Round 355

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-Bawk bawk bawk bawk.  

The awakened chicken was placed with the boar that had been brought in earlier.  

I was a bit worried about whether they would get along, but I confirmed that they were fine together.  

-Bawk bawk bawk?  

“Will this one lay eggs too?”  

Of course, it will.  

I’m curious about their eggs as well.  

“Have you ever seen a monster like this before?”  

“No, this is my first time seeing one.”  

I asked Jung So-yeon, an expert in monsters and dungeons, but even she didn’t know about this chicken.  

The total number was twenty-five.  

These creatures had invaded twice, and another three had come separately.  

“I’ve brought them!”  

Hearing Choro’s voice from behind, I immediately went toward the portal to check.  

The second monster that appeared was a small dog.  

‘Ah, to the little humans, it must look like a giant dog.’  

Compared to slimes, the little humans were slightly smaller.  

The dog-like monster that had been brought in was about the same size as a slime.  

“They’re incredibly quick. And their intelligence is no joke—I’ve been outsmarted by them more than once.”  

The dogs, paralyzed, lay with their tongues hanging out.  

Their coarse black fur made them look like wolf pups.  

After a little while, the paralysis seemed to wear off, and they began twitching.  

‘Oh?’  

But looking closer, it seemed like they were already free from paralysis and were just pretending.  

I took out a dog chew in front of the largest one—though it was only about the size of a Maltese.  

I could see its nose twitch as it caught the scent of the treat.  

“If you don’t get up, I’ll eat it myself.”  

I didn’t expect them to understand me.  

But without realizing it, I mumbled and pretended to bite into the chew.  

-Whimper.  

Noticing that I was going to eat the treat, the dogs hesitated but began getting up one by one.  

Now that I looked at them closely, they were so thin that their ribs were visible.  

‘Did they lose in a competition for food?’  

The fact that they had come to the little humans’ castle despite the lack of food here suggested that was the case.  

“How long are you going to keep pretending to be paralyzed?”  

After finishing one dog chew, I took out three more.  

The scent became even stronger.  

-Whimper.  

Finally, the smallest one couldn’t resist any longer, slowly opened its eyes, tucked its tail between its legs, and stood up.  

Jung So-yeon, who had been watching, sighed in pity at the sight.  

“Here, eat this.”  

The dog, half wary and half frightened, was too hesitant to approach, so I tossed the treat to it.  

It quickly grabbed the chew from the ground and started munching.  

Chomp chomp chomp.  

It ate so eagerly.  

As I watched the chew disappear in an instant, I threw another one.  

By then, the other two dogs began watching carefully and started getting up as well.  

“You two eat too.”  

I took out more chews and tossed them toward the dogs.  

They moved swiftly to grab the treats and eat them.  

Despite their short and stocky build, they were incredibly agile.  

“How about raising them as herding dogs?”  

“Oh, that’s a great idea.”  

There were no sheep, but there were boars and chickens.  

If they could be domesticated, they would be great for managing the livestock.  

‘If the little humans keep bringing more like this…’  

“Aww, how cute.”  

As I was lost in thought, I heard laughter.  

When I checked, Jung So-yeon was already petting the dogs.  

One was lying on its back, showing its belly and playing around.  

Another was excitedly running around.  

The last one, still hungry, was staring at me intently.  

These creatures were more sociable than I expected.  

After handing Jung So-yeon some treats to feed them, I asked Choro,  

“They seem to follow people well. Have you never tried taming them before?”  

“The tough-maned ones never follow humans. They tend to ignore anyone who looks weaker than them.”  

“Huh? Then what’s this?”  

“I’ve never seen this before either! As expected of you, my lord!”  

Oh, is that so?  

They just looked like ordinary puppies to me.  

Honestly, even Earth’s wolves would probably be stronger than these monsters.  

“Ah, Choro, I have another question.”  

“Please, ask me anything.”  

“Does your village have any records or information on local monsters?”  

“Ah, we used to, but I believe they’re lost now.”  

Choro responded with a troubled expression.  

Well, given that they didn’t even have proper equipment, it wouldn’t be surprising if they had lost such records.  

I was only asking because I wanted to know if there were more livestock-type monsters.  

“Did your people ever raise livestock?”  

“We did. But they were distinctly different from monsters. Monsters, by definition, contain mana stones within their bodies. They are fundamentally different from regular animals.”  

“That  makes sense.”  

As Choro said, the biggest distinction between beasts and monsters was the presence of mana stones.  

Monsters had mana stones within them.  

This allowed them to use mana, granting them powerful physiques and various supernatural abilities.  

“Even the tough-maned ones use an ability called Howling. They utilize sound to manifest different effects.”  

“Oh, really?”  

“Yes. For example, they can cause confusion, dizziness, and nausea—or even the opposite effects.”  

“Whoa.”  

These creatures were more impressive than I thought.  

Choro also explained that the boars had hard armor, while the chickens could charge while engulfed in flames.  

“They get covered in fire?”  

“Yes. But they rarely use it because it also harms them.”  

What a strange bunch.  

“Sit, lie down, roll over, high five!”  

While we were talking, Jung So-yeon had somehow already trained all the dogs.  

When did she even teach them all that?  

As Choro had mentioned, they were exceptionally smart.  

The fact that they could learn tricks in such a short time proved it.  

Taking the three dogs with me, I headed back to the pasture where the livestock were kept.  

The boars that had arrived first seemed to have grown accustomed to the place.  

They quietly alternated between eating and sleeping without any aggression.  

“It must be because this place is peaceful. Where we live, they have to compete for food and deal with predators.”  

