Chapter 92
*
"Another... miss, huh?"
I muttered to myself as I held the two-hundredth amber-colored gem in my hand.
I had thought that hunting about fifty Jewelhead Bunnies would yield at least one or two hits.
But after hunting two hundred, unbelievably, I've got zero.
Could there be a flaw in my logical (Erika) theory?
Though my calm face hides it, inside my head I'm making a face like I want to say something, but I ignore it.
Because right now, I'm the masked person.
If you've got something to say, put on a mask first.
The gem I stuffed into my prop bag started to feel like a burden, so I head back to the merchants.
As I watch the gem being carelessly tossed aside with the usual words of thanks, someone calls out to me, "Masked person."
I had noticed from the start, but as I turn around, the sight before me almost makes me sigh.
Adventurers with severed arms or legs, only bandaged to stop the bleeding, are lined up on the ground.
It's more efficient and helpful to drag them out of the forest for treatment, but come on, you guys are way too used to getting your limbs chopped off.
"Hey, sorry about this, masked person."
"If you think that, then use a weapon, a weapon! Are you insane, fighting Jewelhead Bunnies barehanded?"
I say this to the bearded guy for what feels like the umpteenth time, and his party members nod in agreement behind him.
And you, you're competent enough to never have been chopped up, so move a bit more skillfully.
Since the bearded guy was at the end of the line, we head back toward the forest together.
"Man, I feel like I'm gonna hit the jackpot soon. I've got a good wave coming," the bearded guy says, sounding like a total loser.
This is exactly why people who rely on luck are hopeless.
You lack logical (Erika) thinking.
Edds and Pal were looking at us with eyes that seemed to regard us as something pathetic, but I didn't care.
Why, you ask?
Because by then, I had already made up my mind.
Yes, I was prepared to be blown away.
*
"That's some intense killing intent in this magical energy," I muse, impressed by the gaze of magical energy piercing my chest.
Could it be a Jewelhead Bunny's? No way, I scoff at my own thought.
That rabbit, the lousy rabbit that somehow defies my logic by not yielding a single hit, couldn't emit a gaze (magical energy) like this.
I push the bearded guy walking beside me with my hand.
So he doesn't get caught up in this.
The bearded guy stumbles away from me by about four steps, dragging his party members with him.
I couldn't hear the complaints coming from his mouth.
Because by then, I was already being blown away horizontally.
I twist my body midair to prepare for landing.
Alright, the bearded guy and his crew are safe.
I land on the ground, lightly shaking my heavy, numb arms that I used for defense.
I put strength into my sliding feet to brake.
If I kept going like this, I'd crash into a food stall's carriage.
Despite panicking at how I wasn't stopping as expected, my body finally halts just in front of the food stall.
I call out to Edds and Pal, who are standing behind me, dumbfounded.
"So, Edds and Pal, it's time to work. Get the client back to town safely."
"Wait, hold on, do you understand what that is, Shin? Do you even know what that thing is?"
I give a slight nod to Edds' trembling voice.
I adjust the position of my mask with my left hand.
My right hand grips the hilt of my sword.
"I know."
I answer Edds.
And by the way, I'm the masked person.
"It's a Jewelhead Dragon, right?"
As if responding to my voice, the dragon roars.
*
According to the records I dug up at the guild, there are mainly two types of monsters that appear in the Forest of Fools.
The Jewelhead Bunny and the Jewelhead Dragon.
The Jewelhead Bunnies seem to appear in numbers reminiscent of the forest in the Demonlands, and if those monsters ever wandered out of the forest, the town of Noljuen would have been built somewhere else entirely.
It's quite unusual for them to appear in such large numbers but never leave the forest, and even more unusual is the Jewelhead Dragon.
The Jewelhead Dragon is an exceptionally unique monster.
According to the Adventurer's Guild records, this creature can be summoned with certainty.
Yes, not just appearing with certainty.
It can be summoned with certainty.
The method is simple and straightforward.
All you have to do is hunt Jewelhead Bunnies relentlessly.
Just by doing that, a dragon species pops up out of nowhere, which speaks volumes about the viciousness of the Forest of Fools.
Even so, adventurers blinded by gold flock to the Forest of Fools to hunt Jewelhead Bunnies.
The name Forest of Fools was given as a sarcastic jab.
But more than that, it's simply a name based on pure fact.