The next day, I have prepared to set out on the hunting trip, my gear consisted of a sword on the side of my waist, a light armor protected my upper body, a large bag I carried with my back, one small bag on my spine, and two pouches on my right waist.

There were many types of swords, from a regular double-edge, sharp pointy end to a thin, thrust purpose-only sword, like the one Jewel had.

My sword had two versions; the short one and the longer ones, I preferred the latter due to its length and slashing was my style of fighting, also to distance myself from fighting the monster in close combat, that's Nyantaa's job anyway.

The light armor was a thick hide vest with a piece of iron on my left chest, the vest covered most of my body except my two arms from shoulder to below, giving me enough mobility to move them.

I considered once to wear heavy armor for better protection, but it severely drawback my speed, and believed it or not, heavy armor on an inappropriate person would only exhaust their stamina as the body must support the weight.

Thus no thin or slender person had been seen walking around in such armor because it's very inconvenient.

My large bag was filled with supplies such as water, ration, including the parts to make a tent; the small bag was for the salvage.

The last two pouches were for money, then potions, antidotes, and rejuvenation drink; one to heal, one to cure toxic, and one to refill my stamina.

It's the basic getup of any Hunter, nothing extraordinary, but little Abel looked at me with glittering eyes.

"My son looks handsome."

Mom came forward and kissed my forehead, it's a little ritual of blessing from her, Dad hugged me and wished a safe return.

"Brother, I'll wait for your story!"

Abel clung into my tight and cutely looked upward, I bent a little to pat the kid's cheek.

"Then, I'll leave now, bye!"

I turned around while walking away, my hand rose in the air, swaying side to side, my Dad and Abel waved their hands in return, Mom only smiled in sadness.

She never fine with me being a hunter, but she didn't forbid me either, it must be a very difficult and complex feeling for her.

I met up with Jewel and Nyantaa at the center of the town, Jewel said that she would accompany us to the town's gate, we rendezvoused with Olivia there.

Nyantaa wore a piece of clothing consisted of blue tunic and breastplate that covered only her chest part, her pants were so short that I thought those were her underwear... she exposed quite bright white thighs before long black socks followed by leather shoes.

I looked at her rear and somewhat always have a strange thought about Nyantaa, it was because she didn't have a tail...

There were quite Nekomata and Nekoshou that passed by Eldorado Town, and all of them always had a tail, Nekoshou's was shorter than Nekomata's.

He thought at first that Nyantaa perhaps had an accident in the past that got her tail cut off, it had been said that the tail of Nekomata and the rest of their kind was like a half-life to them; if they were ever severed, the cat race would never feel complete again, in extreme cases, some committed suicide immediately.

Therefore, he didn't dare to ask, and he didn't have to, because Jewel had said to him that Nyantaa's rear was absolutely smooth, no wound, no half-complete tail, only a couple of plump bottom.

That made him think that perhaps Nyantaa was not a cat race? Or she was a different variant?

There was the second trait that attracted his curiosity, it's her paw, there were bigger and more grizzly than the other type of cat race, most of them halted slightly beyond the wrist and the size normally not much different than human's hands.

But Nyantaa easily twice as bigger and the furry of her paw extended halfway of her upper arms, it was very clear also distinguishable, even those from the cat race themselves confused what kind of variant Nyantaa was.

Not to mention her strength...

Compared to any Nekoshou, she was weaker by many, but stronger several times than Nekomata, there was this once a test of strength in Anniversary Event of Eldorado Town, there was a magical dummy that if it took a punch, the dummy would glow in five colors; black, grey, yellow, orange, and red.

Black was the weakest and red was the strongest.

A Nekoshou once tried it, the dummy lit in red color, showed their strength was indeed superior, meanwhile, Nyantaa also tried to punch it, the dummy only lit in yellow, while a Nekomata was barely able to make the dummy lit in grey.

Therefore, it brought up the question, what the hell is Nyantaa?

"Caeth nyaa!"

The she-cat dashed toward me, it was amazing despite her bag was much bigger, she didn't have trouble running, meanwhile, I was already broke a bit of sweat.

Jewel followed from behind with a light smile, I could see a pang of guilt within her eyes, it's fine Jewel, I also hate your father for separating us.

The three of us walked the street together, it still early in the morning, most of the stores had not opened yet, except for the kind of groceries. Usually, it's impossible to walk in the middle path, there was always a large group with either a caravan, carriage, or carts, lucky that the street had been expanded a few years ago, otherwise it would be very cramped.

"What time do you leave?"

I held Jewel's hand, this had been grasping a weapon for so long yet remained soft as always, I somehow could tell the different between Jewel's hand and Olivia's, the latter was more rugged, probably due to all housekeeping she's done by herself.

Remembering about Olivia, I realized how stupid I was yesterday, just because she's not... as pure of cleanness like Jewel, he had pushed her aside... if I kept being like that, surely I wouldn't get laid again with her...

"A little sometime after breakfast..."

Jewel clutched my hand back, so tight as if she never wanted to let it go.

