p.s. Many people have been asking about human transformation, so just to clarify: the possibility is open, but it will be done in a way that doesn’t lose the protagonist’s uniqueness as a Magical Beast. With my current writing skills, turning into a human might just s*ck the fun right out of it. So, enjoy the cute Magical Beasts and Raccoon frolicking in the forest! Thanks for reading.
69th chapter
23. The Magical Beast and the Joyous Summer Festival
068 – The Magical Beast and the Joyous Summer Festival #2
Somewhere in the sky, Sparrow Pepe returned with a twig clutched in his two legs.
【You brought it!】
━ Yes, I did! Can you all see? This is what you’ve all been so curious about: the Eternal Snow Sapling!
Sparrow Pepe proudly showed the twig to the beasts.
━ That’s just a twig, isn’t it? A soft twig at that. There’s nothing special about it.
━ W-well…
At Gallum’s words, Pepe flinched dramatically.
As Pepe was unable to say anything and nervously chirped, Lao-Hoo snorted derisively.
【Kid, what you see isn’t everything. Can’t you feel it? The Illusory Flower is swaying on that twig.】
━ …Huh?
Gallum frowned, as if he didn’t understand.
【This is an aura only a true warrior with keen senses can feel. The Eternal Snow Sapling isn’t found by sight, but by instinct. Now, everyone close your eyes and take a whiff.】
━ W-what nonsense…!
━ I can… feel it.
━ What?
Gallum shot a glare toward the source of the voice, as if scanning for a nemesis.
There, a bipedal goat, Baphomet, with its eyes closed, trembled as if it had received a divine message.
A fat tear rolled down its fur.
━ Oh, what a fragrant scent. Truly the essence of the Illusory Herb.
━ What scent are you talking about?
Gallum growled irritably as he surveyed the surroundings.
At that moment, someone took a big inhale.
━ The lowly puma doesn’t understand, does it? It’s not just a smell. That twig emanates an overwhelming aura blessed by Mother World Tree. I can sense it.
━ Yes, I can feel it too.
━ I can feel it as well. A true warrior does not rely solely on sight.
With serious expressions, the long-toothed pigs looked at each other.
Soon, not just the pigs, but beasts everywhere began to shout that they felt the aura of the Eternal Snow Sapling.
━ Silly Gallum, you can’t feel anything, can you?
At Baphomet’s mocking inquiry, Gallum gritted his teeth in frustration.
‘What the heck is going on here?’
Standing on Lao-Hoo’s front paw, I felt my head spinning with the sudden turn of events.
Could it be that the Eternal Snow Sapling really exists on the twig Pepe brought? Or was there perhaps another one that I didn’t eat? Thoughts bubbled up like boiling water.
‘No way, that can’t be it. This is an awkward play. Everyone’s lying.’
From the glances exchanged between Lao-Hoo and Pepe, it seemed like this was an impromptu act by the festival organizers.
The beasts sniffed around, appearing impressed by something.
━ Indeed, the Eternal Snow Sapling has a wonderful aroma. It will end up in my hands after all.
━ No, that’s mine! I can taste the scent too!
Beneath their chatter, there was a hint of arrogance suggesting they were different from everyone else.
‘The Emperor’s New Groove, huh? What a sight to behold.’
I watched the foolish beasts from Lao-Hoo’s front paw.
I quite enjoyed the feeling of looking down on something.
Had Lao-Hoo always seen such scenes when he was fine and dandy?
I spread my front paws wide towards the noisy beasts beneath me.
Then, without reciting any prepared lines, I flashed a smile and shared my determination to embrace the festival.
━ You dumb pigs, it’s clear that I’m the survivor here.
*
In the vast garden, all kinds of animals swarmed like crazy.
The herbivorous ones munched on the grass, vegetables, and fruits, making quite the ruckus.
━ So good, like honey.
━ I agree.
I watched in dismay as the beautifully maintained garden was trampled by the clueless beasts.
