10 Profitable hunt
The great silver wolf was a grade 3 magical beast and it was equivalent to a peak 2 ringed magician or a early 3 ringed magician so Thomas guessed that this small beast was probably equivalent to a normal 1 ringed magician... he was looking at it and it was looking back at him, magical beasts had an instinct to guess who was a threat and who wasn't, the boy in front of it was definitely a threat.
It slowly started to back off when from behind it came another group of mercenaries, there were two same guys in front both holding the same sword, they were probably twins, behind them were a young woman archer and a young looter boy.
« That's our target. »
Said one of the twins in the front.
« Take it, I don't need it. »
Replied Thomas, the guy wasn't taught politeness it seemed, saying that he kept walking deeper in the forest.
« What does he mean « don't need it », keep talking big and it will cost you your life, this is almost a grade 2 black salamander, if just any rookie could come and kill it we wouldn't have been chasing it for a day already. »
Hearing him Thomas looked at Hull and asked
« How much can that thing be sold for ? »
« A normal one is around 5 gold... this one if caught alive must be around 15 gold I think, it really is on the verge of evolving and some rich people would probably want it for different reasons such as a fighting pet or other eccentricities. »
Hearing that Thomas changed his mind, with just this salamander he would have enough to pass the test of the magical academy, he would keep making money for awhile here but this was a good occasion to make big.
Turning back he walked in front of the beast and the second group
« I changed my mind, this thing is mine. »
« Dont try your luck, you might die. »
Said one of the twins while everybody in the team took their positions, the looter boy went in the back and hid behind a tree, the archer young woman jumped nimbly on a tree and aimed her bow at Thomas while both the twins got into a fighting position, this team obviously was well trained, they knew that anybody in this forest could be strong enough to hunt beasts so it was better not to underestimate anyone.
In Thomas's "team" the same thing happened, his looter hid behind a tree and waited for the showdown. Since he has been in this forest hundreds if not thousands of times Hull had been in these kind of fights with his team so he had never been afraid but this time the one fighting wasn't a D ranked mercenary but a magician... a spell from him could probably burn the enemy team down.
« If I was you guys I would run away, think about it for a second, why would a boy not even 18 yeas old hunt alone ? »
Hull said to the enemy team, both the twins looked at each other they now had an idea of why...
« Are you...? »
They asked Thomas hesitantly.
The usual beautiful golden ring appeared behind Thomas's back, he started making a flame in his right hand and shaping it like a ring, finally after a second of channeling he threw the ring shaped fireball.
The twins covered their heads with their hands and screamed
« Aaaaaaah I'm sorry dont kill me please ! »
Seconds later they still felt nothing but heard a weird growling noise, they knew this sound as they had heard it a few times during the last day, when they opened their eyes they saw a flaming ring around the salamander.
Except the looter that was a bit further and couldn't see what happened the three others had both fear and awe in their eyes, this was the strength of a magician.
« Thanks for not killing us mister magician, we don't want that thing anymore you can have it ! We'll be leaving now if you don't mind. »
Said one of the twins while bowing, in a second the archer girl got down from the tree and bowed too near the twins, without losing time they ran away.
« Hull, it can't move now but how are we taking this away alive ? »
« That's my job don't worry ! »
He looked proud of himself saying that and grabbed into the bag, he pulled a piece of dried meat and threw it at the beast that it didn't lose time and gobbled instantly, it must have been very hungry after running around being chased for a full day.
« Your solution is feeding it ? »
« Hahah yeah, wait a second. »
After seconds of waiting he remarked a change of comportment on the salamander, it wasn't being agressive anymore, it looked very calm now. Slowly it closed its eyes and fell asleep, Thomas went through the fire and picked the small thing
« How long is this drug effective ? »
After seeing that it was obvious that he used a drug to make it sleep, a very effective method.
« Around 2 days on a grade one beast... since this one is stronger it might not last that long, 1 day maybe ? »
« Then let's keep hunting for today, we'll go back at sunset. »
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During that day they kept hunting beasts, most of them were grade one but they also found grade two beasts, these weren't as valuable alive so they killed them and took the parts that could be sold.
At sunset they left the forest and headed towards the guild, Hull was silent on the way back and seemed to be thinking about something, also used his hands to count something...
'The live salamander, 3 Swift panthers, 1 flying mantis and all the rest ... everything is worth... 93 gold coins ?! Wait wait, how much is 20% of that ? F*ck i should have listened more in my maths classes ! It must be a bit less than 20 gold wow...'
Thomas was already done with the maths, he would get 74 gold coins and Hull would get 19 gold coins, it was a bit more than 20% but he didn't want to carry too much silver coins so he gave him a bit more.
In one day he had enough to join the magical academy, he would keep hunting for a week to make enough for living expenses as he wasn't sure he would have time to make money when he joined the academy.
Later that night Thomas was back to the inn with full pockets, he took a heavy dinner as he didn't eat much today and went to his room. Today he didn't even meet with Lili, actually it might have been a good thing to let things cool down between them as he didn't feel like dating right after arriving in this world and he wasn't the type to just get laid and then throw the girl away.
Rouge was waiting in front of the door with a pitiful face, except this morning when he had brought it to eat it didn't eat anything else so now he came holding a big plate of delicious meat, it was all a gift from aunt Rose but he knew very well the financial state of the inn, in exchange for her generosity he would help her get rid of these annoying flies, before that he was tired after repeatedly killing grade one and grade two beasts today so he went to bed right away.
