After getting a brief from Yuna-san, we carefully enter the forest.

As a city person, I rarely go to such wild places, even during my day off. It's not that I've never been to one before.

I can say that the team developers have done a good job of reproducing the ambience of a serene forest in this virtual reality. I can even smell the earthy and fresh scent of wood.

The forest is quite dense enough that my vision is often blocked by towering trees. The path is quite clear, though. There are almost no bushes in the area that we can venture into the deep with ease. As long as we keep our eyes on the tree roots, there will be no problem in advancing.

We proceed cautiously through the forest with the order: I'm in the frontmost position, behind me is Yuna-san, and then Iris-san in the middle, while Irika is securing the rear.

Yuna-san will use her sharp vision to watch out for Eye Hunters from above, and Irika will deal with monsters from behind.

We move forward at a speed matching Irika's pace.

With her current skill, Irika can only make HP and MP potions and can only find materials used to produce them, so she desperately wants to find a lot of materials and quickly level up her [Pharmaceutical] skill.

The first monster we encounter when we delve into the forest is the creepy Spice Rowder. It's even more disgusting than I imagined it to be. Its abdomen is so big and hairy that the hair behind my neck stands up involuntarily.

The Spice Rowder seems to only have two patterns of attack: stomping over the target with its legs or spitting strings from its mouth. There is also a pair of claws, no, fangs, around her mouth. I wonder why this monster didn't try to utilize it.

The stomping is actually rather slow, so if you're not staying still, it's hard for the attack to connect. It's also quite easy to discern when it will spit its thread if you observe its movement carefully, so it's basically possessed of no threat to us.

That's only when we gang up on the monster in a group. I can imagine how horrible it would be to face this abomination alone. It's quite a formidable enemy for a solo player, I say.

I continue to launch one attack after another while prioritizing avoiding its attack.

The fight continues for a while. It seems that this monster possesses an abundance of HP and has a solid defence. After that, Yuna-san's arrow, Iris-san's magic, and Irika-san's mace were able to finish the hunt all at once.

We are rewarded with two drop items: [Spice Rowder's Leg] and [Spice Rowder's Thread]

I'm a bit interested in the threads because I heard that they can be used as a material for manufacturing clothes. As for the legs that are said to be edible, I'm not interested at all. I've never entertained the thought of making such creepy things as ingredients.

Going further, we meet with the Black Rabby and White Rabby for the first time. It looks like they always show up in pairs. As I've heard, this monster is quite small and, thus, I don't feel threatened by them except for their sharp pointy horns on their heads.

Well, I don't want to underestimate the enemies, so, for precaution, I ask Irika to step forward and intercept them.

The black one tries to rush at me, but I'm able to parry it easily and launch a counterattack with my Black Aikiri.

Well, I suppose I did it in reflex. The black rabbit attacked me, so I attacked it back with a black dagger. As simple as that.

Two of them will charge at different timings, so I'll leave the white one to Irika and I'll take care of the black one.

It's just business and nothing personal, Mr. Black Rabbit!

Because it jumps and rushes, it's quite vulnerable to an attack from the side.

Before I knew it, the battle had already ended.

Irika took a little damage, but I was able to defeat my opponent without any problems.

Well, our fight earns us yet another praise from Yuna-san and Iris-san.

We hunt for some time, and we encounter an Eye Hunter.

Yuna-san noticed its presence before I did, and she shot it down before my attack could reach the hawk-like monster.

I am once again in awe of Yuna-san's prowess.

I wonder how high her skill is to be able to release so many arrows at once.

One word for her: terrific!

Things went smoothly after that, and after a few battles I catch a glimpse of the personality of each of my party's member.

Although Yuna-san is usually very lively and bubbly in daily life, she becomes more composed and cautious during our hunt. She still makes jokes occasionally to ease the tension, but she is also the one who is the strictest.

Iris-san, despite her sometimes aloof temperament and bluntness, is actually a very kind and caring person. She is prone to banter with Yuna-san, though, because Yuna-san always teases her.

And she surprisingly has a soft side for cute things. When we went against Cuckobirds or Spice Rowder, she always fought ruthlessly, but when our enemies were the Rabbys and Peach Swine, she often hesitated to launch an attack.

I don't know if this is good or bad, but that side of her is really adorable. Not that I'm going to tell her that; she is a little bit tsundere after all.

The one most unexpected is Irika. I thought she would have difficulty in the fight due to her shy and clumsy personality, but she was actually very assertive and decisive.

But that also means that she sometimes does reckless things. I guess that's the reason she was in trouble when I rescued her that day.

Finally our hunt end, and I'm able to collect a certain number of materials and drop items.

Today's results and my share were as follows.

===

Name: Eve

Race: Human Lv7 (↑3)

Job: Thief Lv11 (↑5)

HP: 400/400 (↑150)

MP: 400/400 (↑150)

STR: 80

VIT: 120

AGI: 170 (↑25)

DEX: 170 (↑25)

INT: 40

Points: 60 (↑30)

---

[Passive Skill]

Eye of Recognition Lv1, Dagger Mastery Lv15 (↑6), Night Vision Lv3, Dual Wielding Lv.1 (New)

[Active Skill]

Stealth Lv8 (↑2)

Points: 11 (↑6)

---

[Inventories]

Cuckobird Feather × 6

Cuckobird Meat × 4

Peach Swine Guts × 2

Peach Swine Meat × 4

Rabby Meat × 6

Black Rabby Horn × 2

White Rabby Horn × 2

Spice Rowder Thread × 6

Spice Rowder Leg × 2

Eye Hunter Feather × 4

===

Each of them is growing up nicely.

I have no use for the [Eye of Recognition] as usual, so I haven't raised it. I wonder if it will ever go up.

We returned to the town before dark, so there was no change in the [night vision].

I think that the [Stealth] skill is not used as much as it used to be when I was in a party.

Also, the skill points increased by 1, but it seems that every time the number of skills you own levels up to Lv. 10, you get 1 bonus point.

As for items, we gave priority to foodstuffs. Instead, there are fewer items for sale. They gave all the threads to me because I'm thinking of doing some sewing in the future. We sold the feathers  and horns that we had no use for, and the legs that we didn't want to eat. The guts might be used for sausages or something, but I can't afford it at the moment.

In total, we made around 1000 crown per person.

I forgot about the stats halfway through the hunt, but I am still concerned about the swing speed of the dagger. So, I decided to give points to STR.

Let's set it at 100 points.

I am looking forward to seeing how it will turn out in tomorrow's hunt.

I thought we would be dismissed and meet again tomorrow after reaching the town, but it seems that it won't happen that way.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go to the house where Eve-chan is staying."

Yuna-san's words changed everyone's complexion.

"Eve, are you an innkeeper?"

"Eve-san, do you have a place to stay tonight? Can I join in?"

Come to think of it, isn't it unusual for a player to stay overnight at an NPC's place even though that person is not even a disciple?

And Irika is being Irika… Always disappointing as usual…

"Well, it's up to Celia, so let's go together first."

To be honest, I want to be alone with Celia, but I can't strongly reject them here and cause conflict.

I'll leave the decision to Celia later.

Luckily, the house is spacious, so if it's just a visit, I think it won't be a problem.

After selling everything except the ingredients, we head back to Celia's house.