a week has passed since the incident with eira. the boys continued with their training regimen, it has gotten a bit awakward at first with eira but even though they hated him they couldn't deny he was a great teacher.
that morning, vols woke up and took out the rest of his allowance from under his bed mattress.
he put on his clothes which consisted of worn out leather pants and a linen beige shirts.
his small 115m frame looked back at him as he tried to smooth out his messy black hair
vols told zephyr last night that he was skipping on his training and the latter thought nothing of it.
vols grabbed the metal sword his mother gifted him on his fifth birthday and ran out towards the merchant's district.
he walked around the stalls looking for what he need to today's work when he caught a glimpse of a little girl with boney arms and legs staring at him. she was 60m tall, her sunken face and dirty hair made her look more like a undead and less like a girl
she could've been cute if not for her obvious malnourishment
the girl was holding a woman's hand whom was arguing with a merchant
"please sir i only have 2 coppers, i just need one tageyaru to feed my daughter" she begged
the man shook his head " this meat is very expensive! a man died slaying the beast to get it for me! i'm not selling it below 5 coppers for a bite!" the man yelled
" now go! you're stinking up the place" he shooed her
the woman turned around dejected, she had to sleep with 2 men to get that pitiful sum of money and it still wasn't enough to feed her daughter
vols looked at the merchant in disgust
' that piece of shit, tageyaru meat is very cheap and common, they breed a lot so it is even known as the meal of the poor in the south..
hell, we even saw a few when we were in the forest training. they are big pigeon look alikes that had read feathers and a blue beak. '
vols walked up to the merchant's stall with a cold glare
" hey, i want a piece of tageyaru meat. and don't give me that bullshit about it being 5 coppers, i know for a fact that a piece the size of a hand will only cost me one copper and that dead friend of yours was either a toddler of an elder who knows only how to crap his pants, togeyaru are the weakest of the magical beasts so i harsly believe it could kill an adult hunter no matter how weak they are"
vols coldly said
the man's face whitened, the woman turned around with newfound hope in her eyes
" are you saying i'm lying kid?! this is my business and i put the prices! didn't your mama teach you to watch that filthy mouth of yours or did you inherite that from her?!" he yelled pointing to the street
vols' eye twitched when the man spoke ill of his mother. he pictured himself ripping the man's arms off and beating him to death with them.
it was enough to let him gritt his teeth and slide a copper on the table
"one piece of tageyaru please"
he tapped on the copper coin and put his other hand on the hilt of his sword
the man snorted at the threat.
he's been scamming the people of the north for a year now, especially kairkar town. there were few hunters around that knew about animals and beasts but they never meddled in his business unlike the little runt.
' so what if you have a sword? you don't have a magic signature unlike me! i'm not scared of you'
the merchant wasn't a strong mage, je only had one purple streak in his irises. he was even weaker than zephyr, but he knew he would be stronger than a child with no streaks at all.
" fuck off kid or i'll call for the guards" he pointed at two men playing cards at the end of the entrance of the district.
it took all of vols' might not to rip the man im front of him ro shreds. he might be able to kill him but not the two guards, and witnesses were everywhere.
he instead memorized the man's face thoroughly then picked up his coin.
he turned around and saw the little girl looking at him with teary eyes
' sorry kid i'm not a charity worker, i barely have a few coins and I already have things to buy'
he thought to himself and ignored her
vols walked around and stopped at a stall finding what he was looking for " hey old man, this leather bag is it enchanted?" vols asked
the merchant turned around and nodded vigourisly " yes kid, you have a keen eye! this bag is very popular amongsts the hunters, it will preserve anything you put in for up to 6 months! meat, plants, anything you like. plus it has a weight reduction feature and a space altering one, you could fit a whole bull and still carry it around like it weights nothing! and all of that for only 20 copper coins"
vols nodded, what the man was saying was the truth. he already read a book about enchanted objects and asked eira about one that could preserve meat and plants and he told him about the hunter's bag. the price was fairly reasonable too. his mother would give him 5 copper coins each month but he never used any so now he had a good sum on his hands.
