Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"Are you here, Lynd?"

It should have been just a few minutes since I arrived at my affiliated mutual aid society 'Apple House' and I had just handed over the two Low Vultures I hunted — for the usual fundraising and also to supply some meat — when a visitor dropped by for the Boss.

I had been hunting in the eastern part of the Rune Prairie lately, especially the vultures, whenever I was free from knight work. Whenever our schedules matched, I would party up with Amur and Roye-aniki or Al and Coco to accept D to F rank quests. However, I made sure to keep myself away from the leadership role so that I didn’t suddenly fulfill the criteria for a D-rank promotion.

I was still E-rank and I didn't want to tick the box to be eligible for promotion. The usual D-rank promotion condition was to show a feat worthy of D-rank, whether alone or in a party. So I was just taking things backward by staying away from the core position and being a sidekick of the strong members.

I did have apprehensions about Greateus Snake class monsters appearing, but I believed I could escape when I didn’t have to look after others. As an insurance, I was also carrying two extremely expensive arrows with Malat mountain-produced MacAquate mineral Arrowheads attached to the iron shafts.

One of them alone cost 2000 rea, making them a high-grade product, but Rouge-san of the arms store said that even I should be able to damage a Greateus Snake with just a Lygo bow using these arrows. So I got them as a lifeline to be used in case of precarious situations. Though they were so expensive that I didn't even feel like testing them out…

The enhanced hearing-based scouting magic that I abhorred before turned out to be a huge asset in hunting. And since my wind magic was interlinked with scouting magic, I was also making an effort to train it.

Well, I had mostly made these plains my training ground along with my hunting since the city and the dorm were too noisy for me to handle, and I would also often pick up some conversations that I shouldn't have.

My hunting grounds started a bit away from the main road in the plains. I would look out for wild animals or monsters with my scouting magic and take them down with my bow.

Vultures were quickly attracted whenever there was dead prey around. They would descend whenever I was hunting for another monster, though I made sure to keep my gaze on my target.

My enhanced hearing wasn't trained enough to pick up the sound when they descended, but it was good enough to notice when they were trying to flap their wings after clutching their prey in their claws. This was usually my window to take them down.

My hunting rate was two vultures in less than 30 minutes, by repeating the same tactic. I would have tried for more, but I couldn't carry a mountain of corpses alongside me into the city so two was the usual limit.

“Good work out there, Ren-kun! Vultures again? My handcart has space so dump it on here if you like.”

Recently, I had been often approached by novice explorers from other mutual aid societies.

I sometimes found folks of other mutual aid societies at the receiving end of the vultures’ tricks during my hunts and I would usually help them out since it was a bit hard to ignore when everything was happening in front of me. Though, this seemed to have increased my favorability among them.

Honestly, I also often found myself in a pickle since a lot of such people were quite older than me, and occasionally offered to carry the monsters I was holding, just like now.

“Thanks a bunch. It's not much, but you can carry those Meadow Mara and Jumplgr rolling on the ground.”

“Are you sure!? Thank you really, Ren-kun! Ya lot, load them in quick!”

Well, I couldn't carry everything by myself, so I was going to leave them behind either way and let them return to dust. They didn't have much value either compared to the hassle I would have to go through to carry them.

Besides, if we didn't carry them, they would just become lunch for the vultures or other monsters in no time.

“Ah, right! Us folks are from Round Piece! I'm Jess, E-rank. These two are F-rank.”

“Look at me, not introducing myself properly. I'm Ren from Apple House. I'm still an upstart explorer, so let's look out for each other.”

When I returned the greeting politely, the two standing behind Jess-san whispered in his ears.

“...Jess-san, from which angle does he look like ‘Mad Hound’ Ren? He really doesn't seem much stronger than me…”

“Idiot! Haven't you heard of how Shu-san or Benza got thrashed earlier!? What makes you think you can handle him when they can't? Forgive their insolence, Ren-san. I’ll give them an earful later.”

Shu?

Ah, I think he was one of the four idiots who tried to snatch my hunted monsters, calling them his loot. He did introduce himself as such.

I tried to pacify the conflict by offering one to them, but they had the audacity to try and snatch the other as well, so I thoroughly and politely taught them the way of the fist.

“Ahaha. I’ve been told that often. Don't worry, I'm not that petty. By the way, is that red-haired mister alright? I made a mistake in handling him and broke one of his bones, so I was honestly quite worried about him.”

Healing bones with medicinal herbs wasn't recommended since this might lead to complications like healing slightly twisted or off the mark.