"I wish I could go with you..."

"Yeah, me too..."

Well, without Jewel around, I got to spend more time with Olivia, this was the benefit of having more than one woman; if one unavailable, there was always another standby.

Maybe I could push down Nyantaa also?

No, despite her temperament, Olivia might shoot me with an arrow if I was going to do that...

"Nyan wishes can go with you, Jewel nyaa..."

Nyantaa closed her eyes and her lips curled downward, a bit of tear slipped on the corner of her right eyes, yeah, what we about to do made me shudder also, this whole Hunter's career might not be so bright after all...

"There, there, don't you want to eat without ever thinking about money? Well, let's consider this as the first step toward that..."

Jewel flashed a smile and patted Nyantaa's head, the she-cat let out a complex voice between a purr and a complaint...

This cat... all she thought about was eating...

She better be not after my sausage...

Not long after, the gate of the Eldorado Town appeared in our sight, the beautiful fresh pink-haired Olivia leaned against a red wooden portal.

She clad in a one-piece green leotard, a brown cloak covered her body from the top to several inches above her knees, she carried a smaller bag than me.

Her eyes looked toward the sky, and the wind carried her hair to dance together, her calm temperament, those peaceful eyes akin to an unparalleled peacock basked on the brilliant light.

I froze in an instant, my heartbeat went militant, in my days had spent staring at her, she always succeeded to make me blur.

So what if she's deep in cow dunk? What if she covered in animal shit?

A diamond still a diamond no matter how dirty it was...

"Olivia nyaa sorry for the wait!"

Nyantaa dashed toward her, the huntress snapped from her daze and looked toward our direction, she knitted her eyes as she saw my joined hand with Jewel.

I awkward smiled, Jewel victoriously smiled, she pressed her body to me as if to show off our intimacy.

Olivia snorted and glanced away, no matter how unscrupulous Jewel was, she didn't come with them this time, Caeth belonged to her all she wanted.

Nyantaa didn't notice the smoke of war between the women, she bent her body and placed her paw on her lips, looked toward a bulge from the inside Olivia's cloak.

"What's that Olivia nyaa?"

"..."

Olivia ignored Jewel and grabbed the edge of her cloak, showing Nyantaa a quite considerably big pouch, perhaps as big as half of my upper torso.

"Manure."

Olivia said with a calm smile, Nyantaa was like a cat got her tail stepped on, the fur on her arms all stood up as she quickly drew back to Jewel.

"Jewel, Jewel, take me with you nyaaaa!!!"

I felt nausea roused from deep inside my guts, immediately revealed a sick expression, oh... this must be fun... not.

After calming down Nyantaa for more than 30 breaths, they prepared to go to the forest, Jewel curled her arms around my neck, lovingly gazed at my face while her eyes glittered with water.

"Caeth, come back safe, ok?"

"Un."

"Caeth, please don't act rash, ok?"

"Alright."

"Caeth, take care of Nyantaa, ok?"

"Definitely."

"Caeth, don't let that bitch take advantage of you, ok?"

"..."

"O-K?"

"Yes, of course, I am just kidding, haha..."

Jewel huffed before brought up her lips and kissed me fully, her hot mouth engulfed mine with so much passion.

Nyantaa put on one finger on her lips, looked at the couple with curiosity.

"I wonder what kissing feels like nyaa, Jewel seemingly like kissing Caeth a lot nyaa..."

She glanced at the silent Olivia who turned her back on them, Nyantaa's eyes twinkled with a star.

"Olivia nyaa, how about we-"

"Don't."

In the flash, Olivia took out her bow and aimed an arrow toward the cat, her eyes were full of murderous intention.

"Haha... just... just kidding nyaa... I am sorry nyaa..."

Nyantaa scoot away... and after Olivia put down her bow, she snapped her face toward Jewel and drenched her cheek with tears.

Jewel nyaa... goodbye nyaa... it seemed like, I can't survive this hunting trip nyaa...

Our lips separated, a translucent line drew a bridge toward the longing lips, I caressed Jewel's cheek, and she closed her eyes to enjoy it, even turned her nose to inhale the scent of my hand...

Only at this time... that I somehow felt guilty for not be able to completely loyal to her...

What kind of bastard dared to play with other women while there was one that expressed her undying love here...

...

Well, that bastard was a lucky person...

(***)

The Journey from the gate of Eldorado Town to Old Woodlands took about a half of day, our journey was smooth and unhurried, sometimes we even stopped to play with the red punny, these things were friendly and would only run away if someone attacked them.

We stumbled on some kids who practiced fighting against a blue wolf, we watched for a while until one of the kid almost got mauled by the monster, Olivia's swift action to snipe the wolf and killed it had saved the kid's life.

Normally, no early Elementary should fight outside without protection, at least someone who had more experiences should watch over them, but these kids were naughty, they silently ran away and tried to play 'Who's The Brave One' which in the consequence, one of them almost died if not for me and my party interference.

Well, I was not in the place to lecture them, I also did foolish things like that in the past... perhaps even worse.

