Wolf's Hunt
The wolf was a social animal that lived in a pack. How a pack was formed was through blood ties. In other words, one male and one female would become the leaders of the pack, and the children they bore would become the members. Once the young grew up and became adults, they would leave the pack to find a mate and form a new pack. Didn't this structure look familiar? A kid grows up, leaves home, finds a partner, and builds a new family. That's right. Wolves were basically the same as humans in this way.
Accepting outsiders, or rather strays, into such a blood-tied pack was extremely rare. If the parents were already there and the children were already there, and the pack was running stably, just taking in a wanderer would be nothing more than a dangerous element. In other words, if something went wrong with the pack, they might have to take in a stray to patch it up.
Quest: [Wolf God's Trial - Pack Stabilization]
"There are a lot of kids, but not enough adults. It's because our mother passed away."
Only then did Tarte finally realize the self-parody in the wolves' words. Because her height had dropped so much — her eyes were literally at a lower level — she had noticed it late. But the wolves standing right in front of her weren't adults at all. They weren't displaying the full characteristics of young wolves either. To humans, they were clearly in their teenage years. In the human world, that meant a bunch of school-uniformed kids coming over, saying, "Aunty, please marry our dad."
"You wouldn't survive living alone, right? Our dad is really good at hunting."
This was like bragging in the human world about how Dad makes good money.
'If I can figure out the questgiver's intent...'
Tarte thought.
This was the Wolf God's trial. And right in front of her was a pack of wolves that had lost their mother and was in a state of instability, asking for help. If she figured out the questgiver's intent, she would have to help the pack right in front of her. It was almost like a quest. But she didn't want to become a wolf's wife even as a trial run. She hadn't even dated a guy before.
"I don't plan on becoming your dad's partner. But if I help the pack for a while, I can lend you my hand and paws."
"Great. Just follow me."
"Bringing in a stray to the pack is dangerous, isn't it? You're not going to become my dad's partner!"
"It's fine. Dad's strong. If you do anything suspicious, he'll just bite your neck and kill you in one go."
One wolf voiced concern. Another wolf said outright unpleasant things. Apparently, the concept of speaking in code didn't exist among the wolves. Or maybe they were just young teens who hadn't matured yet. Tarte didn't feel any particular disgust. After all, they were animals. Getting angry would make her the idiot.
The wolf pack had ten pups that were barely walking on their own, twenty wolves of ambiguous size in their teenage years, and only one adult — the leader.
"Where did you come from?"
The pack leader glared at Tarte.
The one who answered was the wolf who had brought her here.
"Dad, I found a new mate."
"You can't just bring a strange stray all the way to the pack's nest!"
The leader was scolding his child's short-sighted thought. Kids trusted others easily. Adults were cautious. It was no different in the wolf society from humans.
Tarte calmed the leader.
"I'm not going to hurt your kids, so don't worry. And you said you needed help with the pack, right?"
"Since I'm not going to be a new wife, just scram."
"Who said I'm going to be a wife? I said I'd help a little."
The leader wolf carefully examined Tarte's body.
"You don't look injured or sick. Why would you insist on joining someone else's pack?"
Unlike the young wolf who had said joining the pack would make survival easier, Tarte was sturdy enough and healthy enough that she could just hunt alone and eat the prey without any problem. She could meet other strays later and form a new pack. There was no need to take care of someone else's kids.
Tarte answered the leader's doubt.
"I'm doing this to help you, not for myself."
"What?"
The leader was visibly surprised by the words.
'Because it's the Wolf God's trial.'
Even if it was an meaningless arrangement, if she had truly been a wolf, she wouldn't have helped the pack. But it wasn't the kind of trial where the pack was supposed to fail.
"Stay close to my ears at all times."
That was a somewhat unfamiliar line.
"Stay close to my ears at all times."
People usually said stay where I can see them. Tarte recalled that while dogs had worse vision than humans, their hearing was far more developed. She suddenly understood.
This wasn't exactly the world wolves saw.
Right now, Tarte's vision was just a bit lower in height, not perfect for a dog. Her hearing seemed a little better too.
"Alright."
With the leader's doubt and surveillance, Tarte's life in the wolf pack began.
She had to leave for a hunt right away. Wolves weren't creatures that piled up rice in a warehouse and ate every meal. They didn't dry the remaining meat and make it into jerky. They buried leftover food in the ground, but that wasn't enough for a lot of it. If they failed today's hunt, they might have to starve tomorrow.
