episode_0005

In the end, Terub did not come out of the stove.

When I tried to take it out, it climbed up the chimney and wouldn’t come out, so it was covered in soot and the Terup’s appearance was a mess.

If you got hurt like that, you were confirmed to have tetanus.

“Kyaaagh──?!”

“──────?!”

I was worried and tried to force it out, but it put out its claws and threatened to scratch me.

“······This should be thrown away, right?”

” That’s how it should be.”

The leather gloves I had put in were torn and shaking instead of on my hands.

‘Just the appearance of a human being, the physical appearance of a beast.’

To begin with, although her body was the size of Stella, her strength was not comparable to that of a human when she climbed up the chimney and held on.

When I thought about it like that, I was so scared that I couldn’t touch it.

In the end, I couldn’t start the fire and couldn’t cook dinner.

Fortunately, I had a loaf of hard bread from the village, so I had a simple dinner.

My mother said she would cook outside the house, but my father refused to let her out because the smell would spread.

My father, who had taken out a weapon, was very sharp, unlike usual, so much so that it was difficult to talk to him.

I roughly cut up the rabbit meat for Terup, put it in a bowl, and placed it in front of the stove.

Should I eat meat or not?

If I’m going to eat it, I’d like to see it eaten.

I covered myself with a blanket, pretending to sleep, and watching the stove with open eyes, waiting for Terub to come out.

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“····Today’s business was ruined····.”

My father’s voice awakened my spirit.

It seems like I fell asleep without realizing it.

‘···What about Terub?’

When I looked at the stove, I couldn’t see Terup, who must have run away.

The two of you were quietly preparing for work.

He didn’t seem to notice that I was up.

“Did you take all eight rabbits?”

“I couldn’t make anything this morning. There was nothing to sell, and all the salmon was eaten…”

My face felt hot because I was embarrassed.

I looked at her because she was a girl the size of Stella, and then she hit me in the back like this?

Although I brought this upon myself, I felt angry and resentful of Terup.

But I couldn’t let a child the size of a six-year-old die.

“We have to come up with a plan, so it would be a good idea to go down to the village together and buy some things. It’s been a while since we ate together outside.”

‘Town? ‘Going down to the village?’

I was heartbroken. This was because in order to become independent, one had to become familiar with the world.

Although it was shameless, I got up quickly.

“Can I go too?”

The two people look at me in shock.

Soon my father stubbornly shook his head.

“No.”

“I also went to the village at least once──.”

“Don’t make me say it twice. Ryan.”

My father’s tone is harsh.

‘I said it too thoughtlessly.’

Meat is precious here.

A world where we live in the Malthus trap because there is no nitrogen fertilizer.

In such a place, the ‘meat’ was lost.

Since my father is a hunter, I am exposed to a lot of meat, and the only people who eat meat three times a day are nobles and merchants.

I was complacent about the human-like appearance.

‘I never thought I would have such a lack of conscience.’

You look so cute, I never thought you would steal something.

They should have beaten him up and kicked him out.

“Yes. Sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Lian. I’ll definitely take you with me next time.”

My mother hugs me.

“But if not you, who will protect your younger siblings?”

It was something I did wrong, but they consoled me, but I felt embarrassed and couldn’t do anything. Mother and father’s work and preparations are still fast.

What’s different from usual is that my father is dressed in light attire and my mother’s shopping cart is light?

“Take care of the house.”

“On the way back, I’ll buy you something to eat that you like.”

“Yes. Have a nice trip.”

I said hello to my parents as I left the house, crawled back into the blanket, and closed my eyes. Because it was still very early in the morning.

* * * * * *

I slept with my head covered in a leather blanket, and it felt very steamy.

If I sleep any longer, I might get fat and die.

Flap!

I took off the blanket and stood up.

Although the ground is wet, the sunlight is quite strong.

The sweat-soaked leather blanket and my parents’ blanket were spread out on the clothesline. I had just finished organizing the house and doing simple chores.

The sun rose in the sky.

From now on, it’s free time again.

I have to stay here in a daze for six hours.

As I relax, thoughts begin to flood.

Most of my thoughts were about the Earth and my family.

Thanks to this, my sense of debt to my parents began to bloom.

I vaguely wanted to repay what I had received.

At the same time, there was always a sense of pride.

I had to become independent as quickly as possible.

To do that, I had to not neglect practice even for a day.

‘Let’s go hard.’

No matter how young I am, I am a full-fledged adult.

hunt? It’s no different from just catching a small rabbit.

Is it really possible that you can’t do something like that at this age?

“······Brother, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to go hunting.”

