episode_0058
by fnovelpia“Look, the deer is coming.”
As we lounged in the grass, Griomo and Flanshe led the way outside.
Griomo discreetly slipped a few silver coins into the pocket of the guard.
“Aramis raised his servant very well.”
“It’s just a bit of wisdom in Griomo’s own way of life.”
We all mounted our horses and began to roam through the forest.
We searched for animal tracks while walking through the dense forest filled with large oak trees.
Bang! Bang!
After wandering through the forest for a while, the sound of a bell rang out.
“Oh no… the competition has already started, and we haven’t found any clues yet.”
Aramis clicked his tongue and mounted his horse again.
“We should hurry and search.”
We mounted our horses again and continued to search through the forest.
Despite our frantic search, we couldn’t find anything.
“Damn! We can’t see anything.”
Rotus scratched his head in frustration.
“It seems like we’re not the only ones who can’t find anything.”
Aramis wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.
“What do you mean?”
“If others had found their prey, we would have heard gunshots by now, but we haven’t heard any.”
“That makes sense.”
“It’s likely that others are in the same situation as us.”
“If we can’t hear the gunshots from far away?”
“We just have to try harder, what else can we do?”
Aramis shrugged in response to my question.
“Shall we just go back and have a drink?”
Rotus sat down and pretended to drink, moving his hands as if he were holding a cup.
“You haven’t even seen a deer horn yet, and you’re already drinking…”
Flanshe, who was behind him, looked at Rotus with a pitiful expression and muttered.
“What?!”
“No, nothing.”
Flanshe quickly took a defensive stance, expecting Rotus to hit him.
“If this guy gives up already, what will we do? Let’s search a bit more, it’s not too late to think about it later.”
Aramis patted Rotus on the shoulder.
As we chatted, Laurent was rummaging through the grass.
“Laurent, did you find something?”
I asked, and Laurent showed me a brown pellet.
“What is this?”
Rotus and Aramis also showed interest in the brown pellet in Laurent’s hand.
“It looks like a brown, round fruit.”
“It’s deer droppings.”
“Ew!”
“Oh my goodness!”
Rotus and Flanshe stepped back exaggeratedly.
Laurent laughed and threw away the deer droppings.
“Why did you show us deer droppings?”
“Because there must be deer nearby, so we should move.”
“Is that true?”
“Do you know how to hunt from my time in Bastogne?”
“Alright, let’s go quickly.”
“I’ll take the lead.”
Laurent tracked the deer slowly, like unraveling a clue.
“Do you see the tree bark peeled off here?”
“Is that a trace of a deer passing by?”
“Exactly, it’s a trace of the deer scratching its body.”
“You’re tracking well.”
“We should be able to find the deer soon.”
“Keep tracking.”
From the traces Laurent found, we had to pass hundreds of trees before we could find the deer.
“There!”
I whispered, and everyone looked at the deer.
It was a deer with a body one and a half times larger than a horse, with antlers as big as a human torso.
The deer was peacefully grazing on the grass on top of the hill.
“Let me try to hit it.”
Laurent dismounted and slowly approached the deer.
The deer rolled its eyes, scanning the surroundings for any threats.
Laurent lay flat on the ground and aimed his gun at the deer.
Bang!
Thud!
Startled by the gunshot echoing through the forest, the birds flew away in a panic.
“Kkeueeek!”
The deer started running frantically, screaming in terror.
“Let’s go!”
I quickly urged my horse and chased after the deer.
The way the deer ran, it seemed like it had been hit by a bullet in the leg.
As I hurried after the deer, I suddenly had a clear shot at its hindquarters.
I took out my gun from my shoulder and aimed it at the deer.
Bang!
The bullet aimed at its hindquarters hit the deer’s head instead.
It was a good shot, but the impact caused the deer’s head to shatter.
“Ugh… it seems I hit its head.”
Laurent grimaced at the grotesque scene.
“It’s a shame, but… it couldn’t be helped.”
I had wanted to preserve the deer’s head as a trophy, but it seemed like it was beyond repair now.
