Chapter 8.1 — The Captain of the Royal Knights is supposed to have a fiancée… (1)
Warning: Slightly gore-y
To one"s delight, there are also four seasons in this world"s village. They go under different names with spring as Aristotlesia, summer as Zenovia, autumn as Fance, and winter as Sittiadias. Ruth finds it to be a joyous and nostalgic event to see the seasons change exactly like in his previous world.
Currently, it is autumn, harvesting season. Since winter is coming soon, it"s the time of the year to gather nuts, fish, hunt, and to stock up provisions.
Every year, during this season, Ruth would frequently go hunting with Alec. Their duty is to hunt for the orphans in the church and the inn"s reserves. When they hunted more than expected, they sold the extras to the butcher"s shop at a low price which is then made available to the other villagers.
However, since Alec isn"t here this year, it"s been a while since Ruth went hunting.
"RUTH! IT WENT THAT WAYY!!"
A low, deep, voice reverberated throughout the forest that was dyed in red. At that booming voice, the birds in the trees flew away all at once in surprise. At the same time, a boroa (a beast similar to a wild boar but its adult form is nearly 4 times bigger than the wild boars from Ruth"s previous life) and two piglets came rushing out from a gap between the forest.
The three animals ran straight through the prairie in the middle of the trees, galloping fast while making the earth tremble, and headed towards Ruth"s hiding spot.
(Three of them!?)
Ruth, who had his bow ready, pulled out two more arrows from his back in a rush and started to recast his magic. Because a normal arrow can"t penetrate through the boroa"s thick skin, he strengthens the apex of the arrowhead with support magic. Ruth isn"t the best in offensive magic, but he excels in this sort of subtle work.
"H!"
Ruth simultaneously fired all 3 arrows that were enchanted by the support magic. The 3 arrows that let out a shrill sound and seemed to cut through the air, soon going their separate paths, heading towards their respective prey.
(It"s no good, it"s too weak.)
Ruth understood that the casting time was too short and because it had to be distributed to all 3 arrows, the arrow"s power was visibly weaker than he thought.
Ruth had no choice but to jump out from the thickets and run after the arrows. The boroa seemed to have noticed Ruth"s movements, but perhaps it thought it would still win against that human so, it continued to run without any signs of stopping.
However, the situation changed as soon as the arrows Ruth fired hit the boroa.
"Biigii!"
"Giigii!"
"b.u.mooo!"
The first arrow hit the left piglet"s body, the second arrow hit the right piglet"s thigh, and the third arrow hit the adult boroa"s eye (it"s probably the father since it has tusks). But, perhaps it"s because the power is more impressive than expected, the surprised groans of the three boroas reverberated throughout the forest. The boroas probably took them lightly because they usually can knock away regular arrows with just their bodies.
The piglet that was. .h.i.t by the first arrow slowed it"s movements, but it seems like it was still alive. The piglet that was. .h.i.t by the second arrow probably stopped moving as that it collapsed from being sent flying by the arrow"s power. The remaining one was bleeding from it"s eye, but its speed only slightly decreased and glared at Ruth.
(I knew it, it didn"t reach the skull.)
The plan was for the arrow to drive into the skull and Ruth was aiming for the boroa to fall over from that, but as he had antic.i.p.ated, the power of the arrow wasn"t enough. At this rate, it"s going to end up escaping.
Ruth"s hand reached out behind him and grabbed the large knife that was hanging on his back. The total length was less than 50 cm, the blade itself was less than 40 cm, and it"s quite short when compared to a sword. However, the cutting power isn"t bad because Ruth polished it every day. Ruth isn"t the best with axes or long swords, so this is Ruth"s biggest weapon.
While holding the knife with an underhand grip, Ruth faced forward as if trying to provoke the boroa. The boroa turned its neck and, perhaps sensing Ruth"s will to fight, started to get aggressive. It released a loud growl and also charged faster towards Ruth. When it came closer to Ruth, the boroa raised its tusks that were as big as half of its body and swooped diagonally downwards, as if trying to knock Ruth off his feet.
