Hunting Season

[I won't let you. Rest assured.]

Hearing this made a smile bloom on my face. Although I still don't trust Codex fully, it sounded assuring.

Well I should also try my best, after all, rule number three of being reincarnated—always depend on thyself.

Within a few minutes, I arrived at the border of the village, only to see it bustling with the usual caravans and… knights?

What?

As far as I knew, the knights were the shield and sword of any kingdom, and seeing them here, in a remote village, was a reason to feel either thankful or… fearful.

Tensing myself up and pushing down all nervousness, I made my way into the village.

"Have time for this lowly subject?" A voice called out to me from behind as I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder.

I turned around, and it was a grinning Terry, an Apprentice among the village guards. And also a friend of "Ryan".

A friend of mine.

"Sure. Sorry, Terry. I was in a hurry yesterday." I explained as I shook hands with him.

Terry was also an orphan, and had grown up under the care of village orphanage. Only recently he joined the apprenticeship under the guards.

"Nah, it's fine. I know its hard on you, too. How's aunt Eloise's health?" He asked as we moved out of the gateway.

"Mom's fine for now. Her condition shouldn't act up again for a month or two." Mom's bad health wasn't much of a secret to those who knew us well. In fact, it started around an year ago, but that's a story for another day.

"That's good to know." 

"In any case, what's all the fuss about with the knights?" I inquired.

"Oh, nothing much. I heard the national academy wanted to let the 'hatchlings grow into larvae'." He chuckled.

"I see."

That would make sense.

After some small talk, Terry was called back to the gates to run an errand and I went home.

With fast strides, I climbed the flight of stairs and opened the door.

"Oh. You are back home, Son," Mom's sweet voice resounded from the balcony.

—Click

"Yeah, Mom, I am back," I replied. "I saw knights setting camp near the forest." I closed the door behind my back and approached the balcony.

Upon arriving at the balcony, the sight of a beautiful lady with silver hair, leaning on the railing, entered my vision.

"You don't remember? The day of beast hunting is close by, they will be hunting the beasts before they form a wave."

A wave happened when the population of beasts increased beyond what the forest could handle, and they started coming out of the forest to find a place to live. Usually, a wave consists of thousands of beasts.

Although most of them would be considered babies in front of experienced and well-trained knights, their numbers could do a lot more harm than what people give them credit for.

So, before a wave can form and terrorize the neighbouring villages, the three kingdoms—that share a border with the forest—each sends a knight squadron to subjugate the wave before it forms.

However, they treated it as if it were more of a training mission for recruits, with the secondary goal of collecting Anchor Shards and Beast Orbs, rather than a subjugation.

"So, it's that time of the year already…" I replied. "Terry said they brought academy students too this time, to train them, apparently."

"About time they stopped keeping those kids in their cages."

"By the way, where were you coming from, son?" asked mom, finally looking at me directly.

"I was just taking a stroll mom." I lied, without meeting my mom's piercing gaze.

"Is that so…" mom replied, not buying it one bit.

"A-Ah! I-I forgot the main thing! Mom, I need to go fill up the bottles! Be right back!"

I made a tactical retreat. Truly nobody could hide anything from their moms.

—Click

I quickly made my way down the stairs. There I approached the trolley and brought the crate of bottles upstairs, where we had stored the bucket of potion.

"Mom, let's start filling up the bottles I bought," I said as I sat down cross-legged, with a funnel and an empty glass bottle in each hand.

– 

– 

–

—Gup ~~Pouring~~ —Tub

5…

—Gup ~~Pouring~~ —Tub

8…

—Gup ~~Pouring~~ —Tub

12!

It took a bit of time to fill the bottles since they were shaped like a vial and had a small opening. Even with a funnel, it took time because every single drop mattered.

After filling all the bottles, I put them all in a wooden crate and brought them down to the Eatery that had accumulated spider webs.

There, I placed the crate on the floor and grabbed a dusting cloth to dust the dust ridden trolley.

I planned to use the trolley as the stall in the market district. It had the sweet size I needed to put up a stall, since a trolley of this size could easily fit into the space left between two stalls, and it wouldn't seem as empty after setting all the potion bottles out in a uniform fashion.

Just as I was wiping it down to remove all the dust that had accumulated on it due to not using it for a long time, I heard mom's footsteps behind me.

"So, you're gonna sell them, huh?"

"Yes mum, we should make use of everything at our disposal, right?" I justified myself, without looking back.

"That is right." Mom nodded in response, approving of my decision.

"By the way mom, how is your illness? Did it act up again?" I asked, finally feeling the need to turn around.

"I am fine."

"Just... tell me if it happens again, alright?" I gently told her.

"Okay…"

It felt as if that 'Okay' was filled with many emotions, with one of them being… guilt?

Why guilt?

"Mom, everything is yours, I am too. Do not for even a moment think that I'm doing something I don't want to."

"Pfft!" She chuckled, of all things.

"...what?"

"Nothing. My son has grown all manly all of a sudden. I feel like I should retire now."

Conveniently ignoring that remark, I continued with cleaning the trolley and then placed the potion crate on top of it as I prepared to go out.

"Mom, prepare some waste clothes for when I come back, okay?"

"I will do that." Mom replied with a knowing smile, to which I also smiled.

—Click —Tuk

I closed the door behind me as I exited through the back door with my hands pushing the trolley in front of me.

"So it is early evening already, huh." I sighed as I looked up at the orange shade that was starting to dominate the blue sky.

–

–

–

After an hour of preparation, I made my way to the market district, with the trolley in tow. The bottles of pinkish liquid were neatly placed in the crate and covered by a cloth.

Since it was quite risky to bring the pearls here, I kept the pearls at home. Of course, I made sure to hide them from mom, but I knew it was only a matter of how long I could keep them hidden from her.