The next day. After finishing breakfast as well as the assignment my private tutor had given me, I went about stuffing the throwing knives and recovery potions and such into the pouch I’d bought yesterday.
Today, I was planning on heading to Camras plain, which was stretched out throughout the central part of the territory of Margrave Fahrenheit. Right now I was preparing for that.
Camras Plain, a big plain that stretched out from the foot of the north Great Mountain Range, encompassing the city of Heitburg, to the adjacent territory of Duke Bernstein. Although several hills and small mountains could be found, it was basically a prominent grain-producing region of the Empire, with endless stretches of grasslands and wheat fields. In addition to wheat fields, there were also fields of various vegetables and livestock farming thriving, and it was an important plot of land that was supporting the food situation of the Empire. I supposed it’d be like Hokkaido in Japan.
The Camras Plain may sound like a very idyllic place after hearing this much, but the reality was just the opposite. Camras Plain was one of the most dangerous areas in the Empire, aside from the so-called Three Most Dangerous Areas: the Demon Forest, the Great Mountain Range, and the Great Labyrinth.
Speaking of what kind of danger it had, first of all, it was cold. It was obvious. It was located in the north of the vast Empire, and the winter in the Margrave Fahrenheit territory, which was located inland, was just cold. The summer was cool and fairly easy to handle, but in the winter, it’d be hell if you weren’t wearing thick clothes.
And there were lots of monsters. There were several reasons for this, but the first one was that the land was rich. If the land was rich, of course there’d be an abundance of crops to harvest. And humans weren’t the only ones eating the crops. In pursuit of the abundance of crops, wild beasts and monsters would also come to the farming villages.
The second reason for the large number of monsters was the location of Camras Plain; the Great Mountain Range to the north, and Demon Forest to the northeast. The powerful monsters living there would sometimes come to the Camras Plain in search of prey. There were a lot of animals and monsters to feed on in Camras Plain. For high-ranked monsters normally living in the Great Mountain Range or the Demon Forest, the Camras Plain was also a blessed and rich land.
There were many other theories, such as the connection with the mana density and so on, but these two were the go-to theories for now.
Bringing blessings, as well as danger at the same time; the people living in Camras Plain would probably naturally grow up to be earnest and strong, with a sense of gratitude and strength. Our House Fahrenheit was no exception to this; resolutely dealing with monsters posing a threat while paying gratitude to nature together with the people of the territory, protecting the people and the land. Such was the way of life that we, a margrave house, was required to live.
Thus, as the next head of the family, I must also know about monsters in detail. It’d be a failure of a head of a family if I couldn’t make a decision in the time of need after all.
Well, it sounded rather confusing, but to sum it up, right now I’d be going on an independent training to subjugate monsters.
Not to mention against monsters, this would be my first time fighting with my life on the line. The mock battles I always had with dad was just a mock battle, not a fight for life. Of course there were injuries, but absolutely not absurd injuries that’d leave lasting effects.
What I’d need was the resistance to the pressure that came along from fighting for your life, and the ability to be able to make flexible judgments at a moment’s notice. Just because I was still ten, didn’t mean I could be careless. The threat could come at any time.
“Alright, all set.”
A flask, light meal, May’s knife, leather bag, and throwing knives with a certain mechanism.
“Now, time to go.”
Due to dad’s work, there was no training with him today. Nor did I promise to play with May. The time was nine in the morning. I’d like to be back by nightfall.
I left the mansion and made my way around to the back garden. Beyond the backdoor mountain, once I passed through the exclusive door of the Fahrenheit House on the rampart over there, I’d no longer be in the city. That said, this entire vast land, including from the Great Mountain Range to the Camras Plain, was the territory of our margrave house, though…
Through high mobility by making full use of Shock, I ran through Camras Plain at a speed that would be impossible for an average human. The scenery flewed by as fast as a car driving through the national highway.
At times like this, I was glad that I got a huge amount of mana. In order to reach this level of speed, the consumption of mana was not normal, due to the use of Shock while continuously applying Body Strengthening.
But that said, not using Body Strengthening was not an option. This was because if I were to try to go as fast as a car with just my flesh and blood, my body wouldn’t be able to withstand the shock from the ground.
In short, I was achieving a super-fast endurance run by widely exerting mana that would have exhausted the mana of an ordinary person long ago, wearing them up.
“Oh, can that be a monster!?”
About 10 kilometers north of the territory capital of Heitburg, I spotted a shape that looked like it. It was still more than several hundred meters away, but it didn’t seem to be a human. The silhouette was too big for a human. More importantly, it looked like walking on four legs. As far as my knowledge went, the average human was walking on two legs.
