Chapter 4
In my previous life, Wolf Cloud City had collapsed before I ever visited it, seemingly merged with another tribal power.
This time, the envoy’s detailed account gave me a rough idea of the situation.
Wolf Cloud City hadn’t always been called that. It was originally built by both the Wolf Tribe and the Fox Tribe, and back then, it was incredibly prosperous.
Later, the Wolf Tribe grew powerful, directly expelling the Fox Tribe from the city to become the sole dominant power, then changed its name.
The current City Lord, Drogo, was absurd and unreasonable.
Not only did he hoard rare female beastkin, but he also loved war, turning the whole city into a chaotic mess and causing a significant loss of beastkin population.
“Little Goddess, these rabbits have been caught by our warriors for you, and already cooked. Please, enjoy.”
Finn respectfully offered me a bowl of rabbit stew in an old wooden bowl.
Through my “brainwashing” and a few modern tricks, I had been hailed by the entire group as a goddess sent by their Mother Goddess Raynes.
But I looked at the crude, indescribably ugly wooden bowl and couldn’t help but show my disdain.
Sigh, change was absolutely necessary.
“Little Goddess, this is the best food we can offer you! Once you return to Wolf Cloud City, I will definitely send people to bring you the finest, most exquisite food!”
Seeing my frown, Finn swore to the heavens and earth.
I stood up. “Who is in charge of cooking?”
A somewhat scrawny guard stood up.
I extended my hand, and instantly, a pile of modern seasonings appeared in my palm.
Seeing me materialize these things out of thin air, all the beastkin looked on in shock and awe.
“I’ll teach you how to use these.” I told the scrawny guard. In the beastmen world, the only seasoning was salt, but it was unrefined salt blocks that tasted bad, nowhere near as fine as modern salt.
“Is this… salt? It’s so fine!” A beastman couldn’t help but exclaim.
Seeing wood ear mushrooms on a nearby tree, my eyes lit up, and I picked quite a few.
“Goddess, what are you doing with those? Only frail rabbit-kin and sheep-kin eat those.” Finn mumbled.
I had the guard wash them clean and stew them with the rabbit meat, adding plenty of seasonings. Soon, a unique aroma filled the air.
All the beastkin sniffed desperately, constantly swallowing their saliva.
In no time, a fresh, rich pot of wood ear rabbit stew was ready.
“This is a blessing from the Goddess!”
Finn was the first to kneel, and a large group followed, kneeling in a rush.
I was just chuckling to myself when, suddenly, a wooden grapple flew down from a nearby tree, hooked the stone pot, and the entire pot of rabbit stew was lifted away as if by magic.
I was startled. “Quick, catch them!”
The guards immediately transformed into their wolf forms and sprinted into the dense forest.
I saw two fiery-red figures quickly disappear from my sight within the trees.
But soon, the guards returned, apprehending two fox-kin beastmen, along with the stone pot and the confiscated vine-wood grapple.
The two fox-kin beastmen had the alluring beauty unique to their kind, a stunning, almost ethereal beauty that transcended gender.
One had a mole near his eye, the other didn’t. Their silver hair was topped with two beautiful fiery-red ears.
Right now, both of them glared at us, looking annoyed and wary.
“Inferior mixed-blood fox-kin, daring to use such tricks to steal the food the Goddess prepared for us! Break their hands and legs and banish them!”
Finn declared imperiously, but I stopped him.
“Wait.”
I held up the vine-wood grapple to the two fox-kin beastmen.
It was a hook with a mechanism, capable of retracting flexibly, but when extended, it had an extremely strong grip.
I’d seen it already; even a heavy stone pot was no match for it. In my past life and this one, it was hard to find such a strong, expertly crafted hook on the beastkin continent.
My heart swelled with excitement. If they had made this hook themselves, possessing such incredible craftsmanship, how wonderful it would be if they could join my ranks and help me implement new crafting methods!
“Did you make this?”
Both fox-kin beastmen kept their mouths shut, raising an eyebrow at me without speaking. Finn tried to intimidate them, but I stopped him.
“I mean nothing else. I’m recruiting new subordinates.
Don’t worry, if you become my subordinates, not only will you have today’s food, but anything else I can provide, I will.”
The fox-kin beastman with the mole near his eye asked, “What do you want to do?”
“Kill City Lord Drogo, and build my own, more advanced empire. What do you say? Care to take a gamble?”
I didn’t hide my intentions, my power was evident.
Hearing my words, their faces showed shock, as if they hadn’t expected me to have such resolve.
The surrounding wolf-kin guards, however, were calm, having already been brought under my command.
“Alright. Wolf Cloud City has a part of our fox tribe too. I’m in.” The fox-kin beastman with the mole said. The other one nodded slightly.
After getting to know them, I learned that these two fox-kin beastmen had been expelled from their own tribe.
They were twins, the elder brother named Lian, and the younger Nolan.
Because they were a mixed bloodline of fire fox and silver fox, they were driven out of their tribe.
They had survived in the dense forest by relying on their ingenious mechanical skills.
This time, Nolan had craved the wood ear rabbit stew, which led them to take such a risk among the wolf-kin.
Hearing it was because of their bloodline, I looked at the two beastkin curiously.
Their bodies didn’t quite fit the beastkin continent’s ideal of robust strength, but their figures were slender, with lean muscle subtly showing beneath their fur clothes, undeniably captivating.
The twins, one steady and the other lively, had silver hair and silver eyes, yet fiery red ears, making them absolutely captivating.
I quietly swallowed. No wonder they were fox-kin.
I had the beastkin divide the wood ear rabbit stew. For a moment, all I heard were the happy slurping sounds, until even the bottoms of the bowls were licked clean.
“Brother, just for this skill, staying here is totally worth it!” Nolan’s silver fox eyes widened, adding to his allure, still wanting more.
Lian, comparatively, was more mature. At Nolan’s words, he merely smiled subtly, looking at me, the mole near his eye stood out vividly.
No way, they’re too good-looking! Seriously, in our world, they’d be superstars!
Even without any romantic intentions towards them, my heart couldn’t stop pounding. This was a raw, visceral impact of facing extreme beauty.
“Done eating? I have something for you.” I pulled out books on basic crafts and technology from the system space.
Seeing me materialize objects out of thin air, Lian and Nolan’s faces showed shock, while the other wolf-kin beastmen looked on with pride and reverence.
“Both of you, study this thoroughly. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me. I’ll need you to produce the things shown in this book.”
The book used picture-based lessons, simple and straightforward.
Lian took the book with a puzzled expression, but soon exclaimed in surprise, “What is this? It’s so light, and it has pictures!”
In the beastmen continent, records were kept on stone carvings or wooden boards; paper didn’t exist yet.
I smiled faintly, with an air of profound mystery. “This is called a book. Just follow me, and I can give you even better things than this.”
Along the way, relying on the complete set of craft books, I brought Lian and Nolan under my wing.
They were smart and eager to learn, quickly becoming my two greatest aids.