When I was Reincarnated into a Game World, I Was a Farmer’s Son

Chapter 35

“Hey, hey, uncle. Can I ask you a favour?”

“Oh, what’s wrong boy?”

When I approach one of the lumberjacks and talk to him, he asked me what’s wrong while patting my head affectionately.

It has been two weeks since the knights and lumberjacks arrived in Machikane village.

The day after their arrival, the lumberjacks immediately started their work. With their skilled movements, they swiftly chopped down trees one after another with their axes. The work seemed to be progressing smoothly. However, the vice captain of the knights, Goti, held a discussion with the village chief. They decided to recruit the villagers to assist with firewood gathering in order to make the work more efficient.

The reward for their help is monster meat. Even though the lumberjacks are protected by the knights while they are doing their work, it seems like there are more monster encounters than anticipated.

Of course, since they are working in the forest’s edges, the monsters that appeared were quite weak. Even though there were quite many monsters emerged, the knights were able to defeat them without much trouble. However, since they had the opportunity to obtain a large amount of edible monster meat, they decided to make effective use of the excess meat, which is by offering the villagers the meats in return of their help.

Regardless of his age, Goti is very mature, he is the one who came up with the idea to offer the villager the meats in return of their help. He is also the one who gathered the volunteers from the village to help with their task, assigning them relatively safe and easy work. Most of the volunteers from the village are children. It is due to the adults are busy with their own farm work that they can’t spare much time to volunteer. Therefore, the children who has free time gathered, I also decided to volunteer in helping the lumberjacks to gather firewood myself.

Besides from wanting to eat meat, I want to observe how the knights fight against monsters myself. Come to think of it, I had never seen someone battling monsters before. It’s a rare opportunity, so I thought I could watch the knights’ fighting style and maybe use it as a reference for my future encounters with monsters.

The village chief had warned the villagers not to get too close to the knights and lumberjacks as they might attract dangerous monsters. However, if I volunteered to help the lumberjacks to gather firewood, the village chief shouldn’t make a lot of fuss about it.

Therefore, I decided to temporarily stop my monster hunting routine and help with the firewood gathering.

The few adults who volunteered to help are assigned in tasks such as cutting branches from felled trees and transporting the lumbers that the lumberjacks had cut. The children are assigned to gather the cut branches and wood chips in one place. These branches and wood chips can be used as kindling.

I’m also diligently helping the lumberjacks to collect branches and wood chips, but since I work in a safe area away from the forest, I can’t catch a glimpse of the knights in battle.

Other children quickly grew tired of the work and approached the forest to see the knights, but they were immediately spotted by the adults and got scolded.

Hmm, it looks like I can’t see the knights in action after all.

Although I’m not able to achieve my goal of observing the knights engage in battle, there are still quite a few things that I gain from this experience. I learned how to butcher monsters.

It turns out that the Horn Saber that I often fight at the lake also appears in the forest’s edge near the village. The knights brought back a large number of Horn Sabers and I had the opportunity to see the lumberjacks butcher them. I even asked if I could try it myself, and they allowed me to do so.

While other children found it disgusting and stayed away, the lumberjacks seemed happy due to my enthusiasm and willingness to try it. Well indeed, not many children are interested in butchering.

To butcher the Horn Sabers skilfully, concentration and precise force control are necessary. Butchering is actually quite challenging, but I see it as a rare experience that I don’t normally have the chance to learn. So, I diligently continue to learn butchering. At first, I’m quite slow and sloppy at it, but gradually, I started to get the hang of it. The lumberjacks who taught and butchering alongside me even praised my progress.

Alright, with the proper tools for butchering, I should be able to butcher the monsters I hunt on my own now. Well, the main problem is, I don’t actually have the necessary tools to butcher a monster.

After two or three days, I’m the only child left helping lumberjacks with the firewood gathering. The tasks are mostly repetitive and quite tiring, so the children quickly grew bored with the work.

In the midst of that, I, the only child who continue to work diligently naturally stands out, and even the knights occasionally come up to me and start talking to me. I also had friendly conversations with the lumberjacks while working together, and our relationship is getting closer.

“Uncle, I want a strong wooden stick. Can you make or find me one for me?”

“Wooden stick? What do you want it for? Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make you one. You are such a great help for us after all.”

Yes! The lumberjack uncle said it’s a reward for my hard work. When I told him that I wanted a few more of the wooden sticks, he made about 10 of them for me the next day.

Oak Stick

Rarity: F

A strong wooden stick

When I use the Appraisal skill on it, I notice that it has a higher rarity than the wood I use to make my wooden spear. Alright! This will definitely make it easier for me to hunt monsters.