Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Helping Out

　It was the fifth morning after we had successfully hunted the Great Boar with the new recruits. I went to fetch water. Normally Rodan, who is feeling better, goes to fetch water, but today I wanted to go.

　At 6:00 a.m., the bell rang, and two large buckets were brought by me. There is already a queue of serfs.

“Good morning!”

　I greet them in a loud voice. They all turned around.

“Oh! The eldest son of Rodan. Good morning.”

Some of them look familiar to me. One of them was the serf who had gone hunting last time.

“Are you coming again tomorrow, boy?”

　Another serf calls out to me.

“Yes, I will be there. Please let me have a spear too.”

　I gave him a frustrated look, as if to say, “I’m having trouble with my father not letting me participate in the hunting.”

“No, if I say so, Rodan will beat us to it.” The serf said jokingly.

　Laughter broke out at the water pumping station. A serf joins in the conversation, looking envious.

“It’s nice, isn’t it, that you guys get to participate in the hunting?”

“What are you talking about? I heard they’re bringing in two new recruits tomorrow. Why don’t you join?”

“My wife is pregnant, you know. So, I can’t recklessly leave her alone.” said the serf.

　The first round of training for new recruits in the Long Spear System (named by me) was a success. Based on the results, we will keep the first batch of newcomers and recruit two new ones, increasing the number of new participants by two and improving their level.

　Another serf, who has not participated in the Boar hunt, agrees with him when the man said that he couldn’t participate. Boar hunting is a life-threatening task. Allen also saw a Great Boar that was over three meters tall. There is no guarantee that he will return safely. His wife needs him to come back safely.

“That’s true. They’re going to hunt once every six days, this year. And it’s very risky.”

“Yeah, I get it. We need the meat for my wife. We have a small farm, so even if we have to dismantle it, it’ll be a big help.”

“Okay.”

　Hearing this, I called out to the serf who was only dismantling up the meat.

“Excuse me, Uncle.”

“I’m not old enough to be your uncle. What is it?”

“I need your help with something.”

　Actually, this is the reason I came to fetch water. I told him to come to my house at 9:00 a.m. and I came back home with a bucket of water.

　And it was nine o’clock. The serf who I had called out to in the morning came to the house.

“Oh, hello! Thank you for coming.”

“Yeah, no problem. What do you want me to do for you?”

　The serf looks at something hanging in the canal.

“Oh, that’s the one I caught earlier.”

　There are two Albaherons hanging there. He was slightly taken aback by the corpses, blood still dripping from their necks. I lead the way, telling him to come over here.

“This is …”

　There were countless Albaherons.

　Allen had resumed his Albaherons hunting in October, and had told Rodan that he would concentrate on hunting Albherons instead of working in the fields until November. Rodan agreed to it. My help has been helpful to him, but he doesn’t count on it.

　In the afternoons, I play knight, and in the mornings I catch one to three Albaherons at the most. The strategy is to catch it in uncultivated fields. Last year’s uncultivated land was turned into a field, so I am using another uncultivated land.

　The method was established last year, so I can hunt Albaherons without any problem. However, I can’t keep up with the dismantling, and one by one they keep piling up without being dismantled.

　I thought about asking Rodan to dismantle as well, but he’s not at home most of the time, due to his work in the fields and training new recruits. Rodan is even busier than me.

　And now to the present. Of the 12 Albaherons I’ve caught in the past five days, only five have been dismantled. I was going to ask him to help me dismantle the remaining seven.

“I see, you want me to help you dismantle them.”

　He seemed to have understood what I was saying.

“I’ll give you two chunks of meat for each body.” Allen offered to the serf.

“What? Are you sure?”

　He said it was no problem at all.

　The other day, I talked to a butcher in a residential area. It was about the trade of meat. I wanted to earn 50 gold coins. Since I was trying to make money, I asked the butcher to buy the meat, and not to the salt shop or the firewood shop.

　At that time, the butcher told me that he would take 40% of the meat for dismantling and he would take 20% for himself if he just bought it to sell. Unlike bartering, he would take a commission. The butcher won’t make any money without taking commissions.

　I decided to ask a fellow serf who was also in need of meat to help me dismantle the meat. The fee was 20 percent. The reason for it is that it is easier to take the meat to the residential area if it is dismantled.

(If I wanted to exchange them for money, People would have to pay six silver coins for each one. Or I could dismantle them on my own and get 8 silver coins.)

　I also need to level up, so outsourcing the dismantling job is helpful to me as well.

　Even when I was Kenichi, I used to immediately exchange the items I got for cash while levelling. I didn’t use the items I got to mix or create weapons. All I did was hunt. If there was an item I needed, I could just buy it from someone who played in the artisan style.

“I’ll give you one if you dismantle five of them.”

“Oh, really!”

　We couldn’t sell some of the internal organs. I can eat it with my family and I will catch enough to share with Kurena, Dogora and Peromus. I’ll also share it with the people who helped me dismantle it.

　The serf immediately agreed to Allen’s proposal. Allen explained the method of dismantling.

