Claude believed that he would never be able to forget that night. When Welikro's gun let out a thunderous roar, the entire forest fell silent. Apart from the sound of the wind and running water, the only thing he could hear was the sound of the deer running into the forest.
All Claude could see was the slightly throbbing body of the deer in the stream.
The four of them raised their torches and walked towards the wounded deer. Welikro reloaded the match and handed it to Claude. He told the three of them to stand guard while he skinned the deer at the stream.
"We can't carry the deer back to camp and dissect it. That way, the camp will be filled with the stench of blood and will attract other beasts in the forest. That won't be a good outcome for us. The most likely scenario is that we'll have to stand guard with our eyes wide open for the entire night. None of us will have the energy to climb the mountain tomorrow."
As Welikro nagged, he skillfully used the knife in his hand to skin the deer. "For a hunter, it's best to skin a freshly killed prey immediately. That's because the muscles are still loose and elastic, allowing them to quickly separate the skin from the meat.
If it's been dead for a long time and its whole body is hard, it'll be rather difficult to skin it. If you're not careful, you'll cut through the fur and not get a whole skin. Of course, that's what my father taught me. "
The moonlight shone on the stream in the distance, making it look like silver scales. Four torches were planted in the ground nearby, illuminating the area with a red glow. Claude, Borkal and Eriksson held their weapons and looked at the silent forest. They then looked at Welikro who was dissecting the deer and listened to his nagging as blood flowed down the stream.
It only took Welikro half an hour to dissect the deer into four parts. He didn't want the head, the hooves, the tail and the innards. He soaked the skin in the stream for a while before rolling it up. Then, he washed the meat and connected them with two vines. Only then did Welikro say in satisfaction, "Let's go. It's time for us to go back."
The deer wasn't big, and the four chunks of meat would probably weigh about 20 kilograms.
After returning to camp, he cleaned Iron Vortex and chopped the left foreleg into smaller pieces, tossed them into the pot and cooked them over the campfire. He cut the other three pieces into strips and smoked them over the fire so that he could bring them home if he couldn't finish them all.
No matter what, it was the first prey of the four of them, and it was even a mountain deer. They could bring it back for their families to have a taste of it, and they could also brag about it …
Welikro, on the other hand, chopped a few branches and built a rack. He then placed the deerskin on top of it and used a small knife to clean the flesh and tendons that weren't separated properly. Then, he smeared some charcoal ash on it.
Borkal and Eriksson were no longer sleepy. The two of them clicked their tongues as they huddled around the deerskin. "Wero, your shot was so accurate! It went right through the head and didn't damage the fur.
I bet this deerskin can sell for a thale in town … "
"That's not all." Borkal shook his head and said, "This is deerskin. All hunters know that deer are the most agile of animals. They're like the elves of the forest.
Also, they're cowardly and will run away at the slightest movement. It's really difficult to hunt them.
I didn't think we'd be so lucky to be able to hunt a deer with such a complete hide. Not to mention the fur shops in town, even the tailors would fight for it. We won't sell it for less than a thale and five riyases … "
"Wero, why don't we go to the stream tomorrow night to ambush them? Who knows, we might be able to hunt another deer."
Eriksson's eyes shone with a golden light. In his mind, what was running through the forest wasn't deer, but thales.
"No, there won't be any deer coming to drink water tomorrow."
Welikro shook his head and didn't slow down. "You all know that deer are cowardly animals, but they have good memories.
Now that we have killed the deer near the stream, the deer will not drink from the stream for a long time to come.
They'll remember that they lost a comrade there. "
After drinking the meat soup and nibbling on the venison, Borkal and Eriksson went to bed. As it was the first night of camping, Welikro decided that it would be better for him to be on night duty with Claude. That way, they would be able to take care of each other if anything happened. He would wake Borkal and Eriksson up after three or four hours.
Welikro had already moved the rack of deerskin to the campfire to roast it and dry it.
He used a small knife to cut a few pieces of deer meat and roasted them over the fire. The fat sizzled as it dripped onto the fire.
Seeing Claude hang the meat over the fire to smoke, Welikro pointed at a few pieces of meat that had been castrated with salt and asked, "Do you want to hang these up too?"
"No need. I'm going to use these slices to fry some steak tomorrow morning. Didn't we bring a frying pan and a piece of butter?
It'll be perfect for breakfast.
I believe the meat won't go bad after one night, "Claude replied.
"It won't go bad.
It's not hot at night. It's really cool. Also, you've smeared it with salt, so it won't go bad that quickly. "
After hanging up the meat, Claude returned and sat down. "Wero, are we really going to the magic tower ruins tomorrow morning?
Are we going to camp there at night? "
"What, are you scared?"
"No, I really want to see if the ruins of the magic tower you mentioned are really that big. Looking at those walls, I'm really curious about how the ancient magicians used those huge limestone rocks to build the magic tower …"
"Actually, I'll just be surprised when I see it. It's all broken walls and there's nothing much to see."
