9 Two tiger cubs.

Leon and Lufti advanced through the dense forest, avoiding plants, trees and different traps planted by animals. They had one objective in mind, make it to the caves where the whistle sound was heard. In normal circunstamces, they'd slow down their pace but they were sure that Leroux was in problem. They were not worried, the whistle wasn't the last resource and it didn't mean he was in danger. Instead, it meant he needed assistance and that a problem had appeared.

It didn't take them long to make it to the cave. Once there, they saw Leroux with 2 tiger cubs on his hands. His body was bloody but he didn't have any injury. He saw Lufti and Leon appear and a look of guilt surfaced on his eyes. Leon and Lufti understood what had happened.

"I'm sorry, a pack of blue wolves attacked and I couldn't defend her from all of them. Eventually, they injured her and killed her but she died protecting her cubs. I am really sorry I couldn't save them Lufti", Leroux looked down as the cubs licked his face.

"Okay, okay. We know it wasn't your fault. I'll go inside the cave and investigate what happened. I'll probably get fur, meat, cores. They were blue wolves so some should still have their water gland intact". said Lufti as he walked inside the cave.

"Leroux, go with him and bring the tiger's corpse outside. We will bury it and raise the cubs as ours. Give them to me" as Leon approached Leroux, he took the cubs and played with them a tiny bit. He inspected them, and the blood was probably from Leroux body, not from their own little bodies. They were still small but could eat meat by themselves. They would be a really nice addition to the team and despite them being young, if they wanted they could still hunt by themselves as long as they didn't fall prey to a bigger and stronger animal. Sadly, they lost their mother and that would have lowered the chance to become adults. Now it was up to the Kriger siblings to take care of them, train them and make them grow into 2 beautiful tigers. Leon was expecting to gift one to Leroux and one to Lufti, for safety measures in the future but after they came back from the cave, the tigers didn't want to part ways with Leon. Leroux tried to lure them with food but they didn't leave Leon's side. Lufti did the same and carried on of them but as soon as he walked a bit far away from Leon the young cub started to resist till it broke free and walked back to Leon. Animals can be trained, humans can be trained but feelings can not. For some reason, these young cubs were attached to Leon despite the short time they were together.

Because of the cubs, they took their time to come back to the camp in fron of the gate, and by the time they arrived the gate was open and a group of armed people were inspecting the camp. The guards were trying to stop them from taking whatever they wanted but once they saw Leon shake his head, they went back to their position.

"Friends, this is our lowly camp. If there is anything you like about it you can stay for a meal or a drink. If you think you saw something nice then well, we can always trade" said Leon with a smile on his face.

A big old man with a weird spear on his hand walked towards him and looked down on Leon. Despite being really tall compared to Leon, he still had to look up to see Lufti in the eye. Leroux was still covered in blood and he was smiling creepily, he was excited. If someone approached them with a weapon in the forest they'd beat that person down and interrogate them but that never happened as they never encountered other humans.

"Who are you and what do you want outside our gate?" as he spoke, he took out a crest from his neck with the symbol of the Mvuvi family. The Mvuvi were one of the lower families, they were fisherman and also used their boats to carry different things up and down the river. They were a really important family but they lacked the resources and manpower. As a response, Leroux took a step forward but Leon put the rod in front of him, stopping him from doing anything reckless. "Show it guys" as he said that, the three of them took out Kriger crests, flashing them in front of the old man.

"Oh, you're from the Kriger family. What are you doing outside then? I've never seen any of you either, so I don't know where you stole those from. It'd be better if you guys enter the city so we can hand you over to the Kriger family to decide what to do.

"Oh, we are going to enter the city at our own pace. You can go ahead and enter before us, we will be alright camping outside for a bit more" said Leon with a smile on his face.

But the man wasn't happy with his answers. He looked at Leon and thought that he was being just sarcastic or that they were camping near the gate in order to enter if there was a dangerous beast outside so he took a step forward and fixating his sight on the cubs he said, "Give us the tiger cubs and your weapons and enter the city peacefully. This is an order from the Mvuvi family head. Enter now or get ready to fight and be dragged inside".

"Okay, we will have to fight it then" said Leon with his smile still hanging from his handsome face.