[70] At the top (4)
“Even so, if you don’t become a wizard, it’s a joke. Isn’t that right, Sirone?”
“huh? Oh, of course.”
“If you do something by relying on other people’s money, you are entrusting your life to someone else. It doesn’t matter if you succeed, but if you fail, nothing is left. Sirone, you can’t do that either. Even thinking of my parents, I should prepare a way to live and learn magic. Are you going to live with your parents for the rest of your life? That doesn’t mean you can’t do the job because you’re strong.”
Even if you don’t become a wizard, you can get a job because you have the knowledge you’ve learned. Since he was a commoner anyway, there were many places where he could call Sirone if he just gave up his pride. However, it was also true that he had never thought of a case of failure, as Alto said.
How could that be? Is it baejin? Are you conceited? If I can’t become a wizard, what kind of life will I live?
My stomach rumbled. failure. Anyone can fail, and Sirone was no exception. Sirone’s heart grew cold at the realistic questions of the children of the slash-and-burn village.
When the atmosphere calmed down, Alto suggested a game. On the one hand, it was also a proposal to regain his authority as a leader.
“now. It’s a complicated story. hey sirone. Do you want to arm wrestle with me for the first time in a while?”
“uh? with me?”
“okay. You used to be surprisingly full-bodied. Let’s see if the bones are still there.”
The children knocked on the table, inciting a confrontation.
“Ohhhh! Warrior vs Wizard! It’s the fight of the century!”
As the atmosphere at the drinking party heated up, Sirone put aside her gloomy thoughts and regained her smile. Arm wrestling with a grown-up. It was embarrassing to let go of my pride.
“how is it? Paying for a drink?”
As Alto put his thick forearm on the table, Sirone reached out without losing. It was a man’s pride that he had no choice but to accept it if he was betting on it, whether he lost or won.
“good. Let’s try it. There is no substitute for watching.”
“of course.”
The moment they held hands, Sirone felt as if he was holding a lump of stone. If he passed the photonization magic, he would have paid for the alcohol, but it was just a fun imagination.
Martin volunteered to referee.
“Let’s go to bed, get ready… and start!”
Sirone squeezed out all his strength. However, as Alto’s strength surged like a wave, he went over to the other side regardless of his will. He tumbled under the table and stroked his elbow. It wasn’t brute force, it was brute strength.
“Ouch. Really old.”
“wow! It’s altor too. Sirone is a mage, but didn’t you pass it over at once?”
Although magic and arm wrestling had nothing to do with each other, the name wizard seemed to carry considerable weight to the children.
“of course! Alto has even hunted bears before!”
Alto, who regained his authority, laughed heartily.
“ha ha ha! Sirone, are you really weak? It wasn’t like this before. This turned out to be a strange bet. Alcohol is just what I live for.”
Lumina came over and supported Sirone. Her eyes were full of regret.
“Sirone are you okay? Anyway, it’s Altor. How can I be so ignorant?”
Since she was a member of the slash-and-burn village, there was no way she didn’t know why Alto was so violent. However, Sirone was familiar with the life of a mountaineer, so he was not disappointed.
“are you okay. But Alto is really strong.”
The moment Sirone stood up, the bag of gold coins fell. As the snout opened, gold coins with lovely names rolled around. The eyes of the children in the slash-and-burn village grew wide.
“Huh? This is a gold coin, a real gold coin!”
“what? Where are you! wow! really! Are there five of them?”
Even the children at the end of the table gathered and were mesmerized by the gold coins. It was rare even for adults to use gold coins in the slash-and-burn village. The appearance of the golden coin felt sacred to children who were still earning pennies as a pastime.
“You have a lot of money. Why do you carry five gold coins?”
Sirone shyly picked up the gold coin and said.
“I brought a lot just in case you didn’t know. There’s a book I really want to buy, but I’m in trouble if I don’t have money.”
“Well, books are expensive.”
