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Chapter 76 ‌‌‌
* * *
I shouldn't have been worried about the scout members. The real problem was me.
Come to think of ‌‌‌it, I had to live with two men whose survival instincts were virtually nonexistent. Damn it.
I wished Enoch would wake up soon, but even then he'd need rest for a while, so ultimately it fell to me to ‌‌ensure everyone's survival.
It was as if I were the head of household, bearing the weight of my family's livelihood on my shoulders.
Not content with being a noble young lady who catches fish, now I was a noble young lady responsible for the male leads' survival. Seriously.
I settled myself on the wooden deck in front of the Cabin. I needed to set up a squirrel trap.
I was in the middle of installing a prepared rod on a tree where squirrels passed through and weaving a snare between the branches.
"What are you doing?"
Asdal emerged from the Cabin door and approached me with curious eyes.
"I'm making a snare. I saw ‌‌many squirrels passing through ‌‌‌the Forest where I was gathering mushrooms. I'm going to set it up there."
Asdal seemed to understand my explanation, but then his face filled with skepticism as he stared at the wooden rod in my hands.
"You can catch animals with that?"
"Squirrels are curious creatures. They'll be cautious, but as they climb up and down the trees, they'll eventually get caught here. I know because I caught them when I was young...."
I realized my mistake and quickly closed my mouth.
"You said you caught squirrels when you were young? A noble young lady?"
Asdal looked at me with eyes that couldn't believe what he'd heard. Cold sweat trickled down my back.
"I've been curious about this for a while now—what kind of education does the Floné Duchy provide? I'd really like to observe one of those educational classes they give ‌‌‌sometime."
I panicked and averted my gaze, laughing nervously. Asdal then pressed his forehead and shook his head, apparently interpreting my reaction.
"An eccentric like you, produced by their classes.... That must ‌‌‌be interesting."
At least it was fortunate that among these people, Margaret was known as ‌‌a lunatic and an eccentric.
"Anyway, that doesn't look very useful. You'd be better off making a proper trap. Where did you even get that rod...."
"If you're not going to help, stop criticizing."
Asdal, rebuffed by my words, rested ‍‌‌his chin in his ‌‌‌‌hand and stared intently at the snare with a face full of things he wanted to ‌‌‌‌say.
It was remarkably similar to the expression my department head Kim used to make at work right before he ‌‌started nagging.
"Why don't you take it easy for a while? I don't think I've ever ‌‌seen you rest."
Unexpectedly, Asdal offered concerned advice while observing my complexion.
Now that he mentioned it, lately even after sleeping, fatigue didn't fade easily. Though I should have been getting used to it by now, life in the Tropical Rainforest simply wasn't something I could adapt to.
At least thanks to this, I didn't have to worry about ‌‌‌sticky romantic events developing with the male leads.
As I'd expected, the story was unfolding in completely unpredictable ways.
By this point, there should have been high-intensity events surrounding the heroine Yuanna, but there were no signs of any. ‌‌‌
Perhaps it was because Yuanna herself seemed indifferent and ‌‌‌unconcerned about the ‌‌‌male leads. ‌
"I'll just finish making this and set it up, then rest. But I need to get some meat."
"I'm ‌‌‌just saying because it doesn't look like any animals will actually get caught in that. Don't waste time on pointless things and just rest."
His concern was short-lived. This landmine of a man, who didn't listen well to others, began ‌‌pointing out flaws and nagging as he watched the snare I was making. Just like Manager Kim.
I ignored him, finished the snare, ‌‌and stood up.
"By the way, Kaiden made a bow and arrows for me. Do you know how to shoot?"
At my question, ‌‌‌Asdal tilted his head.
"Of course I can shoot. I used to use a crossbow often in my hunting competitions. Ah, but you wouldn't know, Young Lady. Let me tell you how impressive the game I've hunted in competitions...."
"Wait, you participated in a hunting competition too? If you knew how to hunt, why did you pretend you couldn't?"
I cut off Asdal's boasting immediately. It was remarkable how his repertoire of old stories matched the department head's ‌‌‌exactly.
"Hunting competitions primarily use crossbows or bows, so...."
"Oh, how convenient. Kaiden made a bow for me just in time. Now you'll finally be doing something productive."
It was time he stopped relying solely on his mouth to procure food and actually contributed something.
"What do you mean by that...."
"Shall we go ‌‌‌‌then?"
"The Young Lady never lets anyone ‌‌finish speaking."
Asdal finally burst with exasperation.
Through the open doorway, Rujeep must have heard our ‌‌‌‌entire conversation, because he promptly brought out the bow and arrows ‌Kaiden had made.
"If you're both going out, could you please ‌‌leave quickly? The Crown Prince needs his rest, and it's far too noisy."
