Chapter 6. Yuuji, Changing Job from Pioneer to Farmer

「Alright, Kotarou, good job!」

Yuuji’s voice and Kotarou’s “woof-woof” barking voice resounded in the forest.

Yuuji was looking at a deer.

It height was about 80cm. Although its outer appearance resembled that of a sika deer[1], it was smaller in comparison. Or perhaps, the one that Kotarou had chased away from its herd was still a young deer.

Perhaps it had finally given up on running away after being chased around by Kotarou. The deer pointed its horns towards Yuuji and rushed.

As if responding to the deer’s futile resistance, Yuuji put his body weight forward and firmly clasped the shield with both of his hands.

With a dull clang, the deer’s rush was stopped. Yuuji could endure the attack and was only pushed back slightly.

He promptly released his right hand from the shield, grasped a short spear and then thrusted it into the deer.

Kotarou caught up with the dear, approached from its side and crashed into it, making use of her speed.

Yuuji grasped a machete and gave the finishing blow to the dying deer that had fallen on the ground.

It was already the end of the summer season.

Having left Alice at the house, Yuuji and Kotarou had visited the forest for foraging and hunting.

“I can obtain fruits and nuts that can only be found in this season. Also, surely autumn is the hunting season. No that’s not right, perhaps it is in the late autumn or winter? Well, since this is another world, I don’t really know.” Was what Yuuji had in mind.

Somehow or another, Kotarou had detected a herd of deer while exploring.

One hour after that, Kotarou had separated one deer from the flock and roused it to Yuuji who then killed it.

It was a splendid traditional deer hunting. Yuuji was strong, too.

「Alright, today is a feast!」

Kotarou wagged her tails in a fidgety manner and barked, “Woof!”, as if saying, “Since the deer seems to be delicious, I shall take delight in it.”

“Oh, I could do this!”, Yuuji muttered by himself, but at that time, Kotarou’s fur stood up and she entered into an alert state.

Then Kotarou immediately butted Yuuji’s leg with her head, continuously pushing him into the bush. As if she was going to say, “The enemy is coming, so let us hide for now.”

Yuuji understood Kotarou’s intentions for once and silently left the deer. Blood dripped from the suspended deer.

After distancing himself away for about 5 meters, Yuuji looked at the surroundings and before long, the target of Kotarou’s cautiousness showed itself.

It was 6 goblins and 2 orcs.

It was a group with the strongest battle power that they had encountered up until now.

Yuuji was hesitating since the total number was 8 enemies, but Kotarou quietly looked at Yuuji’s eyes.

Her eyes transmitted her intentions, “Let’s do a surprise attack, we must not hand over that deer.”

Some way or another, Yuuji understood what Kotarou wanted to say, so he silently made the preparations for the attack without a sound.

Perhaps because they smelled the scent of blood, the goblins and orcs saw the bleeding deer and approache it while making “gyagyugya” and “fugofugo” sounds in a delighted mood. They didn’t have the intellect to question why the deer was hung upside down, or whether or not if the one who killed it was nearby.

After the monsters were just 2 meters away from the deer, Kotarou silently began to run as if to say, “Don’t touch it with your filthy hands.” The late to the scene, Yuuji, also began to run.

Noticing the sounds of rustling bushes as Yuuji moved, the monsters stopped their feet and turned towards it. However, the clubs in their hand were still not raised up.

One of the orcs looked in Yuuji’s direction, but, out of its line of sight, Kotarou jumped at it and passed it by.

The orc had its abdomen gouged and torn all the way to its peritoneum. Seeing that its guts were protruding out due to the abdominal pressure, it began to put the visible intestines back inside with both of its hand in a hurry.

“Gegyagugya”, while making a hectic noise, the remaining orc and goblins began to raise their clubs.

Yuuji was late to the scene, but without decreasing his running speed, he pierced the short spear into the orc’s stomach, and without extracting the spear out, Kotarou ran from behind him and rushed at the orc.

Yuuji and Kotarou, both of them had performed a surprise attack and inflicted a great amount of damage on the targeted orc.

Without stopping, Kotarou made a U-turn.

Somehow her mouth was chewing something before she spat it out. As if she wanted to say, “What is this? This isn’t delicious.”

So it was meat. Perhaps she had bit it off from the orc’s abdomen. Come to think of it, the orc toasted by Alice’s magic gave forth a delicious scent. Perhaps she couldn’t curb her interest in it. What an immodest lady, she is a dog, though.

Kotarou and Yuuji engaged the enemy again.

However, even if there were six enemies, the opponents were goblins. An opponent that Yuuji could defeat before his Rank Up.

Rushing right and left as she pleased, Kotarou was toying around with the six goblins.

This had already became a curb stomp battle.

Before long, the goblins were annihilated and the collapsed orc was finished off.

「Alright! It’s a complete victory, Kotarou!」

“Woofwoof”, Kotarou replied to Yuuji’s words. Her head was getting patted while her tail was wagging left and right in delight.

「At any rate…… The farmer’s archenemies, deer and boar. Not only in the Northern Prefecture[2] but also in the western Southern Prefectures[3], deer have caused many agricultural damages. I also have a hunch that we will encounter more goblins and orcs. Perhaps I need to consult this with Kevin-san on his next visit. I also need to surround the fields and yaranga with fences…… Aaah, there are many things for me to do……」

One thing was finished and another came out. However, at the same time, it  demanded continuing progression. Finally, the notion that “working hard is really important” had sunk deeply in Yuuji’s mind.

“Well, for the present, we have to bring the deer back home and have Alice butcher it! They say, deer is delicious, so Alice must be happy too!”, while mumbling to himself, Yuuji carried the deer on his back and then walked the road home together with Kotarou.

Although they had bled out most of the deer’s blood, the deer’s weight was still about 50 kg. That he was casually carrying it on his back was the proof that Yuuji’s physical strength had remarkably increased from the Rank Up and daily physical labor.

However, originally the deer’s intestines would be dressed on the place where it was killed.

And then, Alice would perform the butcher duty many times without saying anything.

He had developed in the physical strength, combat, and hunting aspects, but Yuuji’s gore resistance was still immature.