"Garat, horned rabbit in the bushes to the front-right!"
"Got it!"
"Jin, mushrooms at your feet. They're ingredients for medicine."
"Sure thing, there we go—"
"Shiromaru, deer in the shadow of a tree about twenty meters to the left!"
"Wauff!"
"Slarin, that badger is still a baby, so take it back to its nest."
"...(boing~)"
"Solomon, you're on guard duty. Go sleep in the bag."
"Kyuu~..."
"Ricky, two pigeons above your head. Shoot down at least one for certain."
"...Got it."
The day after the banquet, we headed to the forest Jin and the others had been talking about. Apparently, when Jin said "half a day," he was talking about traveling on foot—so once we used my carriage, we reached the forest in just a few hours.
The forest wasn't particularly large, but apparently there was a river and a pond nearby, so a fair number of small to medium-sized creatures made their habitat there.
And, lucky for us, there hadn't been any sign of adventurers or hunters visiting recently, so the animals had grown less wary.
Within less than an hour of entering the forest, we'd already made a decent haul.
"Should we take a break soon and split up to hunt individually?"
After we'd bagged a fair number of prey, we decided to take a break.
"Roger that, Leader!"
"...Roger."
Jin and Garat seemed to be in exceptionally high spirits, perhaps because their results exceeded expectations.
On the other hand, Ricky appeared slightly bewildered by Jin's group.
"Man, inviting Tenma was the right call! Wasn't it, Garat!"
"Yeah, for sure! We couldn't have pulled off such an easy hunt if it was just us!"
Up until this point, the flow had been me scouting for prey and reporting to Jin's group, with them then going in for the kill... That was how things had progressed. During this time, I hadn't taken down any prey myself.
At first, I had intended to go after some targets, but Jin stopped me.
Apparently, he said something like, "If even you go hunting, the workload becomes unbalanced. With the rules this time, it's better to separate the finders from the hunters."
So, we divided the work like this: when I discover something, I call someone over, and the person called goes in for the kill.
And that arrangement clicked perfectly.
After all, I have 'Appraisal', so I can determine the identity and number of nearby prey. Besides, Jin and Garat were already high-level adventurers, and Ricky, who basically adventures solo, is quite skilled in his own right. On top of that, we had Slarin and Shiromaru.
Being wolves, Shiromaru excelled at hunting, and as for Slarin, he had become an absolute professional who could circle around and finish off prey without even alerting wild animals to his presence.
To top it off, just like with the badger earlier, there were even cases where he'd burrow into a den and take the target out (though with the badger, he only restrained it).
Incidentally, Solomon is unsuited for forest hunting and was waiting in the bag.
"It's a shame Namitarou couldn't come!"
"Jin, he is technically a carp, you know. Technically."
As Jin said, Namitarou hadn't come on this hunt.
According to Namitarou, "I'm a fish, you see. Forests aren't really my thing."
There are plenty of things I'd like to retort to that, but for that reason, Namitarou remained at the mansion.
By the way, I think only Menace, Lina, Namitarou, Branca, and Aina knew we were out hunting.
I did let the old man and the others know, but they were all drunk, so they probably won't remember.
"Well, I told Aina, so it should be fine."
Murmuring that to myself, I continued preparing lunch.
When I say "preparing," all I really had to do was pull out the leftover food from last night's feast that I'd stuffed into my bag.
"So, Tenma. Once the break's over, we're each going to split up and hunt on our own, right? I'm fine with going separate ways, but who's staying behind at this spot?"
"We'll need to secure the base... Were you planning to take turns coming back?"
Hearing Jin and Garat's words, Slarin and Shiromaru stepped forward.
"No problem. Slarin and Shiromaru will be staying behind at this base. With these two here, neither the Monsters nor the animals in these parts will be any match for them."
At my words, Jin and the others nodded.
"Oh, and if you ever get lost, just call out to Shiromaru in a loud voice. As long as you're not ridiculously far away, your voice should reach Shiromaru. Or, if you follow the nearby river, you should be able to make your way back close to this base."
A fairly large river flows near the spot we're using as our base. So heading upstream or downstream along it would bring you back to this area. Worst case, I could just use my Appraisal.
There was one more reason for leaving Slarin and the others behind, though.
