Golden Experience

He didn’t understand the specifics, but they needed a ton of that “XP” stuff. Hunt prey, drive away invaders, do this over and over again until, suddenly, you achieve growth as you desired—“XP” was the power that made this possible. Since all the XP was gathered by the leader of the pack, Rare, even if Hakuma and the other wolves didn’t hunt, they could still get stronger. Truly the power of the gods. Though Hakuma didn’t know what a “god” was, so those were just words he repeated from Kerry. When they had first met, his only impression of her was “a foolish cat who was just a little bit nimble,” but now things were different. Since she looked just a tiny bit like Boss, she was given various kinds of jobs, and now she had turned rather intelligent.

Just recently, Ginka and the cat named Marion formed a tag team, successfully leading Boss to a far-off place. Ice wolves, just like all wolf-type monsters, typically hunted in pairs. Normally, that meant Hakuma would have gone along with them, but they couldn’t take their eyes off the pups. Because of that, ever since fleeing from the north, the two of them would each go out and hunt alone, even though they knew it was more dangerous. They could ask the ants to watch them, but since one pup was generally stronger than one ant, they looked down on them, and it was hard to imagine that they would behave under their care. Not to mention it was already unusual for there to be so many pups in a pack and so few adult wolves. Hakuma knew all this, so he had chosen this path and harbored no regrets.

The pups were starting to get bigger as well. However, they were still only the size of coyotes; their fur was still soft and fluffy, and their bodies were more round than they should be, so it was about time for them to go out and learn to hunt, even if it was just play-hunting.

Thinking on it, perhaps this was a good opportunity. If it was only for training, then there were so many ants that they would be acceptable, but including the goal of obtaining more XP, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to also train the pups at the same time.

He immediately contacted Sugaru about this, and while the ants were going to take care of the large monster farm, in exchange, Hakuma was allowed to deal with the goblin farm. They were not to kill the ones used for breeding, though. Either way, with goblins, Hakuma and Ginka’s participation would only hinder the acquisition of XP. Since they intended only to oversee things, this would not be a problem.

<Now, little ones, hunting practice. You know what goblins are? Small, dirty things. They think they are smart, use weapons like humans, but don’t use well. But, goblins in this forest had weapons taken away.>

The pups responded that “they knew, they already knew.” They could convey their feelings directly to members of the same race, but they were unable to talk to other races. Boss said it had to do with something called “int,” but since Boss didn’t have any particular role for the pups to play at the moment, she also didn’t particularly strengthen them. “It’s fine to just raise them at your own pace,” she had said.

However, being raised in a pack meant you had to have a role. It would be nice if Hakuma and Ginka could help them figure that out while they were little, but recently Hakuma didn’t have any particularly extravagant work to do. Boss said something about being “bodyguards,” but since wolves didn’t understand “insurance,” Hakuma didn’t really get what it meant.

With the pups in tow, they all went to the goblin farm. After arriving, Ginka was left to monitor the ones that they absolutely needed to keep alive, and they would see how the pups did trying to hunt down the rest.

<If you are hit, it will not hurt much, but there are monsters out there who use claws and fangs with poison. You will fight them one day, so try not to get hit.>

After being given that warning, the pups were let loose. They dashed forward as an unruly group, jumping on the goblins and biting into their heads and tearing off their limbs playfully. Since their lives in this forest were stable and they were able to eat high-quality meat, the pups had developed rather refined palates, so they didn’t even spare a second glance at the horrid goblin meat. Whatever they bit and tore off they also spit out right then and there. Compared to how hunting should normally be, this was rather deplorable behavior, but such reprimands could be put off until they matured more. For now, it was fine to learn how to attack enemies and avoid being hit.

Since letting any escape would reflect poorly on both Boss and Sugaru, who had agreed to this arrangement, the pups were told to chase down any goblins who tried to flee the grounds. Goblins may be quick, but there was no way they could escape from wolves, even young ones. Hakuma hoped they would one day be able to see the bigger picture and not leave openings for the goblins to exploit in the first place, but this was acceptable for their first hunt.

Goblins tried to escape, the pups chased down the goblins, and Hakuma chased after the pups; this repeated for some time until Hakuma got a message from Sugaru. Boss had got enough XP. After this, the farm’s management would be returned to the ants. Hakuma saw the ants from afar, so he gathered all the pups together. The pups all ran up to him, their claws and mouths dyed red. All of their eyes were sparkling; apparently they had really enjoyed this outing. They may still be children, but they were also built for hunting. Perhaps he could ask Boss to allow them to simultaneously train and play like this in the future.

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, he felt himself bursting with pride. Looking at Ginka and the pups, the expressions on their faces indicated to him that they were going through the same thing. It was just instinct. What probably happened was that Boss had gotten much stronger. Hakuma’s chest was bursting with a sense of safety from having someone mighty standing behind him, and a feeling of superiority from being allowed to kneel at that person’s feet.

He wanted to bask in Boss’s presence and burn her appearance into his eyes as soon as he possibly could.

But before that, he needed to find somewhere to wash the pups.