Hunt Continues

"That was indeed a spectacular battle. I am now reassured that this group does indeed have the ability to hunt twenty great boars within the year," Lord Granvelle declared. He had been nodding multiple times while the hunt was going on.

"That certainly does seem to be the case," Zenof agreed before jerking with a start. "Hm? The other two scouts appear to have returned. Why are they running at full speed?"

The hunt was supposedly over, and yet the two men burst from the trees just as Pekej had done. Before Allen had time to reply, however, the Captain's answer itself came barreling into view.

"GUMOOHHHHHH!"

Two great boars came charging in, their eyes bloodshot. With their pursuers gaining on them, the two fishers dashed straight toward the rest of the hunting party.

"What?! Leibrand! There are two great boars!" Zenof shouted from the top of the viewing stand, ordering the troops below to ready themselves for battle. They had to protect both the Feudal Lord and the members of the hunting party.

However, just as Leibrand began commanding his men to get into formation, Allen said in a calm voice, "Apologies, Sir Zenof."

"What is it at this time?!"

"The hunt is still in progress. Please have your men stand down."

"What?!" exclaimed both Zenof and Lord Granvelle, the latter of whom had also been listening.

Allen continued, "As I mentioned yesterday, we are here today to demonstrate, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that we hunters of Krena Village can definitely meet your quota. The hunt continues."

Even as Allen was speaking, the two great boars had almost closed in on the hunters. The knights would not make it in time even if they were to charge forward now.

"THERE'RE TWO OF THEM THIS TIME! GET FIRED UP, MEN!!!"

"YESSIR!!!"

The forty-or-so men suddenly psyched themselves up, responding to Rodin's encouragement with an even louder roar than before. There was no fear or hesitation in their manner as they surged forward and assumed formation in front of the carcass of the great boar they had already killed.

The fishers dashed past the two large shields. Seconds later, the shields slammed against the charging great boars. Unlike before, there were now only two people holding back each beast. The vicious horns on the monsters' snouts gouged the shields' surfaces. The shield-bearers retreated one step, then another. Their shields were caved in, but were still holding fast. Before long, they forced the great boars to a halt.

"They've stopped! Split up and surround them!"

Following Gerda's command, both his team and the group wielding long spears divided and swiftly assumed positions, their steps sure and practiced.

Half of a party of forty was still more than enough to deal with a single great boar. Without ado, Rodin and his team also broke up into four smaller groups to stab at the beasts from both sides, aiming for their vital areas just as before.

'All right, the timing for bringing two great boars right after killing one was perfect! All that practice paid off.'

Before, Allen had always wondered why the hunting party only ever killed one great boar per hunt. The idea behind the pulling strategy—at least, in the games that he used to play—was to kill every monster that aggroed.

Losing mobs on purpose was an unthinkable waste. When he heard the details, however, he learned that the hunting party was intentionally splitting up great boar groups because, quite simply, they were only capable of handling a single boar.

So then, the question became, "Why is it that they can only hunt one?"

After really mulling it over, Allen concluded that the fault in their strategy lay not in the hunters' levels, weapons, or numbers. No, it was their armor. The serfs were not equipped with proper armor able to withstand attacks from great boars. Hemp provided practically zero protection. Even Rodin, who had been participating in these hunts for over a decade, was left at death's door after taking a single attack.

However, procuring armor was not easy. The reward for participating in the hunts was meat, which would be used up to sustain each hunter and their family's livelihood. No one had the financial leeway to buy themselves armor. Compared to the cost of the short sword Allen had inquired about back in the village weapons shop, the price of a large steel shield was astronomical.

The only thing that the villagers could afford to upgrade was their spears. The two-meter-long ones were especially short for weapons classified as polearms. This length was a compromise—if the spear was too long, it would snap when under stress; if it was too short, the wielders were susceptible to attacks from the great boar's tusks and horns. And this group of hunters had been hunting for ten years using these same fittings.

The way Allen saw it, continuously upgrading one's equipment was a basic of hunting. By upgrading, one improves their ability to hunt more efficiently and chase bigger prey. True to that theory, Allen acquired shields and armor for the party, and they were now powerful enough to hunt two boars at the same time.

Allen heaved a small sigh of relief seeing the strategy go off without a hitch. The group had only attempted it twice before; today's hunt was their third time.

'If Lord Granvelle had come a bit later, we would have been able to get more practice in, but I suppose this is fine.'

