บท 115: Village Life (2)

"Am I late?"

Zenobia smiled at her favourite child of late. "No, you're just on time. We're still doing final checks. Have you met the team?"

Zero looked around. Every hunter on the team looked scary but when they saw their latest addition, that sternness on their faces melted away.

"Why, hello there!" A man with a very wide grin greeted Zero. He held out his hand and Zero shook it, noting how human he looked.

"Hello, I'm Zero. I'll be in your care today."

The man with a wide grin and shaggy dirty blond hair introduced himself as Gweshr.

"Are you human?"

Gweshr trained his brown eyes onto Zero with a mischievous twinkle in them. "What do you think?"

Zero frowned. Gweshr looked like one but Zero knew for sure he wasn't one. There were only two humans in the village after all. Also, Gweshr wasn't a ghost. Zero could detect him on Mii's map.

A huge hand patted Zero's fluffy hair and the brunet blinked. He hadn't heard the man move and was that a horse's body he saw?

"Don't worry about that dog, Zero. I'm Crudgel, those two fellows are Vrald and Gerald. The lady beside Zenobia is Mitch, you've met her husband earlier."

Mitch glared at Crudgel and fired an arrow at the horse-man who dodged it with ease.

"Don't call me Mitch. It's Mitchnew. Also, in case you're wondering, my husband is the fool called Sekkin."

Zenobia had to break up the tension before it could a fight could break out.

"Does this happen often?" Zero asked.

Zenobia sighed. "Mitchnew is a little testy so don't take it personally. She's not a bad person. Also, Gweshr is a werewolf. You'll be following him during this hunt to check traps and track prey. I heard from Hua Tuo that you were an expert."

Zero beamed. "Leave it to me! Also, can I ask what Crudgel is? Is he more of a horse or a man? I can't tell."

Vrald, the man with red hair and eyes, guffawed. "That's a good one kid... I can't tell either. He eats like a man but farts like a horse."

Gerald, the man with golden hair and eyes, elbowed his companion and silenced him with a glare. "Sorry, Crudgel. It appears that my companion here is lacking some brains. He's caught a deadly disease that cannot be cured."

Zero perked up. "What disease is that? Perhaps I could try... my master is a great doctor."

Gerald was amused. "Can your master cure stupidity?"

Everyone laughed when Zero honestly told Gerald that it wasn't possible. "There are many unknown diseases that exist but my master has once said that there was an incurable disease that exists amongst humans and sometimes species of the other races. Stupidity is one of its names. Don't worry, it's not infectious. The best treatment to reduce its side effects is to apply sympathy."

Mitchnew walked over to Zero and slapped him on the back lightly. She was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes. Zero thought that she looked beautiful and that Sekkin was a lucky person to marry such a great lady.

"I think I'm going to like you, Zero. Well said. I couldn't have done any better myself."

Vrald spluttered and Crudgel teased the warrior until his face matched his hair. Gweshr taught Zero how to do a fist bump and talked a little more about everyone on the team.

"Ex-adventurer!"

The werewolf nodded. "He may be an idiot but he's strong. Both Vrald and Gerald travelled together before settling here. They're dragon descendants. Crudgel is a centaur. That means he is both man and horse equally. He's a great archer like Mitchnew and the chieftess. Mitchnew is a half dark elf. I've never seen her laugh like that before. You're the first to make her do so."

Zero blushed and tried to redirect Gweshr's attention elsewhere. The werewolf grinned at Zero's shyness and decided to spare the poor brunet. He moved on to explain to Zero about the kinds of traps they had and where they were located.

"Why are they located in such weird places? Do they catch anything at all?"

Zenobia overheard the question and grinned. "You're a curious one. Normally, they wouldn't. However, Wiser did a little something so they're very effective in catching whatever we need during the season. For example, we catch rabbits in the autumn with them, deer in the winter, boars in the summer and sometimes bears in spring."

"Season?"

The chieftess paused. "Have you not experienced it?"

Zero shook his head.

"Well then," the chieftess blinked. "I suppose you can learn about them when we set off. Feel free to ask Crudgel when you're on his back later."

Zero nodded and wasn't sure of what she meant by 'on his back' but agreed nevertheless. They quickly gathered what they needed and set off at once. Zero came to understand what Zenobia meant. He was literally carried up and placed on the horseback of the centaur. The view from Crudgel's back was certainly different and Zero was equal parts excited and scared.

