Chapter 4
The mound of dirt erupted violently.
The log swung by the ogre smashed through the terrain.
The ogre's eyes rolled blood-red, and boiling steam seeped from its mouth. The veins etched across its forearms glowed crimson, and red energy wrapped around the log.
The ogre charged.
It swung the log, as large as its own body, with startling ease despite its weight, striking another tree.
It smashed apart even the trees within the arc of its swing and reached the spot right in front of me.
I leaped aside as I charged in, and the log stirred up a vicious gust of wind.
I slipped between its legs, cutting across its left thigh as I passed.
The log rose high into the air.
It came crashing straight down.
The log struck the ground, sending a massive amount of dirt flying.
I dodged and cut its left thigh once more.
The ogre's left leg buckled.
"───!!!"
The ogre roared.
It swung the log sideways.
The log, swung recklessly, left plenty of space beneath it.
I lowered my body.
The pressure of the wind struck my face.
'So this is how I'm supposed to dodge it.'
In the game, dodging with a roll was enough. Now that it was reality, I had to avoid the trajectory in detail as well, but there was more room than I'd expected.
At the timing for dodging each pattern, openings stood out clearly.
I closed the distance.
I slashed its thigh.
I slashed it. Then slashed it again.
"───!!!!"
The ogre's left leg folded.
It tilted heavily to one side.
I jumped in during the instant its balance faltered and cut into its left knee. Its head came much closer as it dropped fully to one knee.
The ogre was bleeding heavily from its leg and trying to force itself upright out of frustration.
But that only made it lose even more blood needlessly.
The ogre screamed.
It threw the log away.
It tried to grab me with its hand.
I cut through the ogre's reaching hand with my sword and moved behind it.
When the giant, more than three meters tall, dropped to one knee, its back came down to the perfect height.
I stepped onto its back and climbed onto its shoulder, then looked down at its neck.
A thread appeared.
The sensation of having cut countless things traced guide lines showing exactly where and how to cut for a clean severance.
The ogre's hide and bones were hard, but each time I tested them, the thread grew clearer.
The gap between its thick hide and muscle.
The spine and the joints between its bones.
The soft flesh hanging between them.
The ogre's hand came after me.
I reversed my grip on the sword.
I drew the blade along the thread.
I put my weight into it and cut in a single stroke.
The blade forced its way through a gap in the hide and split the muscle. The sensation of digging between the bones traveled into my hand, and when the ogre lifted its body in surprise, its movement added even more force to the cut.
The center of its neck snapped with a crack.
The ogre's body collapsed without resistance.
Thud.
The massive body fell forward.
I panted for breath atop its shoulder.
"Phew... I won."
My hand trembled.
Once the tension left me, the fear I had felt facing the ogre began to creep back in.
But I had won.
Without a single injury, at that.
The silent forest.
Beyond the trees, I could hear the sounds of red monsters passing by like a murmur.
I drew my dagger.
"Let's get this over with quickly."
I began butchering it.
Unlike in the game, I had to field-dress it myself in reality. Eck's hands remembered the order of the process and carried on.
First, I removed the magic stone.
The heart—a massive blood vessel—coiled around the magic stone like a snake.
Though its owner was already dead, the Red Magic Stone still pulsed crimson.
A searing heat traveled into my palm.
This one item alone could be converted into gold coins.
Red Magic Stones contained a high concentration of magic power.
The higher the magic concentration, the greater the cost of the skills they could hold; if applied to a sword, the power dwelling within the Red Magic Stone could be engraved into the blade.
Magic stones were usually used as fuel, but Red Magic Stones were primarily used for enhancement.
Ogres were A-rank monsters, so their Red Magic Stones contained commensurate power and were highly sought after by nobles.
"And the hide."
An ogre's hide was a powerful armor material in its own right.
An ogre hide infused with the energy of the Red Moon also possessed strong magic resistance, making it extremely useful for melee fighters who had to face magic.
I skillfully separated the hide from the flesh.
Last came the tendons.
