Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 385 The Friendship Between the Signboard Girls
"It's really beautiful to hear, but unfortunately, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to listen to more..."

Ziyuan turned her head to look at her side. The exclamation she had just heard was actually made by the girl next to her, who was wearing a green robe and glasses. To her, it didn't really matter whether it sounded good or bad; she just wanted to join in the fun and have some fun.

"Heh~ yawn~, it really does have a magical power, I feel like I'm falling asleep while listening to it!"

Beside the woman in the green robe, a woman in a red dress with slightly dark skin stretched, as if she had just woken up.

The woman in green couldn't help but chuckle. "Anxia, ​​you fell asleep just three minutes after the songstress started singing!"

"Huh? Is that so? Hehehe, sorry Sophia, well, I guess I've been a little tired these past few days..."

Sophia?
Ziyuan blinked, feeling that the name sounded strangely familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.

And this fair-skinned girl with glasses looks somewhat familiar?
Where exactly did I hear that...?

Ziyuan pondered for a long time, until most of the audience had left the theater and the two girls were preparing to pack up and leave, before she suddenly slammed her fist into her palm:
"I remember now! It's that scholar team member from Jieyun! He seemed to have a pretty good relationship with my senior brother!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she realized that she seemed to have accidentally shouted out what was on her mind, and quite loudly at that...

"Eh?"

Upon hearing the keywords "Yūun" and "Scribe Team," Sophia immediately turned around and looked at Shion.

She had noticed Shion while listening to the song before, but her reaction at that time was, "She's so casual while listening to the song, you can tell she must be a hunter." But now that she heard those two words, her reaction has become, "This hunter has been to Yukumo Village."

"You ever met me?"

Ziyuan blinked, suppressing her embarrassment, and shook her head slightly:
"I've never seen it, but I've heard my senior brother mention it."

"Senior brother? Your senior brother is...?"

Although Sophia was asking a question, she already had a vague answer in her heart. When Shion uttered that name, a "I knew it" expression appeared on her face, and her smile changed from the standardized smile of a signboard girl to a much more friendly one.

"So you're Lin Lin's junior sister! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sophia, and this is Anxia, ​​my good friend. We're currently undergoing training as mascots in Dongdoruma."

"It just ended, Sophia. You need to be precise with your words."

Anxia corrected.

"Oh, sorry, it's all over for today already. I'm a little disoriented."

Huh? Wasn't she a member of the Scribe team before? How did she suddenly become the mascot?

Ziyuan felt a little strange, but since they had already introduced themselves, it seemed a bit impolite of her not to follow suit.

"My name is Ziyuan, a three-star heavy crossbowman. Currently... I just arrived in East Doruma with my senior brothers and we are preparing to continue our hunting activities here."

Actually, Ziyuan originally wanted to say that she was a member of the hunting party, but as she spoke, she realized that their team didn't seem to have a name yet, which made her pause for a moment, so she had to change her address.

Sofia looked a little surprised:
"Has he already arrived in Dongdoruma? Honestly, he didn't even tell me."

Sofia tidied her hair and calmed herself down:
"To be honest, I was a little worried when I heard that the trouble at Yuukoku's place was actually caused by an ancient dragon. But now it seems that he truly deserves to be called a genius hunter. Even so, it didn't stump him!"

Ok?
Shion sensed something was off. Hey, are you and your senior brother really that close? It seems like Yoko's position is being threatened!

Sofia smiled broadly:
"Where is he now? When I left, that fire dragon egg should have been close to hatching. So much time has passed, the baby fire dragon should have hatched by now, right? Did he bring it with him to Dongdoruma this time?"

As she spoke, Sofia's excitement became almost uncontrollable:

"Ah! I really want to see what the little fire dragon looks like now... It would be even better if I could touch its scales. As a fire dragon, its scales must have excellent heat insulation properties. I wonder if they feel very warm to the touch, or cool and refreshing?"

Shion: ...

Wait, this girl seems to care more about Ookora than her senior brother...

