Chapter 60: Luck Is a Skill
A comment asking whether he was Walfred.
Right after seeing it, Walfred felt his breath catch, and a question shot up in his mind all at once.
Had I written my name in the post?
He looked the content over carefully with that thought in mind, but his name was nowhere in it. There wasn’t even the slightest clue that could pin down his identity to begin with.
’So how did they know?’
His growing curiosity prompted Walfred to look over the comment once more. And in the meantime, he noticed that a slew of replies had been attached to it.
[??? Who’s Walfred?]
[What? You don’t know Walfred?]
[He’s the most famous Hunter in New York these days. He took down an A-rank Elite all by himself.]
[Whoa, that’s insane. An A-rank solo?]
[But what does Walfred have to do with the White Dome that there’s a comment like this?]
[Someone saw the Bone Drake snatch a person and go into the White Dome. So given the circumstances, they probably just took a shot in the dark?]
The replies stretched on after that.
Walfred let out a dry laugh.
"Heh..."
Not only had they figured out his real name, but word had spread that he’d taken down the Bone Drake solo.
Where had they heard a story like this?
Even the Hunters at the Silicon Alley Shelter shouldn’t know that he’d exterminated the Bone Drake on his own.
’I need to find out what’s going on.’
Walfred started searching with fire in his eyes.
After a short while,
he managed to find posts mentioning his name in just a few minutes.
─────
[Title]: Anyone happen to know Walfred’s nickname?
[Author]: CyberWraith
[Title]: Looking for the Hunter Walfred! If you see this post, please leave a comment.
[Title]: Morning Star Class Master
[Title]: What’s the deal with Walfred? Is he really S-rank?
[Author]: BlackBeanNoodle
─────
The board with the most posts among them was the Q&A Board. Just the posts he found in a few minutes easily numbered more than a dozen.
A little while later,
Walfred realized what had caused the rumors about him to spread this far.
’The strong-enemy extermination alert.’
Putting the contents together, when Walfred took down the Bone Drake, a system alert known as the strong-enemy extermination alert had appeared across all of New York.
The Bone Drake’s rank, and that the exterminator’s name was Walfred. And along with the contribution level, the fact that he’d exterminated it solo. All of it.
But Walfred himself hadn’t seen any of it.
’The alert must have appeared while I was passed out.’
Right after he’d brought down the Bone Drake,
he’d reached his mental limit at the time and lost consciousness. That was probably why he hadn’t seen it.
Even so, he’d never have guessed he’d become this much of a celebrity overnight.
Walfred chuckled.
’This actually works out fine.’
A moderate amount of fame could be put to use.
Especially in an era like this, where strength decided everything. It might even be of some help later when he reached Key West.
So he decided to look on the bright side.
’Anyway, doesn’t this mean there’s no need to announce that I’m safe?’
The strong-enemy extermination alert had appeared across all of New York.
And the fact that an extermination-complete alert had shown up was the most objective proof that Walfred was alive.
So by now, every Hunter at the Silicon Alley Shelter probably knew the news that Walfred had survived.
Having made his judgment, Walfred was about to close his connection to the Hunter Community.
But then.
Ding!
[A friend has requested a one-on-one chat with you.]
[Name: StoneFist]
The alert appeared with good timing.
A one-on-one chat request had come from Bauer, who’d been the leader of the District Hall Shelter. Walfred accepted the request without much thought.
A chat window was created right away.
[StoneFist]: Walfred.
[StoneFist]: Can you talk right now?
The moment the chat window opened,
Bauer spoke up.
[Me]: Yeah. I’m good.
Walfred sent back a matter-of-fact reply.
A moment later, Bauer sent a message quickly, as if he’d typed it out in advance.
[StoneFist]: I heard the news.
[StoneFist]: Taking down an A-rank solo... When I first heard it, I doubted my own ears.
[Me]: I got lucky.
[StoneFist]: In this day and age, luck is a skill too.
[StoneFist]: More importantly, could you tell me what happened to you in the White Dome?
At that, Walfred thought for a moment.
How much should he say?
’One thing’s for sure...’
It would be best to hide Elsa’s existence.
Since dragons and drakes were treated as Boss Monsters, she wasn’t likely to come across as friendly.
He also didn’t particularly want to talk about his unique skill, Frost Feast. After much deliberation, Walfred typed out a message.
[Me]: Like I said, I got lucky.
[Me]: I got caught by the drake and dragged into the White Dome, but I happened to discover its weakness there.
[Me]: Got a bit of a lucky break too.
He glossed over it vaguely on the whole.
Fortunately, Bauer didn’t press him deeply.
In the Hunter business, it was an unwritten rule to respect lucky breaks and sensitive secrets.
[StoneFist]: In any case, glad you’re safe.
[StoneFist]: And I saw the post you put up on the Info Board. Is everything written there true too?
[Me]: Yeah. It’s true.
[Me]: I was lucky enough to escape, but others won’t be able to, so be careful.
After his earnest warning,
Walfred passed along some new information.
[Me]: Oh, one more thing.
[Me]: I stopped by the Blue Hole a little while ago, and the space inside was completely frozen over.
[StoneFist]: The inside of the gate froze over?
[Me]: Yeah. The White Dome’s cold probably affects the inside of gates too.
[Me]: So you’d be better off giving up on the District Hall and looking for a new shelter.
Well, since they were inside the White Dome anyway, there’d be no reason to feel attached to it. Still, he passed the word along with the intent to warn them just in case.
[StoneFist]: Thanks for the info. I’ll keep it in mind.
[StoneFist]: Oh, come to think of it, the Hunter Jonah asked me to let him know if I heard from you.
[StoneFist]: Would it be all right to tell him?
It didn’t particularly matter.
It wasn’t anything he needed to hide.
[Me]: Yeah, that’s fine.
[Me]: In exchange, could I ask one thing too?
[StoneFist]: Of course. What is it?
He really did appreciate how straightforward the guy was.
Walfred grinned.
[Me]: When you pass my news along to Chief Jonah, there’s something I’d like you to relay to Lauren.
And he typed out a long message.
A moment later, after reading through the message Walfred had sent, Bauer immediately sent back a reply.
[StoneFist]: Got it. I’ll pass it along.
[Me]: Thanks.