Chapter 18: Chapter 16: The Meat Porridge is So Delicious
How inspiring.
"Regardless, we’ll continue the hunt this afternoon. Now that we have new gear, it’ll be much easier."
Shire ambitiously stretched his arms, preparing to get up, but the meat porridge had left him too full. He just lay back down and rolled over.
’I’m so stuffed,’ he thought. ’I’ll let them stay hyped for a bit while I digest.’
Then, feeling uncomfortable lying like that, he rolled back again.
...
In a forest clearing, several large-horned Forest Deer were fighting to lick a rock.
They had abandoned their usual cautious nature, heedless of their surroundings, focused only on monopolizing the rock.
Any smaller animals that tried to approach were driven away. The stags even pushed aside the does and fawns.
The air filled with the constant cries of animals, all driven into a frenzy by the rock.
Two stags even began to butt heads, fighting for control of it.
It was as if some kind of Dark Magic that drove creatures mad had been cast over the entire clearing.
Shire raised his Hand Crossbow, silently aiming at a stag’s head.
CLICK! He pulled the trigger. The stag let out a pained cry and collapsed. At the same time, he shouted an order to his goblins, "Drop the net!"
With a series of RUSTLES from the surrounding trees, a large, circular net woven from vines came crashing down.
Startled, the herd of deer scattered and fled.
But the vine net blocked their path. The adult deer cleared the net in a few leaps, but the half-grown fawns were still scrambling around in a panic.
The goblins quickly slid down from the trees, and Red Eyes charged into the herd with his Long Spear.
"You are so, so dead!" he yelled, directly piercing a large deer with his spear.
Shire had bestowed the [Basic Power] he’d gotten from the Forest Grey Wolf on Red Eyes, and the effect was clearly visible now.
The goblins’ attack terrified the herd. They smashed through the vine net and fled in all directions, but they left behind seven kills: three large and four small.
"Chief, so much meat!" Bai Mao’s voice trembled with joy.
"Yeah, it’s a lot," Shire said, also pleased. This counted as his first truly successful hunt.
In the forest, herbivores were more likely to flee an attack than fight back. The difficulty in hunting them was that he couldn’t outrun them.
He’d learned his lesson from last time, when he’d run until he was panting like a dog without even catching a glimpse of a deer’s tail. This time, he set a trap for them directly.
He remembered seeing in a wilderness survival video that herbivores and omnivores would fight fiercely over sources of salt. Once they smelled salt in the air, they would seek it out and try to monopolize it.
Shire had splashed saltwater on the rock to attract the animals.
He had also spent a good amount of time having his goblins weave the large net from vines and rig it up in the surrounding trees ahead of time.
The payoff was huge. The three adult deer each looked to weigh over 100 kilograms, and the four smaller ones weren’t light either. Plus, deerskin was much better than boar hide.
"Chief, we can’t eat it all. It’s too much meat, it’ll go bad," Bai Mao said, still happy despite his worry.
"Let’s go. We’ll have another feast when we get back." Shire ordered cheerfully, already imagining the taste of roasted venison. "I’ll teach you how to make smoked meat."
"From now on, we’ll eat two meals a day. I will lead you safely through the winter, and we will not eat goblin children," Shire declared.
"You... good chief." Bai Mao looked at Shire, his eyes filled with fervor.
After ordering his goblins to carry the prey back, Shire began to review the hunt in his mind. The results were significant, but there was still room for improvement.
’I could have my men each carry a long branch to use as a Javelin,’ he mused. ’If they all throw one, a dozen or so should have some killing power.’
’I can also try making a Double Ball Flying Rope.’
It was a type of rope with rocks tied to both ends. When thrown, it would wrap around a target’s legs, making it an excellent hunting tool.
Besides, he now had three abilities he could bestow.
[Available Abilities: Basic Endurance x3]
[Basic Endurance: Slightly increases an individual’s endurance. This effect cannot be stacked with other Endurance System abilities.]
’Not bad. In a little while, every one of my men can have Basic Endurance.’ Shire rubbed his chin, a smile on his face. ’Paired with two meals a day and Red Bull Body Forging, I’m sure they’ll successfully achieve Foundation Establishment and become proper workhorses.’