vols handed the man the money and took the bag from him
" can you point me to a potion stall?" asked vols
the man was smiling greedily at the 20 coins as he pointed him towards the stall on the end of the streets
vols walked there and bought 2 healing potions for 10 coppers each
' man, i already ran out of money.. i need to start making my own, i can't always rely on yuna'
vols turned around and walked back to the town's square, before he did so he approached the two guards that were playing cards
" excuse me sirs, i heard there was a man who sold delicious tageyaru meat. is that correct?" he asked innocently
one guard looked at him annoyed
" you mean emanuel's meat? yeah it's down there" he pointed towards where vols was half an hour ago
vols nodded amd smiled ' so his name is emanuel'
" do you know when the stall will close for today? i want to go buy some but i'm waiting for mommy to come back home from work" he continued
" yeah, he usually closes at around 6pm" the man said and that ended the conversation
vols turned around and grinned cruely, the few people who caught a glimpse shivered
' i'll see you at 6 then emanuel'
..
after getting the bag and 2 basic healing potions, vols walked towards the forest
once he entered the sound of the busy town disappeared with its the hot sun, vols walked deeper than he ever did and started looking around for alchemy ingredients
' bear berries grow under the tallest faun trees. i read in the forest's records that faun trees were scarce and hard to find but if you follow the white colored squirrels you're bound to find them since they make of those trees their home and i remember seeing a white squirrel whilst running laps right around..'
" here!" he said out loud as he caught a glimpse of a white squirrel, it was nibbling on a nut on one of the tree branches
vols hid behind some bushes afraid of spooking the little animal
' now i just have to wait for it to finish breakfast and lead me to its home' he smiled
after waiting a whole hour, the squirrel finally moved. it jumped from branch to branch with a scary speed. vols ran after it, avoiding the huge fallen branches and big water puddles
one eye kept monitoring the squirel's movements while the other made sure he didn't fall flat on his face
they ran for an hour until the squirel stopped, vols took the moment to catch his breath and look around
unlike what he expected, the forest got way less dense as they neared its center. he could see to his right huge trees that unlike the ones on the edges of the forest had white trunks
'faun trees!' vols ran towards the tallest one of the bunch and just like the botany books said, bearberries grew.
they were brown colored berries that were used by alchemist for many reasons. if mixed with the right ingredients those sweet looking berries could kill an adult bear
vols picked them, one berry at a time and stored them in a small wooden box before putting them in his bag
'i got way more than i thought i would' he smiled to himself
as he closed the bag he heard rustling noises and whines. he immediately turned around and looked at his surroundings. the faun trees hid him well from the open area in the forest but that didn't make him feel good
he launched himself up the tree and climbed unto the first branch, he looked around amd saw a huge bolder in the open distance surrounded by trees. a small rabbit looking animal stood against it while another growled at it
' those are kalkas and a gem bunny!'
vols smiled to himself as he climbed down the tree
' man i really hit the jackpot! if i can slay the kalka i could skin it and take it's fur! it's more precious than those bearberries!' vols approaced the two beasts and hid behind the closest bush
'this kalka looks starved, maybe that's why it's prying on the gem bunny. with the element of surprise and it's weak condition i can kill it'
the kalka was a beast that had fire magic affinity, it looked like a fox from earth but with the extra 3 tails, it's size is double of a normal fox too. the reason it's fur is so precious is because kalkas rarely were seen in forests, they prefered living in deserts. that's why its fur is not seen a lot around togaria and why vols hit the jackpot
he didn't know what exactly he could make with the fur but he knew that many alchemists dreamt of getting their hands on one of them
as for the gem bunny, it is a normal sized white rabbit with bright pink eyes and a unicorn horn on its forehead. it has a good affinity to light magic and is obsessed with shiny stuff thus it's name.
the kalka growled at the scared looking gem bunny and pounced on it
vols dashed out of the bushed and took out his sword, he launched himself in the air and jumped above the beast's body.
the kalka looked at the small human in surprise, but before it could react vols slashed its achilles tendons making it lose balance and toplle on the ground
vols went for the killing when suddenly it turned around amd breayhed a huge ball of fire.
vols was surprised to see that the woumds inflected on its legs already healed.
