First Monster Subjugation
After walking for about an hour after leaving the village, we reached our destination.
It seemed that on the west gate side, the one with the road leading to other towns, there were open plains stretching out, but on this east gate side, the forest looked pretty close.
Still, it was farther than it looked, and it took about an hour to reach the forest entrance.
“Dad, are there normal rabbits too, not just Horned Rabbits?”
“Normal rabbits? Ya mean animals that ain’t monsters?”
The forest didn’t suddenly become dense right at the entrance, trees were spaced out, and herbs were growing here and there, so visibility was pretty good.
But there were quite a lot of rabbits. I thought the horns would be longer, but some looked like… do they even have horns? Maybe those are normal rabbits?
That’s what I thought and asked Dad, but apparently animals that aren’t monsters are creatures raised under special conditions. Nobles keep rabbits as pets, so maybe those are selectively bred animals?
Even the milk substitute we always drink comes from a monster called a Cowcow, and like the warhorse Horsevarl, it’s a docile monster that can be bred if it likes its environment. By the way, it’s not yellow-and-green checkered, it’s just plain brown.
“In pictures, Horned Rabbits have pretty long horns, right? But the ones over there… don’t have any?”
“Ah, them are Horned Rabbit young’uns. Judgin’ by how small them horns are, they’re probably about a month old. Give ’em half a year and they’ll be around five centimeters.
The ones you’re meant to hunt are over a year old, with horns about ten centimeters long.”
“What!? With that growth rate, wouldn’t they get in their own way by year three or something!?”
I asked in shock, and got laughed at.
Apparently the horns stop growing at around ten centimeters, and after that they just harden.
Horned Rabbits are the weakest monsters in these woods, so they get eaten by wolves and don’t live very long anyway.
“Monsters with small horns ain’t got fully grown mana stones yet, so the targets are ones with horns around ten centimeters. When they’re small, they run, but once they grow, they’ll come at ya, so just hunt the ones that charge you.”
I see, I see. If I just target the ones that come at me, I probably won’t mess it up.
Right before entering the forest, Dad taught me more, adding to what I’d already learned.
When we stepped into the forest, the small-horned rabbits we’d seen immediately either dove into holes or bounded away. Just like the saying, off like a startled rabbit.
Following Dad’s instructions, I walked as quietly as possible. Even so, maybe they could sense his presence as a strong fighter, no rabbits showed themselves.
“Hmm… I ain’t come this shallow before, but there sure are fewer than I expected…”
Since we couldn’t find any monsters at all, we stepped back out of the forest for a moment.
Dad hasn’t come here recently, so he was surprised at how few there were.
“Kathe and the others said they were training, was that in a different forest?”
Kathe ranked up a month ago, and she said they’d be training by hunting monsters in the forest during the afternoons this past month. It could’ve been another forest, but with a whole month, they might’ve come here too.
When I asked, Dad realized it too, it was probably this forest.
They’d said it was also warm-up training for Thea’s return to activity, so… worst case, maybe the monsters here had already been wiped out once.
Dad seemed to think that was likely too, so we decided to move locations.
"This here forest's managed by Samania Village. It's set up so beginners can get their feet wet, so there ain't much beyond Horned Rabbits and wolves.
Across the river, though, is a normal forest, so there's a chance of runnin' into other critters mixed in. Keep your wits about ya."
Whoa! So it was a managed forest. No wonder there were so many rabbits.
I thought it was strange that so many little rabbits weren’t getting eaten, but if it’s managed, that makes sense.
The river that ran from the village flowed through a gap in the mountain, more like a cliff, right in front of us. Apparently, beyond this mountain was the Empire, connected to where I was abandoned.
I must’ve passed through this gap while drifting down the river, but I don’t remember it at all. I guess waking up back then was just that shocking.
After crossing a small bridge, the forest continued just like before, but there were no rabbits near the entrance.
From a clear area near the entrance, I spread my mana thinly outward in a semicircle about a hundred meters ahead. A kind of detection spell.
It was derived from the Vice-Guildmaster’s wind-based detection, but mine was non-attribute magic.
