Napoleon of Another World!

Chapter 3 - The Yeti

If I wanted to bring my vision to life, I had to improve where I've always lacked, or where now I know I've gone wrong.

First I had to fortify myself, and learn a potentially useful profession, capable of opening the right doors for me if necessary.

Since an orphan would have had no real chance of a career in the legions, and the militia was just a bunch of illiterate rednecks, becoming a hunter was the only good option I had.

At least I was certainly not starting from scratch.

After all archery was not much different from firing a cannon or a musket; with little inventiveness and some notion of physics, the arrow aimed straight at its target, without missing it and without making any noise.

In a few weeks I had learned to make, string and wield a bow, make and set traps, follow tracks, and move through the forest as silent as a wolf. I could distinguish coveted from poor quality prey or locate the right target within an entire pack at a glance.

Not to say that archery, skinning and carrying prey, moving in the woods and climbing trees were all perfect ways to build muscles and improve my already considerable agility.

The excuse for the hours away from home was that I was studying and doing homework with my friends, but I was pretty sure that Scalia and Zorech suspected something.

That was the day of my final exam. If I was able to catch four hares or two foxes by sunset, I could henceforth go hunting alone and manage the income from my work myself.

I completed my task by mid-afternoon, but unable to contain my bad habit of always wanting to show off I had chosen to stick around and find more prey.

All of a sudden, one of the audible alarms I had placed around to help me locate prey started jingling, followed soon after by a great racket and unrepeatable phrases.

I went to check out of curiosity, finding myself faced with something between the funny and the grotesque: a lizard in a dark suit was completely wrapped up in the wire of the trap, and the more he tried get free, the more he remained entangled.

"Luda, you imbecile!" his kobold friend scolded him as he cut the wire. "Do you think it's appropriate to make so much noise?"

"It's not my fault, Rust. I'd like to know who enjoys putting strings and bells in the middle of the forest."

"They're hunters' traps, idiot. There must be one nearby."

They both looked around, unaware that I was right above their heads.

"But didn't the chief say humans don't come up here?" Luda said again

"It must be that goat." then Rust handed the dagger to his buddy. "Find him and shut him up. I'm going to the hideout."

"The boss wants to get his hands on the hunting business. Sure we can afford to do that?"

"Obviously the old dragon won't cooperate. We would have done it anyway. Besides, this business is a thousand times more profitable. Or would you rather have to explain to the boss that the hideout could be compromised?"

Whereupon they took different ways, with the lizard walking off in one direction and the kobold continuing in the other, carrying a heavy bag with him.

As for me, instinct told me to turn my back and go my own way.

But I'm forced to admit that my judgment was starting to suffer from my experiences up to that point as Daemon Haselworth, and fatally driven by the curiosity that only an unconscious and overconfident child could possibly have I set out on Rust's heels.