Chapter 05
Hunting always calls for hunting tools.
That’s why I came to the treasure vault of House Impera—hoping to find a decent dagger.
Before Ian was born, the Impera family had been thriving.
Now nearly everything had been taken from them, but once upon a time the dungeons under the count’s domain yielded a trove of riches.
The former head of the family—Ian’s grandfather—had been so fond of collecting treasures that it was practically his hobby.
Their feud with the Bener family had even started over artifacts the old count stole from them.
Thanks to that, the Impera vault once overflowed with useful artifacts.
[The Pearl of Volates]
[The Chalice of Riteva]
They took plenty, all right.
But the moment the old count died, rival territories launched territorial wars to claim reparations, and the House of Impera began its slow downfall.
Now Aemon bore the weight of that old karma.
Most of what remained was either used up or pawned off to cover Ian’s drinking debts.
“Hmm.”
The vault was littered with what used to be miscellaneous artifacts.
Jewelry boxes lay gaping and empty; scabbards remained where swords had long since vanished.
Only unsold odds and ends were left.
It hadn’t always been this trash heap.
Probably ransacked to pay for those war compensations—or maybe Ian himself had dug through it looking for something to pawn.
“No help at all, that useless brat.”
Rustle.
Something snagged at my foot while I searched for anything worthwhile: a single dust-caked book.
Brushing it off, I felt an ominous energy wafting from it.
“What’s this…?”
The cover was stitched with leather and thread, pale and faintly glossy. It didn’t look like ordinary hide.
“…Human skin. Lovely.”
As I stared at the artifact, light flared from the palm of my left hand.
The glow gathered above the book, projecting its name and powers in midair.
“Well, that’s neat. Like a magic projector.”
When I clenched and opened my hand, the words vanished and reappeared, over and over.
Amused, I played with it a few times before finally reading the description.
[Necronomicon: A secret tome containing the distilled knowledge of the ancients. Rumor says its author was not of this world.]
Effect: Permanently fixes the target’s black-magic rank at 5.
The book that drove Ian Impera insane—an artifact with a broken ability to raise a person’s black-magic rank all the way to five.
But it exacted a vicious price: the caster’s soul.
‘So that’s why it never sold.’
Someone must have tried to peddle it to a neighboring territory but found it too vile for any buyer.
Anyone who’d read Conquer the World with Rank! would know just how steep a price one’s soul really is.
Ian probably never had a clue.
“Selling your soul just to bump your rank? Thoughtless idiot.”
The longer I held the Necronomicon, the more that creepy feeling grew.
Keeping it was pointless. I should burn it immediately—
‘Wait. What if burning it ticks off the demon behind it?’
I already had my hands full. Crossing a demon now would only make things worse.
Better to leave it here in the vault, untouched.
“…Might come in handy someday, anyway.”
I couldn’t help wondering: what if someone with a magic rank of six or higher used it?
Would their rank drop—permanently?
I’d seen items that temporarily lowered rank, but nothing permanent, not even in the novel.
Uncertain, I tucked the book into a sturdy box and shoved it deep into a corner.
Leaving the Necronomicon behind, I kept rummaging through the vault.
“…This is it.”
[Altea’s Dagger: The childhood weapon of the legendary thief Altea. Extremely sharp—keep out of reach of children.]
Effect: Raises the user’s swordsmanship rank by 1. Loses its effect if the user’s rank is 3 or higher.
Rank 1 was trivial—swing a sword a few times and you’d earn it yourself.
Fancy name, but basically trash.
Still, for me right now, it wasn’t bad. Better than nothing.
I considered searching for more artifacts but found nothing more useful.
I tucked the dagger for low-rankers close to my chest.
“I’ll have to come back and dig around again later.”
[Sightings of a giant horned boar behind Krizel Village. Request for extermination.]
Just as I’d heard, the petition for a boar hunt was posted.
It had been over a month. Even with slow bureaucrats, a month was absurd.
“No wonder people are angry.”
“Why are you looking for petitions all of a sudden, young master?”
Ilene had snuck the petition out of Aemon’s office and eyed me curiously.
Ian had always avoided territory affairs.
Of course she found it odd that he’d ask to see such a document. Hunting a boar was the last thing she imagined.
‘Some noble, huh…’
“I was just curious. Problem with that?”
“O–oh, no! I was just wondering.”
“Good.”
Ilene still looked uneasy about stealing papers from Aemon’s private office.
Not surprising—she’d witnessed Ian’s misbehavior closer than anyone.
So what? Outwardly, I was Aemon’s son; I had every right to see a simple petition.
Now I had a hunting tool and a rough idea of my prey’s location. Only the hunt remained.
“Um… young master? You’re not actually planning to hunt that boar, are you?”
Her wide eyes brimmed with worry.
