Chapter 9 : An unusual encounter

Is this guy really dead?

“He got stuck deep.”

I quickly applied force to the horn that was stuck in the tree and pulled it out, and only then did the body lose balance.

Kuhwoong…

The heavy body tilted to the side and fell over.

Yeah, if there’s a hole in the neck but it’s still alive, that’s an undead.

“I caught this…?”

I’m an explorer now.

The problem now is how to carry this.

“Hmm…”

The enormous horn glowing faintly with a bluish hue catches my eye.

It’s full of magical power, so if you brew it, it becomes a potion, and if you process it well, it can be used as a material for a staff.

It’s not shaped like a palm-sized broad horn, but rather like a thin twig.

Kkangk-

Of course, its hardness is tough.

A sword made of iron rings.

It’s fresh antler. I know it’s good for the body if eaten, but…

The problem is how to eat this.

After running around the forest for 30 minutes to drain its power, my stamina is nearly at its limit.

I need to recover my stamina before I go, but the grain cube won’t do.

Even if it did, it doesn’t appeal to me. I just feel like eating something tasty.

“Is deer meat good?”

I think deer meat would be better than wolf meat.

Anyway, since I’ll probably grill it over a fire, the comparison doesn’t matter much.

After a few minutes of catching my breath and pondering, I sensed a presence behind me.

“Presence. It’s a person.”

I could feel someone’s presence behind me.

They’re hiding behind a tree.

Is this bad?

In this case, it’s best to call them out immediately.

If I can solve it with words, I should.

“Who’s there? Behind the tree.”

As soon as I spoke, the presence quickly vanished.

Maybe they didn’t expect me to detect them so well.

But as I kept staring, they finally stepped out, one step at a time.

“This is bad.”

I could only see one foot at first, but that alone made it clear that this person was extremely strong.

No wonder, they were wearing metal shin guards.

Even with silver armor covering their shins, they could easily erase their presence like this.

“No, it’s a woman.”

A woman with bright golden hair tied up slowly emerged from behind the tree.

“I really didn’t expect to catch it…”

She had a huge greatsword on her back, and it looked very heavy.

The width of the blade was as wide as her waist.

Her bottom was lightly dressed… but do those shoulder pads even serve a purpose?

“Who are you? Hiding behind there like a criminal.”

“Th-that’s not it! I just… thought it looked dangerous…”

“Then you should have come out immediately to help. Were you planning on helping at the funeral after I died?”

“Sorry… I just had a feeling you could catch it on your own…”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“Not planning to fight right away, huh? What’s she aiming for? Is she after the deer’s spoils?”

“The battle is over. I caught the deer.”

“Huh? Ah, right…”

Even though she clearly wanted me to leave quickly, she hesitated and stopped.

I could tell she had something to say.

And I’m pretty sure it’s something bad.

“Are you after the horns?”

“No, no! I’m not that kind of person!”

“Then what kind of person are you?”

“Well, I… I’m silver rank…”

Silver rank!? This is crazy!

If I were to die and come back, that’s what I’d be at.

It’s not like it’s an impossible level, and honestly, I was killed by a direwolf and woke up like this.

“What do you want? Speak quickly.”

“I have a request, please listen!”

A silver rank asking me for a favor? Is this about money? Did I catch the deer and make money?

“What is it?”

“Ah, well… about the deer…”

“The deer?”

The woman, who I still didn’t know the name of, kept fidgeting, turning her head in all directions and mumbling.

“What is it?”

“Are you… going to eat the deer?”

“Hmm, I’m probably going to eat it.”

“Ho, ho, are you going to eat it all…?”

“Eat it all?”

Excluding the intestines, bones, and other parts, there’s easily over 100kg of meat.

There’s no way I could eat all of that.

“No, that’s not happening. I’m not a pig. How could I eat all of that?”

“Th-then…”

“What’s going on here? What’s happening?”

Ah, this person is hungry.

“Come eat with me. It’s not that hard.”

“Really? You’d let me eat with you!”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

A pig is here.

“No, are you a person? Did you eat all that?”

“Gugoo…”

“Finish what’s in your mouth and speak. What are you doing, looking so disgraceful?”

I set up a fire far from the trees and began to dismantle the blue horned deer.

Rubica, a silver rank explorer.

She’s a bit tall for a woman but has a very healthy build.

Amazingly, she ate over 80% of the giant deer’s meat by herself.

Honestly, I don’t say this often, but she really just devoured it.

Like a dog.

Seriously, what the hell.

She’s eating like a legend.

Is she human? Stop eating so much.

“It’s the effect of my skill. I have [Accelerated Consumption], so I eat more than usual but can exert a lot of strength.”

“More than usual? You ate enough for a four-person family for two weeks in one meal?”

“Th-thats…”

I’m amazed.

