As Marius walked in the direction of the reaction, into the forest, he heard noises and screams.
It seemed like a battle was underway.
Considering the presence of goblin-like reactions earlier, it was possible that wild animals were being hunted.
Of course, just because he could defeat goblins didn’t mean he could defeat other creatures.
However, if they were prey that goblins would hunt, he should be able to handle it.
If he were much stronger than goblins, like he was now, the sounds of battle wouldn’t continue for so long.
Thinking this, he approached, ready to cast magic at any moment.
What leaped into Marius’s vision were ten goblins and three deer-like creatures lying on the ground.
It appeared the hunt had just ended.
(Is that an Armor Deer?)
He recognized the large black antlers and fur.
Armor Deer were early-stage creatures, characterized by their armor-like hard, black fur.
Their pelts made for good cloaks, their antlers could be used as weapon materials, and their roasted meat was an item that restored vitality.
They weren’t monsters, but in a one-on-one fight, they should have been stronger than goblins.
(Even three against ten, they might not be to be underestimated.)
Goblins were armed and capable of group combat.
He hadn’t paid much attention to it in the game, but their intelligence wasn’t low.
In that case, it was best to finish them in one blow.
Born in a peaceful country, he had lived a life devoid of combat.
Even though his opponents were much lower level than him, he wasn’t confident he wouldn’t falter.
However, he wanted to get all the Armor Deer meat if possible.
He wasn’t sure if he could take them down as skillfully as the goblins with his current abilities.
For that, something that could be fired in a straight line would be ideal.
As he thought this, the goblins finally noticed Marius and bared their teeth in a threat.
Marius put away only the Dragon God’s Staff and immediately used Scan.
“【Scan】”
The goblin leader’s level was thirty-four, and the others were twenty-one.
As if recognizing Marius, who had used Scan, as an enemy, the goblins let out war cries and charged.
He waited until they closed some distance before casting a spell.
“【Wind Slasher】”
He did not use the power of the Ring of Divine Words.
Nevertheless, multiple fierce wind blades roared and assailed the goblins.
He had held back, to a degree.
He kept the Ring of Divine Words equipped in case he couldn’t finish them off.
However, that was a groundless fear.
The wind blades didn’t even allow the goblins to react before they bisected their bodies, even felling trees behind them.
Blue liquid spurted from the goblins’ bodies, and the smell of blood filled the air.
If they hadn’t been drawn in by the smell, the blood spray would have certainly hit the Armor Deer.
(Is this what it’s like at level eight…)
His knowledge still didn’t quite align with reality.
Putting aside the fact that it instantly killed the goblins, the surrounding damage was too great.
There was no information like this.
Of course, it was likely the operating company didn’t feel the need to provide it, or perhaps they hadn’t even considered it.
To survive in this land, it was better not to rely too much on knowledge.
Marius thought this as he approached the goblins’ corpses.
He needed a bladed weapon to butcher the Armor Deer.
The goblins’ primary weapons were clubs, and in fact, all the goblins he had seen today were armed with clubs.
However, some used axes or long swords as weapons, and many possessed daggers as secondary weapons.
At least, that was according to the FAO’s settings.
Though he thought it was better not to rely too much on knowledge, the reality was that he had no choice but to rely on it.
As he neared the corpses, the smell of blood intensified, much to Marius’s disgust.
Even though he had worked at a slaughterhouse before, the goblins’ smell was different.
(I’ll hold my breath.)
He rummaged through the corpses, trying to avoid smelling them as much as possible.
The first one had nothing but a club.
Then, an idea struck him, and he rummaged through the goblin leader’s body next.
As he had hoped, there was a dagger in its pouch.
He drew it from the sheath, and it gleamed with two different kinds of light under the two types of sunlight.
There were no nicks or rust, so the sharpness seemed promising.
He would have liked another one, but he was concerned about the time elapsed since the Armor Deer’s death.
Marius hesitated for a moment, then gave up on a second dagger and approached the Armor Deer carcasses.
There was no rotten smell yet, but it was wise to hurry.
“【Detection】”
Using magic to confirm the location of other creatures, he detected a presence far away.
They must have fled, startled by the “Wind Slasher.”
With this, he could proceed with the butchering with peace of mind.
All three had been killed by club blows, so there wasn’t much blood.
He slit the throats of the three one by one with the knife.
The Armor Deer’s hide, which was as hard as iron when alive, softened to that of ordinary leather upon death.
Blood flowed from their throats, but the flow lacked vigor.
