Clash with the Giant Hog
As I stepped out of the adventurer’s guild after accepting the request, Vera and Eos were already waiting for me. Vera stared with eyes brimming with expectation. It was an incredibly heavy gaze.
“Giant hogs have been coming down from the eastern farm. Our job is to stop them.”
“Giant hogs…!”
I saw Vera flinch.
“Is it too difficult for you?”
“N-no! If it were the old me, maybe, but now…”
Vera still remembered struggling to hunt a goblin mother with her noble swordsmanship. But things had changed. Her mindset and her skills had both evolved. After all, I had watched her grow stronger with every sparring match against me. The more quests we completed together, the stronger she would surely become.
“It’s fine even if we fail the mission. Let’s use this to test the limits of our party.”
I had deliberately taken a high-difficulty C-rank request. I refused to place a ceiling on Vera’s growth. Besides, now that I had acquired Lv. 2 Noble Swordsmanship, I needed to assess our current strength with clear eyes.
“Understood, Master.”
“Good. I want to see how far my sword can reach as well.”
With the shared goal of testing ourselves, we set off for the eastern wheat farm.
Finding the farm was not difficult. Simply following the path beside the village led naturally to the sprawling fields.
“We’ve accepted the request and come to help.”
“Welcome, welcome!”
The farm owner greeted us with obvious relief.
“Those hogs love wheat, so they come down all the time.”
“Understood. We’ll hunt as many as we can.”
“Excellent. I’d appreciate it if you could give them such a scare that they never show their faces again.”
Our party was not the only one at the wheat farm.
“It’s giant hogs. Stay sharp.”
“Don’t worry, those boar runts are barely a snack.”
“I heard their hides fetch a high price.”
“They’re tough as hell. You could probably make an entire leather coat from just one.”
Given the sheer size of the farm, the owner had hired a small army of adventurers. It seemed the giant hogs had inflicted serious losses.
“Wheat farming really does bring in good money.”
I nodded in agreement with Vera’s muttered observation as she surveyed the crowd. Hiring this many people meant the profit from protecting the fields far outweighed the cost.
“Isn’t this almost on the scale of a monster wave?”
“It just proves how much damage those hogs have caused.”
“Perfect. I can’t wait to fight them.”
Vera’s body practically trembled with anticipation as she loosened up with light stretches. The scene reminded me of the time back in Cashew Village when I had dealt with wolves raiding the sheep pens.
“Waiting around is going to be pretty boring.”
“Why?”
Monsters didn’t appear just because I wanted them to. There would likely be far more waiting than actual hunting.
“If they showed up whenever you wished, they wouldn’t be monsters.”
“Then let’s go find them ourselves!”
“Hmm…”
Heading into the giant hogs’ territory… From the client’s perspective, those words would probably be infuriating. After all, he had hired us to guard the farm, not to abandon our post and charge into enemy lines. Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized defending from the farm would only lead to greater losses. Why, then, had the owner chosen this approach?
“Not a bad idea.”
“Right?”
If it had been only our party, I would have ignored Vera’s suggestion without a second thought. But with dozens of other parties present, the disappearance of a single F-rank adventurer like myself would hardly raise eyebrows. Besides, our goal wasn’t money. Even if the quest failed, the primary objective was to gauge our true capabilities.
“At the very least, we should fight at least one giant hog.”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
With so many other parties around, there was a real chance we might wait all day without seeing a single monster. Once my thoughts were in order, I walked straight over to the farm owner.
“Farm owner.”
“Yes? Is something wrong?”
“There seem to be quite a lot of guards protecting the farm.”
“Haha, that’s because the giant hogs are stronger than people expect. If they rampage through the fields, the damage is catastrophic… Honestly, even with this many people I’m still anxious.”
The farm owner appeared to have suffered heavily at the hogs’ hands. His anxiety made it clear this wasn’t a one-time occurrence.
“Then allow me to erase that anxiety for you.”
“Pardon? How?”
“Our party will stop the giant hogs before they even reach the farm.”
“Before they reach the farm… You mean you’re going into the hogs’ habitat?!”
“That’s correct.”
“That’s far too dangerous! Even one hog requires an entire party working together just to bring down!”
“There’s no need to worry about us. We have ways to escape if things turn dangerous.”
