Chapter 366

The Hunters are gathered around Yelena after she comes back with several Boar People. She dumps them on the ground in the middle of the encampment, one after the other, from her Interspatial Ring.

Despite being at Peak Imperium Rank, the Boar People are very tricky to hunt. They can build traps and use group hunting tactics to try and kill whoever is after them. They can’t speak, but they have an elaborate sign language that they have evolved for the sole purpose of killing. They are humanoid killing machines with extremely tough hide.

The Hunters gathered around Yelena keep oohing and making appreciative sounds as she takes one corpse after the other from the Interspatial Ring, until she showcases twelve Boar People. That is a hunting band — an entire one — that she hunted by herself. And to do this in a day’s work is nothing short of exceptional.

“My goodness, Yelena,” one of the Hunters says. “The head of the guild will surely promote you now. This is incredible. Twelve of these fuckers. How did you do it?”

Yelena smiles widely, with pearly white teeth, at the group of Hunters.

“It was hard, but I put down traps and disabled their own traps first. So when they walked in, thinking to check on whether they got any prey, what really happened was that they got snared and slaughtered by my own traps. But let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. The traps were having a hard time punching through their hide, and that’s why I had to jump in and kill half of these personally. It was mayhem. I even took a couple of blows that are still healing.”

Yelena, covered in gore from head to toe, removes the top armor piece and then rolls up the cured leather that she’s wearing under her armor to show some big bruises.

All the others nod and pat her on the shoulder. Getting a wound, a bruise, is not a sign of failure. It’s actually a sign of a hunt well done. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but put yourself on the line. And hunting twelve Boar People with only a couple of bruises to show is nothing short of extraordinary.

“So,” one of the Hunters says, “have you seen those two pipsqueaks who are going after Boar People as well?”

Yelena shakes her head. “They apparently just joined the Adventurers’ Guild, and they’re already operating as idiot adventurers. I told them it was dangerous and that they should have stepped back. I’d be surprised if they even managed to bring a few Boar People back.”

The other Hunters were in agreement. But another guy says, “Well, you know that those two are actually Mithril Rank Trap Masters?”

Yelena turns to see an Adventurers’ Guild member and says, “So what? Do you think that just because they’re Trap Masters they can kill Boar People easily? And Mithril Rank certified by whom? By you frauds? We all know that the branch in Kamengrad is up to all kinds of shenanigans. Favoritism is your bread and butter. Those are probably the scions of some families that just got the tokens as a favor or something.”

“I don’t think so.” The adventurer shrugs. He’s just come back from an Adamantite hunt, and he’s quite beat up, with little to show for it. “You know, those two are— I think that they’re stronger than they might let on.”

“Yeah? What makes you think that? You are saying that my instincts as a Hunter are wrong? What does a soft-skinned adventurer know about hunting, anyway? Your hands are only good for counting money.”

The adventurer sighs and rubs his face. “Why do you Hunters have to always be so nasty? I’m telling you, these two are pretty good.”

“Are they so good you’d put money on it?”

The guy frowns. “What kind of bet are you thinking about?”

“If they bring back even a couple of Boar People, I’ll pay you.”

“Really?” The adventurer smiles.

“Yeah. Adventurers are useless. I have no doubt that they might even be dead.” Yelena nods. “Unfortunately, we don’t wish death on adventurers. But you guys certainly go looking for it, and begging to die like idiots.”

The adventurer scratched his long beard and thought about this for a second, and said, “What’s the action?”

“How about ten Adamantite coins for each Boar Person they bring back? But if they don’t bring back any, you give me fifty.”

The adventurer raised an eyebrow. Fifty Adamantite coins were not anything to scoff at. But at the same time, after he saw how that kid had absolutely destroyed those Mithril Rank traps… Well, not destroyed, but defused, he corrected himself mentally. How hard of a time could he have with the Boar People?

But no — what if he lost? Fifty Adamantite coins might be his whole reward for a week of work in this damn valley. Was it worth risking his entire stipend here against the Hunters?

“What? Are you gonna chicken out, little adventurer?” the man says.

The adventurer narrows his eyes and says, “How many people are interested in this bet?”

He sees that all the Hunters raise their hands, including Yelena, who has a foot on the large belly of one of the Boar People she killed.

And the adventurer said, “Yeah. Ah, wait a moment.”

The adventurer goes rounding up all the other adventurers and explains the terms of the bet. When they all remember that John Cabbage has defused a Mithril Rank trap with a pickaxe, one of them says, “Surely he must be able to create Adamantite traps that would easily take down an entire band, right?”

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“Yeah, but there’s an army of Boar People this year. I think they will have to send more extermination groups out. With the numbers we have right now, we’re practically in mortal danger at any time. If the Boar People decided to attack, even Adamantite Rank fighters might die.”

That did throw cold water on many adventurers, who are now looking unsure. But the same adventurer who had gone to propose they all take the bet said, “They’re adventurers now, and we have all seen how capable Cabbage is, right? You really think he cannot bring back three or four of those pig bastards?”

“Yeah,” another mutters under his breath. “We have to take this. It’s foolish not to. Cabbage is one of ours, and we can’t let those Hunter bastards talk bad about a brother.”

“Right,” another man says, smashing a fist into his palm. “We have to win, and we have to trust our boy, Cabbage.”

Another man says, “I’ll take the bet, but stop saying his last name. Let’s call him John. Every time you call him by his last name, I swear to God, it makes me want to drop this bet.”

Many nodded, and then went to find the Hunters, who were laughing almost until falling to the ground at the fact that all of them were going to take the bet.