Venison, if not properly bled, turns unpalatable.
“【Levitate】”
He then used the magic to levitate objects.
As he imagined in his mind, tilting their throats downwards, blood began to flow vigorously.
The smell of Armor Deer blood was much more pleasant than that of goblins, and there was no need to hold his breath.
(At this rate, it should be manageable.)
He lowered the three carcasses and proceeded to cut open their bellies, carefully extracting the organs without damaging them.
His hands became smeared with blood, but Marius didn’t pay it any mind.
His experience from his previous life was a significant advantage.
Once the organs were removed, he began skinning.
This was his first time butchering a deer.
However, with three carcasses, he could approach it with a relaxed attitude.
First, he cut off the four ankles, made cuts from the inside towards the center of the body, and began skinning from the hind legs.
The hide peeled off easily.
(It’s strange that it’s only hard when alive…)
He could only attribute this to the fact that it was originally a game.
He continued skinning the hide up to the neck, then severed the head.
Next, he detached the forelegs and the torso, and finally, from the torso, along the spine, he removed the back loin.
He then removed the fillet from the inside of the torso and the flank meat around the ribs.
Finally, he cut them into pieces about the size he would see at a butcher shop in his previous world, removing membranes and sinews.
He repeated this process three times, packing the meat into his tool bag.
The weight of the meat would be about ten kilograms in his previous world.
Even after removing the head and organs, the combined weight of the three carcasses was considerable.
“Haa.”
Doing all the work alone was more strenuous than Marius had imagined, and he let out a large sigh of relief when it was over.
Now, all that remained was to roast and enjoy the meat.
Before that, he reconsidered leaving the deer heads, organs, and the goblins’ corpses as they were.
Especially the goblin corpses, which were already beginning to emit a foul odor.
It was best to deal with them quickly.
“【Fire Storm】”
Using a tenth-tier magic that incinerated targets with pillars of fire, a red pillar of fire rose to Marius’s eye level, and the goblins’ corpses, along with their equipment, turned to ash in an instant.
The foul odor also became barely noticeable.
He then gathered the remains of the Armor Deer in one place.
And with another “Fire Storm,” he burned them away.
A red pillar of fire rose again, turning the Armor Deer remains to ash in an instant.
(Now, let’s head back.)
There should be a goblin nest deeper in the forest, but he felt no need to annihilate it.
Above all, he was hungry.
When he tried to lift the bag, it was too heavy, and he couldn’t.
He hadn’t been training, and now he was a weak mage, so it was understandable.
“【Strong】”
He used magic to enhance his physical abilities and tried again, this time lifting it with ease.
“【Teleport】”
“Teleport” was a space-time magic that allowed him to freely move to any place he had been before.
With this, Marius returned to the spot where he had departed that morning.
He speared the meat with scattered branches.
At this moment, on a whim, he used “Detection” to appraise it. It was identified as raw meat.
(Perhaps it will tell me how well it’s cooked?)
Ideally, he wanted to cook it to medium-well, but if magic could determine the doneness, the difficulty would be significantly reduced.
He gathered twigs and leaves, and lit a fire with “Fire.”
While roasting the meat over the fire, he frequently appraised it to check the doneness.
This was only possible because Marius had plenty of magical power to spare.
The “raw meat” became “undercooked meat,” and when it became “well-cooked meat,” it was done.
He took a bite to taste, and it tasted very similar to beef steak from his previous world.
(Alright, it’s a success.)
He had heard that venison tasted similar to beef.
Given its name, Armor “Deer,” and its appearance, it was likely a type of deer.
Eating it alternately with berries gave it an indescribable taste, forcing him to teleport to the lake to get water.
(N-no way, even in another world…?)
After drinking water and washing away the taste in his mouth, he let out a sigh of relief.
He supposed it wasn’t entirely unnatural.
He just hadn’t thought of it.
He set aside the berries for later and first savored the meat.
The back loin was the most delicious part.
He sincerely wished he could tell his friends about it; with Marius’s vocabulary, he could only describe it as exquisite.
(I can’t go back, can I?)
In the novels he had read, there were no patterns of people who had died and traveled to another world returning to their original one.
This was different from being transported while alive, possessing someone, or being summoned.
(Since this is my second life, I guess I’ll just go with the flow.)
He vaguely imagined that the day would come when he would understand why he had been reincarnated in this land.
Marius was, in general, an optimistic person.
—He decided to dry the leftover meat to preserve it as provisions.
