Zaelen was woken by prodding paws.

“Let’s go catch the chickens!” called Iceria.

“Wha?”

They were forming a plan to catch a few kierin while somebody was off snoozing

Oh. Hey, so, how much do you think it will effectively up my slime-killing?

Slime killing, slime murder, and then MORE slime-killing. Are you ever going to think about ANYTHING else?!

No.

... ... ...

I am seriously worried for your sanity

Yippee!

What the – you need a therapist, dude

Too bad that they don’t have therapists in this world, hehe.

“Okay, so, what’s the plan?”

Iceria shifted uneasily. “Well, you know how the... ‘chickens’ live in groups, right?”

“Yes?”

Wow, you’re shameless. Lying to your pack?

“What about that?” asked Zaelen, ignoring the system.

“We sent a few of our fastest scouts to track the bird. It turns out that it’s returned to its group, where they are all living underground together.”

“It would be more appropriate to call them a colony,” commented a gray wolf. “And the numbers were in the hundreds.”

A hundred chickens, when you actually think about it like that...

Wonderful. We now have an instant supply of chicken.

I thought you were addicted to slime-killing, not eating chicken

One can be addicted to both.

You do you, I guess

Zaelen tilted his head as he considered.

A violet elder called, “The kierin have to go out some time, don’t they? We could just go in and steal some eggs.”

“We’ve already thought of that. The problem is, they take turns so there are always a few kierin guarding the chicks and eggs,” snarled a wolf.

“Only a few. We could take them on with the whole pack,” snapped Cryos.

The entire pack fell into squabbling.

Are you going to help?

Shush, I’m thinking.

For once

Zaelen considered for a while longer before cracking his tail against the ground.

“ENOUGH!” he roared.

There was an instant quiet as several gazes focused on him.

“I’ve thought of a plan.”

The intensity of the gazes sharpened.

“This is how we’ll get the eggs. Since the kierin have to come out eventually, we’ll isolate and capture one. Then I’ll use one of my ‘abilities’ to force it to comply with our demands. And what will be our demands, you might ask? To ask it to steal some eggs for us.”

...I’m proud of you, child

⋆❖^⧫/-\⧫^❖⋆

The wolves slunk through the vegetation as they tracked a kierin. The target was a way from the rest of the group that were foraging for food. It hopped a few more steps, out of the view of the other kierin.

“Now!” hissed Iceria.

The wolves leaped, quickly pinning the lone kierin to the ground.

“Kie-!”

Zaelen smacked the beak of the kierin shut before it could call for help. It stared at him with horrified eyes.

“So, here’s what you are going to do,” growled Zaelen. “You’re going to go back to that little underground camp of yours and steal some eggs for us. Got it?”

The kierin blinked fearfully.

You forgot the contract

Oh. The contract. Riiiiight.

Temporary Servant Contract issued to [Kierin]

Ugh, you should’ve changed their name to [Fat Chicken] or something.

Why is there a ‘fat’ in there...?

Temporary Servant Contract rejected

Zaelen smirked. “I suggest you think again, little chicken. We have wolves surrounding your entire group. If I give the word, they’ll kill.” This, of course, was a flat-out lie, but the kierin didn’t know that.

Temporary Servant Contract accepted

Ugh, you can be so cruel sometimes. I bet you wouldn’t have hesitated to do that if what you said was actually true, would you?

Hey, it’s all for slime-killing.

Yeah, yeah, I know by now

Zaelen released the kierin. “Now, go back to your group and don’t say a single word about what happened here. Don’t let any of your... ‘friends’ know. Got that?”

The kierin nodded franticly than scampered away into the underbrush. The wolves all cheerfully fell into discussion.

“The plan worked out better than I expected,” muttered an elder. “Who would’ve known...”

Iceria hissed at the elder. “Are you saying our alpha is incapable?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Don’t show your fangs, I don’t mean it like that,” responded the elder calmly.

Zaelen turned around, calling for the pack to leave.

I think that the slime population is going to go extinct on the plains someday

Wonderful.

Yeah, of course it’s wonderful to you

Okay, be logical. What purpose do slimes serve in this world anyway? Zaelen swatted a slime and sent it soaring.

“Squeeeeeee!” cried the slime as it flew into the distance.

There goes another slime. Did you even kill it?

If it hasn’t died, then it can go tell its buddies.

“KIIIIEEEEEEEKKKKKK!”

Eh-?

Something feathery crashed on top of him, squashing Zaelen to the ground and driving the breath out of him. Zaelen rolled around and kicked the lump off of him.

“Hey wait, is that you, servant chicken?”

[Kierin]’s name has been changed to [Servant Chicken]

Uses for renaming [Kierin] is now 0

Uh... I can rename servants...? Zaelen stared at the newly named servant chicken. The kierin slowly raised its head to reveal three eggs. One a pale silver, another a translucent shifting blue, and the last a luminous white with undertones of blue and violet.

“Is... this... good enough...? ...L-look, I even... brought... the Ebonheart... one...” The kierin nudged out one more egg that had a dark, almost black hue. Then its head slumped to the ground once again.

When could I understand chicken? Zaelen glanced around and realized that the wolves couldn’t understand the kierin. And what’s that about an ebber-hardt?

Learned new skill: [Avian Language Lv--]

“TRAITOR! WE’LL SHRED YOU TO PIECES!”

Kierins fluttered in to circle the wolves.

“He’s given the egg to the slime-killer! Damn it!”

They landed in a circle around the wolves.

“Protect the alpha!” The wolves closed into a defensive stance around Zaelen, growling. A wolf slashed their claws across a kierin that got too close. Immediately, another few wolves darted forward and dragged the kierin from its buddies, ripping at it ferociously.

“NO! Aether!” One of the kierin lunged but was dragged back by the others.

