Episode 8 Hounds of Hell (1)
The children of the Baskervilles are given two midterm and final evaluations every year until they turn 15 years old.
In order to get rid of the stigma of being a family of berserkers, I tend to make the usual liberal arts classes hard… But the reason they are called the family of berserkers in the first place is because of the practical exam that is so difficult that it is murderous.
It was not something young children who had just turned 8 or 9 could avoid.
The children of the Baskervilles receive a rigorous early education.
From the point of being able to walk on two feet, in order to cultivate basic physical strength, it is made to run continuously on a wide gym and steep hills.
You cannot lie down or lie down outside the designated time.
The Guardian Knights become instructors and polish them like crazy.
During breaks, he plays with a rubber knife, and when he sleeps, he attaches it to the corpse of a large monster or the cub of a very small monster.
It is to get them accustomed to the hideous appearance of their prey and their savage ferocity.
And from the age of 8, real training begins.
Meals change.
In the broth made from boiling chicken bones, various types of fish, which are full of meat, are beaten and boiled until they turn into porridge.
Then put it in a tough intestine and boil it again to remove the last bit of fat.
Haggis, which is a regular meal, is eaten right at this stage.
Here, it is salted for storage, and after a long time, it is dried hard and hardened jerky is completed, which is the preserved food that the children of the Baskerville family always carry with them.
Today, children aged 8 or 9 from the Baskervilles were sent to the mountains outside the manor with sacks of these beef jerky.
Mountain ‘Le Rouge et Le Noir’.
This is an alpine area with a harsh environment where only a few vicious types of monsters live.
The young hounds of the Baskervilles are thrown here and have to survive for about a month.
Of course, they live only within the restricted area, and at the boundary of the restricted area, guardian knights within the family called ‘lead dog’ are placed.
The tasks of children abandoned in an unfamiliar environment are as follows.
‘Survive’ ‘If possible, hunt big and strong monsters’.
The original task was simply to ‘survive’, but the current owner, Hugo Les Baskervilles, said that this task was too easy and added another task.
Sometimes, among the children of the Baskerville family, there were those who would lock themselves in safe caves or tunnels and survive by eating only beef jerky.
‘A child who bravely fought against monsters and survived should not receive the same evaluation as a child who was cowardly and stuck in a cave.’
This was Hugo’s idea.
-If you managed to save your life, 10 points.
– If you managed to save your life without being crippled, 30 points.
-50 points if you drop other children and survive.
-70 points if you catch the monster and survive.
-90 points if you managed to save your life without being crippled despite dropping other children or surviving by catching monsters.
There is no 100 points.
A swordsman dies the moment he becomes conceited.
That’s Hugo’s instructions.
……Of course, if you die in any situation, you get 0 points.
Dog death itself, the least value of all deaths.
Eight-year-old Bikir arrived here today in Red and Black Mountain.
When you get off the wagon, you can see piles of reddish dirt.
Black ants swarmed on the parched mound.
A dry wind blows through the burnt old trees.
All I see is red and black.
The Guardian Knights said.
“I would have handed out badges to each and every youngster. As soon as you leave this place, you can steal each other’s badges. If you steal someone else’s badge, additional points will be added.”
“Additional points are given even if you hunt monsters. However, points are deducted if you are fatally injured. In case of death, all points are lost.
“We do not recommend going outside the restricted area. You should only move within the space we have subjugated for the past few days. Here, the enemy and the Black Mountain are still a place where there are many undiscovered undiscovered areas.”
The Guardian Knights explained other intricate rules.
But to Bikir, it’s just annoying nagging.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.’
He, too, has often been to Jeokgwa Black Mountain.
This is the red and black mountain where I used to go in and out as a student in my childhood and as an instructor when I got older.
It was a strange and scary place only when I was an examinee, but when I came as an instructor…
‘It’s an even more scary and unfamiliar place.’
Because it had to be searched outside the safe zone.
The area where the children of the Baskerville family survive is actually more like a cozy cradle.
The real danger is the area outside the boundary guarded by the Guardian Knight instructors.
forbidden zone.
If you go far beyond a few mountain ranges outside the ridge called ‘Cradle’, powerful monsters and barbarians swarm.
Since the Baskervilles declared this place as their territory, they have steadily pioneered the enemy and beyond the Black Mountains.
It was also because there was the emperor’s order and full support.
The expansion of the territory of the Baskervilles was the expansion of the territory of the empire, and for this, various tax benefits and autonomy of military facilities were guaranteed.
before regression. Bikir also spent a very long time here in the red and black mountains, passing through his days as an examinee, his days as an instructor, and his days as a hunting dog.
So the environment here was very familiar and familiar.
Not to mention it was not in the ‘Undiscovered Zone’ beyond the ridge, nor in the ‘Cradle’.
……but. Most children seem to feel unfamiliarity and fear in the environment they are seeing for the first time.
The dry, crumbling mound of earth, the cliff, the pungent wind from the burned forest, the dry, crumbly ash, the unpleasant eyes and the sound of crying.
“…Ugh, this is the first time I’ve been in such a bad mood.”
“It’s more barren than when I came last year.”
“You want me to stay here for a month!?”
8-year-olds cry.
The 9-year-olds are pretending to be indifferent, but their expressions are not good, perhaps because of bad memories from last year.
In fact, this test is a battle between 8-year-olds who want to keep the badge and 9-year-olds who want to steal it.
For today’s 8-year-olds, who will turn 9 next year, this experience will be very important.
And in this situation, 8-year-old Bikir stands still, waiting for the bell to signal the start of the exam.
Nearby, 9-year-old children aiming for Bikir’s badge were laughing sinisterly.
“Is that the bastard? He said he dived for 7 minutes in the River Styx.”
“Does that make sense? Well, rumor has it that he strangled two poisonous snakes while he was in his cradle.”
“He said he had a perfect score? Let’s see if he’s good at practical writing.”
A buzzing sound all around.
But there is one strange thing.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The strongest and fiercest Hive in the 9-year-old class, Middle Bro, Low Bro The triplets are somehow silent.
The other 9-year-olds just tilted their heads as they were always eager to show Vikir a lesson.
Soon, some of the children who were noticing came forward and began to quarrel with Bikir.
“You arrogant bastard. As soon as the performance evaluation begins, I’ll stone you to death.”
“A guy who’s not so great gets smug.”
“You’re going to feel like hell here for the next month.”
Then Bikir finally responded.
“I don’t think I’m great. I’m not really great.”
Unexpected humility makes 9-year-old children look puzzled.
However, Bikir’s words soon made the guys’ faces frown.
“…It’s just that you guys are too low on level.”
Immediately after that, fresh curse words flew in and stuck.
“You, you, I’m the real best idol!”
“Come to the old tree later in the evening, you son of a bitch!”
“Get out of the way! I’ll beat that bastard! Even if I die, I won’t know!”
The children of the Baskervilles are easily drawn into even low-level provocations.
One-day puppies that hadn’t been weaned were baring their fangs that weren’t ripe yet.
As an old dog who has gone through all of the prenatal battles, he doesn’t even smile, so he’s just indifferent.
Right then.
Ding-
Pavlov van Baskerville, a guardian knight and instructor in charge of the ‘young dog’, rang the bell.
The practical test has begun.
