Chapter 100

Side Story The Grassland Vow Delta is in a great mood. She got to hunt loads of bandits with Shadow today. Might makes right. That’s the law of the jungle. Hunting isn’t just a way to get sustenance; it’s an opportunity to prove one’s strength. “How was my hunting today, Boss man?!” “Huh? I mean, I guess it was pretty good,” Shadow replies as he goes around in his black longcoat collecting the bandits’ purses. “Hooray!! Boss man acknowledged me!” For Delta, hunting with Shadow is the greatest stage there is. Being recognized by one’s superiors is both a great source of pride for therianthropes and an important way of solidifying one’s position within the pack. Such things are core to a therianthrope’s values. Shadow points at a therianthrope corpse. “By the way, what do you wanna do with the body?” “Who’s that?” “Your brother. Did you forget already?” Delta cocks her head and thinks back. Sure enough, she vaguely remembers an unpleasant conversation with some weakling. “Should we at least bury him or something? I dunno how therianthropes handle these things.” “Don’t worry about it!” “I mean, if you say so,” Shadows says, then goes back to rummaging through coin purses. “Hrmm.” For some reason, looking at the therianthrope corpse dredges up an unhappy memory for Delta. It’s a recollection from long ago, back when she still went by Sara. “What’s up?” Shadow asks her. “It’s nothing!!” And she was in such a good mood, too. Delta leaps onto Shadow’s back and starts marking him with her scent. “Hey, get off!” “I don’t wanna!” “Also, cut it out! I don’t want to stink of dog!” “I’m not stinky!” When she covers herself in Shadow’s smell, the old memories slowly grow fainter. It feels like they do, at least. Sara was inside a dark, cramped hut. “Sara… Are you awake?” Upon hearing her mother call for her, Sara leaped up. “I’m here!” Her mother was over in the back of the hut, laid low by illness. “Kaff… Would you go draw me some water?” she asked between pained coughs. “Got it! I’ll go get some!!” Sara rushed out of the hut and headed to fetch water for her mom. The grassland outside stretched all the way to the horizon, and the morning sun in the sky was dazzling. By the time Sara got to the watering hole, her legs were damp from the morning dew. The water there was clear and sparkling. Sara crouched down to scoop it up, then realized something. “Shoot! I forgot the bucket!” She rushed back to retrieve it. When she did, someone swept her legs out from under her. “Ack!” She tumbled across the ground. “If it isn’t Sara the moron. Why’d you go and fall like that?!” “Ha-ha-ha, you forget your bucket again?” Standing there were a pair of boys a little bit older than her. Sara’s ears slumped. “Big brothers Ral and Ren…” “You’re so useless. Can you seriously not even do chores right?” “If you can’t do that, and you can’t even hunt, then I don’t get what point your life even has.” “S-someone has to take care of Mom! That’s why I can’t go hunting!” “Don’t you talk back to us!!” Ral’s fist smashed into Sara’s cheek. Young as he was, it was still a punch from a therianthrope. Sara got sent bouncing across the plain. “Ow… Oww…” A trickle of blood rolled down from the corner of her mouth. As she slowly rose to her feet, looks of surprise crossed her two brothers’ faces. “That’s weird. I really put my weight behind that punch.” “Maybe it just didn’t land right?” The pair walked over to Sara. “All right, Sara, you need to listen up. Taking care of that woman is a waste of time. She can’t hunt anymore, and she only managed to have three kids. She’s a letdown.” “She’s a burden on the pack. That’s why Dad abandoned her.” “How…how could you say something so horrible?!” Sara cried, trembling as she gritted her teeth through the pain. “She’s the only mom we’ve got!” “You really are a moron, huh?” All she got back was coldness. “Weaklings are worthless. That’s one of the pack’s rules, remember?” “Just because they’re weak…? That’s one of the rules?” “You actually forgot? For real? I can’t believe she’s really our sister.” “But she’s our mom!” “She’s not our mom anymore.” “Huh?” “What, did we forget to mention? We got adopted into the third-strongest family in the pack out of respect for our skills.” “Yeah, that’s right. Now we’re the great Ral from the Pit family and the mighty Ren from the Pit family.” “What? But she’s our mom…” “Why should we care about that weak old woman?” “If you call us your brothers next time you run into us, we’ll kill you dead. Make sure you get that through your skull.” The two of them snickered as they left. Sara stood there shocked for a good long while. “That’s right… The bucket…” After wiping away her tears, she plodded back to the hut. Sara opened the hut’s door with a smile. “Hey, Mom! I forgot the bucket!” Her mother was waiting for her with a warm