I yawned, tucking my laptop under my arm as I followed Yura and her team back to the Hunter Association HQ.
There was apparently some paperwork and stuff they had to fill in... Since I was technically just there as a tagalong and didn't actually pick up any drops, I didn't have to report anything.
It was kind of like when you went overseas, you know? If you had nothing to report in terms of things you bought, you could just walk right on through.
I DID notice that Robert was giving me an intense side-eye though.
Honestly, didn't blame him.
I DID look pretty ridiculous back in that Gate.
I mean, I knew that Rank differences were a thing, but to think I could literally stand there and tank all those kobold hits...
I had a feeling I could. And I always trusted my gut.
But still, pretty surprising.
...And also very concerning that Yura could leave bitemarks on me but those kobolds couldn't.
...Should I be terrified for my 'little hero'?
Note to self: reel back on teasing Yura a bit. At least in bed.
Yura immediately spun around to give me a fierce glare.
"What?"
"...You're thinking something dirty."
...Was this what they called woman's intuition?
"...No I'm not."
"Tch. I'll ignore it for now..." Yura side-eyed me again and went back to filling out paperwork at the teller.
...Man. That was a bit freaky though.
Guess it made sense though. She DID flag me out from the crowd when I was in expert background NPC cover.
Maybe my lovely Yura has a sixth sense of sorts?
...Nah. We were probably just on the same wavelength since we'd been together so much.
Right, Yura?
Yura immediately glanced back at me, glaring.
...Huh.
Note to self: my lovely fiancee-to-be definitely has insane intuition.
I should totally take advantage of this at some point. But for now, I'll leave her be.
It looked like we might be here for a while.
Yura, Robert, and those other girls who'd gone with us were all stuck filling tons of paperwork because they'd picked up a lot of drops from the monsters.
Yura in particular had a lot of paperwork to file because she had claimed the Gate's core after viciously butchering the boss monster. Because of that, she had to register the Gate as a Dungeon.
...Which meant more paperwork.
Which meant I was stuck here for a while.
I sighed and then set up shop at a nearby table. Close enough to my lovely Yura to keep her in eyesight, and for her to still have me in her peripheral vision.
I'd noticed my lovely Yura got antsy about that. I guess it was still a bit too early in our relationship for her to not be worried.
...Although she was seriously weak to lovebombing. Like, if I was a worse person, I would totally take advantage of that. Push and pull, negging... I could think of a lot of psychological tricks that would totally make her dependent on me.
But I wasn't like that, so I just gave her some space to do her thing while I caught up on my own work.
'Let's see...'
While I waited for my laptop to boot back up, I swept my gaze around the area.
We were in the Hunter Association HQ building. First floor.
Yura and the others had gone to the front desk, filling out paperwork at standing teller kiosks.
...And when I say paperwork, I mean literal paper.
Apparently, there was an incident in the past where a 'pioneering hunter' decided to be smart about things and forge a few dungeon claiming reports on gates that hadn't been cleared just to be able to raid them tax-free by hacking the system.
Because of that one guy, every Hunter now had to fill in paperwork in triplicate and hand-stamp them with their personal insignia.
Another reason why I wasn't doing paperwork yet: my personal insignia didn't exist.
They had to be handcrafted using samples of your mana or something, so mine was still due to come in the mail within 3-5 business days.
Sad to say, even in hyper-advanced sci-fi portal fantasy, the DMV equivalent finds a way to screw you...
But enough about that.
Looking around... Hm. No one suspicious here. Though, it would be surprising if there was considering Gramps lived on the top floor of this place.
The Hunter Association HQ was that guy's personal domain, so you'd have to be suicidal or insane to try anything here.
Like I'd recently experienced for myself, Rank differences DID matter.
And I was fairly concerned about the fact that Yura's grandfather was the ONLY Rank EX Hunter out there.
Considering SSS-Ranked Hunters were apparently able to rearrange continents... at least, according to rumors. There wasn't any conclusive proof of that anywhere.
But anyway, since that was apparently a thing...
'I wonder if he's like a literal planetbuster?'
I didn't know the powerscaling of this world AT ALL.
And it was also kind of wishywashy...
Like, theoretically, if you had awakened to an ability that let you instakill any single person, would you be an EX-Ranked Hunter?
Or would you be an S-Ranked Hunter?
I guess it would depend on the limitations of that ability. Like, if you had a time limit on it, or if you had to focus on one person...
But like, what was the difference then in ranking between that person and someone who could rain down lightning over a city?
My lovely Yura... While I hadn't seen her at her full potential, I vaguely had the sense that she could drop lightning down over a city block for an hour straight.
But she was only an S-Ranked Hunter, even though that would DEFINITELY kill most things.
Just what qualified as an EX-Ranked Hunter anyway? Is it like, beyond metrics?
Lee Shin's ability was well-known to be [Deicide]. It was apparently an ability that 'severed eternity' and 'defied the providence of the absolute' that 'grew stronger when the user was weaker than the target.'
But there wasn't really any concrete details on what that meant.
I mean, fair. You didn't want anyone replicating it.
But in that case...
Would [Compilation] be an EX-Ranked ability? And was I really an EX-Ranked Hunter?
Physically though, I wasn't stronger than Yura. I got the drop on her a lot when we're intimate, but we were pretty even in terms of strength and defense.
I'll spare the details on what that means... But basically, it wasn't like I was ridiculously stronger than my lovely Yura.
'Though I AM also non-standard...'
I WAS a reincarnated soul after all. And apparently, whatever goddess was watching over this Earth had personally plucked me here to... reward me? As a safeguard?
I don't think they were very clear on that...
Hm.
'Well. As long as I can keep my lovely Yura safe, it doesn't really matter.'
I was a simple man.
Before meeting Yura, I was content just spending my time doing writing commissions and updating my web novels.
After meeting Yura, I was happy if she was happy. And I was also happy as long as she was around.
If anything got in the way of that...
Well.
I was a reformed crashout. But that didn't mean I wouldn't crashout again if push came to shove.
"Okay." I murmured. "Enough tangents. Time to work."
Now, that NTR story that Gramps wanted...
Mm. Well, it wasn't my taste, but he WAS paying for it. And I DID have some fresh 'reference' material to work with... heh.
...Aaand there's the bombastic side-eye from my lovely Yura.
Okay, maybe I'll just stick to the generic ones. And I'll remember to NOT reference the mole Yura has on her-
...Yeah, she DEFINITELY can sense when I'm thinking about her.
Love that. Also, kind of concerning, but very comforting.