SC1 2.5 – Warrior and Rune Master

After Yunno and Yui finished eating their steamed bun, I took them to check the snares. Initially, they were worried someone would steal the items we leaved in the hut, but I managed to convince them that no one could enter the hut as Warrior Deitoro had carved Anti-Trespassing rune in the fence. Then, we climbed to the peak of South Ridge.

If you looked at it from above, South Ridge was stretching for 7 km from south to north like a dragon spine. The south tip ended up in a cliff before Nagoya Sea, while the north tip ended up in the middle of trail to climb Mount Haruna, and below it was oak forest where we gathered firewood every morning.

As for the hut, it was right in the middle of South Ridge. After reaching the peak, we walked the ridgeline to north. The path was rough and uneven, but Yunno and Yui happily followed me. Yui was right behind me, while Yunno in the rear.

After around three hundreds meter, we then descended to Toka Valley. It was rich hunting ground located next to the west foot of South Ridge. Usually, only a group of 7-9 seasoned hunters would enter Toka Valley, as this valley was inside the hunting radius of an abyss tiger. Entered this valley with two little girls was no different than suicide, but I’m not ordinary hunter.

Then, as soon as we reach the tree line on the edge of Toka Valley, the abyss tiger that coincidently was lazing around in the nearby grass field, immediately stalking us silently. However, it then slowly retreated after sensing that I was not a prey, but stronger predator beyond its comprehension.

At the same time, Yunno who seemed had perceived the abyss tiger’s presence turned his gaze to me and said, “Big Bro Sanno, Yunno heard from the villagers that there is a giant tiger in this valley.

“It’s an abyss tiger to be precise. It’s three times bigger and stronger than ordinary mountain tiger,” I calmly explained. “And until a moment ago, it was stalking us.”

“It was stalking us?” Yunno warily asked.

“His last position is the long grass thirty meter to our left.”

In an instant, Yunno gripped the small machete in her waist while stepping forward to shield Yui. It was easy to tell that she was tense and scared. Even so, she didn’t back down and fixed her gaze to the grass field on our left.

‘What a brave girl,’ I muttered before saying, “It’s already gone.”

Without shifting her gaze from the long grass Yunno asked, “Big Bro Sanno, is it really gone?”

“Yeah, I know a trick to chase it away. When you are strong enough I will teach you how to do it, but don’t tell anyone about it.”

“Okay.”

Yunno obediently replied while Yui firmly nodded as usual.

“Until then, don’t enter this valley without me, at all cost.”

“We won’t,” Yunno firmly replied

After that, I took Yunno and Yui to exit the tree lines, showed them the abyss tiger’s trail, and asked them to carve it in their mind. Then, I taught them how to hunt grass worm in grass field.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Yunno, Yui, looks at this long grass.”

I said as I pointed at a stalk of long grass as high as my chest. It was shorter than other elephant grass because its tip rolled downward.

“Do you know what is inside the rolled tips?”

“…”

After Yunno and Yui shook their head, I opened the rolled tips and showed them the creamy colored fat grass worm inside it. “This is grass worm, pheasant most favorite food.”

“Can we use it as bait for pheasant?” The quiet Yui curiously asked.

“We can, but we will collect it to feed our hens.”

“We will collect it to feed our hens?” Yunno asked.

“Yeah,” I firmly replied. “The frog, bug, and worm in hour rice field have decreased a lot. We have to find other source of food for the hens.”

“We will collect the grass worm as many as possible.”

“Yeah.”

Yunno and Yui spiritedly said in turn, and I immediately added, “But you don’t need to open the rolled tip. Just let the worm lay peacefully inside it until just before you feed them to the hens. That way, we can collect it as many as we can and keep them for a few days.”

““Mhm,”” Yunno and Yui replied at the same time.

Wasting no time, Yunno and Yui hunted the grass worm, but I asked them to sweep the long grass only on the edge of grass field, or about a few meters from the three lines. They carefully picked the rolled grass and put it into a home-made net-bag in their waist. As for me, I set some snares in the edge of the woods. However, I made a few tricks to ensure the snares would catch nothing. Therefore, tomorrow I didn’t need to check it.

