Chapter 42: Better safe than sorry

“Ugh! That’s the one I’ve been tracking for weeks! Hey!”

A girl wearing a fur cloak came running from afar. In her hands was an old-fashioned flintlock rifle, and Eugene aimed his Handlaris at her.

“Stop.”

“Eek!?”

When the tip of the silent blade was pointed at her, the girl immediately raised her sword.

‘Sorry about this.’

Even though she had run all this way, she hadn’t used her gun. That could mean she simply came to negotiate, but in the Magic Realm, enemies aren’t only monsters.

‘It’s unlikely that this girl took down the Direwolf all by herself.’

Soon, other trackers would arrive, and they might not be as friendly as she was. So, Eugene tied a thread from the Thousand Threads Sect to the girl’s rifle.

Click!

When he pulled the thread with his other hand, “Ah!? My hunting rifle!”

The rifle was yanked instantly toward him. With that, the girl in front of him was disarmed. Spinning the flintlock with one hand, he pointed the barrel at her.

“Eek!”

Seeing the barrel aimed at her, the girl jumped like a frightened animal.

“W-wait, suddenly!?”

‘Better safe than sorry.’

As expected, Eugene sensed movement nearby. With his enhanced senses, he tracked snipers positioned at 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock, and movement trying to flank from 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock.

‘Clearly, they’re well-prepared for a firefight.’

They were skilled in hunting monsters but also adept at anti-personnel tactics. Judging by this, they weren’t mere monster hunters, but a militia specializing in both monster hunting and human combat, known as the, “Hunters.”

The Hunter organization still operated, but it had taken devastating blows from the massive orc army 15 years ago. Well, 15 years is long enough to recover from that damage, or so one would hope.

“Hey.”

Eugene commanded the still frightened girl.

“Raise your hands.”

“Hyim…”

Hearing that, she immediately understood it was a hostage situation and pouted. What else could she do? She raised her hands to avoid getting shot. Still keeping open the possibility of a counterattack, Eugene shouted loudly.

“Anyone left, if you don’t want to see your youngest get his head blown off, come out!”

Click!

To show he wasn’t bluffing, Eugene pulled the trigger. He had no real intention of firing, but feigning the shot left no room for hesitation or doubt about surrendering.

“Damn it!”

Finally, the rest of the Hunters appeared with curses. Like peeling away a shell to reveal flesh, figures emerged from the air.

Seeing that their invisibility had been stripped, Eugene guessed they wore monster skins to blend into the environment.

‘No harm in being cautious.’

Meanwhile, from near the Direwolf’s corpse, he heard rustling sounds. In the Magic Realm, corpses attract flies, so they needed to finish this quickly to salvage any meat.

‘In the wild without medical facilities, eating spoiled meat can be fatal.’

Surprisingly, most adventurers die not from monster attacks but from minor illnesses. In a place lacking proper medicine and facilities, a simple mistake—like food poisoning—can lead to fatal dehydration and weakened immunity.

Even a seasoned adventurer can die from such conditions, so young ones like Emilia had even less chance. Wanting to wrap things up swiftly, Eugene addressed the Hunters.

“Drop your guns.”

The Hunters murmured in response. They were overwhelming in numbers, and the hostage was only one person. Their numerical advantage would mentally hinder their willingness to comply.

“Just drop them?”

Eugene pressed the barrel of the rifle against the girl’s forehead. The forehead is the center of the face; aiming there left no room for escape. His finger was already on the trigger, so

‘If it slips even a little, someone dies.’

As expected, the Hunters bristled.

“You… you merciless bastard…!”

“Brother, please hold back!”

“Hey, hey! Drop your weapons! Drop them!”

Finally, the Hunters threw their guns to the ground. With all threats removed, the next step was negotiation.

“Who among you is the highest in command?”

“The highest in command?”

“Yeah, someone who can make decisions.”

They needed to negotiate with the decision-maker to prevent being double-crossed later. The Hunters looked at each other, as if only now understanding.

“Then…”

“Hmm…”

“Ugh.”

Yet strangely, no one stepped forward. Every organization had at least one senior member, so why was no one volunteering as a representative?

“What are you waiting for? The eldest, step forward!”

“Well, it’s just that…”

The Hunters all pointed their index fingers in unison.

“The decision-maker is…”

“Huh?”

Following their gaze downward, Eugene met eyes with the trembling girl. She spoke hesitantly,

“I’m… the person in charge…”

“Ah.”

What on earth was this? Such a rookie was the leader of the Hunters? And she had gotten herself taken hostage?

‘Sigh, this organization must be pretty broken.’

Fifteen years ago, the Hunters had at least been competent. How had it come to appointing a timid child as their leader? Suppressing a sigh, Eugene shot the girl a sharp look.

“Let me make it clear: I am acting in self-defense.”

In the Magic Realm, strangers were basically enemies. Especially if they traveled in groups. This hostage situation was just a precaution to secure safety.

“Ah, understood!”

She added quickly, “If you try to shoot me in the back, I’ll burn down your entire group, got it?”

“Y-yes…!”

The girl nodded. Despite the circumstances, she didn’t falter and looked him straight in the eyes. She truly seemed fit to lead the Hunters.

“Now, take it.”

He spun the flintlock and handed her the stock. Now the barrel was pointed at him. He wondered if she would betray him at this opportunity, but she replied with a “Ah! Thank you!”

She took the rifle and slung it over her shoulder. Perhaps to show good faith for being freed, or maybe she simply didn’t think that far ahead.

‘Either way, this girl is somewhat trustworthy.’

Then, with firm eyes, she spoke.

“But we were the first to kill that hunting target!”

‘Here we go again.’

Arguing would only invite more flies to the meat.

“All right, just take a few pieces of meat.”

