Encountering some Thugs

***

Thankfully, tests had shown that he was normal and healthy. Meaning, he could leave at any time he wanted. No, hang on a minute, it kinda felt like both the hospital and the Association wanted him to leave in the first place.

Well, it'd be a waste to spend that much money as hospital fee on a measly rank E like him.

One of the special privileges the S-ranked Hunters enjoyed was the government paying for all of their health-related expenses.

Of course, that was a totally different story for Arata as far as he was concerned.

So, he figured that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to leave this hospital right about now.

After buying a new set of clothes from a store in the hospital, he finally left.

***

The first place Arata visited was the Hunter's association.

The smartphones used by the Hunters were designed with special components so, in order to get one, he had to apply for it at the Association. His previous smartphone had disappeared after he supposedly 'perished' in the Dungeon.

The Association employee spoke while looking at the computer monitor.

"Looks like your phone will become available only after two weeks."

"Why so long?"

He had to wait for two weeks for a new phone to arrive?

"If you need a phone right away, we can loan you one on a temporary basis, but the fee for each usage is 6000 yen."

He wasn't even buying one, just renting it for a little while, yet it cost that much?

Arata shook his head.

"I'll just wait."

"I understand. As soon as your replacement phone arrives, we will send it straight to your residence."

If it was a request from someone with a higher rank, they probably wouldn't have to wait two entire weeks. This was the social difference clearly evident in the current society.

Arata got up to leave. His business was done here.

***

An old and decrepit apartment located on the outskirts of the city.

The glimmer of the sun was fading rapidly, it's light being siphoned by the growing darkness.

The main streets of Tokyo was still bustling with activity but the place Arata lived was far from the hustle and bustle of life.

As he walking back home--

"KYAHHH! Let go of me!"

Arata turned his attention towards the source. It was coming from a deserted alley a slight distance in front of him...

'I can sense several people inside...one of them is clearly a girl.'

As Arata advanced forward towards the alley, his guess was right on point.

A teenage girl was being cornered by several guys.

Well...that was what Arata wanted to believe anyway. Grabbing on to that girl's hair, was a...pig.

There was no other way to describe him.

Weighing easily over a hundred kilograms, his face was greasy, had a pig snout for a nose and his blonde hair was slick with oil. The only thing positive about his appearance was the fancy clothes he was wearing and even that couldn't help with his disgusting features.

"Who do you think I am?! I'm Master Ito Buta from the Ito family. I will get any girl I want!" The pig snorted as he licked his lips, his thoughts filled with the subsequent 'fun' he would have with this young girl.

The girl desperately kicked and screamed. Her innocence was about to be taken by this 'man' and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Arata.

Save me. Her eyes pleaded as she looked at Arata.

[Master, based on analysis of the magic wavelength coming from that group, if I were to categorize them using the system of this world, that pig is a D rank while the other three are E rank. Since an opportunity is presenting itself, why not test our your new powers on them Master?]

'I didn't expect the first thing I would fight against would be humans. Since, I might eventually fight other Hunters, might as well test it out on these bunches first.'

[Conception]

Arata's clothes instantly changed into his Magus Mode as the magic circles manifested.

[Mantra Enchant] is a branch of magic that stores magic energy on a portion of the body in the form of characters or as external entities. That was why these characters now stayed with Arata even if he dispelled his Magus Mode. In order not to arouse any suspicions, he had requested Lemegeton to cast a thin veil of Magic so others would not be able to see the characters under normal circumstances.

Apart from that, he had recorded [Conception] as a Macro in his Grimoire, which is basically a Magical App or program stored within the Grimoire which the mage runs, allowing him to cast it faster and easier. Before, he had to activate his Magus Mode before he could cast [Conception] but now, after recording the steps needed to perform it, he could cast [Conception] simultaneously with his Magus Mode.

Arata knew that he could probably handle these people without activating his magic but he wanted to get used to handling [Mantra Enchant], which required precise control of his emotions and feelings.

Then, a second later, Arata vanished. With a thunderous boom, he appeared next to the girl.

"Eh?" Before the pig could say anything, he was sent flying across as he fractured into the wall at the far end.

'Hmm...did I kill him?'

Just looking at the pig's face and his disgusting actions sickened Arata. That was probably why he had ended up using more strength then he wanted to. However, even if he didn't feel any guilt should the pig end up dying, the Hunter's association would definitely investigate thoroughly once they find out. After all, even if he was a D rank, he was still a Hunter. And from what the pig mentioned earlier, his family was probably quite influential. Arata didn't want the Association to find out about him.

"Gah... Cough... Ngh."

Half buried in the wall, the pig spasmed and coughed out a lungful of blood. His internal organs had been pulverized and most of the bones in his upper body shattered, but he still lived.

