I’m an adventurer based in Village Five.
As for my name... well, you don't really need to remember it.
The team I belong to had been taking on requests to hunt magic beasts for a while now. Apparently, crops and livestock in the villages surrounding Village Five were suffering quite a bit of damage lately.
The target was the Brave Boar.
To put it simply, they’re a type of magic beast that looks like a wild boar. In terms of strength... the large ones are quite formidable, but the medium and small ones aren't that much of a threat. Any adventurer who has put in a decent amount of training can take them down without much trouble. Naturally, I can handle them too.
However, these Brave Boars have a truly obnoxious habit. They flee from the strong and charge straight at the weak. It makes them a real pain to deal with.
For example, if a party of ten adventurers chases a Brave Boar, and every single one of them is stronger than the beast, it will just run away. But if even one of them is weak, it will charge directly at that person, completely ignoring any stronger warriors standing right next to them.
Now, you’d think it would be easy to hunt them by just placing a strong person next to a weak one to act as a shield, but it’s never that simple. Brave Boars generally move in herds. We often find ourselves overwhelmed by sheer numbers, making it impossible to protect the weaker members.
That’s what makes them so troublesome.
Wait, no, I misspoke. The most troublesome part is actually the emotional recovery of whichever warrior in our party gets targeted.
"It’s okay, buddy. You’re not weak." "You aren't weak at all!" "Don't let a boar's judgment get you down." "That’s right, you have a strength that is uniquely yours."
...What? "Like what?" he asked. Uh...
Our team was on the verge of a total collapse. Damn you, Brave Boars! I’ll never forgive you for this!
When I returned to Village Five five days later, I heard recruiters shouting for participants in a massive Brave Boar subjugation mission. As I listened to the announcement, I brought the boars we had already killed to a butcher shop at the foot of the mountain.
Even a small Brave Boar weighs about as much as a child, so there’s a limit to how many you can haul back at once. For our team, we can manage five small ones or two large ones in a single trip. There is a method where you prioritize the kill and only cut off specific parts to prove the hunt was successful, but that isn't recommended. The leftovers become food for other monsters or magic beasts, which often leads to secondary problems. Besides, even the small ones sell for a decent price. Brave Boar meat is delicious, after all.
After receiving our payment, we headed straight to the Village Five Adventurer Guild.
The place was buzzing. When I looked into what all the fuss was about, I found it was indeed the recruitment for the group subjugation.
A group hunt, huh? Those carry their own set of risks. If a Brave Boar charges you during a joint operation, everyone will know you’re the weakest link among multiple teams. I told my warrior not to let the boars' judgment get to him, but honestly, their instincts are incredibly accurate.
The rewards... weren't great. The total pay increases with the number of kills, but the price per head was the same as an individual request. On top of that, the Guild was forcing a mandatory buyout of all the meat. You could definitely get a better price by taking it to a butcher yourself. Having the Guild provide meals during the operation was a nice perk, but still...
Why was the place so crowded? Surely there were more profitable requests available? I wondered if there was some hidden reward I didn't know about. Wanting to clear the air, I checked with an acquaintance at the Guild.
"It’s because Lord Galf brought the job in," they told me.
...Ah. Now I understood.
Lord Galf puts out requests like this every now and then. In those cases, while Galf is the official client, the true requester is Lady Yoko, the Acting Village Head of Village Five. In other words, this group subjugation was Lady Yoko’s personal wish.
An official request from Lady Yoko herself! As someone living and working in Village Five, could I possibly ignore it? Not a chance!
I looked at my teammates. Everyone nodded in silent agreement. Alright, we were in.
On the day of the operation, we waited at our designated position. This wasn't a mission where individual teams would move as they pleased; the plan was to drive the boars into a specific area, surround them, and then wipe them out entirely. Based on the number of participating teams, I thought it was a bit overkill, but apparently, the herd we were targeting numbered over a hundred. That explained the need for a large-scale operation.
"How are things looking?"
A liaison officer approached us. Wait, I thought it was a liaison, but it was Lord Galf himself. I instinctively snapped into a salute.
"No need for that," he said. "Are there any problems?"
"No problems, sir. Just a bit bored."
"My apologies. The beaters have reported spotting the herd. It will take some time for them to reach this location, so stay sharp."
"Understood! ...Um, may I ask a question?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"That group over there—whose soldiers are they?"