It was so that I alone wouldn't end up with an inflated hunting party.
If we're each going off on our own, Slarin and Shiromaru would naturally end up tagging along with me. That would mean my prey count alone would skyrocket. By a ridiculous margin...
I knew Jin and Garat wouldn't make a fuss about that, but I wasn't sure how Ricky would feel about it, and if the gap got too wide, even Jin and the others might not be too happy about it.
Besides, these individual hunts are also a kind of game.
So it would be better for me to hunt solo as much as possible.
That said, I would bring Solomon along. Since he hadn't been outside even once until now, it would be best to let him out somewhere open.
"You don't have to worry about that, you know... Well, I'd appreciate it if you did — really appreciate it!"
Jin and Garat seemed to understand what I was thinking. Ricky, on the other hand, didn't seem to have caught on at all.
"Well, let's just eat for now."
At Garat's words, we all dug into our meals. We finished in just a few minutes, then scattered into the forest in whatever direction each of us pleased.
"Oh! Found some herbs! Is this ginger over here?"
Rather than hunting for prey, I was focused on finding edible plants.
This forest turned out to have an unexpectedly large number of edible plants and medicinal herbs, and for me, that was far more of a blessing.
"This looks like... some kind of walking garlic, maybe?"
I made it a habit to use Appraisal on anything I was unsure about eating.
With wild herbs like these, there were many that an untrained eye couldn't identify, and even experienced foragers could sometimes make mistakes.
So Appraisal was proving incredibly useful. Although, even if I could figure out its effects or whether it was edible, I'd still have to look up how to prepare it once I got home. But even if I couldn't figure that out, it would just end up as food for Slarin, so no problem either way.
"Whoa! Are these truffles?!"
Keeping my eyes on the ground, I spotted several round, dark objects. I picked one up and used Appraisal, which revealed its true identity — a black truffle, the so-called "black diamond."
"Amazing — there are at least ten of them here... Wait, wasn't 'black diamond' supposed to be the giant beetle or something?"
Mulling over that thought, I went around collecting the truffles scattered at my feet.
Within arm's reach alone, there were fifteen growing. And after walking a short distance, I found two more spots where truffles grew in clusters.
"Twenty-nine in total... Just this alone could be worth a pretty penny, couldn't it?"
I had no idea what truffles were worth in this world, but in my previous life, they could go for tens of thousands of yen per hundred grams.
Of the twenty-nine, ten weighed over a hundred grams, while the rest were about fifty grams each, give or take.
Among the ones over a hundred grams, the largest was probably over two hundred.
"I'll save this one for later. The rest... maybe eat them at home? Aina might know how to cook them."
While I sat there turning a smaller truffle over in my palm, Solomon — having judged it to be food — swallowed it whole.
"Guuuyyy~"
It didn't seem to like it either — after gnawing on it a few times, it spat it out.
"Guh!"
The moment Solomon spat it out, I wordlessly brought my fist down on him. That cry just now — that was Solomon's scream of pain.
Honestly, you can't let your guard down for a second! It was small so it could have been worse, but gnawing on a truffle and then spitting it out — what is wrong with you! What a waste! Even I haven't gotten to eat one! ...After lecturing him for a while, I stuffed him back into the bag.
After giving Solomon his scolding, I searched the surrounding area, but the truffles were either buried deep underground or far too small to bother with, so I decided to give up on truffle gathering.
"Alright! I'll remember this spot!"
After that, I went back to gathering wild herbs and the like, but nothing better than the truffles turned up, so I headed back to base.
"Yo, Tenma! You're late!"
"Did you find anything?"
Jin and Garat had laid out the game they'd hunted and were competing to see who had the better haul.
"My win!"
"No way, it's mine!"
Jin's catch was a wild boar. It wasn't an especially large specimen, but it was plump and looked well-marbled with fat.
Garat's catch, on the other hand, was a stag. This one was quite a large specimen, with an impressive set of antlers.
"Tenma! Give us your verdict!"
"It's a tie, obviously."
Both of them protested that my judgment wasn't satisfying, but in truth, this verdict was entirely fair.
In terms of meat value, the boar comes out ahead — stag meat is worth considerably less on the market. However, when it comes to other materials, the hide has far more uses, and the antlers are valuable because they're also used in medicine.