The children knew that Sirone loved books. Even when he came with Vincent in the past, he always had a book at his side. The illiterate slash-and-burn villagers were not interested in books. Just by looking at the number of gold coins that fell, I could tell how great Sirone was living.
“Sirone. So can I use this as I like? Since it’s yours, you’ll buy whatever you want right away, right?”
Sirone put on a puzzled expression. I’ve never had any money wasted. As Alto said, it is money received from others. But the kids seemed shocked just to have such a huge amount of money. I chose my words carefully, thinking that I could hurt their lives if I didn’t.
“I rarely have to spend money. There are too many classes at school, so most of them skip meals.”
“no way. Can you still pay for the drink? Because I lost the bet.”
“bet? Oh yes.”
Sirone had heard Altor’s offer to pay, but it seemed that if he showed the gold coins and pretended not to know, he would offend him even more. Alto, although he knew nothing, he was not ignorant, so he left the atmosphere to the natural flow.
“okay. i’ll give it to you Because I lost.”
At Sirone’s words, the children cheered.
“Oh yea! Then we spend our gold coins, right? Can you give me the money for sirone liquor in advance? In fact, I’ve never touched a gold coin before.”
“I will do the math. Giving out gold coins has been my lifelong wish!”
“no! I will!”
Before anyone knew it, the leader of the children had become Sirone. Lumina watched Alto with concern. As expected, the misery was evident on his face.
Even so, the reason she doesn’t get angry is because she’s the same as Lumina. Having watched Sirone since she was young, she knew. Sirone hasn’t changed a bit. He was a good kid who knew how to think of others first.
“Stop it! The men said that when they saw a gold coin, they were excited! When will you grow up? Now let’s talk about something else.”
At Lumina’s nagging, the children quietly returned to their seats. Sirone was grateful to her.
Quick-witted Martin changed the subject.
“Did you hear that anyway? They showed up on the back mountain yesterday too.”
“Ah, I heard that too. At this rate, there wouldn’t be any wild beasts left. How long are you going to eat it?”
“It must be a cow bear with a baby. It has a huge appetite.”
The cow bear is the largest grizzly bear in the bear family. In particular, when a female has a baby, it is a headache for hunters because it eats twice as much as a normal predator.
Sirone also showed interest because he had done quite a bit of hunting.
“Did Cow Bear come this far? Didn’t they originally live behind the mountain range? That would really hurt.”
“Don’t talk. My dad is a hunter, but he’s a waste to meet these days. The wild beasts are on the verge of drying up, so we can’t.”
“Then why don’t we all get together and catch them? Cowbears aren’t particularly violent, so five people should be enough.”
“It’s logging season these days, so there aren’t enough people. Everyone goes to the tree and no one helps. Still, judging from the range of movement, it seems that they won’t give birth here. If you wait a week or so, the business will return to normal.”
“I see. Uncle must be having a hard time too.”
Alto’s eyes twinkled and he snapped his fingers.
“Hey Bread. What if we catch that cow bear?”
“What? we? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“How are you looking at me and talking like that? I’ve hunted even red bears, which are reputed to be violent. That cow bear is nothing.”
Alto intended to regain his lost honor through this hunt. It was strength and hunting skills that gave him an edge over Sirone, so in a way, it was an opportunity given by God.
“How are you? Let’s all help Bread.”
“If you do, I will be grateful.”
If they can’t find game, their families will have no choice but to starve. The children who knew that fact couldn’t bear to turn away from Bread’s circumstances. Besides, wasn’t Altor the one who caught the red bear, which was said to be the most vicious despite its small size?
“good! Then let’s go catch cow bears tomorrow!”
“Oooh! Blood boils! Don’t worry Bread! This older brother will definitely put an arrow in the bear’s chest!”
“idiot! will you be We just have to dig a trap and leave it to Alto.”
“We are leaving tomorrow morning! Sirone, are you coming too?”
