After that, we finished our meal and parted ways with Alan.
"If you know anyone good, please introduce me."
When Alan made that request as we left, I nodded and promised to let him know if I found someone suitable.
"Alan seems to have a rough road ahead, doesn't he?"
"Yeah. Since Erik-kun was the only person with a special skill I'd ever known, I assumed they were always convenient. But there are troublesome ones like Alan's, too, aren't there?"
"I don't know that much about them either, but it looks like there are all kinds of special skills..."
Some special skills, like mine, worked entirely on their own, while others, like Alan's, required another person to function at all.
Leaving Alan behind, the two of us headed back to the Adventurer's Guild.
Since it had been a while since our last trip outside the city walls, we accepted a simple horn rabbit subjugation request.
With the quest in hand, we left the city and made our way toward the forest.
"It feels like it's been forever since we last walked through the woods like this."
"We spent days taking care of city requests, after all. Thanks to handling so many, we managed to build up a decent amount of savings."
"And thanks to our promotion, I can finally deposit money, which has been wonderful. Once I save a little more, I was thinking it might be nice to stay at an inn, but..."
"It sounds like all the inns are fully booked right now, so it's probably best to stay in the care of the House of Strict for a while longer. You might end up on the street otherwise."
When I warned her, Philia nodded in agreement, well aware of the crowded conditions in the royal capital.
Upon reaching the forest, we began our search for the target horn rabbits.
Even after a prolonged absence from the woods, my instincts hadn't grown dull.
Taking the lead, I guided our path through the trees with Philia following close behind.
"We're not having much luck finding them, are we?"
"Yeah. There are other monsters around, but no horn rabbits in sight."
We did run into slimes and goblins.
We gave the goblins a wide berth and engaged the slimes instead.
◇
You have subjugated a monster.
Gained 1 EXP.
12/100 until next level.
◇
After eliminating twelve slimes, my experience points accumulated accordingly.
Yet, we still hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of a single horn rabbit.
"Do you think they were hunted out while we weren't around?"
"Surely it wouldn't go that far..."
As we chatted and pushed deeper into the trees, we finally spotted our quarry.
We readied our weapons to keep them from fleeing and engaged.
There were four horn rabbits in total.
Philia struck first, taking one down with her magic.
Naturally, the remaining three caught sight of us and lunged in attack.
"...Huh?"
Normally, I would have braced behind my shield to intercept them while mounting a counterattack.
This time, however, my body responded far more fluidly than before. I dodged the first beast's charge effortlessly and ran it through with my sword.
Using the impaled rabbit as leverage, I slammed the flat of my blade into the second, then met the third with my shield, pinning it flat against the ground.
The second and third rabbits were still breathing.
Yanking my sword free from the first carcass, I swiftly severed the heads of the remaining two.
"H-Huh? Erik-kun? Did you get stronger?"
"Looks like it... Honestly, I was a little worried about how well I'd handle combat again, so I never expected it to go this smoothly."
I hadn't noticed the difference as clearly against the slimes.
Even I was taken aback by how effortlessly I could dispatch horn rabbits now.
The only thing that had changed was that several of my skill levels had risen.
"Skill levels really make a massive difference, don't they?"
"Ah, that explains it! Your skill levels went up, didn't they? That's why the fight felt so easy."
"Seems like it. I didn't think it would make this much of an impact, so I'm honestly surprised."
Marvelling at my own rapid growth, I collected the horn rabbit carcasses.
When we resumed our search, it didn't take long before we encountered another pack.
Perhaps the forest's monster habitats had shifted while we were away.
Keeping that possibility in mind, we fought the next group and brought the battle to an end without taking a single scratch.
◇
You have subjugated a monster.
Gained 1 EXP.
25/100 until next level.
◇
Continuing our search throughout the forest, we eventually felled ten horn rabbits.
That fulfilled the request's delivery quota of ten carcasses.
I considered hunting a few more monsters, but the evening bell began to chime in the distance.
We had lost too much daylight searching for the horn rabbits at the start.
Returning to the royal capital, we headed straight to the Adventurer's Guild to turn in our haul.
"Reina-san, have there been any changes to the forest's ecosystem lately?"
"Oh? The Adventurer's Guild hasn't heard anything like that. Did something happen?"
"It felt like the areas where forest monsters spawn have shifted compared to when we used to hunt there."
"It really did. It took us an unusually long time just to track down horn rabbits today. It made searching quite difficult."
At our report, Reina-san paused thoughtfully.
"I'll ask around and look into it. Thanks for the heads-up."
With that, Reina-san handed over our reward money.
After having the payment deposited directly into our guild accounts, we stepped out of the building.
"Well then, see you tomorrow, Erik-kun!"
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
We parted ways outside the guild, and I made my way toward the inn.
Relieved that our return to the forest had wrapped up without any real trouble, I finally made it back.
I immediately maintained my gear before sitting down for dinner.
After finishing a warm bath and returning to my room, I lay down in bed and drifted off to sleep in an instant.