Chapter 41

Chapter 41 \nChapter 41 Howth\n

When the team gathered up, there were two more people added inside – Howth and Ba-Ao.

Patrik and his team have hunting duty today, but their precious females are going up the mountain. Naturally, they will want someone to follow and protect them, and that person will have to be the ‘manual labour’ as well. Because the females’ future partners were not able to follow, Ryan nominated the idle Howth and Ba-Ao to help.

Ryan expressed his helplessness about Howth’s actions against Ba-Ao. He talked to Howth many times, but Howth was always against Ba-Ao. Ryan couldn’t understand how the honest Ba-Ao could cause Howth to be annoyed at him. If it was because he took care of Ba-Ao when he was injured before, Ba-Ao has already avoided contact with him as much as possible, but Howth still targeted him. Howth’s behaviour made Ryan feel awkward when facing Ba-Ao. The main thing is that Ba-Ao’s behaviour of avoiding him whenever he saw him made him feel uncomfortable. Everyone are brothers in the tribe, so it’s not good at all if one have to hide whenever they saw each other.

Ryan felt that Ba-Ao is an honest and loyal person, and he(BA) has been tolerating Howth’s trouble-making. If it were someone with a temper, Ryan couldn’t imagine how many time they would have duelled by now. Ryan felt that the reason why Howth was so focused on troubling Ba-Ao is because he didn’t know Ba-Ao. He thought that if the two of them get along more, Howth may be able to see that it’s good to have a beastman brother like Ba-Ao. Hence, when Lin Mu decided to go up the mountain, Ryan pushed Ba-Ao and Howth out to take the task. Howth doesn’t want to disobey his brother’s intentions, and Ba-Ao is someone who can’t defy anyone, so they joined this team to go up the mountain.

After putting Qiuqiu in his back basket, Lin Mu thought to himself that Casso would be responsible to escort Qiuqiu, but unexpectedly, Casso was reluctant to follow him, and Qiuqiu angrily jumped into his back basket; unwilling to come out. Lin Mu looked at Casso, who had a stinky face, and Qiuqiu, who was obviously angry, came to a conclusion – These two are fighting again? But Casso didn’t come to coax Qiuqiu like he used to so Lin Mu was surprised. Lin Mu saw both acting annoyed and frustrated, and Casso lying down in front of the door not coming out, and he felt amused. Thinking that their anger will simmer down overnight, he took Qiuqiu up the mountain. As for Casso, well, Casso is not his pet, so he is definitely on Qiuqiu’s side.

Lin Mu and the gang carried their own basket on their back. Although the mountain road was muddy because of the rainy season, it did not affect their happiness. They walked all the way up and did not feel tired.

Howth and Ba-Ao followed behind and walked slowly.

Ba-Ao looked at the females walking happily in front of him. Thinking back, he used to protect the females from his tribe just like this before; happily watching them laughing with each other. He lost those, but right now it is quite good as he also has his own tribe. Although sometimes he would still feel sad whenever he recalled the past, he doesn’t feel hopeless about the future anymore. Look at the females and cubs in his tribe now, he feels that they have unlimited hope.

Howth saw Ba-Ao looking at Lin Mu with a silly smile, and got angry. He didn’t know why he disliked seeing Ba-Ao so much. Whenever he saw him(BA), he just felt angry.

“What are you looking at?! Don’t even think of having any chances with them,” Howth said in contempt.

“Ah?” Ba-Ao didn’t understand what Howth was saying.

Howth simply hated seeing Ba-Ao giving him a stupid look. He threw a contemptuous gaze at him; too lazy to bother with him.

Although Ba-Ao is not a smart person, he would stupid if he can’t see the obvious hatred in Howth’s eyes.

“Howth, why are you always targeting me?” Ba-Ao wanted to ask this question a long time ago. He couldn’t understand why, but after Lin Mu gave him some reminders, he felt like he understood, so he moved out of their room. But then Howth still targets him, which made him wonder.

Howth stopped and looked down at him with his arms crossed, “I’m targeting you, so what? I’m just feeling frustrated looking at you.”

For Ba-Ao, they are both in the same tribe now. If there is a contradiction, they should settle it according to beastman’s rules, although this contradiction only happened one-sidedly in Howth.\n“Howth, let’s duel.”

“Humph!” Howth felt that was funny and said, “Challenging me to a duel, you?”

Although Howth looked down on him and his beast form might not beat Howth, Ba-Ao still nodded gravely and replied, “En, according to our beastman’s rules, let’s duel. But we must be reconciled after the duel.”

“Say that after you beat me.”

“This…I will try to knock you down.” Ba-Ao thinks he can try.

Howth curled his lips. Want to knock him down? Dream on. He turned to walk forward to keep up with Lin Mu.

