Chapter 169: Stolen Food (bonus)
Those were the same useless little legs, the same pathetic expression, and the same energy of creatures the universe had designed as a joke.
One of the females noticed Tera staring at the two puffballs. "Those ones do nothing. They just sit there and eat. We are not even sure what they are for."
"We used to have many animals," Calis said out of nowhere, eyeing the pen with a concentrated frown. "A large number escaped. We searched, but could not find them. We have managed to find and keep a few more since then, but the ones we lost..."
He shook his head, visibly frustrated.
"When did that happen?" Tera was puzzled. Losing so many animals must have been a blow to them.
"Some long months."
’Hmm...’
[Is Host not forgetting something?]
’Now is not the time? What are you even talking about?’
[This system finds it very interesting that the Dow clan acquired a specimen of this species around the same time the Glimmer Pack reported losing livestock]
Tera stiffened, realisation dawning on her.
’Some long months were very vague’, but then again, wouldn’t that also be when she was pregnant? That meant all those animals Xavi had been bringing back from hunts...
Her whole clan had been happily eating Calis’ escaped livestock.
’Oh no.’
[Oh yes]
[(ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ)]
[Species match confirmed]
[Those are the same species as Host’s pet]
’Oh, fuck.’
[ꉂꉂ◟(˃᷄ꇴ˂᷅๑)༡]
[HOST’S MATE WAS HUNTING THE WOLF LEADER’S ESCAPED ANIMALS]
[AND HOST ATE THEM]
’STOP LAUGHING!’
[Do not worry, Host has literally consumed the evidence!]
[(ᕼ✧ᴗ✧ᕼ)]
[This system cannot breathe!]
’YOU DON’T BREATHE!’
’Wait! He has seen the ones we have—’
[How is he supposed to know which is which when all that gunk has been washed off yours?]
[ꉂ (≧ヮ≦)]
Tera realised how true that was. It was a long distance between the wolf pack and her clan, and the rains during that period would have cleaned the animals.
But still...
Tera laughed nervously. "That is... very unfortunate. I hope they are doing well. Wherever they ended up."
[In Host’s stomach!]
[They ended up in your clan’s bellies!]
[(˵◝ ⩊ ◜˵マ]
’OMG, you demon!’
Tera forced herself back into professional mode before the guilt consumed her entirely.
She then paid closer attention to the animals. They were more than she had expected. What she was looking at was closer to twenty creatures crammed into a space meant for half that number. And they were all different.
There were the stocky brown ones, several of which were aggressively headbutting each other. There were taller, leaner animals with long necks and enormous dark eyes that watched Tera with unsettling intelligence. There was something that looked like a cross between a goat and a hedgehog, covered in soft quills that rattled when it moved.
They were obviously not well fed either. Their coats were dull, and ribs were showing on a few of the smaller ones.
One of the older females spoke up quietly. "We feed them what we can. But we need to eat, and whatever is left goes to... them."
Tera’s chest tightened. They were barely feeding themselves and still trying to keep these animals alive.
This was more of a problem than she had expected.
Tera had thought farming would be the most pressing issue, but looking at this broken, reeking, and overcrowded catastrophe, she realised that no crop would grow fast enough to matter if the animals all escaped or killed each other first.
Tera turned to Calis and the gathered wolves. More had arrived during the inspection, drawn by curiosity, and she now had a proper crowd.
Good. She needed hands.
"Do you know how to herd animals?"
They exchanged glances while Calis stared at her, confused by another strange word.
"What is that?"
Even Bessier and Olaf didn’t understand it either.
Tera groaned.
She then spent the next few minutes explaining the concept of herding.
It did not go well.
The wolves stared at her like she was speaking in a language they had never heard. Which, to be fair, she was.
"So we... walk near them?" one wolf asked.
"Yes! You guide them towards the stream."
"But what if they run?"
"That is why you position yourself so they CAN’T run in the wrong—"
"But they always run."
"Yes, because your pen has always been a suggestion. And surely they can’t run with all of you around them."
The wolves exchanged worried glances. Several of them looked physically distressed at the idea of removing the animals from the pen on purpose to reorganise them. In their minds, the animals were barely staying put as it was. Deliberately taking them out was insanity.
Someone shook his head firmly. "If we move them, they will scatter. We will lose more."
’Hold on, when did these old ones arrive?’
The others were already nodding in agreement. Soon, the general consensus among the group solidified into a wall of polite refusal that Tera could see she wasn’t going to break through today.
While she understood, how else were they going to...
Tera suddenly had an idea.
"Alright, then. Forget herding. I will need each one of you to carry these animals to the stream. That way, they can’t run anywhere, right?" Tera smiled, nodding at her genius.
"What are you talking about? Why are the animals being moved?" Greymaw walked out, looking between the pen, Tera, and Calis.
"We will be washing the animals," Calis answered him, an annoyed look on his face.
Tera was surprised by Calis’ annoyance towards the old wolf, but the reactions of the other elders were comical.
They all tilted their heads in near-perfect unison.
Greymaw was the first to react. "Wash them?"
"Yes."
"The animals?"
"Yes." She kept on smiling. "The animals. The living creatures standing in their own filth. Those animals."
The elder’s face tightened with a displeasure so concentrated it could have curdled milk. Several other elders mirrored his expression, their arms folding across their chests in the universal posture of old men who had been asked to do something beneath them.
Tera nearly chuckled, finding their behaviour very funny. She then pointed directly at them.
"And you will be the ones doing it."