In the middle of the forest, surrounded by lush green foliage, was an idiot. Yuki was stifling his cry of embarrassment while hiding his face behind his delicate hands. Surrounding him were a group of apex hunters, top of the food chain, the guardians of the forest, wolves.
‘Iyaaa~! That was wayyyyy to embarrassing!’ Yuki was still thinking back on what had just transpired between him and the wolves. ‘No! It’s their fault for not replying right away! Huff!’ trying to play off his embarrassment, Yuki tried to blame the wolves instead.
“Why didn’t you say something then, you made me do something so embarrassing!” Yuki stood back up and looked straight into the wolves piercing yellow eyes.
Nodding slightly, “I’m sorry Ookami-sama, you have a strange scent so I was trying to discern who you were earlier. By the time I figured you were Ookami-sama, you were already admitting defeat.”
“Eh~? Why do you keep calling me Ookami-sama? My name is Yuki. I’m just a Halfling, not a deity, just call me Yuki.”
“As you wish Yuki-sama.”
“Please umm, drop the –sama part…”
“I am sorry Yuki-sama, that is something I cannot do.”
“Eh~? Why not?”
“Someone of my stature cannot compare to your existence, Yuki-sama. I am but a lowly dire wolf, it is an honor to meet you today, Yuki-sama.” The wolf suddenly gave a bow, followed by the rest of the pack.
“Ano…please get up!” Touching the wolf’s soft and fluffy fur, Yuki tried to pull up the wolf. “What do you mean my ‘existence’? I’m just a Traveler from far aw-“
*Ding*
Due to you high charm and wolf-attributes from your Halfling race, the pack of Dire Wolves are convinced you are a descendent of the first wolf, Luna who had ascended to godhood.
It is recommended you don’t tell them to truth or they will turn hostile.
“Are you not our Great Mother’s child?!” Growling now, the wolves move in closer to Yuki.
“Hiyaa~! Ah-I mean, how dare you! To bare your fangs at someone like me?! I should smite you where you are, for what you are doing!” Clearly scared now, all the wolves edged quickly away from Yuki.
“We are greatly sorry, Yuki-sama. We thought you were an imposter, someone as graceful and noble as you can’t possibly be anyone other than a child of our Great Mother, Luna.”
Yuki closely examined the change in attitude in the pack after he raised his voice a little. Seeing an opportunity, “It is the will of our Great Mother that you divulge all the secrets of this forest!”
'I'm so smart, hehe.'
At those words, the Alpha Wolf hesitated. They were the guardians of the forest, they knew all its’ secrets. However, if they were to willingly give away these secrets, they will be cursed by Luna; Even if the one they were telling the secrets to was another descendant of Luna.
Descendants of Luna differed greatly from regular wolves. They were wolves that have directly been borne from Luna. Unlike other wolves, the children of Luna contain trace amounts of divine blood within their veins. In order to keep the divine blood strong, they do not allow other’s to join their pack. Those that did though, eventually lost their divinity over time and degraded into regular wolves.
“I am sorry Yuki-sama. But I cannot tell you our closely guarded secrets. However, if you were to help our pack, I will be willing to tell you of a way to uncover these secrets yourself.” Trying not to anger Yuki, the Alpha Wolf gave Yuki another choice of action.
“Eto…What do you mean by ‘help’?” Rembering how weak he is, Yuki was not confident in his fighting skills, since he was the weakest of the weak.
“Follow us Yuki-sama, I will tell you on the way there.” Without waiting for Yuki’s answer, all the wolves started moving away. With no other choice, since he was lost, Yuki hesitantly followed. Yuki followed the pack through the dense foliage, trudging along animal trails, through thickets, and along streams.
“*Haa*Haa* Please…don’t go so fast…”
Seeing how weak Yuki was the Alpha Wolf asked, “I have been thinking for a while now. Yuki-sama, you smell like one of us, but I can’t sense an ounce of divinity within you, why is that? You are already a Stage 4 wolf are you not? or are you still Stage 3?”
“Huh? What do you mean Stage 4?” Confused by what the Alpha Wolf just said, Yuki quizzically asked, “I mean, I’ve forgotten, can you please refresh my memories about stages?”
“As you wish Yuki-sama. Unique creatures like us, for example: Dragons, divine beasts, chaotic beasts, and similar creatures can evolve. To meet these requirements, they have to train and become strong first. Once the requirements are met, they will be visited by a god or goddess respective of their kind. They will be given the option to choose between ascending to the next stage or staying within the same state. If they decide not to ascend, they will be given the option again in one years time.
