NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 - Other Talents (2)
Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: TempWane
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Strictly speaking, it was only fitting to consider the Barony of Delkis as part of the Grand Ducal estate.
From the beginning, its formation was unlike any ordinary estate.
No matter the resource the land yielded—be it crops from farming, animals from pasturing, or even sustenance from hunting—the typical estates are structured with the lord’s castle at the center and the territories radiating outward, in a way that was advantageous for governance.
But Baron Delkis’ land stretched horizontally, occupying the very top land of the Grand Duchy of Grattanmount, nestled between two towering mountains so steep they were nearly impossible to scale. The layout was unmistakably that of a gatekeeper for the Grand Duchy.
Indeed, relying solely on hunting would only be enough to scrape by, and aside from a few mountain potatoes, the land produced almost no crops, so the barony regularly relies on support from the Grand Duke.
That’s right. The barony wasn’t located merely as a gatekeeper for show; it actually served as one. It was both the gatekeeper of the Grand Duchy of Grattanmount and, by extension, of the entire Alwen Kingdom.
Further north, the dense trees gradually disappeared until it turned into a snowfield blanketed year-round. The cold was so harsh that even the Baron’s people struggled to endure it, and neither the kingdom nor the Grand Duchy seemed inclined to expand their territory beyond it.
In the sparse forest above the Baron’s land, where barely any life could survive, lived barbarians who still rejected civilization. These tribes, sworn enemies of the giants since before Baron Delkis’ estate even existed, continued to harbor animosity towards the Baron’s house.
Actually, they didn’t only hate the Baron’s family—they despised all living creatures indiscriminately. Toppling the Baron wouldn’t satisfy them. This had also been established in the novel I read.
Speaking of giants, it was one of the Grand Duke Grattanmount’s own who first intermarried with a giant and bore descendants. This wasn’t just a story passed down through generations; there were precise records of it. In fact, the genealogy displayed on the wall of the lord’s castle placed the names of the Grand Ducal family at the top, a fact the Grand Duke did not deny.
Thus, though diluted many, many times over, the blood of the Grand Duke Grattanmount—and further, the Alwen royal family—still flowed through the veins of the people of Baron Delkis.
The Grattanmount was not the only family to marry giants. Though rare, some humans who lived in the North also intermarried with giants, meaning there were several non-noble residents in the Barony with giant’s blood. Real giants, however, had long since gone extinct. Some speculated that they hadn’t actually died off, but that their blood had simply been absorbed by the Barony over time.
Whatever the reason, the latest records of giants—some of whom supposedly stood up to four meters tall—were no more than two hundred years old, even by the shortest estimation.
*
For this reason, the natural environment around the Barony was far from ordinary.
All the plants and animals there were unnecessarily hardy, making even the creatures from just the southern regions—even those merely “south of us”—impossible to compare.
Even the moose we caught for conscription were enormous compared to the ones in the south.
“Now, let’s start with the little one.”
Father set me down from the moose’s back as he spoke.
Looking in the direction Father indicated, I saw an entire family of moose.
The distance was considerable; the large moose looked no bigger than my thumb. In fact, I could barely make out the younglings hidden by the trees, and I had no idea how Father could be so sure they were even there.
“I’ll handle the big ones. You only need to capture one of the young. Don’t feel too pressured.”
But I was already very much feeling pressured.
Hearing about this was one thing, but now that it was actually happening, I found it even more absurd.
A moose is still a moose, strong enough to keep advancing in snow as high as its thighs without losing speed.
Yet Father dismounted from that very moose.
All he held was a bow and arrows. But for a “negotiation” with the moose, it had to remain alive, and if it couldn’t run, the negotiation’s purpose would be lost. After all, it was intended to be a mount.
“Observe closely and remember this. Those animals are highly protective of their families. In this environment, if they don’t properly care for their calves, their line can’t continue. So we use that to our advantage in our negotiation.”
“……”
Such a merciless approach.
“See over there? The one without antlers is the female. The one next to her with budding antlers is the male. The male’s antlers grow just before mating season and stay for about half a year. Around this time, they begin to shed. Since he’s already had his offspring, the antlers are nothing more than a hindrance now.”
Father smiled as he looked down at me. We were both kneeling on one knee, yet he still towered over me. It wasn’t merely the difference between an adult and a child. After all, I was already around 140 centimeters tall.
… So I wasn’t sure how we haven’t been spotted. Could this also be because of our bloodline?
“A male staying close to a female around this season means he succeeded in mating. And since he already has his offspring, if we shoot the female, the male will surely step in to protect her and his young. Elsie, your job is to wait in hiding until I engage the male, and then snatch one of the young.”
Basically, he was telling me to target a newlywed couple who’d just had a child.
And while the husband defended his family, I was supposed to kidnap the offspring.
This plan was far colder than I’d anticipated.
But that’s nature. Wolves and bears don’t consider morals when hunting their prey.
Nature doesn’t lie; it’s merely a place for those who hunt and those who are hunted.
“Understood.”
I made up my mind and nodded. My voice trembled slightly, partly from the cold and partly from nerves.
The people of the Baron’s family were all strong. It wasn’t just that they were large; they exhibited supernatural strength, not human in nature. No matter how big someone was, for a two-meter thirty-centimeter person to bring down an oversized moose with their fists was fantastical.
While I was much taller than ordinary children my age thanks to our bloodline, I was still smaller than most family members. I couldn’t be sure whether I’d inherited any of that extraordinary strength.
Perhaps sensing my unease, Father gave my back a few reassuring pats with his massive hand, which to me felt nearly the size of a cauldron lid, though his touch was gentle.
“Don’t worry too much. If things get dangerous, I’ll protect you. Isn’t it only natural for a father to shield his daughter?”
Yet it also seemed only natural that the moose would want to protect its young.
Of course, I couldn’t say that to Father, who smiled warmly at me.
*
Hearing about how we “negotiation” with our fists, you might imagine our family would rush up and uppercut the moose to start things off. But in reality, that’s not how it worked.
Starting from a distance where the prey couldn’t detect us, we crept carefully, moving from tree to tree, rock to rock. Father took care to stay downwind, choosing his approach angle meticulously, circling rather than advancing directly.
By the way, we had already sent back the moose we rode. According to Father, he says we can just ride that male moose once we capture it… though it had no saddle. Then again, I guess such details didn’t matter in a world like this.
We crept closer and closer—painfully slowly—until he reached a point where he could accurately hit the female moose with an arrow at just the right angle.
The moose’s cry sounded almost like that of a cow but more desperate than any cow’s cry I’d ever heard.
Father’s longbow, carved from the hardy northern conifer, had enough kinetic force to pierce the thigh of the large moose.
Even from fifty meters away, the splash of red on the snow was vividly clear.
The male, who had been sniffing at the snow for food, jerked his head up. I’d heard of humans showing killing intent from their eyes, but this was my first time seeing it in an animal.
The moose didn’t run; instead, it glared directly in the direction the arrow had come from. For a first-time hunter, it was a terrifying sight.
“Let’s go!”
But Father, who sprang up up to his feet and shouted, sounded almost exhilarated.