NOVEL WEB Chapter 11
There Was Something Off About the Hunting Ground
After walking for about thirty minutes, the forest was now within my sights—right where I was told it would be.
That must be Elia’s Second Forest, I thought as I made my way inside.
「So that’s the Kick… Rabbit?」
As soon as I stepped into the forest, I caught a glimpse of something move. Not just one, but six of them.
But there was something off about them. As the name suggested, Kick Rabbits were rabbit-type monsters with a scouting radius of about fifteen meters according to the bestiary. Even a Novice like me should be able to spot it first.
But the monsters I saw looked more like a wolf. They looked exactly like the Lesser Wolves—even their size—in the bestiary. And most importantly, they noticed me and were heading towards me even though I was still about fifty meters away from them.
That receptionist tricked me. She lied about it being safe and sent to me to do the request she originally recommended—the Lesser Wolf kill quest.
Even if I did figure it out now, it was already too late. The Lesser Wolves have already spotted me and were charging straight at me.
They were slower than a normal Wolf, but still faster compared to a Novice like me. I can’t escape now. I have no other choice but to fight.
「Six of them… and they’re slower than the Wolves in BBO.」
If I keep my cool and deal with them appropriately, I can definitely win. As I was analyzing the situation, I turned around and readied my sword. The Lesser Wolves were charging straight at me. I pretended to face them head-on, then just before they could lunge at me, I leapt to the left.
The four in front went past where I was positioned moments ago, but the other two managed to keep up with me. That’s what I was hoping for anyway.
「One down!」
A lesser wolf pounced at me, and I cut him down from the front. With a critical hit, of course. A Novice can’t fight if he can’t even land a critical hit on a monster that came straight at him.
The other one stopped in its tracks as the wolf I took down came flying at it. The perfect chance.
「Two down!」
I sliced the second one in half with a downward critical swing. So far I took down two of them and I was still unscathed.
When facing against several opponents, the number one rule is not to take on multiple foes at a time. Of course, I alone can’t divide the enemies, but I can control the flow of the fight so that for just a moment, I get a one-one-one.
If I just destroy their formation like this, victory is as good as mine. Four foes is definitely a lot easier than six. They were trying poorly to chase after me, breaking their ranks.
「Hiya!」
This time, I was the one who charged at them, swinging my sword. Once their formation has collapsed, it’s best not to give them a chance to reorganize. Based on what I’ve gathered so far, I can take four Lesser Wolves head-on without a problem.
I then proceeded to kill them one by one all with critical hits.
「You’re the last one!」
I managed to kill them all without much trouble. Then I felt my body become lighter. Did I level up? I wouldn’t be surprised if I did considering the number of monsters I’ve killed so far.
In BBO, when you levelled up, there would be a fancy sketch with fanfares playing in the background. But I doubt this world had such a thing. First of all, I wasn’t even sure if this world had such a feature as levelling. I would find out quicker if just tested it so I picked up a pebble from the ground.
「Reinforced Stone Throwing.」I recited.
As I chanted the Skill, light enveloped my right arm. I then swung my arm around and threw the pebble. It swiftly zipped through the air, light wrapping around it.
This was a skill that a level 2 Novice learned. I couldn’t use it before I left my hometown. But I can right now. This definitely meant I levelled up.
「Not bad for my first day.」
I registered for the guild and levelled up. An outstanding accomplishment for my first day of adventuring, if I do say so myself.
All right, time to head back. I have to give that receptionist a piece of my mind.
◇
「Did you manage to hunt some Kick Rabbits?」
Approximately one hour later.
After getting back from my『Kick Rabbit Hunt』I was greeted by Teresa with a bright smile. Feigning ignorance, are we? Of course, I already thought about how to deal with this situation.
「Does the guild call this monster a Kick Rabbit?」I asked, showing her a Lesser Wolf’s headless corpse.
I left one on purpose so I could give her a piece of my mind.
「That’s a surprise. There shouldn’t be any Lesser Wolves in the『Kick Rabbit Forest』.」she said, not a hint of surprise on her face whatsoever.
「That’s the first time I’ve heard of the place.」
「What? I believe I recommended the Kick Rabbit Forest. That’s strange. It looks like you mistakenly went to Elia’s Second Forest instead.」
I see. She’s going to play innocent till the bitter end. But when she puts it like that, I had no way to prove that she lied to me. This is tyranny. Is this even allowed?
「Yeah. Apparently I went to Elia’s Second Forest. Which means I failed the job. Please cancel the request. There’s no penalty, right?」I said, handing her my guild card.
「Oh, no! Silly me!」she exclaimed in a loud, exaggerated voice.
I think I know where this is going. I think I do, but I’m gonna ask her anyway.
「What’s wrong?」
「It seems I made a mistake and processed the Lesser Wolf kill quest instead. You killed the Lesser Wolves, right?」
「Yeah. Six of them. I have their fangs as well.」I said, showing her the wolf fangs.
At this point, she was basically saying she did it on purpose. Can I get angry now?
「With the fangs plus the reward, that’s 19,000 gils each. I’ll give you a bonus of 1,000 gils since the materials are in good condition so that’s 20,000 each for a total of 120,000 gils!」she said, handing me 120,000 gils.
…All right. All is forgiven. If I took the Kick Rabbit request, I probably would’ve only gotten 1,500 gils.
She must’ve taken my abilities and how strong the monsters were into consideration to give me a request from which I could earn the most. Teresa sure is nice.
Thanks to her, I felt like I was one step closer in my journey to the capital plus I’ve learned about a profitable request. I can make money with Lesser Wolves kill quests.
「Will there be a Lesser Wolves kill quest tomorrow as well?」
「Of course. We were actually worried because there haven’t been enough kill quests undertaken recently.」
…I see. Then I’ll take down more Lesser Wolves and be of service to the guild.
With that, I left the guild. It was getting late, so I’ll continue tomorrow.