The entrance token had a compass-like pointer that led Reynard and Terence directly to the nearest entrance marker.
It was getting dark by the ti they stepped on the edge of the Growlgrove. But it was as promised—a small tent with an instructor was waiting outside. Near it were stacked empty cages with enhanced steel bars.
Soon, one of them was hosting the piglets.
"Five Forge-Boar piglets... That’s two hundred points. I am dividing them between—"
"Actually, they all should go to Reynard Artemy," Terence interjected.
The instructor shrugged and made a note in a scroll.
"And there are six of them," Reynard added, showing the runt piglet.
The instructor threw a glance at it and raised his eyebrows.
"This one is just going to die. You don’t get any points for dying ones."
"What?! It’s not! It will grow into a big fucking pig and live a full and rich life in so forge!"
The instructor glared at Reynard.
"Don’t be insolent, student, or I will deduct your points! You don’t make the rules. The runts are worthless because they won’t even survive until we bring them to the market. Is that clear?"
Reynard huffed.
"Clear, instructor. Actually... You have stuff to feed the beasts with, right? They are supposed to still suck on their mother..."
As far as Reynard knew, this world didn’t invent baby bottles. Especially for pigs.
"Obviously. What would be the point if the school just let the baby animals die before they can be raised and tad?"
"Well... Can I buy so?"
The instructor glanced at the piglet in Reynard’s hands and scowled.
"Pretty please? I apologize for being rude earlier, I was rely offended on behalf of—"
"I get it! You will owe a hundred gold."
Reynard almost choked on air.
"A hundred?.."
"Yes! Or do you think that Wooden Mother artifacts are cheap? And you are lucky that every beast-gathering post is given a spare one! They still belong to the school... I will have to excuse losing this one... Then request a new artifact..."
"I understand, I understand, instructor. A hundred gold—no, a hundred and fifty as compensation for your problems!"
"That’s much better. Wait here."
Fifteen minutes later, Reynard was leaving the place, feeling like a new father.
The runt piglet was happily nursing on a rune-engraved wooden bottle with straw on one end. Reynard hoped that the instructor didn’t lie, and the Wooden Mother was preventing the milk inside from spoiling.
"So... Mister Artemy, are you going to na the pig?"
Reynard gave the question a mont of thought.
"I don’t plan on keeping around forever. If the piglet just grows enough to beco sellable, I can get back the money I owe to the instructor and much more. I know for sure the Blue Bismuth School doesn’t pay as much for baby beasts as a proper market does."
"But that might take a while... Maybe call him a ’Little Coal’ in the anti?" Terence was trying to sound serious and adult, but his eyes were large and excited.
"Little Coal, really? That’s stupid! It’s not going to be little forever. Nah, I’m naming him Chili."
"Huh? That’s a strange na for a beast..."
Reynard smiled to himself. In this world, if chili peppers existed, they weren’t known near Blue Bismuth School.
"You wouldn’t get it, Terence. Just kept walking... There won’t be any running water for camp nearby, but at least we can find sowhere flat to put tents. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get deeper into the Growlgrove and maybe find so conveniently-transported eggs."
***
The next day.
"It’s so botherso to go back and forth to the entrances to drop off any baby beasts... But at least we don’t see many other magi. I bet most of them tried to rush to the center of the Growlgrove, hoping to find more valuable nests there," Reynard grumbled, absent-mindedly scratching Chili.
The piglet was nested in his front pocket, which seed to be a convenient enough place that the beast stopped huffing smoke.
Reynared and Terence spent a day and a half walking, but had even fewer encounters than on the first day.
They had gathered so plants and t another magus carrying a bag of beasts, but respectfully let him pass unaccosted. Nobody attacked them, either.
"I heard from other students that the Autumn Beast Hunts are very boring until sothing scary ambushes you. Then it’s the most exhilarating ti of the year." Terence shuddered. "It makes wish I wasn’t a magus. Maybe I would’ve beco a cobbler..."
"Are you, by chance, a Water Magus?"
"How did you know? I have strong Wind-Water and weak Earth Affinities!" Terence said proudly. "I was told this is a very good combination, the only better one is a strong Four Elents Affinity!"
"Ha-ha... So it’s true what they say—your personality and your Affinity co along. And you don’t have any Fire Affinity..."
Terence turned away, trying not to look pouting.
"Neither do you, Mister Artemy!"
Reynard narrowed his eyes. He was about to cut back at this implied insult and the stereotype that all Earth Magi were greedy, self-serving bastards, but noticed sothing that made him stop.
What he thought was a really strange bush turned out to be a shriveled deer carcass. The body was glued to the bottom of a tree trunk with a haphazard splash of sothing white and emanated a cloyingly sweet stench of rot.
"Oh, this looks like a trail of sothing. We should investigate," Reynard said, approaching the corpse.
On a closer examination, where there was no white substance, the deer carcass had been chewed on by scavengers. In other places, it was just rotting.
The white thing itself was emanating weak magic energy. Terence poked it with a stick, and the stick got stuck.
"This looks like a web thrown by a spider high on coffee," Reynard concluded. "A deer-sized spider... Hm. I think I heard about a creature like that living in Growlgrove, but I can’t rember the details..."
Terence shrugged.
"Well, there are a lot of various beasts... I rember reading about several species of magical spiders. Are we going to track this one?"
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