Soon enough, blood spurted from the neck of the second great boar thanks to someone piercing its jugular. Then the third monster also succumbed in short order.

"Ohhhh!" Zenof exclaimed. "The killing blow has been dealt!"

"And that is all three great boars. I am glad it went well," Allen replied.

"A job well done indeed. And since the party killed three today, there are only seventeen left to go."

"A correction if I may, sir. Including these three from today, we have now killed ten this year." Both the Feudal Lord and Knight Captain exclaimed simultaneously, "What?!"

The hunting party had already gone out several times after receiving word of the Feudal Lord's visit. More specifically, today marked their fourth hunt of the year.

"As I said, we will be able to meet the quota without issue. With this, we've made our case."

The Feudal Lord's sharp and somewhat slanted eyes stared at the hunters happily patting each other's backs for a hunt well done. There were traces of a warm smile on his face.

"That is a relief. You have convinced me that I can trust this village to bring down twenty great boars this year." In other words, he was indirectly acknowledging that he would not be deploying his knights nor relocating serfs from other villages.

Allen bowed. "Your words give us reassurance, my lord. However, there are two requests I have that would affect the future of these hunts."

"What manner of requests?" the Knight Captain asked, looking mystified.

"What is there to improve upon after today's results?"

"There are members of the hunting party who are still underequipped. And if possible, we would want at least two more large shields."

"Hm..."

Allen proceeded to elaborate. The armor was self-evident, but if the party had three large shields, they could eventually hunt three great boars at the same time. The fourth one would be a spare. There was no telling how long a shield would last, as they had only been used four times as of today. It would be wise to have an extra on hand.

"I see. So you want to improve the party's equipment in preparation for next year's hunts and beyond."

"Yes, sir. What's more, there is something else I am worried about. As long as this issue is not addressed, I fear it might become difficult to continue these hunts."

The matter that concerned Allen was something that would grow larger along with the expanding scale of the hunts. He very much wanted to make the powers that be understand the problem right here and now, especially because it would affect his own family.

The Feudal Lord nodded. "Speak."

"Yes, my lord. At this rate, the hunters will eventually lose interest in joining the hunts, and the size of the hunting party will begin to shrink."

"How do you figure?"

"And my proposed solution for this problem is wine."

"Wine...?"

Both the Feudal Lord and Knight Captain looked baffled. Allen continued, explaining that if nothing was done, the value of boar meat would plummet in Krena Village. Previously, only ten great boars were hunted each year. If this was to suddenly become twenty boars, or even more, the local market would become saturated with meat. With excessive supply, demand—and therefore value—would decrease. Consequently, hunters would need more meat than before to trade for the same amount of firewood, salt, and other necessities.

The Knight Captain nodded in understanding. "I see. So the wine is to raise morale."

"Of course, that is one aspect of it. At the same time, the possibility of bartering meat for wine stabilizes its value."

Wine was a consumable—it would disappear when drunk. Therefore, if it could be obtained with meat, it would functionally help to drain the supply of meat from the market. It would not make sense for the wine merchants to use the meat here in this market overflowing with meat, so they would likely trade it in other places that still had a strong demand for it, such as surrounding villages or the capital of the fiefdom.

"So the system would help stabilize the value of meat and serve as a motivator for the hunters," the Knight Captain murmured, looking very impressed.

"Yes, sir. It doesn't have to be wine, of course. Anything else that is a consumable—fruit being another example—would do."

Part of what prompted Allen to bring this up was to prevent the value of albaheron meat from plummeting as well, as he planned on continuing to hunt them in large numbers should the Feudal Lord end up not giving his family commoner status. He was aiming for multiple birds with one stone, to borrow the saying.

"This is a very well-thought-out proposition. I cannot give you a definitive answer right now, but know that I will bring it back for consideration."

"Thank you, my lord."

"And this was Rodin's idea, yes?" Lord Granvelle asked, beating Allen to the line.

The boy nodded. "Yes, my lord. My father Rodin devised the whole thing."

The Feudal Lord then closed his eyes as if retreating into his thoughts. Silence fell over the top of the viewing platform.

After a short while, the Knight Captain asked, "What should we do, my lord? Should we return to the village?"

"We might as well. Allen, you have done a fine job today. Zenof, when we return, tell Deboji to summon both Rodin and Gerda."

"Yes, my lord."

'Oh? Is he going to reward them? Please give them commoner status!'

With that, the great boar hunt under the Feudal Lord's observation ended as a resounding success.