Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

This blizzard was truly a once-in-a-century phenomenon. It had been raging for four or five days with no signs of stopping.

Even with Kuro's exceptional foraging skills, finding suitable prey in such conditions was nearly impossible in a short time. So the best he could manage was a pile of poisonous berries buried deep in the snow.

In the dead of winter, only poisonous berries survived, and all the edible ones had long been picked clean by animals.

Hpwever, with Law's Nen Ability, removing the poison is a piece of cake, and he could even remove the dampness from the firewood.

Kuro dumped the dry wood and berries on the ground before retreating back into the tattoo. He had no interest in these berries.

Law used God hand to remove the moisture from the dry firewood, then arranged it in the makeshift stone stove. It didn't take much effort to start a fire.

The gentle glow quickly filled the small cave, allowing Law to finally see the woman on the haystack clearly. She was younger than he'd expected, probably under eighteen years old.

The girl was wearing a yellow autumn dress, with shoulder-length golden hair and a black headband adorned with pink heart-shaped ears.

The girl's bangs reached her eyebrows, and her eyes were still closed so he can't tell what her eye color is. Her nose and mouth were small and delicate, giving her a fragile appearance.

Law picked up a deep purple berry the size of a plum, removed the poison inside, then lightly crushed it and dabbed the juice on the girl's lips.

The girl's consciousness was in a semi-blurred state. She felt her lips moistened by the juice and instinctively opened her mouth slightly.

Seeing this, Law took advantage of the situation and crushed the berry into a pulp in an instant, eliminating the need for chewing, and fed it all into her mouth.

After successfully feeding the first one, Law continued with a second, then a third...

The girl was hungry and thirsty. At this moment, she was like a desert traveler who had finally found water, greedily sucking in every drop of the water of life.

Kuro had brought back fifty or sixty berries. Law stopped after feeding her half, and the girl seemed satisfied, as she now curled up with a blissful smile on her sleeping face.

After ensuring she was fed, Law sat by the fire and tossed a berry into his own mouth.

"Not bad."

Surprisingly, the poisonous berry tasted quite good, but it is a bit lacking in juice.

Law ate about a dozen of them at once, but when he saw that there were only a few left, he stopped eating and picked up a wooden stick to poke the fire out of boredom.

He watched the sparks dance and crackle, occasionally reflecting in his dark eyes.

The cave gradually warmed, while outside, the storm continued to howl, and time passed quietly.

Glancing at the girl on the haystack, who was now murmuring in her sleep, Law thought to himself, 'Is it because she is full now that she has the energy to dream?'

The area nearby is sparsely populated, and the only settlement Law'd encountered was the small mountain village where the old man lived. He doesn't know where this woman got the courage to come to this desolate mountain forest alone with only light luggage.

If she was a Nen User, Law wouldn't think there was anything wrong, but this woman was undoubtedly an ordinary person, and her physical fitness was nothing special. She was even weaker than Sasha, whom he met in the Amaromi Forest.

'Should I say she's courageous or just plain foolish...'

Two hours passed quietly, and the girl finally woke up faintly. She abruptly sat up with a dazed expression, like a high school girl who was woken up by the alarm clock in the early morning.

She blinked drowsily, then tilted her head slightly, frowning slightly, as if trying to piece together her memories before and after falling asleep.

"You're awake?"

Law turned his head to look at the girl sitting on the haystack.

"Ah!"

Startled by his voice, the girl flinched before finally noticing Law. A look of shock immediately appeared on her face, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

The girl's slow response made Law sigh inwardly, and he explained, "I arrived at this cave three hours ago. I saw you fainted from hunger, and there was a blizzard outside, so I decided to stay here."

Hearing Law's words, the girl's cheeks flushed slightly. Pressing a hand to her stomach, she mumbled in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's: "I thought it was a dream."

"What?" Law asked.

"N-Nothing!"

The girl stretched out her hands and waved them, then asked, "Are you the one who feed me?"

She had dreamed of someone feeding her delicious food, but it turned out it wasn't a dream.

"Yeah." Law nodded and said, "My name is Law, what's yours?"

The girl replied softly, "My name is Sheila, thank you for helping me."

"What were you doing alone in this kind of wilderness?" Law asked curiously, fiddling with the firewood.

Sheila replied: "Experience!"

"Experience?" Law looked at Sheila doubtfully.

"Mhm! I want to become a Pro Hunter. To do this, I'm going around gaining experience!" Sheila declared.

Law fell silent. He didn't think that Sheila was trying to gain experience. Instead, it seemed like she was courting death. After all, if she wanted to gain experience, she should at least work on her physical condition first.

But since they were just strangers who happened to cross paths, Law didn't say anything, as he didn't want to upset her. Instead, he simply stayed silent.

"What about you? Why are you here?" Sheila hugged her knees and looked at Law in the firelight.

Law casually replied, "I came to take this year's Hunter Exam, but I got eliminated. Now I'm just heading home."

Silla was stunned for a moment, and quickly comforted him, "I'm sure you'll pass next year!"

Law smiled faintly and said, "Thanks for the encouragement."

'Even if I take it next year, I won't pass.'

Of course, this sentence will only be kept in his heart and will not be spoken out loud.

"This blizzard has been going on for days. It probably won't stop anytime soon." Law looked at the snow and winds blowing outside the cave entrance.

"Yeah..."

Sheila nodded vigorously, and said in shock: "The blizzard came very suddenly, there's no warning at all. If I hadn't found this cave, the consequences would've been disastrous."

As Sheila said, the blizzard had struck suddenly, so even the experienced villager like the middle-aged uncle was caught in it.

No one knew how wide the blizzard was, but if ordinary people were not prepared, they would easily be killed by this blizzard.

Sheila was lucky enough to not only find a cave to shelter from the storm, but also running into Law.

"I'll stay here tonight and leave tomorrow morning." Law suddenly said. He had only planned to spend only one night in the cave anyway, and now there was a girl here, things could get awkward.

"Huh? But what if the blizzard hasn't stopped by then?" Sheila asked.

Law smiled and said, "This blizzard can't stop me."

Sheila blinked in confusion. She looked at the faint smile on Law's face and felt his unquestionable confidence.

Afterwards, the two of them started chatting casually.

Since Sheila wanted to be a Pro Hunter, Law shared some stories about the Hunter Exam.

Sheila was fascinated by Law's story and then talked about the embarrassing things she experienced during her 'training', such as getting lost and tripping ten times in a single day...

After listening to Sheila's experience, Law couldn't help but wonder if this clumsy, absentminded girl had maxed-out luck stats. After all, if it were someone else, they would have died at least ten times!

Shaking his head slightly, he picked up a poisonous berry and tossed it to Sheila, who was still sitting on the haystack.

"Thank you." Sheila took the berry, and took a bite without even looking at it. After chewing a few times, her eyes lit up, and she said, "This is delicious!"

"Do you know what kind of berry this is?" Law asked.

Sheila shook her head and said honestly, "No."

Then, she happily took another bite, completely unaware she was eating a poisonous berry.

Law chuckled bitterly when he heard this, 'It seemed I have to explain the berry to her.'