I regrouped with the village chief and the other. There are six carcasses of wolves around the area.
"Are you okay?" I asked the injured man.
"It hurt a little, but this is a light injury. Not a problem that a medicinal herb can't fix," said the injured man in a light tone.
"Well, if you say so." I divert my attention from the injured man. Looking around the place I can see that there are many horned rabbits in this area. I didn't notice the rabbit when we come to help. But now I see the rabbit as potential meat for the Ice Wyvern.
Not long after, there are many more people that come to this place, they work on cleaning the dead wolf. This is done to prevent another magical beast from coming here after it was lured by the blood smell.
"Hamund, are there many horned rabbits in this area?" I asked the village chief.
The village chief has finished helping the injured man. He also has finished giving instructions to the other villager. He replied, "Horned rabbit? My lord, you can see that there are too many of them in this place. Is there something you want to do with hornet rabbit?"
"I have, and in huge amount… But not right now. So I wonder how many horned rabbits live around this area? Also, do you know about someone that has tried to breed the horned rabbit?"
"There are too many of them here. Most of the time they also disturb the farm when it is harvest season." Hamund stopped for a bit, "It is a huge problem so we usually hunted more than what we need. With that in mind, I don't think people here would want to try breeding a rabbit…"
"Really?" I wanted to ask if he know someone that has been able to breed horned rabbits. But I didn't expect there is an oversupply of rabbit meat in this village. If there is a cold room in this village to store the meat, I am wondering how many kilograms of rabbit meat can the village get every month?
"Yes, there are too many rabbits. I am pretty sure we still have dried rabbit meat stored in my house. I can give you some if you want?"
"Nah, no need. Thank you for the offer." What I wanted is raw meat for Wyvern's meal.
A woman that I have seen before in the village chief's house, is walking to her husband. She then said to Hamund, "We have finished cleaning the wolves. About the two wolves?"
"Count Aquila, please follow me," Hamund said and lead me toward the place where they dissect the wolves.
Hamund whispered to someone before turning to me, "Count Aquila, these two are the wolves that you kill. We can dissect it for you if you wanted."
I look at two lifeless wolves in front of me. I don't need it… "Feel free to use that, I don't think we are able to bring that back. We use a small horse cart to come here."
"But, these two are yours—"
I waved my hand to reject Hamund but stopped midway. I found something that I want from this place. "Instead of bringing those wolves. How about, I take a few living horned rabbits instead?"
"Eh? Is that really okay?" Hamund look at me to see if I was serious. I replied to him with a nod. "Well then… Feel free to take any of the horned rabbits. We will help you catch some."
* * *
In the end, I bring back four horned rabbits alive from Hardersfield, two males and two females. For now, I put the rabbits in the barn along with the other livestock. I ordered a servant that is good with carpentry to make two rabbit houses.
Once again, I look at the information from the magic book. I have named this magic book that has all detail of magic beasts "Monster Catalogue". I decided to name the book that way so that I can refer to it in a simpler way.
This time I search for information about Horned Rabbit. Just like the Ice Wyvern, all information related to the horned rabbit is written. This time there are a few pages to cover all the detail regarding the horned rabbit.
The horned rabbit is a magical beast that can be found everywhere in the Forleik Kingdom. In the wild, it can grow up to a half meter in length when it is fully mature. The special characteristic of the horned rabbit is obviously its horn. That horn is their main way to survive in the wild, it can grow up to 30 cm. Their food range from grass to fruit and vegetable that grow in the forest.
Obviously, a way to breed the horned rabbit is also written there. It lists the information related to rabbit houses, making the food for the rabbits, to enticing them to breed.
There is also info about ways to make the horned rabbit grow faster is also written there. To do that a special food with a high amount of mana is needed. Adding to that is a special herb called Vanograss to supplement the fast growth.
"I don't think I need to fasten the growth rate of the rabbit. As long as I have enough rabbit population to keep the wyvern full, I can do the normal way of farming rabbits. Also, Vanograss is not easy to be found. In the first place, is there any Vanograss in Northwellen?"
Vanograss is a herb with a huge amount of mana stored in its leaf. Vanograss can only grow on a relatively cold summer with little rain. Because of the high mana density, this herb is used in many kinds of potion concocting. Coupled with the rare amount of the herb, Vanograss can be sold for a good amount of money. But just like any other herb, it will only fetch a good amount of money when it is fresh. No one wanted to buy an already shriveled Vanograss as the mana has left the leaves.
"I need to check if all the farms can produce enough hay for rabbits' food."