I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

As for Nanachi's words, Yuhaka understood them to mean what Rorota and the others said: just cover yourself with a hood and a cloak. Last time, Yuhaka even used some creatures that seemed to be called Blanket Rats to exchange for a lot of money in the human city above the big hole to buy a small bag of rice.

Chapter 30 [The Giant Cave of Os]

On a remote island in North Orska in the South China Sea, there is a giant vertical cave with a diameter of about 1000 meters. This giant cave is known to people around the world as the Abyss (meaning the abyss).

At the highest level of the Abyss lies a small town called [Os], which is a town surrounded by giant caves.

On a cliff near the sea, Yuhaka, wearing an Elf headgear, emerged from a cave and looked around, finding no one else around.

Yuhaka easily climbed up by grabbing onto the rocks and crevices on the cliff face.

"Hey!"

With a single flip, Yuhaka easily reached the top of the cliff. After adjusting the Felyne headgear on her head, she slung her large cloth bag over her shoulder and headed towards the town of Os, the Great Cave.

………………

In the town of Os, known as the "Giant Cave," the conspicuous Yhaka walked down the street carrying a large cloth bag. She entered the back alley of a restaurant and expertly knocked on the back door. Soon after, a burly man in a scarf-skirted dress opened the door. He looked around, and finding no one there, realized who it was. Looking down, he saw Yhaka wearing an Elf cat mask and exclaimed with delight:

"Ah! It's Miss Cat Head, you've come!"

Facing the burly man's delighted expression, Yuhaka handed him the large cloth bag from his back and said:

"Prey, exchange, Os (the currency here)!"

"Hey! No problem! Oh! This time it's a carpet mouse that lives on the third level [Great Fault], right? That's a very rare ingredient!"

The burly man who took the large bag from Yuhaka looked at the dozen or so lively carpet rats inside and said with a bit of surprise, "After all, the carpet rats live in the area of ​​the third level of the Great Fault. That place is full of cliffs with no footholds and a terrifying number of ferocious flying beasts and insects. It is difficult for ordinary hunters to move around in that place. Only cave explorers know how to safely enter the third level."

However, cave explorers wouldn't specifically go to the third level to catch carpet rats, since any Abyss relics would be worth far more than a few carpet rats.

"Hey! This is your reward! Make sure you keep it safe!"

"Um OwO!"

After accepting the payment, Yuhaka nodded and left the alley. The burly man in the scarf and skirt scratched his head with a hint of pity after Yuhaka left, saying:

"Ha... such a young age, sneaking off to the bottom of the Abyss to hunt prey? I really don't know what that kid's parents were thinking. Next time, let's treat that kid to some blanket rat meatballs. To be honest, I'm really curious about what that kid looks like under the hood..."

After saying that, the big man returned to the kitchen and shouted to his wife:

"Honey, Youyou-chan brought over the ingredients, it's blanket mice!"

………………

In the market of the town of the giant cave, Yuhaka was making his own purchases. After observing many times and being regarded as a suspicious person by others, Yuhaka knew the prices of goods and currency here.

After all, although Yuhaka knew about the currency in Monster Hunter World, she didn't know about the currency here. The currency here was called Os, and there were different kinds of Os. The largest Os was worth 100 points, and the smaller ones were worth about 50 points.

After confirming several times, Yuhaka finally came out to buy ingredients. At first, the residents here treated Yuhaka as a thief and were wary of him. However, Yuhaka's serious manner in selecting and buying ingredients later made many people less vigilant.

Until a few days ago, when a thief snatched a woman's purse, Yuhaka suddenly appeared and threw the thief to the ground. After that, the residents here felt at ease with Yuhaka.

"Give me a little bit of this."

"Give me some of these."

Then, Yuhaka pointed to the white rice and said to the merchant:

"Give me a bag of these!"

"Hey! Little sister!"

Soon, the rice merchant filled a large bag with rice and handed it to Yuhaka. After handing over the money, Yuhaka easily hoisted the bag of rice onto his back. The surrounding merchants and residents were used to this, as they were very familiar with the business.

