Chapter 8

“… I’m home…” My brother said while he came to my side.

In his left hand, he had the bow I made, in his right hand, he had one gray rabbit.

“I caught one!”

My younger brother had a timid personality where he was the kind of person to say the bare minimum necessary, however, he had a pleasant face and was thus really popular.

“You caught a large one, with one shot?”

He nodded in joy as soon as I said that.

“Wash your hands first before you get breakfast.”

He nodded and ran to the outdoor sink.

“Tota is a wonderful hunter, he catches something every day.”

These lines seemed to have come from mother.

But, generally speaking, it was abnormal that a five-year-old could hunt gray rabbits.

Compared to the rabbits of my previous life, it is quick like a cat and has brutal nails. As for hunting them, it wouldn’t be easy even for an experienced hunter.

I had given Tota the bow and taught him to hunt, from there his talent grew. He was able to hit his target in only five days. When I taught him throwing knives his talent bloomed again. This time, it only took three days. I was stunned by this, but mother was good with the bow and arrow so it must be inherited.

… Well, there are various races in this world, ranging from humans to human-like monsters.

“Hunting is good, but it’ll be more than we can eat if you hunt every day. The storage is already full.”

Hunt one in the mornings. Two or three animals throughout the day. Even if they didn’t need them now, they could save them for later.

We saved this much in case there was a famine, but perhaps we have saved too much? There is a storage room in our house, but it’s about the size of a gymnasium…

“Well, then I’ll take it over to granny.”

Some of the food is going to expire soon, and they needed firewood. Perhaps they should head to the village today?

As I thought about it, Tota washed his hand and arrived at his seat to eat breakfast.

When breakfast was over and I was drinking some medicinal tea, Tota opened a drawstring bag towards me.

When I took a look inside, I saw the ear of a goblin was in it.

It’s not a great sight just after we ate, but it didn’t upset me too much. If you live in a world with swords and magic for ten years, goblins become a daily event. Sometimes it’d be nice to see a dragon (not a real dragon, but a dinosaur-like creature the size of a rhinoceros) come out every once in a while.

“Spring has come.”

“No, goblins have nothing to do with spring.”

It was a sharp jab from my reticent younger brother. Truly, my bother can do anything.

“How many of them were there?”

“There were three.”

With three of them, is that a scout? Well, it seems possible that there is a larger group.

A standard goblin group for hunting would be around ten members. I’ve heard stories (from adventurers) that certain hunting groups can grow to as many as thirty. If there are three, there could be a hundred, or if we’re unlucky two hundred or more.

“That could become a stampede.”

Demons such as goblins (things with intelligence are called demons) outbreaks are treated as natural disasters. If you know about them, the only option is to run. If you didn’t know, death.

Reporting to local nobles? I’ve considered doing this before, but they’d probably just abandon everything. The local lords’ army is less than one hundred soldiers. Though they are just goblins, they may be in a berserker status and with over two hundred the damage would be extensive. That’s only if they’re unskillful. If the situation was bad enough, the local lord may even sacrifice the village as a certain army tactic (a slave tactic).

You could always request for adventurers to help, though if the local lord had given up, there would be no reason they’d want to put their lives on the line. Well, even if an A-rank party accepted the request, there were less than 10 high-ranking parties in this country and even then, this village doesn’t have the kind of money to pay them.

Well, it’s good we knew. Immediately running away — at least, that’s what most of the general populace would do. However, regarding this village, no, this place has changed me with its warmth. I think about these things in silence.

“Well, it’s a good time then.”

Lately, I’ve been thinking I wanted some poison taste testers. Well, even though the goblins eat very poorly, if I want to understand poisons I’ll have to endure it. It’s also the season for bandits so I might get lucky and catch one.

“Tota, tomorrow we’ll go and investigate their location and numbers.”

“But, you promised to teach us magic!”

Ah, did I?

“Grr! Brother always forgets easily.”

Lately, my siblings started taking an interest in magic. They were already showing signs of being talented in magic too. Seriously, what kind of blood does my family carry?

Incidentally, neither Suppor nor Tota cared much about the impending stampede. After all, they’ve seen me massacre a group of club-wielding ogres and break large rocks in half. They experienced scenes that lacked common-sense and now they lacked common-sense as well. They’re already underwhelmed by the stampede.

“Ok, then, I’ll show you guys until noon. I’ll teach magic throughout the morning. Is that fine?”

“Yup!”

“You as well, Suppor?”

“Mm… that’s fine.”

Having obedient siblings makes this bother happy!