Various birds are chirping all over, and various insects are making sounds all around.
With a clear blue sky and a bright sun above and a vibrant green forest in front.
This is the first impression that Silver got as his first time going here.
Because children were not allowed to go out of the town walls.
The gates for going out were all manned by the town guards and militia.
The guards and the militia might not be professionals, but they at least know not to let any kid out.
The whole town is fenced by a wooded wall.
Tall enough not to let anyone jump over and sturdy enough to withstand some small to medium-sized animals like wolves or boars.
“So… What do we do?” Silver asked quietly as he stared at the forest in front.
“First, let me teach you some simple tracking,” the old matron said simply.
“I only know a little about hunting, and I only mostly reference things from adventuring. So you should really be cautious. Let us first find a good long stick. The grass in the forest is quite high, plus the shrubs all over the place. So we use the stick to poke around, especially on the places where you are going to put your foot down. There are also animal trails and human ones. You should also look on the tree and the branches above where there might be snakes or other creatures hanging about. Right, you should remember to bring a dagger or a knife next time you come. It will be useful for many things, like marking the trees you pass by and also bleeding out the prey you caught.”
The matron took out a sharp knife and showed it to Silver, then carved a sign on the tree beside her.
They are still in the open, and the town’s wooden wall can still be seen in the distance.
There were some tree stumps at the forefront of the forest.
Those were the ones cut by the wood cutters from the logging house inside the town beside the town entrance.
That is where the firewood that the kids in the orphanage brings back came from.
There is also a coal-making place just outside the town in some other place. This story is hosted at g.com.
Most people used coal, which they have to buy, and only a few poor people or places in town still used firewood, which is free.
It is free because it was just scraps left over from the cut wood.
It took a long while before the matron finally managed to set up a simple trap made up of some ropes and bread crumbs.
Most of the time was spent on the mathron explaining things to Silver and Silver asking questions whenever he did not understand anything.
“That’s it! As long as you don’t go deep enough into the forest, this simple skill should be enough,” the old matron said with a heave of breath.
“You go try it too. Start from looking for a good place to set a trap. Take the knife; I will guide you on the side.”
“On it!” Silver did as he was told.
It took some time, but he managed to set a trap too.
Then he was told to set another, this time without guidance, which he finished too after some time.
“Alright! That’s enough for traps. Just look at them tomorrow to see if you caught something,” the old matron said casually.
“Come, give me the slingshot. Let me use it first. I will show you how to use it, and then you try to do it too.”
“Understood,” Silver said as he handed over the slingshot.
“Let’s see,” the old matron mumbled as she squinted her eyes to look around for traces of rabbits or pheasants.
They wove through the still sparse area of the forest, which had high patches of grass.
It took some time before the matron finally spotted a pheasant.
It is a wild chicken, and chickens always make some noise.
She pulled the slingshot, aimed, and then…
It hit!
They moved closer to see.
The pheasant is not dead yet because it was hit on the body, not the head.
It was deliberate for the matron, as she knows that she is not some kind of sharp shooter, even if the distance were only a few meters and the prey were in an open space.
“Remember, whenever you catch a prey, you should always bleed it out or the meat will go wrong or not taste good,” the old matron explained as she bled the pheasant with the knife.
“After bleeding out your prey, you should move away from the place because the blood will definitely attract other predators nearby. Remember to be wary of blood. Especially when you adventure in the dungeon in the future. Most monsters in the dungeon are actually sensitive to blood; that is why most adventurers go for a one-hit kill whenever possible. Monsters like the hell hound have a very sensitive sense of smell.”
“I see,” Silver said with a nod of understanding.
“I cannot teach you how to process the prey into fur, hide, and meat because I do not know how to do it myself. Dungeon monsters do not need that kind of handling. When monsters die, they just disappear into dust, leaving behind a magic stone and an item drop if you are lucky,” the old matron said with a helpless expression.
“So just bring the prey to the butcher in town; he will definitely give you a fair price. Here, take the slingshot back. You try taking down a prey too.”
“Yes,” Silver said with an assured look as he took back the slingshot and also put the bled-out prey into the basket on his back.
Then they got back to moving around in the forest again, with Silver taking the front this time to try tracking a prey and the old matron on the side instructing him on what might be missed.
They were talking softly and quietly as they moved.
“There,” the old matron suddenly said softly and quietly while pointing in a direction.
It’s a lone rabbit, grazing on the grass.
“I can see it,” he responded as he pulled the slingshot, already loaded.
He aimed with great focus and fired.
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