SWNOVELXO Chapter 78 - Gathering Hides (4)
Chapter 78. Gathering Hides (4)
Jerry Bee’s crumpled face couldn’t help but smooth out as he saw the white hand waving at him.
Who wouldn’t react that way?
His shop had just opened, only a few minutes in, and now it looked like he’d have to close down after serving just one customer.
‘Damn it, why did it have to be him as my first customer?!’
He didn’t ask for much.
He only hoped that during this quest, he wouldn’t run into one particular person.
If that was too much, then at least he wanted to encounter him at the very end.
He had wished for just that, praying to a god he didn’t even believe in.
‘…So there really isn’t a god in this world after all.’
Of all people, he had to face the one he most wanted to avoid as his first customer.
‘Yuri Holland.’
He learned the name of this junior, whom he hadn’t even known before, when he attended the 50th Hundred Steps Ceremony.
The fact that the last survivor of the ceremony was the insane maniac who had smashed his head with a rock.
Moreover, when that guy set the astonishing record of fifteen steps, Jerry was horrified.
‘That’s… a Platinum Dragon Plaque?’
At first, Jerry had mistaken Yuri for a Platinum Dragon Plaque holder.
But he was wrong.
‘No way! How could that be a Platinum Dragon Plaque! I guarantee it’s a Black Dragon Plaque!’
It was a relief that only his head was broken by that rock.
His limbs were still intact.
Realizing that, Jerry made a resolution.
He would never get involved with Yuri Holland again.
‘If one of the people you should avoid most in this world is a maniac…’
Then someone even more dangerous to avoid would be a maniac with skills.
And Yuri Holland was undeniably an exceptionally skilled maniac.
That alone was reason enough to steer clear of him, but Jerry had another reason for avoiding Yuri.
A very decisive reason.
[It’s nothing much. Just do me a small favor later.]
A favor he had promised to fulfill in exchange for information from Yuri during the last Changing the Dragon Plaque.
That was the problem.
‘Who knows what kind of favor this maniac will ask for?’
As Jerry was worrying about how to deal with that favor, Yuri tilted his head slightly.
“What’s wrong? Not happy to see me?”
As soon as that question was asked, Jerry’s stiff face broke into a wide grin.
“Oh my, look who it is! Isn’t this our amazing junior, Yuri Holland? Of course I’m happy to see you, very happy indeed!”
Feigning cheerfulness, Jerry rummaged through the pockets of the unconscious Rabbitman.
Then, a piece of leather emerged in his hand.
A small, palm-sized, white square of leather.
Jerry firmly placed that white hide in Yuri’s left hand.
“You must be exhausted, our hard-working junior. Here, take this first.”
Then he pulled out another piece of leather from his own pocket.
It was the same shape as the Rabbit’s hide, but yellow in color.
Jerry placed it in Yuri’s right hand, winking as he did so.
“Here, take this too. I’m sure you know what these are, right? The white one is Rabbit hide, and the yellow one is Deer hide. Combine them, and you’ve got 6,000 points!”
“Wow, as expected, our senior Jerry is sharp as ever. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone in the world were like our senior Jerry? Don’t you think so?”
Yuri’s face relaxed at the voluntary offering of the Deer hide.
Seeing that expression, as if a burden had been lifted, Jerry sighed in relief inwardly.
He could only imagine what might have happened if he hadn’t offered the hides voluntarily.
‘But it’s too soon to feel relieved!’
Jerry started speaking rapidly.
“That’s right, those clueless folks! Oh, I haven’t even explained why I’m doing this here, have I? Our quest is to play the roles of Rabbits and Deer.”
“Oh?”
“Anyone can play the Rabbit, regardless of skill, but they can’t attack! Only unregistered first-class warriors can be Deer, and while they can’t attack first, they can counterattack as much as they want. I don’t know the rules for the other animals. This quest was introduced this year.”
“Really? Anything else? Any other details?”
“Of course!”
Jerry nodded enthusiastically.
