Chapter 12 It's been a while since Mela mailed the letter...
More than half a month has passed since Mela sent the letter, but the man who should have come to her door with the pumpkin pie she and Silas had been longing for has yet to appear.
What happened?
In the past, after receiving the letter, Ducwato would arrive with what Mela needed within three days at the latest, but this time he was unusual and dawdled for more than half a month.
Eighteen cycles of day and night have passed, and the pumpkin pie they're supposed to eat is still nowhere to be seen. Silas eagerly awaits Ducwato's arrival, and whenever he has the chance, he whispers it in Mela's ear.
"Meila, quickly use your crystal ball to divine whether something has happened to Ducwato. When will he be able to come?"
"Don't rush," Mela said, and the crystal ball suddenly appeared in her arms as if by magic.
Silas: "..." Who's in a hurry here?
“The crystal ball tells me that my wish will soon come true,” Mela said, staring at the ever-changing smoke inside the crystal ball.
In other words, Ducwato is very likely already on his way to the Dark Forest.
"How soon?" Silas wasn't satisfied with the answer and was eager to know a more specific date.
"Then go ask the crystal ball yourself." Mela smiled and placed the crystal ball, which she could only hold with both hands, on Silas's head.
Feeling the weight on its head, Celeste froze, the bird standing motionless on the table like a lifelike crow figurine.
There's no way around it. If Silas accidentally breaks the crystal ball, even if Mela doesn't eat it alive, she'll definitely punish it in a much more terrible way.
Waaaaah, poor Silas.
Silas silently shed tears in his heart.
At the same time, I regretted asking that question.
It didn't even consider that if the crystal ball had told Mela the specific date, how could Mela not have said it directly?
But the crystal ball's divination was indeed very accurate; the next day, a familiar figure appeared at the door of the cabin.
The man was still the same, dressed in light hunting attire, wearing short boots, and carrying a homemade longbow and a full quiver of arrows on his back. His face was not handsome, but it was still angular, with short stubble, and his gray eyes looked surprisingly bright.
"Hey, look what I brought you!" Ducwato held up the cloth bag he was carrying, and an irrepressible fragrance wafted into the air from it.
It smells like pumpkin pancakes.
Only pumpkin cakes sold in the market with plenty of white sugar can emit such a sweet aroma.
"Great! Ducwato, you're finally here!" Silas exclaimed in surprise. It eagerly flew to Ducwato's muscular forearm, and after settling down, it kept pecking at the knotted cloth bag with its beak.
"Hey, be careful." Seeing that the knot had been pecked open by Silas, Ducwato quickly grabbed the loose corner of the cloth with his hand, thus preventing the wrapped pumpkin cakes from rolling all over the ground.
Silas flew away with a pumpkin pie in its mouth, knowing that with Ducwato around, it was impossible for the pumpkin pie to fall to the ground.
Mela never eats food that has fallen on the ground.
"Why did you take so long this time?" Mela also picked up a pumpkin pancake from the bag and put it in her mouth. Perhaps because of the long wait, she felt that this pumpkin pancake was even more delicious than she remembered.
Fortunately, Lex had gone out early in the morning, and Mela secretly decided to eat a couple more pieces of what should have been left for him.
“It’s rare to run into an old friend.” Ducwato said with a hint of helplessness. “If it weren’t for the pitiful state he was in, covered in blood, I wouldn’t have bothered with him.”
Since he had already taken care of the person, Ducwato simply stayed at home and cared for him until he was able to move around freely again.
"Speaking of which, it's all thanks to the ten bottles of healing potions you sent, otherwise I think my old friend wouldn't be far from meeting his death," Ducwato said.
Mela couldn't help but click her tongue slightly. Bucky was only on the verge of death and was saved with just one bottle of healing potion, but her old friend Ducwato took a full ten bottles of healing potions to recover. He was really badly injured. In other words, to survive such injuries, he was really tough.
