Hunting With the Princess

It had been a few minutes since I told the princess how to use the 'Search' spell, and while I could feel the waves of energy coming from her body, she kept her eyes closed in meditation, completely silent.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide and exclaimed that a monster was close, then turned around and stared at a tree located a few meters away from us.

I had been using my spell too, but the monster that she referred to felt so weak that I ignored it without thinking about it twice. To calm her mind, I took a few steps toward the tree and a giant cricket-looking bug jumped at my face.

For a moment, I heard the yelling of the princess and both maids, who were standing a bit further away behind some trees, telling me to watch out. However, I simply waved my hand and swiftly destroyed the bug's head with a smack, leaving its lifeless body on the ground.

"It's alright, It was just a bug!" I exclaimed as I turned back, seeing the princess with her mouth open, surprised about my feat of swatting a bug.

Turned out that these cricket bugs that I had seen ever since I arrived in this world were not actually bugs, but monsters. Honestly, I had my doubts at some point, but they always felt so weak and insignificant that I never even thought about using 'Inspect' on them.

During the time that I built my tree house a few years back, I ended up killing so many of them that at some point they stopped wandering around my house.

The princess told me they were called "dark crickets," and were a G-rank monster that were known for killing the pets and cattle of farmers in remote areas next to forests. "I-it's not like I'm scared of a G-rank monster! Those bugs are just nasty…" the princess said while blushing a little, embarrassed from her own reaction.

I giggled at how cute the princess was acting when I felt something from my search spell. It was the energy of a monster I had never seen before, but it didn't feel extremely powerful. Excitedly, I asked the princess if she could feel it too, and after closing her eyes for a few seconds, she opened them and pointed in the direction that the energy emanated from.

When we arrived at the spot, we found a massive golden bull with long horns and a burly body; then hid on top of a tree so that we could inspect it without it seeing us.

<Golden Bull< p>

Rank B

Extreme physical strength.

Can cast earth magic close to their bodies.

Known for having an appetizing bright red meat.>

Usually, I used brute strength to hunt beasts around the forest since it was the best way for me to not completely destroy their bodies. However, this bull clearly shined when fighting at close range, so I advised the princess to get some distance between them and use long-range spells to kill it.

Truthfully, I was nervous at first. While I knew that the princess had a lot of talent and power, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if she got hurt in any way since I promised I would take good care of her.

Yet, even with those worries plaguing my mind, the princess positioned herself quite a distance away from the monster, still on top of the tree branches. Pointing her palm down at the bull with her eyes full of determination, each of her fingertips began glowing faintly as they were set ablaze, and not even a second after, five fireballs shot straight from her fingers at bullet speed and pierced the bull through.

("Woah…") I thought as I stared at the cloud of dust that had raised after the fireballs' impacts. However, I could still feel that the bull wasn't completely dead. I gazed at the princess to let her know, but her eyes were focused on the cloud of dust, making me realize that she already knew full well that the monster was not dead, yet.

From the cloud, the enraged bull charged at full speed toward the tree where the princess was standing, his eyes red with fury and anger. Instinctively, I reached for my 'bo' and prepared myself to finish it off, but seeing the princess still focused on her fight made me back off. If I were to end it, then she wouldn't learn much from the encounter.

The monster rammed the tree with all of its strength, completely obliterating the trunk. But as the tree came tumbling down, the princess did a swift backflip using air magic and carefully placed herself in a nearby branch from another tree.

From there, she waved the back of her hand with a strong motion, creating an airwave that flew towards the bull and cut clean one of its horns along with its neck. Although it wasn't strong enough to completely sever the head of the monster, it was enough to kill it.

We climbed down and started teaching the princess about the 'void pocket' spell as I stored the dead body of the bull. Just like with 'Search', this wasn't easy to cast for someone that hadn't seen some sort of sci-fi reference before. However, at least this time she could see my own spell, and that was enough for her to copy it quickly and learn it.

Just as I closed the rift to my void pocket, we began feeling a tremble in the ground accompanied by a rumbling sound. I quickly casted 'Search' and noticed that there were dozens of monsters coming our way at a crazy speed. The maids came down from their hiding spots, advising us to get away from the area.

I quickly jumped to the top of a tree and focused on my 'Search' spell again until I could see what kind of monster pack came our way at such speed. That's how I saw that the dozens of monsters were bulls, just as big as the golden one that the princess had slain, although these bulls were black with shiny purple markings on their bodies.

<Terror Bull< p>

Rank C

Extreme physical strength.

In the presence of a Golden Bull, their packs will retreat to the shadows.

Appetizing bright red and lean meat.>

Using a good amount of my MP, I managed to inspect the bulls that were coming our way toward the place where the golden bull had perished. I explained to the group that since we killed the monster, these bulls left their shadows and would go on a rampage if we didn't stop them.

On the bright side, it also said they were edible and had an "appetizing meat," which if it was anything like the boar's, then it would probably taste like some sort of premium beef. With a small drop of drool coming out of my mouth, I called Yoru who was hiding in my shadow to come out and help us.

I had sent Vespera to look for herbs and fruits earlier, but I was glad that Yoru was around since I didn't want anyone in the group to get hurt. So I told him to protect the princess and the maids in case any of the bulls got too close to them.

However, the maids expressed that there was no need for me to go alone in the frontline, so Gina offered to go with me while the princess used her magic from the back, protected by Carli and Yoru.

Right as we had our plan set, both Gina and I bolted straight toward the pack of bulls that were rushing at full speed, ramming down rocks and trees that stood in their way.

Her quick and fluid movements with both her daggers made me realize that her "Blade-Dancer" skill was truly amazing.

Even when the bulls tried ramming her with their horns, she easily avoided them and slashed their bodies open with one strike that was almost too fast for me to see. As for myself, I used my ever-trusty 'bo' and coated the tips with strong fire magic mixed with air magic. This way, I was able to add gas to the fire and turn it into a bright blue that burned intensely, allowing me to burn through the bulls' skin easily.

When we were done doing our part, we quickly went back to check on the rest of the group and saw about five bulls laying dead around them. Yoru stood on top of one of the deceased monsters proudly while the princess and Carli waved at us.

Thankfully, the hunt ended without a single person getting hurt, and tons of beef for everyone to eat for a long time. When I thought about it better, it occurred to me that sending the royal family some beef dishes wasn't a bad idea and we had hunted so much that I also wanted to leave some for the villagers at End Town.

Either way, it would take me a few days to process all of those monsters and gather all of the materials from them. Apparently, from what Carli said, the horns could be sold for high prices at the adventurers guild, especially the golden ones since they were used for certain potions. However, since I wasn't registered as an adventurer, there was a low chance that they would agree to trade with me.

To be fair though, I did have a pretty good relationship with the people managing the guild in End Town, so I thought that we could potentially reach an agreement with them later.