Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 350 The Hunt (Part Six)

The new hunting jacket has narrow sleeves and a silver base with red trim. The workmanship and materials are very fine, but it doesn't fit Winters quite well.

Perhaps because the tailor hoped that the wearer would eat well, sleep well, and gain weight, the hunting clothes were made a little loose.

However, for a considerable period of time, Winters neither ate nor slept well. As a result, he became much thinner than when he first returned from the wasteland.

"Hmm." Anna looked at Winters with a puzzled expression, sometimes standing beside him, sometimes standing at a distance, and even circling around Winters several times.

Finally, Anna came to a conclusion and asked with a slight smile, "Why do I feel that you are a little bit more 'handsome' than when we first met?"

Winters didn't take it seriously, because in Hailan, his reference point was his peers who dressed like butterflies; while in Palatour, most of the men around him were unkempt roughnecks.

"Only a little bit?" Winters straightened his clothes and joked, "How does it compare to Lieutenant Colonel Moritz?"

Anna carefully smoothed out the wrinkles on Winters' shoulders, saying with a mix of reassurance and defiance, "He's not as dashing as you!"

"……Thanks."

Anna returned to the inner room, and a short while later, she came out excitedly carrying a "folded wooden board".

With just a glance at the wooden plank in Anna's arms, Winters realized what Ms. Navarre was planning.

Winters stumbled back four or five steps, knocking over several objects in the process, his entire body showing resistance.

He pleaded, "Wait! Next time, next time, okay? At least tell me in advance so I can be mentally prepared."

Anna rarely showed displeasure: "Next time? You've only modeled for me once, and that was at Hailan! Did that modeling experience leave such a deep shadow on you?"

She dragged Winters back to the center of the tent: "Don't look at me like that! And don't look directly at me, turn your head away a little! Keep your right hand inside your clothes, don't move it. Hmm... it's too dark, can we open the skylight?"

……

To allow Anna to record her inspirations anytime, anywhere, Winters created a portable drawing tool by hand, modeled after the structure of an atlas.

Although the problem of the paint was still not solved, Anna treasured it and couldn't put it down.

As he traveled and recorded along the way, Winters's mailbox was filled with Anna's sketches: starry skies, desolate wilderness, antelopes leaping high, the profile of a warrior gazing at a campfire...

Those involved—including Anna herself—did not yet realize that they were making history.

As Anna Navarre faced the rising sun, intently sketching the undulating landscape, she became the first artist on record to venture into the wilderness to sketch and leave behind a work.

……

Suddenly, it became very lively outside the yurt, with people shouting and laughing.

"I'll go see what's going on!" Winters seized the opportunity, darting out of the tent and deliberately shouting, "Who's making a fuss?"

It's a lion cub.

Upon discovering that Winters had actually taken a bath and changed into new hunting clothes, the little lion smiled, his eyes playful: "Oh? You knew all along?"

"Know what?" Winters frowned instinctively.

Before the little lion could explain, Vahika grabbed someone and forced his way in front of Winters.

"Centurion!" Vahika's joy was palpable as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Look! Who's back!"

When Winters finally saw the face of the person Vahikara was wearing, he was equally overjoyed: "Bell?!"

"Yes!" Bell grinned, but tears welled up in his eyes. "It's me!"

"Why are you crying?" Winters hugged the little hunter tightly and ruffled his hair. "You've grown so much, I almost didn't recognize you! Where's the little guy?"

……

After the Battle of the Great Wilderness, Brother Reid, Bell, and Charles planned to collect Winters' body and eventually reunited with the still-living Winters.

When Winters returned to Paratul, Bell chose to remain in the wasteland to continue learning from the Great Shaman how to become a [Spirit Speaker].

Compared to when they parted, Bell was now at least an inch taller. Not only was he nearly as tall as Winters, but his physique had also become visibly more robust.

Although he hasn't completely shed his boyishness, he is no longer a "little hunter" but is worthy of being called a "hunter".

……

“The little guy is at the camp to the north. I didn’t dare bring him here, afraid of startling the horses.” Bell wiped away her tears while laughing and reporting the good news: “You’ll definitely be shocked! The little guy is already a big one! He’s taller than a horse when he stands up…”

Because Winters forbade Belle from naming the lion cubs, they were simply called "little guy".

As time went on, the lion cub actually remembered the name "little guy," which was both funny and sad.

Other members of the mission who were loading vehicles at the back of the camp heard the noise and arrived one after another.

When Pierre saw Bale, he rushed over and gave him a bear hug, and the two of them laughed and cried at the same time.

The warriors who had experienced the Great Wilderness War also stepped forward to embrace Bell—Bell had been Winters' messenger, and none of Winters' old subordinates didn't know the little hunter.

Comrades who had shared life and death were reunited after a long separation, and everyone had a million things they wanted to say. In the end, they simply held each other's hands tightly and patted each other's shoulders in silence.

Sergei, who considered himself to be heartless, walked away to a secluded spot, cursing and swearing, and secretly rubbed his eyes.

"I won't keep you from catching up any longer." The little lion felt a bit nauseous watching the affectionate display. As an outsider, he couldn't stay a moment longer. After giving a few instructions, he wanted to leave: "Montagne, I'll come back to talk to you in detail tonight."

"Wait a minute," Winters called to the little lion, "What do you want to discuss?"

"What else could it be? It's the hunt tomorrow, of course!" The little lion looked Winters up and down in his hunting attire, and asked in surprise, "You didn't know? Then why did you change into those clothes? And clean yourself beforehand?"

With many people and eyes around in the camp, Winters gestured for Pierre to take care of Bell, and then led the lion cub into the tent.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and you don’t know what I know. There’s a misunderstanding.” Winters said bluntly, “So you’d better pretend I know nothing and explain completely.” “It seems you really don’t know.” The little lion’s smile faded, and his expression gradually became serious. “I’d like to invite you to tomorrow’s ‘hunting,’ and my brother has agreed. Judging from your attire, I thought he had already told you in advance.”