There was a knight who was my father's friend, he recently got married and went to Eldorado for a honeymoon, I always had a dream to become a hunter and thought this was a good opportunity to learn some fighting skills, the knight had no problem to teach me, he taught me once every morning for about 2 hours in a week time, the knight had told me that he was not a very skillful fighter but I was so full of myself.

I thought I could take on a blue wolf now, so I went to fight the monster... I was so wrong... my life almost ended right there...

But I didn't blame the knight, I just thought what he taught me was fine, a hunter was not someone who worked alone, thus I perhaps required a companion, Jewel's name came right almost instantly in my mind.

And I was right, since then, I have no trouble again, there was... some close moment... but due to having a party, I was saved.

I stood from afar, looking at the poor children took a full brunt of Olivia's wrath, I shook my head helplessly, it's because she used to be trained harshly by her father, Olivia never relaxed when it came to people who didn't take seriously their training, she scolded me once for slacking, but we wildly made love afterward, she submitted to me like a kitten, muhaha...

We continued our journey, the field was clear from any people now, we felt like the only people in the world...

Before long, the entrance of Old Woodlands appeared within our sight.

...

Back in the Eldorado Town, it had been quite some time since Caeth and his party set off for the Old Woodland, Jewel stood behind a mirror, she wore a white shirt that little bit loose and a cape that covered her upper part of the body, her pants were brown with a pair of white boots at the bottom.

She grabbed some makeup and put some on her face; if a cosmetic meant to make someone completely looked beautiful, Jewel instead appeared much ordinary, the once gorgeous wildflower became common, might be slightly pretty.

Her preparation had not done, she grabbed a dagger and clenched a handful of her hair, her expression delayed a bit, looking at her precious brown hair would soon separate from her, Jewel slightly felt depressed.

For her family... and for Caeth...

She took a deep breath and cut her own hair...

... ... ...

The strand of hairs scattered in mid-air, the previous beauty had become someone she barely even recognized in the mirror, she unable to determine own gender...

In order to hide securely the safety of everyone closed to her, she must not appear as Jewel when carrying this task, she must not let any possible harm to happen in the future.

Jewel smiled a bit before turned around and approached her desk, there were two pieces of white letters on it, one for her parents, including Nyantaa, the other for Caeth...

This was in case she never made it... could never return home...

Father... Mother... Nyantaa...

Thank you for everything...

Caeth...

If Earth didn't reunite us...

let us meet in Heaven, ok?

Jewel opened the window in her room, then she leaped toward the tree and slowly climbed it down... she had done this multiple time in the past, mostly to sneak out together with Caeth, either was to just lay on the plain field to gaze at the stars or did something naughty secretly...

She stopped and took a last look to her home, the corner of her lips lifted gently, murmured the last affection words before she continued onward, heading to Mr. Barox's store.

Usually, she would have been greeted by people as she walked down the street, but now, everyone ignored her, not because they hated her or something, but due to her disguise... of course, Jewel also moved in a rapid pace, she didn't dare to bet someone would continue to be fooled by her appearance.

She turned around the corner, and then...

*Thud!*

"Aaah!"

She crashed against a person, the latter was stumble backward, in reflex, Jewel extended her hand and grasped the person's arm, eventually pulled the person toward her.

Immediately she caught a pleasant fragrance and soft tender body, Jewel looked at the person and stunned by her appearance.

The girl was probably younger than her one or two years old, her hair was wavy silver that rested on her both shoulder, her face was small and the pair of eyes were crystal brilliant.

She wore a fancy dress, the kind that a smug wilful noble-born young lady used to wear, but Jewel sensed no such a thing from this lady, she's...

"Um... um..."

The girl's pair of fine cheek groomed in red, Jewel startled, realized that she had been staring at her for quite a while, quickly released the girl from her grasp.

"I am sorry, m-my lady... I was in a hurry, did not see your presence..."

Jewel said while antsily tried to remember a courtesy at the presence of a noble, then she somewhat surprised, why she had to care about it?

"Um... it's... it's fine... I was also in a hurry..."

The situation somewhat became awkward, the girl appeared even more nervous than her, Jewel looked to the side.

"Then uhh... I... may I excuse myself, milady?"

"Oh, ok... umm... please, carry o-"

"There she is!"

"Eeek!"

A sudden roar startled Jewel, from the distance, two men clad in armor broke out from the crowd, the girl jumped in surprise, she grasped the lower part of her dress, lifting them up and started running past Jewel, despite her delicate appearance, she actually quite fast.

"..."

Jewel stared in a daze at her disappearing figure, she shook her head, thinking it's probably just some mischievous noble daughter that escaped from boredom.

Well, since it's not her problem, Jewel continued walking toward Mr. Barox's store.

(***)

At the entrance of Old Woodlands, Olivia took out the bag of manure from inside her cloak, the moment she unwrapped the bag, the ill stench slowly danced from within.

"Caeth nyaa, I change my mind nyaa... I don't want to do this nyaa..."

