Chapter 6

## Chapter Guide

**The Outside World** (外 (そと) の世 (せ) 界 (かい) , *Soto no Sekai*?) is the sixth chapter of Yuki Kawaguchi's *The Hunters Guild: Red Hood* series.

## Summary

Having left his home behind him, Velou ventures out into the outside world with the huntress Grimm.

Together with the siblings Tylty and Mylty, two Hermit Crab Drivers, they make their way to the Guild's HQ. Along the way, they come across an interesting enemy, and Velou learns about the hellish training that awaits him at the mobile research facility, the Ironworks.

## Plot Details

An axe is brought down on a thick log. *"It split!"* A young Velou says and wipes his forehead. Standing next to him is the Mayor, holding a bunch of firewood in his arms. The Mayor points out that Velou seems to have a knack for that, to which the young boy asks him to bring him more wood; he wants to do the woodcutting from now on. Velou sees it as his way of repaying the Mayor and everyone else in the village.

The Mayor smiles. *"Yes...From now on...you will be the one to..."*

Velou wakes with a start. He is sitting in a carriage, opposite the huntress Grimm; who is currently in her child form, reading a book. She asks him if he is awake, and mentions that he was moaning in his sleep. Velou tells her that it was just a dream, and looks out the window.

Outside, a vast open sea spreads out before them. They are travelling along a road by the edge, in a carriage mounted on top of a crab. Far in the distance, a hulking figure, carrying a massive tree on its shoulders can be seen wading through the water. Velou - quite shocked by this - asks if it is a walking tree. Grimm replies, saying that it is just a lumbering giant, and tells him to ignore it.

Having left the ashes of the hamlet behind, Velou and Grim had begun to make their way to the town that sat on the doorstep of the Hunters Guild HQ: Borderport

One week prior, the young boy and the red huntress stood on the shore of a lake; the desolation of Kasoka Village before them. Velou asked Grimm to take him to the Hunters Guild, saying that if he stays here he won't be able to protect anything; he needs to hunt Werewolves.

*"In order to protect the surviving villagers...You're going to protect the whole world?"* Grimm was puzzled by his reasoning, and called it a child's dream; nevertheless, she said that for now, that is good enough.

With the moon shining bright behind them, Grimm and Velou stood face-to-face. *"Come with me. I'll take you into the Hunters' world."*

Back in the present, Velou sits in thought, clutching the mayor's axe in his hands. He can't let the tragedy of the village happen again, he thinks to himself and resolves to become a hunter. Meanwhile, Grimm knocks on a small peephole above her, telling the man in front to stop so they can have breakfast.

The man dangles a fish in front of the Tractor Hermit Crab named "Amber", which is property of the Guild. They pull off to the side of the road, begin unpacking and soon, sandwiches are being prepared and handed out. While taking a bite of her sandwich, Grimm asks Velou if the axe he has really belonged to the Mayor.

Velou replies yes, and says that it was for cutting firewood. The huntress is surprised that he was able to split open a werewolf's gut in one swing of it. Winters were harsh in Kasoka, Velou explains, firewood was a major lifeline for the villagers. To repay them for their kindness, he would split everyone's firewood for them; so, Velou goes on, he knows how to handle an axe.

Grimm says that woodcutting makes sense, given that it acts as a full-body workout; and that she hears that there is a kingdom somewhere that uses it as a training regimen for new knights. Velou, bright eyed, enthusiastically asks her if it was his bond with the villagers that defeated the werewolves then. *"If you want to look at it that way."* The huntress responds passively.

That wasn't the "*power of friendship*", Grimm thinks to herself, she suspects that the Mayor's axe is made of Wolfonium. But why would a hinterland hamlet mayor have that? Two members of the Guild's top priority, kill-on-sight targets, the Red List, showed up in Kasoka. Lycaon, the alpha of werewolf society, and The Ashen Witch Cinderella, his partner.

A Wolfonium axe. A boy given knight's training. Flunky werewolves that show up, begging to be killed. The village is razed and handily enough, she is there to bring the boy into the Guild. Grimm mulls all these details over in her mind. It's all far too convenient. What was really going on in the hamlet?

Velou interrupts her train of thought, and begins to ask her about the plan that the Guild has in place to exterminate all werewolf. Suddenly, someone behind him tells him that it is way toon soon for him to know about that. Velou turns around, to see Tylty, and his younger sister Mylty, the Hermit Crab Drivers.