I might have stolen a lot of fruits from this garden, but I never would have recklessly destroyed it like those guys did.
Watching exceptional artwork being ruined by the ignorant felt like a tragedy.
Just then, Salome fluttered over from amidst the beasts, trying to break up a scuffle.
━ Your pointless provocations are getting everyone riled up. Calling pigs “pigs” is a huge taboo, you know.
Salome frowned at me, saying, ━ Phirruuk, that’s annoying.
I pointed my chin at the creatures munching on grass.
━ Is it okay to let them eat like that? At this rate, there won’t be a single blade of grass left in the garden after today.
━ That’s exactly how the garden was made to be.
Salome replied calmly.
Her blue eyes stared expressionlessly at the beasts chowing down.
━ Today’s a festival for everyone to eat and enjoy. For today, no beast should go home hungry.
━ So you mean the king has opened the treasure store.
Back in the old Joseon era, when there were national celebrations or sacrifices to the heavens, they supposedly made a clear soup and shared it with the poor.
Wasn’t Seolleongtang created to help the impoverished?
Perhaps this festival is also meant to assist the poor and hungry beasts.
I somewhat understood why Lao-Hoo, a carnivorous creature, had kept vegetables in the garden.
‘But they’re eating way too much. If they continue like this, as the next lord of the forest, I’ll be left with nothing but barren land.’
I started picturing myself being the lord of the Western Forest.
I was smiling at the thought of inheriting this bountiful garden, but if they gobbled it all up like this, I’d be reduced to a mere shadow of my former princely self.
‘No way, before they eat all of it, I’ll eat it all myself.’
With that thought, I tried to slip into the herd of herbivores.
But suddenly, Salome’s massive wings blocked my path.
━ That’s theirs to enjoy. Great warriors must not eat anything throughout today’s matches.
━ What? What kind of rule is that? Are you really starving the fighters?
━ It’s to prove mental strength through battles while in extreme conditions. Going days without food is nothing in the wild, right? Especially for you southerners.
━ That may be true…
When was the last time I went without food?
When I was born into the world of Magical Beasts, I had gone days without even a nibble.
But after that, as I fought and hunted, those days of hunger seemed to have decreased.
In some ways, I hadn’t become too spoilt from eating too well.
‘I’ve gotten pretty lazy lately.’
Comparing that moment of my birth to now made me feel a sense of contrast.
The image of me, munching on tree bark, overlapped with the image of herbivores effortlessly gobbling down grass and veggies.
━ Then what will the carnivores eat? There’s only fruit and grass in the garden.
I wandered around the herbivores, watching the carnivores swallow their saliva.
They were looking at the herbivores with sneaky eyes, their bodies so skinny that their ribs showed through their skin.
Yet, none of them seemed to have the intention of attacking. They merely circled around the garden.
Salome tidied her feathers and said nonchalantly.
━ There’s no need to worry about that. There won’t be a lack of meat.
I didn’t quite understand what she meant, but as the festival got underway, I began to grasp her words.
━ k*ll him! k*ll him!
━ Don’t run away like cowards!
━ Face it head-on!
Two warriors surrounded by beasts swung their front paws at each other, screeching sharply.
Their scene reminded me of fighting dogs or underground fight scenes from movies.
Finally, one of the warriors, a black puma named Gallum, sank his fangs into the neck of an animal with horns, be it a goat or a sheep.
bl**d sprayed like a fountain, and the victim quickly became motionless.
With the dead creature still in his jaws, Gallum growled fiercely, then swung his head, tossing the victim into the crowd.
━ I was counting on you, d*mn it!
━ Got goat meat!
As if waiting for that moment, carnivorous beasts rushed in from the crowd to tear into the carcass.
‘Looks like that’s the share for the starving carnivores.’
The body of the defeated had turned into a pitiful skeleton, decorating the floor of the garden.