She was younger than Ian by a year, and yet here she was, anxious that this notorious wastrel might get himself killed.
Should I be touched or insulted?
“Don’t worry about it. Do I have to report every little thing?”
I’d meant to say, “No need to fret,” but it came out in Ian’s usual brusque tone.
Some habits are hard to shake, but I’d better not pick up his personality too.
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
“…I mean nothing will happen. I’m not looking to die. And keep this from Father. Return the petition to its place.”
“…Eh? Um… understood, young master.”
Still puzzled, she obeyed without further protest.
“So this is the place.”
A dense forest, overgrown and untrodden. No trail to be found.
A crude sign stood nearby, splashed with red paint:
a boar with horns and a big X slashed across it.
A warning even an illiterate could understand—enter and the horned boar will kill you.
The petition’s description matched this spot exactly.
Krizel Village: a backwater where people survived by gathering mushrooms and fruit from the mountain.
I remembered them occasionally offering rare mushrooms as tribute when I was a child.
Taxes were meager, the population small, and foraging never brought much money.
Naturally, the village had long been neglected by House Impera.
[Sightings of a giant horned boar behind Krizel Village. Request for extermination.]
The very petition I’d swiped from Aemon’s office. A simple plea to slay the boar.
But Aemon hadn’t responded.
With national taxes leaking like a sieve, other matters surely came first.
There weren’t even regular soldiers available; Aemon himself would have to go, and he was far too busy.
After a month, the beast had likely grown even larger.
“Tsk…”
If they’d acted earlier, it would have been an easy job.
All because of Ian. If that fool hadn’t gambled away tax funds, the boar would’ve been long gone.
When the head rots, the tail suffers.
Snap.
I ignored the warning sign and pushed through the undergrowth, branches whispering against my clothes.
I gripped Altea’s Dagger tightly as I scanned my surroundings. A surprisingly good blade.
Vvvmmm…
A faint hum resonated as a breeze brushed the dagger—only a razor-keen edge could sing like that.
“Not bad.”
A dagger that grants rank 1 swordsmanship to its first wielder.
For someone as powerless as me, it was a glimmer of hope.
With this, even my meager rank could harm the boar.
“Pork…”
Pork belly, loin, trotters—nothing goes to waste on a pig.
“Just you wait. I’ll eat you bones and all.”
I licked my lips and prepared for the encounter.
Horned boars were usually dim-witted, so stupid they sometimes died after snagging their horns on trees.
Because of that, they were a welcome food source for wild predators.
But every so often, a clever one appeared—
and the clever ones lived longer, grew larger, and became dangerous enough to prey on other animals.
For a mountain village, periodic hunts were essential.
“First, bait.”
I scanned the trees for something to lure it.
The villagers hadn’t dared enter the forest lately, so ripe fruit still hung everywhere.
Slurp.
They looked so plump I nearly took a bite myself.
‘No. Resist.’
If I wanted a feast later, I had to wait. Besides, these fruits looked tasty but unfamiliar—red like apples outside, but mushy within. Not something to eat lightly.
Remembering a passage from the novel, I gathered what I needed for the hunt.
[On a deserted island, the horned boar is a vital food source. A lack of knives is a nuisance, but it’s hardly uncatchable. Understand its habits and the hunt is simple.
The boar’s eyesight is extremely poor, but its sense of smell is keen. Use that—mash up fruit and you can catch it easily.]
“Yeah, easy as eating cold porridge… which is harder than it sounds.”
I chuckled at my own lame joke.
Even cold porridge isn’t easy to come by—whether in Korea or in the Impera domain.
I gathered only fruit that had fallen to the ground, already overripe and fragrant.
Then I crushed them with a fist-sized rock until they were like jam.
Soon I had a whole basket of pulpy mash.
I spread it along a path the boar was likely to take.
All that was left was to wait.
I thought about setting a trap but decided against it.
The beast had survived this long; a crude snare might only raise its guard.
Instead I sprinkled the fruit mash and climbed a tall tree nearby.
My arms ached, but the plentiful branches made it possible.
Now I just needed the boar to show up.
My low sword rank meant a normal attack wouldn’t work.
But if I leapt from this height with my full weight behind the strike…
piercing its hide shouldn’t be a problem.
Grrrgle!
“Ugh…”
Time passed and my stomach growled.
“You pig… when are you coming?”
Grrrrrk.
A strange grunt echoed from somewhere.
‘Heh. Here comes the guest of honor.’
A horned boar emerged in the distance, nostrils flaring as it approached.
Clearly an old one—the bulk of it was immense.
The closer it came, the larger it seemed.
Thud… Thud…
“…What?”
Only when it reached striking distance could I gauge its true size.
Maybe I should have brought a spear instead of a dagger.
‘…What the hell? Why is it that big?’