Choro marveled as he explained that this was not how they usually behaved.  

“Still, who would have thought you could tame those fearsome fangs? As expected of you, my lord.”  

“Huh? Nah, I think they just like the food we give them.”  

The food given to the boars was the leftover produce from farming.  

Thinned-out sprouts, wilted crops after all nutrients had been used, hay left after rice harvesting.  

Of course, other low-market-value crops were also mixed in.  

And the boars went absolutely crazy for it.  

‘After that, they became much tamer.’  

Once they tasted delicious food, the boars became noticeably calmer.  

Of course, part of it was thanks to Ras giving them a solid lesson with his fists.  

“Huh?”  

As I was thinking of trying to train the dogs as fence-guarding herding dogs, something unusual caught my eye.  

Jung So-yeon seemed to have noticed it too, as she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.  

“What is that?”  

Choro provided the answer.  

“Oh! That’s the shed skin of the Fearsome Fangs!”  

“Shed skin?”  

Shed skin?  

Do boars even shed their skin?  

Both Jung So-yeon and I tilted our heads in confusion, and Choro mimicked us, looking puzzled.  

“Why are you reacting like that?”  

“I mean, isn’t it weird for a pig to shed its skin?”  

“Ah! I suppose that’s not common in your world!”  

From what Choro said, shedding skin seemed to be a normal occurrence in their world.  

“The Fearsome Fangs periodically shed their skin. Their hardened outer layer, reinforced by mana, becomes too tight for their growing bodies.”  

“Ah-ha!”  

So it’s like lobsters or crayfish?  

It reminded me of crustaceans that molt their hard shells to grow bigger.  

“But it’s actually very rare to see this shed skin.”  

“Really? Why?”  

“During the molting process, the Fearsome Fangs are extremely vulnerable, so they find the safest place possible to shed. And such places are usually difficult for humans to find.”  

“Ah, that makes sense. But if it shed its skin here, does that mean it feels safe?”  

“It seems so. But it’s still surprising. I never thought it would shed in such an open area.”  

Choro’s eyes sparkled in amazement.  

“This shed skin is an incredible delicacy! I’ve only had it twice in my life. I never expected to see it here like this.”  

“A delicacy?”  

“Yes! Inside that hard shell, there’s meat attached to it. Once they reach a certain size, they maintain a stable form, which is a characteristic of the Fearsome Fangs.”  

“Whoa! There’s meat attached?”  

That means—!  

We don’t have to butcher them to get meat?  

All we have to do is collect the shed skins whenever they molt!  

This is such a convenient and humane way to obtain meat!  

We immediately retrieved the shed skin.  

The boars cautiously moved away as we approached, but they didn’t seem overly wary.  

It seemed they had gotten used to us since we fed them daily.  

“So this is the shed skin, huh?”  

At a glance, it looked like a hardened pig-shaped shell.  

It was about the size of a medium-sized dog.  

The back was split open—probably where the boar had crawled out.  

When I peeled open the cracked back, just as Choro said, there was fresh-looking meat attached inside.  

“Is there a specific way to prepare or process this?”  

“There is, but it doesn’t require much effort.  

When you hunt Fearsome Boars normally, their meat has a strong gamey and fishy taste, making it difficult to eat.  

But this shed skin meat has no unpleasant odor—it’s a top-tier cut of meat.”  

“Wow, that’s amazing.”  

Now this really makes me want to raise them as livestock.  

And since we had also brought chickens this time, I was curious about their eggs as well.  

I’ll have to ask Choro about that later.  

But for now, tasting the meat took priority.  

Since Choro had eaten it before, he personally started peeling the meat from the shed skin.  

‘But wait… is he really using that sword like that?’  

The knife he was using to peel the meat was a warrior’s blade.  

Something about that felt weird.  

But Choro was skillful, expertly separating the meat like a seasoned professional.  

After meticulously preparing the meat, he cut it into easy-to-eat portions.  

“Rabbits!”  

Nearby, some rabbits had already caught the scent of the meat and were waiting.  

When I handed it to them, they immediately took it and started chirping excitedly, discussing how they would cook it.  

“This shell is also a great material. The Fearsome Fangs reinforce it with mana, making it extremely tough. We usually use it to craft armor.”  

“Oh, it’s light but sturdy. This is great!”  

The leftover shell seemed quite useful as well.  

While the rabbits were cooking, I took the shell to the cats.  

They examined the material with serious expressions.  

-Meow!!  

-Nyan nyan nyan nyan.  

They quickly launched into an intense discussion.  

Even though they were serious, they looked so ridiculously cute that we just stood there watching them.  

-Nyan!  

Eventually, one cat stepped forward as their representative, pointed at the shell, and gave a big thumbs-up.  

“Oh, so it’s a good material?”  

-Nyan nyan!  

The cat nodded.  

Then, they all scurried off, eager to start crafting something with the shell.  

“There’s nothing going to waste here.”  

“True. Oh, and the livestock manure could be used as fertilizer.”  

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that, but that’s a great idea.”  

Hmm, I should assign some workers to manage the livestock.  

Goblins would probably be the best choice—I’ll have to gather the Seven Sins and discuss it.  

Sniff sniff.  

Suddenly, an incredible aroma of cooked meat wafted through the air.  

The mouthwatering scent of grilled meat made my stomach growl.  

“Wow, this smells insane! My mouth is watering just from the scent.”  

“Let’s go check it out right now!”  

Before Jung So-yeon even finished her sentence, she was already heading toward the rabbits’ cooking area.  

Choro and I hurriedly followed.  

Finally, our dungeon was getting a steady supply of meat!  

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