“Do you think hunting is easy? Just sleep.”

Still, Damian kept chasing me.

First, he put a dagger on his waist.

‘Let’s fill in the gaps with at least one rabbit!’

Even just one is fine!

I tied the bow my father made on my chest.

Only my father’s belt had an auxiliary loop for attaching the quiver to his waist, but it was probably too big for me.

First, I shot the bow a few times as a test.

Pick- Pick-

The arrow stuck in a place far from where it was aimed.

I clearly aimed and shot straight ahead, but some of them flew into the sky.

Strangely enough, there were arrows that just fell to the ground.

“Puhahaha! If you keep doing this, you’ll shoot yourself in the foot!”

“Such a shiburee…!”

Practice, nothing but practice.

How many times did you keep retrieving and shooting?

I had a feeling that it was flying straight.

I needed some practice because it felt like it was bending in all directions when I shot it.

After getting some sense, I started preparing for the hike.

“Shall I follow you too?”

“No. I’m with Stella.”

“I thought so. Oh, take gloves.”

Damien held out his gloves to me.

My mother had already mended the gloves that had been torn by Terup’s fingernails. There was a big tear, but when did you sew it all up?

‘They are such diligent people.’

There was no way to take the arrows with me, so I put them in a net bag and climbed the mountain wearing gloves and boots that were a little too big for me.

If, just by chance, I catch a deer, wouldn’t my father’s anger be relieved to some extent?

It might be hard to see, let alone catch…

A rabbit, which was not found by the sound of leaves being stepped on, quickly runs away.

It was a ridiculous protective color.

I couldn’t bring myself to follow the running rabbit, so I could only watch its disappearing tail.

I envied my father’s cat-like steps.

···What can you do with envy?

What I needed was experience.

Even if my steps were secret, it would have been impossible for them to catch them.

─Let’s focus.

I thought I had to come to my senses, but even if I did, it was too difficult to find the rabbit. Even if there was a rabbit found, the arrow did not hit it.

‘Just one shot! ‘Just take one shot!’

Pop! Quick-!

The arrow that was aimed at the rabbit accidentally got stuck in a rock and was shattered.

The arrow went out in a curved direction and sat down.

Thanks to this, only the arrow was broken.

In movies, they talk about overcoming the wind and all that, but seeing that you go on like that even if you don’t overcome the wind, it seems like a movie is a movie.

‘······Let’s start by looking for edible grass and mushrooms.’

In the end, only edible grass and medicinal herbs accumulated in the mangtaegi period.

It feels like a rabbit just digging up grass.

In the end, after missing five rabbits, I had no choice but to give up hunting. Because the floor was wet, there was a lot of dirt on the mushrooms and herbs that needed to be wiped off.

I used too much water when washing to wash it off with a water jar.

I am not the one who draws and brings that water from the very early morning.

Let’s go to the river, even if it’s a little far. I moved towards the river where I had gone with my father. What should I say about the shattered arrow…

Rustle!

A strange sound tickled my ears.

As I followed the sound, there was a deer in front of me.

‘That’s a stag too!’

Deer antlers are also used as medicine here, and now is the time when valuable deer antlers are available.

How much did your father like those horns?

The horns that grow like trees are stubby and small.

The horns looked like gold. My heart pounded.

It feels like I found a salmon swimming in shallow water.

‘Let’s stay calm.’

A deer is not an animal that can be caught with a simple strike.

I lowered my posture and lifted the bow to my chest as quietly as possible.

I’m not confident that I can hit it from afar.

As my father said, you have to shoot within 24 cubits.

Originally, it would never have been accessible, but this place is by the river.

The sound of water pouring drowned out most of the sounds. I set my bowstring and quietly got as close as I could.

How far did it go that way?

Quick!

I feel like something is crumbling under my feet. I felt a shiver as if I had stepped on a landmine.

It was a rotten tree branch under fallen leaves.

‘···It breaks when I step on it, and it will break if I leave it like this.’

In that case, it is right to at least try.

I prayed earnestly in my heart and gently stepped forward.

Absolutely!

···I guess God is not on my side.

At the sound of a branch breaking, the deer that was chewing something turns its head and looks at me with clear eyes.

It’s all over.

I should just stay home and sleep…

Deer are wary animals.

It’s obvious even if you don’t look at it. Now that deer will run away.

‘I guess I should go home and get the blanket.’

Inwardly, I gave up, but the resentment remained and I couldn’t take my eyes off the deer.

The deer was also looking at me, but strangely, it didn’t run away from me. It was clear that they felt I was too small to be in danger.

In fact, the deer is much taller than me.

