The Record of Unusual Creatures

Chapter 1284: Doggie In Search of Her Master

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

What was the alpha thinking?

In most circumstances, the alpha thought of nothing, even when she was accumulating a massive army. Lily’s behavior was as elusive as her race; she always caused a scene without even realizing it. Just like how surprised she was at seeing herself acquiring millions of followers in the Black Forest, she was astonished by how she was going to build a city.

It was as if while a husky heard her master coming home while it was tearing the sofa cushion apart; she quickly turned around and asked herself: what the heck am I doing? That was probably what was in her mind right now.

Of course, Lily was still much more intelligent than an ordinary husky—at least she knew how to pretend to be inscrutable. So when she noticed the strange expression on General Ulysses’ face, she nodded solemnly. “Abhumans are intelligent creatures. It is just that they live in the wilderness and evolve a little slower than human beings like you. When you humans can build a house, why can’t the abhumans?”

Ulysses was confused now. When he heard what Lily said, he did not refute but just gave a perfunctory reply.

Lily looked at the vast wilderness, where there were no more forces of Chaos, a layer of light floated around, forming a large piece of barrier shrouding a herd of beasts.

Each abhuman tribe had three to four heads carrying the ‘amulets of the alpha’s hair.’ They were tribal leaders, shamans, warriors, or prophets. These tribes were active on the border between the wilderness and the forest, expanding the territory of the Order wherever they went. Lily had unwittingly placed the entire wilderness under her protection by giving half of the hair on her tail to the beasts.

The Chaos had been driven into the Black Forest. Looking from Fort Raven, there was a layer of black smoke floating above the Black Forest. Since the last battle, this storm of Chaos had temporarily subsided. It was wounded and would not launch any new offensive anytime soon.

“The beasts need a place to stay. After leaving the forest, they have to find new ways to survive in new places.” Lily thought for a while and finally remembered the reason she decided to build the city. “You know the difference between the beast and the human army?”

“Please enlighten me.” Calaxus looked curiously.

“The beast is not an army; they are migrating. Every one of them is a soldier. They do not have a logistics system and a clear division of military and civilian like your kingdom. Of course, there is no base camp and fortress.” Lily said slowly. At the moment, she finally looked like a majestic alpha wolf. “I do not know if there are locusts in your world. It is a type of insects that fly over the sky and gobble up all the harvests. My Beast Tide is similar to that. Because there is no logistics, we fuel wars with wars. Millions of troops eat everything along the way. You would get what I mean if you could send someone to fly over the Black Forest. The migration route of the Beast Tide is as clear as day. The beasts have plowed a ditch, we have eaten everything—not even a single grass is left.”

Cold sweat gradually trickled down General Ulysses’ forehead. When he first saw the Beast Tide, he had vaguely guessed it. But when he heard the truth from an alpha, it felt more horrifying.

What he did not know was that the truth was far more exaggerated than what Lily had described.

There were more than a mere one or two races in the Beast Tide, which was a mixed army of all the abhumans from the Black Forest. Other than the natural carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores, there were also elemental creatures, shadow creatures, and undead. What did these things eat?

It was no exaggeration to say that the Beast Tide had dug a canyon, from the south to the north, out of the Black Forest. Wherever the army passed, they ate as thick as two and a half meters into the ground, let alone that there would be any grass left. Had the beasts traversed a few times more, they might even find oil.

Lily looked at General Ulysses. “You do not want us to keep this momentum to overrun your Fort Raven, do you?”

The Governor of the western front nodded with a stiffly face. “No doubt about it.”

“So I have to think of other ways to let them feed themselves and don’t encroach your human territory.” Lily pointed to the great wilderness. “The wilderness might not be enough, so it still needs the mountains and part of the forest in the south. We also need warehouses to store materials, which means that the construction of a city is necessary. Now there is a settlement at each end of the wilderness. These two points will be connected to become a big city eventually. Outside the city, I have already planned for hunting grounds and farms. But we will have to rely on hunting to provide food initially. Abhumans are not very good at building stuff and I have no idea how the design of the city that I have given them would turn out eventually. But there are some smart guys among them; there shouldn’t be a problem.”

General Ulysses blinked. “Incredible. Is this even possible? Feeding such a large population is not simple even for humans.”

