Growl~. The first thing I heard upon waking was the sound of Shiromaru's stomach rumbling. Having skipped dinner last night, it was clearly starving. It sat right beside me, staring intently.
"Good morning, Shiromaru. Want some food?"
"Woof!"
It barked energetically, drool dripping from its mouth.
After changing, I headed to the courtyard. A few fellow guests had gathered around the well.
I was reluctant to bring Shiromaru out in public, so I just washed my face and headed outside the city gates.
A cool breeze blew once I was outside the walls. A little distance from the gate, I took Shiromaru and the others out of the bag and prepared breakfast. As an apology for yesterday, I took out boa meat and used magic to cook it.
It was a bone-in leg cut (about 15 kg), but Shiromaru bit straight into it and finished the whole thing in no time. I had also laid out vegetables since meat alone wouldn't be ideal, but it ate those too.
Watching it devour everything, I tucked my own cooked meat into bread and ate.
Shiromaru didn't ask for more, as expected, but Slarin was begging right in front of me.
I also cooked meat for lunch today and tossed it into the Magic Bag. The gate guard was drawn by the smell and looking my way, but I pretended not to notice.
It was a bit early, but I decided to head out for today's planned Rock Bird hunt.
I took Tanikaze out of the bag and had Slarin hop on. As for Shiromaru, I kept it outside, planning to let it run to its heart's content for the first time in a while.
In my case, all my preparation was already packed in the bag, so as long as I had food, I could leave at any moment. And I had just prepared that food.
I attached reins and a saddle to Tanikaze, then adjusted the stirrups. Mounting up, I called out to Shiromaru and set off.
I gave Tanikaze the command to move forward. The instructions were no different from a regular horse. However, running depleted Tanikaze's Magic Power, so I had to periodically replenish it. Well, as long as I didn't push it at full speed all day, the Magic Power probably wouldn't run dry.
I had Tanikaze move at a canter (about 20 km/h). Shiromaru ran alongside, though it occasionally sprinted ahead or wandered off on detours.
We passed several merchants and travelers, all of whom were startled by Tanikaze and frightened by Shiromaru. Each time I apologized as we went, and within two hours we reached our target mountain.
I had heard that Rock Birds inhabited the mid-to-upper slopes of this mountain, so I rode Tanikaze to the base and continued on foot from there.
I put only Tanikaze back in the bag, rested briefly, then started the hunt.
Using my detection, I picked up several signals nearby, but most were deer or rabbits, with the occasional wild boar—not a single Rock Bird among them.
So I gave up on the nearby area and focused on climbing. After about two hours, I finally entered Rock Bird territory—feathers and what looked like droppings started appearing here and there.
On my radar, there were two signals about 100 meters ahead. Holding my breath and creeping closer, I found two Rock Birds. It looked like they had a nest.
From about 50 meters away, I took aim and fired off two Air Bullets in rapid succession. Both shots struck the Rock Birds' heads with perfect precision, bringing them down.
Shiromaru rushed over. Slarin was riding on its back. I approached as well and stowed the prey in the bag.
Peeking into the nest above, I found two eggs.
"Oh, lucky! There are two of them!"
Most Rock Birds only lay a single egg, and those are usually small. These eggs, by contrast, were of a good size, and the shells looked thick. The parent birds must have had strong Magic Power, or perhaps food was plentiful.
For reference, these eggs were oval-shaped, 25 cm long and 20 cm in diameter, weighing a full 3 kg. That's bigger than an ostrich egg from my previous life. Normally, Rock Bird eggs are just a bit smaller than that.
I placed the eggs in the bag and destroyed the nest. Since a Rock Bird's nest serves as a territorial marker, destroying it would make it easier for other birds to establish new nests.
"Next signal, 200 meters ahead!"
Continuing the hunt in this manner, within three hours I had bagged 20 Rock Birds and 13 eggs. Deciding that was enough, I called off the hunt.
At the same time, I drew a blade from the bag. I also instructed Shiromaru to be ready to fight at any moment.
