When the Little Pig Hears How the Old Pig Suffered, What Kind of Howl Will It Let Out?

Kas shook his head and took a deep breath, forcing his numb body to regain sensation.

Opening his eyes, he met Seneya's worried gaze in the dim light of the torch.

The werewolf saw him wake up and let out a soft, whimpering plea, as if telling him not to eat poisonous food so recklessly.

"Aowu~"

"Alright, Miss Seneya, I'm fine..." Kas shifted his body and sat down on the ground.

He discovered that the human skeleton, which had been sharpening an arrowhead earlier, had been reduced to scattered bone fragments.

Judging by the marks, it looked as though it had been smashed by an axe.

"Did I... do this?"

"Aowu~" Seneya nodded, her fingers gesturing wildly as she tried to recreate the scene.

But the two had no experience with sign language; despite Seneya's frantic efforts, Kas still couldn't understand what had happened.

"Old thing?"

"Hmm... shortly after you fell unconscious, you acted like a sleepwalker, charging at that skeleton to provoke and roar at it. You used an axe to smash every single one of its skull bones into the shape Seneya likes to eat. Even in your dreams, you wanted to find food for your wife, Kas—you really are something."

The Ancestor seemed to have returned to his flippant state, showing no concern for Kas's encounter with the spirits after eating the mushroom, and continued with a chuckle:

"Well, it seems you've found a clue. It's time we resolved this matter."

"We're still missing one thing: Nosa's location."

Kas waited for the Ancestor's response, but received only a vague, elusive smile.

"You know exactly what to do. Do I really need to remind you?"

Sigh... it seems I'm destined to wander further and further down the path of 'I think, therefore I am.'

Kas sighed inwardly, walked over to the skeleton of Nosa's mother, Angeli, and bowed his head:

"My apologies. Please forgive my offense."

He gently removed the infant skeleton held in the woman's arms and unfastened Angeli's exquisite linen robe. Beneath her exposed, skeletal body, two shriveled, oil-soaked umbilical cords were tied into the gap between her pelvis and sacrum.

To the Rishiman People, the umbilical cord held a deeply sacred significance. When a mother died, the shaman would cut her lower back and tie the umbilical cord—preserved and dried through special oils—to her sacrum.

This symbolized that the mother's death had taken a portion of the child's "spirit" with her. The mother, transformed into a "spirit" after death, could use the umbilical cord buried within her body to find her child across the vast, desolate wilderness.

Legend had it that sorcerers would use the umbilical cord connecting mother and child as a medium for curses, driving the mother's "spirit" with malicious incantations to kill the child.

Kas carefully untied the umbilical cords from between the pelvis and sacrum, holding one in each hand.

[Quest: Walking a dog without a leash is just a dog walking a dog]

[Status: In Progress]

[Inspiration: When hearing how the old pig suffered, what kind of wail would the piglet let out?]

He returned the swaddled infant to its mother and stood with his head bowed in silence for a long time.

Then, he gripped the umbilical cords and squeezed with all his might!

In the warm den, the missing Nosa was sharpening an arrow. She felt no concern for the fate of the pack of hyenas she had sent out; they were the murderers who had harmed her kin.

Cold moonlight seeped through the cracks in the rock, illuminating the steel arrowhead. Nosa slowly traced the arrow that had hunted countless beasts and enemies for her; the mirror-like steel reflected her amber eyes.

Kas, he is Seneya's husband, he must die... It is very likely that in a short while, he will abandon her just like my father did, because he cannot break Seneya's curse.

The moment she first saw Seneya, Nosa had been drawn to her lonely aura. If there was anything in this world for which she would willingly sacrifice her life, it would surely be her.

Her human kindness and beastly cruelty were intertwined. It was not the fate she had hoped for, but fate was like that—imposing a cruel reality upon a kind soul as if it were a joke.

She is just like me...

Nosa flipped the arrowhead; the rough, abrasive surface reflected a pair of orange-yellow eyes filled with hatred.

Both abandoned, both ignorant of the future, both born carrying the prophecy of a curse...

She hated them for letting the hyenas devour everyone who entered the forest.

They had never considered the thoughts of the child in the womb, attempting to use all sorts of excuses to make others bear their suffering, never once asking if she agreed.

Yet, she also loved them. Those happy memories lingering in her flesh were something she had never received from the animals she raised; she was their master, but never their family.

Nosa thought of Seneya and whispered to herself:

"We will stay quietly in the forest, soak our feet in a basin of hot water every day, watch the rain fall from the eaves, do nothing, forget all memories, and wait for silent death to arrive..."

She hurried to sharpen the arrow, but suddenly, her hand stiffened. The cold arrow slipped from her fingers, echoing with a crisp sound in the cave.

Nosa clutched her head, curling into a ball. The small face hidden beneath her red velvet hat trembled violently.

"No, no, no... how could he do this to you?"

Her body stopped shaking. She turned her head slowly, staring at the army of beasts waiting for her command, her lips moving slightly:

"Kill him."

Kas looked through the window past Lilac, watching the thin mist floating like silk threads in the forest; the gray aura completely drowned out the starlight and moonlight of the night sky, staining the naked eye with an invisible haze.

A dull, wall-like pressure weighed upon his heart, and in the blurred periphery of his vision, a few streaks of deep red light flickered occasionally.

As expected, the piglet would let out the same howl as the old hog... Nosa had returned.

"Frost Wolves, Iron-Bristled Boars, Saber-Toothed Tigers, Blood Vultures..." The Ancestor, who loved nothing more than to watch the chaos unfold, counted the beasts in the woods one by one:

"It seems you have encountered a major problem, Kas. The hyenas from earlier were merely an appetizer Little Red Riding Hood prepared for you. I have never seen a beast tamer capable of making a hundred beasts advance in silence; she is an extremely rare Beast Speaker.

My advice is to subdue her. She can easily make the most powerful beasts submit through sheer will and thought alone, which would be of immense help to the clan.

With her, we could assemble a massive legion of beasts and launch a war of conquest toward the south once again."

Kas ignored the Ancestor's suggestion with a look reserved for fools; he had to admit that he had severely underestimated the abilities of Little Red Riding Hood.

If he surrendered now, would it still be in time?

"Kas, Kas! What have you done to my family!"

Nosa, draped in a red velvet hood, appeared riding a massive, gargantuan antlered deer. That enormous white deer stood nearly a meter taller than a standard warhorse, its sturdy physique resembling a heavy tank.

Its antlers, flowing like a crown, shimmered with golden light, and its pure white mane rippled in the wind as it walked. Wherever its hooves trod, the trees and wildflowers automatically parted to clear a path, as if unwilling to desecrate such a sacred existence.

"A Golden-Branch Giant Antlered Deer? How is that possible..." Morse exclaimed, then clenched his teeth, his cranial fissures emitting an indescribable shriek:

"We are in deep trouble. You cannot make a move, nor can you even show the slightest sign of offense!"