Ogre tendons were used to make bowstrings.
Red Ogre tendons were light, supple, durable, and strong.
They also reacted strongly to magic.
That was why ogres were so strong for their size.
My backpack grew heavy.
Red Magic Stones, ogre hide, and tendons.
These were the three materials I had been after this time.
All three were enhancement materials I could use myself.
I would sell the Red Magic Stones to secure funds, then entrust the hide and tendons to Bordeaux and have him turn them into equipment. Eck's equipment wasn't bad, but it was merely early-game gear that happened to be somewhat rare.
If I wanted to hunt comfortably in the Red Moon Forest from now on, I needed a foundation to match.
Red Ogre materials were the components for the strongest equipment available in the early-game area.
"I can't forget this, either."
The log thrown by the Red Ogre was saturated with deep red energy. It was a material that would scatter and disappear as soon as the Red Moon event ended.
It would be a waste not to take the log infused with red energy as well.
My backpack was full.
There was nothing to gain by staying in the Red Moon Forest any longer, so I returned to the city.
***
I knocked on the door of Bordeaux's smithy.
Bang, bang, bang!
"Fuck. Who is it!"
"Open up."
The sounds beyond the door fell silent, and then the door opened.
Bordeaux was holding a bottle of liquor.
"What is it, at this hour? I already feel lousy enough on a day when the Red Moon is up."
Thud!
I set my backpack down on the floor.
When I opened the backpack, a stench of blood poured out in a rush.
Bordeaux's eyes widened.
"This is..."
"Red Ogre hide, tendons, and the log it used. There's a magic stone too."
Bordeaux crouched in front of the backpack and picked up the contents one by one.
He rubbed his fingers over the hide's tough surface, then raised his eyes.
"A Red Ogre? You killed that by yourself?"
"Does it look like I'm lying?"
"Not with the real thing right in front of me. But you?"
"What about me?"
The usual Eck would never have gone hunting on a day when the Red Moon was up.
That was what Bordeaux's question meant.
"More importantly, can you process it?"
"Can I? You crazy bastard, I would've had to handle materials like these before I could tell you whether I can or not."
Bordeaux pulled on the tendons with his fingers.
After checking their elasticity, he twitched his nose.
"But if you leave them with me, I'll handle them with the utmost care. What do you want made?"
"If possible, process all of this."
"All of it?"
The backpack containing all the Red Ogre hide and tendons held a considerable amount.
"Yes, all of it. You have to finish everything before the Red Moon sets completely."
"While the Red Moon is up? Is there really any need to rush that much?"
"I heard somewhere that red materials lose less of their power if they're processed while the Red Moon is up. Or do you want to take a beating?"
Bordeaux set down the bottle of liquor.
"If what you say is true, then I'd better hurry."
The look in the dwarf's eyes changed.
It wasn't that the alcohol had worn off. Something else had been layered over the drunkenness in his eyes. As befitted a craftsman's race, he had an extraordinary eye for rare materials.
"What about the cost? You don't expect me to process everything for free, do you?"
I placed the Red Magic Stones in front of Bordeaux.
The Red Magic Stones I'd obtained from hunting wolves and goblins.
"Do I look short on money?"
"That's something I like hearing for once."
Bordeaux's face brightened as he lit the fire in the forge.
"I'll send word when it's finished. Now get out of here. You're an eyesore."
"All right. I'll leave it to you."
I left the smithy.
I looked up at the sky.
I had to wait until the following morning for the Red Moon to set, so there was still plenty of time.
'I can probably make a few more trips.'
With my backpack emptied,
I headed back toward the Red Moon Forest.
***
"I'm sorry, Sis. Cough, cough."
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
Elena nursed her younger sister, who was lying in bed.
Her house was small.
One room and one kitchen.
It was a shabby house where cloth had been hung over holes in the walls, letting the wind seep inside.
Her younger sister had been bedridden with an illness for the past several days.
The small body lay beneath the blanket. Her cheeks were flushed with fever. The girl, much younger than Elena, struggled to breathe shallowly.
