Chapter 14

Chapter 14. The First Hero (8)

“Aaaaaaagh!”

It was almost impossible for Taylor to stay calm while charging toward the Wild Pig.

His entire body trembled.

He gripped the horse’s reins and swung them hard, trying to shake off his fear, but the horse seemed to sense its master’s anxiety as well.

Hiiing. Hing.

It tried to turn away.

Taylor forced the horse back in the right direction and looked toward Hero Lee Naye.

His plan was to stick right beside Hero Lee Naye while fighting so that he would not die.

However, he had no idea whether that would actually be possible.

They can’t even properly fight back. There are way too many Wild Pigs today.

Taylor had been unable to deal with the unusually large number of Wild Pigs earlier.

Only with Lee Naye’s help had they managed to minimize the damage to his village.

Unlike the village where Taylor lived, the village ruled by Village Chief Dallan was on the verge of being completely overrun.

Kueek!

A Wild Pig noticed Taylor and turned its head toward him.

“Die!!!”

Taylor swung his spear while still on horseback.

Even as he attacked, he imagined the spear failing to pierce the Wild Pig’s leather and his body being thrown into the air.

Even so, he gave it everything he had.

Aim for the eye.

The tip of Taylor’s spear stabbed toward the Wild Pig’s eye.

The Wild Pig closed its eye just before the spear reached it.

It’ll bounce off.

Taylor had never managed to pierce a Wild Pig’s eyelid before.

To keep himself from being thrown into the air, Taylor firmly locked both legs around the horse’s body.

The spear tip began piercing through the Wild Pig’s eyelid.

Huh? This isn’t right.

It did not bounce off.

The spear pierced through the eyelid and sank deep into the eyeball.

Taylor panicked and pulled the spear out of the Wild Pig’s eye.

“Huh?”

Taylor stared in disbelief at the spear he had pulled free and the wounded eye of the Wild Pig.

Even the horse tilted its head several times after seeing what its master had done.

Prrrr?

The Wild Pig’s eye had been injured, but it was not over.

Kueeeeeek!!!

Taylor had no time to think.

The Wild Pig became enraged after being attacked.

Taylor thrust his spear again, aiming to pierce its neck.

His hands trembled violently, and he tightened his grip around the spear shaft, trying to stop them from shaking.

The spear will break. I’m going to get thrown away.

Taylor had been attacked by Wild Pigs countless times before.

His fear was based on experience.

Injuring its eye had just been luck.

This time, it would really happen!

Pook!

The spear tip pierced through the hide and dug into the flesh.

Kueek!!!

The Wild Pig cried out in pain.

“Uuugh!!!”

Taylor raised his hips slightly, preparing himself to be thrown away.

Instead, he watched in disbelief as the Wild Pig cried out in pain and collapsed.

He pulled out his spear and stabbed it into the Wild Pig’s back again.

Pook!

The spear tip smoothly pierced the hide that had once felt as hard as steel.

Another impossible thing had happened.

Taylor stabbed the Wild Pig’s hide several more times.

“What’s going on? It shouldn’t go through. More importantly, did I actually kill it?”

One of the reasons the villages had suffered so much from the Wild Pigs was their tough hide.

If someone could pierce that hide, a Wild Pig barely deserved to be called a monster.

It could almost be treated like an ordinary animal.

Wild Pigs made up for their weak stamina with extremely thick hides.

Taylor had once struggled even to injure one of their eyes.

Yet now, he had killed one with only three thrusts.

Watching Taylor’s performance from a distance, Kosdal frowned.

“How did you do that?”

“Lee Naye’s horse listens to its master really well. Even with Wild Pigs nearby, it keeps its distance, eats grass, and watches its master.”

Kim Seongchan did not answer Kosdal’s actual question.

Perhaps because the horse had spent so much time with Lee Naye, it had become quite intelligent.

Normally, it would have been frightened enough to run away.

“Humans aren’t the only ones who grow stronger. A great horse isn’t born a great horse.”