A little distance away from us sat a group of about two hundred people. They were mostly Elves, which made them stand out, but there were other races mixed in as well. I was curious because almost none of them were wearing any armor.
"Those are volunteer soldiers from the nearby villages," Galf explained.
"Volunteer soldiers? You mean villagers who asked to join the hunt?"
"Exactly. They’re furious about the damage the Brave Boars have done to their homes. Their morale is high—and so is their skill level. We held a selection process before letting them join."
I see. That made sense.
"While I'm at it, the group further back... those are the Village Five Security Team, aren't they? Is that the First Squad?"
I pointed to the unit stationed even further behind the volunteers. The First Squad was the elite unit directly under Captain Pirika. Using them for Brave Boars seemed like total overkill. If any unit was going to participate, shouldn't it have been the Third Squad, since their job was regular monster culling around the village?
"The Third Squad is helping with the drive," Galf replied. "As for the First Squad... well, don't worry about them. They shouldn't get in your way."
"I-I see... but won't they be useless back there? They're too far from the action."
"They have to be in that specific position."
"Is that so? My apologies for questioning it."
"No, I’m the one who should apologize for being vague."
"Not at all. Ah, sorry for all the questions, but just one last thing."
"Go ahead."
"That couple over there, the ones who spread out a picnic blanket and are eating... shouldn't we chase them away? It’s not just that they’re out of place—I think it’s dangerous for them to be there."
"Ah... well, that’s probably the safest spot on the entire battlefield. Absolutely do not try to chase them away. Don’t even go near them. Got it?"
"Huh?"
"I asked if you understood."
"Y-Yes, sir..."
"Between you and me, the reason your team was placed in this specific spot is because of your skills, of course, but also because of your reputation for good conduct. I’m trusting you."
Lord Galf repeated that he was trusting us several times before finally walking away. What was that all about? I mean, logically speaking, having people having a picnic right there would tank morale... and as for safety being guaranteed, how could he be so sure? Galf wouldn't say that just because the First Squad was nearby.
Oh, wait. Maybe that couple was bait?
To lure the Brave Boars in! I see, I see. If I looked at it that way, the positioning of the First Squad made perfect sense. They were using the couple as bait but had the elites positioned to ensure not a single hair on their heads was touched.
Yeah, that cleared everything up. Alright, now all that was left was to kill some boars! I was ready to give it my all!
I was fired up, but no matter how long we waited, the boars never showed. Apparently, the beaters had failed. The herd of Brave Boars had supposedly bolted in the opposite direction from us.
Man, what a letdown. And when I thought about the villages in the direction the herd was heading, I felt a pang of guilt.
Then, one of my teammates let out a strange cry. "What’s wrong?" I asked. He just pointed at the sky.
The sky? Was it a flock of birds? No—wait! It was a flock of Wyverns! And it wasn't just ten or twenty. There were a hundred... no, at least two hundred of them.
This was bad. We were geared up for boars, not aerial combat. We didn't have any anti-Wyvern equipment. On top of that, a single Wyvern is overwhelmingly stronger than a Brave Boar. And there were two hundred?
But I didn't panic. There was a chance they would just fly past us. Suddenly, the volunteer soldiers started drawing their bows. Stop it! Do you want to provoke them?! Thankfully, Lord Galf rushed over and stopped the volunteers before they could fire. As expected of him. The First Squad remained calm, having shifted into a perfect combat stance. They were incredibly dependable. However, the enemy was in the air. There was only so much we could do from the ground.
...I wasn't going to give up, though.
The Wyverns didn't attack us. But they didn't fly past, either. Instead, the Wyverns began stacking carcasses of Brave Boars in a massive heap right in front of Lord Galf. There were dozens and dozens of them, from small ones to massive specimens.
Could this be the herd we were supposed to be hunting? And why were they piling them up in front of Galf? Even Galf looked completely bewildered.
Then, the Wyverns took off again. They flew away as if they were running for their lives. What was that? I had no idea what was going on.
Regardless of the confusion, it seemed our job was done.
"Eh? A job transporting the meat?" "You'll treat the number of boars we carry back as confirmed kills for our reward?" "And we can keep the full sales price of the meat ourselves?"
We'll get to carrying them right away, sir!
It was a very strange day. By the way, I later heard that the meat the Adventurer Guild bought up cheaply was distributed for free to the villages that had been damaged. If they had told me that from the start, I wouldn't have taken the money from the sales.
Sheesh.