When Rujeep gave us a pointed hint in a somewhat irritable tone, Asdal laughed as if utterly exasperated.
I paid no mind and spoke to Asdal.
"So you'll be bringing tonight's dinner, won't you? It ‌‌would be wonderful if you could catch a bird. Or even a small ‌‌‌animal."
Asdal accepted the arrows from Rujeep, nodded, and began his warm-up ‌‌‌‌exercises with great fanfare.
"Ha. It's time to demonstrate ‌‌‌my skill. I'm ‌‌better at hunting birds in flight than animals on the ground."
Isn't it usually the opposite? How intriguing.
Hearing the commotion, Silver Earthworm crawled over and rubbed against my feet. I picked up Silver Earthworm and placed him in my dress pocket, then spoke to Asdal.
"Shall we go then?"
Asdal followed me obediently.
We entered the Forest to the west of the Cabin. It was where I'd been collecting mushrooms, and I'd frequently seen squirrels passing through that area.
I leaned a squirrel trap rod diagonally against a tree trunk I'd spotted beforehand.
By connecting it this way, squirrels would likely use the gentle snare rod to climb the tree.
While I was setting up the snare rod, Silver Earthworm crawled out from ‌‌‌my dress pocket. He circled around me, watched what I was doing, then quickly disappeared somewhere.
"Oh, Silver Earthworm! Where are you going!"
At my call, he turned back from the bushes and bounced. ‌‌It didn't seem like he wanted me to follow—it seemed more like he was telling me to wait a moment. ‌‌‌
'What is he up to?'
Since he seemed to be telling me to wait, I would. I watched Silver Earthworm ‌‌disappear into the undergrowth, then finished setting up the snare rod.
Meanwhile, Asdal had nocked an arrow and was scanning the surroundings with his bowstring ‌drawn.
I sat nearby so as not to ‌‌interfere, watching what Asdal was doing. I'd thought he was utterly useless, but I was relieved to discover he could actually shoot a bow.
Flutter, flutter.
Then a bird burst through the branches ‌‌and soared into the sky.
Whoosh.
Asdal detected the movement with agility and released his bowstring.
Thwack.
The bird was struck by the arrow and plummeted. A direct ‌‌‌hit.
I ‌‌stared at Asdal in astonishment, my mouth hanging open.
"There it is. I'll retrieve it."
Asdal spoke with a rather confident expression and disappeared.
Oh. I've truly reassessed him.
While waiting for him, I quietly gathered mushrooms.
Silver Earthworm appeared before me with something in his mouth—or rather, dragging it would be more accurate.
"...What?"
It was a rabbit. Silver Earthworm was still a young serpent, no larger than two of my palms pressed together, yet he had hunted a rabbit twice his own size.
It seemed apex predators truly were different from birth.
"Well done. You're truly amazing, aren't you?"
I ‌was delighted, stroking Silver Earthworm's scales while pouring out praise. They say praise makes even whales dance, and Silver Earthworm became so excited he spun in circles, showing off.
"Oh, well done, well done, my little one!" I cried out, ‌‌‌‌‌clapping my hands, when Asdal appeared.
"What are you doing?"
He looked back and forth between me and Silver Earthworm as though witnessing something bizarre. I felt somewhat embarrassed and clasped my hands together tightly.
"Silver Earthworm caught a ‌‌‌rabbit. So...."
Asdal's gaze shifted to Silver Earthworm and the rabbit writhing on the ground.
While he observed the rabbit, I examined the bird he held in his hand.
It had a long tail and a differently colored face, resembling ‌‌a pheasant at first glance, though it was not one. It appeared to be a different species of ‌‌bird that inhabited ‌‌‌‍only this region.
"It looks like a long-tailed bird."
Asdal spoke, noticing that I was looking at the bird in ‌‌‌his hand.
"A long-tailed bird?"
The name was quite simple.
"Ah, it's ‌‌‌‌a bird that usually inhabits the warm northern regions, but it seems to exist here as well."
Perhaps because he was a hunter, his knowledge seemed abundant.
Of course, he could ‌‌hunt but had no idea how to butcher his catch—still, being skilled at hunting counted for something. ‌‌‌I take back calling him useless.
"Shall we head back?"
I gathered Silver Earthworm and the rabbit, standing as I spoke.
"We can check on the ‌‌‌‌squirrel once before sleeping."
Asdal nodded at my words.
We each carried our respective catch and returned.
Of course, the butchering fell to me. Enoch was still unconscious, and both Rujeep and Asdal were nobles who had never set foot near a kitchen.
Margaret would have been the same under normal circumstances....
I resigned myself to my fate, took up the ‌‌‌rabbit and bird I had caught, and entered the ‌Kitchen.

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