Mythology: Ragnarok

Fortunately, most human towns and villages do not have such terrifying monsters as magical beasts. After all, humans try to settle in safe and resource-rich places. In relatively dangerous areas with harsh environments and many magical beasts, the army and adventurers' guilds are stationed. The main function of most towns in the country is to produce food to supply these areas, because magical beasts are a major concern and an important strategic resource for every country.

Monster hides can be used to make armor with extremely strong protective properties, and bones are also excellent materials for crafting. Some monsters even produce magic crystals with magical energy inside their bodies. Powerful magic arrays and magical weapons all rely on magic crystals to function. Therefore, the defense forces of various countries now depend entirely on the support of these magic crystals. As a result, each country will more or less set aside a small area of ​​low value specifically for raising monsters.

Thinking of this, Iz couldn't help but sigh, "I wonder if the meat of magical beasts tastes good? Uncle Leler said that the meat of magical beasts is very beneficial to the training of the knights of the Empire. I wonder what kind of delicious thing it is."

Then Izz shook his head and dismissed the idea. After all, such things were too far removed from his life as an ordinary citizen. He should focus on getting the wild boar out first. The wild boar was huge, which made Izz, feeling insecure, take out his short knife and carefully approach it. Without saying a word, Izz plunged the knife into the wild boar's neck, destroying its trachea. Then he plunged it into the wild boar's mouth and forcefully pushed upwards, destroying a piece of brain tissue. This was the first time Izz had caught real prey, but his technique was too inexperienced. The wild boar's fur was in very poor condition; it was estimated that it could only be exchanged for forty or fifty copper coins at most.

With great difficulty, Iz carried the wild boar out of the trap on his shoulder. The wooden stakes inside the pit had been almost completely destroyed by the boar, rendering the trap unusable. Looking at the mess, Iz couldn't help but worry that tomorrow's only task would be to repair the trap. However, the joy of the harvest made Iz temporarily forget about tomorrow's fatigue. With the wild boar on his shoulders, Iz hurried back with slightly heavy steps.

The wild boar was undeniably large, but fortunately, the average person on this planet wasn't as physically weak as they are on Earth. The average physical strength of the average person here was at least three times that of Earthlings, and with Izzy's regular exercise, she was still able to barely manage to withstand it.

Panting heavily, Izz carried the wild boar back to his makeshift camp. He then made a platform, or rather a makeshift cart, out of planks and placed the boar on it. Izz then secured himself with a rope and pulled the cart back towards the town as quickly as possible. Izz dared not rest, fearing that if he stopped, he wouldn't have the strength to get up again. For a hunter, laziness is the greatest enemy. In the wilderness, carrying prey that constantly exudes the smell of blood would easily attract dangerous predators. Every minute he stayed meant more danger, so Izz dared not delay and hurried towards the town as quickly as possible.

Soon, Izzy dragged the wild boar back to the town gate. By then, his shoulders were bruised and bleeding from the straps, but Izzy seemed to feel no pain. Instead, he ran even faster and more happily with the boar to Reiler's door. When he arrived, Izzy stopped and excitedly knocked on the door, shouting, "Uncle Reiler, I've come to return the favor! Look what I caught today!"

There was no response, probably because Rael hadn't returned from hunting yet. Iz understood this, since hunters' work was always on call. Iz took a knife and cut off four trotters from his wild boar, put them in the cloth bag he carried with him, and after making sure no one was around, he hid the trotters in Uncle Rael's woodpile. Uncle Rael had told him to leave a note and put it in the woodpile if anything happened, and now it had come in handy. Iz then wrote another note and stuck it in the doorway with an arrow.

The note read: "Uncle Raeller, I left some return gifts at the old place in your house where I used to pass messages."

After finishing all that, Iz took the remaining wild boar home. She slaughtered the boar in the yard and looked at the skinned hide with disappointment. The hide was really not good enough to make clothes now, but it should be enough to make a warm hat. However, Iz did not plan to sell the hide. After all, the quality was not worth much money now. It would be better to have her mother make her a hat, which would be a warm coat for winter.

After a while, Izzy wiped the sweat mixed with blood from her brow, then took the pig's head and the chopped pork into the kitchen to preserve them, only to find the kitchen completely empty, not even a cutting board left! Izzy instantly became alert, drew her dagger, and cautiously reached out, her hand trembling slightly as she prayed that it wasn't some thief.

Pushing open the door and walking in, Izzy shouted, "Stop! Put down all my things!" But as soon as he shouted, he saw his parents packing their clothes and valuables, making the scene incredibly awkward.

Izzy's father coughed lightly to break the awkward atmosphere and said, "Izzy, you've misunderstood. Your mother and I are packing our things. We're moving again for some special reasons. Didn't I mention it to you before?"

Izzy's ears turned red instantly, like a child caught having a moment of childish eccentricity by his parents. He hurriedly said, "Ah, you guys go ahead with your business, I have some things to do, I'll be going now." With that, he ran out of the house as if fleeing. Izzy's parents exchanged a smile, both amused by their son's embarrassment.

After Izzy went out, she quickly processed the remaining parts of the wild boar. Judging from her father's words, they were moving away again, so there was no need to keep the meat. Izzy then took the pork with her and prepared to sell it to the butcher shop.

The meat was quickly bought by the butcher and sold for ten silver coins. At the price of one silver coin per pound, this wild boar, which weighed at least five hundred pounds, should have earned Izzy forty silver coins even with the lowest possible price. But Izzy was just a hunter. Every transaction in this territory had to go through the national tax, the lord's share, the market's share, and even the butcher had to take a cut, since he still had to support his family.

So it was the common people like Iz who suffered the most. Layer upon layer of exploitation forced them to work their hardest just to get enough to eat. The hard work of the common people only made the lords richer and richer. Those greedy lords didn't care about the lives of their people.

Iz sighed and rummaged through his pocket. The silver coins, along with the few copper coins he already had, barely made the pocket look empty. The copper coins were similar to Chinese copper coins, very thin but with anti-counterfeiting patterns and a hole in the middle for easy threading and carrying in large quantities. The silver coins were like silver dollars. As for gold coins, Iz had never seen them before and didn't know what they looked like, but they should be similar to silver dollars, just made of more expensive materials. According to the exchange rate, one hundred copper coins could be exchanged for one silver coin, one hundred silver coins for one gold coin, and one hundred gold coins for one magic crystal. The exchange rate was basically the same for all countries' currencies.

On her way home, Izzy stopped by to check on Uncle Raeller, but he still hadn't returned. Just as Izzy was about to head back, Raeller suddenly appeared from the shadows of the distant jungle and called out to Izzy, "Hey, kid from the Agreed family, what brings you here for a visit?"