Does all that go into her skinny waist? It’s like she has a four-dimensional pocket in her throat, as the food she eats shrinks and disappears into an empty space.

There’s no difference in speed, whether it’s the first time eating or now.

Just like a beast, chomp chomp.

Seriously.

“Amazing. How do you afford the food?”

“I… I eat what I hunt myself…”

“Anything?”

“I don’t eat just anything! Mostly wild boars from the 8th floor…”

She says she usually hunts wild boars from the 8th floor.

I’ve heard of them. They’re large boar monsters, and she often hunts and eats them.

I’ve heard of them. Isn’t that meat used in inns too?

“Then why are you wandering around the 4th floor now?”

“I failed in consecutive hunts. Eventually, I became too weak to deal with the monsters on the 8th floor.”

Kind of like a cheetah, huh? If it can’t hunt, it starves and gets too weak to move.

With Rubica sitting beside me on the ground for about three hours, performing some sort of deer bone butchering strength show, I lay down and took a short nap.

I had eaten my fill and watched her eat for about 10 minutes, but she was taking so long.

While I was asleep, Rubica ate most of the meat: all four legs, ribs, rump, neck meat, and other miscellaneous cuts that even butcher shops wouldn’t bother with.

There was so much meat that she discarded the parts that humans couldn’t possibly eat, but even so, it felt like 80% of it ended up in her body.

Look at those bones piled over there.

It’s like a scavenger pack passed through.

“Are you full?”

“Hmm, it was a satisfying meal.”

“How much did you eat?”

“Y-yeah…”

She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the grease from her mouth and hands—looking like a graceful lady knight, the kind who’d be admired anywhere.

If only I hadn’t seen her just moments earlier stuffing meat into both cheeks like a hamster.

Maybe I should’ve woken up a bit later.

Around us were the skinned deer hide, charred logs that looked like they had been burning for a long time, and a mountain of bones.

The parts she didn’t eat were tossed away into the distance.

“What about you? From the looks of your path, you were heading to the portal.”

“I have to go to the 5th floor. I’m trying to rank up to lead grade.”

“So, you were still at bronze? You really didn’t seem like it.”

“I had some business. Got a little stronger recently.”

“I see.”

Rubica stood up and slung the greatsword beside her back onto her back.

“I’m going to head back now.”

“Wait. You’re just leaving after eating all that meat?”

“U-uhh…”

As if.

As a decent human being, if you eat 0.1 tons of meat, you ought to pay for it.

“Do you want something…?”

“Yes. I do.”

“I’ll help however I can…”

“You said you were going back to the surface, right? Then, please sell those antlers for me.”

I pointed to the head of the blue-horned deer. Rubica had said selling it whole was best for preserving its value.

“Is that all you need?”

“Ah, but please make sure to give me the money it sells for. I think I’ll be getting out a little later, so… Leave it at the Goatherd Inn in the southwest of Kalax. Say hello for me too.”

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Yueon.”

“Why are you saying your will all of a sudden… Are you going off to die?”

“No, no. My name is literally Yueon (which also means ‘will’ or ‘testament’).”

“That’s… hmm, must be an alias. Got it. I’ll be sure to deliver the money properly.”

People often get confused like that, but it’s too annoying to explain, so I just let it slide.

“If you run off with it, I’ll be pretty disappointed. There might be a rumor that a silver-ranked female adventurer named Rubica devoured 0.1 tons of meat in one sitting.”

“What do you take me for! Of course I wouldn’t do that, don’t worry!”

“Yes. You seem trustworthy.”

After watching Rubica’s beast butchering show, I feel full myself.

Or more accurately, my stomach feels heavy and I’ve lost my appetite.

‘I hope this doesn’t ruin inn food for me.’

Well, she did eat all that meat, so maybe it’ll be fine.

“And… this is my personal gift to you. I think you’ll find it useful.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

Rubica rummaged in her bag and handed me a small ring.

“It’s an artifact. Got it on the 10th floor. It’s not high quality, but I don’t really need it.”

As she said, when I put the ring on my left middle finger and infused it with mana, a large round shield big enough to cover my upper body appeared.

The grip attached perfectly to my hand—quite the intriguing feeling.

“This is nice. I’ll use it well.”

“Good. I’ll be off then. That was a good meal.”

As she stepped toward the portal and pressed her foot into the ground,

THUD!

Her body launched forward at incredible speed. That’s some serious velocity.

So that’s silver rank, huh?

‘That combustion acceleration skill… Might be great if you have money.’

Even though the blue-horned deer meat didn’t smell too bad, I wouldn’t call it tasty either.

Still, I guess anything tastes good when you’re starving.

She must’ve been really hungry from using the combustion acceleration skill, so I get it.

To move at that speed even with that massive greatsword on her back…

Now I really want to see her fight.

“Okay, time to go.”

I slept about 3 hours. I can feel my body’s recovered.

“Let’s go to the 5th floor.”