Translator: Nox

Chapter 88

It wasn’t the time to worry about the scouting members. The problem was me.

Come to think of it, I had to live with two men who had zero survival skills. Damn it.

I wished Enoch would wake up soon, but even if he did, he would need to rest for a while, so taking responsibility for everyone's survival was up to me.

This was like a head of household shouldering the family's livelihood.

A noble lady who catches fish was not enough, now a noble lady who is responsible for the livelihood of the male leads, WTF.

I sat down on the wooden deck in front of the cabin. It was to set up a Squirrel snare stick.

I was setting up a trimmed stick on a tree where squirrels passed by, weaving a noose in between.

"What are you doing?"

Asdal, who came out of the cabin, approached me with a curious face.

"I'm making a snare. I saw a lot of squirrels passing by in the forest where I was picking mushrooms. I'm going to set it up there."

Asdal seemed to understand my words, but then looked at the wooden stick in my hand with a distrustful face.

"Can you catch animals with that?"

"Squirrels are curious animals. They'll be wary, but they'll eventually get caught here while climbing up and down the tree. I know because I caught them when I was young..."

I shut my mouth, realizing I had made a mistake.

"You caught squirrels when you were young? A noble lady?"

Asdal looked at me as if he couldn't believe what he heard and asked again. Cold sweat ran down my back.

"I've been wondering since before, what kind of education does House of Floone provide? I definitely want to attend an education class that House of Floone orders next time."

I was embarrassed and just laughed, trying to avoid his gaze. Asdal shook his head, touching his forehead, as if he knew how to interpret it.

"A class that produces such an eccentric lady... It would be interesting."

Fortunately, Margaret was known as a crazy X and an eccentric among these people.

"Anyway, that doesn't seem very useful. You should make a trap instead, and where did you get that stick from..."

"Don't pick on me if you're not going to help."

Even after being rebuffed by me, Asdal stared at the trap with his chin propped up, his face full of things he wanted to say.

That was very similar to the expression Kim (Section Chief) in our department used to make right before he started nagging when I used to work at the company.

"How about taking it easy? I don't think I've ever seen the lady resting."

Unexpectedly, Asdal looked at my complexion and gave me worried advice.

Come to think of it, I hadn't been able to get rid of my fatigue easily even after sleeping these days. I should be used to it by now, but I couldn't adapt to life in the rainforest at all.

Anyway, thanks to that, I didn't have to worry about sticky events with the male leads, which was fortunate.

I expected it, but the development was flowing in a way that I couldn't predict.

Clearly, high-level events surrounding the female lead Yuanna should have occurred around this time, but there was no sign of it at all.

Was it because Yuanna herself seemed completely uninterested in the male leads?

"I'm going to make this and set it up, and then rest. I need to eat meat."

"I'm saying that because it doesn't seem like you'll be able to catch animals with that. Don't waste your time on useless things and just rest."

After worrying about me for a while, Landmine-dal, who didn't listen to others, started pointing out and nagging as he looked at the trap I was making. He's just like Kim (Section Chief).

I ignored him, finished the noose, and got up from my seat.

"Oh, Kaiden made me some arrows. Do you know how to shoot arrows?"

Asdal tilted his head at my question.

"Of course I know how to shoot. I used to use crossbows often in hunting competitions. Ah, I guess the lady doesn't know. How great a prey I was in the competition..."

"No, you also went to hunting competitions? Why did you pretend you couldn't hunt when you knew how to hunt?"

I immediately cut off Asdal's heroic story. How could his latte-like repertoire be the same as Kim (Section Chief)'s?

"Hunting competitions mainly use crossbows or arrows..."

"Oh, that's great. Kaiden made a bow for me. Finally, His Highness will do something productive."

Instead of just getting food with his mouth, Asdal should do something now.

"What are you..."

"Shall we go then?"

"The lady never listens to what people say until the end."

Asdal finally burst into anger.

And Luzef, who had heard our conversation through the open door, quickly brought out the bow and arrows that Kaiden had made.

"If you two are going out, can you please go out quickly? His Highness the Crown Prince needs to rest, but it's too noisy."