Tylty stoically says that Velou has to be formally inducted into the Guild before he can know that. *"Not that you will be. It'll be a hundred years before you-ow!"* Tylty starts before Mylty pokes him from behind with some plates. With a blank expression on her face, the girl tells him to just hand out the food, and apologizes to Velou on his behalf.

*"The more he trusts a person, the sharper his tongue gets with them."* Mylty explains. Tylty rebounds, saying that he doesn't trust Velou yet, and tells him to stop flinching all the time; he makes him look like the bad guy. Meanwhile, Mylty looks off in the distance, and notices something making its way up the road towards them.

A massive crab walks into view, and Velou excitedly asks what it is. Tylty says that it is an Armored Crab; a species that sticks stuff to its body as armor. The foam it spits makes a kind of glue when mixed with sand, he explains; it uses that to paste junk to its back. This one in particular, is carrying a derelict tank on it.

Mylty, peering through her spyglass, observes that the crab isn't firing at them and asks Grimm what they should do. The huntress says that Armored Crabs are generally timid and harmless creatures; nevertheless, this road leads to the outskirts of the bay, so they should lead it back into the wild. As she says this, the barrel of the tank begins to move, aiming in their direction.

Suddenly, the tank fires; its shot obliterating the carriage atop Amber's back. Tylty jumps forward, pushing the others to the ground, and looks at the tank in disbelief. *"You're kidding! How can it fire?! Is there someone inside piloting it?!"* At that, the top hatch of the tank swings open, and out crawls the perpetrator.

Another smaller crab, Velou points out; one sitting on top of the tank. The crab has four eyes, several long pincers and is wearing a human skull as a shell. A "Plier Crab", Grimm remarks; it's clever and has prehensile claws. It's favorite food is humans too.

The huntress gives Tylty and Mylty permission to use force and they set about getting ready for the counterattack. Velou asks her what they should do, and she tells him to watch and learn. In the mean time, this is a good chance for her to tell the boy about what is going on with her body.

*"Put simply, I was cursed. A witch's hex. Turned my body into that of a child."* Grimm explains, adding that she can only transform back into an adult temporally using the Layer Clock. Although, this transformation only lasts for about three hours, and can only be used once a day; after that, she's useless. Not that she's needed right now anyway, the huntress reassures Velou; the siblings are skilled.

Meanwhile, inside the tank, the Plier Crab scurries about; preparing another shot. *"Gi, Gi, Gi."* It looks through the periscope, noticing a flash in the distance. *"Gi?"* Suddenly, a bullet shatters the glass, flies into the tank and begins ricocheting around.

Mylty kneels on the ground holding a sniper rifle - still smoking from the barrel - her eye to the scope. *"Good! It's ricocheting!"* She says, as Velou watches on in awe. Not only did she shoot for that small gap, she also managed to aim for a ricochet.

As the crab frantically begins to climb out of the tank, Tylty steps into view, holding two swords behind his back. *"Hey there, crab. That was a pretty nice shot earlier."* He says, before proceeding to slash the Plier Crab in all directions. It remains dumbfounded for a second, before it splits apart into several pieces behind Tylty. *"Nothing personal. You just picked the wrong targets."*

After saying farewell to the Armored Crab, the party continue on their way. Riding along in the remains of the carriage, Velou marvels at the siblings' strength, and says that he wants to become as good a Hunter as them. Tylty cuts him off, revealing that they aren't actually Hunters, much to Velou's surprise.

*"We flunked out. Couldn't pass camp."* Tylty says, and Velou replies in confusion. A training camp, Mylty explains; three months of hell that he will go through himself soon enough. They just do odd jobs for the Guild now, she goes on; about 200 hopefuls apply for each camp, generally only three or so pass. Only those who can survive the harshest training, earn the right to join the Guild.

He has to pass a camp that these two failed, Velou thinks nervously to himself. And just like that, a large ominous shadow comes into view in the distance; smoke rising from the top of it. Mylty points it out; The Guild's mobile research facility, both camp and fortress: The Ironworks.

Moving imposingly on a train track laid out across the water, the Ironworks lives up to its name. As a mysterious woman, her face obscured, stands proudly with her hands at her hips. *"Okay! How many will survive this round?"*

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Velou
* Hech Horlock
* Grimm
* Tylty
* Lycaon
* Cinderella
* Mylty
* Debonair Diamond

## Trivia

* When published initially in *Weekly Shonen Jump*, the chapter was called **Beginning of Part 2: The Outside World** (第 (だい) 二 (に) 章 (しょう)  外 (そと) の世 (せ) 界 (かい) , *Dainishō Soto no Sekai*?). This was amended in the volume release.