Issho left Sidian County while carrying the travel permit in one hand.
In his other hand, he held his wooden stick, while an empty leather sack rested on his back.
Before leaving, he had carefully placed the travel permit inside the inner pocket of his clothes so that it would not accidentally fall out while hunting inside the forest.
The morning air outside the county walls felt slightly cool, and the sounds of people moving around the marketplace gradually faded behind him as he walked farther away from the gates.
Charles, the gatekeeper, noticed Issho leaving the county once again.
Seeing the leather sack on Issho’s back, Charles more or less understood that Issho was likely heading out to hunt and earn money through it.
Till now, he had never once seen Issho begging or engaging in any sort of illegal work that was prohibited inside Sidian County.
That alone already explained quite a lot.
Clearly, despite being blind, Issho was some kind of professional hunter.
Charles was only slightly surprised by this realization because, in this world, strange anomalies were not uncommon at all.
After all, this was a fantasy world, not some ordinary one.
There were many people possessing abilities that normal humans simply should not have.
So after a brief moment of thought, Charles simply shook his head lightly and continued his own duties at the gate.
Meanwhile, Issho steadily continued moving farther away from Sidian County.
After walking for roughly a quarter of an hour, he finally entered the forest.
The moment he stepped beneath the tall trees, the surroundings immediately became quieter and cooler.
The earthy smell of damp soil and leaves filled the air, while faint sounds of insects and rustling branches echoed throughout the forest.
Just like almost a week ago, Issho once again began roaming around the forest in search of prey.
Using his heightened senses along with Observation Haki, Issho carefully moved through the forest paths while searching for something worthwhile to hunt.
He was not interested in small prey like rabbits or squirrels.
Those creatures were too small and would barely fetch any decent money.
What Issho wanted was large prey—something like a deer or, even better, another wild boar.
Especially a wild boar.
Issho genuinely hoped to encounter one again because he wanted to properly verify how much his strength had increased after nearly one full week of relentless training.
Let’s see exactly how much stronger I have become, Issho thought inwardly while continuing deeper into the forest.
Minutes slowly passed as Issho wandered through the forest.
But he found nothing.
Soon, minutes turned into hours, and still no suitable prey appeared before him.
The forest remained calm aside from the occasional chirping of birds and the distant rustling of leaves caused by the wind.
Finally, after nearly two hours of continuously moving around, Issho’s ears suddenly twitched slightly.
Tap…
tap…
tap…
A faint sound of hooves striking against the ground entered his ears.
The sound was extremely low and distant, so faint that an ordinary person would never have noticed it at all.
But Issho’s enhanced hearing abilities easily captured it.
The moment he detected the sound, Issho immediately focused himself and quietly began moving toward the direction from which the hoofbeats had come.
Soon, the hoof sounds stopped.
Instead, soft grazing noises could now be heard.
Crunch…
crunch…
Issho immediately extended his Observation Haki to its full range.
Seventy meters.
That was currently his absolute limit.
The invisible sensing field quietly spread outward around him, carefully scanning the surroundings.
And very quickly, Issho found the source of the sound roughly fifty meters away from his current position.
There, standing calmly among the trees while grazing on grass, was a creature whose shape resembled that of a deer.
More specifically, it looked somewhat like an antelope deer.
As soon as Issho formed the outline structure of the deer through his Observation Haki, he immediately became cautious.
Deer were creatures that were inherently extremely proactive and perceptive.
Their senses toward danger were naturally sharp, and even the slightest abnormality could alert them instantly.
Issho carefully began moving closer while suppressing the sound of his footsteps as much as possible within his limits.
His breathing slowed, and even the movement of the leather sack behind him became steadier.
Step by step, he quietly approached the deer.
However, when Issho was roughly thirty meters away, the deer suddenly stopped grazing.
Its head abruptly rose upward.
The creature turned directly toward Issho’s direction.
Although Issho was blind, through Observation Haki he immediately realized that the deer had already sensed his presence.
The creature’s body had subtly tensed, and its muscles were prepared to flee at any moment.
So Issho did not hesitate even for a second.
The instant he realized he had been detected, he explosively dashed toward the deer.
Boom!
His feet pushed against the ground with tremendous force, and the small leaves and dust around him were blown away from the sudden burst of speed.
Issho was not some experienced expert hunter who knew countless hunting techniques or traps.
He only understood one thing clearly.
His physical strength was already far beyond that of an average human.
And because of that, his speed should also be enough to catch a deer.
The moment Issho rushed forward, the deer instantly panicked and bolted away at full speed.
The chase immediately began.
The deer sprinted wildly through the forest while Issho rapidly chased behind it.
Branches, roots, bushes, rocks—none of them posed any obstacle to Issho at all.
With Observation Haki spread around him, he could perfectly sense every object within his range.
His movements remained completely unhindered as he ran through the forest at high speed.
The sound of hurried hoofbeats echoed repeatedly through the trees.
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Meanwhile, Issho’s footsteps thundered behind it.
The distance between them slowly began shrinking.
Forty meters.
Thirty-five meters.
Thirty meters.
Little by little, Issho rapidly closed in on the deer.
The deer desperately tried to escape, twisting around trees and changing directions multiple times, but none of it helped much against Issho’s Observation Haki.
Soon enough, Issho was almost within arm’s reach.
At that moment, Issho suddenly let go of the sack in his left hand.
The sack fell heavily onto the forest ground while Issho immediately dove forward.
Without hesitation, he grabbed one of the deer’s back legs tightly.
The deer instantly began struggling violently.
(A/N: Image in Comments.)
Its hooves kicked around with full force while its body jerked repeatedly in an attempt to free itself from Issho’s grip.
In the middle of the struggle, its sharp hooves even scratched against Issho’s arms and chest, causing faint stinging pain.
However, Issho did not loosen his grip at all.
The deer then attempted to counterattack using its antlers.
Sensing the movement through Observation Haki, Issho was already prepared.
The moment the deer swung its antlers toward him, Issho immediately released the hind leg and grabbed the antlers directly with one hand.
Then, without hesitation, he forcefully pulled the deer toward himself.
The sudden force destabilized the deer completely.
Issho immediately seized the opportunity and tightly grabbed the deer by its neck.
The deer continued thrashing violently in panic.
But at that exact moment—
Shing!
Issho unsheathed the blade hidden inside his wooden stick.
The disguised sword instantly revealed its sharp steel edge.
Without wasting even a moment, Issho directly stabbed the blade into the deer’s neck.
Puchi!
Warm blood immediately burst out from the wound.
The deer’s body convulsed violently as Issho firmly held onto it, resisting all of its remaining struggles.
The creature continued kicking and twitching desperately for the next few moments, trying to survive despite the fatal wound.
But gradually, its movements became weaker.
Slower.
Then finally—
The deer completely stopped moving.