As Luzef gave us a somewhat nervous look, Asdal burst into laughter as if he was dumbfounded.

I didn't care and said to Asdal.

"Then His Highness will get dinner tonight, right? It would be nice if you could catch a bird. Or even a small animal."

Asdal took the arrow from Luzef, nodded, and started a loud warm-up.

"Ha. It's time to show my skills. I'm better at catching flying birds than animals on the ground."

Isn't it usually the opposite? How strange.

I picked up Eunji, who was crawling and rubbing against my feet. Eunji crawled and rubbed against my feet, hearing the commotion. I put Eunji in my dress pocket and said to Asdal.

"Anyway, shall we go?"

Asdal obediently followed me.

We went into the forest to the west of the cabin. It was the place where I used to pick mushrooms, and I often saw squirrels passing by there.

I set up the Squirrel snare stick diagonally on a tree trunk that I had seen in advance.

If I connected it like this, the squirrel was likely to climb the tree using the gentle noose stick.

While I was setting up the noose stick, Eunji crawled out of my dress pocket. The guy circled around me, watching what I was doing, and then quickly disappeared somewhere.

"Ah, Eunji! Where are you going!"

At my call, the guy who was going into the bushes turned to me and jumped up and down. It didn't seem like he was telling me to follow him, but it seemed like he was telling me to wait a moment.

'What is he trying to do?'

I guess I should wait since he's telling me to wait. I quietly watched Eunji disappear into the bushes and finished setting up the noose stick.

At that time, Asdal was inserting an arrowhead into the bow, pulling the bowstring, and scanning the surroundings.

I sat down nearby so as not to be a hindrance and watched what Asdal was doing. I thought he was useless, but I'm so glad he knows how to shoot a bow.

Flap flap.

And then, I saw a bird cutting through the branches and flying into the sky.

Pyoong.

Asdal quickly sensed the movement and released the bowstring.

Thud.

The bird was hit by the arrow and fell down. It was a hit.

I was so surprised that I stared at Asdal with my mouth open.

"Stay here. I'll pick it up."

Asdal said with a fairly reliable face and disappeared. Oh. I really saw him again.

While waiting for him, I was quietly picking mushrooms. Then Eunji appeared in front of me with something in his mouth. It was more accurate to say that he dragged it.

"……Huh?"

It was a rabbit. Eunji was still a baby snake, so he was only about the size of two of my palms put together, but he had hunted a rabbit twice his size.

The top predator of the food chain is different from the start.

"Good job. You're really amazing?"

I was excited and stroked Eunji's scales, pouring out compliments. Eunji was so excited that he spun around and showed off his cuteness.

"Good job, good job, my baby!" I shouted and clapped, and then Asdal appeared.

"What are you doing?"

He looked at me and Eunji alternately as if he was looking at something strange. I was a little embarrassed, so I put my hands together that had been clapping.

"Eunji caught a rabbit. So..."

Asdal's gaze turned to Eunji and the rabbit wriggling on the floor.

While he was looking at the rabbit, I looked at the bird in his hand.

The tail was long and only the face was a different color, so it looked like a pheasant at first glance, but it wasn't a pheasant. It seemed to be a different species of bird that only lived here.

"It looks like a Long-tailed bird."

Asdal said, realizing that I was looking at the bird in his hand.

"Long-tailed bird?"

The name is so simple.

"Ah, it's usually a bird that lives in the hot northern region, but it's here too."

He seems to have a lot of knowledge like that because he was a hunter.

Of course, he only knows how to hunt and doesn't know how to prepare the prey at all, but it's good that he's good at hunting. I take back what I said about him being useless.

"Shall we go back?"

I said, picking up Eunji and the rabbit and getting up.

"I think we can come and check the squirrels once before going to bed."

Asdal nodded at my words.

We each carried the rabbit and the Long-tailed bird and returned.

Of course, the preparation was up to me. Enoch was still not awake, and Luzef and Asdal were nobles who had never even been near the kitchen.

Originally, Margaret would have been too, but...

I resigned myself and went into the kitchen with the rabbit and the bird I had caught.