The reason was that for about an hour now, someone had been tailing me. There were five of them. I couldn't tell their genders or races, but I judged it highly likely they were up to no good.
I descended the mountain with my guard up. They descended in tandem. Sure enough, it looked like trouble.
So when I reached the base of the mountain, I broke into a full sprint. Caught off guard, the five scrambled. I ran to an open grassy field and stopped. There I summoned Tanikaze, put Slarin on it, and had them wait. I deliberately left Shiromaru in the forest and instructed it to sneak up behind the five.
About five minutes later, the five appeared. Three men, two women—all humans. One of the men stepped forward.
"Hey, brat. Why'd you run?!"
"Then why were you following me through the forest?"
The five shifted uneasily at my words.
"Did you really think I hadn't noticed? With tailing that clumsy?"
In truth, these five were terrible at following someone. They seemed to watch their distance, but since all five walked in a cluster, they made plenty of noise and couldn't hide properly. I actually wondered if they wanted to be found.
"That doesn't matter! Hand over all your Rock Birds!"
"And while you're at it, leave that horse too!"
They said this with smug grins. Seeing my silence, one of the emboldened women added:
"That white wolf that was with you had nice fur, huh?"
"I'd like to take it home, skin it, and mount it as a decoration."
With a sigh, I called toward the five's backs:
"You heard them. What do you say, Shiromaru?"
Shiromaru—who had crept to within ten meters behind them—let out a growl and charged.
BOOM!
With a thunderous impact, both women were sent flying. One soared into the air while the other rolled through the men like a bowling ball, scattering them all.
In a single blow from Shiromaru, all five were decimated. At a glance, none appeared dead, but they were seriously injured—broken bones and the like.
I gave the first man who'd spoken a light kick to rouse him, then addressed the man crawling on the ground:
"So, what do you want with me?"
"You've got some nerve... Who do you think you're dealing with?"
"Couldn't care less!"
I said, and punched him in the face, knocking him out. I searched the man's pockets but found no Guild Card or anything of the sort.
For now, I tied them up with rope and decided to bring them back to the city.
On the way back, I hitched a cart to Tanikaze and hauled the five along. It was less a proper carriage and more like a pushcart—without even a canopy, leaving them completely exposed. To make matters worse, I had them seated and bound together, muzzles in their mouths, and around each of their necks I hung signs reading:
"Tried to steal prey, got beaten instead."
"Couldn't even get a word in before getting wrecked."
"Sorry for attacking."
"Took out three allies while getting beaten."
"Flew through the air like a bird."
Since I stopped frequently along the way, passersby pointed and laughed. Some even came over to ask what happened, so I gave them a polite and detailed account.
Because I took my sweet time getting back, I arrived at the city much later than planned. It must have been past seven already.
I explained the situation to the gate guard and entered the city with Tanikaze, heading for the Guild. The gate guard muttered something like "Again...?" as we passed.
When I arrived at the Guild, I spotted a staff member outside and asked them to call Fruito. Fruito came right away, though she seemed a bit put out—apparently she had been about to leave.
"I understand the situation. Tenma-san and the five of you will now undergo a hearing. The outcome will determine what action is taken."
When she said this, the five mumbled and struggled to speak. Fruito removed their muzzles, and:
"Why do we have to go through a hearing?! We're the victims here!" one of them protested. The other four nodded.
"That brat set a white wolf on us from behind and stole our Rock Birds!" the man's tirade escalated. A crowd was starting to form.
"Otherwise there's no way a brat like that could hunt Rock Birds!"
"Right?!" The man appealed to the crowd for agreement. The onlookers glanced at me, then looked at the men with exasperated expressions. Oblivious to their reactions, the man kept on ranting.
"Then tell me—how did you manage to take down Rock Birds?" I asked the men.
"With a bow! We took them down with bows!" the man replied.
So I pulled out every Rock Bird I had caught and displayed them on the spot.
"Fruito-san, and everyone else—please take a look at the heads of these Rock Birds!" I said, holding up one Rock Bird for all to see.
