Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: At the Summit (4)
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"Even so, if you don't become a mage, it's all for nothing. Isn't that right, Shirone?"
"Huh? Oh, of course."
"Relying on someone else's money to do something is like handing your life over to them. It might be fine if you succeed, but if you fail, you'll be left with nothing. You shouldn't do that, Shirone. For your parents' sake, you should at least secure a way to make a living before you learn magic. Are you going to live off your parents forever? It's not like you're strong enough to do physical labor, either."
Even if he didn't become a mage, he had enough knowledge to find a job. As a commoner, there would be plenty of places willing to hire him if he just swallowed his pride. But it was also true that he had never, as Altor pointed out, considered the possibility of failure.
How could he have overlooked it? Was it a do-or-die mentality? Or just arrogance? If he failed to become a mage, what kind of life would he lead?
His stomach churned. Failure. Anyone could fail, and Shirone was no exception. The pragmatic questions from the village children sent a chill down his spine.
As the mood soured, Altor suggested a game. It was, in part, a bid to reclaim his authority as their leader.
"Alright, alright. Enough of this heavy talk. Hey, Shirone. How about a round of arm wrestling for old times' sake?"
"Huh? With me?"
"Yeah. You used to have surprisingly strong bones. Let's see if you've still got them."
The other kids pounded the table, egging them on.
"Ooooh! Warrior versus mage! It's the match of the century!"
As the mood at the table lightened, Shirone pushed aside his gloomy thoughts and found his smile again. Arm wrestling a guy who could lift a full-grown adult. Pride aside, it was just plain ridiculous.
"How about it? Drinks on the line?"
As Altor planted his thick forearm on the table, Shirone met the challenge and extended his own hand. When a bet was involved, a man's pride demanded he accept, win or lose.
"Alright. Let's do it. But no holding back."
"Of course."
The moment their hands clasped, Shirone felt like he was gripping a chunk of stone. If he used Photonization magic, he could win the bet for free, but that was nothing more than an amusing fantasy.
Martin volunteered to be the referee.
"Alright, get ready... Go!"
Shirone summoned every ounce of his strength. But Altor's power crashed over him like a wave, and his arm was slammed down against his will. He tumbled under the table with a clatter and rubbed his elbow. It wasn't just strength; it was monstrous.
"Owowow. You're really strong."
"Whoa! That's Altor for you. He beat Shirone, a mage, in one go!"
Magic had nothing to do with arm wrestling, but to the children, the title of "mage" seemed to carry significant weight.
"Of course! Altor's even hunted a bear before!"
His authority restored, Altor finally let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! Shirone, you've really gotten weak, huh? You weren't this bad before. This turned into a strange bet. Don't worry, Shirone, I'll get the drinks."
Lumina came over and helped Shirone up. Her eyes were filled with apology.
"Shirone, are you okay? That's Altor for you. Why'd you have to be so rough?"
As a member of the village herself, she knew exactly why Altor had been so forceful. But Shirone was just as accustomed to the ways of the mountain folk, so he wasn't offended.
"I'm fine. But Altor really has gotten stronger."
As Shirone got to his feet, his coin pouch fell. It spilled open, and precious gold coins rolled across the floor. The village children's eyes widened.
"Whoa! Those are gold coins, real gold coins!"
"What? Where! Wow! For real! There are five of them!"
Even the children from the far end of the table gathered around, captivated by the coins. In their village, even the adults rarely handled gold. To kids who only earned spare change from odd jobs, the glimmering coins seemed almost sacred.
"You're loaded. Why are you carrying around five gold coins?"
Shirone said sheepishly as he picked up the coins.
"I brought extra just in case. There's a book I really want to buy, and it'd be a problem if I didn't have enough money."
"Right, books are expensive."
The children knew Shirone loved books. When he had visited with Vincent before, he'd always had a book tucked under his arm. The illiterate villagers had no interest in books themselves. Still, the number of gold coins he'd dropped was enough to show them what an incredible life he was living.
