Published: July 4, 2025
"I want to eat fish for a change."
After finishing his morning training, Ryo muttered to himself.
"Yes, grilled fish would be nice, I want to eat it with salt. Ideally, I’d drizzle a little soy sauce on it... but since I don’t have any soy sauce, I’ll have to compromise. Alright, tonight’s dinner will be grilled fish!"
Once that was decided, it was time to act swiftly.
This isn’t the sea, so river fish would be better.
The thought of salt-grilled fish brought images of sweetfish and rainbow trout to Ryo's mind.
The tool he chose to catch the fish was his usual bamboo spear with a knife attached.
"Really, it would be better if the tip had a barb like a harpoon... but it can’t be helped."
The option of fishing was not in Ryo's mind.
"I don't need a burlap sack this time."
With the bamboo spear in one hand, Ryo headed toward the river south of his house.
He was not particularly excited.
No, he definitely wasn’t.
Probably… not.
At that moment, there just happened to be a crocodile by the riverbank.
It wasn’t listed in the "Monsters Encyclopedia: Beginner Edition."
So, it was likely an "animal" rather than a "monster."
Of course, there were millions of so-called "ordinary animals" in this world that weren't monsters.
The difference between monsters and animals is that monsters have a small stone called a "magic stone" near their heart.
Additionally, some types can use "magic."
Moreover, they are usually more ferocious and stronger than ordinary animals.
As a result, in the Forest of Rondo, the ordinary animals have been significantly exterminated by powerful monsters.
This was why Ryo hadn’t seen any animals in the Forest of Rondo until now.
However, an animal was right in front of him.
Even if it was a gigantic crocodile over five meters long, it was still an animal...
"How to Catch a Clever Crocodile"... According to that famous book from Earth, Japan, you should approach it from behind.
A book that his friend had shown him back in elementary school.
"I doubt that would be useful..." Ryo thought, so he hadn’t read it thoroughly.
Now, he regretted it immensely.
You never know when something might come in handy!
"Well, I don’t really need to catch it anyway."
Indeed, he hadn’t come to catch the crocodile.
Since it seemed he had not been noticed, he quietly moved upstream.
“Grrrrrrrr…”
“Grrrrrrrr…”
About fifty meters away from the crocodile, Ryo heard the roar of a beast.
It seemed something was fighting with that crocodile.
Though he had finally distanced himself, he was curious about what was battling that crocodile.
He decided to sneak a peek.
As he approached carefully, trying not to be found, Ryo’s eyes caught sight of a bull thrusting its horns into the crocodile and lifting it high above its head.
The crocodile had already been killed.
"Horned Bison... Just as the name suggests, watch out for the horns. They often appear in rivers and swamps. Be cautious of their charge wrapped in wind attribute magic. Right, I should try out a new technique."
Ryo raised his left hand above his head and chanted.
"Guillotine!"
From his left hand, the tip of an icicle lance transformed into a guillotine-like ice spear and shot into the air, gaining enough acceleration to decapitate the horned bison from above.
"Alright, success."
Ryo smiled brightly.
The head of the horned bison, sliced off in one blow, fell into the water, and blood gushed from the severed neck.
"I think I’ll use it to practice tanning cowhide."
Muttering this, he slowly approached the corpses of the horned bison and crocodile.
However, what Ryo saw there...
Splash, splash, splash.
The head of the horned bison and the body of the crocodile seemed to be shrinking in the water.
"Huh? What’s happening…?"
He hurriedly grabbed the horned bison's body and tossed it onto the shore.
There, several fish were already gnawing at it.
"Looks like something like a piranha... It wasn’t listed in the Monsters Encyclopedia, but... carnivorous... this must be a relative of the piranha."
Aggressive piranhas over 40 centimeters in length.