・・・・・・・・・

　Today is the day of the Boar hunt. We are now at a hunting ground in the woods. The hunting ground is the same place as last time. The reason why we didn’t change the location was to avoid the risk of suddenly running into a Great boar deep into the woods with a newcomer.

　Since the bait team was going through the forest ahead of us, there was not much danger. So, we avoided unnecessary danger. However, the plan was to go further into the woods if there was no Great Boar in the vicinity.

　Only the three baits went into the woods, while the rest waited at the waiting point, the hunting ground.

　The two newcomers seemed quite worried. Both were commoners. The newcomers have been talking to the serfs and there are a number of them waiting for reservations. Apparently, the two newcomers who participated in the last hunt were unharmed, and the joy of getting through the ordeal of the Gods made them go around telling everyone about it, which was effective.

　Allen followed again today. Since Allen did not participate in the defeat of the Boar, he was not rewarded. There were four members on the long spear team today, which is a sign of newcomers, but the reward is only about half that of those who defeated them. It was also Allen’s idea to divide this reward.

– 10 kilograms for 2 meter spear wielders

-5 kilograms for a 4 meter spear.

-Only 3 kilograms for dismantling.

　The plan is to have them focus on leveling up for now, but once they have some experience in defeating the enemy, they will be moved to a group with the appropriate characteristics.

　The roles of the three groups, bait, encircling, and stopping, require different stats.

　Bait requires speed, encircling requires endurance, and stopping requires attack.

　When Allen heard that the hunt would be divided into these three groups, he was reminded of the appraisal ceremony. They all probably had no talent and were judged to have abilities from C to E.

　Naturally, when they leveled up, the C’s would have a Greater increase in status than the E’s. And the ability values varied from person to person. The data from the appraisal ceremony of 32 people, including myself, seemed to be quite random.

　It’s best to divide those with a C in speed into the bait team, those with a C in durability into the encircling team, and those with a C in attack power into the stopping team. I told Rodan and Gerda that once they had passed their trials and received their powers from the gods, it would be best to divide them into groups that match their characteristics.

　A few minutes passed after the three members of the bait team left.

‘The Boar is coming, oh, oh, oh!”

　As I’m thinking about this, the Boar comes.

(Oh! The Boar is coming!”

　Pekeji, the leader of the bait team, came out of the woods at a great speed. The three of them came out at the same time today, so there seems to be only one Great Boar.

(It’s about time. Come on, Denka!)

　Allen is doing something, but the hunt goes on.

　Pekeji and the other three baits were charging through Gerda and the others as fast as they could. Gerda and the encircling team catch them. Once the enclosure is complete, Rodan and his team of attackers aim for the neck.

　It was a perfect move, just like last time.

“Come on, you rookies! Don’t stab us in the back!”

　Gerda reminded them not to stab themselves by using the long spear in the wrong place. 4 newcomers poked them with the long spear at the same time.

　Not five minutes later, fresh blood spurted out of his neck. It seemed that they had pierced a blood vessel in his neck. Not many minutes later, the Boar completely collapsed.

“I’m over it! I’ve gone through the ordeal again!”

“It’s true! So, this is what it means to go over a trial!”

　All four of the newcomers, both first-time participants and those who have participated since the last time, all level up.

　I also check my shining Grimoire.

“Defeated one Great Boar. You have acquired 400 experience points.”

“Experience is now 2000/2000. Your level has increased to 3. Your Strength has increased by 25. Your Mana has increased by 40. Attack Power increased by 14. Endurance increased by 14. Agility increased by 26. Intelligence increased by 40. Luck increased by 26.

(Yes! I am now considered to have participated in the battle after all. I also levelled up!)

　Allen placed the H-rank Insect, Denka at the feet of the rushing Great Boar. It was killed instantly and disappeared in a bubble of light.

　Allen’s summons naturally had a range in which it could be summoned. It doesn’t mean that it can be anywhere within the visible range, such as beyond the horizon. On the contrary, the range is not too narrow, such as within a few meters. The conditions for where he can summon have also been verified.

　Conditions for summoning:

-Within a radius of 50 meters

-Visible location.

　Since the radius is 50 meters, the sky is also possible. It is also possible to summon a Bird-like summoned creature and have it fly away. The Boar was within the 50 meter radius, so he could summon Denka near the foot of the Boar .

　It cannot be summoned inside the house, where it cannot be seen from the garden. It cannot be summoned at the feet hidden by the Boar’s body. It has to be under the feet of the Boar at the moment it crushes you. Timing is important.

(I see, even if it gets hit by a summoned beast, it’s still subject to experience distribution. If the bait team doesn’t have a spear after catching a fish, do they get experience just from being targeted by a magical beast?)

　Conditions for experience distribution

-Attack

-Being attacked

-Targeted by magical beast

(That’s about it.)

　I had planned to verify the conditions of experience distribution during this Boar hunt.

　Thus, I’ve been working on a number of new things, such as helping to dismantle the Albaheron and verifying the distribution of experience. I’ve been very busy this fall and winter.