"Hold onto my waist," the centaur advised. "We'll be travelling fast through the forest to check the traps first. Any game can come after that."

"Why don't we hunt first and check the traps later?"

The centaur smiled. "We don't want to hunt too little or too much without knowing what's caught already."

It made sense. Zero nodded and asked about seasons. Apparently, Earth experienced weather changes all the time. The four seasons happened at a specific time of a year. Sometimes it became very hot and that was called summer. Sometimes it becomes very cold and sometimes snow started falling. That weather was known as winter and these weathers can last for months at a time hence they were known as seasons.

"What about rain? Is rain a season?"

Crudgel scratched his chin. "I don't think so. It doesn't last for months does it?"

Zero shook his head. It lasted for less than a day most the time so it didn't count. "But what if there was a place that had rain that could last for months? Or perhaps, years?"

The centaur shrugged. "There might be such a place but I wouldn't know. Maybe it could be considered a season if it happened? Like light rain season, heavy rain season, warm rain season.. I don't really know."

Zero found that idea fascinating and thought about what he would name them when he found such a place. A place with lots and lots of rain sounded cool. However, that also meant that Zero would miss the sun. Maybe it would be rainy every other day and sunny only once in a while like how the normal weather was now? Zero would love to visit such an interesting place. Would the plants there grow resistant to the rain?

Before he knew it, they've arrived at the first trap. Zero hopped down Crudgel's back with some difficulty and scurried over to help Gweshr check the trap. It was empty so they quickly reset it and moved on.

On the third trap, Zero saw a trapped baby jackal-monkey screaming for help. He thought that Gweshr was going to kill it but was surprised when the hunter let it go.

"Why?"

Gweshr blinked, not quite understanding Zero's question. "Why what?"

Zero pointed to the trap. "We caught it didn't we? Why did we have to let it go?"

Mitchnew smiled. "It was a baby. We let the baby animals live so that they can grow up and produce more babies. It's the cycle of life here. If we kill this baby, there might not be enough adults to keep the species going."

"Mitchnew... he's only a kid. He couldn't possibly understand this," Crudgel began but Zero shook his head.

"No, I understand now. It was my mistake. Back on Endow Hill, I can't remember how many baby animals I've hunted because they were easier to catch. A boar was difficult to catch but a baby boar was manageable. I won't do it anymore."

Zenobia watched all these from the tree she was on, impressed. Zero was very wise and intelligent for his age. Hua Tuo had chosen a wonderful candidate to pass his knowledge to. The chieftess was slightly envious. Unlike Lowis, she had no kin. The skills and knowledge she had would die with her if she had no one to teach. Zero was a brilliant child and Zenobia entertained the thought of adopting him only to dismiss it. According to Hua Tuo, Zero was going to travel the world. She wouldn't bind Zero to such a tiny village.

The fourth trap turned out to be a dud too and Zero was feeling slightly hopeless. Gweshr smiled and told him not to worry.

"We just need to hunt more if there isn't anything in the traps. The mountain and forest are generous, fear not."

The fifth trap came into sight and Zero held his breath. When Gweshr cut the rope loose, they saw a dead fire pheasant. Zero helped reset the trap while Gerald and Vrald helped to dismantle their catch.

"Are you ready for the real hunt now?" Crudgel asked Zero.

Needless to say, the brunet was ecstatic. Zenobia then asked Zero and Gweshr to track their prey. Zero didn't have to spend much time or effort to locate the prey. However, he was curious about how Gweshr did it so he asked how the werewolf did it.

"I have a superior sense of smell and hearing. I just head into the general direction of the smell and sounds until I find an animal track. We chase them from there."

Zero blinked. It wasn't magic but a superior sense of smell and hearing sounded like a huge cheat. Zero never used detection magic to hunt on Endow Hill and it usually took him a few hours to find anything. Thankfully, he was familiar with the terrain to know where to find his prey. Here, Zero was at a complete loss.

"Can I use detection magic to locate the prey instead? Would that be considered cheating? I'm not too familiar with the terrain here so I thought it would help..."

"You have detection magic?" Mitchnew was surprised.

Zero nodded and even the ex-adventurers went silent. Nobody spoke for a while and Zenobia cleared her throat to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Zero, could you share with us how your detection magic works?"

The brunet thought for a while. "I usually call for Mii and she will help me with it."

