Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Meat for Days

When it came to butchering the buffalo, it was a job far too tough for kids of our age to handle. But fortunately enough, I had a knife with an edge that could be sharpened through high-speed oscillation.

Normally it would be going out of control in my hand, but it would be manageable if I fixed it in place with threads. The four of us hung it down, drained its blood, cut its head with the knife and proceeded to harvest the meat.

A single buffalo could yield around 700 kg of meat. This one was on the smaller side, though, so we could probably get 600 kg at most. Taking that much with us would’ve been almost impossible for us, so we decided to take about 30 kg per person and put the rest in a leather bag and bury it in the ground.

“Letina, if you will.”

“As always, you can’t seem to use anything but interference magic eh, Nicole…”

“Leave me be.”

Letina made a hole through the ground with Tunnel magic. Following that, she used her fire magic to roast the meat’s surface before putting it in the bag and burying it inside.

By roasting it like that, we could slow down the decomposition by a lot. The healing system did have magic that could delay it too, but none of us could use it. Rather, that magic required quite a high level of skill, so we couldn’t use it even if we tried.

“So each of us gets 30 kg of meat, huh. Looks like we’ll be having meat for days!”

“Yay. Meat is justice.”

“Though it’ll be gone instantly back at my place.”

“You managed to obtain a nice gift for the orphanage kids.”

Cloud lived in the town’s orphanage. But in five years, he had to leave it and start an independent life. For that, he was accompanying us to get the basics of adventuring down, but honestly, his current ability wasn’t so good that he could be safely sent off.

He most probably had to stay in their care for as long as he could, but his Half-Demon race made his standing a very delicate matter. Bringing his hunt spoils back home also served to raise his standing there.

“The meat would not spoil for some time since we roasted it, not to mention we also buried it. Unless some stray dogs dig it up or something, it should last for a few days.” “Yeah. Let’s bring it back bit by bit in the next few days. I suppose three days should be enough to do the job.”

Our principle to divide our rewards into equal parts did not change even after Cloud joined us. This time yielded us 600 kgs of meat so each of us got 150 kg’s worth. If we carried 30 kg each per day, it would take us 5 days to finish it.

“But to be honest, I don’t need 150 kg of it…”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Well, for me it adds to the meals of our employees, so it’s quite welcome, you know?”

“And I don’t even have to mention it. My family consists of 20 people.”

My family only consisted of three people – me, Finia and Cortina, and a Carbuncle. When it came to our meals, though Lyell and Maria did join us, it was still six of us. I can’t imagine us consuming all of it. But well, I suppose we could manage it somehow if we shared it with Gadius and Maxwell too.

Michelle’s family only had three people as well, so she was in the same boat. But her family sold meat as hunters, so I suppose they would just sell the rest.

Letina and Cloud’s families were full of people so they would be able to consume all of it, but it should still last them a few days.

“Did we end up hunting something a bit too big, I wonder?”

“More than that, I’m surprised that we became able to hunt something so big so easily.”

Letina replied to me in amazement. In reality, we didn’t do anything that special. If anything, Michelle’s shooting skill was the only thing that stood out. Still, kids our age could easily hunt something like a buffalo if they ambushed it with proper preparations.

That fact was made clear with today’s hunt, so it proved to be a good lesson for them.

“Setting traps, attacking its legs to stop it in place, attacking it with numbers, taking it out by surprise. The most important thing is to take various measures to prevent it from using its full power.”

“Right. This isn’t a battle between knights, but a fight to the death… It doesn’t matter whether your approach is honest or dirty.”

“You can only say those words after you lived through it. That’s the overwhelming difference with the battle of knights.”

I stood up while carrying the meat on my back. Thirty kilograms of meat was digging into my shoulders. Even if I was healthy now, it was still a weight that could not be dismissed so easily.

Michelle and Letina followed after my action and stood up with their own shares of meat on their backs. But they had more strength than me so it didn’t hinder their walk. And there was no need to even mention Cloud.

“Let’s return then. We’ve done plenty today.”

“More like, our hands are already as full as it can get!”

Letina had more strength to spare compared to me, but her walking was still a bit on the offside. Rather, I suppose she should be praised for doing that much, given that she aimed to be a magician.

As I smiled while watching her back, something attacked me from behind.

“Squee!”

“Ukya!?”

What jumped on my back from behind the trees was the Carbuncle that was hiding itself until now. A hamster-like Mythical Beast the size of a human’s head leaped at me from behind. I was at my limit just by carrying the meat alone, so that extra weight was a fatal wound for me.

“Gehh…Kabby, get off, hurry.”

“Squeak?”

Kabby was the nickname I gave to the Carbuncle. Its full name was “Katzbalger”. So Kabby, for short.

It usually rode on my shoulders with no problems, so it looked quizzically at me now that I couldn’t support its weight. But I was currently being burdened with a weight comparable to a human, so I was having a really tough time.

Michelle and the rest pointed at me with laughs as I collapsed and flailed around on the ground.