Alto asked with sparkling eyes. In order to regain the position of leader, Sirone had to follow. Knowing that fact, Sirone nodded her head thinking that it was better.
“okay. I also learned something from my father, so I should be able to do my part.”
“Good! Cheers then!”
Beer mugs with foam bobbing in the air collided.
* * *
Early morning the next day.
Sirone got up early in the morning to prepare for hunting.
Professional tools would be shared by the children, but basic equipment had to be equipped by each individual.
I rolled up the rope in a big way so it wouldn’t get tangled, hung it on my backpack, and checked my bow and arrows.
I brought cloth and glue to make a torch, and I also prepared a nail and a hammer.
He put extra arrowheads in a leather pouch and carefully packed dry rations and a whistle in case of distress.
When I lifted the backpack, the familiar weight made me feel happy.
When I opened the door thinking that Sirone, the man, was not dead yet, all the children with their equipment gathered in front of the door.
“Hey Sirone. It’s too late. this is gone Kuck.”
Sirone smiled shyly. As expected, people who were engaged in active duty were different no matter what.
“Haha sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve done it, so I’m not used to it.”
“Anyway, let’s go. I have to come back before the sun goes down.”
Alto took the lead and Sirone followed in the middle group with Lumina. The rear was guarded by Martin.
The sun rose when we arrived at the cow bear haunting area.
Lumina lit a fire and started cooking. Breakfast was corn soup with melted sheep’s milk cheese and bread. Sirone dipped the hard bread into the soup and swallowed it in one gulp.
“it’s good. After all, we need to know about Lumina’s cooking skills.”
“lol.”
Rumina smiled shyly. Thinking back in the past, I would have made a fuss about paying for the meal right, so the kids have certainly changed a lot. But it was a good change, and Sirone was relieved that her friends were doing well.
“Once you’ve finished eating, let’s leave soon. I guess he’s up there.”
Alto took the children and headed for the mountainside. As if his prediction was correct, bears marked their territories on each tree. said Martin, pointing to a tree with serious claw marks.
“Look at this. The tree was completely destroyed. You must be very strong.”
Altor approached and carefully examined the claw marks.
“joy. There is no problem with this. I don’t think my feet are that big either.”
“Isn’t that still dangerous?”
“The power of bears has a reputation. It’s also faster than you think. But cow bears tend to be sluggish. With this amount of people, we can hunt enough.”
Sirone belatedly checked the claw marks. And he furrowed his brows in disgust. It was only a scar on the tree, but I couldn’t imagine the sight of a bear marking its territory there.
‘weird. I don’t think it was done by force. Rather, it was as if something very fast and sharp had hit it…’
Alto pulled out his bow at this point. He bent his upper body while the arrow was loaded and looked back and said.
“Anyway, I think we have to start here, so be careful. Let’s go up a bit more and set a trap.”
The children who followed Althor climbed the mountain slowing down their steps. Everyone was skilful, probably because this kind of life was their daily life.
Sirone entered the Spirit Zone and sensed everything. With a diameter of 40 meters, it’s less than the sight of a skilled hunter, but there’s nothing wrong with being careful as long as you’re in a bad mood.
By the time I reached the summit, a rather unpleasant aura passed through my synesthesia. As Sirone stopped walking and tried to figure out the identity of the feeling, Alto looked back and asked.
“Sirone what are you doing? We will not set traps here.”
“Altor. Something is a little strange.”
“What’s strange? I can’t feel anything.”
Alto blocked Sirone’s opinion in advance. No matter how smart Sirone was, he thought he was an expert when it came to hunting. However, Sirone did not give up her will and left the line and went somewhere. Alto chased after him with an angry expression. Arbitrary action in the mountains could endanger everyone.
“Sirone. If you’re going to keep doing this, just get off… ugh!”
Alto was horrified at the scene unfolding in front of him. Even Sirone was at a loss for words at this moment. As she vomited, the smell of sheep’s milk cheese she ate earlier regurgitated.
“What is this… what the hell is it?”
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