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The area behind the town of Rigel was largely forested, though the density of trees were less than the hills and mountains up ahead. The group followed a dirt road which went all the way from the back of the town to the hills. On his way, Add also delved more into his new memories. Although there were no clocks in this world, by his experience the past one day, he estimated that this world also had a 24 hour day, similar to Earth and followed a 30 day month system with 12 months in a year. It was quite the coincidence.
Of the four guards that were accompanying him, three were middle aged and one was a bit younger. They were wearing simple chainmail and had long swords strapped to their hips. But the quality of the armour made Add doubt its utility as they were mostly tattered and appeared to have been repaired and patched up many times. The guards, were considered decent in terms of strength by his standards. They, like majority of the people here, looked like Europeans back on earth. As they neared their destination, He could see that the slopes of the hills were densely covered in forests.
The group dismounted from their horses and one of the guards stayed behind to watch over the horses while the other three escorted Add. It took the group around half an hour to reach the hills, the horses were not as fast as Add expected them to be, but then again, he could not really compare these with those back on Earth. Back home those horses had better, more nutritious food, and science had told the trainers how to get the most out of them, which was not the case here. Anyway not having to walk 20 kilometres was already a blessing enough.
The climate of this region was similar to the temperate regions of Earth, this region in particular received a lot of rainfall due to the mountains. As a result temperate rainforest covered the slopes. Right now it was the peak of summer, and still I was quite bearable. Part of it was because the region was locate at the foothills of the great dividing mountain range, as one moved south-westward, the temperature increased considerably, giving way to the gigantic rainforests of Waldesten further west.
The guards soon found a forest track that branched of the dirt road which led deeper into the hills, all the while, Add was looking around and talking in as much details as he could, familiarising himself with the area and terrain. All along the forest path, he saw many insects, birds, small animals. Some were similar to the creatures he had seen on earth, while others were completely new to him. The plant life was even more varied, with tall hulking plants with gigantic leaves to thorny shrubs with strange flowers. The cacophony of the forest, caused by the chirping of millions of insects, distant roars of animals and coupled with the soft sounds of the leaves swaying in the gentle breeze, made a serene atmosphere in the forest. Add was enjoying the walk through the woods, but he was still cautious, lest something sneaks up behind him.
"Young Master, we should not go any deeper than this.."
After an hour of fumbling in the outskirts of the forest one of the guards spoke up. Add frowned. All this while, he had not seen a single proper "monster", the best he had seen was a large wild boar the size of a cow, covered in thick brownish mane which earned it the name [Maned Boar].And the guards had hurriedly pulled him away from it, as they were known for their violent nature of attacking anyone they saw in their territory. The monsters in this world were given a 'Rank' based on their strength and threat levels. These started from F to A and beyond them were the S ranked monsters with F-rank being the lowest, while the S rank was the highest. Magical beasts had a different ranking system, starting from the lowest Knight class, General class, King class, Emperor class, Calamity class, Mythical class, and the highest Deity class.
The [Maned Boar] was an E ranked monster, among the lowest, it was not very smart, yet its physical strength was nothing to scoff at. A group of 5-6 guards would be needed to bring it down, as a result the three guards dare not confront it. Luckily it was busy foraging in the shrubbery and did no notice them. After retreating from the boar the guards began to persuade him to return, as going further in would be very dangerous. Add reluctantly agreed. Although he wanted to test whether the boar could withstand the AK's bullets, but he decided not to. It was not wise to let these guards of his see guns not now at least. The group returned to the horses and the guards began to mount, while Add stood thinking something, and then he stopped them.
"Listen. I have decided to explore the forests a little bit more, so I will be going back inside. Alone that is."
The guards were instantly alarmed at this.
"Young Master you can't! We have been instructed to ensure your safety by madam Martha, we cannot let you go alone!"
The youngest guard began protesting while the others also nodded in agreement. If Martha knew that they had neglected their duty then god knows what she would do o them. Add glared at them and this made the young man who was babbling instantly shut up. After all everyone in Rigel knew of the Young Master's temper. He was a very impulsive person and many people had faced trouble when they had opposed him. If he really made the young master angry, then he may even lose his job. However Add didn't lose his temper as he was thinking.
"You….what is your name ? "
"Eh…Ah..young Master…I am called Edward"
The young man named Edward was a decent looking chap, in his mid twenties. He had light brown hair, and above average features, in a remote area such as this, he could be considered pretty handsome. He had a decently fit body and was a head taller than Add who estimated his own current height to be 5'7".
"Well then listen Edward. First things first, did you forget who I am ? Or do you want to challenge my authority huh?"