Whip─

‘uh?’

The stag snorted and ignored me.

Thanks to this, my mischievous feelings were heightened.

‘Are you ignoring me?’

I feel like spitting on rice cake that I can’t eat.

He held the bow horizontally and pulled the bowstring.

I aimed the arrow upwards and aimed at the lungs, just above the deer’s collarbone.

I had to aim, but would I hit it?

Pick!

The sound of the bowstring exploding is very weak.

The arrow that flew was slower and less powerful than the arrow my father was shooting. The orbit was also bent arbitrarily.

Let alone the lungs, it flies upwards——poof!

It caught the deer’s eye.

There was a small splash of water.

The crystalline lens exploded.

“──────?!!”

Kiyiuuk───!!!!

The deer screamed in pain.

It was a very high-pitched cry, like a rabbit crying.

‘Sorry! ‘I didn’t mean to shoot you in the eye!’

The deer’s eye was bulging and my eye felt like it was hurting too.

Faba Park!

Only then did the deer start running away from me.

I fell while running, and then struggled to get up again.

As if he had a concussion.

‘This, no way.’

My heart starts pounding like crazy at the slightest possibility and my breathing becomes short of breath. I laughed like a crazy person.

‘I caught a deer?!’

You caught a deer with this tiny, children’s bow?!

He suddenly ran towards the deer that was trying to run away.

But the deer quickly disappeared from my sight.

······I threw away two shots.

To begin with, it wasn’t an animal that could be caught by a child who wasn’t even an adult.

Still, it was too much of a waste to give up like this.

I don’t know how deep it was pierced, but there is a thin bone behind the eye and the brain behind it. Thinking back on what happened just now, it was clear that even his brain had suffered damage.

just in case.

If you run around like that, you could fall over and die, right?

Excited by the excitement of my first hunt, I gathered myself up, shaking as if I had been thrown bare-handed into the North Pole at Buck Fever.

The geography of this place is vivid in Ryan’s memory.

I immediately chased after the deer.

I ran over and heard the sound of a deer’s hooves nearby.

All of the bushes and tree branches that hit were visible, showing signs of being smashed and crushed by the body.

Having learned how to track deer by passing horse from my father, I was able to track the deer slowly but surely.

And my eyeball exploded.

The guy naturally ran only in the direction where his healthy eyes could be seen.

How much tracking did you do?

Kwauuuuk───!!!

Uuuuk─?!! Boo! Woooo! peekaboo! Ooooh!

A deer’s furious scream was heard from afar.

The growling sounds of other animals mixed in there?

It was a mixture of meowing like a cow and screaming like a monkey.

It seems like a person is smiling.

It’s like he’s having fun–like a hyena.

It may even sound like the yelping of an indigenous person.

I walked quietly so as not to hear any footsteps and headed towards the source of the sound.

What on earth is there that makes that sound?

As we got closer to the source, we carefully put arrows on our bows, pulled the strings, and used the thick bushes as a shield.

There…

Crunch! Crackle!

Wow!! Kiuuuc!!!!

─The deer was being dismembered alive.

‘Kobold! It’s a kobold!’

Recognizing the kobold was simple.

A long mane that extends from the neck down the spine and down to the tail.

A large head compared to the body.

The rest of the body hair is short and has a spotted pattern like that of a leopard.

They are said to be the strongest among demi-humans in terms of dental grip strength.

Its thick and sharp teeth seem to be stronger than those of a crocodile.

The ugly teeth exposed on the hyena’s simple face make it look even more ferocious, like a clumsy predator hiding its wild nature.

The chin was thick.

The neck covered by the trapezius muscle was not even visible.

The baby kobolds were holding the deer’s intestines like a monkfish and eating them as if they didn’t care that the deer’s intestines were probably full of feces.

There was blood and the screams became more intense.

Even though you are watching a cruel scene, there is no sense of crisis or reality as if you were watching a movie.

Rather, a strange thought occurred to me.

Don’t carnivores get poop poison?

The deer’s screams became extremely loud.

This was because the testicles and genitals were torn alive.

The kobold, who appeared to be the parent, ripped open the stomach, ripped out the entire liver, tore it apart and fed it to its offspring.

Puck—!

The sound of flesh exploding resonates horrifyingly.

A cub was kicked by a deer that was struggling in extreme pain and fell to the ground.

‘Is he dead?’

It wasn’t.

The kobold that was kicked by the deer toughly shook off its dirt-stained butt and attacked the deer again.

On the other hand, the large kobold that appeared to be the parent did not seem to like the deer’s struggle.

puck! puck! Quaduk! Pretzel! Twisting!!

