115 – Territory Marking (1)
The Academy decided to store Usk’s body directly.
Perhaps due to the existence of the Forest of Chaos, there is a separate large freezer to ensure the freshness of ingredients.
Instead, disassembly and disassembly were essential, so butchers gathered together to carry out the process. For your information, there are also students with non-combat occupations.
Because Usk is such a rare monster, it is perfect for research and practice. Thanks to you, I was able to feel comfortable.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to Usk… I’ll do my best for now. Who is the owner of the person who caught me?”
“Me. No, me.”
“Please give your name here. This is the highest quality material, so be sure to bring this paper with you. An agent cannot receive it.”
I did not slaughter the cub myself, but left it to a professional. Even if it is me, it is difficult to completely dismantle it without professional knowledge.
More than anything, being a butcher in this world is a job that receives considerable preferential treatment. It is bound to be important due to the existence of monsters.
It is okay to slaughter a monster immediately after killing it, but it is better to leave it to a contractor if possible.
I told you so much that even in the non-combat positions at the academy, there are majors specializing in butchery.
Butchers are also a profession closely related to knives, so they naturally have no choice but to become specialized.
“It won’t take long since it’s a cub. If we can, we’ll be able to make it just in time for lunch. Would you like to come by then?”
“Yes.”
“I understand. It’s been a while since I’ll use my strength again.”
The butcher smiled, perhaps because it was an unexpected harvest. It was decided to pay the price separately.
In the future, when Kara holds her own auction, she will make a lot of money. Until then, I just have to enjoy cooking.
It was a time when the Academy was becoming busy due to the Usk incident.
“Shivar student?”
“Huh?”
A familiar voice reached my ears. When I turned my head, a man with narrow eyes was looking at me.
This is Godin. Godin spoke his words as soon as I turned my head.
“The president called us. Students Luna and Ellie as well.”
“Me too?”
“Yes.
At that moment, Luna, who was lounging next to me, was also called. Luna’s eyes widened at her message that she had been summoned.
If I were going alone, I would have thought it was okay, but I would have been embarrassed to go with him.
But since it was Lord’s call, I have no intention of turning it down. There was nothing to do anyway.
It was said that the Usk slaughter would be completed around lunchtime today, so a delicious meal in the evening would be all that would be done.
“It’s probably because of what happened today. Let’s go first.”
“Umm… Okay, Professor Godin. Didn’t you call Kara?”
“Yes. You only called two people.”
I don’t know why, but Kara didn’t call. It seems that only students who entered the Forest of Chaos were invited.
Just before I took a step, I received permission directly from Grace. I’m an escort, but I’m sorry I seem to fall off too often.
“There’s nothing we can do since it’s the president’s call. Should I hint at what you said instead?”
“Yes.”
She even reveals her intelligence by subtly asking for information. Grace is trustworthy, so it’s okay.
Afterwards, we headed to the president’s office. While heading to the president’s office, Luna kept glancing towards Usk.
It looks like Usk has something he wants to say.
“Luna.”
“Uh, huh?”
“Do you have something to say?”
So I asked without hiding anything. Usk was all mine, so it’s okay to ask.
When I asked Luna, pointing to Usk, she looked worried. He looks like he’s wondering if it’s okay to say this.
“That…Shivar?”
“Yes.”
“It may sound like you have no conscience…”
Luna hesitates and opens her mouth with difficulty. She glanced at Usk, then smiled embarrassedly.
Next, she made her request with an undertone of embarrassment.
“You have the blade tusk you gave Kara, right?”
“Yes.”
“If there is any left, can I give you a little too?”
This is why you may not have a conscience. I thought so to myself.
He probably got greedy after seeing that he gave Kara a bladed tusk. If it’s cute, it’s a cute request.
If it were someone else, it would have felt like I was being greedy. But Luna is greed in a different sense.
“Why the blade? To make a weapon?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a weapon you brought from the village. Is it broken at all?”
Ellie expressed doubts about Luna’s words about wanting a bladed tusk.
Just as Ellie said, Luna currently possesses a sword of fairly good quality. She is a very useful sword until the beginning and middle of the story.
“That’s not true… I wanted to get one. To be honest, it was a bit cool.”
“You’re saying you want to make one because the ingredients are cool?”
“It’s embarrassing, but it’s accurate. It’s hard to get such materials anywhere, isn’t it?”
Luna simply requested this because she thought the blade tusks were cool. She did not exchange food for money, and her only interest was weapons.
Perhaps the value of the bladed tusk could have been figured out in advance through ‘eyes’. Still, she chose equipment over money.
“No.”
Of course, it is not possible to do something that cannot be done. I flatly refused.
Luna also sighed, probably because she was expecting my rejection. But she hasn’t completely given up.
