In the morning, Meryda came out of her room, attracted by the smell of breakfast her father was cooking.
She sat at the table and looked puzzled at the enormous fried egg on her plate, next to a slice of bread and a cup of milk. “What the heck is this? We have ostriches around here?”
“You didn’t notice the size of our chickens? They are almost the size of turkeys. Fat, round animals, those. Even the chickens are weird in this World.”
“I saw them, but I thought they were just fat. You mean, they are round like that, and that is a normal thing? And they can produce eggs this size?”
“Seems like it. I also found out we have a cellar under the house. The entrance is through a hatch on the pantry’s floor. It’s pretty cold down there, so it works perfectly as a fridge. There is even a deep hole in one corner of the cellar, covered with another hatch, and it is so cold there that we have frozen meat and vegetables. I suppose some of those vegetables came from our garden.”
While dipping the bread in the pure yellow of the egg, Sophia said, “That is useful. I wonder if my new friend has already woken up. Do you think he will want to live here? Because I am not very sure what he eats. If what the Guild Master said is true, he likes to eat meat. From people, apparently.”
“I was told that Bone Boars live in packs, and they often have a herd of Fur Cows that they raise to eat.”
“Really? That is so weird! Who ever heard of an animal raising another species of animal to use as food, besides Humans? This World sure has strange stuff! It is pretty, but it is also very weird!”
While sitting in the chair in front of his daughter, Craydon agreed. “Tell me about it! I have two Sub-Demons in the Guild’s kitchen, and they are trained! We can use some sort of instrument that sounds like a doorbell, and depending on the number of rings you make, they do stuff!”
“That… is also very weird... Yeah, we might need time to get used to all this. I remember a lot of stuff, but sometimes I am not sure if it is true or not because some of it is so strange that it seems impossible!”
“Well, let’s try one thing at a time, and then we will see if we can get used to the things around here. Talking about memories, what do we usually do on this farm when I have a day off? I suppose we tend to the animals, but what else?”
While munching, Sophia explained, “If I recall it correctly, you take care of the animals, and I take care of the garden. I think you were also cleaning the large field behind the house for us to increase our crops, but I think we had problems with water, like how to irrigate without carrying bucket after bucket from a stream near the forest at the back of this farm.”
“I suppose we could dig canals from that stream to the field after dividing the field into squares with trenches between the squares. We could use like four squares to plant corn, four squares to plant pumpkins, and onions, garlic, beans… Wait, do we have all those around here? I know we have huge garlic and strange-looking onions, but the other vegetables, I am not sure.”
“We have something similar. Different colours and tastes, but there are those vegetables in this World. I saw a bunch at the market. Let’s just clean the dishes when we finish eating, and we can go see what we need to do. By the way, my friends are coming after lunch. They told me yesterday that they usually come when you have a day off to hang out with me. I am not sure what we used to do when they came, but if I don’t remember, I bet they will have some ideas to pass the time!”
“It is nice to see that you have so many friends.” After a pause and noticing that his daughter was looking worried, he asked, “You didn’t have many friends in your school, right? They gave you a hard time, is that it? Why have you never told me anything?”
With a shrug, Sophia answered, “I never saw a reason to bother you with my problems. You had a lot to worry about already, so I didn’t want to be a burden.”
Feeling his eyes wet, Craydon said, “You could never be a burden. I would prefer it if you talked to me. At least try to tell me whenever you are having some kind of problem. Maybe I can help, and even if I can’t, I can still lend you an ear. Sometimes, taking things out of your chest is enough.”
“Yeah… Sorry… It’s just-“
A brushing noise and a low growl coming from the door interrupted them. Sophia went to the door, and she smiled at her big new friend, who was looking down at her. “Hello there! You slept well?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The Bone Boar locked back and snorted. Sophia looked to where he was glancing and gasped, “No way... Dad, come over here! He brought a few friends!”
Craydon got up and stopped in front of the door, eyes wide open, staring at the pack of enormous Bone Boars that were surrounding a vast herd of Fur Cows.
There was an obvious reason for that name. Those big, large cows had small horns, but their fur was dragging on the floor. It was almost as if they were sheep, but sheep that were never shorn. It was all entangled, and they all needed a good brushing to entangle all that fur, and next, a nice fur cut. It was too hot for so much fur, as Craydon could perfectly see by the way all the cows had their mouths open, tongues out, and were all breathing deeply.
