CH 84

Giant Deer II

Huh, I see.

“Mei-lei-mote-sei Heal.”

I caught my breath and healed. Then I quietly picked up the fallen sword and got to my feet.

In spite of this being a fight to the death, they sure were confident.

‘I can kill something like you whenever I want.’ Is that what it was saying?

I charged Mine Breaker with magic energy, and slowly raised it in front of me.

Or was it something else?

Was it showing off in front of the doe?

Just when I wondered this, I thought I saw the doe making eyes at the stag.

It seemed like I would not have to make adjustments after all. I filled Mine Breaker with all of my magic energy. The horned deer lowered its head, and its front legs bent. Here it comes.

Giiiiiii…

The sound of the horns swinging up and clashing into the sword that swung down.

I swung in a straight line, hitting the root of the horn. The impact lifted my torso a little, and the horned deer was also pushed back.

“Hyaaah!”

After my sword bounced off, I swung down once again. The horned deer’s antlers also swung, and there was another clash.

Gaaainnn…!

This time the sound had a heavier echoe. My sword passed its head, and the horn, cut off at the root, went flying in the air.

“Bueeee!”

Came the strange cry. It was staggered. The perfect chance. I could not wait around!

“Hyaaaah!!”

“Bueee!”

And swung down at the doe who attacked from the opposite side.

Normally, a two-handed sword would use its weight to cut through something. But the Mine Breaker became lighter, the more magic energy was inside. And so I had to make up for it, with the increased sharpness, and speed.

But that wasn’t a big problem. In the first place, I could not use a heavy, two-handed sword when I had a prosthetic leg. So I had been using a one-handed sword with two hands.

Blood sprayed from the doe as she fell to the ground. The wound had been deep.

Not being able to maintain it, I decreased the amount of magic energy, and Mine Breaker’s weight returned to normal.

“Boeeeee!!”

The stag roared with rage. You should have come like that to begin with!

In spite of having only one antler, it charged towards me. Its weight and speed meant it was still a threat. And so I jumped out of the way, without thinking about a counter attack. After passing me, the horned deer turned around and got ready to charge again.

This time, I held my sword horizontally and increased the magic energy once again. I had swung this sword so many times. I would not faint over something like this.

The horned deer came charging.

I was just barely able to jump back and avoid the horn as it came at a frightening speed. And then I swung my sword in the path where the giant body would go through. The impact was severe, and I felt my MP diminishing rapidly.

“Woaaah!”

I gripped the sword tightly and stood my ground. Take all the MP you want, Mine Breaker!

A long line appeared on the horned deer body. And great quantities of blood began to flow as it fell in a cloud of dust.

“Boe-boe…”

It screeched, and tried to get up again. Its eyes still shone with rage.

However, it would not last long with a wound like that. I should hurry up and finish it off.

While holding my sword high, I approached it cautiously, and our eyes met. And like that, the horned deer stopped moving. It wasn’t that it gave up. It seemed more like it was searching for an opening.

“Hyah!”

I swung down, and severed its thick neck.

I immediately turned around. The doe was twitching and still alive. And so I approached her as well, and finished her off.

“Phew.”

I sighed and sat down on the ground. D-Rank of not, fighting large monsters with a prosthetic leg was always difficult. I was so tired now.

“Ah, well done. You really are a C-Ranker. Even though you were in danger a few times.”

The five men returned and offered their fists, so I bumped mine against theirs while still sitting down.

“Aye, it was a close one. You helped me, to be honest.”

“It was good support, eh? It looked dangerous, so the three of us targeted the doe. But we didn’t think the stag would try to protect her. Also, the arrows didn’t pierce her in the end.”

…Hmm?

“Even though it was a monster, it was quite chivalrous.”

Aside from the first arrow, I hadn’t noticed that they were supporting me. I suppose it was when I was on the ground.

In other words, the reason why it didn’t attack was not that it was confident or getting carried away. It was protecting the doe from the arrows.

I see.

“Aye, it was wonderful support. And though we were enemies, I feel a certain respect towards them.”

We had done what we could. And there was a sense of satisfaction at having defeated a powerful enemy.

As the two would not fit on the wagon, we separated into two groups of three, a transportation group, and a remaining group. As part of the remaining group, I would help with the bleeding and removing of guts and magic stone, and wait for the others to return.

“Status open.”

Name: Ajifu

Race: Human

Age: 27

LV: 29(+2)

HP: 142/216(+20)

MP: 56/131(+32)

STR: 60(+4)

VIT: 58(+2)

INT: 39(+4)

MND: 45(+2)

AGI: 38(+2)

DEX: 33(+1)

LUK: 17(+1)

Skills

Eralt Lv4, Reverse Age Lv4, Farming Lv3, Carpentry Lv4, Carving Lv5, Leatherworker Lv3, Gathering Lv2, Shield Art Lv8, Magic Manipulation Lv14(+2), Everyday Magic(light/water/earth), Sword Art Lv14(+1), Night Vision Lv1, Parallel Thought Lv3(+1), Prayer, Light Magic Lv3

Title

Visitor From Another World, Farmer, Blessing of the Ability God, Adventurer, Creator’s Blessing.

I had the feeling that I leveled up, and so I checked my status while waiting. It went up once with the wyvern fight, and again on the road and now.

After using Mine Breaker, the MP depletion has been faster, so I was glad for the great boost in MP. The thing that interested me was that my Parallel Thought skill level had gone up. While it was a skill I used every day, I didn’t know if I could do anything new now.

Eventually, the transportation team returned, and the remaining deer was put in the wagon, and we returned to the village.

After the murder bull, the village now had two deers brought in, and so we were greeted to a great venison feast. The venison of does was especially rare, and sold at a high price.

However, I would not be distracted by that. I had something to say to the chief.

“Ah, Mr. Ajifu. You impress us once again.”

“Chief! This was not what we agreed on! I didn’t hear anything about there being two of them. And that means materials from two. Eight pieces of gold doesn’t cover it!”

Upon hearing this, the chief nodded.

“Mmm. We did not know about it either. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

“Aye, we would have told you.”

“It was a great surprise.”

“I thought we were going to die when the second one appeared.”

The hunters and loggers agreed with the chief. It did not look like they were lying…

“Even then, it’s the village’s responsibility to investigate, isn’t it!?”

“Well, we just told you what we heard…”

I see…

“Since you can now sell the materials from the doe, can you raise the reward a little?”

“The promise was that the village keeps the materials. That being said, we are grateful that you hunted the doe as well. It would have been very bad if they started having fawns everywhere. How about we give you the antlers and magic stones then?”

The antlers and magic stones would probably sell for around three gold. That was eleven gold in all. Not bad. I suppose I was partly to blame for not checking more thoroughly as well. It was no wonder that Adventurers were not supposed to negotiate.

I realized how much the guild helped me.

“Well, I cannot refuse that generous offer. It’s a deal then.”

The chief would also not want to be known as someone who would easily raise the price. And I did not want to be made a laughing stock as someone who accepted a job on his own, and ended up losing. It was best to accept the offer here.

While it was unexpected, I had recovered the amount spent on the Mine Breaker, and had a good feel for fighting with it now. And I also learned the difficulties of negotiations.

So it was a satisfying harvest. And with that I left the village.

Also, I thought that I will be nicer to guild workers from now on.