Elena knelt beside the bed and placed a hand on her sister's forehead.
It was hot.
"....Sis?"
Her younger sister opened her eyes and sought Elena through the haze of fever.
Perhaps the apology from a moment ago had been sleep talk; now, her sister's gaze desperately searched for her.
"Can't you stay home today?"
"Yes. I won't go out."
"Sis... I heard from Aunt Hanna that you've become an adventurer."
"I-is that so?"
"It's dangerous, isn't it? You swing a sword and fight monsters. I don't want you to get hurt, Sis."
Elena took her sister's hand.
It was small and thin.
She could feel the bones.
The girl had lost weight and grown thin in the meantime.
"I won't get hurt. Don't worry."
"Liar. Aunt Hanna said being an adventurer is very dangerous."
Her younger sister grabbed Elena's sleeve.
"If you're doing this because of me, can't you just stay by my side?"
"Then who will get your medicine? Stop talking nonsense and take your medicine."
Elena let go of her sister's hand, pulled up the blanket, and covered her shoulders.
Her sister looked as though she wanted to say more, but she couldn't overcome the heaviness of her eyelids brought on by the fever. Soon, she fell asleep again.
Elena gazed down at her sleeping sister's face for a long while.
'It's Wisdom Fever.'
'Wisdom Fever?'
A doctor had visited several days earlier and diagnosed her younger sister.
'She must have been a very clever child. But her mind can't handle all the wisdom she possesses, and it's harming her body.'
'Is it not an illness?'
'It would be more accurate to call it a blessing. But just as too much medicine becomes poison, she was born with too great a blessing, and this is the result.'
If she had been born into a noble family, she might have become an unprecedented archmage.
The doctor finished the diagnosis and left.
Before leaving, Elena had earnestly asked him to tell her what she needed to do to cure her sister.
'Can you afford it?'
She had spent the wealth her father left behind on her sister's medicine.
The doctor had given her medicine that lowered the Wisdom Fever.
"Ellis? You need to take your medicine before bed. Okay?"
"Mmm... It tastes bad..."
She gave the half-asleep girl water mixed with powdered medicine.
But after drinking the medicine, her sister's expression relaxed and her fever went down.
"...I'll get you better, Ellis. You're the only family I have left."
After confirming that her sister was asleep, Elena went out into the yard.
A red sky.
It seemed to foreshadow the misfortune that had befallen their household.
The Red Moon dyed the world red around this time every month.
Her father had told her that every monster became violent in the world beneath the Red Moon.
Her father, a hunter, had been killed by a monster before he could teach his young daughter very much.
But thanks to what he left her during that short time, she was able to survive to this day.
The butchering he had taught her, the hunting techniques he had taught her, and the household chores he had taught her. Without them, she would still be lost.
But now she could no longer learn from him.
She had to learn everything else on her own.
"I'm doing this right, aren't I?"
Elena drew her sword from its scabbard.
A plain, straight sword.
She lightly cut through the air.
Compared to the old sword her father had left her, it was far easier to use.
She thought of the man who had bought her the sword.
Black Wolf Eck.
He was famous.
In a bad way.
When he first spoke to her, she had almost drawn her sword because she'd heard the rumors that he devoured women.
But what he actually did was very different from what she had expected.
He gave her a map. He told her the monsters' weaknesses. He had her wager money, then paid her the full amount he had promised without cutting it down.
He bought her a sword. He even said he would teach her swordsmanship.
Everything he said was curt, and whenever she asked why, he deflected by talking about profit or business.
Could it really be true?
Elena knew she was ignorant of the ways of the world, so she couldn't tell whether the impression she had was right or wrong.
But what he did for her was certainly helping her in her current situation.
'I don't know what he's thinking by helping me.'
Was he really only looking for a sucker, as he'd claimed?
But whatever his purpose, her circumstances were too dire for her to refuse his help. The wealth her father had left behind was not enough.
She swung her sword beneath the red sky.
She imagined wolves and goblins standing before her and cut them down.