T/N: Considering how Beryl and Mordea are both “Old Men”, I’m regretting localizing Mordea as “Pops” to try to get across the feeling of Beryl’s term for him, “Oyaji-dono” or just “Oyaji”. I’m changing it from here on out to “Pops,” with his mother, Fren, as “Ma” instead.
“Alright, everyone is ready,” I said.
“Right!” everyone replied.
It’s a few days after finding one of the saber boar nesting grounds.
Today’s weather is sunny as forecast by Ma, it’s hot from the morning, but it’s much better than rain. It would be a perfect day for the decisive action.
Wipe out any threats that might fall on the village today. I intend to have enough members for that purpose. Well, I rather I gather what we have.
“I’d like to see that stupidly large saber boar you talked about, but… well, even though you’re young, I’ll give the honor to you,” Pops said.
“I’m counting on you, Pops. In case of emergency, you are our breakwater,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Pops said.
As originally planned, Pops will be placed in the village’s final defense line.
His physical strength is so bad, his back is so bad, he mutters and grumbles, but even so, as far as I know, he’s the strongest swordsman.
Seriously, the worst scenario would be for us vanguards to be wiped out and a horde of saber boars to storm the village, but even if that happens, this guy should be able to make enough time for everyone to escape. Perhaps he’ll end up wiping them out by himself.
Well, so far it makes it seem like I trust only his sword arm. On the contrary, it’s more difficult to find a swordsman who can be trusted more than Pops. Probably around Alexia or Selena’s levels. As expected, calling those two to help is too unreasonable.
“I wanted to go to the mountains too!” Adel complained.
“Haha, if you gain experience this time, you might be able to go next year, okay?” I said.
“I, I’m not complaining…” Edel mumbled.
“Why not?!” Adel yelled, in contrast.
Adel is gaining momentum, but I won’t let her enter the Aphrata Mountains. After moving forward a little from the point where Pops is standing, you’ll find yourself at the foot of the mountain range.
As I said before, this is a pretty concessional result. Originally, I wanted to keep the disciples within the reach of Pops. However, it was a painful decision after being strongly protested by Adel, who said that it would not be a good experience to stay that far back.
I know how she feels. Even though it was an opportunity to test the might of your sword arm, it must have been rather irritating to see the others off while being guarded by the village’s defense fence and Pops.
In the past, in fact, there were times when disciples were placed in positions close to the front line. However, that was limited to people like Alexia and Landrid, whom I had trusted since they were still disciples.
By the way, in addition to Adel and Edel, there are two other children who are suitable in my and Landrid’s eyes. Among the disciples, a total of 4 will have their first live battle.
Actually, I wanted to put Landrid in the role of their supervisor, but this time the opponent’s size is dangerous, so I’m going to bring Landrid to the subjugation. To put it the other way around, I think that if the saber boar boss kills one of us, we should be able to send at least one person to protect the disciples. If that happens, I’d like to send Landrid or Henblitz back down.
“I’ll say it again and again, but if you think it’s impossible, just retreat to the village. Pops will take care of the rest. Be especially careful with Adel,” I said.
“Even I can judge the situation!” Adel said. “… Probably.”
“I’ll take good care of Edel, too,” Pops said.
“Ye-Yes…!” Edel said.
Because Adel is the one who is rude and reckless here. If the tension goes out of control, she might start charging right back at the saber boars. Let’s leave the command to Edel, who can see the situation from a bird’s eye view.
It’s fine if it’s within sight and reach of me and Landrid, but even taking that into account, it’s still more dangerous to take her into the Aphrata Mountains with us. The location of the mountain is so terrifying.
“Ah… do your best,” Miu said clumsily.
“Yeah, I’ll do my best,” I said.
This alone makes me feel like I have the strength of 100 men. Her words alone gave me the confidence to work harder than usual. I can’t show you anything that’ll make me look bad.
Of course, Miu is back here with Ma and Landrid’s family, so she doesn’t directly see my fighting appearance. Still, getting support like this gives me tremendous strength.
“Okay, let’s head out,” I said.
Once again, I took our party and the students to the Aphrata Mountains.
I want to decide today as a decisive battle. It would be a lie if I said that I had prepared for that and that I didn’t have any worries, but I had the information and the situation to fight properly. After that, it’s up to each of us to do our best.
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“However, the herd itself seems to be small, so I’m a little relieved,” I said.
“Indeed,” Landrid said. “That boss must have been the cause.”
On the way to the Aphrata Mountains, we sorted out the information I had so far.
Since the day I found the one seems to be the saber boar boss, I have spent an additional day scouting the mountains. At that time, I realized that the saber boas this time didn’t seem to be coalescing much except for the boss’s herd.
There are various possible causes, but the most convincing one is that the stupidly large boss is our primary suspect.
My evidence is that there’s so much fewer herds this year than usual, and to make up for it, many saber boars were found loitering alone.
