章 7: A life in the wild

After bringing Keira back to the cave, Frost headed out to hunt prey in order to gather supplies for the tribe's winter storage.

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While spending some time sitting around aimlessly inside the cave, Keira decided to go find something to do outside.

The bushes on the path she was strolling on were shifting, and she spotted some males lurking behind them. She assumed they were guards or hunters, so she didn't pay them attention and kept moving along. Little did she know that those males were not guards or hunters, but rather admirers who were too hesitant to approach her.

The news spread fast that the chief had brought a female into the tribe, suggesting that she must be important to their leader. As a result, the tribe members could only sneak around to watch her from a distance for fear of receiving a beating from the chief.

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This wolf tribe was not only surrounded by mountains, but also had a river cutting right through it. which, presumably, served as the tribe's primary water source.

At the edge of the river, Keira spotted a female resting at the riverside and hurried over to her. Finally, she found another female in the tribe.

"Hey," Keira waved at the female.

"Oh, hi," She turned around as soon as she heard Keira's voice. With those green irises, she returned the greeting and questioned, "Are you real?"

She cupped Keira's cheeks while darting left and right, peering at Keira's profile "How are you so stunning? I haven't seen you in the tribe before. Are you new here?"

How the female's sudden grasp on Keira's face jolted her. But since she seemed harmless, Keira didn't give it much thought.

She was taller than Keira and had a healthy honey complexion. A pair of familiar green eyes and chestnut hair, wearing a strapless dress made of brown-patterned animal hide, and her brilliant smile gave her an air of playful endearment.

Keira flashed a smile back and explained. "I'm Keira, and you are right. Frost just brought me here."

The female pulled her hands back. "Ohhh, you are the female my brother brought back. I heard my mate tell me about you yesterday, and I was waiting for my brother to bring me to meet you, but I haven't seen him yet. I'm sorry" She babbled "Surely you must be tired, don't you? Please don't mind my brother, he has never been close to any female, so he has no idea how to handle."

"No, no, please don't be sorry, I really do appreciate it. Frost was kind to me" Keira answered, gently giving her an assure smile.

"Oh, right, I'm Mayu, I'm Frost's sister. We have the same mother but a different father," That explained why her green eyes were similar to Frost.

Mayu then took Keira's hand and guided her to sit at the riverside. "Come and join me. I will tell you about our tribe."

Keira then sat down and listened as Mayu started to tell her about the tribe and Frost's family.

After Frost's father and Mayu's father were killed by monsters at the site of the prior tribe, Frost became the tribe's new leader.

Following that event, Frost brought the tribe to this valley, where there's less monsters. However, Frost and Mayu's mother had moved to the Tiger Tribe to live with her mate.

Due to the scarcity of females in this world and the low chance of becoming pregnant with a female cub, a female can have any number of mates.

Aside from that, the world was dangerous due to its abundance of monsters and extreme climate. That's why having lots of mates was essential for the safety of mom and cubs.

Even though the wolf tribe looked large, there were only eight females in it. This included older females and young female cubs.

This low number of females was incompatible with the number of unmated males in the tribe, so Frost attempted to find a solution by sending goods in exchange for females from other tribes. An increase in the female population will lead the tribe to expand and attract stronger males.

Usually, males will handle all types of hard labor, including hunting for prey and gathering necessities, while females and cubs only perform basic, light tasks.

There were many tribes on this continent, but Mayu had no idea what or how many there were because most of the beasts here weren't well educated, and Mayu was one of them.

There's only the witch doctor who was educated and taught the other tribe members the fundamentals of their knowledge.

Besides having small tribes, there were also many cities, and the biggest city was called the capital city of beasts. Each city had a lord in charge, and all of the lords were subject to the supreme authority of the capital city, which has a king as its ruler.

After learning the details and the foundations from Mayu, Keira felt more at ease with how this world was organized.

Although she found some of the habits and customs of this place to be odd, she understood that there were many factors that made this world the way it is. She realized that she needed to adapt to this new environment and learn more about its culture in order to thrive and survive in it.

When the explanation was over, Mayu took Keira to the animal skin tanning field and showed her how to clean and tan animal skins. Keira found the process both fascinating and difficult, but with Mayu's patient guidance, she picked it up fast and came away with a new respect for the skill involved in primitive tanning methods.

During the time when Keira and Mayu were resting, other females came to join them and brought some fruit to share with Keira and Mayu. When they had finished resting, they returned to their jobs.

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After a long day of hunting, Frost finally made it back to the tribe as the sun was setting.

He carried a large white deer on his shoulder to the animal skin's tanning field, and found Keira sitting there with his sister.

He set the prey down on the ground and hurried to the river to wash his hands before approaching Keira.

When Keira saw Frost's return, she rushed to him while Mayu followed behind and welcomed her brother.

Frost smiled at both of them. He felt relief after seeing that Keira was with his little sister, so she wasn't bored while he was away. "I see that you are with Mayu" then turned to Mayu and patted her head. "Thanks to you for taking care of Keira."

"Sure, brother. Keira was kind, and it was nice to be with her. If in the future you need to go hunting again, just bring Keira to me, alright?" Mayu said, She then said goodbye to both Keira and Frost before stepping away with two of her mates by her side.

Frost held onto Keira's hand and asked with concern, "Are you tired?" lowering his face and observing closely at her palms, which have a few cuts and dirt from the work she has done today.

When he noticed this, his eyes grew dark with distress. "Keira..you don't have to do this. Just leave it to me"

After hearing Frost's concerned voice, her heart melted a little; she knew he truly cared about her, but she couldn't stay with him. Whatever the situation, she needed to get back to her own world.

Keira shook her head. "Just a little sore, but it's fine , it was fun to do so," she reassured him.

Suddenly, Frost and Keira both perked up when a loud noise emerged from the direction of the tribe's entryway.