What Is Passed Down (10)

Whaaat... Why won't you come with me, Eisa?

Then, on the day of the monster hunt, Aiha pouted and voiced her childish plea to me.

But her eyes held no sign of anxiety about the trial.

She was merely acting spoiled, as if teasing me.

So I shook my head, ignored Aiha's words, and pointed toward the forest.

It was good that she wasn't tense, but carelessness could still trip her up.

From here on, Aiha had to enter the forest, track down and hunt the designated pack of monsters, and bring back their materials.

It would probably take several days to follow the monsters' traces and find the pack.

In other words, she would have to fight while physically and mentally exhausted.

Moreover, since she would be fighting a pack, her opponents would be numerous.

To fight enemies attacking from all four directions, she had to constantly assess her position and move accordingly.

She had been judged strong enough to undertake the monster hunt, but the crux of this trial was whether she could perform at that level under these conditions, as she did in ordinary times.

That was why I would not accompany Aiha.

Even without intervening in the battle with the monsters, having someone close by would provide emotional support.

This monster hunt was a trial Aiha had to face alone.

Of course, I would enter the forest as well, watch over her from neither too near nor too far, and intervene if her life was in danger.

But if I did, the monster-hunting trial would be considered a failure.

Neither Shizuki nor Touki would permit Aiha to pursue the path of an adventurer after that.

If she couldn't overcome a trial when she was meant to, she would eventually lose her life.

Technically, if—by some one-in-ten-thousand chance, though I considered it impossible—Aiha managed to find me in the forest while I was hiding with the aid of the trees and spirits, the trial would still count as a pass.

If she could find a high elf hiding in the forest, she would be an exceptionally elite scout... or rather, I would have to question whether she was even human.

If she possessed that kind of divine art or sensory superpower, then it wouldn't be impossible.

With talent like that, she could follow whatever path she wished, regardless of the trial.

Granted, Aiha was physically gifted and quite skilled with a sword for her age, but she showed no sign of hiding such an extraordinary talent, so this was merely a digression.

After Aiha entered the forest, I waited about ten minutes before beginning my pursuit.

I could have entered the forest without waiting and hidden myself without her noticing, but I decided to err on the side of caution, just in case.

Aiha chased the monsters, and I chased Aiha.

With the help of the wind spirits and the trees of the forest, I kept track of her movements and followed at a fixed distance.

Honestly, Aiha's movements—as a human who had only just begun learning about the forest—were frustratingly slow to me.

The distance I could cover in a day would probably take her several days, or even longer.

But today's role was to watch over her silently, without offering advice or assistance.

...In a sense, this was a trial for me as well.

This time, the monster Aiha was supposed to hunt was a pack of Great-Fang Weasels.

As their name suggested, Great-Fang Weasels were weasel monsters distinguished by their large fangs, and adults were roughly the size of large dogs.

They were fast, their fangs were highly lethal, and they weren't stupid either.

Even so, they were by no means particularly strong monsters.

They were merely somewhat troublesome when faced as a pack.

That was the assessment of Great-Fang Weasels.

Moreover, even when they formed a pack, Great-Fang Weasels were known to gather in groups of no more than three except during certain periods.

Those periods were the breeding and child-rearing seasons, which lasted only about three months and occurred once every few years.

In other words, there was no need to worry about that this time.

No one had determined why Great-Fang Weasels gathered in groups of no more than three.

Two of them formed a mated pair, while the remaining one accompanied them constantly without intruding on their relationship.

The extra one could apparently be either male or female.

Perhaps it served as a guard protecting the breeding pair, or as a decoy when the pack found itself in danger.

Still, taking the circumstances of monsters into account would only make the hunt more difficult.

The materials they yielded were their characteristic large fangs and pelts.

Their fangs in particular were sharp and durable, and could fetch a decent price.

As for the meat, it was technically edible, but unless it was dried in the sun or soaked in juice squeezed from medicinal herbs, its strong odor made it difficult to eat.

Apparently, it didn't taste bad if one ignored the effort required to process it, but these were not monsters hunted for their meat.

Well, I didn't think Aiha could carry meat back from the depths of the forest, so even if she successfully brought down the Great-Fang Weasels, she would probably only bring back their fangs.

I was the sort of person who tried not to waste anything from prey I hunted and wanted to eat the meat whenever possible, but I had no intention of imposing that practice on others.

