After managing to lead us to an open field just outside town the veteran, Damian as I recall, pointed in the direction of the forest.

  “You’ll find the herd of horned rabbits inside the forest there.” He stated, giving the same tone as before.

  I nodded in understanding as I prepared my [Silver Short Sword] in hand, I strategized in my head how to handle the current situation. I could probably handle hunting these rabbits easily with my [Material Forge] but as of right now I need to hide how effective I could use it, especially with a B- Ranked adventurer watching.

  Though this would be a perfect time to practice fighting without that skill. I’ve become aware that I’ve become rather over-reliant on it and I need to prepare for situations where I wouldn’t be able to use it. My mana isn’t infinite after all, my fight with Mordred bearing in mind.

  Now the question is how would I find these horned rabbits? V’s [Search] would be quite useful for this situation but unfortunately that won’t be an option. Instead, I figure I’d take advantage of Damian’s expertise instead.

  “Do you have any advice for finding horned rabbits? I’m afraid I’ve never encountered them before.”

  The bear nodded as he walked closer to the trees in the forest, motioning for me to follow him. As we entered, his eyes began to scan around his surroundings. His body barely moved for a few seconds before he started to walk to a certain spot, where more sunlight was coming through the trees, as he bent down to pick up something.

  He was holding a handful of carrots in his hands as he offered them up to me. “Horned Rabbits are attracted to carrots. Careful as they can be quite aggressive despite being small.”

  “Ok I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

  Damian simply nodded, his expression never changing. I guess this is what they meant, calling him the impassive veteran. Quite the professional adventurer indeed. Now I really want to recruit him. Something to remember in the future when the opportunity presents itself.

  Now what to do with these carrots. I thought for a bit and decided that I could make a trap, using these vegetables as bait. With my skill it would have been easy to simply lay them on top of a hollowed-out ground, but I committed to not using it for this quest. I remember watching an old survival video in my old world that could work so I started to gather some durable looking sticks. Meanwhile the bear adventurer was watching me, curious about what I had in mind.

  I managed to gather enough sticks, though I had to take several trips. My small stature was proving to be a problem as I couldn’t carry as many sticks as I would have liked. Damian offered to help but I refused, I had already asked for his help enough and I needed to prove to them I would be capable as an adventurer. It’d make it that much easier to gather intel if they can see me as more reliable.

  I began to start setting up the traps, tying the sticks together with some [Rope] I had made before coming to town. Afterwards, I had them elevated with another stick on the ground with it attached to another [Rope] which I had on my gloved hand.

  After placing a single carrot bait within the trap, I then hid behind a tree not too far off, making sure the [Rope] was hidden within the grass and Damian keeping his distance while watching me at work.

  A simple trap for sure, but nonetheless should prove to be effective. Now all that would be left is to wait for the prey. It probably would take some time before they will appear, so in the meantime I’ll have to take advantage of the wait and try to get some info from the watching veteran, making sure to keep the volume of my voice low as to avoid alerting the creatures.

  “If it’s alright, could you tell me more about the town? I’m new here so there’s not much I know of the area.”

  Damian agreed and began to explain, it was easy to follow as he kept his explanation simple and short. Apparently, this town is rather remote, away from the jurisdiction of any kingdom, but still close enough to for them to do business with them. It’s mainly populated by humans, but there are the occasional Beastmen who come by, which I would assume is what Damian was.

  Hearing of this, I concluded this would be a good starting town for my conquest and really leave my mark on this world. The tricky part would be convincing them to follow me, but I’m sure I’ll find a way.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It was then we heard some rustle noise nearby, so we kept quiet. Sure enough, a gray colored rabbit jumped in. It had two small horns coming out of its head and red beady eyes. I looked at Damian for confirmation if that was my target and he nodded.

  I then readied myself, [Rope] in hand as its lured by the carrot laid out before it, slowly inching closer and closer until finally it was within distance as I quickly pulled on the [Rope] setting off the trap. It had worked and the horned rabbit was trapped. I quickly jumped out of my hiding spot and had my short sword ready as I noticed it trying to break free from the trap.

  Without giving it another thought I began to repeatedly stab at the space between in the trap all while keeping a hand on the trap to prevent it from escaping. I kept at it for a bit longer, some of my hits missing my target as it was scrambling around fast inside until eventually it stopped squirming. Multiple stab wounds exposed on its body as I take a sigh of relief from the successful hunt.

