Chapter 116: The Hunt’s Haul

"Your catch isn’t even a beast!" Dora grumbled under her breath, and Karhun commented with a profound smile, "How do you know that deer didn’t eat meat?"Dora’s eyes widened in disbelief, and she shut her lips.

Seeing that, Karhun grinned proudly.

Rion ignored them, placed his arms on his waist and stared at the three carcasses before him.

The brown bulk wolf and the grey-white bear were the size of an adult grizzly, while the striped wild deer was nearly half of their size; however, its meat was much softer and tender than the other two.

’These aren’t enough... we need the meat worth of six bears to even hold the feast,’ he sighed inwardly and turned his head towards his squad leaders with a frown.

Yuura had his head low while Dora glared at Karhun as if he were her worst enemy, but Karhun didn’t care; he stood with a prideful grin that reached his ears.

His frown lifted into a smile as he stared at them, and it slowly faded back into a frown as his eyes stilled on Dora.

The world around him lost its colour as he stared at the person closest to his heart and thought dejectedly, ’I haven’t talked to her since we returned from the campsites.’

He clenched his fists and mumbled under his breath, "It’s better this way."

Rion was fearless when it came to facing dreadful monsters and horrors; however, in matters related to love, he was the biggest coward there was. He feared losing her, so he stayed away and used the goal of replicating immortality as his excuse.

Feeling Rion’s gaze, Dora shifted her eyes from Yuura to Rion and frowned upon seeing the dejected look on his face.

Her lips parted on their own, and words came out worriedly, "Is something wrong, Rion?"

Hearing her voice, Rion came out of his reverie. He slowly shook his head and forced a smile as he answered, "No. Everything’s fine."

The others frowned, and Dora’s lips parted to ask further, but Rion cut in quickly, "I am planning to hold a feast."

"Isn’t this too much for us?" Karhun questioned while pointing at the carcasses.

Rion’s smile turned genuine, and he said, "Let’s wait for the others. I’ll explain everything together."

They nodded.

The winds drifted from one place to another, and after a few minutes, voices reached them.

Rion turned towards the direction of the voices and his gaze landed on a Tarun and Zukah who were either lifting or dying under the weight of a mountain grazer colossus — An omnivorous beast twice the size of an adult grizzly.

Everyone’s eyes widened, and all of them yelled in disbelief, "What the hell?"

The reason behind their disbelief wasn’t its size, but its sheer existence. The mountain grazer colossus was a beast no less rare than a dark wolf, which was considered the king of forested mountains.

They stood wide-eyed as Zukah, Tarun, and their squads reached the spot and dropped by the side of the three carcasses.

Just as they dropped it, they also fell on their butts with groans and mumbles escaping from their lips.

"Ugh! It was heavy as hell."

"I’m sore."

"You still had a better time than us..."

"Yeah, we lifted it from beneath!"

"They were as big as a mace head."

Rion ignored them for now and walked closer to the mountain grazer colossus.

The difference wasn’t surprising at all. A silent chuckle escaped him, and he thought, ’We would have enough meat after Balak and Cuba return.’

He glanced at Zukah and Tarun, who were catching their breaths, and said, "Both of you did great."

They replied with a smile and took a seat under the shade of the redwood trees.

Karhun, Yuura, Dora and the three rebels stared at them with impressed expressions.

Zukah’s eyes fell on the rebels, who were sitting away from them, and he asked, "What did you three catch?"

Moria and Waron didn’t say anything, and Armin scoffed, "Catch? I don’t want to play this stupid game. He left us hanging for a whole week! Why should I follow such a leader?"

Zukah frowned and muttered, "Did you forget that he had saved us?"

Armin sneered and said, "So what? He did it to earn merits for himself, not to actually save us!"

Zukah fell silent. He looked at Rion, their eyes met, and the shine in Rion’s eyes was enough for him to understand his thoughts.

’He wants me to ignore them,’ Zukah noted in his head, looked at Dora and others before he remarked, ’They didn’t even need that to understand him...’

His lips arched upwards, and his eyes stilled at Rion.

Seeing his smile, Armin gritted his teeth and shot a glare at Rion.

And feeling his gaze, Rion only spared him an emotionless glance.

A few minutes passed, and the sun neared evening as Balak returned with his squad holding a swift pale fox.

Upon seeing Rion, Balak slowed down and took the catch from his squad.

They knelt before Rion, Balak lifted the catch in his arms and bellowed, "Honour to the liege!"

Rion smiled and praised, "Swift pale fox, huh? My mother once told me that it has the softest meat."

Balak’s eyes shone in pride, and he said, "That is true, my liege."

Rion took the swift pale fox from them and placed it by the others.

"Stand," he commanded.

Balak nodded before he and his squad stood up and walked over to the others.

The sun dipped close to the horizon as they waited for Cuba, and he finally returned.

Unlike others, Cuba and his squad didn’t catch a single game; instead, they caught one short red bull each.

Everyone’s mouth fell agape, and a wry smile appeared on Rion’s face.

Cuba raised his eyebrow in surprise upon seeing the five carcasses. He pointed at them, and they placed their five short red bulls beside them. Afterwards, they knelt before Rion, and Cuba said loudly, "We have returned. My liege!"

Rion glanced at the ten carcasses from the corner of his eye and said, "You had a good catch, huh..."

The others stared at Cuba and his squad with deeply impressed yet bitter expressions.

Cuba nodded and said, "We did."

Rion smiled softly, patted his shoulder and commanded, "You may stand."

Cuba nodded, stood up with his squad and walked towards Zukah and others while glancing at the three rebels with a disappointed expression.

Rion scanned his group members and stated, "We are going to hold a feast."

They blinked in puzzlement, but before they could ask or even say anything, he began to explain.