However, this person was none of Mela's business, so Mela's curiosity was only scratching the surface. She didn't ask any further questions about why the person was injured. In contrast, she was more concerned about whether Ducwato had brought the money he owed her.
Last time, Ducwato said he was out of money and signed an IOU with Mela, promising to pay it back in ten days.
Considering that Ducwato had been running errands for her in various towns for so many years, Mela readily agreed.
As a result, ten days passed, and Ducwato not only failed to repay the money on time, but also incurred a debt of ten more bottles of healing potions. Therefore, in the letter sent to Ducwato, Mela specially wrote in red ink on the last line of the letter that she asked Ducwato not to forget to bring the four gold coins and twenty silver coins he owed her when he brought the pumpkin cakes.
Thinking of this, Mela glanced at Ducwato's waist. The leather belt tightly bound his money bag, dagger, and other items. The money bag, in particular, hung heavily down, looking quite substantial.
Noticing Mela's gaze, Ducwato covered his purse with his hand in front of her, his smile somewhat roguish. "Look at the money I spent on pumpkin pie this time, and the ink, parchment, and other things I bought last time according to your list—I haven't had a chance to settle accounts with you yet. Considering our years of friendship, how about you round it off for me?"
“How about this, I’ll pay four gold coins, and these debts will be wiped clean, okay?” Ducwato gestured a number to Mela.
This earned her a cold laugh from Mela. "I almost thought a copper coin could be exchanged for a silver coin these days."
Otherwise, Ducwato dared to simply erase twenty silver coins; it was an outrageous demand.
You should know that according to today's prices, one gold coin can be exchanged for sixty silver coins, and one silver coin can be exchanged for two hundred and forty copper coins. Twenty silver coins can buy a young and strong ox in the market.
Mela must be crazy to make this losing deal with Ducwato.
"That's the price, not a single copper coin less," Mela made a decisive decision, giving Ducwato no chance to bargain further.
"Alright, alright," Ducwato sighed, knowing that trying to take advantage of Mela was harder than climbing to heaven.
He untied the money pouch from his waist, poured it into his hand, and a number of shiny silver coins came out.
Ducwato counted them one by one.
After counting out all the silver coins to give to Mela, they piled them up on the table, forming a small mountain the size of a palm. Ducwato's originally bulging money bag visibly shrank.
"Sigh, I wonder how many prey I'll have to hunt to fill your belly again?" Ducwato shook his money pouch in a show of nonchalance, with only a few scattered clattering sounds coming from it.
Being a hunter is no easy task.
Even a renowned and skilled hunter like Ducwato still faces the risk of injury every time he goes up the mountain or into the forest.
Especially if they don't receive timely treatment after being injured, they are very likely to faint due to excessive blood loss and never wake up again.
Even if they finally managed to catch their prey, ordinary rabbits and roe deer wouldn't fetch a good price in the eyes of merchants. Only rare animals, such as beautiful red foxes or young and strong male deer, could make those stingy merchants open their purses and happily hand over their money.
"When did you start worrying about earning this little bit of money?"
Mela raised an eyebrow. Just because she hadn't left the Dark Forest since entering it didn't mean she was unaware of Ducwato's glorious deeds. He was a formidable figure who, at the age of sixteen, could single-handedly climb the mountain and carry a complete bear skin, making him famous in several nearby towns.
Bear skins are highly sought-after items by arrogant noblemen, and merchants flocking to them nearly wore out Ducwato's house.
Strangely enough, despite having hunted many rare animals over the years and sold them for high prices, Ducwato hadn't saved a penny and would often complain to Mela about being poor.
At first, Mela thought it was just a trick by Ducwato to take advantage of her, but later Mela discovered that Ducwato was actually really poor!
However, thanks to his excellent hunting skills, Ducwato did not fall into a very poor situation. Although he had to write IOUs to Mela from time to time, he was always able to pay back the money he owed on time.
Otherwise, even considering their long-standing friendship, Mela wouldn't be willing to be a sucker who borrows money and never repays it.