Winters noticed the lion cub's change in mood: "I'm an outsider, how can I participate in the Red River Tribe's hunt?"

“Generally speaking, we don’t bring outsiders when we go hunting.” The little lion pretended to be relaxed: “But this is the ‘Red River Tribe’s Hunt’. You are a distinguished guest of the Red River Tribe. My brother has given his approval, and no one else has the right to say ‘no’.”

……

"That's the situation." Winters gathered his men together and briefly explained, "The Red River Tribe invited me to stay and observe the ceremony."

The temporary meeting room was completely silent, and everyone was somewhat surprised.

"Attend the ceremony?" Vasika asked incredulously, "You mean... we can get into that hunting ground too?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Old Sergei, fearing that Blood Wolf would lose face, quickly told his son to shut up and tried to smooth things over, saying, "The barbarians want to invite Champion Palatul to the ceremony! If it's not us, how could they let us in to hunt?"

……

Actually, when the little lion came to invite Winters, the Iron Peak County delegation was packing their bags and preparing to go home.

Winters arrived in the Red River region expecting arduous negotiations, but the most important objective of his trip (exchanging prisoners) was accomplished smoothly in an unexpected way.

For the remaining two secondary objectives—trade routes and iron ore—White Lion assigned two archers to oversee them.

The archers of the Red River tribe were enthusiastic about trade routes, but showed little interest in the potential iron ore deposits. They only agreed to provide Winters with ore samples, politely declining his assistance with "on-site exploration."

Now that his goal had been achieved, Winters wasn't going to linger any longer—he couldn't wait to dig for gold.

A few days ago, when Winters was searching for gold, he practically turned the entire valley upside down. But things could change in the meantime; who knows if some Hard might accidentally discover fresh soil at the gold's location? It's safer to dig it out as soon as possible.

So as soon as he returned to the camp from Qingqiu, Winters told his men, "Get a good rest tonight, we'll set off tomorrow."

Some of the more efficient members of the delegation had to reload the items they had just unloaded from the carriages. When the little lion arrived, they were busy loading the carriages.

……

"And what do you mean?" Pierre asked calmly.

Winters looked toward Qingqiu.

As darkness fell, the hunters guarding the felt wall lit torches. Winters couldn't see inside the hunting enclosure, but the mournful cries of the wild beasts grew ever clearer.

“I don’t want to participate,” Winters replied.

The crowd could not hide their disappointment. It was such a grand hunt, and it was a real pity not to be able to participate; everyone felt a sense of regret.

“But if we leave now, we might regret it in the future, regret missing the opportunity to witness a momentous occasion.” For a moment, Winters’s eyes dimmed slightly: “Brother Reid once said, ‘Some wonders are gone if you don’t see them.’ So let’s stay and see them; there’s no harm in doing so.”

Few of the people present truly understood what Winters was saying; most were completely bewildered.

However, everyone understood something else. Vasika tentatively asked, "You mean... you want to stay and watch the ceremony?"

“Yes.” Winters nodded slightly.

"Then...then we..." Vashika stammered, "We can too?"

Upon hearing this, many members of the delegation instantly transformed from statues back to living people, their breathing involuntarily quickening.

"Okay."

Although old Sergei was still firmly concerned about the distinction between superiors and inferiors, he couldn't care less about lecturing his son at this moment: "Really? Can we really participate?"

Winters laughed nonchalantly, "We might not have another chance to see a hunt of this scale again. If you want to have some fun, then go ahead. I'll talk to the little lion and ask him to let you enter with his men."

The crowd cheered.

"Bows only? Are we not allowed to use muskets?!" Vahika exclaimed with a beaming smile. "What if I don't know how to use a bow and arrow?"

"When the gunshot rang out, wouldn't all the deer and sheep be scared away?"

"Are you stupid? You think you can run out of the hunting grounds?"

At the same time, some people got interested and started telling the story of "the blood wolf killing the bear," which had been passed down through generations.

After hearing a few words, old Sergei burst out cursing: "You're talking complete nonsense!"

"Why do you say I'm making things up?" the storyteller protested.

"I was there when the Montagne tribunal was hunting the bear! I don't remember you being there!" Old Sergei said smugly. "Let me tell you, it was actually like this..."

Amidst the noisy reminiscences, dreams, laughter, and banter, Winters quietly left the makeshift venue.

Pierre chased after Winters from the makeshift venue and walked silently with him for a while before suddenly speaking: "You don't need to blame yourself."

Winters stopped and turned to look at Pierre.

Pierre said in a deep voice, "It is not your responsibility that you failed to destroy the Red River tribe; nor is it your responsibility that the Red River tribe has grown stronger."

“I don’t blame myself, Pierre.” Winters smiled, nudged Pierre’s arm, and turned to look in the direction of Qingqiu: “Of course I won’t feel guilty about other people’s mistakes.”

“Brother Reid said on his deathbed, [if you don’t consider the whole chessboard, you’ll end up not even holding a corner of it].” Winters’ expression was stern. “I was just thinking, Pierre. Tell me—aren’t we feeding the lions?”

The night was deep, and Qingqiu was completely shrouded in darkness, with only a few flickering lights appearing and disappearing.

“No, Your Excellency. I believe—we are not feeding meat to the lions.” Pierre’s eyes were sharp, his tone firm, and his smile cruel and confident: “The lions are feeding us meat!”

[Still not finished writing, sorry]
[I'll stop here for now, and note this as a temporary delay in updating (separate from previous delays)]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, rewards, and comments. Thank you everyone!]
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(End of this chapter)