According to him, wind controls the flow of air and detects enemies based on where there’s resistance in that flow. Water magic, on the other hand, can supposedly give more precise information like size and number.
Sea folk are especially good at it, in water, they can even tell exactly what kind of enemy it is.
Hearing that, I figured wind might be good for locating enemies in general, but not for detailed detection. And since I wasn’t underwater, I couldn’t do it the same way as sea folk.
I tried dispersing mist-like water in the air and reading it, it felt more precise than wind, but I couldn’t get much range.
Then I remembered something.
When I practiced water creation magic, I scattered my own mana into the air to make it easier to control.
That made the surrounding air easier to manipulate.
So I figured it was the same idea, instead of using mist, I practiced spreading my mana thin, wide, and far.
At first, even Dad, who was working nearby, would turn around, he could feel the waves of mana.
It was probably like when he showed me his unarmed combat, his mana spreading out had made my skin tingle.
So instead of going for distance right away, I practiced making it thinner and finer over and over again.
During training with Kathe and the others, I constantly maintained three things: physical enhancement (limbs and vision), barrier armor (full body), and detection (about the size of three tatami mats in all directions).
Because of that, I’d finish dinner and my bath and just pass out, I didn’t even have the energy for nighttime mana training.
But thanks to that, I can now spread my mana over this wide an area. Even standing right next to me, Dad can’t feel the mana waves from my detection anymore.
“Ah, found them! Small animal detected a bit over fifty meters to the left. Based on size and movement, I think it’s a Horned Rabbit. There are two more a little ahead of it, they might join up.”
The small animal caught in my detection had an oval shape with three points, probably ears and a horn.
It was hopping slightly as it moved further left, and ahead of it, two others with the same silhouette were staying still, probably eating grass.
“Alright, I’ll hang back a bit and follow. Go on and try takin’ ’em down. If it looks too much for ya, I’ll jump in right away.”
Once I reported my findings, I got the go-ahead.
If I ran along the ground, the shaking grass and dirt might give me away.
… But monsters come at you anyway, right?
I thought about moving through the trees, but changed my mind and ran toward the three while keeping as quiet as possible.
With vision enhancement, I could already make out the Horned Rabbits even from a distance.
The one that had just joined was probably male, it was pinning one down, getting kicked by the other, and the one underneath was stabbing it with its horn. Wow… rough world out here. Attacking now would basically be taking advantage of the situation.
Feels like I’m about to jump into some messy love triangle, though…
“Vio, what’s wrong? Somethin’ dangerous?”
I heard Dad’s concerned voice from a little distance away. I was using the utility spell [Silent], so the enemies wouldn’t notice.
I signaled “I’m fine” and “I’m going in” with hand signs and approached the three.
Once I got within five meters, even those three tangled in their fight noticed me.
They’d been fighting two-on-one, but with me, a different species, appearing, their target changed.
All three crouched low and glared at me at the same time.
The first to charge was the one already badly injured, probably the male. Its horn had been broken in half during the fight, but it didn’t change its attack pattern.
It didn’t seem to have much stamina left either, I dodged easily and, while evading, cut its neck with my right-hand dagger.
Seeing that, the two likely females chose to attack at the same time, leaping in from both sides.
But they’d just been fighting to eliminate the male, their stamina was clearly low. I avoided their attacks with a light jump.
“Waterball.”
I threw a ball of water at one’s face and made it stick.
Honestly, using it to suffocate seems more effective than just launching it. As for the other, I used my dagger and cut its head off.
The one with the water ball stuck to it thrashed around, but it quickly suffocated and stopped moving, and the water ball disappeared.
… Yeah, that’s a pretty merciless attack.
It might be useful against stronger enemies, but I’ll avoid using it on Horned Rabbits. Cutting the head off feels kinder.
It’s not like I enjoy killing or want to make them suffer.
I just need to practice using magic in real combat, so… please overlook me being a little cruel.
Forest monsters… I’ll make sure to properly use your materials and eat your meat, so please forgive me!
What do you think about this chapter?
