OreMegane – Chapter 41

Mabbo, Fairy, Schwarz,

Enjoy~

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Chapter 41. Megane-kun, Going to the Mountain to Check

After parting with the coachman uncle, I returned to the inn…dorm? they allocated to us, only to find two girls frolicing around in front of the building, one has blonde hair the other white.

They are Cherry and Florentine.

Apparently, they’re playing with a cat.

…A cat, right? A really huge one at that.

「Ah, Eil-kun. Good morning.」

Cherry greets me nonchalantly, but I’m more interested with the cat that remains seated and meekly gets stroked. It doesn’t look like it’s against their treatment, but… 

「Morning. Can I assume that’s a cat?」

I just can’t see as a normal-sized cat.

How do I put it… It’s as big as large-breed dogs.

It has beautiful white fur with black spots and green eyes. For the cat it is, its fur is lustrous perhaps due to its nature to keep things clean. …Well, is it really a cat? Even while sitting, it’s on the same height as the small-statured Florentine. Isn’t it a tad too big to be addressed as a cat?

「Umu. Ain’t it just a big cat?」

Affirmed Florentine. With her hands still petting it. I wonder, how can she be so affirmed? I just can’t see it as a cat.

Well, it’s not like it’s a problem.

Since the cat is here, that only means this cat belongs to the village. Which means it shouldn’t be dangerous. There are children in this village too, so they wouldn’t just leave it be if it posed any harm.

…Still, is it really a cat? I think it’s at least a feline, but I’m not too sure if it’s a cat at all.

Well, whatever. Let’s put the cat business aside.

Let’s see my immediate schedule; I’ll eat breakfast first, then flip through the guidebook the uncle gave me, then check the nearby mountain for any good hunting spot.

I hurriedly start the breakfast prep. The two girls look at me as I skewer the thinly sliced wild boar meat.

「Do I have any?」

I answer Cherry’s question without looking back at her.

「I’ve also adapted the self-sufficient policy here. I can’t give you anything for free.」

Next, Florentine raises her voice.

「I’ll give you this cat. Give me something to eat in return.」

「That’s not your cat, Florentine. Or rather, you have a share in it. Should I grill it for you?」

「S-, sure. So I got mine. Then please.」

「Eeh, why does only Florentine-chan?」

「It’s because she carried the wild boar yesterday. Her share from that isn’t run out just yet.」

I would like to divide the shares a bit more precisely, but Florentine doesn’t know how to dress an animal or how to cure raw meat, so I manage them myself.

For the time being, let’s secure the meat and hide from my breakfast share for the old man.

Which means, the hunting becomes rather urgent. After all, I don’t have meat now. I can’t bear to live without meat.

「That’s a surprise, it feels like we’re bullying her for not sharing meat. Ou, give some of my meat to her.」

「Is that so. Okay.」

If that’s what the meat’s owner wants, what can I say?

「Thank you, Flo-chan.」

「Don’t mind. You’re just owing me one now.」

「…Ah, so that’s how it is. You’re strict.」

「Ou, I know how hard reality is. Though, I’m sure a daughter of a noble won’t understand that.」

Well, that’s how things are. I don’t know if it’s as hard as Florentine makes it, but the world isn’t a kind place.

Half of her share of the meat has gone.

「So just eat…」

After all, she also gives it to the cat who seems to want the meat too. …So it’s happy when given wild boar meat. Is that thing really a cat?

Done with our breakfast, I retreated to my room.

Small that it is, it’s still my own private room. I feel home the most when there’s no one around me, after all.

I should be able to read the book in peace here.

Well, maybe the fatigue from the trip still lingered, I admit I fell asleep for a little. Even so, I flip through the book energetically.

Two things that I noticed.

First, there are certain pages that are easier to open compared to the rest.

Second, those pages are more worn out and have more finger marks.

My guess is that someone must have gone through these pages over and over again, to the point where they would leave finger marks behind. These stains are their vistage.

This book may have been handed down through several generations of Assassination Training School students like us.

If these particular pages are easy to open, or there are traces of them having been looked at many times before, that means that, for those people who got a hold of this book before, the information contained within these pages is important enough to be checked at often.

Perhaps, these pages contain the information of Magic Beasts that can be found in the vicinity.

—Unfortunately, I can’t read half of them due to the difficult characters they’re written in. I guess it’s best to learn how to read a little bit better.

Some time after midnoon, I decided to get ready and head for the mountain.

I’m just testing the water for now, but I need to see the hunting ground by myself at least once anyway.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get some birds or rabbits while I’m at it. After all, I can’t live without meat.

「……」

Still, there are so many Magic Beasts.

I just entered the mountain.

And yet, as far as my 「Megane」 aided eyes can see, there’s already so many Magic Beasts. I wonder how they manage their territories. Do they coexist with each other?

Not to mention, when these Magic Beasts wander off in the direction of the village, they will suddenly back away and hastily run off into somewhere else.

Clearly, they are afraid of the village of assassins. They don’t want to get any closer than a certain distance.

Well, it is the truth that there are many dangerous individuals residing there.

Maybe they can feel it with some sensation that humans don’t have, an instinctive fear.

Putting that aside, as expected, there’s no prey around here.

The presence of the Magic Beasts drive the animals away. Sometimes, the Magic Beasts feed on them, some other times, they’re seen as foreign enemies.

A hunter’s rule of thumb: Where there is a Magic Beast, there won’t be a game to hunt.

…Still, though. There really are a lot of Magic Beasts here.

I’m sure there are edible Magic Beasts among them, but, well, I still can’t read half of the guide book.

There’s a Magic Beast with the comment 「meat is tasty」 on its page, so I might look around and see if I can hunt it down.

As a test, I look up to the 「numbers」 of the nearest Magic Beast to me… a large insect-like Magic Beast.

—And to my horror, I learned it.

「Oi oi……」

What these 「megane」 aided eyes can see is a single number spelled as 「1」. 

In other words, there are almost no Magic Beasts that I can hunt on this mountain at all.

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Mab here.

No comment this week either. Just wanna say hi.

Well then.