically.
"It's cool. So, what did you want to discuss?"
"To begin with, did you get the details about the party you'll be joining?"
"Mhm, sure did."
I was going to be teamed up with four Hunters on this raid, two of whom I was already familiar with. Lector Nock, the Ranger who supervised my first raid, and Ferna Feld, the Healer from my last raid.
The other two were Q-Ranks, a Detector and a Lightning Mage. Which means, I'll likely be alone at the front line, unless they opt for a more unorthodox formation.
"Let me start by saying all four of them have agreed to stay quiet about whatever abilities you display in the Dungeon, so you don't have to worry about that. Well, they will be making a report to me, of course, but that's it.
Now, as for the raid itself, you have a choice...you can lead the party and call the shots yourself, or leave that up to someone else. Just how involved would you like for the other Hunters to be in this raid?" She asked me.
"Well, if I'm being honest, I'd prefer it if they didn't get too involved. But that won't be viable on the upper floors, with the increasing number of Monsters. Since they're doing this for my benefit, I don't want to be too selfish," I grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, don't worry about that, be as selfish as you want."
"Seriously? Well, in that case...I'd like to fight solo on as many floors as possible, and I'd like to take on the Dungeon Boss by myself too. And even on the floors where there are too many Monsters for me to handle, I don't want them to help me directly, more just take care of any Monsters that slip past me. Of course, this is only if this Dungeon sticks to the standard patterns."
"Hm, I see...I don't really have a problem with that. Though, if you're in a position where you need back-up, I'm sure you won't mind if they help you then, would you?"
"I mean, yeah, I don't want to die."
"Good to hear. I should say though, when it comes to High Level raids and above, even Aces can't clear such Dungeons by themselves. Teamwork is absolutely vital for Hunters, I hope you realize that," She warned me.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm well-aware of that. After this raid, I'll cooperate more with the parties I join, but with this one, I just kinda want to prove to myself that I can take care of myself if I ever end up in a situation where I don't have a choice but to fight alone."
"Ah, that makes sense. I was worried you were letting arrogance get the better of you. Okay, then, that's perfectly fine. You'll be leading the party, I'll let the others know the details," She remarked, as she tapped away on her I-Watch display, before adding as she glanced at me, "Looks like you're geared up and ready, but where's your weapon?"
"Oh, don't worry, I'm all set on that front," I replied cryptically.
Both my gun and Desecrator were in Treasury, I can take out either at a moment's notice. Well, I'll be using a copy of the gun...it was pretty expensive, and I don't want it to break.
As for Desecrator, while I can store it in Treasury, I can't make copies of it.
"Is that so? Ah, looks like the others are here and ready to go too, and they're on-board with you leading the party. Oh, I should tell you, one of them doesn't know the specifics of your situation.
I only told her to keep quiet about whatever happens in the Dungeon regarding you, she seems to be under the impression that you're a low level Hunter who's using money and influence to force himself into a raid, and that she and others will have to protect you. So, she isn't too happy about this," Charlotte informed me.
"Uh...why didn't you just explain the situation?"
"Oh, because I thought it'd be funny. Incidentally, I told the others to play along with her, so until she sees you fight, she'll assume that you're some rich kid using his parents' wealth to get what he wants. So, her reaction when she realizes that she was wrong should be quite entertaining," She chuckled in amusement.
"Huh...okay, yeah, that does sound like it'd be pretty funny."