Sheep Hunt I

Dismounting their horses – Maxwell still not having his own and riding behind Jeremys – they walked along a well-maintained, straight path marked by stakes on both sides, through a forest where the vegetation was sparse, allowing them to see far into the distance and letting the sun's rays wander peacefully through the treetops.

It was the Sheep Hunt day, and maybe the day Maxwell would have his revenge on those kids who had humiliated him. The muscles rangers, bare-chested and all wearing their assigned shorts, were ready.

But Maxwell seemed preoccupied with something else.

“Hm… things here seems to be becoming clearer. I kind of understand how this world mainly works – except for the magic part and the monsters, but I’ll learn. From my observations and discussions every morning for the past week with some of the guys at the guild, it seems that everyone has some sort of vision when they’re born, showing them what their main path in life will be, implanting it in their brain and shaping them around it, without being able to escape it or do something else. That’s actually sad… they can’t even discover themselves and truly enjoy life… Some told me they’re sad every day, but that’s just how life is according to them… some are quite happy, and that’s good for them… really… but a life like this… I couldn’t. I feel sorry for them.”

A tree had fallen across the path. Without a word or a glance, the four of them set to work lifting it, and in an instant the path was as good as new, Maxwell immediately plunging back into his thoughts.

“They can’t escape it… but I still can’t understand the reason… it seems too absurd… They call this vision a ‘gift of the gods’, but who are those gods? Why do they do this? And what happens if people try not to follow their vision? Or has the thought never even crossed their minds? Being taught from childhood to respect the gods and follow everything that has been decided must have excluded these kinds of thoughts entirely… Yeah, they can have other hobbies like this Sheep Hunt… or is that decided by the gods too? Is everything already decided, or still waiting to be written?”

Maxwell clenched his fists and shook his head, incomprehension stirring across his face and mind. He didn’t have enough knowledge, nor the ability, to guess everything off the top of his head.

Lost in his turbulent thoughts, he didn’t even notice that they had already arrived at the camp where the Sheep Hunt would begin.

It was a clearing in the middle of the forest, bathed in sunlight, with various tents scattered about and numerous children and adventurers – probably the organizers – all swarming around, chatting peacefully.

A young adventurer approached the muscleteers with a large smile, welcoming them warmly and inviting them to gather in front of a huge cage covered with a sheet.

As the man clapped his hands, everyone around fell silent and approached, gathering around the cage. Some smiled from ear to ear, others looked doubtful about what could be hiding beneath the sheet.

“Welcome, dear people, to this annual edition of the Sheep Hunt! I hope all the kids are ready to hunt some sheep!” Every child shouted in excitement to show their enthusiasm. “Very good! But I see that some of you are intrigued by what’s under this sheet – am I not right?”

He removed the sheet from the enormous cage and revealed its content.

A sheep.

But not a normal sheep – more like what Matos had said: a sheep on steroids. A sheep so big that even if Maxwell and the others hugged to form a massive ball of muscles, it still wouldn’t be as large. Its legs were packed with muscles as thick as the combined thighs of Jeremys and Krotos – and they were already huge. Its eyes were bright red, and saliva dripped from its mouth as if it were possessed by pure rage.

When it noticed everyone staring at it, the sheep began to thrash itself inside the cage, trying to smash through the bars. They didn't budge under its force, yet the ground trembled, the impacts shaking people nearby. The kids only laughed, seemingly unafraid of the sight.

“Do kids always react like this in front of an absurdity that could easily kill them?” Maxwell asked his friends, perplexed.

“Don’t worry. They’ll be fine.” Matos replied.

“But parents really send their children to fight those things? Aren’t they scared of not seeing them come back?” Maxwell asked, more shocked than anything.

“Haha. At least getting their asses whooped a little won’t do any harm. It educates them to real pain – a trial they have to face. Most of them just fall on their asses, though, leaving only bruises. I had some recently too… it hurt to sit, but it’s not unbearable. Wanna see what it looks like?” Jeremys asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“No, thanks. I think I’ve seen enough asses for an entire lifetime… even though I’m still exposed to yours in those shorts every day…” Maxwell replied with a deep sigh, now used to these kinds of questions. “But more importantly, I don’t see how they’d hunt those sheep. Or did I miss something, and it’s not what I think it is?”

“Oh, it’s totally what you think. They’re going to hunt them. The one in the cage isn’t the only one – there are plenty out there in the forest, grazing and skipping happily, living their peaceful lives… until a kid comes along and jumps on them.” Jeremys said.

