Re: Monster Vol: 5 (Day181 - Day 220

Day 188

Today, I left the remodeling to the foreman and the other craftsmen and left the Royal Capital with the members of ≪Solitude≫. I had them line up in 2 columns and we quickly headed for a forest that's roughly an hour's walk from the capital.

Seeing as they were wearing light leather armor, with things like swords and short spears in their hands and a backpack with food and medical supplies on their backs, the members of ≪Solitude≫ would've previously become worn out immediately, with the exception of some, like the ringleader.

However, because their eating habits have improved and they've obtained combat-related jobs, they've reached the point where they can just barely handle actual combat with the help of body strengthening enchantments. When we arrived, although they were tired, not a single member had dropped out.

After we arrived, I had them all rest for roughly a minute so they could catch their breath. After that, I grouped them into parties of 4, told them to go hunt monsters on the outskirts of the forest, and saw them off.

Since there were 50 of them, I was able to make 12 groups, though 2 people were left after doing so. I decided to have the 2 remaining people, the group leader and his bratty second in command (who is female), team up with Auro and Argento.

Since high level monsters don't come to the outskirts of the forest, I also told them to hunt further in it, as well. It should be fine since Auro and Argento are with them, unless several Hind Bear ranked monsters appear. Since they have the ear cuffs with them as well, they shouldn't die either way.

If it's necessary, I'll just have to go and save them. While we waited for everyone to return, I trained with Redhead and Kanami outside of the forest. Everyone returned in the evening.

Although many of them suffered various major and minor injuries, some of them were able to hunt Horn Rabbits and Armored Tanuki, which were nostalgic to see. Another group had taken several legs from a Demon Spider, only to have them stolen by a type of wolf monster right after. Some of them harvested things like【Thorned Fig Tree Roots】, which are roots that are delicious, but come out of the ground when something approaches and stabs them. There were also those who hunted Sleep Moths, a moth which scatters scales that causes those who inhale them to become drowsy. Surprisingly, it seems they did their best.

As I expected though, the group that had the best results was Auro's group.

They simply overwhelmed the other groups as they took down things like the following:

Orcs, with their pig heads and fat bodies.

Dire Cat, a large striped cat that confuses its opponents by emitting a scent that has a bewitching effect.

Gray Lizards, lizards that have characteristic gray scales and make use of unrefined axes.

Well, I wasn't really worried about them. I gave both of them praise and patted them on their heads. Though it was almost as if they were being tickled, they didn't seem to hate it.

After that, I gathered all the materials and loot into my Item Box and we set out to return using a Skeleton Centipede.

Since the majority of the children had fallen asleep, we took our time on the return journey. They smelled of blood and sweat from running around in the forest all day long, so when we returned to the mansion in the Royal Capital, the first thing I did was put them in the bath.

After the bath, I prepared meals for each specific group using the prey they hunted as ingredients. Since the people who hunted more had more extravagant meals, it should help motivate them in the future. The message this gave them was, "If you want to eat something better, then work harder for it." It's simple and effective.