My hand firmly clenched on my daggers I ran at high speed through the forest.

I wasn’t chased by a monster or anything.

In fact, I would say that it’s me who is hounding something.

Hounding what?

Monsters. More precisely a pack of high beasts known as FangWolf.

FangWolf is a wolf-like creature that has three pairs of eyes, black fur, and fang-like tusks coming out of their ribs, one of their most remarkable features is their size, they are twice the size of a normal wolf.

Like any other high beast, they were able to use aina.

And they were extremely good at using it, especially when they are in a pack.

Then why are they running away from me, while I’m chasing after them?

Because I’m a lot stronger than them and they know that.

Despite only doing it in the after, In less than two years my Aina training in the forest brought impressive results.

If I were to say to my young self of one year and a half ago that I'm currently hunting high beast for fun I wonder if he would believe me.

In front of me running at full speed, was a pack of 9 fangWolves.

They headed to the deeper part of the forest.

Not wanting to venture too far, I decided to end this chase here.

I began to accelerate.

Once I reached a distance of two-meter from the closest fangwolf of the pack, I used my leg to propel myself just above it.

I squished its head under my foot on my landing.

The wolves turned their heads in unison to the bone-cracking noise coming from their comrade's skull.

Taking advantage of the momentum, I threw Martha and Olga straight to the head of the two closest fangWolf.

They died instantly.

Five fangWolves saw what happened and maybe because they knew that running would be useless, abruptly stopped their flight and began circling me while baring their teeth at me.

Little by little their furs start to emit a faint blue light.

FangWolf would often emit these faint blue light when using aina, it often happens when they are extremely enraged, which is certainly the case here.

I casually retrieved Martha and Olga from the skulls of their two former comrades.

When I bent down to pull Olga out of the fangWolf's head, two of them charged at me from two opposite sides.

When they got to a distance of 2m they jumped at me with the mouth wide open.

I immediately pulled Olga out and used her to stab the fangWolf from beneath the mouth. Olga made her way to the upper part of the mouth.

With that done, I dragged the body of the fangWolf with Olga who was still in its wound, and slammed it against the fangWolf that was coming from the other side.

Suddenly the other four immediately charged at me from my four sides.

I threw Martha at one of them and it skillfully stopped its charge to dodge my throw.

Little did he know what I was expecting of him.

Immediately evaded the three other fangWolf attacks and ran to the one who had dodged my attack. It fangWolf has already resumed its charge against me.

I received him with the strongest kick I had in the head.

The kick was so strong enough to completely blow away its head.

The three others charged at me and I similarly finished them.

After a short while, there was nothing left of the fangWolf except their corpses.

Lately, I’ve received a lot of visits from this kind of monster.

Maybe it’s because of evolution or something like this but the five-kilometer rules no longer applied to certain monsters around here.

The proof of that is the warthogs I saw one year and a half ago. I thought that they were just some over buffed pig but they really were monsters, they are what are called beasts, the weakest of their kind but still monsters.

They couldn't cause any treat for me last year and even less right now.

The five first kilometer rules are no longer applicable for beasts.

I have created a third first-kilometer rule for the high beast.

For hunting, a high beast can go up to the first three kilometers.

The first time I stumbled upon one was when I ventured on the outskirts of the fifth kilometer within the forest, It was 1 year ago. I wanted to see closely what hell looked like and that day I saw a glimpse of it. I was hunted down by two FangWolfs until I reached the first three kilometers.

As revenge for the fright they gave me that day, I decided to bait them here within the first three kilometers whenever I saw one.

At first, I had to deal with them individually, but lately, it’s basically an entire pack that I hunt.

“I think that's it for today,” I said while retrieving Martha and Olga from the bloodied corpse of the fangWolf.

It is still early in the afternoon, but I think I’ve done plenty enough for today, and on top of that as winter is coming, this afternoon was chiller than the usual afternoon.

Winter is really harsh for my activity in the forest. Not only because of the icy temperature but also because of the footprints that I leave in the snow during my escapes.

Last year I even had to stop going to the forest for two months.

I think I’ll have to do the same thing again this year. This winter seems particular

I don't know why but I feel this winter is going to be the most freezing winter I've ever seen.

Aaaaaaaa~

Anyway, it’s time to get back home and appreciate the gentle heat of a fireplace.

****

After putting my backpack in its usual hiding spot. I headed to the manor domain fences, since it was still early in the evening, I couldn’t rely on the evening twilight to cover my infiltration, I had to be careful that no one on the other side would be able to see me.

“Lucky”

It seems that there was no one wandering in the backyard.

I jumped over the walls and made my way to the manor.

Once I reached the manor, I noticed that there was something strange, it felt like it was too quiet in the manor.

Instead of passing through the kitchen, Matheo wasn’t there.

Something was definitely off.

Just as I was about to make my way to the entrance hall through the living room, I heard heavy and familiar footsteps approaching.

“Aaaa~ Monsieur ?! What brings - ah no- Madame Mathilda is looking for Monsieur right now. ” Matheo said, visibly surprised to see me here.

Soon several footsteps could be heard from the dining room.

These footsteps certainly belonged to the housemaids.

“Did something happen?”

He leaned over slightly and covered his mouth the same way, someone preparing to share a groundbreaking secret would.

“We have a guest and certainly a prestigious one. Each of us was summoned to greet him when he came out of his carriage,” he whispered

A guest, I wonder who it can be?

“Do you know who it is?”

“Non, but I think it’s someone Madame Mathilda and Monsieur Syrus are familiar with. It might be someone from Monsieur’s family.”

“And where this prestigious guest might be right now ?”

“Syrus and Mathilda are welcoming him in the living room.”

Oh Thank god, I didn't sneak in through the living room window.

“I see… I’m going to check it myself.” With that said, I made my way to the living room.

When I passed through the entrance hall, I immediately noticed the three fancy carriages waiting in the courtyard.

And surrounding these three carriages were 4 guards armed to the teeth.

Our guards pale in comparison to these guys.

Matheo was right, this guest is definitely a big shot.

Once I reached the first floor, I was immediately noticed by Syrus, who was obviously waiting for me at the library’s door.

“Weren’t you inside the library, what are you doi- Ah that doesn’t matter.” He said with a sigh.”We have someone very important to introduce you.”

“May I ask who it is? “

He immediately shook his head.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask him that personally.”