Chapter 73

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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Amidst the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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As the thick piece of meat sizzled on the iron plate, saliva filled my mouth as if the steam itself had a taste. The meat, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with garlic chips, was expertly sliced by the chef. The surface was a well-browned, crispy brown, while the cross-section revealed a deep pink, tender interior. I picked up a piece with my chopsticks, marveling at its softness. "Itadakimasu!"

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I woke up with a start. I was overwhelmed by the lingering aftertaste of the dream I had just been having. Why do dreams always end at the best part? Why couldn't I have taken a bite of that soft meat first? Sora licked away the tears from my eyes with her rough tongue, which was both comforting and a bit painful.

"Nyuu"

At the sound of my muttered words, Hakku consoled me by gently touching me with her tentacles.

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Good morning. My mood is at rock bottom because of the bad dream, but today we're going outside, so I'll do a thorough warm-up. I'll settle the score with reality for the dream's grudge! Shera has come to help me change. Since we're going outside the city, I'll wear the thick shirt and shorts I wore during practice, along with a raincoat-like robe. My shoes are small but sturdy boots. I don't walk much, though.

Arshain is also ready, and Shera, who didn't go to practice, is joining us today.

When we got to the cafeteria, Jyu, Yegram, and Digray were all prepared and greeted us with smiles. Since this isn't practice, we only carry our weapons and a small bag. The looks from the people around us are very suspicious, but we ignore them and have breakfast. We don't take the school carriage but a shared carriage. It's quite bumpy even though we're just traveling through the city. It's not a long distance, so I can endure it, but I might need to prepare for a tough journey when we go outside the city.

When we pass through the city gates, everyone shows their dog tags to the gatekeepers. Students register as adventurers when practice starts, and the dog tags are given as proof of their status. They look like ordinary metal plates, but they are actually magical devices that automatically record things like the monsters you've defeated, whether you've committed any crimes, and your rank. Everyone here has a C rank because they've hunted a lot of monsters during practice. Regular students are usually F or D rank. Jyu is C rank because he goes to the dungeon in the knight class. The dungeon is only accessible to C rank and above, so the knight class has a requirement of D rank or higher. Shera casually shows her D rank tag. I, being treated as a fairy attached to Arshain, wasn't registered. Damn!

The city has three gates: east, south, and west. This time, we're going through the east gate, which is closest to the forest. About an hour's walk away is a well-maintained forest, where there are not very aggressive monsters. Larger monsters like bear monsters only appear in forests about two hours away by carriage. Regular students can't leave the city unless they are D rank or higher, so this forest is where many new adventurers, who are just starting out, gather. Adventurer registration starts at age 10, and you can come to the forest around age 14.5. I can see several groups of boys and girls around the same age as Arshain and the others heading to the forest. The grass on both sides of the road is knee-high for Arshain and the others, but it would completely bury me. Among the grass are horned mice, rabbits, and raccoons, which are quite popular among commoners. But Jyu says they don't taste good, so he passes. Today's targets are pig monsters and chicken-like bird monsters. Boar monsters are stronger than pig monsters but taste better. Jyu also recommends lizard monster meat. Some of the new adventurers have rushed into the grass. Looking closely, the grass group is dressed in thick clothes, knives, and light robes, while the forest group is equipped with leather armor, swords, and larger bags. It seems that whether you have equipment or not determines whether you can enter the forest.

We arrived at the forest. As soon as we entered, Yegram started burning bug repellent incense, and the rustling sounds of bugs filled the air. The adventurers who had just arrived quickly captured them. Bug monsters can be quite profitable. Yegram is using expensive bug repellent from Digray's shop, but he doesn't care about the strange looks from others. I wouldn't like giant ladybugs either.

Jyu leads the way, followed by Arshain and Digray side by side, with me flying slightly behind, then Yegram, and finally Shera. Bugs, occasionally mice, and more bugs—there are a lot of bugs in the forest. Yegram, who usually has a blank expression, has a frown on his forehead. There are quite a few brightly colored birds making loud noises, but Jyu says, "You can't eat those," so we ignore them. Other adventurers are trying hard to catch them with traps, bows, and magic.

