Mr. Heights walked up to him with a slight smile and a look of surprise on his face.
A young youth was with him, putting on a smug expression.
"Hal? Wow, I'm surprised to see you."
"The feeling isn't mutual, sir."
"What!" Mr. Heights was surprised but quickly shook it off.
"It's good to see you doing well, you know I never thought you were going to make it back then, in the Dungeon, but you proved me wrong."
"Yh. I was lucky." Hal replied.
"Who is he, anyway?"
The youth standing beside Mr.Height's blatantly.
"Oh, sorry. Hal this is Leon, a B-rank Hunter..." The guy's shoulders were raised a little higher, and the smug expression on his face became more distinct at the mention of his rank as a Hunter.
"...Leon this is Hal, an E-rank Hunter..."
As soon as Mr. Heights was finished talking, Leon walked up to Hal and stood in front of him, probably meaning to bully him with his stature, but he wasn't successful as Hal was taller than him, although he appeared huge.
"Don't you know what to do when you meet someone stronger than you?" He asked in a mean voice.
Bethany, who was standing beside Hal, took his left hand in hers, stood at his front, and shouted in a thin but sure voice.
"Beat it, big, big-headed bully!"
"What did you just say?" He took a step forward with a raised hand and intended to slap her, but Hal stopped his hand in mid-air.
"You have no right to do that, now do you?" Hal said.
"Let go of me!" He retorted threateningly.
Hal looked at him for a second and dropped his hand.
He wasn't interested in causing a fuss with him, as that would make people suspicious, and that he didn't want.
Mr. Heights who was standing at the side seemingly dumbstruck the whole time, now moves to intervene.
"Now, guys, let's not get offensive." He said while pulling Leon back with a slight smile.
'Offensive? Not....sure he would have loved to wipe that smug look clean off his face, but as he said earlier, he wasn't keen on exposing his secret...' Hal thought.
'Although I just might have done that...'
"Leon, you shouldn't be rude. I apologize for his sake, Hal." Mr. Heights said with a slight bend of the head.
'The fool... despite all his friendly facade, he was still too proud to bend to an E-rank.' Hal thought.
Well, that was none of his business. It was time to go.
"If there isn't anything else, I would love to be on my way."
"Bethany, let's go," Hal said.
"Ah, ah, ah, hold on., It's a good thing we met; you see, Leon and I are looking for Hunters to join our newly established guild, and I would like to extend that invite to you!" Mr. Height said with a benevolent expression, which didn't last long, as Hal declined the offer.
"I'm not, interested." He said and walked away with his little sister.
Mr Height couldn't believe his ears and stood rooted to the ground, dumbstruck.
"What the! Mr. Height, you let me deal with this ground-level Hunter right now!" Leon shouted with a face reddened with rage.
Mr. Height was still wondering how on earth an E-rank Hunter would blatantly turn down the offer of belonging to a private team, and not just at any time, but at the stage where the guild was just starting.
He would have become a founding member of the guild in the future, but he turned it down!
What others would do ungodly things to get, he turned down just like that, without batting an eyelid!
'Just what type of person would do that, definitely not someone normal!' He thought.
What he didn't know, was that Hal was as far as removed from normal as anyone could imagine.
The only Hunter on the earth, above the heavens, and beneath the underworld that was capable of growing, rising in rank.
Mr. Height's In his rage, shouted. "Get that guy, now!"
"Finally!" Leon shouted and gave Chase to Hal.
He stopped in the crowd and searched for Hal.
"Found you." He ran towards the direction where he saw Hal, and as soon as he got close to him, threw a punch to the back of his head.
Foom!
Leon smiled as Hal seemed unaware of the attack coming from behind him, and his fist was about to connect to the back of his skull, but at the very last moment...
.
.
....He was on the floor, staring at the looming handsome face with spiky red hair, that seemed to have filled the sky... staring at Hal! The supposed E-rank! Just how!... He thought.
Hal looked at him and said...
"What don't you get about my answer? Or do you want me to spell it out for you? Fine."
"I'm going to say it for the last time... I'm. Not. Interested."
Hal said his piece, looked at him, and walked away.
Mr. Height, who had just arrived, helped the angry Leon get up.
They both looked in the direction where he passed.
"I'll hunt that guy till the edges of the earth!" Screamed Leon.
****
"It's nothing to worry about, okay? They were just a bunch of people causing nuisance." Hal said to Bethany as he opened the door of a super Mart.
The plan was to come shopping for provisions and other things that Bethany would need as she started college.
Today was the first of June which meant summer coaching would be starting in the next four days.
And Hal wanted her to have everything she would need.
He made a promise to himself to educate her as well as he could afford so that she could get the chance he never had.
As soon as they entered the shopping Mart, a cool blast of air hit them on the face.
"Woah, it's cold in here," Bethany exclaimed.
"Yep, it sure is," Hal replied, but he wasn't feeling the cold.
As a Hunter, his resistance to such things was higher than regular humans.
"Ok, Bethany, this is your moment; pick whatever you want."
"Oh! Really?"
"Sure."
It was time they went on a shopping spree.