Following her instructions, I pulled and held the skin up while she used her dagger to separate the hide from the muscle. This thing is really big. It does resemble some kind of feline predator like a tiger, but probably twice as large.
Alongside removing the hide, she expertly butchered the muscles of the animal with the same dagger, scoring the muscle line, cutting through joints, as many cuts as possible that would be worth it.
She must have done this countless times already.
Finally, she finished separating all the hide, then used it to wrap all the cuts of meat and finally tie it all up with a rope like a giant bag of presents.
"Do people here hunt this thing regularly? You seem… really familiar with the process."
"Oh, this? Nah, men can get easily mulled by it, hard to catch off guard too, very light sleepers. The hide is well-sought-after for making garments, kind of luxury. If you were to hunt it, you'd need a large party of people."
Saying that she took it down alone, methods of butchering and managing the haul had been engineered for a single person as well.
"We're going to my house first to start the cooking, then you'll head out with me into the town while I sell this hide, I'll see if I can get you a job somewhere."
After a 2-hour journey on foot with the occasional foraging, I help her carry the harvest as she's already dragging a giant sack of butchered predator, probably weighing more than a hundred kilos.
We arrived in a city, inspecting the architecture and technologies. Though this appears to be a small town, especially on the outskirts, some larger buildings have glass windows and architecture akin to the renaissance period.
I followed her into a building at the edge of the town. It must be her house. She unwrapped the hide and immediately cut the meat into a more manageable size for cooking. Even without knowing the anatomy of this animal, I can tell that she's using the tougher cuts in slower cooking methods like sundrying or a low-heat oven, and storing the more tender cuts in salt for preservation. There probably isn't known knowledge of collagen in this period yet, so it must have been figured out by trial and error.
After all the preparation was finished, I was brought along into the town and we entered a building. This must be a clothing store. I recognized some capes and coats made out of the pardon's hide along with what I suspect to be the price.
Someone came out to meet us. A man looks like he is in his 50s.
"Already back from the hunt eh? C'mon carry it over here, I'll measure the size."
He took a glance at me, probably just to identify that I was not a customer and didn't pry any further.
The process was expected, the hide laid out and measured with marked strips from various angles.
The old man named his price.
Comparing the finished product's price, considering the skill, manpower, and technology required, made his offer an obvious lowball.
She doesn't seem hesitant to accept it at all.
"Excuse me can I talk with this lady for a second?"
A shocked and skeptical look from both parties.
I pulled her away outside the shop.
"What?"
"Isn't that price absurdly low compare to what he sell the finished product for?"
"I've always sell it to him at this rate, this is normal."
"You could probably bargain for way more though."
"I don't need to, this is more than enough for me."
She seemed irritated, as if I'd struck a nerve. The mighty huntress that shows no fear of a mighty physical attack is worried about certainty? Based on the context, she probably always just came to this shop for certain predictable sales rather than the inconsistent haggling to gain as much as possible. Honestly, I can't blame her. I'd probably do the same thing with jobs and such.
I darted back inside the shop and took the wheel.
I throw a seemingly highball.
"This much is worth double of that."
The uncle laughs and call me out.
She seems really panic now.
"Alright then, then we're selling it elsewhere"
I rolled up the hide and dart off the store.
"What the hell are you doing!"
"Alright where are the other clothing stores in this town?"
"They're not going to buy it!"
"Well, we're too invest into this anyway so might as well lead me there."
Clearly frustrated she lead me to another store nearby.
"Hey owner, can you make garments using a pard's hide?"
"Y… Yea?"
"Well, we're offering to sell here"
"I don't have the money to invest that much in that. And the store across the street is already known for being the main tailor."
"Then how about this: You can buy 1 third of the roll."
"Are you an idiot? You can't make a full piece with only that much."
"Yea, but you can use it as a complementary material like they do with leftovers, can't you? In addition, if we sell it to you at this price, you still have room to undercut that store."
"That's…"
"I'll throw in a deal, if nobody buys from you I'll come back to buy the finished product myself."
"… Alright fine"
"Wise choice, I'll be right back wait a second."
She followed me as I walk out the store.
"And that's how we get an extra 150% without having to risk our lives another one and a half times."
"But we still have two thirds of the rolls not sold yet."
"Oh I'll make sure that get sold"
I slammed the door open.
The owner of the other store was eavesdropping the deal from outside the store. As expected, our huntress over here probably has acted like a gullible little girl for years. He was probably expecting the deal to fail and was planning to use this opportunity to profit even more.
"So uncle, still interested in buying the hide?"
"Alright alright, I'll do it for double the original price like we agreed."
"Nope it is now two and a half times the original price."
"Tch, fine."
I turn around and yell at the owner of the store we're currently in.
"Heyy the other store is offering to buy the entire roll at the exact same price you did."
"What! This was my business expansion opportunity!"
"Then you guys deal it out, I'll sell the entire roll to the highest price."
In the end, the final price was not only over 3 times what it would have been originally, but also much higher than the expected market rate as the mini auction got more intense. In the end, the original store won.
"I know you probably wouldn't be able to afford to haggle like this everytime you need to sell it, but from now on you can keep selling to the same uncle and he'll probably pay more than he originally did now."
"… You really are a snake oil salesman that manipulate people with words."
"Hey the old man was underpaying you for years, next time you can just intimidate him a little before excepting the initial price to make sure he wasn't trying anything funny."
"… Thanks"
"Well what I did was a little too risky, I was seeking an opportunity to pay you back for saving my life but it could've hurt you instead… Anyways I'm really hungry right now, would you be so kind to treat me to those pard meat?"
A light chuckle
"… Of course"