Going Home (Part 1)

Trick went to find Solam.

Karut had also been scolded by the old man and had quieted down; only now did everyone have the heart to care about why they had run off and how they had managed to hunt these things.

"Solam saw that Aunt Zaira was giving birth today and wanted to find something to help her recover her strength. So Solam... no, I thought Alpine Goat milk was the best for recovery, so I dragged Solam out to hunt. It turned out we actually found some. We could have returned a long time ago, but just as we caught these Alpine Goats, we ran into these Snow Tigers." Krum, seeing that his father wasn't going to beat him for the moment, explained the sequence of events. Krum was truly an honest child; he felt that if a beating was coming, he should take it alone, and since Solam was already injured, he decided to shoulder the blame himself. However, this silly child had never lied before and almost let the truth slip.

In truth, Karut knew his son had always been honest. It was obvious at a glance that this idea had come from the clever and mischievous Solam. Karut wasn't angry about the idea itself, but rather that his son was already so old yet still didn't know the importance of priorities. If Solam wanted to go, you let him? Not only did you not stop him, but you followed him into this nonsense. Solam was young and didn't know the dangers of the winter forest, but you didn't know either? Going out with him was one thing, but you were older than him and should have taken care of him; instead, you let your younger brother get hurt. That was why Karut was angry.

However, upon hearing that the two had snuck out to hunt for the sake of Zaira and the newborn brother, Karut wasn't quite as furious. After all, their intentions were good. Still, Karut glared fiercely at Krum; good intentions still required proper methods—how could they make the adults worry so much? He made up his mind that a beating was unavoidable once they returned, otherwise, he wouldn't learn his lesson. But compared to a moment ago, when he felt like killing Krum, his mood had softened significantly; at most, it was just domestic discipline, nothing major.

Krum was glared at by his father and was immediately too scared to speak.

At this moment, a warrior looked at the carcass of the adult Snow Tiger and said, "It's really strange. When did we ever have Snow Tigers in these parts? This is truly rare."

"Indeed. Looking at this female Snow Tiger, she's quite thin. It seems she hasn't eaten for some time," another warrior analyzed while looking at the carcass. He was also a well-known hunter in the clan.

"When we saw this Snow Tiger, its front paw seemed to be injured. That must be why it couldn't hunt, and naturally, it became thin," Krum hurriedly added upon hearing this.

"I knew it. I suspect this female Snow Tiger was injured, and coupled with the fact that she was carrying two cubs, she hadn't hunted for a while and was driven mad by hunger. Seeing you hunting Alpine Goats, she intended to snatch your prey," the hunter said with an 'as I thought' expression.

"Then why didn't you just give the prey to them? Even if this female Snow Tiger was injured, dealing with it was still very dangerous for you. Didn't I teach you before? A hunter's most important priority is to ensure their own safety. You went out to hunt, not to throw your lives away," Trick said as he walked over after checking on Solam, having just happened to hear their conversation.

Trick felt both relieved and angry. He was naturally relieved that the two children could think of Zaira and his newborn child; it showed that his and his wife's affection for the two boys hadn't been in vain, especially for Solam, whom he and Zaira had always treated like their own son. He was angry that these two idiots had actually overestimated their abilities and dared to go head-to-head with three Snow Tigers. Not only had they cast aside everything he taught them, but didn't they know that to the adults, a few goats were nothing compared to the two children?

"We were prepared to give up, but the mother tiger didn't seem to intend to let us go. Besides, they were the ones who attacked first." Krum recalled the look in the mother tiger's eyes. At that time, he had seen the naked killing intent in them clearly; it didn't look like the eyes of a beast just trying to threaten them into giving up their prey.

Upon hearing this, Trick was stunned. Generally, even if a wild beast was driven mad by hunger, if it could secure prey through threats, it would absolutely avoid direct conflict with other hunters, as that was neither cost-effective nor safe.

"Could this mother tiger have been attacked by others? Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so fixated on you. Snow Tigers are very intelligent beasts," the first hunter speculated.

"It's very possible. We rarely have Snow Tigers here, so you might not know, but Snow Tigers usually act alone. However, when the breeding season begins, they act in pairs to raise their cubs. It's possible this Snow Tiger family wandered here from the Frost Snow Land during the winter for some reason. Perhaps they were discovered by another clan during their travels, and the male tiger was killed. Snow Tigers are very intelligent and hold grudges; perhaps it was hatred toward other orcs that led them to want to kill you for revenge," Trick also speculated.

