CHAPTER 66: INTERLUDE

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A gray fox with thick gray fur could be seen moving slowly through the bushes, seemingly stalking something.

A mouse was munching on some berries that had fallen from the ground just some distance away from it.

Looking as the mouse was eating away without alarm, the fox crouched its limbs, still locking its vision on its target.

As the mouse moved a little closer to the bushes, a glint passed in the fox’s eyes as it leapt towards the mouse.

Before it could land, however, an extremely thin arrow made up of wood with a sharp tip penetrated its ears and came out of its jaws mid-air as it crashed into the mouse, dead.

The mouse bolted away, and a sound of someone landing on the ground with a thud rang not too far from the site.

A child of pure white hair and elongated ears came running towards the dead gray fox and inspected it carefully.

"Neat. This is the best it could get."

Noctis remarked, very happy with his hunt.

The winter was longer than he had expected, and he wanted some further protection to keep himself and his mother warm in this peculiar period.

He carefully skinned the gray wolf after taking it to a nearby stream and placed it alongside all the pelts he had collected so far. Among them were squirrels, martens, rabbits, and even some wolves.

After cooking the meat and having his fill and making some jerkies to keep, he cleaned himself and lay down on the big rock along the creek.

This was the place where he had his first big hunt in the form of an elk, and since then he had grown considerably in the time following, if one ignored the other consequences of it.

He had pretty much masteredthe recurve bow that he had found in the temple along with some other types in his father’s arsenal.

It didn’t provide as much power but was good to practice nonetheless.

He could use his father’s longbow effectively too now.

After getting an increase in power, it was doable despite it still being a little too long for him, which made it harder to use and control at the start.

It also got quite clunky while trying to quickly move through the terrain, which took some time to master.

He moved a little to look over the rock and into the stream. A little white face came into view.

Despite looking beautiful, it looked a bit pale to him. It was ashen, looking a little silvery at times.

His pure white hair also had a few splashes of silver here and there, which looked like moonlight flowing down his head if one looked closely.

Nonetheless, it looked quite beautiful, Noctis admitted, at the risk of sounding a bit narcissistic.

He traced his hand along his ear, inspecting it. No matter how it looked, it felt the same as human ears despite its appearance.

It was just stupid to be wary of just one feature; he knew it was just because of their limited experience, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

Regardless, it didn’t bother him much. He wasn’t the type to go out of his way to meet people anyway.

Noctis looked at his face with a pensive expression some more before starting to move towards the exit as the sunset approached.

As he reached the outskirts of the region, he noticed the atmosphere changing drastically.

The interior of the forest was a lot more lush and warm compared to the barren, cold hellscape that the outskirts had been turning into lately.

It was also the effect of the longer winter that the number of people trying to forage and hunt had increased yet again.

He didn’t spend any time here anymore. It lacked food, it lacked the feeling of deep woods, and he couldn’t train anyhow with so many eyes.

But he was wary of the deeper parts. He had to be. If it wasn’t due to having no other source of proper food, he wouldn’t be so hasty in being back so quickly.

The contrast of the barren outskirts and fruitful interior further proved him right; he had to tread carefully.

Almost everyone gave him a stinking side eye as his hooded visage with a sack that contained the hides and pelts moved through them.

Their expressions resembled a little too much those in his flashback, which unsettled him despite trying to suppress those emotions.

He reached his house with quick steps, ignoring everyone in his way.

Entering his hut and looking at his mother, busy cooking, he asked something that had been on his mind for quite a while.

"What would happen if there was another bad harvest for the village mother?"

Looking at the weather, it looked almost impossible to avoid.

Elle looked towards his son and immediately stood up at once to check upon him.

Noctis sighed a little at this.

It couldn’t be helped. She was worried about him vanishing every time he intended to go out. Holding him tight once he came back to check.

She tried to dissuade him many times after doing back, but he remained firm. He understood her but couldn’t stop.

He only prayed in his mind she would find some peace of mind seeing him return every day. But he himself doubted it.

She must’ve seen his father’s gains too, and he...

After making sure he was all good, she replied to him,

"It would be dire, dear.

It had been three years in a row of bad harvests prior to this already.

At this point the villagers are very worried for their continued well-being as the situation is turning more and more like an eventual famine...

They have tried to ask everyone from the council to the lord count for help, but it is looking steadily worse if it continues this way. We can only pray at this point."

She replied somberly. He recalled the near hysterical expression on the faces of people he had just passed by.

He understood their plight. He himself first entered the forest under the debilitating pain of hunger.

But it wasn’t something he could do anything about. So he gave up on it and started helping his mother in making dinner.