After finishing their meals, most of the hunters began filtering back out of the town hall, collecting their bows as they prepared to return to the forest.
The meal had been served a bit too early to be called dinner, but it was also past midday. When Edol inquired about the eating time, he learned that many prey animals such as deer often moved more in the morning or evening as opposed to around noon.
"We're lucky if we get a deer a week, even with how many of them are running around the forest. Wary critters, and the damn things seem to have eyes in the backs of their heads."
While chatting with hunters Edol suddenly wondered about animals with legacies. Ghost could still use all his previous legacies, and if other animals couldn't also use legacies it could be a big problem to hide it in the future.
Luckily for Edol, wild animals could also use legacies, something that was quite unfortunate for the hunters. While they naturally couldn't use any spells, wild critters seemed to have an instinctual idea of how to use their legacies, making them much harder prey for hunters.
This said it was quite rare to encounter a magic-wielding beast, even this far north. Over centuries of human habitation, most legacies around populated areas had been long since claimed by humans, and it was very rare to see an animal utilizing magic in the south.
The far north, however, had yet to be colonized by humans. Aside from the now destroyed northern villages and a few mines to the west, Hearth was one of the furthest north human settlements.
It wasn't just the freezing winters that kept the town's population low.
Back on Earth, Edol recalled that humans had no natural predators aside from polar bears.
Here, any decently sized predator with a legacy might hunt down numerous humans before finally being tracked down.
Numerous townsfolk had died in the forests in the past, their bodies often going unrecovered after being consumed.
It was even worse considering that legacies were typically passed down through families, but after dying deep in the woods, it was rare to recover the important magic source.
Rather than following Weiss out as she left to check the rest of her traps, Edol and Ghost ended up staying back to chat with a few hunters who'd stayed behind. Nes had apparently managed to pawn off the job of watching the kids to someone else, as the old man was sitting at the bar, sipping a glass of a surely alcoholic drink.
Nes started telling the story of a hunt from his youth, and was a surprisingly good storyteller. A few of the surrounding hunters grumbled that they'd heard this story before, but still stuck around as the action progressed.
'This place is actually pretty nice. Maybe I should just stay here instead of traveling around. Willow said Danu was from one of the northern villages, so she probably didn't travel much either! I can research magic in peace up here, all while enjoying delicious food!'
The Brit wanted to bring up the idea to Ghost, but knew his companion wouldn't agree with staying here. Just from the short time they'd spent in this world, Edol could see that the bird's thirst for adventure wouldn't allow him to be cooped up in some northern city.
'It's fine. I doubt they'd let me stick around doing nothing but research anyway, I'd probably have to waste most of my time hunting.'
Edol glanced over at his friend, who was currently being thrown from one of the rafters of the hall.
"... huh?"
"Go, -hic- Birdy! Fly!"
One of the men had somehow become excessively drunk despite it only being slightly past midday, and had climbed up to the top of the town hall, Ghost clutched underneath one of his arms.
After hearing the tragic story of Ghost's inability to fly due to being raised by a human, the drunkard developed the same idea Willow had the previous day.
"YEET!"
Releasing Ghost and letting him glide down to the ground? Nah, this drunkard instead decided to pitch the giant bird directly at one of the walls of the hall.
A terrified squawking filled the air as Ghost shot across the room like an all-star pitcher's fastball, followed by a feathery thump as the bird struck the wall without managing to regain any semblance of control in the air.
"Again! I'll teach Birdy to fly today, go again!"
The idiot in the rafters cheered joyously, and a second, nearly identical idiot swayed over to the disgruntled pile of feathers that was Ghost.
Watching as the second drunk tossed Ghost back up to the first idiot, Edol pondered for half a second.
'Should I help him? Hm… Nah. He really should learn to fly, this is good for him! On a side note, that drunk idiot has one hell of an arm. And did he say "yeet"?'
Every few minutes, terrified bird noises echoed through the hall, followed by a dull crunching noise as Ghost slammed into a wall. Nes and the other less-drunk hunters were clearly disturbed by what the twin idiots were doing to Edol's pet, but seeing the Brit's inaction, decided not to step forward themselves.
The day slowly turned to night, and after the twin drunkards eventually tired of throwing Ghost and passed out, the disheveled bird limped back to where Edol was still listening to one of Nes's stories.
"Asshole. Next time you get stuck in a tomb, I'm leaving you there to fend for yourself!"
Edol's face soured a bit, and he made a note to pay closer attention to his surroundings next time in a tomb.
"Just relax, bro. Aren't you better at maneuvering in the air now? I'm pretty sure the sounds of you hitting the wall were getting quieter over time! When those two wake up, I can ask them to continue their training with you. You'll be flying in no time!"
Just as Ghost was about to start pecking at the Brit, Willow burst through the hall's door, a frantic look on her face.
"Nes, come quickly! One of the hunters was attacked by a bear, Weiss said to bring you as fast as possible!"