I barely even had time to get a proper sleep while being dragged along the ground before we had already arrived.
"HEY, WAKE UP!" someone yelled right in my ear.
"A-a-a-ah!" I jumped to my feet.
We stood on the edge of a huge field dotted with many huts. Wow, so many beastmen here!
We were led through the crowd to the center of this settlement. The wolf-woman sat down on some elevation, a local kid immediately ran up to her and began whispering something quickly. The rest of the tribe's inhabitants began to gather around us. And for some reason, everyone was staring point-blank specifically at me.
"What are you staring at?" I couldn't take it. "There's actually a beautiful girl standing right here. Look at her. Although... fine, let them look at me." After my words, a surprised whisper rolled through the crowd.
"So why have you come?" the leader asked the question again.
I looked at Aurora: "They're asking again."
"And what are they asking?" she frowned.
"Why we came."
While Aurora pondered a serious and correct answer, I had already answered myself: "I don't know. Just walking, swimming back and forth, and well, here we are."
"So, you don't want to tell the truth," the woman stated. Then she changed the subject: "You claim to be humans, don't you?"
I looked at my hands. Twirled them. "Well, I guess ye-e-eah?"
"And who is this woman with you? And why are you discussing my questions with her all the time?"
Aurora tugged my sleeve again: "What did she say now?" I smiled widely and blurted out: "Asking if you're in love with me and why you follow me everywhere."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Aurora exploded. She instantly grabbed me by the throat and forcefully slammed my back into the ground.
"Kkhh!" was all I could produce, swallowing dust. "If you joke around one more time..." she hissed maliciously, leaving the threat unfinished. Then she abruptly let me go, dusted off her hands, and unperturbedly sat back down.
The wolf-woman watched our scuffle with extreme puzzlement. Finally she spoke, addressing her tribe rather than me: "I am at a loss. I cannot understand if he is telling the truth or not. Doesn't answer questions normally, nothing is clear... question after question, nothing but riddles."
Then she looked at me again: "Kid, do you even understand how you talked to the bear?"
"Well, I talked, what's the big deal?"
"So you don't know?" she asked again.
"Probably don't know."
She leaned forward. "The one you chased away is not just a bear. That was a Spirit. Do you know what spirits are?"
"H-u-u-uh?" I scratched the back of my head in non-understanding. "Didn't get you. What kind of spirit? An ordinary bear, likes to draw."
The wolf-woman loudly slapped her palm against her knee and suddenly smiled.
"Alright!" she announced loudly. "We will sort it out tomorrow. We will gather the whole tribe and decide your fate." She stood up and waved her hand to her people: "For now, feed them and let them sleep!"
We were escorted to some large campfire. Soon plates were brought. For some reason, they gave me the most ordinary wooden one, and Aurora a beautiful clay one. Why such discrimination? Oh well.
True, the food itself turned out to be meager. There was very little meat, but a generous pile of some mashed bugs and incomprehensible greens was heaped onto the plate. I looked closer. Wait... is this just ordinary grass from a field? Ate it all.
"Give me more!" I asked loudly, holding out the empty wooden dish.
About twenty beastmen sat around our campfire. They weren't eating anything, but simply staring point-blank at me. Suddenly a small fluffy kid stepped out of the crowd. He walked up to me, peered into my face, and then tugged the sleeve of a woman standing nearby: "Mom... the human has eyes... one black, the other yellow. Is he a god?"
"Yeah, imagine, humans have eyes," I answered for her and shoved my plate to the kid. "Hey, give me more food!"
They brought me another portion. And another. And one more. After the tenth plate, some gloomy beastman rather roughly shoved a new portion into my hands. It seems their supplies were running out, and they didn't plan to feed me further. Aurora, by the way, ate only two portions, after which she calmly pushed the dishes away and simply waited silently.
I swept the eleventh portion in a flash and held out my hands again: "More!"
The beastmen left, but when they returned, my plate simply had water poured in it. Sigh... hint taken. But I was thirsty too. I drank. Asked for more. After the tenth plate of water, they finally began to actively shake their heads and wave their hands, showing that that's it, they won't give anything more.
"But I'm not full!" I was genuinely indignant.
"Fine," I sighed heavily. "Then I'm going to sleep, since there's no more food."
I stretched, threw my arms out to the sides, and went to sleep right where I sat—on the soft grass near the campfire. "A-a-a-ah..." I drew out contentedly, closing my eyes.
