Chapter 17 - Herb Gathering and Grey Wolf Hunting
I had driven the camper van for quite a while, following the route.
I decided to stop the camper in an open area with plenty of sunlight.
"This area should have some herbs."
According to Aina, herbs tend to grow in places with good sunlight.
There were various plants growing around, so it seemed likely that some herbs might be hidden among them.
"It looks like I’ve used up about 80 CP getting here. The consumption is less than I expected."
"The CP consumption varies depending on how much strain is put on the vehicle."
It seemed Haku had been watching the CP consumption on the device. Whenever the trees scraped harshly against the body of the camper, the CP seemed to drop significantly.
"I see. In that case, using Vehicle Strengthening in situations like this shouldn’t be too taxing."
There was no way I could stand wasting thousands of CP just to prevent a few scratches on the camper.
At this rate, I could use the strengthening casually when entering dense forests or woodland paths without too much concern.
"Now then, let’s start gathering the herbs."
I activated a barrier around the camper, and Haku and I stepped out.
The air in the forest was refreshing, and each deep breath seemed to cleanse my mind and body.
There was no artificial sound, and the forest was wrapped in complete silence.
If I had no other tasks to tend to, I would have loved to explore the area and set up camp, but unfortunately, I had work to do today, so I couldn’t afford such leisurely activities.
Holding a sample of kirik herb given to me by Aina, I scanned the thick growth of weeds around.
"Hmm, there are a lot of plants that look similar."
It was clear that plants with noticeably different shapes or those bearing fruit were something else entirely, but surprisingly, there were many weeds with similar heights and leaf shapes growing around.
"Haku, can’t you use your nose to single out just the herb by smell?"
"If it were the scent of prey, that’d be a different story. But with this many plants, it’s impossible to pick out just one by smell."
Even with Haku’s sharp sense of smell, it seemed impossible to identify the herbs accurately among so many mixed weeds.
So, I had no choice but to rely on my Appraisal skill, just as I had planned.
"Appraisal."
As I activated the skill, the information about various plants appeared before my eyes.
I swiftly dismissed the numerous irrelevant windows that popped up.
Moving through the area inside the barrier, I kept using the Appraisal skill, repeating the process of moving and Appraising.
"This is a pretty tedious task."
It seemed Haku had given up on identifying the herbs, as he was now lying down on a tree stump.
I was tempted to tell him to help, but his ears were perked up, clearly gathering information from the surroundings. He was keeping watch for any signs of a grey wolf, so I couldn’t complain.
"Oh, found it!"
After about five minutes of scanning the area around the camper, I finally spotted some kirik herbs. It appeared this area was a growing hotspot for them, as there were plenty of the herbs around.
Carefully digging through the soil to avoid damaging the herbs, I gently plucked them from their roots and placed them in the basket.
I needed five for the medicine, but there might be others besides Aina’s mother who could use the kirik herb, so I decided to gather more just in case.
"Haku, I've finished gathering the herbs."
"Now, all that's left is to exterminate those grey wolves—"
Haku sat up, and his triangular ears twitched.
"Haku?"
"It seems they’ve come to us. They never learn, do they?"
"Does that mean the grey wolves are here?!"
"I’ll take care of them. You stay inside the barrier, Tohru."
"Not that I needed you to tell me!"
The spot where I had gathered the herbs was just outside the barrier, so I hurriedly stepped inside it.
In the same moment, Haku stepped out of the barrier.
Before long, I heard the rustling of bushes, and shadows darted between the trees.
Grey wolves.
They emerged one by one from the trees.
"Wow, there are a lot of them!"
When they attacked Aina, there were only about eight of them, but now, there were easily more than twenty, surrounding us.
"No matter how many there are, it's pointless."
A particularly large grey wolf appeared in front of Haku.
It was bigger than the one he had taken down on the road, with a scar running vertically across one of its eyes.
The other wolves seemed to follow this injured leader.
"Has the pack already found a leader?"
"It's just a low-level monster. Even as a leader, it's only second-rate. No one can stand against me."
Haku spoke in human language, but it seemed the grey wolf leader understood it as an unforgivable insult.
The leader let out an enraged roar and lunged at him.
"To not even understand the difference in power is foolish."
In an instant, Haku’s body grew in size, and with a tail as large as a great tree, he slashed the grey wolf leader in half. The remains of the leader’s body fell to the ground with a thud.
The pack finally seemed to grasp the overwhelming difference in power after their leader was taken down in a single strike and Haku revealed his White Fenrir form. Slowly, the grey wolves began retreating.
Then, one of the wolves, unable to bear the pressure from Haku any longer, turned and ran, with the rest of the pack following suit.
"Running now won't be allowed. I’ve been asked to eliminate this pack."
With a swift motion, Haku split his massive tail into multiple segments and impaled the fleeing grey wolves one by one.
Some tried to evade, but Haku’s tail pursued them relentlessly, tearing through their bodies. Those that attempted to use trees as shields had their heads pierced right through the trunks.
As the dust settled, the bodies of the grey wolves, riddled with holes, lay scattered around.
"It’s all clear now. There are no more grey wolves in the area."
"L-looks like it."
When I looked back at Haku, his size had returned to that of a large dog.
The tail that had skewered the grey wolf pack remained a pristine, pure white.
"So your tail can stretch like that."
"I trained to make it so. Even though it’s my tail, with that many at once, controlling it isn’t easy, you know?"
When I made that comment without thinking, Haku started boasting proudly.
I couldn’t fully comprehend what it would be like to have such a tail, being an ordinary human without one, but I could tell it was impressive.
I decided to praise Haku for now.
"Let’s gather the magic stones."
"Right. We need to convert them into CP."
Since it seemed like the area was safe, Haku and I began to dismantle the grey wolves and collect the magic stones.
Thanks to the addition of the Vehicle Strengthening function, I only had 4880 CP left.
At this rate, I wouldn’t even be able to manage Haku’s dinner.
"Oh, but if I convert the magic stones, we’ll lose the proof that we killed the grey wolves. Should we store the bodies in the Item Box instead?"
The problem was, the grey wolves were badly damaged because Haku hadn’t held back when he took them down. Even the second leader had been completely split in two.
Even though the Item Box could store them, it wasn’t exactly something I wanted to willingly put in there.
"As long as we have the parts that proves we killed them, it should be fine, right? We could just take their fangs like adventurers do."
"That’s true."
Still… so there was actually a profession called 'adventurer' in this world.
In manga, games, and anime, adventurers are often depicted as the ones who take on monster hunts and material gatherings, kind of like a jack-of-all-trades. But was that the case here too?
As I pondered these thoughts, Haku and I finished collecting the magic stones and fangs from a total of twenty-four grey wolves.
"You’ve gotten better at dismantling them than before."
"Well, after doing this many, I guess it’s to be expected."
The first time I dismantled monsters, it was a disaster. I didn’t vomit, but even just taking apart a few monsters had drained me completely.
I still wouldn’t say I was efficient, but since I had managed to finish everything this time, I’d say it was a big improvement.
"With that, I think we've taken down quite a lot of grey wolves. Is this everything?"
"I don’t know the total number of grey wolves in this forest, but we’ve definitely wiped out a large pack. After taking a hit like that, they shouldn’t be coming near human settlements."
"Right."
Even if there were any survivors, they’d have seen Haku’s true form as a White Fenrir. No matter how aggressive grey wolves are, they wouldn’t want to approach Lulusena Village so easily.
"Still, there could be some stragglers, so let’s do a quick patrol with the camper van before heading back."
"Sounds good."
We got into the camper van, checked to make sure there weren’t any remaining wolves, and then headed back to Lulusena Village.
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