Today was finally the day of the Imperial Hunting Festival. I was excitedly riding next to Luna in the carriage, wearing a nice hunting outfit my parents had tailored for me. Unlike a lot of my clothes, this had shades of emerald and silver to match Luna; Luna was next to me wearing her dark green dress with silver trim that my outfit was coordinated to. I relished in getting to bathe and brush Lux out for her cracks about my dancing before getting her into her formal vest, socks, and gloves. Of course, Lux naturally decided that she needed to claw for her life because she refused to be cleaned quietly. We steadily moved towards the Imperial Hunting Grounds, seeing the streets were lined with guards every fifteen feet or so. Soon we reached a large barrier, with countless Magi surrounding it. Even from here I could feel the hum of the being used to create the protective dome. They really tightened security for this. Small price to pay for actually being able to leave the castle and get to do something fun with Luna. Grand Archmagus Solomon was guarding me personally, so I should be safe. We entered the barrier, and I could see the massive Imperial Hunting Grounds. They were a massive, lush forest with the song of birds chirping throughout. There was a heavy, woodsy scent that made an odd combination with the stuffy air from the area being sealed in a barrier that was so dense I could faintly taste pine on my tongue as we rode to where the Imperial Hunting Festival was set up. There were rolling knolls covered vibrant green grass in front of the woods. I kind of wished there was a breeze, but I was not going to complain when I was getting to leave the castle. This is still really exciting.

I hope I can find something good for Luna. I know what I wanted to find for her. There should be quite a few in the Imperial Hunting Grounds according to the guide Uncle Nox gave me. I hoped she liked my choice as I agonized over which quarry to hunt. The carriage pulled up to the main area, where there were a handful of nobles. I imagined normally there were probably more, but with security this tight the list was obviously restricted down. I was a bit disappointed the only people my age was Julius, Luna, and myself. Ein was definitely the youngest in attendance. I guess I can work on making more friends on a different day. Grand Archmagus Solomon got out first, quickly scanning the surrounding area before letting Luna and I out of the carriage. The atmosphere was understandably tense as there were a lot of guards and Magi present in the area. I noticed Nautilus’s crew was in attendance, dressed in proper uniforms. They saw Luna and I waving at them, so they respectfully waved back with a bit of a chuckle. I hoped they were not annoyed by me appointing Nautilus as my Naval Admiral. They all stayed from what I could tell, so I think they weren't too annoyed. I guess the pardons probably helped with that. Maybe Duthane had a point about being more conscious of my actions and how they affected others. It's not something I'm overly used to doing.

The prehunt portion of the festival was mostly tense small talk as Luna and I waited next to each other. We weren’t going to complain as we were glad to be able to do it at all. My family and Julius’s family had already arrived. Papa and Mama were both dressed quite nicely. From what I remember they are arbitrating the hunt so are not directly participating. It was obvious the hunters were me, Dad, Uncle Nox, Cesar, Grandpa, and Nautilus. Lux was on my shoulder, looking annoyed she was going to be tracking down our quarry. Sizal and Egoff walked over and stood near me; so, these two were my additional protection. Grand Archmagus Solomon looked less than thrilled that he was going to have to tolerate former pirates being near him. I wonder just how many ships of the Institute of Mages Nautilus plundered for this reaction. He seems to be annoyed by the fact they're even breathing. After a few more minutes of standing around, Papa blew a horn. He clearly amplified the sound with , signalling that the hunters got to go into the forest to hunt. I told Lux our quarry and she begrudgingly began helping me look for my desired target. Sizal stayed closer to Lux while Egoff stayed next to me. I could feel Grand Archmagus Solomon probing around us with with a near constant scan looking for signs of traps or intruders. Lux soon found the trail and we all began carefully following it. I don't know why, but this is oddly exciting to get to do. Sure, the air was stuffy and it was a bit hot inside the barrier, but it was something I would never have done in my previous life. was not allowed for hunting which was annoying as this would take me seconds if I had access to it, yet that didn't really bother me. If anything, it added to the fun for some reason. It felt nice not contending with a monstrous , just doing some activity with someone close to me.

