"The weather is a bit cold."
Gauss let out a breath and shifted his gaze from the book in his hand.
In his memory, autumn always arrived suddenly, but this year’s chill was quite rare.
"I’ll need to get some warmer clothes."
All of Gauss’s clothes were summer wear; his only winter coat was left by the previous owner, stored in his inn’s luggage.
Now, not only did it not fit, it was also too thin.
He decided to buy a fleece-lined warm coat.
In the inn’s lobby, Sofia was adding firewood to the fireplace, preparing to warm up the ground floor of the inn.
At the counter, the clerk Winnie was meticulously polishing a water glass.
"I’m here, sorry to keep you waiting." Aaliyah entered from the door, wrapped in thick clothing, greeted Winnie and Sofia skillfully, and sat opposite Gauss.
"No worries, I just got up myself."
The two had a packed schedule today as well.
Although they had submitted the adventure commission yesterday, earning a total of 1 gold and 10 copper by collecting the reward for the Rust Frog meat, each of them getting about 50 silver coins, they also had plans today. The main task was selling the Rust Frog skins.
Rust Frogs were not inherently vicious demons; generally, they rarely attacked caravans or villages on their own and certainly wouldn’t collect human weapons.
Their value lay almost entirely in their tough frog skin covering their bodies.
After tanning and special treatment, these frog skins could be used as linings for light armor or even medium armor, sewn into leather armor or chainmail at joints, chest, and stomach, providing minor resistance against corrosive damage from acidic liquids or swamp gases. Wearing armor lined with this material aids adventurers in exploring sewers, swamps, and combating specific monsters like the Slime Monster.
They could also be made into partial protective components, gloves, boots, or even processed into waterproof water bags, raincoats, or small tents.
Of course, when used for personal items, the leather’s hidden toxins must be completely removed to prevent slow erosion of the body.
The two needed to find a leather merchant who recognized the value to sell these relatively intact frog skins at a good price.
Besides selling the frog skins, Gauss also needed to go to a food workshop to commission them to turn nearly four hundred pounds of frog meat into jerky, serving as the team’s reserves.
By coincidence, the intermediary Aaliyah contacted had news too: Right near her residence, a small house was listed for sale, and Gauss was to check it out.
Along with purchasing autumn and winter clothing and boots.
Gauss was destined to be busy today, but luckily, Aaliyah had nothing to do and planned to accompany him.
The two also knew that time was tight and tasks were heavy, so they set out from the inn after a brief rest, stepping into the streets of Gray Rock Town.
First, they visited several leather shops in town, displaying those rolls of frog skin.
As for who led the transaction, much like last time, it fell to the more experienced Aaliyah.
Although Gauss wanted to try cheating with "friendship spells" to see if they worked, he dismissed the idea immediately.
These local leather merchants were all big fish in a small pond, and if they realized they were under spell influence later, they could report it to Gray Rock Town’s City Hall, which, even if it didn’t lead to imprisonment, would result in a hefty fine.
So, unless he could ensure no one would notice, it’s best not to easily use magic to manipulate others within a town’s jurisdiction.
Because of the wonders and variety of magic’s effects, regulations on magic were much stricter than on warriors or other professions brawling in the streets.
Many large cities even have specialized "anti-magic departments," hiring anti-mage knights, spies, and investigators to handle such cases.
Under Aaliyah’s diligent negotiation, the entire batch of frog skins was eventually sold for 1 gold, 50 silver, and 60 copper coins.
Adding the 1 gold and 10 copper from the commission reward,
this Rust Frog task’s total earnings reached 2 gold, 50 silver, and 70 copper coins.
In contrast, the previous Ratman task, not counting the benefits from eldritch deity information, earned only 1 gold and 80 silver coins from commissions and loot.
On the surface, Rust Frog yielded a higher profit, but accounting for its higher destructiveness and wear on equipment, the actual benefit wasn’t necessarily better than the Ratman task.
Gauss calculated silently in his heart.
However, his motivation for completing tasks wasn’t solely for money.
High earnings were surely delightful, but he was more focused on accumulating the Monster Atlas, increasing the kill count and variety.
If he truly wanted to pursue high rewards relentlessly, he’d rather challenge those high-bounty elite monsters.
After dividing 1 gold, 25 silver, and 35 copper coins, Gauss’s cash on hand amounted to 9 gold, 5 silver, and 30 copper.
After selling the frog skins, the two found a small shop by the street for a brief rest, ordered two cups of warm tea, and waited for the appointed real estate intermediary to arrive.
"By the way, Gauss, shall we participate in this year’s winter hunt?"
Aaliyah suddenly suggested as she noticed the passing guards.
"Winter hunt?" Gauss looked at her curiously.
"Ah, I forgot, at this time last year, you probably weren’t an adventurer yet." Aaliyah smacked her forehead, frustrated at her habitual thinking.
Typically, being a Bronze-level adventurer, one should have some experience, so how could he not know about the winter hunt?
But Gauss’s career record was indeed quite young.
She then explained.
"The so-called winter hunt is organized by adventurers to hunt monsters on the outskirts of the forest before winter arrives. Every winter, berries freeze, animals hibernate, and the food for monsters in the forest plummets. When they’re extremely hungry, they’ll take risks to raid human grain stores or loot caravans..."
Therefore, in border towns like Gray Rock Town, the City Hall and the Adventurer’s Guild would join forces to preemptively eliminate the threats, disrupting their plans to gather and avoiding larger disasters.
Besides the bounties for different monsters, Bronze-level and above adventurers participating in the winter hunt would also receive additional subsidies.
However, not everyone has the qualification to sign up. Besides being a Bronze adventurer, only a few outstanding lower-level adventuring teams registered with the guild can be admitted.
After all, too large-scale a concentrated operation could trigger potential crises.
After Aaliyah’s brief introduction, Gauss had a certain understanding of the winter hunt event.
"Count me in," he nodded without hesitation.
He couldn’t possibly miss such an excellent hunting opportunity.
It could increase his kill count, accumulate more types and numbers for his Monster Atlas, and also earn money.
He was planning to pay off his loan early, purchase spells, a mount, and upgrade his equipment, all of which required money.
"But will the strength of just our town’s Bronze adventurers be enough? After all..."
He recalled his personal experience on the second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild, where most were one-star "rookies" like him, and occasionally some two or three-star Bronze adventurers.
As for four or five-star Bronze adventurers, they were rare, let alone Black Iron Level adventurers. Gauss, who had been promoted for so many days, had never seen an adventurer with a Black Iron badge at the guild premises.
Higher-level commissions and adventurers were clearly concentrated in larger city guilds.
"Relax, according to past practices, besides the guild’s senior members stepping in, the town will also spend heavily to hire higher-level adventurers to oversee. What we need to deal with are mainly the lower-tier monsters and weaker elites. The real leaders or stronger demons will be tackled by those higher-level adventurers."
"I see." Gauss nodded, alleviating his last bit of concern.
Although higher-level adventurers overseeing couldn’t ensure complete safety, adventure was never meant for the faint of heart who wished to avoid any risk at all.
The thought of the upcoming winter hunt, the flocks of monsters, diverse in types, emerging like shoals of fish under food scarcity in the forest, stirred excitement in him.
After completing the Rust Frog commission, the Monster Atlas of ordinary monster types he’d accumulated so far totaled 13 species. If he followed the routine of completing one regular commission after another, reaching 20 species would undoubtedly take a long time.
But the winter hunt seemed different. According to Aaliyah’s account, it was like a small-scale "beast tide" event, with all kinds of demons mixed in. He would be able to kill new types of demons more effectively and expand the atlas quickly.