Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 134: The Cause of the Poor Hunting
　The simple dishes Tauro prepared had the potential to transform the mountain village’s food situation.
　Jagamo and rice could both serve as staple foods.
　A dependable staple made an enormous difference to people who regularly struggled to fill their stomachs.
　If the villagers could obtain these foods cheaply, eat their fill, and enjoy the taste, their burden would become considerably lighter.
　Tauro next asked whether anyone understood why hunting, one of the village’s traditional livelihoods, had declined so sharply.
“Monsters occasionally appear and damage the village, but that has always happened. Nothing in the mountains seems to have changed. There are definitely fewer animals, though.”
　One of the hunters considered the question but could identify no obvious cause.
　A boy standing behind him, only slightly older than Tauro, tugged at his father’s clothing.
“What about the big birds we’ve seen during the past few years?”
“The big birds? Ah, those. We sometimes see them flying high overhead, but they’ve never harmed anyone.”
　The hunter rested a hand on the child’s head.
“I would hunt one if I could, but they fly far too high for my bow! Ha ha ha!”
　The hunter laughed, but the mention of an unfamiliar large bird troubled Tauro.
　When he surveyed the surrounding area with [True Eye], whose range had increased after acquiring [Divine Archer], he detected no nearby monster that could explain the disappearance of the game.
　The large birds were the only recent change the villagers could remember. That made them the most plausible lead.
“You can see them fairly often if you watch the sky,”
　the boy added after noticing Tauro’s thoughtful expression.
“Thank you.”
　Tauro stepped outside the village chief’s house and looked upward.
　The western sky had turned red, and the sun was already sinking.
“It’s this late already… We’ll have to remain here tonight.”
　As he spoke, a large shape crossed the evening sky and flew toward the higher mountains.
　Tauro focused on it with the vision enhanced by [Divine Archer]. The creature was too distant and backlit by the sunset for him to distinguish more than its silhouette.
　Even so, the outline was unmistakably enormous.
　When Tauro concentrated more carefully, he noticed that it wasn’t merely a bird.
　The silhouette had four legs.
　That single detail gave him a strong suspicion about its identity.
　The following morning, Tauro asked the hunter to guide him farther up the mountain beyond the village.
　Aeris accompanied them.
　Tauro left Shin and Rumeya behind to repair the villagers’ damaged houses. Lumber was inexpensive and readily available, so the work wouldn’t consume scarce resources.
“Why do you want to climb up there? The slope is extremely steep, there are no animals, and no one from the village likes approaching the area,”
　the hunter said as they walked.
“That’s where the large creature disappeared yesterday.”
“Ah, I see! Perhaps it has a nest there. Had I known, I might have tried hunting it myself.”
“I strongly recommend that you don’t. I believe the ‘large bird’ is actually a griffon.”
“What?”
　Aeris, who had been following quietly, reacted with immediate alarm.
“What’s a griffon?”
　The hunter looked between them, surprised by her response.
“A griffon is a fiercely territorial monster. The Adventurers’ Guild classifies it at B rank or higher. It can seize even a large monster, carry it into the sky, and kill it by dropping it from a great height. If griffons have claimed these mountains as their territory, the surrounding animals may have fled in fear.”
“That explains why you didn’t bring Shin and Rumeya,”
　Aeris said.
　The two front-line fighters would be almost helpless if a griffon grabbed them and carried them into the air.
　Tauro privately thought that he would have preferred to leave Aeris behind as well, but wisely kept that opinion to himself.
“Because griffons fight mainly from the air, subjugating one requires an unusual formation. Even B-rank adventurer teams normally form the core of the force assigned to such a quest.”
“They’re truly that dangerous?”
　Even an isolated hunter knew the reputation of B-rank adventurers.
　Learning that fighters of that caliber were normally required made him wonder whether these two young adventurers could possibly prevail.
“Don’t worry. We have a workable plan and a good chance of winning,”
　Tauro answered confidently.