"Did he die?" someone's voice was heard, and then someone began to persistently poke a hard stick right into my side. "A-a-a-ah..." I drew out sleepily.
"Oh, alive!"
"Ah, the sun just rose, leave me alone," I grumbled displeased, rolling from one side to the other. But someone shook my shoulder again. "Is he sleeping?" rang out a stern female voice. "Wake up!"
SPLASH! A whole bucket of icy water was poured on me.
I sat up abruptly and yawned widely. But before I could close my mouth, someone deftly shoved a whole apple in there.
"E-e-eh?" I blinked in surprise. Standing before me was that same wolf-woman. I crunched the apple and swallowed.
"Tasty. Give me more."
She merely smirked. "Let's go. We'll go talk to... an entity. You can't really call her a god, but she will judge your fate. Alright, let's go, maybe she'll be of some use."
"Not going anywhere. I want to sleep. The sun just set... just rose, and we're already trudging somewhere!" I demonstratively lay back down on the wet grass. "Let's do this: I sleep, you sleep, and everyone is happy."
"For some reason I knew you'd say that," she answered calmly.
Immediately, some sturdy male beastman walked up to me, silently picked me up from the ground, and tossed me over his shoulder like a sack. I hung my head and noticed some horses tied nearby.
"And why not on the horses?"
"Because the journey is short," the woman answered. "No need to strain the horses."
"Huh? Wha..."
I turned my head and saw my companion walking nearby. "Oh, Aurora, hi!" She didn't answer anything, continuing to walk forward with an absolutely stone face.
"Man, maybe you could carry me?" I addressed her. "This guy's back is kinda sweaty and terribly bony."
I tried to settle more comfortably and started fidgeting, intending to climb right onto the guy's shoulders. "Okay, man, hold on! Hey..." But I clearly overestimated him. We staggered and toppled to the ground with a dull thud in a cloud of dust.
The man silently got up, dusted himself off, bowed guiltily to the leader, and simply left.
I remained sitting on the road. "Well, who's going to carry me now?" I asked demandingly. The wolf-girl silently turned to me. She extended her hand forward and eloquently wiggled her index and middle fingers, imitating a walking little man. The hint was perfectly clear—stomp with your own little feet.
We didn't walk long and soon came to some strange den with a sturdy wooden door. The leader pushed it open, and we went inside. A faint frost spread across the floor, a small table stood at the entrance, and in the corner was a bed where someone was sleeping soundly.
The leader knocked her knuckles on the doorframe. "Guests have arrived, brought food," she announced loudly.
"Come in," a muffled sleepy voice came from under the blanket.
Three beastmen carried the baskets of food inside, and then Aurora and I entered. The sleeping figure on the bed pulled the blanket over her head displeased and rolled onto her other side, facing the wall.
The leader stepped closer and with a sharp movement yanked the blanket off her.
"Wake up already! You're of no use as it is. Yesterday a spirit was roaming right near the village. A misfortune could have happened!"
"Well, it didn't," the girl responded sleepily and plaintively, shivering from the cold. "Give the blanket back..."
She reluctantly turned in our direction, rubbing one eye. And suddenly froze with her mouth open, staring right at me.
"And who is this?" she poked her index finger at me. "Strange... I didn't feel you at all." After these words, she simply shrugged and lay back down on the mattress.
"GET UP ALREADY!" the wolf-woman barked.
From this shout, the girl jumped as if stung and stood at attention.
"Useless blockhead!" the leader continued to scold her. "We feed you, do everything for you, and you don't even fulfill your direct duty!" The girl became noticeably sad and guiltily lowered her gaze. "Here, look," the woman pointed at us. "These are two foreigners. I can't figure out what to do with them. Evaluate them."
The girl obediently stepped closer. "Kid," she began, slowly walking in my direction.
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"Do you know that hair and eye color is an indicator of power? Here, as you see, I also have an unusual appearance: white hair, gray eyes, and a pattern inside the pupils. This savage here," she pointed at the leader, "also has white hair, and her eyes, though normal looking, are of a very rare shade. But you..."
She came almost point-blank to me, peering intently into my face.
"You are literally sparkling with magic. One eye is completely blue, and the second is completely green."
"Yesterday he had different eyes," the leader interjected grimly.
"Oh, is that so?" the white-haired girl was surprised, not taking her eyes off me. "True, I don't understand... You seem to be sparkling with magic, but I didn't even sense you. You're kind of weak. Ah, why are you so mesmerized?"