"Mii?"

Zero grinned. "She can't stay out here for too long because it uses too much mana. But if it's for a bit, she could say hi."

The hunting party watched with amazement at the materialisation of a small strawcherry fairy. The fairy had red hair and eyes, wore a top made of leaves and pants shaped like cherries with strawberry seeds. Mii flew around with a pair of transparent wings and Zero blinked. Did Mii always look like this?

"Did you grow?"

The strawcherry assistant looked annoyed. "No, I evolved. With all the hunting and learning, did you think I would always remain as a strawcherry?"

Zero apologised. "It's great to see you again physically. Mii, meet the hunting team of Half Moon village! There's Lady Zenobia the chieftess, Vrald and Gerald the ex-adventurers, Gweshr the werewolf, Mitchnew the half dark-elf and Crudgel the Centaur. We're currently hunting and need to use the map to find prey. Could you help?"

Mii rolled her eyes. "After months of not seeing me the first thing you ask of me is to work? I hate you."

Zero apologised once more. "What would you like in return?"

Mii thought about it. "Zoe makes great food right? I want to eat meat if I help with the hunt."

A strawcherry fairy that eats meat? It was unheard of but nobody questioned it. They were too busy gawking at the screen that appeared in front of them.

[Zero has invited you to the hunting party. Do you accept?]

Gweshr was the first to smash the "yes" option and he wasn't disappointed.

"What is this?" he asked, pointing at the strange window with colours and dots.

Everyone stared at the same window that appeared before them.

"Why are there green, red, orange and yellow dots? Also, there are white ones in clusters all over behind the green ones."

Zero grinned and explained how to understand the map.

Gweshr was impressed. "I saw we go for the orange one to the north from here. I can smell venison."

Vrald and Gerald offered to help while Zenobia had a different idea.

"With this map, we could split our hunting party to work more efficiently. Crudgel, Mitchnew and I can take on the smaller prey. What do you say?"

The centaur disagreed. "What if we meet unexpected danger?"

Mii grinned. "That is when party calls work best."

"Party calls?" Zero asked. He didn't know that such a thing existed.

"You know how you call Truen sometimes? It works the same except the call never ends and you can talk to everyone in the party. It's something that unlocked when I evolved."

"Testing, can everyone hear me in the call?" Mitchnew decided to try.

Gweshr jumped, having sensitive hearing. "It's loud..."

"You can adjust it," Mii offered to help and it took them ten minutes to get organised with the new system.

"Alright, team alpha... ready?"

"Team alpha on standby," Zenobia grinned.

"Best of luck, let's see who can catch the best meat," Gweshr grinned and took off with Vrald and Gerald.

Zero was hanging onto Gerald's back as the hunters took off. The archers went in the opposite direction and split up. Zero monitored all of it happening while Gerald ran. The brunet also noted how the dragon descendants didn't pant or sweat, unlike Gweshr. He could feel how powerful Vrald and Gerald were as they ran. The preys on the map were running away as if they sensed something and Zero frowned.

"Something's not right. The preys to the northwest are scattering. Should we check it out?"

Vrald took a brief glance at the map and exchanged looks with Gweshr. The werewolf nodded and all three hunters stopped running. Gerald let Zero down gently and Gweshr bent down, asking Zero to get on.

"Change of plans, kiddo. Let's get you back to the village alright? Thanks to your map, we could avoid getting into trouble. Zenobia, can you hear me? We've got some trouble northwest."

The chieftess replied swiftly. "Vrald, Gerald. Check the enemy numbers and strength and report back. Avoid confrontation. Normally I would have Gweshr do that but Zero's safety comes first. The rest of us will regroup to proceed with the next course of action."

Zero wanted to help too with his detection magic but Zenobia disallowed that. "We are responsible for your safety. Please stay with Hua Tuo when you return, I promise everything will be fine."

Reluctantly, Zero agreed and left. He left the party on Zenobia's request and had Mii stay with the ex-adventurers to help them. All the way back, Zero was worried. What was happening? He saw some red dots around but didn't think they would really be enemies. Mii mentioned it before that red dots were enemies but back in Sleepy Cave, they turned out to be simply monsters. Could he be wrong? Were they not monsters?

Zero felt uneasiness brew at the pit of his stomach and a frown made its way onto his face. He knew that the peaceful days were probably numbered.