Chapter 225: Haul
The pretty woman before him continues to dismantle the carcasses with precision without even batting an eye on him. For the first ti in his life, a woman is not caring about his presence at all and it is kind of a fresh feeling for him.
As a duke, there are plenty of won who are quite aggressive in their approach and are openly flirting with him as they know him as one who is looking for a partner. Young, and even old won alike are attracted to him due to his manly face. He is still young but he bears a resemblance to a handso old gentleman that can make young and old people swoon just by his presence. He isn’t old of course as he is still what people considered as in his pri.
In short, he isn’t short of won lining up to beco his wife. But for once, soone who has an indifferent attitude on him appeared before him and the frozen heartstrings suddenly got thawed in an instant.
For the first ti in his life, Darcy finds himself unable to say sothing comprehensible as he stamrs on what to say. He couldn’t even hold a proper conversation for once when he could even say quite rude or normal to other people he had t before.
"Hmmm? You saying sothing?" Elaina asked when she heard the duke mumble sothing but she couldn’t hear properly.
"Uh...nothing!"
Elaina shrugged and continued her job of dismantling the carcasses of the monsters.
"L-let
help you with the dismantling process. Despite being a duke, I am quite knowledgeable and have experience in this area."
"Hmm, if that is the case, the help is appreciated," Elaina nodded as she was then handed a spare knife specifically used for dismantling monsters and beasts which the duke accepted and started helping Elaina with the job.
Shardu and Zaza went to guard the area while Elaina continued to gather the carcasses and dismantle them one by one. By now, she is proficient enough to handle even big monsters with ease. She quickly cut off a few pieces of stuff, unnecessary flesh, and dirt mixed on the flesh and pelt and put them in storage.
The only carcass that Elaina didn’t touch is the Alpha Wolf. It is double the size of the Elite Wolves that she can handle by herself and she has to ask Julia for help in properly dismantling it as Julia can just use telekinesis magic and lift the monster a few tis to complete the dismantling process.
"You are not going to dismantle the Alpha Wolf?"
"Not now. I will bring it ho with
and let soone help
with the dismantling process. And besides, this wolf is so heavy that even us two helping together to lift it will be hard."
"Then how are you planning to carry it all?" he asked.
"I have a dinsional storage bag with
to carry the excess carcass and store it without having to lug around heavy baggage."
Elaina then let the bag take the carcass inside by opening the bag and putting the leg of the Alpha Wolf, absorbing it inside in the process without the difficulty of fitting it inside. She also put every single dismantled item inside the bag as well and soon cleaned up the surroundings. As for the blood, Duke Darcy pulled up a blood crystal that absorbs blood from the surroundings and solidifies it in the process, cleaning up any excess blood spilled in the process. If not handled well, the blood on the snow will attract monsters in the area.
"Looks like you are prepared," Elaina nodded. She just planned to cover it with snow earlier to cover the blood but now that it has been solved, she does not need to do that.
"Blood always follows my trail due to what I am doing. To ensure that monsters don’t co to the area I hunted down already, I carry the blood crystal to clean up the splatter most of the ti," he said as the blood crystal finishes sucking up all the blood in the area.
"Pretty convenient I must say."
He nodded. "But it is pretty expensive."
"Hmm, is that so? Interesting," Elaina nodded before she carried the bag.
"Are you going ho?"
"I will. Although I plan to hunt more, the Alpha Wolf’s at and the other smaller wolves should last us for quite a while this winter as long as we don’t splurge too much on at consumption, we should be fine."
"Then, can I escort you back to the farm? It is dangerous around here after all."
Elaina chuckled. "I am not so helpless against enemies as I can hold my candle against them just fine, but I appreciate the gesture. But I can manage just fine. And besides, Shardu and Zaza are here with . You should continue with your previous work instead of worrying about ."
Although he was a bit disappointed with Elaina’s answer, he nodded and smiled.
"If that is the case, then that’s a sha. Well, take care out there. Monsters similar to the Alpha Wolf are on the prowl in the forest during winter so be careful."
"You should be careful as well. Don’t make the sa mistake as what you almost did back when you were fighting earlier."
Duke Darcy blushed after he rembered how Elaina covered for him when he was almost attacked in the process. After the brief interaction between the two, they soon parted ways as Elaina headed ho with the two beasts while the Duke remained standing looking at the woman’s figure that got farther and farther.
"She is an interesting woman. She is also quite beautiful as well especially that aquamarine eyes of hers. Still, her ability to fight is sothing I wouldn’t expect from a farr. Why does she remind
so much of Mr. Rakkan? Are they related in any way? Perhaps the Adventurer Guild has information about her?"
For Duke Darcy, this is the first ti he gained so interest from a woman. No one has ever got his fancy like this before. But for him, this feeling is not unpleasant. It is one that he felt to be sothing else.
"Elaina... I should rember your na."
Darcy smiled before he took off to the distance to continue with his job. Once he is done with his job, he will ask around about Elaina and hope that he will et her again.
Is it love?
Perhaps. But he still is unaware of his feelings.
...
...
...
As for Elaina, eting with Duke Darcy was sothing akin to a fleeting encounter. Nothing more, nothing less. For her, he is sowhat of a passerby who suddenly stole her target while she was still ambushing it. Still, Elaina couldn’t deny that the man had so kind of unique charm. If Elaina had ever been asked for any handso n she had t in her entire life, she would list Darcy as one of them.
However, there is no attraction from her to him. Elaina noticed the moves that Duke Darcy tried earlier as an attempt to flirt, and Elaina was not dense enough to not notice that. She just didn’t bother to tell the man about it since she didn’t care much.
What her mind is filled with right now is the haul of at she got from the hunt.
"You two did a good job earlier. Prepare later for dinner as we will have quite a at party. You two will get twice as much as a reward. Look forward to it."
Hearing this, the two seed happy and excitedly raced back ho in the snow. While they are almost ho, the snow starts to fall from the sky.
...
...
...
"Wow, Elaina. You scored quite a big catch huh?" Troy said as he gazed over at the carcass that Elaina put over at the vacant shed where they dismantled monster carcasses after hunting. It’s cold but Troy brought an outdoor heater himself, making the cold bearable.
"This is indeed a good haul, Sis. I heard Alpha Wolves are considered pretty rare as they are being hunted before they beco real trouble," Julia said as she gazed over at the Alpha Wolf’s dead body.
"Just got lucky that this one and his pack are on the prowl. Otherwise, I won’t be bringing this catch proudly."
"But why are so of them riddled with holes? These pelts are damaged and would need to have these holes removed or patched out if not too damaged," Troy looked at the pelt that Elaina put over to the side so that it could be dried for later.
"One man helped
with this. He helped
take down the Alpha Wolf."
"Oh? A hunter?"
Elaina shook her head. "Nope. He called himself Duke of this village. What was his na again? Darcy Black-sothing?" Elaina tried to recall only for her to forget his surna.
"Darcy Blackwing?" Troy filled in the blanks.
"Oh yeah, that."
Troy was surprised. "You t the Gunslinger Duke?!"
Elaina frowned at the reaction of Troy. Is the guy from earlier really that famous or sothing?
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