Ranta

Ranta (ランタ, Ranta) was the Dread Knight of Haruhiro's party and is one of the main characters of Hai to Gensō no Grimgar series.

Personality
The party members, including Haruhiro, agree that Ranta is a self-boasting, loud and rude member who is seemingly oblivious to his own behavior. He has no quints in making crude comments towards the party and yet seemingly not making any serious advances. Haruhiro constantly compares him to an annoying child.

Ranta is fully aware of his actions, his bad attitude being a wall to keep people from seeing and judging him for the person he is. His appearance is a farce that masks his emotional needs; usually after suffering a horrible predicament with the team, he would go out drinking on his own.

He is described as a survivor, stubbornly holding onto life at any cost. Despite his loudmouthed attitude towards them, Ranta seems to care about the survival of his teammates as well, taking an approach to protect Merry during their capture, or his actions within the Cyrene Mines.

He is shown to be skilled at bartering, reducing the prices of the items he buys by a considerable amount. He also likes to name his items according to his idea of what sounds appealing or cool, and also likes to shout his attack names during combat, a trait which annoys his squadmates.

Despite the verbal abuse he suffers from Zodiac, he is greatly attached to his demon, using it as a form of emotional support. Following his joining of Forgan, Haruhiro and Merry speculate that Ranta has a deep-seated desire to be equal to Haruhiro, which led to him to not holding back in his duel with his former teammate.

Appearance
Ranta is somewhat scrawny, but appears to possess a wiry strength as a Dread Knight. He has unruly deep red-auburn hair, red/brown eyes, and a near permanent smirk or sneer on his face. The curliness of his hair becomes a running joke.

In the light novel, the volume of his hair is less pronounced, while his sharp canines stand out more.

Before Grimgar
Prior to his life in Grimgar, Ranta was born from a rich yet dysfunctional family; his father, who rarely showed up at home due to his workaholic habits, scarcely noticed his existence; his two older siblings (a brother and sister) were immensely successful in their careers but never showed care for Ranta; and his mother was occasionally found at home with the TV on and drinking wine, often bitter toward him. His parents usually fought against one another, and Ranta believed that one of them was having a secret affair.

His life at school was merely a getaway from his home. He played basketball, and had classmates who only spent time with him for his money. He hated going back home.

Level. 8
Ranta betrays the party and joins Jumbo's team, Forgan.

Level. 9
Ranta flees Forgan, leaving a note to Takasagi, asking him not to look for him.

Level. 11
Takasagi, after a long chase and a fight between the two, ultimately lets Ranta escape.

Level. 14+
Ranta spent 1113 days, going around the Nargia Highlands, the Nehi Desert and through the mountains, until he eventually reached a town. There, in a bar, he met a gray elf shaman by the name Wezelred. After Ranta helps him out by killing orc assailants, Wezel agrees to show Ranta the way to Alterna, as he, too, has business in the south. On their way Wezel tells Ranta a lot about the Alliance of Kings, and the past. Soon they reach a settlement. There, Wezel euthanises a terminally ill orc.

After leaving the thorp, Ranta and Wezel are attacked by well-trained orc assassins. The duo manages to kill the orcs and, to take respite and hide from the rain, they enter a small cave. Ranta presses Wezel into telling his story, to which Wezel acquiesces. Wezel tells Ranta that he needs to go to Anotu, his homeland city in the Shadow Forest, in order to warn them about an upcoming attack by an army of orcs and undead.

After entering the Shadow Forest, Ranta and Wezel wandered for a long time until Wezel admitted that they've lost. To find a path, Wezel meditated for 2 days long, while Ranta protected him. During this time a treant was observing them until Ranta killed it. Afterwards Wezel deployed the Secret Art of the Forest, that would lead them to their destination. Somewhere along the way Wezel disappeared while Ranta was captured by the elves. When Ranta came to in captivity an elven girl named Leaya released him at request of her mother who captured Ranta in the first place. She told Ranta that the forest is under attack and brought him to her parents, Wezel and Alorya. There Ranta learns that Forgan is responsible for the attack on the Shadow Forest and forces Wezel to run away with his family, while he engages in a fight with Takasagi.

Level. 14++
Sometime after the attack on the Shadow Forest, the Alliance of Kings launched an invasion on Alterna. Ranta appeared there just in the nick of time to save Yume from Takasagi.

Level. 15
Ranta and Yume participated in a raid on Riverside Iron Fortress, led by surviving Volunteer Soldiers.

