Gordon, who was fully armed and wore a thick cold-proof cloak over his armor, pushed open the door.
The thick snow outside the door is the main reason why it is difficult to open the door.
The first heavy snow since winter really started in the Frasia region lasted for two days and two nights, and it just started to clear up.
The calf-deep snow near the village is already the result of the weakening of hot springs. A little further away, the snow thickness exceeds half a meter, and in mountain depressions where wind and snow are concentrated, it may be closer to one meter.
"Yo! Boy, the weather is nice, right?"
On the roof of a house, an old man wearing a thick snow mountain suit put down his shovel for shoveling snow, held his waist and said hello to Gordon.
Gordon Pork Chop waved back.
Only then did they realize that the entire Bokai Village had completely "awakened".
The more difficult the conditions are, the more diligent the residents are.
Before daybreak, every household went out of their homes to clean the snow on their roofs, in front of their doors, and on the village roads.
A wooden structure covered with straw to keep the roof warm is not considered strong. If it is not cleaned in time, the thick snow may even crush the house.
If the village roads are not cleared, everyone's activities will be restricted.
Therefore, it has become a habit for adults and children to come together to clear the snow immediately after a heavy snowfall.
Gordon met Hayata near the village entrance.
She was helping the village chief's mother-in-law make a bonfire. Her mother-in-law was too old and refused to stay in the house, so it would always be more comfortable to warm up to the fire.
"It's Gordon. I'm going to trouble you again today." The village chief's mother-in-law bowed slightly and took out a task receipt.
Gordon took the document and looked at it.
It is the most common gathering task of hunting raw meat, one-star difficulty, nothing special.
It stands to reason that such a task can be completed by any novice hunter.
But there are currently no hunters stationed in Bokai Village. The mountains are blocked by heavy snow, and hunters from other places will not choose to come here during this season. The village chief can only ask them to do so.
"It's okay. You can eat and live here for free. It's okay to put in some effort."
Gordon smiled and put away the mission document, "The sun just came out today, so there should be mammoths out and about. We will bring back a lot of meat."
"Hummm~."
"Is your mother-in-law happy today?"
After lighting the fire, Hayata sat next to the village chief's mother-in-law and asked with a smile: "Is something good about to happen?"
"Huhu, can you see it?"
The village chief's mother-in-law stirred the fire with her cane.
She smiled and said: "I received news from the guild a few days ago that a young hunter will be assigned to stay here in Bokai Village. He seems to be only seventeen years old.
Although he is a newbie, he is said to be a very energetic little guy. "
"Did the guild finally send someone over?" Hayata said in surprise.
There used to be a resident hunter in Bokai Village, but later he got old and suffered from injuries, so he had no choice but to retire.
During her year in Bokai Village, she also played a role similar to that of a resident hunter.
And in the past few months after she left, she could barely make ends meet by relying on the help of traveling hunters and sending mission documents to big cities.
But it is not a long-term solution after all.
It is a great blessing for Bokai Village to welcome a resident hunter now.
Only Gordon grinned slightly.
They all come from that age. "Very energetic" may not be a good word for a seventeen-year-old boy or girl...
"Okay! Let's work hard to get meat today and hold a banquet for the upcoming newcomers!" Hayata looked full of enthusiasm.
When Gordon heard this, he no longer thought about the things that he had and didn't have.
He adjusted the sword on his back, "Bring enough hot drinks, let's set off now!"
…
The snow on the mountain is deep, and even if you install snow-specific shoe covers on the greaves, it is still very inconvenient to walk.
One foot is deep and one foot is shallow.
After several hours of searching and selecting, Gordon and Hayata finally selected an old mammoth with a leg injury as their target.
The meat of such old mammoths will be rougher and harder, but the residents of the snowy mountains will not care about this. Simmering it slowly is still a delicious dish.
With a simple sword strike, the target was eliminated neatly, and the old mammoth died without much pain.
And the real hard work begins now.
The raw meat must be peeled off quickly. The weather is cold, and the corpse will be frozen to a solid state in a short time, making it very troublesome to handle.
While the corpse was still steaming, the hunter and Ellu worked together, quickly cutting off large pieces of meat, and threw them on the sled used for transportation, forming a hill.
An adult mammoth weighs several tons. Even if the skin, bones and internal organs are removed, the pure meat alone must weigh at least two or three tons. There is no way they can take it all away.
Specially select the tender parts such as the legs, tenderloin, and fat, and stack the sled so high that it is almost impossible to pull it. There is still more than half of it left.
They are not greedy either, leaving these to the nearby carnivores. Hunting in winter is difficult and not a single bone will be wasted.
Finally, Hayata cut off the mammoth's huge tongue completely and placed it on top of the pile of meat.
She smiled and said: "This is the most delicious part, don't forget it."
"Yes, you are the best at eating!" Gordon teased, and he and Hayata pulled up the sled rope and started to drive back.
Pork Chop ran forward for a while and took charge of guarding, while Pandan stayed beside Hayata, pretending to help pull the rope and secretly catch the fish.
Although the collection task is a bit tiring, the process is also very dull, and there is no thrill like hunting large monsters.
But this feeling of returning home with a full load is equally satisfying and satisfying.
"Hayata, are you getting fat? Do you like the stew of Bokai Village so much?"
"No! Pandan is just fat!"
"I'm not fat, meow!"
The two of them were chatting and laughing, and Pig Chop, who had gone out on guard, suddenly ran back.
"I seem to hear the sound of fighting, meow."
Gordon's and Gordon's expressions suddenly became serious, "Pork Chop, Pandan, and you guys are guarding the sled. Hayata and I will go over and take a look."
"I want to go too, meow!"
"Don't cause trouble, meow!" Pig Chop hit Pandan's head again.
Not having time to care about the two little guys pinching each other, Gordon and Hayata quickly headed in the direction pointed by Pork Chop.
After advancing several hundred meters and bypassing a section of cliff, Gordon and the others finally discovered the source of the fighting.
It was a young man wearing a snow mountain suit, wielding a bone sword and fighting fiercely with several snow lions.
The boy's movements were wide open and he looked very courageous. He was clearly the one with a numerical disadvantage, but he kept attacking.
The snow lions seemed to be frightened by his momentum and kept retreating. One of them had been killed, and the other two did not seem to pose much of a threat.
The relieved Gordon and Hayata looked at each other.
It seems that this hot-blooded young man who is screaming and attacking constantly is the novice hunter sent by the guild according to the village chief's mother-in-law.
"It's really, really energetic." Gordon couldn't help laughing.
Hayata, who is also a tachi user, also raised the corner of his lips, "The bone sword [Wolf Fang], a tachi that requires the material of King Velociraptor, is a seventeen-year-old two-star hunter, and his strength should be quite good."
Ps. Familiar equipment
(End of chapter)