’Then there are those three...’ Shire glanced sideways. Scarface and two other goblins were cowering at the back of the group, looking around nervously.
’They always hide in the back and do no work, but their fighting power is astonishing when it’s time to snatch food at lunch. Now that hunting isn’t a problem, it’s time to work on team building.’
’If you won’t work, there are plenty of other goblins who will.’
’I’ll find an opportunity to get the most value out of them.’
Subordinates who feigned surrender are still subordinates. How could he waste their remaining value?
...
Adventurer Association Hall.
"Luna, what do you think of this quest? Collecting Blue Thorn Grass leaves, 10 silver coins per kilogram."
Lira held up a collection request form and asked her sister, but Luna acted as if she hadn’t heard. She just twirled the end of her hair with a finger, staring up at the sky.
"Luna, did you hear what I said?"
"Ah, I heard you. What’s up?" Luna snapped to attention as her sister’s voice rose.
"I was talking about the Blue Thorn Grass request. What were you just looking at?"
"The clouds. See that one? Doesn’t it look like a pig’s head?"
"You’re hopeless." Lira rolled her eyes.
"You decide, Sis," her sister Luna said, going back to watching the clouds. "Sis, do you think we can find him?"
Lira was silent for a few seconds before saying, "We definitely can."
"But Uncle Yu Le said..."
"He’s our father," Lira interrupted her sister. "Even though Uncle Yu Le said there’s a chance to become a female guard at the Count’s Mansion... Luna, have you forgotten what Father looked like?"
"How could I forget? He always used to pick me up and scratch my face with his beard," Luna said with a pout.
"We’ll find him," Lira said suddenly, out of nowhere. It seemed more like she was trying to encourage herself.
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt." A polite-looking Adventurer approached them. "My name is Coulson. Were you just talking about Blue Thorn Grass?"
"What about it?" Lira neither confirmed nor denied it.
"Well," Coulson said, scratching his head shyly, "we’re heading into the forest too, and we also need to gather some of that Blue Thorn Grass."
"’We’?"
"Yes, this is my teammate, Grant." Coulson gestured to a large, one-eyed man sitting on the floor a few steps away, eating a snack.
"Is it just the two of you?" Lira asked.
"We..." Grant mumbled indistinctly.
"Yes, just the two of us," Coulson cut in to answer.
"Sorry, we haven’t decided if we’re taking this request yet." After a moment’s thought, Lira decided to refuse for now.
"Oh, all right then." Coulson gave a slight, polite bow. "I was just going to say that I know where to find some Blue Thorn Grass, and it would be safer if we went together."
"You know where?"
"Yes, I just saw a large patch a few days ago. But you know, the forest is a bit dangerous right now. People at the tavern are saying it’s either Magical Beasts or the Reaper. I saw you have a healer, so I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to team up."
"I have heard the rumors," Lira nodded.
"Well, see you around then. Maybe we can team up next time," Coulson said, raising a hand.
"Um, I think this time could work, too. If you know where it is, we can team up," Lira said after a moment, agreeing to his proposal.
"Oh, that’s great." Coulson nodded with a smile. "Let’s meet here tomorrow morning. The forest is very dangerous at night."
Nearby, Luna leaned over and asked Grant, "Can I have a few to try?"
Grant didn’t say anything, just held up the bag of snacks, gesturing for Luna to help herself.
"Luna, don’t—" Lira started to stop her sister, but she had already grabbed a handful.
"Thanks. My sister is just... a bit of an airhead."
"It’s fine. I’ll have Grant bring extra snacks tomorrow," Coulson said with a laugh.
"Sis, these are pretty good," Luna said, popping a nut into her sister’s mouth.
"Is that a Light God Church-issued Magic Staff you have there?" Coulson asked.
Luna was focused on chewing her nuts. After a few seconds, she finally reacted, "Huh? Oh, yes. Why?"
"Nothing, it just looks very powerful. No worse than the one a Molding Mage friend of mine uses," Coulson said, his voice full of smiles.
