Chapter 10: Herb Gathering
In the afternoon, I set out immediately to gather medicinal herbs.
In the reference room, I double-checked the route to the forest just in case. To enter and exit the forest, one must present an adventurer’s license or apprentice adventurer’s tag to the gatekeeper.
It also stated that once the sun sets, entry and exit through the gate would no longer be possible.
“Let’s make sure we head back once the sky turns red…”
With that resolve, I nervously showed the gatekeeper my tag labeled “Adventurer (Apprentice).”
“Alright. Take care out there.”
The gatekeeper, a sun-tanned man, glanced at the tag in Ren’s hand and then opened the small door beside the gate.
Passing through that side door, the air somehow felt different. Maybe it was just his nerves.
Beyond the gate, a single road stretched straight toward the forest. The grasslands on both sides of the path seemed to be designated herb-gathering areas. He immediately pushed through the taller grass and stepped inside.
“Round leaves… is this it?”
The target herb was Mana-Berry. Its defining features were round leaves with a faint layer of fine fuzz. He plucked a leaf and sniffed it from the stem. It had a distinctive green, slightly sharp herbal scent. The illustrated board had shown dried specimens, but there had been no way to confirm the smell.
“I’m not really sure, but… I guess I’ll take it for now.”
Still uncertain, he cut the plant at the base with his knife. From his bag, he took out a cloth he had pre-wet with water. It felt cold and damp in his hands.
He wrapped the cut stem in the wet cloth, just as instructed on the guild’s reference board. As he continued harvesting several clusters of plants, a rustling sound came from the bushes, and he sensed something behind him.
“A rabbit…? A horn rabbit?”
From deep in the thicket, a horn rabbit stared at him.
The moment their eyes met, it leapt at him.
“Wah!”
He instinctively swung the sack containing the Mana-Berry leaves to deflect it. But the moment it landed, it immediately jumped again.
“What? What is it!? I don’t even have any food on me… Ah!”
A sudden idea struck him, and he shoved his hand into his pocket, pulling out a piece of bread—the bread from the guild dining hall.
He had ended up bringing it back without eating it.
“Take the bread and go away!”
Just as Ren swung his arm holding the bread, the horn rabbit leapt again.
BANG!
A heavy impact rang out, and the horn rabbit collapsed onto the ground, twitching slightly.
“Eh!?”
The bread rolled to a stop on the ground. It had apparently struck the horn rabbit right around the nose by pure coincidence.
“…It’s that hard like a stone…?”
Flap!
As he stared in shock at the motionless horn rabbit, a shadow suddenly entered his vision along with the sound of flapping wings. He quickly tensed up.
A large bird with dark brown feathers swooped down and snatched the bread from the ground with its beak. It snapped its mouth shut and soared back into the sky.
“…So it was after the bread…”
He exhaled deeply and watched the bird disappear into the distance. Just as he was thinking about what to do with the horn rabbit, the bird suddenly plummeted from the sky.
With a rustling crash, it fell into the grassland nearby.