Living with the Wolfkin

After a few hours of walking, which left Tenko completely exhausted and on the verge of collapse, the group had finally returned to their village. While the bandit did ransack the place pretty badly, none of the Wolfkin seemed to mind, as they immediately sent to work repairing any damages dealt and setting up for dinner.

"How can *hah* you people *hah* walk for so long!?" Panted out Tenko, collapsing by a pile of leaf, which felt like there was something squishy underneath.

Gazing at the Wolfkin however, none of them said a word, instead looking at him in disgust.

"I know, I know, you guys don't like me because I'm a 'disgusting human' and would probably want me out of your village and sight." Said Tenko, remembering what had just transpired only hours ago, "But I assure you, I'm only gonna stay until I recover my strength then I'll scram."

No response. It wasn't until an old Wolfkin with silver hair and a long running beard came out of one of the wood tipits that were intact that anyone spoke a word.

"Elder Garo! You're okay!" Exclaimed Celine, running up to him.

"Bah, my old bones aren't worth squat to those pesky humans anyways, so they just left me." Replied the old man in a trembly voice, "Speaking of which, why is there a human here and why is he lying in our manure pit?"

Tenko's eyes bulged up upon hearing those words, as he immediately started to run around, rubbing himself on the cleanest house he can find.

"Gross gross gross gross gross!!!" He cried out.

Just then, a massive cow hand came out of the house, which turned out to be their stable, as it gave him a big wet lick from the neck up, sending uncomfortable shivers down his spine.

"Grandpa, met... *sigh* Tenko." Introduced Rumi, hiding her face in embarrassment.

"Is he... okay?" Asked the elder.

"Honestly, no clue." Replied Rumi, as the boy walked up to them after shaking off the creeps he got from their cow.

"Um, hello there, my name is Tenko Ritchi." Said Tenko in a polite tone, reaching out for a handshake.

"Pleasure to be of aquaitance, Tenko." Replied the elder, shaking his hand, "So, what brings a human to our fine village?"

"Well, I was sent here from another world, believe it or not, by some idiot Goddess who actually killed me by accident, and, well, now I have to save it." Replied Tenko, telling the truth as he knew how bad a liar he was.

However, the elder simply looked at him like he had two heads, confused by the series of words he just heard. Just then, Rumi bent over to his ear.

"His brain was messed up by a failed teleportation spell." Explained Rumi, still sticking to her personal theory.

"Ah, I see." Replied the Elder.

"I heard that." Said Tenko.

The two took a quick look at him, then went back to whispering.

"So what should we do with him, Elder?" Asked Rumi.

"Well, if his brain really is as messed up as his fanatical story suggests, he won't last a second outside this village. I guess we could let him stick a around for a bit." Replied the Elder, "or just kill him and use him as bait."

"Do you guys just suck at whispering!?" Exclaimed Tenko, hearing every last word of what they said.

"Well, if he's gonna stay, he better make himself useful." Said Rumi, then turning to face Tenko, "Our village has no place for freeloaders, after all."

"Eep!" Thought Tenko.

"Everyone! Dinner's ready!" Exclaimed Celine, cutting off the two's discussion.

The Elder and Rumi turned around to Celine, before turning back to each other.

"Let's discuss this after our meal." Said the Elder.

"Alright." Replied Rumi.

As the three made it to the massive bondfire, Tenko saw a massive hog-like creature being spitroasted on an open flame. His stomach grumbling with hunger, he quickly made his way to the crowd gathered around the fire, hoping to get a bite.

However, as he approached the crowd of Wolfkin, they all turned their heads to him, looking at him like he was an exotic animal.

"So that's a human?" Asked one of the younger Wolfkin with a voice filled with a child's curiousity.

"Mom told me that they were dangerous." Said another one, "Yet he doesn't look so tough. No fangs, no claws, no predatory eyes."

"Careful, I heard that they can cast very powerful magic." Warned the oldest one of the group of kids.

