novelraw Chapter 133 : Sleep Well
Chapter 133 : Sleep Well
"Eeng eeng ugu—"
"Eeng eeng ugu eeng eeng ugu—"
Newborn beastfolk children look just like real baby animals.
Looking at these small furry balls huddled together making weak sounds in front of her,
If placed next to puppies, Yvonne felt she probably couldn't tell them apart at all.
Moreover... this body... is simply softer than expected...
After picking up one of them, Yvonne couldn't help but feel this from the bottom of her heart.
As if it would break with just a light touch, a newborn life is such a fragile existence.
"[Beastfolk Language] Yes... support its body like this, let it rest against your chest..."
Kukur, the wife of Nuen, the Pelo tribe chief, was instructing her what to do in a weak voice,
"[Beastfolk Language] ...Like this?"
Following Kukur's instructions, Yvonne inexpertly supported the baby beast's neck, then brought the bottle of warmed goat's milk to the mouth of the weakest child,
Unlike the plastic nipples in modern common sense, the structure of these specially made nursing bottles in this other world is quite unique: milk is poured in through the large hole in the middle, a small hole is connected to a "nipple" made of cloth or sheepskin, and the milk flow is controlled by pressing the air hole with a finger—in actual operation, one needs to be very careful, otherwise it's easy to choke the cub.
Finally, the weak little one whimpered and started sucking on the nipple, its mouth making smacking sounds, its little black nose stained with white liquid.
"[Beastfolk Language] That's great... it's finally willing to eat."
Although somewhat weak, seeing the last child successfully feeding, Kukur, as a mother, finally breathed a sigh of relief,
"[Beastfolk Language] This is all thanks to you two—Miss Yvonne will surely become a good mother in the future."
"............"
Hearing such words, looking at Elsa who was helping change diapers for the other little Pelos, her chest felt itchy and warm,
But no matter what, becoming a mother was still too early for her.
Come to think of it, why did things turn out this way—
For things to become like this, we need to start from the first 'commission' they received.
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"—This is different from what we agreed on!!"
Their first commission task... turned out to be taking care of newborn cubs.
"What else? What kind of commission did you expect?"
"Uh..."
This question left Yvonne momentarily speechless,
"Exterminating monsters... or something like that?"
Speaking of 'commissions' in a fantasy world, the most classic ones are of course the rated missions from adventure guilds and subjugating monsters.
Accept a commission, defeat monsters to level up, obtain treasures—this pattern is basically the inevitable path of every fantasy work,
However, hearing such remarks, her mentor Brin frowned:
"Ha... If there really were monsters appearing, it wouldn't be up to newcomers like you, would it?"
Brin was somewhat speechless, feeling that after living for so long, she had started to lose touch with the thoughts of these young people.
One after another... learning just a smattering of magical spells, and they really think they're invincible?
There's no such easy thing in this world.
"More often than not, commissions like this are the daily norm, you'd better get used to it."
As she spoke, her hands didn't stop, skillfully using wind magic to gather the furry balls in the room together,
Because there were young lives in the room, Brin deliberately lowered her voice.
Magic isn't for killing and fighting, its essence is to make everyone's life happier.
At some point, the number of threatening monsters began to decrease dramatically.
Because high-level monsters have become increasingly rare, some expensive materials have become exorbitantly priced,
As the saying goes, people die for wealth and birds die for food, those monster hunters who make a living from this naturally have more sensitive information than anyone else,
This is almost... as if someone has been secretly eliminating all the monsters...
Thinking of this, Brin's mood became heavy.
This is also the main research topic of "Myriad Leaves Gold" in the past year,
In recent years, there have been frequent incidents of high-level monsters being hunted in many places, with only the corpses of monsters left at the scene, but the 'hero' who defeated the monsters is never seen,
Who could be doing such things...?
Some even speculate that this is the appearance of the legendary fifth witch.