smile of her own. “Oh dear. What are we going to do with you?” “Tee-hee!” “Well, it’s right over there, honey.” “Got it!” Sara went and grabbed the water bucket from the back of the hut. “Sara… What happened to your face?” “Huh?” Sara’s face was still red and swollen from getting punched. “I, uh… I tripped! Oopsie!” She grinned in an attempt to play it off, but her mother took a long, hard stare at her wound. “Did Ral and Ren do that?” “Urk… Nope!” “They did, didn’t they? Those two, I swear…” “No, no! They didn’t!” “You’re such a kind girl, Sara. Come on over here.” Sara’s went over to her mother’s bed with a slumped tail, and her mother patted her head. “Aww… You’re so smart, Mom. You always see through my lies.” “That’s because you’re not a very good liar.” “I’m so dumb. Everyone calls me Sara the moron. How can I become smart like you, Mom?” “Hmm, that’s a tricky one. You take after your father more.” “I wish I took after you, Mom.” “You mustn’t say that,” her mother cautioned sternly. “Don’t ever let anyone hear you say that.” “…Okay.” “Good girl.” Her mother gave her head another gentle pat. “You know, it might help if you talked more courteously.” “What do you mean?” “If you talk more courteously, it’ll make you seem smarter. Well, it might.” “I’ll get smarter?!” “You might end up seeming smarter.” “Got it! How do I do that?!” “Like I said, you just have to be courteous. You know, like remembering your pleases and thank yous.” “You mean, please, like this, thank you?” “U-um, not quite…” “You mean like this, please?” “S-sure. I suppose that’ll have to do.” “And it’ll make me seem smarter, please?!” “Well… More than before, at least… Honestly, I’m not even sure.” “From now on, I’m gonna talk politely like you, Mom! Thank you!!” “Come on over here, Sara.” Sara’s mother wrapped her head in a big hug. “You’re a beautiful girl. You’re my beautiful, beautiful baby girl.” “Mom…?” “And I don’t want you to have to suffer because of me.” “I’m not suffering, please!” Her mother shook her head and stroked Sara’s red, inflamed cheek. Her mother’s fingers were so terribly thin. “Sara, I want you to listen to me calmly. What do you say to getting adopted?” “A-adopted?” “I’ve already talked things over with the Dober family. You’re a girl, so the Pit family won’t take you in like they did Ral and Ren, but the Dober family is still pretty respectable.” “Huh? You mean, you were the one who sent Ral and Ren off?” “I did it in secret. It would hurt their feelings if they found out I was the one who made it possible.” “But why…?” “The Pit and Dober families owed me a favor. Your mom used to be impressive back in the day,” her mother said with a proud smile. “That’s not what I meant, thank you! We’re…we’re supposed to be a family! We’re supposed to stay together!!” “Sara…” “Ral and Ren are horrible, too, please!! They said nasty things about you!! They won’t come home, even though you’re sick and hurting!!” Sara shouted through her sobs. “Sara, you need to listen to me. We don’t have a choice.” “We do, please!!” “The pack has rules. I can’t go out hunting anymore, and the three of you are still children. If you went on hunts, you’d just end up getting in the way.” “But what about Dad?” “He’s the chief of the whole entire pack, and he has loads and loads of other families he needs to look after. If I could still bear children, I’m sure he would look after me. However, I’m past that point now… That means we don’t have anyone left in this household who can hunt. We’re getting by off charity from the other families for the time being, but there’s no guarantee that will last forever.” “But…but I’m your daughter, please.” “No matter what happens, you’ll always be my daughter. Just…just give it some thought.” “I don’t wanna…” “Sara…” Sara hugged her mother tight. “I’m your daughter, Mom. Ral and Ren are awful.” “Thank you for saying that, Sara. But please don’t bad-mouth the two of them.” “Why not?” “Because they’re my beautiful baby boys, too.” “More beautiful than me?” Her mother giggled. “No, you’re the most beautiful of them all.” “Hooray, thank you!” “Ral and Ren are still young, and they’re in an awkward position in the pack. For them, having a mother as weak as me is a mark of disgrace.” “And that’s why they said those mean things about you?” “They’re trying their absolute hardest. And besides, they’re already stronger than I am.” “And being strong is all that matters, please?” “That’s how it works in our pack.” “Oh, wow…” “So please, Sara. Don’t bad-mouth Ral and Ren. There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing you all happy and getting along.” “Getting along… Got it, thank you.” “That’s right. You’re a good girl, Sara.” With that, her mother took a withered finger and wiped a tear off Sara’s face. “Mom…what do I do, please?” “What do you mean?” “How can I make