As more and more pairs of eyes were glued to him, Tenko felt an uncomfortable sense of seclusion, as he awkwardly took his plate of meat and sat down next to a rock covered in animal fur that served as cushioning.

"Don't mind them." Said Rumi, sitting down next to him, "Most people here have never gone beyond these woods, much less seen a human."

"I really don't mind." Lied Tenko, "By the way, thank you for letting me stay."

"It is I who should be thanking you." Replied Rumi, "Who knows what would have become of us if you didn't intervene against those bandits."

"Who were they?" Asked Tenko, "Why would they kidnap so many of you?"

"Bad people probably." Answered Rumi, "Slaver traders, auctioners, eccentric rich folk, and oddly enough always humans."

Looking over to Celine, who was sitting right across from him, Tenko realized that she had been turning her head away, as if intenionally avoiding looking at him.

"I guess people here must really hate my kind." Said Tenko in a guilty tone.

"Only a few." Replied Rumi, taking a bite of her grub at the same time, "I, for one, find them... fascinating."

"Fascinating?" Asked Tenko, "How so?"

"Have you ever been to [Duvain]?" Asked Rumi.

"Not really, no. Like I said before I came from... well, some teleportation spell I was working on completely messed up my brain." Replied Tenko, giving up on trying to convince the wolf girl that he was from another world.

"Well, [Duvain]'s the capital of the Kiru Kingdom, who's border's just barely miss these woods." Explained Rumi in an increasingly excited tone, "A handful of us would usually go there 3 times a year to do trading."

"Sounds like you're rather fond of the place." Commented Tenko.

"You have no idea!" Exclaimed Rumi, "No matter how many times I go there, I never get bored! The buldings are massive and so colorful! Flowers are perched on the windowsills of almost every house, the busy streets are filled with people of all species and the marketplace sells all sorts of colorful trinkets of all variety."

Pulling out a small satchel from her hip pouch, she opened it, revealing a bag full of gold coins.

"There's this one trinket I've always wanted, sold by a dwarven merchant, a diamond pendant that's so beautiful it entrances me every time I see it." Exclaimed Rumi, "I've been saving up for it for almost 5 years now."

Tenko smiled, nearly blushing at how excited this wolf girl who, mere moments ago, just stabbed a guy to death with a stoic, unflinching face was.

"I hope you've saved up enough to buy it on your next trip." Said Tenko, wishing that he could relate to such a thing, one of the many things he wish he could have experienced in his previous life.

"Hey hey hey! Looks like someone's getting chummy with the new guy." A voice cut in, breaking the mood.

Looking up, Tenko saw a male Wolfkin, about half a feet taller than he was with a sassy smirk drawn on his face.

"Seth, not now." Rumi groaned with an annoyed tone.

"Come on now, sis! You never talk to any of us this way." Said Seth, squatting down next to the two of them, "What gives?"

"Stop acting like you ever listen to what I say." Rumi replied, "You guys use my stories about my trips to Duvain as a way to fall asleep quicker!"

"Well, not all of us can sit through a full hour presentation on human society." Seth replied in a taunting tone, "I mean, don't you think it was about time you let it go? Humans hate us, accept it."

"Why you-" Rumi grunted in an angered tone, running up to him.

"Hey! Cut it out you two!" Exclaimed Celine, running between the two of them, seperating them.

Rumi slapped Celine's hand aside, her mood ruined as her face reverted back to the cold, stone faced expression she usually has.

"I'm going to sleep." She said, storming off.

"Rumi, wait!" Tenko tried to follow, but was stopped by Seth.

"Leave her." He ordered, "She'll come around by morning."

Tenko then turned to Seth with an angered look.

"how could you say that to her?!" Exclaimed Tenko.

"Listen, don't take it too personally." Said Seth, "It may not look like it, but we truly do love Rumi. It's just that... well... we can't really understand her love for human culture. That love she has has made her more distant from us."

Rubbing the back of his head, he looked over at Rumi, sound asleep already.

"I guess some of us are just afraid of growing too distant from her." He said, before turning to him, "Tenko, right? You're probably the only person here who could understand her interests, so chances are that she might stay close to you. Try to keep her close, okay?"