Nyantaa fell onto the ground and hugged me tight, I also shared the sentiment with her but we had been this far, it's rather unseemly to cancel the plan, besides, Olivia had spent an effort to acquire the shit, it must have also tortured her.

"Ufufu..."

Forget it, she's enjoying this!!!

Olivia with a small grin extended her arms and put both of them inside the bag, I quickly thought to throw up and Nyantaa had become pale.

After a while, Olivia took out something from the bag, it's a pouch with an extended rope, she faced us back with a deadpanned expression.

"Eh?"

I sniffed the air, the stench was unbearable but this absolutely not manure, besides what's with the pouch and the rope.

"Tie this around your waist, the animal wouldn't dare to even one step closer to us..."

Olivia took out two more, all of them was pouches with extended rope.

I and Nyantaa startled, we exchanged glances and expressed our confusion toward the pink-haired girl.

"I know you guys won't ready yet for such extreme measure, so I changed the plan and went to Mr. Barrel, he let me rent a Ghoul Wolf's intestines for the three of us..."

Ghoul Wolf? That's a new name I heard today... I knew a Ghoul, an undead monster that liked to feast on corpses, they mostly lived on cavern or very dark place.

"Ghoul Wolf was a borderline undead monster but still actually alive, they inhabited Hades Zone, an area at the edge far north of the continent, they were not strong but their bite was full of curses, those who got bit, shall turn into a ghoul in a matter of a week."

"Since they were partially undead, their organs still activate but slowly deteriorating, the smell was hated by all the animal due to the darkness it possessed, unlike hellhounds which didn't have any more active organ, once a hellhound died, their body would disappear and once again returned after crossing the underworld, the hellhounds could be considered a spirit."

"Olivia, how much this cost you?"

The girl looked at me, smiled a bit.

"Nothing, but Mr. Barrel demanded half fruits from the treant, he wanted to feed it to his Ape Monkeys..."

"And if we lost the Ghoul Wolf's intestines, we had to pay 20 golds... each..."

20... golds?!

Oh crap, my entire saving was not enough to pay that much!!! I turned pale, somewhat put my fingers between my teeth... for all the 3 years of hunts, he barely even come to 10 golds...

"Got it nyaa!"

Nyantaa stood up from the ground and strode toward Olivia with a careless attitude, I almost stumbled onto the ground...

Creep, does she not understand the consequence or simply ignorant that much?!

"Nyantaa, you... do you have that much money?"

"Un?"

Nyantaa glanced at me with confused eyes, then she closed them and frowned, said afterward with a confident smile.

"Nope nyaa!"

Frick!!!

This cat, I swore...

"Mnyuuu... Nyan only had spent quite a lot nyaa... Jewel even punished me for being careless nyaa..."

"H-how much of your saving?"

Nyantaa once again closed her eyes, her forehead gathered as if she thought of something very difficult...

Then she raised a paw... since she only had three puffy fingers, that meant the keyword was 3...

"3 Golds?"

She shook her head...

I swallowed my saliva; if the biggest possible it's not the answer, then... then...

"3 Copper?"

But Nyantaa shook her head...

Eh... then it's 3 Silver then? Or maybe either 30 Copper or 30 silver? As long she still had more than 10 copper, it's not really bad, albeit that was indeed a bit wasteful...

"It's 2 Copper nyaa..."

*Bang!*

I fell flat on the ground, meanwhile, Olivia dropped her jaw while looking at Nyantaa.

"Then why did you show three fingers?!"

"But I can't close one nyaa, either I open all or close all nyaa..."

"Then just say 2!!!!"

"Eh, didn't I already say it?"

"..."

My chest went up and down, deep inside, I howled for Jewel to return, please, this cat was killing us slowly...

After a brief hectic, we decided to only use two, me and Olivia shared one while Nyantaa had one for herself...

Nyantaa was our vanguard while Olivia was an archer, the former was bound to move a lot around and the latter could stationary.

We entered the forest, it was completely different than the dry land, the sun here barely sneaked through lushes trees above, and the grasses were very tall, almost covered our entire legs.

"Nyantaa, be careful of your steps, and... don't try losing that item..."

"Alrighty, nyaa~"

Ugh, why her voice didn't give any sense of comfort...

I gave a sigh but at this moment I felt a warm body closed to my right side, I glanced and saw Olivia's beautiful face groomed in red.

Was she had a fever or something?

"Caeth..."

Her voice was low almost like a whisper, here was quiet indeed, perhaps even our breathing could be heard.

"What is it?"

I heard a gloominess in her tone, making me had bad apprehension somewhat.

"Please be honest to me..."

Honest? What... what did she want me to be honest about? Oh, creep... I remembered once made a promise to her that I would dump Jewel...

But I only said that because I wanted to make her happy, and possibly continued to have intercourse, I never want to dump Jewel, I love her...

"Do you think... do you think I am a dirty girl?"

Eh?

"Last night... you have no cold, right? You were disgusted by the thought of me covered in manure, right?"

"..."

What should I say here? Admitting it? Saying yes, I thought you are dirty but I love you nonetheless?