Feeling that he somehow has determined the solution to this matter, Ba-Ao happily went to keep up.

…

Back to Lin Mu’s side.

Along the way, the females managed to pick a lot of wild vegetables. Not sure if it was because of the rainy season, these vegetables are particularly well-grown. However, thinking that their back baskets have limited space, they tied up all of the vegetables they picked with rattan and hung on the branches by the road. They will return to pick these up on their way back later. Although they picked a lot of vegetables, they did not find anything new.

“Let’s take a break first, I’m so tired.” Sasha lightly hammered his leg.

Misha is also tired and wants to sit down.

Lin Mu is tired as well. He hadn’t been out for a long time but gotten tired quickly. Glancing up at the sun in the sky, he somehow felt that the noon came quickly. He checked where they are now, and realized that they are already halfway up the mountain, and this place is quite wide. He spread the animal skin he carried with him on the open ground. He knew that they wouldn’t go back at noon, so having a picnic like this is nice. The blanket was large, and the gang lay on it to have a break, resting their heads next to each other.

“We really should exercise our body more. Just this short trip alone left us exhausted and panting, it’s not good.”

Lin Mu has been thinking about how to train himself to be strong, and the most important thing is to raise his height. Although he said that he may not be able to beat Patrik, he still wanted to work hard. Who knows, maybe one day he gets lucky1? Apart from that, he still needs to grow some muscles. Look at this arm, pale and thin. How to fight with Patrik? Lin Mu make a decision to get up early every day and run to exercise.

Sasha: “Exercise…”\nPhil: “Alright. I was busy a few days ago, and it feels very tiring, but I can feel that my strength has become stronger, and my body is comfortable.”

Misha: “Exercise? How to exercise?”

Lin Mu sat up and said, “I haven’t thought about it yet, I’ll think about it later. For now, let’s think about what to eat.”

Sasha sat up quickly, “Hehe. Lin Mu, what do you have in mind?”

Lin Mu smiled at him, then walked towards Ba-Ao and Howth.

“Help me hunt some long eared beasts2 and colorful birds3.”

Howth turned to Ba-Ao and said, “Ba-Ao, you go.” They need someone to stay back and look after the females.

“Alright.” Ba-Ao turned and entered the forest.

Since all they need to do is wait right now, Lin Mu glanced at the side of the road; wanting to stroll around.

“I’ll take a look around here, I won’t go far.”

Howth nodded.

Lin Mu picked up a stick and randomly poked the grasses beside the road, thinking about the God Offering day.

“If God really will appear on God Offering Day, then I can make some fresh food for Him. But if He doesn’t know about our offerings, or come later than expected, then some certain food cannot be offered as they will go bad. So I have to make something that can be kept for a long time, provided that God will really come.”

Lin Mu poked the grass that was more than a meter high, while thinking about the recipe in his heart, then suddenly stopped because of the thing he saw.

“Sichuan pepper (花椒/huājiāo)?”\nOr some called it Prickly Ash?

\nThe tantalizing Beggar’s Chicken and fragrant barbecue got the group addicted to it. Even Qiuqiu, who doesn’t have the mood, eats its portion fiercely.

“Lin Mu, this is really delicious, and the taste is extraordinary. Is it because of the leaves you added?” Sasha asked with his mouth full of oil and was eating chicken legs.

Phil nodded in agreement.

Lin Mu ate the roasted rabbit meat, the delicious smell makes Lin Mu happy and also, the fact that those leaves can really be used as MSG. To be able to find new condiments always make Lin Mu.

After lunch, they continued to look around in the mountains. Lin Mu found some radishes, and they also picked a lot of mushrooms. Thought they have a great haul, Lin Mu still regretted that he did not find anything special to use for God Offering day.

For dinner, they made radish meat stew and boiled mushroom soup. The addition of Sichuan pepper and the MSG enhanced the taste of the dishes to become more delicious.

…

At night

Lin Mu sighed in Patrik’s arms.

“Although today’s mountain trip is quite rewarding, we only found vegetables. If only we can find some rice or wheat, it will be nice. With flour and rice, I can make some different foods. My head is going to burst from thinking about God Offering day, I don’t know what to do.”

Patrik tightened his arms around Lin Mu. “Don’t worry, just try your best.”

“I still hope that the beast god will receive our gifts. With His blessing, we can definitely live better.”

Patrik kissed Lin Mu’s forehead. “Even without the beast god’s blessing, our lives can still be good. So relax, Mu Mu. As long as we have the beast god in our heart, the beast god will know.” Patrik firmly believed this.

That being said, Lin Mu still longed for the beast god to choose their food that day. In this way, the people in their tribe will be more confident.

“I want to go to the mountain again tomorrow.” Lin Mu decided to go search again, maybe they will find some good things.

“Alright, I will accompany you.”