"Alright." Replied Tenko.

As Seth walked pass him to his tent, only him and Celine were left.

"Celine, right?" Asked Tenko awkwardly, trying to make conversation.

"I still don't fully trust you." She replied, before also walking off.

Looking around, it looked as though dinner was starting to wrap up. However, as everyone was leaving, a question came to mind.

"Where am I sleeping?" Asked Tenko.

...

The sun rose, as the sound of birds announced the start of morning. As the group woke up, They found Tenko, asleep by the extinguished fireplace.

"Wake up sleepyhead! We got work to do!" Exclaimed Celine, shaking him awake.

"Awawawha?" Blubbered Tenko, still groggy.

"Come on now, you gotta make yourself useful or we're tossing you out!" said Celine in a singsong tone.

"Guah! I'm up, I'm up, just let me wash myself first." Said Tenko, getting up, before getting grabbed by the collar of his dirty shirt.

"You'll get to wash yourself after you're done your chores, otherwise, it'll be a waste of time." Said Celine.

Meanwhile, as small speck of light flew into the village walls, watching as Tenko was getting pushed around by the Wolfkin.

"Look at that poor guy." Said the voice, "He probably feels so useless, not being able to do anything. Oh, what he'd give for a way to gain respect faster, oh what he'd give."

The small speck of light kept watching, as the boy failed to repair a fence, as the whole thing collapsed onto him, as some of the nearby Wolfkin laughed.

"If only he knew that, with a mere prayer, he'd receive the 'Mastery of all' cheat and sweep these Wolfkin off their feet with his superior knowledge of agriculture..."

...

...

"Argh!! Why won't he break!?!?" The speck yelled out in a whinny voice, as it was revealed to be Gaia once more, only this time in the body of a Light Pixie, "All he has to do is call out my name, no, merely thinking about wanting a cheat will be enough! But no! Why is he just accepting this!?!?"

Meanwhile, Rumi kneeled down to Tenko, grabbing the rope that he failed to tie.

"Here Tenko, Let me show you this one more time, you take the two ends, twist once, turn the left end over the right..." She explained for the fourth time, as Tenko attentively listened to every last word of it.

"Uh huh, yes, okay." Tenko briefly answered, his eyes hungry for knowledge.

While Gaia might see him as miserable, this wa everything Tenko ever wanted, to fail over and over again so that his success could feel so much sweeter.

"Okay, I think I got it this time." Said Tenko.

The fence collapsed on him two minutes later.

"Or not."

"Right Tenko! I said right! Then pull to tighten!" Exclaimed Rumi.

However, even after half an hour of trying, Tenko just couldn't figure out how to properly tie the knot and fix the fence.

"Well, if fence repair isn't your job, I guess we can assign a simpler task for you." Said Seth.

"Wait, no, I can do this, just give me another ten minutes!" Said Tenko.

"I could finish this entire enclosure in that amount of time." Said Seth, "Come with me, you'll be working on our crops."

"Crops? You people also do agriculture?" Asked Tenko.

"Not much, mostly to feed our cattle and rides and selling to the capital." Replied Seth, "You should at the very least know how to plow the field, right?"

"Of course I do!" Said Tenko.

"Well, technically I know how the rake leaves, that's close enough right?" He then thought.

As Tenko saw the small field of crops, he immediately got to work, only to be stopped by Seth yet again.

"No no no! You're doing it all wrong, gosh do I have to teach you everything!?" Grunted Seth in a frustrated tone.

However, as the wolf man begun instructing him on how to hold a hoe properly, Gaia flew in with a black ball in hand.

"Fine, if you don't want to accept the cheats, I'll just make you use them without knowing." Said Gaia, "This [Miracle Fertilizer] can turn a barren wasteland into a fertile paradise! even a single blade of grass grown from this fertilizer can triple a user's magic power! Once I plant this in the ground, the veggies grown by Tenko will create the ultimate warriors that can easily crush the demon king!"

