Chapter 1-9 : What They Think About Us (part 1)
I heard from the girls in the public bath that you need a lot of potions if you want to go to a dungeon, so after leaving the public bath, I decided to go to the forest to collect some herbs.
It’s better to be prepared, so I went to Marl’s bakery to buy some bread before going to the forest. As for potions, I still have the ones I got from Nansa obaa-san, so I can use them in case I encounter monsters in the forest.
When I got to the forest, I hardly found any herbs in the area around the entrance just like when I came to gather herbs for Nansa obaa-san the other day.
It seems that most of the herbs in this area have been taken by other players. After all, potions are important recovery items in the early game, so everyone needs them.
I had no choice but to go deeper. I wished I wouldn’t encounter a wolf-type monster again like the other day, but…
ーGrrrrrrrr!!
「Ugh… I knew it…」(Alice)
As I expected, I encountered one. It seems these monsters live around here.
Fortunately, the wolf didn’t catch me off guard this time. Moreover, I’ve leveled up my combat skills, so I think I’m ready to fight this wolf.
I quickly unequipped non-combat skills such as【Cooking】and others and then swapped them with combat skills. Of course, I also equipped the【Sever】skill I just learned. I wanted to test it in actual combat.
As soon as I equipped the skill, I could see red glowing lines all over the wolf’s body.
I unsheathed my wakizashi and took a fighting stance.
「Alright. I’m ready!」(Alice)
ーGrrrrrrrrr!!
The wolf glared at me. I could feel a strong killing intent from it.
It dashed toward me at high speed and opened its mouth, trying to bite my neck, but I easily dodged it.
Its movements looked slow for some reason, probably because I’ve leveled up quite a bit.
The wolf quickly turned around and dashed toward me again. This time, I swung my wakizashi as I dodged, trying to cut the cutting line on its neck.
As expected, it was difficult to hit the line perfectly when the target was moving. I could only graze it, but soon afterー
ーSplat!
Blood splattered out the wolf’s neck.
I only made a small cut along the line on the skin, but so much blood burst out as if I sliced its neck halfway through with my blade.
It was enough to kill the wolf. It collapsed to the ground and died due to heavy blood loss.
If I cut about two or three centimeters deeper, I might have been able to cut off its head completely.
「Whoaa… This【Sever】skill is so powerful! I need to thank Rick-san and the butcher for this later!」(Alice)
While I was rejoicing in my victory, more wolf monsters appeared.
Grrrr!! Grrrrrrrrr!!
「Oh… Really!?」(Alice)
It wasn’t just one this time. There were three wolf monsters glaring at me menacingly.
They seemed to be mad at me for killing their friend.
This is bad… I have to fight the three of them by myself…
However, I think I can win as long as they don’t move faster than the first wolf.
They dashed toward me all at once and jumped.
Fortunately, they were as slow as the first wolf. I was able to dodge two wolves without breaking a sweat, and right after I dodged the last one, I launched a counterattack by hitting the glowing line on its torso. Right after, its torso was cut open and blood splat all over the place.
Ugh… I just washed my clothes in the bathhouse, but I got some blood on them…
Well, whatever. It’s not important. More importantly, I have to focus on defeating the remaining two wolves.
Seeing me killing its friend, the other two wolves took a few steps backward.
Now they are being cautious toward me.
「What’s wrong? You’re not coming? Alright then. Stay still so I can kill you both quickly!」(Alice)
They looked too afraid to attack me, so I took the initiative to attack them first. I dashed toward one of them, aiming for the glowing line on its neck.
「Hya! Hyaa!!」(Alice)
It dodged my blade at first but then I recovered quickly and immediately swung my wakizashi again. This time, I successfully cut its head off.
Without wasting any seconds, I dashed toward the last wolf and did the same to it.
「Phew… I did it…」(Alice)
I took a deep breath and looked at the surroundings. After confirming that there were no other wolf monsters around, I picked up the wolf corpses on the ground and put them in my【Storage】.
「I got killed the first time I fought this wolf monster yesterday, but I think I can hunt them no problem with my abilities now.」(Alice)
With that in mind, I decided to hunt wolf monsters while collecting herbs along the way.
The deeper I went into the forest, the more wolves I encountered. However, I had no problem dealing with them at all.
I leveled up quite a bit and got some Skill Points from killing them. I was also able to collect quite a number of herbs.
Everything went smoothly untilー
「No way…」(Alice)
ーI encountered a different type of monster…
It was a bear. A big one. It was much bigger than normal bears. I think it’s called Erst Bear, and I have eaten its meat in a bar on the main street.
I still remember how delicious that Erst Bear stew was.
Knowing that the bear has delicious meat, I can’t just let it go. I grabbed my wakizashi, preparing myself for the fight.
Sensing a malicious intent from me, the bear stood up and let out an ear-tearing roar.
ーGRAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
It tried to scare me, but of course, there was no way I would back off!
I could see a glowing line on the bear’s torso while it was standing on its two feet. Without wasting time, I dashed forward, aiming to hit the line.
Howeverー
「ー!?」(Alice)
The bear quickly dodged my blade by jumping backward. At the same time, it swung down its two big front feet, trying to kill me with its claws.
I was able to dodge in time by jumping backward too.
ーBOOOOM!
I could feel a strong vibration as the bear stomped its front feet onto the ground. I would have taken a lot of damage if it hit me.
I dashed forward and swung my blade again, but the bear parried it with its claws this time.
However, after several attempts of attacking and dodging, I was finally able to hit a glowing line on its neck and kill it.
「Ugh… What a formidable foe…」(Alice)
The bear was unexpectedly strong. It was much stronger and quicker than the wolves.
I barely kept up with its quick movements even with my level 10【AGI Boost】skill.
I was clearly under-leveled, but it was not impossible to defeat them, so I decided to go even deeper and hunt Erst Bears while looking for more herbs.
ーーーーー
I used up almost all of my potions and ointment after about three hours of wandering around the forest, gathering herbs while fighting wolves and bears.
I almost got killed a few times, but I was able to secure about seventy medical herbs and I had also gotten used to fighting to a certain extent, so it was all worth it.
Thinking that it would be risky to keep going, I decided to go back to the town.
I went to the slaughterhouse to borrow the place and tools to skin my prey. Because I got quite a lot of prey today, I asked the butcher to skin the bears while I skinned the wolves.
I got a lot of meat, pelt, and other materials after we skinned them all.
The pelt can be used for making leather armor, so I will sell them to the equipment shop.
As for the meat, I think I will sell some of it to the bar on the main street. I promised the barmaid to sell her meat after all.
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