In The Darkness

Venturing into the Forest, Part 2

I rode away from the town as the breezy wind passed by. The people of the town fixated their eyes on my fast horse as I rode past them. In about 30 minutes, I found my way out of the town and into the forest.

As soon as I reached the edge of the forest, I slowed my horse down and observed the people there. A few lumberjacks were cutting trees alongside adventurers who were helping them. After a quick analysis of their jobs through their getup, I made the horse trot ahead with the help of the horse's neck belt.

Just as I began to tread further in the forest, I found my first prey. A large red deer was sipping water from a small lake. I pulled out my dagger and threw it towards the neck of the deer at a considerable distance. The dagger zapped through the deer's neck and got stuck in the marshy soil. The deer remained still for a while, after which blood gushed out of its neck. The deer now galloped from one place to another while wheezing.

Looking at the deer's condition, I pulled out one of my swords from the side with the help of the narrow slit and jumped off of the horse. After approaching closer to the galloping deer, I held my sword firmly and swung it fast across the deer's neck. With a single swing, the deer's head flew up in the sky while its body slowly fell to the side. I had now successfully killed one deer. I skinned the deer and cut off its antlers off of its body. I was able to store the material in my handbag, but the problem was that the handbag was now full. The deer's skin itself was far too much to be stored in a bag. With a single kill, I decided to leave the forest. I hopped on my horse after burying the meat in the ground. 

Trotting back to the town, I decided to make something out of the leather I had accumulated. With the handbag I currently had, killing more than a single deer was impossible. This would also hinder my future expeditions. Thus, I decided to find a tannery. I walked over to the guild house to enquire about the same.

After leaving my horse below the stairs, I walked up all the way in the guild house and asked, "Where can I find a tannery?"

To this, Sasha replied, "It's far towards the right. Why'd you ask?"

"That is none of your concern."

I was abrupt this time while talking to her. Even though I was a mere adventurer, I had no intentions to sit idle and chat. Meaningless words irritated the living hell out of me, and these abrupt words were the indication that they did. While hoping that Sasha would understand my nature, I left the guild house and rode to the tannery. On reaching there, I saw a man heating an animal's hide under a fire. Looking towards this man I asked, "What is the price for tanning a red deer's hide?"

Committed to his work, he continued to look at the hide he was tanning and said, "It'll take 2 silver. Although I could sell it for less if you'd do me a favour."

"The 2 silver would be fine."

The old tanner now turned his head and looked towards me. "Oh, so you're that kind of guy huh."

With no intention to talk, I stood silently and in a moment, the tanner grunted, "Alright then. Hand over the hide."

I pulled the hide out from my handbag and handed it over. The tanner then spoke, "It'll take till tomorrow. Leave now young man. You can pay me tomorrow."

After retrieving the deer's hide, he continued working on the previous hide. I left soon after. Now all I had with me were antlers and a few coins. I intended to make another bag out of the leather I would obtain. But with the time it would take for the leather to process, I could do nothing but wait. And thus, to end this waiting time, I rode the horse back to the forest.