Add's tone was threatening towards the end. Edward almost froze. 'Damn it! I have gone and done it now! Why did I make the young master angry….'. The other guards were silent but were internally pitying Edward. They did not dare mess with Martha, however this did not meant that they would mess with the Young master as well. They remembered a few years ago when a guard had somehow annoyed him and the young master had punished him by making him run naked around the mansion on a cold winter night.
"No…No No! I wouldn't dare young master! I wouldn't dare!" Edward was sweating profusely, afraid what the young master would punish him with. But contrary to his fears Add just glared at him and then turned away.
"That's good then. I will be back after a short stroll, you all just wait here for me; don't dare follow me or you will face the consequences. And don't worry I am not so stupid as to get myself killed that easily. And don't follow me, if I find anyone following me, then it wont good for you all."
He glared at the four guards and began walking towards the forests, while the guards just stood, unsure of what to do. When suddenly Edward again stopped him.
"Young Master please wait! please take this sword with you just in case!"
Edward quickly gave the short sword he carried as a spare to Add. It was light and even the young master should be able to use it in self defence, after all when Lord Henry was still alive he had often trained the young master in some forms self defence. Also there were few dangerous monsters on the out skirts of these hills as many people often came here to gather flowers, fruits etc. Add accepted the sword and before leaving he once again turned to look at them. His eyes were looking very scary now.
"Also, I don't think I have to remind you this, but don't you dare speak any of this to Martha or else…."
Leaving the last words in trail, Add resumed his walk. The stupefied guards at once shouted back.
""""We would not dare to young master !!!!""""
After entering the forest Add sighed.
"Really now, acting is a tough job for me…good thing those people did not keep arguing or it would be a pain… "
The past whole time he had been pretending to threaten the guards. From his memory he knew how the original Adolf usually acted haughty and unreasonable and he managed to copy that somewhat. Thankfully that seemed too work. He soon returned to the track they had previously followed. Checking that there was no one following around him, he took out the AK-47 from the Inventory and loaded it. He felt much more secure now. Walking on the established trails, which the local people often used to travel into the hills to get fire wood and wild fruits, he looked around for any monsters. After a short turn in the path, he found himself standing a few metres from familiar yet strange creature.
It looked like a rabbit the size of a large cat, and was lazily munching on fresh grass among the shrubbery. It had grey fur and red eyes. But what made it distinct, was a sharp short horn on its head, and two sharp incisor teeth jutting out from its upper jaw, which were far too long to serve as anything other than a weapon. The guards had previously mentioned to him about these creatures. They were called [Horned Rabbits], clearly because of their horns. They were a favourite prey of hunters as their meat was said to be very tasty. However, catching them was not easy at all. They had very sharp hearing ran extremely fast and hence were very difficult to catch. They were not animals in the true sense but were called beasts. Their most annoying feature, though, was that if they felt that their enemy was weaker than them, then they would often attack their enemy with their horns.
As soon as it saw Add, the rabbit jumped away from its original position and landed few metres away. It did not run away however, instead it was staring at him from a distance. Its red eyes appeared menacing. Normally it should have run away, but instead of running away it pounced at Add with its pointed horn aimed at him. He immediately readied his rifle and fired a burst of bullets, which immediately hit their target and pierced the rabbit's body, and drilling multiples holes in it, instantly killing it. These rabbits were known for their speed but, against a bullet which travelled faster than sound, they were as good as immobile. The dead rabbit fell on the ground, with a lot of bullet holes in its body.
[Ding! You have killed a horned rabbit. Received 25 CP]
He looked at the screen which had just popped up before him and went near the rabbit to confirm that it was dead. Only then did he relax a bit. Just in case he reloaded his rifle and scanned his surroundings to look for any other signs of danger, but didn't find any whatsoever. To his surprise however, he saw that the discarded shells of the bullets slowly turned into motes of light and vanished. Another strange quirk of the system it seemed.
"Well that went soomthly.... But this world sure is a tough place....even the rabbits here are so dangerous....."
Though the AK was more than enough to put down this rabbit, same could not be said for other monsters. He quickly left the place as the smell of blood could attract other beasts. Afterwards, he found some more [Horned Rabbits] and they were all put to rest by the AK. Before long, he had spent hours in the forest, and by the intensity of the sun, it was well over noon. Add decided to stop for now and return. Spending too long in the forest might alarm the guards, and they might come to look for him. Back, at the outskirts, the four guards were very tensed. The young master had been gone for a few hours, now and still had not returned. They had even heard some weird sound coming from the forest, making them even more worried. Lord forbid if the young master even got a scratch, Martha would have them hell to see. Just as they were preparing to go in search of Add, they saw the young master finally emerge from amidst the trees. They were relieved as if a huge boulder had been lifted from their hearts and they had been spared from being fed to the devil.