I picked up a rock the size of my head and started hitting the deer’s head. The enormous force broke the deer’s still soft antlers, and even the remaining eyes exploded, causing the head to cave in.

Kkwadukduk!

Finally, it bit the deer’s neck with its large mouth, breaking its cervical vertebrae.

Then, the broken deer antler was pulled out by the roots.

The kobold, who was looking down at the dead deer, chewed the deer antlers and kicked the deer’s head with its foot.

The deer trembles and twitches, and only then does it seem satisfied and stops kicking its head.

Soon the kobold’s eyes were fixed on the arrow in the deer’s eye.

The guy must have been too lazy to use his hands, so he used his toes to pull out the arrow stuck in the deer’s eye.

The eye of the deer caught on the arrowhead came out, and a cloudy lens mixed with ink flowed down the arrow.

Tap! Tap!

The kobold raised the arrow and kicked it as if to kick it, then caught the arrow with its free hand.

Looking at its appearance and vicious behavior, I thought it was a complete monster, but what it just showed was a stunt that only a non-human could ever do. It has intelligence.

The kobold purred the arrow to shake off the eyes and the dripping crystals before the crystals and snow ink got on his hands. Then he looked closely at the arrowhead and looked around.

─I got chills.

An instinctive feeling of frustration ran down my spine.

My body stiffens and I can’t move.

‘No, you can’t move!’

I became acutely aware after only a few hikes that the moment of movement is captured by moving body vision.

I am a rabbit and kobolds are hunters.

I have no choice but to remain still.

There was a high possibility that it would be safe to stay still.

Like a grass bug. It will be so. It has to be that way.

The kobold’s nose would have been paralyzed by the smell of blood by now, so he thought it would just have to stay like this.

“──────?!”

Until the leader looked me squarely in the eye.

‘Are you looking at me?’

At first glance, the distance is 30 to 40 meters.

I may have seen it wrong. I wanted to think he wasn’t looking at me, but his eyes were on me.

─It felt that way.

The kobold looked alternately at the deer, his family, the arrow, and me. Little by little, rational thoughts began to return to my head, which had turned completely white.

‘Should I run away now?’

Or is it better to leave it like this because I may not have seen it? Among animals, there are many carnivores with a chasing instinct, right? What should I do if he follows me like crazy? How should I run away?

All kinds of thoughts pierce my brain.

Isn’t the kobold wondering whether to eat me or the deer?

Tdu-duk-duk───!!!

The kobold began twisting and tearing off the deer’s legs.

With bare hands, no blades!

Soon the kobold grabs the end of the deer’s leg with both hands and throws it?!

Buuung—!!!

The deer leg flew like a boomerang.

thud!

A deer leg stuck in a tree made a harsh noise.

“──────?!”

You’re trying to kill me! It’s caught! We need to run away now! right now!

I took a step back and fell to the floor.

I reflexively looked at the kobold.

The deer’s leg got stuck in a tree, fell helplessly to the ground, rolled several times, and flew right in front of me.

And their gaze.

A group of kobolds that were eating deer stopped eating and looked at me around the thrown leg.

As nearly ten pairs of eyes turned towards me, I was overwhelmed by the force.

My heart was pounding like it was going to burst.

By any chance, is this a way to teach kobolds to hunt?

scary. What happens now?!

Even if you die, you are reincarnated. So you can die.

No matter how much it was, there was something called death that I didn’t want to describe.

no! It can’t go on like this! An arrow was hit on the bowstring.

The group of kobolds looked back and forth between the leader kobold and me.

But he ignored me as if it was no big deal and started eating again.

‘Are you not interested…? why?’

But the leader kept looking at me.

As if he was observing my actions and trying to decide whether to act or not.

At this point, it’s clear that it’s caught. My heart, which had been beating wildly, calms down.

It was ironic.

‘Don’t they usually throw stones or chase you instead of eating them?’

The fallen hind leg of the deer was very scary.

The thigh of the deer, which was not cut off but died in pain and was torn apart, can still be seen with the naked eye as the cross-section of the muscle fibers twitching mercilessly.

It was that fresh.

······If what I understood was correct.

I think it means to fall off with this leg.

This is an offer I am very thankful for.

I picked up the deer leg and walked away from the kobold group.

The kobold didn’t chase me, but my legs were shaking with a hint of anxiety.

They were ‘people’ who could think.

‘He’s a real person. ‘Ain!’

My heart began to beat violently with a mixture of excitement and fear, and it felt like it was aching. It’s not deer loin or deer antler, but will your father be happy?