The Newly-Wed Huntswoman Life (2)

I wouldn’t need these permits if I was going to hunt just for personal purposes, but since I was planning on earning a lot of money, I bought them. Since these permits were pretty costly, the receptionists tried to intimidate me, saying “You’ll need to hunt a lot to get your money’s worth.” Paying no heed to their words, I just asked them detailed questions about the local rules for the Capital’s forest. Things like how to mark a trap I set, the guidelines for using bodies of water, and what species were prohibited to hunt. If you didn’t ask these questions, you’d get yourself in trouble no matter where you hunted.

When I got back home, I opened my package of personal items that arrived from the Caliente residence and took out my hunting goods. They were my cherished, well-used equipment. That day, I cleaned them, and early the next morning, I rode off to the Capital’s forest feeling all giddy. I was decked out in the huntswoman outfit: leather boots, tight-fitting pants, leather jacket, and hunting cap. Bow and arrows, mountain knife, short spear, shurikens. Several types of rope and traps. Since it was my first time hunting here, I came well-prepared.

That day, I hunted a mountain boar, a badger, and three rabbits. In order to drain out the blood and cool the meat, I anchored the boar down in a river. I bled the rabbits and sold them to a butcher, and since badgers are delicious, I took that one home. I prepared it at home and half of it will be tonight’s dinner.

Cermiane’s eyes were wide open.

“Rabbits won’t make that much money, but if I prep the boar and sell off its hide and meat, we should earn a decent amount.”

I was in a really good mood as I cut some of the badger roast for Cermiane.

“Ral, are you planning on earning money as a huntswoman?”

“Yep, I can easily earn money, and I’m really good at it too.”

Cermiane was stunned, but then just smiled wryly.

“I wasn’t expecting this. Please do be careful, and take care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be reckless in a forest I don’t know. But be careful, I might earn a lot more than you if you aren’t careful!”

The next day, I accidentally hunted two deer. Oh gosh, I’ve done it now. It’s physically impossible for me to bring home two deer by myself. For the time being, I field-dressed the boar, and sank the two deer in the river. I brought back the boar with me and sold it to the tanner and the butcher. Then, I went to the huntsmen guild, and requested for them to handle my two deer. The guild helped its members out with the collection when they hunted big game or when the location was inaccessible. Of course, it wasn’t for free, though.

The old man at the guild was stunned.

“In just two days, you hunted a boar and two deer?”

“Yep. They’re easy to hunt so I just hunted them. Can you help collect them?”

“I can’t believe it… A young lady with thin arms like you…”

“Actually, I’m not a young lady anymore, I’m a wife. I’ll leave it to you.”

From that day on, the guild treated me a lot more respectfully.

I stopped hunting prey that were hard to carry home, and targeted small yet profitable prey instead. Animals like foxes, martens, and weasels, whose fur and skin could be sold for a pretty penny. I flew around the Capital’s forest looking for animal tracks, and hunted a few foxes. I then brought those home.

For animals whose fur and skin are expensive, it was more profitable to sell only those parts rather than the entire animal. Thus, I field-dressed them at home, and I even skinned them too. When Quemella saw me field-dressing the foxes all bloody, she fainted. But, she soon got used to it and started helping out.

I brought the skin and fur to the plaza and sold them to a skin and fur merchant. Just to remind you, it was the skin and fur of precious foxes. I earned quite a lot.

Even during the winter, I ran around in the snow-covered forest. Visibility improved in the winter so it was a good time to get a good understanding of the geography, and it was unexpectedly easy to notice small prey because the trees were bare. It was also harder for the prey to rot, too. Winter was a good season for hunting. I was on a roll hunting prey, and my huntswoman life was progressing very smoothly.

The only thing that was disappointing was not being able to come across the King Grizzly, but after talking to the people at the guild, it seemed that I needed to go deeper in the forest. That would require me to camp for a couple of days, but Cermiane would never let me. He said that we would go together and hunt some day, so I forced myself to be patient.

With my fast earning, the Emilians’ financial situation became stable again, and I was extremely pleased with being able to hunt. I was really glad I married Cermiane. I don’t really know about romance and all that, but commoner or noble, I knew there weren’t that many husbands who would allow me to live so freely. By the way, I didn’t leave all the housework to Quemella — I did the washing, cooking, cleaning, and other housework myself, and on days when I couldn’t go out and hunt due to the weather, I would do needlework at home. I would do gardenwork when I was outside skinning my prey, and during spring, I would fill the garden with flowers.

This happy, fun life lasted for around a year. One day, I knew we would have children and Cermiane would rise up the ranks as a knight, but I had naively thought that my daily life as a wife to a knight would continue like this forever.