It was a summer day and the smell of grass and plants linger in the air.

The hot weather makes it harder for farmers to move around.

Activities were done early in the morning and late afternoon before the sun went down.

This is the most comfortable time to do any activities.

Brand together with his friend Damian is no different.

They are both farmers that water their plants before the sun comes up and just finish it before the sun is at its peak.

When they finish their job they move towards the tree, located on top of the highest hill and rest under it.

Both of them wore thin clothes for easy movement and because it is more comfortable in this season.

Brand with his black hair and black eyes and serious looking face looks towards the horizon.

The village they live in is surrounded by trees but in the far distance you could see a large peaceful plain. There are several mountains on the horizon after that plain and several birds are flying in the sky.

The scenery is the very depiction of peace.

“Woooosssshh!”

Rustle! Rustle!

A hot breeze flew towards them and the tree rustled for a bit and gave off that shaking sound of woods.

Several leaves fell down but he didn’t care about it.

He looked towards his side and saw his friend lying beside the tree, his friend farmer hat made of straw is currently covering his face.

It seems like the wind didn’t bother his friend in the slightest.

He then glanced back at the farm they are taking care of below the hill, it was covered with the green colored round vegetable, unripe Totas.

A brown colored vegetable that is the staple food in their kingdom.

His eyes move towards the village.

There are several people walking around the village.

Some are preparing food, others are gathering water from the well and some are carrying various things and moving it around.

He also glanced at the wooden wall made up of tree trunks surrounding the village and stopped his eyes on one of the so-called Foolers.

Fooler are human-like statues made out of wood or straw, those things that are covered with armor or other cloth and placed around the village walls.

They are placed together in groups of 3’s or 4’s to make them more intimidating to the creatures that wanted to stroll towards the villages.

At night, the people assigned will light up a torch and place it beside the Foolers to basically fool the monsters that the village has a lot of people guarding it.

These Foolers are also equipped with shiny but worn torn weapons.

With these Foolers, we can leave a minimum number of guards around the village to be on the look out in case there is a real attack at night.

So far… 

No… Most of the time we have peaceful nights and days because of those things.

Then Brand looks at the forest.

The green and peaceful looking forest surrounding their villages.

But he knows that venturing inside the forest is dangerous because there are several monsters living in that place.

Then he looked towards the plain and felt that the peaceful view or ambiance it gave off was different from reality.

Because without the tree that can cover you, that place is much more dangerous than the forest that is surrounding their village.

Monsters all over the place can easily spot you, unless you wanted to die so badly, moving inside the forest, caves and mountains is much better than moving in the plains.

While lost in thought.

“Booooooooo”

A large horn was sounded in the tower located in the middle village.

I looked towards the entrance and saw that the group of hunters came back.

“They are back already, I thought they will take some time just like yesterday.”

A relaxed voice came from the side.

The man with the same features as Brand, except for the tired looking eyes, is looking at the entrance of the gate and we both watch as 6 people enter it.

They are carrying a large brown circular monster with a tusk and horn in it.

“They hunted another Horned Boar.”

“Well Horned Boar is the easiest monster to hunt out there, not only it leaves a lot of tracks, its movement is also predictable and it also has a lot of weakness, those big eyes, the ear and the anus.”

Brand shakes his head in Damian’s reply.

“You're the only person that I know of that will attack the monster in the anus.”

Damian shakes his head in return and lifts up his shoulder and arms showing.

“What can I do? That's just how I think!”

Bam!

Damian slams his fist in his chest.

Feeling proud of himself.

Brand sighed.

Just as Damian said Horned Boar have a predictable pattern of attack which makes this monster easy to hunt.

However, the pelt of this monster is also tough, you need numerous attacks in the same spot to inflict wounds on this monster, that's why group hunting and trapping the monster first is the recommended way in hunting it.

But Damian’s brain is just so weird that he even thinks of attacking the monster in that ‘sensitive part’.

“Well my weird friend, let’s help them prepare that monster.”

Damian was shocked. He looks around the area like he is panicking.

“Ahh… Ahhh… Yeah… No! I just remember Amelia needs help… in something… I have to get back home as soon as possible.”

Damian immediately gets up and runs towards the village without even waiting for Brand's reply.

“Sighhh… That guy… he may have that unique thinking of his but he only wants to laze around.”

Brand stands up and stretches up his arms and looks at the hunting group walking towards the butcher lounge. 

“Let’s help them up, those people must be tired of killing that monster.”

I walk through the village.

Most of the houses are made up of wood logs tied together with vines, but we are not that primitive. Skilled carpenters taught us how to make openings and locks to fit the wood together like a wooden puzzle for kids.

In addition, we bought adhesive from the city before building a house, those things will make it more sturdy.

For our roof, we use planks, dried stalks and long grass bundled together or monster parts that have great waterproof quality.

