"Kotu is welcome to join our hunting party, Eiros." Lith replied.

"We are coming too." Abominus said and Onyx nodded. "We can help you track and flush out prey or take Aran and Leria home in case they get uncomfortable."

"It sounds great." Kamila said. "Have fun out there. Can you please show us around Jambel, Mirias? I’ve been here already but this is Solus’ first time and she can use a more skilled guide to appreciate your city’s beauty."

"It would be my honor." The Baroness smiled, glad of being useful and making up for her earlier blunders, even if just a bit.

***

Once they were done with breakfast, it took Lith and the others just a few minutes to get ready and leave. One DoLorean was enough to carry them, leaving the other for Kamila and Solus in case of emergency.

The Baron parked outside the Stornash woods and let everyone out before storing the vehicle inside his dimensional amulet.

"As I said, you are spoiled for choice." A wave of his hand conjured a line of weapons displayed on a leather roll. "We have bows for our marksmen, crossbows for the beginners, and wands if you want to bring something home at all costs."

Hunting wands were an expensive tool only nobles could afford. The spells they stored stopped at tier one since the upper tiers were exclusive for military use and the only elements allowed were ice and lightning.

Fire magic was considered too dangerous in inexperienced hands and it could have been used to make a corpse disappear. Tier one ice shards worked akin to arrows from a longbow while tier one bolts of lightning were too weak to kill an adult and were perfect to stun a fleeing prey.

"I’ll take the bow." Senton and Trion said.

"I’ll take the crossbow." Raaz and the kids said.

"If we ever need to use magic, we have our own." Aran and Leria added with a shrug.

With their bright yellow mana cores and the magic lessons in the Desert, they had full access to all kinds of tier two magic. They could have even learned a few weak tier three spells but no one trusted that kind of power to a child.

"I’ll take nothing." Lith and the Emperor Beasts said. "I never had tools or need for them. I’ve always hunted with my own means."

"Really?" Raaz furrowed his brows in confusion. "I thought-"

Then, the realization struck him.

’That’s right. We were too poor to afford any of these weapons. Lith had to learn how to hunt with magic because of me.’ He inwardly sighed.

"Never mind. Let’s go." They split into teams and moved in different directions not to disturb or hit each other. "Well, son, show your old man how it’s done."

"Okay." Lith raised his hand, conjuring a Hush Zone to cancel their noise and smell. "Back in the day I used air magic to float and darkness magic to erase my presence but this will work just fine."

He turned toward Raaz to show him his eyes shining with Life Vision.

"Isn’t this cheating?" Trion asked.

"Of course it is." Lith grunted. "How else do you expect a four years old boy to catch anything with no tools and no one teaching him the basics of hunting?"

’I’m an idiot. How could I call Lith’s magic cheating?’ Trion regretted his words the moment they came out of his mouth. ’That’s what Orpal always said and I ended up sounding just like him.

’Back then, he and I always complained about how easy Lith had it thanks to his magical talent yet we had no problem stuffing our mouths with the food he brought home.’

"If you want to experience my childhood hunting routine, Dad, we have to start with birds and squirrels. Do you feel like watching or do you prefer turning around, Aran?" Lith asked.

"Depends. Would there be blood involved or would it be like when you brought Leria and I fishing?" Aran replied.

"Like fishing." Lith said.

"Then go ahead, big brother." Aran clenched Raaz’s hand and grabbed the scruff of Onyx’s neck for moral support.

He had already seen chickens and cattle be killed at the farm but it was always a clean and painless procedure. Aran had seen plenty of dead animals, it was watching them die that scared him.

Lith extended four tendrils of Spirit Magic and snapped his fingers. Two squirrels up in the trees and two medium-sized flying birds collapsed like puppets whose strings had suddenly been cut.

Their bodies never touched the ground, floating toward Lith like fish caught in a net.

"This is amazing!" Aran said just to add: "And terrifying. Can you also do that to people?"

"Yes, Aran. Every Awakened can." Lith nodded. "Back then, my magic was too weak to hunt anything big so I relied on Spirit Magic. Animals can’t see it or react until it’s too late."

"I remember the Blinkers and that you brought home squirrel hair to stuff our winter gloves, but I’ve never seen you eat one. What did you do with the meat?" Raaz asked.

"I ate them before coming home, Dad." Lith shrugged. "Hunting is exhausting. Even more if you use magic instead of tools. I took part of my share in advance so that you wouldn’t have to deal with more quarrels than you already did.

"I didn’t want Trion and Meln to complain about me having portions as large as their own or have to explain every time we sat at the table how hungry I was. On top of that, it would have made you, Mom, Tista, and Rena feel guilty.

"We both know that one, if not all of you, would have tried to give me part of your serving and sparked even more arguments."

Raaz too regretted his question the moment it escaped his lips, wondering how many things he had taken for granted over the years.

’Gods, I still remember the set of fur clothes Lith prepared for Tista or the giant boar skin he had Selia turn into a carpet for my bedroom.’ For a long time, the carpet had been one of the few things of value in the house.

Raaz appreciated it every morning the boar skin saved his feet from the cold floor. He had appreciated every new carpet Lith brought home to make it warmer during winter but Raaz had never stopped to think how hard Lith must had worked to get his hands on them.

"Did you really act like that, Trion?" Aran’s horrified tone snapped Raaz out of it. "What an ungrateful prick!"

"Aran!" Raaz could see how ashamed his oldest son already was and how much Aran’s words hurt Trion. There was no point twisting the knife in his wounds. "Those were different times. Your big brother-"

"Was a certified ungrateful prick." Trion completed the phrase for him. "It’s okay, Dad. We came here to bond, not to tell each other comforting lies. Lith is right, lil bro. I was an obnoxious brat and had I known about the squirrel meat, I would have done exactly as Lith says.

"You are also right, Aran. My behaviour was unacceptable."