A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 225: Haul

Chapter 225: Haul

The pretty woman before him continues to dismantle the carcasses with precision without even batting an eye on him. For the first time in his life, a woman is not caring about his presence at all and it is kind of a fresh feeling for him.

As a duke, there are plenty of women who are quite aggressive in their approach and are openly flirting with him as they know him as one who is looking for a partner. Young, and even old women alike are attracted to him due to his manly face. He is still young but he bears a resemblance to a handsome old gentleman that can make young and old people swoon just by his presence. He isn’t old of course as he is still what people considered as in his prime.

In short, he isn’t short of women lining up to become his wife. But for once, someone who has an indifferent attitude on him appeared before him and the frozen heartstrings suddenly got thawed in an instant.

For the first time in his life, Darcy finds himself unable to say something comprehensible as he stammers on what to say. He couldn’t even hold a proper conversation for once when he could even say quite rude or normal to other people he had met before.

"Hmmm? You saying something?" Elaina asked when she heard the duke mumble something but she couldn’t hear properly.

"Uh...nothing!"

Elaina shrugged and continued her job of dismantling the carcasses of the monsters.

"L-let me help you with the dismantling process. Despite being a duke, I am quite knowledgeable and have experience in this area."

"Hmm, if that is the case, the help is appreciated," Elaina nodded as she was then handed a spare knife specifically used for dismantling monsters and beasts which the duke accepted and started helping Elaina with the job.

Shardu and Zaza went to guard the area while Elaina continued to gather the carcasses and dismantle them one by one. By now, she is proficient enough to handle even big monsters with ease. She quickly cut off a few pieces of stuff, unnecessary flesh, and dirt mixed on the flesh and pelt and put them in storage.

The only carcass that Elaina didn’t touch is the Alpha Wolf. It is double the size of the Elite Wolves that she can handle by herself and she has to ask Julia for help in properly dismantling it as Julia can just use telekinesis magic and lift the monster a few times to complete the dismantling process.

"You are not going to dismantle the Alpha Wolf?"

"Not now. I will bring it home with me and let someone help me with the dismantling process. And besides, this wolf is so heavy that even us two helping together to lift it will be hard."

"Then how are you planning to carry it all?" he asked.

"I have a dimensional storage bag with me to carry the excess carcass and store it without having to lug around heavy baggage."

Elaina then let the bag take the carcass inside by opening the bag and putting the leg of the Alpha Wolf, absorbing it inside in the process without the difficulty of fitting it inside. She also put every single dismantled item inside the bag as well and soon cleaned up the surroundings. As for the blood, Duke Darcy pulled up a blood crystal that absorbs blood from the surroundings and solidifies it in the process, cleaning up any excess blood spilled in the process. If not handled well, the blood on the snow will attract monsters in the area.

"Looks like you are prepared," Elaina nodded. She just planned to cover it with snow earlier to cover the blood but now that it has been solved, she does not need to do that.

"Blood always follows my trail due to what I am doing. To ensure that monsters don’t come to the area I hunted down already, I carry the blood crystal to clean up the splatter most of the time," he said as the blood crystal finishes sucking up all the blood in the area.

"Pretty convenient I must say."

He nodded. "But it is pretty expensive."

"Hmm, is that so? Interesting," Elaina nodded before she carried the bag.

"Are you going home?"

"I will. Although I plan to hunt more, the Alpha Wolf’s meat and the other smaller wolves should last us for quite a while this winter as long as we don’t splurge too much on meat consumption, we should be fine."

"Then, can I escort you back to the farm? It is dangerous around here after all."

Elaina chuckled. "I am not so helpless against enemies as I can hold my candle against them just fine, but I appreciate the gesture. But I can manage just fine. And besides, Shardu and Zaza are here with me. You should continue with your previous work instead of worrying about me."

Although he was a bit disappointed with Elaina’s answer, he nodded and smiled.

"If that is the case, then that’s a shame. Well, take care out there. Monsters similar to the Alpha Wolf are on the prowl in the forest during winter so be careful."

"You should be careful as well. Don’t make the same mistake as what you almost did back when you were fighting earlier."

Duke Darcy blushed after he remembered how Elaina covered for him when he was almost attacked in the process. After the brief interaction between the two, they soon parted ways as Elaina headed home with the two beasts while the Duke remained standing looking at the woman’s figure that got farther and farther.

"She is an interesting woman. She is also quite beautiful as well especially that aquamarine eyes of hers. Still, her ability to fight is something I wouldn’t expect from a farmer. Why does she remind me so much of Mr. Rakkan? Are they related in any way? Perhaps the Adventurer Guild has information about her?"

For Duke Darcy, this is the first time he gained some interest from a woman. No one has ever got his fancy like this before. But for him, this feeling is not unpleasant. It is one that he felt to be something else.

"Elaina... I should remember your name."

Darcy smiled before he took off to the distance to continue with his job. Once he is done with his job, he will ask around about Elaina and hope that he will meet her again.

Is it love?

Perhaps. But he still is unaware of his feelings.

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As for Elaina, meeting with Duke Darcy was something akin to a fleeting encounter. Nothing more, nothing less. For her, he is somewhat of a passerby who suddenly stole her target while she was still ambushing it. Still, Elaina couldn’t deny that the man had some kind of unique charm. If Elaina had ever been asked for any handsome men she had met in her entire life, she would list Darcy as one of them.

However, there is no attraction from her to him. Elaina noticed the moves that Duke Darcy tried earlier as an attempt to flirt, and Elaina was not dense enough to not notice that. She just didn’t bother to tell the man about it since she didn’t care much.

What her mind is filled with right now is the haul of meat she got from the hunt.

"You two did a good job earlier. Prepare later for dinner as we will have quite a meat party. You two will get twice as much as a reward. Look forward to it."

Hearing this, the two seemed happy and excitedly raced back home in the snow. While they are almost home, the snow starts to fall from the sky.

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"Wow, Elaina. You scored quite a big catch huh?" Troy said as he gazed over at the carcass that Elaina put over at the vacant shed where they dismantled monster carcasses after hunting. It’s cold but Troy brought an outdoor heater himself, making the cold bearable.

"This is indeed a good haul, Sis. I heard Alpha Wolves are considered pretty rare as they are being hunted before they become real trouble," Julia said as she gazed over at the Alpha Wolf’s dead body.

"Just got lucky that this one and his pack are on the prowl. Otherwise, I won’t be bringing this catch proudly."

"But why are some of them riddled with holes? These pelts are damaged and would need to have these holes removed or patched out if not too damaged," Troy looked at the pelt that Elaina put over to the side so that it could be dried for later.

"One man helped me with this. He helped me take down the Alpha Wolf."

"Oh? A hunter?"

Elaina shook her head. "Nope. He called himself Duke of this village. What was his name again? Darcy Black-something?" Elaina tried to recall only for her to forget his surname.

"Darcy Blackwing?" Troy filled in the blanks.

"Oh yeah, that."

Troy was surprised. "You met the Gunslinger Duke?!"

Elaina frowned at the reaction of Troy. Is the guy from earlier really that famous or something?