Chapter 116: You’re Welcome, By The Way
"You are welcome!" Tera blurted before Calis could even open his mouth.
Calis was just as caught off guard as everyone else.
Some wolves in the background started to murmur. They had never seen so many surprising things in one day, and had especially never heard of shiftless beasts being this loud or silly.
Tera planted her hands on her hips. "Your cub wandered into my territory. My clan found her, fed her, and kept her safe. I personally held her while she cried and made sure she was comfortable. So, before we get into why I am here, you could at least offer some gratitude."
A sudden awareness crept into Calis eyes as if he was just now realising what he should have done.
Tera scoffed and faced the wolves present.
The sister’s crimson eyes narrowed, but before she could respond, Tera had already turned to face the rest of the pack.
She was done with being laughed at, dismissed, pitied, and questioned just for not being able to transform into a beast.
Every silly creature in this world should get over something so little already.
Tera had spent months painfully earning the Dow clan’s respect through backbreaking labour while being subtle about every advantage the system had given her.
It had nearly killed her. Literally!
She had been burned out, sabotaged, nearly eaten and killed all while pretending to be nothing more than a clever shiftless female who happened to know things.
She was not doing that again.
If these wolves were going to be her next project, and the system had made it abundantly clear that they were, then she was going to do things differently this time.
No more humble builder. No more earning respect one stick at a time. No more hiding what the system told her and pretending she figured it out herself.
These wolves were going to think she was sent by the heavens, and she was going to let them worship her feet.
"Your leader brought me here because your pack needs my help whether he knows it yet or not," Tera announced with a confidence that made several wolves’ ears twitch.
[Calis’ Favourability: 7% → 5%]
[(·•᷄_•᷅ )]
[Host, he did not appreciate—]
’He can tell it to my ass. I didn’t appreciate his lack of thanks either.’
Tera ignored the dip. She could recover that later.
Calis frowned deeply. "I never said—"
"You don’t need to. You have sixty-seven wolves in this pack."
Calis went rigid.
"Fifty-two adults, fifteen cubs, along with four breeding females, and twenty-nine males in their prime. Then you have nineteen elderly males who are aging out of their usefulness faster than your cubs are growing up to replace them."
[Host? What are you doing?]
[(·•᷄ࡇ•᷅ )]
[Using information—]
’It isn’t classified right? Buzz off!’
[(｡Ŏ ᗜ Ŏ ̆ ｡)]
[I’m not going to put myself through struggle a second time]
Almost all the wolves stood up, and they all stared at Tera with looks ranging from stunned disbelief to open alarm.
Calis’s crimson eyes had gone sharp and hard, and he looked dangerous. An outsider rattling off the exact composition of his pack was not impressive to him. It was a threat.
"How do you know that?" His voice was barely above a growl.
"Because I know things others don’t." Tera held his gaze without flinching. "And I can clearly see that your pack is struggling."
She gestured at the clearing around them. At the wolves sprawled in various states of exhaustion. She had not seen the animal pen yet, but from what the system had revealed to her earlier, it must be very bad.
"Your food supply is clearly unstable, and depending on how you’re even keeping your animals, some of them are bound to get lost. And with this many young cubs I am seeing around, your females are clearly overworked." Tera eyed the female who jolted in surprise.
Now that she looked closer, the female didn’t look fat enough for someone pregnant, and all the wolves she was seeing, even though they were muscular, it was mostly lean muscle.
She still continued, "I sincerely hope the other females aren’t also pregnant..."
’System. Help me here!’
[(º∆º)]
[Why are you doing this?]
’Are you going to cooperate or not?!’
[(ᵕŏᴗŏ)]
[All the females are pregnant]
"It seems all four females you have are pregnant."
Their ears shot up, and Tera had to hold her breath not to burst out laughing. The way everyone ears had gone up like some national flag nearly stole the breath out of her lungs.
This was crazy!
She cleared her throat.
"Your females should not be constantly carrying the reproductive burden for your entire pack! Goodness!"
Each sentence landed with visible impact.
"Don’t look so surprised. I know these things because I was meant to find your pack." Tera put on a bored look and waved her hand like she was waving some magic spell. "If your leader hadn’t brought me here, I would have found my way at some later time.
"You want to know why my beasts follow a shiftless female? It is the way I met a dying clan of starving beasts and turned them into a thriving clan."
She pointed around at them, relishing in their shaken look.
They would have laughed at her if not for the accurate information she was giving them.
"Do not underestimate me. Despite me being shiftless, I can take you all to new heights!"
The silence stretched.
Luth whined softly from her mother’s arms, still reaching for Tera with one tiny paw.
Calis’s sister looked down at her daughter, then back at Tera.
Greymaw broke the silence with a low, contemptuous chuckle. "Meant to find us? The shiftless female thinks she was sent by the spirits."
One other male beside him laughed.
The others didn’t.
A few wolves shifted uncomfortably.
[Ah!]
[( ◕▿◕ )]
[This system understands Host’s strategy now]
’You idiot!’
"I don’t care what you call it," Tera said flatly, not even looking at him. "The result is the same. I am here, and I know exactly what your pack needs to survive."
She turned back to Calis.
"So, you can either treat me nice or send my useless behind back to my clan so I can leave you all to continue shrinking. Your choice."