‘If I know this guy, he’ll definitely torment me until I spill everything.’
So it was better to reveal everything willingly, for the sake of his physical and mental well-being.
This was a choice that only someone who had encountered Yuri before could make.
It also served the purpose of distracting Yuri from recalling the ‘favor.’
So, Jerry desperately began to divulge information that Yuri hadn’t even asked for.
“They say the Rabbit hops and the Deer bleats to reveal our identities…”
“Skip the useless stuff.”
“…so just ignore that useless information! Rabbits are given 50 hides, and Deer get 20 hides. And if you get subdued and lose your hides like this, you’re considered dead. After that, you go to heaven, get more hides, and re-enter the forest.”
“Oh? Sounds fun.”
“Oh! And at the end of the hide-gathering quest, those who participated as animals are rewarded based on the number of hides they have left. The value of the hides is the same as the one given to the hunters, which was announced to the 50th batch.”
“Ah, so the animals’ goal is to protect as many hides as possible, while the hunters’ goal is to capture and take as many as they can?”
“That’s right!”
Seeing that Yuri seemed to understand, Jerry nodded awkwardly.
Then, he subtly tried to step away.
“Well then, this poor Deer soul needs to go to heaven to be resurrected, so I’ll just…”
Jerry tried to slip away quickly before Yuri could call him back.
At that moment.
“Wait.”
Creak—.
Jerry’s body froze at the voice he heard from behind.
“W-why?”
As he turned around with a stiff, awkward face, he saw Yuri smirking at him.
The words that came out of Yuri’s grinning mouth were the last thing Jerry wanted to hear.
“Wow, I never imagined our senior Jerry would be so eager to help. So I can assume you’ll be just as eager to fulfill the favor I’ll ask for, right?”
“…”
…This was the worst.
That damn bastard must have known everything and just watched him the whole time.
But even realizing that, Jerry couldn’t show his displeasure, making him feel all the more pathetic.
“Of c-course! What’s the favor?”
“What I’m asking is…”
“W-what is it?”
“What should it be?”
“…?”
“Ah! That’s it!”
“W-what is it?”
“Should I tell you now?”
“…”
“Or not?”
…This guy, seriously.
Yuri smiled as he saw Jerry’s cheek twitching.
‘Should I stop here?’
If I keep going, he might actually cry.
Thinking that, Yuri shrugged his shoulders.
“Never mind. I’ll ask you later when I think of something better.”
At those words, Jerry let out a faint sigh and asked nervously.
“Then… I can really go?”
“Yeah.”
When Yuri nodded, Jerry ran off without looking back.
Yuri would have run off.
If only Yuri hadn’t called out to him again.
“Jerry, senior.”
“Oh… Why again?”
Jerry’s expression looked like he was about to cry.
Seeing this, Yuri chuckled and pointed at the unconscious Rabbitman.
“Aren’t you going to take him?”
“…”
Originally, it didn’t matter to him whether he took him or not.
But Jerry wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
“I… I’ll take him.”
He quickly slung his unconscious comrade over his shoulder and hurried away, worried that Yuri might start talking again.
As Jerry’s figure receded into the distance, Yuri waved enthusiastically after him.
“Goodbye! Let’s meet again!”
Jerry’s face, as he left, looked utterly drained, as if his soul had been sucked out.
Once Jerry had completely disappeared from view, Yuri looked down at the Rabbit and Deer hides in his hands.
“Hmm… so this is worth 6,000 points.”
He didn’t know how many animals had been released into the forest.
But with 50 hides per Rabbit and 20 per Deer, that alone was a staggering number of points.
Even without being greedy, one could easily accumulate a lot of points just by hunting Rabbits and Deer.
A glint of greed flickered in Yuri’s eyes.
“This is a total… gold mine, isn’t it?”
It was as if the points in the forest were just walking around, begging to be taken.
That meant it was time for a frenzied hunt.
Zip!
Yuri, who felt that every second counted, dashed off at high speed.