"Hey see? You're getting the hang of it!" Said Seth in the meantime, as Tenko was actually starting to get the hang of it.

"Well lookie here, someone's found something they're capable of doing." Said Celine.

"You're doing great Tenko!" Called out Rumi.

Meanwhile, Tenko, proud of himself for figuring things out all on his own, proceeded to quickly work through the crops.

"Alright, now, all I have to do is time it so that it would look like the plants growing are his doing." Said Gaia to herself.

Just then, she felt a presence behind her, as her turned around. As it turned out, she landed right on the fence by the stable, and now had a cow eyeing her down.

"Eh?"

Without warning, the cow ate her and the [Miracle Fertilizer] in one gulp, thoughougly chewing her to bits. Just then, the fertilizer started to quick in.

All of a sudden, a loud crash was heard from the stable, as Rumi, Celine, Seth and Tenko ran in to check out what was going on.

"One of our cows has gone berserk!" Exclaimed some of the Wolfkin.

"We can't keep him under control!" Exclaimed another, as the two get flung away by the raging cow, who was turning bright red.

"What's going on with that cow!?" Asked Celine.

"Maybe it's a disease! We have to put it down." Said Rumi, grabbing her bow and arrow and running in.

"Tenko, stay here." Ordered Seth, running in to help Rumi.

As the two if them charged at the mad bull, the beast rushed forward at blinding speeds, knocking them both aside as it smashed through the village walls.

"Everyone, get down!" Exclaimed Seth, as panicked Wolfkin ran about.

Just then, from the sky descended Rumi, stabbing into the cow's back with her daggers. This made the cow even more pissed than it already was, as it began to thrash about, trying to shake her off.

Just then, Seth ran in, slicing the cow's front leg with his hunting knife, which get stuch halfway into the flesh.

"This cow's hide is so much thicker than I remembered." Said Seth, "Watch out!"

However, it was him ironically that didn't watch out, as the cow swung into him with his weight, sending him flying through one of the wooden tipies of the village. Just then, Celine came in with a stone hammer, smashing it into the cow's skull.

It shattered. Not the cow, but the hammer, as the cow also sent Celine flying with a headbutt, though luckily not managing to stab her with its horns.

Rumi, not wanting to see anyone else get hurt, took out one of the dagger imbedded into the cow, stabbing it into the neck this time. This caused the cow to go berserk, as it begun crashing into drying racks, tents, tipis, destroying everything on its path.

In order to prevent anymore destruction, Rumi twisted the dagger, as she tried to control where the mad cow was going. While the change was slight, it was enough for her to run the cow outside the walls once more and through three large trees, become slamming him into a large boulder.

While the cow collapsed for a bit, allowing Rumi to catch her breath as she dismounted the cow, the beast soon got back up, more angry than ever, as it tried once again to attack her. As her short victory was interrupted become anyone could even cheer, Celine, Seth and other hunters ran in to assist her

Tenko, meanwhile, ran to the fence area, deducing that him not fixing the fence was a contributing factor to the cow's escape.

"Oh god, what do I do what do I do!?" Thought Tenko, as he saw Rumi and Seth as well as all the other hunters trying to pin the cow down but to no avail.

Looking at the rope on the floor however, an idea came to mind, an idea based on an old cowboy movie he used to watch. However, to accomplish this, he needed to know how to tie the knot.

However, the thought of losing these people came to mind. He wasn't gonna have that, he was going to pull through and stop this made cow, no matter the cost. He grabbed a strong piece of rope and got to work.

"Remember! Remember what Rumi said." Tenko thought to himself, grabbing both ends of the rope, "Left end over the right, twist, right under the left."

The sound of arrows swooshing through the air was heard, as several of them met their target. The cow, however, simply powered through them, knocking over all the hunters.

"...Pull on the right, then put it into the ring, tighten the ends..."

Rumi climbed up the tallest tree she could find, leaping down at it to plant a dagger deep into the cow's back. Angered, the cow flung her off, before charging at her once more.