' bit it shouldn't be able to do that! it is starved'
vols, sadly, underestimated the potential of a beast that is cornered
vols dodged the first two fire balls but the third hit his left arm and burned his skin
he dashed forward and slashed the sword diagonally, the beast didn't dodge. it bit dowm on the blade holding it in its place
vols smirked and rook out with his left arm the dagger he was hiding inside his pants
he stabbed the beast's eye then cut its throat. the kalka let go of the blade amd fell on the floor. vols stabned one last time the beast's head just to make sire it wouldn't regenerate
when he made sur eit was dead he fell on the floor as adrenaline left his body, his left arm hurt like hell. he took out the 2 potion bottles and spilled them on his arm
'damn it took 2 bottles to heal that arm, and the fire was that of a starved kalka. i don't wamt to know what would've happemed of it was at its peak condition'
the gem bunny looked at the human with big beady eyes, it was thankful for it but also scared of it
it knew that humans liked to steal its shiny stuff
once healed he walked towards the dead beast, he took off his shirt to avoid dirtying it and started the process, he lifted up the edge of the hide, and proceeded to cut through the membrane that holds the skin to the flesh.
he took his time cause he knew the idea is to loosen the pelt from the carcass gradually, without tearing the hide or poking a blade through it. he then started skinning it.
the work was gruesome and tiresome, he had to take a few breaks before continuing. it took him hours since the beast was so big.
finally he was done, his work was kinda sloppy but he didn't damage the fur as much as he thought he would
' guess i'm a natural at this' he smiled and stored the fur.
' i need to clean it once i get back home though'
he looked down at his bloodied arms and chest then sighed.
the bunny didn't leave, it kept looking at the human tearing the fur off the kalka's body and almost fainted many times
vols finally turned around to observe the bunny. the gem bunny jumped at the sudden attention and darted off before vols could move a muscle
vols sighed as he lost sight of the bunny
' well i shouldn't be too greedy, i got more than enough ingredients for one day and i'm exhausted'
he cleaned his arms and chest as much as he could with the water he had then put on his shirt
vols walked for another 2 hours until he finally arrived at the edge of the forest, he looked up at the setting sun
'guess i still have some more work to do' he said to himself. he walked towards the merchant's district again. people looked at his tattered clothes and smelly body in disgust but he didn't bat an eye
he hid behind a huge carriage looking at the tageyaru merchant, the latter was closing his stall.
after waiting for 10 minutes, vols started tailing the man. emanuel walked out of the district and towards a street that vols never visited
the place was very quiet, there were no houses around, only a few carriages and closed shops
vols saw emanuel take a right, the former climbed to the corner shop's roof and scanned the place
' this street is deserted, good. i can't see anyone around' he followed the clueless man until they arrived next to an alleyway
vols jumped down from the roof right in front of emanuel and took out his sword from its sheath
"what the fuck-" vols stabbed the man before he could blink
emanuel looked at the kid in horror and disbelief
" Y-you!.." he spat out a mouthful of blood
" men like you shouldn't walk around so carelessly, you never know when you might fall and impale yourself" he took out his sword and emanuel fell on the floor
emanuel tried to raise his arm to throw an air slash at the kid but vols decapitated him on the spot
he picked up the head and placed it above the body, he then poured oil all over it and set it ablaze
" not taking chances" he said to himself
he cleaned his sword with a small cloth and threw it in the fire, the smell of burning flesh raped his nostrils
'let's go home, i'm getting hungry'
..