"Shirone. So, can you just spend this however you want? Since it's yours, you must buy whatever you feel like, right?"
Shirone wore a troubled expression. He had never once spent money frivolously. As Altor had pointed out, it was money he'd received from others. But the children seemed shocked simply by the fact that he possessed such a large sum. Worried he might inadvertently wound their pride, he chose his words carefully.
"I rarely have a reason to spend money. I have so many classes at the academy that I usually end up skipping meals, anyway."
"Aw, come on. You can still pay for the drinks, right? You lost the bet."
"The bet? Oh, right."
Shirone had clearly heard Altor offer to pay, but to feign ignorance after revealing the gold coins would only hurt Altor's pride even more. Altor, for his part, might have been uneducated, but he wasn't a fool, so he let the situation unfold naturally.
"Alright. I'll pay. I lost, after all."
At Shirone's words, the children cheered.
"Yes! So we're using a gold coin? Shirone, can you give me the money for the drinks in advance? I've actually never touched a gold coin before."
"I'll pay the bill. It's been my lifelong dream to pay with a gold coin!"
"No! I'll do it!"
In an instant, Shirone had become the group's leader. Lumina watched Altor with a worried gaze. As she'd expected, his face was a mask of misery.
Yet Altor didn't get angry, for the same reason Lumina wasn't upset. Having watched Shirone since childhood, she knew. He hadn't changed one bit. He was still the same kind boy who always thought of others first.
"That's enough! A bunch of boys getting all worked up over a single gold coin! When are you all going to grow up? Let's just talk about something else."
At Lumina's scolding, the children sheepishly returned to their seats. Shirone was grateful to her.
The quick-witted Martin changed the subject.
"By the way, did you hear? It showed up on the back mountain again yesterday."
"Oh, I heard that too. At this rate, there won't be any animals left in the mountains. How long is it going to keep eating everything?"
"It must be a pregnant Cow Bear. They have huge appetites."
The Cow Bear was the largest species of gray bear. A pregnant female would eat twice her normal amount, making her a real headache for hunters.
Having done a fair bit of hunting himself, Shirone showed interest.
"A Cow Bear came all the way here? Don't they usually live on the other side of the mountain range? That must be a real problem."
"Tell me about it. My dad's a hunter, and he comes back empty-handed every day now. There's nothing he can do when the game is being wiped out."
"Then why don't you all team up and hunt it? Cow Bears aren't particularly violent, so five people should be enough, right?"
"It's logging season, so we're short on hands. Everyone's out felling trees, and no one is available to help. Still, judging by its range, it probably won't give birth here. They say if we wait about a week, things should go back to normal."
"I see. That must be tough for your father."
Altor's eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers.
"Hey, Brad. What if we hunted that Cow Bear?"
"What? Us? Won't that be dangerous?"
"Who do you take me for? I'm the guy who's hunted so many notoriously vicious red bears that I'm sick of them. A little Cow Bear is nothing."
Altor intended to use this hunt to restore his tarnished honor. The only things he had over Shirone were his strength and hunting skills, so in a way, this was a god-given opportunity.
"Hey, what do you say? Let's all help Brad out."
"W-Well, if you would, I'd be grateful."
If he couldn't bring back game, his family would starve. Knowing this, the other kids couldn't ignore Brad's situation. Besides, Altor was the one who had hunted a red bear—a creature known for being the most vicious despite its size.
"Alright! Then let's go hunt the Cow Bear tomorrow!"
"Woooah! My blood is pumping! Don't worry, Brad! Your big bro here will plant an arrow right in that bear's forehead!"
"Idiot! Like you could do that? We'll just dig some traps and leave the rest to Altor."
"We leave tomorrow morning! Shirone, you're coming too, right?"
Altor asked, his eyes gleaming. To reclaim his position as leader, it was essential that Shirone came along. Shirone, aware of this, figured it was for the best and nodded.