I continued to run without slowing down, and when the distance between me and it was about 100 meters, I finally found out what it was.
“That’s… a Grean Boar! …Should have been.”
Green Boar. Like its name, it was a deep green boar-shaped monster. I wasn’t an adventurer, but if I were to apply the adventurer rank, it would be a monster with the recommended subjugation level of rank D. It was a mysterious creature that was extremely ferocious despite being a herbivore, that for some reason, preferred to act alone.
But, maybe because it was a herbivore, its offensive ability wasn’t that high, and apparently it was not difficult to deal with as long as you were to be careful of its charge. Apparently, it was quite dangerous if it happened to camouflage with the scenery of the forest because of its dark green color, but there were only sparse woods around here, so it was no problem at all. The dark green color was suddenly appearing among the light green grassy field, so it was almost conspicuous instead.
“Let’s take this one.”
I pulled out a couple of throwing knives with a certain modification from the leather pouch wrapped around my waist.
Fifty meters away. I’ll take the initiative.
“Hmph!”
While throwing a strengthened throw with Body Strengthening applied, I generated a small shock wave on the handle of the throwing knives for propulsion. The throwing knives flying through the air with the speed of a bow and arrow pierced the body of the Green Boar, who finally noticed my presence.
“BOAAAAAHHHH!!”
“Pfthahah! Are you for real?”
Who would even imagine the Green Boar’s cry would be ‘BOAAH.’ Thanks to this, I ended up laughing as hard as I could even though I was in the middle of a battle. I want my nervousness back!
“Grr, Restraining Rope!”
Trying to get my nervousness back, I activated the magic cast on my throwing knives. In the next moment, some kind of magical wires extended from the throwing knives stuck in the Green Boar, wrapping and restraining it.
“BOAAAHH…!!”
“Good.”
It looked like a success. I hadn’t known if it’d be usable in combat, but it looked like it worked fine.
I approached the immobilized, stirring about Green Boar entangled by magical wires that couldn’t come off, and activated non-attribute magic: Mana Blade. A magical blade about 50 centimeters long extended from my hand. And then I swung it down at the Green Boar’s neck in one go.
“BOAAAHH!! AAhh… aah………”
The Green Boar with its sliced off neck convulsed as if to jump for a moment, but it finally lost its strength and stopped moving. I tried stabbing it with Mana Blade once again to make sure, but there was no reaction. Looks like it’s dead.
“Phew… First battle is over with this. It’s kind of unexpectedly easy, huh.”
I’d chosen to fight this one because it didn’t seem to be an opponent that could pose a problem with my current abilities, but as a result of it being my first battle, I’d expected it to be a bit more of a struggle.
But in actuality, it’d got smoothly settled with my magic, winning it so easily that it was anticlimactic. It was definitely worth trying a new way of using magic.
What I’d used this time was a method of using magic by imparting it to an object. It was a fairly advanced technique that didn’t appear until ‘The Application’ even in the ‘The Complete Book of Magic.’
I’d used Bestowal, a C-rank non-attribute magic, to bestow a similarly C-ranked non-attribute magic called Restraining Rope, which would materialize mana into a wire form to bind the opponent, to the throwing knives that I’d received from the chief. As a result of piling C-rank magic on top of a C-rank magic, the difficulty level should be one rank higher, B-. Although not extremely strong, it was a fairly useful good magic.
Despite having a strong binding force, the Restraining Rope was essentially useless if it couldn’t directly touch the opponent. This way of using it, which resolved the distance constraint, would probably also become one of my specialties from now on.
Although not forgetting to develop Shock, I’d put effort into other areas so that I wouldn’t become overly reliant on Shock. It seemed that I was growing on the right track.
…Now I’m stuck. Just how am I supposed to bring back this Green Boar? Looking at it, it probably easily weighs 300 kilos. Since I’m not dad, I can’t possibly carry the weight back home even if I use Body Strengthening myself.
“I give up… I guess I should’ve brought a cart.”
That said, nothing I can do about something I didn’t bring. Let’s first dismantle it, and throw away the worthless parts like the guts and the legs. I’ve got a leather bag, so let’s just bring back the bare minimum of material.
I took out the leather bag and the knife made by May from the pouch, and then began dismantling the Green Boar while remaining alert to my surroundings.
Slash! The feeling of the blade slicing through the monster’s skin could be felt directly.
“Come to think of it, including in the previous life, this is the first time I’m ever dismantling an animal, huh.”