“But do they hunt them with their fists? They don’t seem to carry any weapons. And they’re not exactly quiet for kids who want to hunt… they must’ve scared every sheep by now…”

“For that, don’t worry. On their chests, they have a kind of badge – do you see it?” Maxwell observed the kids and nodded. “It's a padded armor that activates before any impact from a sheep, reducing fall damage and protecting against most serious injuries. As for weapons, they have another badge in their right hand that they have to grip tight to make a sword appear. Since kids don’t really know how to use magic, we give them artifacts to initiate them.” Krotos explained.

“So this hunt is more of an initiation than just a hunt for pleasure.” Maxwell added, Krotos nodding in response.

“Maxwell… now that I think about it, do you see the kids you told us about?” Jeremys asked, scanning from above thanks to his height.

Maxwell searched only with his eyes, quickly scanning each face, never lingering long.

He looked back at Jeremys, disappointed.

“Maybe you’ll find them during the hunt – after killing a sheep or two. There are so many people here that finding them by pure luck would be hard.” Krotos said.

“During the hunt? Killing sheep? Wait, do you mean I–”

“Yes. You’ll be participating. We negotiated with the organizers, and they agreed to make an exception this time, even though you’re not a child.”

Jeremys looked proud of himself, his wide, toothy smile almost blinding Maxwell with sheer dripping pride – and yes, it wasn’t always about juicy, sweaty muscles… though sweat was indeed dripping from them.

“We’ll be here to save everyone at the slightest problem!” Matos added.

The three of them posed together, flexing their muscles as if to prove that three muscle-bound men would be more than enough. Maxwell stared at them in disbelief.

“But I don’t have any weapon to kill – or even protect myself!” Maxwell protested.

"You're a mountain of muscle. You'll be fine, don't worry." Jeremys replied, giving him a thumbs-up, his face glowing with confidence.

Maxwell’s face fell.

“The hunt will now begin! The objective for every one of you is to kill and bring back two sheep to win. The first to bring the two back here will earn the special prize! Let the hunt begin!”

The adventurer who had revealed the sheep announced the start of hostilities.

“I’LL BRING CHAOS ONTO THESE SHEEP! I’LL RULE THEM ALL!” A little boy, completely overjoyed and unable to stay still, had already activated his sword and was shouting like a madman.

“Please, calmly and respectfully toward others...” The adventurer added in a small, high-pitched voice, completely surprised and taken aback by the child's behavior.

“Children are completely crazy these days…” Maxwell whispered as he ran into the forest too, with all the other kids scattering in every direction, some already falling to the ground after tripping over each other. A great start for later…

Sheep were everywhere in the forest, and Maxwell saw them from afar, but none were in his way. He could only see the one he spotted being attacked and killed or put to sleep by the other kids.

“So these sheep are all muscles and have no brains… they are so easily defeated!”

He arrived in another clearing where the ground was trembling under the raging footsteps of a gigantic sheep, at least ten times bigger than the others.

At the edge of the clearing, Maxwell saw a child kneeling in front of the large sheep, screaming and crying, ready to be crushed. He looked around and saw two other kids completely knocked out, probably after they being thrown against the trees.

“Fuck… their armor might not have worked well!”

The sheep began to lift one of its enormous legs to deliver a fatal blow to the child, who was completely paralyzed by fear and therefore unable to move a muscle in the face of danger.

Maxwell ran as quickly as he could and, just in time, grabbed the child and threw him aside, narrowly avoiding the blow that could have killed him. He was nonetheless sent flying backward by the force of the impact.

The sheep bleated in a very deep voice that echoed throughout the forest, causing all the birds to fly out of the trees. It was angry at having missed.

While standing up, Maxwell stared at the kid, who was rubbing his butt after landing on it.

“Damn it! Fuck you, you hurt me. You’re just a fucker who only like to hit kids, huh?” The child said angrily.

“What the… you’re really insulting me, ungrateful kid? I just saved your bacon, so you shouldn't complain. You should thank me and shut up now!” He replied with equal anger.

The sheep rushed toward them at full speed, and before Maxwell could even react, it struck him hard, sending him flying to the other side of the clearing.

Fortunately, Maxwell took the blow rather well and managed to turn around in midair to reposition himself, landing on the ground in a sort of skid, kicking up dirt and dust behind him.

“It seems like I’ll have to save my ass alone today.”