Does it work?

"...No."

Olivia widened her eyes, glanced toward me with a surprised face.

"Yesterday, I did have a cold, I never think of you as a dirty girl... in fact, you are most holiness, even surpass Jewel in the term of nobleness..."

"R-really?"

Her voice filled with a pleasant tone, she stared at me with a heated gaze.

If a look could kill, she would have burned me to ashes now.

"Of course, when did I ever lie to you, in fact, when I tried to sleep last night, all I could think about was you... kissing Jewel made me hated myself, she always had been so forceful, thinking that she could own me like a pet, but you, you are gentle and meek, you make me feel like I am a man, make my pride and existence could mean for something, you... Olivia... you make me whole..."

"Oh, Caeth!"

In a swift, Olivia hugged and started kissing my face, I wryly smiled and patted her back, Nyantaa was at the front now, it would dangerous for her to see this kind of behavior.

Olivia retreated to the side with a red face, but her eyes were so deep in haziness and infatuation.

I couldn't help but feel proud of myself.

At this moment, Nyantaa suddenly stopped and raised her clenched paw, me and Olivia also stopped on the spot.

Not long after, in front of us, three snakes slid down from the tree above, their reptilian eyes watched and observed us as if a dutiful WatchGuard, I held down my breath while Olivia slowly moved her hand toward the arrow on her back, prepared for the worse.

We didn't know how long, but the snakes eventually drew back and left, the three of us exchanged glances and exhaled a relieved breath.

Good thing that the item worked...

We continued our search, along the way, Olivia pulled out a dagger and marked the tree, we had made a plan not to go very far from the entrance, and after we managed to hunt the treant, we immediately returned.

There were several animals more that crossed paths with us, some of them stopped a while to stare at us, then they left afterward, some just ignored us and immediately left.

I was immediately excited, couldn't help but want to kiss Olivia deeply, without a disturbance from the animals, we could calmly hunt the treant, and since there were no other hunters here, this perfectly became our personal hunting spot.

We soon arrived at a cavity, Nyantaa lifted her hand again to make us stop, then she slowly beckoned, we crept toward her spot and saw a chicken-like monster currently ate berries from the bushes.

It had a red scale instead of a feather, and its mouth was quite sharp.

"It's the cockatrice... this monster... had very precious saliva that can paralyze its target, its legs were also hard, one stomp enough to crush people's bone, this monster usually had a pattern like this; it would try to jab its target with its beak; if it succeeded, the monster would proceed to stomp its target to death, but if it not succeeded, the monster would try to escape."

After Olivia calmly explained, she looked at me, including Nyantaa also looked me, they waited for my decision whether should hunt the monster or not.

I thought for a while, our target of hunting in this forest was only the treant, I even promise Jewel that we would only hunt the treant, but what was the odd again for us to stumble into a monster without its pack or companion like this?

Most of the monsters or races were very rare to be alone, even the kind of the treant who couldn't move usually had another one nearby

A hunter would spend days in the hunting ground to scout a monster, strike when the chance present like this situation, also placing trap mechanism, something like pit-fall or a small rope to bind their leg was usually enough.

"let's hunt it, who knows we can even get the treant today..."

Olivia and Nyantaa nodded, afterward we devised a plan to take down this cockatrice.

Since their first reaction wasn't running away in the face of danger, then a bait was necessary.

Nyantaa walked out slowly from the cover, she jumped down into the cavity, she purposely let out a loud 'thump' to notify the monster.

The cockatrice snapped its head toward the back, immediately on alert when saw a human stood not far from it.

Well, technically, Nyantaa was not a human, but it couldn't tell the difference anyway.

The monster made 180 degrees of turn, it warily observed Nyantaa's movement, the she-cat let out a small smirk, walked slowly toward the monster with a fighting stance.

Nyantaa was a fist-to-fist combatant, she's strong enough to wield a greatsword but she preferred to hit with her fist.

The cockatrice walked to the side while still facing Nyantaa, their position soon became one in the right and one in the left, meanwhile Nyantaa kept getting close to it.

"Aaaaaaakkkk!!!!"

The monster suddenly let out a cry, then it dashed toward Nyantaa with its beak readied to sting, on the distant, Olivia had sniped the monster, she let go the back of an arrow, and the bow's string shot out the projectile like a bolt of lightning.

*Whiz!*

*Puchi!*

The arrow penetrated the cockatrice's long neck, the monster immediately yelped and lifted its head to scream the pain out, Nyantaa sprang, propelled her fist and punched the underside of the monster's head, pushing its head toward the back, they even heard the sounds of its neckbone snapping.

The monster retreated while having its head in a strange position now, they knew the monster was dying due to its no longer could breathe and blood unable to flow normally into its head.

We had to conclude the fight as soon as possible, otherwise, the monster's cry back then possibly attracted its kind at the distance to come and rescue.

Nyantaa dashed forward and readied her fist, the cockatrice tilted its body to the side and struck out its long leg.

