"Monster"?

At the thought of a grown man being bullied by a pig until he cried, Ul couldn't help feeling the urge to laugh out loud!

However!

After hearing the short, stocky middle-aged man explain the situation, he could no longer laugh!

"You're saying that more than a dozen of you failed to catch this wild boar?"

"That's right. The boar had already fallen into the pit we'd set up, but we never expected it to jump straight out of a hole several meters deep. In the end, it not only escaped the dozen or so of us surrounding it, but even injured several of our people... If this hadn't happened, we wouldn't have thought to go to the guild and ask a Mage for help!" As if recalling what had happened, the middle-aged man's face showed a trace of lingering fear.

The middle-aged man had encountered wild boars before. After all, with a farm as large as his, the occasional boar wandering in had practically become an everyday occurrence.

But he'd never seen a boar like this one before...

After hearing the middle-aged man's account, Ul's expression gradually grew serious!

According to the man, the boar could leap several meters into the air. That certainly didn't sound like something an ordinary pig could do.

Could this be a monster? Ul wondered uneasily.

If the boar really was a monster, then it would be beyond Ul's abilities.

Magic was a strange and powerful thing!

If humans could use magic to make themselves stronger, then other creatures could do the same...

Abnormal creatures like these were generally referred to by humans as "monsters"!

Monsters varied in strength, and there was no fixed standard for measuring it.

But one thing was certain: whenever a job involved a "monster," most guilds would send Mages of B-rank or higher to handle it.

That wasn't because every monster was as strong as a B-rank Mage or stronger.

Rather, monsters generally had some special trait. Those traits set them apart from ordinary beasts and gave them the ability to threaten the lives of lower-ranked Mages.

"Other than that, has the boar shown any unusual traits? For example, is it especially strong or fast?" Ul asked the middle-aged man before him, his expression grave.

After realizing that the boar might be a monster, Ul found himself growing nervous without meaning to.

Back when he'd watched the anime, he hadn't thought much of these so-called "monsters." They were all the sort of things that could be taken out with a single punch.

But only after coming to this world and learning about these "monsters" firsthand

did he understand just how powerful they really were.

"Hmm..." At Ul's question, the middle-aged man lowered his head and thought for a while. Then he shook his head. "Not really. The boar's strength and speed seem no different from those of an ordinary boar..."

The middle-aged man spoke quietly, but his tone was certain.

Although he'd never dealt with monsters, he'd dealt with wild boars plenty of times. He was confident about this much.

"I see!"

Ul murmured, rubbing his brow as he pondered for a moment. Then he asked, "Will the boar come back tonight?"

"Yes. Ever since that damned beast injured someone, it's been coming almost every night. Mage, you have to help me get rid of it, or I won't be able to keep this farm running!" As he spoke, the middle-aged man grabbed Ul's hands again. Tears and snot seemed ready to start flowing from his eyes once more, so Ul hurriedly backed away and said, "Uncle, don't worry. Since our guild accepted your job, we'll see it through..."

Ul's tone was firm, because what he'd said was true. Once their guild accepted a job, they would complete it. The guild's reputation depended on it.

However, after saying this, he silently added to himself, But whether I'm the one who completes this job is another matter!

Although Ul trusted that his cheat would help him become a powerful Mage someday, that was only if he didn't get himself killed first!

If he died by accident,

then no matter how amazing his cheat was, it couldn't turn a corpse into a powerful Mage!

Based on the middle-aged man's description, Ul ultimately decided to stay and investigate the situation that night before making a decision!

If the boar really was a powerful monster, Ul would turn around and return to the guild without hesitation, abandoning the job and letting the guild send a stronger Mage instead...

The guild's reputation was important, but Ul considered his own life far more important.

Besides!

Fairy Tail wasn't a guild that made "completing jobs its top priority" in the first place.

Of course!

If the boar really wasn't much different from how the middle-aged man had described it, Ul wouldn't mind fighting it.

After all, he was curious himself about what it felt like to fight using magic.

Night soon fell!

Once darkness had fully settled in, the middle-aged man took Ul on patrol around the farm.

By the faint light of their lamps, Ul could see the state of the farm. Nearly half the vegetables had been destroyed. No wonder the middle-aged man had been so heartbroken!

According to the middle-aged man, ever since the boar had injured someone, it had grown bolder and bolder. Before, it had only snuck into the farm to steal vegetables and the like. Now, even if it saw people inside at night, it would charge right in and eat whatever it pleased. It didn't even care if someone tried to drive it off with a stick. It only left once it was full...

Honestly!

When Ul heard all this, his expression could only be described as "utterly dumbfounded."

In all his life, he'd never seen a pig this brazen.

As the middle-aged man patrolled, he looked over the farm, nearly half of which had been destroyed. Before long, tears and snot threatened to gush from his face again, startling Ul.

Fortunately!

Just then,

a noise suddenly came from outside the farm. Ul peered into the darkness and vaguely made out a shadow bounding toward the farm...