With a stutter, Craydon said, “S-Sophia… I mean… M-Meryda… Can you… control them?”
Taking one step further and already shining, Meryda faced the pack of Bone Boars that was now shining as a response together with the Fur Cows that were also shining, and she declared, “I think they are all under my control! Or better yet, I found myself a bunch of new friends! They are all so huge! Just look at all that bone armour, dad! And those enormous tusks! They look threatening!”
Meryda walked with an enormous smile to meet her new friends, rubbed the armoured heads of each Bone Boar, and then, one by one, tapped the sides of all the Fur Cows. She then looked back at her still-frozen father and asked, “Where can we put them? I think the boars want to stay here, and that means the cows will also need a place.”
“I… think we have... Behind the stable, there is a spot surrounded by wire and a tall roof that can work as a shade. I think it was meant for the horse, but we need to cut the cows’ fur because they seem to be struggling with the heat!”
“I have no idea how we can do that! It will probably be better if I ask my friends when they arrive! They might know!”
Scratching his head, Craydon said, “You know, I have no idea how we can explain this to your friends without them realising you are a very powerful Monster Tamer. We are supposed to hide that, remember?”
“Yeah, but we can trust them. They are cool. A few Adventurers and Explorers know it already, and I think I can trust my friends completely. If we ask them not to tell anyone, they won’t tell a soul. Not even to their parents. Oh! I had an idea! Let me put the cows in that place, and then I will show something to my Bone Boars! I think they are very smart, and they can do more things than everyone thinks, besides killing people!”
While her father was looking at his daughter leaving, he saw that the Fur Cows were obediently following her without the Bone Boars doing a thing to guide them. In fact, they were the last ones to leave, and the Bone Boar next to the door nodded at him as if he was saying he was leaving, but he would be back.
Without understanding why, he knew what the Bone Boar meant, so Craydon thanked him and went inside to take care of the dishes.
…
Some time later, Craydon came out of the house with the Salamander and the Slime following him and went to the back of the house, attracted by the happy shouts of his daughter, “That’s it! To the left! Yeah, and you, a few more steps... stop! Turn right and go straight ahead, like the drawing I showed you!”
Craydon stopped next to his happy daughter, watching in disbelief the trenches the Bone Boars were making with their enormous, powerful backhoes.
A wide canal was coming from the forest with water inside, travelling to the trenches and spreading the water along the new trenches that were now dividing the enormous field into squares.
As he scratched his head, puzzled by all that action, his daughter said, “Can you go grab a few bags of corn and seeds from the stable, dad? We need to plant the seeds in the soil, and then I will tell the boars to step on them and bury them deep. I think I can show them how to put water in their mouths and spit over the planted soil to irrigate the squares. I have no idea how long it will take for the first sprouts to appear, but with their help, this will be done in no time!”
Feeling his head dizzy, Craydon went to the stable while saying, “Sure… I can go get the seeds, they will plant them, step on the seeds, spray water, and we will then have crops… As easy as that, sure…”
A few trips back and forth later, Craydon placed a few bags at Meryda’s feet while she was talking with her first Bone Boar and explaining what she wanted him to do. With a single nod, he grabbed one bag with his mouth and pierced the bag with his long, frontal tusks.
As he walked over the squares, carefully jumping over the trenches full of water, he would shake his head just a little to let the seeds fall from the bag. Another boar was following him, gently stepping over the seeds, and soon the Bone Boars were divided into pairs, doing the same.
It didn’t take long for the entire field to be ready, and the Bone Boars calmly returned to Meryda’s side, gave her the empty bags, and got a nice rub on their enormous snouts as a thanks.
Then they all made one nod at her and went to the forest, making her wonder what they were going to do.
Since they were not returning, Craydon went to take care of the chickens, pigs, and horse, while Meryda put the now empty bags in the stable.
The noise of hoes arriving told her the boars had returned, and she saw them going around the stable to the place with wire all around where the Fur Cows were. They were all carrying grass and bush branches full of leaves, which they spat into a space on the other side of the wire to feed the Fur Cows.
When there was already a pile big enough for all the Fur Cows, they stopped going to the forest and laid on the ground around the wired place, as if they were guarding the cows.
Meryda shrugged at her father and went to the garden to take care of her plants while he was looking puzzled at that strange image before him of dangerous-looking boars resting while enormous cows were eating.
After shaking his head a few times, Craydon went to the house to check the ingredients for lunch.