“Well, shall we go?”
Frank looked at me.
“The lake?”
“There’s nothing over there. It’s the forest behind us.”
As Frank said, there’s a lake and a plain in front of us, but the back is forested.
That said, it’s not overly rugged; we can walk through it easily.
Grandfather’s mountain is much more wooded and treacherous.
“Even if it’s a monster, it’s still an animal… its habitat is the forest, right? But it seems we might get lost.”
“There are markers and signs all over, so it’s fine. Still, we don’t have much time, and the forest gets dark quickly, so we can’t go too deep.”
“I could provide light if needed, but we don’t have to push ourselves this much. Today, we’re just taking a peek.”
Well, that’s fine.
“Alright, let’s go.”
With that, Frank and Cedric each drew their sword and staff.
It makes me envious.
“I wish I had a trident…”
“Would you even use that in a forest? You’ve got fists that don’t require maintenance. Let’s go.”
Combatants in RPGs who don’t get to buy weapons must feel this way…
“Yeah…”
We entered the forest.
“Tsukasa, I’ll explain the monsters in this forest while we walk.”
Cedric came beside me.
“What’s around here?”
“Wolves, wild boars, bears.”
Regular stuff.
“I can handle them all.”
Not sure about that…
“Wow, that’s reassuring. Still, boars and bears won’t appear unless we go deeper in. Keep an eye on the wolves though. As expected, watch out for their bites.”
“Fair enough…”
Wolves, like dogs.
“Can you handle this?”
“Of course.”
“Alright, then. There’s a wolf up ahead. About 50 meters away.”
Cedric stopped, so Frank and I did too.
“You can sense it?”
“Detection magic.”
This guy can do anything, can’t he…
Broad but shallow, huh…
“Hmph… I don’t need to outwit a beast.”
I took a breath and circulated magic throughout my body.
Then, from the depths of the forest, a wolf came running, dodging the trees.
“Here we go!”
I pushed off and ran.
In an instant, I reached the wolf and slapped it on the back.
“—GYAAHN!”
The wolf crashed to the ground and didn’t move.
“Not much different from a regular wolf.”
Well, Japan doesn’t have wolves, so I can’t say for sure.
“The speed… You closed the distance of 20-30 meters in an instant!”
“The power is insane. The wolf is contorted in a way it shouldn’t be… so you weren’t serious against Mathias?”
“No way. I would never get serious there.”
And besides, if I did, Sharl would panic, and Toko, who excels in close combat, wouldn’t be able to fight properly.
“Did you hold back against Yuika too?”
“Held back, yeah. But the same goes for her.”
Yuika wasn’t fighting seriously either.
Yeah, she was just recovering from an illness.
“The Berserkers are impressive, as always.”
“That said, does this sell? Can we eat it?”
I don’t want to eat dogs…
“This isn’t for eating; the teeth are valuable. About 500 mana.”
“Cheap…”
That’s 500 yen…
“Yeah. So it’s fine to skip. The valuable ones are boars and bears.”
“They’re deeper in, though.”
We don’t have time for that.
“Right. No money today. If you want to earn, come during the weekend.”
“Maybe I will… Frank, how about you? You want to hunt wolves?”
“I’ve done enough of them. Dad sent me here with Ilmera many times. Even alone. I’m sick of wolves.”
Such warrior dedication…
Impressive…
“No way I could do that solo. I’d get bored for sure.”
“You’d definitely get bored.”
“That seems likely. Let’s go a bit deeper then, if you don’t mind.”
At Cedric’s suggestion, we ventured deeper into the forest.
We encountered two wolves on the way and finished them instantly.
“Wolves aren’t very strong…”
“They still have magic powers, so they’re stronger and faster than usual.”
I don’t know the baseline here…
“At least they’re stronger than bears, right?”
“You’ve taken down a bear, haven’t you? That’s wild, man.”
Heh heh!
“You could do it too.”
“Can’t do it barehanded. It’s impressive how you can manage so much magic and still control it.”
“That’s all I can do. Wish I could use a staff like Sharl or Cedric for magic.”
It’d feel more magical.
“I prefer swords. A man should wield a sword.”
“That makes sense… The trident, though, is purely a hobby. You seem like the type who’d love a big scythe carried by grim reapers.”
I do love those.
That’s what boys are about.
Neither Sharl nor the girls in my household understand that.
Dad understood, at least.
Though, he wouldn’t buy me one…
“Shh! Be quiet for a moment.”
Frank and I stopped talking when Cedric halted.
“What’s up?”
In a lowered voice, I asked.
“Hmm… It’s a bear.”
“Seriously? Chance!”
Finally!
“I’ve never seen someone thrilled about a bear.”
“True. But there seems to be someone else here already.”
“Huh? Really. Yeah, I sense two magic presences now.”
No idea what he’s talking about…
“How far?”
“About 100 meters?”
“Sounds about right.”
Huh… So Frank can use detection magic too?
Whatever.
“In this situation, what should we do? Seems unfair to steal someone else’s prey, doesn’t it?”
“Tricky. If it were a boar, it’d be alright, but it’s a bear.”
“It’d be better to observe. Normal people would die in a single hit from a bear unless they’re combat-focused mages like me or Tsukasa.”
True, Sharl and Cedric wouldn’t survive a bear’s strike.
“Let’s go see…”
We jogged cautiously into the deeper forest.
Thank you for reading.
If you found this story ‘entertaining!’ or ‘I want to know what happens next!’, your bookmarks and rating ‘★★★★★’ would encourage me to keep writing.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed it!
