Capitalist Monster Hunter - Chapter 3

3. Shouting for Help in a World Without Hope or Dreams (1)

A world without magic or martial arts? That was like a bun without red bean paste—completely pointless. Hunters in other worlds learned martial arts and magic to hunt monsters, but in this world with neither, what was there to learn?

No, there was still hope. If he could just be sent back to Estel, everything would be fine. Since hunters could move between Earth and other worlds, surely Titania could send him back to Estel too.

Yuseong firmly believed this.

“Can’t you just send me back to Estel?”

“No, that’s impossible. Once a dimension is set, it can’t be changed. There’s only a one-dimensional gateway.”

With Titania’s quick response, any last flicker of hope vanished.

“So, you’re saying I can only go between Earth and this parallel world?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Titania nodded.

‘Ha, I’m no hunter. Fine, guess I just need to stick to what I know.’

Caterpillars need to eat pine needles; anything else would make them sick. Maybe it was better to live a normal life than trying to be a hunter after all.

Yuseong felt disappointed but decided to accept it gracefully. He had a job back on Earth, so he could just forget all this and live his usual life.

‘Might as well go back and get some sleep.’

He’d get some rest and prepare for his volunteer work at the orphanage tomorrow.

“Sigh… so, I guess I should give up on being a hunter. Just send me home. I want to rest.”

“That’s also impossible.”

“What?”

Was “impossible” the only word this fairy knew? Every question he asked got the same response.

“But hunters can travel freely between other worlds and Earth! Why can’t I? Isn’t a parallel world still another world? Why am I the only one who can’t?”

Yuseong’s voice was full of frustration as he asked Titania.

“This world isn’t under our jurisdiction, so it’s difficult to allow unrestricted travel. Opening a portal and connecting dimensional pathways takes time… I’m sorry.”

What, was she some kind of bureaucrat? She couldn’t help him because it wasn’t her area? The fact that he couldn’t learn anything despite becoming a hunter was frustrating enough, and now he couldn’t even return home freely? He was livid.

“Aaaaaah!”

Yuseong screamed in frustration at Titania’s response.

[The Goddess of Mischief: Lol, he’s losing it! Totally losing it!]

[Fairy King: I apologize…]

“Why me? Why only me?!”

Why was everything going wrong just for him? Yuseong shouted in despair.

“You dumb fairy! Are you supposed to be a support fairy or a trolling fairy?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Yuseong was shouting in frustration, but he quickly regained his composure. Screaming wasn’t going to solve anything, so he decided to get serious.

“Fine. So, when can you open the portal?”

He decided to drop the polite speech. This was no time for manners; he was barely refraining from cursing.

“A month later.”

A month was a long time. Disappearing for a whole month without a word would surely worry his boss and his siblings. That was his main concern.

“Yuseong, are you worried about the time difference?”

“Yeah. If I disappear for a month, they’ll be worried.”

“Don’t worry about that. Time flows differently here. Even if you’re here for a month, only a couple of days—two or three at most—will pass on Earth.”

“So, if I stay on Earth for three days and come back here, a month will have passed?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Even if you stayed on Earth for a month, only a few days would pass here. At most, two or three days? Maybe even less.”

“What? But I thought time flowed differently. Wouldn’t three days on Earth be a month here?”

“It’s because of dimensional interference. Um… it’s hard to explain. It’s a vague force that can’t be precisely defined. There’s no fixed point, so the time flow shifts back and forth, but that’s the usual pattern. Isn’t that more convenient? If one world moved forward by ten or a hundred years each time, that’d be a pain, wouldn’t it?”

‘Hmm… makes sense when you put it like that. I can’t really argue with that logic.’

Listening to Titania, Yuseong realized that it was better this way than having years pass in one place while he was in another.

“Still, aging happens at the same rate, so make sure to save up your points and buy the ‘Elixir of Anti-Aging’ from the shop. Since there’s no mana or energy in this world, aging will happen just like on Earth.”

“Points?”

“You earn points by defeating monsters or other living creatures. It’s like a numerical value placed on their worth.”

“So, do you get points for killing people too?”

“Yes, killing people gives you points. But you can’t earn points for killing ordinary people. If you kill someone of high status, with great power, or someone who’s done a lot of good or evil, then you can earn points. And if a hunter kills another hunter, they gain all of that hunter’s points.”

[Goddess of Mischief: He’s psycho. Nobody asks fairies about this kind of stuff right off the bat.]

[666: Psycho, you say?]

[Goddess of Mischief: Look at him jumping in just because I said psycho.]

Yuseong wasn’t asking about killing people for points because he was a psycho. Sometimes on the news, hunters made it to the blacklist for killing others or fighting with other hunters. That’s why he asked.