"...Left under right and then over, make another loop, then place both fingers in to expand... Got it!!" Exclaimed Tenko.

As Rumi struggled to get up, she came face to face with the cow, ready to charge her.

"Damn it, this can't be how it ends!" She thought, as the cow prepared for another charge, "This can't!"

However, right as the cow charged, a rope flew in, wrapping around the cows neck. Turning to her right, her eyes widened.

"Tenko!!" She exclaimed.

As the cow turned to Tenko, the teen looked at him with confidence.

"What are you waiting for? Come get me already!" Said Tenko.

"Tenko are you out of your mind!? Run!" Exclaimed Rumi.

However, Tenko didn't even flinch, as the cow begun to charge at him, as if he was confident that he wasn't in danger.

"Tenko?"

Just then, before the cow could make it too him, it felt the rope around its neck tighten, as it's charge was stopped to a halt, it looked back to find that the rope wrapped around his neck was tied to the trunk of a thick tree.

"It's no use, the more you pull on it, the tigher it gets." Said Tenko, "Usually, Wolfkin would use this knot to tie their fences."

"Tenko..." Said Rumi, "You figured it out..."

"But back where I'm at, we have a name for this knot." Said Tenko, "We call it, the 'lasso knot'."

The cow, still trying to charge at Tenko only managed to tighen the rope around it's neck more, as air was slowly being cut out of it's system, it started to choke. As it begun to thrash around once more, wailing in pain, Tenko approached it.

"I'm sorry about this." Whispered Tenko.

Just then, Tenko walked up to it, untying the rope around it's neck. The cow, having mostly calmed down, looked at him.

"Don't hurt anyone anymore, alright?" He whispered.

The cow, having completely calmed down from his frenzy, licked him again, covering his face in slobber.

"Alright, alright, reeeeal funny dude." Tenko laughed, petting it's head, "Now, go, back in your pen."

As the cow let out a defeated growl, it made its way back into the pen, which Tenko then proceeded to close. Looking back however, he saw the rest of the Wolfkin, looking at him, jaws agape. Just then, cheers broke up the silence, as they all came in to thank and congratulate him.

"Wooooo! Tenko! You were amazing!!!" Cheered some of the Wolfkin.

As Tenko made his way through all the cheers and hugs he was getting, he found himself face to face with Rumi, Celine and Seth.

"Uh, hey, gave you guys quite a scare, didn't I?" Asked Tenko.

Just then, Rumi ran in, hugging him.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said.

Looking at everyone else, Seth wrapped his arm around him.

"Yeah, okay, I admit, that was pretty cool." Said Seth.

"I never though of using the 'Fencer Knot' in such a way." Said Celine, "Tenko, you're not half bad."

Turning around, Tenko looked at the cow in its enclosure.

"So, what do we do about the cow?" Asked Tenko.

"Kill it, eat it." Replied Rumi, "If it can cause us so much trouble mad, then it's best not to keep it alive."

However, the cow seemed to understand her, as it cried out a panicked whimper, smashing through the stable wall and running off, disappearing into the woods.

"You guys really suck at whispering." Said Tenko.

"Oh great, another thing we have to repair." Said Seth.

"Guys, come check this out." Said Celine, walking up to the pent.

As the group approached the pent, they saw that the mad cow had went before it escaped. However, the dung it left behind had glowing specks in it and the grass around it was growing rapidly.

"I've never seen plants grow at such speeds." Said Celine, "You think the manure is causing it?"

"Well we do use them for fertilizer." Replied Seth, "But I don't think any of our fertilizer can compare to this!"

"You know what this means right?" Asked Rumi.

"W-What?" Asked Tenko.

"Humans value agriculture far more than us! If we sell this to them, they would pay top dollar for it for sure!" Exclaimed Rumi.

"And if they do..." Said Tenko.

"Then I'd finally make enough money to buy that trinket!" Exclaimed Rumi, bursting with joy before turning to the other two, "Seth, Celine, pack your stuff! We're paying Duvain a visit!"