CHAPTER 35: THE RABBIT VILLAGE

It seemed the Beast God was listening to her because a few hours later the rain finally came to a stop. The trio quickly moved out, however they faced a new problem.

"Seems like we’re lost." Theo muttered in beast tongue. "The rain must’ve washed away all our scents."

His eyes scanned the giant trees around them, not sure where they should go. He should’ve made markers when he was chasing after Serena and Kiro instead of thinking to rely on scent alone.

He bet his uncle would give it to him for making such a rookie mistake. If they’d ever meet again.

"What do you propose we do then?" Serena asked, sitting on his back with Kiro in front of her. "We can’t keep wandering around this forest. That’s asking for trouble."

Theo silently agreed with her words. They were going to need food, water and shelter soon enough. Not to mention they could run into danger by traveling aimlessly like this.

"Let’s make a stop by some village." Theo answered, recalling something.

He remembered his uncle telling him that to the south there was some kind of herbivore village. It wouldn’t be as safe as a city, but it was better than sleeping in the forest. Besides, he was sure he could get directions from there.

And if he was lucky, he’d get a chance to send a message to his uncle from the village.

"Alright that works." Serena mused. "We can stop there for the night I guess."

Serena also felt a village was much safer than staying in this forest. And if it was a good one, perhaps she could stay there instead. No need to go to the Forest City if the village was good enough to live in.

After her only goal was to get out of that awful tribe. Where Kiro and her lived didn’t matter as long as it was safe for both of them.

With the agreement to head for the village and go from there, Theo walked back to the waterfall they stayed by using markers he had left. He planned to find the village using the river because it was an important resource.

And almost all villages lived close to some kind of river or lake.

They headed downstream, walking between the forest and river, not getting too close to either one for safety. It took them a few hours of walking for Theo to finally sense the village.

He made sure to make his presence known as they got closer to the village, not wanting to come across as an enemy. He didn’t need them to get turned away because they were worried he was trouble.

Soon enough, Theo was able to make out the village in the distance. There were multiple round mud huts with thatched roofs and a ragged wooden fence around the perimeter.

The scent of rabbits overwhelmed Theo’s noise, so it was easy to guess this was a Rabbit Clan village. They weren’t exactly a strong village, like most herbivore villages and tribes, but Theo figured this was better than the forest.

He let out a greeting growl to tell them he was coming and immediately he spotted a group of beastmen heading towards. Theo stopped in his tracks and crouched down.

Serena figured what he was doing and got off before helping Kiro get down. The cub held her hand as Theo shifted into his human form and stood besides her.

The beastmen from the village soon arrive with an elderly man walking in the center of the group. Around him the beastmen were much younger, probably around Theo’s age, and all carrying either clubs or spears.

They stopped a few meters in front of Serena and her group with the elderly man stepping forward a little. His brown eyes glanced over at Serena and Kiro before finally landing on Theo.

"Can I ask what you’re doing here?" The old beastman asked, his left brown rabbit ear twitching a little. "This is far from the Forest City."

"We were part of a caravan traveling to the Forest City actually." Theo explained. "Rootless beastmen attacked us and we got split from the group. I humbly ask for shelter as it’s not safe for a female and cub to stay in the forest."

"Rootless beastmen?!" One of the younger beastmen cried out, gripping his spear harder. "You didn’t bring them here, did you?! Damn p-"

"Enough!" The elderly beastman raised his hand to stop the outcry. He then turned his attention back to Theo. "It’s getting late, so you may stay in one of the empty huts for the night. We can decide more about this tomorrow."

"Thank you." Serena replied before Theo could say another. "If you require payment for this trouble, I’ll be sure to compensate."

While Serena didn’t have much in terms of money, she also didn’t believe in a free lunch. Even if it cost her, Serena would pay this debt. It would make her feel more at ease staying here.

The elderly beastman was taken aback by her words for a moment before he chuckled, "Don’t worry about that. It’s our duty to help females and cubs, so you don’t need to pay us."

Serena pursed her lips at his words. Theo noticed this and said, "I can go hunting and pay in meat. Allow us to do that much."

"Meat is useless to us, but we do need more furs." The elderly beastman sighed. "You can pay us in that if it’ll put you at ease."

Theo nodded his head in agreement. "That works... I should go hunting now before it gets too dark."

He turned to Serena and she murmured, "I’ll be fine here. You go ahead."

"We’ll take care of them, don’t worry." The elderly beastman stated. "I’ll show them the spare hut."

"Alright." Theo said. "I’ll be off then."

He glanced once more at Serena and Kiro before shifting into his beast form. Once he shifted, he ran into the forest, leaving Serena and Kiro alone with the rabbit beastmen.

When he was finally out of sight, Serena turned back to the beastmen and asked, "Where’s this hut?"