Villain Retirement

"Extend your time? But you've been inside the dungeon for half a day!"

"We…we've only hunted one monster."

"What!? You've been there half a day! You—and you only hunted an Elderdeer!? That's just a Level 2 Beast!"

Beasts. Since the dawn of the World of Arlusia, Beasts have roamed free throughout its lands. But these Beasts truly aren't welcome in Arlusia, however, as they come from a completely different place…another world.

They come from portals unannounced, bringing chaos to the land; destroying nature itself, killing and devouring all the native inhabitants they could see. It wasn't until the age of men that the world was able to see even a semblance of order—and with the birth of the Hunters, they began to achieve balance.

The Hunters, as their name entails, hunt the monsters directly in the other world. entering through the portals and eradicating all the threats before they could wreak havoc in Arlusia. In short, they were specialized attack teams.

The world through the portals is also filled with all sorts of treasures; like an abandoned Dungeon—sometimes literally, as some of the portals lead through crypts.

These Dungeons, however, never truly disappear. They will fade when the monsters inside it are all cleared, but they always return as the monsters seem to… replenish their numbers in random amounts of time.

Arlusia's civilization centered around hunting monsters, as well as learning about them and the Dungeons. But truly, there wasn't much to learn—the scholars of the world just treat it similar to most things Arlusia, magical in nature.

As for the rest of the people, they just like dealing with the monsters with their swords and spells. This is the way of life in Arlusia.

Arlusia and the people in it, however, had no idea that another beast was in their midst—the greatest monster in the Universe, Known and Unknown.

An evil calamity called Riley Ross.

"..." And this evil calamity, right now, quietly steps out of the dungeon; carrying an Elderdeer on his shoulders. His eyes reflected the horizons of Arlusia, a lush field of grass for miles on end, almost reflecting the blue sky above it. Of course, this was just a single part of the lively world.

Riley then started approaching the team he was with; as soon as he did so, however, he noticed someone pointing at him—a balding middle-aged man.

"I was wondering why your porter didn't bring a cart, or even a bag…" The balding middle-aged man was talking to Lilly—no, not really talking—perhaps sermon was the right word,

"...It turns out he probably knows your party is incompetent!"

"Hey, I have had enough of you! Why don't you just do your job as a Handler!?"

"..." Riley then quietly watched as Roan rushed toward the handler, only to be pulled away by Bert like some sort of puppy; not the cute kind.

"Stop it," Bert said; his voice and eyes, however, were clearly hostile as they directed them to the handler.

"Tch," the handler, of course, did not take this lightly as he grabbed the large book hanging on his leather belt.

"Leville Party. 1 Elderdeer. Completion time, 12 hours," the handler then scoffed as he started writing on the book. And while he was doing so, the other hunters that were in the area started chuckling.

Roan could really only grit his teeth as he heard them; gripping his fists as he looked to the side. As the team's tracker, he knew it was his fault that they even take this long just to hunt a single monster.

"Let's just go…" Bert sighed, placing his hand on Roan's shoulder as he quickly noticed the expression painted on his face.

"Porter," Bert then said as he gestured to Riley, "Put the monster in our cart. We… apologize that we only hunted one, I know how hard this is for you guys too."

"It is fine, Mr. Bert. It is my fault that you were not able to hunt more," Riley shook his head as he walked toward the team's cart.

"...What?" Bert could not help but let out a wry chuckle as he heard Riley's words, "How is that your fault?"

"..." Riley did not really answer as he just carefully placed the elderdeer on the Leville party's cart. It is indeed his fault—the only reason Roan had a harder time tracking the monsters is because of him—the animals could always feel and sense Riley as he is.

"This is actually my very first time working as a Porter, Mr. Bert," Riley then said as he shook his head, "I should perhaps thank you for easing me into it slowly."

"Huh…" Bert squinted his eyes, "...You're alright, kid. I'd like to work with you again if ever you're available."

"..." Riley looked at Bert's hand as he stretched it toward him. He stared at it for a few seconds, before shaking it and subtly smiling at him, "Of course, Mr. Bert."

"And don't mind the shorty, he's always been like that."

"Hm," Riley just nodded before making his way to the handler, who still seemed busy ridiculing or perhaps teasing Lilly with their incompetent hunt time.

"Can you just pull some of our time? It… won't do well on our record," Lina meekly said, "Come on, don't act like we didn't help you before."

"What did you—"

"Mr. Handler."

And before the handler could start berating Lilly again, Riley approached the two.

"I would like to get my commission now, Mr. Handler," Riley calmly said as he stood between him and Lilly, "I heard that I could get it from you directly so I won't have to travel to—"

"I don't have your commission." And before Riley could finish his words, the handler scoffed and waved his hand, "Go to the nearest guild branch if you want to get your money."

"But I was told that—"

"I don't have your money," the handler smirked as he once again opened his logbook, "Do you want me to record this in—"

"!!!"

"No." And before the handler could even get his pen… Riley suddenly grabbed his hand.