Chapter 115 Village Life 2 (1/2)
”Am I late?”
Zenobia smiled at her favourite child of late. ”No, you're just on time. We're still doing final checks. Have you met the team?”
Zero looked around. Every hunter on the team looked scary but when they saw their latest addition, that sternness on their faces melted away.
”Why, hello there!” A man with a very wide grin greeted Zero. He held out his hand and Zero shook it, noting how human he looked.
”Hello, I'm Zero. I'll be in your care today.”
The man with a wide grin and shaggy dirty blond hair introduced himself as Gweshr.
”Are you human?”
Gweshr trained his brown eyes onto Zero with a mischievous twinkle in them. ”What do you think?”
Zero frowned. Gweshr looked like one but Zero knew for sure he wasn't one. There were only two humans in the village after all. Also, Gweshr wasn't a ghost. Zero could detect him on Mii's map.
A huge hand patted Zero's fluffy hair and the brunet blinked. He hadn't heard the man move and was that a horse's body he saw?
”Don't worry about that dog, Zero. I'm Crudgel, those two fellows are Vrald and Gerald. The lady beside Zenobia is Mitch, you've met her husband earlier.”
Mitch glared at Crudgel and fired an arrow at the horse-man who dodged it with ease.
”Don't call me Mitch. It's Mitchnew. Also, in case you're wondering, my husband is the fool called Sekkin.”
Zenobia had to break up the tension before it could a fight could break out.
”Does this happen often?” Zero asked.
Zenobia sighed. ”Mitchnew is a little testy so don't take it personally. She's not a bad person. Also, Gweshr is a werewolf. You'll be following him during this hunt to check traps and track prey. I heard from Hua Tuo that you were an expert.”
Zero beamed. ”Leave it to me! Also, can I ask what Crudgel is? Is he more of a horse or a man? I can't tell.”
Vrald, the man with red hair and eyes, guffawed. ”That's a good one kid... I can't tell either. He eats like a man but farts like a horse.”
Gerald, the man with golden hair and eyes, elbowed his companion and silenced him with a glare. ”Sorry, Crudgel. It appears that my companion here is lacking some brains. He's caught a deadly disease that cannot be cured.”
Zero perked up. ”What disease is that? Perhaps I could try... my master is a great doctor.”
Gerald was amused. ”Can your master cure stupidity?”
Everyone laughed when Zero honestly told Gerald that it wasn't possible. ”There are many unknown diseases that exist but my master has once said that there was an incurable disease that exists amongst humans and sometimes species of the other races. Stupidity is one of its names. Don't worry, it's not infectious. The best treatment to reduce its side effects is to apply sympathy.”
Mitchnew walked over to Zero and slapped him on the back lightly. She was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes. Zero thought that she looked beautiful and that Sekkin was a lucky person to marry such a great lady.
”I think I'm going to like you, Zero. Well said. I couldn't have done any better myself.”
Vrald spluttered and Crudgel teased the warrior until his face matched his hair. Gweshr taught Zero how to do a fist bump and talked a little more about everyone on the team.
”Ex-adventurer!”
The werewolf nodded. ”He may be an idiot but he's strong. Both Vrald and Gerald travelled together before settling here. They're dragon descendants. Crudgel is a centaur. That means he is both man and horse equally. He's a great archer like Mitchnew and the chieftess. Mitchnew is a half dark elf. I've never seen her laugh like that before. You're the first to make her do so.”
Zero blushed and tried to redirect Gweshr's attention elsewhere. The werewolf grinned at Zero's shyness and decided to spare the poor brunet. He moved on to explain to Zero about the kinds of traps they had and where they were located.
”Why are they located in such weird places? Do they catch anything at all?”
Zenobia overheard the question and grinned. ”You're a curious one. Normally, they wouldn't. However, Wiser did a little something so they're very effective in catching whatever we need during the season. For example, we catch rabbits in the autumn with them, deer in the winter, boars in the summer and sometimes bears in spring.”
”Season?”
The chieftess paused. ”Have you not experienced it?”
Zero shook his head.
”Well then,” the chieftess blinked. ”I suppose you can learn about them when we set off. Feel free to ask Crudgel when you're on his back later.”
Zero nodded and wasn't sure of what she meant by 'on his back' but agreed nevertheless. They quickly gathered what they needed and set off at once. Zero came to understand what Zenobia meant. He was literally carried up and placed on the horseback of the centaur. The view from Crudgel's back was certainly different and Zero was equal parts excited and scared.
”Hold onto my waist,” the centaur advised. ”We'll be travelling fast through the forest to check the traps first. Any game can come after that.”
”Why don't we hunt first and check the traps later?”
The centaur smiled. ”We don't want to hunt too little or too much without knowing what's caught already.”
It made sense. Zero nodded and asked about seasons. Apparently, Earth experienced weather changes all the time. The four seasons happened at a specific time of a year. Sometimes it became very hot and that was called summer. Sometimes it becomes very cold and sometimes snow started falling. That weather was known as winter and these weathers can last for months at a time hence they were known as seasons.
”What about rain? Is rain a season?”
Crudgel scratched his chin. ”I don't think so. It doesn't last for months does it?”
Zero shook his head. It lasted for less than a day most the time so it didn't count. ”But what if there was a place that had rain that could last for months? Or perhaps, years?”
The centaur shrugged. ”There might be such a place but I wouldn't know. Maybe it could be considered a season if it happened? Like light rain season, heavy rain season, warm rain season.. I don't really know.”
Zero found that idea fascinating and thought about what he would name them when he found such a place. A place with lots and lots of rain sounded cool. However, that also meant that Zero would miss the sun. Maybe it would be rainy every other day and sunny only once in a while like how the normal weather was now? Zero would love to visit such an interesting place. Would the plants there grow resistant to the rain?
Before he knew it, they've arrived at the first trap. Zero hopped down Crudgel's back with some difficulty and scurried over to help Gweshr check the trap. It was empty so they quickly reset it and moved on.
On the third trap, Zero saw a trapped baby jackal-monkey screaming for help. He thought that Gweshr was going to kill it but was surprised when the hunter let it go.
”Why?”
Gweshr blinked, not quite understanding Zero's question. ”Why what?”
Zero pointed to the trap. ”We caught it didn't we? Why did we have to let it go?”
Mitchnew smiled. ”It was a baby. We let the baby animals live so that they can grow up and produce more babies. It's the cycle of life here. If we kill this baby, there might not be enough adults to keep the species going.”
”Mitchnew... he's only a kid. He couldn't possibly understand this,” Crudgel began but Zero shook his head.