Ch. 68 - What Kind of Hell Joke Is This?
"Oh? You know that town as well."
The hunter's tone seemed to relax considerably.
"I thought you were a group of... adventurers. After all, on normal days, one wouldn't encounter two dwarf gentlemen at the same time."
He looked at Stonecrusher, then at Kuru.
The camp was slightly obscured by the mist, making him think there were only three 'people' before him.
"Cut off his goat beard. Why do you humans always call all short people dwarves?
This kobold is so scrawny, I wouldn't object even if you called it a gnome or a halfling!"
Stonecrusher stomped his feet in anger.
"We are the sturdiest and most powerful. Halflings are the ones with the pointiest ears. Gnomes have the biggest heads—is it really that hard to tell the difference?"
"Forgive him. You should know that the people of Starberry Town almost never leave this forest.
The only short people he's seen in his life besides you are children who haven't grown up yet."
Tang Qi suppressed his smile as he tried to placate the situation. Seeing that Kuru had already buried the corpse using Mold Earth, he felt somewhat relieved and said to the distant hunter,
"Actually... we just left Starberry Town. Together with all the townspeople."
This statement clearly stunned the hunter for a moment. He hesitantly confirmed: "Sorry, I might not have heard clearly—did you say, together with all the townspeople?"
"Yes. The town was plundered by orcs. You didn't know?"
"Orcs!?"
He seemed startled.
"How could there be orcs in this forest—I've never seen them!"
"Those orcs came from the south. If you live further north, it's normal that you wouldn't encounter them. In any case, I'm trying to lead them in escaping to Longgold City. Do you want to go catch up with old acquaintances?"
"No, better not."
The hunter raised his completely wolf-transformed hands.
"If someone like me could maintain any old ties, I wouldn't have ended up living in this forest where day and night are indistinguishable.
Especially now that the night is so deep, suddenly appearing to greet them would probably just frighten them.
Please allow me to ask one more question—with such an incident happening in town... is Father Lynn alright?"
Remembering that Father Lynn had once helped the hunter, Tang Qi consoled him:
"Of course, he's very healthy. Right now he's taking care of the injured in the camp."
"That's truly wonderful."
The hunter let out a long breath and moved the topic back to the main issue.
"So, you two gentlemen haven't seen my Wolf?"
"No."
Tang Qi and Stonecrusher shook their heads in unison.
"We only saw several dire wolves. If you think your Wolf is among them..."
Tang Qi stepped aside to let him see clearly that pile of robust dire wolf corpses.
The hunter approached and examined them for a moment. A strong bloody smell invaded his nostrils, making him frown and shake his head:
"No, it's just an ordinary gray wolf.
So the sounds I heard earlier were because you encountered an attack by dire wolves?
Well, Wolf might have run into some trouble on the way here—
In any case, I'm glad to have met you. Willing to escape with an entire town of people, you're truly like 'heroes' from stories."
"Same to you."
It must be said, being able to maintain relatively peaceful communication with a hunter did feel comfortable—this helped ease the tense nerves of the escape journey.
The other party had clearly succeeded in resisting the [Beastification Curse] and still maintained complete rationality. His experience of being expelled made him measured and appropriate.
If this were a hunter full of bestial nature who didn't know propriety, Tang Qi might have vigilantly driven him away to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"I need to continue searching for my Wolf."
It was clear he truly cared about his little wolf.
When he looked around and found nothing, he could only put his gloves back on and sigh.
"May the forest protect you and guide your way."
"I sincerely wish that you may reunite with your faithful companion." Tang Qi bowed slightly, displaying proper bearing.
"What kind of hell joke is this?"
Stonecrusher couldn't help muttering, immediately getting elbowed in the head by Tang Qi, who signaled him to keep quiet.
After the hunter left the mist, Tang Qi hurriedly directed Kuru to move aside the covering earth:
"Quick, quick, quick, take them to the stream to wash clean, then chop them up and roast them—absolutely cannot leave even a shred of evidence!"
He ran back to camp first, calling over a few idle able-bodied men to carry the nine beast corpses to the stream together.
After spending some time learning from Stonecrusher's methods, they processed and washed them clean. After skewering them into meat kebabs, they kept all the wolf pelts and about a third of the kebabs—to recover the energy needed for [combat techniques], Stonecrusher inevitably ate more.
Finally, they distributed the rest to the subjects, letting them cook on their own.
When he returned to his tent, Catherine and Anbi had already set up a simple grill.
Tang Qi and Stonecrusher didn't really know outdoor cooking, so tasks like grilling meat and controlling the heat had to be temporarily entrusted to the two young ladies.
"Sizzle—"
Watching the wolf meat being roasted by roaring flames on the grill, Stonecrusher sighed:
"Wolf meat doesn't taste very good."
"Delicious!"
But obviously, this was already a hundred times better than Kuru's daily diet back in the underground caves, causing the kobold's eyes to burst with sparkling starlight.
"This is the wilderness. You should be laughing in secret just to have meat to eat and replenish your energy."