But these things shouldn't have anything to do with the newcomers she's bringing this time.
Brin looked over the two of them.
"Did you bring everything I told you to bring earlier?"
"Yes, we've brought everything!"
Elsa patted the cloth bag she was carrying on her back.
Inside, besides changes of clothes, there were some external injury potions, and dried meat as a greeting gift.
Because of the sensitive sense of smell of the beastfolk, fur products are prohibited here, which was also specifically reminded.
Seeing that the two had obediently prepared as told, Brin nodded with satisfaction.
"Very good—Oh right, this is the common currency of the dog people—it's also part of the commission reward, you can use it for now."
Remembering something, Brin reached out her hand, passing two strings of white currency threaded with hemp rope from under her robe to the two newcomers.
"—A total of 400 Pelo coins, which should be enough for normal expenses."
"This is... bone currency..."
Feeling the currency in her hand, Yvonne finally had a sense of reality about interacting with a different race,
This currency looks somewhat similar to the copper coins Yvonne is familiar with, but compared to metal currency, these bone coins are much lighter.
She was a bit excited, having only seen descriptions of such currency in some documentary works before, and was quite thrilled to actually hold it in her hand.
"Ha... You'll probably use it so much in the next few days that you won't want to touch it anymore."
Brin shook her head.
These are bone coins made from grinding the bones of certain special monsters. If converted to copper coins, one would probably be equivalent to about five. The prices of beastfolk goods are cheaper than they think, which should be more than enough for daily expenses.
"—If you want to climb up step by step, accumulating goodwill is also a very important part."
"............"
Faced with the smirking senior's advice, Yvonne nodded silently.
Afterwards.
A male Pelo named Nuen with colorful hemp ropes tied on his head warmly welcomed Yvonne and Elsa,
He seemed to be the chief of this Pelo tribe
"[Beastfolk Language] I've brought the people, I'll leave them to you now."
"[Beastfolk Language] Alright, you can leave with peace of mind, we will treat the two ladies with utmost courtesy!"
"Wait—?!"
"Miss Brin??"
Realizing they were about to be left here by their mentor, the two suddenly felt as if they had been sold,
"Ha, you can put your minds completely at ease,"
Seeing the doubt in the young ladies' hearts, Brin put on her hat and said with a smile:
"I don't have much to teach you anyway, the folks here are much more simple-minded compared to humans."
Get along well with them, become a bridge for communication between different species—this is the true purpose of the commission.
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—'Trial Residential Area'
This is a project that has only been trialed in the capital in recent years, a place like Chinatown for these demi-human races.
Unlike the stone buildings commonly seen on the bustling streets of the upper city, the houses here are all two or three-story wooden cabins, with vastly different architectural styles. Many dog-folk homes even have decorations at their doorsteps that reflect the rugged style of the beastfolk.
As the capital and commercial center of the Oz Kingdom, Greenwoam naturally embraces all, with over ten different races living here just by racial classification.
Of course, seven out of ten main residents are still humans, followed by the small folk who have always had a close relationship with humans, and then other demi-beast races.
As the most powerful country on this continent, the Oz Kingdom is naturally ambitious, wanting to bring all surrounding states and heterogeneous communities under its control, which is why trial neighborhoods like this have become popular.
Among all the demi-beasts, the Pelo tribe is naturally the closest and friendliest to humans,
So this trial residential area naturally prioritized accepting these friendly dog people.
The dog people are slightly taller and larger than humans, but not excessively so. Many dog people now can also speak some simple common language, so communication isn't completely impossible.
Who would have thought that such an area had been opened up in the lower city...
Elsa felt somewhat emotional.
Having not been back here for a long time, the changes that had occurred in this area already exceeded her expectations.
Outside the door, several little dogs were curiously peering at these trusted human big sisters, their tails raised high and wagging curiously from side to side. When they noticed Yvonne and Elsa paying attention to them, their pointed furry ears on top of their heads twitched and shrank back.
