"Look!" Rog pointed at the ground. "Right here. Can you see it?"

Red crouched down alongside the man to examine whatever had caught his attention. As he stared at the ground, though, he saw nothing.

"Here, kid. Can't you smell this?" The man pointed again.

"Smell what?" The youth asked.

"Fresh droppings." Rog told.

"Droppings?"

"Poop."

"Oh." Red finally understood. "Why is this relevant?"

"It's a trail, kid." The hunter explained. "When you're hunting, you need to look for these types of signs. They tell you whether an animal is hanging around the area. Now, look around - do you see anything else?"

The boy followed Rog's instructions. It was very dark, and the youth didn't have as good of a vision as the man. However, in the end he was able to find something.

"Tracks." Red pointed out a set of heavy footprints marked on the leaf litter.

"Good." Rog didn't seem surprised at his discovery. "This looks like a hooved animal - the easy type to track since they leave deep footprints wherever they go. This one looks like a boar - a big one too."

"Is it dangerous?"

"For normal people, sure. But it's no monster." The hunter shrugged. "Now, let's follow the trail. Make sure you watch where you're stepping."

The two of them continued to travel through the forest. Red was surprised multiple times at how well Rog was able to see in the darkness. While the boy had to get very close to identify any footprints, the man could do it from meters away. The hunter also continued to instruct him through it all.

"Depending on what kind of animal you're hunting, you need to watch for certain signs." Rog spoke. "Different animals eat different types of food, so you may find them hanging around particular areas of the forest."

"What does a boar eat?" Red asked.

"Just about anything, really. Fruits, nuts, even small critters. Thankfully they're not very sneaky, so we shouldn't have a hard time finding them."

Sure enough, some ten minutes later, the hunter called their marching to a stop. He crouched down in a hurry, and Red imitated his actions.

"There." The man whispered. "A few hundred meters or so ahead. Do you see it?"

The youth looked in the area Rog was pointing at. All he saw were trees and shadows.

"I see nothing." The boy replied. "I haven't opened my five senses vein."

"Oh, right." The hunter nodded in realization. "It's the boar. Looks to be eating off a berry bush."

Red squinted, and for a moment, he thought he saw the shadow of an animal between the trees. It was hard to be sure, though.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"Hm..." Rog scratched his beard. "Can you shoot it from here?"

"No." Red didn't need to double-check to reply.

"Then we need to get closer." The hunter concluded. "When you get close to prey, you have to be careful so the wind is not blowing at your back. Animals have very sharp senses, and if they smell you, they'll just run away before you can shoot."

Red understood that principle. The giant insects in the underground could smell blood from kilometers away. Although this boar was not a monster, its sense of smell was probably still better than a human.

"How do I approach it?" The youth asked for instructions.

"You can figure it out on your own, kid." Rog shrugged. "Just make sure you have a clear shot and try not to make any noise."

Since the man was not placing any pressure on him, Red decided to improvise. Checking the wind as he was told, the youth began to approach the area. He didn't move in a straight line but rather in a circular pattern so the trees would cover his advance.

Once Red walked far enough, the image of the boar became clearer to him. It was a large furry creature, with two tusks protruding from the side of its head. The animal was bigger than the boy himself. He looked back at Rog, who had been following close behind him.

"Are you sure that's not a monster?" Red frowned.

"Positive." The hunter responded. "Well, the definition of a monster is not clear-cut as you might expect, but I can tell you a boar is just about normal."

The youth was still skeptical, but he focused on the task at hand. He tried to measure the distance between them.

"Do you think you can hit it from here?" Rog asked.

"No." Red replied honestly. The shot could probably reach that far, but the boy doubted it would find its mark.

"Then you need to get closer." The man remarked. "A boar is a hardy prey, and it can survive a shot that misses its vital organs."

"Where do I aim?"

"If it's facing you, go for the head." Rog explained. "If it's sideways, go for the spine or the heart. The spine is right behind the ears, and the heart is immediately above and behind the shoulder. Also, make sure to have your arrow nocked in preparation."

Red did as he was told and began to approach the boar again. He watched his steps, hoping to avoid stepping on any twigs or dry leaves. The boy got closer and closer, until he was within a hundred meters of the prey.

At that moment, the boar perked up.

Red froze and didn't move. The creature looked at its surroundings in suspicion, but a few moments later, it resumed eating the berries. The boy let out a sigh of relief. However, at that point, he also knew that if he tried to get closer, he would probably end up alerting his prey.

Rog was right behind him, but he didn't say anything this time around. Seeing that no complaint or snarky comment was forthcoming, Red decided to prepare his shot.

