Chapter 108

Subjugation After Camping
The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual. Probably because I’d been sleeping next to Dad. When he got up, I naturally woke too.

"Sorry, didn’t mean to wake ya."

"Morning, Dad. I wanted to get up early, so it’s fine."

He might’ve tried to move quietly, but the moment my natural fur blanket disappeared, of course I noticed.

We both washed up with [Clean] and opened the tent. It was still a bit early to call it morning, but the air clearly felt like dawn was approaching.

I’d imagined monsters swarming all around the tent, but maybe because this was a beginner forest, or maybe thanks to the barrier, there wasn’t a single Horned Rabbit nearby.

We took out the leftover soup from last night from the Magic Bag, and grilled the fish we’d prepped earlier.

Dad usually eats a lot even in the morning, but when camping or during adventurer work, he doesn’t eat much. Or rather, it’s like he “loads up”, he eats a lot before entering a dungeon and after coming back, but only small amounts during.

Well, if he ate like usual every meal, he’d need a massive food bag just for that.

"Figurin’ we head deeper into the forest and take down a Gray Wolf or two before headin’ back. Got any preferences, Vio?"

We talked about the plan after eating.

The goal was camping, but it’d be a waste to just go home after that. Yesterday we only gathered herbs, after all. So we went with Dad’s suggestion and started cleaning up—taking down the tent, dismantling the cooking setup made with earth magic, and dealing with the remains of the campfire.

Most of the dirt was already cleaned with [Clean], and we deliberately mixed the fish guts into the soil to act as nutrients.

The tent had been tied with vines, so once undone, it became just cloth. We cleaned that too with [Clean], rolled it up neatly, and packed everything back into the backpack. After confirming we hadn’t forgotten anything, we set off.

Since we were starting from inside the forest this time, it didn’t take long to reach the deeper area across the river.

The sun had fully risen. A fresh breeze rustled the trees, and Horned Rabbits were playing beneath them.

"They’re in heat year-round, so long as ya keep a bit of distance while they’re at it, they won’t notice ya. We’re after Gray Wolves today, so just ignore ’em and move along."

Dad, being an adult, smoothly ignored them.
Meanwhile, I ended up staring blankly again at multiple Horned Rabbit couples tangled up in chaotic love triangles… or more like outright fights.

Keeping them in sight while measuring distance, we passed through the rabbits’ paradise, then through the usual wolf territory. Go a bit deeper, and it becomes Gray Wolf habitat.

Gray Wolves and Black Wolves live in similar areas, but Black Wolves are active from evening into night. Probably because their fur blends into the darkness.

After about an hour of exploring, we found… not Gray Wolves, but a Big Pig.

"Dad."

"Mm. Well, reckon you can handle it, Vio. Wanna give it a go?"

Big Pig meat is popular even at food stalls. It’s bigger than any pig I remember.

About the size of a police motorcycle. Pretty intimidating. It’s not as vicious as most monsters and can’t use magic, but its signature move is charging with that massive body.

Dad said he’d step in if it got dangerous, but otherwise left it to me. Guess I’ll give it my all! I’ve already practiced all kinds of magic, so this isn’t a test, I’ll take it down safely, prioritizing the materials.

I climbed a tree with vine magic and positioned myself on a branch next to the one where the Big Pig was eating fruit.
I could sense Dad’s presence in another tree nearby, so he was probably watching from above too.

"[Ivy Whip]."

First, I wrapped each of the Big Pig’s legs with separate vines and hoisted it up.

"Pigiiiii!!"

Startled, the Big Pig thrashed around, but it was already hanging upside down.

"[Air Cutter], [Earth Hole]."

No need to make it suffer. While it was upside down, I cleanly took its head off. I’d already made a pit where the head would fall, and sure enough, it dropped right in.

Big Pigs are sold purely for meat, so there are no points for subjugation. The meat sells for 100 lari per kilogram.

Since it was fresh, blood poured heavily into the pit. Might as well process it here.

I climbed down and sliced open the Big Pig’s belly, the organs fell straight into the pit.

"Well now, that’s mighty convenient. Might have to copy that myself. Vio, mind if I teach Macole that trick too?"

"Macole from the butcher shop? Yeah, sure. Though I feel like he’d already be doing something like this."

Dad dropped down silently from the tree, looking impressed as he examined the hanging Big Pig.

Macole the butcher is a heavily muscular former adventurer who hunts, processes, and sells everything himself.

Apparently, most adventurers bleed their prey while it’s lying on its side, then process it once enough blood has drained.

He said he’d never thought of hanging it from the start with vine magic, and somehow my lazy shortcut was being taken as a clever technique… which left me with mixed feelings.

Since it was hanging and headless, the hide was easy to peel off. The height could be adjusted with vine magic too. It started as laziness, but turned out to be surprisingly practical.

From the organs in the pit, I found the heart and extracted the magic stone.

The rest we buried, but there was too much, so we burned it a bit first with [Fire].
That was because Dad wanted to practice enhanced fireballs.
Fire is one of his strong attributes, so he can use [Fire Bullet], but lately he’s been practicing two things: the small, compressed [Fireball] I’ve been using, and the high-powered incineration [Fire].

The blue-flame incineration [Fire] already works, though it uses a bit too much mana, now it’s about reducing the cost.
Compression seems harder, so he kept throwing [Fireballs] into the pit.

They weren’t quite the size he wanted yet, but… the pit was already charred black, you know? We used earth magic to fill it back in and smooth the ground.

After that, we finally found some Gray Wolves and properly took them down.

Wolves are used for their fur, so no decapitation.

I hit them square in the forehead with [Miniscule Fireball], [Miniscule Waterball], and [Miniscule Earthball].

It leaves small holes, but they’re about the size of a pinky nail. Smaller than the natural wounds they’d get living in the forest, so no problem.

I handled suspending and processing, while Dad burned off any unusable parts with [Fireball]. That became our workflow.

Thanks to that, when we reported to the Guild, we were able to turn in three Gray Wolves, half a Big Pig’s worth of meat, and several kinds of herbs, earning 7 points and over 1,000 lari (1 Nile).

We could’ve made more by selling the whole Big Pig, but we wanted to keep some for home. Still, earning this much made me happy, so I had it all properly saved.

The herbs were counted together with the subjugation and gathering from the camping trip, so they weren’t added separately to my savings.

As for Dad’s present, it sounds like we’ll be visiting other towns during the wind season, so I’ll look for something there.

I wonder if we’ll go to a big city too. What would make him happy?
Just thinking about it is fun!