A few weeks had passed since our adjusted training regimen began and I emerged from the shadows of the service wing at sundown much like any other day to find Toril and Jonet and Jaimess seated at the serving bar before an overtly cheerful Gerolt.
"Your Grace." He bowed to me after noticing my presence and continued on before I could even speak. "I'm scheduled to leave on a hunting trip in a few hours if you wish to come."
"I'd love to." I genuinely smiled as I settled into my seat with my hands clasped on top of the table. "What are we hunting and when are we leaving?"
"We'll be departing in the third hour of the morning. And I aim to gather a whole month's worth of provisions." He tapped at a sheet of paper on the table before him. "This first item on my list is rabbits. Though we'll be hunting big game and doing a bit of fishing as well."
"So be it. We'll be waiting at the main entrance." I nodded, then turned to my vassals and their somewhat inquisitive stares. "No training tonight," I told them. "Take the time to study, rest, and pack your gear for…" I turned to Gerolt with a raised brow.
And after a second or two, he seemed to catch on and jump forward as he said. "3 days. Pack for three days."
Each of them tried to hide it in their own way but the relief and joy from the announcement were made obvious from their visibly relaxed postures and their audible sighs of relief.
'Don't get complacent.' I chuckled to myself. 'Our days off will most certainly be made up when we return.'
We all went our separate ways after our meal. Toril and Jaimess to their shared quarters and Jonet to hers.
After our meal, I returned to my room to stuff a few extra pairs of clothes into my shadow pocket before practicing mana manipulation by moving the chairs and tables around with the energy for the next several hours. Then migrated to the library to lounge about and read the few books I'd had yet to touch about the many pantheons or religions and the hundreds of gods and goddesses of the Mortal Plane. Most of whom; I learned, inhabited the few stars or planets seen in the otherwise empty night sky. The others; I presumed, were either dead, sealed away, or walking among us in this vast world.
By the time it came to rendezvous with Gerolt, I had officially read through everything in the library and now found myself racking my brain as I waddled towards the exterior grounds, trying to find an efficient way to use up my ever-increasing free time.
With only the need to meditate, I'd usually awake around four in the morning and practice mana manipulation until sunrise. Where I'd take breakfast and head to the library to spend the day reading and writing until the time came to train with my vassals. A boring schedule for sure, but one that would pay off dividends in the future.
With reading marked off that schedule, however, I was now struggling to replace it with something worthwhile. Something outside the realm of training, as I did that with my vassals. I could've learned to play musical instruments or learn the arts of politics from my father, I assumed. But I wanted to travel, explore, and invent. Though regrettably, I was too young in my parent's eyes.
Only after arriving at my destination did I realize that I had the perfect attorney to plead my case in my stead. The gruff, silver-haired chef himself, Gerolt Flay.
His exuberance would act in my favor without the need for my intervention. I only had to prove our case over the course of our hunting trip.
As promised, Gerolt was waiting in the exterior yards with nothing but a black bag tied to his belt and a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder.
'Do we have no horses?' I wondered as he greeted the lot of us and began stepping down the path. Looking back, I'd not seen a single horse or anything that could act as a caravan animal in anything I'd read of our Empire; much less around the estate. I didn't even know if the concept of carriages existed within it, or even in the greater Plane. It was entirely possible that magic entirely negated the need for such things to develop. 'If that' the case, what other concepts in this world are entirely foreign?'
I decided to add the question to the list of ever-growing inquiries to investigate at a later time and turned my attention to the present by turning to the pewter-haired man. "Say, Gerolt. What's it like outside the dead zone? What kind of creatures are found out there?"
Though I had indeed read a bestiary about the wildlife of Deapou, it didn't hurt to gain a hunter's perspective on the matter.
"There are many different animals that dwell among us in our Empire. The more dangerous ones have magical abilities, like Winter Wolves, Stone Mammoths, Ice Saber Tigers, and Frost Bears; but those creatures are only found on the mainland. All of the creatures of our Deap Ridge are ordinary creatures. And there are far too many for me to name."