Welikro stuffed the meat into his mouth. Perhaps it wasn't roasted very well, he spat it out after a few bites.
"Then, does the magic tower ruins have a basement?"
Claude asked, "What I mean is that the magic tower has already collapsed and there's nothing above it. Does it have a basement below it?
Like the basement under our house? "
"I think so," Welikro said after some thought, "I remember there are three caves that go down and stone stairs, but I've never gone down there before.
I heard from my father that there's a floor below, but it's been a long time and a thick layer of mud has accumulated there. It's about a foot or two deep. "
Three caves that go down?
I wonder if they're connected to the floor below or if the floor below is separated into three separate spaces with one stone staircase in each space.
Welikro said that he had never gone down there and didn't know what it was like down there.
If worst comes to worst, I'll just go and search behind the stairs tomorrow to see if there's anything left behind by the diarist magus called Landes.
"What's wrong? What are you thinking about?" Welikro asked curiously when he saw Claude staring blankly at the bonfire.
"It's nothing," Claude said softly as he looked at the bonfire, "I'm just wondering why the magi built such a magic tower on Egret.
By the way, almost all the books I've read say that magi are evil, but they never say why they're evil. Do you know why? "
"I don't know either," Welikro said apologetically, "You know that I don't like reading and I don't have much interest in history.
My father taught me to just live my life well and not care about anything else. You know that I don't like reading and I'm not interested in history.
"Hehe …" Claude chuckled. "Your father is right. We should just live our lives well. Don't bother with all the big stuff. We're just a bunch of nobodies.
When we grow up, we'll just have to think of a way to earn our citizenship. "
The forest in the distance finally regained its liveliness and all sorts of noises could be heard.
A few sharp howls could be heard from afar. Welikro made a shushing gesture and listened carefully.
Soon, Welikro didn't think much of it. "It's fine, don't worry. That should be the howl of a lynx. They probably discovered the deer's meat we left in the stream and started fighting over it. That sharp howl is their signal to threaten the enemy and announce who their territory belongs to. They're afraid of humans and aren't dangerous to us."
Apart from that interlude, nothing else happened that night. By the time they finished smoking the meat, it was almost four in the morning. So, Borkal and Eriksson were woken up and handed them the muskets. Claude and Welikro went into the tent to sleep.
It was the first time they went camping and they managed to hunt a deer. Coupled with the fact that they were going to reach the ruins of the magic tower the next day, Claude was rather excited and couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tossed and turned.
After a long while, Claude finally drifted off to sleep as he listened to Welikro's light snores and Borkal and Eriksson's whispers.
When he woke up, the sky was already bright and the sun shone brightly on the tent. Through the gaps in the tent, Claude saw his three companions busily dismantling another tent.
"What time is it?" Claude asked as he got out of the tent and stretched lazily.
"It's almost nine."
Borkal picked up the crystal hourglass and looked at the time scale. It was something he brought from home to keep track of time. Every six hours, he had to turn it upside down to allow the colored sand in the hourglass to start recording the time again.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier? It's already so late," Claude grumbled.
"Wero said that you were a little tired from smoking meat last night, so he told us not to wake you up and let you sleep a little longer.
Alright, since you're up, hurry up and make breakfast. We're all hungry, "said Eriksson with a smile.
It seemed that they were hungry. Claude noticed that they had already finished half a pot of broth hanging above the fire last night. Even the bones had been eaten.
He hurriedly washed his face and rinsed his mouth before going to the half-extinguished fire. He added a few sticks of firewood and stirred the fire to heat up the frying pan and started frying the deer steak.
After breakfast, the four of them packed up their camping supplies. What needed to be put on the boat was put into the cabin and what needed to be taken away was packed into their bags. They were only camping at the magic tower ruins for one night anyway, so they didn't need to bring too many things.
According to Welikro's plan, they would arrive at the ruins at noon. That way, they would have the rest of the day to hunt in the forest and see if they were lucky enough to get some prey. At night, they would camp at the magic tower ruins to train their courage.
After walking along the abandoned rocky path for half a day, Claude realized that Welikro was right. Apart from magi, the path couldn't have been built with just manpower and resources.
At first, the rocks were so badly damaged that they couldn't be seen. But after walking for a while, a large rocky path appeared in front of them. Claude could tell that it wasn't a staircase, but a winding path around the middle of the mountain. It wasn't hard to imagine that when the path was in perfect condition, they would be able to ride a carriage all the way to the magic tower at the top of the mountain.
Borkal and Eriksson were also amazed by the rocky path. That led to a long discussion about the terrifying legends of Egret. The two of them recounted almost all the legends about Egret, some of which Claude hadn't heard before.
Eriksson, on the other hand, knew the most. That was probably because he often listened to stories with the sailors at the docks. Many of the rumors about Egret were nonsense spread by the drunken sailors.
Welikro didn't care about those rumors at all. Ever since his father brought him to Egret to hunt and camp at the magic tower ruins for the past two winters, he no longer believed in those rumors.