Kujonin

Kujonin
Author: Hanakuroko
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The sun was setting; around the time when it was dusk above the western mountains, the wagons, stuffed with loads of wyvern meat in the back, began to move down the road.
It seems like we"ll reach a village in another hour.

When we reached the village, it was immediately decided that the wyvern meat would be used to treat everyone, and it became a festival.
The villagers, wearing clothes like that of people from the orient, welcomed us, and it ended up with us staying overnight at the village head"s house.
Cloudy white sake was sent around, and the wyvern meat was roasted in the village square.
The seasoning was just salt and pepper the merchants brought, but the wyvern meat was supremely delicious.
The protein-filled white meat was soft, and there wasn"t any gamey scent.
With all the villagers gathered in the square, the village girls danced for us.
The villagers, merchants, and adventurers who were staying in the village drank liquor and sang songs there.
When I had finished eating wyvern meat, pouring liquor with Teyl and drinking, Ayl drew closer.
"Did I do bad? I decided to share the wyvern meat all on my own."
"No, when you catch large prey, I imagine it"s better to have a banquet with everyone. And we raked it in, selling the hide."
"I see, that"s a relief. At that time, without Naoki covering the rear, it might have gotten a little bad."
"Of course, it was a flock, after all. I can at least shoot them down."
"That was the first time I saw Naoki fight, you know."
"Aa, that was also the first time I felt like fighting monsters."
I said that innocently enough, but Ayl and Teyl are surprised.
"For crying out loud, exactly how did you raise your level?"
"Like I said, extermination work."
"Do you shoot magic like you used in today"s fight with the wyverns?"
"No, today"s was a magic circle I made for the first time."
The actual fact of the matter is, when a Skill hits max, the image factor becomes big.
When I think about what I imagined as a magic circle, the magic circle comes to me automatically.
All I have to do is draw those and it"ll work, so if any people researching magic circles who can"t use any more Skill Points were here, I think they"d beat me up.
"You"re using a new magic circle for the first time and defeating wyverns, so you"re already outside the norm."
Ayl downed her liquor.
"It won"t do to think of Naoki-sama using common sense. Rather than thinking about it, getting used to it would be quicker. It"s the first that I"ve truly understood the meaning of "get used to it"."
Teyl said as she poured sake into Ayl"s cup.
"Get used to it, huh? If I can"t get used to it, I won"t become strong."
Ayl put the cup to her mouth.

"Greetings, and thank you for tonight."
An elderly man growing a white beard talked to us.
"I am the old man who is acting as this village"s head."
"Aa, greetings. Us as well, we thank you for opening up to us to the extent of having a feast."
"No, no. This year, we"ve suffered a lot of damage from wyverns. This is also a party honoring those who have killed them."
"Is it rare for wyverns to show up around here?"
I asked the village head.
"Indeed. It"s said that long ago, the mountain"s red dragon protected the village from wyverns so that they never came to this village, but currently the red dragon doesn"t come out from the mountain."
"Those of the dragon species are rare, after all. Were there hunters who"ve made names for themselves who hunted it?"
Ayl asked the village head.
"Who knows, it"s just, this place is a spot on the map on the way for many journeys, so there are many of whom I can"t tell whether they"re a strong adventurer or a weak adventurer. If a strong adventurer came unnoticed, it might be that he defeated the red dragon."
"If a red dragon was here, I would also go try to defeat it. If you can defeat it, you can become an A Rank, you know?"
Ayl told me.
I don"t have any interest in ranks, but if the red dragon disappeared and the wyverns have increased, then I suppose it would good to exterminate them.
In actuality, for prey to increase explosively when a predator disappears happens a lot.
Wyverns are also most likely predators, so if we don"t hunt them with a balance in mind, it"s possible that another weak monster will increase.
We can"t do anything but look at the balance across several years.
It"s different from the vespahornets and bagroaches; if the wyverns are increasing naturally then it would be fine to leave it as it is, but humans are becoming victims, so it seems I can"t just pretend not to see it happening.
"You"re making a difficult face. Naoki-sama."
Teyl peered into my face.
"Aa. Un, a bit. Village Head-san, how many years are there between the times the wyverns increase around here? And at the previous time they increased, was there anyone who hunted them or the like?"
"Indeed. It"s said that the wyverns increase around once every 30 years. They say that those wyverns are eaten by the mountain"s red dragon. It"s just, last year it just happened to reach that one time in 30 years, but the red dragon didn"t come out, and the wyverns have been increasing since."
"I see. Then, it will be tomorrow, but I"ll go exterminate the wyverns."
The village head opened his eyes wide, seemingly startled.
"Can you do such a thing?"
"Yeah, probably. Are the wyverns" rookery in the mountains?"
"That"s right."
"O, finally, I will get to see Naoki"s extermination!"
Ayl was excited and looked over here.
"Please, definitely do. When the wyverns come out, peoples" comings and goings are delayed, and it will become a situation where people will no longer come to our village."
"What will you do about the reward?"
Teyl came in and asked about an important point.
"There are trees in our village called zaza trees, and very rarely do the flowers bloom, but once every 30 years the flowers bloom and the following year they bear fruit. Coincidentally, this year we were able to harvest a lot of fruit, so won"t zaza fruit work as a reward? They go for a high price in the city."
"If that"s the case, I don"t mind."
Perhaps it"s a natural cycle where the weak monsters increase while eating the zaza fruit, and so the wyverns increase.
"Then, I will be going to prepare the beds for when you become tired."
So the village head said and went to a big house on the outskirts of the village.
After that we drank for a little while, then went to the village head"s house and slept in the prepared beds.

The next morning I took Teyl and Ayl along to climb the mountain.
After leaving the village, we reached the base of the mountain after an hour or so of walking.
They say that from here you can go to the port city by way of a detour.

As we climb the trees proportionally get shorter.
From time to time you can see a wyvern or a bat-type monster called a shobusri flying by.
Both of them are flying in the direction of the mountain.
They"re dwellings are probably close.
Taking a break, we at sandwiches, and then Ayl dismantled the monsters she wasn"t able to dismantle the previous day.
The meat and leather went into the Item Bag, and the left over bones were pulverized into powder.
The bones were gathered and put into a bag, then beaten into powder.
"What are you making?"
Ayl came to ask.
"It"s calcium. It will become nutrients."
"What. Isn"t this your secret?"
"You"re wrong, you know. This is the first time I"m doing it. I was thinking I can swallow some when I"m feeling irritable."
"H~mm."
Ayl"s interest waned.

After the break I opened Search Skill full throttle, searching for the wyverns" dwelling.
Around halfway up the mountain, where it began to be rocks with no trees, there was an entrance to a cave.