*Ding!*

The cockatrice stumbled to the ground while the she-cat winced a bit, she leaped forward and quickly held down the monster on the ground.

"Quick nyaa!"

I and Olivia darted out of our cover, the monster was struggling to break out from Nyantaa's grasp, but it's a short attempt, by the time we arrived at its side, the monster had been giving up and laid on the ground powerlessly.

I took out my long sword and rested the blade on the monster's neck, then I shear it as quickly as possible.

Blood started to spurt from its throat, it soiled the ground as I grind the sharp blade, I didn't stop and kept shearing its throat, only after I cut the veins of the monster's respiration and blood, that I finally lifted my blade.

It's the hunter's custom to end the life of the monster they hunted as quickly as possible, making it didn't bear any pain for much longer, of course, it's not an iron-clad rule; if the monster was instead on a rampage at the end of its life, it much better to stay away from it.

For example; the orc that we hunted before, their innate made them very dangerous while dying, if one of us could subdue it, then we have the obligation to do it, but if we don't, we waited until the monster died on its own.

The cockatrice's red eyes slowly went weak, the big body twitched and pumped, it wasn't long until the monster thoroughly peaceful...

Rumor said that even a monster would pray at the last moment, some hunters joked that the monsters would wish a curse fell upon the people who had slain it, but some also said they wished for our good luck instead.

Nevertheless, the truth remained unknown.

(***)

Nyantaa was stood on guard while I and Olivia scavenged the cockatrice corpse, we skinned the monster's scale, tried to tear it with both hands and found out it quite strong, we took it.

Olivia tasted on the monster's meat and spat it out after several chows, there was a level of acceptable coarseness, when raw meat got more coarse texture, the longer it took for a chef to cook it, and the less it became worthwhile.

She later took out a liquid and dripped it onto the monster bone, this was to test the calcium of the bone, the surface that poured with the liquid would have a change in brightness; if it got lighter meant the bone was lack of calcium and if it got darker then said otherwise.

Olivia took out a brightness indicator and checked, it's only slightly above regular, but we still took several pieces.

We tried to take its beak and lastly the monster's legs, but the process was disturbed by Nyantaa's alert, she quickly approached us and said with urging tone.

"There are two cockatrices approaching us nyaa..."

I and Olivia changed glances, we sped up the process by using a brute method, I hacked the monster's beak while Nyantaa tried to pull the legs while Olivia helped by shearing the strains.

The brute method could possibly ruin the quality of the parts, a hunter would not resort to it unless in an emergency.

I managed to take the beak, but we only got one leg before a creaking sound reverberated in the forest.

Unwillingly, we had to leave, otherwise, facing two cockatrices at the same time would be dangerous.

We continued our search for the treant, Olivia climbed a tree for a better viewpoint, she was agile like a monkey, me and Nyantaa no doubt could also climb, but not that good.

Besides the tree here mostly had a big trunk, Olivia used a rope to assist her.

There were a couple of animals up there, they stared at Olivia for a while before running off, thanks to the Ghoul Wolf's intestines.

If they were to attack her now, she would have trouble to defend herself, her position didn't exactly give her a spare room to fight.

Reaching up a considerable height, Olivia tried to scout for the treant, their skin was paler than a regular tree in general, and was rather short a few branches.

She climbed down a moment later, I perked at her with glimmering hope but she shook her head, we sighed in disappointment.

As we on the move again, there were several cockatrices we stumbled into, none of them were alone, so we had to abandon the idea to hunt them, looking for a safe spot to hide until they passed or we walked on a different direction.

Olivia marked a tree with a dagger, then she frowned a bit.

"Caeth, I think we had traversed quite far from the entrance, want to continue further or just search around this area?"

I looked upward and pondered, a hunter would go far into an area if they only had familiarized themselves with it, this was the first time they entered the place, it advisable not to go further than they already had.

"Alright, let's sweep the north side, head back to the entrance to take a break and searched the south side afterward."

Olivia and Nyantaa nodded.

(***)

The sun had perched at its highest peak, and we didn't find a single treant...

I sighed in lamentation, except for the single cockatrice we found at the crevice, there was a no more unlucky monster.

Either they traveled in a group or with only a companion, nevertheless, we didn't take the risk of fighting them.

We went back to the entrance and took a break outside the forest, Olivia had prepared several dishes before went out hunting, her craftsman in cooking was the dream of any men out there.

Jewel was noble yet wild, Olivia was commoner yet elegant, these two were like a piece that complement each other.

I sighed at the thought of how lucky I am, could bed these beauties that were drooled by others.

If I could bed Nyantaa also, then my life would be perfect...

No hurry... no hurry... since Jewel's not present, there were lots of chances for it to happen...

The break wasn't that long, we already in the forest again and now searched the southside, the Old Woodland had two main areas; the East and the West side, our position now was at the East, to cross into the other side, we had to traverse over a deep ravine, there was a bridge built hundreds of years ago, so nothing to worry about.

I thought that maybe we should get to the West too in case we didn't find a treant on here, I wonder whether I should discuss this with the others...

