Swords, magic, and martial arts

"Who are you? This is where I live when I hunt." The woman carrying the giant bow spoke first. She looked to be in her thirties and about the same height as Rhodes. She was wearing a gray wolfskin coat, had brown hair, many freckles on her cheeks, and a pair of arms that were somewhat thick from years of drawing a bow.

"My sister and I got lost in the forest and found this cabin, so we stayed there for the night," Rod replied, not blushing.

Aya glared at him fiercely.

"Oh? Why do I smell blood and death here?" The hunter raised an eyebrow.

"The smell of blood and death you're catching is from me. I was injured fighting wolves the day before yesterday, but I also killed a few of them," Rod replied.

The huntress looked him up and down a few times before saying, "The injuries you sustained the day before yesterday shouldn't have healed so quickly. The wounds on your body are at least ten days old."

After hearing this, Rhodes looked at his right hand. His right hand had been pierced by Piert's longsword, but now the wound had scabbed over, and the bone had even healed. He could even move his right hand. He had just used his right hand fingers to brush his teeth with plant powder. The injury had indeed healed quite quickly.

Aya noticed it too, and looked at him in surprise, probably thinking it must be some kind of magical spell.

Rhodes wanted to explain, but found that he couldn't come up with anything else but to tell the truth. However, he didn't want to tell the truth. If he said that he had applied a very effective medicine, what would he do if the huntress asked him to show her what the medicine was?

No, why did I subconsciously answer her question?

"I don't think I need to explain so much to you. You are the owner here. We are staying in your house temporarily. If you want us to leave now, we can leave immediately," Rod said.

The hunter nodded. "You'd better leave this forest quickly. It's much more dangerous than you think. If you're willing to pay me, I can even lead you out."

"She and Baron are quite a good match," Rhodes thought to himself, before asking, "Can I pay with my sword?"

The huntress drew her short sword and roared, "Boy, are you courting death?"

Rhodes quickly said, "You misunderstood. I meant to give you a sword as payment for leading us out. The huntress had clearly misunderstood Rhodes' meaning; she thought he wanted to fight."

Yesterday, after taking care of Piltover and three mercenaries, Rhodes acquired three swords and an axe.

The huntress nodded. "Yes, that's fair."

"Can we eat before we leave?" Aya asked, her eyes wide as she looked at the huntress.

Just by looking at Aya's appearance or listening to her voice, it's impossible to tell whether she's a boy or a girl. Although she insists that she's a girl, Rod has already taken her for a boy, and she's very likely the noble girl that Daniel kidnapped, but he doesn't want to expose her.

The huntress hesitated for a moment but then agreed, "You can do it, but I want to watch."

Upon hearing this, Aya poured out the burnt contents of the pot and ran to the stream to wash it.

Rod entered the cabin and began tidying up. He planned to give Piltover's short sword to Aya, a mercenary's longsword to the huntress as payment, and keep the remaining longsword and axe for himself.

Aya ran back with a pot, "Have you decided what we're going to eat?"

Rod took some potatoes and corned beef from his backpack on the table. "We'll eat this."

……

After finishing the beef and potato stew that Aya had made under Rod's supervision, the three of them set off on their way out of the forest. Even without the addition of pepper and soy sauce, Aya and the huntress enjoyed the meal immensely.

The huntress walked in front, with Rhode and Aya following behind her. Rhode had encountered many deceptions since arriving in this world, from the necromancer who pretended to be a merchant at the beginning to the mercenary who almost killed him with an axe yesterday. He no longer trusted the huntress at all, while he could still trust Aya a little more.

"How did you two get lost and end up in this forest?" the huntress asked curiously.

"What's wrong with this forest?" Rhodes avoided the topic of getting lost and instead asked the huntress about the situation in the forest.

As the huntress walked, she said, "There's a strange curse in this forest. The animals there become extremely aggressive, often abandoning more advantageous options like running away, and instead choosing to fight their enemies to the death."

"Is it affected by some magical equipment?" Rhodes asked, which reminded him of his first magical equipment, "The Sage's Calamity".

"I don't know, maybe, someone said that." The huntress shook her head. "Some people say it's because a great Nord nobleman was buried here. He built a magic circle that could influence people's minds in his tomb. The power of the magic circle exceeded the builder's imagination and even affected the animals living on the ground."

She looked up at the sky again and said, "It's getting late. We'd better set up a campfire before dark, or it will be very dangerous."

She continued walking until she reached a slightly higher spot. "This will do," she said, then put her pack on the ground and began gathering the necessary items to set up a temporary camp.

"Why don't you sit there and rest for a bit? Your injury hasn't healed yet," Aya said to Rod just as he was about to start helping.

Rod certainly wouldn't let any opportunity to slack off pass him by, and since even Aya allowed him to slack off, he shamelessly sat down on the ground.

Night was approaching and the temperature was dropping. Rod wondered how he had managed to fall asleep in such cold weather the night before.

"You have the nerve to sit here and watch the two of us women go to work?" the huntress mocked as she returned carrying a pile of branches.

Of course I'd feel bad, but I won't say it out loud.

"I can start a fire," Rod replied.

The huntress gave him a disdainful look and went back to gathering wood.

After a day of rest, Rhodes's magical power had recovered by more than half. With the experience from last time, he quickly created a campfire using gravity magic.

With a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, he arranged the campfire and branches neatly under the control of his mental power, looking at his masterpiece with a sense of accomplishment.

Just then, a pot was smashed at him. It was the huntress. "Stop sitting there in a daze. Cook the food first, then stop daydreaming."

He rummaged through his backpack and found that the only vegetables left were cabbages, which he didn't particularly like. But it was good enough to have vegetables in winter; eating only meat was too greasy. For the past few days, he had been eating meat as his main food.

They brought out the cured beef that could only be eaten once more, so this time they decided to make a cabbage and beef stew.

The daily stewed beef was making him feel unwell. While the huntress was away, he found some red leaves in her baggage. He picked one up and smelled it, discovering it smelled just like chili peppers.

Beef and cabbage with chili peppers make a pretty good hot pot, and there's even a potato left...