"Every one of these Rock Birds was killed with magic. There isn't a single arrow wound. Please, verify for yourselves."
I thrust the Rock Bird toward them. Fruito examined them first, and then the onlookers filed past to take a look.
"It's true. The holes are perfectly clean. If it were arrows, the wounds would be much messier."
"Really clean wounds! Dying like this means no unnecessary stress—the quality of the meat wouldn't suffer."
"And every wound is in almost the same spot—one clean hole each. Only a top-class magic user could pull this off."
Cheers rose from the crowd. The men's faces had turned deathly pale.
"This hardly requires a hearing. The verdict is clear. What will you choose?" Fruito asked the men, but they had no answer.
"Tenma-san. Would you prefer a fine, or shall they be reduced to slavery? The minimum fine is 100,000 G, but given the severity of this case, it will likely be 300,000 G or more. Per person, of course. If they're reduced to slavery, you'll gain ownership rights." Fruito seemed to be in a foul mood. Irritation bled through her words. I'd have to bring her a gift sometime.
"That's for me to decide?"
"Yes. In this case, it's classified as theft. Thieves have no rights."
She had barely finished saying this when:
"Hold on a second. My father is a noble. You know what'll happen if you mess with me, right?!" the man declared smugly.
I looked at him and said flatly, "And what's that supposed to mean?"
In fact, I had already used Appraisal to look into him.
Name: Geese
Age: 23
Race: Human
Title: Second son of a hereditary baronet · Would-be bandit
That was the reading. As the son of a hereditary noble, he himself was apparently not nobility. Moreover, his Title included "would-be bandit." This was beyond saving.
"I-I'm nobility! I'm not like you lowlifes!" the man shouted. I regarded him calmly and said:
"Honorary nobility lasts only one generation. In other words, you're nothing but a would-be bandit!"
The man's face turned crimson.
"My father has connections with Duke Sanga, you know!" He even dragged a duke's name into it.
Hearing this, I said:
"Fruito-san, could you have someone go to the Knight Corps headquarters and tell the Fourth Unit Captain that I'm requesting her presence?"
Fruito nodded and sent a staff member on the errand. The man wore a triumphant expression, but anyone who knew the identity of this city's Knight Corps Fourth Unit Captain was already looking at him with pity.
About ten minutes later, Primera came running up.
"Tenma-san, what happened?!"
For some reason, Primera was speaking to me in polite language.
I greeted her lightly and said, "Sorry about this. A bit of a problem came up—it involved not just me but also the Captain's family." Then I explained everything in order. Primera's expression grew darker and darker.
"Hey, knight lady! My father's a noble, and this brat attacked us. That's lèse-majesté, isn't it? Hurry up and let us go." The man blurted out, utterly incapable of reading the room.
Primera faced the man with a smile on her face, but if you looked closely, her temples were twitching.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Primera von Sanga, Captain of the Fourth Unit of this city's Knight Corps. I am the third daughter of Duke Sanga—the very duke you just mentioned." Primera said.
The man froze for a moment. "Well then, this'll be easy! My father is a friend of Duke Sanga's—"
"Silence!" Primera roared with barely contained fury. The sheer volume of her voice startled not only the man but the onlookers as well, who shrank back in fear.
"A petty thief dares to invoke nobility—and furthermore drags a duke's name through the mud?! You are the one guilty of lèse-majesté! You won't escape with your life!" Her rage was plain for all to see.
The man was paralyzed by the force of her fury.
Primera turned back to me.
"Leave these individuals in the Knight Corps' custody." Her words were phrased as a request, but her tone left no room for refusal.
"That's fine. Just remember—I have primary rights over them." I agreed.
Primera said, "That helps," then paused as if considering something. "Sorry, but could you help me transport them?" And there it was—she was still a bit scatterbrained after all.
I went Rock Bird hunting and ended up catching would-be bandits again.
My money is steadily piling up. Someday, I'd like to have them take on a dungeon.