Woah...
They look a bit cute!
"[Beastfolk Language] Are those your children too?"
Yvonne asked curiously,
If they could just play quietly on the side, that would be fine, but she really hoped those energetic little ones could quiet down... otherwise Kukur wouldn't be able to rest properly.
She had witnessed the powerful reproductive ability of the Pelo tribe today, giving birth to a litter like this is not something humans can do.
"[Beastfolk Language] ...Those children belong to other tribe members here. Humans don't usually come in here, so they're probably just curious."
The Pelo tribe are communal creatures, so it's quite normal for children to be raised like this, accepting care from others.
But unfortunately, when it was Kukur's turn to take care of her own children and other newborns, she unfortunately contracted a severe cold.
"Cough cough, cough cough cough!!!"
After speaking, Kukur started coughing violently again,
Yvonne quickly stroked her furry back,
"[Beastfolk Language] Miss Kukur... You're just recovering from a serious illness, you should be resting properly!!"
"[Beastfolk Language] But the children..."
"[Beastfolk Language] Leave them to me and Elsa!"
Kukur told her that young Pelos who had finished work would come to help starting from the daytime, but only for tonight, everyone really couldn't spare hands to take care of them.
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Although she had made bold promises, Yvonne quickly realized just how frustrating it is to take care of children.
"They're finally all asleep..."
Seeing the puppies no longer crying but falling into a deep sleep one after another, Elsa beside her couldn't help but let out a moved exclamation, but was immediately silenced by Yvonne's gesture.
After all, if just one wakes up, the other few will follow suit.
"Putting children to sleep is really not easy..."
Not having had a good rest all day, Yvonne felt exhausted.
"...So this is what it means... to take care of children."
Elsa, also with dark circles under her eyes, said hoarsely in a low voice.
Mothers all over the world... regardless of race, are truly, really amazing!
Having experienced the hardships of motherhood, both of them simultaneously developed a deeper respect for the role of 'mother'.
Finally, on the second day—as the sky was about to turn white at dawn, the Pelo tribe's hunting party that had gone out finally returned to the city,
Yvonne and Elsa were also able to complete the handover and shift change, feeling a sense of relief after being liberated from the heavy responsibility of watching over the cubs,
"Finally can close my eyes for a bit..."
Too lazy to even wash up, having taken care of cubs all day,
Now they were both physically and mentally exhausted, with no extra energy to do those things.
"But honestly... I envy them."
Lying side by side with Yvonne on the wooden bed, Elsa covered her face with her hand and couldn't help but sigh,
"...Why do you say that?"
"Generally speaking, the things people can remember should start from when they can form memories, right?"
"...That's correct?"
Yvonne recalled that her earliest memories from her previous life were probably around 3 years old, and she couldn't remember anything before that.
"But I seem to be different from others, I remember things from when I was very, very young."
Elsa rarely talked about her childhood.
"When I was little... in my memories, I was always crying, but no one ever came to comfort me."
A wailing infant in swaddling clothes, crying until her throat was hoarse, crying until her nose and eyes were a mess, and still no one paid any attention.
Is it because of returning here after so long?
Those unpleasant memories all came flooding back at once.
Dragging her back into that abyss-like nightmare.
However, she pulled herself out of it again.
"It's different now... you have me, don't you?"
She had once wandered here, going through an unimaginably bitter childhood.
Thinking of this, her body moved on its own.
Yvonne reached out and hugged her, placing her hand on the back of her head, stroking the hair at the nape of her neck, and comforted her softly:
"When you're sad, I'll comfort you properly."
"............"
Without making another sound, she nuzzled against Yvonne's embrace, beginning her routine cuddling,
There's nothing to be afraid of anymore.
No matter what happens, we should sleep well.
Falling asleep like this in her embrace, sleeping... sleeping well, no matter what kind of past, we can recover to a state without a scratch.