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Chapter 10 – Throwing Stones
It was the end of October, and the Albaherons, Allen’s namesake, were flying north.
(Harvest season is almost over. Soon it’ll be full-on hunting season.)
Recently, Allen’s father, Rodan, had been in a good mood, because it was hunting season. In October, the men figured out a schedule and went hunting together. He had already gone hunting twice this year in between the potato harvests. He was over 6 feet tall, and was well built. Rodan had always wanted to be a hunter, and looked forward to the hunting season. And, Theresia was eating for two.
Allen and Kurena were growing quickly. If a hunt was successful, chunks of meat were distributed to everyone who participated. It was a valuable source of protein for serfs, who usually only got it from beans. From October to December, there were usually about 10 successful hunts, so they were probably pretty skilled.
From January to March, the hunters were after a C-rank monster called the White Deer, which looked like an elk. They say it’s harder to catch than the Great Boar because its pure-white hide would camouflage it in the snow-covered landscape.
(Hmm. Now let’s see the results of the investigation.)
He checked on the grasshopper Bug H. He had left it in a hole made by the mole-like Beast G since yesterday morning.
“Oh! Denka! You’re alive! Now I know that I can summon a creature for a whole day without a problem.”
Allen had dug a hole in the corner of the yard, and put the grasshopper in it to see how long a summon could stay summoned.
Since there weren’t any walkthrough sites or Q&A forums, Allen had to discover the specifics of the summons through trial and error. Now that he could freely go out to the yard, he had been thinking about testing out various things.
Oh, and Denka was the nickname of the grasshopper.
Each summon could be named, and could be Created, Summoned, and Synthesized by its nickname, rather than having to say Bug H. Ah, and, just as a reminder, there was no need to say any of it out loud.
List of Summon Names
・BUG H - Denka (grasshopper)
・BUG G - Pyonta (frog)
・BEAST H - Chorosuke (mouse)
・BEAST G - Mogusuke (mole)
・BIRD G - Chappy (parrot)
Obviously, he had named them more like pets than summons. He was free to change the names as often as he wanted, just by thinking it.
(Okay, up next is…)
Allen left the Bug H as was, and went to the tree growing in the yard. There were 10 stones at his feet. Allen had put them there earlier. He picked them up and, one-by-one, threw them at the tree. During this, he thought about when he came to this world around 3 years ago.
(I think the explanation of Hell Mode said that you start with only the skills in your class, right? So I can summon things. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t get skills through other means, right?)
After throwing 10 stones against the tree, he picked them up and threw them again, while making a tally mark on the ground.
(For now, let’s go with 100…. I’ll throw 100 everyday and figure out the rules for gaining new skills.)
Allen wanted to see if he could get a stone throwing skill by throwing stones.
He wanted to figure out as quickly as possible whether or not someone could gain new skills, and what the conditions were for acquiring them. Since he was reincarnated into a very young body, he might as well figure it out earlier than later.
Currently, he was grinding skill EXP for Synthesize, but all that needed was his MP and a couple minutes each day. In this world, Allen wanted to do much more, and was still unsatisfied.
A bell rang in the distance, signalling 12 o’clock.
“Alleeeen~ Lunch time~”
“Okayyyy~, Mama.”
Apparently, it was sweet potatoes for lunch. He headed to the house. It was still pretty early. Allen was trying to make stone-throwing a part of his morning routine.
“Let’s play again tomorrow!”
“Okay.”
Four hours have passed. Allen played knights again today, and was exhausted. At Theresia’s suggestion, Kurena headed home. The village didn’t have much lighting, especially in the outskirts, and it would be pitch black at night.
(And that’s a wrap. If Kurena comes everyday, I might get a swordsmanship skill first.)
Today, he was also on the defensive. If he kept playing knights everyday, there was a chance that he would acquire a sword-related skill.
Today, Theresia had prepared dinner and the family of three sat around the sunken hearth. Serfs were poor, so they didn’t have much to eat. Rodan alone was already a big man, over 6 feet tall, who labored from 6 am to 4 pm. He consumed many more calories than the average person.
Since they didn’t have many seasonings, and since they had to eat a lot of calories without any meat, they would eat a lot. There were potatoes, beans, and from-scratch wheat bread. The soup was thin and had dried vegetables from the summer harvest.
“Oh yeah, today I saw you throwing rocks at the tree.”
“Yeah.”
As expected, Theresia was worried because her son was doing something incomprehensible.
Rodan also reacted. Theresia reported to Rodan that Allen was silently throwing stones at a tree.
“Why were you doing that?”
“Cuz, Papa said that there might be monsters outside. When they come, I’ll protect Mama by hitting it with a rock!”
He said his prepared line with a childlike smile. Theresia and Rodan had told Allen that he shouldn’t leave the house because of the monsters outside.
He had heard that the village was surrounded by a fence, but even so, low level monsters could get through the gaps. When they were found, they would be killed immediately by the village guards, or some adults, but it was still dangerous for the children.
(Isn’t there something like a rabbit with horns? It was tasty.)
As far as Allen remembered, there were two times that Rodan had caught a rabbit, which would end up as part of their dinner. They were horned rabbits, about as big as a medium-sized dog. And since there was an unwritten rule that monsters belonged to whoever caught them, if someone found some precious meat hopping around, they’d be the first to go after it.
“Oh, Allen, sweetie.”
Although they were eating, Theresia hugged Allen tightly, moved by his answer.
“Mmm! Good!”
Rodan looked happy that his son was growing up to be so brave. To him, his child had given a near-perfect answer. He patted Allen’s head while Theresia was still hugging him.
“You’ll protect Kurena too, won’t you?”
“Yeah!”
Rodan had heard from Gerda that Kurena was already as strong as a horned rabbit. That’s why Kurena was allowed to come over to Allen’s house by herself.
“That’s right! Keep having fun playing knights, and when you’re five, we’ll take you to the appraisal ceremony. Hopefully you’ll have a good talent!”
“Yeah.”
(Oh? What’s this? That’s the first I’ve heard of this.)
“App-raisul sere-money?”
“Everyone, when they turn 5, goes to ask God to see if they have a talent.”
Theresia explained. In this world, everyone, including the serfs, went through a ceremony examining their talents. Most people didn’t have a talent. Allen had the feeling that, although his parents told him not to expect much, they were expecting something. Apparently, being appraised with a talent was one of the few chances to escape serfdom.
In the mornings, he threw stones. In the afternoons, he played knights. In his spare time he investigated his summons. When he had MP, he grinded his skills. And he helped Theresia out when he could.
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Thanks for reading! 🙂
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