Abilities
Ranta serves as a second tank to the party. Being lightly armored, the Dread Knight makes use of the terrain and the reach of his own weapon to position himself out of the enemy's striking range while using sword-skills to strike back. Uses the Dark Arts of Battle sword skills that all Dread Knights use.
 * Streetwise: Allow purchasing items at bargained price. Gather information from unsavory sources that are otherwise unavailable to Haruhiro and party.
 * Demon Call: A passive supernatural skill that summon a demon. Depending on the number of vices being sacrificed, the demon will perform questionable abilities ranging from telling jokes, to physically stunning the enemies. That is, if the demon is in the mood to do so.
 * Propel Leap: A backward jumping escape skill that immediately puts space in between the dread knight and the enemy
 * Anger Thrust (Anger): A sudden forward leap and one-hit kill that thrust the long sword into the enemy throat.
 * Juke Stab (Avoid): A upgrade version of the Anger Thrust.
 * Hatred's Cut (Hatred): A diagonal slashing attack.
 * Dark Terror (Dread Terror): A spell that instills the fear of the Black God Skulheill into an enemy and robs them of rational judgement. Its incantation is "Come, darkness! O, Skullhell! Bring an infinite horror upon those who resist! Dread Terror!"
 * Expel Frenzy (Reject): A defensive skill used to create distance, involves locking swords with an enemy to shove them before leaping backwards. Lethal when paired with a follow-up attack.
 * Dread Aura: A spell that causes a blackish purple haze to envelope the Dread Knight and gives them a general power boost. It's incantation is "O Darkness! O Lord of Vice! Dread Aura!"
 * Leap Out: A jumping attack skill that delivers a powerful slash to the enemy. Can decapitate enemies.
 * Slice: A sword skill that moves in a figure eight-like pattern that slices the enemy.
 * Missing: A dark fighting skill. Utilizes strange movements to confuse the enemy, possibly an illusion.
 * Dread Wave: A spell. It's incantation is "O Darkness! O Lord of Vice! Dread Wave!"
 * Blood Venom: It is a spell that used Skullheill's miasma to weaken the target's body. An aura leaves the Dread Knight's body and envelopes the enemy.
 * Dread Venom Wave: It was Ranta’s own original Dread Magic spell, made by forcibly combining Dread Venom and Dread Wave. It robbed the target of their life force, and enervated them as if they were suffering from a high fever.

Volume 1

 * After his Dread Knight training, Ranta was given hard, leather armor with a skull design branded into the chest area and an old longsword.

Volume 5

 * Wears a skull helm, a helmet that has a visor with a skull design.
 * Wields a longsword that he named Betrayer which is of decent quality and has a blackish hilt. Ranta throws Betrayer away once he acquires Thunder Sword Dolphin.
 * Thunder Sword Dolphin: a unique sword that Ranta picked up from one of their assailants in Dusk Realm. It has an ability of temporarily paralyzing its victim that was cut or stabbed by it, but only works in Dusk Realm.

Volume 6

 * Bought a new sword called Betrayer Mk. II.

Volume 7

 * Bought a new set of armor that is lighter and more ominous looking that he calls his "Death Armor".
 * Bought a unique two-handed sword with a long ricasso that is light enough to be wielded in one hand. He named it RIPer. Ranta also bought a pair of armored gauntlets to better hold the ricasso of his new sword.
 * Gave Betrayer Mk. II to Kuzaku.

Volume 11

 * After losing RIPer, picked up the katana and a sheath to it, left by Takasagi.

Relationships
Haruhiro Ranta and Haruhiro have a complicated relationship. The two often bicker and argue but a majority of it is harmless. As much as he pretends not to, Ranta does seem to care for Haruhiro as he's the one to save Haruhiro when he was in trouble. After joining Forgan and the fight between the two, Ranta ponders about their relationship and states that they were comrades, despite the hate, which Ranta believes to be mutual.

Yume Yume and Ranta have a complicated relationship. Ranta is far too loud, abrasive, and misogynistic to be liked by Yume who calls his actions out. However Ranta does seem to care about her, quite possibly even liking her as shown by him being upset with Haruhiro when Shihoru is mistaken in thinking Haruhiro and Yume are together. This is further hinted later on by his apparent care for Yume, which led Haruhiro to believe that Ranta might actually like Yume.

Shihoru Shihoru and Ranta rarely talk, Ranta having scared her off in the first few times with his perverted antics. However, Shihoru does stand her ground against him, often managing to make good comebacks. As she grows less and less timid, Shihoru starts making jabs towards Ranta's behavior, much to his annoyance.

Moguzo Ranta and Moguzo spent a fair amount of time together, drinking and shopping. Shortly before Moguzo's demise, the two decided to once open a ramen shop together, calling it "Moguzo and Ranta's Ramen Shop". Even now Ranta reminisces Moguzo with warm feelings, calling him "partner".

Manato Manato and Ranta didn't spend much time together. However it's apparent that Ranta did care for Manato by the way he reacts to his death. Ranta is the one to suggest mouth to mouth to save him. After the funeral and sitting until dawn, Ranta gets up to leave in silence. Yume calls him an idiot and Ranta leaves without making a comeback which Haruhiro's thinks is unlike him.

Merry Ranta seems to be intimidated by Merry. Merry gets Ranta to address her as Miss Merry. Merry seems to really dislike Ranta while she actually does like the rest of the party.

Kuzaku
Ranta considers Kuzaku his junior, he would always telling Kuzaku off, whenever he failed to do his job as a tank. After Ranta joins Forgan, Kuzaku considers him a traitor.

Zodiac
Zodiac is Ranta's summoned demon. The more Vices that Ranta collects the more powerful Zodiac becomes. He constantly insults Ranta and tells him to die. Despite that Ranta really does love Zodiac and summons him every chance he gets, using the demon as a form of emotional support.

Trivia

 * According to Ranta the Dread Knight's Guild forces him into a life of abstinence. It is unknown whether all Dread Knights are abstinent, it is for beginner members like Ranta, or simply when on guild turf. Also, given how Ranta was willing to go to a brothel afterwards, suggests he isn't worried about any consequences.

Navigation
With how things are going for Ranta as of v9, he... Forgan will take him back. Probably He's gonna get #RECKT by Takasagi. RIP Hey team Haruhiro! Is there still room for Ranta?! Ranta has to perfect his DOGEZA technique if he wants to come back