Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Why Are You Here of All Places?
With anticipation, I opened the pressure cooker, and a message appeared.
[Master’s Glace Mushroom Horn Rabbit Restorative Soup]
[Blessing of Dexterity effect: Agility +1]
[Glace Mushroom effect: Removes toxicity, then is consumed.]
Blessing of Dexterity had activated successfully.
The Glace Mushroom effect removed the poison, then disappeared.
And on top of that, Blessing of Dexterity had granted a permanent stat increase.
“Yes!”
That meant my Agility stat had gone up by another point.
Since the poison had been removed, I could taste it without worry.
I gripped one of the rabbit legs with two pairs of tongs, lifted it out, and set it onto a broad tray.
Then, with gloved hands, I tore the leg apart and took a bite.
‘This taste……!’
I had expected something similar to chicken since it was rabbit, but instead it tasted like pheasant, which people said was even better than chicken or duck.
No, it was even springier and more delicious than that.
‘So the rumors that Horn Rabbit meat tastes good weren’t false after all.’
That was probably why strange stories kept circulating—stories no one could verify—about Hunters who, after once suffering through stomach pain from eating it, could not forget the taste and went back to hunt it again.
I tasted the mushroom as well.
‘Now that it’s been simmered in restorative soup, it’s even better than black tiger milk mushroom.’
The aroma was rich, and the texture was excellent too.
The more I ate, the greedier I became.
‘I want to raise Horn Rabbits and build a mushroom farm.’
There was more than enough land to build livestock sheds and a farm.
The problem was that neither of those things could be cultivated artificially.
‘At the very least, it seems the Glace Mushroom only grows when there’s extreme cold. Considering how they grew all over the Ice Turtle’s shell……’
Wait……!
Could I possibly cultivate them by using the Ice Crystals harvested from the Ice Turtle?
And maybe replenish the cold with a highest-grade ice-attribute Magic Stone.
If I created the right environment and propagated the spores, it might actually work.
‘I should give it a try.’
As I ate the Horn Rabbit restorative soup, various plans came to mind.
Then I took another spoonful of the broth.
‘The broth is rich too. This is the real thing.’
If I ever opened a restaurant, this was good enough that I would want to serve it as a regular menu item.
‘It’s better than duck. I should make restorative soup with Horn Rabbit for Ria too.’
After I finished eating, I began cooking a second pot of Glace Mushroom Horn Rabbit restorative soup for Ria.
For Rin, I lightly blanched a Glace Mushroom separately.
Soon, when the time came, Rin and Ria came into the living room.
“The mushroom aroma hits you the moment you walk in. It smells wonderful.”
Then Ria looked at the Horn Rabbit on the large platter and said,
“That shape doesn’t look like the chicken or duck you usually make.”
Ria noticed immediately.
As expected, she had a sharp eye.
“That’s right. What do you think it is?”
“Hmm, rabbit?”
She got it right at once.
“Correct. How did you know?”
“Well, I hunted and ate rabbits often enough. When I trained with my father, and when I traveled the frontier with the knights, we hunted them all the time. Usually we would skin them, remove the organs, skewer them whole on wooden spits, and roast them over a campfire.”
“Roasting them over a wood fire is delicious too.”
I had secretly worried that Ria might feel uneasy seeing the meat uncut and whole, but that concern turned out to be unnecessary.
Ria continued,
“So this is what you call restorative soup. Fascinating.”
“That’s right. It’s a dish where you simmer meat for a long time in a pressure cooker with ingredients that are good for the body. And I added Glace Mushroom to deepen the flavor and aroma. I used Horn Rabbit for the meat.”
“Horn Rabbit……? But that should be poisonous.”
“It’s fine. The Glace Mushroom neutralized it. I already ate some.”
“Really? Well, I’d be fine either way, since I have a strong natural resistance to poison. I’ll trust you and eat.”
Then Ria, now quite skilled with chopsticks, separated some meat and took a bite.
“This is Horn Rabbit……? How is the meat so springy?”
“Right? I was surprised too.”
“Yeah, it’s delicious!”
Then she dipped the mushroom lightly in salt and tasted that too.
“The Horn Rabbit is springy, but this is even springier. The aroma is wonderful too. It’s delicious.”
“Eat plenty.”
“Thank you. Your cooking really is the best, Seon-u.”
Ria continued eating happily.
Then I turned to Rin, who had been watching Ria eat, and offered her the blanched Glace Mushroom, cut into small pieces.
“Rin, you try some too.”
“……”
Rin looked back and forth between me and the mushroom.
Then she moved her lips and said a single word.
