Chapter 78. Collecting Leather (4)

Seeing the white hand waving at him, Jerry's wrinkled face wouldn't relax.

Why would it?

The store had just opened, and he was about to go out of business after receiving his first customer.

‘Damn it, why does it have to be him for the first customer?!’

He didn't ask for much.

He just hoped not to meet one person during this quest.

If that was too much to ask, he hoped to meet him as late as possible.

He prayed to a god he didn't even believe in, hoping for just that.

‘...Of course, there's no god in this world.’

To meet the very person he wanted to avoid the most as his first customer.

‘Juri Holland.’

He learned the name of the junior he didn't even know existed during the 50th batch's Hundred Steps Ceremony.

When he realized that the last survivor of the ceremony had smashed his head with a brick.

Jerry was even more shocked when Juri set a record of fifteen steps.

‘Is... this the White Dragon Badge?’

At first, Jerry thought Juri had the White Dragon Badge.

But he was wrong.

‘Ridiculous! What kind of White Dragon Badge is this? I swear, it's definitely the Black Dragon Badge!’

It was fortunate that only his head was injured by the brick.

His limbs were fine.

Realizing this, Jerry made a decision.

He would never get involved with Juri Holland again.

‘If one of the people I should avoid in this world is a lunatic...’

The most dangerous person to avoid was a skilled lunatic.

And Juri Holland was one of the most skilled lunatics in history.

That alone was enough reason to avoid him, but Jerry had another reason to stay away from Juri.

A very decisive reason.

[It's nothing. Just do me a small favor later.]

The favor he agreed to do for Juri in exchange for information during the last Dragon Badge Exchange.

That was the problem.

‘What kind of favor could this lunatic ask for?’

While Jerry was pondering how to get out of the favor, Juri's head tilted to the side.

"What, not happy to see me?"

Jerry's frozen face immediately broke into a wide smile.

"Who is this? Isn't it our wonderful junior, Juri Holland? Nice to see you, nice to see you indeed!"

With that, Jerry started cracking jokes and rummaged through the unconscious rabbit man's pocket.

A piece of leather appeared in his hand.

A pure white, palm-sized square piece of leather.

Jerry firmly placed the white leather in Juri's left hand.

"Our junior, you've worked hard. Here, take this first."

Then, he took another piece of leather from his own pocket.

It was the same shape as the rabbit's but yellow in color.

Jerry placed it in Juri's right hand and winked.

"Here, put this in too. You know what it is, right? The white one is rabbit leather, the yellow one is deer leather. Together, that's 6,000 points!"

"Wow, as expected, our Jerry senior has a keen eye. If everyone in the world were like our Jerry senior, how great would that be? Don't you think?"

Juri's face relaxed at the deer's voluntary offering.

Jerry sighed in relief, seeing the expression that seemed to have shed a burden.

If he hadn't made the voluntary offering, he could imagine what might have happened.

‘But it's too early to relax!’

Jerry started talking rapidly.

"Speaking of which, these guys are so clueless! Oops! I forgot to explain what I'm doing here. We're playing the roles of rabbits and deer in our quest."

"Hmm?"

"Anyone can participate as a rabbit, regardless of skill, but they can't attack! Deer can only be played by unofficial 1st-class experts, and they can't attack first, but they can counterattack. I don't know much about the rules for other animals. This quest is new this year."

"Is that so? What else? Anything else?"

"Of course!"

Jerry nodded enthusiastically.

‘Given his personality, he'll definitely torment me until I tell him everything he knows.’

So, it would be better to tell him everything to avoid physical and mental suffering.

Jerry, who had already experienced Juri once, made this choice.

Additionally, it would help distract Juri from thinking about the ‘favor.’

So, Jerry desperately started explaining the information Juri hadn't asked for.

"Rabbits say 'chirp chirp' and deer say 'moo' to reveal our identities, as instructed by... the higher-ups..."

"Leave out the useless stuff."

"...and the useless information! Rabbits get 50 pieces of leather, and deer get 20. If you're subdued and your leather is taken, you're considered dead and sent to heaven to get more leather before being reinserted into the forest."