Anxia's expression was also a bit strange. After arriving in Dongdoruma and getting to know Sophia, she found that she and Sophia had a lot in common and their personalities were very compatible. As a result, they quickly became close friends who could talk about anything. However, this common ground obviously did not include the idea of ​​dragon love.

Sophia's fervent love for monsters was something she couldn't quite understand, but when she thought about how many scholars she'd encountered during her studies were the same, she was somewhat relieved. Perhaps it was just a characteristic of those from the Scriveners' Guild...

Ziyuan waited until Sophia came to her senses and stopped her excited chatter before carefully choosing her words and speaking slowly:
"You probably won't be able to touch the scales of the Sky Dragon for a while—oh, the Sky Dragon is the name of that male fire dragon."

"Rathalos?"

Sophia was even more excited. Wasn't it said that fire dragons were brownish-gray in their juvenile stage, making it difficult to distinguish their gender, and that their body color would become significantly different only after they grew to a certain stage? Could it be that the little guy named Ooku has grown up so fast?
"However, you can't touch a live fire dragon, but you might be able to touch a dead one."

Sophia's excitement was abruptly interrupted. What did that mean? Had the Great Sky died prematurely?

That kind of thing is like a tonic! Leaving aside the fact that it was the first fire dragon hatched by humans, when it was still an egg, she took great care of it and poured a lot of effort into it! She would be truly heartbroken if it died!

Fortunately, Shion was just catching her breath, and the rest of the story made Sophia breathe a sigh of relief.

"My senior brother can't sit still. He's only been in Dongdoruma for less than two days and he's already taken on a quest to hunt a fire dragon. At this time of year, he's probably already in Kokot Village, or maybe even already in Shuretsen Hills."

"If things go smoothly, you should be able to see the fire dragon materials he brought back in about one or two weeks."

"That little fire dragon... oh, it should be called Sky Dragon now, what about Sky Dragon?"

“There’s no airport in Jieyun. We went to Lokrak first, and then flew to Dongdoruma. My senior was worried that going to the desert first and then taking a long flight would make Da Kong uncomfortable, so he left it in Jieyun for now. We’ll pick it up after we settle down in Dongdoruma…”

As Ziyuan spoke, she suddenly fell into thought. Her senior brother was right; how come he went hunting after only two days of staying? Was he too excited about the new talisman? That seemed possible…

"Did you go to Lokrak before you went to East Doruma?"

Anxia, ​​who had been silent until now, suddenly interjected, "Have you seen Aunt Maggie? Is she alright now?"

"Aunt Maggie?"

Sophia had just recovered from the disappointment of not being able to see Osora when she heard this and was confused. Who was Aunt Maggie?

On the contrary, Shion vaguely remembered this name:

"Are you talking about the president's wife?" Anxia nodded vigorously. "Yes, when I was studying in Lokrak, I lived at Aunt Maggie's house. Thanks to Aunt Maggie's care, my studies went so smoothly!"

"If nothing unexpected happens, I'll officially become the mascot of Lokrak when I return from East Doruma this time. I was thinking of bringing something back for Auntie, so I wanted to ask if I could find out about her recent situation."

"Is this so..."

Ziyuan nodded slightly. Although she herself did not know the current situation of that aunt, for her, finding out was not like Anxia's situation, where she could only rely on luck to ask.

"Actually, I'm not too sure either. Let me ask someone to help me."

"Hey? Isn't this going to a bit too much trouble for you?"

"What trouble? It's a piece of cake. Anyway, there's an airship trip from my home to Dongdoruma every three days. Asking won't be a problem."

Anxia leaned back tactically, stunned by Ziyuan's immense wealth. A flying boat trip every three days—how rich must her family be?

Having come from a poor fishing village, Anxia simply couldn't understand the world of the rich. Seeing that Ziyuan had already said so, she couldn't refuse any longer.

Seeing that the grand theater was about to close and had already begun clearing out the audience, the two prospective patrons exchanged contact information and addresses with Ziyuan and went home.

After listening to the songstress sing and chatting with the two prospective mascots, Ziyuan was actually in a pretty good mood. She walked briskly, humming a little tune, back to her big villa.