I was indeed slowly, as if under hypnosis, walking straight toward her. "What's wrong?" she backed away warily.
And I simply walked past. Walked up to her bed and touched the mattress. "Soft," I stated with satisfaction. I happily collapsed onto the pillow and instantly fell asleep.
"A-A-AH! GET OUT OF HERE! THIS IS MY BED!" the girl squealed, immediately running up to me.
She began waving her arms indignantly. "Get out of here! GET OUT!" she stomped her foot, standing right in front of the bed. "LEAVE, I'm telling you!"
I didn't react, snoring blissfully in the warmth. The girl turned to the leader and almost with tears in her eyes said sadly: "He won't leave..."
"Get out of here! You're getting my whole bed dirty! Cooome ooooon!" the white-haired girl whined capriciously, trying to push me off the mattress. "I am the local deity here, by the way! Only I am entitled to a soft bed! Hey, leave... please!"
She began desperately tugging at the clothes on my back. "Leaaa-aave..."
The leader, observing all this pathetic spectacle, shook her head angrily.
"And have you dealt with the problem that appeared yet?" she asked sternly. "You promised you would deal with it."
The white-haired girl froze and slowly turned around. "Well, you see..." she became shy, guiltily bringing her index fingers together and looking at the floor.
"I honestly wanted to go there to scout yesterday... But when I woke up, it was already night. And you yourself know how dangerous it is in the forest at night! Hee-hee..."
The leader put her palm to her face with a heavy sigh.
"You won't get out of it now," the wolf-woman cut off. "I will go with you personally. I will make sure you at least reach the place. And we'll grab this 'sleeping beauty' with us too," she nodded at my peacefully snoring self. "Maybe he'll be of some use."
Then the leader turned to Aurora. Realizing that she didn't know a word of the local language, she decided to switch to sign language. The woman began actively waving her arms, depicting furious chopping blows. "We. Go. There. To cut, understand?" she snapped loudly and distinctly, as if from the volume the foreigner could suddenly learn the language.
"Kill! Kill monster!"
Aurora, with her arms crossed over her chest, watched this aggressive pantomime attentively. Exactly two options formed in her head: either this savage was going to slit the sleeping Zenkhald's throat right now, or they were going on some kind of hunt. After thinking for a couple of seconds, Aurora concluded that both options suited her fine, and nodded confidently.
Satisfied with the answer, the leader turned back to her lazy deity: "Get ready, blockhead. And take your legendary sword."
"But I didn't even get enough sleep..." the girl drew out plaintively, looking with longing at her captured bed.
The leader gave her such an angry and heavy look that the deity instantly fell silent and trudged to the corner of the room to gather her things.
The leader scratched behind her fluffy ear in irritation. "Here goes nothing." She walked over and with one hand, like a feather, lifted me by the scruff. "Half-pint, let's go. The road awaits."
At that moment, a heavy metallic scraping sounded from the dark corner of the den.
"Ah-h-h, haven't used this in a long time..." the white-haired girl groaned, dragging a huge, dusty two-meter two-handed sword into the light. She lifted it with effort, and suddenly the metal flashed dimly. The blade quickly shrank, adjusting to her height and fragile hands. Now she held it with incredible ease.
"Your goddess is ready!" she declared proudly, but immediately deflated and added: "Ah... wait. Let's have some tea? You are guests after all..."
I, dangling in the air in the leader's hand, nodded actively: "Yes, yes! You absolutely cannot go hiking on an empty stomach."
The leader merely sighed heavily, looking alternately at me and the deity. "Found each other, two peas in a pod. If she is the goddess of serenity, then you are probably the god of laziness?"
"I like it. Sounds solid," I drew out contentedly. "And what do you mean 'goddess of serenity'? What does that mean?"
The wolf-woman ground her teeth: "Our ancestors really had to make such a mistake with a deity. Her essence is absolute calmness, laziness, and the absence of conflicts. They constantly prayed for peace and quiet... And here, look who they summoned! She is the very spawn of laziness! Always relaxed."
"Can I be like that too?" I asked with genuine hope.
"What, are you a deity or something?"
"Well, I don't know..." I shrugged.
"Ha. Dream on," the leader smirked and, finally, set me down on the ground. "Have a snack on the way. Take everything you can carry in your hands, and we move out immediately."
I managed to grab some fruit before leaving.
"Aurora, want some?" I offered her something yellow and round, while crunching into mine.
"What, did you eat it right with the peel?" the goddess of serenity, walking nearby, was surprised.