us all live together like before?” “Oh, honey…” “How can I get them to stop making fun of me? How can I make it so you don’t have to be sad anymore?” “Sara…I’m sorry.” “Why are you apologizing, please?” “I…I’m not certain, myself. But I want you and Ral and Ren to grow up so you can hunt prey all on your own.” “I just have to learn how to hunt prey?” “That’s right. That, and you have to become really, really strong.” “Gotta be strong, thank you. And that’ll make Ral and Ren come back?” Her mother’s voice grew quieter. “Well…that’d sure be nice…” “And your sickness will get better?” “You know…it just might.” Her mother gave her a sad smile. “Got it! I’ll get strong, and I’ll learn how to hunt!” “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself. You have to grow up first—kaff, koff…” “M-Mom?!” “I-I’m fine!” Her mother lapsed into a fit of coughing, and Sara patted her back with all her might. Seeing how visible her mother’s ribs were made Sara’s heart skip a beat. “I have to hurry…,” she said. “Sara?” “I-it’s nothing! Are you okay?” “I’m fine now. Thank you.” “Thank goodness, please! I gotta get going, then.” Sara turned around and dashed off. “Sara, wait!” her mother called after her before she could leave the hut. “Wh-what is it?” “Where exactly are you going?” Sara’s ears drooped, and she looked at the ground. “I-I’m going to draw some water, please.” “Well, you forgot your bucket.” “O-oops, silly me!” Sara hurriedly grabbed the bucket. “A-anyway, I’m gonna go get that water now.” “Be careful out there.” With a worried look, Sara’s mother watched her go. Nighttime came. After waiting for her mother to fall asleep, Sara quietly snuck out of the hut. The grassland was supposed to stretch all the way to the horizon, but now the whole thing was painted over with an inky black. Even so, Sara’s eyes could reach far off into the distance. “They’re over there, thank you.” Her nose sniffed. “And there, too.” Her ears twitched. “And there, too. Loads of them.” Sara had the sharpest eyes, the sharpest nose, and the sharpest ears in all her family. “I just have to learn how to hunt.” However, she was too young for anyone to take her out hunting with them. It didn’t help that she was a girl, as girls generally weren’t invited to hunt until well after boys were. The problem was, she couldn’t afford to wait. Sara took a step out onto the darkened grassland. Her legs were trembling. The fear she felt when her brothers hit her was nothing compared with this. Ral and Ren had already started training in how to hunt, but Sara hadn’t even gotten that far yet. She didn’t know the first thing about hunting. “I’m gonna become strong…” She strode across the plain, her legs quivering ceaselessly. After a little while, she came to a stop and used her eyes and nose and ears to take in her surroundings. Then she did it again. Advance, then search. She repeated that process until she was a long ways away from the pack’s settlement. A group of magical beasts went right by her, but she held her breath and waited for them to pass. “I’m the best at hide-and-seek.” None of the other kids in the pack had ever found her, and even the adults had a hard time tracking her down. Those same skills worked against the magical beasts. Her legs stopped trembling. There was no one in that grassland who could find her. Realizing that gave her confidence. “Places with lots of them are no good.” She used her eyes and her nose and her ears to select her prey. She focused her eyes to fix her gaze far off into the darkness. She sniffed with her nose to catch the faintest scents traveling on the wind. She strained her ears to listen for their footsteps and even the sound of their breathing. It all made sense to her. She didn’t know why, but it did. “That one, please.” There was a huge leopard hiding in the grass. Leopards were one of the strongest things on the plains, and going after them was usually too dangerous to be worth it. However, Sara could tell that it was feeble. That it was weak. She slowly approached it from downwind. The closer she got, the stronger the putrid scent of death grew. She was right. The leopard smelled exactly like her mother. In that moment, Sara’s concentration completely broke. When she processed the thought that had just gone through her head, she was struck aghast. “N-no, that’s wrong!” It wasn’t. Her mother’s death and the leopard’s death overlapped in her head, and she had looked down on both of them as weak. “No!!” she cried, completely forgetting where she was and what she was doing. “Grrrrr…” Before she knew it, the huge leopard was right in front of her. “Ah…” Its sharp fangs and gaping maw bore down on Sara. “Ahhhh…” Realization dawned on her. What a weakling. It was just before daybreak when she came to her senses, and she was still standing on the grassland plains. The