After I acknowledged his words, Gerolt continued to talk and teach us how to track and think like the animals we were hunting; in this case rabbits. After finding some droppings and stalking for a few minutes, he drew his bow and began creeping slowly to a gap in some bushes. Where he stopped, knocked an arrow, and took aim through the shrubs. Then released.
Scrying through the shadow of a nearby tree, I saw a pure white rabbit tumble violently over the ground. Painting the snow and itself with crimson, steaming blood.
Gerolt darted through the bushes at once to kneel beside it and put it out of its misery with a swift stab in the neck. Then solemnly paused for a moment before retrieving his arrow placing the carcass in his bag.
"Each of you will take turns hunting your own." He declared as he held out the bow at arm's length.
Judging from his gaze, he seemed keen on us using the bow instead of magic and so I followed along with only a sigh. Operating under the presumption that it had something to do with classes or would at least get my body used to drawing and firing bows; if only a little bit.
We continued in such a manner, following Gerolt until we spotted a rabbit, and then Jaimess, then Jonet, then Toril, and myself had all killed and retrieved a rabbit. An effort that had lasted until sunrise, when Gerolt decided it was a good time for breakfast.
He used the opportunity to show us how to butcher a rabbit. It was the standard method that I'd seen and done dozens of times, and so I turned my mind to other things until he pulled some logs out of his bag and began roasting the meat over an open flame and later served it with bread.
A devastatingly bland meal for my tongue that had grown so privileged over the last seven years.
After our meal, much the same process was repeated as we went hunting for some big game. A process that I was again more than familiar with and thus put most of my attention towards the surrounding environment; similar as it was to what I've seen thus far.
After a few hours of wandering, we spotted a herd of some type of white elk with vertical brown stripes running along their bodies, calmly eating the bark and leaves from the smaller ice trees.
"How many of them do you want?" I whispered to Gerolt before he could speak. He silently held up two fingers before I turned to whisper in Toril's ear. And together, we crept forth towards the bushes.
As we got settled into place, Toril picked up a small stone and grasped it in his fist. Then gave me a solemn nod before reaching his arm through the bushes. I did the same. And within the snap of a finger, I flooded my finger with death magic before flicking it at a buck while Toril formed an air cannon that fired off at his target like a shot from a high-powered rifle. Ruining the soft ambiance of the morning with the relatively loud bang.
Per my instructions, Toril's pebble hurtled toward the elk with a violent spin and impacted right in its chest. Causing it to buck and run off deeper into the woodline with Toril chasing just after it. The elk I'd struck with the Death Bullet, however, has simply fallen lifelessly to the ground as soon as the spell made contact. There was no resistance or sign that made me think it'd truly died. It just… collapsed in place.
It was the first living thing I'd ever touched with the magic; besides trees of course, and seeing its power made me recall my grandfather's words when teaching me how to use it. It was truly a devastating power. Unconcerned with who it touched, indiscriminate in effect. Though I was sure that I wasn't even scratching the surface of its true capabilities.
Gerolt seemed to have a dissatisfied- if not somber expression as he went to retrieve it, though he said nothing in the moment or after he'd gathered the quarry and went down the trail Toril had blazed through.
After our quarry was gathered and our party was once again complete, we began an arduous hike south. Following the canopy-shrouded sun for hours until it lowered below the horizon. We came upon the sounds of running water a few hours after sundown. And a little while after that, the trees began clearing out and a towering rail system of stone and iron that ran parallel to the coast came into clear view.
Gerolt led us to an arch beneath one of many pillars supporting the infrastructure above and began to pull out tarps and poles and stakes from his bag. Without a word, I stepped forth to help him set up a tent within the arch with two adjacent wings.
"We'll spend the night the night here and go fishing in the morning." He sighed in satisfaction as he looked back at the complete tent. "Feel free to do as you please. Just don't venture too far."