"Oh, right, I'd also like to buy two bottles of healing potions from you." Ducwato pulled out his last remaining money, this time his purse was completely silent.
Unexpectedly, Mela pushed the money back to him, saying, "It's all gone. We don't have any of the healing potions we made last time."
"That……"
Knowing what Ducwato wanted to ask, Mela interrupted him, "It will take at least five days. After five days, I will be able to prepare the materials and concoct a new batch of healing potions."
Since Mela has said so, Ducwato sighed, "It seems I'll just have to wait a little longer."
"Before I left, I brought all my gear, thinking I could take care of that big black bear today," Ducwato said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"A big black bear?" Mela immediately thought of the big black bear in the cave near the cabin, which was in its prime and more than two meters tall when standing upright.
Long before Mela moved into the Dark Forest, the big black bear had been living there, and Mela's cabin was even within its territory.
However, Mela had Silas, who was under a spell to grow bigger, turn around. The huge size difference made the big black bear instinctively afraid and dared not approach the cabin easily. It turned a blind eye to Mela's encroachment on its territory, and life went on peacefully like this.
Now Ducwato is actually saying he's got his eye on that big black bear.
Well, it's Ducwato's skill to be able to hunt a black bear, so Mela neither supports nor opposes it.
"I'm back." Lex's voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.
Lex was carrying a plump gray hare in one hand. Because Ducwato was blocking the doorway, he had to use this method to remind the strange man who had suddenly appeared in the cabin to move aside.
Ducwato turned around in surprise and looked at the boy who had suddenly appeared.
How come there's suddenly an extra person here after I haven't been here for a while?
As Ducwato sized up Lex, Lex returned the look openly.
"Wow, that's high." That was Lex's first reaction.
The man in front of them was at least two meters tall; you might not find many people in the entire kingdom who were as tall as him.
In addition, years of training have made his physique visibly strong under his hunting attire.
Lex wondered who would prevail if given the chance to spar with Cherk. He secretly compared the two.
As far as Lex knew, the reason Chelge was promoted to Knight Commander despite being a commoner was because he could easily take on ten men at once, demonstrating admirable martial prowess.
However, the man exuded an oppressive aura that was in no way inferior to that of Cherge, and his gaze towards Lex carried an ambiguous scrutiny.
“What fat rabbits!” Mela poked her head out from behind Ducwato, breaking the silent standoff.
Lexton immediately looked away, and casually mentioned, "It's just two rabbits. Whether we skewer them on branches and roast them over a fire until they're glistening with oil and then add seasonings, or chop them into chunks, coat them with honey, and slowly fry them, then sprinkle them with black pepper for seasoning, they should taste pretty good."
Just hearing Lex say that made Mela's mouth water.
As if that wasn't enough, Klex continued, "It's a pity that two rabbits are still too few, otherwise I could definitely make more dishes. I'll go and catch a few more rabbits tomorrow."
"Okay, then it's all up to you." Mela said with obvious delight.
Seeing this, Lex breathed a sigh of relief.
This morning, he and Mela said they didn't want to
When asked to go out for a short time each day instead of letting his martial arts skills go to waste, Mela readily agreed without hesitation.
Anyway, she didn't need Lex to do much work, and he could do whatever he wanted in his spare time.
But just to be on the safe side, Lex caught two rabbits and brought them back.
He thought that Mela might agree to let him go out today, but she might not agree the day after tomorrow. However, if he could win Mela over with delicious food, it would be a different story. Mela would probably be hoping that he would go out every day.
As Lex had hoped, Mela took the bait.
"Tch, just two rabbits. Even a toddler who's just learned to walk could easily catch a few rabbits if he knew how to set a trap," Ducwato suddenly said.
Lex had a vague idea of Ducwato's identity, but he didn't know why Ducwato suddenly spoke in a provocative manner.
Even more provocative words followed. Ducwato stared down at Lex with an arrogant and malicious smile. "What's the point of catching such a soft little thing? Hey, do you have the guts to go bear hunting with me?"
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