My small hunting party carefully made our way through the woods. Actually, my three guards were clearly using so they were virtually undetectable, so it was mostly Lux and I moving stealthily. I was a bit disappointed at how boring this portion ended up being. It was mostly Lux tracking with her superior senses as we skulked our way through the woods until we could at least hear our quarry. Nothing fancy; just quietly and calmly stalking our prey. I hoped in the future it would be a bit more relaxed because hunting with three powerful bodyguards kind of took some of the fun out of it. Even the social portion of it was greatly dampened by the security. I understood why; I should just be glad we could do it at all. I still can’t fathom who wants to kill Luna that badly. It wasn’t important now, so I needed to focus. We continued through the woods, gradually approaching our goal. It took roughly three hours before we started seeing signs of our quarry. Another sixty or so minutes later, we could hear the howls of the wolf. The right balance of difficult, dangerous, and doable. I looked around for signs of others as I knew wolves generally moved in packs. I didn’t see any, but that didn’t mean others weren’t nearby. I took a deep breath, notched an arrow, and slowly took aim. From here I had a good shot while the wolf was not aware of us because we were downwind. I released the arrow, hitting the wolf. Uncle Nox’s lessons paid off! As the wolf began sprinting, I quickly notched another arrow, shooting it a second time in the rib cage a bit off where I intended but close enough to do major damage. I definitely needed to thank Uncle Now later for his lessons. I guess Duthane too, as her dance lessons helped me improve immensely. I could feel myself smiling as we chased down the wolf. It took us less than a minute to find it collapsed on the ground. I quickly took my dagger and made sure it wasn’t suffering. I looked at Egoff, who just smirked while making a with your knees motion. I looked at the wolf. It’s easily twice my size. I sighed as I put it over my shoulders. Thankfully was allowed for walking back or I would struggle to drag the wolf back.

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The trek back was not easy as I was carrying about one hundred and fifty pounds of wolf while staying vigilant for other wolves. The journey took longer than I imagined. I knew we covered a sizeable distance tracking down the wolf, and it felt so much longer carrying an animal twice my size. My definitely took a beating as I had to keep myself augmented to lift the wolf the entire time. Lux looked bored the entire time as we returned. She was making sure we were on the right path and got annoyed when I told her she could walk back as I was not carrying her and the wolf. Soon enough the clearing was in sight allowing me to see what everyone hunted. Dad hunted some type of fox for Mom; Uncle Nox also hunted a fox for Nez and the two were comparing their quarry. Grandpa hunted some form of deer for Grisbane. Nautilus had a massive bear next to her, with its head twisted about one hundred eighty degrees from where it should have been. How strong is Nautilus that she can snap a bear’s neck like that without ? It only confirmed she was indeed not human as several were eyeing it; the bear was truly massive. I was undeniably the last to return by a sizeable margin judging by where and how cleaned up everyone else was. It didn’t matter, I successfully complete the hunt. I dug in deep for the remaining several hundred feet so I could present the wolf to Luna. I knelt down, gently setting the wolf in front of her.

“I present my hunt to you, Lady Dawnsfield.” I stated like I practiced. I might need help standing back up, my legs are killing me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Duthane watching like a hawk.

“I accept your hunt.” Luna replied, looking really happy at the fact I hunted a wolf for her. Several of the adults were looking over at us, surprised I hunted a wolf. I was still kneeling because my legs were screaming from the exertion. Mama and Papa came over to inspect my hunt.

“You know you can stand now, right Nil?” Papa checked in a whisper.

“Working on it.” I whispered back. My legs utterly refused to cooperate at the moment. I vastly underestimated how difficult it would be to carry a wolf back. Tracking it down took a while, and luckily I was able to cleanly shoot it. I definitely was taking notes for the next Imperial Hunting Festival.

“I will now declare the winner! Everyone, to your places please.” Papa announced, which made everyone place their hunts in front of their partner again, kneeling to present them.

Thanks Papa. I told him mentally as I worked on recovering my legs. He gave me a small thumbs up back.

“As the Master of the Hunt, I hereby declare Naval Admiral Nautilus the winner of this years Imperial Hunting Festival.” Papa declared. No one looked surprised as the bear she hunted was absolutely massive. Nautilus victoriously stood up, walked over, and requested the victory dance from Helga. Luna shot to my side, helping me recover my legs while the others were watching the two of them dance.

“That was very sweet of you Nil.” Luna told me while she was blushing heavily. She helped me get to my feet as we watched Nautilus and Helga dance the first song.

“I hope you enjoy it.” I replied. Luna gave me a massive hug that made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

“It’s going to be a cloak I treasure.” Luna informed me, leaning into me a bit. We both were working on recovering me enough to dance. Shortly after, the victory song finished playing.

“Would you like to dance, Lady Dawnsfield?” I asked her. Luna was beaming with a massive smile on her face. Oh this position is killing me. My legs being spaced like this with my legs overexerted is brutal.

“I would love to.” Luna agreed, happily taking my hand.

We slowly moved to the dance floor, as my body was still screaming at me for all the exertion. All the pairs made it to the dance floor, looking much livelier and happier than earlier. The song I practiced easily a hundred times began playing once everyone had made it to the dance floor. My body thankfully seemed to remember the dance perfectly as I effortlessly danced the foxtrot with Luna. Her normal slate skin had quite the red hue to it as we began dancing. My palms felt a bit sweaty, and my heart was beating in a funny way as we were this close. Please don’t be too sweaty. I know I strained myself carrying the wolf back, but I don’t want to get sweat all over her dress. Thankfully, I knew this was the dance to celebrate the completion of the hunting portion. The banquet would be right after the song ended. More time to recover. Luna seemed to be over the moon as the two of us danced; seeing her smile definitely made all the effort worth it.