Chapter 8 : The Hunting Competition (3)

Before the Hunting Competition began, attendants called in professional hunters to divide the forest into zones.

This was to prevent any unfortunate incidents from occurring at a time when only the most esteemed people in the Empire were gathered.

Of course, even among the nobles, there were some who, very rarely, wielded a weak Manis and were physically robust.

But on the flip side, there were surely people who, while forced to participate in the Hunting Competition, were better suited to scholarly pursuits or other specific talents rather than catching animals.

If someone ended up dead instead of just getting a little hurt, things would get complicated.

The responsibility would fall directly on the employees who prepared the Hunting Competition, so the division of zones was done with precision.

The results of that work are these clothes I was looking at right now, tied tightly to branches and fluttering.

In places where small animals frequently appeared, a white cloth was hung on a tree.

Medium-sized animals were marked by blue cloth, and large animals by red cloth.

Usually, the small animal zone was located not far from the entrance, the medium zone in the middle, and the large animal zone in the innermost part.

I gripped the reins tightly, looking for the area where the white clothes turned to blue.

This was the largest of the forests owned by the Imperial Family, so I had to hurry a little if I was to meet Duke Piteos, whom I was so desperately seeking.

Of course, I wasn't searching blindly.

If my calculations were correct, Duke Piteos would be crossing over from the medium animal zone to the small animal zone today.

Around this time, he caught a fox with golden-tinged fur and offered it to the Emperor.

The problem was, it was brief information that came from a scene simply mentioning the past, so it hadn't been described exactly where or when he caught the fox.

This was one of the reasons I had been so damn busy for the past few days.

Because I had to find the golden fox before Duke Piteos did.

For the past week, whenever I had time, I had turned into a crow and searched this massive forest.

I had thought finding a golden fox in a forest lush with greenery would be a piece of cake, but I was sorely mistaken.

As if to prove there was a reason it had survived to adulthood in this forest, the creature hardly ever showed itself unless it was night, and it constantly moved its den.

By the time I finally managed to find its habitat, I had already accumulated the experience of being smacked on the scruff of my neck by a red fox's paw and the experience of having an eagle narrowly graze my head with its wing.

And I had finally found it.

The main patrol route of this clever golden fox.

And I had to synthesize various other pieces of information.

For Duke Piteos, who was highly skilled and usually enjoyed hunting in the medium or large animal zones, to have found a small animal like a fox, it must have meant he found it at the border between the medium zone and the small animal zone.

Seeing as how it was described that he briefly washed his hands at the water's edge right after, there had to be a lake or a large puddle nearby.

He would have found the fox while hunting in the medium zone, so I, who had rushed straight here as soon as the Hunting Competition started, probably wasn't late.

The place where all this information converged was right here.

In front of a lake, where some trees resembling knee-high boxwoods were clustered.

I loosened my grip on the reins slightly and slowly loitered around the area.

It seemed I wasn't late.

The area around the lake was tranquil and pristine, as if no hunting had taken place yet.

To immediately notice any coming changes, I needed to listen closely to the sounds of insects in the grass and the wind in the trees.

All preparations were perfect.

Now, all I had to do was wait here, and when the Duke appeared, stop him, take care of my business, and my job would be done.

-……Pfrrr!

If an unexpected snag hadn't appeared.

The black horse, which had been walking a bit slowly, suddenly snorted and stopped.

And it started to raise its neck stiffly and turn its head this way and that.

I tried holding the reins and patting its neck, but the creature wouldn't calm down.

I was dumbfounded by this unexpected betrayal from the beast.

We... we weren't exactly close, but hadn't we been working well together until just now?

Why are you suddenly acting like this?

“Calm down. Are you sick somewhere?”

The beast nodded.

No, it seemed like it.

Or maybe I was just interpreting its frantic movements to suit myself.

It was too crude a gesture by human standards, so it was hard to tell.

But based on my experiences so far, it was worth checking.

Because it seemed animals in this world were capable of expressing themselves to some extent.

I decided to first take down the bag I had tied to the stirrup.

And as soon as I reached for the bag, the beast calmed down as if by magic.

At that absurd change, I narrowed my eyes and glared at this fickle black horse.

Don't tell me....

“Don't tell me you're doing this because you don't want to carry this?”

And, like a lie, the beast turned its head back slightly and met my eyes.

...I was sure.

This creature understood my words perfectly.

The horse's demeanor, reminiscent of the crow from my first day of possession, gave me slight chills.

The next thing that came was a slight sense of injustice.

“Aren't horses supposed to pull things like carriages? You're just carrying one bag and one person.”

Whatever I said, the beast just stared at me.

And when I showed no more signs of taking off the luggage, it started to buck its hind legs, making me bounce on the saddle.

“Ah- I get it. I'll take it off, so stop.”

Because of its violent behavior, I had no choice but to sling the bag over my shoulder and get off the horse.

As soon as I got off, the beast, as if satisfied, clopped over to the lake and started drinking water.

Regardless of whether I was letting out a baffled laugh at its brazenness, the beast drank the water elegantly and shook its head.

Just as someone had said, far from being vulgar, it was a picture of dignity—more so than me, at least.

Thinking it must have rested enough now, I approached it with the bag, but the beast just stared at me and even started to slowly back away.

“……Ha!”

Faced with this ridiculous obstacle, I tried to get on the horse a few more times, but the beast wouldn't budge.

I couldn't just stay in a standoff with the horse forever.

