"Hello, father, hello, mister caravan leader," Elvire said while sounding more mature like she would be around ten years or even older now.
Kevin picked Elvire up and gave her a small hug before placing her down.
"What is it, my child? Do you need something?" Levin asked from her.
"Mother said you could teach me how to hunt when you are in better condition. Is that true? Will you really teach me?" Elvire asked Levin while looking at him with her adorable puppy eyes.
"I suppose we can do that if we find suitable material to make the bow first for you.
That way, you could also see the process of how to make a bow. However, for arrows, we should buy them out." Levin said and looked at her daughter, who smiled more happily after hearing him.
"Oh, mister Edwin wait a moment I might have something for you." The caravan leader said and went to ransack his belongings. When he came back, he had a small crossbow in his hands.
"This is a light crossbow and hasn't used that much power packed in compared to the heavy crossbows or the normal ones.
But this has excellent features as it's small, easy to hide and very light. Even children can lift this up and use it.
I think it has enough power to kill small prey to let's say medium-sized deer if it's hit on the vital spot." The caravan leader said and, of course, made a talk that could convince the buyers as it was in his merchant nature.
"We can let your daughter practice with this one for the time of our trip." He added to it enthusiastically.
"But sir, this is too much already. I don't have enough money to buy it if it gets broken", Levin said while looking at the caravan leader.
"Don't worry about it, Edwin, you and your family, has already done so much, so consider it as a gift from me." The caravan leader said while giving the crossbow and the bolts to Elvire.
"Here have these, and I think I have a perfect person to teach you.
Mister Pearson, are you here!" The caravan leader suddenly shouted out, and an old man crumbly came forward.
"Here I am, mister. What do you need from this old man?" Pearson asked as he looked at the leader before shifting his gaze towards Elvire.
"I know you have been a city guard before being mercenary, and you use a crossbow as your primary weapon. So could you teach this young girl how to use the crossbow every night we stop?
I think if you do that, the cook in the kitchen might happily give you some extra." The caravan leader said and smiled cheekily.
Pearson looked at the girl that was brightly smiling at him now and then back to the leader.
"I will do that then. it's not like I have anything better to do." He said before saying to the girl.
"Let's move out of the way. You see that spot there? Let's go there," Pearson said as he pointed a relatively open spot that had more stable ground, where he led Elvire as well.
Levin smiled happily, and he thanked the leader before shouting to Elvire.
"Be careful and listen to what mister Pearson says."
"So first, let me tell you how the crossbows work and how you load the arrow in," Pearson said and started to explain the basic mechanics behind the crossbow at the same time showing them to Elvire.
"So I will show and explain to you now how to cock the crossbow.
First, point your crossbow down so that the foot claw touches the ground.
Second, put your foot in the claw.
Then grab the string with both hands. In this step, it's essential to make sure you're grabbing with an even and steady grip to avoid pulling back one side faster or harder than the other.
Lastly, pull the string back firmly and consistently. Don't yank the string! Doing so is a surefire way to damage the bow and hurt yourself." Pearson said and then launched the empty crossbow that Elvire can try to do it herself.
After a few tries and from Pearson's help, Elvire successfully cocked the string and showed it proudly to Pearson.
"Good job next is the bolt. Now when you have the crossbow at the launching state, you just carefully place the bolt in the middle; there is a small carved pattern to it, and at the bolt, there is a small pattern as you see where you put the string on." Pearson showed and let Elvire try the bolt. Elvire realized that there was actually a small pattern in the bolt.
"So you always check that the bolt is placed in the right way and be sure about, but for now, you are ready to try and shoot it out.
See that tree there try to aim middle of it." Pearson said while correcting Elvire's position with his hands, and finally, when it was correct, he just said.
"Launch it now, pull the trigger slowly but firmly." And Elvire pulled the trigger just what she was told, and the bolt left the crossbow but didn't hit the tree. It hit something else that first screamed from the pain, then next they heard someone shout furiously.
"Fucking hell! Catch that small bitch that dared to shoot me with the crossbow!" Some angry man said that was bleeding from his arm while coming out from the bushes.
Pearson immediately understood that these ragged men who looked like peasants were here to rob them, and he said to Elvire.
"You know where the camp is? Run towards it as quickly as possible don't look back and shout as loudly as you can. Ring the alarm as many times as possible!." Elvire just nodded and started to run towards the camp.
Pearson looked at Elvire, who was running before drawing out his own sword from his scabbard to slow the bandit's down.