Chapter 128: The Opportunity of the Winter Hunt

「The weather’s a bit chilly.」

Gauss exhaled a breath, his gaze lifting from the book in his hands.

In his memory, autumn always arrived suddenly, but rarely with such chill as this year.

「I need to get a few more pieces of thick clothing.」

Gauss’s wardrobe consisted mostly of summer wear, and the only winter garment he had was one left by the original owner, tucked away in the travel pack at the Sophia Inn.

Now, not only was it the wrong size, it was also too thin.

He decided to buy a fleece-lined, warm coat.

In the inn’s lobby, Sophia was adding firewood into the fireplace, preparing to heat up the ground floor of the inn.

At the counter, the staff member Winnie was carefully polishing drinking glasses.

「I’m here, sorry to keep you waiting.」Arya entered from the doorway, wrapped in thick clothing. After casually greeting Winnie and Sophia, she sat down across from Gauss.

「It’s fine, I just woke up too.」

Their schedule for the day was still packed.

Though they had already submitted the adventurer commission yesterday, and received a total of 1 gold and 10 copper as reward by turning in the tongues of the Rust Frogs—each receiving roughly 50 silver coins—

they still had plans today, with the highlight being the sale of the Rust Frog skins.

Rust Frogs weren’t plundering-type monsters. Generally, they rarely attacked caravans or villages proactively, and certainly didn’t collect human weapons.

Their value lay almost entirely in the tough skins that covered their entire bodies.

After processing and special treatment, these skins could serve as linings for light or even medium armor, sewn into key areas of leather or chain armor like the joints and torso, offering mild resistance against corrosive damage from acid or swamp gases. Armor lined with this was especially helpful for adventurers exploring sewers, swamps, or facing monsters like slimes.

They could also be made into protective components, gloves, boots, or even waterproof items like water bags, cloaks, or small tents.

Of course, when used in close-contact gear, the toxins in the leather had to be thoroughly eliminated to avoid slow corrosion of the human body.

Aside from that danger, Rust Frog skins were generally worth a good sum.

Therefore, the two needed to find a knowledgeable leather merchant to sell this relatively intact batch of skins at a good price.

In addition to selling the skins, Gauss also needed to head to a food workshop and commission them to process nearly four hundred pounds of frog meat into dried strips, to serve as rations for the team.

Coincidentally, the middleman Arya had asked to look into property matters had also reported back: a small house near her residence was up for sale, and Gauss planned to check it out.

Adding to that, he needed to purchase autumn and winter clothes and boots.

Everything was piling up at once—Gauss was destined to be busy today. Fortunately, Arya had no plans and was ready to accompany him.

Time was tight and tasks were many, so after a short rest the two left the inn and stepped into the streets of Graystone Town.

First, they visited several leather stores in town in succession, showing off rolls of flayed frog skins.

As for who led the negotiations, just like last time, it fell to the more experienced Arya.

Although Gauss was tempted to use the "Friendship" spell to cheat and see if it worked, he quickly dismissed the idea.

These local leather merchants were savvy. If they discovered later that they’d been magically influenced and reported him to the Graystone Town Hall, he might not face prison, but a hefty fine was almost certain.

Therefore, if one couldn’t guarantee not being discovered, it was best not to recklessly use magic to influence others within the jurisdiction of a town.

Due to the mystery and diverse effects of magic, magical regulation was much stricter than, say, a brawl between warriors or other professionals on the streets.

Many large cities even had specialized "Anti-Magic Departments," employing mage-slayers, spies, and anti-magic knights to deal with such incidents.

Thanks to Arya’s diligent negotiation, the entire batch of skins was finally sold for 1 gold, 50 silver, and 60 copper.

Adding the 1 gold and 10 copper from the commission—

The total profit from the Rust Frog mission came to 2 gold, 50 silver, and 70 copper.

In comparison, the last Ratman mission—excluding the bonus for the Evil God information—only yielded 1 gold and 80 silver in total from commission and loot.

