By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 13

Chapter 3 Episode 13: Smash Boar Hunting

After Miyabi saw me off the next day, I headed to the city’s northern gate. I watched the bustling crowds as I took a leisurely walk there, but when I neared the gate, I braced myself. I was stopped at the gate, but when I showed that I was an E Rank adventurer, they let me through without any issues. I was on my way to pick medicinal herbs in a patch of foliage near the smash boar’s location.

I was equipped with a bow and a knife. I also had the spear in my Item Box, but I didn’t plan to use it. Spears and greatswords were supposedly effective against smash boars, but I needed to make it look like I stumbled upon the monster, so I deliberately chose weapons that would be less useful. The guild card I received when I first registered said that my weapon of choice was a bow, so it would look immediately suspicious.

I picked herbs for a while, but couldn’t find the smash boar. I was told its location, but unlike the herbs, it didn’t have to stay in one place forever. I didn’t remember the last time I was unable to track down a target. I used search magic too, but it didn’t locate the monster, or any other monsters for that matter. Miyabi seemed to be right that monsters seldom appeared in this area.

I collected herbs in other locations as I searched for the smash boar. I ended up acquiring the minimum amount of herbs I needed before finding it. The deadline was in two days and there was no need to finish so soon, but the current restrictions in this area seemed to make these plants harder to obtain, and they would pay for more than the minimum if I kept picking herbs, so there was no reason not to.

While I was considering my next move, I heard a quiet voice. It sounded faint and distant, so I thought I imagined it until I heard the voice again, this time clearly crying out for help. I prepared my bow, hid myself, and looked to see where the voice came from. There were two adventurers being chased by a giant monster. Presumably it was the smash boar, but it looked less like a boar than a pig. It did have tusks, but they were small and dull. As for its size, though, it was bigger than expected. Maybe comparable to a cow, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I nocked an arrow, waited for the perfect opportunity, then let it fly. The arrow whizzed between the trees toward the raging beast ramming its way through saplings, piercing its right eye. The pain made it thrash and squeal so loud that it could be heard throughout the forest. The two adventurers stopped and turned around.

“Don’t stop! Runaway!” I shouted. They looked around and noticed me, but they were too alarmed to do anything. I was about to yell at them again, but now I had a bigger problem. The smash boar heard me too, and its remaining eye glared in my direction.

This was far from what I planned, but I gave it a go anyway. I returned the bow to my back, then let energy circulate through my body as I gazed at my opponent. The smash boar had the anatomy of a pig, with the small, dull tusks jutting from its lower jaw being its most unique feature. The tusks weren’t poisonous, but they could be highly destructive when the smash boar did a charging attack, so I needed to be cautious. The biggest problem, however, was its size. I now estimated that it was one and a half times the size of a cow, and it was covered in thick flesh. It had many wounds that likely came from the two adventurers, but I doubted any of them reached its organs, or even its muscles. Attacks to its torso would be ineffective, but there was little flesh to protect the head.

The smash boar roared and charged at me. The trees obstructed its path, forcing it to slow down enough that I could react with ease. When I dodged to the right, the smash boar crashed into the tree behind me. It knocked the tree down, then turned to face me and attacked again. This time, I evaded to the left. As it passed by, I enhanced my arm with energy and hit its right temple with a palm heel strike. The smash boar squealed again, quieter than last time, and stopped in its tracks. The attack must have been effective. I could feel that the flesh was thin there.

The smash boar shook its head and tried to strike me with its tusks, but I took a step back and kicked it in the left temple. This blow was more effective than the last one. The smash boar’s right front leg gave out, its knee hitting the ground. To follow up the attack, I jumped off its jaw, grabbed onto its tusk, and struck its right elbow. I heard a blunt sound and felt its bone shatter. The smash boar’s legs quivered until it collapsed where it stood. It looked like slaying the beast was simpler than expected.

“Um, hi!”

“Thank you for saving us!”

“Oh, don’t mention it. Are either of you hurt?”

While I was confirming the kill, the two adventurers came up behind me. I only saw them from a distance before and their armor made it hard to tell, but now I noticed one of them was a woman.

“No, thanks to you.”

“But one of our allies is still off over there, and she’s injured. We can’t repay you for the help, but let us go to her side.”

“That’s fine, of course. I can go with, if you don’t mind. I can use healing magic.”

“Really?!”

“Thank you! We’d appreciate it!”