...

Nah... they listened to me... Nyantaa might complain but Olivia was obedient as a kitten...

The only voice that sometimes against me was Jewel, it took a massive amount of my part to convince her, lots of doting, lots of spoiling...

Hah... the more I thought if Jewel's not around, the more I had the part as a leader, no one question your decision, how good was that?

Jewel's presence was for extra power, and my release of pent up desire anyway, now I have Nyantaa for the former and Olivia for the latter, she didn't feel as much as useful anymore... even I admitted it was borderline annoying since she tended to argue against my remark.

"Stop nyaa..."

At this moment, Nyantaa at the front lifted her fist, she beckoned toward us and pointed at certain spots.

It's hard to discern, but there was a tree among the others that appeared quite different, my heartbeat pumped rapidly, thinking that possibly the treant?

Olivia took out her bow and aimed toward the tree, the arrow she used was a special one that embedded with fire rune, it would spark a small fire once stabbed on something, perhaps not capable to burn the entire thing but good enough to inflict damage.

Since the treant was weak against fire, it should be agitated the moment its trunk was lit on fire.

*Whiz!*

*Puchi!*

The arrow flew through the air and jabbed the tree's body, it let out a small explosion, then an ember lit at the punctured spot.

"..."

"..."

No reaction...

We exchanged glances and approached the tree, then we let out a sigh, this turned out just normal tree but a different variant with the others around, Olivia quickly put out the fire and took back her arrow, the fire rune had been spent but she still always could attach a different arrowhead.

Nyantaa sat on the ground and wiped the sweat out of her temple, the outline of the ground here was quite fluctuating, there was a high and low level frequently.

Unknown to her, a branch-like tentacle crept on the ground, slowly made its way toward her spot.

"Un?"

Nyantaa startled as she felt something entangled her wrist, then...

"Ngyaaaa!!!!"

Something pulled her away from her spot, it was so fast that Caeth and Olivia didn't have the chance to be in a shock.

Not far from their position, there was a tree with a scary face on its body, it's branch and root were all over the place and it somewhat let out a roar.

"Caeth, Caeth, help me nyaaaa!!!"

Nyantaa was pulled and trashed around left and right, her body was dragged closer and closer to the tree's largemouth.

"Oh, no!"

I was frozen, in the face of immediate danger, I have always been like this...

No worry, no worry, Jewel would have run to rescue, there was no need for me to...

Right, Nyantaa was her responsibility, she wouldn't possibly let her in any danger...

...

...

Wait... wait... Jewel... Jewel was not with us... she... she couldn't do anything at the moment...

"Caeth!"

A voice awoke me in an instant, Olivia had stood at my side and patted my shoulder, I snapped my face to her...

Damn it... damn... did she see it... did she my frozen complication... was she going to mock me...

"What are you doing?! Nyantaa is in the trouble, we get to save her quickly!!!!"

What's wrong with me... why I yelled at her...

Olivia stunned at my anger, and she slightly drew back, but she nodded immediately and pulled out her arrow, started shooting the fire rune arrows toward the treant.

"Raaaaaarrrr!!!!"

The treant was flailing Nyantaa, suddenly several fires lit on its body, the monster shouted a vibrated roar, almost turned my ear deaf.

Nyantaa stretched out her hand, tried to grab anything nearby, her legs had been kicking around.

"Nyantaa, I'll save you!"

I drew out my sword, several roots tried to entangle me, I swung my sword and cut them unceasingly.

Dammit... this was our hunt, and it caught us instead, stupid Nyantaa, why you have to be so careless?!

Olivia kept shooting fire rune arrows, but she only had a couple more left, a normal arrow won't work on the tree, at this rate they wouldn't be able to rescue Nyantaa.

I unable to move closer, these branches kept me at bay while Nyantaa now inched closer to the monster mouth, soon she would be swallow by it.

The she-cat was so desperate, her head was dizzy by all the flailing, her strength was drawn out by her own screaming...

Oh no, no, Nyantaa... Nyantaa...

I roared as I rushed ahead, but the branches went straight toward my face, I barely even dodged to the side before it cut the left side of my cheek, I startled and groaned, once again retreated backward and felt immediate fear.

That's so close... I... I almost died there... if the branch had punctured my face...

Olivia was also desperate, she closed her eyes and didn't dare to look at Nyantaa's miserable fate...

The she-cat powerlessly hung right above the treant's mouth, just a single drop, and she would have been eaten.

I was trembling... and shaking... was this my fault? Was this because I want to experience a new place?

...

...

No... I was not wrong... I was not in the wrong... but whose fault... someone needed to take the blame... I needed a confession to Jewel...

... Jewel? If she's been here... none of this would happen, Nyantaa wouldn't have to die... it's her fault... it's Jewel's fault... ha... haha...

At the moment before Nyantaa fell into the treant's mouth, the rope on the bag of Ghoul Wolf's intestines suddenly loosened, it entered the treant's mouth and the monster instantly stiffened.

"..."

All of its movement became static, it's like the treant had become no different than any tree...

