Who Changed My Difficulty Settings?

I saw mother off in the morning, wearing a black gown that was similar in quality as the first one I had seen her in.

She wasn't carrying any luggage with her so I don't know if she didn't need them or she had some kind of magic that allows her to store her things elsewhere.

"Mama will be back soon my sweet~ Please don't do anything reckless, Mama loves you!"

"Mo… Mother… I got it… Please… Have a safe… Trip…" I gasped, trying and failing to break free from her hug that was threatening to asphyxiate me because of the two things on her chest.

She stood up while dabbing her cheeks with a handkerchief to stem her flow of tears, only to stop and hug me again while crying even more.

This repeated another three times before she finally flared her wings and flew off, I had even expected her to turn back around to repeat that but she didn't.

I stood outside and waited until I could not see her anymore before going back into the house.

This time, the place felt empty, reminding me of my previous home in my other life.

It felt weird actually, seeing something that was so familiar yet also foreign at the same time. Oh well, it's not like this would be my first time living alone and this would only last for a few days or a week at most anyway.

There was food prepared for me and stored in the kitchen and if that wasn't enough, I already knew how to make use of the stove and I could hunt and gather my own food from either the garden or the forest.

Unfortunately I wasn't very confident that the cockatrice's wouldn't try to hurt me while mother isn't here so the best I'll do is just toss some food over the fence to feed them in her absence.

Now… Since mother isn't here, I'll probably just stick to the usual routine. It might be a little harder now considering the prey from the hunts are usually lured by mother but now I don't have her to rely on for that.

Actually… I think this might be the best time for me to try hunting for myself, it's not like I can rely on her to always come and help me after all, which was probably why she made me fight that boar in the first place.

Now that I think about it, could that be a test for her to see if she could leave me alone?

Mmm… Despite knowing that I'm a transmigrator, she still hasn't treated me any different. She really must have been quite desperate to want a child of her own.

I was a little worried that she may stop seeing me as her child after that day but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Putting that aside for now… I decided to go hunting the day after Mother left, since I felt a change of pace might be nice.

Before I set off, I had to do some preparations of my own.

My dagger would obviously be one of the things I'm bringing along, but I guess it doesn't hurt to bring some extra things just in case.

Looking through the house, I found some rope, several pieces of cloth and a leather bag that I decided to bring along. The bag wasn't the "Pack of Folding" that would have functioned as an infinite storage bag, but it will do for now.

I also took along the Trusty Map even though it doesn't show my location, but at least it does show the intricate details of the land and it even has a zoom function too.

Just in case, I also brought along some snacks including a few pieces of dried meat inside the bag if I got hungry or needed something to lure the animals alongside some tools that would help with foraging if I came across some edible plants.

If I was just a tad bit older, I would have brought along more things but it's just a quick trip anyway so I don't think too much preparation would be necessary.

With my things prepared, I made my way towards the forest.

I've already been here enough times that I could practically reach the clearing with the stream with my eyes closed.

This place served my purpose well since animals would sometimes come here to drink from the stream and there's also enough space around for a fight too.

I could choose to wait here for prey to show up and ambush them, or I could search for tracks and hunt one down myself.

Hmm… If I could get a rabbit today, I should be able to make some rabbit stew for myself.

Speaking of food…

I want sweets… It's been a month already and I've yet to eat any sweets… I would even settle for a cupcake or something but even that is an impossibility here…

Ughh… Whatever, I just need to be patient and hopefully I'll come up with something when I get some of my abilities.

Getting back to the task at hand… I decided I'll go with the trap approach and laid down some of my snacks on the ground.

I then used the rope to lay a noose around the food before flinging it over the tree so that I could pull the other end and capture whatever comes along.

Alright, now all I got to do is wait and--

*Rustle*

Oh… There's already something coming here, that's faster than I anticipated. It's barely been a minute you know?

Now let's see what I--

…

A bear.

A mother freaking bear is coming towards my trap.

Isn't the jump from boar to bear a little bit too high? What is this? Who went to change me difficulty settings?

Yeah, there's also absolutely no way I can kill a bear with just a dagger either, so I guess I'll just make my escape here…

And just to prove that the world was conspiring against me, of course I just had to step on a dry twig that was directly behind me.

The bear snapped its head towards my direction and let out a loud roar.

Ok, I think it's time to bail.

I immediately started running and the bear gave chase.

Why the heck are you even chasing me?! There's food there! Go eat that instead!! What's wrong with you?! Are you a pedo bear or something?!

As though hearing my thoughts, it let out another roar behind me.

Unfortunately, the bear was at least five times my size so there was no way I could outrun it in this small body.

Guess I have to resort to tree climbing aga--

Pain exploded from my side and I found myself tumbling away from where I had been.

I gasped as I held my side in pain, looking up to see the bear with its paw outstretched after having smacked me with it.

Fuck, how the hell is that big thing so fast?

A gash had opened up on my left arm and blood flowed freely from the wound. I quickly dug through my bag and tied the strips of cloth over it, hoping that it will hold out for now while I deal with this pedo bear.

Going on a hunt for the first time without mother and I already found myself in this situation, how ironic.

The dagger that I unsheathed might as well be a toothpick against this damned pedo bear. Seriously, I left my snacks behind you know? Couldn't you have just gone and ate those instead? Are you really a pedo bear?

It let out another roar and charged towards me, its posture looking like it was trying to body slam me.

I leapt out of the way desperately while trying to slash at its side with my dagger..

The attack barely nicked its hide, giving the bear nothing more than a superficial wound.

It turned back and slashed one of its giant paws in my direction, only to miss me as I ducked under the swipe before I leapt back to keep my distance from it.

Ok, there's no way I can get out of this normally, so I'll have to fight smart.

I rummaged through my bag with my free hand and pulled out a jerky that I threw at the bear. The dried meat hit it on the snout, surprising it for a moment. I honestly did not mean to throw it there but whatever.

While it was distracted, I immediately booked it again.

Unfortunately, it seems like it really was a pedo bear since the jerky barely distracted it for more than a few seconds before it was hot on my trail again.

I briefly considered running back home and letting the cockatrices deal with it but I don't think I'm fast enough to outrun it especially once I get to the open field. Instead, I turned and headed towards the deeper parts of the forest, hoping that the thick undergrowth would eventually cause it to lose sight of me and give up.

Although the forest did prevent it from catching up with me, the bastard was relentless and still continued to chase me, myself barely ahead of it.

At least the undergrowth did slow it down enough such that I could maintain my distance from it.

Unfortunately, that made the bear even more pissed off.

Ok, I need another plan…

I continued to run, coming across a tree that had fallen at an angle that created a small opening under it.

An idea immediately formed in my mind and I slid under it, turning around to see the bear diving straight for the hole.

As expected, its head got through the hole but the rest of its body was too big to push through, making it stuck in that… Heh heh… That defenceless position.

I hefted my dagger and made my way towards it, smirking when the bear finally realised it was stuck in a very precarious position.

"Fuck you," I spat, right before I stabbed it in its eye.

I pulled back as it roared and thrashed out in pain, trying its best to get free from its prison only to trap itself more as it made the tree dig into the ground even deeper.

My dagger was then thrust into its other eye the moment the opening presented itself, blinding it.

It thrashed around as I twisted my knife into the gaping wound, making sure to deal as much damage as I could before pulling the blade out.

Maybe in your next life you'll learn not to chase little kids huh?! Suffer as my punching bag!