Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

In the Senas Alliance, mountain ranges span the north and south, with the overall terrain gradually ascending from the east to the west, prompting the coastal dwellers to refer to the Paratu People as Highlanders.

In the southwestern outskirts of the Kingdom of Galloping Horses, the town of Wolfton sits nearly fourteen hundred meters above sea level, nestled in the pine and oak forest belt at the northern foothills of the Jinding Mountains.

In the forest south of Wolfton, coniferous giants thick enough to require an embrace to encircle, stretch upwards piercing the heavens and blocking out the sun. Only specks and spots of sunlight filter through the gaps in the canopy, nourishing the underbrush and shrubs that grow between the trees.

For thousands of years, in this uninhabited place, nature's cycle of growth, death, and decay has resulted in a layer of humus soil several feet deep.

Located deep within such a dense forest was Hunter Ralph's cabin, accessible only by a narrow trail blazed by hunters leading to human society.

After receiving Ralph's warning, Gerard, Winters, and Sergei immediately followed Ralph and his son to the hunter's cabin.

The cabin was rudimentary and ordinary, with several stinking barrels outside, apparently used for tanning animal hides.

"Gentlemen, please look." Ralph brought out a piece of animal limb from inside the cabin and presented it to Gerard and Winters, "This was found in a beast trap this morning."

By now, Winters had stopped trying to correct the villagers for calling him "Lord", and it seemed Gerard had long grown accustomed to it as well.

The limb appeared to have belonged to a deer, but now only the part from the hoof to the femur remained.

That was all Winters could discern, and he didn't think there was anything unusual about it.

Gerard, equally puzzled, asked, "It's common for trapped game to be scavenged by wild beasts; though it's unlucky, it's a normal occurrence. How is this related to a wolf disaster?"

"It is related!" The inarticulate Ralph became anxious and impatient, "Just look at the break on the femur!"

"What the fuck is the way you speak? If you can't talk properly, I'll fucking sew your mouth shut!" Sergei flared up instantly, unwilling to tolerate any disrespect towards his old comrade.

"It's fine, it's fine." Gerard immediately intervened to diffuse the situation.

Old Hunter Ralph didn't retort; he just bowed his head to apologize to the mayor. Meanwhile, young Hunter Bell clenched his wooden bow tightly, glaring angrily at old Sergei.

Winters took the deer leg and examined the bone break carefully, but indeed he could not see anything amiss, "Mr. Ralph, we are not hunters, things obvious to you are foreign to us. You need to explain to us in detail what the problem is with this deer leg."

Pointing at the broken surface of the bone, the old hunter explained, "Gentlemen, this bone was bitten through while still alive. The deer stepped on the trap and couldn't move, and some beast bit the deer to death and then bit through the leg, dragging the remainder into the woods."
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"What's so strange about that?"

"Common beasts can't bite through a deer's femur! They can't chew through it!" Hunter Ralph spoke rapidly and with agitation, "Lord! This was a strong, adult male deer, and its leg bones are exceedingly tough to chew through, yet it was bitten clean through! You can imagine the crushing power between the jaws of the beast!

Having heard the hunter's explanation, Winters reexamined the broken leg in his hands - if something could bite through this bone, it could tear off a person's arm.

Winters furrowed his brow and asked the old hunter, "Is it a wolf?"

"Wolves can't do it! Beasts like wolves, weighing about a hundred pounds, might kill the deer and eat it on the spot at most. Wolves don't have the power to drag away a stag's carcass, not even a pack of wolves! Wolves hunt the old, weak, sick, and lame. To take down such large animals, it must be a formidable predator like a tiger or a bear!"

Just speaking wasn't enough; the old hunter ran back into the cabin and returned with two white, smooth femur sticks, "Lord, look, these are handles made from the femur of a deer eaten by wolves. Wolves love to eat marrow and wouldn't leave it if they could bite through it. But these two bones are intact except for teeth marks!"

"Then why do you say it's a wolf disaster?" Confused by the denial of wolves, Winters was bewildered.

Old Sergei explained awkwardly, "Officer, around here, any wild beast that harms people is called a 'wolf disaster'."

It was then that Winters understood; he nodded and then asked the hunter, "You mean there's a large predator now stalking this forest?"

"Yes, but not exactly!" The old hunter, vexed, tugged at his hair and muttered, "I don't know how to explain it to you, and I don't know where to start, but something has been very wrong in the forest these days!"

After a year of living amongst the lower ranks, Winters gradually realized: Soldiers without a formal education often have an extreme lack of linguistic ability. Their speech lacks focus, and even repetition is stuttered. Patience is a necessity, as well as the ability to pick out key words from their chaotic narratives.

"Don't rush; take your time, say whatever comes to mind," Winters patted the hunter's shoulder and moved a wooden stump, gesturing for Ralph to sit and talk.

Gratefully glancing at the Garrison Officer, Hunter Ralph took a while to gather his thoughts and then began to babble on.

Winters listened carefully, striving to discern the critical information amidst the dialogue.

"...So, starting from a while back, it became rare to see deer, roe deer, foxes, and rabbits; they went crazy running out from the deep forest... My son and I set traps along the animal paths, and at first, we caught quite a few good ones... But lately, many of the catches have been dragged away clean by wild beasts, and it's getting closer to the outside every time... Yesterday, I even found some unfamiliar tracks in the forest..."