Norfy rode his pony in the midst of the crowd, with his father and his friends in front of him, and William leading a group of strong young men sitting in a cart behind him. The Scott family's horses were not enough.

About twenty or thirty meters ahead of them, walking side by side, was the Deli family's procession. There were more than thirty people, all riding brown horses except for Billy, who proudly sat on his black stallion. It was said to be a high-quality horse specially brought from the southern grasslands, costing him two gold coins. But Billy had the right to be pleased. According to Laiz, the steam engine started working at Deli's home on the evening of the day it arrived. They worked day and night, with the tenant farmers taking turns to rest. In a span of seven to eight days, Deli family had already planted 900 acres of wheat. This made Norfy smile. He hadn't expected Billy to implement shift work. Maybe he would become a qualified capitalist in the future. But the real show had yet to come. The joy of spring planting would be accompanied by the toil of harvesting wheat in the fall. Norfy planned to build a combine harvester and a thresher. Let's see if they would buy them! Even if Deli's family was numerous, they wouldn't be able to harvest all that grain manually before the snowfall! If they didn't buy them, they would have to wait until winter, and the wheat would freeze in the ground and become unharvestable! In that case, half of this year's surplus from Deli's family would end up in the Scott family's pockets!

Thinking about this, Norfy couldn't help but smile. But as soon as he looked up, he saw three adults in front of him, talking and laughing, and he became a little worried.

Four hundred gold coins were quite good. Niemann even prepaid two hundred coins directly. But building a ship, especially a sea-going ship, was a huge and difficult task. Norfy had studied mechanics before and even took elective courses in naval engineering in college, but it was just for gaining credits. He really had no clue about shipbuilding.

"I haven't pulled a bow for sixteen or seventeen years. It's a bit uncomfortable," Hilton said reluctantly as he tried the longbow on his back and then turned to Rodney and asked, "Old friend, how about you? Being a carefree landlord for so long, have you forgotten the military skills you learned?"

Rodney burst into laughter and then he skillfully drew an arrow from his back and stringed it. He shot the arrow and a withered branch fell a hundred meters away.

Niemann praised, "Truly one of the best archers in the military back then. You're still so impressive."

Rodney replied without any modesty, "Of course, back then I shot more savages on the city walls than I cut down. If I had been allowed to pick up the heads, I would have been granted more land than now. Hahaha!"

Hilton turned back to look at Norfy, beckoning with his hand. "Come on, Norfy, let me see your skills. Your father was famous for being fierce in the military. You can't be any less!"

After saying that, the people from the Scott family felt a bit awkward. Everyone knew that Norfy's demeanor had changed dramatically three years ago due to a serious illness, causing him to lose his magical abilities and martial skills. Hilton was probably going to be disappointed.

Rodney coughed a few times. "Norfy is still young."

But Niemann chimed in, "He's not that young anymore. He's almost sixteen. An adult ceremony is held at sixteen, and at eighteen, he can go to the front lines to kill enemies! When you went to the front lines, Rodney, you were only seventeen, right?"

Norfy patted his pony, took a few steps forward, and then pulled out a strange crossbow from its back. Hilton patted Norfy's shoulder when he saw it.

"A crossbow? Not bad. It's just a bit weak. You should learn to use a bow from your father in the future. Your father was a skilled archer. He could shoot a barbarian a hundred meters away and hit their crotch without hitting their ass!"

After saying that, the three old comrades burst into laughter together. Niemann pointed to the large box on the crossbow and asked, "But what is this wooden box on top?"

Norfy opened the wooden case to show him. "It’s an arrow case, convenient to use."

But just as he was about to demonstrate, his father stopped him. "A child's invention, it lacks accuracy and power. It could hit rabbits, but it's not enough for wild boars."

Norfy scratched his head. This was his first spring hunt that he participated in and he took it quite seriously. After all, even in that other world, he had never really gone hunting. He was quite excited, so he prepared a crossbow specifically for this occasion. He had shown it to his father a few months ago, but his father didn't seem too interested. In this world, bows and crossbows relied on the elasticity of the wood itself to store energy. So, under the same material, a longer bow would have more elastic potential energy and greater force than a crossbow. Rodney stubbornly insisted on using a high-powered crossbow. Norfy's crossbow lacked power and accuracy at 70 meters, and at 50 meters, it was even worse. It didn't meet his requirements.However, the main reason is that even a crossbow requires the pulling of a string. Although Norfy has set up a lever mechanism to reduce the force as much as possible, after pulling all 20 bolts, he would still feel exhausted. So the only option is to lower the standards, but naturally, Father would not approve of that.

If you really want to achieve the shooting strength of Father, it is impossible to hold the crossbow with one hand. You need a support. The best way is to mount it on a carriage, with one hand shooting the bolt and the other hand adjusting the direction and pulling the trigger. It would be like a real-life version of a heavy machine gun. But spring hunting is not war, and I am not the protagonist, so there is no need for me to use it. The crossbow I brought today is just a modified prototype, both the mechanism and the bolts, it should still work for hunting wild boars...

He sighed and wondered if he should switch to military production. But thinking that the Lance Empire and the southern tribes have entered a period of peace again, and the entire continent is peaceful, there is no place for war, who would buy weapons? Those mercenaries who venture north, as long as they don't encounter Magical Beasts, a regular thick iron sword is enough for them to wreak havoc among wild beast groups. If they encounter Magical Beasts, even if they are equipped with steel armor and swords, they would still lose their lives. Overall, there are no customers, no demand~ so there is no need for investment either.

At this moment, an odd bird call suddenly sounded ahead, causing the crowd to stir. It was a signal that prey had been found.

Soon, a servant of the Deli family rode out on horseback, excitedly shouting, "Beyond the woods, there is a group of brown deer!"

Both teams quickened their pace, urging their horses into the small forest, competing to be the first in the spring hunt and obtain the first prey of the year, which symbolized good luck and a bountiful harvest for the whole year. It had always been the target of contention between the Deli family and the Scott family. However, because Rodney was too strong, for 11 consecutive years, the Deli family didn't get any advantage. But on the other hand, the Deli family always had better harvests than the Scott family every year, after all, they had more people and cultivated more land~

"Let's go, old buddies! Let's hunt a deer today and have a feast of roasted venison tonight!"

Rodney shouted, and he spurred his horse, feeling as if he had returned to the grasslands where he galloped and fought more than a decade ago.