“Thanks.”
Another wave of emotion washed over me.
Was this the joy of watching a daughter grow up?
‘A daughter……’
I wasn’t even married yet.
None of the relationships among Ria, Rin, and me had been properly defined.
We were simply family because we lived under the same roof.
Still, seeing Rin eat the blanched Glace Mushroom so happily filled me with pride.
***
I went out again.
I had to return the equipment I had rented.
After arriving at Master Oh Cheon-seok’s workshop and returning the gear, I waited in the reception room for quite some time until Master Oh Cheon-seok finally came over after finishing his work.
“So you didn’t freeze to death after all, did you?”
“No, sir. The equipment you rented to me was just that good.”
“Hahaha! You’re quite smooth with your words. So then, you said you had something you wanted to commission from me? What is it?”
“I want to place an order for some equipment.”
“Ah, you mean the Drake-hide armor you mentioned the first time we met?”
“That’s right. I want two sets made.”
“Two hundred million won.”
“Excuse me?”
The old man named the price without any preamble.
“Two hundred million total for both sets. And that’s a special discount because it’s you. To handcraft two full sets, I’d have to work on them day and night for at least a month to finish them. Two hundred million is very cheap for that. With my level of skill, I should be charging three hundred million.”
I had expected it to be expensive to some degree.
Especially since I was commissioning a true top-tier blacksmith in Korea like Master Oh Cheon-seok, two hundred million for two sets actually sounded reasonable.
Before coming, I had looked up information and even seen reviews on the Hunter community from people who had spent over a hundred million commissioning gear from blacksmiths ranked below Oh Cheon-seok.
‘The problem is that if I pay that now, my bank account is going to be completely emptied.’
But I had another trump card.
“I’d like to pay in something else.”
“What, then? Did you happen to get your hands on a new equipment material?”
Expectation lit up Master Oh Cheon-seok’s face.
“Yes. As far as I know, it’s a material that’s never been discovered before. Sir, please step back for a moment while I take it out.”
“Why? Are you about to pull out a ball of fire?”
“The opposite. A mass of cold. If you touch it by mistake, you’ll get frostbite, so be careful.”
Then I took out a stainless steel bowl holding five small fragments of Ice Crystal.
“Urgh! This cold all of a sudden. What in the world is that?”
“It’s called an Ice Crystal. I heard that if you mix it into a weapon while forging it, the weapon may take on an ice attribute.”
“What……? Then are you saying this is like a Flame Stone?”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t know the American S-Rank Hunter Allen Igna?”
“Ah, I’ve heard of him. He’s the Hunter who uses flame skills with his sword, right? I heard he even changed his name to Igna because of the association with fire.”
“That’s him. His sword was forged using a Flame Stone, which is why it bears a fire attribute. The synergy between his sword and his skill is extraordinary.”
“I didn’t realize that’s what kind of sword it was.”
Master Oh Cheon-seok then looked at me suspiciously.
“But how do you know this Ice Crystal grants an attribute, like a Flame Stone does?”
“Someone told me.”
Ria had told me.
“And who might that be?”
“That’s a secret.”
“Ahem! You really are a young man with too many secrets.”
“So then, sir, are you taking the deal or not?”
“I’ll do it, but…… couldn’t you add just a few more pieces of Ice Crystal?”
“No. The person who told me about Ice Crystals said that five pieces would already be more than enough to forge one weapon.”
“But what if I make a mistake and ruin it while forging?”
“No.”
I refused firmly.
Master Oh Cheon-seok smacked his lips in disappointment.
“Well, then I’ll just have to succeed on the first try. Fine, it’s a deal. If I keep haggling, I’ll freeze to death in here.”
“I was getting close to my limit too.”
The cold radiating from the Ice Crystals really was that intense.
They looked ready to freeze the entire reception room.
And so the deal was struck.
I handed him the Drake hide and the Ice Crystals.
Along with a sheet detailing Ria’s and my body measurements.
“Please make our armor well. I want good options on it. And make it look stylish too, not tacky.”
“All right. Since it’s your commission, I’ll give it extra attention. But if you get your hands on any unusual materials again, you trade with me first. Understood?”
“Of course.”
With that, I left the workshop after commissioning the armor.
‘There are still well over a hundred Ice Crystal fragments left in Acresia.’
I had closed a deal worth two hundred million won with only five pieces.
As for the rest, I planned to try farming Glace Mushrooms with them.
On the way back, I stopped by Mr. Jang’s wine shop as well.
At the same time I started selling the fruit wine there, I also decided to display one Glace Mushroom.