The pain was so great that it knocked him unconscious, and then woke him up again. He groaned continually, the pain rendering him unable to move.

"Young Master!"

Two of his hoodlums rushed forward, however, Arata simply leaped upward, destroying the floor with the force of his jump. The two E rank Hunters were blown away by the resulting shock-wave.

Before the two Hunters had even gotten one word out of their mouths, Arata was already standing before them.

"Ah!?" Realizing that certain danger was quickly approaching them, they tried to cushion the blow by backstepping. However, Arata was much faster than their reaction time.

With just a front kick, the shock-waves that followed in the wake of his kick crushed the internal organs of the Hunters. A sickening crack could be heard as they were blown back. The air burst from their lungs as the Hunters let out a strangled breath.

"Like hell I'll let you get away with this!" The last E rank Hunter roused himself with a yell as he slashed at Arata with his sword.

However, that alone wasn't nearly enough.

"Wha--"

He had blocked the approaching slash with just the tip of his finger, before gripping the sword in his hand. With the sword still trapped in his hand, Arata twirled around. The E rank Hunter was dragged around with him, and his stance crumbled. A second later, he felt something slam into the pit of his stomach.

"GAH!" The Hunter doubled up and coughed up blood as he was sent flying back into the wall.

Although the sword was a weapon used by a lower rank Hunter and wasn't made of a strong material, it was a still a sword imbued with magic. Despite that, Arata's grip easily crushed the metal, molding it into pieces.

Arata turned and walked over to the pig, his footsteps echoing across the cobblestones in the now quiet alley. The teenage girl could only look on as Arata approached the guy who had tried to rape her earlier.

"W-W-Wait... please ..."

Blood dribbled from his mouth as the pig begged for his life. The creature standing before him was so far beyond his comprehension that he could only tremble in fear. Arata was slightly surprised that the pig was still alive. However, he could tell that he was barely clinging to his consciousness.

Arata grabbed the pig by his neck as he easily lifted up the hundred kilograms abomination.

"I-I'm begging you. Please don't kill me..." However, despite his pleas, Arata's grip easily crushed his throat, molding it into an easy to grip shape.

After dropping the pig on the ground, Arata stepped on his face. Now that his vocal cords were crushed, the pig couldn't even make any noise as Arata bore his foot down harder. Arata then mercilessly brought his other foot down on the lower half of the pig as he exerted a higher amount of force and pressure.

Splat.

'Hiii' The girl winced at the gruesome sight but Arata wasn't bothered with her.

Buta's face was now a complete mess, his nose broken, his eyes pushed back into his skull, his internal organs shattered, and his lower half was...

He had already lost his consciousness long ago. But, Arata was still not satisfied.

What was this feeling he was experiencing right now. Was it joy? No, it was something much more than that. Was it exhilaration? Satisfaction? Right now, Arata was feeling a certain sense of pleasure as he watched the pig in front of him suffer from the tightening grasp over his fate.

'What is this...'

However, this wasn't the sort of emotion he should be experiencing right now. Sure, he was happy that he got stronger. Much stronger. Strong enough that regular E ranks and D ranks stood no chance against him. But, he shouldn't be feeling so much pleasure seeing people suffer. It was an indescribable emotion, somewhat sickening as well, as though it didn't belong to him.

["Good...very good. Kill that insect."]

'What the...' Upon hearing that unknown voice, Arata instinctively removed his foot as he spun around.

'Was that Lemegeton? No... ...it was clearly a male voice.'

However, there was no one else in the alley. It was only the girl, Arata and this bunch of hoodlums.

'Where did that voice come from?' Arata waited for a couple of seconds, but he didn't hear the voice for a second time.

'Was I imagining things?'

Thankfully, because of that voice, Arata's head finally cooled down. After releasing his magic, Arata drew in the scene of carnage before him. Considering the damage done to the pig, Arata wasn't sure if he could survive.

'This turned out messier than I wanted it to be.' He still couldn't put a finger to what he experienced just now. However, as Lemegeton hadn't said anything about the voice, Arata didn't probe any further. He chalked it up to a sudden sense of overwhelming emotions that had overtaken him for that moment.

Finally, he turned towards the teenage girl, who was still too stunned to say anything.

"Play dumb about my existence when the authorities inquire about this situation. Take it as a favor for the guy who saved you. I hope I can trust you on that. Don't worry, these guys probably won't wake up for a period of time."

Arata left some parting words to the girl as he turned around and proceeded to leave.

"Ah..."

However, before she could ask for his name and thank him, he had already disappeared from the now quiet alley.

***

"Thank you." The girl silently thanked Arata in her heart.