Chương 41: Chapter 40 The Wolf Joins the Hunt

The following morning, Karath greeted Delina as usual and left their house. Woof! Woof! Buddy emerged from the small shelter beside the entrance and ran toward him with his tail wagging. Karath had built the structure from scraps of wood the previous evening. Since a wolf lived inside, perhaps calling it a doghouse was inaccurate. He would eventually need to replace it with a proper earthen wolf house. The tribespeople showed little concern about Karath raising a Giant Wolf pup.

They seemed to believe he would handle the matter somehow. Perhaps this was the power of the trust he had accumulated over fifteen years.

"Buddy, it is time to eat." Karath gave the pup some cooked meat left from the previous day's feast, then walked toward the well. The tribe's veteran warriors and several older boys Karath had grown up with were gathered there, washing themselves with soap. They were the hunters and scouts assigned to leave the settlement that day.

"Karath, are you prepared?" Goldin, the oldest orc among those gathered, questioned him.

"What is there to prepare?" Karath had successfully completed his first hunt the day before, but that had only been part of his coming-of-age ceremony. Today would be his first time hunting as an official member of the tribe.

"Krahahaha! Trust me, Karath. I will teach you everything." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Kaden laughed boldly and spoke with complete confidence. On the day Karath first began fighting the other children, Kaden had become the seventh victim of his winning streak. At the time, Karath had assumed Kaden was large simply because he was three years older.

After Kaden completed his second maturation and became an adult, Karath realized that assumption had been wrong. Kaden was unusually enormous even by orc standards. He stood around fifteen centimeters taller than Karath, and the difference in their shoulder width and overall mass was even greater. The villagers sometimes joked that Kaden, rather than Karath, must have eaten the ogre's heart. His nickname was Half-Ogre. Unfortunately, his mind appeared to be half-ogre as well.

"What could Karath possibly learn from you?" Krog asked as he approached.

"You charge forward without thinking and frighten away half the prey."

"Would you like me to charge at you instead?" Kaden growled at his younger cousin. Krog ignored him as though listening to a dog barking and walked over to Karath.

"Take care of Karath today."

"Karath should be saying that. This is his first time."

"If you were bad at something merely because it was your first time, Karath would not have beaten Krog so badly during their first fight." Krog laughed at Karath's attempt to act modest. He had spent more time with Karath during childhood than anyone else. Perhaps because of that, his manner of speaking had become the most similar to Karath's. Compared with the other orcs, he sounded almost human.

"Krahahaha! Everyone seems to be getting along. The preparations are finished, so shall we leave?" After confirming that every warrior had finished washing, Goldin shouted enthusiastically. The group began walking toward the main gate. Pant. Pant. Buddy naturally followed behind Karath.

"Wait here, Buddy." Karath stopped and looked down at him. The pup only wagged its tail and continued panting. When Karath resumed walking, Buddy followed once more as though nothing had happened. Realizing ordinary words would not be enough, Karath glared down at the wolf and growled in a low, threatening voice.

"Follow Karath and you will die." If Buddy barked in the forest, the sound could attract monsters. It might also alert prey and cause it to escape. Karath therefore spoke as severely as possible. Instead of retreating, the pup stopped panting and stared up at him with clear, intelligent eyes.

"You must not make any sound inside the forest. If you do, Karath will throw you to the monsters." There was no reason a wolf should understand him, but Karath found himself continuing the warning. Buddy remained completely silent and merely nodded. Karath stared at him. Could this creature truly understand speech?

"What are you doing? Are you coming or not?" The other hunters had already begun passing through the gate and called back to him.

"Karath is coming." With no other choice, Karath rose and followed the group. Buddy trailed behind him again. This time, the pup neither panted nor barked. It moved with careful, quiet steps. Karath watched it for a moment before deciding to allow it to come. Somehow, he felt that Buddy would not cause trouble.