As the leader of the Horse Bandits, Lynn occasionally took on jobs to eliminate Magic Beasts when he was not robbing people.
Money was money. Gold coins did not come in noble or lowly varieties.
In the Northern Border, where primeval forests stretched everywhere, Magic Beasts appeared frequently, and scholars had never stopped researching them.
However, because the Northern Kingdom's power and land were highly fragmented, and the great nobles who held power preferred investing their limited resources in the military, research into Magic Beasts had never progressed very deeply.
Only a very small number of wealthy and interested scholars conducted research at their own expense.
The already scarce Magic Beast scholars were scattered across the kingdom. Hampered by the Northern Border's abysmal roads, they usually worked behind closed doors, each developing their own school of thought.
Lynn had once met the wife of a Magic Beast scholar in the southern part of the kingdom.
That scholar was the son of a wealthy merchant and often left home to investigate Magic Beasts.
His wife threw parties at home to ease her loneliness.
Using one such party, Lynn entered the scholar's bedroom and read through his notes.
According to the notes, Magic Beasts did not reproduce. Instead, they were ordinary animals that had mutated after birth, though the conditions for mutation remained unclear.
After mutating, a Magic Beast's size would expand dramatically, while its strength and defense would multiply.
Not only that, Magic Beasts possessed intelligence and senses far beyond those of ordinary animals.
According to the scholar's findings, most Magic Beasts hid deep within the forest and deliberately avoided humans.
Perhaps because they understood how terrifying humans were.
Only a few exceptionally powerful and arrogant Magic Beasts would actively attack human villages.
Lynn's attitude toward that was simple: anything that dared attack his Territory System had to die.
Forget Magic Beasts—even a duke would have to die if he came.
He had hunted two Demon Bears before and understood the habits of those beasts.
They only dared attack human Territory Systems because of their massive size and thick hides.
Such attacks usually occurred in autumn or spring.
In autumn, bears needed to store fat for the winter. In spring, they had just awakened from hibernation and were too hungry, so they came to human Territory Systems for easy food.
How could tender grass and berries compare to the grain and livestock in farmhouses?
Demon Bears that had just awakened from hibernation were rather sleepy. Once full, they would return to their dens for more sleep.
Then, when they grew hungry again at dusk, they would come out to forage once more.
Lynn was certain that this greedy Demon Bear would visit Spruce Village again.
You could not catch a bear without risking the bait. To ensure the Demon Bear took the hook, Lynn used his authority as Lord and kept all of Spruce Village's livestock inside the farmhouses.
He and twenty-five of his men split into pairs and stationed themselves in different farmhouses.
Demon Bears possessed an incredibly sharp sense of smell and were not stupid. If it smelled more than twenty people gathered in one place, it would most likely refuse to take the bait.
To make things as realistic as possible, Lynn even ordered his men to light fires and cook porridge inside the farmhouses.
Soon, smoke curled above Spruce Village. From a distance, it really did look like a peaceful little village.
Second Brother sat beside the fire pit. A long spear and a loaded Heavy Crossbow lay at his side as he skillfully stirred the rye porridge in a Clay Pot with a spoon.
"Big Brother, the porridge is ready."
"Then eat. I've got sausages here."
Lynn took two rock-hard pork sausages from his bag, then turned and tossed one to Second Brother.
He was already prepared for a drawn-out battle. If the Demon Bear did not come today, he would wait in Spruce Village for another two days.
If it still did not come, he would lead his men into the forest to search for it.
Either way, the Demon Bear had to die.
If it did not, the entire White Bear Territory would know no peace, and Lynn's Spring Planting plan would inevitably face serious setbacks.
Second Brother caught the sausage and casually took a bite. "Big Brother, how tall was that Demon Bear we killed last year again?"
Lynn swallowed half a sausage in one bite and answered through a full mouth, "More than five meters, I think? Probably under six."
At the beginning of last year, also in March, before Lao Liu had joined them, Lynn and the others accepted a job to hunt a bear.
That Demon Bear was extremely cunning. Whenever it smelled too many people, it would flee toward its den deep in the forest. Yet Lynn and the others eventually cornered it inside a cave. It took more than a week to track it down, but the battle itself was extremely brief.
They smoked it out of the cave, then attacked with spears and Heavy Crossbows. They killed it in less than fifteen minutes.
Aside from the bounty, they had gained something extra from that job: the Magic Stone inside the Demon Bear.
A small number of powerful Magic Beasts nurtured a translucent, crystal-like Magic Stone within their bodies.
Most Magic Stones on the market were bought up by the church at high prices.
They were said to be offerings presented to the gods.
Some powerful warriors also seemed able to extract power from Magic Stones and strengthen themselves.
"Warriors" were superhumans.
Becoming a superhuman was not actually all that difficult.
After undergoing harsh training and maintaining a proper diet, humans in this world had a chance to break through their physical limits and step into a higher realm.
In the Northern Border, such people were called "warriors."
Almost every noble of baron rank or above was a warrior.
They never had to worry about food from birth, had ample time to temper their bodies, and could receive instruction from powerful warriors at the courts of higher-ranking nobles. It was hard for them not to become warriors.
By Lynn's estimate, the minimum threshold for a superhuman was probably D- strength on the panel.
All five of his brothers had crossed that threshold.
Second Brother served Lynn a bowl of rye porridge, then sat down and ate it with his sausage. Once he was half full, he said, "Big Brother, this Demon Bear is a full seven meters tall. There must be a Magic Stone inside it too."
"Probably. As usual, you can split the money from the hide when the time comes. The Magic Stone is mine."
Lynn glanced at his attributes on the Lord panel.
[Command C+][Strength B][Constitution C+][Intelligence C+][Administration C][Charisma B-]
A proper all-rounder, with no obvious weakness and exceptionally outstanding strength.
As the protagonist, Lynn's panel did not display star ratings.
He figured his attributes should qualify for four stars.
He did not know exactly where he ranked in the Northern Border, but he had never met anyone with higher strength than his.
Possessing such attributes at such a young age was not because Lynn was exceptionally gifted.
It was because he had a cheat.
Through the panel, Lynn could consume Magic Stones to increase his own attributes as well as those of his followers.
Every Magic Stone he had obtained in the past had been spent on adding points to himself.
He mainly increased strength.
The [Strength] attribute did not merely represent physical power. It was a comprehensive evaluation of one's personal combat ability.
In short, the higher the strength, the stronger the combat power, and the more easily one could wield any weapon.
As the leader of the Horse Bandits, he had to be the strongest person on the team.
Otherwise, how could he keep a pack of wolfish subordinates in line?
His formidable personal strength gave Lynn unmatched confidence.
For this hunt, he made no additional arrangements. He even stationed himself in the farmhouse at the westernmost edge of the village, serving as both bait and the spearhead of the entire force.
"Understood. This time, I'll make sure to shoot only its eyes and keep the bear's head intact."
Second Brother knew full well how strong his big brother was. He was already calculating how many gold coins the bear hide would sell for.
As his words fell, obvious tremors suddenly ran through the ground.
The Demon Bear had arrived.
(End of Chapter)
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