morning sun’s hues were creeping into the distant sky, and the leopard lay dead at her feet. “Snff…” Sara cried. Her body was covered in blood, and she let out a quiet sob. There wasn’t a single wound on her. None of the blood was hers. “Wahhhhh…” She understood. It was so clear to her now. There on the grassland, being weak was the greatest sin there was. Sara sneakily carried the dead leopard back home. After stowing it in front of the hut where no one would find it, she quietly snuck into her mother’s bed. Her mother was still sleeping. Sara loved her mother’s warmth. She decided to keep it a secret that she was the one who’d killed the leopard. The pack’s rules forbade someone as young as Sara from going out and hunting, and she didn’t want her mother to worry about her. However, that wasn’t her real reason. It was because she understood now. She knew that being weak was a sin on the grassland. The weak were stolen from. The weak were tormented. The weak died. “Mom isn’t weak…” She was scared of becoming stronger than her mother. As long as she stayed weaker, she felt like she could keep wrapping herself up in her mother’s warmth forever. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep herself. Sara woke up to the sound of her mother all in a tizzy. “Goodness me… It’s so large, I won’t even be able to dress it…” Sara rubbed her eyes and headed over. “What’s going on, Mom?” “When I woke up, I found this huge leopard in front of the hut.” “G-gosh, wow. It’s so big, thank you.” She did her best to sell her surprise as authentic. She was pretty sure she pulled it off. “I wonder who it could be from. Do you know something about this, Sara?” “N-nope, please!” “What to do, what to do…? Kaff.” Her mother had been resting her weight against a post, and she broke out into a coughing fit. “Are you okay?!” “I-I’m fine.” “You should lie down, Mom. Don’t worry. I’ll dress the leopard, please! Then you can eat lots of meat, and your sickness will go away!!” Sara took her mother’s shoulder and helped her back to bed. “I appreciate it, Sara… But are you sure you know how?” “I, uh… I’ll do my best! You can just take it easy!” With that, Sara took the leopard and a knife and headed for the watering hole. For all her big talk, Sara had never actually dressed an animal before. She’d watched her mother do it, but her memory sadly wasn’t the greatest, and she barely remembered any of the steps. “Uhh… Hmm.” She started out by cooling the carcass by the watering hole. She knew that the next step was to drain its blood and remove its organs, but her hand froze as she held her knife. “I have to start from the top…or was it the bottom, please?” She couldn’t recall how she was supposed to insert the knife. How far in could she put it before it damaged the innards? If she punctured the bowels or the bladder, it could spoil the meat. Then she detected something approaching her from behind. Her senses had been honed to a point ever since she killed the leopard the night prior, and she immediately shifted her body to the side. Right after she did, a rock the size of a fist flew by right where she’d been standing. “Tch, it missed!” “What’s the big idea, Ral?!” “Oh, shut up, my aim was just a little off! Hey, Sara! What’re you doing, standing there like a dumbass?” A pair of therianthropes approached her. “Big brothers Ral and Ren…” Sara’s ears drooped. “Whoa, check out the size of that leopard!” “Holy shit, I’ve never seen one that big! Who hunted it?” Without so much as asking for permission, the two of them began poking and prodding at it. “Hey… Me and Mom hunted that, thank you!” Sara said. “Sorry, what? Did you just say that you and that waste of space took it down?” “Don’t be stupid! Even in the Pit family, only the family head’s strong enough to kill leopards like those!” “Then, uh…someone left it in front of our hut…,” Sara replied. “Sorry, what? They must’ve dropped it off by mistake.” “Why would someone give you guys a leopard?” “I-it’s true, though!” she insisted. “Well, not like it really matters.” The two of them ignored Sara and hoisted the leopard up. “You losers don’t deserve prey this good! The two of us are confiscating it!” “Why waste it on a bunch of losers when the Pit family could split it among ourselves?! Those are the pack’s rules!” “But that’s so mean, please!” Sara cried. “What, you got a problem with that? We’re part of the Pit family.” “Do you need us to teach you what happens if you try to defy a stronger family?” When Sara went to try to grab the leopard back, Ral and Ren glared at her. “Snff… So if you’re strong, you can do whatever you want, please?” Her ears sagged, and she tucked her tail between her legs as she yielded the path to the two leopard thieves. “Hey, why are you talking like that?” “Yeah, why do you keep saying please? What’re you, dumb?” Sara