‘So this will be the first time the real thing is shown to the public.’
Hunters who saw it would buy the fruit wine and head for the Ice Rift.
There would be mushrooms in areas besides the northeastern sector I had claimed and swept clean.
At this rate, I might need to harvest Applecherries again before long so I could brew more fruit wine.
***
Bell had been acting strangely lately.
He kept growling toward the west.
“Bell, is there a Monster out there or something?”
“Awoong!”
So far, Bell had growled like this only three times.
The time I hunted the Groove Bear.
The time a Mid-Grade Monster had been approaching our house.
And now, this was the third.
But this time, the feeling was different.
He was on guard, yet it didn’t feel hostile.
And whenever I asked if it was a Monster, he kept kicking me with his front paw.
“What’s gotten into you?”
A few days passed like that.
Bell still kept up a low growl toward the west.
There really must have been something there.
“Ria, I’m going out with Bell for a bit.”
“The two of you……? That’s dangerous. Since even my Presence Detection can’t pick it up at all, it must be quite far away.”
“It’ll be fine, as long as I don’t run into anything above a Highest-Grade Monster. You need to stay here and guard the house and Rin, so I’ll go.”
I always felt sorry toward Ria.
Ever since the house was built, she hardly ever went far from it.
She always stayed nearby to protect the house and Rin in case a Monster appeared.
‘Doesn’t that make her feel trapped?’
I could move freely between the world I originally lived in and the Rift, but Ria could not leave this area.
If it were close by, like with the Groove Bear, then going together would be fine. But if it was so far away that even Ria’s Presence Detection couldn’t sense it, then she couldn’t accompany me.
After thinking it over, Ria spoke.
“Then promise me you’ll follow the safety rules I’m about to give you. Can you do that?”
“I can.”
“Then first, avoid fighting Monsters whenever possible. Mid-Grade Monsters are fine, but if it’s a High-Grade Monster, then depending on what kind it is, you could end up in real danger.”
“All right.”
“Second, keep using your binoculars to watch the distance and make sure it’s safe. Third, the stronger the Mana presence Bell detects, the more fiercely he growls and goes on alert. So keep a close eye on Bell’s reactions, and if he becomes seriously wary, come straight back.”
“So basically, be careful, and then be careful again.”
“Yes. Do not overdo it. If you aren’t back within three hours, I’m coming to find you.”
“All right. I’ll be careful.”
And so I set off westward with Bell.
To find the cause of Bell’s constant growling.
Following Ria’s advice, I moved very slowly, checking carefully for safety the entire time.
‘There really are very few Monsters in this region.’
I went over an hour without seeing even a trace of one.
That was why Bell’s mother had gone so far away to search for prey.
The named Doppelganger had killed most of the Monsters in this area and devoured their Magic Stones.
“But how much farther are we going, Bell? We’ve come awfully far.”
“Awoong!”
Maybe because Bell was a Divine Beast, he seemed especially intelligent.
But he was still young, so we weren’t at the point where we could communicate back and forth clearly.
Even so, it felt as though he instinctively understood my general intent when I spoke.
Rin was like that too.
On the other hand, I had absolutely no idea what Bell was trying to tell me.
“I can’t tell whether that means we’re almost there or whether we still have a long way to go.”
Since I had come this far, I decided to keep going a bit longer.
Eventually, Bell led me toward a densely wooded area.
“The visibility is bad here……”
I didn’t like the idea of going in.
Bell would probably notice if a Monster approached from a distance, but still.
Then Bell growled toward the forest.
‘Is there a Monster nearby?’
Then, just as suddenly, he wagged his tail again.
‘What on earth is wrong with this little guy……?’
I couldn’t tell whether he was warning me or not.
Then, while I was moving through the thick woods—
suddenly, my breath caught in my throat.
A crushing tide of murderous intent, enough to make my entire body break out in gooseflesh, seemed to bind me in place.
In that instant—
someone appeared behind me and pressed a blade to my neck.
My neck stung. It seemed I had been nicked slightly.
‘A Monster……?’
No, it wasn’t.
If it were a Monster, Bell would have reacted long before this.
And if it were a Monster, it would have stabbed straight through my throat already.
Then a voice spoke from behind me.
“Don’t move.”
It was English.
Two people emerged in front of me, weapons leveled as they approached.
One of them was a face I recognized.
A face I had seen several times through the media.
As he approached with his sword pointed at me, he spoke in Korean.
“Move and you die! What are you? A human, or a Monster pretending to be one?”
It was none other than the Sword Saint, Hwang Myeong-u.
But……
Had the Sword Saint always looked this gaunt?