He first tried to visualize the targets the hunter had described to him. The boar was indeed sideways, so Red decided to go for the spine. He pulled back his nocked arrow, trying to recall the correct stance and the anchor point Rog had taught him before. Then, before his arms started to tremble under the effort, he let loose.

He heard a thud, followed by a shriek.

The arrow had found its target, but it didn’t bring the boar down. The animal didn't hesitate to run away in a frenzy, faster than Red thought such a stocky creature could run. Right as the boy prepared to nock another arrow and give chase, he heard a twang from behind him.

An arrow flew over his head and hit the boar in the spine. The beast fell utterly still in an instant, and no more shrieks were heard from it. Red looked back just in time to see Rog lowering his own bow.

"Let's go see the damage, then." The hunter instructed before moving forward.

The youth nodded and followed behind the man. As they approached, he was once more surprised by the sheer size of the beast. Unsurprisingly, it was no longer breathing.

"You had the right idea but a somewhat poor aim." Rog commented as he pointed at the boar's leg. Red's arrow was sticking off of the creature's thigh, and it didn't look like it had penetrated too deeply. "Now, look at my own."

The hunter's arrow had hit exactly behind the prey's ears, where he had told him to aim before. It was buried deep within the boar's body.

"You see, hitting this kind of prey in the spine is almost an instant kill." The man explained. "It can immobilize it and make it go into shock. The heart is easier to hit and is also an almost guaranteed kill, but the boar would probably run for a bit before falling dead."

Red nodded in understanding. If he had a choice in the future, then he should probably go for the spine.

"So, how did it feel?" Rog asked.

"What do you mean?" The boy was confused by the question.

"How did it feel to shoot the boar?"

"Was I supposed to feel anything?" Red frowned.

"I guess not." Rog shrugged. "Some people have different reactions when they kill their first living being. Anger, sadness, joy, and everything in between."

This wasn't the first time the youth had killed someone or something. However, even back then, Red didn't remember being emotionally affected by it.

"What about you?" The boy asked. "What did you feel?"

"Me?" Rog didn't expect the question to be turned back at him. "I suppose that at first I felt a bit of sadness. Still do."

"Sadness? Why?" This was perhaps the least likely reply Red was expecting.

"I mean, aren't these beasts amazing?" The hunter continued. "The things they can naturally do out of instinct alone, it's beyond human understanding. I enjoy watching them living their lives in nature, including the monsters."

Red remembered how he felt watching the egg-stealer in the centipede nest. Strangely, he couldn't help but find himself agreeing with Rog.

"If you like them so much, why do you hunt them?" The youth asked.

"It's what I'm good at." The man shrugged. "Besides, some of these animals like the boars, not to mention the monsters, are pests to the farmland. They need to be killed, and I need to earn a living too. As much as I like them, they're not as important as my well-being."

Once again, Rog's words took the boy by surprise. He never thought that beneath the hunter's aloof exterior, he had such deep considerations.

"Now, no more time for talking." The man interrupted his thoughts. "Come help me. We need to get it tied up."

"Aren't we going to skin it?" Red asked.

"Skin it? In the middle of the forest?" Rog looked at the youth as if he was looking at an idiot. "Skinning animals like this is a more bloody affair, kid. Besides, we're not going to cook it. We're gonna sell it. Now shut up and come help me."

The youth did as he was told. Once they were done, the hunter put the hog on his shoulders, and the two of them began traveling deeper into the forest.

Another hour passed by, mostly in silence.

"Are we still hunting for something?" Red finally asked.

"Not really." Rog replied. "A boar this big is already a nice haul, and it's not like we can carry too many things on our backs. I expected that we would need to spend until the morrow here before we found something good."

"Then why aren't we heading back to town?" The boy asked.

"Because we're being followed."

Red froze.

"Just keep walking, kid." Rog growled at him.

The youth nodded and followed the man.

"How close are they?" The boy asked.

"Almost a kilometer back." Rog explained. "They're afraid of being discovered, so they're just following our tracks."

"But didn't you still notice them?"

"Yeah, but that's because my eyes are better than most."

"And how many are there?"

"I saw two or three, but there might be more." Rog explained. "One of them might have even gone to ask for reinforcements. Bandits tend to like overwhelming people with numbers."

"Bandits?" Red frowned. "How do you know they are bandits?"

"Just an educated guess. These guys act like bandits and clearly know what they're doing. If I wasn't careful earlier, I might have missed them. I just didn't expect to find them so close to town."

This time, Red was truly worried. It seemed these bandits were professionals from the man's evaluation.

"What do we do?" He asked.

"We lose them in the forest." Rog replied.

"What if we can't lose them?"

The hunter didn't immediately respond, scratching his beard in thought. A few seconds later, he looked back at Red with a wide smile on his face.

"How do you feel about live target practice?"