"Oh? Interesting."

"Ah! And when the leather collection quest ends, those who played animal roles receive points based on the number of leather pieces they have left. The prices for each type of leather are the same as those announced to the hunters, the 50th batch."

"Ah, so the animals try to protect as much leather as possible, while the hunters try to catch and kill as many as they can?"

"Exactly!"

Seeing that Juri understood, Jerry awkwardly smiled and nodded.

Then, he subtly tried to leave.

"Since this poor deer soul needs to go to heaven to revive, I'll be on my way..."

Jerry tried to quickly leave before Juri could call him back.

Then.

"Hold on."

Squeak.

Jerry's body froze at the voice from behind.

"Why, why?"

Turning around with a stiff, awkward face, he saw Juri smirking.

The words that came out of Juri's smirking mouth were the last thing Jerry wanted to hear.

"Wow, I never imagined our Jerry senior would be so dedicated to service. So, you'll be just as kind when I ask you for a favor, right?"

"..."

...This is the worst.

That damn kid must have known everything and just watched him.

But even knowing this, Jerry couldn't show his displeasure, feeling utterly pathetic.

"Of course! What kind of favor?"

"My favor is... what?"

"What, what?"

"What do you think?"

"..."

"Ah! That's it!"

"What, what is it?"

"Should I tell you now?"

"..."

"Tell you?"

...This kid is really something.

Seeing Jerry's cheeks twitch, Juri grinned.

'Should I stop here?'

If I torment him more, he might cry.

Thinking this, Juri shrugged.

"No, I'll think of something better later and ask you then."

Hearing this, Jerry let out a faint sigh and asked with an anxious look.

"Then... can I really go now?"

"Sure."

With Juri's nod, Jerry fled without looking back.

Or, he would have fled without looking back.

If Juri hadn't called him again.

"Jerry senior."

"Ah... what now?"

Jerry's face looked like he was about to cry.

Juri smirked and pointed to the unconscious rabbit man.

"Aren't you going to take him with you?"

"..."

Originally, it didn't matter whether he took him or not.

But Jerry, who wanted to leave as quickly as possible, said,

"I'll... take him."

He quickly picked up the unconscious man, fearing Juri might say something else, and left.

Juri waved enthusiastically at Jerry's retreating back.

"Take care! See you later!"

Jerry's face, receiving his farewell, looked as if his soul had been sucked out.

After Jerry completely disappeared,

Juri looked down at the rabbit and deer leather in his hands.

"Hmm... 6,000 points."

He didn't know how many animals were released into the forest.

But with 50 pieces of leather per rabbit and 20 per deer, it was a significant amount of points.

Even without being greedy and just catching rabbits and deer, he could collect a lot of points.

Juri's eyes gleamed with greed.

"This is... a gold mine?"

Points are walking around the forest, waiting to be collected.

From now on, it's time for a hunting frenzy.

Swish!

Juri, who couldn't afford to waste a second, started running quickly.

* * *

The muscular deer man attacked, and the 50th batch member's eyes rolled back as he fell to the side.

"Keh!"

Thud.

And five more 50th batch members were scattered around him.

They started with a dozen, but after seeing the first attacker knocked out with one hit, the rest fled in all directions.

Only four remained to attack.

Of course, they ultimately met the same fate as the first one who fainted.

"Hmph!"

The deer man snorted at the unconscious bodies.

Sweat droplets glistened on his forehead.

'They're definitely different from the random bunch during the Dragon Badge Exchange, now that they're official members.'

Sweating from just dealing with four people.

Thinking he would have to be more careful if the number increased, the deer man quickly left the scene.

Soon, a group arrived at the spot where the 50th batch members were scattered.

Swoosh.

They were dressed in black clothes, black hats, and black masks.

One of them, who seemed to be the leader, glanced at the unconscious 50th batch members and said,

"Send them all to hell."

The other black-clad figures picked up the unconscious 50th batch members and carried them away.

* * *

A thick tree trunk.

Behind it, a girl with rabbit ears looked around cautiously.

Anyone