On the surface, the Rust Frogs yielded more profit, but considering their higher destructive power and the cost of equipment wear and repair, the actual net gain wasn’t necessarily better than the Ratman mission.

Gauss did some mental calculations.

Still, money wasn’t his only motivation for taking on commissions.

High profits were certainly nice, but more importantly, he was working to build up his Monster Encyclopedia, increasing his total kills and variety.

If he truly sought only profit, he might as well challenge elite monsters with high bounties directly.

After splitting the earnings—1 gold, 25 silver, and 35 copper—Gauss’s cash on hand now totaled 9 gold, 5 silver, and 30 copper.

Having sold the skins, the two found a small shop by the roadside to rest. They ordered two cups of warm black tea and waited for the appointed real estate agent.

「By the way, Gauss, should we participate in this year’s Winter Hunt?」

Arya, alert to passing Town Guards, suddenly seemed to think of something and spoke up.

「Winter Hunt?」Gauss looked at her curiously.

「Ah, I forgot—you probably weren’t even an adventurer around this time last year.」Arya slapped her forehead, annoyed at her own habitual thinking.

Normally, someone who was already a Bronze-rank Adventurer should be somewhat experienced. How could they not know about the Winter Hunt?

But Gauss’s resume was simply too new, and she often forgot that.

She immediately explained.

「The so-called Winter Hunt is an event held before winter arrives. Adventurers are organized to conduct large-scale monster hunts around the outer edges of the forest. Every harsh winter, berries freeze, animals hibernate, and the food sources for monsters in the forest drastically drop. Starving creatures will take risks—attacking human granaries, raiding caravans...」

Therefore, in border towns like Graystone, the town hall and the Adventurer’s Guild would join forces to preemptively eliminate threats, disrupt monster gatherings, and prevent larger-scale disasters.

In addition to bounties for various monsters, Bronze-rank and above Adventurers who joined the Winter Hunt would receive extra subsidies.

However, not everyone qualified to register. Besides Bronze Adventurers, only a few well-registered, outstanding low-level teams were permitted to join.

After all, actions of too large a scale could trigger even greater potential dangers.

After listening to Arya’s brief explanation, Gauss gained a fair understanding of the Winter Hunt.

「I want to participate.」He nodded without hesitation.

There was no way he’d miss such an excellent monster-killing opportunity.

He could increase his kill count, expand the number and variety in the Monster Encyclopedia, and earn money as well.

He was still planning to pay off his loan early, buy new spells, a mount, and upgrade his gear—all of which required funds.

「But with only the Bronze Adventurers from our town, won’t we be a bit underpowered? After all—」

He recalled his visit to the second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild: most of the active members were like him, 1-star "newbies." Occasionally he’d see a 2-star or 3-star Bronze-rank Adventurer.

As for 4- or 5-star Bronze-rank Adventurers, they were rare. He had yet to see a single one wearing a Black Iron Badge at the guild headquarters.

Clearly, higher-tier commissions and adventurers were all concentrated in the larger city guilds.

「Don’t worry. As per usual practice, besides the upper management of the guild stepping in, the town will also spend heavily to hire higher-ranked adventurers to stand guard. The ones we’ll be dealing with are mainly low-tier monsters and weaker elites. The real bosses and more powerful monsters will be handled by those high-level adventurers.」

「I see.」Gauss nodded, his last trace of concern vanishing.

Even though having high-level adventurers on-site didn’t guarantee absolute safety, adventuring wasn’t child’s play. It made no sense to expect zero risk.

Thinking of the upcoming Winter Hunt, and of the wave-like emergence of various monsters in the forest, driven by food scarcity—

his heart burned with excitement.

After completing the Rust Frog commission, his current tally in the ordinary Monster Encyclopedia had reached 13 species. If he were to proceed step by step, fulfilling standard commissions one by one,

it would take quite a while to reach 20.

But the Winter Hunt seemed different. According to Arya, it resembled a small-scale "Monster Surge" event, where various creatures gathered together. It would allow him to efficiently slay new types of low-tier monsters and quickly expand the encyclopedia.

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