"Wow, so you have to peel it?" I looked curiously at the bitten fruit, but didn't spit it out. This will do.
Aurora got to the point: "Where are we even going and why?"
"Ah, think we're going to kill some monster," I answered carelessly, continuing to chew.
"And who is this girl?" she nodded at the white-haired goddess.
"I'm so too lazy to retell all this, Aurora..."
She merely rolled her eyes: "You are terrible. Fine, then just teach me their language."
"Wow!" I perked up. "And what in return?"
Aurora stared at me uncomprehendingly: "What?"
"And what will you give me in return if I teach you?"
"You didn't ask for anything in return before."
"I don't understand what 'before' you are talking about, but here in the world it seems to be customary," I shrugged and pointed at the ones walking ahead. Looks like I started to understand. Look: this stern woman feeds this girl because she does something in return. It was the same on the ship.
Aurora cast a heavy, unreadable glance at me and walked silently. However, about ten minutes later she spoke again: "Alright. And what do you want in return?"
"I don't kno-o-ow," I drew out lazily.
"Be more specific!" she began to get irritated.
"Well, I don't know. Kind of don't want anything, have everything."
Aurora smirked predatorily, feeling her superiority: "But I know the former you. I can give you information about your past. That will be commensurate payment."
"Uh... why do I need that? Not interesting at all," I said.
Aurora's face at that moment looked as if a deep crack had run across it, just like across her brilliant plan of manipulation.
After a minute of heavy thought, she went on the offensive again: "Alright. I know... more precisely, I've seen how others do it. And you supposedly felt very good from it," she smirked mysteriously again, employing her final trump card.
"Huh? And what is that?" I became interested.
"Let's do this: first you teach me the language, and then I will tell you and show you what it is."
Hm, interesting, I thought. But my intuition hinted that there was a catch here.
"Or better let's do this," I proposed my terms. "I will start teaching you a little bit, and you will tell me a little bit and do it. Because you can promise whatever you want. What if I teach you everything, and I don't like this 'very good' of yours at all?"
"Why did you suddenly become so smart?" Aurora hissed through her teeth, but eventually gave a short nod, agreeing to the deal.
While we walked, I honestly tried to teach Aurora the local language. We started, as usual, with the most boring part—vocabulary. I don't know exactly how many words I tried to cram into her, but she remembered exactly four: "eat", "yes", "no", and "my name is Aurora". At that point, her limit of patience ran out, and she left me alone.
I was dragging myself at the very tail of the squad, keeping company with our lazy deity.
"And what's your name?" she asked.
"Zenkhald." She looked at me thoughtfully: "Alright. And me... what is my name again?" she scratched the crown of her head, remembering. "Ra... Rata! Right, Rata."
"Listen, Zenkhald, maybe we should slip away? Seems those two up ahead can handle it perfectly fine themselves."
"Why don't you slip away yourself?" I asked reasonably.
"Inconvenient to slip away alone. But with you, I can tell the leader that you talked me into it and suggested this bad idea."
But the leader's voice interrupted: "Stop. We have arrived. Here it is."
She pointed to a giant burrow in the ground.
"A dragon..." Rata whispered doomed and began to slowly turn around.
"Well, we've looked, now back."
"Halt! Where do you think you're going?!" the leader barked. "Deal with it right now!"
"M-m-me?!" Rata frantically waved her arms in horror. "Did you see what a huge hole that is?! A huge monster sits in there! I am fragile, I will break from any touch! And also I'm a coward! Let's send this kid instead! Let the monster eat him, get full, and then we'll see!"
"What?" I was indignant.
"March and deal with it!" the leader was inflexible.
The goddess's knees trembled. "How could this be... I haven't even had time to live, and you are sending me to certain death! Have pity! Kid, come on, you go, eh?"
"I'll go only if you feed me tastily," I lazily set the condition.
"OH, YES!" she rejoiced abruptly, instantly changing her face. "If you go, ask for whatever you want! Any food! I'll even be in your debt!"
"Anything?"
With these words, I stepped out into the clearing. The hole in the ground was about six meters in diameter. I approached the very edge: "Yoo-hoooo! Anyone home?"
The ground under my feet trembled finely. From somewhere below, something huge was rapidly approaching. First, a flash gleamed in the darkness, and then a pillar of flame burst from the burrow with a loud hiss. Following the fire, a gigantic snake crawled out to the surface.
