Chapter 19: Chapter 19

It didn't take much time for the other hunting duos to begin to return to camp. Most groups had caught at least one animal, but none had managed to hunt a deer.

Su's group was the third to return, and she ran over to greet Alice.

"Alice! Did you like going out hunting with dad? Were you able to see anything worth hunting?"

Despite just having ventured through the woods, Su was still overflowing with energy.

"Yea, exploring out here is great! Hugo and Ash managed to bring down a deer, right away, so we came back to camp early."

Seeing that Hugo's group had a big harvest on the first day out hunting, the rest of the hunters labeled Alice and Ash as lucky charms. A number of hunters came over to chat with the girl, their conversations mostly focused on her hunting luck.

While Alice chatted with some of the hunters, the rest prepared to butcher their prey.

"Hey Ed, come over here and watch how we butcher these."

Hugo called over the skinny lad that Ash had noticed before, and began showing him how to skin and butcher the deer in a way that wasted as little meat as possible.

'Where have I seen this guy before? Maybe he was someone I saw when I was walking around the city with Alice?'

Seeing that Hugo was teaching someone else, Alice stood up and joined Ed in learning from Hugo. Ed seemed to have some experience working with bodies, and asked a number of fairly in-depth questions on how to properly process the meat.

Hugo first worked on the deer, then showed the two how to skin and harvest the meat of other prey that was hunted. By the time they were finished processing all of the meat, the sun had almost reached the horizon. Now that the hunting group had fresh game, they wouldn't have to eat the dry and tasteless jerky from before.

The campfire was stoked, and meat was placed over the fire to cook while all the hunters sat around it in a circle, sharing stories to pass the time. Most of the stories were hunting stories, revolving around the story teller's time in the woods. The sky began to darken as a bulky man known among the hunters as "Brownie" began telling a story. Sporting a small brown beard and short brown hair, paired with a brown bear skin vest, the man almost resembled a brown bear, for which he was nicknamed after.

"This one will be a little different… This is the story of the Crimson General from over three hundred years ago, a devil among men."

Ash perked his ears up, eager to hear a story from so long ago. He still had hardly any knowledge about this world and the state of the surrounding countries; perhaps this story could help him understand better.

"Back then, the Vosnans were still bent on world conquest. Forcing countless young men to war, with an endless hunger for power… Among their heartless generals, there was one more brutal than them all. The Crimson General. Women and children? He showed no mercy, killing people in the most brutal ways he could come up with. He was a devil… but the entire world has to thank him for his work. Without him, those Vosnians might have never ended their warpath. Now, I'm sure all of you already know the story of his last battle, so I will share another one."

The food suspended over the fire had just finished cooking, and chunks of meat were passed around to everyone to snack on while Brownie continued his story.

"Back then, before that monster was as famous as he is now, he prepared to set siege to a small town. All of you are familiar with this town… back then, it was known as Olthen, but now it is known as Holen. The Vosnians had been pushing their borders forwards, and hadn't suffered any defeats in their assault until this battle, which was also the only defeat the Crimson General ever experienced. A small lord from Mol was left in charge of the city, and most of the inhabitants fled in fear of the incoming army. With only a few men to defend Olthen's walls, the defending warriors knew that they stood little chance of defeating their enemies and living on to see the next day. There was a man amongst those warriors, at that time just an average soldier, who had a great mind. He took the lead in defending the city, leading the defending force to set traps in front of the walls. A pit trap set by the defenders crippled most of the horses brought by the enemies, and the soldiers held strong at the wall. Thanks to the greatly decreased population of the city due to everyone fleeing, there was enough food to turtle in the city for multiple months. Unable to breach the walls, the Vosnians set up camp outside of the city, preventing any goods from getting to the men inside. Two months later, the coldest winter Mol has ever seen hit. The warriors inside the city weren't greatly affected, but no supplies could reach their enemies thanks to the deep snow, and many Vosnian soldiers perished from the snow. The Crimson General had gotten tired of waiting for his enemies to run out of food, and led them to attack the city in the middle of a blizzard, ignoring all of their complaints. This turned out to be a suicidal move, only only a few Vosnians left the battlefield alive. The few defenders of Olthen had won against all odds, largely thanks to the leadership shown by a certain warrior. After the battle, that warrior went on to be Mol's most successful general, and the city was renamed after him: Holen."

Finishing his story, Brownie sat back and let others tell their own stories. Ash began to ponder what he had heard. In the last week with Alice, he learned a bit about the current Vosnan Empire- they were a pacifist society, looked up to by almost every country on the continent. How could they have such a good reputation now if they had been chaotic warmongerers in the past? Also, Brownie said that we had the Crimson General to thank for ending the war, but why would a sadistic devil try to halt a war?

The sun had already crossed the horizon, and the last of its light was fading away into the night. It was still earlier than Alice would normally sleep, but seeing that all of the other hunters were heading to their tents, she also headed to her's. She would be sharing a tent with Su… which was not a good thing for anyone who wanted to get some sleep.Alice lay down next to Ash, preparing to be kept up all night listening to Su's chattering… but her friend was silent.

"Good night Alice, we will be getting up early to hunt, so try to fall asleep quickly."

Su was… going to sleep? Happy with the unlikely change in Su's temperament, Alice quickly fell asleep.