Chapter 5 Vol.1

Chapter 5: A race.

I woke up in the morning and found myself restrained by Calli who happened to be sleeping on the same bed as me.After some struggling I managed to wake her up.

"Good mor *guh* ning son." [Calli]

"You too dad..." [Edgelord]

Her breath reeks of alcohol, I wonder if this is my fate from now on.However, to be embraced by death didn't feel as bad as it meant to be.

"Was yesterday fun for you?"[Calli]

"Yes it was very interesting, but I didn't stay up long enough to hear yours."[Edge]

Calli paused and replied in a slightly down tone.

"There will be a time for that, it's nothing as exciting after all." [Calli]

"Alright then, you promised." [Edge]

We gathered to eat our breakfast and Miko couldn't hold her laughter in reaction to seeing Pekora's swollen bump on her head.

"HAHAHAHA! Usada-ga, she rolled off her bed and hit her head when she planted her face on the floor HAHAHAHAHA! "[ELITE Miko]

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"[Edge]

"Hahahaha"[Calli]

It seems Miko was sharing the same room as Pekora last night. Pekora was not amused, she pouted like a child and felt embarrassed by her actions. I felt exhilarated and saw it as her undoing for messing up my face yesterday.

We went on our journey and departed towards the hunting grounds. The hunting grounds surrounded Yamato as if a natural fortress, composed of flatlands, forests, and also rivers infested by monsters. It is a source of income for the hunters and one of the products for the country. To get to the Vault we have to pass by Yamato in order to reach the very north of the continent. A day has passed, we had finally reached the hunting grounds.

"It's another forest"[Edgelord]

"We were lucky last time that there weren't any encounters, but it's twice worse here so I can finally get to fight here this time."[ELITE Miko]

"Don't get too excited you muscle brain, the reaper hasn't even spoken yet peko."[Pekora]

Calli just sits calmly listening to their bickering. Then she responded.

"I'll leave any threats to the both of you, all spoils go to the one that hunted the most !" [Calli]

"THIS IS A SHOWDOWN PEKORA, I WILL DEFINITELY WIN THIS TIME!!" [ELITE Miko]

"HA↘HA↗HA↘HA↗HA↘, YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN ME, NO WAY PEKO!!" [Pekora]

They were filled with battle spirit just from Calli's suggestion. However, 3 hours have passed by and both of them have started to lose their spirits.

"I bet the monster will come from our left." [ELITE Miko]

"I'll bet on 30 gold pekocoins every time it would come from the right peko." [Pekora]

"Then I'll bet with 35 Towabucks as well every time it comes from the left." [ELITE Miko]

Then suddenly, the wagon came to a sudden stop.Pekora and Miko jumped out of the wagon at the same time. I stood up to take a look at what's in front of us. Our road was blocked by tree logs. Pekora and Miko had already stationed themselves in front of the wagon waiting for the heavy footsteps that are coming towards us. 4 creatures that are 5 meters tall with dark brown skin and fangs protruding from their mouth started dashing towards us.

"Trolls huh, this will be easy."[ELITE Miko]

Miko took out a huge sword that looked like it was made out of obsidian. That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron.

Miko ran towards the troll at full speed and swung the sword upwards with amazing might. The first troll was unable to react and tried to kill its own momentum when Miko closed in. But unable to escape Miko's range, the sword makes its way crushing the entrails of the troll from the bottom of his body.

*Clang* *Crack Crack Crack* *Loud Roaring*

The deformed body roared in pain and was sent upwards into the sky with a loud impact. Then Miko turned towards the second troll that went past her earlier. The troll picked up one of the trees that was used as a blockade earlier to face Miko. Miko placed the center of gravity of her body low and ran towards the troll in a steady manner. As soon as Miko entered the long range of the troll, it smashed the tree down at where Miko was.

*Roar!* *Smash!*

However, Miko simply reacts when the troll is going to attack. When the tree slammed down, she changed the direction she was running to get close to the troll's feet. After repeating it 3 times, she reached its feet. Miko struck the right ankle where the troll is putting its weight on. The ankle broke off from its leg and the troll fell down with its face planted on the ground.

*Crack* *THUD!*

At the same time, the first troll had landed on the ground, creating dust clouds, and vomited its innards upon landing.

*BOOM!* *Troll Whimper*

Miko climbed onto the second troll, placed the tip of her sword on the 2nd vertebrae of the troll. Holding the sword with one hand, she rolled her hand into a fist with the other, and with controlled strength, she hammered the pommel of the sword.

*CRACK!*

A loud crack resounded and the troll is now dead. She moved towards the first troll she sent flying that looks very close to death now and repeated the same action.

"Perfect! What do you think Edge, aren't I Cool? "[ELITE Miko]

"Yes, It was cool Mikochi." [Edge]

But Pekora is already seated in the wagon.

