When morning came, they each had a cup of water, a few scraps left from their dinner last night, and went out to hunt once again.

This was how they were going to sustain themselves, and also how they were going to pay their taxes at the end of the week.

So, they went to hunt once more.

On the way there, Boltana was stopped by Haptky.

“Hey, I just realised something.” said Haptky. “How’d you pay for the vegetables and wood we ate the other night?”

“I traded.”

“But I didn’t give you any meat before I cooked it all, so what’d you use to trade?”

“I just traded my dagger. I don’t use it anyway. I got my spear after all” said Boltana, pointing at the spear in her right hand.

“Well, alright. Let’s aim to hunt two beasts today, so that we can cover the tax at the end of the week.”

“I think we could get three of them with my new throwing daggers.” intervened Boris.

“Are you any good at throwing?”

“Well.. I’ve never done it before. But how hard can it be?”

Then Haptky stopped in his tracks, causing the other two to stop behind him.

He then turned around, making his way to the Pit.

The other two followed, questioning his abrupt change in direction.

“I’m going to test your throwing skills. If they’re bad, you can come train with me and Boltana after our excursion into the forest.”

“What if they’re good?”

“Well, then you can use them to hunt down beasts, but I doubt that. And since I don’t want to be stabbed in the back by my own team, I suggest you to train hard.”

“Ohhh…” Boris just realised it. If he missed the moving beasts, there was a chance that he was going to be hitting Haptky or Boltana. That would no doubt be bad. He was really excited to finally help them out during the fights, that he missed the possible downsides of the throwing daggers.

He then examines his daggers once more as they arrive at the Pit.

There were five of them in total, all of them roughly the same shape and size. They were thin yet sturdy, and with the blade taking up most of the bony shape, the handles to be quite small. Safe to say, they didn’t look too threatening.

“All right, we can spend at most one hour on this. So help me set out the targets.”

The Pit was just that, a pit. It was circular in shape, of roughly three meters deep and a few hundred meters in diameter. Though the edges were quite rough due to the ways in which it was dug .

At the sides there were ladders allowing people to descend, as well as training equipment and targets. The centre was purposely left empty, and though there were some marks left in the ground as well as the walls of the Pit, it seemed that most of them were filled up after the fact.

A few minutes later, Boris was standing on a marked circle in the ground. Five metres away from him stood a wooden block, roughly half his size, also on top of a marked circle in the dirt floor.

Five metres behind that wooden block, and a bit to the left, was a similar wooden block.

And five metres behind the second block, this time towards the right side, was another similar block.

“All right, just try to hit all of them in quick succession, okay?” said Haptky.

“Alright.” Boris said, a bit nervous after seeing how far the last block was from his. He was starting to have doubts about how good his throwing skills are, even though these were just assumptions made on top of different assumptions.

He grabbed a small bony dagger from his small satchel, which he created out of the rat’s skin, and slowly took a throwing pose.

He then leaned back his right hand, and with vigorous motion threw it forward. The dagger flew through the air in a beautiful, majestic arc.

It then proceeds to land perfectly in front of the first target, with the blade pointing upwards, somehow balancing on the small handle. It then starts swerving, slowly, then faster, and faster, until it falls flat on its side.

“Alright, you need a lot of practice. Let’s worry about our hunt for now, and you practise when we come back.” said Haptky.

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“I want next! Let me try, please!” asked Boltana, excited by some inexplicable reason. Truly a mystery how the girl kept on switching between excitement, and depression, at but a moment’s notice.

“Make it fast. We’re burning daylight here.” replied Haptky, with exaggerated irritation in his voice.

“I know, I know.” said Boris as he handed his satchel to Boltana, missing the sarcasm within the other’s voice.

Boltana then grabbed the satchel, and took out another of the daggers.

She threw the dagger in much the same way Boris did, except hers actually reached the target. Though it only barely grazed it before the blade impaled itself into the floor.

But still, much better than Boris.

And she didn’t stop there, throwing the remaining three bony daggers at the target.

Though only one of them managed to replicate her first minor success, while the other two just hit the wooden block with the blunt side of the blade, or the butt of the handle.

She then reached into the satchel, only to sadly realise that there were no more things to throw.

“Let’s go. You can keep doing that when we come back.”

She nodded, then proceeded to go and grab all the daggers, putting them in the satchel, and then handed it over to Boris.