Besides, if I was going to hunt something anyway, I would choose prey that looked tastier.

Following what I had taught her, Aiha spent one night camping cautiously in the forest, and on the second day she found traces showing that a pack of Great-Fang Weasels had passed through.

That was quite impressive.

When camping alone, she had to keep watch over her surroundings, so she couldn't sleep deeply at all.

Therefore, the more time she spent in the forest, the more her strength would be depleted, putting her at a disadvantage.

But if she could get through her forest stay with only one night of camping, it was fair to say she had kept her exhaustion to a minimum.

Luck played a part in finding the traces, but she had remembered what to examine and carefully missed nothing important, which was more than worthy of praise.

However, precisely because she had found the traces, she acted more cautiously and tracked them.

Finding traces of movement meant that the distance between her and her quarry was closing.

There was also a chance, however small, that the Great-Fang Weasels would notice her before she found them.

Therefore, her movements demanded even greater caution, and Aiha did not neglect it.

Then, before dusk, she caught up with the pack of Great-Fang Weasels.

Aiha spotted her quarry, but the Great-Fang Weasels hadn't noticed her.

Normally, that should have been a major opportunity.

After all, in addition to her katana, Aiha had brought a bow for hunting.

If she managed to strike a vital spot, she might be able to reduce the three-member pack by one before the battle began.

But instead of taking up her bow, she picked up a stone lying on the ground, tossed it at the Great-Fang Weasels to draw their attention, and drew her katana.

Aiha had deliberately thrown away the advantage of a surprise attack.

Even so, that decision could not be called a mistake.

Rather than fire an unfamiliar bow and panic if she failed to bring one down with an arrow, she decided from the outset to fight with her katana and lure the monsters to a place where she held even the slightest advantage.

She was certain that, unlike ordinary beasts that would flee when startled, monsters that knew they were strong would attack instead of running away.

With a large tree at her back, at least they couldn't get behind her.

Aiha had correctly analyzed herself and was making a calm decision.

And she was only thirteen years old.

The expression with which she awaited the approaching monsters showed not the slightest trace of the spoiled manner she had displayed before entering the forest.

I finally felt I understood why Shizuki and Touki had vouched that Aiha would be fine.

Because right now, she wore the unmistakable look of a swordfighter.

The closest Great-Fang Weasel, the one she had thrown the stone at, leaped at her before the other two.

But Aiha's katana, swung straight at it, split its head open.

Cleanly—straight down the middle.

At the grisly death of their companion, the movements of the remaining two changed.

They had probably understood in an instant that attacking alone would only lead to the same fate as their dead companion.

Once that happened, what the Great-Fang Weasels should do was obvious.

The remaining two coordinated to attack her from both sides.

But with Aiha's back against the great tree, it was impossible for them to circle around her.

That left only one course of action, and the two Great-Fang Weasels attacked from the left and right with perfect timing.

Yet to Aiha, who had decided to meet them there, their movements were exactly as she had predicted.

Aiha sprang to the right and swung her katana.

Turning her back on the Great-Fang Weasel to her left, she rushed to finish off the one on her right.

Then blood sprayed through the air.

Her blade killed the Great-Fang Weasel on the right exactly as she had intended.

But Aiha was bleeding as well.

The large fang swung by the Great-Fang Weasel on the left tore through the thick clothes she had layered as makeshift armor and reached the flesh beneath.

But it was only a superficial wound.

Because Aiha had thrown herself forward decisively, the fang that followed her only grazed her.

A slash as she turned finished off the final Great-Fang Weasel.

Even so, Aiha did not let her guard down. She remained alert after the strike and confirmed the deaths of all three Great-Fang Weasels.

Even as blood flowed from her wound.

By then, she had already acquired the bearing of someone beyond the novice stage, if not yet first-rate.

Only after confirming that every Great-Fang Weasel was dead did Aiha finally let out a deep breath and tend to her wound to stop the bleeding.

She washed the wound, then took out some medicinal herbs—perhaps ones she had gathered while traveling this far—pressed them against it, and bound them in place with cloth.

I restrained my urge to rush out and heal her with magic, then let out a deep breath.

Including tending to her own wound, Aiha had passed this trial beyond question.

I must not mar its ending by intervening.

I would watch over her until she made it back.