A member of the 50th batch, who had been attacked by a muscular Deer-man, collapsed sideways with his eyes rolled back.
“Gah!”
Thud—
And around him lay five other 50th batch members sprawled out on the ground.
There had been about a dozen of them at the start, but when the first person who charged in was knocked out in a single blow, the rest scattered and fled.
Only four remained to fight.
Of course, they eventually met the same fate as the first comrade who had passed out.
“Snort!”
The Deer-man snorted as he looked at the unconscious bodies.
Sweat was beading on his forehead.
‘As expected, these guys who became official cadets are different from the riffraff during the Changing the Dragon Plaque.’
It was remarkable that he was sweating just from dealing with four of them.
Thinking that he’d need to be more cautious if the numbers increased, the Deer-man quickly left the area.
Not long after he left, a group arrived at the scene where the members of the 50th batch lay unconscious.
Swish—
They were clad in black clothes, black hats, and black masks.
One of them, who seemed to be the highest-ranking, looked over the unconscious cadets and spoke.
“Send them all to hell.”
Since the one who gave the command appeared to be the leader, the rest of the black-clad figures slung the unconscious cadets over their shoulders.
Then they calmly left the area.
Behind a thick tree trunk, a Rabbit-eared girl hid, glancing nervously around.
Anyone could see she was extremely cautious.
After confirming that no one was around, she sighed in relief.
“Haa… Surviving is tough.”
This hide-gathering quest was quite profitable even for the existing cadets.
If she could just keep running around the forest without getting caught, even as a Rabbit, she could earn up to 40,000 points.
That’s why those who were the weakest or couldn’t play other animal roles volunteered to be Rabbits.
‘It’s been tough since the first day.’
It was particularly difficult this time because 300 members of the 50th batch had joined all at once.
‘Well, things should get easier soon.’
After some time, the number of 50th batch cadets roaming the forest would decrease significantly.
When that happened, things would calm down.
Thinking this, the girl started to move again.
‘It’s not safe to stay in one place for too long.’
Unless it was a perfect hiding spot, she needed to keep moving to increase her chances of survival.
Just as the Rabbit-girl was about to move again—
Rustle—
Thud—
She heard a small noise, and at the same time, a dark shadow rapidly descended from the sky.
“Who…?!”
The Rabbit-girl tried to scream in surprise, but the dark shadow was faster.
Thwack—
A powerful and dizzying impact struck the back of her head, causing her vision to go black.
The last thing she saw was a pair of golden eyes.
They looked like the eyes of a tiger stalking its prey.
Thud—
The Rabbit-girl collapsed.
Rustle—
Yuri retrieved the hides from her and quickly moved on.
One of his pockets was noticeably bulging.
Yuri roamed the forest in all directions.
Whenever he spotted a Rabbit or Deer, he struck them down and collected their hides.
In about six hours, he had gathered 22 Rabbit hides and 6 Deer hides.
This was an outstanding achievement among the 50th batch roaming the forest.
But Yuri didn’t stop.
‘I’m still hungry!’
This burning greed would only be satisfied when all the Rabbits and Deer in the forest were wiped out.
As Yuri darted through the forest with sharp eyes, he noticed something.
‘It seems like the areas are divided.’
It appeared that the Rabbits were on the outermost edge, with the Deer just inside that.
‘If this is true… then the further inward I go, the higher the point-value animals I’ll find.’
At the moment, there were plenty of Rabbits and Deer, so it wasn’t much of an issue.
However, if the rate of their deaths outpaced their resurrection, other cadets would likely head inward as well.
In fact, the rate at which he was hunting was already outpacing their resurrection.
Initially, Rabbits and Deer were easy to find, but they were becoming harder to spot as time went on.
‘If it weren’t for that, I would have collected even more in these six hours.’
Yuri began to consider expanding his hunting area further inward.
‘If I’m right, the area further in should be the wolves’ territory.’
With that thought, Yuri started moving toward the wolves’ den.