Once I explained all that, the two of them accepted it, but then tried to wheedle out of me what I had managed to find.
Just as I was about to pull out the truffles, right at that moment…
"What're you doing?"
Ricky had come back. The two of them shifted their target to Ricky and pressed in on him.
"Your catches? Sure thing."
What Ricky produced as he said that was…
"Three boars!"
"Two stags!"
He easily outmatched the two of them.
"We lost… Tenma, what about you!"
At their unison cry, I took out everything I had gathered. They were packed full in baskets — and there were two of them.
"You've gotta be kidding…"
"Even if you weren't any good at it, that's still worth more than our catches…"
The two of them were utterly crushed, but I decided to twist the knife a little further.
At this point, mind you, Ricky still had a perfectly relaxed look on his face.
"I've also got something like this, though."
When I pulled out the truffles I had set aside separately, the three of them stared blankly, not immediately processing what they were looking at.
Among them, Garat was the first to recognize what they were.
"Hey… Could that possibly be… the thing? Black diamonds — truffles?"
As expected of a dog beastman. Even in my previous world, truffles had always been hunted using pigs or dogs.
At Garat's words, it finally clicked for Jin and Ricky as well.
"You're kidding me!"
"I've never seen one before…"
The two of them were speechless. So even in this world, truffles were still truffles.
"One of them got eaten by Solomon…"
At the word "eaten by Solomon," Shiromaru moved closer, but I stuffed the truffles into my bag before he could stick his nose in.
Shiromaru looked displeased, but I knew what he was after. He was planning to eat the truffle!
Anyway, the contest over the catch was officially my win, and this time we'd be going on a group hunt. They led me in the opposite direction from where the truffles had been found, so don't hold it against me…
"Hey, Tenma… Something's off here, isn't it?"
Jin, who had been walking at the front, suddenly stopped and began scanning the surroundings warily.
Looking where Jin pointed, I could see several gouged furrows in the ground — signs that something had fought here.
"This is definitely strange… Alright, let's turn back! It should be getting dark soon. Let's spend the night back at that spot."
Jin and Garat agreed with my cautious approach, but Ricky seemed opposed.
"Why?! It could be worth a fortune! Even if it's a powerful Monster, with this many of us, it shouldn't stand a chance!"
He probably felt confident in his own strength, and with this many capable fighters gathered, he wanted to go after it. But…
"Hunting down something unidentified in the dark is worse than amateur behavior. Drop it."
Jin shut him down flat.
"Jin's right. Besides, Tenma is the leader of this party, and the majority is against it. If you're really set on it, wait until morning."
Garat also explained the reasoning to Ricky. Clearly outvoted by two people who outranked him, Ricky reluctantly backed down.
That night, we changed our plans slightly. Originally, we had intended to move around individually at night, but since there was a high chance of an unidentified creature lurking about, we decided to stay together and keep watch.
So far, my exploration hadn't picked up anything resembling such a creature, but the further away the target, the lower the accuracy. If the opponent was the type of creature that was hard to detect with exploration, I had to be careful — one moment of carelessness and it could have been right on top of us.
To be safe, I had Shiromaru on alert too, so they wouldn't be able to get away with the smell completely.
At night, we tried to stay as quiet as possible, making sure at least one person was awake.
Fortunately, we were able to make tea from wild grass that grew nearby, which at least helped keep our spirits up.
Incidentally, this tea was extremely bitter and astringent. So, everyone other than me gave it poor reviews.
Jin said, "It's bitter — is your tongue broken or something?"
Garat said, "The bitterness is fine, but it's way too astringent!" and diluted it with hot water.
Ricky said, "Give me sugar — honey works too!" and sweetened his before drinking.
Shiromaru and Solomon turned their faces away, and only Slarin drank it quietly without complaint.
Well, this wild grass tea was something you'd only use in small amounts as a hidden ingredient when blending, so when you drink it straight, the preferences really diverge. I guess that couldn't be helped.
But thanks to that taste, everyone's drowsiness seemed to vanish, and we made it through to morning without any problems.
Up until the morning, that was…
First thing in the morning, Ricky proposed, "Let's split up and move individually starting first thing." Since Jin and the others had pushed Ricky down yesterday, they figured that much was fair and agreed.
