Each of the Singing Spider’s eggs cost twenty points.
As Reynard found by asking the instructor, they had a lot of uses in combat, making extra-strong glue, or just for their venom. Their eggs would have cost more if the spiders were easier to raise and ta.
After gathering so many points from a single, Reynard felt like going off his way to hunt more wasn’t worth it, so he and Terence made camp not too far from the edge of the Growlgrove and just gathered wild herbs nearby.
They still gathered a bit more points from magical bird nests that Terence spotted in the trees, but they were just a drop in comparison.
Several tis, other students passed by, but they didn’t try to accost Reynard and Terence, and they weren’t Marien, so their etings weren’t worth rembering for Reynard.
And then, the seventh day passed, and the entrance tokens of Reynard and Terence glowed brightly to notify them that the hunt was over. Any beast babies brought after this ti wouldn’t give points.
By then, most of the students had already gathered close to the exits, and it didn’t take long for them to leave and travel back to the Blue Bismuth school. In a few days, the winner of the hunt will be declared there.
"Here we part ways, Terence," Reynard told the kid when they left the Growlgrove, and patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck, you don’t owe anymore. Next year’s hunt, you might actually earn sothing!"
Terence nodded with a serious face. The effect was broken by his gaze constantly darting to the side.
"Thank you! And... Maybe you need soone to help you in your garden, Mister Artemy?"
"Really? Do you need extra cash?"
"I just... I have Fire Affinity, but when there’s a real fight, I don’t know what to do... Maybe you can give so hints as a paynt... Well, so I thought."
Reynard sighed.
He could hold himself in a fight because he was thrice as old as he looked to be, and after dying once, death didn’t seem as paralyzingly scary. That was not sothing he could impart to Terence.
But the kid was trustworthy enough to not steal from him, which was more than Reynard could say about the guy he already hired to keep watch over his plants.
"Can I just pay you with money?"
Terence’s shoulder slumped.
"You really can’t teach ?"
"I will try... But it really depends on you whether you will learn," Reynard replied with intentional vagueness.
"Trust , I will! Teachers say that I’m easy to catch onto things!"
Reynard chuckled and shook his head, then silently gestured for Terence to keep walking.
And it was on the road toward the Blue Bismuth School that Marien caught up with them.
At the look of her marching decisively toward him, Reynard couldn’t help his smile.
"My songbird! You are looking good!"
She really did. Unlike many other students, who were covered in dirt and often had tears and stains on their robes, Marien looked like she spent the last week strolling over gardens and not a forest of magical beasts. Her robes and her hairdo with buns over her ears were nearly immaculate.
Even Reynard was probably in a worse state, despite taking care to wash himself in a stream and change into his last spare robe before leaving the forest.
So of that cleanliness probably ca from the spatial storage item that Marien owned. But there wasn’t even a single scratch on her, which was much stranger...
Reynard’s smile dimd when she realized that Marien looked decisively unhappy. Terence glanced between them with wide eyes.
"I heard it, Reynard!" she exclaid, stomping her feet as she approached. "The students are already exchanging rumors—you killed the Singing Spider! Without eeee!"
Reynard blanched.
’I didn’t expect this to spread so quickly after the end of the hunt, but—but why is she unhappy about it?’
He really just couldn’t understand. Yet, the situation still required imdiate diffusal! There was only one thing he could do...
"I’m so sorry, my beautiful! I never thought to offend you—"
"It’s not his fault, Miss Canseliet!" Terence spoke up suddenly, stepping forward. "I... I stupidly rushed at the spider, and Mister Artemy was forced to go and save !"
To Reynard’s shock, after Terence’s words, Marien’s expression actually softened the way it didn’t at his own apologies.
"Ah... Right. There was so saving involved, yes?" She sighed despondently. "I guess... You couldn’t have known, Reynard, that I was also going that direction... Hm, what’s that?"
Reynard heard it too—Chili was making piglet chirps in its pocket. Either the little beast was awakened by the shouting, or it simply grew hungry.
"Oh, it’s a trophy," Reynard said, picking up. "I called it Chili... The instructor wouldn’t take the little guy. Or girl. I’m not sure how to tell when it’s so small."
The Forge-Piglet chirped at being brought from a comfy pocket into the light. It was still a little more than a piece of brown fuzz and a snout for sucking, but adorable in a way all babies were.
Naturally, Marien imdiately lted.
"Aww, it’s so cu—Wait, isn’t this a Forge-Boar? You scoundrel!"
"Huh?!"
"You have been the one to kill these Forge-Boars, too, haven’t you? Without eeee! Did you kill every beast in the region? This is simply unfaaaair!"
She wasn’t just wailing anymore, but genuinely tearing up. Their commotion also gathered several onlookers who watched from a safe distance.
Reynard panicked.
"But... But... They attacked first! Uh... Want to keep Chili?"
Marien sniffed and weighed his offer.
"No. I will own it, but you will keep it, care for it, and eventually use it in a forge. And I will have the exclusive rights to pet it and give it treats," she declared.
"Alright! I hope that will lift the dark veil from your mood, my songbird."
Marien pouted, but with less anger.
"A little..."
"So... What happened to you that made you so sad?"
She sighed.
"I’m sure it was a conspiracy! By my grandpa, who else? It had to be... Let tell you all about it!"
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