Chapter 32: Chapter 31

It was the next day and the day I was to head off to hunt a Goredeer. Yesterday had been a flurry of getting things ready. Deryl did most of the work- but a letter that amounted to “let them use whatever they want out of storage” from the headmaster contributed most of the camping and food supplies I was given. I had enough for three days, but the town I was headed for was only a day away. As Deryl ran both of my classes on Unday, if I wasn’t back by then he’d excuse me.

 

Was this irresponsible on all our parts? Yes.

 

Did I enjoy getting and preparing things? Yes.

 

Was I going to sneak into the library to research more on my quarry despite the fact I wasn’t supposed to be in the city? Yes.

 

I had been given an old, normal length sword from the guild’s storehouse- not what I had been training with and not in great condition, but it was what I had. Well, excluding the big sword I had stashed out in the forest and made sure to get before really setting off. As Carrying two swords was cumbersome, I just left the small one in the same bush and promised to come pick it up later. I don’t actually think that the guild cared that much about it- in fact, they might have been happy to see it no longer taking up space.

 

As I walked south there were multiple times I was tempted to go searching for plants and herbs like I normally do. Sadly, I was on a different mission this time and was acting as a different person. I guess that doing some hunts for the Vigilantes would put some distance between me and Elly- especially if I had an excuse for both of me to be in the building at the same time. I don’t know who- if anyone- would connect the dots between my two identities, but better to be safe than sorry. 

 

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I made pretty good time on account of my continuously shockingly high endurance and strength letting me run-run for a few hours on end. As I’ve said before: being in the forest is nice and peaceful. I passed a few groups walking either towards the Academy or away, but barely gave them a glance as I did so. Before it was even starting to get dark I was at River Mill, the town where the reports had been coming from. There wasn’t anyone I really needed to talk to, the report I had with me listed the sighting locations as along the western edge of the town under an hour away from the walls. 

 

I took a minute to orient myself with the sun before heading off in that direction. If there really was a Goredeer- which was very likely- there should be any other monsters. Most of them tended to be fairly territorial, and would kill any weaker than themselves. This was easily exploitable for hunters like me as all you needed to do was get some urine or something from a weaker monster and soak some rags to bait them to you. No need for careful tracking and woodcraft- just get some smelly things and wait. Wait and hope that when the angry monster found you, you were ready and able to kill it. That last bit was still giving me pause. Deryl- the overconfident person he was- said that armor would be useless for me. Both because I shouldn't get hit in the first place and because I hadn’t trained with it.

 

I wasn’t going to unseal the container with the urine until tomorrow- I didn’t want to fight until I had a only-slightly deserved rest and relaxed in the scenery. If I killed it now I’d have to deal with the body and dirt that would likely be thrown up from the fight. I had gotten descriptions and a piece of paper designating where to cut, much like a diagram for what parts of an animal gives which meats and a list of parts to bring back to sell or as proof. That was mostly just the antlers, the liver, and any crystals that had formed in its body- likely near the heart. The antlers would maintain the anti-coagulation Ability for a few months, the liver for some alchemical properties, and the crystals for the mana they stored. Anything that had excess mana would have crystalline formations build up for not quite understood reasons, and when harvested, they could be used as bad batteries. They were rare enough that there wasn’t deep study into them, but they were used for high end chandeliers that didn’t need constant oil replacements but also couldn’t be turned off.

 

The tents of this world left a lot to be desired. They were heavier and bulkier than what I was used to and were annoying to set up. On top of that, they felt less stable- although that might be my fault. While I’m on this subject, backpacks, preserved food, water containers, and pretty much everything that was supposed to be ‘portable’ and ‘lightweight’ suffered the same issues. As bad as plastic had been- it was stupidly convenient and could have pretty much any properties you wanted. I guess my supplies were older leftovers in storage so new, higher end stuff might be better.

 

Dinner was an unexciting hardtack and persevered meat open face sandwich only saved by some herbs I had spotted growing along the road on the way here. On the plus side, I was close to a stream- so I could have reasonably safe, cold water whenever I wanted. I guess if this was the price for camping in this world, I’d better get used to it as I had plans for when school ended that involved a lot of walking where cities are sparse. 

 

Before that I had a night to sleep away and a deer to survive hunting.

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