Chapter 666: Winter Hunt

With the arrival of the new year, it would also be time for the winter hunts. The Mist Kingdom royalty and government was incredibly busy with so many things all together.

Winter hunts were also common in other countries in Eich. The cold winters meant that starving beasts would be more aggressive and attack humans more often. The cold weather also meant that nobles couldn’t enjoy other types of entertainment, which was why the nobles thought of the idea of winter hunts in their boredom.

The nobles would ride their tall horses and bring along retinues of fully armed knights, chasing down the pitiful starving and homeless beasts with the aid of their hunting hounds, cutting off the beasts’ heads to parade with as trophies, and decorating their rooms with the beasts’ furs. Sigh, those pitiful animals met such a terrible end just because they wanted to find some food for their children. Humans were so cruel…

“…Glina, if you keep pretending to narrate for me, I’m going to kick you back to Sleuweir! Also, our winter hunts are completely different from winter hunts in other countries. How are the beasts and magical beasts here pitiful at all? They’re all carnivores who will eat humans!”

I felt rather helpless now. While it was indeed good that Glina was more human than the porcelain doll she’d been before as her previous emotionless behavior was due to the psychological trauma she received while young, she was now sometimes a little too lively. Even I was unable to take how she loved to spout rubbish with such a serious expression. I was even beginning to pity Sleuweir’s government officials. They probably suffered greatly under the rule of such a queen.

Upon hearing my threat to kick her back, the seemingly young queen expressionlessly slapped the butt of the gigantic magic puppet she rode on. Another adamantite puppet came out from somewhere unknown (the previous one had died due to its accidental self-destruction) and loudly rumbled as she and it went to go hunt down the pitiful beasts she spoke of.

Naturally, Glina’s retainers couldn’t allow her to go by herself. Several dozen knights hurriedly rushed out of the procession and followed her. The wry smiles on their faces indicated that they were long since used to this, or perhaps they even enjoyed it? Since the delight and respect they showed seemed genuine, I felt that they actually enjoyed this.

“Winter hunt? Such a memory from long ago.”

Frost was now on the ground. The horses’ hooves made clopping noises on the ground. All exhaled breath instantly became visible white mist. Previous snowfall made the entire sky and ground seem white. There was nothing but endless ice tundra and snow mountains before us. Even though our large winter hunt procession contained several thousand people, we still seemed quite insignificant in comparison to nature.

Our procession had left right at dawn. Most of us were knights with steeds. The scouts had set out with the hunting hounds long before us. The aerial knights would likely bring us information on the beast packs’ locations soon.

Winter hunts in the Northlands were completely different from winter hunts in the mainland. Others did winter hunts for entertainment, while our winter hunts were for the sake of survival…

The Northlands’ environment was incredibly harsh to live in. The harsh environment wasn’t only harsh for humans, as it was equally harsh for wild beasts and magical beasts. As long as the snowfall sealed the mountains, and the beasts were unable to find any more food on the mountains, they would naturally leave the mountains and attack humans in large numbers.

Any wild beasts capable of surviving in the Northlands’ environment had already evolved to the point of being similar in level to magical beasts. Under the command of a pack leader, the wild beasts could even form an unstoppable stampede that could trample any village or town.

Countless villages had been destroyed over the past several decades and centuries by wild beast stampedes. In a way, it could even be said that the Northlands beasts had a tradition of coming out to attack humans whenever they couldn’t find any food to eat in winter. Naturally, this also created a tradition for the Northlanders: when winter arrived, a winter hunt would always be organized in order to decrease the threat as much as possible before it arrived.

Attack the wild beasts before they gathered enough numbers to form stampedes. Try and slay the magical beast pack leaders as much as possible, causing the gathered beasts to scatter. This would reduce, and even potentially eliminate, the threat of beast stampedes.

History and tradition had both proved that this method was far more effective than waiting for the beast stampede in a fortified castle. Passively defending would only allow the beast stampede to gather unstoppable numbers. If an entire mountain’s worth of magical beasts all gathered together, it would be possible to meet all sorts of high-level creatures. It was already recorded in history that such a beast stampede would be capable of destroying any Northlands city.

The majority of countries in the Northlands thus had a tradition of a winter hunt. However, more than just courage would be required to challenge the wild beasts or a beast stampede. The sly and vicious beasts would be difficult to handle even for a fully armed knight squadron. Anyone who wasn’t strong enough would be volunteering themselves as a free meal to the beasts. In fact, the East Mist Communal Country had given up on winter hunts for quite a long while. This was a decision that had been made in helplessness.

Back in those years, the people of East Mist had gotten accustomed to bringing their entire families over to major cities like Diffindor when it was winter. They would then hide in wooden shacks while trembling as they listened to the beasts’ roars outside. They could only pray that the beast stampedes would end soon, and that their homes and businesses weren’t damaged too badly.

It was already lucky for those who made it to the big cities for protection. Every year, countless citizens would be attacked and killed by the beast stampede while on their way to the big cities. East Mist’s knights’s numbers were completely insufficient to protect everyone.

Yet, eight years ago, when we returned here, we started reorganizing the winter hunts. Not only was this to eliminate the beasts and obtain more food, but also to raise the people’s morale and give them courage, providing them with a sense of safety again.

Over the past eight years, East Mist and the entire Mist Alliance had been rising in power on a daily basis. East Mist’s military might’ve even reached the top of the entire Northlands. There was naturally no more reason to stop the winter hunts.

