Chapter 10

We are at the edge of the forest in the east, where we are camping.

The sound of the campfire crackling is surprisingly loud.

Behind us is a large tree, and beyond the campfire, a stream flows with a considerable volume of water, which is somehow reassuring. Moreover, there’s Miss Mikelan, a cat person, who will alert us if any danger approaches. Above all, she’s a top-notch hunter, far better than any of us.

"By the way, what’s a Kurukuru? ... Is it a dangerous beast?"

My sister, who was leisurely drinking tea after the meal, asked Miss Mikelan.

"It’s not a beast, nya. It’s a bird shaped like this, nya."

Saying that, she drew a simple picture on the ground with a burnt log.

"It looks like this, nya. It has a comb on its head, is a bit plump, and is a poor flyer, nya. However, it has sharp spurs on its legs, which are very dangerous, nya."

It seems Miss Mikelan has a talent for drawing. I immediately recognized what it was.

No matter how you look at it or hear about it, it’s a chicken. Sure, it might be dangerous to small children, but I could easily catch it. However, considering how Miss Mikelan ran here like a hare, it might be faster than a chicken. If that’s the case, it could be a bit dangerous...

"Is it as fast as Miss Mikelan?"

It seems my sister was thinking the same thing.

"Yes, nya. There might be about a hundred of them in this forest, nya. But they live deep inside, so there’s no need to worry unless you’re gathering Arits and get injured, nya. I’ve already buried the injured Arits, so it’s safe now, nya. ... Akito, you’ll take the first watch, nya. You should go to sleep now, nya."

So, I ended up taking the first watch with Miss Mikelan. Looking at her closely, the color of her head and ears is different. Her head is brown, one ear is white, and the other is black. Could her ancestors be calico cats?

While staring at the campfire, Miss Mikelan took out a pipe from the side of her one-handed sword case. It’s about as long as the kiseru my sister’s grandfather used to smoke.

Using the embers of the campfire, she lit the pipe and puffed out a cloud of smoke. I had a simple question: Do cats like smoking? But then I remembered I had my own, so I took one out of the silver case and lit it the same way.

"Really? Akito smokes too, nya. It’s fine as long as we’re with other cat people, but the smell will disappear, nya."

"Why is it okay for Miss Mikelan?"

"Because I have a good sense, nya. Mia should be fine too, nya."

Is it the cat’s sixth sense? That means there’s no immediate danger, right...

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, nya. I’ll answer what I can, nya."

So, I asked her various questions about this world. And what I learned was...

This world is called Janus, and it has many small kingdoms. There are also cities and towns. Not only humans live here, but also beast people, elves, dwarves, and many mixed-race individuals. Miss Mikelan is a cat beast person, and Mia is half-human.

Magic exists, and hunters have several types of magic. Miss Mikelan has some, but she didn’t tell me what. You can obtain magic by paying a fee to the priests at the temple, but there’s no temple in that village. However, there are traveling priests who visit remote villages, and you can pay them to learn magic.

The life of a hunter is quite tough. Miss Mikelan has lost party members twice. She told me, "Don’t aim too high, nya."

You are treated as a full-fledged hunter when you have a black card. Until then, you are advised to do simple gathering tasks.

"But it’s different if you have a guide. You can take on higher-level requests up to two stars, nya."

However, gathering Arits is a two-star red request. When I asked if there were higher levels, she said it was based on the risk assessment of this request. The Kurukuru, she said, is not something a two-star red can handle.

In the end, her advice was to complete many simple requests and gain experience. But even with experience, I don’t think I can judge dangerous beasts.

We passed the time talking, and after four hours, I woke my sister and went to sleep.

I was woken up by my body being shaken. It seems Mia was shaking me. It was still dark, and it was far from dawn. By my rough estimate, it was around 4:00 AM. It’s not morning yet.

"What’s wrong?"

"There’s something, nya!"

Mia pointed, and my sister was using binoculars to observe something. I hurried over, and she handed me the binoculars and pointed forward.

I saw something moving. Through the binoculars, it was clearly a chicken, with a light brown color like a Nagoya Cochin. I couldn’t help but drool.

While thinking about how to catch it, I noticed something. The scale of the chicken didn’t match the surrounding trees. I quickly checked the distance. At 80 meters, the scale...

"What! That (mumble...)"

My sister covered my mouth with her hand. The chicken was as big as an ostrich.

That’s why Miss Mikelan ran away. With that size, even the spurs alone would be as long as a dagger. A clumsy attack could enrage it and send us to the other world with one strike.

Looking at my sister, she was loading her crossbow, clearly intent on killing it. She took a bolt from her quiver, set it on the crossbow’s rail, and nodded at me, indicating she was ready.

Finally, Miss Mikelan, who had been woken up by Mia, saw the chicken and shouted, "Kurukuru, nya!" before grabbing Mia and climbing a nearby large tree.

It doesn’t look that scary to me. The chicken seemed to notice us from our shouts and was staring at us warily.

My sister, beside me, was peering through the crossbow’s sight. The bolt, with a 1.5 cm diameter iron cone at the tip, could be fired at over 200 meters per second. I didn’t know what it was designed for, but my sister must have anticipated such a situation.

The chicken seemed to recognize us as enemies and was slowly approaching, glaring at us.

Pshu!

A short sound was heard. The bolt pierced the chicken’s chest, and it reared back for a moment. Blood spurted from the wound. But that was all. It started moving faster, its neck feathers standing on end, clearly in full attack mode.

"Quick, climb the tree, nya."

Miss Mikelan’s voice came from above, but it was too late. Even if we climbed, a chicken of that size could probably jump up to 10 meters.

I dodged the charging chicken at the last moment, and my sister thrust her spear, while I swung my kukri. The result was shocking; it bounced off as if we had hit a soft rubber.

The chicken made a U-turn and charged at us again.

"Sister, hide!"

My sister immediately hid behind a tree, drew her M36, and aimed. I threw my knife and drew my M29, holding it with both hands.

Bang!

The 44 Magnum’s power was incredible. It blew the chicken’s head off. Still, the chicken ran past me and collided with a tree behind, falling over. Its legs continued to twitch for a while before gradually slowing and stopping.

We managed to defeat the chicken somehow. Miss Mikelan and Mia slowly climbed down from the tree.

"You killed it, nya. ... That’s an incredible weapon, nya."

"Um... Can you keep quiet about the weapons we used?"

"Sure, nya. But I’ll report that we killed it, nya."

Satisfied with Miss Mikelan’s answer, I put my M29 back in the holster. We went to check the chicken, and it was really big. Thinking about how many skewers we could make from it made my head spin.

The reason our attacks didn’t work was immediately clear. The feathers were layered, providing bulletproof vest-level protection. However, it was slightly weak against piercing attacks, as the bolt my sister fired was deeply embedded in its chest, though it didn’t affect its movement.

It’s an incredible chicken.

"Let’s bleed it, nya. Tie its legs and hang it from a tree, nya."

Following Miss Mikelan’s instructions, we hung it from a tree. It was quite heavy... heavier than Mia!

"Let’s finish up, nya. Let’s eat and gather Arits, nya."

The surroundings had become quite bright. The birds started making strange noises.

"Okay, I’ll start preparing, nya!"

I returned to the campfire and started boiling water in a pot.