Although Yuhaka has only been in the town of Giant Cave for a little over ten days, news of Yuhaka has already spread throughout most of the town of Giant Cave. The rumored monster with a cat-head cape has gradually transformed into the righteous and courageous Miss Yuyu-chan with the cat head.

The children at one of the orphanages, called "Bercello," also heard the rumors.

"Hey! Nado! Sitch! Do you know what's going on in Ostown about Miss Youyou, the brave girl who wore a cat headgear and did a good deed?!"

A little girl with glasses and a hairstyle resembling that of a certain blonde "loser" looked excitedly at the two boys in front of her and said this. A boy with a band-aid on his nose next to her raised an eyebrow and looked at the blonde girl with pigtails, saying:

"Um, Rico, do you believe those rumors?"

The little girl called "Riko" shook her head and said to the little boy called "Nado":

"It's not a rumor! I heard it from Aunt Raffi! That little girl with the cat headpiece went to Aunt Raffi's to buy spices!"

The boy called "Sich" pushed up his glasses and looked at Riko, saying:

"I've heard that rumor too, although the details are a bit far-fetched..."

After all, they had heard stories of children around their age easily defeating adults, and of capturing many creatures from the third and fourth levels (Yohaka had once captured carpet rats and bamboo bears and sold them throughout Os Town).

Keep in mind that the fourth level is a place that only cave explorers of at least Black Flute rank can access.

Rico looked at her two friends with an excited expression and said:

"Then let's go find the child who's rumored to be called Miss Youyou ourselves, and then the truth will come out!"

Seeing Riko's unusually excited expression, Nado and Sitch exchanged a glance, then looked at Riko and said:

"Hey, Riko, why did you want to find that 'Miss Yuu' wearing the cat headgear?"

Upon hearing Nado's question, Rico patted her slightly heaving chest and replied to Nado:

"Of course, I'll ask that senior for any secrets on exploring the Abyss!"

Immediately, Nado and Sitch both looked at Rico with expressions of "I knew it!" and said:

"Why don't you just ask Captain Gilluo about this?"

In response to their questions, Rico angrily replied:

"Of course I asked the captain! But the captain's answer was just to study hard and read more books!"

Nado and Sitch couldn't help but sigh when they saw Lyco's sullen face.

Chapter 31 [The Thug: She's not playing by the rules!]

"what……"

On the main street of the town of Os, a giant cave, Rico sighed while holding a letter. As an apprentice of the Red Flute, it was quite normal for her to carry out missions like this. However, Rico preferred to explore the Abyss and seek out unknown discoveries.

Then, Riko saw the Black Flute Squad preparing to descend to the fourth level of the Abyss on the street and said with an envious expression:

"How wonderful... When will I be able to become the Black Flute...?"

For Riko, becoming the Black Flute is not her ultimate goal; what Riko most wants to become is a cave explorer known as the "White Flute."

After all, most of the children in the orphanage dreamed of becoming like White Flute, because White Flute was a hero to this country.

However, for Riko now, becoming a White Whistle is not something that can be done in a few years. Even if it takes more than ten or even several decades, she may not be able to become a White Whistle.

Besides needing a stronger will and perseverance than the average person, having a suitable keepsake is also crucial for white flutes.

However, at the orphanage, his privately hidden belongings were confiscated, and he was punished with the cave explorer's unique corporal punishment, "Fruit Penis."

The thought of being hung up in the punishment room by Guo made Rico feel like steam was rising from her head.

Rico quickly shook her head to shake off the image of herself being naked from her mind and hurried to the delivery location.

………………

After delivering the letter to the recipient, Rico planned to go to Aunt Raffi's spice shop to inquire about Miss Yuuyu, who was wearing a cat headgear.

After all, she had many questions she wanted to ask Miss Youyou. She had heard from the residents that Miss Youyou was no more than twelve years old. If this was true, wouldn't that mean Miss Youyou had the strength to rival the Black Flute Cave Exploration Family?