Back to the beginning, Pekora wasn't as eager as Miko to be slaying trolls. At the same time, Miko already dashed off.

"I don't want to get dirtied but I don't want to let her win peko."[Pekora]

"Then, I guess you're up peko, DON-CHAN!!"[Pekora]

The rabbit-like scarf on her neck suddenly moved. There's a long rabbit standing on all fours looking at Pekora. Pekora pointed towards the troll running at us and spoke.

"KILL PEKO !!"[Pekora]

Don-chan dashed towards the trolls and evaded their attacks, it managed to enter the mouth of the troll in the front. The troll fails around in pain but unable to shout as it constantly coughs blood from its throat. The other troll sensed something wrong and proceeded to distance itself from it. After a painful death-rattle, the innocent-looking Don-chan exited the bloodied mouth of the motionless troll.

"HA↘HA↗HA↘HA↗HA↘!" [Pekora]

Don chan then chased after the troll that went ahead, closing it with extreme speed. With the same maneuver, the troll did not have the chance to react to it. Don- chan exited the troll's mouth covered in blood and intestines. He tried to shook it off his body and walked towards Pekora maybe to rest on her neck again.

"NO! Don't come close to me, you'll make me dirty." [Pekora]

"..." [Don-Chan]

"Wait..I just had a good idea, there's something you can do for me HA↘HA↗HA↘HA↗HA↘ " [Pekora]

Pekora stood there for a second and started laughing, she seems to be plotting something.

Afterward, monsters kept coming from the right side of the wagon and Miko just keeps paying up to pekora from their previous bet.Miko did not realize the anomaly yet but I figured that she asked Don-chan to make monsters run into us purposely.

"Kitira kitira HA↘HA↗HA↘HA↗HA↘" [Pekora]

Due to losing Don-chan, she had to resort to fighting the monsters herself. She resorted to using her fists and legs to finish monsters in one blow.

"ORA!" [Pekora]

"DON'T DESTROY THE HEAD YOU IDIOT RABBIT, IT WORTH A LOT MORE THAN YOURS! " [ELITE Miko]

After half a day, visible fatigue is seen on Pekora's face. Her mobility is great, swift, and explosive power but she lacks stamina I presume. The 2-day competition became 3 days due to Pekora's interference. At the last day, Pekora just decided to let Miko handle all the monsters she draws in. At the end, Miko won all the spoils from the hunt and Pekora won cold hard cash.

Pekora probably wanted to win both but Miko was more resilient.

We had meat every night and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But I felt conflicted from seeing the disparity between Pekora and Miko's ability. I can't help but think that it was unfair.

"Calli." [Edge]

"You need something boy?" [Calli]

I could feel my throat heats up.

"I need to speak with you." [Edge]

Pekora and Miko left us alone so that we could speak in private.

"Calli, It isn't fair for Miko." [Edge]

"What's not fair specifically" [Calli]

I feel my throat gets even hotter.

"Miko fought so hard, with polished moves, and has so much knowledge on what comes at us." [Edgelord]

"And?" [Calli]

"And Pekora just doesn't even need to try at all, she could just ask Don-chan to make it all happen for her or finish anything in 1 blow. " [Edge]

Calli gave a light smile and spoke in a gentle tone.

"You know, Miko could probably finish anything with a punch too, but that's not the point." [Calli]

"We are all born different Edge, with different gifts too. There's a gift that makes it easy for us to swim but if someone has a gift that makes them run on water, would it be unfair for them to be put in a race? "[Calli]

"I think it will be? Since I can run faster than I swim?"[Edge]

"But you see *Guh*both have the same goal which is covering the same distance so what could you do to make yourself faster if you're the swimmer.

"Move faster in the water, swim along with a current?"[Edge]

"Yes, But despite all the efforts, the swimmer may fail to win the race 28 times out of 34."[Calli]

"I don't feel like you're making this up." [Edge]

"I've seen a lot kid, ok listen." [Calli]

"So anyway, what you see was basically just Pekora in its element that gave her the advantage to become the runner in our little competition." [Calli]

"Miko doesn't lose out to her, in fact, she persisted longer than Pekora, She knows how to save her strength in response to different threats." [Calli]

"In overall, everyone here knows that she is the better hunter which is why she won. Because she persisted longer and harder than the runner in our small marathon."[Calli]

I no longer felt sorry for Miko, it would be disrespectful to do so. I intend to apologize to Miko for having such thoughts.

"Never tell that to Miko you hear me, she would be furious. I'll help you handle it ok."[Calli]

"Ok, goodnight."[Edge]

I went back into the wagon and saw Pekora and Miko sleeping together, I laid down on my bed and slept as well.

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