“What kind of system encourages people to kill each other for points?”

“It’s the gods who set this up, so it’s out of our hands.”

“Those gods are pretty dumb.”

[Goddess of Mischief: He’s insulting us, isn’t he?]

[666: Wow, the dumbest creature on Earth dares to say that.]

[Fairy King: I heard nothing…]

Even though the Goddess of Mischief and 666 were typing insults about him in the chat, Yuseong ignored them.

“So, what am I supposed to do now?”

“If things had gone as planned and you went to Estel, you’d have been tested at a training center to see where your talent lies, then learn a basic mana cultivation technique. Then you’d learn skills suited to you, travel around Estel to train and gain experience, and hunt monsters on Earth as part of the cycle. But this world doesn’t have any foundation for that. This parallel world doesn’t have any gods to manage it.”

“So, what am I supposed to do? At least give me some kind of plan.”

“For now, how about you just keep doing whatever this world’s Yuseong was doing?”

“How am I supposed to know what ‘other me’ does?”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure how to help you. There’s barely any info about this dimension in the Akashic Records.”

Sigh… “So, even if I ask you, I’m not going to get any real answers, huh.”

“Sorry…”

Titania looked down, all sad and apologetic. She must feel bad since her mistake caused this whole mess. She wanted to help, but couldn’t do much, so she just kept acting all apologetic.

“Forget it. I’ll manage somehow. It’s a parallel world, right? There aren’t even any monsters here, so it’s not like I’m going to die. And it seems like they call Earth ‘Kaden’ in this world. Weird name.”

Since it was a parallel world, he’d thought the planet would still be called Earth, but apparently not. “Kaden” sounded like something from a fantasy game.

“There is actually a planet named Earth in this world, though.”

“What? Then where are we? This isn’t Earth?”

“Kaden’s a planet at the edge of our galaxy. Unlike Earth, they’re super advanced in science and tech here.”

It felt like he’d ended up as the main character in some sci-fi movie. How advanced could this world be if they’ve already gone so far into space? It was like they were in a space version of the Wild West, pioneering the galaxy.

“Uh, Yuseong, sorry to say, but we won’t be able to keep talking much longer. The interference here is too strong, and the connection is going to cut off soon.”

“What?”

A so-called support fairy that hasn’t helped at all was now telling him the connection would cut off soon? Yuseong was about ready to lose it.

“Please don’t look at me like that! It’s just because this dimension isn’t influenced by the gods. It’s not my fault.”

Titania said, her eyes trembling.

“It’s not that we can’t connect ever, just not for long periods. And if you get stronger, I’ll get stronger too, so I’ll be able to help more.”

“How am I supposed to get stronger when I have neither magic nor martial arts?”

“That’s why we have the points shop! You can use points to buy magic books, martial arts manuals, internal energy techniques, skill books, scrolls, potions, weapons, and all kinds of random items!”

Titania tried to reassure him, but it was no use. For him to go back to Earth and fight monsters, he’d have to become strong enough to take them down. But how was he supposed to do that in this world with nothing?

Even goblins, the weakest monsters hunters fight, were dangerous for regular people. Taking on that risk just to earn points? Maybe he’d be better off just taking a job as a janitor.

‘Guess I’ll just pretend to be the “me” of this world and hang on for a month.’

“Well, Yuseong, I’ll cast a translation spell on you. I don’t know what language they speak here. It’s a permanent spell, so it’ll stay unless someone dispels it. Good luck!”

Titania’s image grew faint and vanished.

[Trickster Goddess: She ditched him.]

[Fairy King: I gotta go too.]

[Trickster Goddess: Keep your people in line.]

[Fairy King: Got it.]

When Titania disappeared, the Fairy King left the chat too. 666 seemed to be gone as well. Only the Trickster Goddess was left in the chat.

[Trickster Goddess: Feeling bad for you, so I’ll send you a gift.]

[Trickster Goddess has sent “Stone of Salvation” as a gift.]

“Stone of Salvation?”

The Trickster Goddess had apparently sent him something.

‘How do I check it, though?’

[Trickster Goddess: Oh, come on. Take it out of your inventory. It’s single-use, so use it wisely. I’m out too.]

And with that, she was gone. Now he was truly alone.

“Take it out of my inventory?”

In Yuseong’s inventory, there was just a single little stone. He reached in, and the Stone of Salvation appeared in his hand.

Stone of Salvation

– Grants “Salvation” upon use.

The description was short and to the point. Using it would grant him “salvation.” That was it.

“This is it?”

What a joke. The explanation was just one line.

Nothing was going his way.