squeezed her fists tight. “That’s…that’s because Mom said it’d make me seem smarter, thank you.” “Ha-ha-ha, she said saying please would make you seem smarter?! There’s no way!” “That’s sounds like the exact kind of idiotic idea she’d come up with! Like mother, like daughter!” “Don’t make fun of Mom, thank you…,” Sara said in a low growl in the back of her throat. Her voice was too quiet for the other two to hear her. However, that was a stroke of good fortune for them. If they’d heard her, she probably would have hit the point of no return. “You say something, Sara?” “Don’t you give us that look, you little shit.” The two of them hit Sara and sent her flying. Sara didn’t fight back. She simply tumbled across the plains. “Ugh, what a creepy kid.” “We’re part of the Pit family now. I hope no one tries to lump us in with that little dumbass.” The two of them walked off, grumbling as they went. Sara gazed at the blue sky overhead. The spot where they hit her didn’t hurt. They could have hit her a hundred times, and she was pretty sure she’d have been just fine. What did hurt, though, was her heart. “But Mom said…I’m supposed to seem smarter, please…” She gritted her teeth. “She said families have to get along… So that’s what we’re gonna do.” She clenched her fists a little too tight and tried to convince herself. They’d stolen the leopard. However, that was fine. She could always just go out hunting again. “It’s all right, thank you. I’m good at hunting.” With her usual grin, she headed back to the hut where her mother was waiting for her. From that day forth, Sara began sneaking out and hunting on the plains from time to time. She made sure to only go for small prey so as not to draw attention to herself and to make sure her mother could dress them. Her brothers stole some of what she killed, but she didn’t care. She’d gotten to the point where she could hunt whenever she wanted to. Her mother taught her how to dress her kills. Sara was clumsy at first, but she worked hard to learn the steps. She had little choice. It wasn’t long before her mother lost the strength to dress even the smallest of game. Over time, her mother started smelling more and more strongly of death. Sara could tell in her bones that her mother didn’t have long left to live. “Mom…” As her mother lay on the floor, Sara grasped her withered arm. “Sara… You’re such a kind girl…,” her mother rasped. “Mom, I hate this, please. We’re supposed to be together forever and ever.” “Sara… You’re the kindest girl there is. I’m so proud to have given birth to you.” “Snff… Snff…” Tears rolled down Sara’s cheeks as she buried her face in her mother’s chest. “You’re such a kind, kind girl.” “You ate all that meat, but it didn’t make your sickness go away.” “It’s fine. I’ve lived a full life. Thank you for everything, Sara.” Her mother ran her hand through Sara’s hair. Sara stayed motionless and basked in her mother’s warmth. For the next little while, they simply stayed like that, together. Her mother’s breathing gradually grew shallower. Eventually, with one final pained gasp, her mother spoke. “The meat you brought me was delicious, Sara… Thank you.” With that, she breathed her last. Sara spent the rest of the night sobbing in her mother’s arms, then buried her in the plains when the morning came. She didn’t tell anyone else where. It was a grave just for her mother, and just for her. “Hey, Sara, why’re you covered in mud?” “Ha-ha-ha, she’s crying!” On her way back from burying her mother, Ral and Ren blocked her path. Sara hung her head. “Mom’s dead, thank you.” Her brothers laughed with glee. “Oh, nice, she finally kicked the bucket!” “Death to the weak! That’s the law of the savannah!” “Don’t make fun of Mom.” It all happened in an instant. “Huh…?” Sara’s claw strike went right through Ren’s chest. “Hurk… Why…?” As Ren coughed up blood, Sara stared down at him with a look of pure disdain. “Mom will never smile again. She’ll never be sad again. Now I don’t have to hold back anymore.” She stomped down on Ren. The cracking, splitting sound of bones breaking and viscera tearing followed. “Wh…wh-wh-wh-what the hell are you doing?! What’d you do that to Ren for?!” “It’s his fault for being weak, please.” “Wh-what?! D-Dad’ll never let you get away with this!” Ral inched backward, his face twitching with fear. “The weak get stolen from. The weak get tormented. The weak die. Those are the rules.” Sara had hunted countless prey, and she knew the rules of the grassland by heart. “But if you’re strong, you can get away with anything. That’s a rule, too.” With that, she effortlessly tore through Ral’s throat. “Y-you little… Gluh…” “I’m gonna become stronger than anyone else in the savannah. Only then, only once I do…” Blood sprayed back at her, and she smiled. As she did, small black bruises rose up on her neck.