20. An Elf in the Forest
During this period of time, Edgar always felt that there were several places on his abdomen that were very itchy.
At first, he was merely indisposed, but later it became more and more serious, making him always want to rub against a rock. He even secretly put a rock in his nest, making it easy to scratch the itch at any time.
He couldn't figure out what was going on with him. It was not molting season, and he also had not molted for a very long time.
Nowadays, Edgar spent every night in cultivation. He could feel that it gave him huge benefits.
Today he was cultivating, and once again, he was roused by the itch. He rolled up the rock hidden in his nest and rubbed against it while laying his head on top of the cogongrass gathered by the little sub-beastman for him, a bit sullen.
Having not rubbed against the rock for long, Edgar saw a ray of light penetrated through the air vent that had been specially dug out by the little sub-beastman—a new day has arrived, and the little sub-beastman should be awake, too.
Thinking this way, Edgar cast his sight towards the cave where the little sub-beastman lived. Sure enough, he saw the little sub-beastman dazedly crawl out of the cave.
The little sub-beastman’s body was covered with a simple, sewn-together animal skin; two white, creamy, and tender arms were exposed. Although the animal skin was just a shapeless wrap, but Edgar still thought that the little sub-beastman was very pretty.
Suddenly, he very much wanted to extend his tail and make the little sub-beastman step on it . . . . The little sub-beastman was always barefoot when he was in the cave, and those tiny feet stepping on his tail certainly felt very good.
That would scare the little sub-beastman though . . . . In the end, Edgar could only abandon his own plan.
He did not know if there would be a day when the little sub-beastman was no longer afraid of him . . . .
Shu Shu came out from his cave with his eyes closed and went all the way to the cave mouth. Then he yanked open the grass curtain at the cave mouth and moved aside a small stone to look outside.
The cold wind blew upon his face, and he was finally awake. Looking outside, he was rather pleasantly surprised: "It's snowing!"
Yes, that’s right, it was snowing outside. The snowflakes fell from the sky in a flutter, landing on the ground. Right now, the whole world was slowly painted white, looking very beautiful.
Shu Shu truly didn’t like snow before; after all, it represented cold weather. But now, catching sight of such pristine snow, he could not help but somewhat like it.
"We can pile up the snow and make a snowman, or we can have a snowball fight. Wait for the snow to stop, and then we’ll go out to play, OK!" Shu Shu said to the huge snake at his side. He was just finished speaking when he recalled that the huge snake would not like going out in the snow and freezing itself into a popsicle. He quickly said: "Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t like going outside, so I'll just go alone!"
Imagining a cold-blooded animal like the huge snake getting frozen into a strip on the snowy ground, Shu Shu laughed “he he he”.
Edgar indeed didn't like the cold weather. He hadn't gone out hunting for several days because the prey around him had become less, and also because it was too cold outside, which affected his performance in some measure.
Anyway . . . if the little sub-beastman wanted to play nearby, he could still keep him company!
Watching the little sub-beastman return into the cave with some snow gathered from the cave mouth and then knead and roll the gathered snow into a ball before tossing and playing with the snowball, Edgar’s expression became more and more gentle.
Shu Shu threw the snowball up and caught it again. After playing for a while, the snowball on his hand accidentally smashed onto the ground. Feeling a little wronged, he flung it aside with a pout. He kneaded another snowball and continued to play.
Edgar watched Shu Shu while he continued to scratch his abdomen. Scratching and scratching, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
Looking down, Edgar was stupefied—his scales were scraped off, scraped off a lot!
His scales were extraordinarily hard. When he had fought the giant tiger, if it hadn't been for his originally injured body and some places on it that had already had no scales, that giant tiger would not have been necessarily able to tear his scales open and hurt him.
But now, his scales were scraped off. Although, when he scratched the scales, it actually didn’t feel painful . . . . He was . . . shedding scales?
Losing hair at most turned someone into a baldy. Shedding scales, however, could make him turn into a long meat stick!
Shu Shu did not find anything different with the huge snake. He and the huge snake were not the same species, and he could not discern the expression of snake species. At this moment, he was busy making breakfast for him and the huge snake.
The dried meat was cooked with some water; this was for the huge snake to eat. As for him, he ate uncooked dried meat and roasted sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes that had been put in the cellar for a long time tasted sweeter when roasted, and Shu Shu liked it very, very much. He ate a very big one in one breath and then began to eat the dried meat, grinding it with his molars, crunch crunch, crunch crunch.
Edgar ate all the thoroughly-cooked dried meat in front of him and quietly watched the little sub-beastman eat.
In the evening, the snow stopped, but there was already a thick layer of snow on the ground.
Shu Shu cheered loudly and ran out. A moment later, he ran back again, trembling. He began to wrap his body with all the animal skins in the cave.
After bundling himself into a ball, Shu Shu left the cave again. At the same time, because of his bulky figure, he could only moved one step at a time going outside.
There appeared in the snow an animal skin man. His head was all covered with animal skin, only exposing two eyes. On the surface, he was so very ugly, but Edgar still thought that the little sub-beastman looked like a pretty elf.
Today was a cold day. After the little sub-beastman done playing, it was best if he could drink some nice and warm broth . . . . The boiled dried meat broth was not tasty to drink. Wouldn’t it be better if Edgar caught a prey?
If he could catch a fowl, the little sub-beastman could drink some fowl broth!
With the spiritual power circulating in his whole body, Edgar felt that he was not that cold, so he quickly dashed out .
After the snowfall, the forest was much quieter than usual, but there was still animal activity. Edgar at last saw a skinny wolf leaving its post. He let off a bit of power to pressure it, scaring it into running away with its tail wedged between its legs, and then he continued to slither forward.
From inside a snow-covered shrubbery, the faint sound of fowls came through. Edgar carefully approached, tail moving to and fro, and smashed up half of a corner of the shrubbery.
Several pheasants flew out of the shrubbery and scattered in all directions, fleeing. Edgar gave a sweeping glance and chose the fattest one to catch. He was just about to leave when he unexpectedly heard some human voices.
"Boss, there’s some noise in front!"
"Pheasants, there’re pheasants flying over; good fat fowls!"
"Someone’s frightened; isn’t it a fowl nest in front?"
. . . .
The familiar language of the Beastman Empire ringing in his ears, Edgar was rooted to the spot until the pheasant that he had not bitten to death and was held in his mouth started to struggle. Only then did he wake with a start. Soon after, several tall men appeared in front of Edgar.
They were beastmen; several beastmen who came to the forest to hunt.
He had always wanted to bring the little sub-beastman to look for the beastmen, but, unexpectedly, before he brought the little sub-beastman out, the beastmen had already come . . . .
He and the little sub-beastman, were they going to part?
TL's note:
We're officially 10% into the story (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