I had the same thought, so I agreed too — though I couldn't have predicted at this point that it would lead to trouble later.
"So to confirm, we hunt in areas other than yesterday's location. That works for everyone, right?"
As a minimum rule, we decided not to go to the area that had been disturbed yesterday, and scattered.
Once again, Slarin and Shiromaru stayed behind as lookouts, and Solomon joined the home guard group too.
Seems like getting scolded yesterday really got to him. I may have been a little too harsh.
Today, I decided to run all the way to the area past where I'd found the truffle.
I slowed down a bit when I reached the spot where I'd found the truffle, but sure enough, there was nothing there.
Beyond that point, trees became scarce, and in their place, thick stands of bamboo grass covered the ground.
"It looks like it'd make a good tea, so maybe I'll take some back."
As I was picking through the nicer-looking bamboo leaves, I sensed the presence of a large creature some distance away.
There were seven presences in total. One of them was small.
Without letting myself be detected, I concealed my body behind the bamboo grass and crept closer. About fifty meters ahead, I spotted a large white creature.
"Is that... a cow? Appraisal."
Species... White-furred wild ox. Equivalent to A-rank.
That's what came up. A White-furred wild ox, huh... One of them was a calf. It didn't seem to be a Monster — more like some kind of cow.
However, unlike a normal cow, it had eight legs. There was an additional leg growing in front of and behind each of a normal cow's leg positions. And on its head, it had four horns.
"I've never heard of cows like that showing up around here... so they must have come from somewhere else?"
Either way, if it was a cow, the meat was probably delicious. I wanted to try hunting at least one if I could...
While I was thinking that, I wiped away my presence and watched for an opening, but something seemed off.
The biggest ox in the herd appeared to be under attack from the other four oxen.
Behind the big ox, there was a calf and a female.
"What's this? A fight over females?"
Surviving and reproducing in the wild must be tough... Well, humans weren't that different, I supposed...
"But, this could be a chance... Those four should be fine to hunt, probably, surely..."
For a moment, I recalled the lecture I'd given Tida and the others, but as long as I left the male and female pair, it should be fine. Besides, they were basically an invasive species that didn't originally live in this area.
I'd just go with that...
While I was thinking all this, the four continued their attack, and the White-furred wild ox being assaulted had stained its white body with its own blood.
"Well then, here I go... Air Cutter."
I used a precisely targeted wind magic spell to slice through the necks of the four White-furred wild oxen.
The four hadn't noticed me at all, and with their necks severed, they collapsed without even a fight.
When I looked more closely, all four had their throats torn open and were on the brink of death—but they were still alive.
"Should I drain the blood...? Um, something like this?"
I used earth magic to create four slopes slightly larger than the White-furred wild oxen, and there—
Giant's Guardian.
—I cast the spell to load the cattle onto them and hold them in place.
At the bottom of each slope, I dug a hole to let the blood drain down. As a precaution, I made cuts in the thick blood vessels in their hind legs—all four of them—to let air flow in more easily. I wasn't sure if this was the right approach, but since the blood was flowing downward, it seemed like having air holes up top couldn't hurt.
While I was at it, I figured it would be trouble if other beasts came sniffing around during the process, so I used wind magic to keep the scent of blood from leaking out.
"That just leaves you guys..."
I called out to the White-furred wild ox that had been watching my work from behind. I didn't expect it to understand my words, but the moment it turned toward me, the male stood up and started posturing aggressively.
"I'm not planning to hunt you, so scram. As a bonus, I'll heal your wounds too."
In high spirits from having bagged such a big catch, I cast a healing spell on the male.
Thanks to the healing magic, its wounds disappeared, but that didn't mean the damage was fully healed, so the male didn't move from where it stood.
Instead, the calf approached me.
The male and female both called out to the calf, but it ignored them and came right up to me, sniffing at my body and my bag.
"Is this what you want?"
I took out the kumazasa I had picked earlier and held it in front of the calf's nose, and it started eating the kumazasa happily.
"Cows eat kumazasa too, huh..."
While I was still a little surprised by the cattle's eating habits, the calf devoured every last bit of kumazasa in the blink of an eye.