And what kind of dragon is this? I thought disappointedly. Where are the wings? And legs? Or are they like caterpillars—first they crawl, and then they pupate and fly? How do I even know this?
The fiery serpent curved menacingly and stuck out a forked tongue, preparing to attack. I simply carelessly waved my hand.
CRACK.
An invisible force passed through the monster's neck as easily as a hot knife through butter. The huge head of the snake crashed to the ground with a deafening roar, and the decapitated body twisted in a convulsion and went still.
I unperturbedly turned to the squad: "So what about that 'anything'? I'll take your bed then."
"WHAT?!" Rata squealed.
She ran up to the defeated monster, pulled out her legendary sword, and poked it into the carcass. The blade went in without the slightest resistance.
"This snake was just weak! Or hungry! Probably hasn't eaten in a hundred years!" the goddess began looking for excuses. "And where are its impenetrable scales?! It HAD THEM!" she was indignant.
"That doesn't count!"
"Does too count!"
"Does not count!"
"The first word is dearer than the second," the leader strictly cut off, stepping closer.
"The first word was eaten by a cow!" Rata blurted out childishly, clenching her fists.
"No, no, no! That's not how things are done!"
"That's it, don't argue, you useless blockhead!" the wolf-woman barked.
I noticed how after these words Rata became incredibly sad. All her comical arrogance instantly evaporated, she dropped her shoulders and stared at the ground.
"But how..." she said quietly.
"That's it, stop whining!" the leader turned away from her. "Let's go back. We'll feed our Hero, and he and Aurora will probably go on their way."
We walked back again. Do these beastmen even understand what it means to be lazy? We left Rata where we found her, in her den—finally, the leader had some serious conversation with her, but I didn't listen.
When we finally reached the village, Aurora touched my shoulder: "Ask her for something to write with. A pencil and paper."
We sat by the campfire. The leader looked at us and solemnly announced: "Well, in honor of the victory, we will throw a feast! Ask what you want, I will try to fulfill your request."
I translated this to Aurora, requested paper and a pencil for her, and then... fell into thought. Right, they will feed us anyway. What do I want then? I started looking around. What do I want? The more I thought about it, the stronger some strange, ringing emptiness grew inside me. My heart for some reason started beating faster, my eyes darted nervously around the clearing. What do I want?
My gaze accidentally caught on the leader's neck. A strange round thing hung on a chain there.
"I want this thing," I said, pointing a finger. I don't even know why.
She pulled the chain in surprise, taking out a round amulet.
"You want this?"
"Yeah."
She looked at me intently. "And do you even know what this is and what it means?" The beastmen around suddenly quieted down and began to look at us somehow strangely, tensely. Apparently, the thing was important.
"Nope. Just looks interesting," I admitted honestly.
"HA." The leader smirked. She jerked her hand sharply—the chain broke with a snap. The crowd around gasped synchronously. She tossed the round thing to me. I caught it.
"If you knew what this means to us, I would have beaten you," she pronounced with a crooked smile.
I twirled the object from palm to palm. Turned it this way and that. Nothing special.
"Yeah, boring thing," I drew out disappointedly. And simply threw it right into the campfire.
In the next second, the leader bolted from her spot. She literally jumped right into the center of the campfire, scattering burning logs and coals in all directions, to snatch her amulet. She jumped back out, clutching the round thing in her burned palms.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she yelled.
She was absolutely furious. The fur on her ears stood on end, and her hair literally began to rise from anger. "Do you even understand WHAT this is?!"
"No," I answered calmly.
At that moment, a young beastman ran up to us, fearfully handing Aurora a handmade notebook and something resembling a charcoal pencil. The leader breathed heavily, trying to calm down. She grabbed someone's mug, drank something strong from it in one gulp, and sat back heavily. Her mood was completely ruined.
"Are you leaving tomorrow?" she asked grimly, not looking at me. I looked at Aurora.
"And what are our plans?" "Leaving. Tomorrow morning," Aurora answered, taking the notebook. I translated this to the leader, and then whined plaintively: "A-a-a-ah... Morning again?"
Aurora didn't even dignify me with an answer. I turned to the locals.
"Basically, we're leaving tomorrow."
"Well, since that's the case, then we will stuff ourselves today to the brim!" the leader said.
"YES!" the beastmen around the campfire shouted joyfully, glad for a reason to celebrate.
And only the leader was silent. She sat aside and with some deep, angry sadness looked at her ruined thing, which I had so thoughtlessly tossed into the fire.