If I missed Duke because of this, I'd have to go with the next best plan, which I didn't really like.

“Just you wait. I'm going to tell the stable keeper to cut your feed in half.”

I glared at the beast, then started listening closely to the sounds of the forest again so I could react immediately if I heard something like hoofbeats.

If all else fails, I guess I'll just have to throw a rock or something.

***

Duke Piteos was walking, pushing through the grassy thicket where blue flags could be seen sporadically.

“It seems luck just isn't on your side today.”

His aide, Tollin, who was following, quipped, but he did not reply.

It wasn't that luck wasn't on his side.

His heart was the problem.

Normally, he would have caught two or three animals, be it wolves or deer, with his ghostly skill, but today his mind was so troubled that he couldn't concentrate on the hunt at all.

He couldn't even spot the tracks of animals properly.

The Duke sighed for what must have been the umpteenth time today and looked up at the sky.

The sky, from which the rainbow had disappeared, was clear.

As if there was nothing under that sky that was not beautiful.

Agoni Piteos.

His family was one of those that had held the core of power among the nobles for so long that there was likely no one in the country who hadn't heard the three-syllable name 'Piteos'.

A plentiful life, honor, and the respect that naturally followed.

It was a life where everything was guaranteed, but lately, he couldn't stand the unpleasant anxiety that was slowly creeping into his mind.

The Piteos family was a knightly family that had served the Imperial line for generations, acting as the Imperial House's sword and shield.

The Imperial Family was god itself, the incarnation of god, beings who had descended from the heavens to save the chaotic world in the distant past.

It was said that the First Emperor, Sierra Abalan, had pacified those who had split into dozens of factions and wouldn't stop warring with each other, using his mystical power.

The records of the First Emperor, who named the unified Empire 'Abalan', remained mostly as myths now, over 1000 years later, but the Duke had been taught that the remaining Imperial Family was living proof of it.

Even if one hadn't been taught, just one look at their wondrous golden hair sparked reverence and awe.

Duke Piteos first met those figures he respected profoundly in the Imperial Palace, which he had entered following his father some 30-odd years ago.

Now, past 60, in his hazy memory, he clearly retained only the shock of that day, which had rendered the reverence for the Imperial Family he had only heard about through books and tutors a meaningless waste of time.

No other description was needed.

They were god itself.

He felt for the first time then the feeling of being unable to even dare look at something on a higher plane than himself.

And there had never been a time when he was as proud of his family as he was then.

He even felt proud of and fond of his family, one of the primordial families that had assisted the First Emperor, which remained as their sword to this day.

When he was determined to be a Manis wielder, a rare occurrence even among high-ranking nobles, it truly felt like he was flying.

He pledged his loyalty to the current Emperor and, even before inheriting the family, he had raised his sword for them without hesitation.

Some 30-odd years had passed, fueled by that reverence and loyalty.

He had stepped down from his position as Captain of the Imperial Knights a few years ago.

Part of the reason was that his body was no longer what it used to be, but it was also from the thought that it was now necessary to raise a successor who would assist the Imperial Family after him.

Just as his father had done, he taught his still-young, late-born son the reasons for loyalty to the Imperial Family, their nobility, and their wondrousness.

He explained what his family's role was, and why it was so important, and watching his son follow along well, he thought this was the happiness of old age.

Imagining this child, grown, assisting the Imperial Family in his stead in a few years, nothing could be more satisfying.

But this perfect, complete world of his had begun to crack.

The beginning of this collapse was a simple, trivial whim, like a stream of water starting from a small crack, growing uncontrollably, and bringing down a dam.

It was a day when he was touring the capital with his young son.

He had recently taken a liking to taking his son to show him the Piteos family's merchant-group and other businesses in advance.

It was thanks to his young son absorbing everything he taught like a sponge.

Just watching the child, who accepted his words gently yet wisely, seemed to bring peace to his mind.

That day, a small accident had occurred on the carriage's path, and the coachman had to steer the horses on a slight detour, different from the usual route.

He had been very peaceful up until this point.

Until the corpse of a young child, beaten to death and rolling on the street, entered his eyes as he looked out the window.

-Stop the carriage.

The Duke, without realizing it, stopped the carriage and approached it.

No one paid any mind to the child.

To be precise, what had once been a child.

When he grabbed a bystander and asked, the man bowed his head obsequiously and answered.

He said the child ended up like that after being caught trying to steal tribute offerings meant for the Imperial Palace from the temple.

In the Empire, the temple served the First Emperor and the Imperial Family.

Laying a hand on what belonged to the Imperial Family was a grave sin, to be paid for with one's life.

Duke Piteos also knew that law well.

He had even carried out the sentence on sinners, charging them with that crime, several times.

Though never one this young.

The body of the sinner in question could not be carelessly laid to rest by anyone.

A sinner who blasphemed god was an unforgivable existence from the moment the sin was committed.

People believed that if it wasn't burned, anyone who touched it would also be defiled.

The Duke, too, was hesitating, unable to think of picking the child up.

-Father, what is it?

He, who had been hesitating in front of it, felt his mind go white, as if struck by lightning.

His son, worried about his father who had suddenly stopped on the roadside, had apparently followed him out.

That clear, plump face overlapped with the face of the child that had been covered in scabs and wounds.

In a truly indescribable mood, the Duke hurriedly lifted his son and climbed into the carriage.

His heart was pounding faster than ever.

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