The Belota Mountains (3)
A faint rustling sound reached my ears. It was enough to pull me halfway out of sleep. Even while still groggy, I sharpened my focus on my hearing. If anything suspicious appeared, I needed to open my eyes immediately.
Something tapped lightly against my arm. For a dizzying moment my heart lurched, but I soon realized it was Ar and let out a quiet sigh of relief. I probably hadn’t shown any reaction, right? It would’ve been embarrassing if I’d startled like an idiot.
When I opened my eyes, Ar was staring straight at me. Deep in the night, her red eyes blended beautifully with the moonlight. I glanced up at the moon’s position. I must have slept longer than I thought. It had moved a full handspan farther than I’d expected.
“You could have woken me earlier.”
Ar shook her head firmly. Then she climbed back onto the thick branch beside me and settled in again.
“Rest.”
There was no reply. Ar simply curled up and fell asleep right away.
I yawned, rubbing my face with both hands. Ugh. Taking turns on watch really wasn’t easy. After so long without proper wilderness camping, my body felt stiff all over. I hadn’t even done anything strenuous. Still, sleeping in a tree without tying yourself down was no simple feat.
I really should raise my mana regeneration before worrying about expanding the spatial bag. Better to finish the hunt quickly and return to the village than spend another night out here.
I stretched, scanning the surroundings. Fortunately, no magic beasts seemed to have approached during the night. Then again, with a grade 4 carcass lying right below us, anything weaker wouldn’t have dared come near. Even other grade 4s or 5s would have hesitated after seeing that.
Magic beasts were surprisingly cunning. They were sensitive to injury and survival; if they sensed real danger, they wouldn’t charge recklessly. Still, that didn’t mean we could skip keeping watch. It couldn’t be helped. Even splitting the watch into three shifts would be better, but that would require more money. That was still a long way off.
So for now, I pushed the regret aside and forced myself to stay alert. That was the only way to stand watch properly.
I sat quietly, waiting for the sun to rise. Whenever my thoughts drifted like this, they inevitably turned to my mana capacity.
Why the hell was it only grade 1?
If I were even grade 3, I wouldn’t have to struggle this much. A mana talent of grade 13 was like that. Even if I only used basic attack spells, I would have been incomparable to mediocre mages. A single grade wasn’t just a difference of one number.
It would have been nice if I’d at least learned the Tower’s methods for increasing mana capacity. But in reality, even the Tower had given up on me. They’d discarded me without hesitation, not even considering any other possible uses.
Lost in those thoughts, the world around me gradually brightened. Far in the distance, the faint glow of dawn was rising. Another day had begun. I’d survived yet again without dying.
I should have woken Ar, but I let her sleep a little longer. She’d had less rest than me, after all. Besides, we wouldn’t be able to hunt all day anyway because of the bag’s limited space.
After a fair amount of time had passed, Ar’s body twitched. She jolted awake, eyes darting around in alarm. When our gazes met, she made an awkward face that clearly asked why I hadn’t woken her.
“Sleep well? I didn’t wake you on purpose. If we’re hunting again today, we have to consider your condition too.”
Even after I said that, Ar still looked like she thought I’d done something unnecessary.
“Just say thank you. No need to make that face.”
I pulled out some jerky and hard bread from the bag and handed her a share. Whatever she thought, Ar still accepted the bread and jerky. We ate a simple meal, then climbed down from the tree.
There was no need to deal with the grade 4 carcass, so we headed straight into the deeper parts of the mountains.
The first grade 5 magic beast we encountered was a Driller, a creature notable for its impressive horns. With Strength cast on her, Ar dispatched it without much trouble. We cut off the horns and stored them in the bag. These would fetch a decent price, which lifted my mood considerably.
But looking at the remaining corpse, I felt a pang of regret. All of this was money. If we could take it back, it would be worth quite a bit. Unfortunately, the bag had limited capacity. Today’s goal was a grade 6. We couldn’t fill the bag this early.
“Let’s go.”
We pressed deeper into the mountains. This was now an area where grade 6 beasts could appear at any moment, so I stayed on high alert.
Before long, Ar and I finally spotted a grade 6 magic beast.
How ironic. The very first one we found was a Roller.
Good. This would make for an easy comparison.
The last time I’d faced a Roller after receiving Berserker, I’d ended up in terrible shape. I had won, but if I hadn’t received treatment afterward, the victory would have been meaningless. I’d been lucky to escape with my body intact.
“When you charge in, I’ll cast Berserker right away.”
Ar nodded. She took a deep breath, then immediately dashed toward the Roller.
“Berserker!”
The moment the spell took effect, Ar became a streak of light. Her speed as she kicked off the ground was on another level. The aura radiating from her body had completely changed. She was a wild beast now.
Claws extended, Ar hurled herself at the Roller, which had only just noticed her presence.
KROOOOOO!