“Yes! Shu-san has already recovered! Our leaders were impressed that despite being the victim, you displayed magnanimity in conceding when it wasn't necessary— and that you were more level-headed for a kid!”

I had beaten down three of them — who were older than me — black and blue, while the last one was just too weak. And from the look, it would have been a blessing if he could carry his society members back before it turned dark.

It wasn't like our enmity ran deep, so in the end, I carried them back to their Round Piece gathering place in a handcart. Upon arriving, I was immediately surrounded by their seasoned society members but they eventually apologized when I gave them a quick rundown of the situation.

They all showed impressive understanding so I didn't have any bad impression of them as well.

Well, this and that had now led me to have more acquaintances than I could remember.

We parted ways once we arrived at the Apple House, and from there, I left the vultures for the other kids to dismantle.

I kept the feathers while distributing the meat among the kids as payment.

The Boss was obviously not happy with me doing this since the meat was too much of a reward for such simple work. But I somehow persuaded him by saying that they might raise my rank once again — which I obviously didn't want — if I took these vultures to the association, so this was just as important to me.

The only time I visited the trade window was when I hunted down a high-value monster that wasn't listed among the permanent quests. On the other hand, the kids were also diligent and careful in dismantling since the better they handled it, the better the price the meat might fetch for them.

I was watching them do their work from the garden in a good mood when a tough-looking baldy with a scar running down his cheek came to visit the Boss.

“Lynd, are you here?”

Unfortunately, Boss wasn't at the base today.

“Boss is out visiting the church, apparently for an adoption of an orphan… Who might you be?”

“Huh, what’s a scrawny kid like you doing in this rundown house?… I'm Shell. Lynd and I were raised in this orphanage, so you can say we are kind of like brothers.”

Oh, it's that drinking buddy of the Boss who was apparently gossiping about me. He was the screaming image of an ‘outlaw’ with his disordered style. But the brother of the Boss, huh? That would make him our uncle then.

“Hello, I’ve heard a bit about you from the Boss. I'm Ren, who has been in the care of Apple House since this spring. I also heard about you from the warehouse’s Saki-san. If you have any message, I can pass it to him, Uncle.”

“Uncle?... Whatever. Nah, I don't have any big reason for the visit. It’s just that, there's a monster that's a bit of a pain in the butt to handle alone. Well, it's not a pressing matter, but it wouldn't hurt to wipe it out earlier. So I was going to ask for his help and have some booze along the way… By the way, you hunted down those vultures?”

“Just how much booze you want, old baldy!? You see that, brother Ren took it out! Something like a Low Vulture is piss easy for him!”

“Watch your tongue, kid! It's rude to talk like this to a guest! You should be more polite when facing them!”

I dropped a knuckle on the head of Po, who somehow started boasting about me for no reason.

“Ack… Understood, Brother Ren…”

Po sulked a bit and returned to dismantling. He was about to start when Uncle Shell took a step toward Po, oozing with a threatening aura.

The intimidation intensity was off the charts to be directed at a powerless kid. Naturally, Po had fallen on his butt.

I wedged myself between them.

“I acknowledge his rudeness, but bear in mind he's still a kid. You should hold back, Uncle.”

“What? I'm not going to kill him, but a brat like him wouldn't learn unless they see hell. Move aside, Kid.”

I sighed and took a step to the side. I picked up a rusty iron pipe, with a nail embedded in it, that was there on the ground, turned around, and made a full powered swing at the baldy’s stomach.

Baldy used his arms to take the hit. Thwamp A sound, as if it was two metal bars that had bumped into each other, echoed.

Damn, tough! What the hell was this baldy, a cyborg!? I immediately let go of my hand holding the pipe, but right when my body was still recovering from making the earlier attack, his fist rained down.

I loosened my body — to meet hardness with softness — since I couldn't escape or put up my guard on time. Just as I covered my face with body-strengthening magic, he landed a precise blow that sent me flying.

I covered my landing ground with body-strengthening magic and crashed into a mountain of rubbish in the garden.

“Brother Ren!”

Po and the other members screamed.

I quickly stood up and flashed a smile to reassure them.

“I am going to have a chat with this baldy Shell, so you guys go inside for now.”

I put the crowbar I picked up from the debris on my shoulder, and hid some nails in my hand.

However, instead of taking any action, the baldy restrained his intimidation aura and started laughing.

“Kuhahaha. Just a nosebleed from my punch? Hey, you’re called Ren, right? I like your brawling style. You’re good, and it looks like Saki taking care of you wasn’t a lie, it seems. You free after this?”

……This damned baldy, so he was testing me!

“...I'm busy as hell.”