"Here Edward , have your sword back, honestly this blade is quite nice, I chopped up many annoying vines and branches with it…."
Add said as he offered the blade to the knight. Edward had a strained look on his face as he accepted his sword back. This sword was his pride, he had maintained it with all his devotion for over three years now, and the young master simply dismissed it as a decent plant cutting blade. He felt like complaining but dare not, actually speak, lest he invoke his wrath. After Add had rested a bit, the group mounted the horses and set off back towards the town. The sun was quickly going down the horizon, and it was time for the rulers of the night to rule the forest, and Add didn't have the slightest desire to have a chance meeting with them. When they arrived back at the mansion, Martha grabbed him and thoroughly questioned him, checking if he had gotten hurt, or had any troubles. Then she began disciplining him, about how he should be less wanton now and that he had lots of responsibilities as a lord, so he should not be as carefree as before. The later could only helplessly sit and be preached at until she was satisfied. The guards, as promised kept their mouths shut and didn't say a word of his little solo adventure. Since everything was fine, they had no need to dig their own graves by annoying the Young Master.
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After Dinner, Add looked at his gains from the day. He had killed a total of 21 [Horned Rabbits] Those rabbits lived alone and hence not too many could be found in one area. They gave him 525 CP. It was not a lot, but he was not upset. For now he had 6825 CP which was not enough to buy anything decent from the system shop, so he put that aside for the time being. At his orders, Walter had sent him several reports on matter regarding the management of the territory, finances, and other important matters. Going through them, he once again realized just how dire the situation was.
"The nobles, never care for the masses, who are mostly serfs and labourers. They only care for their taxes and extravagant lifestyle, while the poor have no right to protest. The traders exploit the poor people who sell the local produce and make large profits. It's just like back on earth. Humans never really change, do they ? no matter which world they are from."
It was a scenario that had similarly played out on Earth in the age of kings and emperors. Only there, the advent of proper education, science and technology had gradually allowed the masses to rise and overthrow the feudal system, but here the masses were illiterate and poor, suppressed by the strong royalty. And with armies filled with mana users, much stronger than the average man, the kings and nobles had no problems keeping their people in control. However, that was beyond his concern right now. Add's priority now was his territory, and he decided to start his plans with Rigel. He was a person who knew his own limits. The ideas he had was very promising, but to make it into a reality would be harder than anything he had faced till now. Firstly, taking the example of the ideals of communism and socialism, if he began the outright preaching of power to the masses and overthrowing of the monarchy and nobility, he would be soon charged of treason and sent to the gallows.
Lenin had the support of millions of people, and the time he lived in was much advanced in technology and society as a whole, as compared to the present times of Iseria. Another important fact was that the October revolutions had only been successful because of the armed struggle, the civil war, had been won by the Bolsheviks. The sentiment and support of people were no doubt undeniable, but the military strength of the Bolshevik party was the key to winning the civil war. But Rome was not built in a day, and neither was the Soviet Union. Add knew that to become a true power in this world, he would have to develop both the economy and the military powers of his territory. But that was much easier said than done, and it had to be done one step at a time.
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The next day. Add once again left for the hills. He was out to hunt, as he needed all the CP in the world. Leaving the guards behind he ventured into a different part of the forest. The midday sun shone upon a dense growth of foliage, which consisted of mostly tall trees spreading their branches all around forming a thick canopy, while on the ground, dense shrubbery was covering the forest floor, trying to get what little light passed through the dense canopies. Most of the sunlight was stopped by the tall trees, making the forest somewhat dark. The forest floor was littered with dead and rotting leaves, branches and fallen trees. These coupled with the light drizzle of the morning dew, formed the unique smell of a forest.
Amidst the thick undergrowth, on a small tree, a pair of heterochromatic eyes was looking over the surroundings with great concentration. The eyes belonged to a figure that was clutching a gun and sitting absolutely still. The spot it was at had a perfect blend of cover and shadow, making him almost undiscoverable to others. The figure vigilantly looked on, as many small animals scurried about in the undergrowth while occasionally a few large ones would also pass. He saw a group of [Horned Rabbits] and two [Maned Boars] pass through as well, but did not attack them, he was looking for more numerous prey which frequented these forests. The cacophony of the millions of insects gave life, to this otherwise quite forest. This figure was of course Add, who had, carefully chosen this spot relying on his experience as a soldier of the Spetsnaz.