"Raaaarghhhh!!!!!"

The treant screamed in agony, its branches and roots waved around crazily, Nyantaa was thrown to the side, her tender body hit the nearest tree and fell harshly to the ground, that should rupture several bones in her.

We startled, the Ghoul Wolf's intestines were a cursed organ, no animal or even human wanted to eat it, even the most predator monsters wouldn't have the appetite to prey on the Ghoul Wolf.

Olivia jumped in to hold Nyantaa's body, the she-cat was unconscious, probably due to the crash, we took this chance to get away from the treant while it still on the rampage, after we reached a safe distance, I poured a potion into Nyantaa's mouth.

The she-cat's nose even dripping blood, we didn't know how severe her situation was, thus we took her back to the entrance.

(***)

The night came, to our relieve Nyantaa only received several cracked bones and her shoulder was misplaced, Olivia easily tended to it, drinking 3 or 4 more potions should enough to completely heal her by tomorrow.

For the rest of the time, I didn't speak with Olivia at all, she had seen my shameful state, now she must be held contempt upon me.

And they also had a huge problem now; Nyantaa had lost the Ghoul Wolf's intestines, that meant we owed 20 golds to Mr. Barrel...

While he was happy that Nyantaa's life was preserved, but considering the price... how they should pay for that many?

I laid in my tent, staring blankly on the ceiling, the first day here and they already brought a disaster, I didn't know whether tomorrow should continue hunting or quit...

"Caeth?"

I heard Olivia's soft voice from outside my tent, lazily stood up to open it.

"What is it?"

Perhaps due to my indifferent voice, Olivia's expression slightly tensed, her eyes even trembled.

"Can... can I come in?"

Her voice was meek... full of entreaty and appealing, I sneered, was this an act before she completely ridiculed me?

"Do as you wish."

I turned around and laid again on the ground, my hands rested below my head and my legs toppled one another.

Olivia hesitated for a bit before she entered, the size of the tent was not big, three people huddled together was already cramped, she sat on my side.

"Caeth... back then..."

"What about it?"

"I..."

Just said it... I knew you want to say it... say that I was a coward, say that I was pathetic...

Even Jewel didn't hesitate to make fun of my temperament, why should you any different?

"I am... I am sorry... I was frozen..."

"... What?"

I opened my eyes and looked at her, befuddled by her confession.

"This was the first time we ever encountered such danger, and I... I honestly didn't know what to do..."

"And it's not just that..."

Olivia looked at me with sorrowful eyes, there was deep intense guilt resided in it.

"I... I didn't care for Nyantaa's life... even the slightest bit..."

What?

I rose from the ground and looked at her with shocked eyes, Olivia bitterly smiled at me.

"To me... Nyantaa and Jewel... is just a mere tool... to help me achieve an effective hunting process... I have no obligation to save them if they were in distress..."

"..."

"Therefore, I lack the sympathy of Nyantaa's situation back then... when you got mad at me, I knew how horrible such an idea is... I..."

She started to sob, tearfully looking at me with desperation...

"I know you must be disgusted by me... I understand if you didn't want to relate with me again... who wanted such a cruel and ruthless woman... but... but... Caeth, I just want you to know..."

Her body trembled, her cheek flushed red...

"Caeth, I was alone... most of the time I only at the company of my father... I only cared about him... but you... you are the second man I ever cared about... it's not just that... I... fell deep for you... my heart was warm when I thought about you... I..."

"I don't understand this feeling... it's different than what I felt from my father... it was scary... and it was sweet at the same time..."

"Caeth, I want you to know... no matter how you hate me... now and in the future... you are in my heart... now and in the future..."

"You are my first man... and you'll be the last..."

...

I was... speechless, I didn't think I have done anything worth that kind of affections from her... I didn't think I even had the same feeling with her... at least from before...

In my mind, she's obedient just because of our physical relationship, she was lonely and needed constant skinship with me to fill that void... but I never thought she would have felt that much...

I... what I am doing? Jewel was deeply fell in love with me... and also Olivia?

How should I manage these two affections?

This didn't make any sense, I and Jewel had related quite long, I and Olivia just a few months... we barely even did something aside from intercourse and hunting... how could she feel that deep for me?

Olivia smiled, she leaned to me and kissed me deeply, I could taste her tears, it was salty... but I didn't hate it...

Her hands depended on me, the more we kissed the more her cry went turbulent... I... what should I do here?

The kiss felt like an eternity... but in truth, it was very short, Olivia leaned back, she caressed my face lovingly.

"Goodbye, Caeth..."

She stood up and prepared to leave, I quickly extended my hand and grabbed her slender one, keeping her from escape.

"Don't go..."

Right... if I let her go now... I would be very stupid...

"Please..."

Why bother with all of these emotions? Why thought hard to manage it?

"I need you here..."

As long one held undying love, it required the same response, it was just that simple...

"Olivia..."

No matter Jewel... no matter Olivia... they both loved me deeply... I was obligated to answer it.

"I love you too..."

Even it's not true...