The leader wolf took the front, with eight teenage wolves flanking both sides.
Tarte hesitated for a moment, then pressed herself tightly against the leader's side. During movement, the leader was both the vanguard and the commander.
"It's the scent of deer. Silence."
After ordering the pack to be silent, the leader moved in the direction the wind was blowing to mask the scent. It was like a seasoned hunter. Or maybe the seasoned hunter was mimicking the wolf?
In ancient times, wolves and humans were rivals competing over the same prey. Wolves passed on hunting skills from parent to child. If the inherited hunting methods converged on a similar form, it clearly wasn't just coincidence.
"Discovery."
What they found were deer grazing on the grass in the open plain. All of them were male deer with horns.
Males lived together, females with their young. Because of the deer characteristics. Male deer carried horns as weapons on their heads. Even wolves couldn't be careless. It was a misconception that the hunters always had absolute dominance. Deer horns could easily pierce and kill a wolf.
"Hunting."
But the leader didn't give up the hunt.
Hunting the female deer and their young would be ideal, but the wild was far from ideal. They didn't just look for easy and safe prey. That would make them starve to death quickly.
"Chase them. Look for an opening from behind. If there's a gap, bite their legs and make them bleed. Be careful with kicks. Don't face them head-on. Watch out for their horns."
Tarte was a little surprised.
That the wolves understood the concept of bleeding.
But thinking about it again, it was funny. Humans like us, who only ate cooked meat that had been safely processed on the table, talking about bleeding while the natural hunter wolves had survived by eating prey that was always bleeding. The amount of blood Tarte had seen her whole life couldn't even be compared.
"Let's go, stray."
The teenage wolf who had first suggested bringing Tarte into the pack took the lead.
'Is the leader not coming?'
Tarte wondered, but didn't ask. On the first day, the first stray to join the hunt couldn't question the leader's position anyway.
While sneaking through the wind to hide their scent and quietly pounce on the deer, the wolves found the deer in a vast plain after the forest ended. Unlike the forest, there were almost no places to hide their bodies, and the deer's vision was wide. Herbivores naturally had wide vision to avoid predators.
When the deer spotted the wolves, they communicated with each other and all fled at once.
The wolves were slow.
Tarte felt frustrated.
Why were they running so slowly?
Because the teenage ones were still growing and not fully developed yet?
She tried to match their speed as much as possible, but couldn't stand the slowness and stepped forward.
She caught up to a male deer faster than the deer, then leaped high and pounced.
The male deer, who had been watching Tarte while running at wide vision, turned his body and tried to swing his horns.
That was clearly a weapon made to defeat enemies, and possibly kill them.
Tarte quickly crouched to dodge the horns and bit the deer's leg.
A bad scream echoed.
Did the deer have friends? Or was it because it was certain that if it didn't take the opening now, it would be next.
Three male deer rushed at Tarte to save the bitten deer and kill her.
Horns charging like charges. Feeling like she had become a toro, Tarte changed direction and dodged the attack.
At the same time, she swung her front paw and left one wound on each of the approaching deer's bodies.
But wolf claws weren't meant for hunting. The claws that couldn't pierce the thick skin of a mature male deer couldn't cause much damage.
"Everyone retreat! Don't charge carelessly!"
Where did the leader's big shout come from?
The leader, shouting at others to get away, ran toward the battlefield.
And then the battle between the four deer, Tarte, and the wolf leader.
Again, I say it. Being predator and prey doesn't mean one has absolute advantage. Just as wolves could kill deer, deer could kill wolves anytime.
The leader desperately bit at the deer.
And the wolves who weren't the leader — his children and subordinates — ignored the boss's command.
They were told to run away, but instead charged the deer.
The numbers flipped from 2 to 4, then from 4 to 10.
2.5 wolves per deer.
No matter how big and horned the deer, they couldn't overcome that difference.
Countless teeth pierced the deer's bodies and tore at their legs.
Deer fell one after another.
The hunt was successful.
The wolf pack secured a huge amount of deer meat.
And the leader shouted.
"Stray! Where the hell did you learn to hunt like that? Were you born without parents from a very young age?"
It was a perfectly straightforward self-parody aimed at Tarte.