“Ugh… Really not possible? I gave it to Kara as a gift…”
“Kara is strong, Luna is weak.”
“······It’s too much.”
I quickly gave up when they started using factual violence. Luna pouted her lips and grumbled.
However, this is something that cannot be helped. The blade tusks were not properly cleaned, but they made my hands look like rags.
If you were to make a sword or axe with that, it would be a terrifying masterpiece. You can go to mid to late rather than early to mid.
‘Instead, we will rely on weapons.’
If you give Luna a good weapon, she will be comfortable in the future. However, this only works until the middle.
If you rely on weapons, your skills will naturally decrease, and your weaknesses will be revealed.
As the saying goes, a craftsman is not picky about her tools, and I have no intention of giving them to Luna unless her personal power increases.
“In return, I’ll give it to you when you become stronger.”
“They’ll give it to you when you get stronger?”
“Yes.”
“How strong do I have to be?”
“As much as Kara.”
No more, if you become as strong as Kara, she will be happy to give you a gift. It may take a long time, though.
Still, Luna seemed to be motivated enough as she nodded with a serious expression.
It’s a bit funny that she was motivated to get a weapon, but she was serious so she passed on it.
“Okay. All I have to do is become as strong as Kara, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll try my best. No, I’ll try my best.”
There will still be ingredients left until then anyway. Even if you eat all the meat, it will disappear.
Afterwards, we walked to the president’s office while chatting about various things. It’s not the main building, it’s where I stayed before.
“Welcome. It looks like you had a really great day today.”
As soon as I arrived at the president’s office, Rod greeted me warmly. In his hand he held a teacup with a wisp of smoke rising from it.
Afterwards, he showed us where to sit. If you are familiar with this, it is a familiar table.
“I heard the news. Usk was subdued, right?”
“It wasn’t me, I subdued Sivar alone.”
This is also a topic about Usk. Strictly speaking, it’s probably due to the appearance of high-level monsters like Usk.
Ogres are treated as mid-level monsters, but Usk is definitely a higher level monster. Even though it is a non-first attack monster, only the risk is taken into consideration.
“From what I heard, the dismantling of Usk is progressing smoothly… Do you know why I called you?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure.”
“I don’t know either.”
I’m not sure about that either. Why did Rod suddenly call us?
After hearing our answer, Rod took a sip of tea and spoke in a serious voice.
“Because you are the students who met Sivar and Ratatosk for the first time. Come to think of it, do you know where Ratatosk is?”
“··· ···”
When Rod asked about Porori’s location, Ellie smiled awkwardly. Luna is no different.
But I couldn’t help but say it. Ellie explained this part in full.
“Hmm. It’s an unfortunate situation. But apart from that, I’d like to get tested for s*xually transmitted diseases.”
“Can animals also be tested for s*xually transmitted diseases?”
“There’s nothing you can’t do. Why would there be a veterinarian at the academy?”
Porori suddenly got tested for s*xually transmitted diseases. I held back my laughter as much as I could.
Porori said it in a comical way, but a tragedy of tragedies happened. Smiling is not polite as an animal.
“Anyway, I want to ask you something. What was it like when you entered the Forest of Chaos? Was it noisier than now?”
Rod got to the point after Porori. First of all, the changes in the Forest of Chaos.
Ellie answered that question by poking her cheek with her finger.
“It wasn’t noisy. If it wasn’t for Sivar, he would have been killed by Mankey… But other than that, it was surprisingly quiet, right?”
“Ellie is right. It was a surprisingly quiet place.”
The original forest environment is like that. A place that is quiet but suddenly faces a crisis.
The Forest of Chaos is generally quiet because it was just a forest. It wasn’t overrun with all kinds of monsters like it is now.
“As expected. In fact, the internal problems are likely to improve over time. The problems are the monsters that are driven out and the monsters that come in from the outside.”
“Isn’t the outside slowly becoming more stable?”
In response to Ellie’s question, Rod shook her head. I guess I think differently.
“I thought so too at first. But I changed my mind when I heard the news of Usk’s influx. It’s not that the ‘balance’ has been broken, but the ‘boundary’ has been broken.”
“What it means to say that the border has collapsed…”
“In the future, monsters from outside the forest will flow in one after another. If the monsters fail to compete within, they will live in the outskirts. If this happens, another area will naturally be formed, and they will become very good prey for monsters from outside. It might be possible.”
I think I know what Rod is talking about. Simply put, it means that the outside is changing like the inside.
Until now, the border between the outskirts and the interior of the Forest of Chaos was quite clear. Strong monsters live inside, and weak monsters and beasts live outside.
However, as Porori and I disappeared at the same time, competition in the food chain became fiercer inside, and naturally the defeated monsters were pushed to the outskirts.
Just being pushed out to the outskirts is a headache, but there are more problems. Monsters that use it as their staple food, like Usk, have been flowing in one after another.