Old Chief Kramsh didn't care much about this. He didn't care how the Snow Tigers got here; he only knew that these damn beasts had almost killed his grandson. If Solam hadn't been capable enough to kill them, he would have definitely used his ancestral, genuine Bloodfire to hack these beasts into mincemeat. He was concerned about how his two grandsons had managed to defeat this adult Snow Tiger. He had hunted such beasts in his youth and knew they were not to be trifled with. Thus, he asked Krum, "How did you kill these three Snow Tigers? You must know, these beasts are not easy to handle."

The old man's question was clearly what everyone was concerned about, so they all turned to look at Krum. Krum, being stared at by so many people, was clearly a bit shy. He lowered his head and whispered, "I actually don't know."

"What? You don't know?" everyone asked in unison, all very surprised by this answer.

"I really don't know. I was originally dealing with the large Snow Tiger with Solam, while Frostfang and Bloodfang were dealing with the two smaller ones. We were working together quite well at the start and even managed to wound the Snow Tiger. But then, for some reason, the large Snow Tiger suddenly went berserk and knocked me flying, and I passed out. When I woke up, the Snow Tiger was dead, and Solam had fainted beside me." Seeing that no one believed him, Krum explained loudly with a flushed face.

Hearing this explanation, everyone looked at each other, completely at a loss for words. Only the old chief seemed to be deep in thought. Everyone looked toward the old chief; he was knowledgeable, and whenever the clan faced a difficult problem, the first person they thought to ask for help was the old chief.

"Perhaps it was Berserk," the old chief didn't disappoint, immediately providing his answer. Upon hearing the old chief's words, everyone was confused at first, but after a moment of thought, they felt it was very likely.

"Solam and I thought the same," Krum said, sharing the conclusion he and Solam had discussed.

"No wonder Solam is so exhausted," Karut agreed with the conclusion. Trick, however, had another worry. "Could there be any aftereffects? After all, Solam is still so young. Usually, children don't have the possibility of entering a Berserk state until after they are eighteen."

"It's fine. Solam woke up for a moment just now; I think he's just too tired, nothing else. One can only say it's fortunate that Solam entered the Berserk state early, otherwise, it would have been a narrow escape indeed." Once the old man said this, Karut and Trick felt a wave of relief, followed by a cold sweat; one had to know that entering a Berserk state was not a simple matter.

"Alright, the children have been found, so let's not stand in the snow. The snow is getting heavier; we can talk about anything else when we get back." The old man looked up at the sky. The snow was falling harder and harder; it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon. Rather than standing foolishly in the snow, it was better to go back and talk slowly. After saying this, the old man walked to a sled in the back, took Solam into his arms, mounted One-Eye, and headed toward the camp. As for the prey, he left that to Karut and Trick to worry about.

Karut let his son ride with him on his direwolf, while Trick threw the two Alpine Goat carcasses that Krum had been pulling onto the back sled, having his own direwolf, along with Frostfang and Bloodfang, pull the sled together. The three living Alpine Goats were naturally left tied to the sled.

Once everything was ready, they headed back in a grand procession.

Since they had already found the two children, there was no need to rush, and they had to be considerate of the direwolves, so their speed wasn't very fast.

The people at the camp were living like a year for every day, especially Granny Karom, whose heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat; she couldn't find peace no matter what. If she hadn't seen Zaira there, also burning with anxiety, and feared that something might happen to her, she would have insisted on following them to find the children. Granny Karom truly doted on our Solam; if it weren't for the fact that the stubborn old Chief Kramsh would never agree, she would have wanted to take Solam home with her.

In Granny Karom's eyes, Solam was the best child in the world—beautiful and obedient. Compared to other people's children, he was better in every way. Furthermore, Granny Karom's own son had a hard life; his wife had passed away a long time ago without leaving behind any children, and her son was stubborn and unwilling to remarry. Thus, Solam's appearance completely filled the old lady's longing for a grandson or granddaughter. Coupled with Solam's pitiful background—having no father or mother from a young age—the old lady felt even more heartache for him. To say that the old lady treated Solam like the apple of her eye was no exaggeration.

At this moment, an elder of the tribe suddenly ran over, saying that everyone had returned. Upon hearing this, the old lady knew they must have found the children; otherwise, they wouldn't have returned so quickly. She couldn't sit still any longer and wanted to go meet Solam personally to see if he was injured.

Zaira also couldn't sit still and wanted to go out to see, but Solari hurriedly persuaded her to stay. She had just given birth and her body was weak; running outside like this was simply not taking care of her own health. Just as she was being persuaded, they heard a roar from Granny Karom, who had just gone out.

"Kramsh, you bastard, what happened to my Solam..."