Chapter 25

A small cry sounded, and a pheasant pierced by an arrow fell from above.

The arrow was embedded in its wing, so it wouldn’t die for a while. The timing for bleeding it out was carefully considered, and the wing was deliberately targeted.

Admiring the skill as always, Rio collected the bird and turned around.

"Remini, how many more do you plan to hunt?"

Remini, a petite girl with a ponytail, holding a small composite bow, answered while pointing to the basket on her back.

"Four more. My brother is in his growth spurt, and he needs to eat meat to build muscle."

"This is the third one, right?"

"Half of them will be smoked, so it’s fine."

She placed the pheasant in the basket. The two pheasants already inside looked up anxiously, but Rio didn’t mind.

Closing the basket lid, Rio called out to Remini’s father, who was leading the group.

"It seems like the animals are returning, but there’s still a subtle sense of unease."

During last year’s chaos with the evil beasts, the mountain animals had disappeared. They had either hidden in fear or moved to new homes.

With the arrival of spring after winter, the mountain was regaining its vitality. However, the number of animals still seemed lower than usual.

But the scarcity of herbivorous animals had turned the mountain into an ideal feeding ground for birds with wide ranges, making the skies noisy.

Remini’s father, a hunter, nodded quietly, sharing the same impression as Rio.

Remini’s father was taciturn, answering questions that could be answered with a yes or no only by nodding or shaking his head.

"Is it just the lingering effects of the evil beasts?"

After a brief pause, he nodded slightly.

Even Remini’s father, who knew the mountains well, couldn’t definitively say whether it was due to the evil beasts, but he seemed to have no other leads.

A few days ago, Baldo and Kari had conducted a survey and deemed it safe, but it didn’t seem like they could stay for long.

Rio plucked the young buds from the spiky branches.

At this time of year, hunting and gathering were taking place all over the mountain. The food and medicine were valuable, and if they could hunt foxes or badgers, they could sell the fur in town.

To buy a white blade sword, Rio, as an older brother, was particularly enthusiastic.

Whether Shira knew about Rio’s enthusiasm or not, she was calmly gathering mountain vegetables and herbs. She had been told not to pick mushrooms because she couldn’t distinguish them, so her basket was all green.

Suddenly, Shira stopped and looked up.

"…Rio, aren’t you going to pick those berries?"

Above Shira, red berries were densely clustered. Each one was about the size of a thumb, and the branches were drooping due to their weight.

The red berries looked delicious and had a slightly sweet aroma.

"Those are called Flaug berries, and they’re poisonous. Eating one will cause uncontrollable nausea, and eating two will stop your heart. There are no signs of animals or birds eating them, even though there are so many. They all avoid them."

When fully ripe, some birds crush them and apply them to their bodies to kill lice. Humans also use them to make rat poison as summer approaches.

However, Rio grabbed Shira’s arm and pulled her away from the tree.

"Touching them when they’re unripe can cause itching or swelling, so stay away."

"But there are signs of them being eaten."

"Huh?"

Shira pointed to the base of the tree. She must have noticed it while gathering vegetables.

There were bitten berries and crushed seeds on the ground.

Remini’s father rolled the berries with a stick to show the bite marks. Remini, looking from the side, murmured curiously.

"Large animals. Maybe they’re just hiding in the mountains."

"Before that, what could have eaten them? Deer and bears avoid them, and if a monkey ate one, it might have died."

Looking around, there were no signs of a dead monkey or any bear tracks.

"…An evil beast?"

Shira pointed out the possibility, but Remini’s father shook his head.

"Poison affects evil beasts too."

"In that case, could it be that the territory’s owner is gone due to the evil beasts, and animals that don’t usually come here have moved in?"

Remini’s theory was plausible, but there was no evidence to confirm it.

Deciding to report it to the village chief later, they continued gathering on the backside of the mountain.

"Only birds."

Sighing at the imbalance in their catch, Remini tilted her head.

"Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily, but we need money. We couldn’t go into the mountains much last fall, and our family is in financial trouble."

"…I’m causing you trouble."

Remini’s father muttered an apology, his back hunched.

Remini laughed and patted her father’s back.

"It can’t be helped! It’s not your fault; it’s because of the evil beasts."

The mountains were reopened before they were fully confirmed to be safe because families like Remini’s were struggling.

Even if they weren’t, the mountain behind the village needed to be cleared of brush to prevent wild animals from raiding the fields.

The permission to enter the mountains was granted due to various adult considerations.

Still, the amount they could gather from the back mountain was limited.

Remini looked wistfully at the neighboring mountain.

"If we could extend our range, we could target pheasants."

"No."

"I know. We haven’t confirmed the safety of the other side yet—wait, what’s that?"

Remini narrowed her eyes, noticing something.

Curious, Rio stood next to Remini and followed her gaze.

"What’s that?"

On the slope of the neighboring mountain, something was moving between the trees.

At first, it looked like a bear, but its gait was strange.

Remini’s expression turned serious as she observed it.

"It looks like a monkey… but it’s too big."

It was a massive creature, large enough to be mistaken for a bear. Remini’s father was also scrutinizing it with a sharp gaze.

"…Rio, didn’t we encounter evil monkey beasts last year?"

Remini’s father asked, and Rio recalled.

The evil monkey beasts that Baldo and his team encountered while maintaining the road were about twice the size of a normal monkey.

If the creature moving between the trees on the neighboring mountain was an evil monkey beast, it was nearly twice as large as the one they had seen before.

Comparing it to the surrounding trees, it was even taller than Rakudo, the most physically fit person in the village. It was walking on two legs, and its thick arms were holding something.

What set it apart from humans was the dark brown fur covering its entire body.

"I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably an evil beast."

Moreover, it was a large one. The threat level was incomparable to an evil weasel. It might even use magic.

It was no longer a time for gathering or hunting.

"Let’s go back and report to the village chief. On the way, we’ll alert everyone in the village to withdraw."

Rio and the others quietly hid behind the tree trunks and began their retreat to the village.