New Strategy

"We're home!" the two boys cried out in unison as they stepped through the door.

"Welcome back, Allen, Mash," Theresia answered from within. She was currently busy preparing dinner with her youngest child on her back. Allen hurried forward to help out.

This past February, Theresia had given birth to her third child without incident, a baby girl this time. As Theresia and Rodin had agreed that she would get to name all their daughters and he would get to name all the sons, she finally got her chance.

She went with Myulla, derived from the Flower of Muellerze that had saved Rodin's life. She had apparently decided on this name even before the child was born.

Allen honestly thought that, between his parents, his mother had the better naming sense. After all, "Allen" and "Mash" were both derived from monster names. Allen was now more than familiar with the monster that his name was based on, but he had yet to have the chance to meet Mash's.

Once, while going on a supplies run with Gerda, Allen had asked him about the Murdergalsh. As it turned out, this monster had once been responsible for blocking salt and fruit from reaching the village.

Murdergalshes were solitary creatures and would wander wherever they wanted. They kept no nests and had no interest in territory. Its appearance was like that of a giant wolf. It was supposedly twice as huge as a great boar, but Gerda said even he had never seen one in person before.

These monsters would sometimes temporarily settle down on the roads that ran between villages and cities. When this happened, the merchants and travelers that normally traversed those roads would have no choice but to either give up the journey or double back to take a huge detour.

As a Rank B monster, the murdergalsh was not easy to defeat. There were times one would stay put for over a month, severely impacting the flow of goods and people.

When that happened, the feudal lord's chivalric order would be dispatched.

Gerda said he had vivid memories of when this had happened to another village. However, when the knights arrived on scene, the monster had already up and left for somewhere else. In the end, there was no subjugation.

Allen's impression was that the murdergalsh was a monster that caused a lot of trouble all around. At the very least, it did not sound like the type that anyone would take a liking to. He stared at his younger brother, who was currently listlessly rolling about, and hoped that he would grow up into someone whom everyone would love.

"I'm back," Rodin announced. He had made a complete recovery, returning to the fields in spring to sow the seeds. Now, he was back to being the one carrying fresh water every morning. Other than that, he spent the majority of his days in the fields.

Allen was also applying himself to farming, learning from his father.

However, he did this only in the mornings. When he had suggested helping out the entire day, it was Gerda, not Rodin, who stopped him.

The large man had even grabbed both of Allen's shoulders, heavily stressing that "children should play outside while they're children."

Allen still remembered how tightly Gerda had gripped him and how much it had hurt. So he now passed his days helping out in the fields in the morning and playing knight in the afternoons. Every day was very busy.

The family gathered around the sunken fireplace in the main room of the house and ate dinner. Spittle dribbled down Myulla's face as Theresia spoon-fed her baby food, which was slowly being incorporated into her diet.

Allen, who was starving from all the exercise he had gotten in the afternoon, devoured the steamed potatoes voraciously.

"You came home pretty late today," Theresia suddenly said to Rodin.

In light of what had happened before, she would now get worried whenever Rodin returned late. He knew this and therefore would do his best to come home on time, but today had ended up being an exception.

"Mm, Deboji summoned me again," Rodin answered, his brows drawing together into a frown.

Anger and alarm flashed through Theresia's face, as Rodin's huge injury last year had also been set off by a similar visit to the village chief's house.

She inadvertently leaned forward toward Rodin and asked anxiously, "Wh-What did he say?"

Rodin froze, still holding onto his soup bowl and wooden spoon. Silence filled the air as he seemed to struggle for words, but he eventually said gravely, "He wants us to double the number of great boars we hunt to twenty in two years. To do this, he wants us to expand the hunting party to include both commoners and serfs."

What Theresia feared the most had proven to be true. She blurted, "What?! B-But that's...! After last year! He can't be serious!" Because her sudden outburst had caused Myulla to burst into tears, she had to reach over and pacify her in a fluster.

"Father, can we continue this conversation after I put Myulla and Mash to bed?"

Both Rodin and Theresia looked over at Allen in surprise, a "Huh?"

escaping their lips at the same time. Their son was still spooning soup into his mouth calmly as if nothing had happened. The sight of it helped the two adults calm down somewhat and they resumed eating.

After dinner was over, Allen tucked Myulla and Mash in. Once he confirmed that they were fast asleep, he came out to the main room and found both Rodin and Theresia sitting silently, their heads lowered. Theresia was using both hands to slowly swirl a cup filled with boiled water, now lukewarm after cooling down.

"So, can we hear the rest of the story, father?"

"Mm."

Rodin proceeded to go into detail. He had visited the village chief's house together with Gerda, and was told that they had two years to double the number of great boars they hunted. What's more, this was not a request from the village chief, but from the feudal lord directly.