“Ah… um…”
I could sense the farm owner weighing his options. From his perspective there was nothing to lose. On the contrary, if the hogs broke into the inner fields and caused chaos, the losses would be devastating. One might wonder why he hadn’t simply sent adventurers into the habitat from the start, but he had surely tried that before.
Many adventurers must have died. The guild would have raised hell.
After those failures, stationing people near the farm had been his only remaining choice.
“I cannot guarantee your lives…”
“We’ve made our choice.”
“Then you may proceed.”
“Understood.”
In the end, the farm owner had no option but to choose the path that brought greater profit than loss. This was a world where people could appear kind on the surface yet feel nothing at the deaths of others. To him, we were probably nothing more than convenient scarecrows. The saved request fee was simply an added bonus.
“Permission granted. We’re heading to the hog habitat.”
“Oh~ Black Hair~ How’d you manage that?”
“People are all greedy creatures. When a better offer appears, they have no choice but to accept it.”
“You’re a person too, you know?”
“Exactly why I understand it so well.”
It was beneficial for both the farm owner and our party. People inevitably grow greedy and push forward to seize ever greater gains. Relationships, at their core, are simply cooperation for mutual benefit.
“Let’s move.”
With the client’s permission secured, we immediately set off for the giant hog habitat.
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“It isn’t only humans who feel greed. The demon race is the same.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Since humans and demons were said to be similar, her words made sense.
“I believe all living beings share that trait. Though humans sometimes restrain their greed according to their own convictions.”
Eos’s eyes were fixed on me. It seemed she had mistaken me for such a person.
“This is for Vera right now.”
Eos believed I was showing consideration for Vera. After all, once Vera left this farm village she would depart. From Eos’s perspective, it must have looked like I was being kind to her before she left.
“The same goes for me.”
She seemed to understand my kindness as well. After all, she too would eventually leave to pursue her revenge.
“Having someone who understands your heart is happiness in itself.”
I gently stroked Eos’s back once before walking forward.
“…Is that so.”
She still seemed unable to comprehend the idea of caring for someone outside a master-servant relationship.
“I might look like a fool. While every living creature seeks only benefit, I alone am moving in the opposite direction.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I already consider myself rewarded.”
Looking at Eos, I continued.
“Because you understood. That alone is already a gain.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
Eos stared at me with genuine confusion.
“Relationships are not something that can be formed even if you offer tens of millions of gold.”
“That is true.”
“Eos, do you think that once you leave me, you will never see me again?”
“That…”
Eos looked troubled. That expression alone was enough to make me smile inwardly.
“I believe you will come to eat my cooking again someday.”
“Ah… Master… If that is your command…”
“A command, huh… How cute, Eos.”
“…”
Eos’s face flushed crimson as she stepped back, finally understanding.
By now she must have realized it. The same would apply to Vera; we would meet again later.
I believe consideration is simply a tool to make it easier to reconnect the next time paths cross. People naturally grow more attached to those who are easy to approach and willing to act on their behalf. The demon race, so similar to humans, would likely be the same. Even the female hero we had met in this village would be no different.
“Black Hair, what were you two whispering about with such a cozy atmosphere?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Hmmm…”
Vera’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“You aren’t planning to do the ‘tap-tap’ after this, are you?”
“What the hell is ‘tap-tap’?”
“What else? The sound it makes when you do it.”
“You call yourself an apprentice knight, yet your language is straight out of the adventurer handbook.”
“Hehe… So what~ I’m not a knight of the territory anymore.”
Given Vera’s personality, she had never been the stiff, rigid type. She had chosen to leave her territory to change herself, and had apparently been hunting monsters alongside adventurers for some time. She was starting to carry the same scent as the adventurers around her.
I knew what kind of person she was the moment the apprentice knight from a noble house insulted the royal family.
“Master, I sense them.”
While we walked, Eos’s voice suddenly rose. As someone who could sense space itself, she had already detected the giant hogs nearby. That was why she noticed them so quickly.
“Where?”
“Right beside us…!”
-Screeech!
-BOOM!!
The situation unfolded in an instant. A boar the size of a truck charged straight at me and collided head-on.
Deflection
-BANG!!
The boar was sent flying sideways and crashed to the ground.
“Kyueeeeeek! Kuek!”
It hadn’t died from the deflection. After a brief squeal, it thrashed its legs wildly and scrambled back to its feet.
“I-it’s really huge…!”
Just as Vera said, the colossal boar glared at us with bloodshot eyes.
“Everyone, prepare for battle.”