“I look forward to our training!” she said, grinning from ear to ear for some reason.

Boris, although unsure of the reason for her smile, didn’t want to ask her. But it was really gnawing at him, as she kept on grinning while they walked behind Haptky. He kept staring at her smile, trying to decide whether he should ask or not.

“What?” she asked him.

“I… why are you so happy?” there, he said it. His future regrets be damned.

“You said we need to attack the Malakey from a distance, right? So I thought these daggers would help me do that. Now we just need to find a way to trap it, and destroy its ears.” she replied.

“I guess you’re right. We’re technically a third of the way there, though I would need to make some sharper, sturdier daggers for its hide. But a start is a start.” Boris replied, going back to his thoughts as he started thinking about what would be needed to make such throwing daggers, and how much power they would need to be thrown with in order to damage its hide.

‘Maybe Haptky will be strong enough to throw the dagger and penetrate a Malakey’s hide, but even that wouldn’t do much damage. We would need a way to somehow launch it with enough power to go beyond the hide and muscles, and it’d have to be a pretty sturdy dagger to survive the impact. Gods, this is going to be so much work!’

Even so, Boris was happy. Killing a Malakey wasn’t supposed to be easy, and yet he was starting to think that it was possible for them to do it. With enough preparation, that is.

But still, a great abomination could theoretically be slain through his creations. Maybe it won’t be as impressive as using magic to cleave it in half, but still impressive nonetheless.

And so, they made their way into the dead forest once again, this time aiming to hunt two beasts.

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To the eastern outskirts of the Omoshiro village, two men could be seen hiding behind the tree line, watching the warriors stationed around the eastern gate.

-How many did you see?- signs the first one. He was a short fellow, with pale white skin and grey braids hanging off of his sunken face.

-27- replied the second one. He looked almost identical to the first one, though he was visibly younger and of higher stature.

-That’s almost 80 warriors watching the perimeter. Go tell Kaleb to bring more reinforcements.- signed the old man.

The younger scout nodded, then dashed eastwards to where the Todtec troops were stationed, a few minutes walk from the cave.

The older man, meanwhile, stayed behind the tree line, watching the eastern gate with unwavering concentration.#

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Boris, Haptky and Boltana came back late in the afternoon. They were tired, exhausted even, yet they were happy. A satisfied look could be seen on their faces.

They didn't hunt one beast, or even two like they planned, but rather three of them. Three! That was enough for all of them to pay their weekly tax.

This was the best day they had in a long while. The past year was filled with constant from the elders, and gruelling training in order to prepare them for the Trial. Though Boris could hardly partake in the intense activities, he was still forced to do them till he dropped on the floor, just like everybody else.

But now, they finally caught a break. They could stay in the village, and eat, and sleep for the rest of the day. Truly, a day of rest was well deserved for all the pain they went through this past year.

“Let’s first eat, to recover our energies, and then we can go train till nightfall.” said Haptky.

“But… can’t we just relax for a bit?” asked Boris.

“No. We need to train.”

“Can we do mini dagger throwing first?” asked Boltana.

“You two can. I’ll do my normal routine.”

Although Boris didn’t like the name ‘mini daggers’, and although he really wanted to avoid training, he was too tired to argue with them.

So they went home, and sat down to have another delicious meal prepared by Haptky. Or, as delicious a meal as roasted meat and veggies could be without salt.

*knock* *knock*

“Who is it?” asked Boltana as she bolted to open the door.

What she saw outside was a tall and bulky man, wearing armour made out of purple abomination hide. He was one of the warriors in charge of the western gate, and though Boltana has seen him on many occasions, she never had a reason to talk to him before.

“Nice armour.” said Boltana.

“I’m here to give you a heads up.” he said, uncaring about her comment, yet a look of pity could be discerned within the depths of his eyes. “Taxes are going up starting next week. Two beasts per person. Have a good day.”

The warrior then started walking away, probably to let others know about the tax increase.

“Wait!”

He stops momentarily, only half-turning his body to face the girl.

“Yes?”

“Why!? The taxes haven’t been changed i-in forever. It’s not fair!”

“Blame Vadir. That bastard is trying to seal our cave, and he’ll no doubt succeed sooner or later. Therefore, we must prepare for a food shortage.” he then started walking away, his explanation weighing on her mind long after he departed.