After the class I returned to my dorm, then I carried my tools and firewood, and went straight to yesterday’s open place.
Today also I will be hunting. And at the same time will set up some traps where no person would walk by.
With this thought in my mind, I pushed aside the unusual dense summer grass and stepped into the open space, only to find that someone was already sitting there.
“It’s you, classmate Angelica” I greeted her, “Good evening.”
The petite half-elf turned her head, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
“Did you come for a barbeque? Just wait for some time. I’ll go and hunt a prey now, otherwise, we’ll have to pick wild vegetables for tonight’s dinner.” I sat down in front of the stone stove, where the fire hadn’t been lit yet, and prepared to sort out my tools.
However, she shook her head at me, picked up a branch, and wrote on the ground, “no need to go.”
“Ah” I didn’t understand.
“I brought a return gift today.” she wrote.
“Return gift?”
In my puzzled eyes, she got up, picked up two rabbits from the other side of the stone stove, and showed them to me.
“This is… did you hunt them?” I was slightly surprised.
She nodded, with a vaguely proud expression.
It shouldn’t be easy. Although the rabbits are not dangerous, they are not easy to catch either. These little things run fast and can drill around anywhere.
I didn’t expect this girl could hunt, probably has learned in a human village.
She brought the rabbit in front of me and put it down, then with the branch wrote again on the ground, “let’s eat together.”
Does that mean one for each……
To be honest, these two rabbits are not even enough to fill my teeth. However, it is someone else’s hard work, I’ll eat less tonight.
“Wait a moment, didn’t I tell you that there are wild beasts in the forest?” When I grabbed the knife and began to take care of the rabbit, I suddenly remembered this.
“Those kinds of beasts are nocturnal.” she wrote on the ground.
“Some beasts wake up as soon as they smell a prey. You have to watch out for it.”
I shook my head, skillfully peeled the skin, removed tendons, membranes, and internal organs. Then took them to the stream to wash and drain blood. I sprinkled some seasoning brought from the canteen, put it on a roasting fork, and brushed oil on it. Then I lit the fire in the stone stove and put the fork on it.
“Hey don’t go too close to the fire, it’ll burn your hair,” I warned Angelica, whose eyes were shining, had put her face close, while holding the fork in both hands and turning it over.
The oil on the surface of the meat made a sizzling sound while roasting, and soon the aroma spread around. Unlike yesterday’s wild board, this small prey was almost baked in a quarter of an hour. I confirmed the heat and handed the roasting fork to angelica.
She took it expectantly, sniffed at it, and borrowed her eyes in ecstasy.
However, just as she was about to eat, she suddenly seemed to think of something, and looked at me.
“What happened?” I was baffled by her gaze.
Without saying anything, she silently moved a little distance, turned around, and began to eat.
You don’t want to be seen eating? Judging from her posture she seems to be wolfing down it.
To be honest, we orcs don’t care so much about table manners, this girl is too fussy.
I grabbed my share and bit it.
—- it was almost finished in two to three bites.
The barbecued rabbit meat was delicious, but it was too little.
The fellow finished at the same time and put the fork back on the stove with a bulging mouth.
With such a small mouth, she could eat as fast as me?
I suddenly frowned.
As she leaned forward to reach for the stove, the sleeve pulled back a little, and I saw there seemed to be a bruise on her hand.
“Hey,” I called her out.
She turned around, swallowed the last mouthful of food, and tilted her head at me in doubt.
“Your arm, is injured?” I pointed to her right arm.
She was stunned for a moment, then picked up the branch and wrote down, “I accidentally fell down a while ago while hunting—-”
“Don’t fool me,” I interrupted her before she could finish, “how could that bruise be just a recent injury?”
Angelica stood there, with her head hung low. I couldn’t see her face.
It seems she has been bullied worse than I thought.
“You… were beaten by someone?” I remembered what princess Alyssa told me this morning, and decided to her now.
Angelica didn’t respond.
“Was it that girl named Felina?” I asked again.
Still no response.
“Why are you–” the third question came to an abrupt end.
As she suddenly erased her previous words and quickly wrote:
“It’s none of your business.”
And then she looked up.
The expression of extreme indifference, the vigilance like wild animals, appeared in her eyes again.
The atmosphere suddenly became stiff.
Startled by the abrupt change in her manner, I failed to ask her any further questions.
She stared at me for a moment, lowered her head again, and wrote “please stop meddling in others business.”
Before I could organize the words, she got up indifferently and walked off to the outside of the forest without saying anything.
I stared at her blankly, unable to think of any words to persuade her to stay.
I have no idea what this girl was thinking…
In the days that followed, she didn’t come back again.
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