Although it may not sound like much—after all, there are many cave explorers of the Black Flute level—it is indeed hard to imagine that a twelve-year-old girl would possess the strength of a Black Flute.

"If there's some secret, could I become as strong as Miss Youyou?"

Just then, Rico glanced to her right and saw a figure wearing a cat headgear enter a small alley.

"Huh?! That's... Miss Youyou!?"

Seeing the cat-headed figure enter the alley, Riko immediately ran over and looked in the direction of the alley, only to find that the cat-headed figure had disappeared around a corner.

After realizing that the figure disappearing around the corner wasn't her imagination, Riko quickly chased after it and soon spotted a figure wearing a strange cat headgear.

Riko opened her mouth in surprise and looked at Yuhaka's figure, saying:

"It really is as rumored, Miss Youyou wearing the strange cat mask!"

However, just as Riko was about to go up and call out to Yuhaka, several figures suddenly surrounded Yuhaka. Riko also suddenly stopped and immediately returned to the corner to secretly observe.

Yuhaka looked at the people surrounding him with a puzzled expression, but when he smelled blood and a slightly dangerous odor on them, he knew what they wanted to do.

Before the villain could say anything, Yuhaka suddenly bent down and delivered a powerful punch (as Old Tomato put it) to the stomach of a burly man in front of him. The man's eyes rolled back and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

You should know that when Yuhaka's little fist landed on the big man's stomach, it was so powerful that the fist was deeply embedded inside the man's stomach, and his internal organs were probably crushed.

The four thugs standing next to Yuhaka were stunned when they saw Yuhaka punch a burly man and send him flying. They had originally wanted to avenge their brother (the thief who had been thrown to the ground by Yuhaka last time), but they didn't expect that before they could say or do anything, the other party would kill one of their brothers first.

For Yhwaka, who possesses Zerus's cunning and human knowledge, it boils down to one phrase: "Strike first, or suffer the consequences." In other words, "Hesitation leads to defeat!"

Of course, you don't need to worry about Yuhaka hitting the wrong person. If you see a few thugs looking at you with malicious smiles, you'll also feel that something is wrong.

Before the other party could react, Yuhaka pulled out a bright red package from under his cloak and threw it between the two people in front of him. A burst of red dust exploded between them.

The two people in the red dust took a breath and their expressions changed immediately. Tears welled up in their eyes, and they coughed violently.

"That's chili powder!"

From a distance, Rico immediately recognized the true nature of the red powder. She remembered accidentally spilling a packet of chili powder when she was cooking at the orphanage, and the unpleasant taste of it left a deep impression on her.

Faced with the two who were coughing incessantly, Yuhaka pulled out several paralyzing spiky scales from under his cloak and threw them at them. The two immediately went into a seizure and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

After incapacitating three people, Yuhaka turned his attention to the two people behind him. When the two thugs behind Yuhaka saw him turn to look at them, they instinctively took a step back.

However, when they recalled that they were carrying weapons, they suddenly became bolder.

"Don't underestimate us, you damn cat!"

The two then drew daggers from their waists and rushed towards Yuhaka's retreating figure. Riko, who was hiding around the corner, instinctively shouted at Yuhaka:

"Miss Youyou! Watch out behind you!"

The two thugs who attacked Yuhaka were startled by Riko's sudden appearance, and Yuhaka seized the opportunity to turn around and throw several black, spiky scales at the two thugs. The two thugs immediately collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Seeing that Yuhaka had dealt with the thugs, Riko breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to Yuhaka, saying to her:

"Thank goodness, Miss Youyou, you're alright... right?"

Riko looked at Yuhaka, who was holding up a sack, with a puzzled expression. Then Yuhaka wrapped Riko in the large sack, and she realized that she... seemed to have been... kidnapped by Miss Yuuyu...?

Chapter 32 [Nanachi: Mmm—!!]