Chapter 27: 27. Hunting time
Kai looked up at the round object floating above him. It was a magic recording device, capable of recording everything around it and then sending the video footage to a device that could stream it live.
Kai felt he had to go live right then. Something he had never done, not even on Earth. As a hitman, he didn’t have time for live streams, since his job didn’t allow for it either. In fact, he had never watched a live stream at all.
You could say this was his first live stream—and it was in Ardhez, not Earth. A world similar to Earth, but where everything uses magic. Kai had only recently learned that their air contained magic particles, which creatures in Ardhez naturally absorbed to convert into energy. That’s why, if their magic energy ran out, they could recover quickly.
So, with the air containing those magic particles, the images or videos captured by the magic recording device could reach the broadcasting device.
The nobles who weren’t going hunting sat back and relaxed, watching the live broadcast. That’s why Kai was confident that the tent supermarket he’d set up would be a huge hit.
In fact, even before Kai had left for the forest with the Duke and a few others who wanted to join, the nobles had already started buying snacks and drinks. Even the noble girls had already bought dresses and accessories. Kai had already pocketed gold coins even before he set out on the hunt.
Keith didn’t join the hunt; he stayed at the edge of the forest to keep watch. After all, he also had to protect the nobles there. Besides, the nobles didn’t want Keith to come along; they thought he would help Kaileon.
But that was a good opportunity for them to realize that Kaileon could indeed hunt on his own, in a way they didn’t understand.
Normally, to fight monsters, they would attack them head-on. A provoked monster would go berserk, becoming stronger, and fighting it would be twice as difficult.
As a former assassin, Kai naturally tried to fight monsters stealthily, without making much noise, without expending much physical strength.
But something was off at that moment; Duke felt something was amiss. He approached Kaileon, who was walking ahead of him.
"Kaileon, you have to be careful, because for some reason I feel something’s off," said Duke.
"If there are about five of those stone birds around us, Is that’s not normal, father?" asked Kai.
Duke was surprised to hear this. "You... how do you know?"
"I can sense them, father. I think there are three over there and two right nearby," said Kai.
Of course, Kai couldn’t actually sense them; he had received a mission from the system.
[There are five stone birds within a hundred meters of you. If you defeat them all, you’ll gain a new magic element: detection Magic.]
[With detection Magic, you’ll have your own map that can detect enemies or monsters around you.]
[This is a rare and extremely useful magic element, especially for hunting monsters.]
Of course, Kai was very excited to obtain one of the branches of that air element magic. After all, the stone birds were huge—about twice the size of an ostrich. Their meat was similar to chicken, so Kai really liked it.
Defeating them didn’t mean killing them all, did it? If possible, Kai wanted to keep one or two stone birds to be companions for his fire bird.
Then, the plan was for Kai to go hunting often, to get plenty of fresh meat. He could sell it later at his supermarket.
"Why do you look so happy, Kaileon? There are five birds..." whispered Hendry, surprised by his son’s wide grin. Kaileon was even walking quickly, eager to reach their destination.
After spotting the five stone birds in the distance, about thirty meters ahead of them, the Duke halted his entourage.
"Now is the time for Kaileon to prove he’s truly capable, right?" said Rendy, the eldest son of Baron Crech, who was also on the Duchess’s side. He was the one who disliked Kaileon the most and the one least willing to accept the fact that Kaileon could hunt firebirds.
Rendy himself was a knight strong enough for a young man in his twenties like him. Clearly, he didn’t want to lose to a kid like Kaileon.
After Rendy spoke, the other nobles began to voice their agreement with Rendy’s opinion. Only Duke Hendry was worried about Kai.
"No, I’ll go with Kai—"
"Father, this is really easy. Let me go. You all wait here; we’ll need your strength to carry those birds. Don’t bother me, please." said Kai, and he immediately went over to the stone birds.
Anxiously, Hendry stayed there with the others. In fact, they didn’t even bother to hide their hatred for Kaileon. Even though Duke Arslan—Kaileon’s father—was right there.
"Look at that—his little body is going to be kicked by those birds and trampled on. How could he refuse his father’s help?"
"He said not to bother him... but in a moment he’ll be screaming for help, oh my."
"Wait a minute, why is he climbing up the tree instead?"
"Why is he just sitting there calmly?"
Kai was sitting comfortably on the strongest branch of the tree.
Below him, the stone birds were circling. The five birds seemed full since they’d just eaten, so they were circling, walking back and forth in a circle, to make themselves sleepy so they could sleep soundly afterward.
But unfortunately, Kai wasn’t going to let that happen.
Kai’s smile suddenly vanished when the birds suddenly started acting strangely. From not being able to sense Kai’s presence at all, they suddenly turned their heads toward him.
[The stone birds have been affected by black magic; they’re targeting you and the Duke]
What the hell is that?
Kai, who had initially wanted to observe them more closely so he could choose which ones to keep, had to fight them immediately.
"Damn," he hissed irritably.
Several sharp daggers were already in his hand; he threw them all at the back of the stone birds’ heads, a spot not well-protected by their hard feathers, since the feathers around the stone birds’ necks were soft to allow for easier neck movement.
Thanks to his training with Keith a few days ago, Kai’s hands had grown stronger, so almost all of his throws hit their mark.
Panicked by his own precision, Kai jumped down from the branch. He approached all the stone birds. He was lucky—two of them were still salvageable.
Using healing magic, Kai healed them, then put them to sleep.
[You have completed the mission! Congratulations! You can now use detection magic; use it to detect enemies around you]
"Kaileon! Hahaha, I knew you were amazing, my son!" Hendry exclaimed, immediately hugging Kaileon once he was near his son.
"Father!"
"You idiot! Why did you heal that stone bird?" asked Rendy, his face very gloomy. He couldn’t believe what he’d seen with his own two eyes—that Kaileon had simply thrown a dagger at the stone bird’s neck and it had all collapsed.
In fact, Rendy already had a device to make the monsters there go berserk and hunt down Kaileon.
"Because I want to keep it. Three stone birds are enough to be cooked and distributed to the local community, as well as the children at the orphanage," said Kaileon.
Hearing that, the other nobles protested.
"Why is all the meat being given to the common people? What about us nobles? Usually, the meat is distributed to the nobles for a feast!"
"We don’t need to share that meat with the commoners—"
"Ahem!" Hendry cleared his throat very loudly, silencing them afterward.
"Kaileon’s side will cook all the meat; you’ll eat it for the feast. But the meat from three stone birds is plenty—what’s wrong with sharing it with the people? They’re here to watch too. I’m the one who asked Kaileon to do this—why are you protesting my decision?"
The people shrunk back, seeing Hendry scolding them.
But Rendy, who still couldn’t accept it, activated the device he had again.
Suddenly, a small hand reached out and snatched the device.
"I knew something was off! Father, look at this!" Kaileon snatched the pendant-shaped device and handed it to Hendry.
Everyone there was shocked, then stared at Rendy.
A nobleman stepped forward to hold Rendy back so he couldn’t run away.
"Let me go!"
"Where did you get this device, Rendy?" asked Hendry, his face looking terrifying.
Hendry was furious, and no one dared even to look him in the eye.
"I... I... p-please forgive me! I got it from someone for... for... that..."
Now Hendry understood why the stone bird was rampaging, and also why there were three firebirds near the pavilion.
Apparently, the demon necklace was there, in Rendy’s hands.
