The Courtesan

Chapter 40

Third Person POV

Prince Kron had a ready made plan to kill the bear, that took its still hibernating state into account. If not for that, he wouldn’t have taken the reckless decision to hunt the bear alone. However, everything planned was out the window and now, he was fighting for his life with Prince Kalvin.

Alongside that, all he got was…

“Are you a bloody i***t?! Can you not aim well?!” 

“Oi! Fire right there! Gods, I thought your father said you were good!” 

“Your highness, do you usually forget your reasoning when you go out?!”

“Will you shut up?! I’m trying my best here!” He finally snapped. The two put a reasonable distance between themselves and the bear which was stuck in the tree. However, the enraged bear was pulling the branches, looking for a suitable space to wiggle out of. 

The hunting rifle had almost run out of bullets and all they managed to do was blind the bear in one eye. The rest of its hide was too thick and the injury to the eyes was not fatal enough because of how injured they were. On top of that, their cooperation was nonexistent, as they spent more time yelling at each other rather than fighting together. 

“If you’re the one with his reasoning, why don’t you suggest a good plan?!”

“I’ve been trying to but you never listen!” 

“What’s your plan?!”

“My horse is around here so if we call it, we’ll be able to get out of here. We’ll lure it to where other people are and kill it together.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“You think I didn’t notice you trying to bring down the bear all by yourself?! I don’t know if you’re trying to be a good son but you can do that on your own later! I can barely walk so I need your help, no matter how much I detest the idea. You can walk but one side of your body is useless right now, isn’t it?”

“And who’s fault is that?!”

“If I didn’t do it, you wouldn’t stay. You’re welcome.”

“If we get out of this alive, I’ll murder you.”

“I won’t just stand around too, your highness.” 

And so, the two grudgingly came to a consensus. Kalvin placed two fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. He did this a few more times and stopped. He looked at Kron and gave him a glare. Kron reciprocated, grudgingly extending his arm so the other could stand. 

“If you use your remaining bullets to aim at those branches, you can obstruct the bear so we can have the time to escape before it comes after us. Let’s just hope my horse comes back.” 

Kron’s lack of faith was displayed all over his face as he shot down the branches as he left Kalvin to rest on a tree. Once he was done, he pulled the other prince to himself forcefully and together, they limped out of the bear’s nest. 

Kalvin whistled more as they walked out. They hadn’t heard any response and could hear furious digging from behind. Both were unresigned to let their lives end there so despite their injuries, walked faster. 

They could only hope for the best at that point. 

On another side of the forest, King Mival was surrounded by the other nobles. The majority of them were men and had a special attraction this year; hunting down the prisoners. 

Most of the prisoners placed around King Mival were people who opposed his rule. Many people in Casella believed King Mival to have done the right thing because someone said so, therefore indoctrinating the idea. The ones who didn’t go with the rest and dared to protest were taken away from society and placed into the King’s prison. 

He then released them during the hunt and encouraged the idea because they were said to be criminals or people who rebelled against their government. 

King Mival himself always maintained his bening air and the nobles dared not question him. There was one high ranking noble in particular that wasn’t too taken to the idea of hunting other people. 

Not too far from the King, was Duchess Miriam and her personal bodyguard Lady Geraldine. Lady Miriam flinched with every person shot down and felt her heart chill from the laughter and cheers it got from the crowd. Worse, King Mival never lifted a weapon to do anything. 

“Do you want to leave now?”

{Yes.}

“I’ll find an opportunity for us to sneak away.”

The two were on two white mares, Lady Geraldine dressed in a well fitting light riding armor opposed to the dresses she wore around the court and outside. Lady Miriam wore something similar but instead of the bow and arrow Lady Geraldine had on, she had on a hunting rifle. 

They waited till attention was off them before they rode away. The two had no idea there was a bear nest near. They were trying to get to the end of the forest and out of it through another route. They soon saw a brown horse running across it. Fearing some mishap had happened to someone else, they ran after it. 

They heard it before they saw it; the roar of an angry bear and the surprisingly slow footsteps of people running. Miriam c****d her rifle while Geraldine nocked the bow with three arrows. They waited patiently till the bear came to sight before they shot precisely at the nose and eyeballs respectively. 

They rode away from each other, firing more bullets and arrows at the bear. They drew it out into an open area, firing more ammunition more efficiently and accurately at the bear. The two men who had jumped into the bush earlier could do nothing but watch in amazement as they both hunted the bear down. 

They kept on going until they ran out of ammunition. By then, the bear was already running out of energy so it was much easier to kill with a sword and that was what Miriam did. 

She jumped off her horse at the perfect angle, landed on the bear and did a sharp swing, decapitating the bear. She carefully sheathed the sword and came down with the body of the bear. Geraldine ran to her immediately. 

“My lady, are you injured?”

Miriam hesitated before shaking her head. Geraldine frowned, before stretching her hand forward. Miriam gave a tentative look at the hand, moving backwards. Her gaze fell on the two men and she pointed at them. Geraldine frowned, looking backwards. 

“... Prince Kron? Prince Kalvin?”

Geraldine rushed to their side. Miriam checked her hand and winced when she saw the deep cut on her hand. As always, her sword was hard to handle. She dropped it in its normal place, the saddle bag on her horse and went to meet them. 

“W-What in the hell was that?!” Kalvin exclaimed with a wide mouth. 

“What? You’ve never seen women hunt before?”

“I have but I’ve never seen anything so… awesome!”

“Hehe, thank you. Come on, let’s go.”

Geraldine helped Kron up while Miriam helped Kalvin to their respective horses. It was challenging when they discovered the men were injured but they eventually put them on the horse. 

Geraldine picked up the bear head, tied it to a rope and dragged it with them as they rode out of the forest and back to where the escorts were waiting. Thankfully on their journey back, they encountered no other resistance.