“Fool! Do you want to die, Aeris?”

A wolf’s jaws missed inches from the chicken named Aeris. Zaelen turned back to prod the servant chicken.

“Hey. Wake up.”

A wolf padded to his side and peered down at the servant chicken. She was an unfamiliar blue color. The wolf tugged at a wing. Is the wolf trying to flip the chicken over? Zaelen hooked the chicken with his claws and lifted the kierin up.

“Wait! Stay like that!” The wolf scampered under the kierin and nosed around. Zaelen bent his head to peer at the wolf.

Ice spikes are on the kierin’s wings

Hm? I didn’t know the main system told me about injuries. Is it because of [Observe]?

That’s me, idiot! I’m doing you a favor!

Eh, can’t you make yourself a bit different from the normal system?

Fine...

|||Here. Is this good enough for your brain to comprehend?|||

Yes, thank you, old man.

|||Can you be nice for once?! |||

... oh, look! The chicken is waking up! Zaelen quickly diverted the topic of the discussion. Most of the ice had disappeared though there was still a thin layer of frost covering parts of the kierin.

“Are you one of those wolves the elders taught?” asked Zaelen while he put down the chicken.

The wolf wagged her tail as she nodded. “Yes, I am!”

“Err, what’s your name?” asked Zaelen as he started to inspect the eggs.

“Lyri! Come back here this instant!” howled a voice.

Elder 1 stalked out of the group of wolves and dragged a flailing Lyri away.

“BUT I WAS HELPING!” wailed Lyri.

Zaelen turned his gaze to the kierins surrounding them. He unleashed a [Dragon Breath] upon a few above the wolves’ heads. The kierin screeched and scattered back. As if that had been a signal, all the wolves lunged.

There were around ten kierin, and probably forty to fifty wolves from what Zaelen could see. Fwoosh! A kierin flapped above him, glaring. Hey, isn’t that the kierin which Iceria scorched earlier? Zaelen was satisfied to see that there was a small bald part on one of the kierin’s wings where he had nommed.

That was a mistake, coming back here! Now you’re really becoming chicken tenders! Zaelen suddenly sprang, using [High Leap] to jump higher than usual.

[High Leap Lv2] -> [High Leap Lv3]

Zaelen clamped his jaws tight around the kierin and felt the taste of chicken flood his mouth. What I would give for some chicken nuggets...

|||PLEASE. DO. NOT. GET. DISTRACTED|||

The system barged in on his pleasure. However, it served its purpose and returned Zaelen to reality. Zaelen scrabbled to bring the kierin down. A few moments later, more wolves leaped, and some managed to cling on. The kierin squawked as it was forced to land. Zaelen immediately slithered onto its back and started to claw at its throat. The chicken screamed in pain as it convulsed. Then it went still.

Killed Kierin. Gained 150 exp

|||That was... lame. How did it fight so well earlier?|||

How am I supposed to know? Maybe it was still affected by the fight earlier, looks like the other chickens are putting up more of a fight. Zaelen eyed the fight, which seemed to be going in the wolves’ favor. Another chicken was roasted and went down. And then, of course, Zaelen’s ‘wonderful’ luck kicked in and another group of at least twenty or more kierin flew in and started to attack.

|||Well, there comes the reinforcements!|||

Zaelen sent a few wind slashes at the kierin but they all missed. Are these chickens more advanced at fighting or is that just me? Well, advanced or not, the wolves were being beaten back.

|||Ya know, I don’t think salt is going to help you in this case|||

We’ll see about that. Zaelen managed to get to the sides of the battle and had to avoid his eyes being pecked out. He spat a [Dragon Breath] at the kierin and it waddled out of the way like the chicken it was.

|||Ahem, isn’t the term ‘waddling’ used for ducks, and not chickens?|||

Zaelen was even more determined to prove that salt could indeed be useful in this case.

“Everyone! Try to get as many small wounds on the kierin as you can!” he roared. “Then get behind me!”

The wolves formed a procedure where they darted at the kierin, nicked them, and then darted back again. Several gazes turned toward Zaelen, now knowing that he was the leader. Beams of water formed and surged toward the golden drake. However, Zaelen already had a mass of salt.

He threw the bag of salt in the air and sliced it open with wind slashes before flapping his wings, sending the salt flying everywhere.

Learned new skill: [Wind Surge]

Perfect! Zaelen used [Wind Surge] to form a sort of barrier around his wolves to prevent the salt from falling atop them. He watched as the salt touched the water beams. The beams seemed to waver before splattering all over the ground.

“W-what?! What kind of magic did he use?!” yelped a kierin.

|||How did you even – you know what? I’m not gonna ask|||

Zaelen cackled as the salt drifted down to land on the kierin. They flapped their wings in agitation. “I-It’ll be fine!” cried one. “It’s just some sort of snow!” The salt took effect on the wounds of the chickens, and they all started to shriek in pain.

“SNOW?! YOU CALL THIS SNOW?!” shrieked another.

The chickens eventually took flight, trying to get away from the salt. Hehehehehe, I told you system! Salt can be used for anything!

“R-retreat!” one called.

“But what about the Ebonheart egg?!”

“We’ll get it another time!”

Then the speaker turned and fled. The kierin eventually all followed, the last ones glaring vengeful stares behind them.

It worked out just like I expected. See, system? Salt can be used for anything! ANYTHING!

|||You do you...|||

Zaelen triumphantly sat on his haunches as he looked after rapidly disappearing shapes of the kierin.

CRACK!

He froze and slowly turned. The wolves stared too.

“What...?” asked Iceria.

CRACK!

Zaelen eyed the kierin eggs suspiciously. The white one had several cracks running down its side. Oh.

“Are the eggs... hatching?”