Today he had a special target insight. From his father's study he had got a map which showed the outline of theses hills behind the town of Rigel. It was not very much detailed, but the information was enough for him to make his way quite deep into the forest. Today he was looking for a monster called Goblin. From what he had heard from the guards, after his random questioning, was that these creatures often roamed these forests in groups and caused a lot of problems to humans. Goblins were E ranked monsters, among the weakest of them. They are humanoid monsters and normally they are about half the size of a normal human. They have crooked and hunched bodies with greenish wrinkled skin, and giving off a foul stench.
These, monsters usually hunt in groups of 3 to 10. Sometimes, though rarely they form large groups as well which may contain tens of goblins, led by a Goblin King, an evolved goblin. They are active mainly at dawn and dusk and spend most of the daytime in their caves or shady places. Although their eyesight is average, their sense of smell is very strong. Those scum love to abduct human women to produce offspring since the number of female goblins tends to be much lower than males. Who knows how many women have fallen prey to their vulgar lust. They use crude weapons like stone daggers, clubs, and wooden spears, however some evolved goblins and experienced ones also use weapons stolen from humans
Ordinary goblins are only as strong as a ten year old child, however they are very agile and always attack in groups. Now there are many types of evolved goblins as well. Goblin archers, Goblin Swordsman, Goblin spearman are the common ones. They know how to use weapons and are quite troublesome if they are more in number. Then there are Goblin Champions and Hobgoblins. They both are taller than the average human and also much stronger. They know to use weapons efficiently and pose a high amount of danger. The hobgoblins are D ranked and the Goblin champions are C ranked. Lastly, there are the Goblin Kings. They are the strongest type of goblins; usually one appears among a thousand normal goblins. They are also C ranked but their strength is greater than champions and also have leadership abilities. Spotting a goblin king means that a big attack is going to happen soon...
Although individually, goblins are quite weak, they make up for it by their numbers much like ants. Even veteran warriors can be killed by an ambush by goblins, and they are by no means, an easy picking. One has to be very careful and properly prepared in dealing with them. After Add had gathered all this information, he had began formulating some ideas to deal with these pests. Hunting humans was the speciality of his unit back on Earth, but hunting monsters, he had never done before. Finally after he entered the forest he went quite deep inside and began searching the area for any tracks and trails. He didn't have to search for long and found what seemed to be a forest path which looked quite fresh. Once he had found the tracks, he looked around for a suitable place to wait in ambush of his target. He soon found a short tree which was pretty well hidden in shadows of the tall trees and hid in its branches, and there he was, waiting patiently.
"It would be so nice if I had a sniper rifle...*Sigh*...."
He looked at the AK – 47 in his hands and sighed. It was never built for sniping purposes. Still the cheapest sniper rifle was costly, at around 5,000 CP, and he did not want to spend all that CP just yet. So for now, he had to make do with the Kalashnikov.
"I have to be swift and attack their vitals. Since they are humanoid, they should have the same weak points as humans."
After over two hours of waiting, Add finally saw his target for the first time. They were green skinned creatures with short and bent posture, crooked noses, drooping pointy ears and a few coarse hairs here and there on their bodies. They wore some rags around their waists which were probably animal skins and were covered in filth and dirt. Goblins. Add had seen them for the first time in both his lives, and although he heard about them from the guards, but he was already very disgusted by their appearance. There were 5 goblins; four were holding thick wooden branches, which probably functioned as clubs while one which appeared to be a bit stronger than the two was carrying a makeshift wooden spear. The goblins were holding some large rats, and walking along making 'gigigi' noises, which was probably their means of communication.
The group was less than ten metres form Add, but he didn't move. He wanted to confirm if any more goblins were nearby. The group passed by, right under his tree and as per plan, the leaf paste covered his scent. As soon as they advanced a few metres from him, and there were no signs of any more appearing, Add decided to take action. He aimed his rifle, at their heads, the iron sights of the AK perfectly aligned with the head of the leader of the group. He set the fire selector to semiautomatic mode, confirmed his shot, and then pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
A strange explosion like sound echoed in the forest as a 7.39 mm round tore through the air followed by the characteristic sound of an AK, and drove right into its target. The goblin suddenly collapsed, having no idea as to how it suddenly died. There was only a small hole on the back of its head where the bullet entered, and a large hole from where it ripped out of the goblin's head. Its four companions were stunned and stood rooted on their spots, giving Add the time to gun them down as well. Four more shots were fired, and four more dead goblins appeared.
[Ding! You have killed 5 Goblins. You have obtained 500 CP!]
(Killing goblins gives 100 CP each. If I keep hunting them, then gathering enough CP would not be too hard.)
With that in mind, he continued hunting for the critters. Today was going to be a busy day for the young master who was out for blood, or rather Goblin blood to be precise.
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