Though monster parts are pretty rare due to its abundance, some of the village houses have them specially when they were built after a monster wave of attacks.

Those monsters became our primary source of resources in repairing our houses.

As I walked through the village a group of people already gathered in the butcher lounge.

“This must be the group that will volunteer in preparing the monster.”

I was just arriving in the building when the hunting team came out.

The leader of the hunting team, a man with a muscular body covered in scars and with a cutoff left hand and a shield secured in the left arm using multiple belts, came out.

The Lead Hunter Roger as we called him.

He is the leader of the hunting team and the weapon trainer in the village.

Roger tapped the shoulder of the man he bumped.

“It's your turn! Haha, just give me some parts with a little fat on it!”

“Haha sure sure, I still have some old wine back home, let’s drink after we finish preparing the meat.”

Roger laughs and the man also laughs with him.

Then Roger passes by him and moves towards another direction.

After Roger came out several members of the hunting team also came out.

One of them is Cain, the most dependable and muscular person after Roger.

He is also known as the best hunter after him.

And also one of my friends.

“Brand! Why are you alone…”

Cain saw me immediately and almost asked Brand about something… but then it seems like he clearly remembers something important and he just shakes his head.

“Sighhh… Did Damian bail again when you invited him to help out?”

“Yeah… He said he's going to help his younger sister with something.”

“That’s just clearly an excuse… Amelia is more mature than him in many ways.”

“That’s true… well enough about Damian, how's the hunt?”

“It's just a regular hunt… though we notice that there are less monsters in the area right now? We wonder what has changed.”

“Less monsters?”

“Yeah, we notice less tracks on the way to the hunting ground… No ambush attacks… No signs of prowling in the area, though the last hunt was just three days ago but the forest should not have changed that much.”

“Then what did Roger say?”

“He said that there might be a new predator around that area so we will increase the guard tonight… he will also request the village chief to increase the number of Foolers for the time being.”

“Yikes, will the old man accept that… we will need to gather more materials for the torches if that happens.”

“Well it can’t be helped, we need to increase the security at night time, we should just hope that old man listened to Roger.”

“I hope so… well I will not keep you company anymore you should get some rest and let us handle the preparation for the meat.”

Cain tapped my shoulder.

“Thanks, Brand… If I see Damian I will make him help out.”

“Hahaha don’t kid yourself, that guy must be hiding under the rock by now.”

“Hahaha yeah you're right. His skill and knowledge are really wasted on him.”

Cain moves away and raises his hand to say goodbye.

While I move towards the lounge and try to help out in preparing the meat.

Meat preparation is really simple.

The main butcher will cut off the parts one by one and he will give us our assigned part.

Our goal is to safely and carefully remove the skin of the monster and separate the meat.

The skin will be processed further to be sold or used as materials for crafting bags and clothes while the meat will be processed so that we can stock it up for days.

Some of that meat will be distributed to the kitchen where the villagers can get their stew.

I was given the hind legs of the monster.

The size is the same as a leg of a 27 year old man, just like mine.

But it is really round and it seems like there is a lot of meat and fat in it.

I made the preparation just like how they taught us.

Cut it vertically along the legs then make a horizontal cut towards the heel of the monster's legs.

And slowly cut the meat and separate the skin.

This process is tedious and slow but you cannot rush it because the moment that you do and damage the skin there is no going back.

So we, together with 5 more people, stayed in the butcher lounge for a while.

It took me at least an hour to separate the meat.

The skin of this monster is tough and good material at that but if you are not careful you can damage it and be deemed useless.

I personally don’t want to experience that because it will be a major loss for our village.

So I carefully process that meat to the best of my abilities even though it will take me a long time.

When I exited the lounge it was almost night time.

Several people are moving around with torches in their hands.

“It looks like the old man gave in…”

There are more people moving around compared to regular days.

“YAAAA! (Yawn), I guess they could handle that I would go towards the kitchen and go home for the time being.”

As I walk towards the kitchen.

Bam! Bam!

A sound of wood braking echo in the village.

“Boooo Boooo Boo Boo… Booooo Boooo!”

“What!”

“Boooo Boooo Boo Boo… Booooo Boooo!”

The horn sounded once again but this time.

“Boooo Boooo Boo Boo… Booooo Boooo!”

“That pattern!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Another loud crashing sound roar.

Everybody stops and looks at the source of the sound.

Within a moment later!

“Attack on the East Wall!”

“Attack on the East Wall!”

“Attack on the East Wall!”

People are shouting and repeating the information over and over again.

The villagers started to move.

The children and people who cannot fight run towards the direction of the village hall.

While those who can fight pick up a weapon and run towards the East Wall.

“East Wall!?”

“That’s near Damian’s house.”

I run inside the butcher lounge and the butcher, who is also prepared to go out, throws me an axe he uses to chop off monster parts.

I grab the axe and immediately run towards Damian’s house.