Chapter 61 - 61: 061 Hunting_1
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
Two arrows shot out, one hit a wild rabbit that was trying to escape, and the other— Missed.
“Clip-clop…”
Two riders chased after, upon seeing the sign of an arrow in the leg of the rabbit, one of them excitedly exclaimed, “Haha, Colin, it was my shot that got it this time!”
The other shook his head in frustration, praising, “Miss Vera’s archery skills are really getting better and better!”
Vera raised her little head in pride and signaled her cavalry attendant to come forward and collect her game.
“Wow, it’s still alive.”
The wild rabbit shot in the thigh was still squirming in the attendant’s hand, seemingly unwilling to give up on life yet.
Colin was about to do the small creature a favor and put it out of its misery, so Vera wouldn’t have to do the deed herself out of her kindness.
“Clip-clop .
Another round of hoofbeats, and Marquis Garcia led a team of cavalry over.
Seeing their bountiful returns, Vera exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, uncle, you guys caught so much!”
Marquis Garcia smiled casually and glanced at Colin, “Of course, after all, no one is taking it easy on our side.”
Colin didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm in Marquis Garcia’s words and laughed, “It seems we will have a feast tonight.”
“Great.” Vera cheered and excitedly went to check Marquis Garcia’s game.
Halfway there, as if remembering something, she turned back to the attendant and said: “Let that wild rabbit go, it’s too small and not much meat anyway.”
“Yes.” The attendant held the still struggling wild rabbit with a helpless look on his face.
Inwardly, he couldn’t help but grumble—
One was deliberately making it easy to please others, and the other was too kind-hearted to kill. Luckily, there was Marquis Garcia, otherwise, they would really go hungry tonight.
Night fell, and the attendants lit the bonfire and started preparing food.
Vera saw Colin pull out a burnt-clay lump from the fire, frowned her beautiful brows, and questioned: “Can this really be eaten?”
“Of course!” While Colin peeled off the charred clay and meat skin, he confidently said:
“This is called Beggar’s Chicken, oh no, I used deer leg, so it’s Beggar’s Venison. Once, a great chef named Huang Rong conquered a Holy Field champion with this dish…”
“Huang Rong? What a strange name.” Vera-supporting her chin with both hands asked curiously, “What’s the name of that Holy Field champion?”
“Uh… I forgot.”
Colin couldn’t continue. The champions of the Holy Field in this world mostly have names and titles, and it would be easy to be caught out if he kept on making up stories.
“Alright, don’t get stuck on the details, try my Beggar’s Venison!” Colin cut a piece of deer leg and handed it to Vera.
Vera carefully took a bite, and then, her face turned a bit odd.
“It doesn’t taste good?” Seeing her reaction, Colin felt a bit uncertain and cut a piece for himself.
Next, he immediately spit it out: “Phew! It’s not fully cooked!”
“Hahaha….” Vera seeing Colin’s embarrassed look, burst out laughing immediately.
Just as Colin was contemplating where he went wrong, the crisp sound of horse hooves suddenly came from outside the camp.
A cavalryman quickly approached and handed a letter to Marquis Garcia.
Seeing this, Colin immediately realized that it should be a message from Ice Rock City and came over.
Marquis Garcia didn’t avoid him, after reading, he directly handed the letter to him.
Colin took it and scanned it quickly.
“What’s the matter?” Vera also turned around, curious.
Before Colin could speak, Marquis Garcia spoke first: “It’s nothing, Earl Dawson sent a letter to notify us of the distribution of the spoils of the Dark Cavalry.”
“Oh.” Vera obviously wasn’t interested in this, turned her head back and continued focused on salvaging the deer leg that Colin had messed up.
Colin didn’t say a word, silently threw the letter into the fire, destroying it completely.
Marquis Garcia lied.
The content of the letter was not about the distribution of spoils of war, but about a petition from the lords.
This petition demanding the stripping of Marquis Charles’s nobility had been delivered to Duke St. Hilde’s hands.
However, Duke St. Hilde directly rejected the request of these lords and ordered all lords to immediately head to the stronghold of the Golden Lion Legion to meet him.
Colin didn’t expect Duke St. Hilde to be so stubborn, showing no intent to back down at all.
It was almost as if he was forcing the lords into rebellion.
Colin took another look at Marquis Garcia, but couldn’t discern any emotion from his face.
“My Lord, shall we prepare to return to Ice Rock City?” Colin asked tentatively. They had been out for three days already.
And indeed, this hunting trip appeared to be simply that – a hunting trip.
But now, Ice Rock City’s situation was on the verge of erupting, surely it was time to return?
“No need, Earl Dawson will handle everything”. Marquis Garcia dismissed the idea uninterestedly.
Naturally, Colin was confused.
Was the Marquis planning to remove himself from this situation entirely?
“You two, come taste the deer leg I’ve roasted!” Vera seemed to have no idea of what was happening in Ice Rock City at the moment, she just laughed carelessly.
“Great!” both men immediately revealed smiles, heading over to enjoy the delicious food their beautiful young friend had prepared.
As if the matters in Ice Rock City were entirely unrelated to them.
The night grew darker, and most of the people had already fallen asleep.
Unable to sleep, Colin woke up and snuck off to the forest far from the camp, catching that owl that just kept hooting non-stop.
“Snap!”
He broke the owl’s neck, cut its main artery with a dagger, and then brought
his mouth to the wound.
“Gulp…gulp…”
After getting his fill, Colin wiped his mouth, buried the owl’s corpse, then returned to the camp.
Just as he was about to crawl into his tent, he saw Marquis Garcia come out as well.
“My Lord, can’t you sleep either?”
“Hmm.” The marquis nodded towards Colin, “Fancy a walk?”
“Alright.” Colin scurried after him immediately.
The two men walked further away from camp. Guards who had followed them quietly spread out in the distance.
“Are you worried about your sister left in Ice Rock City?” Marquis Garcia broke the silence first.
“Er, not exactly…” Colin was telling the truth.
Marquis Garcia clearly didn’t believe him and tried to reassure: “Don’t worry,
Earl Dawson will take good care of her. And also, so will the troops of the Angler family left in the city.”
“Thank you, My Lord!”
“No need to be courteous. After all, you’re here because of me, I should take responsibility for it.”
“My Lord, I’m actually very grateful that you brought me out.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because, I don’t want to get involved in that fatal whirlpool in Ice Rock City either.”
Marquis Garcia looked over at Colin and chuckled: “You’re a smart man. So, if you were in Ice Rock City right now, which side would you be on?” Colin felt a sudden surge of anxiety.
Marquis Garcia’s blunt question made him somewhat embarrassed.
He wasn’t sure if this was a test or not.
Under the pressure, Colin cunningly replied:
“My Lord, the Angler family will always remain loyal to the St.. Hilde family!”