"Alright. I learned a few things from my father, so I should be able to pull my own weight."
"Great! Well then, a toast!"
Foaming beer mugs clinked together in the air.
* * *
The next day at dawn.
Shirone was up before the crack of dawn, preparing for the hunt.
The other kids would be dividing the specialized tools among them, but everyone had to prepare their own basic gear.
He coiled his rope loosely to prevent tangles and hung it on his backpack, then checked his bow and arrows.
He packed cloth and glue for making torches, along with large nails and a hammer.
He put spare arrowheads in a leather pouch and meticulously packed dried rations and a whistle in case he got stranded.
Lifting the backpack, the familiar weight brought a pleasant feeling.
*Shirone the man, still got it,* he thought to himself as he opened the door, only to find all the other kids, gear in hand, gathered outside.
"Hey, Shirone. You're late. Getting soft, are we? Hehehe."
Shirone gave an awkward laugh. People who did this for a living were really on another level.
"Haha, sorry. It's been a while, so I'm a little rusty."
"Anyway, let's get going. We need to be back before sunset."
Altor took the lead, with Shirone and Lumina following in the middle of the group. Martin brought up the rear.
The sun was up by the time they reached the area where the Cow Bear had been sighted.
Lumina started a fire and began to cook. Breakfast was corn soup with melted goat cheese and bread. Shirone dipped a piece of hard bread generously into the soup and swallowed it down.
"This is delicious. Lumina, your cooking is really something else."
"Hehe."
Lumina smiled shyly. In the past, she would have made a fuss, telling him to at least earn his keep. The kids had certainly changed a lot. It was a good change, though, and Shirone was relieved to see his friends were doing well.
"If you're all done eating, let's get a move on. I think it's somewhere higher up."
Altor led the kids toward the mountainside. His guess proved correct, as trees were marked with the bear's territory. Martin pointed to a tree with deep claw marks and said.
"Look at this. The tree's been gouged out. It must be incredibly strong."
Altor went over and carefully examined the claw marks.
"Hmph. This is nothing to worry about. Its paws don't seem that big, either."
"Still, don't you think it's dangerous?"
"A bear's strength is well-known. They're faster than you'd think, too. But Cow Bears are on the slower side. With this many people, we can definitely hunt it."
Shirone took a closer look at the claw marks. A sense of unease made him furrow his brow. They were just gashes in the wood, but he couldn't picture a bear making those marks.
*'This is strange. It doesn't look like it was done with brute force. It's more like... something incredibly fast and sharp struck it.'*
At this point, Altor took out his bow. He nocked an arrow, crouched low, and looked back to say.
"Anyway, it looks like we'll have to start from here, so be careful. Let's go up a little further and set the traps."
The children following Altor climbed the mountain with hushed footsteps. As this life was their everyday reality, they all moved with practiced skill.
Shirone entered his Spirit Zone, sensing his surroundings. A forty-meter diameter was less than what a skilled hunter could see, but given his bad feeling, it couldn't hurt to be cautious.
As they neared the summit, a deeply unsettling presence reached him through his synesthesia. Shirone stopped in his tracks, trying to pinpoint the feeling, when Altor turned and asked.
"Shirone, what are you doing? We're not setting traps here."
"Altor. Something feels... off."
"What feels off? I don't feel anything."
Altor immediately dismissed Shirone's concern. No matter how smart Shirone was, Altor considered himself the expert when it came to hunting. But Shirone held his ground, breaking from the group and walking off in a different direction. With an angry look, Altor chased after him. Acting on one's own in the mountains could endanger everyone.
"Shirone. If you're going to keep this up, just go back down... Ugh!"
Altor was horrified by the sight that spread out before them. For a moment, even Shirone was speechless. A wave of nausea hit him, and the taste of the goat cheese from breakfast rose in his throat.
"What... in the world is this?"