Perhaps it was originally a larger herd. However, it is conceivable that after that boss reigned at the top, he banished individuals he didn’t like from the herd.
As a result, the number of individuals in the herd decreased, and those driven out set out on their own.
As if to support that hypothesis, the individuals we found and subjugated were all young. In other words, it is not an individual who can lead a heard.
Perhaps, while the number of young saber boars has increased, as a result of being kicked out because they challenged that out-of-the-ordinary boss and lost or just were not liked by him, they didn’t have the flexibility or time to integrate with another herd, leading to the current situation. Well, that would help narrow down the targets to be destroyed, so there’s that much.
“On the contrary, it’s a stroke of luck that the lone boars didn’t reach the village,” Landrid muttered as we walked.
Certainly, it was possible that a powerful boss would rule over the herd, and there would be harmful effects if the individuals who disobeyed were banished with great force.
Rogue creatures don’t often have fixed territories. Of course, they have a certain range of activity, but even so, they are sparsely positioned compared to the ones inside herds.
It was simply lucky that those individuals didn’t happen to jump out of the Aphrata Mountains and come over to the plains.
“We were able to take out a lot of strays this time, so it’s a win-win,” Henblitz said.
“For sure,” I said. “We won’t have trouble with meat for a while.”
The saber boars that we killed during the mountain reconnaissance have already been recovered, if we could have. As expected, it was impossible to transport a lot of individual corpses that were killed in the depths of the mountain, but this time, the strongest transporter Kuruni was here.
By the way, they are all entrusted to Rob. Rob let out screams of joy at the windfall, but he’s doing his best to skin, butcher, and dismantle each corpse for the prosperity of the village. Even so, there is no doubt that it will become a financial resource for the village, so it means that we should use everything that can be used.
With this, if a trader or something like that conveniently stops by Bidden Village, the skins and tusks will also sell. As expected, it’s a bit difficult to expect such good luck.
That said, unlike meat, skin and fangs can be stored for a long time, so it’s very good for our mental health to have something we can sell for extra funds at any time. The meat will be served throughout the village, so it will be our food without leaving anything behind.
“But fangs of that size are likely to sell for a high price, aren’t they?” Kuruni asked.
“Hahaha, if possible, I would like to finish them off cleanly,” I said.
And the topic is now moves to that stupidly big saber boar, the herd’s boss.
Certainly, if we could cleanly remove tusks of that size, I feel like they would fetch quite the high price. For that, of course, it’s necessary to finish them off cleanly, so the difficulty will increase, but it’s a good target to aim for.
It’s important not to lose as the priority. It feels like a stretch goal rather than a necessary goal.
Of course, the more beautiful the skin, the higher the price, but it’s extremely difficult for a swordsman to cleanly kill his prey. The opponent will resist violently and move around.
I’m sure someone with a bow or spear would be suitable for something like his, but I don’t know anyone like that. I’m a swordsman myself, so I only know swordsmen. After that, it’s just a few magicians.
“Huh, we’re already here?” I asked.
Like that, we often relaxed our minds while chatting and moving forward.
The majestic Aphrata Mountains rise in front of you, and the rolling plains continue behind you. We were located right on the border between mountains and plains.
“Adel and the others are on standby around here,” I said. “Don’t go into the mountains by mistake.”
“Understood,” Adel said, discouraged, but I wonder if she really will comply.
In the end, I have no choice but to trust her, but I still can’t shake my anxiety. I think it would be better to send her back to the village from now on, but I don’t feel like she’ll comply with that, either.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Landrid said. “She’s certainly strong-willed, but she’s not a bad listener to orders.”
“Well, I guess so……” I said.
With that, we decided to proceed as originally planned.
As I said, if she was just a kid, I wouldn’t have brought her here now. Her sword skills were undoubtedly taken into account when selecting the disciples, but on the other hand, it was not just her sword skills that were the decider.
I knew this would happen when I decided to bring her anyway, so let’s trust my and Landrid’s ability to gauge people.
“This time it’s different from the explorations we’ve done so far. We’ll actively eliminate threats while advancing to our destination. Alright?” I asked.
“Yes!”
The destination is that hollow where the saber boar boss would be nesting. The enemies we meet during that time will be actively hunted unlike before. We have enough strength for that.
Basically, until you reach that hollow, proceed aggressively, focusing on defeating each one, and once you reach your destination, check the situation again. Then, after deciding on a strategy, we charge in. This is what it looks like in a nutshell.
It’s a strategy that seems a little rough, but it can’t be helped considering the size of the territory in the Aphrata Mountains and the small numbers of our forces. The situation would be different again if we had a large number of troops here. Well, even if there was, I wouldn’t be able to command a large army, so that would be difficult.
“Well then, let’s go up and get fired up,” I said.
“Yeah!” Kuruni cheered.
Once again, I turn my gaze to the Aphrata Mountains that we will face from now on.
Well, it’s time to start hunting. I have to keep my spirit up.
