Sooner or later, it might start affecting the whole nation and then the world.
"Then we went inside the cave. It was all dark and scary, but we held our ground and didn't flinch against our enemy. You should have seen us go…"
Jackie was telling his stories, and it felt bad to disturb him. However, I had to hunt and be back before dinner, so there was no time to waste.
I stood up from my chair. "Guys, Flare and I will go and take a look at the surroundings. We will be back before dinner."
"Can't we go with you too?" Anna, who was sitting next to me, asked.
"I think it will be best if I go by myself. It will be quicker that way."
She looked a little disappointed, but she nodded.
I was planning to fly there with Flare and cover as much ground as possible, so taking her with me was not an option.
'...although, I might need to do something to make her feel better later.'
I looked towards Markus, who nodded in response. As expected of him, he probably realized what I was trying to do.
I left my seat and walked out of the inn. As soon as I stepped out, Flare, who was soaring in the sky, came down and changed into her human form.
"Master, it appears that the monsters are now capable of crossing the bridge. The pack of wolves I saw was on the other side of the river."
"Alright, let's pay them a visit."
The two of us flew to the other side of the river and the deep forest from there. While we were going there, I saw a few monster birds soaring in the sky.
I used wind slash to slay them by chopping their head off. These birds had thick fur, so they could naturally resist attacks. However, the region around their neck was weak.
Monster meat was considered poisonous, so there was no point in expecting anything good to come out of them. On top of that, their skin was surprisingly sturdy, so their meat wasn't probably that soft.
After clearing the skies, we walked towards where the pack of wolves was. Unlike how I was expecting them to be, they were surprisingly large with a horn on their forehead. Their fur looked thick and sturdy, and their eyes were shining red. It was apparent by the size of their fangs and claws that they were vicious.
There were eight wolves; two of them were comparatively bigger than the rest. They must be their parents of the other six.
Charging at once at them was foolish since that would scare them. I had no intention of leaving a single one of them alive, and hunting them one by one after they separate would be time-consuming.
"Flare, create a circle of flame around them."
"Yes, master."
She could perfectly control her flames, so there was no chance of forest fire. And now that wolves had nowhere to escape, I could focus on them.
I was weak and naive, but after watching everything happen, the hesitation I felt while killing another living organism was gone. If they could hunt us without a care in the world, I could also pay them back equally.
I fired a wind slash at one of the bigger wolves, but it's fur resisted the attack. I was expecting this to happen, so I created several Fire Javelin and attacked all eight of them simultaneously.
My aim was a little off, and only six of them got hit. However, since the outcome was above average, I wasn't unsatisfied.
"Arhhhh!"
The wolves started barking and howling, but I had come prepared. There was no room for mercy to those that harm others who are living peacefully.
I fired several mudballs at the remaining two wolves, but despite the hits, they could still stand. So, following that attack, I fired several fire slashes at them.
The fire burned the fur and them along with it. Even though this didn't fix the village that had already been destroyed, it felt somewhat satisfying.
After the wolves were dead, Flare disabled the magic circle. I then used water magic to put out the fire caused by the attack earlier before it could spread.
"Master, there are two monster boars nearby. Do you want to hunt them as well?"
"Yes, where are they?"
"Just a little bit further, but I recommend flying there."
"Alright."
The two of us flew a little further and came across the two massive monster boars. Their eyes were red like wolves, and they had fangs as big as an elephant's.
I realized trying to hunt them from the ground will be a waste of time, so I created two massive Fire Javelins. They were out in the open, so I didn't need to worry about trees obstructing my aim.
I fired the Javelin at them, and right as it pierced their skin, their whole body started burning.
I waited there for a while and used the water magic to put out the fire that my spell caused. Since Flare didn't mention there being any other monsters in the area, there were probably none left to hunt.
"Let's go back. I am tired because of everything that happened yesterday, so this was to assure no one disturbs our sleep."
"This is a good way to seek assurance, master. Kindness is good, but it's not appropriate to let it make you weak. Warriors throughout history have fought with dignity and pride, and that's just for them. That's the way they chose to leave, and that's how it should be."
"Thanks, Flare. After all these years, I realized that some don't deserve kindness. I will deal with them appropriately moving ahead."
Since we had handled all the immediate threats, the two of us flew back to the inn from there. Fortunately, we were right on time for dinner.