“That’s true. Just look at Taylor right now.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. How can he fight a Wild Pig when not even a full day has passed? He’s already killed two of them!”

“Soldiers with one year of training can kill them too. Experienced soldiers can even cut off their heads with a single strike. You’re reacting too strongly.”

Taylor had never received a year of military training.

He had simply spent his life farming.

He had some real combat experience, but even when five people worked together to skin a Wild Pig, Taylor had struggled.

For someone like that to change this much in a single day, it was understandable that Kosdal was shocked.

Kim Seongchan knew why Taylor could kill Wild Pigs now.

Lower Butchering helps when cutting through hide.

Taylor had been faster than anyone else at skinning Wild Pigs.

He had talent.

After acquiring the Lower Butchering skill, Taylor was now killing Wild Pigs while wearing an expression that said he had no idea what was happening and wondered whether he was dreaming.

“But those soldiers received training. This makes no sense!”

“And yet, I made it happen.”

“Hmm... He doesn’t seem to have any special combat technique. Is the Lower Butchering skill affecting it?”

Kosdal’s observation was accurate.

He had not become a Knight Commander for nothing.

“It’s possible because he has talent. Not everyone with the Lower Butchering skill can do that.”

“That much is obvious. Looking at his movements, and how he keeps watching the charging Wild Pigs without closing his eyes in fear, he definitely has talent.”

If every village had even one person with talent similar to Taylor’s, Lee Naye’s burden would become much lighter.

Even now, as she fought alongside Taylor, a small smile appeared on Lee Naye’s face.

It was the smile of someone whose long struggle had finally become a little easier.

Silnyang, sitting on her shoulder, wore a similar smile.

A master’s happiness is good for the spirit too.

Kim Seongchan watched the relationship between Lee Naye and Silnyang slowly improve while waiting for the situation to settle.

“How many villages have we saved now?”

“Around twenty.”

They had saved as many as twenty villages.

They had visited every village around the Terk Kingdom.

“There’s nowhere else that needs saving now, right?”

“Not at the moment.”

They had traveled through many villages, but only around ten days had passed.

For ten days, Kim Seongchan had saved villages and made Wild Pig Soup to fill the villagers’ empty stomachs.

“It seems the Wild Pigs caused far more damage than I imagined.”

“Sir Kosdal, didn’t you just stand there and watch until the very end?”

Kosdal had not helped them even once while they were saving the villages.

He only observed the surroundings and never directly interfered.

Sometimes, when he judged that there might be danger nearby, he would travel far away before returning.

There are Wild Pigs everywhere outside our sight.

Except for a few Heroes, no one could match Kosdal’s sense for detecting nearby presences.

Kosdal’s perception was exceptional.

And thanks to his knowledge from regression, Kim Seongchan knew exactly what Kosdal had been doing.

I’m the only one who knows.

If Kosdal had not been there, they would have often found themselves desperately fighting sudden waves of Wild Pigs.

However, Kosdal had killed all of them in places where the others could not see.

That was why they had managed to save twenty villages in only ten days.

Otherwise, the damage would obviously have been much greater.

“You would be shocked if you knew what I actually did.”

However, the truth everyone had seen was that Kosdal had never killed the Wild Pigs attacking the villages.

“Sir Kosdal, you really did just watch until the end.”

Lee Naye spoke calmly after hearing Kosdal’s proud voice.

Frustrated, Kosdal thumped his chest.

“Have none of you considered that more Wild Pigs didn’t attack because I was here?”

Kosdal asked seriously.

Lee Naye, who had been agreeing with Kim Seongchan, and Taylor, who had also been quietly nodding along, suddenly stiffened.

Come to think of it, there weren’t any additional attacks.

Taylor blinked as he thought about it.

Kosdal looked satisfied when he realized Taylor had finally understood.

Still, some disappointment remained.

Kim Seongchan and Lee Naye had yet to acknowledge him.

“Even if more had come, Lee Naye and Taylor would’ve killed them all anyway.”