I got the knowledge, more or less. After all, there was also a book on how to dismantle monsters in the study of the margrave house. Just that, it seemed that knowing and actually doing it were two completely different things. I couldn’t cut the meat and skin as expected, which was quite annoying.
“A skilled hunter or adventurer can dismantle this in an instant; they’re pretty amazing huh~.”
So did the butcher, fishmonger, and the chef. The professionals’ knife works and dismantling works were so impressive that I never got tired of watching them. And in contrast to that, although the first time, this dismantling of mine was…
“Ah…”
It made for a magnificent, gruesome murder scene. No, the one being dismantled was a boar so it wasn’t a murder, but in any case, it wasn’t a suitable scene for a ten-year old kid to see so much.
The entrails were scattered about, the red pond was expanding, and the smell of iron was filling the area. I also felt as if there was a somewhat eerie aura floating in the air.
“…L-let’s quickly go back. It can even attract other monsters and all.”
The smell of a monster’s corpse could also be used as a bait to attract other monsters in search of meat. I got no choice but to quickly get out of this place.
I went to quickly stuff the high-value parts of the Green Boar, like tusks, pelt, filets, and sirloins into the leather bag. Since I couldn’t bring back the entire 300-kilos huge body as expected, I’d had to be very choosy, but thanks to this, I got to bring back only the most delicious part of the meat, so I could expect it to taste fairly good. As for the pelt and tusks, since it was the first monster I’d ever hunted in my life, I’d have it tanned by a craftsman and keep them as mementos.
“Uwh, s-so heavy… Hmph, Body Strengthening!”
Although I’d carefully selected it, it was easily 50 kilos inside the bag, so I carried it on my bag after using Body Strengthening. However, heavy things were still heavy. No matter how much magic I used for strengthening, 50 kilos was still too heavy for a 10-year old kid.
Next time, let’s come here after getting a cart or something, I decided firmly.
＊
“Eeh!? Did you hunt this, Har-kun!?”
“Eberhard, are you for real?”
“Y-young master…”
“Har-sama……”
“Har, that’s awesome!”
“Older brother so amazing!”
When I got home and brought the meat to the kitchen, first mom, and then dad, the head chef, Alisa, big sis, and little brother were surprised. After all, it was 50 kilos. Since there were the tusks and pelt, I’d figure the meat alone would be about 30 kilos, but even so, it was still quite a lot, I supposed. It was not an amount that a family of six could eat completely. Probably, even if we were to provide it for all the servants of the Fahrenheit House to eat it plenty, we would not come up short.
“Head chef, I want you to give this to the servants as well.”
“Is that all right? Such a magnificent part of the body is something that we rarely have the chance to eat.”
“Well, I’d just call it a side benefit.”
“If you are so kind as to say so, I would very gratefully accept it. And for that, please look forward to the dinner the day after tomorrow. I will have the best wild boar meat dish prepared.”
“The day after tomorrow? So it’s not today.”
“Yes. For example, fish will taste better if eaten on the same day, but for meat, a certain amount of ripening will give it a deeper flavor.”
“Oh, I see now.”
“Green Boars are at their best around this time of the year, so the ripening time will be relatively short. This is the meat at the stage where the useless fat has been lost over the winter and the fat has started to gradually build up with the blessings of spring. The meat has good firmness, and enhanced with marbled melted fat, it’s the most delicious.”
“““Oooh…””” All of the family members who listened to the head chef’s explanation let out an admiring voice, eyes shining with anticipation.
“However, that will be the night after tomorrow. Today’s dish will be sauteed Seuss fish with salt.”
“Seuss fish, huh. That also tastes good so I like it.”
The Seuss fish was a large freshwater fish about a meter or less in length that lived broadly in the rivers and lakes that flowed here in the Fahrenheit territory. Since it was a freshwater fish, the taste itself was slightly plain, but it was absolutely delicious when sprinkled with salt and grilled.
“Then I will begin the ripening process immediately. Excuse me,” said the head chef, taking out a kitchen knife and beginning to meticulously cut out the meat that I’d roughly handled. With the meat at its peak in front of the head chef, the head chef seemed to be so focused to the point of no longer seeing the surroundings.
“All right, let’s all go back, too.” At dad’s signal, we left the kitchen as well. We mustn’t interfere with the head chef.
And there, I suddenly remembered something and spoke to dad. “Say, dad. I wonder if there are any carts around. Or even a carriage will do.”
“Carts, huh. Sorry, but I don’t really know where they are. But the servants doing property administration should know. Just say you have my permission, and do as you like.”
“Okay, thanks.”
