Spectacular Damage Rug Mat
The target is one Silver Wolf.
Location: a small hill near Morina Village.
If that was all there was to it, this would be just an ordinary Silver-rank mission, but when you consider that there’s also the matter of mocking some deluded noble mixed in, the real reward is effectively ten times what’s written.
Moreover, I can suppress my own promotion just by completing this mission carelessly—how delightful. The vice-captain really found me a great job.
Maybe I should ask if there are any more shit jobs like this one. Within the range where I can protect myself, of course.
“Ah, the Silver Wolf, yeah. We keep hearing its howling, so we’re constantly on edge. It hasn’t attacked any livestock yet, but you never know what a magical beast is thinking. It wouldn’t be strange if it came this way any time… We’ve been having anxious days.”
Having arrived at Morina Village by carriage, I questioned the village headman.
With the guild certificate, the conversation went smoothly. He seemed to have been getting restless about the Silver Wolf’s presence too, and appeared to welcome my arrival.
“That must be tough. Leave it to me—I’ll go deal with it quickly and efficiently.”
“Much appreciated. …Are you alone?”
“What, no problem there. This isn’t my first time exterminating a Silver Wolf.”
“An experienced one… then I’ll trust you.”
“When I’m done, could you serve as a witness? I’ll bring back the whole pelt, so I’d like you to sign using that as proof.”
“If you’ll kill that damned wolf, I’ll write as much as you want. I’m counting on you.”
“Right, right, I’ll be back.”
Morina Village thrives on dairy farming. The existence of a Silver Wolf that might target livestock must have been a huge thorn in their side. For me too, it would be troublesome if dairy products became scarce. I definitely want to resolve this with zero damage.
Ah, that’s right. Once the mission’s wrapped up, maybe I’ll buy some smoked cheese on the way back. I’ll stock up a bit extra as souvenirs.
Already planning my return journey, I walked toward the small hill.
The gentle small hill near Morina Village is thick with pampas grass.
It’s more like a somewhat steep hill than a mountain. There are many trees, but just as many tall pampas grass swaying in the gentle breeze.
This pampas grass grows year-round and reaches nearly four meters in height. When it has its plumes, it certainly looks like pampas grass, but damn if it isn’t ridiculously huge, so it lacks a bit of elegance.
I heard before that this pampas grass makes good feed for herbivorous livestock.
I see—with this much growing all over the place, they wouldn’t have trouble with animal husbandry.
“This shall be my campsite.”
I set down my luggage on flat ground near a small stream and immediately began preparations for camping.
This is where I’ll face it. Here I’ll kill the Silver Wolf and handle the dismantling while I’m at it. I’ll have to skin it anyway, and that work will require at least one night of settling in.
The opponent isn’t the type of magical beast you need to actively hunt down. At most, I’ll provoke it thoroughly in its territory and have it come to greet me quickly.
I arranged large round stones from the riverbank into a stove and lit a fire. Not a big one—just enough to produce some flames. I threw several pieces of dried meat I’d brought into it and burned them.
“Here you go, the smell of grilled meat. Would raw meat have been better? Well, it has a good nose, so it should notice.”
While doing this, I also set up a one-person tent a short distance away and secured it by tying ropes to branches. I’d like to make this rope from lighter, sturdier materials… No, wait, using high-grade materials would make it easier for someone to steal while I’m away, wouldn’t it? I don’t really feel inconvenienced by the weight, so maybe it’s fine as is…
Well, that doesn’t matter. More importantly, today’s mission.
“Silver Wolf pelt, undamaged! What an unreasonable demand… truly feels like a request from an arrogant noble.”
I’ll state this clearly: I have absolutely no intention of delivering the Silver Wolf’s pelt in mint condition this time.
I might be able to do it if I tried, but I absolutely won’t.
I absolutely won’t do any “Oops, did I mess up?” nonsense. Even if I did do it, I’d deliberately damage it horribly afterward before delivery, so be prepared for that.
I plan to aim for that barely-acceptable line where it might just qualify as a pelt but no other shop would ever buy it, finishing it up completely tattered.
For that purpose, I’ll check my equipment for this mission.
First, the bastard sword. This is the standard choice. With this baby, I can handle just about anything.
I’ll leave the rough dismantling work of the large Silver Wolf to this guy too. The detailed work will go to the sword breaker though.
“And then there’s this.”
What I brought specially this time is the small shield I also used when I explored the winter forest together with the noble Bridgit before.
I don’t usually like shields that much, but since I’m facing a Silver Wolf that stupidly plays around this time, I brought it. It really hurts when you beat them with this thing.
“I also brought the bow-sword, but… will the arrows hit… But since I want to mess it up badly by claiming arrow wounds… well, maybe I’ll deliberately shoot it after the subjugation is over…”
While organizing my equipment, I heard a sound outside the tent.
The clatter of river stones collapsing. …Sounds like something big came.
“Hey now, don’t tell me there’s actually a Silver Wolf here, haha.”
“Hah hah hah.”
“There was one.”
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I thought it surely wouldn’t come while I was still setting up, but here it is.
Silver fur close to gray. A single pale black line running down its back.
Above all, a massive body as large as a small bear.
Such a fearsome-looking wolf… is sticking its head into the stone stove I set up, occasionally yelping while desperately trying to eat the meat.
“…Hey! What are you doing burning your face before I get to mess you up! Don’t steal my fun!”
“Hah hah hah?”
Good thing I didn’t bring a wood stove. If I had, this guy would have destroyed it immediately.