“Oh, but I can’t leave this smash boar here unattended.”

“I’m sorry, but what’s your name?”

“Excuse me, I should have introduced myself. I’m Ryoma Takebayashi.”

“Ryoma, huh? You stay here. We’ll bring our ally to you.”

“There are some scummy adventurers around here. Be careful,” they said before they left.

If this were a game, I’d think that conversation was setting up for these scummy adventurers to show up while I was alone. I stood on guard, but didn’t sense anyone in the surrounding area. If that wasn’t a concern, then this was a good time to drain the blood. I only had to ask my bloody slime to do it. I decided to get my healing slimes out too, and by the time I finished, the bloody slime had already finished. I waited a while longer, but no scummy adventurers appeared before the other two returned with a wounded swordswoman.

“Over here! I’ll begin the treatment right away!”

It looked like the smash boar had rammed the woman, because her whole body was battered. She had a fractured leg and shoulder, along with numerous scratches, and her face was drenched in sweat. Thankfully there was little harm to her torso and no broken ribs. Her organs would still be a concern for the next few days, but her injuries looked curable.

I cast High Heal on her wounds repeatedly. Her sweating and groaning stopped and she became well enough to thank me within a short time.

“Thank you so much!”

“Thanks, you saved us all.”

“Don’t worry about it. You still haven’t regained your energy, so take it easy for a while.”

“This is nothing, thanks to the healing magic from you and your slimes.”

When we got back to introducing ourselves, I learned that the injured woman was named Filly. The man who was being chased by the smash boar was Ken, and the woman was Lurie.

“You’ve done so much for us, but we can’t do anything for you.”

“At least take this. I’m sure this isn’t enough, but I can pay you the rest when we get back to town,” Ken said and handed me a small bag of money. I wasn’t hurting for money, but these three seemed to be E Rank adventurers and most likely didn’t have much cash to spare.

“I’ll take this money, but I won’t be needing anymore. Instead, can you tell me about those scummy adventurers you mentioned?”

“Is that all you want?”

“I think we owe you more than that, but all right. The three of us team up a lot, but today we had another two adventurers in our group.”

They had befriended a couple of C Rank adventurers at a bar they were visiting from out of town, and they were asked if they could act as guides on the mission to slay the smash boar. They were to be rewarded with some combat coaching to give them experience. In addition, they were supposed to receive a portion of the reward for the request.

“I had them show their guild cards to confirm they were C Ranks. And if they ever caused trouble or broke the guild rules, it would’ve been recorded on their cards. There was nothing like that on theirs, so I thought they would be fine.”

“The reward money they offered was also reasonable.”

“But they made us fight and claimed it was to give us experience, then they ran off and used us as decoys when things took a turn for the worse. I was sent flying and hurt so bad that I couldn’t move, so these two protected me by drawing the smash boar’s attention and running away. You know the rest.”

“I see.”

Either they were tricked, or even C Rank adventurers weren’t strong enough for the smash boar. One way or another, these didn’t sound like the most reputable adventurers. I didn’t think these three were lying, at least, considering two of them were being chased and one of them was actually injured. If they lied, that would mean they hurt themselves and risked their lives to do it.

“Is this really enough money?”

“It’s fine, I’m the one who offered to use healing magic. Consider it a freebie.”

“But-”

“Lurie, I know it hurts, but you can’t make him take it. Let’s accept his offer,” Filly said. Looking at her made me think of something.

“Would you be willing to help carry this smash boar to town? I also killed it without taking the request, so if you could tell them I ran into the monster on accident and slew it in self-defense, I’d appreciate it.”

The corpse was lighter now that the blood was drained, and by enhancing my body with magic and energy meditation, the weight itself was nothing I couldn’t carry. But I was also small, so I would have to drag it along the ground. On top of that, I wanted someone to vouch for me.

“If that’s all you need.”

“Yes, please let us help!”

“Thanks.”

With the assistance of the three adventurers, I carried my prey back to town. The guard at the gate was shocked, but since killing this beast made his job easier, he let us pass after a brief explanation.

■ ■ ■

We got a lot of looks on the way to Pioro’s store, but made it there safely.

“Whoa!”

“What is this?!”

“I’m sorry, can you let me through? Sorry.”

The customers outside the store were agape at the smash boar I lugged through the streets. A clerk came to see what was happening, followed by Pioro and Miyabi.

“Ryoma?! What is this massive thing?!”

