Seeing the suggestion he made, the leader and the other mercenaries looked at him with disdain. He continued, "Boss, those noble ladies love these delicate, fair-skinned noble servants."
As he spoke, he held up his fingers to show the number eight. Then he added, "I heard he's worth this much."
"How much?"
"Eight thousand gold coins!"
"That much?"
The sharp-featured warrior nodded. After thinking for a moment, he said, "At least six thousand gold coins."
Just then, the level-five Earth Element mage who had said they should kill Matthews spoke up too. "Let's do it, boss!"
"Mm!"
While they discussed selling Matthews to an auction house, Matthews was delighted that he had finally found other people. He had been wandering alone in this forest for two months and hadn't seen a single person.
"Hello, could you tell me where we are?"
The people across from him seemed unable to understand what he was saying, so Matthews tried again. "Hello, where is here?"
When they still didn't understand, Matthews tried a few lines of Japanese and Korean that he knew. He even used "Baka yarou," "Konnichiwa," and "Seumida," but still couldn't make himself understood.
The leader across from him took out a waterskin, drank from it, and then handed it to Matthews.
Matthews thought they were such good people. He hadn't dared to drink water freely in the forest these past two months. Whenever he was thirsty, all he could do was drink the morning dew, and there was only a tiny bit to collect. It was nowhere near enough to quench his thirst. He never expected these kind people to offer him water.
What's more, the man had taken a drink first, which showed that he hadn't poisoned it.
After drinking his fill, Matthews said to them, "You're really good people. When you're away from home, you can count on your brothers."
Matthews saw that they couldn't understand him, so he gave them a thumbs-up.
The leader across from him copied Matthews's gesture and gave him a thumbs-up too.
Matthews pointed at himself and said, "Matthews."
The leader pointed at Matthews and said, "Matthews?"
When Matthews nodded, the leader pointed at himself and said, "Raymond."
After a round of confused back-and-forth, Matthews climbed into the mercenary group's beast-drawn cart. They set off for the nearest city with the group leading the way!
Matthews didn't learn much of the language on the journey, but these kind people still helped him a great deal!
By now, Matthews had been eating their dry rations for days, and his mouth was practically flavorless.
While they were resting, he decided to catch some animals and roast them. He went up to an archer and said, "Let me borrow your bow."
When the man didn't understand, Matthews mimed drawing a bow and shooting an arrow. This time, the archer understood. He glanced at their leader.
After seeing the leader nod in approval, the archer took a spare bow and arrows from his pack.
Once Matthews had them, he gestured for them to wait. He had caught wild rabbits and pheasants before, and he'd even fired a homemade shotgun on a farm and shot a bow. He tested the bowstring, found it suitable, and was ready to head out hunting.
"Boss, what's he doing? Is he going to run away?"
The leader didn't want to let their walking eight thousand gold coins slip away. They had tried to treat this walking pile of gold as kindly as possible along the way, so he said to the sharp-featured warrior and the archer, "You two, go see what he's up to."
Matthews saw the archer who had lent him the bow and a skinny young man following him. He didn't mind, and even smiled warmly at them.
The sharp-featured warrior was clever. He gestured as he asked, "Where are you going?"
By now, Matthews had picked up a few simple meanings, so he gestured as he answered, "Hunting. Barbecue!"
After a flurry of gestures, the archer asked, "What's he going to do?"
The sharp-featured warrior said to his companion, "Hunt."
"Then follow me," the archer said.
After the archer spoke, the sharp-featured warrior motioned for Matthews to follow.
Before long, they came across a wild boar, and Matthews was thrilled. When he was a boy, he used to go into the countryside with the adults to shoot rabbits, but he had never hunted such a large animal.
As Matthews drew his bow and fired, the archer beside him watched his technique. He could tell at a glance that Matthews was an amateur, so he shook his head. Then he drew his own bow. He didn't want to waste any more time playing along with this walking pile of gold.
As expected, Matthews's arrow missed by quite a bit. But the level-one magical beast, the wild boar, wasn't so lucky. The level-five archer sent it to the Netherworld with a single arrow.
Although Matthews had missed, he wasn't discouraged. He gave the archer a thumbs-up, then ran over and tried to drag the boar. The thing looked to weigh three or four hundred pounds. Matthews lifted it with one hand and smacked his lips. "Looks like I've gotten a lot stronger since coming to this world."
The sharp-featured warrior came over and asked, "What—were—you—just—saying?"
Matthews saw the warrior's gestures and understood his words. He shook his head. "Nothing!"
The archer was surprised by Matthews's strength too. An ordinary person with no cultivation couldn't possibly lift a three- or four-hundred-pound wild boar so easily.
Matthews eagerly carried the boar back on his shoulder. Once they returned, he showed off his barbecue skills.
Matthews had already lit a fire and started roasting the meat.
One of the Mad Python Mercenary Group's members asked, "Boss, is this really all right?"
Raymond, the leader of the Mad Python Mercenary Group, sensed their surroundings before saying, "We're about to leave the Magic Beast Forest. Stay alert."
Matthews and the Mad Python Mercenary Group were now at the very edge of the Magic Beast Forest. They were three days from the nearest city, Orcas City. It was where all the mercenaries coming out of the Magic Beast Forest went to trade. Once they got there, they could sell Matthews to a slave-trading company.
The slave-trading company might not offer as much as they could get by traveling farther to an auction house in a more prosperous city, but going to an auction house would take them too far out of their way. It wasn't worth it.
They enjoyed their barbecue dinner that evening, and Matthews went to bed early. He had just asked one of the mercenaries, and learned that they would reach the nearest city in three days.
Then he could leave these kind people behind and set out on an adventure of his own!
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