First Hunting

In this world, apart from humans, beasts with low intelligence, and monsters with high intelligence, there's one more class of beings. They exist only for one purpose, and that is to eradicate all other species from the world. Collectively, they are labeled as demons, characterized by their mindless thirst for blood.

Demons cover about 30% of the overall population of the world, having the largest numbers. Even though the demons have the advantage in numbers, humans, beasts, and monsters work together to hold back the carnage of the demons, maintaining a delicate balance.

Why am I talking about demons? Because hunting demons was the quickest way to make money!

Each proof of subjugation, when submitted to the government office, can be paid for with at least 1,000 Credits. Some of the stronger types even fetch as much as 100,000 Credits per subjugation.

However, there is one problem with this plan. That is, demons are unusually powerful. If I were to go fight against one of the weakest types of demons with my slime, then 10 times out of 10, we would be losing the battle.

However, that is only if we fought straightforwardly.

With my slime, who can now use [Tackle] in any direction and activate [Playing Dead] at the drop of a hat, we have about a 70% chance of winning.

After I and the slime ate a full meal in a random canteen, we went outside the gates once more. I wanted to buy some armor or weapons before heading out, but since those are expensive, I postponed it. If my plan works, we could hunt a lot of demons without so much as a scratch.

Heading outside the gate, instead of following the highway, we headed towards the thick forest. In the middle of the forest is an area where demons spawn almost endlessly. Luckily, demons near cities and towns are greatly weakened, bringing down their danger level similar to slimes'.

The area where demons spawn was quite far from the town, as expected. It took two hours just to reach the visible divide between the normal forest and the dark and eerie forest that demons inhabit.

From the green and brown scenery, it quickly turned to a dark gray overtone. As if the land itself was cursed, the trees didn't have a single leaf and were the color of ash. It was no longer alive.

Right after stepping into the gray area, we immediately spotted a single demon from far away. It was a thin but tall demon with no meat on its body. It was made of only bones. It was a typical demon called the Undead Skeleton. Its danger level was similar to that of a slime, so to me, it is so deadly that I should avoid getting near it at all costs.

"(Slime, you know the plan.)"

Hearing my whisper, the slime jumped slightly in assent. Then, it slowly crawled towards the skeleton while continuously using the [Playing Dead] skill.

Although the skill sounds silly and seems useless, the [Playing Dead] skill can mitigate the monster's hatred toward the caster and even provide a small amount of stealth. In short, if used properly, it can have a similar effect to the "sneak" skill of some nimble beasts.

When the skeleton entered the [Tackle] range of the slime, without waiting any longer, the slime jumped and used [Tackle]. The skeleton, not noticing that an assailant had crept up to its bosom, was smashed into pieces as the slime passed through its ribcage.

The skeleton fell and scattered all around before turning into a pile of ash and vanishing with the wind. Only a small shard of something similar to broken glass was left on the spot. I quickly jogged to the spot and picked up the glass shard. This piece of glass is the essence of the skeleton. It can be used as subjugation proof or to power up tamed monsters and beasts.

For now, since we intend to only hunt around the edges of the undead forest, we will be saving the essence as subjugation proof. Money is the first and foremost problem we need to solve.

Using the same strategy, we hunted several undead skeletons for the whole afternoon. All in all, we managed to hunt 45 of them, which is equivalent to earning 45,000 Credits in one afternoon. With that amount, we can live peacefully for a week or two at least.

After backtracking, we reached the town right before the gates closed. Since I was quite a rare sight, the guard seemed to remember me as the scrawny guy bringing a slime along. Thanks to that, we passed the gates without much trouble.

"In this town, the government office is..."

Looking at the map drawn on the bulletin board near the plaza, I searched for the government office. Soon, I found it on the map. Remembering the path, I ran towards the place indicated.

Soon, a large building that looked more like a church than a government office entered my sight. I entered without hesitation and quickly went to a vacant clerk.

"Welcome to the government office, how can I help you?"

The cute brown-haired lady greeted me with a smile. As I was about to reply, my gaze was suddenly drawn in a certain direction. From afar, it's not that visible, but upon getting closer, it was amazing. H, or maybe even J? I'm not sure, but it was inhumanely huge.

When I noticed that her smile was twitching a bit, I quickly cleared my throat and resumed my poker face.

"I want to claim rewards for subjugating demons."

I laid down the 45 pieces of essence atop the tray prepared at the counter. After counting the total number of essence crystals, the lady quickly said.

"I have received 45 small essence crystals. Each piece costs 1,200 Credits, for a total of 54,000 Credits."

After saying so, she laid down a few pieces of bills and coins. It was my first time holding money that was in the form of bills and not coins. I immediately confirmed that the amount paid was exactly 54,000 Credits as I kept the money in my tattered clothes.

"By the way, did the price of demon essence increase?"

I was curious about it, so I decided to ask. There's no harm in asking.

"Yes. Actually, the mayor of the neighboring town is asking for a large number of essences, so our office raised the buying price of essence crystals by 20% to reach the target quantity."

... The mayor of the neighboring town?