Chapter 3 Hunting
Marin knew how to shoot arrows; in his previous life, he had been a hunting enthusiast. Due to strict gun control laws in modern China, he was forced to learn archery as an alternative.
In fact, Marin even made his own English longbow in his previous life and frequently ventured into the forests behind his hometown with this bow and arrows forged by a blacksmith. There, he hunted many birds (as most large game had already been wiped out by previous generations using firearms before the ban) and wild rabbits.
Of course, in the Middle Ages, bows and arrows were also very important weapons and were quite expensive. Making an English longbow, not including the cost of materials, required at least two or three months just to properly train the bow. So, Marin didn't have the time to make an English longbow now, nor did he have the money to buy the materials.
However, in his previous life, Marin had also learned another hunting skill—setting traps.
With well-disguised traps, even the most cautious animals could be deceived and step right into them. Animals, after all, are still just animals. They focus a lot on being alert to their surroundings, always ready to escape at the first sign of danger. Because they spend so much energy watching and listening for threats, they often neglect the danger right under their feet. As long as a trap is well-camouflaged, it can fool most animals. Of course, this assumes that the animals happen to pass over the area where the trap is set.
Marin surveyed the area and found himself in a forest near the Rhine River in Germany. There was a small stream in the forest with plenty of water.
Having watched many episodes of "Animal World," Marin knew that many animals, especially herbivores, liked to drink from rivers early in the morning. Some predators also preferred to ambush their prey near the water's edge in the morning.
However, Europe didn't have tigers or lions, only the relatively troublesome wolves of the forest. But since wolves are nocturnal, they wouldn't be out in the morning. So, herbivores drinking by the river in the morning weren't in much danger.
Marin rode his horse back and forth along the stream, dismounting several times to observe the tracks and droppings of animals, and eventually identified three spots where animals frequently drank.
These three places had relatively flat terrain and were free of trees. The herbivores likely chose these spots for easy access to water and quick escape routes. Even if someone or a predator wanted to ambush them, they would be spotted from a distance.
With the locations chosen, Marin set about laying his traps. Unfortunately, he didn't have a shovel or pickaxe to dig with. In fact, most of Western Europe didn't have many iron tools for farming. Many manors, like the Hoffman Manor, used wooden farming tools for the most part. Only in places like Italy, England, and some wealthier regions, where metallurgy was more advanced, were iron tools common. As for using copper for tools, that was almost unheard of, as copper was scarce in Europe at the time. Before the large copper mines in Sweden were developed and the Dutch began importing copper from Japan, copper was still quite valuable, with an exchange rate of about 15:1 with silver, making it quite expensive. So, using copper for farming tools was something only the truly wealthy could afford.
Since Marin had been swindled out of all his money, he was now completely broke and couldn't afford to buy metal tools. So, he had to find a tree in the Black Forest and, using a short knife he carried with him, laboriously cut down a branch with a forked end to make a simple wooden pickaxe. He then used this wooden tool to start digging his traps.
Using a wooden tool to dig was hard work. Just getting the pickaxe into the soil was a struggle. Luckily, being near the river, the soil was moist and soft. Otherwise, the wooden pickaxe would have been useless. As for the large amount of dirt dug up, he simply tossed it into the river.
After digging the pits, Marin carefully camouflaged them. He knew the disguise had to be perfect; otherwise, the wary herbivores wouldn't fall for it. He gathered a lot of dead branches from the forest to cover the pits and then carefully laid the sod he had dug up over the branches.
After a few hours of work, Marin finally completed the first trap. He inspected it from all angles, satisfied that there were no flaws, and then moved on to set up two more pits in the same manner.
By the time he finished, it was getting dark, so Marin left the forest. He knew that wolves were plentiful in the forest, and they would come out at night to hunt. If he stayed in the forest overnight, he and his horse, Karl, might become their dinner.
So, Marin found a small town and tied his horse to a corner near the town's only monastery, then settled down to sleep next to Karl—there was no money for lodging, after all.
It was still quite cold in the early spring, and Marin didn't have a blanket with him. To keep warm, he moved with Karl to a pile of firewood behind the church, burrowed into the straw, and fell asleep. It was only because it was early spring that Marin dared to do this. In summer, he wouldn't risk it because the straw pile might harbor snakes. In his previous life, when he was a child, Marin once saw dozens of snakes coiled together under a straw pile while playing hide-and-seek. The sight of them all hissing at him was enough to make his scalp tingle. But in early spring, the snakes were still hibernating deep underground, so he could sleep in the straw without worry.
The next morning, Marin was awakened by the sunlight in his eyes. The people at the church had noticed him long before, but no one dared to disturb him. His attire marked him as a wandering knight, and wandering knights were notoriously difficult to deal with. If it had been a large monastery with its own guards, they wouldn't have feared a wandering knight or two. But this was a small-town monastery with only a few people and no guards at all, so they weren't about to provoke a potential troublemaker.
After waking up, Marin brushed off the straw clinging to his clothes, then led Karl to the river to wash his face and refill his water bottle. Afterward, he rode back into the forest, dug up some roots to eat for breakfast, and noted how lucky he was that his body, having been accustomed to drinking cold water, didn't react negatively. Otherwise, his modern body might have had a bout of diarrhea. In medieval Europe, diarrhea was a serious illness that was difficult to treat.
Guessing it was about eight or nine in the morning, Marin decided it was time to check his traps. He rode to the three spots where he had set them the previous afternoon.
The first trap yielded nothing. Clearly, no animals had stepped on it. Disappointed, Marin moved on to the second trap. When he reached the second location, Marin was pleased to see that the grass covering the trap was gone. The trap had been triggered. But to his frustration, the pit was empty. Perhaps an animal had stepped on the trap but managed to escape before falling in.
"Damn it! How unlucky can I be?" Marin muttered, heading toward the third trap in a foul mood.
When he arrived at the third trap, Marin was delighted to find that the grass cover was also gone. The trap had been triggered. As he approached, he heard a faint, comical animal cry coming from the pit.
What kind of animal could it be? Marin cautiously dismounted, holding his lance as he approached. When he reached the edge of the pit, he finally saw what was inside—a male stag.
How did he know it was a male? Simple—only male deer have antlers. This stag was quite large, probably in its prime.
Judging by its size, Marin estimated that the stag was about 130 centimeters tall and 180 centimeters long, weighing roughly 400 pounds.
Such a large and strong stag was something Marin had only ever seen in zoos in his previous life. Now, having caught a live one, he was overjoyed.