Ashen brought the bow and knife just like the old man had told him to. They were hidden inside Gaius's hut, right under the mat where the old man slept.
All Ashen had to do was lift the mat and dig a bit into the ground. Beneath it, he found a small wooden hatch with a handle. When he pulled it open, what he saw made him question.
Inside was a hidden compartment packed full of tools and weapons. Farming tools, knives, bows, traps, and even old iron equipment that looked like they'd been through years of use.
As they moved through the thick bushes, Ashen couldn't help but stare suspiciously at Gaius walking ahead of him.
'Why does this old man have so many weapons hidden under his house?' he thought.
Was this some kind of normal thing in this world? Did every old person keep a stash of tools and weapons underground like that?
If it wasn't normal, then Gaius was a lot more suspicious than Ashen had first thought.
They walked deeper into the forest. Gaius led the way confidently, and Ashen followed behind, holding the bow and arrows.
Soon enough, they spotted their first prey, a deer grazing alone among the trees.
Gaius raised his hand slightly, signaling Ashen to stop. They were far enough not to be noticed but still close enough to strike.
"Quiet now," Gaius whispered, his voice calm but firm and silent. "Hunting is like writing."
Ashen blinked in confusion. "Writing?" he whispered back.
"When ya write, ya must focus," Gaius continued in a low tone. "Ya focus so ya don't make mistakes."
Ashen could barely hear him, but he saw Gaius stretch out his palm toward him.
"…?"
"The bow," the old man muttered.
"Oh. Right."
Ashen quickly handed him the bow and pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back. He passed it over to Gaius, who was already preparing his aim.
"The first step to writing is knowing what ya want to write," Gaius said as he notched the arrow. "And the first step to hunting… is knowing what kind of prey ya are after."
Ashen listened carefully, watching the way Gaius positioned his hands, how steady his breathing was.
"How fast is your prey? How sharp is its instinct? Is it cautious, or careless?" Gaius whispered. "These are the things ya must know before ya release ya arrow."
With that, he drew the string back and aimed toward the deer that was still eating leaves, completely unaware of the danger.
"Only when ya understand your prey can ya know how easy or hard it will be to bring it down."
His tone carried a strange weight, almost like a teacher giving a lecture.
He let go.
The arrow sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.
"Another one," Gaius said immediately, stretching out his hand again without looking.
Ashen quickly gave him a second arrow, and the old man's equipping movements were so fast and smooth that Ashen's jaw nearly dropped.
"The moment ya miss ya first shot," Gaius said as he prepared the second arrow, "ya must already be thinking ahead, not two steps, not five… at least ten steps ahead of ya prey."
Ashen barely had time to process what he said when the first arrow struck, grazing the deer's ear. The animal jerked its head up and stomped its hooves in panic.
Just as it turned to run, a second arrow flew.
It pierced the deer's neck cleanly, sinking deep.
The animal stumbled forward, let out a short cry, then collapsed to the ground, trembling weakly.
"Only by thinking ahead," Gaius said calmly, "can ya predict what ya prey will do before it even does it."
Ashen stared in disbelief. The entire hunt had lasted less than ten seconds.
Gaius smiled, his wrinkled face creasing with satisfaction. "There ya go, the secret to a successful hunt."
He lowered his bow and nodded toward the fallen deer. "Go on now. Check your kill. No hunt is complete without confirming it yaself."
Ashen stepped forward slowly, pushing past a few bushes until he reached the deer. It was still alive, but barely. Its breaths were shallow, and blood flowed from its neck wound.
It wouldn't last long.
"Hm…" Gaius hummed as he walked over. "A clean strike, if I do say so myself."
Ashen just stood there, unsure what to say. He'd just watched an old man, someone who looked like he should be resting at home, shoot two arrows with the precision of a trained warrior.
'Did I just get schooled in hunting by an old man?' he thought, almost embarrassed to admit it.
Gaius crouched beside the dying deer, his eyes calm and wise. "A true hunter must always decide what kind of end he wants for his prey," he said. "Do ya want it dead? Half-dead? Injured but still standing? Or lifeless, yet preserved enough to seem alive?"
Ashen frowned. "Decide… the condition?"
"Yes," Gaius nodded. "A capable hunter doesn't rely on luck. He chooses the result before the arrow leaves the bow, and his skill ensures it happens exactly as he wishes."
It took Ashen a second to process that. Then he looked again at the deer. It was dying slowly, not instantly, which meant…
"You did this on purpose?" he asked in shock.
The old man chuckled. "Ya finally caught on."
Ashen remembered the first arrow that barely missed. That wasn't a mistake. The old man had planned it all from the start, from the first miss to the second shot, everything.
"You mean to tell me that old, wrinkled body of yours can pull off something like this on purpose?" Ashen muttered.
Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, it still felt unreal.
If someone his age had done that, he'd think it was luck. But this? This was precision born from years of experience.
Gaius turned to him with a knowing grin. "So, lad," he said. "Do Ya want to keep bickering or do ya want to learn how to hunt from this weak old man?"
Ashen stared at him for a long second before smirking.
"Learn hunting… from an old man with legendary-level hunting skill?" he thought.
Count him in.