The attack had enough impact to cause a dent on the spot that the boroa swung its tusk down. The rocks nearby were scattered around after the crater was created on the ground.
If someone were hit by that sort of attack, each bone in their body would be smashed. However, Ruth was not at that spot.
(I was waiting for this…)
Ruth predicted when the boroa would swing down and just barely slowed down at that moment to jump up from that spot, mimicking the boroa"s movement. Then, using the large beast"s head as a foothold, Ruth hovered in midair and turned around. While holding the knife, he took out an arrow from his back.
Until Ruth ran there, the arrowhead was already ama.s.sing in magical enhancements.
The knife was obviously a diversion. Ruth didn"t even think about head-on fighting with a monster-like beast that"s 4 times bigger than a wild boar.
(If it was Alec, it might"ve been possible.)
In a corner of his mind, Ruth has a fleeting thought about how his childhood friend had once cut down a boroa right in half.
Ruth readied his bow and pulled back the arrow supplemented with magical enchantments towards the bewildered boroa, while he was still in midair.
"HaaA!"
When Ruth fired the arrow from the bow that was drawn back to the limit, the wind gathered around the whirling arrow. The boroa"s head suffered a critical blow that fell like a meteorite because of the magic enhancements on the arrowhead.
"Gyuooon!"
As a result, half of its head was blown off and the boroa let out agonizing death throes. He was close to thinking that it wasn"t even a living creature at this point. However, one should not take light of how much the beasts can endure in this world. The boroa"s body was still moving despite missing half of its skull.
Ruth had his feet slightly apart from each other, quickly put away his bow and ran towards the boroa this time while holding the knife with both of his hands. He promptly enchanted the tip of his knife with magic and jumped up. From behind, Ruth used the edge of his blade to glide over the s.p.a.ce between the head and the body, the boroa"s weak point, and immediately swung his knife down.
Blood splattered everywhere when Ruth struck at the boroa"s vital point in between all of its thick skin. He decapitated it, leaving behind a part of the skin from the boroa"s head and the spine. Then, it staggered while letting out a soundless cry and finally fell to the ground with a loud thud.
(…Did I do it?)
Ruth stayed on guard while confirming if the boroa next to him was dead. The boroa"s has lost all life in its eyes and it has long stopped breathing.
"Whew… I did it. But, either way, I"m still not used to doing it without Alec."
"-Bigiiii!"
The moment Ruth let out a breath of relief, one of the piglets let out a shriek-like cry and ran towards the forest. However, it was obvious that it wouldn"t last long after being hit with Ruth"s arrows. Ruth thought about wanting to let it go because it"s only a piglet, but he instead decided that it"ll make a delicious meal for tonight.
But, Ruth noticed that there was a familiar presence close by coming from the direction of the forest the piglet was running towards.
"Dad! One of them ran that way!"
"Uuoo! Leave it to me!"
A brawny and robust man appeared from the inside of the forest and replied. That man was holding a large hammer as big as his body and raised it towards the boroa piglet that was running towards his direction.
"YOU"RE DONE FOR!"
"…Dad, we would"ve gotten into trouble afterward if you had crushed it."
"Ooh, sorry!"
The brawny man- Ruth"s father, Rossa, ran up to Ruth"s side while apologetically scratching his head. In his hands were two deceased wolfkar1オオカル is a pun off on オオカミ (jpn for wolf) so my editor suggested me to take some liberties with it! Also I just think wolfkar sounds pretty cool. (a beast similar to a wolf but around the size of a large-breed dog) that he caught.
"Could it be that you were late because you were catching that?"
"Yeah, my bad. After I riled up the boroa, the wolfkar showed up… after hunting one, I hunted another and then I lost track of time."
MARY:
As always, thank you for reading and !! Let me know if you see any mistakes!
Cla.s.ses officially started for me a few days ago… it"s been pretty chaotic but I think things are starting to settle down. Translating this chapter was an experience… but I"m glad we were able to see a bit more of Ruth"s "cool" side ^_^)/
Anyway I shall see everyone in the second part of this chapter! Look forward to more cool and powerful Ruth in the future!