“Then what exactly did you do?”

Kosdal, seemingly upset that nobody believed him, turned the question back on Kim Seongchan.

“Let’s see!”

Kim Seongchan deliberately raised his voice and climbed the stairs beside the low-grade monster cauldron.

He opened the lid and checked whether the Wild Pig meat inside the violently boiling broth had cooked properly.

After examining the meat, he looked at Kosdal.

Kosdal cleared his throat.

“You should be grateful that a Knight Commander of an entire kingdom has stayed here this long.”

Kim Seongchan did not answer.

Everyone thought of Kosdal as a Knight Commander who did nothing but stay beside Kim Seongchan and eat Wild Pig Soup.

Kim Seongchan came down the stairs and headed toward the furnace.

“Good job.”

Kyar!

After making several mistakes and correcting them one by one, If had become skilled at controlling the fire.

When Kim Seongchan looked at the color and shine of the Wild Pig meat and thought that the flames should be lowered slightly, If immediately reduced the fire.

It was a level of precise fire control that would have been impossible without a fire spirit.

It was only possible because If was a fire spirit capable of adjusting the flames exactly as Kim Seongchan wanted.

And because that spirit was If.

Kim Seongchan tasted the Wild Pig Soup with a spoon to check the seasoning.

“It has even more depth now. You adjusted the taste of the water perfectly for the Wild Pig Soup.”

Hii!

Not all water was the same.

If someone made the same stew with lowest-grade water and highest-grade water, the stew made with highest-grade water would taste far better.

That was because of the difference in minerals.

Ella, as a water spirit, could even make subtle changes to the components that formed the water itself.

After praising both spirits, Kim Seongchan looked around.

Slash! Slash!

At some point, Taylor had gone over to help butcher the Wild Pigs.

After helping villages that suffered from Wild Pig attacks, Taylor had also begun teaching people how to butcher them.

As a result, Taylor had learned the same Intermediate Butchering skill as Kim Seongchan.

Taylor, a person born in this world, was learning skills at the same speed as Kim Seongchan, a Hero.

He really is fast.

Taylor silently taught the villagers how to butcher the Wild Pigs.

Perhaps sensing Kim Seongchan’s gaze, he turned his head.

“Looks like they’ve all learned the butchering skill. Stop teaching and come over here.”

“Understood, Seongchan.”

“What are you going to do from now on?”

“From now on?”

“The villages around the Terk Kingdom are safe from the Wild Pigs now. I’m asking whether you’re going back to your village.”

Taylor could not answer.

Slash. Slash.

The sound of Wild Pigs being butchered and processed echoed around them.

Every one of those sounds came from villagers using the butchering skills that Taylor had taught them.

Ten days ago, Taylor had lived without even knowing what a butchering skill was.

Now, only ten days later, he had traveled through village after village teaching that skill.

By the end, he had reached the point where he could teach entire groups on his own.

How did I even get this far?

They had gone to villages in danger.

They killed Wild Pigs.

They helped the villagers learn butchering skills.

They ate Wild Pig Soup.

Then they left.

They repeated the same process again and again, constantly searching for villages that needed help.

Taylor had never even had time to think about when it would end.

He had been too busy trying to keep up with Kim Seongchan, who moved from one task to another without stopping.

And now, Taylor finally realized it.

The people living in the villages around the Terk Kingdom had learned the Lower Butchering skill.

Unlike before, they now had the power to protect themselves.

And all of it had happened in only ten days.

Drip. Drip.

Overwhelmed by emotion, Taylor began to cry.

For years, they had been unable to defeat their old enemy, the Wild Pigs.

No, they had not even thought about defeating them.

They had simply told themselves,

Just survive today. Just survive today.

But now, they could fight them.

And that was not all.

They had even saved the villages surrounding the Terk Kingdom.

Seongchan... are you a savior sent down from the heavens?

Taylor could no longer understand the limits of what Kim Seongchan was capable of.