“Fina, if you really want to learn archery from me, I can teach you. But, I have to master it myself first.”
Liuli stood beside Fina and thought it over before finally speaking.
Although her words didn’t offer much comfort, they at least expressed her determination.
“Ah, thank you, Princess. You don’t have to go to such trouble. I’m just… feeling a little down,” Fina said.
Seeing Liuli approach, Fina shook her head, pretending not to care.
Despite her casual front, Liuli could sense the regret lingering in the slight curve of her lips as she looked away.
“By the way, Liuli, I’ve been meaning to ask. Why do you know so much about archery?”
“I wouldn’t say I know a lot. I just studied it before, so I have a bit of a background…”
In truth, she had only studied it for exactly one year. In today’s society, there were very few occasions that required archery.
A skill that people once relied on for survival was gradually turning into a performance or a sport.
“However, despite everything I said, you use Magic Power to condense your arrows, Fina. Your posture isn’t actually that important, really.”
Liuli felt a bit awkward. She had just finished pointing out how strange the girl’s form looked, and now she was backpedaling to make her feel better.
‘If being a little embarrassed makes Fina feel better, then so be it.’
“Thank you for the comfort, Liuli. I was just wondering… should I really give up on this flashy, impractical bow like my mother said?”
“I think that depends entirely on you, Fina. If you believe it helps you and it’s something you like, then keep at it. There is no problem with that. My opinion, your mother’s opinion, or anyone else’s opinion doesn’t matter.”
Liuli felt as though she had exhausted all her social energy just to say those words.
She had never realized that comforting someone could be such a hassle.
“I know that, Liuli. Let’s not talk about it anymore. Come look at the prey I caught! Even if my posture isn’t standard, I still managed to get quite a lot, didn’t I?”
Looking at the impressive pile of results Fina had accumulated on the ground, Liuli was momentarily speechless.
Only one thought came to mind: ‘The girl has grown up, possessing strength that can move mountains and spirit that can conquer rivers.’
Even a professional hunter couldn’t hunt this efficiently. One could only say that Magic was simply too overpowered.
With Magic involved, hunting became trivial. For ordinary animals, Magic was no different from a total mismatch in power.
“With this much prey, can we really finish it all?”
Even with preservation technology, their journey might be coming to an end soon.
They couldn’t exactly keep eating this food once they reached the Elf Territory, could they?
“If everyone works hard, we should be able to finish it… right?”
“Should we?”
Liuli looked at the pile of carcasses and felt a headache coming on.
Although she wasn’t responsible for processing the ingredients or storing them with Magic, the thought of eating nothing but this for the next several days—or worse, wasting it—made her feel guilty.
Liuli wasn’t so much of a saint that she pitied her own food, but her principle had always been to only catch what one could eat.
The creatures in the forest had their own ecosystem. If her sudden intrusion caused irreversible damage to the forest, especially meaningless damage, she wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully for days.
“It looks like a lot, but we don’t have the proper tools for processing in the forest. After the initial cleaning, there isn’t actually that much edible meat. The rest is mostly fur and bone. The fur can be traded, while the bones, organs, and leftover scraps can be left as fodder.”
Seeing that Liuli hadn’t returned for a while, Serveyia walked over to her side to explain.
“Serveyia, you know about this too?”
“It’s just common sense for Wilderness Survival. Saint Laia Academy has courses on it. After all, long battles often mean needing to survive in the wild for extended periods. That makes Wilderness Survival a compulsory course.”
“In that case, do you know how to perform a dissection, Serveyia?”
“A little. I’m not professional enough to reach the level of Pao Ding Carves the Ox, but I can handle common animals. Besides, we have people here who are more professional than me. If you want to see, Little Fox, I can dissect one for you as a reference.”
“No… no thank you. Isn’t there any Magic that can just… do the dissection directly?”
The scene of a dissection was a bit too bloody for Liuli.
Since Magic could do so many incredible things, she wondered why no one had researched a spell specifically for butchering prey.
Theoretically, the demand shouldn’t be low.