After about an hour of walking in the forest, Jyu raised his hand to stop everyone. Looking ahead, we saw a long-legged, bright blue chicken-like creature actively hunting bug monsters. It was about chest-high on Jyu, with abnormally thick legs and a short neck. It looked plump. The meat looked abundant, but the color didn't look appetizing. Since it hasn't noticed us yet, let's use magic to finish it quickly!

Using wind magic, we quickly severed its neck.

"Jyu, hang it upside down!"

"No way! There are no branches to hang it from! You have the Big Gagga needle!"

"Oh! Right!"

"Feathers can be plucked when we get back to town."

"Okay, I'll stab the heart and pull it out quickly."

"Alright."

Jyu handed me the Big Gagga needle, and we performed the bloodletting on the spot. Even though its head was severed, it was still thrashing, but Jyu quickly stabbed it with the needle. The speed and efficiency of the bloodletting determine the quality of the meat. In this world, the Big Gagga, a mysterious creature, has a beak that can drain all the blood and magic power. I don't know how it works, but it's a great ally. This discovery made the meat in the castle much softer. Even I can bite through it! Although the meat from monsters that have been dead for a while still has some odor, fresh meat, if bled immediately after being caught, should have no odor. Probably. If it's a unique odor of monsters, there's nothing we can do. The Big Gagga needle is excellent, and the bloodletting is completed in a few minutes. We burn the blood stains and store the meat in a magic bag before moving on.

Next, we found a pig monster. It had a white base with red polka dots. Monsters are quite expressive. According to Shera, fast-running monsters are usually plain, weak but large monsters are flashy, and strong monsters vary. The color of the monster also correlates with its magic power, measured in white, yellow, green, blue, red, and rainbow. Our target is a weaker monster. If a rainbow-colored monster appeared, it would be on a national level. We performed the bloodletting on the pig monster on the spot. We were given strange looks by a group of adventurers passing by.

After a lunch break, we hunted a few more and finished. Today's haul is three pig monsters and six chicken monsters. The gatekeeper gave us a pitying look as we returned empty-handed in the morning and now empty-handed again.

"Don't be discouraged, everyone starts like this."

We even got words of encouragement. No one really cared, but we were given very suspicious looks by the adventurers who went out and returned with us.

We entered the city and went to a butcher's shop that Digray knew. Thanks to Digray's prior arrangements, we were smoothly let in even though it was their day off. The butcher, Mr. Gazil, had a huge, muscular build and a fierce face. Digray must have explained the new meat processing method beforehand, as he was very interested. After casting a cleaning spell on everyone,

"Whoa, what's this? I feel so refreshed! There's a spell like this? Elite students are different!"

"No, no, Kaito cast it! We learned it from him!"

"Wow, you're pretty good for a kid!"

My head was rubbed vigorously.

"It's coming off! It's coming off! Be gentle, or my head will fall off!"

I was caught by Digray.

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry, I'm not used to kids!"

His fierce face! His shoulders are slightly drooping, but I won't say anything.

"So, how does this new meat processing method work?"

"Ah, yes, Kaito?"

Encouraged by Digray, I slowly took out the monsters from the magic bag.

"Whoa, where did you get that from?! It's not a magic bag, is it? Don't show that to just anyone! You'll be kidnapped!"

I was threatened. His face is scary!

"Calm down, Gazil. It's okay, Kaito doesn't use it carelessly in the city! I told him this is a trustworthy shop, so he's at ease."

"O-oh, right. But be careful! There have been killings over this before!"

"Aye."

Despite my casual response, he still looked a bit unsatisfied but didn't say more, focusing on the meat as I continued to take it out.

"Whoa, how many are you going to take out? We can't process all of this at once! Do it one by one!"

I was scolded, so I left one and put the rest away.

"What? The blood is completely drained! How did you do that?!"

Gazil looked shocked. I proudly showed him the Gagga needle.

"What? Is that a spear? That tiny thing can't even kill a bug!"

"No, this is for bloodletting!"

"Huh?"

"Ah, Gazil, when Kaito stabs the monster with this Big Gagga needle, the blood is drained like this."

"What! Is that true? Can I try it?"

"Sure."

I handed the Gagga needle to Gazil, who immediately stabbed a rabbit monster nearby. Blood gushed out and stopped after a few minutes.

"Wow! It really works! Amazing!"

The fierce man was as excited as a child. The contrast made Shera laugh so hard she was convulsing.