Mabbo, Schwarz13, Yakult
Enjoy~
24. Megane-kun, Suggesting for a Fresh Start
「……We have shown such an inappropriate sight to you. I"m sorry for what our member have caused.」
In the end, Laila pushed the underwear woman who complained about being hungry back to the room she was from.
After a round of silence, the vice-leader spoke with a grim expression on her face as if she just swallowed a poisonous bug. Forgive us, she said.
—However, it was a chance for me.
Maybe it"s because the talk was interrupted a few moments ago, the weight of the air feels like it"s crushing us.
「It"s me to blame for visiting so suddenly. I have no excuse.」
Saying thus, I naturally, oh so naturally, stood up. No matter who saw to judge what, it was such a natural way to leave my seat. Such a naturalness that one can"t find anything to object. Aah, was it not natural? It was natural, indeed.
「I should"ve come after I made an appointment, after all. Please excuse me for today. Before long, I shall come again later when the Leader is around.」
「…You"re, right. The atmosphere somehow isn"t suited to hold a conversation anyway, so let"s make a fresh start later.」
Excellent. My suggestion is accepted.
「Tomorrow night… no, that"s a dicey time. He should be around in the morning day after tomorrow. I"ll let him know.」
「Well then, I shall come again in the morning the day after tomorrow.」
After I bowed and said 「excuse me」, I made my escape from the 「Black Swan of Dawn」"s base.
As soon as I got out of the warehouse, I ran as fast as I could as to shake off any possible pursuer and finally could catch my breath after I had reached the main street.
Yosh, it seems I managed to retreat safely. Though it felt like a useless effort since it was such a short visit and I have to visit them again in the future, measuring the ambiance there is a huge step to me. Especially, that reaction. From the reaction of the vice-leader and that unshaved beardy, as expected, the trouble my sister has brought can"t be paid off with mere empty handed greetings.
A gift is a must. Absolutely a must. A simple apology won"t do, the sincerity won"t reach. My feeling as her family can"t allow it. They"re the people who are looking after that sister, after all.
Even if I shoved my head deep into the ground, that still be lacking. I need the utmost sincerity. We"re talking about that Horun. The fact that that sister of mine is bringing trouble to people being slapped to my face. Thinking about it makes me go beyond depressed and holed my own stomach with stress.
It"d be better if their response was something like, we"re used to her already~, but that was… yare yare. Horun is, in the end, Horun.
Therefore, the gift should be a hunted spoil. We"ve talked about my hunting career, so the gift can"t be something that anyone can buy from a nearby shop or what run-of-the-mill citizen have.
I won"t say it would be a big game. However, small games won"t be fulfilling either. It"s a household that accommodated ten-odd people, so two or three green pheasants can"t fill their belly.
—Should I aim for a bigger game?
I lead my feet towards the Hunter"s Guild as I revise the plan for future directions. If I aim for a mediocre game, deer or rabbits sounds good. It"ll help me out if I have the necessary information.
「—Excuse me」
Oops.
The moment I about to step into the Hunter"s Guild, I almost b.u.mped with the person who comes out.
From his looks, he was a refined gentleman with a black felt hat, black vest, and black trousers. Both his neatly trimmed beard and his eyebrows are white, so he must be elderly. His slender physique is tall.
Although we only connected eyes for a moment, the elderly gentleman swiftly took my side to pa.s.s through.
…This was a first for me to meet anyone besides the receptionist in this deserted Hunter"s Guild.
Nevertheless, that atmosphere—
「Welcome」
While my feet were stopped due to the wonder that person left me with, the receptionist"s sloven voice greeted me yet again.
That person from before, he made me a little bit curious.
Curious, but… let"s just wipe it off my mind.
Things like how I couldn"t detect his presence until the right before we b.u.mped for one, or like how his presence vanishes as soon as he turns into that alley for another. Or how his steps are dead silent. I indeed am curious but I won"t let it get into my mind.
If you rethink it carefully, it"s not that weird if that elderly gentleman is a hunter too. It"s nothing special that a hunter is going to and fro the Hunter"s Guild. I, a hunter, do that.
…………
Come to think of it, was it the first time I see another hunter besides Shishou? Maybe it"s a natural thing for a hunter to be curious about another hunter.
Well, it"s no longer in my mind though.
After I step into the Guild that has n.o.body inside just as usual, I said to the receptionist who"s resting on her chin.
「I want to acquire information regarding Magical Beasts. Deer or rabbit ones.」
Not normal animals, but magical beasts.
I thought it"d be doubtful whether she could catch what I said or not, but the receptionist actually responded immediately while not looking sharp at all.
「Either a Hexagon Deer or Splinter Fang Hare would be fine? Wait for a second」
Ah, she caught that.
The receptionist that said the very thing I aimed spread out a map.
「We received information about a Splinter Fang Hare. However, it"s located quite deep inside the forest.」
Yatta. There"s a rabbit to hunt.
It"s the map of that forest I"ve delved to its surface for many times over. I haven"t gone to its deep regions, but the current me can read it one way or another. The river I made into my personal hunting spot is over there. Once I know the starting point, I know where to go.
And then, the bonfire remains. When I went with Laila, she proceeded while following those remains. There are those bonfire remains marks on the map, so true to what I a.s.sumed, they are the landmarks in the forest.
「Apparently, they"re around this area.」
It"s a deep place I haven"t gone to. Even deeper than when I faced that Redbear.
「Can I write it down?」
「Help yourself」
I added the bonfire landmarks, cliffs, boulders, etc that are conspicuous enough to be included in a map, and infrastructures like bridges to the map I transcribed myself.
「Will you be okay? Splinter Fang Hares is a game that required several One Star Adventurers.」
「Perhaps.」
Just like Redbears, Splinter Fang Hares is a prey I usually hunt in the forest near the village. As long as I keep my vigilance up, I"ll do just fine.
Well, the biggest problem is that they"re more likely to be deep inside the woods, so finding them will be a ch.o.r.e. Also, they"ll escape as soon as they realized their enemy is stronger than them. While there"s their individual strength to take into account, but above all the fact that they"re 「Hard to find」 and 「Fast to Escape」 makes Splinter Fang Hares" hunt ratio becomes all over the place.
The reason why you need several adventurers to hunt them too because you need to cut off their escape route, attack them all at once before they can get away, chase them inside the forest, and even looking for them would take more effort since naturally encountering them is nigh impossible.
「Are you aiming for it? Will you sell it to the Guild?」
「Sorry. This one"s a gift.」
「Oh. That"s unfortunate.」
The receptionist then laughs feebly as if denoting that there"s nothing really unfortunate about it.
「Just like the Redbear, we"ll buy the information even if you hunted it~」 With that voice to send me off, I stepped out of the Hunter"s Guild.
The time limit is the day after tomorrow at noon. The time I"ll use to move, my scope of action, and going to the region I never went before. With all of that to take into account, making a move today is better.
It"s still just a little bit over noon. There"s still time. Let"s finish the prep today, spend the night inside the forest, then hunt the rabbit tomorrow morning. As long as there isn"t any trouble along the way, I should be able to return after half a day… tomorrow evening.
Mabbo here.
Just a little announcement. I"m thinking of changing "Talent" to "Gift". I just feel that"s how it should be. Tell me your opinion in the comment below.
Well then.