Morning sunlight slowly spread across the hills around Hage Village.
The church had only just begun to wake when Asta stepped outside, resting an iron firewood axe across his shoulder.
The air was cool, and a light wind moved across the fields, rustling the grass and the leaves of the nearby forest.
For the past several years his life had followed the same rhythm.
Train.
Eat.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Running across the forest floor until his lungs burned.
Climbing trees until his arms trembled.
Swimming against the river's current.
Swinging the oversized wooden sword again and again until every muscle screamed in protest.
Every night his body healed.
Every morning he started again.
Stronger than the day before.
But training against trees, stones, and water could only go so far.
Sooner or later, he needed to see what all that effort had actually built.
Asta looked toward the forest.
He had hunted small animals before.
Rabbits.
Wild quail.
Things that were fast but not truly dangerous.
Today would be different.
Today he wanted to test himself against something bigger.
Something that could actually fight back.
"…Alright," he muttered quietly.
"Let's see what all that training was worth."
With that, Asta stepped into the forest.
---
The deeper he walked, the quieter the world became.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy above, scattering across the forest floor in broken patches of light.
Asta moved steadily between the trees.
Years of training in this forest had taught him how to move quietly.
His feet barely made a sound as he walked across roots and fallen leaves.
The wind picked up slightly, brushing through the branches overhead.
A few birds scattered deeper into the woods.
Then—
CRACK.
A heavy sound came from the bushes ahead.
Asta stopped immediately.
That sound was too heavy to belong to a rabbit.
He slowly turned his head toward the noise.
The bushes shifted again.
Something large was moving inside.
Then the leaves parted.
And a massive wild boar stepped into the clearing.
The animal was enormous.
Its shoulders nearly reached Asta's chest, and thick muscles rolled beneath its dark hide with every step. Two curved tusks jutted forward from its mouth like sharpened blades.
Asta stared at it for a moment.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"…That's big."
But as he looked closer, another realization came to him.
This creature was even larger than the boar he had encountered years ago when he was six.
Much larger.
The boar snorted loudly and scratched the ground with one hoof.
Dust scattered across the forest floor.
Then it charged.
Asta moved instantly.
He ran toward the nearest tree and jumped.
His foot planted against the trunk, and he pushed himself upward before grabbing a branch.
A moment later—
BOOM.
The boar slammed directly into the tree.
The impact was so powerful the entire trunk shook violently.
Cracks spread across the bark where the tusks struck.
For a brief moment, it even looked like the tree might snap.
Asta's eyes widened slightly.
"…That's stronger than I expected."
The boar backed away, snorting angrily.
Then it charged again.
The tree shook even harder this time.
The trunk groaned loudly under the force of the impact.
Asta didn't wait.
He pushed himself upward and jumped toward a nearby tree just as the first one began to tilt dangerously.
Branches whipped through the air as he grabbed another limb and pulled himself up.
Below him, the boar circled angrily.
Asta reached into the pouch at his waist and grabbed a small stone.
He threw it.
The stone struck the boar's hide.
It bounced off without doing anything.
"…Figures."
He grabbed another stone and threw again.
This one struck the boar's shoulder.
Still nothing.
The boar roared angrily and rammed the second tree.
The trunk shuddered violently beneath Asta's feet.
Leaves rained down around him.
Asta picked up another stone.
This time he slowed his breathing.
He waited.
The boar turned its head slightly.
That was the moment.
Asta threw.
CRACK.
The stone struck directly into the animal's eye.
The boar screamed in pain.
Blinded on one side, it began thrashing wildly, smashing into nearby trees and tearing up the ground with its tusks.
Then it charged again.
But this time it wasn't charging blindly.
It was charging toward the tree Asta stood on.
Asta moved.
He pushed off the branch and leapt into the air.
His body dropped straight toward the charging beast.
Both hands tightened around the axe handle.
The wind rushed past his ears as he fell.
The boar looked up.
Too late.
With all the strength in his body, Asta brought the axe down.
CRACK.
The blade split straight through the boar's skull.
The massive body collapsed forward with a heavy thud that shook the ground.
For a moment the forest was completely silent.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Asta stood there, breathing slowly as he looked down at the enormous animal.
"…Not bad."
---
Getting the boar back to the village took time.
The animal easily weighed more than two hundred kilograms.
Dragging it through the forest wasn't easy.
But after years of lifting stones, logs, and tree trunks, the weight wasn't impossible either.
Eventually Asta reached the edge of Hage Village.
A few children noticed him first.
Their eyes widened immediately.
"Asta?!"
"Is that… a boar?!"
More children quickly gathered around.
They stared at the enormous animal lying behind him.
Soon the commotion drew Father Orsi outside the church.
The moment he saw the boar, his expression changed.
"Asta!"
"What were you thinking fighting something like that?!"
He stepped forward quickly.
"That thing could have killed—"
Then he stopped.
Because Asta bent down and lifted the front half of the boar onto his shoulder.
The massive body hung across his back like a heavy sack.
The animal easily weighed over two hundred kilograms.
Most grown men would struggle just to drag something that heavy.
Father Orsi stared silently for a moment.
The scolding words he had been about to say simply disappeared.
Finally, he let out a long breath.
"…Just put it down before you break the ground."
Around them, the children continued staring at Asta with wide eyes.
None of them could quite believe what they were seeing.