v1c7 (1/2)
Volume 1 Chapter 7 – Revenge of Rabbit – Second Part
The next day I came to the guild’s training place. I trained under instructor Vogt, I practiced archery and knife throwing technique. At first it was only archery, but the bow made quite some noise. Decreasing the distance if I used throwing knives I could attack almost silently. That’s why I learned both techniques.
“I see, your fight hasn’t ended yet. That’s the spirit.”
“That’s why I’m acquiring anti-rabbit Skills.”
“Heh, what kind of Skill?”
“Instructor, what’s that?” while saying that I point behind the instructor.
The instant he turns his head around, I erase my presence and silently move to his side, aiming the knife at his side to stab. But, on the verge my hand was stopped and I desist.
“I was surprised. That you’d aim for my chest.”
“No, as expected of the instructor. I expected to perfectly take you by surprise, yet you were able to stop me.”
“Did you erase your presence to move silently? That’s a good Skill. Someone average wouldn’t be able to stop it.”
“Yes, with this, this time I’ll annihilate them.”
In the end that whole day I spent practicing throwing knives. I concluded the bow’s compatibility with 【Stealth】 and 【Ninja Walk】 is not good enough. [TL Note: s.h.i.+n.o.bi-As.h.i.+ (忍び足) = Ninja Feet, Stealthy Step or Tiptoeing. Edit: As suggested from comments, I’ve decided to change s.h.i.+n.o.bi-As.h.i.+ to Ninja Walk since it’s a special way of walking for ninjas, described as: “To raise a leg by pulling it up from the ground and silently putting the leg onto the ground from firstly the little toe and finally transmitting the weight from the little toe to the big toe. This was the most basic walk for ninjas.”]
Owing to that, by the time it became dark, my throwing rose to level 2. The newly added Skills were the following:
Archery Level 1, Throwing Technique Level 2, Stealth Level 2, Ninja Walk Level 2 and Presence Detection Level 2.
The remaining 21 Skill Points were all spent. Presence Detection is to search for opponents, Stealth and Ninja Walk for getting closer. Throwing knives to kill. It’s my formula for a magnificent win. [TL: Archery and Throwing were free from practicing, but he spent 5 points to acquire + 2P for level 2 for each of Stealth, Ninja Walk and Presence detection = 15P + 6P = 21 total]
The next day, without delay I go out to the gra.s.slands. I don’t have a request, even without one, as long as there’s demand the raw materials can be sold in the neighboring Trade Guild. Well, since I got 3000 Gold from the wild rabbit reward, in the meantime I don’t need to earn more money yet.
At the gate the usual soldier greeted me.
“Hey, Wild Rabbit, are you going to hunt wild rabbits today? Good luck!”
I received that encouragement. That’s good, but Wild Rabbit has stuck as the nickname they call me by…
I left towards the gra.s.slands, but as expected, because I hunted them yesterday the number of prey around here might have decreased. That’s why today I headed to a different place. I move while using Presence Detection. I detect birds and small rats, but I can’t find wild rabbits. Am I not used to it or is the level too low? I can sense the presence of living creatures and their general direction, but the type or precise location I can’t quite grasp. Even so, I could find the birds and small rats the I couldn’t until yesterday, wild rabbits shouldn’t be a problem.
Walking with Stealth and Ninja Walk I finally saw a prey. It’s a wild rabbit. I take one throwing knife into my hand and slowly get closer. The distance to reliably hit is… here! I throw the knife. Without noticing the knife it died.
Engrossed I hunted till it pa.s.sed around 2 hours. I already had 30 rabbits. I have a considerable pace. Before I knew it I had come close to the forest. While taking a break I think. Inside the forest there’s bigger prey, there seems to be deers, wild boars and bears. But there danger of monsters appearing is also high.
While thinking what to do, something came out from the forest. I lay on the gra.s.sland, erase my presence and monitor the situation. Is that an orc? Its height is low but it got a solid physique. It got a face like a pig. It is wearing tattered cloths and holding a club in his hand. The orc without caution walks this way. Can I kill it? Gradually the orc is getting closer. My throwing knife can’t reach yet, but magic will likely do.
I extend my left hand towards the orc and cast 【Fire Lance】. Evoking the Fire Arrow magic it almost takes no time to be cast, but Fire Ball and Fire Lance take time. A lance of fire appears. The orc notices me, but it’s too late. Fire Lance is cast. It’s considerably faster than fire arrow. Without time to avoid the Fire Lance, it pierces its body and the orc dies. It was a simple thing.
“Way to go. That was pretty easy.”
I thought I’d have some unpleasant feeling from killing a humanoid monster, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t feel any different from hunting wild rabbits.
When I was collecting the corpse, from the forest several orcs came out. The orcs noticed me, rose their clubs and came attacking. However there’s still some distance and calmly cast 【Fire Lance】. It killed two of the approaching orcs. Two more left. I prepare by drawing the short sword on my waist. “Guoooooooo” the orcs rise a warcry. I got two opponents, but there’s one too many compared to beginner’s training. Their movements compared to the instructor is too slow. The orc that came rus.h.i.+ng was fairly frightening, but I avoided with a big margin, cut it with the short sword and it was defeated. Seeing that, the remaining orc escaped. I throw a knife at the orc that showed me its back. I approach the fallen orc with the knife piercing its back and finish it with the sword. And I leveled up.
After collecting the corpses, looking like there were no more orcs, I kept vigilant and on the spot I activate Stealth and check my status.
Text stats from WN
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Yamano Masaru, Human, Magic Swordsman
【t.i.tles】 Wild Rabbit Hunter
The man who desperately fought with a wild rabbit.
Level 4