Looking at the shabby shack in front of him, Claude sighed. "I'm asking for trouble. I saved a magus and now I have to skin her."
He ran back and forth twice that night. First, he treated the magus' wounds and applied some bandages. Then, he applied medicine and bandaged the wolf's wounds before taking a bath. It could be said that he worked through the night.
In the morning, he even cooked beef porridge with some blood-replenishing herbs for the magus' body.
It wasn't until ten in the morning that the magus finally woke up.
He thought she would ask him why he was there and if he had saved her or something.
What he didn't expect was that the first thing the magus said when she woke up was bear skin, bear skin, I want bear skin.
Before he could figure out what she meant, he told her that she had killed the bear that attacked her and its carcass was in her shack.
He had rushed to Witch Forest to save her because of Blackwind's report. She was now in her own room in Squirrel Village's encampment.
If he hadn't brought her back, she might have lost too much blood and died.
Only then did the magus realize that she was in an unfamiliar place. She looked at the bandages on her body and asked Claude coldly if he was the one who took off her clothes.
Claude shrugged helplessly. He had no choice. The soldiers in the camp were all men. Rather than calling the medics to treat her wounds, he might as well do it himself. After all, he knew her and it was an emergency. He didn't think too much about saving her life.
The magus lifted her blanket and wanted to get out of bed to look for her clothes, saying that she wanted to go back to Witch Forest.
Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Do you want to die? You can't even stand straight and you're so dizzy. Why are you forcing yourself to stay here? Just rest up and go back.
He only treated her wounds because he had no choice. It wasn't like he was taking advantage of her.
The young Mage said that it was not for that reason. She wanted to go back to deal with the black bear that had been killed. If she stayed here and waited for her wounds to heal before going back, the black bear's carcass would have rotted and become useless …
Claude pressed the magus back onto the bed. It's raining so hard outside. What's with the crazy idea of going back to deal with the carcass of the black bear? Is there something wrong with your head? It's just one black bear, right? I'll go hunt two black bears with you when I'm better. The village elder of Squirrel Village said that there are many black bears in the forest behind Witch Forest.
However, the young Mage insisted on returning. She said that the black bear's carcass was very useful to her. The bear's skin, gall, and bones were priceless treasures to her.
In the end, Claude had no choice but to tell her that he could just make another trip and bring her the pelt, gall, and bones.
Perhaps it was because her body was really weak, the magus found that she couldn't stand for much longer. She felt a little dizzy, which was why she allowed Claude to skin the bear. She only stopped him when he was about to leave and told him that he had to do it the way she did with the old bear pelt under the table. Only then would the pelt be useful.
Fortunately, the rain lessened by noon. Claude fed the magus some beef porridge and prepared to set off for Witch Forest.
Gemi had wanted to tag along, but Claude had him stay behind to help Myjack take care of the magus. With such a huge black wolf in the room, Myjack didn't dare to go in alone.
Not to mention, he was also worried that with Big Gemi by his side, he wouldn't be able to cast any spells or whatnot.
Claude brought two mountain horses with him. The small horses were very stable and had great endurance. They were the main means of transportation for the highlanders.
Claude's camp had a total of six mountain horses, which Myjack got from the camp to transport the supplies.
The reason he went to Witch Forest this time was to skin the bears and bring the meat back to add some fresh meat to the camp.
It was only the rainy season in March and the weather was cold. The carcass of the bear wouldn't go bad after one night.
The mountain paths could be seen clearly in the day. Claude led the two mountain horses and spent three hours on the bumpy roads to reach Witch Forest. He tied the horses' reins to the forest to shelter them from the rain and entered the shack himself.
The good news was that there wasn't any water in the shack. Due to the high terrain, even though the rainwater made its way into the shack, it was still mixed with the bear's blood.
The interior of the shack was exactly the same as what he saw the night before.
The only difference was that the green vines around the carcass of the black bear had disappeared. It seemed that the vine binding spell still had a time limit. It was just that he didn't know how long it would last.
The smell of blood in the shack was rather thick. The black bear on the ground was huge. Claude estimated it to be around 400 kilograms, making it a huge monster.
The fact that the magus was able to kill such a huge black bear despite being ambushed last night was already quite impressive.
The reason Claude insisted on not bringing Gum along was that he needed to use Spell's Hands and Precise Control to skin the bear. It was just like how Maria taught him how to use those two spells to separate the skin of the niros crocodile specimen and make it into a standard rune parchment.
If he didn't use spells, just flipping the carcass over would be enough to torment him half to death, let alone skin it.
He first cast Luminous Pearl and let it float above the shack, illuminating the interior.
Next, he found the rolled up bear hide under the broken table. That should be the set that the magus used to disguise herself as a black bear.
Judging from the size of the bear skin, the original owner should also be a big black bear that was not inferior to the giant bear on the ground.
However, Claude noticed that the bear hide seemed to have been around for a long time. Many parts of the hide had fallen off and there were also many damaged parts that had been patched up.
At first glance, it seemed to be in good condition, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the bear hide was rather tattered.
He recalled how the magus reminded him that he had to skin the bear exactly the way the old bear hide was supposed to be. He found it odd. Could it be that the old bear hide had some sort of secret to it?