The male and female had been wary at first, but once they realized I held no hostility toward them, they calmed down a bit.
After a while, the blood had been largely drained, and the gathering time was fast approaching.
"There's still some blood left... well, it should sort itself out later."
I stuffed the four White-furred wild oxen into my bag, froze the blood puddle solid, then covered it with dirt to dispose of the evidence.
"Alright, let's head back... hey, don't follow me..."
The calf was tagging along behind me. It looked like my attempt at taming it had actually succeeded... except having it follow me was a real problem.
Just as I was thinking that, the bull and the cow tried to follow as well.
Come to think of it, once I left this spot, the magic would wear off and the smell of blood would saturate the area. That would draw carnivorous beasts in no time.
The bull could probably hold his own against most predators, but he was injured and moving slowly right now, and both the cow and the calf were with him. Defending the two of them would be difficult.
In that case, following me—the one who held no hostility and had just instant-killed four White-furred wild oxen—gave them the best chance of survival.
I could be wrong, but that was the conclusion I reached.
So...
"If you're going to follow me, then you do what I say. I won't eat you as long as you behave... Also, get inside here."
With that, I spread open the mouth of the bag where Slarin and the others were.
At first,
put off by the smell of Shiromaru and Solomon,
they seemed confused, but once they saw the calf go inside, they docilely followed.
"You're back, Tenma..."
"Let's settle this!"
Jin and Garat had returned first once again and were waiting for me.
"How about that!"
Jin’s haul consisted of two boar, one deer, and then some mushrooms and wild greens.
"Oh yeah? Mine’s better!"
Garat had one boar, one deer, and five horned rabbits.
"Um... another draw, maybe?"
"This time I’ve got mushrooms too!"
"Why? My count’s higher!"
Jin and Garat said that, but I thought the result was fair this time too.
"Jin’s mushrooms... these are all poisonous mushrooms. And not even the useful kind... The wild greens can be used for medicine, but they’re all just materials for cheap wound salves. Garat’s horned rabbits—five of them is about the same as one boar, isn’t it?"
So, considering individual differences and such, I called it a draw again.
"Woof!"
While I was talking with Jin and the others, Shiromaru was sniffing the bag.
"Ah, you noticed after all, huh... Listen, Shiromaru, and you too Solomon. These guys are companions, so don’t even think about eating them."
As I said that and took the cows out of the bag, Jin and the others were even more surprised than the cows.
"Wh-wh-wha, that’s a white-furred one, isn’t it!"
"Hey, hey! Are you gonna wring it out? If you are, I’ll help! So give us a little share!"
Jin and Garat were really excited. It seemed White-furred wild ox was classified as high-quality meat.
"No, these ones are just being protected. I took down other ones. Here."
I pulled just the heads of the White-furred wild ox out of the bag. Shiromaru and Solomon were drooling reflexively.
"Alright, Tenma! Let’s eat it, let’s eat it right now!"
"First up, yakiniku, right!"
The two of them were practically vibrating with excitement, but we couldn't eat just yet.
"Nope, I haven't even butchered them yet. If we're eating, it'll have to be after we get back. I'll call you when it's time, so just hold tight for now."
"Promise!" Jin and Garat said in unison. It honestly felt like Shiromaru and the others had doubled in number.
"Still, Ricky's taking a while... Maybe I should go look for him."
I moved a short distance away from Jin and the others and cast Exploration outward from my position. Ricky was closer than I expected — maybe around two kilometers away, give or take. But his movements were strange.
"Is he running from something?"
Ricky was zigzagging, doubling back, changing direction erratically.
"Maybe I should expand the range a bit more — what the—!"
Whatever I found at the edge of my Exploration's range was enormous. It seemed to have Concealment, so I couldn't Appraise it.
Just then, a roar echoed through the air. It was massive.
"Jin, Ricky's presence is coming from the direction of that roar! He might be under attack!"
I quickly stowed all the oxen back into the bag and broke into a sprint toward Ricky's location.
Jin and the others reacted to my words and took off after me.
Shiromaru and the rest trailed slightly behind but caught up in no time.
About ten minutes into the run, I heard the sound of something crashing through trees, knocking them down as it went.
The roars were getting louder.
When we burst through the treeline, there it was — the source of the roars.
"That's a dragon!"