I am sure you are thinking, ‘why would anyone choose not to ascend’ correct? The answer is simple, by ascending you unlock more potential, however you will start back at your weakest moment. That is why many choose not to ascend, they do not want to lose the power they have already acquired.”
“Wow…so how many stages are there?”
“It depends on the creature, we Wolves of Luna have 4 stages, while Dragons have 6. Interestingly enough, we become more human, the later the stage we are in.”
“So…I’m a last stage wolf?! Wait that can’t be!” Shocked by the sudden realization Yuki screamed his thoughts out loud.
“What do you mean? Are you telling me you are not one of us?” Studying Yuki very closely, the Alpha Wolf tenses up.
“Uh, no no, I’m one of your kind, didn’t you say I smell the same as you?” recovering from the shock, Yuki tried to convince the wolf. “Anyways, what did you need me to help with?”
“It is almost time for our pups’ growth spurt. During this time they will require large amounts of food in order to grow to their fullest potential. However, due to some circumstances, we’ve lost about half our numbers; we need all the help we can get to acquire food. That’s where you come in.”
“Eh~?! You want me to help you hunt?! B-b-but I just evolved…and um…I’m too weak to do anything. I’ll be more of a burden to the pack…”
“Who said anything about hunting?”
“Areh~?”
‘If he doesn’t mean hunting, then what?’
“You will watch the pups, while the rest of us hunt.”
*Ding*
Watch The Wolf Pups!DescriptionDifficultyHelp watch the wolf pups while the pack is away.F
Requirements
* Be part wolf.
* Charm over 50.
Rewards???
‘…’
‘…’
“EHHHH~?!”
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“Wan Wan~!”
“Yip!”
“Grr!”
*Sigh* ‘I came out here to train…how did I end up having to look after five wolf pups?’ Climbing all over Yuki were five bundles of cuteness. Their fur were a darker shade of white, darker than their parents. Feeling resigned, Yuki sat there why making sure none of the pups wander off. It seemed like the pups were more interested in playing with the new stranger, and running around.
Yuki was currently in the middle of the clearing, right outside of a wolf den. A ways off was a small river that formed from a waterfall. Even from here, Yuki could hear the constant drone of the water as it crashes down on the rocks below. It seemed rather peaceful around the den, birds were singing, and bugs were buzzing. It was peaceful.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
‘This really isn’t the time to be sitting here doing nothing, if I want others to see me as a man I need to do something. I need to train!’ Getting up and knocking off the pups that were on him, Yuki unsheathed his katana.
Yuki walked a few paces away and started swinging, practicing his overhead chop. Yuki pictured how a perfect swing should look like, using his memories of Akari during her practice. He swung each swing with one conviction, to become strong!
“Hup!” *Woosh*
“Hup!” *Woosh*
Curiously, the wolf pups started watching him. All ten pairs of eyes are attentively staring at the two-legged wolf. Soon, thinking that what Yuki was doing was a game, they started running at him and trying to get his attention.
“Yip Yip!”
“Woah!” Almost hitting one of the pups that tried jumping at him, Yuki had to change the direction of his swing. “Don’t do that.” Yuki sternly warned the pup, who did not seem to understand what happened, then walked away a bit again before he started practicing his swings once more.
“Wan Wan~!” Once more the same pup decided to jump in front of his swing.
“Stahp~….I can’t practice if you keep doing that!” Becoming frustrated, Yuki cried out to the pup. “Look here, if I play with you guys for a bit, will you then let me to practice by myself?”
Seeming as if it understood, the wolf pup went back to the rest of the pups and barked for Yuki to follow.
“Wan!” As soon as Yuki got close the wolf pups all ran away. The same thing happened again.
‘Oh…you wanna play like that huh?’ Feeling like he was challenged, Yuki started chasing after the pups. When Yuki got close enough to one to dive and grab one, the pup would always dash away with a burst of speed. This kept going on for a few minutes.
*Ding*
Agility +3
Endurance +1
“Haa…Haa…you guys are too fast…” Laying on the ground, Yuki was dead tired; they had only been playing tag for about 15 minutes and Yuki was already out of breath.
‘I hate it, even the wolf pups are faster and stronger than me. At this rate, even my dreams of getting revenge are impossible’ feeling renewed vigor, Yuki got back up and chased the wolf pups once more. By the time he noticed the wolf pack coming back, the sun was already setting and he had gained a couple more points in Agility and Endurance.
“Yuki-sama, you have my deepest gratitude.” Giving a deep bow, the Alpha wolf had brought back what looked like three boar-like monster that were about twice the size of himself. After seeing this, Yuki’s stomach couldn’t help but growl; Yuki’s high Willpower reduced the rate at which his satiety dropped by a lot. By the time it was sunset, it had finally hit 0% satiety. Yuki was slowly losing health.