“There isn’t. After all, such a spell would serve no purpose other than making oneself look more decent. But when you need to use dissection techniques, decency is often the last thing on your mind.”
Seeing that Liuli had no intention of watching, Serveyia lost interest in the prey and left the work to the others.
“Even so, getting more prey is always better, right?”
Liuli didn’t know how much of the prey Serveyia considered “fodder.”
Although she knew this was a way of giving back to the forest, watching the others roughly butcher the animals and seeing so many parts being discarded felt like a waste.
While organs were generally difficult to process, they were clearly rare delicacies to those who knew how to cook them.
“We can’t eat that much anyway. It’s only fair to share some with the forest, right?”
As Serveyia spoke, a few bold animals had already gathered around, watching their every move.
Among them, Liuli even spotted several foxes.
She wasn’t sure if they were the same ones she had met before, but seeing them made her much happier.
Liuli waved her hand, trying to call over the foxes that were still assessing the situation.
After a moment, a few Little Foxes actually crept closer and snatched up the scraps on the ground.
“Hm, I thought these Little Foxes would eat them here.”
“Caution is a good thing. Wild animals need to maintain enough wariness toward Humans.”
“True, but I still wish they would be a bit friendlier to me…”
The image of a Princess surrounded by cute animals in childhood fairy tales had left an indelible impression on Liuli.
If possible, she wanted to experience being surrounded by animals too.
“It’s not impossible. You just need to radiate your goodwill, Little Fox, and the animals will naturally approach. As for the method of radiating goodwill, I’ve already told you how to do it.”
Serveyia’s words made Liuli’s face turn bright red. She certainly remembered the method.
The scene from that night was still vivid in her mind.
With so many people watching now, Liuli had absolutely no courage to do something like that in public.
It seemed she would have to study that particular field of knowledge as soon as she returned.
In the future, if she encountered an animal she liked, she couldn’t rely on such an embarrassing method to resolve things.
Seeing that the foxes had obtained food, other animals grew bold enough to approach.
Some remained cautious, grabbing food and running away, while others were braver and actually began eating on the spot.
“Serveyia, look! There are animals that aren’t afraid of people!”
“Little Fox, do you actually recognize what animal that is?”
“Uh, it looks like a leopard?”
Liuli wasn’t sure what species of leopard it was, but she recognized the general type.
“In that case, you should know that it’s not unafraid because it trusts you. It’s because it has enough confidence in itself. A person isn’t afraid of creatures weaker than themselves. By the same logic, it’s the same for a Magic Beast.”
“A Magic Beast? Serveyia, you mean this leopard is a Magic Beast?”
“Exactly. Only a Magic Beast possesses basic intelligence. It understands that the people in front of it are not to be trifled with. Similarly, it can judge the urgency of the situation. It has very keenly realized who exactly is in charge among us, and it can sense what kind of attitude that person has toward an uninvited guest like itself.”
‘Is it really that smart?’ Liuli couldn’t help but study the leopard.
Looking closely, she realized the leopard was quite handsome.
It was jet black with glossy fur, looking very well-fed.
To live like this without Human interference meant it was likely at the top of the food chain.
“But Serveyia, didn’t you say that the Magic Beasts in this forest were mostly released by Saint Laia Academy for students to practice on? This leopard doesn’t look like one of those at all.”
“It might be a self-awakened Magic Beast. Generally, in a fixed environment, a top-tier predator has the potential to evolve into a Magic Beast. This leopard is likely such a case.”
“Then, how are these leopards usually handled?”
“It’s not certain. If it stays away from Human settlements, it might continue living peacefully like this. However, if it ever poses a threat to Humans, it will have to be subjugated.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. But if you can’t bear the thought, Little Fox, keeping a leopard as a pet is also an option.”
“Keeping a leopard? Me?”
“Naturally. A Magic Beast possesses intelligence incomparable to ordinary animals. Once a Contract is signed, a Magic Beast is also very loyal. Wouldn’t that perfectly satisfy your requirements for a pet?”