“That’s acceptable! Right, everyone?”

The girl looked to the Hunters for confirmation. Even though she was the decision-maker, she had to consider the morale of her subordinates.

“We only hunted it for the skin, after all.”

“But with half the skin ripped off like that, the value will drop…”

“It’s a big one, so maybe the skin’s still worth something?”

“That depends on the market…”

Surprisingly, the Hunters followed her decision. Most of them were in their 40s, yet they obeyed this much younger girl.

‘Interesting.’

With the Hunters’ agreement, she nodded.

“We’ll let you have some meat!”

‘Not “let,” but “give,” kid.’

Eugene grumbled internally and went over to the Direwolf’s corpse. Since Milo would hate it, he trimmed the meat carefully with a hunting knife. Removing the parts swarmed by flies, he ended up with five chunks of meat.

‘Perfect for soup.’

With nothing to pack it in, he wondered if he should wrap it in the edge of his cloak. If only he had brought some wrapping paper. Just as he was about to tear his cloak with the hunting knife,

“Here’s some paper!”

“Huh?”

Turning his head, Eugene saw the girl holding out five sheets of paper. Clearly packing paper, sheets meant for wrapping meat. He accepted the wrapping paper and packed the meat carefully.

“Thanks.”

“Hehe, you’re welcome.”

The girl examined the Direwolf’s corpse. Being a seasoned monster hunter herself, she was used to the blood and gore. As if pondering how to treat the skin, she checked the cut surfaces of the Direwolf.

“T-this is…!”

“Hmm?”

Looking up, Eugene saw the girl’s face pale. Her gaze was fixed on one spot, so he followed her line of sight.

“Damn it.”

Inside the Direwolf’s belly were unborn Direwolf pups. In other words, the dead one was a pregnant female Direwolf, and wherever a pregnant female went, the male Direwolf would follow.

“You didn’t know the hunting target was pregnant!?”

“We didn’t! Direwolves take a long time to conceive after mating!”

An utterly ridiculous excuse.

“She must’ve been attacked by the male Direwolf!”

“When we found her, she was alone!”

“Damn it!”

It seemed the male had been away during the attack. Male Direwolves hunt far and wide, and there have been times when hunters attacking a female with pups were ambushed.

“Everyone! Grab your weapons and take defensive positions!”

The girl hurriedly ordered the Hunters to rearm.

“What’s going on? Why all of a sudden…”

“Is there a problem?”

“What’s going on? What’s going on?”

The flustered Hunters were told by the girl,

“The one we caught is a pregnant Direwolf!”

That was all it took.

“Damn it! I had a bad feeling about this!”

“Where’s my rifle!”

“Someone with binoculars, scout the surroundings!”

The Hunters hurriedly grabbed their weapons. They knew how dangerous the male Direwolf was. Eugene felt his heart race—if the male passed by their camp, the others would be in danger.

*****

Clang!

The punch of Needle met Lian’s shield.

“Emilia, fire!”

“Ready!”

Following his command, Emilia aimed her staff. She prepared to cast Fireball, a basic self-defense spell. Considering Needle’s speed, she had preemptively charged the spell and waited.

Flare!

A fiery orb blossomed at the tip of her staff, aimed at Needle’s head. All that remained was to launch it.

“Fire!”

Lian shouted so Needle could dodge. The Fireball shot from the staff toward Needle.

Lian quickly lowered his head behind his shield, evading the flames. The fireball passed just behind Lian’s head and collided with Needle, but “Predictable.”

He tilted his head back and deflected the Fireball. Such a lightning-fast reaction despite being face-to-face with two opponents—crazy. However, the Fireball was fired with that in mind.

Crackle!

“This one you can’t dodge!”

Budika had already moved around Lian’s side and was attacking Needle’s flank. At the same time, her heavy axe swung in a wide arc, aiming to crush Needle’s waist.

“Take this!”

Just as her axe was about to strike Needle’s waist,

“50 points.”

Needle said, clenching both fists tightly.

Boom!

With a roar, Lian and Budika were thrown back. A shockwave seemed to radiate from Needle, carving lines into the ground.

“Magic Disruption…!”

“W-what’s going on all of a sudden?”

Lian and Budika grimaced in pain and pushed away the waves of energy. They backed up toward the group and rejoined them, where Silvia reached out to them.

“Solamen!”

A warm green light shone from her hands, enveloping Lian and Budika. Healing magic that fully restores wounds consumes a lot of mana, so during training, Silvia’s most useful spell was pain relief.

‘It would be foolish to use up all our mana in training.’

Silvia’s healing magic was a crucial variable for survival, so they conserved it as much as possible. Speaking of which, the technique Needle just displayed was—

“No way, this is too much…”

Lian frowned.

“Using martial energy against two opponents?”

As he said, the air around Needle was distorted. Like heat haze shimmering from hot ground, a strange aura flowed around Needle, making the space seem warped.

‘Is that martial energy?’

“Seriously.”

Needle clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“You expect me to hold back in a real fight?”

“Looks like he pulled out martial energy because he didn’t want to lose…”

Lian’s comment made Needle smirk.

“Only cowards whine like that.”

“You’re really not someone I like!”

Lian gritted his teeth and raised his shield again. As a knight hopeful, his pride was hurt. Just as the intense training was about to resume, “Hm? Wait a minute.”

Needle’s eyes flicked to the side.

“Huh?”

Everyone followed his gaze but saw nothing. Yet Needle’s expression darkened.

“Everyone, take defensive positions.”

“What? Why all of a sudden—”

Their question was cut short by a distant thunder of hooves.

Thud thud thud thud…

A cloud of dust rose in the distance as something large charged forward. The shape pushing the dust was huge, visible even from hundreds of meters away.

Growl!

It was a giant three-eyed wolf.