‘Oh crap! Why didn’t I buy some bread before I left!’ Panicking around, Yuki was trying to look for something edible.
“Yuki-sama, do not worry. We will share our rewards of the hunt with you, without you here we wouldn’t have enough power to drag these giant boars back to the den.
“Thank you…Ah! I never asked your name! Can you please tell me?”
“We wolves do not have names in the human tongue, but if you want you can call me Fido.”
‘…’
‘…’
“*Pfft* Ahahaha~! What kinda name is that?! Fido?!…hahahaha!”
“Yuki-sama, I would advise you not to laugh at the one that is going to feed you…” Fido growled, with a tinge of embarrassment.
“Right! Sorry Fi-*cough* Sir! Etoo~….Sorry to bother you but I can’t eat raw meat…”
“Do not worry Yuki-sama, we have seen humans create a fire to cook their game. We shall do the same for you.” With that, the pack scattered around the clearing and gathered up twigs and wood for a fireplace. Without hands to arrange the wood though, they had to rely on Yuki to do that job. Once finished, Fido mumbled something while up next to the fireplace, suddenly a fire sprang up from the center of the firepace.
“You can use magic?!” Surprised by what he just witnessed, Yuki cried out.
“Yes, we can. Shouldn’t you know this too, Yuki-sama?”
“Uh, yea…hehe…”
Using the Training Kodachi, Yuki somehow managed to cut off a chunk of meat from the boar. He made sure that the boars’ hide wasn’t on the chunks of meat he cut off. Yuki then ran toward the end of the clearing and broke off a branch to use as a spit to hold the meat.
Pretty soon, the smell of roasted meat could be smelt around the clearing. However, no one but a really hungry looking Yuki paid attention to it. The wolves, were already laying around with full bellies. Surrounding the lazing wolves were the picked clean bones of their unfortunate preys’.
‘Sugoii~The juice is slowly dripping off the chunks of meat. I wonder when it’ll be cooked…’ Yuki was already down to 20 HP, because he wasn’t actively moving, the rate at which his hp dropped was reduced.
*Growl~* ‘I can’t wait anymore!’
“Itadakimasu~!” *Chomp*
“Oiiishiiii~!” As soon as Yuki bit into the steaming hot meat, a large amount of juice squirted out. Yuki didn’t use any season, but the juice of the meat was a placebo for it. It contained just the right amount of saltiness to exponentially improve the taste. Before Yuki noticed it, the meat was already finished. Looking around for more, Yuki was disappointed and looked back at the wolves. The pups went back into the den, while four of the wolves slept.
“Come with me, Yuki-sama.” Approaching Yuki, was Fido. He did not look happy, his tail was angled down, his eyes were watching Yuki.
‘He looks mad, did I do something wrong?’
“Yes..uh…Sir!” trying not to make Fido more angry than he already was, Yuki followed.
They approached the waterfall that was a ways away from the den, Fido beckoned for Yuki to follow him through the wall of water. Not too excited to be covered in freezing water, but scared of Fido, Yuki followed. Behind the cascade of water, was an opening, it was like a gaping mouth, a mouth that led into the abyss.
“Eh~? We’re gonna go down there?”
“Yes, do not run, or I will be forced to drag you down there.” Clearly hostile now, Fido didn’t even address Yuki using his name anymore.
“Hiiii~! Yes Sir!”
Being unable to see in the darkness, Yuki was forced to hold on to Fido’s fur. Although Yuki did not want to, there was no choice. They both walked along the darkness for what seems an eternity before seeing a blue light around the corner.
“Erina-sama, I have brought the imposter.” Showing no sign of remorse, Fido spat out the last word.
“Good, you may leave.”
“As you wish, Erina-sama.” Bowing, Fido quickly left the room and disappeared around the corner, leaving behind a stunned Yuki.
Standing before Yuki was another kemonomimi just like him except she on a white cloak that covered her whole body. She was tall, about a full head taller than Yuki. Like Yuki, she had platinum white hair and an even whiter pair of ears. She had pale smooth skin which looked deathly and cold in the pale blue light that seems to emit from the walls of the room. Looking into her intense golden eyes, Yuki couldn’t help but feel hopeless. She was strong. Flashing a seductive smile at Yuki…
“So why were you pretending to be one of us, you imposter?”
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(A/N: Sorry this chapter was so slow paced, but I swear the interaction was needed for later in the story. Also, thank you everyone for sticking with the story until now, I appreciate all the support you guys have been giving me.)
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