Chapter 10

“What bad luck. Who would have thought there wouldn’t be a single animal skin in that monster’s house.”

The short man with a big beard waved away the insects buzzing around his ears, complaining non-stop, “Now we’re still five skins short, and we didn’t even meet the quota last season…”

Although Azulan forgave them last time, they will surely face the deserved punishment if they fail to meet the target again.

“Where have all the beasts in this area gone recently? It feels like we’ve only seen some birds and monkeys,” the tall, skinny man with red hair followed behind the bearded man, stepping unevenly. Although they had taken the prey trapped in Hamoyin’s snare yesterday, it was just a young brown pig, and its skin was useless.

“If this continues, we won’t even have basic food secured.” The bearded man leaned against the tree trunk and sighed, “No choice. After patrolling here and not seeing any prey, we’ll have to go to the monster’s area again.”

“We just searched his place yesterday. If we go again today, won’t it be…” The red-haired man hesitated, being a bit more cautious than his reckless brother.

“Well, if you’re willing to accept the leader’s punishment, we won’t go to the monster’s area today.”

“I don’t want to be punished, but…”

“No buts, either you come with me or I go alone.”

The bearded man continued walking deeper into the forest with a harsh tone, but after a few steps, he didn’t hear his brother’s response. Impatiently, he turned around, “What are you hesita…”

“…ting about…”

The sight that met his eyes made the bearded man’s tongue stiffen. His brother lay on the mossy, leaf-covered ground, convulsing silently, with blood gushing from his neck.

The bearded man looked up and saw the golden pupils staring at him, a gaze filled with ominous and intense hatred.

“You did…” But before he could roar in anger, the bearded man felt a sharp pain in his throat, mixed with an overwhelming sense of paralysis.

Hamoyin lowered his hand after throwing the bone knife, watching the bearded man fall to the ground with a thud, convulsing just like his brother after being struck by the bone knife. It didn’t take long for both of them to die, though it was unclear whether it was from poisoning or blood loss.

“…” After they stopped convulsing, Hamoyin pulled out a rather blunt knife from his waist. He squatted beside the bearded man’s corpse and crudely cut open the abdomen, pulling out the intestines and scattering them around. Then, he used the blunt knife to scrape the face and exposed skin of the corpse continuously.

After dealing with the bearded man’s body, he moved to the red-haired man’s corpse. Similarly, he first cut open the abdomen to create the appearance of a beast attack. However, he also chopped off one of the red-haired man’s legs and hung it on a nearby tree.

That should do it. Hamoyin put away the knife, wiped the blood off his face, and stood up. The scent of blood would soon attract wild animals, and eventually, only bones would remain. The fake beast bite marks were just a precaution.

Hamoyin cleaned the small bits of flesh and blood off his arms with leaves and quickly left the southern forest.

…

Today was a bit strange.

Before noon, Hamoyin returned home with several pieces of already processed meat. Out of curiosity, Nagu casually asked why he had been coming back so early these past few days.

The answer she got was, “Because I should come back, so I came back.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, but Nagu wasn’t deterred by Hamoyin’s seemingly perfunctory responses.

“So, you’ll be coming back this early for the next few days?”

“Yes.”

“Is it because the rainy season is coming, so you don’t need to go out?”

“The rainy season is still far off.”

“I see…”

Half-leaning on the bed, Nagu continued to chat with Hamoyin while weaving a bird feather net, “What kind of meat did you bring back?”

“Bird meat.”

“Oh…” Although conversations were still difficult, Nagu was quite satisfied with Hamoyin’s “yes,” “oh,” and “okay” responses over the past few days. At least he was responding!

“By the way, did you find those two guys who wanted to take your fur?” Nagu recalled yesterday’s events, still feeling a bit scared. “Will they come back?”

“They won’t come back.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good…” Nagu felt reassured by Hamoyin’s answer, thinking he had negotiated with them in the tribe. She didn’t know that he had actually gone out this morning and scattered their intestines. They definitely won’t come back.

“Speaking of which, why does everyone in Azuran’s tribe wear peacock green accessories? When I was locked in the cage, the patrolling people were also wearing them.” Nagu quickly switched to another topic she was curious about. To talk to Hamoyin, she had to do this. If she was lucky or the topic interested him, he would respond a bit more.

“It’s a symbol of the Mother Goddess, so they wear it.” Hamoyin, sitting by the fire pit and meticulously processing meat, didn’t look back. He wanted to make more jerky to store these days.

A god, a symbol. It seemed this place was more advanced than Nagu had imagined. After solving basic food and shelter issues, they had started creating imaginary deities and expressing their faith through symbolic accessories. “So, besides the people in Azuran’s tribe, do outsiders also wear it?”

Considering Nagu had forgotten her past, Hamoyin explained a bit more, “Only Azuran’s tribe wears peacock green because they believe the Mother Goddess Tuva nurtured rain and earth from this rare color.”

So, different tribes have different beliefs and, therefore, different symbols. Nagu quickly understood. She also noticed that Hamoyin didn’t include himself when mentioning the Azuran tribe.

“Then why do you wear that accessory?” Nagu thought Hamoyin might not consider himself part of the Azuran tribe, which made sense since Hamoyin wasn’t human.

“Because I live in his territory.”

“So, do you also believe in that Mother Goddess?”

Hamoyin shook his head, “I have no faith.”

Nagu turned her head to look at Hamoyin’s back with mixed feelings. His cold and rigid demeanor seemed a bit too avant-garde: “I see, that’s… that’s good. So, wearing that is just for show?”

“Yes.”

“Oh… I thought there was some other meaning to it.” Putting down the three rows of bird feathers she had woven, Nagu stretched a little. The relaxation made her mind slow down for a moment, “Because your scales are also that color.”

“…”

“…”

Oh no, Nagu’s eyes went blank, and her stretching motion froze like a marble statue.

I’m an idiot.