Chapter 18

When hunting large prey, such as a deer, an arrow wouldn't kill it instantly, even if it was a perfect shot. Most of the time, the animal would run off, forcing the hunter to try to track it down after it finally collapsed.

The best way to track a deer is to look for blood splatters on the leaves it runs past on its escape. This method loses much effectiveness if it begins raining, washing the blood away. A bad shot can also lead to little blood spilling from the wound while the deer runs, and it can take hours for the hunter to finally track down the deer, if they manage to find it.

Thanks to Ash, Hugo and Alice didn't have to worry about this. His strong nose was able to pick up the bloody scent of the deer easily, and he led them through the woods towards it.

Thanks to Hugo's excellent shot, the deer wasn't able to run for too long, and had bled out in a bush around fifty meters from where it took off running.

Motioning for Alice to watch, Hugo approached the downed beast with a knife.

"It is important to field dress your prey- if you don't remove the intestines and bladder, it can contaminate the rest of the meat."

Alice watched as Hugo slit the doe's belly, trying not to look away. She wasn't disgusted by the sight, but she had never seen such a bloody sight before.

Thanks to the misunderstanding earlier, Hugo thought Alice would be squeamish, but seeing her watch on without looking away, he was happy.

'Looks like this kid isn't too spoiled, she is watching and paying attention well.'

At the same time that Hugo was impressed with Alice's attentiveness, Ash was watching carefully. He didn't think he would be returning to the woods any time soon, but knowing what could make the food go bad might be helpful for next time he caught prey.

"Alright, all done."

Hugo finished field dressing the deer, tossing the pile of unwanted organs away, then wiping his bloody hands on the grass.

"Wolf… uh, Ash, you want to eat those? If you've gotten too used to human food, just leave em. Wild animals around here will gobble 'em up pretty quickly."

Ash glanced over at the bloody pile before turning his head and walking over to Alice's side. He might have the body of a wolf, but he still had the mind of a human. After eating tasty, cooked food for a week, the organ pile didn't look appetizing in the least.

Crouching down by the doe, Hugo pulled a rope from his gear and began looping it around the doe. Soon he had a harness-like contraption, with one side wrapped around the deer, and the other wrapped around himself. The doe weighed around 50 kilos, and dragging it through the forest back to camp was a lot of work. The rope harness would help a lot to ease the struggle of dragging the doe, but it still wasn't easy.

Hugo handed off his bow, as well as the rest of his gear to Alice before beginning the trek back to camp. The sun was still a good distance from the horizon, but since they had already had a great harvest, they wouldn't be going back out into the woods until tomorrow.

Amidst his heavy breathing from pulling the doe, Hugo started up a conversation with Alice on the way back.

"Ash here doesn't get too much exercise in your house in the city, right? How about you loan him over to me for a while… or just sell him to me. He might like it out here in the woods more."

Alice frowned and looked towards Ash. What Hugo said was true, Ash would get a lot more exercise out here with Hugo… but he was still part of her family. There was no way she could give up on Ash and sell him.

Listening in on their conversation, Ash pressed up against Alice's leg. Coming out here in the woods was fun, but so was learning more, and he didn't want to leave the Graves family.

"Sorry Hugo, but I think Ash wants to stay with me for the time being."

Hugo nodded, and didn't fight Alice's decision. This was her daughter's best friend, and she was quite likable. If he had a son instead of a daughter, he might try to get his kid to court this young lass.

Throwing the idea of purchasing Ash from his mind, Hugo spent the rest of the trip identifying all the plants they passed and describing any possible uses for them to Alice. It wasn't of much use to Ash, as he already had a wildlife encyclopedia, aka Roth, embedded in his mind. Roth could identify every plant with the same detail as Hugo, who had spent much of his life in the woods.

The trio exited the woods and approached the empty camp. They were the first group to return from their hunt, mostly thanks to Ash finding prey quickly. Out of all six groups that had gone into the woods, most would return empty-handed, and the rest would only have small game. Picking up a deer was fairly uncommon, and the squad would normally only get a few of them during the entire duration of the trip.

After dragging the doe over to the side of the hunting area, Hugo headed for the weapons carriage. He would wait for the rest of the group to return before preparing the deer. In the meantime, he would try to teach Alice how to use a bow.

Grabbing the recurve that Alice tried earlier, Hugo brought the bow out and handed it to Alice. There was no way to make the draw weight lighter, to be able to use the bow, Alice would need to get stronger. The best way for her to get stronger would be to use the bow. Hugo stood beside Alice as she practiced, giving her tips to improve her shooting.

"Alright, keep your feet about a shoulder length apart. This should help you stay balanced. Now, for knocking the arrow. When you are out in the woods, you want to knock your arrow as quietly as possible, but it doesn't matter too much now."

Alice nodded, raising her bow towards the rotten stump that would be her target.

"Ok, now draw the string back. Once you are at full draw, try to hold it there for a few seconds, and take aim at the target. Don't release the arrow until you are completely ready, and when you do, release it slowly. If you jerk your fingers away, you will affect the arrow's flight, and you won't be able to hit anything."

Alice struggled to draw the bow, barely making it to full draw before releasing the arrow. Hugo frowned, seeing that the girl didn't have the strength to shoot yet.

"I didn't pack any weaker bows, sorry. When Su said her friend was coming, I packed an extra one, I forgot that not every girl her age spends all her time running around the woods. Nevertheless, it looks like you almost have it. If you spend a bit of time practicing pulling this bow back, you should be able to shoot by the end of the week."

Alice nodded and began drawing the bow back again, this time with no arrow knocked.

"Woah wait, you can't dry fire it. If you are going to pull it back with no arrow, you need to slowly bring the string back instead of releasing it. Dry firing the bow will break it."

Alice had already gotten to full draw and was struggling to hold on to the string. Hearing Hugo's words, she painfully held on to the string, bringing it back to its starting position. Hugo sighed with relief seeing that the bow would be ok, and nodded to Alice.

The two went on with their bow practice until Alice's arms grew too tired, and she sat down with Ash while Hugo returned her bow to the weapons carriage.

Alice was learning a lot about the woods, but she didn't have much use for the knowledge. She was going to inherit her father's company, not become a mercenary. All of this knowledge isn't of much use to a merchant… but maybe Alice would be able to put it to use. Knowing more could never hurt, especially for someone as socially bright as Alice.