Not only Usk, but also ogres said to have come from the north. The object that was cut in half by Usk.
“As you know, the Forest of Chaos is in contact with all environments except the desert. It is naturally perfect for the influx of outside entities.”
“There weren’t many entities brought in from outside before, right?”
“It was a situation where the outside and the inside were almost cut off. But not now. The boundary between the outside and the inside is blurred, and outside entities are naturally flowing in.”
As I said before, there was a clear boundary between the depths of the Forest of Chaos and the outskirts. The external entity would have been uninterested in seeing only the life forms on the outskirts.
The entities that accidentally entered the interior are particularly strong. It must have been instinctively guided by magical power.
But now, the boundary between inside and outside is blurred, and monsters from outside are naturally flowing in.
“If this is repeated, it could pose a great threat not only to the outskirts but also to the academy. For now, we are taking a wait-and-see approach, but the situation could escalate out of control.”
“The academy must be dangerous too.”
Luna pointed out the key point and Jarod nodded at her. That’s the most important thing.
If even the exterior changes like the interior, it would be a catastrophe. Let’s imagine that entities like Usk are spread out all over the place.
Not only students but even professors will be unable to do anything. It will get better if Rod steps forward, but his body is one.
“No matter how strong humans are, they are helpless in the face of powerful nature. Only by taking action now can the safety of the academy be guaranteed.”
“Then we need Sivar and Ratatosk…”
“I’m asking them to do a favor. Please create a ‘territory’ on the outskirts of the Forest of Chaos.”
I was wondering why they were asking about Porori’s location, and this is what I got. I think I have a vague idea of Rod’s plan.
If the boundary has been broken, you can create it again. It is an extremely simple but very effective method.
I and Porori are predators who once divided the forest of chaos. Of course, territory marking was also being done consistently.
‘All those who ignored it and came in were eaten.’
In the wild, territory invasion is a life-threatening ‘challenge’. If you succeed in the challenge, you monopolize the territory; if you fail, you die.
When I was at my weakest, I hid from Porori’s gaze. Since then, it has gradually become stronger and started marking its territory.
Do predators other than us mark their territory? I personally smashed the earthen pot with a stone axe, and Porori broke the solar plexus with an iron furnace.
As the process was repeated and the territory was fought over with Porori, the territory was eventually divided into two.
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“If you create a territory, the outskirts will be safe and the boundaries will also be clear. In the process, all the invading predators will be eliminated. How about that?”
“I will do it. No, I will do it.”
I gladly accepted it because it was a problem that I could not ignore. There is a strong possibility that Porori will also accept it.
If this happens, there will be less cases of external monsters coming in. Directly deal with the internal monsters that lost the competition.
Rod smiled deeply as if he liked my refreshing answer. It looks like he was having a hard time with this issue.
“Thank you. Is there anything you need? If so, I will provide any assistance.”
“Please give me food.”
“hahahaha. It’s still the same.”
Rod laughed heartily. Others seem to have taken it as a joke.
However, you must eat more rice to clearly mark your territory. If so, you might be curious here.
“Then Sivar. How are you going to mark the territory? Is there a way?”
Ellie asked a question at the right time. Rod and Luna also look curious.
I answered in my characteristic calm voice even though their attention was focused on me.
“Poop and urine.”
“······Huh?”
People mark their territory through borders. But beasts are different.
Rub your body against a tree, leaving behind body odor, hair, or urine and feces. There are various methods.
Among these, the most reliable method is to leave urine and feces behind. I also enjoyed using this when marking areas.
“It’s a sure sign. No one can come.”
“I see, that’s right. That method must be reliable.”
“······Most animals use that method.”
Everyone looks shocked at my answer. I can’t help but feel embarrassed because it must have been an unexpected method.
Except for only one person, Luna. She was perplexed at first, but then she seemed to be thinking about something.
“······Shivar.”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s not what I stepped on then, right?”
After thinking about it, she asks her question. It seems that the traces of the area markings that I stepped on at that time came to mind.
I pretended not to know at the time, but… It’s actually true. I couldn’t bear to tell you.
“What?”
So I tilted my head and responded with ignorance.
Luna listened to my answer and gave me more detailed information.
“There’s something I stepped on when I first met you. Is it really your mark?”
Yes. That’s exactly what I marked. You were unlucky.
The words above rose up in my throat, but I tried to suppress them. I feel so sorry for Luna that I have no choice but to lie.
“······I don’t know?”
I decided that this was a secret I would take to my grave. Otherwise, I feel really sorry and will listen to anything.
Fortunately, Luna didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, her suspicions are not completely gone and she looks uncomfortable.
‘I’ll have to give you a bladed tusk sword later.’
This is the first debt of my heart.
that’s a weird sentiment