Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Chapter 89  Martha

Slam! n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Alex dug his fist out of the stomach of the huge snake beast he had just killed. Over the last few days he had been slowly hunting on the outskirts of the town, killing any beast that came within range of his senses. It didn't matter if the beast was the weakest F- rank or not, he killed them all regardless.

The unfortunate thing was though, that he hadn't come across any beasts above F+ rank anywhere near the town, which sucked but he figured this would be a common theme in this area.

The town wouldn't station F rank guards at the gates if there were E- rank and above beasts lurking around the vicinity. Clearly, this town was in quite a low risk area compared to the dark, damp cave Alex had first landed in.

This was the 4th beast Alex had killed in the last day alone, which was quite a good haul considering the fact he hadn't even encountered a single other beast than the Shadow Wolf before this point.

It was obvious that areas more populated with humans tempted more and more beasts over. With how mindless these beasts were it wasn't like they knew they were just walking straight into a death trap.

But it was also good for the town, as the constant influx of beasts meant more income, as well as a constant supply of high quality food.

It was even better for Alex, as it allowed him to achieve his goal of earning money quicker. Naturally he set his sights on better alternatives, planning to move his hunting operation to a place much less rural and more populated than this small town.

But for the next few days he had to gather information as well as sell a few beast corpses, minus the beast cores obviously, and actually have some money to his name.

Alex needed a new weapon, preferably a sword as he found he liked them better than daggers after using Rowan's sword for a bit.

But he wasn't interested at all in the cheap and low quality wares the merchant had to offer, no, instead he was interested in a different supplier. The Mayor of Monty town.

He already knew the Mayor was the Father Bertram that strange boy had mentioned when he first came across him, but he hadn't had any contact with him yet.

***

After a few more hours of hunting, Alex returned back to the town to sell off all of the beast corpses he had accumulated during his hunt over the last day.

He had become somewhat of a local celebrity over the last few days since his arrival, as the locals hadn't seen someone take care of so many beasts in such amounts like Alex did. Not even the guards themselves could match up to Alex's clean work, which earned a lot of respect for him.

"Another haul? How many this time?" An old woman behind the counter of the only butcher shop in Monty town spoke to Alex, interested in knowing what he was bringing her this time.

"I have a total of 6 beasts today, some of them bigger than average so make sure to factor that into the price, Martha." Alex spoke in a familiar tone to the woman. Martha was the one person he interacted with the most over the last few days since he entered Monty town.

Most people only knew her as the friendly butcher around town, but few actually knew that she was an adventurer during her younger years, peaking at F+ rank before she retired and set up shop in this little town. Her strength is what enabled her to properly deal with the beasts Alex brought in to sell.

With how tough the bodies of the beasts are, it would be impossible for a normal human to butcher them.

"Any interesting news today?" Alex asked Martha — a common practice he did every time he met her.

"Nothing much, oh except for the fact that Father Bertram is returning in 2 days! The mood in the town has risen quite a lot recently after this news spread, it's been over 4 months since he last set off, and most of us weren't even sure he would return again…" Martha revealed to Alex.

Upon hearing this news, Alex's eyes perked up as he pressed on for further information.

"He set off over 4 months ago and is only just now returning? Where could he have gone for such a long period of time to pass?"

Martha looked at Alex, remembering that he was still completely unknown to the village — he had only been there for a few days.

"He was called to the capital, after all he is still technically a baron serving under the emperor, though he is nothing like the high and mighty nobles of the cities and the capital."

Martha paused, seeing the 6 huge bodies piled up outside her shop, before returning to her explanation.

"Apparently something big is going on in the empire soon, though common folk like us wouldn't know what that is."

Alex listened attentively to everything Martha said. Each piece of information she had given him so far had been far more valuable than he had been able to glean from the other residents.

"Hmmm, I see. Well, such matters have nothing to do with me, I'm just trying to earn a pretty penny for myself before moving on from this place." Alex changed the topic of the conversation, after all the political matters of the empire really did have nothing to do with him.

All he cared about was the money he was set on earning during this four month period.

10 minutes later, he left Martha's shop with a bag jingling with coins every time he took a step.

He received many curious looks from the people on the streets, but everybody ignored him soon after.

Nobody here was a criminal, at least openly.

Of course when the guards saw Alex walking about so brazenly with money practically falling out of his pockets, they gritted their teeth in jealousy but couldn't do anything more than that.

They knew better than to provoke Alex after what happened last time in the barracks.