At the same time, I used the combo Essence Pulse and Shadow Hand to harvest, hare, pheasant, wild chicken, or egg in the area. I believed that a hunt had to be carried out in a sustainable manner, so I didn’t took male hare because its number was too low, or pheasant and wild chicken that were in egg laying period or still tending their chicks.

However, even with that limitation, in less than two hours I had bagged more than four hundreds small wild games, along with hundreds of eggs. Toka Valley was truly rich of harvest. I had my gratitude to the abyss tiger, because of its presence, only a handful hunter had the gut to explore Toka Valley.

After that, I took a time to collect around 10 kg grass worm and continued our journey to the north. The trail was wide and flat, so Yunno and Yui could walk right next to me. They walked with big happy smile in their face, while their net-bag was full of elephant grass worm.

One hour later, we arrived in our usual hunting ground and immediately checked the snares we set yesterday. Today, we also got a good harvest, and as usual it made Yunno and Yui very happy even though they knew they wouldn’t enjoy it a bit.

---

Dinner went as usual, plain and gloomy. Then, Kazuyori asked me, “Sanno, how is the hunting prospect in the deeper area?”

“I found lot of pheasant’s feather. It seems we will have additional harvest."

“Very good,” Kazuyori flatly said, but her eyes brimming with joy when I mentioned the possibility of additional harvest.

“Where did you put the additional snares? Tanno asked me.

“The bamboo grooves on the west face of South Ridge, the one that slightly below the ridgeline.”

I deliberately didn’t explain that I took Yunno and Yui to a dangerous area such as Toka Valley. No one would care, so I didn’t tell them. They also said nothing even though they knew the climb to reach South Ridge’s peak was too tough for little girl like Yunno and Yui.

After a moment of silence Danno said, “Butcher Jin said that a warrior named Deitoro sold a good harvest to him today. Sanno, if you meet with him in the hunting ground, don’t offend him. It seems he’s a dangerous warrior.”

“Okay,” I calmly replied while Yunno and Yui silently chewed their dinner.

For ordinary people, warrior or rune master were like knight or samurai in old time earth. It was definitely not a good thing for ordinary people to offend them.

Then, I turned my gaze to Kazuyori. “Mother, we have to depart slightly earlier than this morning. Can we put our breakfast in food container and eat it later?”

Kazuyori flatly replied. “You can use the oldest food container in the kitchen.”

“Okay,” I calmly nodded and continued enjoying the plain dinner.

I thought it would be the end of the conversation, but my younger sister suddenly asked me, “Fifth Brother, you didn’t take Yunno and Yui into dangerous area, did you?”

“No, I didn’t.” A lied smoothly slipped out of my teeth before I put a piece of steamed cabbage into my mouth.

At the same time, Yuko deeply looked at me. I got a hunch he knew I lied, but I calmly continued with my act.

---

Night went as usual. I recited bedtime stories for Yunno and Yui. After that they peacefully fell asleep. As I looked at their childish face, I opened their essence circuit. This way, they would also absorb essence in their sleeping.

If everything went smoothly, in a few months Yunno and Yui would be able to activate their essence circuit on their own, and then fully integrated Dragon Breath to their body. Meaning, with every breath they would absorb essence and channeled it into their essence sea.

And as Yunno and Yui were Rain Dragon Warrior, they could learn both martial art and rune art. I would ensure they mastered them simultaneously.

Actually, I could accelerate the activation of Dragon Breath by putting Yunno and Yui into a tragic event or event that threatened their life. However, I didn’t plan to take that path. I would groom Yunno and Yui in normal path until they had sufficient martial skill, rune art, and lot of happy days to be remembered.

Starting tomorrow I would also teach them common education. They had to possess education level equivalent to high school kid on earth, as it would enable them to learn lot of cooking technique from earth, and how to use it to polish their rune art.

After shorting out my plan for Yunno and Yui, I then put my body and mind into a peaceful night rest.

*****