And as the winter hunts went on, the scale of the beast stampedes was reduced every year. This meant that the cities and villages faced significantly less pressure. If it was possible again to stop the threat of beast stampedes before they started, the people would no longer have to risk their lives on dangerous journeys to big cities every year.

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Although it seemed like our group of several thousand was rather large, this was only the beginning preparations for the winter hunt. Our main task was to investigate the size and location of the beast groups, and to discover the high-level and super powerful magical beasts as quickly as possible. We would defeat any smaller beast groups that we encountered, but any gigantic beast stampedes, which could number in the thousands or even tens of thousands, would be left for the actual army to deal with.

The winter hunt was completely different between the Northlands and the mainland. In the warmer central part of Eich, the winter hunt was an entertainment activity for the nobles to show off their military might. It was also an excellent opportunity to flirt with noblewomen. In the Northlands, on the other hand, the winter hunt was a war, with true battles taking place. It was the duty and responsibility of every royal to participate in the winter hunt.

Why hadn’t Glina returned to Sleuweir to organize the winter hunt there, you ask? Actually, since the Northlands countries had been organizing winter hunts every year now, the beast stampedes’ scale had already come under control. The winter hunts were no longer as dangerous as before. Just normal preparations would be sufficient now. It was just that East Mist had been weak for far too long, so the beasts here had even surpassed the number of beasts in all other Northlands countries combined. Controlling the beasts here wouldn’t be as simple as rounding up and hunting them all.

Glina was quite happy. Not only could she tease her younger sister over the holiday, she could even relax herself through participating in the winter hunt. That was why she adamantly refused to return to Sleuweir. I asked her retainers, and learned that everything in Sleuweir was well and stable, so I didn’t forcefully kick her back to Sleuweir.

All along the way, Glina was as hyperactive as a rabbit as she constantly created trouble for our winter hunt squadron. Still, she had a special status, which meant she had to be treated seriously. But for me…

“…Honestly, that Kelly. She even said something like ‘If you want to obtain money from the royal coffers, you should carry out the duty of a prince.’ I’ve already participated in so many winter hunts before, which should be more than enough for my duty. It’s so cold! I just want to sleep under my warm blankets, drink hot cocoa, and slack off…”

We were currently being blown by cold winds while waiting for our scouts to report in. I simply got off my horse to rub my hands together and stomp my feet in an effort to keep warm. Yet, it still felt really cold. I didn’t know what to say as I watched Glina even begin to make a snowman on the side of the road. This all made me feel even more like I wanted to go back and sleep.

“…That brat has so much energy. So physical age can affect mental age to such a degree…?”

However, I soon realized that I had been under a mistaken impression. The snowman, which was more than three meters tall, soon revealed itself to obviously be the form of a new magical puppet. The little girl great engineer then inserted various objects into the snowman and uttered some mysterious words. The snowman then actually stood up and began to move! It started running, while Glina jumped up and down behind it… And then, the snowman actually started to build an even larger snowman!

“Is this the max-level version of how a naughty child builds snowmen…”

Glina, who had now jumped onto the snowman’s shoulder, waved at me when she saw how I was looking in her direction. She was indicating that I should come over… But, I was no idiot. I already saw that she placed a large amount of explosives in the snowman! Why would I go over there? I still hadn’t finished enjoying the previous explosion from her adamantite puppet, so was I supposed to go over to enjoy yet another explosion already?

Wait a moment? This was the third magical puppet that Glina had brought out here, right? Indeed, Glina wrote a #3 on the forehead of the snowman. In that case, #2, the second adamantite puppet that had been Glina’s ride in this procession would obviously have explosives planted in it as well… I reflexively backed away even more from Glina.

“I haven’t seen Sister Glina so relaxed for so long.”

Unlike how everyone else was wrapped in warm clothing, Reyne was wearing black form-fitting hunting attire that excellently accentuated her curves. Suddenly, I noticed that she had already become taller than me!

Although her hydra skin jacket seemed light, it would have incredible defensive power and cold-resistant properties. The hunting bow she carried made her seem even more handsome and heroic. The Princess Knight was becoming ever more mature, but her two concubines kept glaring at me because I was standing too close to Reyne…

Reyne chuckled when she saw how surprised I was at her comment.

“Sister Glina doesn’t normally act like this at all. She’s the pillar and chief strategist of the entire Mist Alliance. She always acts so confidently and seriously. Only in front of you can she truly relax and not worry about everything so much, so she can show off traits normal for the age she appears to be.”

I felt slightly guilty after hearing this. I had indeed been too selfish back then, abandoning everything and leaving just like that, tossing the responsibilities of the Mist Alliance onto two girls who had just reached puberty back then. Reyne and Glina had to have gone through much hardship to support the entire Mist Alliance by themselves. I really should make it up to them, so I should probably start by giving them extra spending money…

“…Glina, it’s fine that you keep pretending to narrate for me as I indeed feel a little guilty, but I truly have no money to give to you two…”

While we joked around, two Aurora Knights appeared in the western sky. Our scouts had returned. In that case, it was now time for serious business.

However, I then heard shouts of astonishment as one of the Aurora Knights actually fainted on his own steed. The other Aurora Knight was also injured.

I wouldn’t need to describe just how strong Aurora Knights would be. It would be rare for even a novice knight to be injured like this on a mere recon mission.

I felt incredibly uneasy at seeing this. It would seem that a certain inference of mine from before had been accurate. My luck this time was good as not only was I correct to come here, I even met my target earlier than I’d thought I would.