Boar Hunting (2)

Twenty-one serfs and two commoners walked toward the woods. The nearest hunting ground was in that direction.

Since they'd only had to fetch water today, Rodan and Allen had left home before seven in the morning. It was around eight now, and they'd been told they'd reach the hunting ground before noon.

(Still, asking us to increase the number of boars we catch...)

Allen wondered why they were so fixated on the number of boars. The Village Chief had been asking for years to increase the number of participants. The order to increase the number of Great Boars hunted had come from the lord.

He remembered what the Knight Commander had said when he came to see Krena. The Knight Commander had said that this territory placed the greatest importance on increasing its food supply.

As they walked along the uneventful road, Allen thought about why the lord was pushing for boar hunts. He came up with three main possibilities.

Reason 1: The territory had no major industries, so it was focusing on increasing food production.

Reason 2: Since they were getting Great Boars almost as a windfall, the lord wanted to increase taxes even more.

Reason 3: There was a food shortage in the territory or perhaps the kingdom.

(Any of those could be true, but it's probably just one or two. If it were three, merchants wouldn't come to the village to sell fruit. It doesn't seem like there's a food shortage.)

Allen himself hadn't yet realized that his thinking had changed a little. It was probably because, in his seventh year since being reincarnated, he'd finally left the village for the first time and broadened his horizons.

"All right, we're here!"

At Rodan's call, everyone stopped walking. They were a short distance into the woods.

There was a fairly wide clearing here, with no trees growing in it. It was spacious enough for twenty people to hunt.

After walking for several hours, everyone took dried sweet potatoes from their bags and drank water from their canteens.

"Pekeji, what are we doing today?"

Gerda called over a man named Pekeji. The man, who was chewing on a dried sweet potato, came over.

They discussed carefully once more where to bring the boar from, drawing a diagram on the ground with a stick. Allen listened along with them.

The twenty men would split into three teams, which meant they needed three leaders. They were Rodan, Gerda, and the other leader, Pekeji.

The actions of Pekeji's team could mean the difference between life and death.

"Today, we're gonna approach from the north."

At Pekeji's answer, Gerda confirmed that he meant the north, and that the boar would come from that direction.

Pekeji's team was responsible for bringing one boar over.

In the games Kenichi used to play, they called that role a puller. Their job was to lure the target enemy close to where the rest of the party was waiting.

Pekeji's team was the smallest, with only three people including him. "All right, we're off," they said, gripping sticks and disappearing into the woods. They weren't spears, but sticks like the wooden sword Allen carried. They would use these to lure the boar.

Great Boars were scattered throughout the woods, but they didn't always travel alone. They were said to be in groups of one to three. If they found a lone boar, that was fine. But if they found three and accidentally lured all of them back instead of just one, they wouldn't be able to handle them; everyone would be wiped out, and the hunt would fail.

They had to bring one boar back, and if the other two followed, they had to shake them off in the woods. The three of them would work together to bring back one boar.

There were apparently quite a few Great Boars in these woods, so it wouldn't take long to lure one out.

In autumn, the number of Great Boars in these woods near the village increased.

(The White Dragon Mountains are beyond these woods, right?)

Allen had wanted to ask why the boars came to the woods in autumn, but neither Rodan nor Gerda knew the details.

What they did know was that beyond these woods lay the White Dragon Mountains, where the White Dragon lived. The boars originally lived at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains, and apparently came into the woods in autumn in search of food. He'd heard that when autumn ended and winter came, they returned to the foot of the mountains.

(I can't see the mountains. Are they pretty far away? The trees are in the way, so I can't see far.)

"Here they coooome!"

As if interrupting Allen's thoughts, Pekeji came sprinting out of the woods. The other two hadn't returned. Apparently, there had been three boars, and they were still trying to shake off the other two in the woods.

'Grrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!'

Thuuuuump!!!

