Chapter 22 - Hunting Elves

Kazuya felt a strong boot kicking against his ribs. It was not so painful, but it felt like a nuisance in the way of his blissful sleep. But just when he had made up his mind to ignore it, the kicks became harder and more painful, prompting him to open his eyes wide.

When he did, he saw a recognizably silhouetted Orihime standing before him and groaned tiredly. 

"Damn it, I thought you had finally kicked the bucket," he said as he saw her strap her small bag on her shoulder. "Why weren't you found by those scoundrels who wanted to kill you?" 

"Come on, big man, I don't have time for your whining." You are the one who told me to come at this time, and just as you requested, it's almost daybreak. By the way, what is that smell?" she asked, "and why are most of the trees around you splintered into pieces?"

Kazuya ignored her questions, determined to resume his sleep while trying to ignore the fact that she was there. 

"Give me a few more hours, woman," he said to her before turning to the other side so he could stop seeing her. 

"Are you kidding me?" "Do you think you are the only one that is deprived of sleep?" she asked right before kicking his back with all the strength that she had, prompting him to fully wake out of slumber.

"Are you crazy?" asked Kazuya angrily as he tried to get up with his back now hurting like hell. "Are you trying to kill me, woman?"

"That is what you get for acting like you are the only one experiencing a hard time." "You are not the only one who couldn't sleep well, you know?" she said to him with her hands folded while he swore angrily, still clutching his aching back.

"Alright, big man, what are we doing now?" she asked, excited to begin the mission.

"Ruining my blissful sleep, apparently," Kazuya replied as he tried standing erect amid the great pain he felt in his back. 

"You talk as if you are still sleeping," she replied. "Enough small talk; tell me what our first objective is."

"We will be heading north, to Magdal," he said to her when he was finally able to recover his posture. 

"What are we going to do there?" she asked. "I know it has a few guilds, but none of them is reputable."

"One of the guilds has the mage we are looking for," he said to her, "that is all that matters."

"How are you sure about that?" she asked with a skeptic's gaze. 

"What do you think I have been doing all night, woman?" he asked. 

"Sleeping," she joked, but then Kazuya turned his gaze from her to a spot on the ground she hadn't looked at closely as the environment was still dark... She followed his gaze and looked down at what he was looking at, and when she saw what it was, she gasped with both hands covering her mouth. "What on earth?" she asked in a shocked whisper. 

It was the corpse of the ghoul that attacked him the previous night, lying there, dead with its head cut open. 

"Is that the cause of this awful smell?" she said, holding her mouth, resisting the urge to throw up. 

"Why are you acting like it's your first time seeing a ghoul?" "Aren't you a huntress or something?" he asked. 

"What you went through last night was a rare experience, even for hunters," she told him. "Ghouls are extremely hard to find; it's not like anyone plans on finding any." "But ever since the temple of Maou Mazoku was built, the number of human encounters with such creatures has reduced drastically."

"So why was one lurking in the tall grasses last night to eat me?" he asked. 

"I do not know," she said. "As I said, it is a rare occurrence, likely never to happen to you again."

"I hope so," Kazuya said. "That devil was as strong as ten men; each of those trees was brought down by the swing of one hand."

"Let us get out of here, Kazuya," she said. "This area is creeping me out already."

"Are you scared, woman?" asked Kazuya. 

"Shut up!" she spat at him. "Are we going to get on with the mission or not?"

"Why the rush?" Kazuya asked. "We aren't going anywhere for now."

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Aren't you the one who said that he cannot wait until our alliance is over?"

"Yes, I did say that, and I still stand by it," he said. "But as you know, for us to make that long journey in a shorter time, we would need a commercial vehicle, which would cost money. So first we need to generate enough money to afford that, along with the other resources associated with it; I believe we have already talked about this.

"Yes, we have," she replied, taking a deep breath, "so where do we start?"

"I don't know; you are the huntress, aren't you?" asked Kazuya. "You decide."

Orihime sighed. "Why don't we start by hunting black elves?" They are usually easy to take down close to daybreak. "Besides, it would be a very efficient hunting option for a bloodthirsty monger like yourself, wouldn't you agree?" she asked. 

"So you do have a dirty mouth, huh?" Kazuya asked back with a slight smile. "I like it." Now, where do we find these black elves you speak of? "What is their monetary value?"

Then she went on to explain... 

"They mainly live in hollowed-out tree trunks around swampy areas." We should be able to find a lot of them nearby. The secret of their value to humans lies in an expensive wonder drug that can be extracted from their livers. That is why they are of good value to hunters... 

"But I must warn you—unlike the friendly elves you hear about in stories, this breed is extremely hostile towards humans," she said to him. "But if you could take care of a ghoul on your own, I bet you could handle a bunch of black elves."

"I wouldn't be too sure. "But I might take your word for it," Kazuya replied, and they both went forward in the direction she showed him. 

"Here is how it's going to work: most elves wake up just before daybreak, as regular humans do." But they don't come out of their homes from the bottom of the tree but jump out midway through. We are going to ambush them from the bottom of the trees and slaughter them in a way that wouldn't let them alert the others, swiftly but quietly. "Do you understand?" she asked after explaining. 

"I do, but it sounds like something out of my ability. "I have no experience doing this," he said to her. 

"If I do it alone, I won't be able to get as many of them to fund our transportation soon enough." But with your help, maybe I could pull it off. "So unless you want to spend another night in these woods, I'd suggest you come with me," she said to him before pointing at the exact location where the black elves were mostly concentrated, as it was a swampy area with easy access to water and edible fruits. 

The place she pointed out was at the other end of the forests surrounding the lowlands of the main town below, and it took them a few hours of walking to get there. 

When they arrived, Orihime turned silent, and she urged Kazuya to do the same, only giving signals from that moment on. 

Kazuya looked around and noticed that most of the trees in the area were very large, and most of them had holes in them. That was the moment Kazuya saw a black elf for the first time in his life. They were almost just like humans, save for their darkened ebony skin and horns, which seemed to be longer depending on their age. 

They were almost the same size as most goblins but would be slightly smaller than them on average. 

It was still early in the morning, and elves, like humans, weren't nocturnal creatures. So it was by this time that most of them were waking from sleep, coming out through the large holes in their trees into the world to start another day of hunting for food. 

Orihime had given him the signal to move with her to the back of the tree trunks to attack stealthily. Part of her was prepared for the worst, given that Kazuya had zero experience with this, and so was the young man. 

But surprisingly, they were able to make it into the territory without getting spotted. They waited at the bottom of the trees, one at a time, hiding among the tall grasses below, while the creatures would come jumping down as they usually did. The moment the elf did that, Kazuya and Orihime would grab them and slit their throats before they could speak out. 

By this method, they slaughtered over two dozen of them, grabbing their bodies and dragging them to a hidden location close by for eventual harvesting. 

Orihime was excited, as they were able to hunt down over twice as much as she usually would on an average day, thanks to Kazuya's help.