While my vassals nodded and began wandering off to do whatever, I stayed back and watch Gerolt build a fire next to one of the wings of our tent. I thought it was strange that he'd spend days wandering- walking alone in woods. Judging from his amiable demeanor I assumed these trips served as a sort of stress relief for him and decided to give him a bit of solitude.
Entering my Wraith Form, I ascended towards the canopy to study the towering piece of architecture we were camped under.
The entirety of the island's coast; or more aptly, cliff, was comprised of either a sheer wall or a gradient that was far too steep to build anything on. Positioned atop the cliffs at regular intervals were dry docks filled with wooden, canopied gondolas that gave access to what I was sure were churning waters far below. Above the gondolas was the elevated band of stone and iron that contained an enchantment-powered maglev track with a working aqueduct set up above that fed freshwater from the capital of the royal island, the Cast Iron Summit.
When I returned to the camp I saw Gerolt cooking a blatantly unseasoned stew of rabbit meat and a few vegetables.
I frowned at the sight and moved a few ways away to upend the ground and begin sifting through the dirt until I found a pocket of clay. After gathering enough material and a bundle of sticks, I added some water and heated up the earth with a torch before manipulating the clay into two kilns. Then repeated the process to make several pots and a few large buckets that I then stuffed inside the kiln. Completely exhausting all the material I'd gathered.
"I had no idea His Grace knew pottery." I heard Gerolt comment under his breath behind me as I lit up the kiln.
I said nothing as I approached the second furnace and began digging out a large fire pit beneath the domed chamber, then dug out large pinholes in the roof of the fire pit before stocking it with wood and lighting it with a torch. My vassals had returned by then and I had them assist me in skewering the meat and hanging them in the upper chamber to be sealed beneath a cap of clay.
After a night of wandering, contemplation, and meditation, we awoke and had the smoked meat for breakfast. Causing Gerolt to again comment about his lack of knowledge of my skills and show ignorance of the concept of smoking. The latter of which I assumed was due to us living near the frost line of the Mortal Plane. As food could've been preserved just by leaving it outside, leaving no need for such food preservation techniques to arise.
We didn't tear down camp after breakfast and instead migrated to the gondolas to descend to the surprisingly gentle seas to spend the day on the water. Admiring the expansive views as we rowed out to different pockets of the sea and drop anchor to either being fishing or dive into the waters below.
I soon found that fishing in this world was a surprisingly simple endeavor; as we simply had to pull streams or bubbles of water containing fish through a hole in the deck and deposit them onboard while admiring the expansive views in the meantime. Endless views of choppy blue water and the massive wall of black stone behind us, of the green line of land towards the south that represented Epethia, and of the aurora-like green glow that tinted the eastern sky, far beyond the ocean.
However, those views were rivaled by the vibrant world hidden beneath the surface, made all the more accessible by water manipulation. Through it, I could not only reduce the drag on my body but sort of squeeze the water around me to propel myself forward as well. Greatly expanding the distance I could travel to in a single breath.
The waters before the 'shore' was an expansive shelf of vibrant reefs populated by an uncountable number of crustaceans, fish, and marine mammals; the latter of whom seemed utterly unconcerned with our presence.
We ended the day by returning to the gondolas with several buckets of seawater strapped to the deck. At which time Gerolt cheekily chuckled to himself as he looked out beyond the railing and took a gratuitous bite out of his smoked rabbit. "We've managed to gather everything on my list in just two days." He chuckled again before turning to us. "You all are truly exceptional."
"I assume this means we'll be heading back to the estate?" I asked after my vassals thanked him for his words.
"After we rest and harvest salt, yes." Gerolt nodded, gesturing to the buckets. "We'll follow a particular foraging route on our way back, and then our hunting trip will be complete."
"I see." I nodded. "In that case, there are a few more food preservation techniques I know of that I can write down for you. As thanks for having us accompany you."
"Oh." Gerolt humbly chuckled. "The pleasure was mine, Your Grace. But… if you wouldn't mind giving me an idea of what these techniques are?"
For whatever reason, I turned to meet the inquisitive and interested gaze of my vassals before chuckling and shrugging to myself. "Very well."