  Damian, having watched me gave me a thumbs up, his expression unchanging as usual. I have to wonder if he ever has any emotions.

  I was ready to check on the corpse to make sure if it was still kicking when I suddenly heard more rustling in the bushes. It seems the little rabbit didn’t come alone.

  I ready my blade, eyeing my surroundings for any sense of danger. I noticed the veteran was also preparing to step in if it looked like it’d be too much, but I wasn’t going to give him a chance.

  Suddenly three horned rabbits jumped in, ready to pounce at me from all directions. Not willing to let them get the jump on me, I stabbed in the direction one of them was jumping at, piercing through it, and sending it to the ground. Compared to my wolves’ speed this was nothing to keep track of.

  Unfortunately, with my focus on one of them the other two rabbits managed to get a bite on my arm and leg. Pain jolted through my body and Damian seemed to jump in a fighting stance, ready to come in to help. But I refused, once my blade was freed from its latest victim, I took advantage of the rabbits’ helplessness while gnawing on my limbs to stab at their exposed necks, their bodies going limp making it easy for me to tear them off of me.

  But I wasn’t done yet, earlier I could have sworn I heard four different rustles around me. I tried to remember where the last noise came from, all the while trying to ignore the pain. It was then the last one jumped into view, unlike the others it stood in place, clearly weary of me.

  It was practically challenging me to come after me, something I was happy to comply with. I continued to ignore the pain in my leg as I ran after the horned rabbit who in turn came after me. I slashed at it who in turn jumped to dodged it, its fangs at the ready towards my injured arm but I wasn’t about to let it.

  With my free hand already at the handle I grabbed my [Copper Short Sword] and used it to catch it by the jaw, the pain on my arm though was coursing through my body but I refused to let it get to me. Continuing to use the momentum of unsheathing it, I send the rabbit crashing to the ground, breaking its back and its mouth sliced up. Not giving it a moment longer I used the other blade to jam right at its stomach, its body twitching before going limp.

  With that I had finished the quest, killing off five horned rabbits. Sensing the danger passing, my grip on my swords loosens as I drop them, and I fall to one knee. My body was finally reacting to the pain inflicted on my limps. I noticed that they had managed to tear through my sleeves so tried to quickly cover it up with my gloved hand.

  Damian seemed to have noticed as he came by with some cloth in hand. He was offering to help me out, but I had to refuse, otherwise he would notice my scaled skin.

  “I can cover the wound myself but thank you.”

  I took the cloth and began to wrap the wound on my leg and arm, all the while the bear was watching me. Luckily it seemed he didn’t notice my skin before I covered it up.

  But while I was wrapping it up there was a loud roar not too far from us. Damn it, I just finished my fight with the rabbits. I didn’t have the energy to face another creature.

  “…Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. You already finished your quest.” The bear adventurer stated, turning in the direction of the loud roar.

  He readied his stance, waiting for the inevitable beast to come. When out came a large hairy creature, its body reminded one of a bear much like Damian, but much more beast like and with the head of another creature I recognized from my old world, an owl.

  From recalling from the various stories I read before, I remember the name Owlbear. From what I recall they tend to be rather ferocious creatures. Nonetheless, the bear Beastman seemed undeterred.

  As the creature came smelling the blood of the horned rabbits, it charged towards our direction. Damian barely moved, simply readying one of his fists as he pulled it back. I could sense a large amount of mana building up around both his hands, concentrating at a single point as the air around begins to tense up.

  Meanwhile, the speed of the Owlbear begins to increase as he rushes closer towards Damian. Within moments the two met face to face, the beast taking out its claw ready to shred the veteran into ribbons. Damian on the other hand never changed his expression, his focus fulling focused on the task at hand.

  With swift and precise movement, his fist connects the bird beast’s face all the while dodging his claw attack, all with minimal movement. The owlbear seemed to wince in pain and barely had time to react as Damian began to send a flurry of fists all the while pinning the beast to the ground.

  As Damian continues his onslaught the Owlbear starts to go limp, its body starting to stop reacting to his attack. He noticed this as he immediately stopped, barely any exhaustion was shown on his face, and he hardly broke a sweat dealing with the beast.

  I was amazed, this B-ranked adventurer was definitely the real deal. Seeing the display, the power and control he had only inspired me more.

  Veehahahahaha…. Now I have to have him more than anything now. ~