Upon closer inspection, he realized that the skull and four paws of the bear were still intact. Only a two-foot-long crack appeared on the chest area. It was as if the skin had been peeled off and the flesh and bones inside had been dug out.
That meant he wouldn't be able to eat the bear's paws. But wouldn't it be too troublesome to skin it like that?
Did the skinning have some special meaning for the female magus? He picked up the old bear's paw and took a closer look. Only then did he realize that the sharp claws on the bear's paw could still extend and retract freely. They were shiny and sharp as if they were still on the bear's body.
So be it. Fortunately, Claude knew Spell's Hands and Precise Control.
If he had to do it himself, he would have to work for a day or two.
Things were much easier now.
After casting Spell's Hands, he easily flipped the black bear's carcass over.
The cause of the black bear's death was that a black iron spearhead that was full of gaps had been stabbed into the white crescent-shaped heart of its chest.
Obviously, the young mage used her vines to entangle the intruder, then raised the black iron spear and stabbed it into the heart of the giant bear.
One of the bear's claws broke free from the vines before it died and struck the magus hard.
However, the magus was quick to retreat and avoided the danger of being sliced open. Only three half-foot-long claw marks were left on her chest and she fainted from the loss of blood.
Claude recalled the second time he came to Witch Forest with the spear. Back then, he saw the magus skin a small squirrel with the black spear.
He slapped his forehead twice. If he hadn't broken the young mage's spear, the young mage wouldn't have needed to use the black spear head to fight the black bear in close combat.
He had brought food, clothes and cutlery for the magus, but he had forgotten to give her a weapon for self-defense.
Perhaps it was due to the ferocity of the magus when they first met that he hadn't thought about it.
Looking at the situation in the shack, it was obvious that the black spear was the only metal weapon the magus had with her.
Even though it was sharp, it was chipped quite a bit, so much so that it didn't kill the black bear in one blow. Instead, it allowed the bear to break free from the vines and deal damage to the magus.
Fortunately, the big black wolf's report allowed him to save the magus. Claude calmed himself down and cast Spell's Hands and Fine Control. He turned one of his hands into a sharp butcher's knife and used the old bear pelt on the bed to accurately cut a cut of the same length on the bear's chest.
An hour later, a new bear pelt with the skull and four paws was formed. Claude brought the pelt to an empty space and let the rain wash away the blood.
Then, he cast a Hand of Magic again to remove the bear bones from the large pieces of bear meat and put them in a linen bag that he brought with him.
As for the bear's gallbladder, it was already stored in an empty bamboo tube.
Claude brought quite a number of sacks this time. Since he had two mountain horses with him, he could carry all the useful items from the bear back.
The bear's meat and bear chops were packed into three sacks, which amounted to more than 150 kilograms of meat.
The bones that were dug out weighed more than 50 kilograms. Coupled with the blood that was lost from the bear's hide, Claude estimated that the bear weighed more than 600 kilograms.
After dealing with the bear, Claude looked at the dilapidated shack and thought that it was no longer livable. Not to mention the fact that the wooden walls were already broken, just the blood and flesh splattered all over the place would attract a large number of snakes, bugs, and ants.
The ground around the shack was filled with water and insects couldn't get through. When the rain lightened, the water would seep into the ground and the shack would become a gathering place for insects and insects.
Claude couldn't clean it up even if he wanted to. The bear's blood had already seeped into the ground. Unless he dug three feet deep, he wouldn't be able to get rid of the stench.
Not to mention, the magus and the big black wolf had already been brought to the camp to recuperate. They wouldn't be able to stay there during the rainy season and repairing the shack's wooden walls would have to wait until the weather cleared up in April.
With that thought in mind, Claude decided to tidy up all the useful items in the shack and put them in the innermost compartment of the shack with a fur blanket. Then, he stuffed all the items that the magus could use into his sack and prepared to hand them to the magus when he returned.
It was already past eight o 'clock in the evening when he led the two mountain pack horses back to the camp in the heavy rain.
Fortunately, Myjack had already prepared a bath and was waiting for Claude to take a bath.
He ordered Gum to unload the eight sacks from the two mountain draft horses. Three of the sacks containing the bear meat would be placed in the hall on the first floor. The rest of the sacks would be taken to his room after the meat was braised.
By the time Claude returned to his room after a bath and a change of clothes, Gum had already brought the five sacks over.
The young mage was still lying on the bed, as if she had just woken up. Her face was red as she leaned against the pillow. The big black wolf was sniffing around the five sacks. Its head and back were still wrapped in bandages, which made it look extremely comical.
"You're awake?"
Claude walked to the side of the bed and touched the magus' forehead. It was still a little hot, but it was much better than when she woke up in the morning. "How do you feel?"
"Y-you're back?"
The magus wanted to burrow into the blanket shyly, but she didn't have the strength to do so. All she did was lift the blanket.
She didn't know what she was thinking about and didn't even notice Claude's arrival.
"T-that bear hide …"
"I'm done peeling it. I brought it for you."
Claude pointed at the five sacks. "Don't worry. They've been peeled exactly like your old bearskin. There's not even a single hair off.
Also, your shack is no longer habitable. I tidied it up and brought back anything I found useful. They're all in these sacks. "
"N-impossible …" The magus was shocked. "H-how did you finish peeling it so quickly? You left in the afternoon and you're already back … I-I want to get up and take a look. Help me up, I don't have the strength …"