“It might be difficult for humans, but it is effortless to the beasts.” Lily grinned. “The biggest difference between the abhumans and you humans is that the adult beasts can feed themselves, as long as there are enough hunting grounds. Every adult in the Beast Tide is a hunter and producer. As soon as they enter the Black Forest, food is not going to be a problem. The storm of Chaos had driven all the animals in the forest to the north; food is abundant on the edge of the forest. My tribes are carrying amulets so that they can forage in the forest freely. Do humans have this ability?”

Ulysses listened and was at awe. He had never read anything like this in his family’s book collections nor has he learned it in the nobility college. He muttered, “It does make sense. Would you stay in the wilderness then?”

“Me? I have another plan.” The alpha shook her head, out of Ulysses’ expectation. “The chiefs I have appointed will handle everything here. Meanwhile, I will set off to look for Mr. Landlord.”

While speaking, Lily’s face was filled with excitement. Indeed, she was happier than ever—she had a goal finally to accomplish in life.

“Looking for Mr. Landlord?” Ulysses found that he could not keep up with the alpha’s train of thought. “Do you mean you are abandoning your army just to find someone?”

“That is right,” Lily said and nodded as matter-of-factly. “The forming of the army was just an accident. Now that I have given them a direction and arranged things for them, I wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore. Think of it: do you want me to bring this army to look for someone in your territory? You are not going to accept that, are you?”

Ahh, such a considerate husky.

Ulysses seemed to think that what the alpha said made sense. But he could not shake one question off his head: there were a million beasts here! Anyone who controlled the Beast Tide would be as mighty as a king. But the alpha could not care less, as if the formation of this army was indeed an accident and that army and kingdom were only as ephemeral as passing clouds, and that nothing was more important than finding Mr. Landlord.

“Who is Mr. Landlord?” Calaxus, who was just as surprised as Ulysses, knew from the beginning that the alpha was looking for her landlord. But he did not expect the alpha could go so far as to give up her entire army. “Are you indebted to him?”

“He gave me shelter and food! But I do pay ￥300 for the room rental,” Lily said after thinking for a moment.

Calaxus and Ulysses were struck dumb.

“Is the alpha usually like this?” The Governor of the western front could not help but ask the high-ranking monk in a whisper.

The high-ranking monk’s face stiffened. “She has always been like this, having her own set of logic.”

“Is she suffering from some trauma?”

“It is hard to tell. But the alpha was alone in the wilderness and seemed like there had been an accident.”

Lily’s ears twitched. “I can hear you guys.”

“Ahem… ahem…”

There was a moment of awkwardness. Ulysses nodded to Lily and said, “Since Alpha has decided, I should say no more. I wish you will find your benefactor soon. But how are you going to find him? The Kingdom of Taros is a large place and it is not easy to find someone in a sea of people.”

“Where is the kingdom’s most populated place?”

“That should be White City.”

“Then I will go to White City. Where is White City?”

Ulysses thought for a moment and said, “Why not I send a team of knights to go with you. They can take you to White City. But now the airships of Fort Raven have been damaged during the battle; you can only go on foot, which I am afraid, would take you some time.”

“Nah, it doesn’t matter. I might bump into Mr. Landlord on the way.” Lily’s eyes brightened up. “But aren’t you facing manpower shortage here? Is it all right to arrange a team of escort for me?”

“I have originally planned to send them to White City anyway,” Duke Ulysses said with a smile. “The tide of Chaos has interfered with the magic communication network between the border and the Royal City. The battles in the past few days have destroyed the magic relay points. The arcanists would not be able to restore them for a while, so I have to send soldiers to bring a message to the king.”

“Oh, then that will be fine.” Lily nodded happily and turned to look at Calaxus. “Uncle, aren’t you leaving too? We can set out on the journey together and bring along the smoked meat. If we could meet up with Mr. Landlord, he might be able to find out the origin of this piece of meat.”

Calaxus had no idea why the alpha was confident that she would find her landlord. But the monk had no reason to decline the invitation. “Why not? I will go pack up now.”

While the alpha and the high-ranking monk were planning their trip to White City, in the hinterland of the kingdom, a North Stars had kicked up a cloud of dust as it hustled through the Verdant Flats toward the south.