Even that was trampled and turned to dust, becoming a handful of fertilizer beneath the garden.
The eyes of the carnivores who had gorged on their prey occasionally met mine.
Their eyes looked greedily at me, as if one meal hadn’t satisfied them.
‘If I d*e like this, will I become food for them too?’
I trembled involuntarily, chills running down my spine from those openly predatory gazes.
I wanted to avoid any fate of being torn to shreds by beasts at all costs.
━ No warm-up for you, huh?
Gallum left, dripping with bl**d, while a round little sparrow fluttered above my head.
━ Now it’s your turn, Alpha.
━ Oh, is it already that time?
━ Follow me.
I slowly entered with Sparrow Pepe, following behind his little tail, merging into the crowd.
The ground was littered with fur, broken teeth, horns, and bl**d from the previous battles.
Many of the beasts let out jeering sounds as they saw me.
━ d*e, Mint Chocolate!
━ I wonder what the taste of southern meat is like, hehehe.
The crowd bared their fangs and claws at me, some spitting without hesitation and hurling insults.
I wiped their spit off my body clumsily with my front paw and tried to taste the bitterness in my mouth.
‘This is totally an away game.’
With no one cheering for me, I felt a little hurt.
Not being in my home turf made me feel the disadvantage all too vividly.
‘Just you wait, once I become the lord of the forest…’
━ Go for it, Whitey!
Lost in the thought of mental victories, I suddenly heard an unbelievable name.
My eyes widened as I scanned the crowd.
━ Leaf! What are you doing here?!
Among the crowd, I saw Leaf gazing at me with a pitiful look, though I thought he’d gone back south.
He seemed to be restrained, with his arms tied up like a long wooden stick.
The stick he was tied to rested on the shoulder of a peculiar monkey-like creature.
━ What are you doing there?!
━ I-I went looking for you since you didn’t come back, but then that monkey caught me…
Leaf seemed to want to say more, but we were blocked from seeing each other by the throng of beasts.
‘What on earth is happening here?’
From what I heard in Leaf’s words, it seemed he had been wandering around the Western Forest looking for me.
And then he probably got caught by that monkey-like creature.
I didn’t know why the monkey was holding onto the raccoon, but there must have been a reason, like keeping him as an emergency food supply, just like I had done.
‘At least he’s not getting eaten right away.’
I wasn’t sure if it was right to call being tied up a relief, but as long as he was alive with all limbs intact, it didn’t seem like a big problem.
‘How do I rescue him? Should I tell Salome right now?’
━ Long Tusks!
━ The southern one is up against Long Tusks!
━ What terrible luck to meet a favorite right from the start!
The crowd began buzzing excitedly.
With thump, thump sounds from a drum, a massive beast pushed through the throng.
‘What is that?’
The creature was a bipedal pig with thick legs.
Its jutting lower jaw had sharp tusks protruding up to its forehead.
A black mane that looked like a mohawk stretched from its head down its back.
━ So that’s the warrior sent by Long Tusks.
━ Look at those tusks, they’re longer than most horns. Impressive!
The crowd’s muttering showed their admiration and anticipation.
Amongst the advancing pig tribe, seeing those long tusks made it clear this beast was the strongest warrior among them.
━ You said it, huh? You called me a pig just now?
The bipedal pig pointed a front paw at me.
At that moment, the crowd surrounded me and the pig, forming a makeshift arena.
━ You just called me a pig, you admitted it?
As I remembered my insult towards the pigs while standing on Lao-Hoo’s front paw, I realized it was likely referring to that.
━ Yeah, you are a pig.
━ Hehe. Grrr.
The pig, probably named Pao-Hoo, suddenly burst into laughter.
The other pigs around him joined in, cackling loudly.
As I frowned at their sudden reaction, Pao-Hoo slowly stopped laughing and coldly hissed.
━ But you aren’t even worth being called a pig yourself.
With those words, he charged at me with a thud.