At this point, there were several thousand Adamantite coins on the line from each camp. And the situation would be particularly dire for the Hunters in case John and Talia brought back more than a couple of Boar People. But that, in the Hunters’ minds, was just impossible. Each of them was ready to lose at best ten Adamantite coins, because even if you kill one Boar Person, it is essentially impossible to take them away. Immediately, a war band would fall upon you and try to eat you alive. Boar People are very protective of their own, which is why if you go out and try to hunt them, you must be ready to face more than a dozen at once — just like Yelena had done.

And they wait. They all wait in front of the gate of the camp.

There is a metal wall that’s been made by people who can bend and manipulate metal. No one is playing in this valley, and they know that they might be swarmed by monsters. So the walls are manned heavily, and there are scouts all around the encampment.

It’s almost sunset, and there is no sign of John Cabbage and Talia Carrot, which makes the adventurers a little antsy.

“They might be dead,” a Hunter laughed out loud. “These two idiots went after Boar People when their power is barely Intermediate Imperium Rank. What fools would do something like that?”

The adventurers start doubting John and Talia, and they look at each other, thinking they have just made a terrible, terrible bet, and that they’re gonna have to go back to their husbands and wives and tell them why exactly they have gained not one coin — or actually lost some — on an expedition that should have put a feast on their table.

The adventurers are starting to feel very depressed as the sunset turns to evening, and then turns to a dark night. Once dark descends, only the craziest Hunters usually stay out. Most monsters can see very well in the dark, just as if it was day, and that makes monsters much more dangerous at night. Night is considered by many Hunters the domain of monsters, and as soon as an experienced Hunter saw the sun set, they would run back to the encampment.

“Come on, they’re all dead,” the adventurers heard the Hunters shout. “Just pay up, and we can all go to sleep. I want to get out at dawn tomorrow.”

They’re pondering what to do. The only reason some Hunters can stay out is because of incredible perception Skills. Unless you have a superior and extremely powerful perception Skill — possibly at Adamantite Rank — you’re not going to be able to hunt at night.

But that’s when a scout on the wall says, “They’re coming back.”

Many Hunters have gone to drink at the tavern, with just a few of them being left. Now, the Hunters scramble to call all their friends up to mock what’s probably gonna be an empty-handed return. They can already picture Talia Carrot and John Cabbage covered in blood from head to toe, limping, absolutely destroyed by their encounter with the Boar People.

And it takes a few minutes for the two to cross the gate, as the Hunters who have taken up the bet all gather there, rubbing their hands together, already feeling the clinking of coin falling in their pouches.

And when Talia and John cross the gate, everybody is confused.

They look exactly as they looked when they went out. They’re clean. There’s not one scratch on them. Talia’s hair is flowing and looks like it has just been shampooed.

The Hunters look at each other, confused. They know how grueling it is to go after Boar People — how you have to hide, often having to cover yourself in mud and crawl around in the foliage, with all the bugs and critters trying to eat your extremities.

“Where the hell have they been?” a Hunter mutters. “Did they just go into a secret resort in the valley? Why do they look fresher now?”

He had seen them leave in the morning. He had been all day in the encampment, skinning some of the monsters he had hunted the day prior.

John and Talia are casually chatting with each other. And the Hunters couldn’t understand why they were so casual and relaxed.

“They must have not been after the Boar People, then. Maybe they just went for a walk and camped right outside the wall for a picnic.”

“That must be it,” another Hunter chimes in.

And the adventurers, hearing that, feel like they’re about to cry. A picnic? We lost all our money because these two had to go out for a damn picnic?

And so they wait for the two to say anything as they pass through their ranks. Any Hunter coming back, even with just one Boar Person, would be boasting and showing them off, just like Yelena did. But John and Talia are just laughing at each other’s jokes, and don’t even notice that the crowd is entirely focused on them.

“Are these two serious?” an adventurer mutters. “They must have not brought back anything, if they don’t even say a word.”

At that point, the adventurer who had proposed the bet to all the other adventurers can’t take it anymore and says, “John?” — making the young man turn.

“Yeah?”

“So did you guys go hunt the Boar People?”

“Yeah,” John replies with a shrug, and is about to turn away.

“Look at him lying,” a Hunter says. “If he had really gone hunting, first of all, he would be covered in gore. Second of all, he would be telling everybody.”

“But so you did?” the same adventurer asks.

“Yeah,” John replies again, frowning. “Is there a problem? Did we hunt too many? Uh, we saw a few people there, and I hope that we didn’t take them all.”

The Hunters are now laughing at the insane lie. There were more than a thousand Boar People in the valley, perhaps even more. Even the scouts haven’t been able to ascertain the full number. And short of Zamorye sending a full exterminating force, they certainly wouldn’t be killed anytime soon. And now this kid was casually claiming that he didn’t want to take them all for himself? Had he lost his mind?

“Uh, John, could you show us the corpses? You brought them back, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, we did.” John nods. “Talia is carrying most of them. My Interspatial Ring couldn’t really fit them all.”

The Hunters are laughing louder and louder now at the absurd lie, when the adventurer says, “Could you take them out?”

“Sure. Uh, should we give them to you guys? We’re looking for someone to butcher them, uh, while we go out hunting other monsters.”

“Just take them out,” a Hunter shouts, starting to lose his patience. “I need my money. I’m gonna drink it all tonight. My sweet, stupid adventurer’s money.”

John looks at him and shrugs. Then he takes the first Boar Person out of his Interspatial Ring, and the entire crowd goes silent.