kscans

Chapter 297 - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Epilogue (Part 1)

Once they left the post town of Han, End Village was less than a day away. Of course, the closer they got to the Salt-Sour Mountain, the more active the wild beasts and monsters became...

"...They still don't seem to be approaching. They're just watching us."

"Seriously... You think it's the same Greed Wolves from that time?"

"Who knows... I can't tell that much from their presence alone. It could just be that their numbers are too small, and they're hesitating to attack."

Yuri and Kudol were talking about the Greed Wolves that had been watching the carriage for a while but would not come any closer. It seemed to be a pack of four, so their numbers were indeed a bit ambiguous for attacking a carriage. However, with four Greed Wolves, it would not be strange for them to attack a single carriage.

So why were they not doing so?

"...If the survivors from when we drove them off last summer learned that attacking the carriage is dangerous... that'd be great for us..."

Last year on their way to Laurenzen, Yuri and the others had been attacked by a pack of Greed Wolves. At that time, Yuri had tried intimidating them with a Water Hammer. Three of the more sensible ones had hesitated, so he had left them alone. The four that had recklessly challenged them were hunted down properly. The current pack had four wolves, which meant one had been added since then. If only one had been added, it was unlikely to be a newborn pup. It was unclear whether there had been an individual who had not participated in the previous attack, or if a newcomer had joined from elsewhere. But considering they were holding off their attack now, the effect of their education might have been greater than expected. The tuition for this lesson was the lives of the other four wolves.

Of course, there was no way to know if the current pack was the one that had been taught a lesson, and there was no guarantee their current admirable behavior would continue. It was entirely possible they planned to attack them on their way back from End Village. It was no wonder Kudol's nerves were on edge.

"Well, we've made preparations just in case."

"Preparations... you say?"

Yuri's interest was piqued, and he asked. But when he heard, the so called preparation was nothing special. It was the item Yuri had given them before.

"The arrowheads made from magic stone tools..."

"That's right. We tested 'em out a bit, and the power is more than enough. We were just sayin' they could probably take down a bear in one shot."

"It's hard to get a direct hit on something as fast as a Greed Wolf, but these have enough power even at close range."

Seeing the enthusiastic archer Dalia, Yuri felt a slight twinge of envy. He had yet to succeed in developing elemental bullets for his own secret weapon, the magic rifle. He felt like there must be a way, but at the moment, he saw no signs of a breakthrough. Even if he succeeded technically, if the cost was too high, he could not just put it into practical use.

So he had put it aside for a while, but seeing Dalia huffing with high spirits right in front of him, though he did wonder if that was appropriate for a woman, he thought,

(...Fortunately, it seems I'll be able to manage enchanting somehow, so it's probably better to move forward with developing the elemental bullets again.)

And so it was only natural that Yuri renewed his determination to resume development.