Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

While the time they spent together wasn't long, Law could tell that Sheila was a rather absent-minded person. However, she was also very knowledgeable and was not just a simple-minded girl. This was one of the reasons why she had been able to remain safe and sound until now.

When Law told her the berries contained poisons, she froze for a moment and said, "Does that mean I'm going to die?"

Then, without thinking, she took another bite of the berry, leaving Law utterly exasperated.

'Sure enough, Sheila's hidden luck stat must have been incredibly high...'

The warmth of the campfire filled the cave, holding back the cold wind outside.

In the pitch-black night, only the howling blizzard could be heard. No one knew how many lives would be lost in this snowstorm.

Sheila lay curled up on the pile of haystack, sleeping soundly, showing no wariness toward the opposite sex sharing the cave with her.

Law leaned against the cave wall on the other side, closed his eyes and dozed off. After a while, he drifted into a light sleep.

Perhaps because of the blizzard, the night felt colder and longer than usual.

The glow and warmth from the campfire were the most comforting things at that moment.

The next morning, Law opened his eyes and found that Sheila still sleeping. The campfire had dwindled to faintly glowing embers. He glanced at the snowstorm outside and found that it had weakened noticeably compared to the past few days.

Law stood up, added a few more branches to the embers, fiddled with it for a while, and rekindled the flames. Then, he left the cave, his figure quickly disappearing into the white expanse of the storm.

Half an hour later, Sheila woke up and realized Law was no longer in the cave, and a pang of loneliness struck her.

"He's gone..."

She muttered to herself. During their conversation the previous day, Law had clearly stated he would leave the next morning. And true to his word, he had left early without even saying goodbye.

'I didn't even get his contact number!'

When Sheila thought of this, she slapped her cheeks in regret.

She felt that since Law had saved her, even if she couldn't repay him now, she absolutely had to do so in the future!

Seeing that the blizzard was still raging outside, Sheila wasn't sure what to do next. She could only sit on the haystack in a daze. After a while, she pulled out a book from her satchel. The title on the cover read: D. Hunter.

It was an adventure biography written from a Pro Hunter's perspective, and it was also the book that had inspired her to become a Pro Hunter.

The book was quite thick, and there were several sticky notes inside, indicating that she had read the book before.

She has read this book many times, but she still flipped through it whenever she had free time.

Time passed unnoticed, and half an hour later, a sound came from the cave entrance, snapping Sheila out of her reading trance.

When she looked up, she was surprised to see Law, who had returned.

"Law! I thought you'd left!" Sheila put down the book and stood up with a little excitement.

"I was about to, but then I remembered there's no food in the cave, so I went to find some."

Law spread out the coat that was wrapped up in his hand. Inside was nearly a hundred dark purple berries, all of which had been removed of their poisons by Law.

In these conditions, this was all he could find.

When Sheila saw that Law was still thinking about her before he left, she was so moved that her black eyes sparkled, but she didn't notice that Law's clothes were completely clean, without a single speck of snow on them.

After setting the berries down, Law looked at Sheila and said with a smile, "The blizzard outside is starting to weaken. It's hard to say when it'll stop completely, but with these berries, you should be able to hold out until then."

"Thank you." Sheila said, her eyes glistening with tears.

"You're welcome. I should get going now. Take care."

Law didn't plan to stay any longer, so after putting down the berries, he turned to leave.

"Wait! Can I have your number?" Sheila took a step forward but tripped, suddenly lurching face-first toward the ground.

Law caught her just in time, saving her from falling face first onto the ground.

Sheila steadied herself with Law's help, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Without overthinking it, Law gave her his number. Sheila quickly jotted it down on a piece of paper since her phone had run out of battery.

According to Sheila, she wanted to repay him someday.

Law didn't linger any longer. After giving Sheila his number, he left.

The blizzard was clearly weakening, which is a good sign.

Law rode his sled, gliding smoothly across the flat snowfield until his figure vanished into the distance.

During this snowstorm, he had saved two people, one was a villager uncle and the other was Sheila. However, after saving Sheila, the pages of the book didn't increase, whereas they did after saving the elder.

Perhaps it was because, without his intervention, the elder would have certainly died, while Sheila wouldn't have.

As long as the book had enough pages, that was all that mattered.

With that thought in mind, Law didn't dwell too deeply on the question.

The results of joining this year's Hunter Exam were fairly average, as he only got 271 pages.

However, with the current surplus of pages, he felt there should be enough to last until next year's Hunter Exam.

Though there were plenty of ways to increase the book's pages, Law didn't want to waste too much time deliberately farming them. Taking the Hunter Exam once a year was enough.

Ten days later, Law returned to Linne's residence.

There was no snow in the area where the forest was located, but the air carried the dry chill unique to winter. The greenery wasn't as lush as in summer, even appearing somewhat desolate.

Most of the vines crawling up the house had withered, but according to Shachmono, they would grow back quickly once spring arrived. If left unchecked, they'd eventually cover even the windows completely.

Shachmono is Linne's butler, but he also had two other identities. He's a Linne's disciples, while also is a Single-Star Gourmet Hunter.

Speaking of which, the reason Linne had been promoted to two stars was precisely because she took Shachmono as her disciple. Because Shachmono had earned a Single-Star achievement in the culinary field, Linne was able to rise to Double-Star.

Law returned to the study to continue reading, while Buhara studied with Shachmono.

Linne came over to ask about the results of the Hunter Exam. Upon learning that Law had voluntarily withdrawn, she didn't press further. She simply told him to focus on his studies before leaving.

Having gone out to have some fun under the pretext of the Hunter Exam, Law now returned to the monotonous routine that had persisted for the past six months.

Every day was the same, doing only three things: eating, reading, and sleeping!

Winter passed, spring came, and the cycle of seasons flowed by like a fleeting shadow. In the blink of an eye, another year had gone by.

Not much had happened during that year.

Law finished reading all of Linne's books and participated in that year's Hunter Exam. Not only did he mess around with Tonpa, but he also successfully converted a considerable number of book's pages, pushing the total past 3,000.

Ging also sent a message saying that the translation of the Selbo script was nearing completion and the results may be available in a week.

The translation of ancient texts was slow, but they could have read them bit by bit as they were deciphered.

However, since he still had many books to get through, so he asked Ging to wait until the entire translation was done before sending him the full contents.

Buhara, who had been studying under Shachmono, ended up gaining another thirty pounds.

The vines crawling over the house had gone through a full cycle, waiting to come alive again in spring.

Law stepped out of the study and into the courtyard, where the winter sunlight cast a pale glow over the withered vegetation. He stretched lazily under the sun.

It had taken him a year and a half to finish all the books. Though he hadn't neglected his training during that time, his average stats had only increased by 1%. It was clear that pure training was far less effective than absorbing Post-Mortem Nen or consuming rare ingredients.

Looking back, it was almost unbelievable that he had managed to stay cooped up in one room reading for so long.

Truthfully, if not for his agreement with Linne, Law would never have forced himself to endure it. With his personality, staying in one place reading for a full year and a half would have been impossible.

Two days after he finished the books, Linne told him and Buhara to pack their things as they would be heading somewhere in a few days. She didn't specify the destination, only that it was a desert.