“Did you catch the deer? Did you catch it? Ugh?!”
Seeing the deer’s broken bones and exposed brain, Flanché collapsed and started vomiting.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh…!”
Even Grimo seemed a bit queasy at the sight.
Seeing Flanché vomiting, Rotos grabbed him by the back and dragged the deer’s carcass away.
“Haha! Flanché, is the sight of that deer disgusting to you?”
“Eek! Please stop!”
Flanché panicked and thrashed around.
“I think I’ll have to take you hunting more often.”
“Oh… please forgive me.”
“Are you going to faint at the sight of blood too?”
“Even the master…?”
“This fellow has never seen blood before!”
Rotos flicked Flanché’s lips with his hand.
“Rotos, let’s torment Flanché later and decide what to do with this deer now.”
“Shouldn’t we send it to the tent for now?”
“But who will carry it to the tent?”
“Grimo, you can take it to the tent.”
“Me? I’ll do it.”
Flanché stepped forward, pointing at Grimo.
“Flanché, this useless fellow, I’d rather trust a cat with a fish.”
Rotos punched Flanché on the head.
“No, I can do it.”
“Is that so…?”
“Let me try.”
Aramis stopped Rotos from hitting Flanché again.
“Grimo doesn’t seem interested, and Flanché seems enthusiastic, so let’s trust him.”
“No, that guy… sigh…”
Rotos scratched his head and nodded.
“Alright, Flanché, I’ll trust you with the deer.”
“Yes!”
Flanché replied in a determined tone.
“But… if someone steals the deer from you…”
“If they steal it…?”
“I’ll starve you for three days.”
At Rotos’ words, Flanché’s expression hardened.
“I will definitely protect this deer!”
“Alright… give it a try.”
Rotos patted Flanché’s shoulder.
He connected the sled with the deer’s body to Flanché’s horse and sent him off first.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“We just need to be more careful, so don’t worry too much.”
“Being careful won’t make a deer appear out of thin air.”
“Well… we’ll figure it out somehow.”
We mounted our horses again and searched for another deer.
Bang! Bang!
After a while of searching, we heard gunshots coming from different directions.
“It seems like there are a lot of deer here.”
“That’s right. We couldn’t find any traces of deer, but we can hear gunshots everywhere.”
But not only gunshots, we also heard people shouting.
“What’s that sound?”
Rotos raised an eyebrow at the sound of people shouting.
“Maybe they’re fighting over the deer I caught.”
“That could be a possibility.”
Certainly, it wouldn’t be feasible to carve names on each bullet, and if the prey overlaps, it would be difficult to determine who shot it.
“We should move away from them so that our prey doesn’t overlap.”
We turned our horses and headed in the direction away from the gunfire.
“Even if it’s a bear, it would be nice if it just appeared in front of me…”
Rotus looked around, searching for prey, shaking his head from side to side.
“Don’t they usually prevent hunting in this forest?”
“If caught in the act, it’s execution.”
“But how come we can’t see any animals around here?”
“Why bother us with that. Let’s see if there’s anything around.”
I left Rotus, who was complaining, and looked around.
“Marise, the grass is moving over there.”
Rotus pointed in a direction where something the size of a person was approaching.
“What is that?”
I dismounted and aimed at the approaching figure.
“P… Please spare me…!”
Emerging from the grass was Tristan.
“Tristan?”
He was covered in bruises all over his body.
“Tristan, what happened?”
Aramis was surprised and began to heal him.
“Phew…!”
With his body feeling better, Tristan collapsed on the ground.
“Oh, my dear Arwen. I almost died.”
“No, what are you talking about? Explain it more clearly.”
How could you almost die from a prey attacking you?
“Haha! How can you be attacked by prey?”
Crack!
Without realizing the seriousness of the situation, Rotus, who was laughing, received a blow to the back of his head.
“Stop hitting people on the head.”
“Well, there’s no brain to get worse there anyway, so it’s fine.”
“No… that’s true but…”
Rotus muttered with a wry smile on his lips.
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