The Female Hunter Who Cut In Line

Linsey was completely baffled.

The Female Hunter who was supposed to teach him tomorrow was actually this proactive? She could not even wait one night and had come straight over to snatch him away early? "Dan, this is far too improper." While Linsey was still stunned, Finn frowned and stopped the Female Hunter. "He is still just a child. You will scare him like this."

The Female Hunter saw Finn blocking her.

The corner of her mouth twitched upward, and she braced one hand against the table before bursting into laughter.

"A child?"

"Finn, this 'child' is nothing like as well-behaved as you think!"

"Do you know what he did?"

Linsey, standing beside them, was utterly confused by the Female Hunter's words.

Ever since entering the town, he had obediently followed the Awakened here in learning, without making a single improper move.

The woman's attitude left him completely unable to make heads or tails of things.

Finn, who had spent the day with Linsey, felt the same way. He continued frowning as he asked, "Dan, just say what you mean."

The Female Hunter gave Linsey a meaningful glance before answering, "A few days ago, this kid went into the woods outside town and, barehanded, set a trap and killed an Ice Badger."

"My heavens! This year... this year he is only..."

The Female Hunter wanted to continue, but suddenly realized she had forgotten Linsey's age.

Finn and the Female Hunter were old acquaintances, so he reminded her, "Thirteen."

"Oh, right, only thirteen!"

The Female Hunter nodded vigorously before resuming her exaggerated tone.

"At this age, he was able to hunt an Ice Badger all by himself! Hey! That is a magical beast that can cast spells! Have you ever seen any child accomplish something like that at such an age?"

"Those ancient heroes from legends of the Age of Stars?"

At this point, even Finn looked astonished.

An Ice Badger was not an especially powerful magical beast, but because it could launch Ice Cones from afar, even an unarmed adult would almost certainly die upon encountering one.

He found it difficult to imagine how Linsey, a child, had managed such a thing.

Curious, the botanist continued asking about the details. "Dan, how did you learn about this?"

Then he looked at Linsey, his tone curious and disbelieving.

"Child, could this person have made a mistake?"

With both Awakened staring fixedly at him, their expressions different yet equally shocked,

Linsey scratched his head awkwardly.

"The process was actually quite dangerous."

"I was only lucky enough to defeat that Ice Badger by chance."

"See? The person involved admitted it himself." Seeing Linsey admit it, Dan casually poured herself a cup of water from the front hall and gulped it down. "It was actually yesterday. Because there had been sightings of a magical beast, Anrui went out to investigate, but found nothing. That was why I went to take a special look today."

"Right beside a rock, guess what I found?"

"An Ice Badger with its body pierced through by a wooden stick, lying dead in the woods some distance from town. The other hunters under me do not have a habit of leaving their prey behind, so I thought something huge had happened at the time."

Finn spoke up.

"You thought there were outsiders again?"

Dan glanced at Linsey beside her. "If this brat could be thrown into this godforsaken place by spatial arts, then anything else was possible too. This afternoon, I was even wondering whether we should organize a Distant Hunt and go check the edge of the world!"

Finn continued asking, "So how did you figure it out in the end?"

Dan spread her hands. "You know it too, actually. It was the magical beast sighting Red Moon Lady mentioned."

Finn recalled it then.

A few days ago, during their meeting at the church, Nun Red Moon had warned Anrui that a magical beast might have appeared around the town.

Now it seemed

that matter had actually involved Linsey standing before them.

Nun Red Moon's remark that my godson has quite good talent had not been a joke at all! But perhaps the fact that a child had killed a magical beast was simply too shocking.

That was why Red Moon Lady had not mentioned Linsey when explaining things to them.

Finn understood the whole situation.

But he still did not intend to let Dan take Linsey away immediately, so he asked a very direct question.

"I know Linsey is clever, and he even managed to defeat someone stronger than himself and kill a magical beast."

"But this matter does not seem to have much to do with why you want to take him away early."

Dan immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

"How does it not?"

"It shows that this is where his talent lies. If I do not teach him properly, would that not be wasting such outstanding talent?"

Finn continued in an even tone, "Then does it have to be tonight? Will you not teach him properly tomorrow?"

Dan seemed to have long prepared for this question. The moment Finn spoke, she answered with complete confidence.

"Practice is the best teacher!"

"I plan to take him around the woods so he can personally understand the essentials of being a hunter. And going into the forest—you know it too—those few hours in the morning are not enough for preparation."

"So tonight, I intend to have a good talk with the kid and make some preparations before entering the forest."

Finn nodded slightly. He was a reasonable man.

As long as Dan did not act as impulsively as she had earlier when trying to steal someone away, he would not deliberately make things difficult for her.

Thus, Finn asked his final question.

"Does Red Moon Lady know about this?"

"..."

"She does not?"

The Female Hunter fell silent under Finn's question.

She looked around as though searching for something in the study, and only after quite a while did she force a flattering smile at Finn.

"Am I not doing this for the kid's own good?"

Finn stared at Dan and continued questioning her. "So you plan to hide it from the Lady and take her godson away for an entire day and night?"

"Fine, fine, I get it."

Unable to argue with Finn, the Female Hunter gave up and scratched at her hair, making it look as though she had a chicken nest on top of her head. "Seriously, I should never have come to your house to pick up this brat. Would it not have been easy to make my move once he went out?"

Seeing this, Finn was about to continue persuading her.

"Dan, you should not..."

"I know, I know already." Defeated by Finn's attitude, the Female Hunter obediently raised her hand in promise. "I will take him to the church right now and properly explain this to Red Moon Lady. Is that good enough?"

Only then did Finn nod in satisfaction and stop nagging the Female Hunter.

Linsey politely bid Finn farewell, and the two agreed that he would come here to study again in four days.

Afterward, Linsey followed the Female Hunter to the church.

Along the way, Dan began chattering away without pause.

"Kid, do you like eating meat?"

"With your talent, once you become a hunter, you can have as much prey as you want. You can eat all you like then."

"Studying all day long must be boring, right?"

"No one in the forest will restrain you. You can do whatever you want. If you have the time, you can even build yourself a Treehouse in a tree and use it as your own little base!"

"And do you know? Everyone in town envies hunters..."