Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Three: Initiation

Another form signed; She had spent the last couple hours going through a stack of these papers, most of which were detailing the rules of the Guild, at an empty table in the guildhall gathering hub. There weren't a lot of separate forms, but most of them were several pages in length, and Nia could have sworn they added a lot more to some of them since her previous attempts at becoming a hunter. Though, to be fair, the vast majority of hunter recruits would never have to sign these forms as many times as she had.

Wearily, she set the paper to the side, and decided to take a brief break from the paperwork to take in the sights around her. The guildhall, or at least the section of it she was currently in, was unexpectedly empty, save for several felyne canteen workers making various runs in and out of the room, and a few quest-tenders doing their own paperwork behind their desk. The vast majority of Granport's hunters were actually out on their own missions at the moment, which left the gathering hub pleasantly quiet; perfect for her to focus on the details of all these rather monotonous forms. In truth, she didn't scrutinize the fine details of all of them so much for any purposeful desire to properly know them herself, and it wasn't like she had any real reason to distrust the Guild, either. Rather, she knew full well that Haldys would very likely question her on her knowledge of anything on any piece of paper in front of her. Not having to go through all of these forms a second time with Haldys glaring over her shoulder during it was on its own more than worth the effort involved.

Being familiar with the rules was merely a bonus for her.

Just as she was about to get to the final form, Nia spotted the old man walk into the hub. He was carrying more papers in his hand, which Nia could only respond to with a deep, resigned sigh. "These are for the contract", he said as he reached her table, holding the five or so pages up in the air, "Fulfill the conditions and adhere to the restrictions within, and the Guild will consider things even between you and them, even register you as a proper hunter. Certainly won't be that simple or straightforward, though", to which Nia responded indignantly, "Of course it won't be", as Haldys set the new form down on the table. However, before she could reach for either the newly placed contract or the last unsigned form that was already on the table, the commander picked up one of the much larger documents Nia had already signed and began to scan over it. "Hunter's Code Of Conduct, Rule Five; What's written there?", he inquired; There was the pop quiz that Nia was anticipating. She sat there for a moment, eyes squinting, trying to recall what those one or two lines in the vast sea of inked letters stated. She grew nervous for a moment, practically feeling Haldys' increasingly judgmental stare upon her face. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead. Then, after a few seconds that felt like several minutes, it finally clicked, and she knew exactly why Haldys picked that specific rule to quiz her on.

To this, Nia sighed in great annoyance and answered, "A hunter shall not wield their weapon against a fellow hunter, guild member, or other innocent person". That was a very important rule to follow for someone with her kind of temper. "Save for when such a violent action is immediately and undeniably necessary to prevent much greater harm from befalling a fellow hunter, guild member, or other innocent person, even if that individual is the same that you would be wielding your weapon against", Haldys continued for her. "Alright, I get it, I won't go taking swings at people anymore", she responded with a note of irritation in her voice, not expecting Haldys to simply take her word for it, to which the old man responded while taking a seat at the table, "Oh, no. Eventually there will come a time when a monster has gotten a teammate stunned, paralyzed, or what have you, and the best response is a good smack to somewhere sturdy on their armor with your weapon". Nia felt like he was getting ahead of himself, but then again she knew she had problems being optimistic about this whole 'being a hunter' thing. Even just talking about it felt rough at times.