And that was the end of her good mood.

"Is this...is this still my home?"

Ziyuan turned her head and glanced at the four-story building. Yes, this is it!

But what's with this mess? Where are all my flowers and plants?! I just went out for a bit, and this little yard has been turned upside down?!
"Oh!"

Another muffled thud. Ziyuan quickly turned her head to look, and her blood pressure immediately spiked.

"Jump! Li Zaigan, are you some kind of demon?! Let go of those bricks! I used them to pave the path, now open your mouth!"

Jumping ignored Ziyuan's cries and stomped down hard, leaving several cracks in the stone bricks. Only then did his heavy breathing calm down a little.

Yoko rested her chin on her hand, turned to look at the frantic Shion, and sighed:
"I don't know what happened, Jump suddenly became so irritable this evening, and neither Brave nor I could calm him down."

Ziyuan took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and said softly:
"If I let Tiaotiao keep taking things apart like this, I'm going to lose my temper too. These things aren't expensive, but I put a lot of effort into arranging them so nicely!"

Ye Zi gave an awkward laugh, then turned to look at Tiao Tiao, who continued to worry:

"If Brother Lin Lin were here right now, he would definitely be able to figure out why Tiao Tiao is so restless. It's a pity that none of us have the ability to listen to each other's hearts."

Ziyuan gritted her teeth, her gaze sweeping over Tiaotiao several times before finally settling on the shattered stones on the ground. Suddenly, her eyes lit up slightly.

"Have it!"

Yoko: "?"

"Although we don't know what's wrong with Jumpy, I have a way to stop it from destroying the house like this!"

Yoko adopted an expression of being all ears.

“We don’t know what Jumpy is thinking, but at least we can tell that it’s very irritable and has a strong destructive urge.”

Yoko nodded. "And then?"

“At home, there are only these bricks and planks that it can dismantle, so why don’t we just take it out to hunt in the wild? Then it can run wild as much as it wants, even until it’s exhausted!”

Ye Zi's eyes lit up slightly. This was indeed a good idea, but the problem was that they didn't just have one Jumpy, there was also Gu Jia! Although Gu Jia was quite well-behaved now, Jumpy had always been well-behaved before. What if Gu Jia at home started causing trouble?
"Hmm... Sister Yezi, besides Senior Brother and Yezao, Tiaotiao is closest to you. Why don't you take it out for a walk?"

“It is possible, but Guga…”

Ziyuan patted her meager chest vigorously: "I've got Guga in my hands! I've been watching you play these past two days, and I've basically learned how to deal with it. Leave it to me! No problem!"

"This……"

"And even if I can't do it, there's always Senior Brave! With the two of us combined, what's there to worry about?"

"Well……"

Yoko pondered for a moment, then nodded:
"That's true."

"Then it's settled. I'll take Jumpy to the hunting grounds for a walk and see if things improve."

……

Popular Tavern.

"Any kind of commission, as long as it's not too far away?"

Yoko nodded.

"What about the expected reward? Or the level of the task?"

"It doesn't matter, any exploration mission is fine."

Exploration commissions typically take two forms. One is as a convenient means of granting hunters permission to enter the hunting grounds so they can collect the materials they need. The other is when an unfamiliar area is discovered, and hunters are commissioned to investigate in order to obtain information about the target location; this is a guild's development project.

Unlike hunting and gathering commissions, exploration commissions have almost no chance of failure. As long as the hunter accepts the commission, sets off, reaches the destination, and returns, even if they haven't gathered anything or hunted any monsters, the mission is still considered complete.

—Of course, regarding the rewards for the mission, if it's the first type of exploration mission, there will basically be no reward to speak of, at most a little bit of whetstone and raw meat as a token. But if it's the second type, the rewards will be much more generous, after all, it's contributing to the guild's expansion. However, how generous they are depends on the hunter's exploration results.

"How about this? A newly discovered area, the guild will name it the Unknown Tree Sea, exploration commission."

(End of this chapter)