Big Capitalist

Dawn Empire, Dukedom of Rudeus——

In the cold and snowy winter, the world seemed to be covered by a silver veil. Hunter Adrian, carrying a bow and arrow, stepped into the silent forest.

The cold wind was so sharp that it hurt his cheeks, but he had long been accustomed to such harsh conditions. His eyes were sharp, scanning the surroundings like an eagle, looking for traces of prey.

Suddenly, Adrian's ears caught a faint cry. He stopped and listened carefully. The sound seemed to come from not far ahead. He walked carefully in the direction of the sound, full of doubts. How could there be crying in this deserted forest?

When he pushed aside a bush, he was stunned by the scene in front of him. Two children were lying on the snow, wrapped in a golden velvet blanket. Their faces were rosy, their hair was blond and their eyes were blue. They were as lovely as angels.

Adrian's heart was instantly touched, he had never seen such a lovely child. He looked around and found nothing that could prove the child's identity.

Adrian hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to take the two children home. He knew that he and his wife had never had any children, and perhaps this was a gift from God out of pity for them. He carefully picked up the two children and set out on the road home.

When he got home, his wife Liz was very surprised to see the two children in Adrian's arms. She asked in surprise: "Where did these two children come from?"

Adrian told her what he found in the mountains, and Alice's eyes sparkled with tears. She thought the two children must be a gift from God, so she decided to adopt them.

They named the elder brother Ace and the younger brother Ed. As time went by, the two children grew up. Their appearance became more and more outstanding, with blond hair and blue eyes, as dazzling as the sun. Ace was calm and reserved, always quietly following his father to learn hunting skills. Ed was smart and cute, full of curiosity about the world. He liked to observe nature, think about why it rained and snowed, and also liked to play with small animals.

One day, the two brothers went to the forest to play. Ed found a wounded bird under a big tree. He carefully picked up the bird and observed its injury. The bird's wing seemed to be broken when it fell from the tree.

Ace also came over. After observing for a while, he glanced at the tree in front of him. He looked up and saw a bird's nest. "Brother, this bird might have fallen down while incubating eggs."

Ed nodded and stretched out his hand. A warm light emanated from his hand and enveloped the bird's body.

The bird's wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ace looked at his brother's actions without any surprise. He knew that his brother had a high talent in magic. Ever since he saw the priest of the Church of Light use healing magic to treat his mother, his brother Ed had somehow learned it.

After curing the bird, Ed wanted his brother to return it to the nest. Ace agreed, climbed up the tree and put the bird back in the nest. Looking at the eggs in the nest and the bird in his hand, an idea flashed through Ace's mind. But he didn't show it, just silently put the bird back and then got down the tree.

At night, Ace quietly returned to the forest, found the female bird, killed it without hesitation, and took away all the eggs.

He had long recognized that this bird was a rare magical beast, and its meat and eggs had high nutritional value. Ace knew his brother's kind nature, but he had reasons to do so. The Dawn Empire was in the midst of a famine, and ordinary people were basically starving. He wanted to use this bird to exchange for money and food to provide food for his family.

Ace's technique was neat and tidy, and his skills in dissecting animal carcasses were now more proficient than his father, an old hunter. Recalling when he was a child, his father had teased him and asked him to try to kill a chicken. Ace, who was only five years old, was not afraid and immediately killed the chicken.

At that time, his parents thought he would be scared, but he was surprisingly calm. He looked at the chicken he had killed with his own hands, without a single wave of emotion in his heart.

He stood aside calmly, watching the chicken's life pass away under the knife, but he was thinking in his heart: Killing animals does not seem difficult, the knife goes in and out, and life passes away like the wind. He began to question the fragility of life, and even wondered if people were the same as animals, as long as... However, his parents' worries interrupted his thoughts.

When he came to his senses, he smiled calmly and said to his parents, "It's okay."

Three years later, the famine in the Dawn Empire became more and more severe, and the exploitation of the nobles became more and more severe. The various taxes added up, leaving Adrian and his wife's family hungry. The old hunter's body began to be unable to hunt due to aging, but fortunately, with Ace's excellent skills, he could still hunt animals.

In the past few years, Ed has also found his hobby, which is reading. When his mother worked as a helper for the lord, she got a few unwanted books.

Ed was so excited that he immersed himself in the world of books that he seemed to have forgotten everything in the outside world. His mother could not understand these books, but she knew that her little son had a talent for reading.

They also knew that his youngest son had a great talent for magic, but they were just a hunter family and had no way of giving their youngest son an excellent education.

"Father, what exactly is magic?" Ed, who was only ten years old, was sitting on the lawn watching his father working in the fields and couldn't help but ask.

The old hunter wiped the sweat from his face with the towel hanging around his neck. When he heard his son's question, an embarrassed look appeared on his face. He was just a hunter and had no education. He could not explain such a question at all and could only fool around with vague answers.

Obviously, his father's answer could not satisfy Ed, but the ten-year-old Ed also understood that his father could not give an answer.

Adrian looked at his son's lost expression and felt a pain in his heart. He didn't know how to satisfy his little son's thirst for knowledge.

thump—

There was the sound of a heavy object falling. Ed looked at the little wild boar in front of him, his eyes flashing with admiration. "Brother, you actually hunted a wild boar!"

"I have been observing this wild boar for many days, and today I finally caught it." After Ace finished speaking, the old hunter Adrian looked around the wild boar and clicked his tongue twice.

"It's not easy, kid. Your hunting skills are far beyond mine."

"Father, I plan to sell this wild boar to the lord in exchange for food for the winter." Ace knew that the family had very little food left, so he took the initiative to offer a suggestion.

Adrian nodded and said, "Okay. Your mother has been working for the lord. Be careful when you enter the city and go directly to your mother. Sell the wild boar and come back quickly."

Ace nodded and said, "I understand, father."

Although Ace was only ten years old, he was as strong as an average shorter adult and had many experiences of going into the city alone.