The feudal lord had been making annual inquiries for the past few years about increasing the amount of meat sent to the city. Deboji had then conveyed the question to Rodin and Gerda, who had responded "No" every time.

It had always been the same party of roughly twenty people, and there were no suitable candidates to add to their numbers. It was not as if they were turning away interested applicants either, as shown by their acceptance of the five commoners last year.

However, the serfs all had families, and they valued their lives more than the meat. Their families naturally shared the same sentiment.

"So, you turned Deboji down this time too, right?" Theresia asked worriedly.

"The thing is, the feudal lord said that if we can't ramp up our efforts by hunting fifteen great boars this year, he'll gather more serfs from elsewhere in the domain."

In other words, when it came to increasing the number of great boar hunts, the feudal lord was no longer taking no as an answer. If necessary, he was willing to displace serfs from other nearby villages and settle them in this one just to bolster the hunting party's numbers with the hope of raising their output.

This suggestion was based on the assumption that there would be serfs in other villages willing to join the hunts.

"So, you mean...increasing the number of serfs in our village?"

"Right. Which might cause the amount of land that each family can work to go down. That, or those who don't go hunting might have all their land given to the newcomers."

At the end of the day, serfs did not own the land they tilled. They had no right to. A single word from their feudal lord, and the land they had been nurturing for generations could be taken away in the blink of an eye.

"Th-That's...!" Theresia was shocked beyond words. Allen now understood why Rodin's face looked so clouded.

"Gerda and I discussed increasing the frequency of our hunts. There's no other way to bring back more game. We're gathering everyone together tomorrow to talk it over."

"Even if you manage to make do somehow, when the quota is raised to twenty next year and the year after, you're still going to have to accept more serfs into the village," Allen said suddenly, speaking up for the first time since the start of this conversation. "That and, when you raise the frequency of the hunts, you might have hunting party members drop out."

There was a reason why the party had left around ten days between each hunt. All the members were weighing the burden of hunting against their own livelihoods. They would get more meat the more hunts they went, true, but the danger they were exposing themselves to would also go up in proportion.

"Wha— You...do have a point." Rodin was surprised to hear Allen calmly analyzing the situation, but had been thinking the same thing himself.

"So ultimately, you'd still need more members in the party."

"That's right. But we tried that last year and failed. I don't even know if there's anyone else willing to join, and even if there is, more people are just going to make the hunts more complicated."

Rodin's response to Allen was serious and direct. When Rodin had gotten injured, it was Allen who had harvested the fields, done the house chores, and looked after Mash. He even put himself in harm's way fighting against albaherons, Rank D monsters, multiple times so that the family could make it through the winter. Because of how much he had done, Rodin now spoke to him not as a child, but as an equal.

'I never thought I'd have to rely on my cover story for something like this... But. Well, I guess this gives me credibility.' Allen looked at his parents' faces in turn, then said, "I have the wisdom that Elmea gave me."

The two looked back at him with astonished faces as they recalled what he had shared before, about the Trials and the blessings that the gods had bestowed him with.

"Can you let me try to solve this problem my way?" Allen continued. "I have a feeling I can do something about it."

In short, Allen was declaring that he had a solution, thanks to the wisdom that the gods had granted him.

***

The next day, Gerda found himself summoned to Allen and Rodin's house. After all, he was the other leader of the hunting effort; big decisions would naturally need his agreement.

"Allen, is it true that you know how to increase the number of hunters and keep it safe?"

Gerda did not trust Allen as deeply as Rodin did. He was, after all, a six-year-old boy who had never even seen a great boar hunt in person.

"I can't guarantee that it'd be absolutely safe." Allen said apathetically. 'After all, there are no absolutes when hunting.'

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

Surprise and disappointment filled both Rodin's and Gerda's faces.

"However, this hunting method is definitely safer than what you've been doing so far. In the first place, assigning newcomers to the all-important shield wall is a terrible idea."

'They probably have low levels and therefore low stats. Their defense would be weaker than tofu.'

Back in his past life as a gamer, Allen had spent dozens of thousands of hours grinding to make his in-game characters as strong as possible. That took various forms and methods, be it hunting solo or in a party, staying still in one area or moving about according to spawn points. He would change up what he did according to the specific mob and zone.

The method currently used by Rodin and Gerda's hunting party involved drawing a great boar to the hunting ground, keeping it in place with a shield wall, and then finishing it off. In games, this was called "fishing" or "pulling."

Of course, training up newcomers required experience too, especially if safety was a concern. There were many considerations and precautions when incorporating someone new into a party.

"So what? You saying you have a better idea?"

"Of course. I'll explain it now. And one more thing."

"What?"

"I'm also coming along on the next hunt."

After declaring his intention on being a part of the great boar hunts going forward, Allen proceeded to share his idea for how best to safely incorporate newcomers into the hunting party.