The property administration was ìn the property administration section of the servants’ compound. If I asked the people there, I could most likely borrow one. The Green Boar’s material I’d brought back today was 50 kilos, but still, I’d ended up throwing away about 250 kilos. Even if I went back to get it now, it’d probably have been scattered and eaten up by other wild animals and monsters. The loss of about 80% was big.
And so, I’d like to bring back the whole material if possible. Dismantling on the spot was also dangerous, and above all, troublesome, so I wouldn’t want to do it.
That’d be where the cart would come in. With a cart, I’d be able to bring back the material whole, and if I brought it to the adventurer’s guild, they should be able to accept it even if it wasn’t dismantled. Although there would likely be some dismantling fees charged, the increase in the income would certainly still be greater than if I just brought back 50 kilos. The coming of materials, and adventurers and dismantling contractors to and from the dismantling hut on the outskirts of the city was secretly a famous specialty of the city of Heitburg.
“Alisa, let’s go see the property administrator.”
“Yes, Har-sama.”
I took Alisa with me to head to the servants’ compound. The servants’ compound was slightly away from the main building where we family lived, and somewhat far to walk to.
“A house too big is also an issue, huh.”
“Is that so? I do think it’s splendid and wonderful, though.”
“That’s what all the have-nots say.”
“What is all that about? Who are you imitating?”
“It’s my words of wisdom!”
“Har-sama…”
With having a silly conversation while walking like this, the time would go by in a flash. I wasn’t even taking a stroll and yet walking alone was just so far, but talking like this made it not much of a bother. It was that kind of tricky distance. It wasn’t a pleasant one for the servants either.
“Now then, the property administration section is…”
“It’s this way.”
“Wow, that’s the professional for you.”
“Well, I’m one of the servants after all.”
Guided by Alisa, I knocked on the door of the property administration section.
“Yes, it’s open.”
“Excuse me~,” I said, opening the door of the property administration section.
“Oh my, Eberhard-sama. How can I help you?” Of the several people in the room, a middle-aged property administrator sitting at the desk at the far end stood up and asked me.
“I’m looking for a cart, but is there any? A pretty big one if possible. Something an adult can pull alone.”
“A cart, is it? When it comes to the size that an adult can pull alone… Ah, I believe it’s in the second storehouse. Hey, Anthony. Lead the way to the second storehouse.”
“Yes, section chief. …Well then, Eberhard-sama. I will show you the way, please come this way. And Alisa as well,” a young servant called Anthony said and would show us the way. I’m sorry to suddenly barge in on you like this.
“These are the carts we have here, but how do you like it?”
“Oh, this is really nice. Pretty big and looks sturdy.”
“Umm, with all due respect, Eberhard-sama, it appears to be quite large for you, but would it be all right?” Anthony asked, looking worried.
“I can use Body Strengthening after all.”
Also while at it, I planned to make another modification to the cart, but I wouldn’t say it since it was still in the planning stage.
“I see, as to be expected of the Fahrenheit House’s lineage; to be able to use magic already at that age.”
“All you get for your praise is your salary, you know?”
“There is just nothing else I would want if the salary is that high. It is a privilege to be able to serve in this way.”
It seems our house really is one that treats the employees well. I bet it’s the most popular place of employment in the Margrave Fahrenheit territory.
Afterwards, I thanked Anthony and parted with him, and Alisa and I headed back to the main building while pulling the cart. On the way, I suddenly got curious and tried asking Alisa. “Are you getting quite an amount, too?”
This isn’t harassment, right? I realized after saying it. Well, it’s Alisa so it should be fine.
“Well more or less, I’m your personal maid after all, Har-sama. It may not look like it, but I’m a high salary earner in the public, you know?”
“Oh, really? Then I guess I’ll have you work harder!”
“Aren’t you making me work plenty hard already?”
“Nope, not enough. For now, I’ll have you get on this cart. Accompany me in my cart practice.”
“Eeeh, it’s too embarrassing. Won’t my weight get found out then!?”
“Well, there’s about twice as many of my ‘waaaah!!’ there.”
I supposed there was no point in comparing a 20 or so year old adult woman with a 10 year old boy. But for a woman, weight seemed to be an embarrassing thing to ask, even if the other party was a 10-year old kid.
But I was a savage master, so I forcibly placed Alisa on the cart and ran around the garden with Body Strengthening. Thanks to this, I learned pretty much how to handle a cart. With this, I should be able to bring back about as much as one Green Boar next time without a problem. It was roughly about six times that of Alisa after all.
＊
TL notes:
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