The Roller let out a roar and spun its house-sized body with surprising agility. It stomped the ground with a heavy thud and charged straight at Ar.
It was a threatening attack, but there was no reason to take it head-on. The problem was the magic cast on Ar—Berserker. Without any thought of dodging, she drove her claws straight into the Roller’s face.
KROOOOO!
If the previous roar had been full of vigor, this one was a scream of pure agony. In a single strike, the Roller lost all momentum. The wound on its face was devastating, and it could barely open one eye.
From that point on, it became a completely one-sided beatdown. What surprised me was that even in her berserk state, Ar kept maneuvering toward the Roller’s injured eye, persistently targeting its blind spot.
What the…? How was she doing that?
Just moments ago she hadn’t even tried to dodge and had smashed straight into it. Ah. Was that simply the instinct of a beastperson? Battle instinct? Natural sense?
Terrifying. So this was what a beastperson could do.
I probably wouldn’t have fought that skillfully. I would have swung and stabbed until my sword broke, continuing to attack mindlessly even if my arm shattered or I took blows. But Ar was different. Though her attacks looked reckless, every strike was lethal. She kept hammering the same spot until she tore open the thick hide at the nape of its neck, then drove her claws deep inside.
KIIIEEEEK!
Ar’s arm sank almost to the elbow into the Roller’s body. The creature died instantly. The moment it did, I canceled the Berserker spell.
Once her mind returned, Ar finally began breathing hard. She pulled her arm free, and a torrent of the Roller’s blood gushed out.
Ah. What a waste. That blood would have sold for a decent amount too. But there was nothing I could do about it. We couldn’t carry blood anyway.
“Good work.”
When I approached, Ar—who had been wiping her arm with a handkerchief—froze with an “Ah!” expression and stared at the cloth.
“It’s fine. I’ll give it to you later. Just wipe yourself off for now.”
Only then did Ar hurriedly finish cleaning her arm, looking slightly embarrassed. I left her to it and turned my attention to the dead Roller.
Wow. To think I was looking at the corpse of a grade 6 magic beast again. If we could take the entire thing back intact, it would be worth more than 170,000 marcas.
“Sigh. Time to start dismantling. Keep watch for me.”
I began preparing to butcher it. I would have liked to cast Strength immediately, but my mana hadn’t fully recovered yet. Damn this pathetic mana pool. I really needed to raise regeneration first.
After half a torch had passed, my mana was full again. I immediately cast Strength on myself. This was the most dangerous moment. For the next half torch, I wouldn’t be able to use any magic. If a beast appeared now, we’d have to run no matter what—leaving the carcass and everything behind.
“Stay ready to run at any moment.”
With that, I drew my dagger and began cutting into the Roller’s body. Since we couldn’t take everything, we would prioritize the hide and meat for now. The bones could be cleaned and buried somewhere nearby.
Grunting with effort, I dismantled a reasonable portion of the Roller and stuffed it into the bag. We’d probably have to discard more than half the meat. By the time we sold it and came back, the surrounding beasts would have devoured every last scrap.
Ugh. At this rate the bag would fill up first again. In the end, every problem came down to money. Money.
Still, it couldn’t be helped. This was our first time, so we had to endure this kind of hardship.
Another half torch passed, and I finally felt more at ease. Even if another beast appeared, we’d be able to handle it. That was reassuring.
Once the bag was packed full, I felt a solid sense of satisfaction. If we sold everything inside, we’d probably get around 50,000 marcas. Not bad for a single hunt. Excellent, even. Getting rich might happen sooner than I thought.
The fact that I could keep all these profits for myself was huge. Other magic beast hunters usually moved in groups and barely managed to take down grade 4s. Or they overextended themselves to hunt grade 5s. But I was monopolizing grade 6s by myself. There was no hunt with better cost efficiency than this.
Maybe the spatial bag really should come before mana regeneration after all. A bag large enough to hold an entire intact grade 6 beast. Until then, I could handle camping with a smile.
“Let’s go.”
We retraced our steps. We avoided encountering any more magic beasts whenever possible. There was no point in killing them if we couldn’t take anything. Thanks to that, we were able to descend the mountain fairly quickly.
Once we reached the area where grade 3 beasts lived, Ar could handle them without magic. At that point, we were practically back at the base.
As we approached the village, Ar began awkwardly trying to cover her body again. Hmm. She still looked uncomfortable. I wondered when the Empire would allow beastpeople to walk around freely. Would that day ever come? Even if slavery were abolished tomorrow, people’s perceptions wouldn’t change overnight. Besides, there was no real reason for the slave system to be abolished in the first place.
“I’m going straight to sell these. You’ll need to wait at the lodging for a while. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Ar’s reply was quiet. Her voice was calm too. Good. Everything was going well in multiple ways. Now if we could just sell these byproducts properly, today would be a perfect day.
The only problem was that doing so wouldn’t be easy.