Tang Qi took the roasted meat Catherine handed him and carefully examined the dire wolf's meat quality—
The muscles of carnivores were inherently firm, and these types of hunters roaming the wilderness would be even more developed.
So much so that it completely lacked the milky white, enticing marbling like pork or beef. The rough fibers presented a dark brown color, appearing even more blackish after roasting.
A pungent gamey smell lingered in his nostrils. Tang Qi suddenly realized he didn't seem to have much appetite either.
"Tang Qi-gege, you can try this."
Anbi, sitting beside him, hurriedly handed over a palm-sized wooden bottle.
Tang Qi opened it and found it contained some greenish paste. A faint fragrance wafted from the bottle opening:
"What's this?"
"It's [Green Mushroom Sauce]! Made by mashing together fern leaves from the forest, boiled mushrooms, and Dawnbloom petals, mixed with tree sap."
Tang Qi asked in surprise: "Anbi can make this too?"
"Dad taught Anbi before!
Dad said that in the forest, day and night always alternate every four hours, allowing plants to fully absorb sunlight in a very short time, so they're sweeter than ordinary leaves.
Anbi gathered a lot during rest time, but only managed to make this little bit so far..."
She crossed her arms proudly.
Tang Qi tried spreading some green mushroom sauce on the meat skewer. The fragrance slightly masked the wolf meat's gamey smell.
When chewing, though the meat quality was as dry and tough as jerky, the taste was actually not bad.
Fresh and sweet, not greasy, with a faintly sour and astringent taste that whetted one's appetite.
He wanted to ask about Anbi's father, but remembering that now only she and Catherine depended on each other, he felt it wouldn't be good to touch on painful subjects.
So through the hood used to cover her face, he patted her ear and praised:
"Anbi is amazing!"
This was exactly what the little girl loved to hear most. She giggled with delight.
Just as she was getting carried away with pride, she noticed the meat skewers on the grill giving off a burnt smell:
"Oh no! They're burnt!"
She frantically cleaned up the mess.
Tang Qi wanted to help, but heard a call in his ear:
"Ahem, Master Dwarf, Master Hero?"
It came from outside the camp.
Tang Qi identified it—it was the hunter they had just parted with not long ago.
Exchanging glances with Stonecrusher, the two followed the direction of the voice, only to discover the hunter was coming from the opposite direction from where they'd separated.
Seeming not to want the townspeople to recognize him, this time he wore a hood, covering most of his face.
Seeing Stonecrusher and Tang Qi, he said somewhat awkwardly:
"Hello, we meet again."
Tang Qi blinked, pretending ignorance: "Still haven't found Wolf?"
"No. Actually, that, uh—
Because I've always relied on Wolf to help me identify directions, so now..."
Tang Qi understood: "You're lost."
"Sorry, I actually didn't plan to trouble you. But—"
The hunter was somewhat embarrassed.
"But wandering around in the mist, I really couldn't find the right direction.
If you don't mind, could you give me a place to rest?
Just let me sleep briefly, and after resting a bit, I'll continue looking for the way..."
Considering the hunter had ended up in this situation partly due to their responsibility,
And because he was fairly familiar with Starberry Town, Tang Qi hesitated for a moment and looked at Stonecrusher:
"Should we let him in?"
"You're the leader, up to you. I think it doesn't matter, he seems like a decent person..."
Tang Qi nodded and beckoned to the hunter:
"Come on, we'll probably be stationed here for a few more hours."
"I'm really troubling you."
He pulled down his hood, avoiding the curious gazes of townspeople along the way, following Tang Qi to the tent.
Tang Qi picked up a meat skewer and held it before the hunter:
"Eat something first."
"May I?"
"Of course."
Tang Qi's gaze even held some anticipation.
Stonecrusher knew what he was thinking—
Wolf is already in the belly, so you can't blame us now, right?
He couldn't help muttering quietly:
"So it really is a hell joke after all."
The hunter sat somewhat unnaturally on the open ground, tasting the roasted meat in his hand, occasionally praising the cooking.
"Who is this?"
Catherine hadn't expected to encounter other people in the forest and curiously examined the hunter with his face covered.
Since he was one of their own, to avoid the two young ladies panicking too much, Tang Qi explained the hunter's background.
Starting from the story Father Lynn had told:
"...In any case, he's a former hunter from town. Father Lynn should recognize him."
The hunter nodded, as if proving his identity, quietly answering:
"Yes, it was Father Lynn who bandaged my wounds back then. We've always had a good relationship."
But Tang Qi quickly noticed that as he explained, not only did the two young ladies' expressions not ease,
Instead, Catherine tightly grasped Anbi's hand, becoming increasingly tense.
Anbi seemed to want to speak but stopped, silenced by Catherine's subtle gestures.
He realized something was wrong.
He patted the wolfing Stonecrusher, who frowned and pretended to casually stand up.
But this action obviously didn't escape the hunter's eyes—
He froze for a moment, then removed his hood.
His smile seemed helpless yet eerie.
He sighed, somewhat puzzled:
"Strange, why are you reacting this way?
Could it be that the story I told... wasn't realistic enough?"