“Oh, Miyabi, hello. It’s a smash boar.”

“Well, I can see that! What I mean is, why is it here?! I said it was dangerous, but you fought it anyway?!”

Miyabi kept up the questions until Pioro calmed her down and the three adventurers explained the situation for me.

“So he only fought that smash boar because of us.”

“If he hadn’t helped, I don’t know if we’d still be alive.”

“Don’t blame him too much. Please!”

Miyabi watched them bow their heads and sighed.

“You did it to save people? Well, I guess I can’t be too hard on you.”

“From what it sounds like, Ryoma wasn’t trying to get himself into a reckless fight. Seems fine to me.”

“I’m sorry I worried you.”

“You sure did, yeesh. That’s enough of that for one day. Dad, we need to prepare this meat before it goes bad.”

“Right! Don’t stand around here, bring it inside!”

Pioro led us into the butcher shop’s dissection space.

“Can we start now?”

“Hold it!”

When an employee was about to dissect the corpse, Clana popped in and told him to wait. A staff member from the adventurer’s guild was here to visit.

“What do they need? Can you give us a bit? We’re in the middle of something.”

“They want to inspect the smash boar. It’s been rampaging around in the north for a while now, and they want to check and make sure it’s actually been slain.”

I did tell the gate guard that I was selling it to the Saionji Company, so they must have gotten in contact after that. Some time later, a man I met at the guild yesterday entered the store.

“Welcome,” Pioro greeted him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt in the middle of work. I’ll leave as soon as I see that the smash boar has been killed,” the man said and walked a circle around the smash boar, then sighed with relief. “This is indeed the smash boar. Thank you for your cooperation. Now we can lift the restrictions on traveling through the north gate. We appreciate your help in slaying this beast. Other jobs in the north should be more easily taken care of now too.”

The man bowed and turned to leave, but the three adventurers frantically stopped him and explained their own situation. “Is that right?” he responded. “Then I can create a written testimony about those two, if the three of you would be willing to attend me to the guild. Mr. Takebayashi, bring part of the smash boar to the guild at any time to receive your reward.”

“Thank you.”

The man left with the three adventurers. They thanked me one last time before they exited the workspace. After I saw them off, I came back to the dissection space and saw the workers ready and waiting to start.

“All right, that interruption’s over with. Begin!”

“Right!”

“Ryoma, you don’t mind selling me all the meat?”

“That’s fine, I don’t know who else I would sell it to. But can you let me keep a little to eat for myself? You can take all the rest.”

“That’s a small price to pay. Right, everyone?”

All the workers agreed. Then the dissection began, and they had some questions.

“What’s wrong?”

“This smash boar doesn’t have a drop of blood.”

“What’s going on here? Did the blood harden? Even then, there should be some drops left.”

“There’s really no blood at all.”

Pioro checked the meat himself and cocked his head.

“I’m sorry, I drained the blood.” All eyes turned toward me.

“Without cutting the body open? How do you drain blood this cleanly?”

“I have a special method. Have you ever heard of a monster called a bloody slime?” I asked.

One of the workers spoke up. “That’s a slime that sucks blood, right? I spotted one in the forest when I was a kid.”

“That’s right.”

“There’s a bloodsucking slime? Ryoma, did you have it drain the smash boar’s blood?”

“Yes, I do the same with everything I hunt. It’s especially helpful for big monsters when I want to make them as light as possible. The meat should still be good, but does this mean you can’t buy it?”

“The meat’s been appraised and it looks fine. If anything, you made it more valuable than it would’ve been otherwise. I’d be interested in getting one of those slimes for myself.”

I told Pioro more about the bloody slime. I only had one for the moment, and he would need a tamer to make a contract with it if he didn’t want the slime to run off and cause trouble, so I objected to giving him mine. If I got more bloody slimes in the future and Pioro hired a trustworthy tamer, though, I would consider offering him one. Teaching the world more about the value of slimes couldn’t hurt, and Pioro’s store would be a safe place for them. Besides, unlike my cleaners and scavengers, bloody slimes were something that I might be able to find if I searched for them. I had no reason to hold onto mine that tightly.

While I was thinking to myself, they finished dissecting the smash boar. I received some meat for personal use, a medium gold coin for the meat I sold, and a tusk to prove I slew the smash boar. I was pretty tired after all that transpired that day, so I decided to take the herbs to the guild the next morning.