Chapter 78: The Burrow of the Demon Rabbit
Just by climbing onto the watchtower, I could discern the burrow of the demon rabbit, creatures that dwell underground. The village chief, Hammet, seems skeptical of me being able to do so.
It's understandable; even I would react with disbelief if I didn't know about Skills. For now, to expedite things, I head towards the location that seems to be the nearest burrow.
According to my map Skill, it should be around this area, and when I consciously use my "Discovery" Skill again as I approach, I spot a hole big enough for a melon to enter, hidden in the grass by the embankment of the village's eastern irrigation ditch.
"This... this indeed looks like a burrow," Grandpa Zebett exclaimed. Indeed, the fur of the demon rabbit he showed me could barely fit into this hole. The village chief and Gazak must be wondering how we knew, but they didn't say anything for now.
However, I wonder if having such long horns doesn't hinder them from digging the burrow? When I asked Grandpa, he explained that the females have smaller, flatter horns, which are better suited for digging. The males, on the other hand, don't engage in such labor and instead create harems with multiple females. Quite the life.
I form a party with Nolte, and Rina and I plot the location of the demon rabbit we sensed on our mental map and share the image.
"How about it? Can you tell?"
"Yes! It's amazing, Master."
"With this, we should be able to know when they come out of the burrow or approach..."
As Rina and I walk around the burrow to confirm the demon rabbit's location, it seems that the burrow stretches several meters from the entrance.
What should we do? Even if I say I'll seal it with my clay, accurately filling an unseen underground hole is difficult, and given their proficiency in digging, they might escape. Rina learned water magic, but even if we pour water into the ground, it might not be very effective depending on how the burrow extends.
In that case, should I use that technique I used in the labyrinth battle before?
I ask the village chief and the others to step back as we approach the burrow, and when we get closer, we enclose it with clay walls.
The sudden appearance of walls should surprise the villagers, but with this, they shouldn't see Nolte transforming into a magic user.
Then, we cast fire magic into the burrow's entrance. The power should be low, more like a continuous flamethrower. After the flame has entered sufficiently deep into the burrow and perhaps spread to the dry grass inside, we seal the entrance with clay, but it should be thin enough to break.
With this, the inside of the burrow should have become hot, and they should be suffering from lack of oxygen.
After a while, we sense the movements of flustered monsters, and they start coming up towards us.
Breaking through the thin clay at the entrance, one demon rabbit after another emerges.
The long-horned males are Level 2, while the short-horned females are Level 1. Perhaps there are no children at this time, or it's hard to distinguish them from the females.
Since they're enclosed by the clay wall, the demon rabbits can't scatter and are stuck around us.
Rina and I eliminate the long-horned males, while Nolte aims for the less formidable ones with her hammer. Nolte's movements are swift, and she manages to keep up with the demon rabbits surprisingly well for her first monster extermination.
In total, about ten demon rabbits emerge from the burrow. After finishing the extermination, we turn Rina back to scout mode, erase the clay walls, and let the villagers confirm the remains of the demon rabbits.
"Wow, to eliminate this many in such a short time, you truly are adventurers..."
The old man Gazak, who was skeptical until now, changes his attitude. This should make things easier from now on.
Village Chief Hammet also says, "Well then, I'll arrange accommodation and dinner, so please come back to the town hall in the evening," before returning to work.
Since the village is large, it took some time to walk around, but by evening, we managed to exterminate all the burrows we could locate using my map Skill.
In total, we must have eliminated about fifty demon rabbits. With Rina's magic user level improving, her available MP has increased, and neither I nor Rina were completely exhausted.
However, I couldn't find the demon boar even once, and it bothered me. Also, there's a possibility it might be beyond the range visible from the lookout tower. The southern side was all within the range of my map skill, but the northern side had quite a few areas that I couldn't see due to the terrain.
For now, let's stay here tonight and think about what to do.
I greeted Mayor Hammett at the village hall.
"Thank you for your hard work. I've reserved rooms at the village inn. We've also prepared meals, so please enjoy Ozack's products."
I suddenly had the idea of going to the fields at night.
"That's a good point. They are nocturnal, so it would be helpful. I'll inform the members of the vigilante group, and they'll come to get you in the middle of the night."
The village inn was right next to the town hall, indicating that this area was the center of the village. Despite being an inn, it was quite impressive, even larger than the van I stayed in.
The main dish was a porridge made from mixed grains, but it had a rich flavor and was delicious. Both Northe and I had seconds, of course. In addition to vegetables, there were also dishes that resembled lamb and cheese desserts, all of which were delicious. They did mention that animal husbandry was thriving here.
Despite being a rural area, the seasoning was refined, as expected from being near the capital.
They recommended barley wine, which is basically beer, but I declined since I planned to wake up in the middle of the night. It was a pity.
The inn rooms had a simple but cozy atmosphere with the scent of wood. Apparently, they didn't have single rooms, so there was one room for both Lina and Northe, and another one for me. It felt a bit lonely.
If I turned Lina back into a doll, Northe and I could share a room, but I didn't say anything like that. I didn't express any regrets; after all, tonight was for work...
So, I went to bed early, but in the end, I was woken up by Northe.
"It's still pitch black... Oh, right."
As usual, I was a useless guy, but being awakened by a girl like this felt nice.
I noticed that Northe was already dressed in leather armor and ready.
Well, it was fine for the girls' room to be empty, and since I had arranged for a scout last night, they probably informed Northe as soon as someone from the vigilante group approached the inn.
I hurriedly changed and greeted the members of the vigilante group.
Even though they were called a vigilante group, there were only three old men aged 60 and above, giving the impression of patrolling for things like "locking doors and fire safety."
During their usual patrols, they had seen monsters in some places, so they focused on walking in those areas. However, it seemed that today, there was no sign of monsters in the south half of the village, which we had already cleared, and it didn't register on their detection skills.
Knowing this, we decided to head to the north side.
There, it seemed that there was another nest on the north side, and some monsters were sporadically emerging.
According to the old men, even though there were fewer monsters than usual, some Oniusagis from the nest on the south side might have come here.
When the old men from the vigilante group approached with torches, the Oniusagis would usually flee, and the ones that occasionally approached would be defeated with swords on the spot, of course.
My archery skills were terrible and I felt embarrassed, but as long as they ran away, it went according to plan. After all, I originally intended to find the nest.
Using Lina's scouting mode and our detection skills, we followed the fleeing ones and found two more Oniusagi nests on the north side of the village. However, it was dangerous to fight the swift Oniusagis in the dark while holding torches, so we sealed the holes with extra clay and decided to come back when it was brighter.
We thanked the old men from the vigilante group and parted ways. As we were walking back along the path at the village's edge, I sensed a larger monster presence than before.
Could this possibly be the demon boar?
After some hesitation, I decided to head towards the source of the presence.
"Three, four... maybe five of them?"
Lina's detection skill seemed to be working.
Anyway, once we visually confirm them and update our map skill, tracking them should be easier.
Thinking so, I approached the source of the presence. However, when I got closer to the thicket where the presence was, a huge body suddenly leaped out.
I thought, "Ah!" but by the time I realized it, it was right next to me, and I instinctively swung my sword, but I missed. The one it charged at wasn't me; it was Northe, who was standing diagonally behind me.
Screams rang out, and the small body was sent flying.