A Great Boar came charging in, trying to crush Pekeji. Pekeji dodged by using a large tree as a shield. The boar slammed into the trunk and slowed down, giving Pekeji a chance to run toward his companions.

"Leave it to us from here!" Gerda was waiting, ready. Gerda's team would handle the next part. There were about eleven of them here, making it the largest team.

Pekeji sprinted straight toward Gerda.

Behind Pekeji, the boar charged at full speed. It had enormous tusks, with countless horns growing from its snout up to its head. Its massive body, over three meters tall, shook as it charged, spraying drool everywhere.

(Damn, that's intense. No wonder people get scared. And this is only a C-rank magical beast?)

Allen watched from behind Gerda. The ground shook with the thunder of the Great Boar's hooves, and he was overwhelmed by its power.

"Come on, then! Everyone, grit your teeth!"

"Yeahhhhhh!"

'Grrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!'

Gerda's team was the one that surrounded the boar. They stopped its charge with their spears alone. Spears that were too long would break from the impact, so these were only two meters long, with broad spearheads. Eleven spears specially modified for boar hunting lined up in front of the boar.

The boar charged at them at tremendous speed.

"Uwooooooooooh!"

Gerda's team desperately held it back. If they lost their footing, they'd be stabbed by its tusks or horns. All eleven worked together to stop the boar's charge. The serfs gritted their teeth.

"All right, we stopped it! Surround it! Rodan, you're up!"

Gerda's team pressed their spear tips against the boar, surrounding its huge head.

"Leave it to us! Let's go, everyone!"

"Yeah!"

Rodan's team had six people. They split into groups of three on either side of the boar to deliver the finishing blow.

Their target was the boar's neck, specifically the blood vessels. The boar had a huge, hard head, and its back was covered in tough hide. To bring it down, they had to thrust their spears deep into the relatively soft neck and strike a vital spot.

The boar hunt was proceeding according to plan, with the formation in place. Each of the twenty men carried out his role. It was teamwork they'd honed over more than ten years.

(Good, it's playing out just as I heard. This might work.)

"All right, please go ahead."

"O-Okay."

"I'm going."

At last, the commoners moved. The newcomers had spears. They headed from where Allen was toward the group struggling to deliver the finishing blow.

They reached the rear of Gerda's team.

"Here we go!"

"Hey, don't hit us!"

The commoners called out so they wouldn't stab anyone by mistake, then thrust their spears from behind Gerda's group.

Allen's plan this time was very simple. The serfs used short, two-meter spears. The spears prepared for the commoners were four meters long, twice as long. They would use them to fight the boar from behind while it was surrounded.

The plan was for the luring team to draw in one boar, the surrounding team to hold it down, and the finishing team to bring it down. No matter which team a newcomer joined, a stroke of bad luck could get them killed.

Allen had said that putting newcomers on one of the teams was the mistake. They only needed to stab the boar from behind.

The newcomers kept stabbing desperately, and the boar let out an especially loud bellow. It seemed they'd pierced its vital spot, its throat. Their spears sank deep, and fresh blood spurted out. The boar moved more slowly, as if it had lost its strength, until it finally collapsed onto its side. Its massive body hit the ground with a rumble.

(Wow! We took it down safely!)

As they checked that it was completely dead, the two commoners cried out.

"Aaah! I-I did it!"

"I-I feel so strong! Thank you, God!"

It seemed they'd leveled up. They were shouting that they'd overcome the trial from God. They trembled as they stared at their hands gripping their spears.

(Oh, so they did level up just by poking it with their spears from behind. This is Normal Mode, after all. They must've leveled up quite a bit. Let's see...)

Allen checked to see if he'd gained any experience, too. He looked at the cover of his grimoire, but no log appeared.

(Damn! So I don't get any experience just for standing here?)

He'd expected it, but was still disappointed that he really wasn't getting any experience. The plan had gone well, but he regretted not gaining any experience himself.

And so, Allen's plan to train newcomers during the boar hunt began.