Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 20: Steel Against Hollow Flesh
It was not that old Aaron suddenly cared about a witcher. The truth was simpler. He had already started viewing Lannor as the village’s greatest source of future income.
To be honest, he had never worried this much about his own son.
The young man’s method of tying his own interests directly to the village’s had worked frighteningly well.
When they returned to the house, old Aaron’s wife had already finished working by the hearth.
She was the sort of peasant woman common throughout the countryside: broad-shouldered, sturdy, face weathered by wind and hardship just like her husband’s. Her hair was wrapped tightly beneath a kerchief, practical and severe.
The night before, when she first discovered a witcher sleeping under her roof, she had nearly jumped out of her skin. More than once she had dragged old Aaron aside to whisper anxiously into his ear, all while stealing nervous glances toward Lannor.
Of course, for a witcher, those whispers sounded as clear as conversation spoken beside him.
After listening for a while, Lannor stopped paying attention.
At the end of the day, she was only an old woman misled by rumors and fear. Her greatest malice amounted to resenting the extra mouth she now had to feed.
Breakfast consisted of yesterday’s supper reheated over the fire.
A stew of fish scraps divided into three bowls.
There were grains in it, onions too, along with handfuls of gathered berries and raspberries.
The pigments from the fruit had dissolved completely into the broth, turning the entire pot a bizarre black-purple color.
Lannor had long since stopped expecting proper food in a place like this, so he adapted quickly.
Without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed a wooden ladle, stirred through the pot twice, and filled his bowl to the brim.
Old Aaron and his wife both stared blankly at the bowl, then at the young man holding it.
They seemed genuinely unable to comprehend how someone could be so utterly unceremonious.
“You just scooped twice ... and took all the berries?”
Lannor smiled awkwardly. “Lately I’ve developed a bit of a sweet tooth.”
“‘A bit,’” Mentos remarked leisurely inside his head. “Remarkable.”
Lannor could have sworn the Intelligence Core was being sarcastic.
But he pretended not to notice.
For the sake of those few extra mouthfuls of sweetness, he had actually asked Mentos to calculate the optimal angle for scooping the ladle.
So what if he liked sweets?
A modern man who used to consume absurd amounts of cheap sugar every day had been thrown into another world where sugar and honey cost nearly as much as silver.
Then he had spent months half-starved under Bordon.
Was it really so strange for him to overreact a little?
Was it?!
Old Aaron had no interest in arguing over berries. Getting the witcher fed and out working mattered far more.
“Everyone’s waiting. What’s the plan today?”
The old man swallowed a mouthful of stew and questioned him eagerly.
“My work doesn’t really involve most of the village.” Lannor shrugged. “At the end of the day, I’m the only one actually fighting. All I need is someone familiar with the waters, the terrain, and tracking signs to act as a guide. After that, I can begin.”
The village elder nearly beamed with relief.
He had assumed the villagers would need to abandon their work to support the hunt.
Now there was manpower saved.
After breakfast, old Aaron returned with a man carrying a bow across his back. Lannor had already been waiting near the village entrance.
Smack. Smack.
Old Aaron slapped the newcomer proudly on the shoulder.
“This is Bernie. Best helmsman around these parts. There’s nowhere on Feck Lake he can’t steer a boat.”
Then he pointed toward the bow on the man’s back.
“He also works as a hunter from time to time. Soon as you mentioned what you needed, he was the first man I thought of.”
Lannor and Bernie sized one another up before exchanging brief nods.
The man was lean rather than strong. He wore a frayed linen shirt, while the lower legs of his trousers had been bound tightly with cord for easier movement during labor.
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