A pitiful wolf that lost the social nature to form packs as wolves due to being too stupid. Naturally, since it rampages constantly, it can’t be domesticated, and there’s no method for farming undamaged pelts either.
On the other hand, its body is tough, making it an extremely troublesome magical beast.
The recommended subjugation party size for taking it on head-to-head honestly is five or more close-combat Silver ranks, but…
“This time I’ll face you alone. Come on, you mutt. Let me re-verify whether discipline works on you.”
“Grrrrrr.”
I held my bastard sword ready in my right hand while vigorously biting into the dried meat I held in my left.
“GAAUU!”
The Silver Wolf roared as if to say “That’s mine!” and lunged at me head-on. It’s not yours.
“ORAA! Brute force parry!”
“KYAIN!”
Brute force parry. This is a parry where you match the opponent’s attack and forcefully strike back with the shield using even greater power to send them flying. Rather than deflecting, you push back. If you simply overpower them, you can break their stance, so it’s convenient.
“I need to keep the pelt in one piece, so I won’t bisect you… so I’ll thrust!”
“GAAA!”
I leaped in to follow up on the Silver Wolf that had tumbled into the river and thrust at its shoulder. Shallow.
“GAAAA!”
“Whoa!? That was dangerous!”
I avoided the front paw attack and swung up my bastard sword to slash.
Silver fur torn by the blade fluttered down and floated on the river. Good damage. The commercial value of your pelt keeps dropping!
“I don’t have a hobby of tormenting opponents, but there’s always the chance someone might be watching! Well, forgive me!”
“GAAAAA!”
I avoided the Silver Wolf’s attacks by circling around while adding cuts to its legs.
First thing to do is rob the opponent of its turning performance. Enhance my own nimbleness while forcing the opponent to bleed with every direction change.
I really want to cut into its back and dramatically slash the fur in conspicuous places, but there aren’t many openings there yet. For a while I’ll have to go with orthodox methods or even I would have a hard time. Getting bitten or pinned down would be troublesome. I don’t want to get my equipment dirty with this thing’s saliva.
“If you don’t want to die, run away! Then I’ll finish you off in one breath!”
“GAUU! GWAAAAA!”
“No, you… really won’t run, will you!”
Dodge and slash. Dodge and thrust. Even though I’ve wounded it many times and sent it flying into the stream to force bleeding, like a system-controlled monster it keeps attacking with naked hostility toward me.
I’ve broken several of its claws and shattered its fangs with shield bashes, but… seriously, what is this thing? It really maintains full killing intent until death.
Honestly, opponents that fight this straightforwardly monster-like are only skeletons and mysterious-type magical beasts that come to mind. That’s not a combat style that you, in the beast category, should be adopting.
“Even so, if you lose blood, your movements will slow.”
“Grrrrrrr…!”
Though the killing intent remains unchanged, its movements lack their former precision. It’s now in a state where all that’s left is to deliver the finishing blow.
…Keeping it alive while hurting it further would be cruel. Even though it’s a magical beast, it’s about time to settle this.
“I want to finish skinning while it’s still light. Die for my ego.”
“!”
I kicked off the ground at once and got above the Silver Wolf.
Naturally, the Silver Wolf tried to raise its upper body to deal with this. In hopes of countering with claws or fangs.
But that would only work if you were in much better condition.
“Namu Amida Butsu.”
“Gih…!”
I struck down the sluggishly raised head with my sword from mid-air, deeply wounding its contents.
An unpleasant sensation.
“Whew.”
I landed on the Silver Wolf’s back like that… and there, it had already lost that certain “firmness” of a living being.
The massive body sank with a heavy sound. The body heat I felt from the silver pelt had risen from the intense battle and was hot enough to cause burns. …This heat too would gradually be lost.
“…Subjugation complete. Next time, be reborn as something a bit… no, that’s ego too.”
The sky was growing dimly dark. …After dismantling and skinning, it’ll be pitch black. The encounter was incredibly smooth, but I’ll end up staying here regardless.
Well, fine. …From here on, I’ll think of it not as a Silver Wolf, but as a single pelt and go about my work.
Though I don’t feel good about desecrating the corpse of something I killed, it’s work, so it can’t be helped. I’m gonna make a damage rug mat!
“ORA! Noble! Resale prohibited! But you have to buy it! Buy it and then regret it!”
That day, I artistically damaged the pelt of the fallen Silver Wolf, sometimes stabbing, sometimes slashing, sometimes using it as a target for my bow, and enjoyed myself.
The next day, after properly dismantling it and scraping off the fat, the Silver Wolf’s pelt… the outside showed the tragic traces of a death struggle, and the inside was also a disappointing finish with internal bleeding from shield bashes showing through as discoloration.
The size was mediocre, it had the black line, it was full of holes and cuts, blood was seeping through… I definitely wouldn’t buy a pelt like this if I were the customer. But this is what you normally get from actual fighting. Especially for that stingy reward amount, it’s reasonable—even luxurious.
“Alright, let’s hurry back and get the reward. Ah, I mustn’t forget to buy smoked cheese.”
As a result, I was able to fight with almost no waiting, so you could say it was the best possible outcome.
I was also able to confirm various sword movements, so it was perfect as a practice opponent.
However, when I showed the village headman of Morina Village the tattered pelt bearing traces of fierce battle, he was so concerned about my physical condition due to how spectacular the fight seemed that I felt sorry.
My apologies. I’m strong, so I’m fine.
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